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 Latest News on Rainforests

Previously logged forests struggle to thrive, even with restoration, study finds (Mar 27 2024)
- A newly published study has found that seedlings in previously logged forests in Borneo struggle to survive compared to those in intact forests, even with restoration efforts.
- Researchers monitored more than 5,000 seedlings for 18 months in three types of landscapes — unlogged forest, naturally regenerating logged forest, and actively restored logged forest — and found the benefits of restoration efforts diminished over time.
- The study suggests that changes in canopy structure, microclimate, soil, low genetic diversity of planted trees, excessive herbivory, and failure to restore soil conditions may contribute to the stress experienced by seedlings in logged forests.
- The low survival rates of seedlings, even 30 years after selective logging, raise concerns about the long-term recovery of biodiversity and the ability of future tree generations to thrive in human-modified tropical forests worldwide.

‘Mind-blowing’ new orchid species found in Madagascar forest canopy (Mar 22 2024)
- Scientists from Madagascar, the U.S. and Europe have described a new orchid species from the forests of central Madagascar, which has a record-breaking long nectar spur relative to its small flower size.
- The orchid is pollinated by a species of hawkmoth with a very long tongue, similar to Darwin’s orchid, which was predicted to exist by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1800s.
- Habitat of the newly described orchid species is threatened deforestation and mining activities, especially from the Ambatovy nickel and cobalt mine nearby, though Ambatovy is funding conservation actions to protect the species.
- Madagascar’s unique biodiversity, including many species found nowhere else on Earth, is under serious threat from rapid deforestation driven by agriculture, fires and mining.

PalmWatch platform pushes for farm-to-fork traceability of palm oil (Mar 22 2024)
- PalmWatch, an online, open-source tool, is seeking to bring greater transparency to the global palm oil supply web, to better help consumers trace the impact of the commodity.
- A key hurdle to transparency has long been the fact that batches of palm oil and their derivatives sourced by consumer brands like Nestlé and PepsiCo potentially contain product from hundreds of mills processing palm fruit from thousands of plantations.
- By scraping various websites with mill disclosure data and standardizing the information in one place, PalmWatch can come up with a supply chain map that can link specific mills, suppliers and consumer brands to harms associated with palm oil.
- Advocacy groups have welcomed the launch of the tool, saying it will allow for improved targeting of campaigns to get brands to push for more sustainable practices in their supply chains.

Deforestation from soy shows no sign of stopping in Cerrado, report says (Mar 21 2024)
- A recent report from Mighty Earth shows that approximately 26,901 hectares (66,473 acre) suffered deforestation and forest degradation in the Cerrado between last September and December, while 30,031 hectares (74,208 acres) were affected in the Amazon.
- Mighty Earth, in partnership with AidEnvironment and Repórter Brasil, are monitoring short-term soy and cattle ranching activities contributing to deforestation, aiming to highlight recent forest loss cases every three months.
- The report called for improved regulations that protect savanna biomes like the Cerrado, not just the Amazon Rainforest.

Mineral commodities: the wealth that generates most impacts in the Pan Amazon | Chapter 5 of “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon” (Mar 21 2024)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- The paradox of minerals is that thousands of families depend on their exploitation and the economic activities generated, but at the same time suffer the impacts on their ecosystems, livelihoods and health.
- According to Killeen, governments know that the promotion of mineral development generates an unfavorable balance of payments in the long term. Thus, the overall cost-benefit equation may require a different development strategy.
- In the meantime, people living in the surrounding of projects are often torn between the desire for employment (however temporary) and the fear of environmental impacts that persist for decades.

Ancient giant river dolphin species found in the Peruvian Amazon (Mar 20 2024)
- Paleontologists discovered a fossilized skull of a newly described species of giant freshwater dolphin in the Peruvian Amazon, which lived around 16 million years ago and is considered the largest-known river dolphin ever found.
- The ancient creature, measuring 3-3.5 meters (9.8-11.5 feet), was surprisingly related to South Asian river dolphins rather than the local, living Amazon river pink dolphin and shared highly developed facial crests used for echolocation.
- The discovery comes at a time when the six existing species of modern river dolphins face unprecedented threats, with their combined populations decreasing by 73% since the 1980s due to unsustainable fishing practices, climate change, pollution, illegal mining and infrastructure development.
- Conservation efforts are underway, including the signing of the Global Declaration for River Dolphins by nine countries and successful initiatives in China and Indonesia, highlighting the importance of protecting these critical species that serve as indicators of river ecosystem health.

Suriname cancels controversial Mennonite pilot program, but bigger problems loom (Mar 20 2024)
- Suriname President Chan Santokhi confirmed to local media this week that he shuttered a pilot program setting aside 30,000 hectares (74,131 acres) for 50 Mennonite families, easing some fears that the country was on the verge of destroying large parts of the Amazon Rainforest.
- Mennonite colonies have a history of contributing to widespread deforestation in other parts of Latin America, including Belize, Mexico and Bolivia.
- But many conservation groups said there are bigger challenges than the Mennonites, including the development of around 467,000 hectares (1,153,982 acres) of land for agricultural activity.

Culture of harassment persists for women in Southeast Asia’s conservation space (Mar 19 2024)
- Recent years have seen an increase in regulations addressing sexual harassment in Southeast Asia, including amendments to Vietnam’s labor code in 2019 and a 2022 anti-sexual harassment bill in Malaysia.
- However, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community say harassment remains widespread, enforcement on the ground is lacking, and the culture in many conservation organizations discourages speaking out.
- While victims of harassment say they’re often left to come up their own coping measures, experts call for women-to-women mentorship, participation of male allies, and deeper transformational change in the conservation sector.

Soraida Chindoy: the Indigenous guardian defending the sacred Putumayo mountains (Mar 19 2024)
- An Indigenous woman from the Inga community in the Condagua reservation in Putumayo, Colombia, is leading the struggle against a Canadian mining company that plans to mine the community’s sacred mountains for copper and molybdenum.
- Within Soraida Chindoy’s territory is the Doña Juana-Chimayoy páramo, where eight rivers have their source and where there are 56 lagoons. The site, where the Amazon rainforest and the Andes meet, is sacred to the Indigenous population.
- Her campaign against mining was borne of tragedy. In 2017, she and her family were among the almost 22,000 people affected by the landslide in Mocoa, when Mother Earth provided a stark warning as to why it is so important to take care of her.

Road paving in a Peruvian bird paradise threatens wildlife and ecotourism (Mar 19 2024)
- In the Manu Biosphere Reserve of Southeastern Peru, one of the world’s most biodiverse protected areas, a winding dirt road has historically been the only route from the Andes into the Amazon. Now that road has been paved from top to bottom.
- The resulting increase in vehicle speed is causing concerns among conservationists about road-killed wildlife and damage to eco-tourism, while raising the specter of expanding extractive industries in the region.
- However, poor construction may have ensured that any impacts are short-lived; the thin asphalt is expected to erode quickly and may leave the road worse than it was before.
- Critics say such shoddy construction is a consequence of endemic corruption in the Peruvian road-building sector, which fuels an unsustainable development model that fails to meet local people’s needs.

UN probes controversial forest carbon agreement in Malaysian Borneo (Mar 18 2024)
- The government of Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo will continue to move forward with an opaque nature conservation agreement despite concerns raised by the United Nations.
- In a letter, the U.N. calls in question the transparency of the agreement and the state’s approach to the human rights law principle of free, prior and informed consent.
- The agreement was signed by state officials and a representative of a Singaporean company in 2021. Shortly after news of the deal became public, some Indigenous groups in the state said they hadn’t been consulted or informed about the deal covering 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of the state’s forests.
- The U.N. letter was written by a group of “special procedures experts” with mandates established by the U.N. Human Rights Council, including the special rapporteurs on the rights of Indigenous peoples, on human rights and the environment, and on the right to development.

Chocó land deal shows flaws in Ecuador’s forestry incentive program (Mar 18 2024)
- A conflict over thousands of hectares of the Andean Chocó bioregion of northwestern Ecuador — now enmeshed in a decade-long legal battle — shows that the country’s Socio Bosque program is susceptible to potential corruption and political dealmaking, activists in the area claim.
- Over 9,000 hectares (22,239 acres) were stolen from local communities through an illegal land sale that was then used to benefit from the Socio Bosque program, critics say.
- Complaints filed to the Ministry of Environment have led to multiple inspections of the land, and the person who collected Socio Bosque payments was ordered to return $152,364.

Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout (Mar 18 2024)
- The Moa Indigenous community live in a remote region of Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, on the fringe of a national park established in the 1990s.
- The society’s customary rules and norms mandate matrilineal aspects, including that women in the community have responsibility for a type of subsistence farming known as pampa.
- Forestry economics professor Syukur Umar says a crucial boundary change made by the government has led to sudden shifts in the community’s forestry.

Fires surge in the Amazon, but deforestation continues to fall (Mar 17 2024)
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has continued on a downward trajectory despite a sharp increase in fires associated with the severe drought in the region.
- According to data published by Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE) earlier this month, forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon amounted to 5,010 square kilometers over the past twelve months, the lowest level recorded since May 2019.
- Despite the declining rate of forest loss, fires in the Amazon are on the rise, driven by the severe drought gripping the region.
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen precipitously since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva replaced Jair Bolsonaro as president last year.

Palm oil deforestation persists in Indonesia’s Leuser amid new mills, plantations (Mar 14 2024)
- Deforestation for palm oil persists in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, including inside a national park that’s supposed to be off-limits to plantation activity, a new investigation has found.
- The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) characterizes the current deforestation trend as a “death by a thousand cuts,” with a large number of small operators hacking away at the ecosystem, in contrast to past deforestation carried out by a small number of large concession holders.
- RAN’s investigation also identified two new palm oil processing mills near the deforesting concessions, indicating that the presence of the mills, which need a constant supply of palm fruit, may be a driver of the ongoing deforestation.
- There’s a high risk that mills in the area may ultimately be supplying deforestation-linked palm oil to major global consumer products companies, including those with stated no-deforestation policies.

Reforestation and restoration: Two ways to make the Pan Amazon greener (Mar 14 2024)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- Efforts to save agroforestry zones require long-term patience and heavy investment, but ensure that plantations sequester up to 20% of the carbon stored in a natural forest, and even more carbon can be retained through natural habitat restoration.
- Killeen explains that tropical areas need to retain around 70% of their canopy cover to maintain the atmospheric recycling that sustains historical rainfall levels. In the southern Amazon, this would need to be applied to 15 million hectares with an investment of between $20 and $100 billion.
- For the author, these issues are all the more urgent as the threat of climate change is accelerating the Pan-Amazonian region to an irreversible tipping point. Are carbon markets providing incentives that ‘reward’ conservation in the Pan-Amazonian region?

Reconciling conservation agriculture and agroforestry for sustainability (Mar 13 2024)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- In this section, Killeen focuses on land management that seeks to reconcile the technologies of modern agriculture with the worn-out practices of organic farming.
- It also analyzes the case of livestock farmers, who are not as likely to change their land management practices, as they have an underutilized surplus that has suffered from mismanagement.
- For Killeen, smallholder farmers should be more willing to diversify such production systems and adopt practices that increase resilience. Because mitigating risk is essential to their livelihoods: without crops comes bankruptcy and hunger. This is the case in countries such as Ecuador and Peru, where smallholder farmers occupy more than 90% of previously deforested areas.

Norway pension fund breaks with U.K. conglomerate Jardines over endangered orangutan habitat (Mar 12 2024)
- Norway’s state pension fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has cut ties with Jardine Matheson (Jardines) due to concerns that the conglomerate’s gold mining activities in Indonesia could damage the only known habitat of the world’s most threatened great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis).
- The fund joins 29 financiers that have excluded Jardines and/or its subsidiaries from financing due to climate and environmental concerns, according to data from the Financial Exclusions Tracker.
- The Tapanuli orangutan was only first described in 2017, and its estimated population numbers fewer than 800 that survive in a tiny tract of forest; 95% of the ape’s historical habitat has been lost to hunting, conflict killing and agriculture.
- The Martabe mining concession in northern Sumatra lies in the portion of the orangutan’s habitat, the Batang Toru forest, with the largest orangutan population, where the probability of the species’ long-term survival is highest; the fund worried that further expansion of the mine would increase threats to the ape.

Indonesian gold mine expanding in ‘wrong direction’ into orangutan habitat (Mar 11 2024)
- A gold mine in the only known habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan is expanding, prompting alarm from activists and conservationists.
- The Martabe mine on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, run by a company associated with the U.K.’s Jardine Matheson Holdings, already cleared 100 hectares (about 250 acres) of forest from 2016 to 2020, and looks set to clear another 100 hectares.
- Advocacy group Mighty Earth says the expansion will impact an area recently established to help protect the orangutan and other threatened species.
- Jardines says an independent forestry and sustainability assessment concluded that the long-term impact of the planned exploration and development work was minimal.

Sumatra firefighters on alert as burning heralds start of Riau dry season (Mar 6 2024)
- On the northeast coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, the first of two annual dry seasons led to a spike in wildfires in some peatland areas in February.
- In the week ending March 2, Indonesian peatland NGO Pantau Gambut said 34 hotspots, possibly fires, were identified by satellite on peatlands in Riau province.
- Emergency services in the province have been concentrated to the east of the port city of Dumai, where a fire started in the concession of a palm oil company, according to local authorities.

Ten years since anti-deforestation pledge, corporate world still not doing enough (Mar 6 2024)
- Global Canopy released its Forest 500 list of the 350 companies and 150 financial institutions connected to deforestation-linked commodities, including beef, leather, soy, palm oil, timber, pulp and paper.
- This is the organization’s 10th report, showing that numerous companies haven’t done enough to remove deforestation from their supply chains over the last decade.
- The report found 30% of companies still haven’t developed a single deforestation policy for their supply chains, while others have developed policies but failed to implement them in a meaningful way.
- The few companies with strong, long-term goals aren’t always doing enough to meet them, according to the report.

Land irrigation as an obstacle to agricultural intensification in Mato Grosso (Mar 6 2024)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- In this section, Killeen looks at industrialized crops in Brazil, specifically in Mato Grosso, where irrigation is expected to be heavily impacted by decreasing rainfall as a result of climate change and deforestation.
- The outlook over the next few years is grim. While current extraction levels are within parameters, the effective expansion rate of 10% per year will eventually outstrip surface water supplies, increasing demand for groundwater.
- According to studies conducted in Mato Grosso, the combined surface and groundwater resources could support 3.9 million hectares of agriculture.

What is most convenient in land distribution? (Mar 5 2024)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- Predictions indicate that an ecological tipping point will be crossed when 25% of the Amazon’s forests will have been converted to agriculture, just a few percentage points from the current 18%. How can deforestation be halted?
- There are two approaches taken by specialists and academics: the savings approach, which involves using technology to intensify production on the land; and the sharing approach, which seeks to diversify production systems.
- For Killeen, both approaches could be applicable but their social, economic and environmental impacts will vary dramatically depending on where they are applied and on what scale.

Indonesians uprooted by mining industry call for a fairer future amid presidential vote (Mar 4 2024)
- Ahead of Indonesia’s presidential election on Feb. 14, people from across the country affected by extractive industries gathered at the site of a notorious mudflow disaster in East Java province.
- The Lapindo mudflow continues to impact thousands of residents with diverse social repercussions, including displacement, environmental pollution, and obstructed access to education and health care.
- The gathering attracted participants from various regions across Indonesia to raise awareness of the impact of mining and extractive industries on affected communities.

Major meatpacker JBS misled the public about sustainability efforts, NY lawsuit claims (Mar 1 2024)
- New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against JBS USA Food Company and JBS USA Food Company Holdings for misrepresenting plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
- The lawsuit cites numerous instances in which the company’s claims to the public didn’t align with what was happening behind closed doors. Its website and advertisements have boasted claims about reaching net-zero carbon emissions while company executives were making plans to grow.
- The New York attorney general said JBS Group’s greenhouse gas emissions calculations don’t include deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, making its environmental goals “not feasible given the current scope of [its] business operations.”