"He was almost always smiling." In eastern Congo, where war and poverty have long eroded hope, that smile and the restless energy behind it mattered as much as any conservation…
Six months ago, the M23 rebel group seized Goma, one of the largest cities in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the time since, local activists and…
Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala: these are the names of four Grauer’s gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) that conservationists reintroduced to the wild in October 2024. After years in a sanctuary,…
Tropical forest loss skyrocketed in 2024, with vast swaths of primary forest consumed by fire, according to new satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery…
In February 2025, rangers at Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with the Okapi Conservation Project, successfully brought an okapi to Epulu, site of the…
The Republic of Congo’s recently announced plans to double oil production over the next three years puts it “fatally at odds” with its own stated goals for a clean energy…
The intensifying security crisis in parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the years is undermining wildlife protection in Virunga National Park, say officials and local residents.…
The resurgence of the M23 (March 23 movement) rebel group has once again drawn global attention to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The humanitarian crisis—millions displaced, thousands…
BAMEGOARD, Republic of Congo — Deep in the heart of a lush green forest, an excavator is hard at work, turning over the earth in search of gold. The surrounding…
The year 2024 saw significant developments in tropical rainforest conservation, deforestation, and degradation. While progress in some regions provided glimmers of hope, systemic challenges and emerging threats highlighted the fragility…
A new study has concluded that the decline in Grauer’s gorillas in a sector of their main stronghold in the Democratic Republic of Congo was the result of the impacts…
Michael Harvey recalls the moment he first saw a flock of yellow-crested helmetshrikes flitting through a cloud forest in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: the first confirmed sighting by…
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…
A lost bird Everything we know for certain about the Itombwe owl comes from just two individuals: one dead for more than 70 years, and the other also most likely…
As a young student, Aristide Kamla had “big plans” when he traveled to Lake Ossa in Cameroon to conduct his master's degree fieldwork with the little-known African manatee. He was hoping…
Evolution thought of everything long before we did. Take the case of the forest hinge-back tortoise (Kinixys erosa) found in the Congo Basin, as well as parts of West Africa and all the…
Growing coffee in a forest with other trees and plants—a system known as agroforestry—can be as productive as growing it in a monoculture field, but it’s much less harmful, according…
LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — In Manono, a town in the province of Tanganyika, in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Katanga region, a mining…
A rare bird known only from a single specimen captured in the eastern Congo Basin nearly 70 years ago has become one of the most sought-after species in the global…
In 2012, the description of a new monkey species from the Congo Basin with an unforgettable, humanlike countenance made global news. Now, a camera trap study reveals how the lesula…
For centuries, Maasai peoples living in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) mostly moved freely over vast savanna rangelands in search of water and available grassland, without any restrictions. But in…
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network. LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — On Oct. 13, 2023, on National Road 39, a police…
The global race to secure minerals critical to the clean energy transition is driving toxic pollution with severe health repercussions for communities living near some of the world’s largest cobalt…
The conservation group African Parks says it has contracted the law firm Omnia Strategy LLP to investigate allegations of human rights abuses at Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of…
LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo — On Dec. 2, Togolese authorities intercepted 38 monkeys at the airport. They were being sent from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic…
In 2023, Mongabay launched the fourth season of its serial podcast, “Mongabay Explores,” highlighting the Congo Basin. The six-part series takes a close look at the second-largest rainforest in the…
Despite the COP28 climate summit agreeing on groundbreaking language on forests, countries are still no nearer to closing the “finance gap” necessary to stop the destruction of rainforests, according to…
The Republic of the Congo is a hotspot for sharks and rays. However, scientists didn’t know how many of these species congregate along the coast until they asked the artisanal…
In the two decades since the Franco-British multinational Perenco established operations at Muanda, at the mouth of the Congo River, surrounding communities have suffered the loss of the natural resources…
JAKARTA — The tropics lost 10% more primary rainforest in 2022 than in 2021, as forest loss in deforestation hotspots like Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continued…
When growing up in the Congo Basin forest, I witnessed the consequences of forest destruction by logging and industrial agricultural plantations. In some areas, Indigenous communities used to live alongside…
READER ADVISORY: This story contains images of dead animals that some viewers may find disturbing. LODJA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Disaster struck Héritier Mpo’s tiny NGO in the central…
