Indonesia’s environment ministry will file civil lawsuits against five companies in connection with fires that razed their concessions last year. Fire season in 2019 burned an area half the size of Belgium and released double the amount of carbon dioxide as the fires in the Amazon. Officials say they are preparing both civil lawsuits — seeking fines against the pulpwood and oil palm firms blamed for the fires — and criminal charges. However, a spate of recent cases suggests the government will have a hard time getting the money, with only a tiny fraction paid out of the $231 million awarded from nine companies in similar lawsuits.

Growing demand for timber as construction material, fuel and charcoal is devastating Cambodia's forests. In 1975, forests covered 73 per cent of the country’s surface; last year it was down to only 46.84 per cent. Cambodian government has recognised the importance of forests and extended the natural protected area, under the Cambodian Environment Ministry, to 7.2 million hectares – the equivalent of 41 per cent of the Kingdom’s land surface.

The Ebenezer-Macuma-Taisha highway promised change and work opportunities. By now, only three more miles need to be paved along the Ebenezer-Macuma-Taisha highway in order to finish it. But the federal government suddenly turned against the project, arguing that the road project doesn't follow the technical and environmental norms, and as it is, it affects the water, soil, and vegetation in the area. Meanwhile, the environment ministry will design a management plan for the Kutukú-Shaimi Protected Forest.

The Peruvian environment ministry has confirmed that deforestation rates in the country have increased significantly in 2013. The actual forest cleared in 2013 was almost 30% higher than the average since 2001 – spiking at 145,000 hectares, compared to an average of 113,000 hectares. A majority of the loss has been attributed to agriculture. The 2013 spike hasn’t happened in isolation and data from recent years – including aggregated forest loss alerts from Global Forest Watch - has shown an upward trend of deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon.

According to an Indonesian weekly news magazine the Ministry of Environment is preparing a civil suit against fourteen pulp and paper companies – twelve linked with APP and two with APRIL – for illegally clearing forests on Sumatra. The value of the timber only represents four per cent of the damages being claimed, the balance is for ‘ecological losses’. The Ministry of Forestry is opposing the lawsuit.