With evidence that the giant river otter is in an increasingly perilous state, delegates to the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) listed it as an…
A tropical forest can regrow quickly. What is harder to see is how long full ecological recovery takes. A pasture left to regenerate may, within a few decades, resemble a…
In recent years, we have seen clear signs that the global market for forest and nature-based carbon credits is gaining momentum. More and more companies and governments are turning to forests as…
The Congo Basin, often referred to as the “second lungs of Earth,” holds immense potential for leading Central Africa’s green transition. Home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest and second-largest…
BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Throughout most of Central Africa, it’s difficult to spot herds of forest elephants all at once. They move through dense rainforest, remaining elusive, their lives…
With their dense mats of submerged roots, mangrove forests hold down shorelines worldwide like a coastal Swiss Army knife. They’re a nursery for juvenile fish and a home for important…
Madagascar is renowned for its lemurs, which are threatened due to hunting and deforestation. Restoring native forests to ensure their survival is critical, but once damaged, forests in Madagascar are…
PONTAL DO PARANAPANEMA, Brazil — Sugarcane fields undulate across the landscape as a line of water stretches to the horizon. We travel along a dirt road in western São Paulo,…
JAKARTA — A palm oil company is ramping up its destruction of forests that are home to critically endangered orangutans in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on the island of Borneo,…
When village conservation teams find a Siamese crocodile nest in the Xe Champhone wetlands of central Laos, they move fast, collecting eggs within 24 hours before poachers, predators or floods…
EAST KALIMANTAN, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to release environmental impact assessments for two projects at the country’s new capital city, handing civil society groups a…
This story was produced in collaboration with Bellingcat. Read their version here, and Mongabay-Indonesia's version here. JAKARTA — A new report by Mongabay and independent journalism organization Bellingcat has uncovered…
JAKARTA — Environmental experts and activists have slammed plans for carbon and tourism projects in an Indonesian park that’s home to critically endangered tigers, rhinos and elephants. The government has…
As the afternoon fades at the Three Sisters Caves in Kenya’s Kwale county, David Wechuli’s team begins setting up nearly invisible nets along the hillsides in the coastal forest. “When…
To the cartographers of the modern conservation world, the forests of northeastern Gabon can appear almost empty. Satellite images show a deep green canopy stretching across the Congo Basin.…
Costa Rica’s famous coffee industry says it’s nearly ready for EUDR. The upcoming European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires that all coffee shipped into the EU not come from recently…
For years, a battle has raged between EU nations that claim their forest biomass certification policies safeguard against deforestation, promote sustainability and enable carbon-emissions reductions, even as forest advocates have…
Earlier this year, workers built a concrete perimeter wall for a planned resort on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania. There’s scant public information about the Mantuli development, but…
PADANG, Indonesia — Environmental inspectors in Indonesia say they’re continuing to monitor compliance by mining and other companies on the island of Sumatra amid ongoing public outcry three months after…
Ecuador has announced the creation of a new biological corridor designed to connect the eastern ranges of the Andes with the Amazon Rainforest, part of a larger initiative to strengthen…
Establishing forests can capture carbon and boost biodiversity — but some biomes are a better bet than others, a recent study finds. Forest restoration has emerged as a top nature-based…
The Brazilian Cerrado, recognized as one of the world’s most species-diverse and threatened ecodomains on the planet, faces increasing pressure from large-scale agriculture and land conversion. “Ecodomains” are large areas…
The forests of the world are teeming with life, from the towering trees down to the microscopic organisms that quietly recycle and refuel the soil. That’s why clearing forests leads…
Planting trees is a vital strategy to combat both climate change and the biodiversity crisis. As forests grow, they sponge carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide renewed habitat for…
A couple of years ago, Sarah Venter wrote an article gently picking apart alarm over the specter of Africa's iconic baobabs dying off due to climate change. Her review found…
In August 2025, Louis Nkembi, founder of conservation NGO ERuDeF, was abducted by militia fighters in Cameroon’s Lebialem Highlands. He was held for two weeks, hidden in a secret location…
Conservation has long depended on measurement. Populations are counted, habitats mapped, trends plotted against baselines that often extend back only a few decades. Yet many ecosystems began changing long before…
The Amazon Rainforest generates its own weather. Each day, the forest's 390 billion trees release approximately 20 billion metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, creating what…
JAKARTA — Indigenous communities in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua accuse the government of underhanded zoning changes to expand the so-called food estate program there to include large-scale oil palm…
In the aftermath of Australia’s “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019–20, few policy questions have proved as persistent as how, exactly, to live with fire on a warming continent. Governments…
The production of food continues to eat its way into the world's tropical forests. Agricultural expansion drives nearly 90% of global deforestation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of…
PADANG, Indonesia — The government of West Sumatra plans to move forward with a legal pathway for up to 300 small mines operating illegally in the heavily forested province, joining…
