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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 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
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
Massaha forest. Image by ZB.

How a community defended its ancestral forest from logging

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 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

Jackson Muhindo Sivulyamwenge, Jérémie Kyaswekera 11 Mar 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
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
Rainforest in Brunei in 2025. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

The year in rainforests 2025: Deforestation fell; the risks did not

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Dec 2025
Journey by pirogue for members of the Baliga

Congo’s communities are creating a 1-million-hectare biodiversity corridor

Elodie Toto 18 Dec 2025
Forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) inhabit the dense rainforests of Central Africa.

Top-down projects, exotic trees, weak tenure: Congo Basin restoration misses the mark

Amindeh Blaise Atabong 12 Dec 2025
A L’Hoest’s monkey (Allochrocebus Ihoesti) at Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. Image by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay.

An Empire of Nature: African Parks and Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest

Ashoka Mukpo 4 Dec 2025
Logging concession near Ndolou, Gabon

Norway’s multibillion-dollar bet on forests: An interview with Minister Eriksen

David Akana 25 Nov 2025
A mandrill is seen in a forest in Gabon.

Congo Basin nations roll out community payments for forest care

Anne Nzouankeu 20 Nov 2025
Indigenous guide at Sani Isla in the Amazon. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

To fix the climate, simply empower Indigenous people (commentary)

Kiki Taufik 10 Nov 2025

Congo Basin communities bear the costs of industrial expansion

David Akana 5 Nov 2025
Banyan tree in Vietnam. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

What might lie ahead for tropical forests (analysis)

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Nov 2025
Critically endangered African forest elephants act as seed dispersers in the rainforest, taking the seeds far, far away from the mother plants.

As forest elephants plummet, ebony trees decline in Central Africa’s rainforests

Spoorthy Raman 29 Aug 2025
Augustin K. Basabose. Image by Allison Shelley for Wild Earth Allies

In eastern Congo’s war-torn forests, Augustin Basabose gave hope to gorillas and people

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Aug 2025

Uncovering forest loss in gorilla park six months after M23 offensive in the DRC

Elodie Toto, Latoya Abulu 31 Jul 2025
Perenco’s offshore platform in Gabon.

Report exposes safety complaints preceding fatal Perenco explosion in Gabon

Elodie Toto 19 Jun 2025
The Nyamugasani River flows through the flood plains in the foothills of Rwenzori Mountains National Park, one of the sites supported by the CAPA initiative.

To survive climate change, scientists say protected areas need ‘climate-smart’ planning

Marina Martinez 13 Jun 2025
Inga dam site on the Congo River. Image by International Rivers via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

World Bank to finance controversial DRC hydropower project, concerns remain

Shreya Dasgupta 11 Jun 2025
A forest fire burns in Valparaíso, Chile, in February 2024. Image courtesy of the Gobierno de Chile via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0 CL)

Tropical forest loss hit new heights in 2024; fire a major driver in Latin America

Ruth Kamnitzer 21 May 2025
An excavator and a gold washing station at the Alangong-Bamegod-Inès mine site in the Sangha. This equipment is typical of semi-industrial gold mining, while the water for the washing station is drawn from surrounding streams, raising concerns about contamination. Image by Elodie Toto for Mongabay.

Deforestation in REDD-protected Congo rainforests is ‘beyond words’

Mike DiGirolamo 20 May 2025
Relatives of people injured by army gunfire at Munjenje, Lualaba Province, DRC. Image courtesy of CASMIA.

Soldiers raid village as tensions flare over DRC’s Kamoa mine expansion

Didier Makal 20 May 2025

Republic of Congo’s gold mining boom undermines conservation efforts

Mongabay.com 16 May 2025
An okapi at Bronx Zoo in the United States. Image by Ryan Schwark via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

13 years after deadly attack, an okapi returns to Epulu in DRC reserve

Saïbe Kabila 14 May 2025
A chimpanzee of Mikeno Lodge in Virunga National Park, DRC. Image by Joseph King via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Poaching intensifies in M23-occupied areas of Virunga National Park

Mongabay.com 30 Apr 2025
New study assesses threat to wildlife from cacao expansion in Congo Basin.

The environmental toll of the M23 conflict in eastern DRC (Analysis)

Fergus O’Leary Simpson, Joel Masselink, Lara Collart 7 Mar 2025

Mineral exploitation overshadows green diplomacy in Congo’s Sangha region

Elodie Toto 30 Jan 2025

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