Erik Hoffner

Instagram

About

Erik is a photojournalist, editor, and award-winning podcast producer for Mongabay. Find his latest thoughts posted on Bluesky and see more of his writing and fine art photography via Instagram via @erikhoffner on both platforms.

RSS
870 stories
Puzzle of a natural history museum diorama. Image by Erik Hoffner for Mongabay.

Conservation programs must embrace causal evidence when evaluating impact (commentary)

Tanya O’Garra 3 Feb 2026
The Dayak Bahau community in Long Isun expresses its complaint. Image courtesy of Accountability Counsel.

World Bank carbon program risks further infringing upon rights of Indonesian Indigenous community (commentary)

Fuat Edi Kurniawan, Sadar Ginting, Anna Christi Suwardi 28 Jan 2026
Food security activist Richard Rojo in his Vanuatu taro garden. Image courtesy of Monica Kidd.

Vanuatu communities move to protect taro, an ancestral climate-resilient crop (analysis)

Monica Kidd 26 Jan 2026
Participants of Terra Madre Asia Pacific celebrate day 5 of the regional 'good food' event. Image courtesy of Slow Food.

Philippines hosts new Asia-Pacific hub for sustainable agriculture, cuisine

Keith Anthony Fabro 21 Jan 2026
East African mahogany (Khaya anthotheca), Chirinda Forest, Zimbabwe. Image courtesy of Tony Robello via Wikimedia Commons.

Too many African plants fall into the IUCN’s ‘not evaluated’ trap (commentary)

Victor Nsereko Wantate 20 Jan 2026

The knowledge to save coffee already exists, now it’s in one e-library

Bobby Bascomb 20 Jan 2026
After burning off the mercury, a relatively pure piece of gold remains. Image by Thomas Graham for Mongabay.

Turning the Amazon’s toxic gold mine waste liability into economic opportunity (analysis)

Timothy J. Killeen 13 Jan 2026
Rainforest rainbow in Sabah. Image by Rhett Butler for Mongabay.

AI-centered conservation efforts can only be ethical if Indigenous people help lead them (commentary)

McKalee Steen, Magali de Bruyn 9 Jan 2026
Two members of the Prey Preah Roka Community Network – a grassroots activism group made up of communities around the wildlife sanctuary - document an illegally logged tree in the wildlife sanctuary. The grassroots group regularly patrol the wildlife sanctuary, documenting any illegal logging they come across by marking GPS coordinates, as well as taking a note of the species and diameter of the trees. Image by: Andy Ball / Mongabay.

Environmental crime prevention is moving into the diplomatic mainstream (commentary)

Robert Muggah 8 Jan 2026
Judith Enck, author of The Problem with Plastic, holding a copy of the book. Image by Jerrick Mitra.

Plastic pollution requires urgent action, says author Judith Enck

Mike DiGirolamo 6 Jan 2026
Sperm whales inside Azores MPA Network. Image courtesy of Andy Mann/National Geographic.

Azores must respect its exceptional network of marine protected areas (commentary)

Enric Sala 5 Jan 2026
Gregg Treinish in Botswana's Okavango. Photo by Shah Selbe

How ‘Adventure Scientists’ provide pioneering data for conservation

Mike DiGirolamo 23 Dec 2025
A woman stands among coffee bushes in Colombia. Image courtesy of Juliana Cajiao Raigosa.

Agroforestry grows in popularity among central Colombia’s coffee farmers (analysis)

Juliana Cajiao Raigosa 23 Dec 2025
Expansive areas of Australia are Country stewarded by Indigenous communities. Image courtesy of Emma Lee.

Will Australia’s main environment law continue marginalizing Indigenous authority, despite overhaul? (commentary)

Ali Kandi, Emma Lee 22 Dec 2025
Emergent rainforest tree in the Amazon. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler for Mongabay.

BRICS+ offers Indigenous & local communities ways to advance environmental and social goals (analysis)

Metolo Foyet 22 Dec 2025
An Indigenous Mbuti hunting group inside Okapi National Reserve. Photo ©️ Brent Stirton/Getty Images.jpg

Protected areas in Africa are vital but local perceptions vary (commentary)

Heidi Kretser, Diane Detoeuf, Michelle Wieland, Jessica L’Roe 19 Dec 2025
Drone photo of a river meandering through the Alto Mayo landscape. The diversity of rivers and wetlands in the region contribute to the extraordinary variety of plants and animals found there, and are critical for sustaining local Indigenous communities. Image by Trond Larsen courtesy of Conservation International.

When abandoned conservation projects are counted as progress, what are we protecting? (commentary)

Ajay Sawant 18 Dec 2025
Monkeys traverse unprotected electric lines in Costa Rica, a situation that leads to deaths of many monkeys, sloths, kinkajous and more. Image courtesy of International Animal Rescue.

Costa Rica’s ‘shocking’ wildlife crisis: Nation must move to prevent animal electrocution (commentary)

Elena Kukovica 17 Dec 2025
Healthy reef off the coast of Panaon Island. Image courtesy of Danny Ocampo / Oceana.

Philippines’ newest marine protected area ‘sets inspiring example’ (commentary)

Antha Williams, Loren Legarda 16 Dec 2025
A double-hooked blue shark.

Brazilian government serves shark to infants, prisoners and more: How Mongabay broke the story

Mike DiGirolamo 16 Dec 2025
kathmandu aerial view

Nepal’s cities must plan for resilience and inclusion for the future & nature (commentary)

Hitesh Raj Pant 11 Dec 2025
Fishing gear. Image courtesy of Thomas Merritt via Unsplash.

‘Myopic’ fisheries managers toy with a new ‘tragedy of the commons’ (commentary)

Charles Clover 9 Dec 2025
Rainforest in Gabon surrounded by Ivindo River.

Governments must prioritize nature protection, former US senator Russ Feingold says

Mike DiGirolamo 9 Dec 2025
Brazil is the largest eucalyptus producer in the world. Eucalyptus production has been linked to several social and environmental violations such as land grabbing, human right abuses, and environmental harm from use of pesticides to biodiversity loss. Image © Markus Mauthe/Greenpeace.

Assessments argue carbon offsets are failing communities and climate goals (commentary)

GRAIN 5 Dec 2025
Malocas (traditional longhouses) of Indigenous communities in isolation on the Peru-Brazil border. Image by ORPIO.

Respecting uncontacted peoples can protect biodiversity and our humanity (commentary)

Kerry Bowman 3 Dec 2025
Where cars go to die: an auto graveyard.

A ‘Life After Cars’ can provide huge human health and environmental benefits

Mike DiGirolamo 2 Dec 2025
Small-scale fishers unloading buckets of fish from their boats in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Healthy oceans are a human right (commentary)

Nathan Bennett 1 Dec 2025
Women of Masaka embark on cassava cultivation. The plantation areas are located in the heart of the community of Mabaka in the Kwango region. Image by Ley Uwera. Courtesy of The Tenure Facility.

Rights to millions of hectares of Indigenous & local communities’ lands restored by ‘barefoot lawyers’

Mike DiGirolamo 25 Nov 2025
A farmer cuts cacao pods from the tree in Colombia.

Conservation can emphasize human well-being to navigate its current funding crisis (commentary)

24 Nov 2025
Delegates listen to Brazilian President Lula deliver the opening speech of the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit in Belém, Thursday, Nov. 6. Image by AP Photo/Eraldo Peres.

It’s time to end the carbon offset era, COP30 scientists & communities say (commentary)

Tom Picken 21 Nov 2025
Oceanic white tip shark. Image courtesy of Mark Royer, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

For sharks on the brink of extinction, CITES Appendix II isn’t protective enough (commentary)

David Shiffman 20 Nov 2025
Baobab Alley in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett Butler.

Pioneering primatologist in Madagascar shares decades of conservation wisdom

Mike DiGirolamo 18 Nov 2025

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

A collage featuring a Polish soldier and Białowieża Forest.
Videos
A water tap in the Cacique Chicão settlement in Recife's Ibura neighborhood.
Articles
Podcasts

you're currently offline