A herd of dead rhinos
This is the second article in our four-part series “The Rhino Debacle.” Read Part One here. No one knows when humans first encountered the Sumatran rhinoceros, the smallest, hairiest, most…
Environmental headlines
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Limi Valley: A threatened Shangri-La for wildlife (commentary)
Around 18 kilometers southeast of Tibet's Lake Mansarovar, a sacred lake for both Hindus and Buddhists, there lies yet another pilgrimage site, albeit of a different nature: The Limi Valley,…
Chilling images of illegal mining operations in Peru
Illegal mining is destroying the Amazon. Most people know this, but it is chilling to see the destruction in aerial images that show details of the mining camps, trucks and…
Traditional groups sowing sustainable crops could save Venezuelan park
Caura National Park is under pressure from gold miners, but Afro-Venezuelan and indigenous groups have teamed with NGOs and companies to do sustainable agroforestry and safeguard forests.
Amid ongoing evictions, Kenya’s Sengwer make plans to save their ancestral forest
EMBOBUT FOREST, Kenya — One morning in May, David Kisang, 50, sat outside his tiny dome-shaped hut, with its walls made of sticks and black polythene for a roof, sipping…
World Gorilla Day: good news and grave threats
September 24 marks World Gorilla Day, when humanity celebrates one of its closest relatives, sharing 98 percent of our DNA as we do, plus we also have a common ancestor…
Latam Eco Review: Black market jaguars, freed green macaws
The most popular stories from our Spanish-language service, Mongabay-Latam, followed trafficking of jaguar parts in Peru and Bolivia, a strategy to limit cattle ranches in Colombia, and liberated macaws in…
Using space tech to improve palm oil transparency in Colombia
MEDELLIN, Colombia — Keeping an eye on what is going on out in the vast countryside of Colombia’s palm oil plantations is a challenge. But that may be about to…
Video analysis shows baby birds avoid predators while building strength
Every year, millions of baby birds leave the security of their nests, flying off into the uncertainty of the outside world. A single chick’s fledging takes just a moment, and…
Activists blast Myanmar timber deal: ‘There is no transparency at all’
The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is sounding the alarm over what it calls a “shadowy agreement” made by the Myanmar government to allow the logging and export of 5,000…
In other news: Environmental stories from around the web, September 21, 2018
Tropical forests People settled Madagascar thousands of years before previously thought, meaning the island’s first human inhabitants didn’t cause the extinction of the elephant bird (Science Magazine). Nestlé, one of…
New species of blood-red coral found off Panama coast
Marine ecologists have described a bright-red species of coral from Panama that’s new to science. The researchers found the coral growing at a depth of 45 to 50 meters (148…
Scientists uncover what makes deep soil either a carbon sink or source
Researchers say they have discovered the conditions that determine whether deep soil acts as a source of carbon emissions, releasing heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, or as a sink,…
Activists say Indonesia dragging its heels on indigenous rights
JAKARTA — Indigenous rights activists in Indonesia have expressed concern that the government is stalling the passage of a long-awaited bill on indigenous rights by tangling the legislative process in…
Global wildlife trafficking still a ‘lucrative criminal activity,’ expert says
When it comes to the multi-billion dollar global illegal wildlife trafficking market, security experts note a "threat convergence" where trafficking and organized crime meet. Because of that convergence, trafficking in illegal…
1984: the meeting that changed everything for Sumatran rhinos
This is the first article in our four-part series “The Rhino Debacle." It’s hardly the most likely place to meet a Sumatran rhino. But as you enter Zimmer Hall at…
Wildlife detectives link smuggled African elephant ivory to 3 major cartels
Around 40,000 African elephants are illegally killed for their tusks every year. But catching ivory poachers, and successfully convicting them, has remained incredibly hard. In 2016, for instance, Kenyan businessman…
Indonesian president signs 3-year freeze on new oil palm licenses
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has signed a moratorium on new licenses for oil palm plantations. The presidential instruction, signed on Sept. 19, will remain in place for no more than…
Indonesia’s Teater Potlot takes on the plight of the Sumatran tiger
PALEMBANG, Indonesia — For those worried about the plight of the Sumatran tiger, of which only a few hundred remain, concern typically flows from a sense that all life is…
Deep reefs were not spared by 2016 mass bleaching event on Great Barrier Reef
New research finds that the mass bleaching event that led to the death of 30 percent of shallow-water corals on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 also had a substantial…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Murder of activist in India highlights growing risk to environmental defenders
- Number of murdered environmental activists rose once again in 2017
- Indonesia to investigate death of journalist being held for defaming palm oil company
Indonesias forest guardians
- 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
- Faith in the forest helps Indonesia’s Dayaks keep plantations, loggers at bay
Amazon infrastructure
- Brazilian elections and the environment: where top candidates stand
- Community-run trading posts help Amazon forest people reverse rural exodus
- Ruralists in Brazilian congress put nation’s protected areas at risk
Asian rhinos
- A herd of dead rhinos
- 1984: the meeting that changed everything for Sumatran rhinos
- In protecting the Javan rhino, locals gain a ‘more meaningful life’
