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News and success stories

Stay in the loop with news of ongoing campaigns and successes in the fight against rainforest destruction.


Handover of petition on bauxite in Berlin

More than 42,000 people demand: “Protect human rights when promoting foreign trade”

May 16, 2025 On May 15, Rainforest Rescue and FIAN presented the petition "Aluminum: Germany's profit is Guinea's destruction" to the Ministry of Economic Affairs

Maasai in Tanzania

World Bank project in Tanzania: Rangers kill two villagers

May 14, 2025 In Tanzania, rangers from the national park authority, which was co-financed by the World Bank, have killed two villagers.

Officials and military personnel on clear-cut land

Commission Report: Merauke PSN Sugar and Bioethanol Project Violates Human Rights

May 13, 2025 The Human Rights Commission criticizes the actions of the National Strategic Project for the production of sugar, bioethanol and rice, Merauke PSN.

Oil pumpjack with a cloudy sky in the background

DRC Approves Oil Exploration in Critical Peatland

May 7, 2025 In a shock announcement, the government of the DRC has approved the opening 52 new oil exploration blocks in the fragile ecosystem of the Cuvette Centrale peatlands.

Young woman holding a large placard with the text “Free Mother Nature Activist!”

Free the Mother Nature Cambodia activists NOW!

Apr 25, 2025 Five young members of Mother Nature Cambodia (MNC) have been imprisoned for 300 days. On April 30, the Supreme Court will decide on their request for bail.

A group of people protesting with large, colorful banners in front of three office buildings

Deutsche Bahn pulls out of proposed rail and port project in Amazonia

Apr 9, 2025 After a year of campaigning, Deutsche Bahn (DB) has informed us that it no longer intends to participate in the GPM rail and export port project in the Amazon rainforest.

Ugandan students protesting against the EACOP pipeline

Uganda: Nine students arrested for protesting against Stanbic Bank

Apr 2, 2025 Police in Uganda have once again arrested students who were peacefully demonstrating against the EACOP pipeline project.

Chimpanzee in Grebo-Krahn National Park, Liberia

Liberia: Ecoguards patrol hundreds of kilometers on foot to protect chimpanzees

Apr 2, 2025 The 32 Ecoguards supported by Rainforest Rescue in Grebo-Krahn National Park covered 1,050 kilometers on foot to protect chimpanzees in 2024.

Cover of the “Merauke Declaration of Solidarity” with excavator

Indonesia: Indigenous peoples speak out against Merauke project

Mar 15, 2025 The “Merauke Declaration of Solidarity” calls for the immediate halt of the Indonesian government’s two-million-hectare sugar and bioethanol project.

Poster: STOP the Indonesia-EU trade deal!

Stop the CEPA Indonesia-EU trade deal!

Feb 18, 2025 123 civil society groups from Indonesia and Europe, including Rainforest Rescue, are calling for a stop to negotiations for the CEPA free trade agreement.

Zebras in the savanna

Tanzania: World Bank drops harmful project

Jan 21, 2025 The World Bank has discontinued funding for the REGROW project in Tanzania following harsh criticism. 80,935 people had called for this in a petition.

Odey Oyama is a staunch defender of Cross River National Park.

Nigeria: Environmentalist Odey Oyama arrested

Jan 20, 2025 Our partner, Odey Oyama, was arrested in Nigeria. Local activists and Rainforest Rescue are calling for an immediate end to his harassment by the authorities.

A white-bellied spider monkey on a tree

Ecuador: Spider monkeys reintroduced into the rainforest

Dec 18, 2024 Our Ecuadorian partner organization AmaZoonico recorded the moment that three spider monkeys were released into the wild after years of preparation.

Group photo of seven people in front of the entrance of a building of the EU Commission in Brussels

No EU money for GPM rail and port project in Brazil!

Dec 6, 2024 Together with our Brazilian partners, we visited the European Commission in Brussels and succeeded in preventing the GPM project from getting funded.

Men at the foot of a huge tree

Indonesia: The Tongka rainforest is safe!

Nov 20, 2024 Thanks to our partner Save Our Borneo, the village of Tongka on the Barito River in Borneo now has an official title to nearly 6,000 hectares of its ancestral forest!

A young man stands with an envelope in front of a glass door with the inscription DB Main Entrance, Corporate Headquarters

Deutsche Bahn conceals its involvement in Amazon rainforest rail and port project

Nov 13, 2024 Stop the appeasement and diversionary tactics: Deutsche Bahn must not support the planned GPM rail and port project in the Amazon rainforest!

Tapanuli orangutan

COP16: A waste of time and a wasted opportunity

Nov 5, 2024 The 16th UN Biodiversity Conference was suspended without an agreement on funding. The question of how to pay for biodiversity conservation remains unanswered.

Head of a green bird with a yellow crown

Indonesia: Striking a blow against the bird mafia

Nov 1, 2024 A truck carrying 6,514 birds crammed into 216 crates was seized at a port in Sumatra. This is the outcome of the tireless work of our partner organization, Flight.

Bonobo in the forest, DR Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo: Government calls off oil auction!

Oct 16, 2024 The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo canceled the auction of 27 oil concessions! Local activists opposed the project with the support of Rainforest Rescue.

Old wooden house

Indonesia: New forest on old plantation land – the village of Simenakhenak

Oct 2, 2024 The Sumatran village of Simenakhenak is recovering 252 hectares of forest with the help of Rainforest Rescue. A new forest of coffee and native trees is being created.

A large group of people in front of the courthouse in Andoolo

Verdict in Indonesia: A healthy environment is a human right

Oct 1, 2024 A court on Sulawesi acquitted Haslilin and Andi Firmansyah from Torobulu on October 1, 2024. According to the court, everyone has the human right to a healthy environment.

A man looks into the camera wearing a helmet and goggles while bushes burn and smoke rises in the background

South America: Going up in smoke for more cattle and soy

Sep 27, 2024 Much of South America is suffering from drought – and fires are being set to clear the forest for cattle ranching and industrial monocultures such as soy.

A Sumatran orangutan in a tree

Indonesia: The wild orangutans are back!

Sep 11, 2024 Good news from our projects in the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra: Orangutans are returning to the reforested areas, and our rangers are curbing poaching.

Willem Hengki and Siti Nurbaya, with numerous photographers in the background

Thanks to everyone who supported Kinipan!

Sep 8, 2024 During the abrupt visit of the Minister for Environment and Forestry on September 7 in Kinipan, we presented her with the petition “Please help us save Kinipan forest!”

Four people with a large #SaveRawaTripa banner

The people have spoken: Tripa peat swamp forest, home of Sumatran orangutans, needs ironclad protection!

Sep 2, 2024 Our partner APEL Green Aceh delivered the petition “Indonesia: Protect the habitat of Tripa’s orangutans!” with more than 65,000 signatures.

Maasai women and men in colorful cloths at a market, a woman looks at the camera

Tanzania: Government backs down after Maasai protests

Aug 28, 2024 Tanzania’s government tried to strip 100,000 Maasai of voting rights to force them from their lands. After protests, the plan was reversed.

Aerial view of two large rectangular deforested areas and access roads cut into the forest

Court suspends deforestation of Argentina‘s Chaco

Aug 27, 2024 A court order gives the environment and the people suffering from the corruption-driven deforestation of Chaco a reprieve.

Group of Indigenous Awyu in traditional clothing

Indonesia: Prestigious award for Papua’s Indigenous Awyu activists

Aug 10, 2024 A great honor for the Indigenous Awyu from Boven Digoel in southern Papua: the Indonesian Tasrif Prize for freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Indigenous Batwa: women and children in a village near Bukavu

DRC: Expulsion of the Batwa people ruled unjust

Aug 7, 2024 The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has issued a historic ruling in favor of the Indigenous Batwa: They have the right to return to their ancestral lands.

Arrest of an activist from Mother Nature Cambodia

Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to six to eight years for defending nature

Jul 2, 2024 A Phnom Penh court sentenced environmental activists from Mother Nature Cambodia to lengthy prison terms on Tuesday, July 2. We demand their immediate release!

Three women dressed in red fabric and colorful feather headdresses

Indonesia: The Afsya people secure 40,000 hectares of forest in West Papua!

Jun 8, 2024 40,000 hectares of West Papuan rainforest are safe! Seven Indigenous communities and their forests have been officially recognized – a major victory after years of struggle.

Smallholder families receive legal support from CPT Maranhão

Brazil: Smallholder families successfully defend land against agribusiness giant

May 30, 2024 Brazilian smallholder families received legal assistance to take on an agribusiness giant and fight for their ancestral land.

Dayak children in traditional clothing

Borneo’s Dayak people a big step closer to formal recognition

May 16, 2024 A success after ten years of struggle for their rights: The Indigenous Dayak Tomun of Kubung village have applied for recognition as a community under Indigenous law.

Four men hold placards reading “Save the forest and livelihoods of the people of Loeha Raya”

Activism at shareholder’s meetings of mining company Vale: Indonesia and Brazil

May 16, 2024 For many human rights organizations, shareholder meetings are an essential opportunity for participation: the case of mining giant Vale.

Three Indigenous people wearing large round feather headdresses

Brazil: All land is Indigenous, all property is colonial

Apr 29, 2024 Every April, the Indigenous peoples of Brazil demand the recognition of their ancestral lands with the “Free Land” protest camp in the capital Brasilia.

Rainforest Rescue activist Elisa Norio at the World Bank

World Bank suspends controversial financing in Tanzania

Apr 23, 2024 The World Bank is suspending funding for the controversial REGROW project in Tanzania. The Bank gave Rainforest Rescue its assurance during its Spring Meetings.

Protest in front of high fence with banner “Free Sorbatua Siallagan”

Indonesia: Indigenous elder abducted for resisting the paper industry

Apr 3, 2024 Sorbatua Siallagan, an Indigenous elder on Sumatra, was abducted for wanting to keep the paper industry out of his people’s forest.

Two women behind a high barred gate are being checked by a guard. Inscription on the sign: Agropalma. Access control for Nossa Senhora da Batalha cemetery. Private property

The sustainability scam: “certified” palm oil from Brazil

Mar 27, 2024 There is nothing “sustainable” about certified palm oil. The solution: please choose alternative products WITHOUT palm oil!

Chimpanzees in Sapo National Park

Carbon credits: The next round of indulgence trade in Liberia

Mar 22, 2024 The fight over Liberia’s forests is entering a new round. BluEarth Carbon, a U.S.-based company, wants in on the lucrative carbon credit market.

Two black-capped lories in a cage

Rescued: Proboscis monkeys, leopard cats and black-capped lories returned to the wild

Mar 22, 2024 Our Indonesian partner, Flight, rescues wildlife from smugglers, fights the trade in exotic birds, and releases songbirds back into the wild.

Male orangutan facepalming

Borneo: New clear-cutting in the orangutan forest – for paper!

Mar 20, 2024 In Borneo, a company is destroying orangutan habitat and stealing Indigenous land to establish eucalyptus and acacia plantations for the paper industry.

Villagers, environmentalists and eco-guards discuss dangers of Afi Mountain Sanctuary, Nigeria

Nigeria: Growing lawlessness endangers forest communities

Mar 19, 2024 Logging, illegal mining, poaching and armed groups are making the forests of eastern Nigeria unsafe. Local communities are threatened.

“Water is a Human Right” banner in a pine forest

Speaking out against Tesla’s German Gigafactory, mining in the global South

Mar 14, 2024 Protesters are calling for a stop to the expansion of the Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin. Rainforest Rescue took part to speak out against destructive mining.

Graphic: SLAPP suits are intended to silence critics

EU puts a stop to abusive SLAPP lawsuits

Feb 27, 2024 The EU is finally getting a directive to combat abusive lawsuits, or SLAPPs, that will make it harder for corporations and powerful individuals to silence critics.

Path cut into the rainforest for the Tren Maya railroad line

Inauguration of Mexico’s “Mayan Train”: No reason to celebrate

Feb 20, 2024 While sections of the Tren Maya tourist railroad in Mexico are ceremoniously inaugurated, the fight against the impacts of railroad construction in the rainforest continues.

A group of Indigenous people with protest banners in front of a hut thatched with palm fronds

Brazil: Indigenous Ka’apor people denounce abuses by carbon traders

Feb 20, 2024 The Indigenous Ka’apor people call on the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Maranhão to take action to evict the carbon trader Wildlife Works from their territory.

Oil pumpjack with a cloudy sky in the background

For true climate protection: Don’t fuel the fire!

Feb 2, 2024 At the COP28 conference, Europe pledged to phase out fossil fuels. In reality, the EU wants to fall back on dangerous and costly false solutions.

An African elephant

Trophy hunting: Debunking the hunting lobby’s lies

Jan 29, 2024 Rainforest Rescue has long said NO to tourists shooting elephants, rhinos and lions for fun. Belgium is leading the way with a trophy import ban.

A participant of the funeral service embraces Maria Muniz Tupinambá, sister of the murdered Indigenous leader Maria de Fátima Muniz Pataxó (“Nega”)

Brazil: Mob of 200 landowners and police militia kill Pataxó Indigenous leader

Jan 29, 2024 Brazil: 200 landowners used WhatsApp to coordinate an attack on the Pataxó people, killed their leader and seriously wounding her brother.

Aerial view of the Brumadinho dam collapse, February 2019

One of Brazil's largest socio-environmental and labor tragedies – five years on

Jan 26, 2024 One of Brazil's most notorious socio-environmental and labor disasters, the Brumadinho dam failure case still haunts the nation five years on.

Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)

Indonesia: 14 years of impunity for arson in Tripa peat swamp forest

Jan 3, 2024 The palm oil company Kallista Alam went for ten years without paying the fine for its slash-and-burn clearing in the Leuser Ecosystem.

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