Tom Lovejoy’s enduring legacy to the planet
“All of a sudden, in one little lump, this project leaked into my mind,” Thomas Lovejoy recalled to writer David Quammen for the book The Song of the Dodo, about…
Articles by Jeremy Hance
Jeremy Hance is a senior correspondent for Mongabay as well as being a blogger for the Guardian and a freelance journalist. He started his journalism career with Mongabay in 2009 and served as an editor on the site for six years. He's the author of "Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac," and in 2010, Mongabay published a book of his articles entitled "Life is Good: Conservation in an Age of Mass Extinction." He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife, his daughter, his miniature schnauzer and lots and lots of books.
E.O. Wilson’s last dream
In January 2017, I played telephone tag with E.O. Wilson. Routinely compared to Darwin (‘a modern-day Darwin’ or ‘Darwin’s natural-heir’ among others) E.O. Wilson is renowned for his work on…
Meet the kitten-sized, clown-faced monkey that’s leaping toward extinction
I’ve been writing about wild things for more than 10 years, and while there are many animals I don’t know, I thought I’d at least heard of most of the…
The Covid-19 question: How do we prevent future pandemics?
I think about that bat a lot. You know the bat I mean. I think about how it was likely captured from a forest in China— or perhaps somewhere further…
One year on: Insects still in peril as world struggles with global pandemic
This article is a one year follow up to the award-winning series, The Great Insect Dying published in June, 2019 on Mongabay. The original series documents insect losses in Europe, the U.S. and the tropics — here’s what we know today.
Conservationists replant legal palm oil plantation with forest in Borneo
In Malaysia’s Bornean state of Sabah, a small NGO is replanting forest over land that was once a legally operating oil palm plantation — essentially reversing time for a small…
The best news of 2020? Humanity may never hit the 10 billion mark
While watching 2020 unfold has been like watching someone set themself on fire with a bucket of bacon grease and a firecracker, one morning I stumbled on something that made…
How do we save charisma-challenged species? Start with a story
This is part 2 of a series written by Mongabay columnist Jeremy Hance. Part 1 is here. Let’s be honest: you’ve probably never heard of the Colombian dwarf gecko…
Why are some endangered species ignored?
This is part 1 of a series written by Mongabay columnist Jeremy Hance. Part 2 is here. Meet the Tanzanian gremlin. Shhhhhh … though. She’s shy. But check out those…
‘Every tool in the box’ to save Sumatran rhinos: Q&A with Nina Fascione of IRF
Nina Fascione has taken on a big job. As the new head of the International Rhino Foundation (IRF), she’s become a powerful player overnight in the protection of the world’s…
Bold project hopes to DNA barcode every species in Costa Rica
Let’s be honest: many conservationists may start their careers with big ambitions. But as they, and their careers, age, those ambitions — especially in light of the Anthropocene — understandably…
Overworked, underpaid and lonely: Conservationists find a new community online
Last year, Jessie Panazzolo, like many young conservationists (and some middle-aged ones too), didn’t so much feel her career had stalled as that it had been cut out by the…
Killing gods: The last hope for the world’s rarest reptile
Eighty-eight-year-old Le Huy Hoanh stands up from his bench and carefully poured tea in rural Vietnam, and mimes for us how he used to kill gods. With his long spear…
Time is running out for Southeast Asia
On Nov. 23, the last Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia died. Named Iman, she’d lived in captivity in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo for just over five…
Scientists rediscover mammalian oddity in remote Vietnam
VIETNAM, July 2019 – I’m chasing a ghost, I think not for the first time, as night falls and I gather up my gear in a hotel in a village in…
How Laos lost its tigers
The last tiger in Lao PDR likely died in terrible anguish. Its foot caught in a snare, the animal probably died of dehydration. Or maybe, in a desperate bid to…
Why is Europe rewilding with water buffalo?
This post is part of Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild, a monthly column by Jeremy Hance, one of Mongabay’s original staff writers. At the end of…
The wolf of Bangladesh: A true story
For Muntasir Akash, it all started with a photo in a news report in early June. The photo showed a canine-like animal, beaten and dead, legs splayed, hanging from makeshift…
When it comes to captive breeding, not all Sumatran rhinos are equal
In November 2018, a small female Sumatran rhino plunged into a pit trap in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Pahu, as she came to be called,…
The ambitious plan to recover and rewild the feisty, dwarf cow
Don’t let appearances fool you. The animal pictured above — the dwarf cattle known as tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) from the island of Mindoro in the Philippines — may look cute;…
National parks: Serving humanity’s well-being as much as nature’s
This post is part of Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild, a monthly column by Jeremy Hance, one of Mongabay’s original staff writers. Imagine, for a moment,…
Mongabay investigative series helps confirm global insect decline
Near consensus found among 24 entomologists and scientists working on 6 continents: Insects are likely in serious global decline, but much more data needed.
The Great Insect Dying: How to save insects and ourselves
In the fourth and final story of this exclusive Mongabay series, entomologists around the world offer far ranging solutions to curb and reverse the great insect die-off.
The Great Insect Dying: The tropics in trouble and some hope
Tropical insects are wildly diverse, but most species are unstudied or unknown, even as they’re heavily impacted by deforestation, climate change and pesticides.
The Great Insect Dying: Vanishing act in Europe and North America
The insects of the EU and US are the best studied in the world, and it is here that a strengthening case can be made for an alarming insect abundance decline.
The Great Insect Dying: A global look at a deepening crisis
Recent surveys hint at an insect apocalypse. But are insects at risk globally? Mongabay talks with 24 scientists on 6 continents to find out in an exclusive new series.
Rare rhino’s death should light a fire under Indonesia (commentary)
On May 27, Monday morning, I woke to the news that Tam, the last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia and the last known male Bornean rhino, had perished. As clichéd…
Less rainforest, less rain: A cautionary tale from Borneo
If you flew over the island of Borneo in 1950, you would see nearly unbroken, untouched forest from one end to the other. Of course, there would be villages and…
It’s Generation Climate (commentary)
On Friday March 15 — the Ides — tens-of-thousands of school-age kids around the world will go on strike from their education. It’s expected to be the biggest Friday Climate…
The view from the bottleneck: Is nature poised for a big comeback?
As an environmental journalist I’m bombarded every day with headlines like “The Insect Apocalypse is Here” or “Half of Global Wildlife Lost.” The end of nature, at least as previous…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Endangered chimps ‘on the brink’ as Nigerian reserve is razed for agriculture, timber
- Agricultural frontier advances in Nicaraguan biosphere reserve
- ‘Rampant forest destruction’ wracks reserve as cattle ranching advances in Brazilian Amazon
- ‘Unprecedented’ fires in Madagascar national park threaten livelihoods and lemurs
Oceans
- In hot water: Ocean warming hits another record high on climate change
- Guinea-Bissau turtle hatchery addresses unusual problem of too many eggs
- The thick of it: Delving into the neglected global impacts of human waste
- New atlas illuminates impact of artificial light in the ocean at night
Amazon Conservation
- Josefina Tunki: ‘If we have to die in defense of the land, we have to die’
- Global ayahuasca trend drives deforestation in Brazil’s Acre state
- Oil highway bears down on uncontacted Indigenous groups in Ecuador’s Yasuní
- French deforestation database pressures Brazilian soy traders to clean up supply chain
Land rights and extractives
- Analysts point to logging and mining to explain Solomon Islands unrest
- Philippine groups slam ‘cruel Christmas gift’ as open-pit mining ban is lifted
- Josefina Tunki: ‘If we have to die in defense of the land, we have to die’
- In round 2 of Philippine geothermal project, tribes dig in for a greater say
Endangered Environmentalists
- Death threats and friction with military force Guatemalan rangers to flee
- Amazon mining threatens dozens of uncontacted Indigenous groups, study shows
- The Kichwa woman fighting drug traffickers and loggers in the Peruvian Amazon
- Rights groups demand end to Cambodia’s persecution of green activists
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
- 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?
- ‘Bad science’: Planting frenzy misses the grasslands for the trees
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
