In India, folklore is a tool that helps women save the greater adjutant stork
Come hear the hargila's speech With a cry of the heart's eyes Hear o hear me out Please do not chop down our trees Do not erase our forests How…
Activism News
Angling for answers, this saltwater fishing group boosts research for better conservation
Saltwater fishing is both big business and a pastime in the U.S., with millions of Americans working in the industry – from commercial trawlers to professional fishing guides and gear…
Mother Nature Cambodia activists denied bail by Supreme Court
BANGKOK — On the morning of April 30, Cambodia’s Supreme Court denied bail to five environmental activists from Mother Nature Cambodia who are currently facing prison sentences ranging from six…
Landslide deaths again highlight safety failures in Indonesia’s nickel industry
JAKARTA — A deadly landslide in an Indonesian industrial park has reignited concerns over poor safety and environmental standards in the country’s booming nickel sector, a key supplier of battery…
Military-backed plantation project in Indonesian Papua triggers rights concerns
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s national human rights commission has found a slew of legal and rights violations in a government-backed project to establish large-scale plantations in the eastern region of Papua.…
Indigenous nations fought for a new national monument. Will it survive Trump?
In northeastern California, the Upper Pit River undulates through evergreen forests, wet meadows and rugged mountains. It's part of the snow-fed headwaters of the Sacramento River, the largest river in…
Meet the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
Seven environmental activists from around the world will be awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize on April 21. Known as the “Green Nobel Prize,” the Goldman Prize honors activists from the…
Indonesia strengthens forest monitoring with new tool to meet EU deforestation law
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s efforts to ensure its commodity exports are free of deforestation are ramping up as the European Union Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, nears enforcement. One of the biggest…
Bolivian communities push back against foreign-backed lithium projects
Dionicio Colque, 42, has fond memories of growing up on the edge of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It’s the world’s largest salt flat, spanning about 10,500 square kilometers (4,050…
Sheinbaum’s energy agenda under fire as Mexican activists slam LNG megaproject
On Jan. 29, the sky above Mexico City’s Zócalo plaza was filled with the floating figures of giant balloon whales. Hundreds of people from the “Whales or Gas?” coalition protested…
Mongabay investigation spurs Brazil crackdown on illegal cattle in Amazon’s Arariboia territory
A Mongabay investigation that revealed an illegal cattle boom amid a record-high number of killings of Indigenous Guajajara has been cited by Brazilian authorities to remove thousands of head of cattle from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Amazon Rainforest.
Indonesia bets on ‘reuse’ to curb plastic waste and build a circular economy
JAKARTA — With the Islamic month of Ramadan now over, a familiar sight has returned to the streets of daytime Jakarta: street vendors serving up chicken porridge, and everyone from…
How communities in sacrifice zones suffer environmental injustices in Mexico, Chile, Nigeria and Indonesia (analysis)
Across continents, “sacrifice zones” resemble wounds carved deep into the fabric of our planet. These are regions where ecosystems and livelihoods have been ravaged by fossil fuel and other industries…
After decade of delays, pressure mounts on Indonesia to pass Indigenous rights bill
JAKARTA — Rights activists have lambasted Indonesia’s parliament for delaying yet again a long-awaited Indigenous rights bill — stuck in limbo for more than a decade — even as communities…
Madagascar highway pushes on through controversy
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — The Malagasy government is pushing ahead with a controversial highway linking Antananarivo and the port city of Toamasina, 260 kilometers (162 miles) away. Construction has already begun…
Colombia creates landmark territory to protect uncontacted Indigenous groups
Colombia has created a first-of-its-kind territory meant to protect a group of Indigenous people living away from regular contact with the rest of the world. Located in the southern department…
Indigenous communities in Indonesia demand halt to land-grabbing government projects
JAKARTA — Hundreds of Indigenous people and civil society groups in Indonesia are demanding an end to government projects that have seized their lands, fueled violence, and stripped them of…
Indonesians suing pulpwood firms over haze face intimidation, seek human rights protection
JAKARTA — Residents of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra are seeking protection from the country’s National Human Rights Commission after reportedly facing intimidated for filing a lawsuit against three…
Global outcry as petitioners demand no mining expansion in orangutan habitat
JAKARTA — Nearly 200,000 people have signed a petition calling on U.K. multinational Jardine Matheson to cancel its plan to expand deeper into Indonesia’s Batang Toru Forest, the only known…
Re:wild and Age of Union announce conservation partnership
Two of the conservation world’s most innovative organizations are joining forces to expand their impact — combining funding, grassroots activism and immersive storytelling to raise awareness and create action on…
Indonesian court blocks palm oil expansion, but leaves Indigenous land rights in limbo
JAKARTA — The Indonesian Supreme Court has upheld a government decision to curb the expansion of a multibillion-dollar oil palm plantation project in the country’s easternmost region of Papua. In…
Illegal sea fence displaces fishers and sparks land scandal near Jakarta
JAKARTA/TANGERANG, Indonesia — Joy was mending his nets when a reporter from Mongabay Indonesia visited him last October in the fishing village of Ketapang in Tangerang district, on the northwestern…
UN accuses Indonesia’s No. 2 palm oil firm of rights & environmental abuses
JAKARTA — The United Nations has called out Indonesia’s No. 2 palm oil company for alleged human rights and environmental abuses, the first time it has singled out a company…
The U.S. terminated its 30×30 conservation plan but this also presents an opportunity (commentary)
In his first week in office back in 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a historic commitment to conserve 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. Two years later,…
Indonesia signs agrarian reform commitment amid rising land equity woes
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government and civil society have signed a joint statement, marking a shared commitment to fast-track agrarian reform in the country. The joint statement was signed by…
Illegal seabed dredging surges as Indonesia resumes sand exports
JAKARTA/BATAM, Indonesia — Mounting reports of illegal seabed dredging in Indonesian waters have raised ecological alarm bells following the resumption of a controversial policy of sand exports. On Feb. 10,…
Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
“Since Goma fell, I've lived in fear. I don't dare leave my house.” These are the words of Justin Shamutwa Masumbuko, general coordinator of the Indigenous rights NGO ADELIPO-Congo. For…
Conservation groups look for new strategies, tech to halt vaquita decline
MEXICO CITY — Fewer than 10 vaquitas, the world’s smallest porpoise, survive in the wild today, experts say. Illegal fishing has decimated their population in the Gulf of California, the…
Oaxaca Indigenous leader’s killing leaves land defenders’ safety in doubt
Ayuuk leader Arnoldo Nicolás Romero, a municipal commissioner of the Buena Vista ejido in San Juan Guichicovi, a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, was found dead…
What’s at stake for the environment in Ecuador’s upcoming election?
The last time Ecuador held elections, in 2023, the country’s national assembly had been dissolved and then-President Guillermo Lasso had faced potential impeachment for a corruption scandal involving embezzlement of…
CITES secretariat urges suspension of Cambodian long-tailed macaque trade
The trade of endangered long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) from Cambodia should be suspended, according to recommendations announced Jan. 14 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild…
Seeking the ‘humanity–wetland’ balance: Interview with Zimbabwean activist Jimmy Mahachi
Each year, thousands of migratory birds such as the colorful African pygmy goose, maccoa duck and African spoonbill stop at the Cleveland Dam wetland in Zimbabwe to breed and rest.…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- 15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
Oceans
- Southeast Asia’s fisheries thrive despite decades of overfishing warnings: Study
- Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill
- Smuggling networks exploit migrant debt to fuel tiger poaching in Malaysia, study shows
- Community-based conservation cuts thresher shark fishing by 91% in Indonesia: Study
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- ‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
- Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
Endangered Environmentalists
- Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
