Indonesian Forest Protections Under Attack

I wish I didn’t have to write this blog post on Earth Day. The rainforest where I saw my first wild orangutan is under threat. I can’t believe it! There are many reasons to protect the Leuser Protected Ecosystem, a forest area on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Thousands of Indigenous people rely on the [...]

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Congress: Protect the Forests and Wildlife of the World From Illegal Logging

Did you know that almost half of all rainforest destruction is done illegally? Government corruption, lax laws and poor enforcement result in widespread illegal deforestation across the globe. This unofficial forest clearing makes it extremely challenging to truly protect critically endangered species like the orangutan or Sumatran tiger from extinction and it contributes enormous amounts [...]

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Deadly Violence Against Environmentalists On The Rise Worldwide

“We all stand before history.“- Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed for environmental advocacy, Nigeria, Nov. 10, 1995 What the hell is going on out there? I know a lot people targeted by our federal government and corporate private security for their organizing work. We’ve got the FBI targeting environmentalists, anarchists and Occupiers as “terrorists.” Homeland Security leads [...]

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Rainforest Action Network Victories: Top Ten of 2010

Making change in the world is hard work — some times decades-long hard work. But with the right combination of strategies, experience, tenacity, and allies, it is possible to achieve victories that have a lasting impact. This year, Rainforest Action Network took on corporate titans and secured real wins for the world’s forests, the climate, [...]

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Top 10 Ways To Celebrate World Rainforest Week

Happy World Rainforest Week! How will YOU celebrate rainforests from October 17-24? Please add your ideas, activities, and commitments as a comment to this blog to keep our thoughts and actions fresh with new ways to think global and act local. Here are some ideas from our staff, friends, and activist like YOU about how [...]

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APP Promises Conservation: Don’t Hold Your Breath

Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), Indonesia’s largest and most controversial logger, made another promise this week. APP announced that one of the rainforest logging and conversion permits it controls (located in the globally significant peatland forests of the Sumatra’s Kampar Peninsula) will be re-licensed as a carbon conservation project. However, given the [...]

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President Director of APRIL subsidiary responds to Rainforest Action Network

On August 28th I posted APRIL the pulp and paper giant violates Indonesian laws and community rights. This post was based on two sources, a letter from the community of Teluk Meranti rejecting the operations of an APRIL subsidiary on their customary lands, and a report by Eyes on the Forest questioning the legality of [...]

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Letter from Indonesian community threatened by pulp-and-paper

TELUK MERANTI COMMUNITY LETTER OF REJECTION TOWARDS RAPP COMPANY (APRIL) Regarding: UPHOLDING TELUK MERANTI COMMUNITY RIGHTS To the Honourable, President Director of RAPP company (April) With this, the community of Teluk Meranti subdistrict, based on our needs to the land located across the river or land intended to become a part of your company’s operational [...]

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Indonesia’s deforestation: no mystery here

A new report published in Environmental Research Letters uses precise satellite imaging to show that the pace of forest clearing in Indonesia steadily increased from 2000-2005. At the end of the team’s study period in 2005, the rate of deforestation had reached 1 million hectares per year, with 70% of that deforestation occurring in Sumatra [...]

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Huge News for Ontario’s Boreal Forest and its peoples.

The Ontario Government just announced plans to protect 56 million acres of Northern Boreal forest from all industry. The area falls entirely in the traditional territories of 36 First Nations communities, who are mostly affiliated with the Nishnaabe Aski Nation. The plan commits to bringing protection in Ontario’s roadless Northern Boreal region up to 50% [...]

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