Misty rainforest in Sumatra (photo)
Nov04

Misty rainforest in Sumatra (photo)

Indonesia’s Bukit Tigapuluh National Park is one of the last strongholds of lowland tropical rainforest in Sumatra. Most of the island’s lowland forests have been destroyed for palm oil, timber, and agriculture. More pictures from Sumatra.

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Rainforest at dusk (photo)
Oct23

Rainforest at dusk (photo)

A profile of Borneo’s rainforest at twilight. Taken in September 2014 at the Rainforest Discovery Center in Sandakan, Sabah.

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Hollowed-out trunk of a strangler fig (photo)
Oct20

Hollowed-out trunk of a strangler fig (photo)

This is a view from the base of a strangler fig in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan, China. The tree that once served as the support for this strangler has long since rotted away, leaving only the roots of the fig.

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A jungle day-trip: studying brazil nuts in the Peruvian Amazon
Oct30

A jungle day-trip: studying brazil nuts in the Peruvian Amazon

By Eleanor Warren-Thomas The day begins at around 5 a.m., when the sounds of motorbikes revving, dogs barking, wood being chopped and shouting men start to permeate the room. I haven’t needed to set my alarm for weeks. I am here to help run a project on Brazil nut harvesting from lowland rainforests in Madre de Dios, in the Peruvian Amazon. Brazil nut collection from these forests forms a huge part of many people’s livelihood in this...

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Deep inside Guyana: the beautiful and biodiverse Rupununi region
Jul22

Deep inside Guyana: the beautiful and biodiverse Rupununi region

By Benedicte de Waziers Deep inside Guyana’s territory hides an enigmatic ecosystem that few people have heard of. The Rupununi region–Raponani in Carib–is located in the Takutu basin in Southern Guyana. The Rupununi is home to many Amerindian tribes, including the Makushi. Despite its fast-growing population and urbanization, the Rupununi provides invaluable services for its inhabitants. The majority of the Makushi people settle...

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Activism: funds needed to replant forest for nearly-extinct loris

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 in comments. Horton Plains slender loris. Photo courtesy of EDGE. Researchers estimate that only 80 Horton Plains slender loris (Loris tardigradus nycticeboides) survive in the world. After believed to be extinct ZSL EDGE rediscovered the subspecies in a dwindling Sri Lanka...

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Banana plantation threatens rainforest valley (video)
Jun21

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...

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Activism: save Southeast Asia’s last major primary lowland rainforest
Jun02

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...

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Girl Scouts fighting palm oil receive wider media coverage (video)
May24

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:...

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Pictures: Primary forests included, secondary forests excluded in Indonesia’s moratorium

This week Indonesia officially signed a moratorium on the granting of new logging and plantation permits in primary forests and peatlands. Secondary forests are excluded from the measure.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron visit indigenous community threatened by mega-dam (video)

Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron visit an Arara village on the Big Bend of the Xingu River, which is imperiled by Brazil’s mega-dam Belo Monte. For more information on the Belo Monte: Bill Clinton takes on Brazil’s megadams, James Cameron backs tribal groups (03/28/2011) Former US President, Bill Clinton, spoke out against Brazil’s megadams at the 2nd World Sustainability Forum, which was also attended by...

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Photo: A giant tree

Me in front of a giant kapok or ceiba tree on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. This is nowhere near the largest kapok tree I’ve ever seen — they get considerably bigger — but it is nonetheless gigantic. The same ceiba, which is called “The Big Tree”, seen from a distance. The same ceiba tree seen from a boat on Lake Gatun (e.g. Panama Canal). Looking up the trunk of the kapok tree Again, me for...

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Series of films explore challenges in Monteverde cloud forest (videos)

A new series of 11 films looks back on the last 50 years of history in the Monteverde cloud forest in Costa Rica, and looks forward to the future. According to Monteverde Now website: “‘Monteverde Now’ gives you access to place where change cannot be ignored-Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest. It is a collection of 11 short films about people who live and work in one of our planet’s most diverse and delicate...

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Trailer: When Two World’s Collide (video)

When Two Worlds Collide (trailer) from Yachaywasi Films on Vimeo. The film follows the struggle of indigenous people to save their Amazonian home from the Peruvian government and industrial corporations, especially focusing on the role of Alberto Pizango, hero and leader to indigenous people, who was arrested last year in Peru for sedition and rebellion. According to the film’s website: “The hazardous journey of an...

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Trailer for Oka! Amerikee, eco-drama set in the Congo rainforest

Filmed in the Congo rainforest of the Central African Republic (CAR), a region rarely explored in film, the movie tells the story of an American ethnomusicologist living with the indigenous Bayaka people, also known as the pygmies, as loggers invade their land. According to the film’s website: “The movie is partly based on the life’s work of Louis Sarno, who has lived with and recorded the music of the Central African...

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Photos: some of our best rainforest shots

Sunset over Borneo rainforest . Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Fast-flowing creek forming the border of Bwindi park in Uganda. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Kapok tree towering over the forest in Costa Rica. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Giant dipterocarp tree on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Brownsberg reserve in Surianme. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Rainforest waterfall in Malaysian Borneo . Photo by Rhett A. Butler....

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Volunteer opportunity in the Peruvian Amazon
Mar06

Volunteer opportunity in the Peruvian Amazon

Chanti waterfall. Photo courtesy of: The Amazon Waterfalls Association. Have you ever dreamed of visiting the Amazon? How about touring little-seen jungle waterfalls—one of which is three times taller than the Eiffel Tower and 17 times taller than Niagara Falls? The Amazon Waterfalls Association is looking for a few good volunteers to help develop walking paths passing by a series of astounding waterfalls in Peru. “The trek...

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Activism: titanium mine approved in Cambodia
Feb17

Activism: titanium mine approved in Cambodia

Note: mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue in comments. Asian elephants in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of Wildlife Alliance. Cambodia has approved a controversial titanium mine in the heart of the Cardamom Mountain forests. Home to many endangered species, critics say the open-pit mine will pollute waterways, destroy over 20,000 hectares of...

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Photo: world’s most threatened forest
Feb03

Photo: world’s most threatened forest

Forest along the Nam Ou river in Laos. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Deforestation for a rubber plantation in Laos. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Yesterday, Conservation International (CI) released a top 10 list of the world’s most threatened biodiverse forest. Number one were the forests of Indo-Burma, including Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), and parts of China and India. This landscape includes the forests in Laos...

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Cultural survival at stake for the rainforest Penan of Borneo

The Penan tribe in Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo, are trying to stop logging and palm oil companies destroying their rainforest home. Survival International, the organisation supporting tribal peoples, is campaigning for the Penan’s rights to their land. Survival researcher Miriam Ross traveled to Sarawak to meet some of the tribe. In one nomadic Penan community, Pisang, a Penan hunter, told her his story.

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