News and success stories
Stay in the loop with news of ongoing campaigns and successes in the fight against rainforest destruction.
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2014: hard-fought successes for the rainforest
Our partners on the ground are moving heaven and earth to preserve their rainforest homes, and we have their backs with campaigns to raise international awareness.
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100,000 stand up for Ecuador’s Intag forests
A Chilean state-owned mining company is planning a massive copper mine in Ecuador’s Intag region. German and Ecuadorean activists protested at the Chilean embassy in Berlin.
Cambodia: police can't keep activists down
Forty young environmentalists armed with bicycles, animal costumes and leaflets set out to raise awareness of the planned destruction of Areng Valley, but security forces stopped them from cycling through Phnom Penh. They still garnered considerable attention.
Indonesia: Supreme Court rules against Big Palm Oil
The Indonesian Supreme Court has ruled that Bumitama Agri Ltd, a major palm oil company, acted illegally in clearing land on Borneo for plantations. Our partner organization Save our Borneo fought a long, hard battle for this verdict.
Tasmania's World Heritage forests are safe
In an unprecedented move, the Australian government sought to have UNESCO World Heritage protection removed from 74,000 hectares of pristine Tasmanian forest. Following a worldwide storm of protest, the UNESCO put a stop to the plan.
Victory for the mountain gorillas
Things are looking up for the mountain gorillas: British oil company SOCO International plc announced today that it is abandoning its plans to explore for oil in Virunga National Park. The company is also calling off its oil exploration in Lake Edward.
Deutsche Bank divests from Bumitama
Deutsche Bank has told Friends of the Earth Europe and Rainforest Rescue that it sold its shares in the Indonesian palm oil supplier Bumitama following months of campaigning by the two groups. Despite numerous promises to clean up its act, Bumitama continues to produce illegal palm oil.
“We are campesinos, not terrorists”
Ecuador: Intag under siege – another infamy, and the government and state mining authority lose more credibility
A tangle of conflicts: the dirty business of palm oil
Der Spiegel, Germany’s leading weekly news magazine, reported the story behind our Murder and Mayhem for EU Biofuels campaign on its international website. Read the article in English here.
No to plastic bags – Africa leads the way
This just in from our correspondent Heidi Rubli in Cameroon: “Non-biodegradable plastic bags have been banned as of April 25, 2014. The government is calling on us to use baskets for our shopping.” This will also be a boon for families that rely on basket weaving for their livelihoods.
Activists criticize IPCC support for "false solutions"
Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its "Summary for Policy Makers”. Climate, energy and social justice groups commend the IPCC for clearly acknowledging the link between economic growth and increased greenhouse gas emissions but warn that the report falls far short on translating this insight into pathways to mitigation.
Protest against palm oil in Italy
“Stop palm oil”, “Palm oil destroys rainforests” and “Palm oil is neither organic nor sustainable” were just some of the slogans of the protest organized by Earth Riot, Zero Energy Veneto, Antispecisti Pretesi and Rainforest Rescue (Salviamo la Foresta) in front of the town hall of Marghera, near Venice. It was the first-ever demonstration against palm oil and biodiesel in Italy.
Biofuelwatch: take action in April
This April, Biofuelwatch is organizing events in London to shine the spotlight on the destructive big biomass industry. They invite you to join them on Wednesday, the 9th of April, 7pm @ Gibson Hall, 13 Bishopsgate, EC2N 3BA.
Forth Energy drops all biomass plans in Scotland
Forth Energy have confirmed that they are dropping plans to build their consented 100MWe biomass power stations in Grangemouth and Rosyth, as well as withdrawing plans for a similar plant in Dundee. Campaigners and community members have expressed their joy at hearing the announcement.
Agip-Eni biodiesel: anything but green
On February 11, Rainforest Rescue submitted a petition protesting palm-oil biodiesel to the Italian government. 86,524 people from all over the world had endorsed our campaign.
Ikea halts deforestation in Karelia
Ikea's wholly-owned subsidiary Swedwood reports that it has ceased its logging operations in the last remaining old-growth forests of the northern Russian region of Karelia. Swedwood had been clear-cutting century-old trees in the boreal forests with heavy machinery for many years.
Indonesia: heavy fine for palm oil company for slash-and-burn
A court in the Aceh province in northern Sumatra sent a strong signal against the slashing and burning of rainforests: the palm oil company PT Kallista Alam has been sentenced to pay a fine of approximately 9 million US dollars as well as 21 million US dollars for reforestation of Tripa's destroyed swamp forest.