The dark side of light: Coastal urban lighting threatens marine life, study shows
Night is falling on Tokyo. The moon, shining in a berry-blue sky, has come to govern the darkness. But it has not come alone: a new study reveals that artificial…
In wake of ‘natural’ disasters, not reducing biodiversity loss is a big missed opportunity (commentary)
Floods, heatwaves, droughts, and wildfires – a changing climate is bringing with it ever more frequent and destructive so-called “natural” disasters, often impacting the most vulnerable areas and communities of…
To restore large carnivore populations, make people wealthier, study finds
The decline of big carnivore populations like lions, bears and lynx is most closely associated with rapid economic growth, according to a study published this week in Nature Communications. The study…
Re-carbonizing the sea: Scientists to start testing a big ocean carbon idea
Imagine showers of little green sand grains drifting through the ocean: collecting on coral reefs, rolling off the backs of whales, sprinkling schools of tuna — and helping to save…
Podcast: Botanists are disappearing at a critical time
An early-career botanist joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss his group’s recent study of the decrease in plant awareness and educational opportunities to study botany. A Ph.D. candidate in Urban…
Study aims to unmask fishing vessels, and owners, obscured by loopholes
New research has generated a comprehensive system for tracking and monitoring fishing vessels — from the moment they disembark from the shipyard to their eventual dismantlement at a ship graveyard —…
Understanding reptile intelligence can aid conservation and safeguard ecosystems (commentary)
“Deep inside the skull of every one of us there is something like a brain of a crocodile” - Carl Sagan, Cosmos. In science, reptiles have been considered to be…
Biodiversity, human rights safeguards crucial to nature-based solutions: Critics
The implementation of nature-based solutions, or NbS — a hotly debated concept that has gained traction in recent years — is seen by many policymakers as a potential means for…
Innovators develop seaweed-based alternatives to plastic food wrappers
Seaweed, a common name for thousands of marine plants and algae found in different water bodies, not only provides food and shelter for marine animals, but it can also help…
Across the tropics, mammal activity doesn’t vary much, study shows
When do weasels sleep? Where do the wild pigs roam? And do jaguars keep their prey up at night? A new study published in the journal Nature Communications examines when…
Extreme heat takes a toll on tropical countries’ economies
BISSIL, Kenya — Heat waves are on the rise globally, and countries least culpable suffer the worst effects. While temperatures continue to rise worldwide, new research published in the journal…
Podcast: At COP 15, biodiversity finance, Indigenous rights, and corporate influence
In December, the UN Biodiversity Conference concluded with a historic commitment agreed to by nearly 200 nations, the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a commitment that aims to halt and reverse…
Protecting canids from planet-wide threats offers ecological opportunities
Wild canids around the world are at risk, though some reintroductions are seeing good results. Conserving canids is not only good for ecosystem health, it can even potentially help curb climate change.
Mongabay’s What-To-Watch list for January 2023
In December, Mongabay released videos of several important environmental stories from across the world: an investigation of land grabbing in Brazil, a religious group clearing the Amazon in Peru, a…
Island conservation should focus on land-sea links for most impact, paper says
Stuart Sandin’s first impression of Palmyra Atoll, a remote island in the central Pacific Ocean, during a visit in 2004, was troubled. There were seabirds, but their presence was fragmented,…
Dollars and chainsaws: Can timber production help fund global reforestation?
Pedro Brancalion is used to the roar of chainsaws. For years, he’s heard loggers tearing down rainforest giants in the Brazilian Amazon, and listened as ancient trees were toppled and…
On climate & biodiversity, where are we, post-COP15? (commentary)
With the world busy evaluating the conclusion of the latest meeting under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal (COP15), and the publication of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity…
Sharks received landmark protection to combat fin trade, but the culling must stop (commentary)
At CITES CoP19, also known as the World Wildlife Conference, 54 requiem shark species, including tiger and bull sharks, six hammerhead shark species and 37 species of guitarfish were added…
New app tells donors what communities need to stop deforestation: Q&A with Health In Harmony
How can improving access to doctors and nurses for an Indigenous community in Borneo better protect the region’s fast-depleting rainforest and wildlife? A new app developed by nonprofit organization Health…
Democratizing the deep sea: Q&A with Ocean Discovery League’s Katy Croff Bell
At first, Katy Croff Bell and her team had just wanted to make underwater cameras to give to school students from communities living along the Pacific Ocean. But when the…
Top mangrove news of 2022
Not quite aquatic but not fully terrestrial, mangrove forests are uniquely adapted to inhabit the interface between land and sea in the warmer parts of the world. Compared to the…
What happened in the world’s rainforests in 2022?
There were some hopeful developments for tropical rainforest conservation in 2022, including declines in the deforestation rate in Indonesia and the Brazilian Amazon, new high-level policy commitments supporting forest protection,…
Top 15 species discoveries from 2022 (Photos)
A resplendent rainbow fish, a frog that looks like chocolate, a Thai tarantula, an anemone that rides on a back of a hermit crab, and the world's largest waterlily are…
Mongabay’s top 10 stories of 2022
By the time 2022 comes to a close, Mongabay will have published around 4,900 articles this year, including original reporting in English, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Portuguese and Spanish, as well…
2022’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
1. Negotiations for historic global plastics treaty break ground Global leaders cheered to the strike of a recycled-plastic gavel in March, signifying a landmark decision by the United Nations Environment…
Mongabay’s 10 most popular videos of 2022
2022 has been full of exciting projects for Mongabay. We covered unique stories, met charismatic characters, and traveled all over the planet through our videos. To celebrate our successes and…
Podcast: A bittersweet bioacoustics bonanza
One of the most promising conservation technologies emerging in recent years is bioacoustics – the use of acoustic recording technologies to study the behavior, distribution, and abundance of wildlife –…
Mongabay Explains: What’s all the brouhaha over bottom trawling?
When it comes to news about fishing, bottom trawling sparks some of the most dramatic stories. In September, for instance, Greenpeace activists took it upon themselves to drop 18 boulders…
10 notable books on conservation and the environment published in 2022
It’s too easy nowadays to look at the state of the world and feel a sense of hopelessness. Scientists tell us we face not one but two potentially existential menaces…
Tobacco: Vaping and smoking drive environmental harm from farm to fingertip
The tobacco supply chain has harmful consequences for forests, oceans and the climate, and also for farmers and their families who produce the crop — all to an extent that is not yet fully known.
