News and success stories
Stay in the loop with news of ongoing campaigns and successes in the fight against rainforest destruction.
© Stefanie Hess
Deutsche Bahn pulls out of proposed rail and port project in Amazonia
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.
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Uganda: Nine students arrested for protesting against Stanbic Bank
Police in Uganda have once again arrested students who were peacefully demonstrating against the EACOP pipeline project.
Liberia: Ecoguards patrol hundreds of kilometers on foot to protect chimpanzees
The 32 Ecoguards supported by Rainforest Rescue in Grebo-Krahn National Park covered 1,050 kilometers on foot to protect chimpanzees in 2024.
Indonesia: Indigenous peoples speak out against Merauke project
The “Merauke Declaration of Solidarity” calls for the immediate halt of the Indonesian government’s two-million-hectare sugar and bioethanol project.
Stop the CEPA Indonesia-EU trade deal!
123 civil society groups from Indonesia and Europe, including Rainforest Rescue, are calling for a stop to negotiations for the CEPA free trade agreement.
Tanzania: World Bank drops harmful project
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.
Nigeria: Environmentalist Odey Oyama arrested
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.
Ecuador: Spider monkeys reintroduced into the rainforest
Our Ecuadorian partner organization AmaZoonico recorded the moment that three spider monkeys were released into the wild after years of preparation.
No EU money for GPM rail and port project in Brazil!
Together with our Brazilian partners, we visited the European Commission in Brussels and succeeded in preventing the GPM project from getting funded.
Indonesia: The Tongka rainforest is safe!
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!
Deutsche Bahn conceals its involvement in Amazon rainforest rail and port project
Stop the appeasement and diversionary tactics: Deutsche Bahn must not support the planned GPM rail and port project in the Amazon rainforest!
COP16: A waste of time and a wasted opportunity
The 16th UN Biodiversity Conference was suspended without an agreement on funding. The question of how to pay for biodiversity conservation remains unanswered.
Indonesia: Striking a blow against the bird mafia
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.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Government calls off oil auction!
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.
Indonesia: New forest on old plantation land – the village of Simenakhenak
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.
Verdict in Indonesia: A healthy environment is a human right
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.
South America: Going up in smoke for more cattle and soy
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.
Indonesia: The wild orangutans are back!
Good news from our projects in the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra: Orangutans are returning to the reforested areas, and our rangers are curbing poaching.
Thanks to everyone who supported Kinipan!
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!”
The people have spoken: Tripa peat swamp forest, home of Sumatran orangutans, needs ironclad protection!
Our partner APEL Green Aceh delivered the petition “Indonesia: Protect the habitat of Tripa’s orangutans!” with more than 65,000 signatures.
Tanzania: Government backs down after Maasai protests
Tanzania’s government tried to strip 100,000 Maasai of voting rights to force them from their lands. After protests, the plan was reversed.
Court suspends deforestation of Argentina‘s Chaco
A court order gives the environment and the people suffering from the corruption-driven deforestation of Chaco a reprieve.
Indonesia: Prestigious award for Papua’s Indigenous Awyu activists
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.
DRC: Expulsion of the Batwa people ruled unjust
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.