Fueled by impunity, invasions surge in Brazil’s Indigenous lands
A thin plume of smoke rises above the lush canopy of the Apyterewa Indigenous Territory, deep in the Brazilian Amazon. A couple of men feed the flames engulfing a wooden…
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.
Chinese demand and domestic instability are wiping out Senegal’s last forests
“In the years when logging was not happening, sometimes you did not see the sunlight in the bush because of the tree cover,” said Musa Mballo, a forest protection activist…
In mangrove restoration, custom solutions beat one-size-fits-all approach
The vast tangled mangrove forests that sweep along so many tropical coasts are one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. They also play crucial roles in protecting coastlines from erosion…
Singapore embarks on a million-tree planting spree to protect its future
SINGAPORE — Languishing in the soft, silty mud, the living fossil looked as if it didn’t have a care in the world as it feasted on the fish left stranded…
Land grab, logging, mining threaten biodiversity haven of Woodlark Island
A unique rainforest island lying 270 kilometers (168 miles) off Papua New Guinea is once again at the center of a tug-of-war between multiple extractive industries vying for its rich…
New study shows where we should grow more forest to fight climate change
Reforestation is a major tool in the arsenal against global warming, but just how much it can help is still a bit of a mystery. But a new study published…
Solomon Islands environmental defender faces life sentence for arson charge
In June, three environmental defenders from the remote island of Nende celebrated their acquittal from arson charges, along with the many supporters who had attended their trial. But the later…
Threatened species caught in crossfire of ongoing land conflict in Myanmar
Reaching down into the Malay Peninsula, Myanmar’s southern Tanintharyi region is home to rainforests that support a unique assemblage of endemic and endangered species, including the endangered Malay tapir (Tapirus…
How do we avert global warming, extinctions and pandemics? New app has answers
As the world heads towards 2021 with COVID-19 still raging overhead, it might be easy to forget about the other global crises. But a new app, debuted today, aims to…
Filling the vacuum: How civil society is battling COVID-19 in Cameroon (commentary)
For the past four years Marie-Cresence Ngobo has travelled between the scattered villages bordering the giant oil palm plantations run by Socapalm (Société Camerounaise des Palmeraies), which are located in Cameroon’s rural coastal…
Under cover of COVID-19, loggers plunder Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
Nestled in the far reaches of eastern Cambodia lies Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the nation’s most vital areas of protected forest and a haven for rare wildlife. Yet…
Brazilian Amazon protected areas ‘in flames’ as land-grabbers invade
In a remote slice of Triunfo do Xingu, deep in Brazil’s northern Pará state, swaths of lush forest have been engulfed by flames in recent days. In another stretch to…
Fires in the Pantanal: ‘We are facing a scenario now that is catastrophic’
A canopy of thick smoke blanketed a vast patch of Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands, stretching as far as the eye could see. Underneath, flames were engulfing the yellowed grasslands of the…
Understaffed and under threat: Paraguay’s park rangers pay the ultimate price
This story is a collaboration between La Nación and Mongabay Latam. It is the fifth installment of a five-part series on illegal deforestation for marijuana production in eastern Paraguay. Read…
No choice: Why communities in Paraguay are cutting down forests to survive
This story is a collaboration between La Nación and Mongabay Latam. It is the fourth installment of a five-part series on illegal deforestation for marijuana production in eastern Paraguay. Read…
Marijuana farms expand in Paraguay reserve despite gov’t crackdowns
This story is a collaboration between La Nación and Mongabay Latam. It is the third installment of a five-part series on illegal deforestation for marijuana production in eastern Paraguay. Read…
Protected areas in Paraguay hit hard by illegal marijuana farming
This story is a collaboration between La Nación and Mongabay Latam. It is the second installment of a five-part series on illegal deforestation for marijuana production in eastern Paraguay. Read…
‘On the edge’: Endangered forest cleared for marijuana in Paraguay
This story is a collaboration between La Nación and Mongabay Latam. It is the first installment of a five-part series about illegal deforestation for marijuana production in eastern Paraguay. Read…
‘They took it over by force’: Corruption and palm oil in Sierra Leone
SAHN, Sierra Leone — The day they came, Margaret Fascia was in her forest garden of cocoa trees, pineapple plants, palms, ferns and cassavas. Like most days of the week,…
‘If they take our lands, we’ll be dead’: Cameroon village battles palm oil giant
MBONJO, Cameroon — The first time Emmanuel Elong wrote a letter to Vincent Bolloré was in 2013. “The impact of the group that you are controlling on our lives is…
How the legacy of colonialism built a palm oil empire
Between 1885 and 1908, Belgium’s King Leopold II exerted control over a vast area of Africa that would later become the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His rule was characterized…
‘Betting on impunity’: Brazilian Amazon under attack despite logging crackdown
In a corner of Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, a handful of clandestine roads neatly slice the dense jungle canopy into rectangles. From the sky, an entourage of bulldozers can be…
Indonesia struggles to restore peatlands as fires strangle national parks
In September 2019, the noon sky over a part of Jambi province in Indonesian Sumatra turned crimson. Fires had been raging through Indonesia for the past few months, and certain…
New data show world lost a Switzerland-size area of primary rainforest in 2019
Last year the world lost some 119,000 square kilometers (45,946 square miles) of tree cover – an area the size of Nicaragua – according to satellite data collated by the…
Marijuana cultivation whittling away Madagascar’s largest connected forest
Between the cacao fields of northwest Madagascar and the vanilla of the northeast, a chain of rainforests bob along the highland interior. Tsaratanana Reserve, home to the country’s highest peak,…
Illegal logging ‘mafia’ stripping hornbill habitat in Northeast India
On a wet August afternoon in 2015, Jorjo Tana Tara, 48, a member of the indigenous Nyishi community and an anti-logging activist, discovered illegal loggers and poachers at a large…
Tech made to find galaxies sets its sights on wildfires
In mid-October, 1991, a wildfire swept across the hillsides of northern Oakland, California, killing 25 people and injuring 150 more. By the time it was under control, around 1,500 acres…
‘They never intended to conserve it’: Outcry as loggers gut Cambodian reserve
In late February, conservationist Kheng Khou tried to enter Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, which he routinely patrols with other members of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN). Instead, he and…
Takeover of Nigerian reserve highlights uphill battle to save forests
IJARE, Nigeria — The silver blade slides through the log laid over a metal bed beneath the sawmill machine. When the careful routine ends, one of the two operators pulls…
Healing the world through ‘radical listening’: Q&A with Dr. Kinari Webb
Dr. Kinari Webb believes this because she has witnessed it — up close: Amid this global pandemic, the health of the planet is intricately connected to public health around the…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Fueled by impunity, invasions surge in Brazil’s Indigenous lands
- Chinese demand and domestic instability are wiping out Senegal’s last forests
- Solomon Islands environmental defender faces life sentence for arson charge
- Threatened species caught in crossfire of ongoing land conflict in Myanmar
Oceans
- ‘Tamper with nature, and everyone suffers’: Q&A with ecologist Enric Sala
- New paper highlights spread of organized crime from global fisheries
- Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters
- Game changer? Antarctic ice melt related to tropical weather shifts: Study
Amazon conservation
- Crimefighting NGO tracks Brazil wildlife trade on WhatsApp and Facebook
- The Amazon’s Yanomami utterly abandoned by Brazilian authorities: Report
- Conserve freshwater or land biodiversity? Why not both, new study asks
- As fire season ends, Brazil cited for failed Amazon and Pantanal policies
Land rights and extractives
- Podcast: Indigenous land rights and the global push for land privatization
- Peruvian Indigenous groups thwart oil drilling in their territory — for now
- Years after defeating a giant gold mine, activists in Colombia still fear for their lives
- Court allows referendum on mining in the Ecuadoran Andes to go forward
Endangered environmentalists
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
- Deaths, arrests and protests as Philippines re-emerges from lockdown
Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Conservation effectiveness
- A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
- In mangrove restoration, custom solutions beat one-size-fits-all approach
- World’s protected areas lack connections, recent study finds
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast asian infrastructure
- Activists in Malaysia call on road planners to learn the lessons of history
- Road-paving project threatens a wildlife-rich reserve in Indonesia’s Papua
- Planned road projects threaten Sumatran rhino habitat, experts say
- Deforestation threatens to wipe out a primate melting pot in Indonesia
