News - Environmental Paper Network

Indonesia: Indigenous Forest Defender Criminalized While Massive Deforestation Goes Unpunished

A troubling pattern of criminalizing forest defenders is once again unfolding in Indonesia. While large-scale deforestation continues in West Kalimantan, a traditional leader who sought to protect his community’s ancestral forest now finds himself facing criminal charges. Tarsisius Fendy Sesupi, the traditional leader of the Indigenous village of Lelayang (Kualan Hilir, West Kalimantan, Indonesia), recently […]

Under Fire: Defending Ancestral Territory Amid Violence and Agribusiness Expansion

Amid escalating land conflicts in southern Bahia, the Pataxó indigenous people are raising urgent alarm over what they describe as intensifying violence, criminalization, and corporate-driven pressures threatening their ancestral territories and fundamental rights. On February 24, 2026, the Council of Pataxó Chiefs from the Barra Velha and Comexatibá territories in Bahia, Brazil, issued a […]

A Win For Forests in Galicia

A success story of popular resistance against pulp plantations and for forest conservation. Feb 23 – Our global movement for the protection of forests celebrated a major win: after a long battle, it is now clear that the new pulp mill will not be built by the Portuguese paper company Altri. Last Friday, the Galician […]

From Argentina to Chile: Southern Forests in Flames

More than 50,000 people have been evacuated in Chile’s Ñuble and Biobío regions, where wildfires have destroyed at least 250 homes and claimed a minimum of 18 lives. Authorities warn that the death toll is likely to rise as fires continue to spread. This disaster is neither sudden nor unexpected. Just two years ago, in […]

Justice for Sumatra’s Forests: A Turning Point After Deadly Floods – Now Remedy Must Follow

On January 20, 2026, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto ordered the revocation of business permits for 28 companies operating in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. The decision followed catastrophic floods and landslides that struck Sumatra in late 2025, killing at least 1,200 people, leaving 143 missing, and forcing more than 114,000 to flee their homes. […]

2025 in Review: Defending Forests, Challenging False Solutions, and Preparing for Harder Times Ahead

As we begin 2026, it is clear that 2025 was not an easy year for forests, communities, or those working to protect them. Yet it was also a year that demonstrated the continued relevance — and necessity — of the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) and Biomass Action Network (BAN) as global alliances working across pulp, […]

Take a Stance & Join Refuse Single-Use Day!

Single-Use Packaging has dominated our modern lives. The cost to our forests is immense: 3 billion are cut down every year for paper packaging alone. Single-use packaging has been on the rise for the last decades, as consumption increases and a disposability mentality spreads not only in the Global North, but increasingly in the Global […]

We Had Everything: How the Forest Was Taken in the Land of Drums and Resistance

This is Part 2 of a story documenting EPN International Program Coordinator, Sergio Baffoni, during his month-long journey across Brazil, where he met with communities defending their customary rights and seeking support to make their struggles visible. The road stretches on for miles, hemmed in by two dense walls of sickly-looking trees. Endlessly. These are […]

From Dust to Green: Voices of Hope Between the Eucalyptus Rows

This is Part 1 of a story documenting EPN International Program Coordinator, Sergio Baffoni, during his month-long journey across Brazil, where he met with communities defending their customary rights and seeking support to make their struggles visible. The road is dusty. Deep ruts run in both directions, worn by trucks that thunder past all day […]

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