WORLD RAINFOREST
By Rhett A. Butler Last updated Aug 14, 2020
The Tropical Rainforest - information on tropical forests, deforestation, and biodiversity
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The Pan Amazon as a hotspot of cultural diversity (Feb 7 2025)
- The Amazon is known not only for its biodiversity, but also for its cultural richness, built by Indigenous nations and other groups that have migrated to the region over the past 500 years.
- Indigenous communities in the region include those that have experienced various amounts of cultural loss and/or modification of their cultural traditions, as well as urban dwellers who retain their ethnic identity while partially joining a different stakeholder group.
- Non-governmental organizations provide a moral counterweight to many of the forces that make frontier societies unfair, representing both conservative and progressive viewpoints that reflect the diversity of Pan Amazonian society.
Shea’s silent guardians restore Uganda’s traditional parklands (Feb 7 2025)
- In Uganda’s Pader district, communities are reviving shea parklands — traditional agroforestry systems where farmers have maintained shea trees alongside crops for generations.
- These managed landscapes support both farming and biodiversity while providing crucial ecosystem services through carefully spaced trees and traditional management practices.
- Drawing on Indigenous agricultural knowledge, farmers are integrating shea trees with food crops through methods proven to improve soil health and yields.
- While their efforts show promise, charcoal production and agricultural expansion threaten these traditional systems and the communities that depend on them.
Study says land restoration worldwide can be funded with tiny fraction of global GDP (Feb 7 2025)
- A new study reveals that implementing global land restoration pledges across 115 nations would cost between $311 billion and $2.1 trillion, representing only 0.04-0.27% of annual global GDP over 10 years.
- The research analyzed 243 restoration projects worldwide, finding that costs vary significantly by method: from $185 per hectare ($75 per acre) for forest management, to more than $3,000 per hectare ($1,200 per acre) for silvopasture systems.
- While nearly half of all global restoration commitments are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, this region would need to spend 3.7% of its annual GDP to fulfill its pledges, highlighting the need for international financial support.
- The study’s cost estimates focus primarily on direct implementation costs and exclude important factors like monitoring and opportunity costs, suggesting actual restoration expenses could be higher than projected.
In São Paulo, free-flight lessons help teach macaws to survive in the wild (Feb 7 2025)
- In an unprecedented project in the municipality of São Simão, blue-and-yellow macaws born in captivity were trained in free-flight techniques before being introduced into the wild.
- Traditionally, in psittacine reintroduction projects, captive chicks are only released into the wild at 2 or 3 years of age; with no experience in finding food or defending themselves against predators, many end up dying.
- According to the project’s coordinators, the initiative could signal a new method to be used in parrot and macaw reintroduction programs, offering lower costs and higher chances of success.
The world’s kelp needs help — less than 2% is highly protected (Feb 7 2025)
- Kelp forests support a kaleidoscope of biodiversity and perform crucial ecosystem functions, yet they are in trouble globally.
- A recent journal commentary shows that just 15.9% of kelp forests are in protected areas, and only 1.6% of them are in areas with the highest levels of protection.
- The authors said they hope their findings will motivate policymakers to include kelp forests in international conservation targets, such as the “30×30” mandate to protect 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030.
Mongabay series on illegal timber and cattle wins honorable mention in Brazil journalism prize (Feb 7 2025)
Blood Timber, a Mongabay series on illegal logging and cattle ranching in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, has received an honorable mention at the recent Banrisul ARI Journalism Award, a prize recognizing excellence in journalism in Brazil. The three-part series by journalist Karla Mendes revealed a correlation between environmental crimes and killings of Indigenous Guajajara people, […]
Report reveals staggering levels of wildlife trafficking in Hispanic America (Feb 7 2025)
- Crimes against wildlife increasingly threaten biodiversity in Latin America, which is home to 40% of the world’s plant and animal species.
- Between 2017 and 2022, almost 2,000 wildlife seizures and poaching incidents were recorded in the region, according to a recent report. The analysis looked at poaching and trafficking covered in the media in 18 countries across Hispanic America.
- The incidents involved more than 100,000 wild animals and birds, a vast majority of them live, belonging to nearly 700 species; reptiles represented more than half of the seized wildlife.
- The report calls for increased resources to fight wildlife crimes, better law enforcement and strengthening cooperation between countries in the region to combat wildlife crimes.
Indigenous protests in Brazil topple law seen as threat to rural schools (Feb 7 2025)
After 23 days of protests, Indigenous groups and teachers in the Brazilian state of Pará have successfully pressured Governor Helder Barbalho to revoke a controversial education law that favored online learning in remote communities and slashed benefits for teachers. The protests erupted in the state capital Belém, host city of the next U.N. climate summit, […]
Surge in rat numbers linked to climate warming, urbanization: Study (Feb 7 2025)
What’s new: Cities experiencing warmer temperatures, fewer green spaces and denser human populations are seeing a rise in rat numbers, a recent study shows. What the study says: Jonathan Richardson, a biology professor at the University of Richmond, U.S., and his colleagues wanted to check if anecdotal media claims about increasing urban rat (Rattus spp.) […]
Striking image of badger and graffiti twin wins top photography prize (Feb 7 2025)
A badger glancing at a gun-wielding graffiti version of itself has won the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. British photographer Ian Wood took the image, titled “No Access,” at the seaside town of St. Leonards-on-Sea in England after chancing upon the Eurasian badger (Meles meles) […]
Birds guide honey-hunters to most of their harvest in Mozambican reserve (Feb 7 2025)
- A new study reveals the economic importance of wild honeyguide birds to villages in northern Mozambique.
- Three-quarters of the honey collected by honey-hunters in Niassa Special Reserve is found with the help of the birds, a new study finds.
- Some of the honey is sold, underscoring the economic importance of the birds to families in a region where rates of hunger, poverty and unemployment are high.
- The human-honeyguide partnership remains strong in Niassa, unlike in areas with widespread beekeeping, and researchers see potential for honey-hunters to support conservation efforts.
Surge in legal land clearing pushes up Indonesia deforestation rate in 2024 (Feb 7 2025)
- Indonesia’s deforestation increased in 2024 to its highest level since 2021, with forest area four times the size of Jakarta lost; 97% of this occurred within legal concessions, highlighting a shift from illegal to legal deforestation.
- More than half of the forest loss affected critical habitats for threatened species like orangutans, tigers and elephants, particularly in Borneo and Sumatra.
- Key industries driving deforestation include palm oil, pulpwood, and nickel mining, with significant deforestation in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua; a new pulp mill in Kalimantan in particular may be driving aggressive land clearing.
- Despite an existing moratorium on new forest-clearance permits, there’s no protection for forests within existing concessions, allowing continued deforestation, and spurring calls for stronger policies to safeguard remaining natural forests.
In Nepal’s Chitwan, elephant’s shooting, death raises eyebrows (Feb 7 2025)
- A wild elephant in Chitwan National Park succumbed to a bullet wound Jan. 5, 2025, after allegedly charging at a patrol team and throwing a ranger off his mount.
- The radio-collared elephant had been lingering around human settlements, damaging properties and alarming locals and hotel operators, leading to increased patrols and discussions on managing the issue.
- Local officials had pressured the national park to take action, but authorities say the shooting was an act of self-defense.
- Critics argue that since the elephant was radio-collared, its movements could have been tracked, and better nonlethal measures could have been taken.
Tourists are back at this Instaworthy Philippine town, but can its sewage system keep up? (Feb 7 2025)
- The town of El Nido on the Philippine island of Palawan, known for its stunning limestone cliffs and azure waters, has become a popular tourist destination due to heavy social media promotion.
- But tourism has caused severe coastal contamination, with consistently high fecal coliform levels in the sea off El Nido, despite efforts like a new sewage treatment plant.
- Policies like tourist caps and subsidies for sewage connections have been introduced, but the system’s pipeline network remains insufficient, with only 3.3% of households in the town center connected to the system.
- Experts blame poor planning, overpromotion on social media, and prioritization of economic gains over environmental health, and urge stronger waste management, regulatory enforcement, and social media campaigns promoting responsible tourism.
A dramatic rise in microplastics found in human brains, study finds (Feb 7 2025)
A new study has found a dramatic increase in levels of microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in human brains in recent years. MNPs have previously been detected in human lungs, intestine, bone marrow and placenta. In the new study, researchers took one tissue sample from the brain, kidney and liver of 80 people autopsied in 2016 […]
Oaxaca Indigenous leader’s killing leaves land defenders’ safety in doubt (Feb 6 2025)
- Arnoldo Nicolás Romero, a commissioner in Oaxaca’s San Juan Guichicovi municipality, was found shot dead on Jan. 21, hidden behind bushes in a private ranch not far from his community.
- Since the country began to develop the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a large railroad project that runs across several Indigenous territories, including Romero’s, communities have reported dispossession, increased criminalization and violence.
- After Romero’s death, the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) released a statement that condemned his killing and demanded that authorities “promptly” initiate an investigation into his death.
- No arrests have been made or suspects identified.
How illicit mining fuels violence in eastern DRC: Interview with Jean-Pierre Okenda (Feb 6 2025)
- • In late January, the rebel group M23 captured Goma, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich North Kivu province, in a major escalation of decades-long violence in the region.
- The ongoing conflict in the eastern DRC is being fueled by its mineral wealth, particularly coltan and the “Three T’s” (tin, tungsten, tantalum), much of which is presently being illicitly transported into Rwanda, according to DRC resource expert Jean-Pierre Okenda.
- The supply chain for these minerals lacks transparency, particularly since M23 seized key mining areas like Rubaya.
- While China is the dominant buyer of coltan from Rwanda, Okenda and other civil society activists in the DRC have called on the EU to cancel an agreement to source minerals from the country.
January 2025 was warmest on record as climate change ‘overwhelms’ La Niña’s cooling (Feb 6 2025)
January 2025 was the warmest January on record, surpassing the previous record set by January 2024, according to satellite data from the EU’s Copernicus program. The findings were unexpected as ongoing La Niña conditions in the Pacific typically cool down global temperatures. The global average surface air temperature for the month reached 1.75° Celsius (3.15° […]
Kenya revives poisoning campaign to curb invasive Indian house crows (Feb 6 2025)
- Indian house crows, introduced to East Africa in 1891, have become a major pest in Kenya, threatening native birds, spreading disease, damaging crops, and disrupting tourism.
- Kenya has revived a poisoning campaign using Starlicide, a U.S.-developed bird control poison, after a 20-year ban on its import; conservationists report increased small bird populations in treated areas.
- Experts support the poisoning as necessary, but critics argue for long-term solutions like regional cooperation and improved waste management to limit food sources.
- Conservationists warn the crows could spread further, including to Nairobi, and stress the need for a coordinated approach to control their rapid population growth.
Vietnam and China partner on wildlife-friendly traditional medicine practices (Feb 6 2025)
Vietnam and China, the two largest markets for traditional medicine (TM) that uses wild plants and animals, announced a new partnership in January to adopt practices that protect wildlife while preserving the countries’ cultural heritage. The first-of-its-kind agreement involved leading TM associations from Vietnam and China — the Vietnam Oriental Traditional Medicine Association (VOTMA) and […]
EU legislators urge IMF to protect Madagascar forests against road projects (Feb 6 2025)
Thirty-five members of the European Parliament are calling on the International Monetary Fund to renegotiate its funding to Madagascar that could support two highway projects expected to cut across the nation’s vital forests. The IMF in June 2024 announced $321 million to Madagascar through its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). It aims to aid the […]
Indonesia targets 2.3m hectares of protected forests for food & biofuel crop production (Feb 6 2025)
- Indonesia has identified 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) of protected forest that could be converted into “food and energy estates,” which could result in the country’s largest-ever deforestation project.
- This is part of a plan to convert a total of 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of forest for food and biofuel crop production.
- Some lawmakers and NGOs have voiced opposition, urging the government to reconsider; the forestry minister has defended the plan, saying the forests are already degraded and this is an effort to rehabilitate them.
Disease surges in Indonesia community on frontline of world energy transition (Feb 6 2025)
- Residential areas next to a major nickel processing site on Indonesia’s Halmahera Island recorded exponential increases in diagnoses of respiratory infections between 2020 and 2023.
- During that same period, the value of nickel exports from Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of the metal, increased from around $800 million to $6.8 billion.
- Interviews by Mongabay with residents of one village in the area indicate health conditions there have deteriorated rapidly.
Handcrafted woodwork helps save an Amazonian reserve, one tree at a time (Feb 5 2025)
- A community in the Brazilian Amazon is transforming fallen trunks and dead trees into everyday items and art pieces.
- Household utensils, furniture, miniature trees and jewelry made with forest seeds are some items being produced by women and youth in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve.
- The woodshop sits in a region where rubber tappers have fought for environmental and labor rights for ago, and which still faces deforestation pressure.
Why is this endangered dolphin being killed to make “love perfumes”? | Wild Targets (Feb 5 2025)
IQUITOS, Peru – The Plight of the Pink River Dolphin is a short documentary investigating the illegal exploitation of endangered pink river dolphins in the Amazon, driven by a myth about their magical properties. The film reveals how pusangas—perfumes made from dolphin oil and body parts—are sold in markets and online, despite the species being protected […]