We know how many okapi live in zoos. In the wild? It’s complicated
Revered by the Indigenous Mbuti and Efe tribes as a spiritual symbol and uplifted by the Democratic Republic of Congo as a national one, the okapi is deserving of a…
Community-based Conservation News
How the Zai farming technique is transforming soil fertility in North Cameroon
GAROUA, Cameroon — Ouro Andre, a village in the Lagdo sub division in the North Region of Cameroon, appears desolate on this rainy morning as farmers set out early to…
Successful Thai community-based hornbill conservation faces uncertain future
Budo-Sungai Padi National Park is a swath of dense tropical rainforest a fifth the size of Bangkok that lies along southern Thailand's isthmus linking the country to Peninsular Malaysia. Its…
Mining company tied to Cambodian military officials grabs community forest
STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Rain poured down in torrential sheets as Ouk Mao guided reporters through the winding dirt tracks that were, in August, rutted with deep trenches of mud and…
In the Brazilian Amazon, seedlings offer hope for drying rivers
RIO PINDARÉ INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil – Under the emerald canopy of the Amazon rainforest, Janaína Guajajara peered into a murky pool of water barely larger than a bathtub. Along its…
As Malawi government struggles to protect a forest, communities show the way
ZOMBA PLATEAU, Malawi — The Zomba Forest Reserve is a tale of two faces. A large part of the northern section of the plateau is stripped to its last undergrowth…
Nepal’s first community-based red panda conservation area sparks hope
KATHMANDU — A hilly town close to Nepal’s eastern border with India has declared an area under its jurisdiction as the country’s first community-based red panda (Ailurus fulgens) conservation area,…
‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature
MPONDOLAND, South Africa — The day the prospectors came, so did the storm. It was 2007, and clouds barreled toward the coast, driven by a wind that churned up dust…
Brazil’s ‘Mothers of the Mangroves’ protect an ecological and cultural heritage
Hundreds of women from traditional communities in the Brazilian Amazon use education and local knowledge to protect the world’s largest continuous belt of preserved mangroves.
In the Sundarbans, women are embracing mangrove restoration as an alternative livelihood
Dwelling near the erosion-prone riverbank of the mighty Pasur River, 43-year-old Shumi Mondol understands the importance of a mangrove barrier. Next to her cottage in Loudob in Khulna’s Dacope subdistrict,…
50 years of data show that Madagascar’s mangroves are making a comeback
Lalao Aigrette has worked to protect the mangroves of her native Madagascar for more than 16 years. Growing up inland, she didn’t see the ocean until she was around 20…
DRC communities turn up heat on EU lenders funding palm oil giant PHC
On May 24, 2024, clashes broke out between members of a local community and security guards at an oil palm plantation in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo…
Birdsong rings out once again in Togo’s sacred forest of Titiyo
KARÈ, Togo — Under the hot sun of an April afternoon in northern Togo, we made our way by motorcycle across the impoverished prefecture of Kozah. It wasn’t a long…
Sumatra community school hands down ancient knowledge to modern generation
MUARO JAMBI, Indonesia — Mbok Hawo picked a clutch of galangal, lemongrass and turmeric as the gaggle of schoolkids assembled by an array of potted plants, arranged in Hawo’s garden…
Time for a copal comeback? The natural resin could boost Amazon’s economy
Researchers say copal resin, also known as rosin or jutaicica, could be part of the communities' sustainable economy again, especially by adding value to Amazon timber products.
A tribe once declared ‘extinct’ helps reintroduce salmon to the Columbia River
NELSON, British Columbia — For thousands of years, the stretch of the Columbia River that passed through Kettle Falls, Washington, was so full of life that it was said you…
Protecting Nigeria one child & one tree at a time: Interview with Doyinsola Ogunye
Driven to protect the planet one child, one tree and one recycled piece of plastic at a time, environmental advocate Doyinsola Ogunye is helping children, youth and women in Nigeria…
Shaping the next generation of Indigenous rangers: Interview with Manni Edwards
Manni Edwards credits his journey to preserving the wisdom of his elders to an encounter with goondoi 40 years ago. At the age of 8, Edwards says, he saw up…
‘A harmonious human-primate society’: Interview with Whitley winner Kuenzang Dorji
Kuenzang Dorji's lifelong passion for wildlife, fostered since childhood, set the stage for his distinguished career in conservation. His professional journey began as a park ranger at Jigme Singye Wangchuck…
Ecuador’s Indigenous Cofán show how to have your turtle and eat it too
At the end of the 1980s, the Indigenous Cofán community of Zábalo, inside Ecuador’s Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, was alarmed by what was happening on the banks of the Aguarico River.…
To end turtle hunting, an African island state embraced the hunters
Five of the world’s seven species of marine turtles come to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, to breed or forage. The islanders patrol…
‘Extinct’ trees found in Tanzania spark hope for ecosystem recovery
In July 2023, botanist Andrea Bianchi was driving in the Nguru Mountains of eastern Tanzania when the broad pods on a tree growing in a maize field near the road…
Traditional foods have the potential to help Kashmir communities adapt to climate change: study
In the western Himalayas of Kashmir, mountain communities are eating their way to preserving traditional knowledge. Local food advocates are trying to get more of the rich array of wild…
In Mexico City’s precolonial canals, scientists aim to save ancient salamanders
The rickety rowboat has been traveling for about half an hour through Xochimilco, a precolonial borough in southern Mexico City, past canals, ditches and meadows when it docks at a…
Indonesia’s oil palm smallholders get a boost in bid for sustainability
JAKARTA — NGOs working with Indonesian smallholder farmers have developed a set of guidelines aimed at helping oil palm farmers prove that their products are deforestation-free, allowing them a foothold…
French Polynesians revive traditional rāhui to protect fish — and livelihoods
TAHITI — It's Mass Day in Fenua Aihere. There are no roads to this part of the island of Tahiti — it’s only reachable by boat. It's Monday, not the…
The Wixárika community’s thirteen-year legal battle to stop mining in their sacred territory
Along the journey of every pilgrimage, the road to Wirikuta brims with offerings: lit candles, arrows, and jícaras (bowls made from the hardened skin of the jícara, or calabash gourd).…
Nepal launches new plan to boost critically endangered Bengal florican
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s government has launched a new action plan for the conservation of the critically endangered Bengal florican, a bird whose population is declining amid mounting challenges across its…
Guardians of the sacred: Ethiopian Orthodox monks on spiritual forest conservation
BAHIR DAR, Ethiopia — The Zege Peninsula, a hidden gem on the southern shore of Lake Tana, is a serene escape in Ethiopia’s north. As the boat glides across the…
New study reaffirms Indigenous lands key to mitigating climate change in Brazil
In April, Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recognized an additional two Indigenous territories, including one 32,000-hectare (more than 79,000-acre) territory belonging to the Karajá peoples in Mato Grosso.…
Borneo’s Dayak adapt Indigenous forestry to modern peat management
PULANG PISAU, Indonesia — Bandi paddled through the black swamp, passing alongside banks of high brush outside Kalawa village here in the south of Borneo Island. The narrow canoe, known…
Beekeeping helps villagers tend coastal forests in Thai mangrove hotspot
BAN NAI NANG, Thailand — Carefully prying open the lid of a wooden bee box, Ali Madwang gazes intently into the cavity as sunlight illuminates the scene within. A hubbub…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- In Brazil’s Amazon, land invasions — and fires — threaten a protected reserve
- A Guatemalan reserve turns from civil war refuge to deforestation hotspot
- Narco activity takes heavy toll on Colombia’s protected forests, satellite data show
- Photos confirm narcotraffickers operating in Peru’s Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve
Oceans
- Lab-grown corals resisted bleaching during Caribbean’s worst marine heat wave
- Six months after first Houthi ship sinking, attacks slick Red Sea with oil
- $35m debt-for-nature deal aims to protect Indonesia’s coral reefs
- Arctic melt ponds influence sea ice extent each summer — but how much?
Amazon Conservation
- Extreme drought pushes Amazon’s main rivers to lowest-ever levels
- Drought forces Amazon Indigenous communities to drink mercury-tainted water
- Acre’s communities face drinking water shortage amid Amazon drought
- Deal ends environmental agents’ strike in Brazil, but grievances fester
Land rights and extractives
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
- In the DRC, a government commission is taking funds owed to people relocated by mines
- A national park and its rangers in Bolivia endure persisting road construction, illegal mining
- Can nations ever get artisanal gold mining right?
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
- Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
- Indonesian activist freed in hate speech case after flagging illegal shrimp farms
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
- 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
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
