Articles by John Cannon
John Cannon became a correspondent for Mongabay in 2014 and joined the site's team full time as a features writer in 2016. John's reporting has also appeared in New Scientist, Slate.com, Yale Environment 360, Pacific Standard, Science, Business Insider and Bicycle Times. John has been a guest on the BBC as well as NPR's All Things Considered and Living on Earth, and he has also had several short stories published in literary magazines. He studied biology as an undergraduate at the Ohio State University and has a graduate degree in science writing from UC Santa Cruz. Always eager to find local perspectives on globally relevant stories, John has reported from Brunei, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Rwanda. He lives in California with his wife and their two cats, adopted when they lived in Gaza. Follow him on Bluesky.
PNG communities resist seabed mining: Interview with activist Jonathan Mesulam
Markets and forests: 7 takeaways from our series on the forest carbon trade
The future of forest carbon credits and voluntary markets
Leveraging the hypothetical: The uncertain world of carbon credit calculations
‘Cowboys’ and intermediaries thrive in Wild West of the carbon market
Do carbon credits really help communities that keep forests standing?
Forest carbon credits and the voluntary market: A solution or a distraction?
Indigenous-led coalition calls for moratorium on terrestrial carbon trade
10 notable books on conservation and the environment published in 2023
Carbon credit certifier Verra updates accounting method amid growing criticism
Can impermanent carbon credits really offset forever emissions?
Carbon counting without the guesswork: Q&A with FCL proponent Jerry Toth
Critical questions remain as carbon credit deal in Sabah presses forward
Video: A sanctuary for elephants and forests in Cambodia
Forest conservation ‘off-track’ to halt deforestation by 2030: New report
Defending a forest for tree kangaroos and people: Q&A with Fidelis Nick
U.N. ‘stocktake’ calls for fossil fuel phaseout to minimize temperature rise
Pacific alliance adopts moratorium on deep-sea mining, halting resurgent PNG project
A forest gave Cambodia’s captive elephants a new life. Now they’re paying it back
REDD+ projects falling far short of claimed carbon cuts, study finds
Deep-sea mining project in PNG resurfaces despite community opposition
In Sabah, natural capital agreement surfaces again, despite critics
Can community payments with no strings attached benefit biodiversity?
U.N. climate chief calls for end to fossil fuels as talks head to Dubai
Head of Verra, top carbon credit certifier, to leave in June
Dams and plantations upend livelihoods in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo River Valley
Indigenous groups voice support for REDD+, despite flaws
Newly published carbon market standards aim to increase integrity, confidence
IPCC warns of ‘last chance’ to limit climate change via drastic emissions cuts
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds
- Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Oceans
- Huge new no-fishing zones give Antarctic marine predators and their prey a break
- Madagascar takes key step toward improving transparency of its fisheries
- Report: Rising slaughter of small whales and dolphins threatens ocean balance
- Stalemate: WTO talks again fail to end overfishing subsidies
Amazon Conservation
- Fanned by El Niño, megafires in Brazil threaten Amazon’s preserved areas
- Brazil’s Amazonian states push for court reforms in bid for justice
- Squeezed-out Amazon smallholders seek new frontiers in Brazil’s Roraima state
- Study points to which Amazon regions could reach tipping point & dry up
Land rights and extractives
- New report details rights abuses in Cambodia’s Southern Cardamom REDD+ project
- Phantom deeds see Borneo islanders lose their land to quartz miners
- Indonesians uprooted by mining industry call for a fairer future amid presidential vote
- Indonesian nickel project harms environment and human rights, report says
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
- Indigenous activists demand justice after 5 shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
Conservation Effectiveness
- The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
- Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest