Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemic
If you take a stroll in the woods, it’s worth pausing for a moment to take in the sights and sounds, peer into the undergrowth, or even turn over a…
Articles by Morgan Erickson-Davis
Morgan has been writing for Mongabay since 2008 and came on full-time in 2014. Trained in biology, Morgan has taken any available opportunity to learn more about the world, from working as a fisheries biologist aboard longliners and freighters in the South Pacific to evaluating river health in western Montana. Morgan spent eight years editing technical papers before jumping into journalism, with more than 50 manuscripts under her belt. Currently, she manages Mongabay's forests and global palm oil reporting programs.
‘There are no laws’: Cattle, drugs, corruption destroying Honduras UNESCO site
While many people from Atlantida, Honduras, are attempting to escape desperate poverty and deepening political violence by traveling some 3,000 miles to reach the border of the U.S., a few…
Climate change may turn Amazon peatlands from carbon sinks to sources
Peatlands, or bogs, are areas where a lack of oxygen in waterlogged soil allows dead vegetation to accumulate without completely decomposing. Scattered around the world in both northern latitudes and…
Brazil could lose Nepal-size area of rainforest due to policy revision
An area of Brazilian Amazon rainforest bigger than Ireland is at risk of losing its legal protection, according to new research. In an ironic twist, the trigger for this loss…
Haiti may lose all primary forest by 2035, mass extinction underway
New findings indicate that at current deforestation rates, all of Haiti’s primary forest will be gone within the next two decades, leading to the loss of most of the country’s…
Congo Basin rainforest may be gone by 2100, study finds
Africa’s Congo Basin is home to the second-largest rainforest on the planet. But according to a new study, this may soon not be the case. It finds that at current…
Chainsaw Massacre: Protected areas in danger in Brazil’s state of Rondônia (commentary)
One reserve is already gone and ten others are likely to go within the next few weeks when the legislature of one of Brazilian Amazonia’s most anti-environmental states votes on…
Will trade bans stop a deadly salamander plague from invading the US?
If it happens, it’ll likely go something like this: American parents decide to buy something special for their child’s birthday – a pet salamander. Although immediately excited, the child quickly loses…
Peru seizes plane with 30kg of cocaine in Bahuaja-Sonene National Park
LIMA, Peru — A joint operation by law enforcement agencies in Peru managed to seize 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of cocaine from a plane intercepted in Bahuaja-Sonene National Park last…
Secrets revealed: Researchers explore unique, isolated forest in Mozambique
There isn’t much primary forest left in eastern Africa. In Mozambique, there’s officially none, according to 2015 numbers from the Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) of the UN. But a…
Tropical deforestation now emits more CO2 than the EU
To stay under 2 degrees Celsius of warming and thereby stave off the worst effects of climate change, more funding must be allocated to forest-focused global warming mitigation strategies. That’s…
Is S&P Dow Jones greenwashing conflict palm oil? (commentary)
Last month, S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s leading financial market index providers, released its annual listing of sustainable companies. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) considers its…
Scientists urge greater protection of Brazil’s secondary forests
With around half the world’s forest cover cleared or otherwise degraded at some point in the recent past, the new forests that pop up to replace them – called secondary…
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…
What’s causing deforestation? New study reveals global drivers
Knowing where deforestation is happening is critical for efforts aimed at stopping or slowing it. Major breakthroughs toward this goal have been made over the previous few years, with NGOs…
On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer
It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack — except the needle is invisible and the hay stretches for thousands of miles. Oh, and there may not actually be…
Plantations can produce more palm oil if they keep riverbanks forested
Oil palm plantations are the biggest source of agriculture-related deforestation in Southeast Asia. Researchers estimate that at least 95,000 square kilometers of land have been converted to oil palm plantations…
Colombia’s new president faces daunting environmental challenges
On August 7, Juan Manuel Santos ceased to be the president of Colombia and handed over the office to Iván Duque, who was the right-wing candidate for the Democratic Center…
From sink to source: Droughts are changing the Amazon rainforest
Because they take vast amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, rainforests are an important part of the planet’s carbon cycle and their conservation is playing front and center…
Gold mining suspected as cause of Cambodian mass poisonings
A spate of mass toxic poisonings in the Cambodian provinces of Kratie and Mondulkiri have hospitalized hundreds and killed at least 16 people since May. Although the causes of the…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- 7 convicted of killing Honduran indigenous activist Berta Cáceres
- Five wildlife conservationists held by Iran could face the death penalty
- Peru cracks down after environmental defenders’ murders
Indonesias forest guardians
- Smartphone app helps indigenous communities fight deforestation
- 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
Amazon infrastructure
- Purus-Madeira: Amazon parks and extraordinary biodiversity at risk now
- ‘Amazon Besieged’: Q&A with Mongabay contributor Sue Branford about new book
- COP24: Will they stay or will they go? Brazil’s threat to leave Paris
Asian rhinos
- For elusive Javan rhinos, camera traps are a benevolent Big Brother
- First wild Sumatran rhino in Borneo captured for breeding campaign
- Jaw-dropping footage: conservationists catch Javan rhino in mud wallow
