Satellite trackers help fight vultures’ extinction in southern Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Every other hour, Sonja Krüger logs onto her website and checks the birds’ status. Pharoah is taking a mud bath in the mountains, Jeremia is on…
Environmental headlines
Mongabay is a non-profit provider of conservation and environmental science news.
Dam drove ‘collapse’ of rainforest bird populations in Thailand
The construction of a hydroelectric dam in Thailand in the 1980s devastated the area’s wild birds, leaving behind just a few of the many species that once inhabited the region,…
Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemic
If you take a stroll in the woods, it’s worth pausing for a moment to take in the sights and sounds, peer into the undergrowth, or even turn over a…
COP24: World’s nations complicit in ignoring bioenergy climate bomb
Burning wood pellets, once deemed as carbon neutral, produces big CO2 emissions instead. But developed nations are cooking the books on bioenergy, toying with climate disaster.
Global agreement on ‘conserved areas’ marks new era of conservation (commentary)
On November 29, 2018, the 196 Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted a decision that represents a high-water mark for the governance of protected areas and…
From a new bird to a new community reserve: India’s tribe sets example
Other stories in this four-part series on the indigenous groups living around Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India, will appear here upon publication. SINGCHUNG, India — “Follow the…
A Zambian sanctuary finds caring for chimps is a lifetime commitment
COPPERBELT, Zambia — Thirty-five years ago, a game ranger in Zambia confiscated a baby chimpanzee from poachers who had smuggled it from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was…
COP24: Tropical deforestation risks undermining 1.5-degree warming limit
KATOWICE, Poland — The world has just 12 years left to halve greenhouse gas emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change, but hopes that a solution will come from saving the…
Ethiopia: Khat farming threatens food security, biodiversity, women, and agroforestry
WONDO GENET, Ethiopia – Agroforestry has been the major agricultural farming system in southern Ethiopia’s Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) regional state for millennia, passed on from generation to…
Birds on Broadway: A Q&A with the Audubon Mural Project’s Avi Gitler
Naturalist and painter John James Audubon published Birds of America in the 19th century. Audubon had set out to paint every bird in North America, and the book contained 435…
Guatemala: An indigenous community rejects, then accepts, a protected area
RÍO SARSTÚN, Guatemala — Riding in a small motorboat along the Atlantic coast of Guatemala, Francisco Cuz Acal looked over his left shoulder at the lush forest cover whizzing by.…
Feed a fishery, starve a seabird
Competition for fish stocks with fisheries to feed humans could be forcing seabirds to go hungry, according to new research. The study, published Dec. 6 in the journal Current Biology,…
‘We see its value’: Ugandan communities benefiting from agroforestry
BUTANDA, Uganda — On a forested hill in the highlands of Butanda, in western Uganda, James Rwebishengye and Florence Atwine have created a diverse forest canopy of more than 200…
Scientists team up with indigenous, faithful to fight for forests
MEDELLIN, Colombia — An alliance of scientists, development experts, indigenous peoples and religious leaders met late last month in Colombia to determine how church leaders can help drive environmental public…
Audio: The true story of how 96 critically endangered sea turtle hatchlings survived New York City
On this episode, the true story of how 96 critically endangered sea turtles survived a New York City beach — with a little help from some dedicated conservationists and scientists.…
Brazilian regulators deny French oil giant Total license to drill near Amazon Reef
Brazil’s environmental regulatory agency, Ibama, announced last Friday that it was denying French oil company Total license to drill for oil near the Amazon Reef. The reef system, discovered off…
A monitoring network in the Amazon captures a flood of data
Monitoring technology deployed in a remote rainforest over time subjects it to high heat, humidity, and rainfall, as well as potential damage by insects and other wildlife. When you add…
COP24: Europe looks to fill the leadership void left by the U.S.
KATOWICE, Poland — Three years ago, then-U.S. President Barack Obama was instrumental in rallying the international community behind a landmark climate deal in Paris. He managed to push through grueling…
COP24: Trumpers tout clean coal; protesters call it ‘climate suicide’
Demonstrators, subnationals, NGOs and COP24 delegates have moved beyond the Trump administration delegation’s public farce advocating coal as a viable climate solution.
New species of giant salamander described after decades of mystery
Researchers have described a new species of giant salamander that has remained shrouded in mystery for several decades. Known from swamps in Alabama and Florida in the southern United States,…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- 7 convicted of killing Honduran indigenous activist Berta Cáceres
- Five wildlife conservationists held by Iran could face the death penalty
- Peru cracks down after environmental defenders’ murders
Indonesias forest guardians
- Smartphone app helps indigenous communities fight deforestation
- Papuan chef Charles Toto serves up sustainability and environmental protection in a platter
- In eastern Indonesia, a forest tribe pushes back against miners and loggers
Amazon infrastructure
- Belo Monte dam Xingu River Management Plan violates human rights: finding
- Amazon indigenous groups and truckers ally to oppose Brazil’s Grainrail
- Extreme floods on the rise in the Amazon: study
Asian rhinos
- For elusive Javan rhinos, camera traps are a benevolent Big Brother
- First wild Sumatran rhino in Borneo captured for breeding campaign
- Jaw-dropping footage: conservationists catch Javan rhino in mud wallow
