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.
Logging road construction has surged in the Congo Basin since 2003
’Livestock revolution’ triggered decline in global pasture: Report
Leopards get a $20m boost from Panthera pact with Saudi prince
Dam in Ethiopia has wiped out indigenous livelihoods, report finds
Chinese banks risk supporting soy-related deforestation, report finds
Interest in protecting environment up since Pope’s 2015 encyclical
Social media enables the illegal wildlife pet trade in Malaysia
Bird flu in Namibia’s penguins wanes, after killing nearly 500
Community buy-in stamps out elephant poaching in Zambian park
Swelling amount of plastic in the ocean confirmed by new study
Deforestation diminishes access to clean water, study finds
Scientists urge overhaul of the world’s parks to protect biodiversity
Hunting pumas to save deer could backfire, new research suggests
Climb confirms that the world’s tallest tropical tree tops 100 meters
New maps show where humans are pushing species closer to extinction
European Parliament to vote on timber legality agreement with Vietnam
You’re gonna need a smaller boat: Media obscures shrinking ‘newsworthy’ fish
In a predator-infested forest, survival for baby birds comes by the road
In the Solomon Islands, making amends in the name of conservation
What’s in a name? The role of defining ‘wilderness’ in conservation
The case for forests’ prominent role in holding off climate change
Rapid population drop weakened the Grauer’s gorilla gene pool
Flashing lights ward off livestock-hunting pumas in northern Chile
Pumas engineer their environment, providing habitat for other species
Top U.S. flooring retailer linked to Brazilian firm snagged in timber bust
Forestry reforms could fall short without PM’s backing in Ukraine
Map pinpoints ‘last chance’ locations of endangered species
Stop importing illegal timber, PNG activists tell China at APEC Summit
‘Not all hope is lost’ as outlook for mountain gorillas brightens
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
- Caribbean startups are turning excess seaweed into an agroecology solution
- Global coral beaching now underway looks set to be largest on record
- In Java Sea, vigilantism and poverty rise as purse seine fishing continues
- As a megaport rises in Cameroon, a delicate coastal ecosystem ebbs
Amazon Conservation
- Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state
- Cross-border Indigenous efforts in Peru & Brazil aim to protect isolated groups
- A short walk through Amazon time: Interview with archaeologist Anna Roosevelt
- Alis Ramírez: A defender of the Colombian Amazon now living as a refugee in New Zealand
Land rights and extractives
- Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest
- Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground
- Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion
- New FPIC guide designed to help protect Indigenous rights as mineral mining booms
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park
- 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’
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