The use and spread of palm oil is beyond imagination; from cooking and manufacturing to pharmaceuticals and drilling fluids, it is even in nanny's chocolate cake. Its global consumption may have increased more than any other good, but what does this entail for the farmers? The crisis in Edo State of Nigeria speaks for itself, reports BURAG GURDEN
Along the Rimac River Valley of Peru, local farmers have taken the problem of water security into their own hands and embarked on a combined reforestation and water storage project, which not only provides safe water but has empowered the local community and, thanks to improving the mountainside soil stability, has reduced the risk of devastating landslides. FOREST RAY reports
This week, the first-ever Forest Defenders Conference, organized by environmental activist support group Not1More, takes place (21st-22nd June) at St. Hugh's College in Oxford, UK. The aim of the conference is to highlight the growing risks and help develop safety strategies for frontline environmentalists who face increasing violence for their work.
OLESIA PLOKHII reports
Scientists are praising the discovery of new species and rare dolphins in the Mekong region, but overfishing and dams loom to disrupt habitats writes NOSMOT GBADAMOSI in this special Ecologist report
If we are to survive long into this century and beyond, our society will have to learn to re-indigenize (or rewild) itself - both its people and its environment, writes WILLIAM HAWES
Indigenous elders from the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) people have put mining company Adani - and Australia's governments - on notice to quit the Carmichael mine project over native title claims. MAXINE NEWLANDS reports
After decades of travelling the globe documenting environmental issues, UK photographer Edward Parker has turned his lens closer to home with a new book on the Ancient Trees of the National Trust. He talks to Arts Editor, GARY COOK
Today, the Chief of the Paiter Surui indigenous people in the state of Rondônia, Brazil has issued the following plea for help to stop illegal logging and mining on their lands. The letter is unedited.
La Guajira, a dusty but spartanly beautiful region in Colombia's desert north is in the grips of a crisis. Climate change, desertification and water shortages have combined to create a perfect storm for the local rural community: a drought so severe some places did not feel a drop of rain for three years writes LAURA DIXON
Violent expansion of the agricultural frontier in Nicaragua has produced devastating consequences for Indigenous Peoples and is fostering destructive long-term climate change impacts. COURTNEY PARKER reports
Half a year or so on from the historic signing of the Paris Agreement at the COP21, the smiling promises and diplomatic handshakes have not only left the mainstream media but left us still waiting for the shift to a greener world. NEW VOICES contributor, KATIE ARTHUR looks at whether we can ever expect systems to change without transformed attitudes to lead the way...
Those most affected by climate change are those least responsible and the international policy frameworks in place to protect them don't work making it a moral issue. But we must believe that the larger goals of environmental sustainability and social justice can be achieved - if we just work together writes Asoka Bandarage
As indigenous activists opposing hydropower dams on their territories gather this weekend in the rainforests of Sarawak, Malaysia, they have good news to celebrate, writes Rod Harbinson: a giant dam on the Baram river has been put on hold. But the forests are still being logged, local people have been stripped of land rights, and a programme of 12 giant dams is still official policy.
The Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Texas has ejected two indigenous men from Ecuador and rejected their 'gift' of posters showing rainforest oil pollution. Chevron was holding its annual general meeting at the museum.
The Kenyan government has begun to forcibly evict tens of thousands of Sengwer indigenous people from their ancestral forest lands and burn their homes, food stores and belongings to the ground. The World Bank wrings its hands.
Israel's Knesset has withdrawn a controversial Bill that would have expelled over 40,000 Bedouion citizens of Israel from their homes in the Negev desert.
Botswana has been accused of sacrificing the Kalahari, one of the world's most precious wildlife reserves, to commercial fracking while ignoring the concerns of environmentalists and communities who could lose access to scarce water.
The Dayak Benua community of Muara Tae, Indonesia, are fighting to protect their ancestral forests from a mining company. The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency has now launched a campaign to assist
Global banks, investment houses and pension funds are gobbling up farmland in poor countries for food and biofuels production. GRAIN, winners of the 2011 Right Livelihood Award, says this secretive and unjust practice needs to stop
