New Future

Highly prized teak from Myanmar continues to be imported into Poland, despite EU sanctions on the Southeast Asian country’s state-run timber monopoly following the 2021 military coup and violent crackdown on citizens.

JAKARTA/BATAM, Indonesia — Mounting reports of illegal seabed dredging in Indonesian waters have raised ecological alarm bells following the resumption of a controversial policy of sand exports. On Feb. 10, a Navy patrol detained seven boats found to be illegally dredging sea sand off the coast of West Manggarai district in East Nusa Tenggara province.

Tree kangaroos, which live high up in the tall rainforest trees of New Guinea and Australia, are usually very hard to spot from the ground. But thermal drones, which detect animals from their body heat, can help find these animals quickly, a new study has found. In November 2024, Emmeline Norris, a Ph. D.

Pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammals, hit the headlines more often for the illegal trade in their scales and meat than for their cherished role in their environment. As insectivores, these scaly anteaters feast on termites and ants and keep their numbers in check.

The vicuña’s social habit of pooping in the same place could help Andean ecosystems adapt as glaciers rapidly retreat due to climate change.

When Bloomberg published a report on Apr. 8, 2021, identifying Bangladesh as the 12th largest methane emitter globally, attributing a significant share to rice cultivation, the country’s rice researchers were concerned.

New Zealand has formally granted a mountain legal personhood for the first time, recognizing not only its importance to Māori tribes but also paving the way for its future environmental protection.

As a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Jakarta fast approached in September 2023, Indonesia’s state-run electricity provider, PLN, partially shut down one of its oldest and biggest coal-fired power plants in the hopes of cleaning up the capital’s filthy air.

JAKARTA — More than 75% of the nickel refining capacity in Indonesia, home to the biggest reserves of this critical mineral, is controlled by Chinese companies, many with affiliations to the Chinese government, according to a U. S. -government funded think tank. C4ADS, a Washington, D. C. -based security nonprofit funded largely by the U. S.

Randy Borman was never meant to be Cofán. And yet, from the moment he was born in 1955, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, he belonged to them.

Peatlands around the globe hold more carbon than all the world’s forests, and yet new research reveals a much lower proportion are protected compared to other ecosystems. Just 17% of these swampy bogs overlap with existing protected areas, according to a mapping study published Feb. 12 in the journal Conservation Letters.

BAMEGOARD, Republic of Congo — In the Republic of Congo’s Sangha region, the expansion of mining activities within conservation areas undermines the objectives of carbon sequestration and biodiversity preservation efforts. In 2020, the government initiated the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program aiming to reduce deforestation and enhance carbon sequestration.

Researchers in Australia have successfully created the first kangaroo embryo using in vitro fertilization, or IVF, according to a new study. The team from the University of Queensland used IVF to produce an embryo of the eastern gray kangaroo (Macropus giganteus).

It might sound hyperbolic to say that finding even one female turtle can revive an entire species. However, nothing could be truer for the critically endangered Yangtze softshell turtle, a species for which no known female individuals are left on the planet.