News and success stories
Stay in the loop with news of ongoing campaigns and successes in the fight against rainforest destruction.
Plaintiff to BP for nature's rights in Ecuador's constitutional court
Environmentalists, human rights activists and citizens file lawsuit in Ecuador against BP for catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in spring 2010.
Current petitions
The Sustainability Lie – A film about the dirty palm oil business
From 8th to 11th November, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is holding its Annual General Assembly in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Europe wants to import ever more cheap palm oil and RSPO-certificates are buying producers and customers a good conscience. However, sustainable palm oil production is a myth, not a reality. Today, the NGO Rainforest Rescue is releasing a film about deforestation and evictions in Indonesia at the hands of the world's largest palm oil company.
Seven arrests in Sarawak (Malaysia) over logging dispute
BMF (Bruno Manser Fund) has just received the news that the Malaysian police have arrested Nicholas Mujah, the Secretary General of the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA) and six Iban villagers, including the headman of Kampung Bajong in Sebuyau, Sarawak.
Not Now, Not Never: the World Bank and oil palm
Interview with Guadalupe Rodriguez from Rainforest Rescue. Oil palm monoculture plantations are not and will never be sustainable” say environmentalist organizations such as Biofuelwatch, Rainforest Rescue, Ecologistas en Accion and the World Rainforest Movement, after the review process –more formal than real- of the World Bank investments in oil palm.
FSC certified - Sustainable on paper: the eucalyptus plantations of Bahia, Brazil
NGOs, city administrations and publishers worldwide switch to FSC-certified paper. Ordinary consumers can buy copy and printing paper as well as paper towels and even wallpaper bearing the tree logo. But is the paper's green image justified?
Environmental group call on World Bank to drop plans for resumed palm oil funding
Press release by World Rainforest Movement, Latin American Network against Monoculture Tree Plantations RECOMA, Rettet den Regenwald, Salva la Selva, Ecologistas en Accion and Biofuelwatch Frankfurt, 31st August 2010
Launch of “responsible soy” label faces global opposition
New scheme to certify biofuel and animal feed opposed by 235 civil society groups BRUSSELS (BELGIUM), 8 June 2010 ? A proposed new label for “responsible” soy will not stop deforestation, 235 civil society groups from across the globe warned in a letter today, ahead of a conference set to finalise the labeling scheme in Sao Paulo, Brazil. [1]
New Report Reveals Major Threats to Forests and Communities from Bioenergy
Forest Advocacy groups from three continents released a new report today that reveals the threat bioenergy poses to forests and forest-dependent peoples. The report warns that U.S. plans for wood-based bioenergy, biochar and genetically engineered trees (GE trees) will worsen a dangerous situation.
Ecuador: Correa Looks to Reopen Unpopular Mining Project in Junin
An official government site reveals that the Correa government plans on investing $180,000 on “social and environmental studies” during 2010 to determine the feasibility of the Junin copper deposit. The study would be the first step for the newly-created national mining company to try to reactivate a mining project which has resulted in two transnational mining companies being defeated by Intag’s communities and organizations. Now the stage is being set for possible confrontations between communities and local governments pitted against the national government and its national mining company.
Losing the plot: Spread of the biofuel jatropha in India
A new report by Friends of the Earth: "Losing the plot: the threats to community land and the rural poor through the spread of the biofuel jatropha in India.
The Battle for the Xingu
Cultures of Resistance is excited to present our short film "The Battle for the Xingu" online. The film is about indigenous Kayapó opposition to the Brazilian government’s proposed Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in the Amazon. The dam would have a disastrous impact on the Kayapó homeland. The film features footage from the 2008 Altamira summit, a key moment of the burgeoning Kayapó movement, when 1,000 Indians joined national and international supporters in the city of Altamira, Para to protest the Belo Monte Dam project plans.
A second hydrocarbon boom threatens the Peruvian Amazon
The Peruvian Amazon is home to extraordinary biological and cultural diversity, and vast swaths of this mega-diverse region remain largely intact. Recent analysis indicates, however, that the rapid proliferation of oil and gas exploration zones now threatens the region's biodiversity, indigenous peoples, and wilderness areas.
Rainforest Rescue undermines efforts in favor of FSC-certified industrial logging in primary forests
Open letter by BUND, Nabu, Oro Verde & WWF
A surreal argument for biofuels
A leaked paper has set out the idea that palm oil plantations can be considered 'forests' – and the EU seems to be buying it
BBC programme about palm oil power station plans in Bristol
Business correspondent Dave Harvey investigates controversial plans to produce power from palm trees at Avonmouth. The developers insist their biofuel power station will produce sustainable, green electricity. But environmentalists are worried about the impact on important wildlife habitats.
EU biofuels significantly harming food production in developing countries
EU biofuels 10% targets cause millions of peope to go hungry and increase food prices and landlessness, says report EU companies have taken millions of acres of land out of food production in Africa, central America and Asia to grow biofuels for transport, according to development campaigners.
Burn Up the Biosphere and Call It Renewable Energy
Published on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Burn Up the Biosphere and Call It Renewable Energy: The New Taxpayer Bailout That Will Make You Sick AND Poor
Moorlands and hills targeted to grow crops for biomass and biofuels
Countryside protection groups warn of damage to wildlife
Scientists Identify Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park as one of the Most Biodiverse Places on Earth
A team of scientists has documented that Yasuní National Park, located in the core of the Ecuadorian Amazon, is the most diverse area in all of South America and shatters world records for a wide array of plant and animal groups, from amphibians to trees to insects.
The unintended ripples from the biomass subsidy program
It sounded like a good idea: Provide a little government money to convert wood shavings and plant waste into renewable energy. But as laudable as that goal sounds, it could end up causing more economic damage than good..