
Articles by David Klinges
David began writing for Mongabay in July 2018. Driven by a life-long passion for ecology and wildlife, he graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Biology and strives to enact positive change in conservation through research and science communication. After conducting fieldwork in Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru and other Neotropical locales, David has gained a special affinity for tropical rainforests, and strives to understand and work with the wildlife and communities of these amazing landscapes. David’s recent series of appointments at the Smithsonian has provided him fresh exposure to the potential of cutting-edge technology in conservation, from using drones to record land use change and track animal movement to constructing web-based tools that share data and facilitate collaboration between scientists. His zeal for the environment has also manifested in a variety of multimedia pursuits, including a publicly broadcasted documentary and generating social media content for academic and non-profit institutions. Understanding that the impact of research is limited without adequate publicity, David has embraced journalism as a powerful means to both herald the breakthroughs in conservation science as well as warn of the threats to our planet’s wildlife and wildlands. After years of reading Mongabay as his goto source for environmental news, it is a dream come true to contribute to this amazing publication.


Changing energy use in rural Africa with power from solar, clean stoves…and women

New space lasers offer best 3D look at global forests yet

Drone 3D models help assess risk of turtle nesting beaches to sea level rise

Photos highlight evolving roles of AI, citizen science in species research

Hackathon enlightens coders and conservationists alike

Identifying Zika-transmitting mosquito fast, cheaply, and on the go

A new dimension to marine restoration: 3D printing coral reefs

Fire, more than logging, drives Amazon forest degradation, study finds
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Mennonite colony builds bridge, clears forest in Bolivian protected areas
- Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park
- Large-scale logging in Cambodia’s Prey Lang linked to politically-connected mining operation
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area

Oceans
- A year before deep-sea mining could begin, calls for a moratorium build
- WTO ban on ‘harmful’ subsidies won’t impact small-scale fishers, Indonesia says
- Experts fear end of vaquitas after green light for export of captive-bred totoaba fish
- Nickel, Tesla and two decades of environmental activism: Q&A with leader Raphaël Mapou

Amazon Conservation
- Swiss pledge to stop illegal gold imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves
- At 30, Brazil’s Yanomami reserve is beset by mining, malaria and mercury
- Pasture replaces large tract of intact primary forest in Brazilian protected area
- Ecuador’s Pastaza province, Indigenous groups collaborate on forest conservation

Land rights and extractives
- Coal mining threatens Ethiopia’s ancient coffee forest
- Proposed copper and gold mine threatens the world’s ‘second Amazon’ in PNG
- In Indonesian Borneo, a succession of extractive industries multiplies impacts, social fractures
- Illegal mining threatens one of the last forest links between the Andes and Ecuador’s Amazon

Endangered Environmentalists
- A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries
- Citizen participation: a key achievement at the first COP to the Escazú Agreement
- “We are on the front line”: Q&A with Indigenous land defender Adiela Jineth Mera Paz
- Death threats and friction with military force Guatemalan rangers to flee

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
- In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says
- Young forests can help heal tropical aquatic ecosystems: Study
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?

Southeast Asian infrastructure
- In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site
- Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Plantations and roads strip away Papua’s forests. They’re just getting started
