Articles by Mongabay.com

Google Maps image showing Arajuno Canton Indigenous leaders are calling for the release of six tribesmen implicated in a raid on an oilfield in Eastern Ecuador that left six soldiers…

Paul Rosolie in an Amazon swamp at night. Photo by: Mohsin Kazmi. In 2014 Mongabay published more than 1,100 stories in English and over 450 posts in Spanish, French, Italian,…

PT Buana Adhitama, Indonesia , 13 November 2013. New oil palm plantation development amid evidence of recent forest clearance in PT Buana Adhitama (BAT). The area had been identified as…

Part II of II. See Part I The Etendeka round-eared sengi (Macroscelides micus). Photo by: Galen Rathbun/California Academy of Sciences. Biologists describe upwards of 15,000 previously undocumented species every year.…

Part I of II. See Part II The Ankarafa skeleton frog was described in the summer of 2014. The frogs are called 'skeleton' because of their semi-transparent skins. Photo by:…

Baby Sumatran orangutan. Photos by Rhett A Butler. Tomorrow the European Union will begin enforcing legislation that mandates labeling of specific vegetable oils on food products. The move means consumers…

Illegal logging road through the Murunahua reserve for isolated indigenous peoples. Image © Chris Fagan of Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC). Forest-dependent peoples face grave threats from deforestation and other depredations,…

White rhino in South Africa. Photo by Rhett Butler South African conservationist Ian Player has died at the age of 87. Player, the brother of professional Gary Player, had an…

Deforestation in Madre de Dios in 2005. Photo by Rhett Butler Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon increased significantly last year, says a top official. Speaking to the press at U.N.…

Logging in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Five major timber importers are making progress in cutting contraband wood from their markets, argues a series of reports published by…

Oil palm fruit. Photos by Rhett Butler Home products giant IKEA has made a time-bound commitment for eliminating palm oil linked to deforestation and human rights abuses from its supply…

Courtesy of Junior Explorers Kids are spending more time using tablets and smart phones for learning and entertainment. But hours spent gaming, Tweeting, and playing on Instagram and Facebook, may…

The edge of the Amazon rainforest in Peru Field plots in the Amazon are often not representative of the habitats surrounding them, potentially biasing extrapolations made across the region, argues…

Odani sawmill in the middle of the Amazon. A Greenpeace report alleges that this sawmill, and several others, are sourcing illegal timber. Photo by: © Greenpeace. Authorities in Belgium seized…

Juvenile and subadult of the new species Paroedura hordiesi. Credit: Jörn Köhler. Researchers have described a previously undocumented species of gecko in Madagascar. The species, named Paroedura hordiesi, lives among…

A pair of bottlenose dolphins frolic in the waters of Mayumba National Park, previously Gabon's only national park dedicated to the protection of marine species. Photo credit: Peadar Brehony /…

Oil palm plantation and natural forest in Costa Rica. All photos by Rhett Butler. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has signed an agreement with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm…

Rhino in South Africa. Photo by Rhett Butler. Conservationists are successfully developing mobile apps that enable authorities to identify illegal wildlife products, making it more difficult for traffickers to smuggle…

Elephants in Tanzania. All photos by Rhett A. Butler Corruption in Tanzania is enabling large volumes of illegal elephant ivory to be smuggled out of the country, alleges a new…

Cleared forest in Indonesia. Indonesia's newly elected president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has merged the country's ministries of forestry and environment into a single entity and installed a woman at its…

Landsat image showing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. With scientists rapidly adopting and using a range of remote sensing tools for monitoring environmental change, tracking wildlife and measuring biological processes,…

Coquerel's Sifaka (Propithecus coquereli) in Madagascar. Photos by Rhett Butler. On the heels of a report showing that the world is far behind on targets to halve habitat loss, cut…

Another Cambodian journalist has been gunned down while investigating illegal logging by state officials, reports Reporters Without Borders. Taing Try, a freelance journalist who contributed to several newspapers, was killed…

White rhino in South Africa. Photo by Rhett A. Butler To help fight illegal poaching and trafficking, INTERPOL, the world's largest international police organization, has launched an environmental crimes unit…

"Oil palm fruit. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Malaysian palm oil company Genting Plantations is continuing to destroy forests despite a high-profile pledge by one of its customers to eliminate…

Cleared timber plantation and peat forest in Indonesia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Dozens of companies, non-profit organizations, and governments pledged to work together to halve forest loss by 2020…

Illegal forest for an oil palm plantation within a protected area in Indonesia Five of the world's largest palm oil producers have announced an immediate moratorium on palm oil sourced…

Fire burning on an oil palm plantation in Malaysia Two of the world's largest doughnut brands this week committed to sourcing safeguards that move them toward eliminating deforestation from their…

Brazilian authorities have suspended the auction of the centerpiece of the massive Tapajós hydroelectric complex, reports Agência Brasil. The auction, scheduled for this December, was for the 6.1-gigawatt São Luiz…