Philip Jacobson

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Philip Jacobson is a senior editor and award-winning investigative journalist with Mongabay, where he has been on staff since 2015. Based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, he recently investigated the global shark trade as part of a yearlong Pulitzer Center fellowship on ocean journalism. Read his full bio here.

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37 stories

The lab-in-a-backpack busting illegal shark fins: Interview with Diego Cardeñosa

Philip Jacobson 18 Dec 2025

45 more shark species up for CITES protections; tight vote expected

Philip Jacobson 26 Nov 2025

FSC to vote on new traceability rules amid fraud allegations

Philip Jacobson 26 Oct 2025

How we probed a maze of websites to tally Brazilian government shark meat orders

Philip Jacobson, Kuang Keng Kuek Ser 26 Sep 2025

Shark meat is prepared for distribution at CEAGESP in São Paulo city,

Mongabay shark meat exposé sparks call for hearing and industry debate

Philip Jacobson, Karla Mendes, Lucas Berti 26 Aug 2025

Revealed: Brazilian state buys endangered angelsharks for school lunches

Fernanda Wenzel, Philip Jacobson 7 Aug 2025

That ‘fish’ on the menu? In Brazil’s schools and prisons, it’s often shark

Philip Jacobson, Karla Mendes, Kuang Keng Kuek Ser 29 Jul 2025

Community rangers guard elephants in Sera Conservancy, Northern Rangelands, Kenya.

Wildlife crime crackdown in jeopardy worldwide after US funding cuts

Carolyn Cowan, Philip Jacobson, Spoorthy Raman, Charles Mpaka, Hans Nicholas Jong, Gerald Flynn 22 May 2025

Revealed: Biomass firm poised to clear Bornean rainforest for dubious ‘green’ energy

Hans Nicholas Jong, Philip Jacobson 21 Oct 2024

Sharks in the coral reefs of Jardines de la Reina, Cuba.

Undercover in a shark fin trafficking ring: Interview with wildlife crime fighter Andrea Crosta

Philip Jacobson 16 May 2024

For farmer imprisoned over wildfires, fear and poverty linger

Aseanty Pahlevi, Philip Jacobson, Hans Nicholas Jong 18 Dec 2023

Traditional small farmers burned by Indonesia’s war on wildfires

Philip Jacobson, Aseanty Pahlevi, Hans Nicholas Jong, Yusie Marie, M Rahim Arza 14 Dec 2023

The endangered pig-nosed turtle, also known as the Fly River turtle, lives in northern Australian and southern New Guinea, including in the area Medco is operating in. Image by Jin Kemoole/Flickr.

Report: Forest-razing biomass plant in Indonesia got millions in green funds

Philip Jacobson 2 Jun 2023

A shark with remoras.

Shark-fishing gear banned across much of Pacific in conservation ‘win’

Philip Jacobson 8 Dec 2022

As shark numbers plummet, nations seek ban on devastatingly effective gear

Philip Jacobson 26 Nov 2022

‘There are solutions to these abuses’: Q&A with Steve Trent on how China can rein in illegal fishing

Philip Jacobson 3 Nov 2022

A deckhand on the Long Xing 626 in DOF’s Atlantic fleet displays what experts who reviewed the image identified as a blue shark (Prionace glauca) in this photo posted to Facebook. The animal on the ground is a leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).

Exclusive: Shark finning rampant across Chinese tuna firm’s fleet

Philip Jacobson, Basten Gokkon 1 Nov 2022

Conservation Response Unit team in Cot Girek pose while also trying to control Marni the elephant.

Life in the awe-and-terror-inspiring vicinity of the Sumatran elephant

Philip Jacobson 20 Oct 2022

As Indonesia paints rosy picture for orangutans, scientists ask: Where’s the data?

Philip Jacobson 3 Oct 2022

Indonesian villagers missing out on spoils from palm oil boom

Philip Jacobson 2 Jun 2022

Palm oil firm hit by mass permit revocation still clearing forest in Indonesia

Asrida Elisabeth, Philip Jacobson 22 Feb 2022

Indonesia’s three most consequential forestry stories of 2021

Philip Jacobson 24 Dec 2021

Worked to death: How a Chinese tuna juggernaut crushed its Indonesian workers

Philip Jacobson, Basten Gokkon, Taufik Wijaya, Seulki Lee, Makoto Watanabe, Annelise Giseburt 13 Sep 2021

Malaysian firm bidding to clear Papua forest loses land bid, but deforestation persists

Philip Jacobson, Tom Johnson 29 Apr 2021

Breaking: Deaths of 2 more Indonesian crew uncovered on board Chinese tuna fleet

Basten Gokkon, Philip Jacobson 29 Oct 2020

Which version? Confusion over environmental fallout of Indonesia deregulation law

Hans Nicholas Jong, Philip Jacobson 13 Oct 2020

Apay Janggut, also known as 'Bandi', and Kudi in the rumah betang or longhouse at Sungai Utik. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

New Indonesian law may make it harder to punish firms for haze-causing fires

Philip Jacobson 9 Oct 2020

Meet Indonesia’s go-to expert witness against haze-causing plantation firms

Philip Jacobson 23 Apr 2019

Revealed: Paper giant’s ex-staff say it used their names for secret company in Borneo

Philip Jacobson 10 Jul 2018

UN’s Tauli-Corpuz, accused of terrorism in her native Philippines, plans to keep investigating ‘atrocities’ against indigenous peoples at home

Philip Jacobson 20 Mar 2018

The military family that kept a pet orangutan in Indonesia

Philip Jacobson 29 Mar 2017

Q&A with Abdon Nababan, outgoing head of Indonesia’s indigenous peoples alliance

Philip Jacobson 13 Mar 2017

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News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Izzy Sasada and orangutan

Walruses playing in the waters around Svalbard, Norway.

Gregg Treinish in Botswana's Okavango. Photo by Shah Selbe

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