Rights groups demand end to Cambodia’s persecution of green activists
Three young environmental activists in Cambodia face between five and 10 years in prison and fines of up to 10 million riels ($2,500) on charges of conspiracy and insulting the…
Articles by Carolyn Cowan
Carolyn Cowan is a staff writer for Mongabay, covering Southeast Asia. Follow her work on Twitter @CarolynCowan11 or at her website www.carolyncowanmedia.com.
Researchers look to locals to fill knowledge gap on Philippine tarsier
Filip Wojciechowski moved to the island of Bohol in the Philippines in 2014 to study one of the country’s most elusive nocturnal primates, the Philippine tarsier. But he hadn’t reckoned…
Myanmar junta’s growing reliance on extractives for cash raises concerns
CHIANG MAI, Thailand — As the military regime entrenches itself in Myanmar following its Feb. 1 coup and forceful crackdown on protesters, activists are calling on companies that operate in…
Irrigation dams threaten Thailand’s tiger forests, say conservationists
CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A plan to construct seven dams in one of mainland Southeast Asia’s last intact forest systems could cause widespread habitat loss and sever important wildlife corridors,…
Sumatran rhinos show low inbreeding — but when it happens, collapse is quick
The outlook is bleak for Sumatran rhinos. Decades of poaching and habitat loss have precipitated a steep population decline. Once found across Southeast Asia, from the Himalayan foothills to the…
Environmental art initiative aims to help paint a better future for Southeast Asia
Creativity is vital for the development of innovative solutions to conservation conundrums. The daunting challenges of restoring ecosystems, curbing biodiversity loss and halting deforestation require a continuous stream of new…
Mixed fates for captive elephants sent back to villages amid Thai tourism collapse
In March 2020, a massive migration began when an international travel ban to curb COVID-19 brought Thailand’s tourism industry to a sudden halt. Elephant camps, which use more than 2,700…
For border-crossing Thai tigers, the forest on the other side isn’t as green
Big cats require big home ranges. In February 2016, a young male Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) walked from Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in western Thailand to Kayin state…
Award-winning Thai community continues the fight to save its wetland forest
Srongpol Chantharueang remembers his parents telling him as a boy always to protect the local wetland forest when he grew up. They told him that the ecosystem would be important…
Dolphins face growing pressure as development eats into Borneo’s interior
Amid the steaming swamps adjoining Borneo’s Mahakam River, a fisherman slows his boat to glide gently across the surface of Lake Melintang. He senses something amiss up ahead. A critically…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Deforestation spikes in Virunga National Park, DRC
- Slash-and-burn clearing nears Indigenous park as Brazil’s fire season ignites
- New areas of primary forest cleared in Brazil’s ‘lawless’ Lábrea
- Deforestation intensifies in northern DRC protected areas
Oceans
- ‘Watered-down’ plan to save India Ocean yellowfin tuna disappoints conservationists
- Tin mines close in on an Indonesian hamlet still clinging to nature
- NGOs back Maldives’ ambitious plan to save Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna
- Satellites keep watch over global reef health in a world first
Amazon Conservation
- Under assault at home, Indigenous leaders get a violent welcome in Brasília
- Amazon dams: No clean water, fish dying, then the pandemic came
- In Brazil’s most Indigenous city, prejudice and diversity go hand in hand
- With Indigenous rights at stake in Brasília, a territory is attacked in Paraty
Land rights and extractives
- Under assault at home, Indigenous leaders get a violent welcome in Brasília
- With Indigenous rights at stake in Brasília, a territory is attacked in Paraty
- Myanmar junta’s growing reliance on extractives for cash raises concerns
- Illegal logging in Philippines’ Palawan stokes fears of a mining resurgence
Endangered Environmentalists
- Rights groups demand end to Cambodia’s persecution of green activists
- With Indigenous rights at stake in Brasília, a territory is attacked in Paraty
- Brazil’s Bolsonaro vowed to work with Indigenous people. Now he’s investigating them
- Intimidation of Brazil’s enviro scientists, academics, officials on upswing
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove 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
Conservation Effectiveness
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- ‘Bad science’: Planting frenzy misses the grasslands for the trees
- A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
- Scientists in Costa Rica are growing new corals to save reefs
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Irrigation dams threaten Thailand’s tiger forests, say conservationists
- Relocating mangroves for Indonesian highway ‘not that easy,’ expert warns
- Indonesian governor’s arrest in road project points to more tainted contracts
- Papua deforestation highlights eastward shift of Indonesia forest clearing
