Rhett Butler

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Founder of Mongabay.

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1018 stories
Planet image of Altamira (-5.79, -53.69) in the State of Pará, Brazil taken on August 8, 2020. Courtesy of Planet.

Before burning comes felling: Brazil’s half-measure fire ban (commentary)

Angie Bolzan 12 Aug 2020
Santos Sauna at a sacred coastal site where the Sierra Nevada meets the sea.

COVID is killing Indigenous leaders (commentary)

Mark Plotkin 11 Aug 2020
Oil waste pit fire in Shushufindi in 1993 at a facility built by Texaco. Photo by Lou Dematteis

Don’t let Big Oil open a new front in its war on environmental defenders (commentary)

Steven Donziger 11 Aug 2020
Papuan girl swims in Kali Biru in the Knasaimos landscape in Teminabuan, South Sorong, West Papua. Credit line: © Jurnasyanto Sukarno / Greenpeace

Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)

Arkilaus Kladit 8 Aug 2020

Amazon rainforest the size of Sao Paulo cleared in July in Brazil

Mongabay.com 7 Aug 2020
This local guide located a Rhododendron in bloom in the Cromwell Mountains of Papua New Guinea. Credit RBG Kew

New Guinea has the most plant species of any island

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Aug 2020
NASA Landsat image of agriculture in the Nevada desert.

Population and consumption: challenges we can win (commentary)

Enrique Ortiz 20 Jul 2020
Hotspot directly in the forest, next to a freshly deforested area, with Deter warning, in Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso state. © Christian Braga / Greenpeace

Amazon fires rage despite official ban, Greenpeace photos reveal

Mongabay.com 17 Jul 2020
Devil's Peak in the California Sierra Nevada.

Our most popular conservation news stories from June 2020

Mongabay.com 16 Jul 2020
Planet images showing fire on recently deforested near Itaúba in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil on June 29, 2020.

Deforestation rate climbs higher as Amazon moves into the burning season

Mongabay.com 10 Jul 2020
Excavator working an acacia plantation in Riau, the Indonesian province that lost 22% of its primary forest cover between 2002 and 2019. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

It’s time to rein in the industries devouring the world’s last standing forests (commentary)

Gaurav Madan 26 Jun 2020
An exploration of ritual and liminal space. Photo by Erika Larsen.

Using photography and indigenous art to help Amazon communities during COVID

Mongabay.com 23 Jun 2020
Flowering rainforest tree in the Colombian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

World Rainforest Day: The world’s great rainforests

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jun 2020
PORTO VELHO, RONDÔNIA, BRAZIL. Aerial view of burned areas in the Amazon rainforest, in the city of Porto Velho, Rondônia state. (Photo: Victor Moriyama / Greenpeace)

14 straight months of rising Amazon deforestation in Brazil

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Jun 2020

Brazil revises deforestation data: Amazon rainforest loss topped 10,000 sq km in 2019

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jun 2020

The perfect firestorm: COVID-19 in Mesoamerica’s indigenous territories (commentary)

Jeremy Radachowsky 10 Jun 2020
Deforestation in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

How much rainforest is being destroyed?

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jun 2020

Our most-read conservation news stories in May 2020

Mongabay.com 7 Jun 2020
Zebra in Rwanda. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

From crisis to solutions for communities and African conservation (commentary)

Dickson Kaelo, Daniel Sopia, Damian Bell, Richard Diggle, Fred Nelson 20 May 2020
Uncontacted indigenous group in the Amazon photographed by authorities with the Brazilian Indian affairs agency FUNAI. Photo by Gleison Miranda-FUNAI.

Amazon indigenous leader: Our survival is at stake. You can help (commentary)

Beto Marubo 12 May 2020
Yohanes Terang in his beloved forest. © Titayanto Pieter

Indonesian environmental poet and Dayak leader Yohanes Terang, 1956-2020

Erik Meijaard 11 May 2020
Artibeus phaeotis. Photo by Adrian Forsyth

In defense of bats in a COVID world (commentary)

Enrique Ortiz 11 May 2020
Deforestation for soy in the Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

Amazon deforestation increases for 13th straight month in Brazil

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 May 2020
Mark Plotkin and Yaloefuh in Suriname in 1982. Courtesy of Mark Plotkin.

Everything you need to know about the Amazon rainforest: an interview with Mark Plotkin

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 May 2020
Pangolin rescued from the wildlife trade in Vietnam. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Jane Goodall: COVID-19 is a product of our unhealthy relationship with animals and the environment (commentary)

Jane Goodall 4 May 2020

Our 20 top conservation and environmental science stories in April 2020

Mongabay.com 3 May 2020
Elephant in South Africa. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

As wildlife tourism grounds to a halt, who will pay for the conservation of nature?

Johan Robinson 23 Apr 2020
Traditional fisherman catching an octopus in Banggai Regency, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo © Garth Cripps / Blue Ventures.

COVID underscores the urgency of holistic community-based approaches to conservation (commentary)

Alasdair Harris 22 Apr 2020
The Javari river forms the border between Brazil and Peru. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

Investing in Amazon Rainforest Conservation: A Foreigner’s Perspective (commentary)

Jonah Wittkamper 21 Apr 2020
Blackwater lake, rainforest, and the whitewater Zacambu River in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

Bird’s eye view: Drone photos of the Amazon rainforest (insider)

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Apr 2020

Using satellites to alert an Amazonian indigenous community of coca encroachment (insider)

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Apr 2020
The Javari River where it forms the border between Peru and Brazil. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

Despite COVID, Amazon deforestation races higher

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Apr 2020

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Yo Yaj at Songkhla Lake, Thailand
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