News and success stories
Stay in the loop with news of ongoing campaigns and successes in the fight against rainforest destruction.
“Days of Fire” ravage Amazonia
Fires are ravaging the Amazon rainforest as never before. President Bolsonaro has been emboldening Brazil’s corporate arsonists.
Recent successes
Current petitions
Malaysian federal government will look into land reclamation controversy
We have succeeded in raising the issue of land reclamation and sand mining to the Malaysian national level, thus improving our chances of lobbying for a desirable outcome.
Promote our current petition on your website with the Rainforest Rescue widget
If you manage your own web presence, you can support us in our mission to protect the world’s rainforests by adding our new widget to your site.
Hippo “cull” in Zambia canceled!
2,000 hippos in Zambia are safe! Local and international pressure prompted the Zambian government to call off the planned “cull”.
Indonesian police protects oil palms with guns drawn
Indonesian police is “protecting” oil palms with weapons drawn, taking brutal action against locals who want to preserve Batu Gadur forest.
Malaysia: slashing Sarawak’s forests for palm oil
Cutting down timber worth $10 million without a permit? It's not an unusual occurrence in the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
UN: extinction crisis endangers us all
The current mass extinction threatens the future of humanity. Unless we take drastic action, one million species could soon vanish.
Palm oil and timber industry driving increased rainforest destruction
The destruction of tropical forests remained at alarming levels in 2018. The development was particularly dramatic in previously untouched rainforests.
Nigeria: paying for a forest “superhighway” for the next 180 years?
€740,000 a month – for the next 180 years? That’s the princely compensation for the company slated to build Nigeria’s “superhighway” to nowhere.
Sabah chief minister renounces deforestation for highways
The chief minister of the Malaysian state of Sabah has called for the preservation of forests by expanding existing roads for the Pan Borneo Highway.
Baby steps toward banning palm oil biofuel in the EU
The EU is the world’s second largest importer of palm oil – and more than half of the tropical oil is added to diesel fuel.
Finally, a cocoa plan – time to act!
We’re a big step closer to chocolate without a guilty conscience – Germany finally wants to act against child labor and deforestation in the cocoa industry.
A sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees
Orphaned and formerly captive chimpanzees deserve a good life. In Liberia, a small private organization is dedicated to caring for more than 40 such primates.
Human rights award for anti-cement activists
The 2018 Yap Thiam Hien Human Rights Award honors Indonesian activists who are fighting to save their homeland from the cement, sand and palm oil industries.
Sumatra’s elephant forest is safe!
Our partners on Sumatra scored a resounding success: 2,000 acres of forest in Sepintun now officially belong to the local indigenous people – and the elephants.
Sierra Leone rejects Chinese-funded “One Belt, One Road” airport
Sierra Leone, a tiny country in West Africa, is standing up to pressure from China to build a new international airport that it doesn’t need.
We beat the plantation companies!
Our partners in the Philippines scored two successes: the government put a moratorium on the spread of oil palm plantations and shut down two coconut palm companies.
Vancouver Island: speaking out for “ancient trees, not big stumps”
Rainforest Rescue and Sierra Club BC delivered a petition to protect the ancient rainforests of British Columbia, Canada, to the province’s premier, John Horgan.
120 environmental NGOs call for an end to biomass
120 environmental NGOs from all over the world are calling for forests to be protected, not burned. Logging for energy generation is the opposite of climate protection.
Trophy hunters push giraffes toward extinction
A flourishing, unregulated market for giraffe skins and bones in the United States is decimating this iconic species of the African savanna.
“Sustainable” fishing? The dark side of the MSC label
As an ethical consumer, how do you choose seafood that was sustainably produced? Who is behind the MSC label, and is it truly independent?
Environmentalists applaud progress against biomass
Environmentalists are applauding a government decision ruling out subsidies for new UK biomass power stations fueled by imported wood pellets.
Fighting the good fight – with your support
Does our work make a difference? Yes, together with our hard-working partners and the international pressure generated by your signatures, we’re scoring real successes.
Orcas can breathe easier: court stops tar sand oil pipeline
A Canadian court has stopped the expansion of an oil pipeline because the impact of the project on whales was neglected – a great success for Canada’s First Nations.
Indonesia pressures the EU: Airbus must use palm oil jet fuel
Indonesia is pushing for its companies to be allowed to build palm oil jet fuel plants in the United States and France as a condition for buying Boeing and Airbus airliners.
China's “Belt & Road Initiative” – and what it means for the planet
The "Belt & Road Initiative" infrastructure mega-project: what China's geopolitical and business ambitions mean for biodiversity and the climate.
ALERT urges Indonesian president: save the world's rarest ape
25 world-leading scientists from ALERT urged Indonesian President Joko Widodo to halt a hydropower project that would imperil the rarest great ape in the world.
Wildlife crime: global seizures and arrests in transcontinental operation
An operation coordinated by INTERPOL against the illegal trade in wildlife has seen hundreds of seizures worldwide as well as suspects arrested.
Study on EU biofuel use: burning wood harms the climate
The EU wants to boost the use of biomass energy. However, a new study warns that instead of protecting the climate, it will result in even more greenhouse gas emissions.
Join protests against forest destruction for bioenergy in London and York
Please help to protect forests, biodiversity and the climate, and join our protests against the biomass industry in London,18th April, 5pm ..
Brazil: monkeys can breathe easier
Thanks to an international outcry, Netflix is no longer spreading false information about yellow fever and howler monkeys that prompted the wholesale killing of monkeys.