
Articles by Gianluca Cerullo
A childhood obsession with rainforest documentaries took an unexpected turn when I ended up spending much of my undergrad Zoology degree using human dung to catch beetles in the logged forests of Northern Borneo. Although pungent at times, conducting research into an emerging threat to Borneo’s forest biodiversity offered me a window into the power of applied conservation science in improving the management of rainforest ecosystems. It also gave me the chance to help set up a large experiment that explores ways of restoring intensively logged forests.
My major driving force is to make a difference in slowing species extinctions and population declines. I strongly believe that science, journalism and storytelling offer the best ways of testing and then spreading important ideas and solutions to environmental problems. Alongside conservation research in Borneo, Madagascar and the Colombian Andes, I’ve been involved in various multimedia pursuits and have written about how to best manage rainforests in peerreviewed scientific journals. Most recently, I created a short series of optimistic video blogs capturing the high conservation value of Borneo’s intensively logged
forests for birds, mammals and dung beetles. My occasional environmental
podcast explores neglected environmental stories through long-form interviews with scientists and conservationists.
In my spare time, I like to blog on my personal website about adventurous
fieldwork, getting involved, and how to be an effective conservationist. I live in the English countryside and love camping, running, trekking and wild swimming.
After years of being a Mongabay superfan, it is a dream come true to be writing in the same outlet as some of my personal heroes!
You can read more about my projects and research at
http://gianlucacerullo.com/


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Special series
Forest trackers
- Indigenous Cacataibo of Peru threatened by land grabbing and drug trade
- Colombian and Ecuadorian Indigenous communities live in fear as drug traffickers invade
- Cocaine production driving deforestation into Colombian national park
- Industrial agriculture threatens a wetland oasis in Bolivia

Oceans
- 2020’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
- ‘Tamper with nature, and everyone suffers’: Q&A with ecologist Enric Sala
- New paper highlights spread of organized crime from global fisheries
- Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters

Amazon conservation
- Lack of protection leaves Spain-size swath of Brazilian Amazon up for grabs
- Soy moratorium averted New Jersey-size loss of Amazon rainforest: Study
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Tropical forests can take the heat, study finds. Dryness? Not so much

Land rights and extractives
- Protesters hold back military takeover of Balkans’ largest mountain pasture
- Podcast: New innovations to clean up the impacts of mining
- Environmentalists seek to block Bahamas oil drilling bid near U.S. coast
- Podcast: Indigenous land rights and the global push for land privatization

Endangered environmentalists
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer

Indonesias forest guardians
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- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
