How Mongabay India took root: Interview with Sandhya Sekar
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…
India News
In India, folklore is a tool that helps women save the greater adjutant stork
Come hear the hargila's speech With a cry of the heart's eyes Hear o hear me out Please do not chop down our trees Do not erase our forests How…
Illegal trafficking of siamang gibbons is a concerning and underreported crisis (commentary)
Siamangs are the largest of the 20 gibbon species, and belong to their own genus, Symphalangus. Distributed across Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, and the southernmost part of Thailand, their unforgettable and…
Uttarakhand’s extreme weather wreaks havoc on crops, livelihoods & futures
Rita grew up in a small village in Uttarakhand with mountains forming the backbone of her childhood. In a recent call with her sister, she laughed, repeating a little rhyme…
Exploring India, finding new species: Interview with biologist Zeeshan Mirza
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…
How one researcher walked thousands of miles along India’s shores to conserve sea turtles
Satish Bhaskar was a curious man. From a very young age he was fascinated with the sea and the diverse marine creatures, especially turtles. When he learnt that sea turtles…
As Sri Lanka’s rail tracks continue to claim elephant lives, experts suggest solutions
COLOMBO — More than a decade ago, Thushari, a young female elephant, born wild and free, would roam the landscapes of Galgamuwa in northwestern Sri Lanka every day with her…
Increase in gibbon trafficking into India has conservationists worried
With oversized and inquisitive eyes, an infant-like expressive face, and a palette of thick, furry coats ranging from beige to black, gibbons tick all the right boxes to be called…
Coal gasification, an old technology, is quietly expanding across Asia
In Nagasaki prefecture, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, J-Power, the operator of the aging Matsushima coal-fired power plant, has an idea to keep the unit operating despite the…
River culture is the rhythmic pulse of the Bengal Delta (commentary)
Rivers, as Bengal's nurturing mother, shaped the soul of this land and cultural landscape. The ever-flowing water and fertile sediments formed the entire Bengal region, nourishing the Indus Valley civilization…
World’s record heat is worsening air pollution and health in Global South
Humanity achieved a fateful milestone last year. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has officially declared 2024 the hottest year on record, and the first year in history with…
Four new tarantula species found in India’s Western Ghats mountains
A researcher described four new species of tarantulas, including one new genus, from India's Western Ghats, a chain of mountains running along the country's west coast. "Most people in India…
Photos: Top new species from 2024
A giant anaconda, a vampire hedgehog, a dwarf squirrel, and a tiger cat were among the new species named by science in 2024. Found from the depths of the Pacific…
Across continents, Mongabay fellows share insights from reporting in the field
This year marks the second full year of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowships. Participants, selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants around the world, spend six months…
India advances deep-sea mining technology in the Andaman Sea
India’s government organization dedicated to developing technologies for exploring and harnessing ocean resources has been exploring parts of the Indian Ocean for the last few years. In October, the National…
If all life mattered, what would decision-making look like? (Analysis)
In April 2013, the Supreme Court of India delivered a historic judgement recognizing the cultural, religious and spiritual rights of the Dongria Kondh Adivasis, an Indigenous community residing in the…
In the battle against plastic pollution, Asia’s informal workers are critical allies (commentary)
Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, a waste worker from Binh Dinh, Vietnam, has worked in the waste collection industry for four decades. She has spent every day at the landfill –…
Uttarakhand villagers thirst for water as tourism, temps & development rise
With heat waves becoming a significant struggle, especially in urban India, many people are moving to hill stations with work-from-home options, seeking respite in states like Uttarakhand, at the seat…
Scientists are racing to save South Asia’s butterflies from the threat of extinction
In the dark undergrowth of mangrove forests, an anthology of color stirs. Flickers of turquoise rise like exhales from the brackish marshlands, and flashes of sunset orange spark alive in…
‘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…
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…
Caught in the net: Unchecked shrimp farming transforms India’s Sundarbans
KOLKATA — In the small village of Nagendrapur, located in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve (SBR) in the Indian state of West Bengal, a mere 6-foot-wide lane separates a vast wetland…
Media must help reduce conflict between tigers and people in the Sundarbans (commentary)
The Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, is a natural wonder that supports millions of people. It's a shield against powerful storms and provides resources for countless families. But this…
Fear and hardship for the last community inside Chitwan, Nepal’s tiger central
MADI, Nepal — Surya Prasad Paudel, a lean 42-year-old with an aquiline nose, sunken eyes and gray facial hair, stands waveringly in front of his mud house with the sunlight…
Exploring the science of Asian elephants: Interview with Sanjeeta Sharma Pokharel
KATHMANDU — Asian elephants traverse vast distances, ingesting things they encounter as they retrace the ancient paths their ancestors followed. In doing so, they alter landscapes, create habitats, and earn…
New database unveils the role of Asian hornbills as forest seed dispersers
Biologists have long known hornbills are supreme long-distance seed dispersers. The iconic forest birds are capable of transporting tree seeds over vast distances — up to 10 kilometers, or 6…
Ridiculously rare photo catches Asian caracal swimming a river in India
If you’ve ever thought of the caracal before, you’ve probably pictured it inhabiting the savannas of Africa, its long-fringed ears sticking up above the wild grasses. But although the caracal…
Saving Asia’s fishing cat means protecting threatened wetland habitat
Asia’s water-loving fishing cat is one of the world’s better-known small wildcats, which has inspired the creation of a closely linked network of conservation groups — all intent on fishing cat and wetland conservation.
From polling stations to weather stations, the heat is on in India (commentary)
“April is the cruelest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot in the poem The Waste Land. For the 30 million residents of India's southern state of Kerala, this April was particularly cruel,…
Meet the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
Seven grassroots environmental activists were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize on April 29. Known as the “Green Nobel Prize,” the Goldman Prize honors activists from the six continental regions. This year’s winners…
Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters
KANNIYAKUMARI, India — Anthoni Dhasan, 47, sits on the deck of his fishing boat at the harbor of Thengapattanam in Tamil Nadu, India’s southernmost state, peering out at the stormy…
Uttarakhand limits agricultural land sales amid protests & tourism development
For months, residents in the Himalayan foothills of Uttarakhand have been fighting for the introduction of land laws that would prevent agricultural land from being sold to people from outside…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- 15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
Oceans
- Southeast Asia’s fisheries thrive despite decades of overfishing warnings: Study
- Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill
- Smuggling networks exploit migrant debt to fuel tiger poaching in Malaysia, study shows
- Community-based conservation cuts thresher shark fishing by 91% in Indonesia: Study
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- ‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
- Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
Endangered Environmentalists
- Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
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
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- 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
