Industrial oil palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia have caused regional greenhouse gas emissions levels to spike and led to widespread deforestation and loss of biodiversity. So as global demand…
Late last week, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government announced the creation of the country's first new national park in more than four decades. Spanning an area of Congo Basin…
Forests are vital ecosystems that provide crucial habitat to wildlife and help regulate everything from regional hydrological cycles to the global climate. But conservationists, forestry officials, and other decisionmakers often…
or as long as people have lived in the Amazon, turtles have likely been on the menu. But what was once low-impact subsistence hunting escalated dramatically after the arrival of…
In the forests of southern Colombia, scientists have discovered a new species of a reddish-violet orchid that is already on the verge of extinction. Researchers have named the new orchid…
Malaysia’s limestone hills, or karsts, have been described as “arks of biodiversity,” but they’re facing intense pressures from mining and other human activities. Limestone is a vital resource for the…
Humanity is migrating to cities. More than half of the world’s human population now lives in urban settlements, and by 2050, nearly 70 percent of people will live in cities,…
An ongoing expedition in Bolivia's Madidi National Park has recorded its 1,000th bird species, highlighting the park as a hotspot of avian biodiversity. The park is thought to contain more…
Scientists have rediscovered a snail species not seen for over a hundred years after spotting a picture of the species on a citizen science website. In 2014, Scott Trageser was…
ncovering the history of human habitation in the Amazon rainforest is challenging. The humid, tropical climate and dynamic forest landscape, where organic materials decay rapidly, can be an enemy of…
Satellites on Wednesday recorded 145 fire-linked hotspots over Indonesia’s main western island of Sumatra, down from 245 on Sunday, according to the country’s disaster management agency. It’s a far cry…
Satellite images released last week revealed evidence of the first known case of deforestation caused by gold mining in northern Peru. Occurring in Peru’s Condorcanqui Province in the Amazonas region,…
An investigation by London-based NGO Global Witness has uncovered the corruption and secretive business network that has kept the ruling family of Cambodia in power for three decades despite numerous…
In the eighth grade, at an age most boys spend their time outside school watching sports and playing videogames, Kalev Leetaru was delving into large-scale web mining and founding his first web company. With…
he Brazilian Amazon has a long history of conflict between illegal gold miners and indigenous people, which has often resulted in extreme violence against remote tribes. 2015 saw a dramatic…
On July 1, two gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed anti-coal activist, Gloria Capitan, inside her karaoke bar in Mariveles, Bataan in the Philippines. Capitan, 57, sustained three gunshot wounds, two…
The global agribusiness Bunge is the latest palm oil user to sanction IOI Group, the Malaysian producer that lost its Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification in March over…
It’s well known that when forests are converted to palm oil plantations, biodiversity suffers. But oil palm trees only last for about 25 to 30 years, at which point they…
This is the first of 20 Mongabay stories highlighting Almost Famous Asian Animals — all to be published by the end of 2016. You can find the complete Almost Famous…
hree activists standing trial from Cambodian environmental NGO Mother Nature Cambodia were released from prison on Friday. They had been incarcerated ahead of trial in Koh Kong City prison since…
Last month, on World Environment Day, local hunters killed an estimated 5,000 wild animals in West Bengal in India, conservationists allege. The hunting festival was organized to celebrate Jyeshtha Amavasya, or…
Unfortunately for fosa, their first major big-screen appearance came in the form of the fictitious villains in the widely popular 2005 animated film, Madagascar. Most people don’t realise that these…
“When you’re dealing with organisations that are destroying the environment, you should not be antagonistic,” says Adeniyi Karunwi, the director general and CEO of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF). “You…
The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is now critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This change means that both species of orangutan now face an…
rlindo de Oliveira worked 30 years as a bricklayer in the state of Paraná in southern Brazil. Now, he’s found a new job in the Amazon. He buys up land…
Handheld, palm-sized, lightweight DNA preparation and sequencing devices are coming your way soon.
Scientists have discovered a new species of tarantula in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria mountain range in Colombia. And it is badass. Many tarantulas subdue their enemies by shooting…
UK authorities have taken action against 14 companies sourcing timber from Cameroon linked to illegal logging. Six companies received a notice of remedial action, seven received a letter of warning,…
More than 110 Nobel laureates have now signed on to an open letter calling for an end to the efforts led by Greenpeace opposing the use of genetically modified organisms…
First they staved off the palm plantations, now they’ve fought off the timber companies. It was reported just last month that the Mentawai peoples, who live on Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands…