Rhett Butler

About

Founder of Mongabay.

RSS
1059 stories
Illustration of the clownfish photo taken by Debby Ng.

A clownfish’s last stand

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Sep 2026
Michael Painter in the Brazilian Amazon. Photo by David Wilkie.

Michael Painter put Indigenous land rights at the center of conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Sep 2026
Kerexu Laudiceia smoking a petyngua, the Guarani people’s sacred pipe. Image by Fellipe Abreu.

Tiago Karaí and Laudiceia Benites helped reclaim Guarani land. They died with their children in an accident last month.

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Sep 2026
With Dreyk, a member of the Cubeo people from the Venado community, surrounded by the Mavicure Hills in Guainía, Colombia. Credit: Rhett Ayers Butler

Environmental crimes don’t stop at borders. Neither can the reporting

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Aug 2026

For 50 years, Philip Fearnside has calculated the costs of losing the Amazon

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Aug 2026
Hà Đình Đức with the great softshell of Hồ Gươm. Photo by ZNews Vietnam

Hà Đình Đức, guardian of Hanoi’s legendary turtle, died at 86

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Aug 2026
Américo Pascuala Tumisha. Photo courtesy of Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN)

Ashéninka leader reportedly killed while patrolling Indigenous territory is found alive

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Aug 2026

Daniel Janzen and the long work of bringing back a forest

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Aug 2026
Patricio Segura. Courtesy of Patagon Journal

Patricio Segura, journalist who defended Patagonia’s rivers, died of hantavirus, aged 54

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Aug 2026
Pete Brosius in Sarawak

Pete Brosius brought Penan forest stewardship in Sarawak into court

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Aug 2026

Why every endangered species needs a champion: a conversation with conservationist Bill Konstant

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Aug 2026
Wollert (Leadbeater’s Possum) on Wurundjeri Country. Photo by Steven Kuiter

Logging and the slow disappearance of Australia’s large old trees (commentary)

David Lindenmayer 17 Aug 2026
Steve Smit. From his Facebook page

Steve Smit, South Africa’s “Monkey Man,” has died

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Aug 2026
John Salehe. Photo courtesy of AWF

John Salehe helped shape Tanzania’s community conservation movement

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Aug 2026
Adam Falk at Jahoo Gibbon Camp within Keo Seima Sanctuary in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of WCS.

What conservation looks like from the outside: A conversation with Adam Falk after his first year as CEO of WCS

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Aug 2026
Mariano Cenamo. Photo by Renato Stockler / Folha Press

Mariano Cenamo, advocate for a sustainable Amazon bioeconomy, has died, aged 46

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Aug 2026
Mist rising from the Amazon rainforest in July 2026. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay

Amazon deforestation alerts fall to lowest level since 2013, Brazilian data show

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Aug 2026
Vinod Rishi

Vinod Rishi helped give India’s elephants room to roam

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Aug 2026
Doña Oscarina. Photo by Ana Amelia Hamdan / ISA

Doña Oscarina, master ceramicist, documented Indigenous knowledge along the Tiquié River

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Aug 2026

PUMA FEST and the community Mongabay Latam has helped build

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Aug 2026
David Page wrote about the mountains and worked to protect them

David Page wrote about the mountains and worked to protect them

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Aug 2026

The global gold rush consuming the Amazon (commentary)

Robert Muggah 30 Jul 2026
Dave Johnson. Photo from the Global Owl Project

David Johnson, the owl man of Umatilla

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Jul 2026
Bill Oddie launches the Visit Scotland new website with Tam the Peregrine falcon at Visitscotland’s London office, May 6, 2004. Photo by Michael Stephens/PA via AP.

Bill Oddie brought birdwatching into millions of homes

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Jul 2026
Pat Lowe.

Pat Lowe spent decades describing and defending the Kimberley

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Jul 2026
Father Robert Athickal

Father Robert Athickal asked children to protect the living world

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Jul 2026
Khuiusi Khisetje. Photo by Christian Braga / ISA

Khuiusi Khisêtjê helped his people recover their land and future in the Xingu

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Jul 2026
Cerros de Mavecure in Colombia's Guainía in July 2026. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay

Ten years of Mongabay Latam

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jul 2026
John H. Rappole. Photo courtesy of the Post Journal

Smithsonian ornithologist John Rappole reconsidered why birds migrate

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jul 2026
Renato Moraes de Jesus. Photo courtesy of the Conselho Regional de Engenharia e Agronomia do Espírito Santo (Crea-ES)

Renato Moraes de Jesus was a pioneer of Atlantic Forest restoration in Brazil

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Jul 2026
Florida Manatee. Photo credit: Robert Bonde / USGS

America’s retreat from wildlife protection will be felt far beyond its borders

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jul 2026
Félix Guillermo Moncada Gavilán

Félix Guillermo Moncada Gavilán helped move Cuba from sea turtle fishing to protection

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jul 2026

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Gold nugget
Videos
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, right, stands alongside commanders of the armed forces during the playing of Brazil's national anthem at a Soldier's Day ceremony at Army headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. Image by AP Photo/Eraldo Peres.
Articles
Podcasts

you're currently offline