Mongabay
New ‘stone’ frog discovered in Vietnam
In the rugged limestone hills of northern Vietnam, scientists have discovered a new species of frog that looks like a small piece of rock. Researchers have named it the stone leaf-litter frog or Leptolalax petrops, derived from the Latin words petra, meaning “rock”, and –ops, meaning ...
In defining plantations as forest, FAO attracts criticism
What’s in a definition? For some, too much. Nearly 200 organizations have signed an open letter to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, calling for the agency to change how they define “forest” – the very landscape honored today on International Day ...
Denmark prohibits companies from selling Myanmar teak on European Union markets
Denmark last week placed an injunction on all Danish companies that prohibits them from selling teak imported from Myanmar on European markets. The ruling comes after evidence that Danish timber company Keflico had violated the European Union Timber Regulation was brought to light by the ...
Cambodia’s Sambor dam plans causes controversy as public left in the Dark
“If the dam is built, it will be like before, in the time of the Khmer Rouge when we all had to move,” said Plau Saret, 44, of Domrae Village on the Mekong River island of Koh Tnaot, right next to the proposed Sambor Dam ...
Japanese, Singaporean banks finance controversial Indonesian coal plant
A consortium of Asian banks will provide US$3.36 billion in loans to support the expansion of the Tanjung Jati B coal-fired power plant project in the Jepara district of Indonesia’s Central Java province. Plans to expand Tanjung Jati B are part of a broader initiative ...
What happens when the soy and palm oil boom ends?
Over the past thirty years demand and production of oils crops like oil palm and soybeans has boomed across the tropics thanks to rising incomes, macroeconomic changes and government policies, and substitution effects. This rapid expansion has in some places taken a heavy toll on ...
Chain saw injuries in Myanmar tied to illegal logging
As darkness fell in the forests of central Myanmar on a rainy evening last July, May Thu and her husband Myint Swe*, were wrapping up their day’s work: illegal logging. May Thu, a petite 27-year-old with long black hair and shining black eyes, clambered on ...
The Philippines declares more than 100,000 acres as critical habitat
In November last year, the Philippines declared its largest critical habitat yet. Located in the long, narrow Philippine island of Palawan, the new Cleopatra’s Needle Critical Habitat is spread across 41,350 hectares (more than 100,000 acres). The second largest critical habitat, Carmen Critical Habitat for ...
In response to pollution complaints, a coal plant in Indonesia offered soap and mops
Village leaders in Sumberejo, East Java, once had plans to entice travelers to their coastal town. Tourist facilities were planned for Ndaki Beach where the waves of the Indian Ocean crash upon this Indonesian island. Nearby Bawur Beach was also seen as having tourism potential. ...
Thap Lan: Thailand's unsung forest gemk under threat, but still abrim with life
On the trail of a conservation group conducting a wildlife monitoring survey, we stop the 4×4 on the road and walk along the red earth to check on camera traps. Wildlife rangers from Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and international conservationists ...
