"Absolutely disgusting, so grim, the worst fieldwork of my life, but also extremely rewarding in a very odd way," said Julia Grootaers, describing her three months collecting data among rotting…
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…
The island of New Guinea is famed for its eye-popping diversity of plants, animals and human cultures. Estimated to host one-tenth of Earth’s species, it’s the world’s second-largest island and…
Sandhya Sekar never intended to lead a newsroom. Trained as an ecologist, with a Ph.D. in the sciences and a later pivot into journalism, she simply followed her curiosity—first as…
Multinational palm oil-buying companies could be doing more to address financial inequities in their global supply chains that perpetuate challenges for smallholder farmers, according to a new report from sustainable…
The Kinabatangan River is the last major area in Malaysian Borneo’s Sabah state with a semblance of forest corridor linking the interior rainforest with mangroves on the east coast, according…
For about 2% of the world's amphibian species, it’s already getting too hot to survive in their natural habitats, according to a new study in Nature. If the planet keeps…
When Ridzki Sigit first encountered the idea of joining Mongabay, we had yet to establish a presence in the language of his native Indonesia. The prospect was novel, even daunting:…
Coral restoration won’t save reefs from global warming, according to a recent study – at least, not the way we’re doing it now. The study, conducted by researchers at the…
Intensifying heat waves, extreme floods and forest fires have devastated parts of Southeast Asia in recent years, spurring experts and authorities to look for holistic solutions. Agroforestry, the practice of…
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the sudden passing of Ochieng’ Ogodo, Mongabay’s East Africa editor, who died early Thursday morning in Nairobi, Kenya, at the age of…
Primatologists and conservation organizations have launched a 10-year action plan to improve the outlook for langur monkeys in the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot, a region of Southeast Asia that spans Brunei,…
Unprecedented numbers of emaciated dugongs have washed up dead along Thailand’s Andaman Sea coast over the past three years, prompting marine scientists to urgently investigate what’s driving their decline. Thailand’s…
In the Mexican port city of Acapulco, in southwestern Guerrero state, human activities have put so much pressure on the most important lagoons that the mangrove areas in this city…
Brazil is facing an alarming surge in forest fires. Last year, the country registered 237,000 fires and over 30.8 million hectares of vegetation were consumed by flames—an area the size of Italy. This represented a 79% increase in…
Yams are considered one of the world’s most important crops. A starchy, nutrient-rich root vegetable of the genus Dioscorea, the yam thrives in a tropical belt across West Africa, with…
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…
A green pit viper named after Salazar Slytherin from Harry Potter, an unfamiliar snake found in an Instagram post, and twelve new species of day geckos from a single mountain…
A new-to-science species of praying mantis found in Iran has been named as a symbol of universal freedom. Sinaiella azadi was found in the mountainous region of central Iran in…
A recent study in Ecological Solutions and Evidence shows just how complicated and challenging it is to achieve carbon sequestration goals through forest management — but not impossible. The research…
I’ve learned to speak some spider monkey over the years. As a conservationist working out of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, I’ve spent years of my life in the jungle. I…
The communities around Lake Chad have always lived by its water rhythms. Now, as climate change impacts intensify, they must find new ways to adapt. The Lake Chad Basin lies…
The Kimberley, the northernmost region of Australia’s largest jurisdiction, Western Australia, is remote and difficult to access due to its rugged terrain. With a permanent population of just 40,000 in…
In March 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi, unleashing six months of rain in six days. Freddy was the largest and longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded, and the impacts were…
Tree-planting has become a go-to tool for taking carbon out of the atmosphere and repairing deforested habitats. And indeed, reforestation — planting trees or fostering tree regrowth in historically forested…
In 2023, Will Burrard-Lucas, a U.K.-based photographer who specializes in high-definition camera-trapping, set up cameras at four sites in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, a 4,000-square-kilometer (1,545-square-mile) expanse of lowland rainforest…
The mounting pressure on Brazil’s federal environmental agency (IBAMA) to approve the disastrous project to extract oil from the mouth of the Amazon River (see here and here) should be…
Growing up in northern Thailand, Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok would sketch and paint the birds he saw during family outings. These early artistic pursuits soon fledged into a lifelong passion for avian…
Randy Borman was never meant to be Cofán. And yet, from the moment he was born in 1955, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, he belonged to them. His parents, American…
Across southeastern Liberia, oil palms grow wild in the forest. Known as “country palm,” the Elaeis guineensis tree is native to West Africa and treasured by local communities. “In the…
The past three years have been turbulent for the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region that has experienced prolonged conflict for many years. The recent advancement of M23, a…
In 2019, scientists rediscovered a species of miniature deer long lost to science within the dry coastal forests of southern Vietnam’s Nui Chua National Park. A victim of snaring, the…
