Extinct: last of the Andaman tribe dies
Boa Sr, the last speaker of ‘Bo’, one of the ten Great Andamanese languages, died last week, according to an indigenous rights group. She was 85. His death marks the…
Islands News
Satellite photo of the world’s tallest building and “The World” islands in Dubai
NASA has released an updated satellite photo showing Dubai's artificial islands and its newly completed Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building which stands more than 800 meters (2600 feet tall).…
Half of Indonesia’s species remain unknown
Incorporating 17,000 tropical islands, Indonesia is one of the world's richest areas of biodiversity. However, according to the Jakarta Post, over half of this biodiversity remains unrecorded with only 20…
Photos: New tropical frog undergoes remarkable transformation
Nature never runs out of surprises. Exploring Sudest Island off of Papua New Guinea, researchers discovered a new species of frog that drastically changes its appearance from juvenile to adulthood,…
Little more than 10,000 hectares of rainforest remains on Java
From 2003-2006, Java lost approximately 2,500 hectares a year (10,000 hectares of forest in total) according to the Forestry Ministry. Despite the rate of loss being far lower in Java…
Indonesia plans to sell endangered tigers as pets to the wealthy
Indonesia has a new plan to save the Critically Endangered Sumatran tiger, reports the AFP: sell captive-born tigers as pets. The proposed price is 100,000 US dollars for a pair…
Conservation organization, Durrell Wildlife Trust, forced to cut staff due to economic downturn
The Durrell Wildlife Trust—which turned fifty last year—has announced that it will be cutting back 10 percent of its workforce, approximately 12-14 positions, due to an ongoing deficit caused by…
The Caribbean’s wonderfully weird (and threatened) mammals, an interview with Jose Nunez-Mino
Not many people know the solenodon and the hutia, yet for the fortunate few that have encountered them, these strange little-studied mammals—just barely holding on in the Caribbean island of…
Researchers catch new cricket species going where no cricket has gone before
East of Madagascar, on the small island of Reunion, researchers have made a remarkable discovery: a cricket that pollinates an orchid. The cricket, which is also a species new to…
Gone: a look at extinction over the past decade
A survey of twelve species lost to extinction over the past ten years. No one can say with any certainty how many species went extinct from 2000-2009. Because no one…
Uninhabited tropical island paradise seeks REDD funding to save it from loggers
Tetepare may be one of the last tropical island paradises left on earth. Headhunting and a mysterious illness drove its original inhabitants from the island two hundred years ago, making…
US think-tank: islands affected by global warming should wait for trickle-down money
Poor island nations threatened by rising seas should wait for money through trickle-down economics, according to the founder of the US-based Competitive Enterprise Institute. The free-market think tank believes that…
Islands and African nations present toughest treaty yet to combat global warming
Led by the small island state of Tuvalu, developing nations particularly vulnerable to climate change have put forward the most ambitious plan yet to mitigate climate change. Their move has…
Extinctions on the rise in the Galapagos: fishing and global warming devastating islands’ species
We may never see again the Galapagos black-spotted damselfish, the beautiful 24-rayed sunstar, or the Galapagos stringweed. These species from Galapagos waters may all very well be extinct. Other species…
Forgotten Species: the haunting whistle of the Anjouan scops-owl
Everyone knows the tiger, the panda, the blue whale, but what about the other five to thirty million species estimated to inhabit our Earth? Many of these marvelous, stunning, and…
Extinct goat was “similar to crocodiles”
It sounds like something out of Greek mythology: a half-goat, half-reptilian creature. But researchers have discovered that an extinct species of goat, the Balearic Island cave goat or Myotragus balearicus,…
45 new snail species discovered on Australian islands
Surveys on islands off the coast in the Kimberley region of Western Australia have discovered at least 45 new species of snail. "Because the islands are largely unexplored by modern…
Photos: new gecko discovered on bizarre and beautiful Socotra island
Lying in the Indian Ocean half way between Somalia and Yemen, the strange island archipelagos of Socotra offer a bewildering array of life found no where else on Earth. Thirty…
Three new species discovered in mile-long underwater cave
Photo: Scientists discover new species of Komodo dragon-like lizard
German researchers have discovered a new species of monitor lizard in Indonesia using DNA analysis and morphological characteristics. The species, Varanus lirungensis, is described in the Australian Journal of Zoology.…
Global warming causes sheep to shrink
Climate change is shrinking Scotland's wild Soay sheep despite the evolutionary advantages of having a large body, report researchers writing in the journal Science. Arpat Ozgul and colleagues tracked changes…
Tiny bat discovered on islands off Africa
The Natural History Museum in Geneva, Switzerland has announced the discovery of a bat species new to science on the Comoros Island arichpelago off the south-east coast of Africa. The…
Extinction of Christmas Island Pipistrelle bat predicted in less than six months
The Australasian Bat Society predicts that the Christmas Island Pipistrelle bat has less than six months left until extinction, unless measures are taken immediately to set-up a captive breeding population.…
Protecting global biodiversity must include islands
If the world is to save biodiversity, island are key, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study found that while islands…
New lichen named after Obama
A California researcher has named a new species of lichen after President Barack Obama. Kerry Knudsen from the University of California-Riverside (UCR) named the lichen Caloplaca obamae. "I discovered the…
Newly discovered pink iguana sheds light on Galapagos evolution
A new reason to ban whaling: your health
A new reason to ban whaling: your health A new reason to ban whaling: your health mongabay.com November 28, 2008
Photos of living gremlin discovered in Indonesia
Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of primate on a remote island in Indonesia. Conducting a survey of Mount Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park on the island of…
Facing extinction from rising seas, Maldives establishes fund to buy homeland abroad
Facing extinction from rising seas, Maldives establishes fund to buy homeland abroad Facing extinction from rising seas, Maldives to buy homeland abroad mongabay.com November 10, 2008
Massive bat species returns from the brink of extinction
Massive bat species returns from the brink of extinction Massive bat species returns from the brink of extinction mongabay.com October 31, 2008
Rare bird rediscovered on ‘most pristine’ island in southeast Asia
Rare bird rediscovered on 'most pristine' island in southeast Asia Rare bird rediscovered on 'most pristine' island in southeast Asia mongabay.com October 23, 2008
Komodo dragon conservation efforts prove controversial in Indonesia
Komodo dragon conservation efforts prove controversial -- and dangerous -- in Indonesia Komodo dragon conservation efforts prove controversial in Indonesia mongabay.com August 25, 2008 Efforts to protect a giant reptile…
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
