- Mongabay has launched a dedicated Wildlife Desk to expand independent reporting of the state of wildlife and the ecosystems they inhabit.
- The desk builds on years of wildlife coverage across a global newsroom with deep experience in reporting on topics such as wildlife ecology, animal behavior, habitat connectivity, zoonotic diseases and the wildlife trade.
- Mongabay’s wildlife reporting has already contributed to real-world impacts, including scrutiny of destructive mining projects affecting tigers in India and chimpanzees in Guinea, support for critically endangered river dolphin conservation in Indonesia, and more.
- The Wildlife Desk reinforces Mongabay’s capacity to deliver independent journalism that advances understanding of wildlife at a global scale.
Around the world, wildlife populations are undergoing rapid change as habitat loss, shifting climate patterns and human pressures reshape ecosystems. “We are losing species at an astounding rate, with declines compounded by increasingly extreme weather events, disease, and diminishing, fragmented habitat,” says Sharon Guynup, Mongabay’s contributing editor for wildlife. This accelerating shift underscores the need for deeper reporting to explain to various audiences how these trends and their consequences affect wildlife and the communities they coexist with.
To address this gap, Mongabay has launched a dedicated Wildlife Desk to expand independent coverage of the state of wild animals. This new desk will strengthen Mongabay’s ability to mobilize a global network of journalists to meet the information needs of people and organizations working to address biodiversity loss.
“Mongabay’s editorial focus is biodiversity hotspots, and we’ve long considered softer natural boundaries like biomes and watersheds above hard administrative borders when determining where to prioritize our attention,” says Willie Shubert, Mongabay’s executive editor and VP of programs. “The launch of the Wildlife Desk marks a pivotal new phase for Mongabay, focused on linking our extensive local coverage of wildlife conservation to regional or global topics.”
This step builds on work already underway across Mongabay’s global newsroom. While nearly all staff in every bureau contribute to wildlife reporting, the Wildlife Desk offers a more focused and coordinated approach. The core team, composed of Guynup, Shubert and staff writer Spoorthy Raman, specializes in topics that cut across boundaries, such as wildlife ecology, animal behavior, the global wildlife trade, zoonotic diseases, invasive species and habitat connectivity.
Inspired by the guidance of the late Jane Goodall to “develop a respect for all living things,” a reverence for biodiversity is one of the four news principles described in Mongabay’s editorial standards and is central to the organization’s vision for the Wildlife Desk. “Wildlife is the subject closest to our heart at Mongabay and has been part of our mission from our founding,” Shubert says.
For Guynup, the motivation for more in-depth coverage is both scientific and personal, and she recalls a conversation with marine biologist Sylvia Earle that shaped her thinking. “As ocean expert Sylvia Earle told me, ‘What we do –– or fail to do –– in the next five years will determine the future of life in the next 10,000 years,’” she says. “The growing biodiversity crisis prompted the launch of our new Wildlife Desk, which will expand our coverage of threats to our natural world –– and efforts that are successfully protecting wildlife and wild lands.”
Far from operating as an isolated entity, the Wildlife Desk collaborates closely with Mongabay’s regional News Bureaus to produce local, on-the-ground journalism. The coverage spans topics ranging from the status of threatened, charismatic and underappreciated species, to community-based conservation practices and the role of biodiversity in people’s everyday lives. “From iconic megafauna like the great apes and big cats to the tiniest salamanders or fungi at the bottom of the food web, we strive to infuse all our stories with information about wildlife because the fabulous diversity of life inspires people to have awe and reverence for nature,” Shubert says.
Impact
Over the years, Mongabay’s wildlife reporting has already driven tangible outcomes worldwide, laying a foundation for impact that the Wildlife Desk is poised to build on.
Reporting drives scrutiny of hydropower project in critical orangutan habitat
For more than a decade, Mongabay has produced in-depth journalism on apes: orangutans, gibbons, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. This reporting has reached millions of readers globally and drawn attention from conservation scientists, NGOs and policymakers, contributing to real-world impacts.
With more than 600 articles on orangutans alone, Mongabay has helped bring worldwide attention to these great apes, especially the Tapanuli orangutan. A 2018 article on the species analyzed a study that called for “urgent habitat protection” in northern Sumatra. The research, which was amplified through media coverage, prompted 25 of the world’s top environmental scientists to send a letter to Indonesia’s president urging him to halt construction of a hydroelectric project destroying the only known habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan.
A subsequent feature on the controversial China-funded hydropower project provided a platform for a researcher to publicly claim his signature had been forged to obtain a project permit. Although the allegation later became part of a rejected lawsuit, Mongabay’s reporting, together with coordinated protests outside Bank of China branches and Chinese diplomatic missions in several major cities, including Jakarta, New York, Hong Kong, Manila and Johannesburg, preceded the bank’s announcement to reconsider its financial support of the $1.6 billion project.
Exposing illegal mining in endangered chimpanzees’ habitat
Within Africa, chimpanzees are well represented in Mongabay’s coverage. A noteworthy impact occurred when Predictive Discovery Ltd., an Australian mining company, lost $150 million in market capitalization – more than a third of its value – the day it disclosed it was the subject of “a pending media report questioning the legality” of a prospective mining operation in Guinea.
Mongabay’s investigation found that the company’s exploration was taking place within Haut Niger National Park, in violation of the law establishing the protected area. The park is home to an estimated 500 western chimpanzees, one of the highest concentrations of the critically endangered primate in West Africa. The BBC learned of Mongabay’s report and interviewed Predictive Discovery’s managing director, Paul Roberts, about the situation on BBC Newsday, it global daily live news program.
Action for endangered river dolphin conservation
In October 2021, Mongabay published a report on how local fishers in Indonesian Borneo had collaborated with a nonprofit to conduct a trial to keep Irrawaddy dolphins away from fishing nets, preventing fatal entanglements, a primary threat to the species.
The story highlighted that the three freshwater dolphin populations around Southeast Asia are all critically endangered, with fewer than 100 individuals remaining in each of the Irrawaddy, Mekong and Mahakam rivers.
In the Mahakam River, gill nets used to catch fish cause more than two-thirds of recorded dolphin deaths. This represents a significant threat to the species’ future. Given this information, local fishers collaborated with the nonprofit Conservation Foundation for Rare Aquatic Species of Indonesia (YK-RASI) in a trial to test pingers. These devices emit a high-frequency sound that deters dolphins from approaching nets, while increasing fishers’ catches and reducing costly net repairs.
Following Mongabay’s coverage, WWF officials told Mongabay that the public awareness raised by the story had helped draw support for their campaign for Irrawaddy dolphin conservation. The NGO exceeded its crowdfunding target of more than 7,500 euros ($8,550) from 76 donors, enabling it to equip all fishers in the dolphins’ range in the Mahakam River with acoustic pingers. This was a significant step toward protecting the threatened population.
Uranium mining project in Indian tiger reserve halted
In May 2019, an expert panel on forests of India’s environment ministry approved a survey and exploration application for uranium in Telangana state’s Amrabad Tiger Reserve. A few months later, Mongabay India published a story examining the plan and its potential impacts on the reserve.
The article outlined facts critical for transparent, evidence-based decision-making. India holds about 60% of the world’s tiger population, and its tiger reserves, which cover roughly 2% of the country, face increasing development pressure. Amrabad is one of the largest tiger reserves in India and is home to an estimated 13 tigers and a wide range of other wildlife.
The approval to prospect for uranium ignored the potential threats to the ecosystem, including recommendations from local forest officials who said it would adversely affect the reserve’s flora and fauna. The field director also refused to recommend the project, noting that the proposed area fell within the reserve.
This initial coverage triggered several local media stories, pressure from the public, conservationists and NGOs. The Telangana state government even rejected the mining project. In March 2021, Mongabay learned that India’s Atomic Minerals Directorate had cancelled the project due to the ongoing protests. What started as a news article became the first step in informing the public about a mining operation with potentially catastrophic impacts on wildlife and people.
A step toward further impactful coverage of the world’s wildlife
The launch of the Wildlife Desk marks a new chapter in Mongabay’s long-term commitment to report on nature. As pressure on wildlife intensifies, this expansion strengthens the newsroom’s capacity to continue delivering the independent, evidence-based and accessible journalism that is at Mongabay’s core. The Wildlife Desk positions the global newsroom to meet the growing demand for rigorous, nuanced reporting on biodiversity.
Banner image: African lions, a coalition of two brothers in Zambia. Photo by Julie Larsen © Wildlife Conservation Society.
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