Crime News

RSS
5215 stories
After burning off the mercury, a relatively pure piece of gold remains. Image by Thomas Graham for Mongabay.

Turning the Amazon’s toxic gold mine waste liability into economic opportunity (analysis)

Timothy J. Killeen 13 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
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

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
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
Trekking through the Cardamom Tented Camp concession in Botum Sakor National Park Photo by Gerald Flynn

Carving up the Cardamoms

5 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
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

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

Mie Hoejris Dahl 31 Dec 2025
Indigenous people attend the People's Summit during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). Photo by Rafa Pereira/COP30.

Top 10 Indigenous news stories that marked 2025

Aimee Gabay 29 Dec 2025
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

The first amphibian to halt a hydroelectric dam now takes on the climate crisis

Thamys Trindade 22 Dec 2025

In the Amazon, law enforcement against environmental crime remains controversial

Timothy J. Killeen 22 Dec 2025
Artisanal fishing boats. Image by Mongabay Latam.

Drug gangs in Ecuador and Peru also involved in shark fin trafficking: Report

Shanna Hanbury 19 Dec 2025

All new roads lead to increased deforestation in Ecuador’s Indigenous territory

Ana Cristina Alvarado 19 Dec 2025
Izzy Sasada and orangutan

Orangutans rescued undergo re-training to return to the wild

Izzy Sasada, Sam Lee 17 Dec 2025

Rio Doce communities still live with toxic water, 10 years after Mariana disaster

Ramana Rech 17 Dec 2025
Previously undetected in other protected areas, a tigress known as SWT001F was the first individual tiger captured on camera in Thailand's Sisawat Non-Hunting Area in 2024. Panthera, Thailand's DNP and other partners are working to monitor and protect Indochinese tigers and their prey in this region where camera traps have shown tigers are using Sisawat forest as a corridor. Currently plans exist to propose the adjoining forest area to the east as an extension of Sisawat.

Hope for tigers grows as Thailand safeguards a key link in their habitat

Gloria Dickie 16 Dec 2025
A logging worker stands on Mukula logs

New technologies offer hope in fight to save the world’s imperiled rosewoods

Katarina Zimmer 15 Dec 2025

In the Amazon, lack of transparency and corruption undermine the environment

Timothy J. Killeen 15 Dec 2025

Birds, bugs and butterflies netted in global seizures by Interpol

Spoorthy Raman 12 Dec 2025

Illegal fishing, other maritime threats cost Western Indian Ocean $1b a year: Report

Anne Nzouankeu 12 Dec 2025
Herders cross the Lungasamba pass with their yaks. Image by Chyamtang-Kathmandu Welfare Society.

Nepal Indigenous leaders refile writ petition against hydropower project

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 12 Dec 2025
A juvenile white sturgeon in Canada.

With a target on their bellies, can California’s sturgeon survive?

Laurel Neme 10 Dec 2025
A woman gathers plants along the banks of the Mekong River while a child plays in the background. Water levels of the mighty Mekong River have dropped drastically due to drought-like conditions and damming upstream. The drop disrupts the region’s water supply, transport routes, and the livelihood of communities in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that more than one billion people will face water shortages due to climate change. Credit: © Greenpeace / Vinai Dithajohn

New mapping reveals hidden mining boom in Laos that threatens the Mekong

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Konlaphat Siri 10 Dec 2025

Environmental activists remain jailed in Cambodia on Human Rights Defenders Day

Mongabay.com 9 Dec 2025
Iain Douglas-Hamilton. Image courtesy Save the Elephants.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, elephant protector, has died at 83

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Dec 2025

Stricter rules adopted to protect sloths from pet trade and selfie tourism

Fernanda Wenzel 9 Dec 2025

‘It’s not safe to live here.’ Colombia is deadliest country for environmental defenders

Associated Press 8 Dec 2025

you're currently offline