The allure of the Amazon: real or imagined?
Commentary by Nick Werber What is it about the Amazon that fires the imagination? For as long as I can recall it has been a symbol for the Earth as it wants to be; a flourishing paradise perhaps, a place of explosive variegation, the jungle in full bloom. Like the untamed areas outside of the cities in Brave New World, The Heart of Darkness and The Lost World, the jungle has formed an archetype for all that is natural and untouched by...
Banana plantation threatens rainforest valley (video)
Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains were recently spared a titanium mine, however now the region faces a new peril: bananas. The Australian firm Indochina Gateway Capital Limited has proposed a banana plantation in the Southern Cardamom Mountains. The plantation would likely destroy an elephant corridor for one of Cambodia’s last wild elephant populations. In addition, pesticides used in the plantation could pollute local...
Last chance for the Xingu River and its people? (video)
Brazil recently announced it was going ahead with building the hugely controversial Belo Monte dam, although the construction is set to flood rainforest, change the character of the Xingu River, and displace at least 16,000 people, although transforming the lives of many tens-of-thousands more. Indigenous people along the Xingu have been fighting the dam for decades. Mongabay.com has been following the Belo Monte dam closely:...
Activism: save Southeast Asia’s last major primary lowland rainforest
Note: as a news organization, mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue further. Villagers from Prey Lang forest area rally in Cambodia’s capital against continuing destruction of their forest. Protestors dressed as ‘avatars’ to gain more attention to their plight. Photo courtesy of: Prey Lang Network. Cambodia’s Prey Lang...
Girl Scouts fighting palm oil receive wider media coverage (video)
After five years of campaigning, two Girl Scouts fighting palm oil in Girl Scout cookies are receiving wider media coverage this week after meeting with heads of Girl Scouts of the US. The organization has now agreed to research different options, such as sustainably-grown palm oil or using another ingredient, reports the Wall Street Journal. Above, the Girl Scout activists are interviewed on the CBS Early Show. For more information:...
Photos: illegal logging in Borneo
No pictures please: Illegal logger harvesting timber. On a recent trip to Borneo, Rhett Butler caught photographic evidence of illegal logging in Gunung Palung National Park. Shots taken from a recent visit to Gunung Palung National Park in Kalimantan. Photos by Rhett A. Butler, 2011. Illegally logged wood. Rainforest tree chopped down. Illegally logged timber in a pickup truck. Illegally logged...
The view from the air
Angel Falls in Venezuela. Photo by Rhett A. Butler River in the lowlands of Gabon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Rice fields in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Mountains in Western China. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Flowering trees in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. African buffalo in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Photo by Jeremy...