There will be no new land clearing or deforestation for oil palm plantations, says Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

  Experts call for stronger land use planning as extent of Indonesian forest lost  to coal mining is revealed

Main photo: People protest in front of the Dambe district hall in Tbong Khmum province on October 18, 2019. (Supplied)

Twenty villagers engaged in a dispute with a rubber plantation over more than 400 hectares of land in Tbong Khmum province were released from custody on Tuesday after they were arrested the day before for allegedly damaging the company’s land-clearing machinery, an official said.

TAK: Three large tracts of woodland -- about 45 rai altogether -- were found to have been encroached on inside the Mae Sot National Forest Reserve in Phop Phra district, according to a local media report.

The encroachment was reported to the 6th Forest Protection Unit in Mae Sot district by local villagers.

On Saturday, forest protection officials were dispatched to an area near Moo 7, Ban Pakha Kao, in tambon Khirirat of Phop Phra district to investigate.

By: Chris Arsenault

Date: September 28th 2016

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

BRASILIA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When George Porto joined Brazil's environment agency 13 years ago, the country didn't have access to satellite data on illegal logging -- let alone heat maps tracking deforestation patterns or gun-toting agents dedicated to stopping ecological crimes.

How times have changed.

By: Mike Verdin
Date: September 23rd 2016
Source: Agrimoney.com

Expansion of palm oil producers into Latin America, the "new frontier for global expansion" is snagging on confusion over land rights – which is encouraging some groups to expand into rainforest.