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Indonesia orangutan forest cleared for 'carbon-neutral' packaging firm
BANGKOK, Thailand, 22 April 2026 (AFP) - Vast tracts of Indonesian rainforest home to endangered orangutans have been cleared for plantations supplying a maker of "carbon-neutral" packaging, an investigation by AFP and The Gecko Project has found. Pulp and paper firm Asia Symbol has a no-deforestation policy and supplied major companies like Haleon, the British pharmaceutical giant behind household brands Panadol and Sensodyne. But wood from plantations where tens of thousands of hectares of forest were felled - including orangutan habitat - was processed at an Indonesian mill supplying Asia Symbol. |
Fiji villagers reject plan for 'Pacific ashtray' in beach paradise
SYDNEY, Australia, 22 April 2026 (AFP) - An Australian billionaire's plan to burn rubbish for energy in Fiji amounts to "waste colonialism" and risks spoiling a "beach paradise", villagers and the Pacific nation's UN ambassador said. Traditional landowner Inoke Tora boarded a bus to the capital Suva on Tuesday with a petition from villagers opposing the $630 million waste-to-energy incinerator, which is forecast to consume 900,000 tonnes of non-recyclable rubbish each year. |
Why forest conservation is also public health
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 22 April 2026 (Mongabay) - A new study from Madagascar provides the first complete mitochondrial genomes for two endemic tuft-tailed rats, offering a clearer baseline for identifying and tracking native rodent species. Fieldwork found these native rodents only in intact forest, while degraded areas were dominated by invasive black rats, suggesting a shift in community composition linked to habitat change. Understanding which rodent species are present, where they live, and how their populations change is critical not just for biodiversity, but for identifying how pathogen dynamics may shift across landscapes. |
Coral reefs are secretly connected across vast oceans
TOWNSVILLE, Australia, 22 April 2026 (Conversation) - Lord Howe Island lies in the middle of the ocean, about 700 kilometres northeast of Sydney. It’s covered in lush forest and fringed by the world’s most southerly coral reef ecosystem. This reef system isn’t as famous as its northern neighbour, the Great Barrier Reef, but our new research shows it plays an outsized role in keeping vast coral regions across the Pacific connected – and alive. |
Record puffin count on small island for second year running
CARDIFF, Wales, 22 April 2026 (BBC) - A record number of puffins have been counted for the second year running on a small island off Pembrokeshire. The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, said 52,019 puffins were documented on Skomer Island this year - 8,000 more than in 2025. As well as a growing population of puffins, Skomer is also home to 350,000 breeding pairs of manx shearwaters and thousands of guillemots and razorbills. |
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