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ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — On Oct. 21, Madagascar’s council of ministers issued a decision to reopen the domestic market for so-called ordinary wood — non-precious timber logged from natural forests. This market had been closed for nearly two years, leaving loggers with deteriorating stockpiles of wood they were unable to sell. But timber markets are a

In the arctic tundra of northeastern Siberia lies a graveyard of a now-extinct species of megafauna, the woolly rhinoceros, dating back 50,000 years. Now, a new genomic analysis of the remains of 14 of these fantastical furry yellow creatures shows that climate change was the likely culprit for their disappearance—not hunting by migrating humans, as

Tim Beatley will humbly tell you that he’s not a birder. But in his new book, there are enough appearances by obscure members of the class Aves to suggest that birds are more than a passing interest for him and may in fact be a strong motivation behind his life’s work. In The Bird Friendly

JAKARTA — The arrest of Indonesia’s fisheries minister on bribery charges has prompted a freeze on exports of lobster larvae, but a top official has indicated this is unlikely to be permanent, despite being at the heart of the ongoing corruption investigation. Minister Edhy Prabowo was one of 17 people detained on Nov. 25 by

Six grassroots environmental activists will receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in a virtual ceremony this year. Dubbed the “Green Nobel Prize,” this award is given annually to environmental heroes from each of the world’s six inhabited continents. This year’s winners include an Indigenous Mayan beekeeper who led a coalition to ban genetically modified soy

Poaching is a pervasive global problem, and iconic mammals like elephants and rhinos are hit hard by illegal hunting. This is especially true in the world’s poorest countries and within protected areas, researchers reported recently in PLOS ONE. Protected areas, such as national parks and wildlife refuges, are “the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation,” the researchers

2020 was supposed to be the year that governments, business leaders and civil society came together to report back on the past decade’s worth of progress on addressing the biodiversity crisis. But the COVID-19 pandemic intervened and most of the big meetings scheduled for 2020 were scaled down or postponed until 2021. But that doesn’t

Rich in both marine and terrestrial biodiversity, Juan Fernández Archipelago National Park (PNAJF) in Chile boasts species that live nowhere else in the world. Legends abound in this remote land, such as those that inspired the famous novel Robinson Crusoe — and which gives its name to one of its islands — of pirates, corsairs

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Five out of six people working in the conservation sector in Vietnam say that they have directly experienced some form of sexual harassment in their work environment. This is just one striking finding of a new report by WildAct, a Hanoi-based conservation organization that surveyed 114 wildlife conservationists, environmentalists

A thin plume of smoke rises above the lush canopy of the Apyterewa Indigenous Territory, deep in the Brazilian Amazon. A couple of men feed the flames engulfing a wooden bridge serving as a gateway into the vast territory. On the other side, uniformed agents tasked with protecting the territory look on helplessly as the

Today we’re taking a look at the importance of securing Indigenous communities’ land rights and the global push for privatization that can deprive those communities of access to their land. Listen here: A study published in Nature Sustainability in 2018 found that Indigenous Peoples manage or have tenure rights over about 38 million square kilometers

The Ocean Cleanup is a highly touted nonprofit with the ambitious goal of cleaning up 90 percent of the ocean’s plastic. In reality, the initiative’s impact on the world’s floating debris would be minimal, researchers reported recently in Science of the Total Environment. “I think the general public was believing that we had a solution

When Benjamín Rodríguez Grandez, an Indigenous leader in the Putumayo region of the Amazon in northern Peru, became sick with apparent COVID-19 symptoms in July, he was evacuated to Iquitos, the nearest major city. Getting there was the only way to receive treatment in a hospital with an intensive care unit, and it highlighted the

JAKARTA — Authorities in Indonesia have arrested the country’s fisheries minister on charges of corruption related to a controversial policy to resume exports of baby lobsters. Agents from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Edhy Prabowo, his wife and a number of other ministry officials in the early hours of Nov. 25 at Soekarno-Hatta airport,

Major roadbuilding, including the “reconstruction” of the BR-319 highway, now threatens the Brazilian Amazon’s last, vast intact rainforest, vital to Brazilian ecosystem services.

Marine mammals stranded on beaches in the southeastern United States died with high levels of pollutants stored in their organs and blubber, researchers reported recently in Frontiers in Marine Science. “Marine mammals are like a litmus test for the ecosystem,” said lead author Annie Page-Karjian, clinical veterinarian at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University.

Establishing economic value for the service of preserving native vegetation and creating a new source of income for rural producers. These are the objectives of Conserv, a private initiative launched in October by the Brazil-based Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) in partnership with the U.S.-based Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Woodwell Climate Research Center (WCRI).

Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we’re meeting the most iconic species of the Americas: the jaguar. The jaguar is not only an apex predator but it is also deeply rooted in the cultural and natural heritage of the countries

ALBAY, Philippines — Spotting false geckos in the wild can be hard. They can easily disappear into their environment thanks to their cryptic colors and markings and their use of hollow areas to hide in. That makes it a challenge to study these forest lizards from the genus Pseudogekko. Until recently only nine species were

Along the banks of the Batanghari River on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, thick black coal dust billows from mountainous stockpiles belonging to the coal company PT Tegas Guna Mandari (TGM). For Zalmiati, a 42-year-old woman from Muara Jambi village, the sight of coal dust in the air is nothing new. The dust, which gets