Honey production sweetens snow leopard conservation in Kyrgyzstan
SHAMSHY, Kyrgyzstan — “I was only 9 when I first saw a snow leopard with my father. He was a ranger bringing injured animals found in the mountains to the…
Articles by Monica Pelliccia
Monica Pelliccia is an Italian freelance multimedia journalist who covers environmental and social issues such as biodiversity conservation, women's issues, climate change, Indigenous Peoples' rights, food security and agroecology. She has produced reports from India, Ecuador, Honduras, Brazil, Cambodia, Morocco, and Spain for Mongabay and other international media outlets. She was a 2017 Adelante Fellow with the International Women's Media Foundation, earned a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia University and the University of Barcelona, and is the co-author of a recent book about bees, La rivoluzione delle api. Follow her work on Twitter via @monicapelliccia.
On the frontlines of drought, communities in Mexico strive to save every drop of water
OCOTLÁN DE MORELOS – “Look up to the El Peral mountains. That is where we do our ritual ceremony to call for rain,” says Josefina Santiago, 43, a Zapotec Indigenous…
Indigenous agroforestry dying of thirst amid a sea of avocados in Mexico
ANGAHUAN, Mexico — "Cuchita is the fourth-generation herb collector of our family," says Juana Bravo, 45, pointing to a photo of her niece. "Look here: she was picking medicinal plants…
For a beekeeping couple in Costa Rica, pesticides are killing the buzz
IZTARU, Costa Rica — “This simple wooden beehive is 20 years old. It was the first little bee house I ever made. I call it a relic; it’s sacred to…
Bridges in the sky carry sloths to safety in Costa Rica
Every morning, Anna Baltodano and Michael Chizkov look out from their terrace in search of sloths. Notoriously slow-moving and with fur the color of tree branches, the animals blend into…
For Costa Rica’s Indigenous Bribri women, agroforestry is an act of resistance and resilience
TALAMANCA, Costa Rica — “How do I say lemon in Bribri language?” ask Andy, 9, and his cousin Sergio, 11, of their grandmother, Marina López. They’re playing among cocoa trees…
Spanish farmers fight forest fires with agroforestry (and many sheep)
GALICIA, Spain — The forest fire stopped just before arriving at Nieves Fernández Vidueira's farm, but it burned all day in the area surrounding Quintela do Pando in Galicia, northwestern…
Video: As COVID-19 curbs patrols in Nicaragua, turtle eggs risk being poached
Social distancing has become part of the routine for Liessi Calero and Darling Delgado, park rangers who protect turtles in Nicaragua, the only country in Central America that has not…
Young farmers apply ancient agroforestry practices in the heart of Sardinia
DESULO, Italy — In a late 1990s photo, a little girl with a ponytail and white apron poses at the corner of a cheese-making machine. Two decades later, with the…
Agroforestry empowers Morocco’s mountain women
OUEZZANE, Morocco — Suisi Rheia was checking the olives on her tree in front of the community huilerie, or olive oil mill. It was already mid-November 2018, but some fruits…
The female park rangers protecting turtles from traffickers in Nicaragua
The lights draw uncertain lines under the blanket of stars that joins the sea to the sky at El Ostional Beach in southern Nicaragua, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the…
Cooperative agroforestry empowers indigenous women in Honduras
GUALCINCE, Honduras — The Lenca call it a sacrificial stone, where their indigenous ancestors went to make offerings to deities. A triangle of rock with different circles inscribed on its surface,…
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Forest Trackers
- New concession in Botum Sakor National Park handed to Cambodia’s Royal Group
- Elephants invade as habitat loss soars in Nigerian forest reserve
- In Brazil’s Amazon, a ‘new agricultural frontier’ threatens protected lands
- Cambodia awards swath of national park forest to tycoon Ly Yong Phat’s son
Oceans
- From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model
- Seventy-plus nations sign historic high seas treaty, paving way for ratification
- First Nation and scientists partner to revive climate-saving eelgrass
- ‘Totally unsustainable’ sand mining harms marine environments, new data suggest
Amazon Conservation
- New online map tracks threats to uncontacted Indigenous peoples in Brazil’s Amazon
- Brazil Supreme Court quashes time frame proposal in win for Indigenous rights
- EU bill and new green policies spur progress on Brazil’s cattle tracking
- Meatpacking giant and Amazon deforester JBS bid for NYSE listing challenged
Land rights and extractives
- Indigenous community fighting a mine in Palawan wins a milestone legal verdict
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- South Africa community members decry traditional leaders’ power amid mine plans
- Can upcoming referendum in Ecuador stop oil drilling in Yasuní National Park?
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
- 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
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
Conservation Effectiveness
- Forest restoration can fare better with human helping hand, study shows
- From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model
- Video: Rice as a peace offering in India’s human-elephant conflict capital
- Group certification helps Malaysia’s Sabah aim for palm oil sustainability
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- 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
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
