Rhett Butler

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Founder of Mongabay.

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992 stories
Researchers found hermit crabs scuttling across some of the study’s 240 plots. Photo credit: Sebastian Steibl

Insects and other invertebrates on tropical islands face challenges as development and tourism expand

Brittney J. Miller 29 Nov 2021
A white-necked jacobin with the brightly colored feather patterns typical of males. Photo by Irene Mendez Cruz.

Some hummingbird females display male coloring to avoid being harassed

Megan Kalomiris 23 Nov 2021
Jaguar in a river in Mexico. Photo credit: Gerardo Ceballos

Jaguars in Mexico are growing in number, a promising sign that national conservation strategies are working

Guananí Gómez-Van Cortright 22 Nov 2021
Flooded forest in the Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay

How to ensure the Glasgow forest declaration is a success (commentary)

Alison Hoare 22 Nov 2021
Heat spots in areas with Prodes warnings (2017-2019). Area next to the borders of the Kaxarari Indigenous territory, in Lábrea, Amazonas state. Taken 17 Aug, 2020. CREDIT: © Christian Braga / Greenpeace

Amazon deforestation unexpectedly surges 22% to highest level since 2006

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Nov 2021

“Earthshine” from the Moon shows our planet is dimming, intensifying global warming

Zack Savitsky 18 Nov 2021
A black bear family cautiously attempting a road crossing. Photo by Bridget Donaldson, Virginia Transportation Research Council.

Carnivores avoid rush hour by taking to roads at night

Elyse DeFranco 17 Nov 2021
Worker bees cluster on the honeycomb to eat and deposit nectar. Photo by Jude Coleman

Honey bees find food more easily in cities, thanks to abundant urban gardens

Jude Coleman 15 Nov 2021
NASA Landsat image showing fishbone deforestation along roads in Sao Joao da Baliza, Roraima, Brazil in 2021.

The Amazon has highest October forest loss since at least 2007

Mongabay.com 12 Nov 2021
Cattle drive in Mato Grosso. Photo credit: Justiniano

Forest declarations are nice, but profitability determines land use in the Amazon (Book excerpt)

Timothy J. Killeen 12 Nov 2021
Deforestation in Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler / mongabay

What countries are leaders in reducing deforestation? Which are not?

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Nov 2021
Zoom.earth satellite image showing an area of forest cleared for a cacao plantation outside of Tamshiyacu, Peru.

Peruvian court dismisses defamation case against Mongabay journalist

Mongabay.com 4 Nov 2021
Illegal sand and gold mining in Indonesian Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Do forest declarations work? How do the Glasgow and New York declarations compare?

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Nov 2021
WCS President and CEO Dr. Cristián Samper observes forest elephants from an observation tower at the Dzanga Bai research site in the Central African Republic. Photo: Elizabeth Bennett/WCS.

Achieving a ‘nature positive future’: an interview with Cristián Samper

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Nov 2021

Cats, charisma and climate change (commentary)

Jonathan Ayers 26 Oct 2021
Tense and Mulunesh, members of the women-led Nano Hena savings and credit cooperative, pick coffee beans during harvesting season in Illubabor Zone, Ethiopia. The cooperative is supported by Population, Health, and Environment Ethiopia Consortium and Ethio Wetlands and Natural Resources Association, partners working to improve biodiversity and increase resilience in communities in Southwestern Ethiopia. Photo credit: Maheder Haileselassie, Getty Images

Supporting more holistic approaches to conservation: an interview with Kai Carter

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Oct 2021
Rainforest in the Colombian Amazon

Amazonian ecosystems and peoples on the brink – it is time for a new vision (commentary)

Mercedes Bustamante 18 Oct 2021
Daroyen in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Photo credit: NASA Landsat

30×30 is not a one-size-fits-all biodiversity target (commentary)

Karl Burkart 15 Oct 2021
Satellites provide a new data point for evaluating the impact of conservation programs. Image credit: Microsoft Zoom Earth

Donor agencies should ditch the club and embrace more locals (commentary)

Aida Greenbury 13 Oct 2021
El Cono in Sierra Del Divisor National Park, Peru. Photo credit: Diego Perez / CEDIA

Conservation will only scale when non-conservationists see its value, says James Deutsch

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Oct 2021
Myrna Cunningham

For some Indigenous, COVID presents possibility of cultural extinction, says Myrna Cunningham

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Oct 2021
Aerial view of an area in the Amazon deforested for cattle pasture in Candeias do Jamari, Rondônia state. Overflights organized by the Amazon in Flames Alliance -- Amazon Watch, Greenpeace Brazil and the Brazilian Climate Observatory -- between September 13th and 17th documented land use change and fire around the cities of Porto Velho, Rondônia, and Lábrea, Amazonas. Photo © Victor Moriyama / Amazônia em Chamas (Amazon in Flames Alliance)

Brazil reports increase in Amazon logging

Mongabay.com 11 Oct 2021

Facebook to block illegal sales of protected Amazon rainforest lands

Mongabay.com 8 Oct 2021
Soy-forest boundary. Photo credit: Mighty Earth

Timmermans vs. Bolsonaro: Will the EU get deforestation off our dinner plates? (commentary)

Nico Muzi 7 Oct 2021
Road through a Redwood forest in Northern California. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay

How can philanthropy be more effective in environmental grant making? (commentary)

Byron Swift 4 Oct 2021
If the government’s plans come to fruition, the run-of-river dam at Estreito will be modified to incorporate a lock that would extend the waterway several hundred kilometres upstream. PAC collection at flickr.com; CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

New transport infrastructure is opening the Amazon to global commerce

Timothy J. Killeen 27 Sep 2021
Aerial view of an area in the Amazon deforested for the expansion of livestock, in Porto Velho, Rondônia state. Overflights organized by the Amazon in Flames Alliance -- Amazon Watch, Greenpeace Brazil and the Brazilian Climate Observatory -- between September 13th and 17th documented land use change and fire around the cities of Porto Velho, Rondônia, and Lábrea, Amazonas. Photo © Victor Moriyama / Amazônia em Chamas (Amazon in Flames Alliance)

Countering Bolsonaro’s UN speech, Greenpeace releases Amazon deforestation photos

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Sep 2021
Clouded leopard in India. Photo credit: Steve Winter/National Geographic

Small cats should be a conservation priority, says Panthera’s new board chair Jonathan Ayers

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Sep 2021
Photo credit: Samantha du Toit

‘Conservation should be seen as what communities have always done’, says John Kamanga

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Sep 2021

African Parks secures $100M for conservation in Africa

Mongabay.com 16 Sep 2021

When COVID shut Broadway, award-winning actress Jane Alexander went birding

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Sep 2021
Forest fire in a degraded area in the Mapinguari National Park, in Lábrea, Amazonas state on July 29, 2021. Photo © Christian Braga / Greenpeace

After surge, Amazon deforestation slows for second straight month

Mongabay.com 10 Sep 2021

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Collage, Jahëna Louisin, Mongabay reporter, and a Vodun ritual
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Ed Singson shows off the seaweed in his bucket
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Photographer Jonathan Bachman was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for capturing a photograph of Ieshia Evans being arrested in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was Ieshia Evans first protest, and Bachman’s first time covering one. The photo was included in The New York Times’ “The Year in Pictures 2016,” among other honors. jonathan bachman / reuters. Shepard Fairey—a prolific artist and activist who often addresses social and political issues in his work—was invited by the authors of ‘Protest’ to interpret Bachman’s photograph for the book. Image credit to Shepard Fairey. Image Courtesy of Patagonia Books.
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