News and success stories
Stay in the loop with news of ongoing campaigns and successes in the fight against rainforest destruction.
![Arrest of an activist from Mother Nature Cambodia](/photos/article/wide/xxl/festnahme-aktivisten-mnc-licadho-4.jpg)
Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to six to eight years for defending nature
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](/photos/article/wide/m/perempuan-suku-afsya-2023.jpg)
Indonesia: The Afsya people secure 40,000 hectares of forest in West Papua!
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](/photos/article/wide/m/2024-05-30-at-190441.jpg)
Brazil: Smallholder families successfully defend land against agribusiness giant
Brazilian smallholder families received legal assistance to take on an agribusiness giant and fight for their ancestral land.
![Dayak children in traditional clothing](/photos/article/wide/m/kubung-dayak-tomun-kinder-c-sob.jpg)
Borneo’s Dayak people a big step closer to formal recognition
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”](/photos/article/wide/m/protest-vor-vale-aktionarsversammlung-am-19-april-2024.jpg)
Activism at shareholder’s meetings of mining company Vale: Indonesia and Brazil
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](/photos/article/wide/m/53679134690-456e57a2a0-o.jpg)
Brazil: All land is Indigenous, all property is colonial
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](/photos/article/wide/m/elisa-bei-weltbank5-17-4-2024.jpg)
World Bank suspends controversial financing in Tanzania
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”](/photos/article/wide/m/sorbatua-tpl-a-2024-03-25-c-walhi-sumut.jpg)
Indonesia: Indigenous elder abducted for resisting the paper industry
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](/photos/article/wide/m/mujeres-solicitan-acceso-al-cementerio-frente-al-punto-de-control-de-agropalma-foto-por-anderson-barbosa.jpg)
The sustainability scam: “certified” palm oil from Brazil
There is nothing “sustainable” about certified palm oil. The solution: please choose alternative products WITHOUT palm oil!
![Chimpanzees in Sapo National Park](/photos/article/wide/m/schimpanse-sonja-metzger-wcf.jpg)
Carbon credits: The next round of indulgence trade in Liberia
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](/photos/article/wide/m/flight-black-capped-lory-1.jpg)
Rescued: Proboscis monkeys, leopard cats and black-capped lories returned to the wild
Our Indonesian partner, Flight, rescues wildlife from smugglers, fights the trade in exotic birds, and releases songbirds back into the wild.
![Male orangutan facepalming](/photos/article/wide/m/orangutan-tanjung-putin-denkend.jpg)
Borneo: New clear-cutting in the orangutan forest – for paper!
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](/photos/article/wide/m/afi-mountain-wieldlife-sanctuary-stakeholders-meeting.jpg)
Nigeria: Growing lawlessness endangers forest communities
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](/photos/article/wide/m/53559910641-02b2e72d36-o.jpg)
Speaking out against Tesla’s German Gigafactory, mining in the global South
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](/photos/article/wide/m/aktionsgrafik-slapps-1280x800.jpg)
EU puts a stop to abusive SLAPP lawsuits
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](/photos/article/wide/m/sanz-hess-img-2160.jpg)
Inauguration of Mexico’s “Mayan Train”: No reason to celebrate
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](/photos/article/wide/m/kaapor-pancarta-wildlife-works-fora.jpg)
Brazil: Indigenous Ka’apor people denounce abuses by carbon traders
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](/photos/article/wide/m/istock-941954748.jpg)
For true climate protection: Don’t fuel the fire!
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](/photos/article/wide/m/istock-36293724-xlarge.jpg)
Trophy hunting: Debunking the hunting lobby’s lies
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”)](/photos/article/wide/m/captura-de-pantalla-2024-01-25-a-las-24-23.png)
Brazil: Mob of 200 landowners and police militia kill Pataxó Indigenous leader
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](/photos/article/wide/m/33198853868-262fcb5d3d-k.jpg)
One of Brazil's largest socio-environmental and labor tragedies – five years on
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)](/photos/article/wide/m/leuser-orang-utan.jpg)
Indonesia: 14 years of impunity for arson in Tripa peat swamp forest
The palm oil company Kallista Alam went for ten years without paying the fine for its slash-and-burn clearing in the Leuser Ecosystem.