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Madhav Gadgil in 2016. Photo by Syed Shiyaz Mirza

Madhav Gadgil, advocate of democratic conservation, has died at 83

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jan 2026
Two members of the Prey Preah Roka Community Network – a grassroots activism group made up of communities around the wildlife sanctuary - document an illegally logged tree in the wildlife sanctuary. The grassroots group regularly patrol the wildlife sanctuary, documenting any illegal logging they come across by marking GPS coordinates, as well as taking a note of the species and diameter of the trees. Image by: Andy Ball / Mongabay.

Environmental crime prevention is moving into the diplomatic mainstream (commentary)

Robert Muggah 8 Jan 2026
Foothills of the Atewa forest range, one of several ecologically sensitive areas where mining permits have been issued. Image by Ahtziri Gonzalez/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ghana repeals legislation that opened forest reserves to mining

Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda 8 Jan 2026
Methane bubbles flow in small streams out of seafloor sediment offshore of Virginia, north of Washington Canyon. Quill worms, anemones and patches of microbial mat can be seen in and along the periphery of the seepage area.

Methane chasers: Hunting a climate-changing gas seeping from Earth’s seafloor

Elizabeth Devitt 8 Jan 2026
A Samoan coral reef from the air. Image courtesy of Andy Estep.

Marine protected areas expanded in 2025, but still far from 30% goal

Shanna Hanbury 8 Jan 2026
An eastern chimpanzee in Uganda. Image by Nik Borrow via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Chimpanzees and gorillas among most traded African primates, report finds

Spoorthy Raman 7 Jan 2026
Rescuers search for victims at the site of a landslide in Suwawa on Sulawesi Island in July 2024.

Indonesia’s illegal gold boom leaves a toxic legacy of mercury pollution

Sarjan Lahay, Junaidi Hanafiah, Teguh Suprayitno 7 Jan 2026
Mushrooms in San Mateo County, California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

An inventory of life in California

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Jan 2026

An endangered menu (cartoon)

Rohan Chakravarty 6 Jan 2026
The Indigenous Macaquiño community on the banks of the Vaupés River in Colombia’s Vaupés region. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.

Urban sprawl and illegal mining reshape a fragile Amazon frontier

Aimee Gabay 6 Jan 2026
Ocimum basilicum flower.

Amazon entrepreneur spreads seeds of growth with recycled paper

Rafael Spuldar 6 Jan 2026
A woman from the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés pushes her boat across the Vaupés River towards her traditional forest garden, or chagra. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.

Cultural changes shift an Indigenous community’s relationship with the Amazon forest

Aimee Gabay 5 Jan 2026
Rogério Barros, young extractive leader and son of Raimundão Barros, at the Chico Mendes extractive reserve

Massive Amazon conservation program pledges to put communities first

Constance Malleret 5 Jan 2026
Sperm whales inside Azores MPA Network. Image courtesy of Andy Mann/National Geographic.

Azores must respect its exceptional network of marine protected areas (commentary)

Enric Sala 5 Jan 2026
A forest elephant near Ngounié, Gabon. Image by marcusgmeiner via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Poaching down but threats remain for forest elephants, recent population assessment finds

Spoorthy Raman 5 Jan 2026
The Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

The climate fight may not be won in the Amazon, but it can be lost there

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Jan 2026
A snowy owl in flight. Image courtesy of Bert de Tilly.

Snowy owl, striped hyena, sharks among migratory species proposed for greater protections

Shreya Dasgupta 5 Jan 2026

Biologist kidnapped in Mexico

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Jan 2026
Craig. Photo by Cristina Mittermeier

What Craig’s long life reveals about elephant conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Jan 2026
Screenshot of Amur tigress and her five cubs, courtesy of Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park.

Camera traps in China capture first-ever footage of Amur tigress with five cubs

Spoorthy Raman 2 Jan 2026
A subadult male capuchin with a howler monkey infant. Image courtesy of Brendan Barrett/Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.

5 unexpected animal behaviors we learned about in 2025

Shreya Dasgupta 2 Jan 2026
Truphena Muthoni hugging a tree for 72 consecutive hours. Image by Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga via X.

From Chipko to Nyeri: The enduring logic of the tree hug

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Jan 2026
Guatemala accounted for 13% of the environmental defenders killed or disappeared across the world in 2024, as documented by Global Witness. Image courtesy of the Guatemalan President’s Office.

Guatemala’s eco defenders reel from surge in killings and persecution

Gonzalo Ortuño López 2 Jan 2026
Purisima Creek, California in December 2025. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

The conservation ledger: What we lost and what we gained in 2025

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jan 2026
Emma Johnston. Photo by The University of New South Wales

Emma Johnston, a marine ecologist with institutional reach, has died at 52

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Dec 2025

Deep-sea ‘hotels’ reveal 20 new species hiding in Pacific Ocean twilight zone near Guam

Liz Kimbrough 31 Dec 2025
The mining dredges installed along the Nanay River have begun to consume sections of forest. Image courtesy of FCDS Peru.

Mercury, dredges and crime: Illegal mining ravages Peru’s Nanay River

Enrique Vera 31 Dec 2025
A barn owl hunting for fleeing prey along a fire’s periphery.

How are California’s birds faring amid ever more frequent wildfires?

Gloria Dickie 31 Dec 2025
Richard Frederick Bradshaw. Photo courtesy of Phillips, Hager & North (PH&N).

Investor Dick Bradshaw took a long view of conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Dec 2025

Latin America in 2025: Conservation promises collide with crime and extraction

Mie Hoejris Dahl 31 Dec 2025
The Belo Monte hydropower dam on the Xingu River in Brazil’s Pará state. Image courtesy of TV Brasil.

Fish deformities expose ‘collapse’ of Xingu River’s pulse after construction of Belo Monte Dam

Tiago da Mota e Silva 31 Dec 2025

Road to recovery: Five stories of species staging a comeback

Shreya Dasgupta 31 Dec 2025

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