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Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Amazon deforestation on pace to be the lowest on record, says Brazil

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Feb 2026
Satellite image of the eastern part of the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. Courtesy of Earthstar Geographics SIO / Microsoft maps

Scientists can’t agree on where the world’s forests are

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Feb 2026
California redwood forest in December 2025. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

15 forces that could reshape conservation in the next 10 years

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 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
Misty morning in Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Rethinking how we talk about conservation—and why it matters

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Dec 2025
Gorongosa National Park team member presenting how they visualize wildlife, personnel, and other activity across the landscape on EarthRanger. Photo Credit: Gorongosa National Park.

Tech alone won’t stop poaching, but it’s changing how rangers work

Daniella Garcia Almeida 19 Dec 2025
Annual deforestation in the Legal Amazon (Amazonia) from 1988-2025, according to a preliminary estimate from Brazil's national space research institute, INPE.

Heading into COP, Brazil’s Amazon deforestation rate is falling. What about fires?

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Oct 2025
Willie Shubert in Madagascar with lemurs at a rehabilitation center. Note: visitors are not permitted to touch lemurs, but lemurs do as they please. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Building a global newsroom for a planet in crisis: A conversation with Willie Shubert

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Oct 2025
Satellite image of Lake Chad. Image courtesy of Maxar.

Ani Dasgupta watched wetlands tame floods in Kigali. He believes nature is infrastructure we can fund.

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Sep 2025
Wooded landscape in Kõrvemaa Nature Park, Estonia. Image courtesy of Ireen Trummer via Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0.

With Europe’s forests, we can’t manage what we can’t measure (commentary)

Sten B. Nilsson 20 Mar 2025
Greenpeace Brazil conducted an aerial survey in southern Amazonas and northern Rondônia to monitor deforestation and fires in July 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace.

Drop in Amazon deforestation confirmed, but degradation soars 497% in 2024

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Jan 2025
YEAR IN RAINFORESTS BANNER

The year in tropical rainforests: 2024

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Dec 2024

Amazon deforestation in Brazil plunges 31% to lowest level in 9 years

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Nov 2024
Glaciers play an important role in the balance of water cycles and ecosystems. Although receding glaciers can degrade these systems, they also serve as an indicator of climate change. We can use Earth-observation satellite imagery to monitor and track glaciers from space. This Landsat 8 image shows glaciers surrounding Lake Sofron, Alaska. Blue areas indicate glacial extent; red areas indicate extensive moraine from glacier debris.

50 years of geographic insight: In interview with Jack Dangermond on Esri’s journey and the future of GIS

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Oct 2024
Greenpeace Brazil conducted an aerial survey in southern Amazonas and northern Rondônia to monitor deforestation and fires in July 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace.

Deforestation remains low, but fires surge in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest

Mongabay.com 12 Oct 2024
Reserva Narupa in Ecuador. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Streak of falling deforestation snapped at 15 months in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest

Mongabay.com 9 Aug 2024
River in the Amazon rainforest. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Deforestation in Earth’s largest rainforest continues to plummet despite a rise in fires

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jun 2024
Recent deforestation for oil palm in the Amazon rainforest

Governments are ramping up actions to fight environmental crime across the Amazon, but is it working? (commentary)

Robert Muggah 27 May 2024
Rainbow over the Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Despite drought, Amazon deforestation alerts hit five-year low

Mongabay.com 10 May 2024
AI generated image of a satellite over South America

New technologies to map environmental crime in the Amazon Basin (commentary)

Robert Muggah and Peter Smith 12 Apr 2024
Planet satellite image of the Macucuaú River, Roraima in February 2023 (left) and February 2024 (right). Courtesy of Planet.

Fires surge in the Amazon, but deforestation continues to fall

Mongabay.com 17 Mar 2024
Rainforest in Sulawesi. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

2024 outlook for rainforests

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Jan 2024
Planet satellite images of the confluence of the Rio Negro and Rio Jufari near the border of the states of Amazonas and Roraima in Brazil taken in October 2023, revealing sandbars and exposed riverbed during the severe drought that affected large parts of the Amazon rainforest. Photo courtesy of Planet Labs.

The year in rainforests: 2023

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Dec 2023

Deforestation falls for 8th straight month in the Amazon rainforest, but rises in the cerrado

Mongabay.com 8 Dec 2023
Planet satellite image of the Anavilhanas Archipelago in the Rio Negro in Brazil in October 2023 during a severe drought. Courtesy of Planet.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon falls 22% in 2023

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Nov 2023
A biodiversity index created by Bioverse using machine learning to detect species and then spatially categorize them. Image courtesy of Bioverse.

Can digital twins help save the Amazon? (commentary)

Carlo Ratti, Robert Muggah 2 Nov 2023
Andean cock of the rock bird in Manu. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Sound recordings and AI tell us if forests are recovering, new study from Ecuador shows

Liz Kimbrough 23 Oct 2023
The platforms can carry environmental sensors and could be useful tools to disperse sensors in far-flung areas.

Origami-inspired sensor platforms tumble like leaves to study forests

Abhishyant Kidangoor 17 Oct 2023
This Planet satellite image shows how extreme drought in the Amazon has reduced the Rio Negro to a trickle. Image Ⓒ 2023 Planet Labs PBC

Despite severe drought, Amazon deforestation continues to slow

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Oct 2023
Asian elephant

Protected areas a boon for vertebrate diversity in wider landscape, study shows

Carolyn Cowan 15 Sep 2023
Rainbow over the Amazon rainforest

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest continues to plunge

Mongabay.com 8 Sep 2023
A rancher herds cattle in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

How the Amazon’s ‘greatest devastator’ sold cattle to a Carrefour supplier 

Marina Rossi, Daniel Camargos, Hyury Potter 29 Aug 2023

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