
Articles by John Cannon
John is a staff features writer with Mongabay. Follow him on Twitter: @johnccannon.
John became a correspondent for Mongabay in 2014 and joined the site's team full time in October 2016. John's journalistic work has also appeared in New Scientist, Slate.com, Yale Environment 360, Pacific Standard, Science (online), 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 Africa Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Rwanda. He currently lives in Afghanistan with his wife.


‘It sustains us all’: IPBES report calls for accounting of nature’s diverse values

In Congo, a carbon sink like no other risks being carved up for oil

Consumer countries mull best approach to end deforestation abroad

‘That’s a scam’: Indian firm’s REDD+ carbon deal in the DRC raises concern

Proposed copper and gold mine threatens the world’s ‘second Amazon’ in PNG

End old-growth logging in carbon-rich ‘crown jewel’ of U.S. forests: Study

‘Why sharks matter’: Q&A with author and shark biologist David Shiffman

Fossil evidence confirms persistence of prehistoric forests in Brunei

Ecotours aimed at saving monkeys are likely stressing them out, study finds

Boom and bust on Lake Victoria: Q&A with author Mark Weston

Cradle of transformation: The Mediterranean and climate change

Beyond CO2, tropical forests a ‘cool’ solution to climate crisis, study finds

‘Nature has priority’: Rewilding map showcases nature-led restoration

IPCC report calls for ‘immediate and deep’ carbon cuts to slow climate change

NGOs alert U.N. to furtive 2-million-hectare carbon deal in Malaysian Borneo

Tropical deforestation emitting far more carbon than previously thought: Study

‘No planet B’: Groups call for $60bn increase in annual biodiversity funding

Climate change a threat to human well-being and health of the planet: New IPCC report

In a biodiversity haven, mining drives highest ever recorded levels of mercury

‘There’s hope’ for North Atlantic right whales: Q&A with filmmaker Nadine Pequeneza

Malaysian officials dampen prospects for giant, secret carbon deal in Sabah

In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says

Bleached reefs still support nutritious fish, study finds

The Congo Basin’s 10 most consequential stories from 2021

10 notable books on conservation and the environment published in 2021

Decline of threatened bird highlights planning importance of bison releases

Indigenous leader sues over Borneo natural capital deal

The past, present and future of the Congo peatlands: 10 takeaways from our series

Carbon and communities: The future of the Congo Basin peatlands
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Deforestation intensifies in northern Malaysia’s most important water catchment
- Authorities and Yobin communities clash as deforestation spikes in Indian national park
- Mennonite colony builds bridge, clears forest in Bolivian protected areas
- Satellites show deforestation surging in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park

Oceans
- Amid haggling over deep-sea mining rules, chorus of skepticism grows louder
- Sea life may downsize with ocean warming — bringing challenging impacts
- In Japanese waters, a newly described anemone lives on the back of a hermit crab
- ‘We’ve got to help the oceans to help us’: Q&A with deep-sea explorer Dawn Wright

Amazon Conservation
- Brazil’s new deforestation data board sparks fear of censorship of forest loss, fires
- First-of-its-kind freshwater mangroves discovered in Brazil’s Amazon Delta
- Swiss pledge to stop illegal gold imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves
- At 30, Brazil’s Yanomami reserve is beset by mining, malaria and mercury

Land rights and extractives
- Organized crime drives violence and deforestation in the Amazon, study shows
- Worries and whispers in Vietnam’s NGO community after activist’s sentencing
- Displaced by a dam, women defenders fight for their land rights in Colombia
- Amazonian communities in Peru try to keep oil-rich Block 64 in their own hands

Endangered Environmentalists
- Worries and whispers in Vietnam’s NGO community after activist’s sentencing
- Scientists call for end to violence against Amazon communities, environmental defenders
- Indigenous advocates sense a legal landmark as a guardian’s killing heads to trial
- In Brazil, an Indigenous land defender’s unsolved killing is the deadly norm

Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
- 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

Conservation Effectiveness
- Nepal was supposed to double its tiger population since 2010. It tripled it
- 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)

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
