This essay is adapted from the article, "Information as Civic Infrastructure—and How Philanthropy Can Support the Ecosystem," which was originally published in Nonprofit Quarterly on March 3, 2026. Philanthropy has…
At 7:45 a.m. one recent January day in American Samoa, a delegation from Greenpeace and Pacific Island partners sat in a small radio studio explaining why we had traveled thousands…
Conservation has no shortage of ambitious policy. Marine protected areas now cover roughly 8% of the world’s oceans. Protected lands account for nearly a fifth of the planet’s terrestrial surface.…
Last week, governments, conservationists and civil society from around the world gathered in Brazil for the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS-15). In a…
In October 2023, a delegation of La Gente de Centro — the Andoke (Pɵɵsiɵhɵ), Nonuya (Nonova), Muinane (Féénemɨnaa) and Uitoto (Nɨpode) peoples of the Middle Caquetá River Basin — traveled…
The Mekong Delta of Vietnam ranks among the world’s three most climate-vulnerable regions. Known as Southeast Asia’s “rice basket,” the region is home to 18 million people, produces half of…
Along the warm waters of Mexico’s Caribbean coast lives a creature so gentle that sailors once mistook it for a mermaid. Slow-moving, peaceful and curious, manatees have glided through rivers…
In Namibia’s Karas Region, birds are more than symbols of freedom or beauty — they are teachers of resilience. Their survival in arid landscapes mirrors the endurance of the communities…
Africa's future prosperity depends on how fast we can reduce emissions, especially from large polluting sectors like shipping. But using crops as fuel to cut emissions risks causing more harm…
Environmental activist Berta Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 for successfully halting the Agua Zarca project, a massive hydropower development along the Gualcarque River in her native Honduras.…
In May 2024, floodwaters submerged much of Porto Alegre. Brazil's fourth-largest city lost bridges, hospitals, and months of economic output. Hundreds died. The images briefly commanded global attention. Then the…
For months, four infant orangutans lived in limbo in Thailand — not as pets, but as evidence. Confiscated in two separate trafficking cases, they were cared for at the Khao…
The 1995 Mekong Agreement was meant to be a cornerstone of cooperation for Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam — promising equitable use, no significant harm, and joint management of the…
The Brazilian Cerrado, recognized as one of the world’s most species-diverse and threatened ecodomains on the planet, faces increasing pressure from large-scale agriculture and land conversion. “Ecodomains” are large areas…
Nested within the current biodiversity crisis sits an equally complex and concerning human crisis, but one that receives even less attention: the poor mental health and well-being of the conservation…
African conservation stakeholders will soon gather for the 5th Business of Conservation Congress in Nairobi, led by African Leadership University. As they build the case for investing in nature-based business,…
Every day, millions of people harvest wild plants for their health, nutrition and livelihoods, yet many of the species that sustain them are quietly slipping toward extinction. As World Wildlife Day…
Debates about ocean protection tend to orbit national governments and multilateral treaties. Fisheries quotas, shipping rules, and marine reserves are usually negotiated by states. Yet much of the activity that…
The Amazon Rainforest generates its own weather. Each day, the forest's 390 billion trees release approximately 20 billion metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, creating what…
The production of food continues to eat its way into the world's tropical forests. Agricultural expansion drives nearly 90% of global deforestation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of…
The Amazon Rainforest is approaching a dangerous threshold. Scientists warn that continued deforestation could push the world’s largest rainforest past a tipping point, transforming it into a degraded, fire-prone savanna…
Agriculture is on the cusp of its most profound transformation in a century. Just as the Green Revolution shifted farming from sun and soil to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, we…
Carole Allen — founder of HEART (Help Endangered Animals Ridley Turtles) and the first director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network’s Gulf of Mexico office — passed away at the…
The voluntary carbon market and the business of carbon offsetting have faced increasing criticism in recent years, not only for the systematic overestimation of emission reductions, but also because projects…
For decades, the global fisheries conservation community has rightly focused on the health of fish stocks, the integrity of management systems, and the long-term sustainability of ocean resources. But there…
The interlinked crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are slipping down political agendas just as geopolitical instability and fiscal pressures rise. Overseas development aid is falling in real terms,…
The focus of experts in global security tends to orbit familiar threats. War in Europe and the Middle East. Trade disruption and financial volatility. Technology shocks and threats to information integrity. But the most…
Word that the Washington Post would be cutting roughly one-third of its staff spread quickly this week. Among those affected were at least a dozen reporters, editors, and visual journalists…
On Dec. 10, 2025, Ghana’s government revoked one of the worst pieces of environmental legislation in our country’s history. The Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations passed in 2022…
In 2006, Paul Ferraro and Subhrendu Pattanayak issued an urgent warning: conservation lacked the causal evidence needed to know what actually works. This mattered because decades of conservation efforts were…
A week ago, the media reported that the Ministry of Forestry estimated the total cost of rehabilitating Indonesia’s forests and critical lands at Rp153.78 trillion, or about US$9.2 billion, over…
I am often asked what Mongabay’s legacy is, or what it might turn out to be. The question usually comes with an assumption that a quarter-century of publishing should yield…
