Other stories in Mongabay’s series on the Maya Biosphere Reserve: Killing of Guatemalan activist in the Maya Biosphere Reserve raises alarm Communities lead the way in rainforest conservation in Guatemala…
r. Andrew Mack studies the close living relatives of the dinosaur, the cassowaries, giant flightless birds that can knock you out with a single kick. Though, as Dr. Mack will…
Leonardo DiCaprio called world leaders assembled at the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement at UN headquarters in New York the “last best hope” to save mankind from the impacts…
A landmark decision by Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen could see almost a million hectares of forest reclassified as protected areas in a country with one of the highest deforestation…
A new report by the Rainforest Foundation UK found that protections for Africa’s tropical forests are failing to actually protect biodiversity and forest communities. In recent years, hundreds of millions…
ameroon’s Korup National Park is home to elephants, chimpanzees, red colobus monkeys, drill, and a myriad of noisy species, whose squawks, squeals and howls fill the forest air. For more…
t’s no secret: one of the biggest threats facing the world’s great ape populations is industrial agricultural, now rapidly extending throughout their native home ranges in Africa and Southeast Asia…
frica is similar to other developing regions of the world in that agriculture is central to the continent’s economy, composing almost one quarter of its GNP and employing nearly two-thirds…
uatemalan communities engaged in sustainable forestry in the Maya Biosphere Reserve have rallied some high-profile supporters. Musicians from multiple Grammy Award winning pop group Maroon 5 have spoken out for…
ndigenous peoples in Brazil are at risk from an alarming uptick in violence as well as from natural-resource development projects that threaten their existence. That's what United Nations Special Rapporteur…
This is the second in a four-part series on palm oil in Cameroon. Read the first, third, and fourth parts for more discussion on the topic. n Cameroon’s 500,000-hectare (1,931-square mile)…
he countries of Gabon, Liberia, Indonesia and Myanmar may not seem to hold much in common, but each of these countries — two in West Africa and two in East…
he adolescent orangutan was captured in the forests of Sumatra by a soldier at the height of the Aceh province civil war for independence. By February of 2004, this orangutan…
azetted” lands previously appropriated for the proposed Baram hydro-dam in the state of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo will now be returned to their indigenous owners, the Sarawak government has confirmed.…
ven the most celebrated conservation successes can seemingly be undone overnight. That was the hard lesson Takeshi Furuichi learned when conflict erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),…
When the final Great Bear Rainforest Agreement was announced earlier this month, it was not only a historic moment in forest conservation but also represented a significant shift in how…
The recent Paris climate agreement included REDD+, the UN’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation program, as a key tool for combating climate change. It is widely expected — or…
here the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park ends, crops and gardens begin — as do wildlife conflicts with local communities. Crop raiding mountain gorillas who venture beyond the confines of the…
n December 12, 2015 representatives from 196 nations approved the Paris Agreement to address the challenges of climate change. Proponents praised the agreement as a long-term pathway to curbing global…
Indigenous leaders from across Ecuador have been coming together in recent years, as oil exploration has ramped up in the Amazon region where many of them live. Last week, they united once…
anding forests over to the people who live in them will help keep sea levels from continuing to rise, and it’s a course of action that more than pays for…
See our feature article on Sierra del Divisor: ‘A critical gift': Peru rejoices as a new national park is born After more than a decade of discussion and planning, Peru…
Out over the corrugated roofs and laundry lines dotted about Kinangkung village, forest canopy begins to fade into the foothills of Sumatra’s most active volcano. Here around 30 kilometers west…
On July 7, 2015. Wilson Enqueri, the president of the Waorani indigenous Indian community of Bataboro, adjusted the tie he had learned to wear in order to appear as a…
CUNINICO, Peru--Villager examine oil slick near this Kukama Indian village in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Barbara Fraser. CUNINICO, Peru—When Peru's state-run oil company pulled out of this small…
The white sands of the Tapiche-Blanco region in Peru. Photo by: Nigel Pitman. Most people think of the Amazon rainforest as one massive, homogenous ecosystem—a giant castle of green. However,…
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.…
A silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) closing its eyes, ready to make its defensive pose. Photo by: Tristan Thompson. You wake up at 4:30 AM, a little before the first rays…
Aztec drawing showing smallpox victims after first contact with Europeans in the 16th Century. Estimates vary but many scholar believe disease wiped out around 95 percent of the pre-Columbian population…
Modern day signs of human activity in the Amazon rainforest. Courtesy of NASA. Click to enlarge. Researchers are planning to use drones equipped with vegetation-penetrating lasers to scan the Amazon…
