Rhett Butler

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Founder of Mongabay.

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1074 stories
Neil Vora

Epidemiologist Neil Vora joins Mongabay’s board as it expands global reach and planetary health coverage

Mongabay.com 11 Nov 2026
Daybreak over a tributary of the Amazon River. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Brazil’s post-election challenge: What President Lula needs to change to keep the Amazon forest standing (commentary)

Philip M. Fearnside 11 Nov 2026
Bernie Krause on St. Vincent Island, Florida in 2003. Photo by Tim Chapman

Why I sent my archive of nature’s sounds to France (commentary)

Bernie Krause 28 Oct 2026
Man in Colombia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

A rare victory for multilateralism in the fight against environmental crime (commentary)

Laura Waisbich, Melina Risso, Robert Muggah 26 Oct 2026
Annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, 1988-2026, according to INPE.

What if Flávio Bolsonaro wins? High stakes for the environment in Brazil’s 2026 elections (commentary)

Philip M. Fearnside 23 Oct 2026
Photo courtesy of Maliasili.

Navigating crisis and opportunity in conservation funding (commentary)

Fred Nelson 19 Oct 2026
Two wolf puppies from the Junction Butte Pack in Yellowstone National Park

What 500,000 hours of Yellowstone sound can tell us about wolves

Rhett A. Butler 19 Oct 2026
A Williams electric blue day gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi). Image by Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay.

Conservation is bringing species back. Governments must help those gains last

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Oct 2026
Andean Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus). Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Nearly 90% of countries adopt biodiversity targets, but most remain off track

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Oct 2026
Hoatzin in the Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Amazon deforestation falls 42% to a record low

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Oct 2026
A Peruvian artisanal fisher poses with a jumbo flying squid. Image courtesy of National Society of Artisanal Fishing of Peru (SONAPESCAL).

From paper parks to lasting protection, here’s what works in marine conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Oct 2026
Savannah elephants in the Biliquo Bulesa conservancy in northern Kenya. Image by Ashoka Mukpo / Mongabay.

100 conservation projects are looking for funding after USAID’s closure

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Oct 2026

Sabine Schoppe who built a refuge for Palawan’s forest turtles has died

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Oct 2026
Jane Goodall in 2024. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute.

A year ago today, Jane Goodall died at 91. Her message is more important than ever

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Oct 2026
Tiger cat released with satellite collar in Mirador State Park. Courtesy of Tadeu de Oliveira.

A new cat species was just discovered. Several more may follow

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Sep 2026
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

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Diver holding a sun coral
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Student gets a close look at a a helmeted iguana (Corytophanes cristatus) during a Harvard University herpetology course trip to Costa Rica, March 2008. Image courtesy of Don Lyman.
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A Psychropotes dyscrita sea cucumber amid polymetallic nodules on the seafloor of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, located in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Image courtesy of Geomar Bilddatenbank via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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