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Bags of cobalt powder ready for export from Chemaf’s mines in the DRC. Image by Didier Makal/Mongabay.

Virtus Minerals signs first major deal under US-DRC critical minerals partnership

Ashoka Mukpo 17 Apr 2026
Emmanuel de Merode at an airstrip near Salonga National Park in DRC in March 2026. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Can nature outcompete war in Eastern Congo?

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 13 Apr 2026
African elephant. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Living with wildlife, bearing the cost

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Apr 2026
Coffee and cocoa production around Virunga National Park are seen by some proponents of the Green Corridor as activities that can help reduce pressure on forest resources. In Salonga National Park, officials are already encouraging cocoa and coffee cultivation as alternative livelihoods for surrounding communities. Photo: Virunga National Park.

From Virunga to Kinshasa, the DRC embarks on a bold conservation gamble

David Akana 9 Apr 2026
Elephants in Dzanga Bai in Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, Central African Republic. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

The little-known story of emerging ecotourism in the Central African Republic

David Akana 8 Apr 2026
: Luis Arranz became the co-director of Salonga National Park in the DRC in 2022. Despite the size of the task, he comes across as undaunted. “I like difficult missions,” Arranz told Mongabay. Image courtesy of Luis Arranz.

‘I like impossible missions’: A conservationist’s mission to turn around Salonga’s fate

David Akana 8 Apr 2026
Silverback gorilla in Dzanga-Sangha, Central African Republic. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Why conservation needs stories of progress

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Apr 2026

A human rights center opens a path to justice for Indigenous Peoples in the Central African Republic

David Akana 7 Apr 2026
A forest elephant near Ngounié, Gabon. Image by marcusgmeiner via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

A Congo Basin-led bioeconomy could boost Central Africa’s green transition (analysis)

Metolo Foyet 6 Apr 2026
“For mothers and young elephants, Dzanga Bai becomes something of a playground and a very safe place,” says Yvonne Kienast, project manager and head researcher of the Dzanga Forest Elephant Project. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests

David Akana 6 Apr 2026
Alphonsine Colombe Irahali provides care during a mobile health campaign in a forest village near Bayanga, Central African Republic. She explains that her work with isolated communities is guided by a personal calling to serve populations often excluded from formal health systems. Image courtesy of Alphonsine Colombe Irahali/WWF Central African Republic.

Far from home, a Rwandan doctor fulfills her calling among CAR forest communities

David Akana 6 Apr 2026
Fish Loading and unloading activities.

Talks to reduce funding for overfishing remain stalled at WTO meeting

Elizabeth Fitt 3 Apr 2026
Artisanal fishing vessels lined up at Down Beach, Limbe, Cameroon. Image by Shuimo Trust Dohyee for Mongabay.

A ‘big book’ documenting Cameroon’s sharks & rays fills critical conservation gap

Shuimo Trust Dohyee 1 Apr 2026
A dinghy used to sample the lake. Image courtesy of Travis W. Drake.

‘Ancient’ carbon venting from lakes in the Congo Basin peatlands: Study

John Cannon 31 Mar 2026

Conservation depends on rangers. Their wellbeing is often an afterthought

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Mar 2026

‘Extraordinary’: Second set of rare mountain gorilla twins born in DRC’s Virunga

David Akana 30 Mar 2026
Lubumbashi River, at the level of the Kalubwe bridge, where significant fish mortality was reported in November 2025. Image by Ruth Kutemba.

4 months after DRC mine spill, residents remain impacted

Ruth Kutemba, Elodie Toto 26 Mar 2026
A ranger at Upemba National Park.

Upemba National Park staff recount assault that left seven dead

Ashoka Mukpo 24 Mar 2026

Investigation links DRC air pollution concerns to major copper-cobalt plant

Elodie Toto 19 Mar 2026
Massaha forest. Image by ZB.

How a community defended its ancestral forest from logging

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Mar 2026
Sea turtles, another migratory species, need safe ocean passageways to move between feeding grounds and nesting beaches.

Outlook for migratory species worsens amid habitat loss & avian flu, report finds

Gloria Dickie 12 Mar 2026
Two Twa women and children are resting under the shade of a cocoa tree next to the Ngite/Mavivi Twa camp in Beni, DRC. Image of Jackson Sivulyamwenge for Mongabay.

Growing number of Indigenous Twa forced out of DRC’s forests and into towns

Jérémie Kyaswekera, Jackson Muhindo Sivulyamwenge 11 Mar 2026
Artisanal miners in Rubaya area, DRC.

200 dead, more missing in another DRC mine collapse

Mongabay Africa 6 Mar 2026
A vulture nesting colony on Ngethelewan, an inselberg located on the Boma plateau, in South Sudan.

Satellite images identify vulture breeding colonies by their droppings

Ryan Truscott 5 Mar 2026

Cameroon’s decade of conflict leaves apes and conservationists in peril

Orji Sunday 3 Mar 2026
CHEMAF’s Etoile mine (formerly known as Kalukuluku) in Ruashi-Lubumbashi in the DRC. Image by Didier Makal.

US firm Virtus Minerals closes in on deal for crucial DRC copper and cobalt mines

Ashoka Mukpo 26 Feb 2026
A photo of Zeytin posted by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on Facebook in December 2024. No further updates have been provided since the country's announcement to not send Zeytin to Africa.

Baby gorilla seized from traffickers languishes in Turkish zoo

Spoorthy Raman 13 Feb 2026
Artisanal cobalt miners in the DRC. Image by The International Institute for Environment and Development. Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic.

Scrutiny grows over DRC-US minerals deal, even as other African nations sign up

Elodie Toto 12 Feb 2026
Luwowo Coltan mine near Rubaya, North Kivu. Image © MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Landslides claim more than 220 lives in DRC’s Rubaya coltan mining site

Didier Makal 9 Feb 2026
Christine Lain surveys Upemba National Park.

Partnering up to run a DRC reserve: Interview with Forgotten Parks’ Christine Lain

Ashoka Mukpo 6 Feb 2026
Twahirwa at Rwanda’s flagship Gorilla Naming Ceremony, at the foothills of Volcanoes National Park in the village of Kinigi in northern Rwanda. Image courtesy of Jean Leonald Karuranga.

From Kigali to the Congo Basin: Aimable Twahirwa’s path in environmental journalism

Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo 6 Feb 2026
A forest elephant near Ngounié, Gabon. Image by marcusgmeiner via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

What’s next for the major pledge to halt & reverse Congo Basin deforestation?

Latoya Abulu 5 Feb 2026

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