Rhett Ayers Butler

Rhett Ayers Butler

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About

Rhett Butler is the founder and CEO of Mongabay.

Rhett founded Mongabay out of his passion for wildlife and wild places.

He has traveled widely in the tropics and enjoys photography, hiking, and scuba-diving.

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Some background on Mongabay's origin:

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1807 stories
Guests awaken on the sky deck of the home Ken and Cynthia within the KampOng Campus for Ecoliteracy & Change. Image credit: Ken Wilson

Journeying in biocultural diversity and conservation philanthropy: Q&A with Ken Wilson

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Feb 2022
Mark Plotkin with an Embera shaman in the Darien on the Colombia-Panama. Photo credit: Amazon Conservation Team

Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin: Indigenous knowledge serves as a ‘connective tissue’ between nature and human well-being

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Jan 2022

Rainforests in 2022: A look at the year ahead

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Jan 2022
Composite image. Left: Amazon rainforest - photo credit: Rhett A. Butler. Right: Burning forest in the Brazilian Amazon - image credit: Greenpeace

The year in rainforests 2021

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Dec 2021
Courtesy of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation

Edward O. Wilson, prominent biologist and author, has died at 92

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Dec 2021
Photo credit: Bill Laurance

Tom Lovejoy, prominent conservation biologist, dies at 80

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Dec 2021
Fighting the flames on the Deepwater Horizon drill platform in 2010. Image credit: NOAA.

‘Everyone is capable’ of climate action, say Kevin Patel and Julia Jackson

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Dec 2021
Long-house at Sungai Utik, an Iban community in West Kalimantan that has successfully defended its customary forests against loggers. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler / mongabay

Climate efforts won’t succeed without secure community rights, says Nonette Royo

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Dec 2021
A Rainforest Alliance / UTZ Program that provides training of tea farmers in climate smart agriculture methods, which are designed to help farmers adapt to and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Photo credit: Giuseppe Cipriani

‘Collaboration is key’ to address big environmental challenges, says Daniel Katz

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Dec 2021
Heat spots in areas with Prodes warnings (2017-2019). Area next to the borders of the Kaxarari Indigenous territory, in Lábrea, Amazonas state. Taken 17 Aug, 2020. CREDIT: © Christian Braga / Greenpeace

Amazon deforestation unexpectedly surges 22% to highest level since 2006

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Nov 2021
Deforestation in Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler / mongabay

What countries are leaders in reducing deforestation? Which are not?

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Nov 2021
Illegal sand and gold mining in Indonesian Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Do forest declarations work? How do the Glasgow and New York declarations compare?

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Nov 2021
WCS President and CEO Dr. Cristián Samper observes forest elephants from an observation tower at the Dzanga Bai research site in the Central African Republic. Photo: Elizabeth Bennett/WCS.

Achieving a ‘nature positive future’: an interview with Cristián Samper

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Nov 2021
Tense and Mulunesh, members of the women-led Nano Hena savings and credit cooperative, pick coffee beans during harvesting season in Illubabor Zone, Ethiopia. The cooperative is supported by Population, Health, and Environment Ethiopia Consortium and Ethio Wetlands and Natural Resources Association, partners working to improve biodiversity and increase resilience in communities in Southwestern Ethiopia. Photo credit: Maheder Haileselassie, Getty Images

Supporting more holistic approaches to conservation: an interview with Kai Carter

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Oct 2021
El Cono in Sierra Del Divisor National Park, Peru. Photo credit: Diego Perez / CEDIA

Conservation will only scale when non-conservationists see its value, says James Deutsch

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Oct 2021
Myrna Cunningham

For some Indigenous, COVID presents possibility of cultural extinction, says Myrna Cunningham

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Oct 2021
Aerial view of an area in the Amazon deforested for the expansion of livestock, in Porto Velho, Rondônia state. Overflights organized by the Amazon in Flames Alliance -- Amazon Watch, Greenpeace Brazil and the Brazilian Climate Observatory -- between September 13th and 17th documented land use change and fire around the cities of Porto Velho, Rondônia, and Lábrea, Amazonas. Photo © Victor Moriyama / Amazônia em Chamas (Amazon in Flames Alliance)

Countering Bolsonaro’s UN speech, Greenpeace releases Amazon deforestation photos

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Sep 2021
Clouded leopard in India. Photo credit: Steve Winter/National Geographic

Small cats should be a conservation priority, says Panthera’s new board chair Jonathan Ayers

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Sep 2021
Photo credit: Samantha du Toit

‘Conservation should be seen as what communities have always done’, says John Kamanga

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Sep 2021

When COVID shut Broadway, award-winning actress Jane Alexander went birding

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Sep 2021
Logging concession in Indonesia. Photo credit: Yudhi Mahendra / Mighty Earth

Fomenting a “Perfect Storm” to push companies to change: Q&A with Glenn Hurowitz

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Sep 2021
Pine forest in California's Sierra Nevada. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Climate philanthropy’s opportunity for impact: Q&A with Bridgespan’s Sonali Patel

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Sep 2021
In Hebei province, smoke billows from chimneys from the steel plants in 2014. Photo © Lu Guang / Greenpeace

There is no climate solution without China and America, says Li Shuo

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Sep 2021
Ivindo River in Gabon. Photo credit: ZB

Building the Campaign for Nature: Q&A with Brian O’Donnell

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Aug 2021
Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak

Conservation needs more women, says Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Aug 2021
Fire in a recently deforested area in Aripuanã, Mato Grosso on Jul 30, 2021. Photo © Christian Braga/Greenpeace

Independent monitoring suggests sharp jump in Amazon rainforest destruction

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Aug 2021
Photo credit: Felipe Rodriguez

It’s time to scrutinize who’s in the room when conservation decisions are made, says Laly Lichtenfeld

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Aug 2021
Hammerheads. Photo credit: Yves Lefèvre

Protecting Colombia’s shark paradise: Q&A with Sandra Bessudo

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Aug 2021
Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco). Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Betting big on bioacoustics: Q&A with philanthropist Lisa Yang

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jul 2021

How to make conservation more effective: Q&A with Nick Salafsky

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Jul 2021

Overcoming community-conservation conflict: Q&A with Dominique Bikaba

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jul 2021
Blackwater lake, rainforest, and the whitewater Zacambu River in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

The conservation gains we’ve made are still fragile, says Aileen Lee of the Moore Foundation

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jul 2021

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Rinchin Jomaba. Chef, Damu's Kitchen.How a remote diner in India is fueling a culinary and ecological revival
Videos
Hooded vulture, Gambia 2017. Image by Pete Richman via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Articles
Saiga herd during a calving period. Image by Albert Salemgareyev and courtesy of the Association for the Conservation Biodiversity of Kazakhstan/Vera Voronova.
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