Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and carbon credits sound like a good idea but I’m not sure how much they benefit rainforest conservation. Behind my suspicion lies a concept that I have been aware of for a while but only recently learned that it has a name – ‘additionality’. It’s a new jargon term which hasn’t yet made it into the dictionary. In understanding what it means I was lucky to meet a chap called Mike Packer who patiently and concisely explained things to me. Mike is the founder of a company called...

On 17th December, the European Parliament is due to vote on two pieces of legislation, the Renewable Energy Directive and the Fuel Quality Directive, each of which will lead to large-scale agrofuel expansion through long-term (2020) targets. Those laws are likely to trigger more land conversion, particularly in the global South, to grow fuel for Europe’s cars, at the expense of forests and people, climate, food and biodiversity. Rettet den Regenwald (Rainforest Rescue) is coordinating a campaign to persuade MEPs to vote...

As a sometime environmentalist I often find myself joining email campaigns of the ‘save the whales’ variety, targeting careless corporations and evil industrialists. The Ecological Internet 'Forest Liars' campaign that I signed this morning was different though. It included in its many targets; household eco-warrior names such as WWF, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network and Friends of the Earth. Although I moderated the tone of the pre-composed text, I still felt slightly uncomfortable hitting the ‘send’ button. This...

I was stripped down to my boxer shorts and with my bare hands was clawing great clods of mud out from under the wheel arch. Occasionally I would take a rest from cleaning and lie down in the shallow water to cool myself off. Even with the help of a second tow truck it had taken us nearly an hour to free an old Landcruiser that had got stuck on the way into Imbak Canyon. All three vehicles were now parked in the middle of the Imbak River to receive a much needed wash. By way of taking a holiday from Maliau Basin I had decided...