The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting many Kenyan communities, which depend on the tea sector, as the tea sector's output and demand in tea is falling. However, an innovative Kenyan project running three years is continuing to create thousands of healthier homes, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, while reducing the demand for firewood which helps reduce … [Read more...]
Amazon rainforest fires leave São Paulo in the dark
Forest fires have dramatically increased in the Brazilian Amazon this year in the wake of soaring deforestation rates, raising concerns among environmentalists about the fate of the planet’s largest tropical forest. The number of active fires amounted to 74,155 between January 1 and August 20, a spike of 85 percent compared to the same period in 2018, according to data from … [Read more...]
New reserve possible game-changer for the Amazon
An ambitious project is underway to create the largest environmental reserve in the world, protecting 135 million hectares of Amazon forest. That’s more than twice the size of France! But it won’t happen unless Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela’s leaders know the public wants it. That’s where we come in. Colombia has just said it is on board. Now, if we create a huge global … [Read more...]
Help protect the rainforests of Cameroon
“They may threaten and sue us, but the palm oil company is not going to stop our struggle for nature,” writes Nasako Besingi from Cameroon. The environmentalist will be on trial in March for defending rainforest land against Herakles Farms, a U.S.-based palm oil company. Please take a stand against Herakles Farms. Environmentalist Nasako Besingi and his organization SEFE … [Read more...]
Amazon at higher risk of tree loss
Researchers say the southern part of the Amazon rainforest is at a far higher risk of dieback than the models used in the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The research team, led by Professor Rong Fu of the University of Texas, say that this is because the forest is drying out much quicker than projected. If the damage is severe … [Read more...]
Help defend the brave indigenous folk of the Amazon
"We have come here to tell the government and companies that these lands are not for sale."– Jaime Vargas, President of the Achuar Nationality of Ecuador. Jaime and Narcisa traveled from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Houston recently on a mission… to challenge the Ecuadorian government face-to-face during its 11th Round oil concessions promotional roadshow at the North America … [Read more...]
Oil showdown in the Amazon
There is one area of the Ecuadorian Amazon that is so pristine that the whole ecosystem has been preserved and even jaguars roam free! But the government is now threatening to go in and drill for oil. The local indigenous people have been resisting, but they are afraid that oil companies will break up the community with bribes. When they heard that people across the world … [Read more...]
Greatest land grab in PNG history exposed
A Greenpeace report says that more than 12.35 million acres of customary-owned land in Papua New Guinea have been "given away" to foreign-owned corporations and unrepresentative landowner companies. The report, called "Up for Grabs," points to a concession introduced by Papua New Guinea's Somare government in 2003 called Special Agricultural and Business Leases, which it … [Read more...]
Uncontacted tribes at risk of huge population loss
Survival International has warned on the eve of World Health Day (April 7) that uncontacted tribes face massive population loss if their land is not protected. Tribes like the Amazon Indians shown in the incredible aerial footage released by Survival this year are likely to lose more than half their population if outsiders invade their land. Around 100 tribes worldwide … [Read more...]
Cargill expands responsible soy programme
Cargill has announced a new $3 million grant to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to protect the Brazilian rainforest and help farmers grow soy more sustainably. The grant expands a program that has already helped 383 farmers comply with conservation laws. Since 2004, the Responsible Soy project has successfully promoted responsible soy production in the Santarém area in the … [Read more...]
