A review of mongabay.com’s April 2011 stories.

For the second month in a row the most popular news story on mongabay.com was the perhaps unsurprising revelation that Sarawak’s forests are heavily impacted by logging. The March 2011 article was a response to Sarawak Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud’s claim that his state’s forests were 70 percent intact. A simple Google Earth fly-over showed that Sarawak’s forests are heavily degraded by logging roads and other damage relative to surrounding countries.



The most visited “new” news article was Jeremy Hance’s interview with William Robichaud, who is working to save the saola, one of the world’s least known large mammals. The species, which was only first documented in 1992, has never been spotted in the wild by scientists.



Mongabay.com’s continuing look at the efforts of the pro-deforestation lobby also had a lot of interest. Mongabay covered a push by World Growth International, a group that advocates on behalf of big forestry companies in Indonesia and Malaysia, to undermine the Lacey Act (groups that fund World Growth International could suffer under the anti-illegal logging regulation) and thwart Indonesia’s proposed moratorium on granting new concessions in natural forests and peatlands. Mongabay.com’s work on forestry front groups was recognized in a front page article in the New York Times on March 31.



Jeremy Hance’s piece about the Tanzanian government’s apparent shift on the environment also garnered a lot of interest. Tanzania, which has long been seen as a leader on conservation, recently launched a series of projects that could devastate the environment, including the world-famous wildebeest migration in the Serengeti.



Finally Jeremy Hance’s passionate Earth Day commentary of the gifts provided by nature rounded out the top 10 most popular news articles for April.

Most popular mongabay.com news articles – April 2011

1. Google Earth reveals stark contrast between Sarawak’s damaged forests and those in neighboring Borneo states [7334]
2. The saola: rushing to save the most ‘spectacular zoological discovery’ of the 20th Century [4484]
3. World deforestation rates and forest cover statistics, 2000-2005 [4468]
4. New World Growth report contains ‘false and misleading’ information [4211]
5. Pro-deforestation group calls for weakening of U.S. law against illegal logging [3934]
6. From the Serengeti to Lake Natron: is the Tanzanian government aiming to destroy its wildlife and lands? [3302]
7. Massive natural arch discovered in Afghanistan [2949]
8. 20 species of grouper fish are endangered [2925]
9. Future threats to the Amazon rainforest [2811]
10. What does Nature give us? A special Earth Day article [2794]
11. Why is oil palm replacing tropical rainforests [2665]
12. Elephants: the gardeners of Asia’s and Africa’s forests [2503]
13. Indigenous community takes court ruling into own hands and seizes oil palm plantation [1866]
14. Elle MacPherson promotes consumption of illegal rhino horn [warning: graphic image] [1782]
15. Demand for gold pushing deforestation in Peruvian Amazon [1585]
16. Scientists scramble to save dying amphibians [1412]
17. Dubai’s artificial islands have high environmental cost [1384]
18. How to save the Amazon rainforest [1335]
19. Giant fish help grow the Amazon rainforest [1293]
20. US wolves lose to politics [1256]
21. Cambodian prime minister cancels titanium mine project citing impact on biodiversity and local people [1214]
22. Humans and global warming responsible for extinction of mammoths [1211]
23. Palm oil lobby attacks World Bank’s new social and environmental safeguards [1210]
24. NASA image reveals extent of 2010 Amazon drought [1206]
25. Visiting the rainforest – a practical guide [1189]
26. Election cycle linked to deforestation rate in Indonesia [1186]
27. Demise of passenger pigeon may be linked to rise of Lyme disease [1170]
28. KFC dumps palm oil due to health, environmental concerns [1124]
29. Greenpeace says McKinsey’s REDD+ work could encourage deforestation [1121]
30. Malaysian palm oil giant in fight with forest people gets rebuke from RSPO [1112]
31. Forest carbon map released for the US [1084]
32. More biodiversity equals cleaner water, but why? [1082]
33. Vietnam creates reserve for newly-discovered, nearly-extinct mammal, the saola [1069]
34. Earth Day pictures: International Year of Forests [1062]
35. Major paper company clear-cutting key tiger habitat [1060]
36. Richard Branson’s pet lemur project is a terrible idea [1056]
37. A new rhino species? [1025]
38. Coral reefs decimated by 2050, Great Barrier Reef’s coral 95% dead [1000]
39. Photos: Visiting Gunung Palung in Indonesian Borneo [985]
40. World’s only pure blue lizard at risk of extinction [954]
41. Cane toads increasingly a problem in Australia [935]
42. Antarctic penguins losing to climate change through 80% krill decline [913]
43. Cuddly slow loris threatened by the pet trade [899]
44. Tropical countries aim for global forest pact [897]
45. Japan disaster to put logging pressure on rainforests in Indonesia, Malaysia [896]
46. ‘Luck and perseverance’: new plant genus discovered in Amazon [895]
47. Noise in oceans leads to ‘severe acoustic trauma’ in octopus, squid [885]
48. Protected areas cover 44% of the Brazilian Amazon [868]
49. Major Brazilian banks sued for loans linked to deforestation [866]
50. Former REDD+ negotiator for Indonesia sentenced to 3 years for corruption [856]

NOTE:
Italicized titles represent news articles posted during the month.