Many tropical forests around the world have been severely fragmented as human disturbance split once-contiguous forests into pieces. Previous research indicates trees on the edges of these fragments have higher mortality rates than trees growing in the interiors of forests. Researchers used satellite data and analysis software they developed to figure out how many forest fragments there are, and the extent of their edges. They discovered that there are around 50 million tropical forest fragments in the world today. When they calculated how much carbon is being released from tree death at these edges, they found a 31% increase from current tropical deforestation estimates.

Australia haven’t had a palm oil labelling in place after a proposal requiring palm oils to be specifically listed on food labels under consideration by Australia and New Zealand ministers for more than five years. Environmentalists warn that the repeated delays in Australia on mandatory palm oil labelling allows deforestation and the destruction of orangutan habitats.

The new documentary thriller, Death by A Thousand Cuts, aired in the Raindance film festival in London on 1 October. The film explores how the fate of forests in two neighbouring countries has exacerbated social conflict, xenophobia, poverty, and even resulted in multiple murders. The documentary reveals how the contrasting fate of forests in these two countries due to different approached to natural resource protection and conservation.

Researchers from Harvard and Columbia universities in the US estimated there were more than 90,000 early deaths in Indonesia in areas closest to haze-belching fires, and several thousand more in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia. The new estimate, reached using a complex analytical model by combining satellite data with models of health impacts from smoke exposure and readings from pollution monitoring stations, is far higher than the previous official death toll given by authorities of just 19 deaths in Indonesia. It triggered calls for action to tackle the “killer haze”.

32 indigenous villagers in Cambodia’s north-eastern area, Stung Treng province, called on local forestry officials to crackdown on illegal saw mills and to provide them with protection after they received death threats from unsanctioned loggers of luxury timber. The 32 villagers are community activists, and they vowed to keep fighting illegal logging in their local area despite the threats. The environmental watchdog Global Witness said in a report in February that China’s voracious demand for luxury furniture is the driver behind the multimillion-dollar illegal trade in rosewood in Cambodia.

A new Global Witness report, ‘Deadly Environment’, shows there has been a surge in the killing of activists protecting land rights and the environment over the past decade with three times as many deaths in 2012 compared to the previous 10 years. Between 2002 and 2013, at least 908 activists were killed in 35 countries with only 10 convictions. The most deadly countries in the scope of the report were Brazil (448 since 2002), Honduras (109), Philippines (67), Peru (58) and Thailand (16). The deaths are linked to activism against a range of activities including illegal logging, cattle ranching, soy bean farming, mining and the building of hydroelectric dams.

The only suspect for the 2012 murder of Hang Serei Oudom, a Cambodian environmental journalist, has been acquitted by a court in Cambodia. Oudom had been investigating the role of military police in illegal logging and timber smuggling. His death came only five months after prominent environmentalist Chut Wutty was shot dead when accompanying two journalists to an illegal logging site.

A Cambodian journalist, Hang Serei Oudom, who wrote a number of stories uncovering forest crimes linked to businessmen and powerful officials has been found murdered in his car. Cambodia’s forest cover has dropped from 73 to 57% between 1990 and 2010 according to the UN. His murder follows that of prominent local environmentalist, Chhuth Vuthy. In the last story before his death, Oudom accused the son of a military police commander of smuggling logs in military-plated vehicles and extorting money from people who were legally transporting wood.