Here in Riau, Indonesia, signs of the struggle to save the last of Sumatra’s forest is everywhere. Daily, the papers cover stories of timber and oil palm companies destroying forests, engaging in corruption, driving land conflicts, sponsoring violence, and marginalizing indigenous peoples. Today, on the way to a meeting with the local NGO Elang, I passed [...]

I never expected Indonesian rainforest protection to become “fashionable,” per se. Yet, with Gucci Group’s announcement that it will eliminate all paper made from Indonesian rainforests and plantations and by controversial suppliers like Asia Pulp and Paper, it has become just that. Today Gucci Group, the prestigious conglomerate of fashion and luxury brands, including such brands [...]

The controversy surrounding the US Chamber of Commerce continues. The labor coalition Change to Win recently issued a report on how the Chamber has been hijacked by right wing ideologues, whose opposition to regulation of greenhouse gas pollution has included calling for the EPA to conduct a ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ on climate change. In a [...]

RAN believes that indigenous peoples are the best stewards of rainforests. Supporting this belief, a new study by researchers at U of Illinois and U of Michigan has added to the growing body of evidence that indigenous peoples are better protectors of their forests than governments or industry. In a review of 80 forests in 10 [...]

The largest industry trade group in the world is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a coalition of some 3 million leading corporations. This behemoth includes some of the most environmentally awful players like Peabody Coal, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Massey Energy, along with a number of companies working to lighten their climate footprint like FedEx, General [...]

I’m sitting opposite the ‘Hotel Black Gold’ as the sun goes down over Lago Agrio and the streets start to hum with evening traffic, people returning home from work and families out walking together. It’s hard to believe that just a few short hours ago this street was filled with hundreds of indigenous people and [...]

Fabiola is a beautiful thirteen-year old girl with sparkling bright eyes and an infectious smile. As we approached her house in the village of Taracoa in Ecuador, she marched right over to us in her green t-shirt and rainbow flip flops, stuck out her hand in introduction – and shook each of ours vigorously. Her [...]

David Gaveau et al. have released an innovate paper that takes a critical look at the widely touted Reduced Emissions through avoided Deforestation and Degredation (REDD) project in the Ulu Masen Ecosystem of Aceh, Sumatra. Sumatra is ground zero for the oil palm and pulp-and-paper industries, and, like many tropical habitats, suffers from a severe lack [...]

Evidence is mounting about the social and environmental consequences of industrialized biofuels, aka agrofuels. A new paper from RAN concludes that we cannot grow our way out of our oil addiction. Because of agrofuels’ impacts on climate change, direct and indirect land use impacts, fossil fuel inputs, and the investments they may draw away from [...]

Sumatra’s Bukit Tigapuluh landscape is one of the worlds richest collections of lowland rainforest, biodiversity, and site of the world’s only successful Orangutan rehabilitation program. Margaret Swink’s great depiction of the threat the pulp-and-paper industry poses to the Tigapuluh, and how current climate negotiations in Bangkok completely fail to offer up a Reduced Emissions through Avoided [...]