Trees & reforestation

Forests absorb carbon, shelter wildlife, and anchor watersheds — yet billions of trees have been lost to logging and land conversion. This archive tracks the science, policy, and community efforts driving reforestation forward, from Indigenous-led land restoration to large-scale planting programs showing measurable results.

Forest landscape, for article on forest restoration

Forest restoration planned for Colombia’s Farallones de Cali National Park

By / / Good News For Humankind

Colombia is investing $3.7 million to heal Farallones de Cali National Park, where illegal gold mining had carved out roughly 1,000 hectares of forest and left mercury contamination in waterways feeding the city of Cali. The funding will support reforestation and water testing across a park that shelters more than 620 bird species and supplies freshwater to millions. It follows a year of operations that dismantled an 800-person mining settlement, shut 11 mines, and seized about $1.2 million in equipment. Recovery could take decades, but officials are framing this as a long-term commitment rather than a one-off crackdown. For biodiverse nations facing similar pressures, Farallones offers a hopeful template: enforcement, investment, and patience working together.

Rainforest scene, for article on Amazon restoration funding

Brazil launches $204 million drive to restore Amazon rainforest

By / / Good News For Humankind

Amazon restoration just got a $204 million boost from Brazil, aimed at bringing degraded rainforest back to life through replanting and natural regrowth. The program flows through the Amazon Fund, with renewed backing from Norway and Germany after years of paused support. Much of the work will lean on Indigenous and traditional communities, whose territories consistently show lower deforestation than surrounding lands. It builds on real momentum: deforestation in the first half of 2023 fell by half compared to the year before. No single check rewrites decades of loss, but a forest that shelters roughly 10% of all known species — and helps regulate rainfall across a continent — is finally being treated as something worth actively healing.

Colombia rainforest landscape

Deforestation in Colombia down 70% year-on-year

By / / Good news links

Since taking power last year, leftist President Gustavo Petro has enacted a slate of new policies aimed at protecting Colombian forests, including paying locals to conserve woodland. The recent gains in Colombia mirror similar advances in the Brazilian Amazon, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has cracked down on forest clearing.

Sumatran hillside, for article on ancestral forest rights

Indonesian government recognizes ancestral forests in Aceh for first time

By / / Good News For Humankind

Ancestral forest rights just took a historic step forward in Indonesia: eight traditional communities in Aceh received legal title to 22,549 hectares of forest they have stewarded for generations. It’s the first time the country’s environment ministry has formally recognized the mukim system, a centuries-old way of governing land on the northern tip of Sumatra. Communities plan to zone protected areas, safeguard clean water, and grow crops like cacao and betel palm with the state’s backing. The timing matters, too, since Indonesia’s new carbon market could turn that stewardship into income. When Indigenous communities hold real title to their land, forests tend to stay standing — and that’s a quiet but powerful climate story unfolding worldwide.