Rhett A. Butler

Greenhouse gas emissions from peat fires in Borneo and Sumatra are currently exceeding emissions from the entire U.S. economy, putting Indonesia on track to be one of the world’s largest carbon polluters this year, according to data published a researcher at the University of Amsterdam.

Good news on the environmental front in Madagascar has been rare and fleeting in recent years, but today the Indian Ocean island’s Prime Minister gave conservationists a bit of hope by officially decreeing seven new reserves that target critical habitats for endangered lemurs, chameleons, and frogs.

Dozens of fires are raging across Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park National Park, a protected area that has lost more than 40 percent of its forest cover since 2000, reveals new analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

An outfit usually associated with investigating arms dealers and weapons traffickers is applying its advanced network mapping capabilities to criminal wildlife trafficking syndicates.

A high profile pledge by the world’s largest meat company to limit deforestation for cattle production in the Amazon appears to be working, resulting in a dramatic increase in compliance with environmental registries and reduced forest clearing among supplier ranches, finds a comprehensive study published in the journal Conservation Letters.

Conservationists rescued another orangutan stranded in Sumatra by expanding oil palm plantations, spotlighting continued fragmentation and destruction of red ape habitat on the Indonesian island.

Up to 64 percent of above-ground biomass in selectively logged forests may consist of dead wood left over from logging damage, argues a paper published this week in Environmental Research Letters.

A group of prominent researchers, philanthropists, and activists are calling for a doubling of the planet’s native forest canopy by 2035 as a way to make a “U-turn” on global environmental degradation.

Surging demand for natural rubber is decimating some of the world’s most endangered forests, putting wildlife and critical ecosystem services at risk, warn scientists writing in the journal Conservation Letters.