Fighting climate change is a dirty job, but soils can do it | Problem Solved
While it’s clear that soil can help limit the impacts of climate change, leveraging its power requires a menu of solutions at many scales. Most of them require big policy…
Articles by Mike DiGirolamo
Mike DiGirolamo is Mongabay’s audience engagement associate contributing audio/visual content for Mongabay's podcast and YouTube platforms. He formerly interned with Mongabay in 2015. Find him on Twitter @MikeDiGirolamo and Instagram @midigirolamo.
11 Mongabay investigations in two years. Here’s what we found
As deforestation and the violation of Indigenous land rights continue to be an ever-present part of the global supply chain, many consumers (and even investors) are calling for transparency on…
We’ve crossed four of nine planetary boundaries. What does this mean?
With scientists, advocates and communities across the world making increasingly dire assessments and warnings about the planet’s health, knowing what problems to focus on becomes ever more complex. Over the…
The women on the front lines of safeguarding the Amazon
In late 2019, Mongabay launched a special reporting project on Amazon women that took readers to communities throughout the region to meet and learn about the women who are emerging…
New study identifies acoustic sanctuaries for marine mammals
Imagine living in an environment of constant noise where you cannot get anything accomplished. Ocean noise pollution caused by shipping, oil and gas development, and other human activities is making…
Court cancels 30-year federal permits letting wind companies kill eagles
How do wind energy companies kill protected bald eagles and golden eagles via turbine strikes every year without facing legal repercussions? They have renewable permits issued by the U.S. Fish…
Camera traps suggest wild animals anticipated major earthquake weeks before it struck
Twenty-three days before a major earthquake in 2011 animals began disappearing from part of Yanachaga National Park in Peru. By 24 hours before the quake they had completely vacated the…
Study finds local people do forest monitoring as well as scientists
A recent study, published in BioScience, details successful efforts by local citizens to monitor natural resources, and finds that citizens do the job just as effectively as trained scientists. The…
Scientists turn to DNA from Sumatran elephant dung to aid conservation
Warning: Some images below may contain graphic content. At best numbering roughly 2,800 individuals, the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) is critically endangered. Yet population data has been notoriously difficult…
Microplastic pollution a possible threat to Great Barrier Reef coral
The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of northeastern Australia – considered the largest living organism on earth – is currently under threat from a floating layer of microplastic particles,…
Tanzanian study says education, better signing could reduce animal vehicle collisions
Animal vehicle collisions (AVCs) take an incredible toll on wildlife worldwide. In the United States, for example, as many as 1.5 million deer, moose, and other ungulates are annually involved…
Drone Herders: Tanzanian rangers and researchers use UAVs to protect elephants and crops
Desert elephants in Namibia. Photo by: Rhett Butler. HEC, otherwise known as "human elephant conflict," is a centuries-old problem responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of elephants. This…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Indigenous groups call for gov’t intervention as land grabbers invade Bolivian protected area
- Indigenous lands under siege as buffalo frenzy grips the Amazon
- Deforestation soars in Nigeria’s gorilla habitat: ‘We are running out of time’
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
Oceans
- Advocates welcome halt to shortfin mako shark fishing, call for longer ban
- Technology and tradition team up to watch over a sacred island’s sea turtles
- Countries fail to agree on Antarctic conservation measures for fifth straight year
- Despite deals, plans and bans, the Mediterranean is awash in plastic
Amazon Conservation
- Amazon deforestation unexpectedly surges 22% to highest level since 2006
- COP-26: Amazonia’s Indigenous peoples are vital to fighting global warming (commentary)
- BR-319 highway hearings: An attack on Brazil’s interests and Amazonia’s future (commentary)
- Amazon, meet Amazon: Tech giant rolls out rainforest carbon offset project
Land rights and extractives
- Illegal mining threatens Indigenous land at foot of Philippines’ tallest peak
- Legal challenge to South Africa mine expansion looks to set new landmark
- Struggle endures for Philippine community pitted against gold miner
- In Peru’s Amazon, deforestation and crime sweep through Indigenous communities
Endangered Environmentalists
- The Kichwa woman fighting drug traffickers and loggers in the Peruvian Amazon
- Rights groups demand end to Cambodia’s persecution of green activists
- With Indigenous rights at stake in Brasília, a territory is attacked in Paraty
- Brazil’s Bolsonaro vowed to work with Indigenous people. Now he’s investigating them
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
- 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
- Indonesian farmers refuse to budge for train line through karst landscape
