Media coverage of ruins raises controversy among scientists, but leads to stepped-up protection efforts in long-neglected region Temple at Tikal, a Mayan city in Guatemala. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.…
G-20 nations make commitment to invest $60 to $70 trillion worldwide in new infrastructure over the next 15 years Deforestation along the Transoceanic highway in Peru. Photo by Rhett A.…
Redwoods in Big Basin State Park, California. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. If you Google "rainforest," you're almost assured to get a page of search results mostly about the tropics.…
The Southern Suriname Conservation Corridor came one step closer to fruition when indigenous leaders present members of Suriname's parliament with a declaration on March 5. “They’ve been protecting it, and…
The cryptic treehunter lives the in highly threatened Atlantic forest, but researchers hold out hope that more might be found. The cryptic treehunter (Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti). Photoart by Rolf Grantsau. In…
A log yard in Myanmar's southern state of Tanintharyi. Photo courtesy of Forest Trends. The Myanmar government has been allocating land for large-scale private agricultural businesses in the country’s biodiversity-rich…
Deforestation makes room for a new oil palm plantation in Riau, Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. The rights of local and indigenous peoples aren’t being adequately protected in the…
Autumn leaves in Pittsfield State Park, Massachusetts. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Soil plays a big role in the global carbon cycle, but how much or how quickly forest soil…
Mangrove forest in Masoala National Park, Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Protecting Mangrove Forests Good For Environment And Economy: UN Global destruction of mangrove forests impacts biodiversity, food security,…
Researchers devise new method to track soy consumption Rainforest fragments in a sea of soyfields in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Sitting down at my favorite restaurant…
Peatlands around the world are drying and burning as humans drain them and the climate changes; scientists urge protections. A peat forest burns in Riau, Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A.…
A pair of Milton's titi monkeys (Callicebus miltoni). Photo by credit Adriano Gambarini. In 2011, Julio César Dalponte noticed a peculiar looking titi monkey on the bank of the Roosevelt…
Although it’s a hotspot of avian biodiversity, the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has been “poorly studied ornithologically,” according to a study published in the scientific journal PloS One. Case in…
A baobob tree in scrub woodland in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe. Photo by Kjdhambuza. Zimbabwe, home to more than 14 million people, is currently facing a severe economic crisis. Under President…
Militant terrorist group Al-Shabaab funds itself, in part, through the
Presenting a workshop on ecosystem services to a roomful of priests in Ethiopia may seem like an unlikely scenario for a conservation biologist to end up in, but for Meg…
Hypsiboas picturatus, a tree frog found in Colombian and Ecuadorian forests. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has announced plans to create the world’s largest protected…
Oil palm fruit, which can be used for biofuel. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. A new report from the World Resources Institute finds that dedicating land to the production of…
This article is the second in a two-part series about logging in Malaysia. The first part can be seen here Two international NGOs have called out Malaysia in recent months…
This article is the second in a two-part series about the shortcomings of protected area definition in Peru. Read the first part here. In a study published recently in PLOS…
Vanzolini’s squirrel monkey (Saimiri boliviensis), with its distinctive black cap. Photo Credit: Arkive. Walking through the Amazon rainforest for the first time is an overwhelming experience, and not in an…
This article is the first in a two-part series about logging in Malaysia. Read the second part here. A recent report by the international affairs think tank Chatham House has…
Ezequiel Antonio Castanha in custody. Image courtesy of IBAMA Authorities in Brazil have arrested a man they claim to be the single biggest deforester in the Amazon, according to a…
This article is the first in a two-part series about the shortcomings of protected area definition in Peru. Read the second part here. Many of the world's protected areas may…
Could a website save the world's lemurs? Indri lemur (Indri indri). Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Last year, scientists released an emergency three-year plan that they argued could, quite literally,…
A pale-headed brush-finch (Altapetes pallidiceps)., one of the most endangered birds in the world. An unassuming brown bird, tiny both in body and population size, hovers on the edge of…
Lazarus turtle: Scientists discover unknown population of Critically Endangered reptile A rare photo of a living Arakan forest turtle. Photo courtesy of Shahriar Caesar Rahman. By the early Twentieth Century,…
Greenomics map showing recent clearing by Austindo Nusantara Jaya Agri in West Papua, Indonesia An Indonesian palm oil firm is destroying rainforests in New Guinea despite high profile zero deforestation…
Society for Conservation Biology warns that Africa could follow Southeast Asia in losing substantial amounts of its forest Africa’s people, forests and wildlife are in trouble if the mostly unbridled…
