Best of 2012 – Where rainforest meets the sea in Madagascar
Tampolo Marine Park. Photo by Rhett A. Butler For the month of December, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures from 2012. All of these photos were taken during…
Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef. Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef, yet despite its size, scientists warn it is particularly vulnerable to human activities, including agricultural pollution and…
Weird world of corals: they can hear!
Coral in Belize. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. As coral reefs are imperiled worldwide by rising temperatures and ocean acidification, researchers are just beginning to uncover their secrets, including the…
The last ocean
A killer whale surfaces in the Ross Sea. Photo courtesy of: David Ainley. The Ross Sea is considered by marine biologists to be the last great marine waters untouched by…
What? They plan to build a coal plant here?
Malaysia plans to build a coal plant on the northern edge of Lahad Datu Bay in Sabah, Borneo. The plant will sit between a pristine rainforest, home to a number…
Surfing pelicans
A flock of brown pelicans flying (Pelecanus occidentalis) over crashing surf on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler, 2009. To see more photos from the…
Hopping penguin receives good news
The southern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) are so-named because they hop from place to place rather than slide on their belly or waddle. Photo by: Brodie Ferguson, 2006. The species,…
Leatherback sea turtle camouflaging nest
The world's largest sea turtle, the Leatherback, camouflages its nest on a beach in northern Suriname. After laying their eggs, mother leatherbacks spend considerable time and energy camouflaging the nest…
Oceans of the future may be ruled by jellyfish
Purple-striped jellyfish (Chrysaira colorata). All photos taken in captivity by Rhett A. Butler 2007-2008. As the world's oceans become degraded from overfishing, pollution, and absorption of atmospheric CO2, less complex…
Humpback whale breaching in Alaska
Humpback breaching in Alaska's Inside Passage. Photos by Rhett A. Butler 2007. It is still unclear why whales breach. Theories range from social signaling (danger, dominance, courting), stunning prey, to…
Coral reefs of the Yucatan
Coral reefs of the Yucatan peninsula The 80-mile stretch of coastline south of Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico -- now called the Riviera Maya -- has undergone a…
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
Aerial view of a section of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. A new study from the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity has synthesized over 300 reports on…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds
- Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Oceans
- Caribbean startups are turning excess seaweed into an agroecology solution
- Global coral beaching now underway looks set to be largest on record
- In Java Sea, vigilantism and poverty rise as purse seine fishing continues
- As a megaport rises in Cameroon, a delicate coastal ecosystem ebbs
Amazon Conservation
- Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state
- Cross-border Indigenous efforts in Peru & Brazil aim to protect isolated groups
- A short walk through Amazon time: Interview with archaeologist Anna Roosevelt
- Alis Ramírez: A defender of the Colombian Amazon now living as a refugee in New Zealand
Land rights and extractives
- Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest
- Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground
- Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion
- New FPIC guide designed to help protect Indigenous rights as mineral mining booms
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
Conservation Effectiveness
- The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
- Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
