LAST UPDATE: 2020-Dec-4 Monthly deforestation according to INPE’s deforestation alert system, DETER, and Imazon’s SAD system. Imazon is a Brazilian NGO that tracks deforestation independently of the Brazilian government. Current…
CAO lasers easily penetrate forest canopies to reveal minute variations in ground elevation associated with soils. This images shows a ground elevation map in dense tropical forest of western Amazon.…
Cleared peat forest and a drainage canal in PT RAPP's concession on Pulau Padang, Riau. Courtesy of the Bruno Manser Fund. Environmentalists are asking tennis star Roger Federer to deliver…
Here at Mongabay we've developed a bit of a policy of not making a big deal for Earth Day. We believe that people should respect the planet on a daily…
World leaders are continuing to overlook the worsening condition of tropical forests despite the biome's vast potential to help mitigate climate change, support local livelihoods and ecosystem services, and stabilize…
Google Earth image showing GPS points where forest loss occurred within the past year in a West Kalimantan concession held by PT Bumi Mekar Hijau (BMH). The apparent loss of…
Global forest loss drops in 2013, but still tops 18M ha Forest loss in Malaysia and Indonesia, 2001-2013. Click to enlarge. Russia and Canada led the world in forest loss,…
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…
Click charts to enlarge Loss of tropical forests accelerated roughly 60 percent during the 2000s, argues a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The findings contradict previous research…
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…
Deforestation for soy in the Brazilian Amazon and cerrado. Data from Gibbs et al 2015, photo by Rhett A. Butler. Click image to enlarge. The moratorium on forest conversion established…
Tim Kovar on an Amazon sunset climb. Courtesy of Tim Kovar. The bulk of life in the rainforest is found the leafy layers of the canopy. But little was known…
Lone Brazil nut tree standing in an area recently cleared for soy in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Deforestation in the Brazil Amazon continues…
Deforestation in Riau. Photo by Rhett Butler Roughly half of Indonesia's natural forest loss occurs outside officially designated concession areas, concludes a new assessment that also finds higher deforestation rates…
What's in store for rainforests in the new year.
This is a compilation of responses to some of the most frequently asked questions as of January 8, 2015. ORIGIN OF MONGABAY Why did you start mongabay? Mongabay was born…
Paul Rosolie in an Amazon swamp at night. Photo by: Mohsin Kazmi. In 2014 Mongabay published more than 1,100 stories in English and over 450 posts in Spanish, French, Italian,…
2014 could be classified as "The Year of the Zero Deforestation Commitment". During 2014, nearly two dozen major companies, ranging from palm oil producers to fast food chains to toothpaste…
During the course of my reporting for Mongabay in 2014, I had the opportunity to travel to several countries and take some pictures in the field. Below are some of…
The most important environmental and wildlife stories from the last year Also see our Top 10 HAPPY Environmental Stories of 2014 1. The Year of Zero Deforestation Pledges: In 2014,…
Large-scale deforestation in the tropics could drive significant and widespread shifts in rainfall distribution and temperatures, potentially affecting agriculture both locally and far from where forest loss is occurring, concludes…
Short of buying back logging concessions, switching from conventional logging approaches to reduced impact logging techniques across existing forestry concessions may be the best way boost biodiversity in areas earmarked…
Last month Sabah set aside an additional 203,000 hectares of protected forest reserves, boosting the Malaysian state's extent of protected areas to 21 percent of its land mass. But instead…
Last month Sabah set aside an additional 203,000 hectares of protected forest reserves, boosting the Malaysian state's extent of protected areas to 21 percent of its land mass. But instead…
Mark Plotkin speaking at TED Global in October in Brazil. If you have ever wondered about the connection between giant hallucinogenic frogs, uncontacted peoples, conservation, and climate change — and…
Lone Brazil nut tree standing in an area recently cleared for soy in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, in 2009. Photos by Rhett A. Butler The Brazilian soy industry…
su Dr. Jane Goodall with Freud, a chimpanzee from Gombe. Photograph © Michael Neugebauer Jane Goodall is not only arguably the most famous conservationist who ever lived, but also the…
Courtesy of Junior Explorers Kids are spending more time using tablets and smart phones for learning and entertainment. But hours spent gaming, Tweeting, and playing on Instagram and Facebook, may…
Entire families of elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory. The global appetite to own trinkets carved from elephant tusks has dealt a crushing blow to these plant-eating pachyderms that…
Note: this is the first draft of a commentary I submitted to Yale Environment 360 last month. A final first-person version is available at A Conservationist Sees Signs of Hope…
