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Volunteers harvest tea leaves in Shenkeng district, Taiwan. During the harvest season, groups of women from the Shenkeng community will move from plantation to plantation, working in a centuries-old spirit of mutual assistance across farms. Experts contend that teas picked by hand are much less likely to be damaged and produce a finer product. Image by Michael O. Snyder for Mongabay.

Photos: Taiwan’s tea revival blends ancient terraces with new climate adaptations

Michael O. Snyder 13 Oct 2026
A resident is extinguishing a fire at Talang Turunan Gajah using simple tools. Photo: Muhammad Akbar/Mongabay Indonesia.

As fires spread, Indonesia’s rubber growers draw on traditional ways to fight back

Taufik Wijaya 2 Oct 2026
Stéphanie Moussounda, known as Maman Djédjé, a Gabonese traditional practitioner and initiatory mother, president of the Fédération nationale des traditionalistes gabonais (FENATRAG) and second vice-president of COARITRAG, at her temple in Gabon. Image by Molly Helfend for Mongabay.

Gabon, home to the medicinal plant behind ibogaine, wants a fairer share of its global boom

Molly Helfend 1 Oct 2026
A bluespotted ribbontail ray (Taeniura lymma) on a reef bed by Pulau Hantu

Singapore’s plan to merge several islands could wipe out coral reefs

Robin Hicks 28 Sep 2026
Bajau/PELITA member Well uses the Pocong, an octopus shaped fishing lure, to try and tempt an octopus out of the reef.

How freediving helps Indonesia’s Bajau preserve traditions and conserve marine life

Maddy Bolt 21 Sep 2026
Members of the Arhuaco community observe a fire that threatens their homes, Donachuì, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta 2025. The transition between the dry and rainy seasons has become increasingly unstable, resulting in strong winds that can cause small fires, typically set to manage weeds, to spiral out of control. Image by Roberto Maccariello.

Colombia’s Indigenous guardians adapt as pressures mount on the ‘Heart of the World’

Roberto Maccariello 9 Sep 2026
For the Iraya, the forest is a largely unwritten living archive.

The race to document Indigenous knowledge to protect Philippines’ birds

Mongabay.com 2 Sep 2026

China’s Tianmu Mountain reserve tackles modern conservation amid religious tradition

Mongabay.com 27 Aug 2026

At global desertification conference, pastoralists call for greater recognition

Joseph Lee 25 Aug 2026
A red siskin (Spinus cucullatus)

How a rare bird sparked a wildlife movement across 16 villages in Guyana

Gentry Hale 24 Aug 2026
The siruk, or Mindoro boobook (Ninox mindorensis), in Puerto Galera.

Elders, conservationists race to record fading sacred ties to Philippines’ endemic birds

Keith Anthony Fabro 18 Aug 2026
Lizulu Market in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe

Indigenous food sovereignty is one of the most overlooked conservation strategies (commentary)

Gemma Sethsmith, Brijlal Chaudhari 18 Aug 2026
Fishers haul a seine net onto the shore of Gampong Jawa.

Aceh’s community fishers struggle to preserve tradition amid blooms of plastic pollution

Nurul Hasanah 17 Aug 2026
Cerros de Mavicure at sunset. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Among the sacred hills of Colombia’s Guainía

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Aug 2026

Land rights and mangroves entwine in a Brazilian quilombo’s resistance

Carolina de Marchi 13 Aug 2026
Hemerson Dantas dos Santos Pataxó HaHaHãi and elders recorded their people’s medicinal knowledge in Brazil. From left to right: Marta Xavier de Oliveira, Maura Rosa Titiah Vieira, Hemerson Dantas dos Santos Pataxó HaHaHãi, Aniraldo Xavier Kariri-Sapuyá and Maria Creuza Fernandes Rodrigues Kariri-Sapuyá. Photos by Karla Mendes. Graphic design by Marilia Ferrari.

How a Brazilian Indigenous ethnobotanist & elders recorded their people’s medicinal knowledge

Karla Mendes 13 Aug 2026
A herd of deer on Tianmu mountain in the winter.

Decades after religions shaped China’s Tianmushan, authorities tackle protecting reserve

Keith Anthony Fabro, Latoya Abulu 12 Aug 2026
Whale slaughtering in Hvalfjörður, Iceland, July 2009. Image by Dagur Brynjólfsson via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Iceland to deport antiwhaling protest ship’s crew after they interfered with whale hunt

Alex Megerle 11 Aug 2026
Herd of Finnish forest reindeer in Finland. Image by Sámediggi Saamelaiskäräjät (Sámi parliament) via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Sacred places & living lands: How Indigenous Sámi peoples steward biodiversity (analysis)

Emil Siekkinen 7 Aug 2026
Volunteers carry bags of straw at a tree planting event in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan on June 7, 2026.

In coastal Japan, one project is planting forests to stand against tsunamis

Jonathan Vit 4 Aug 2026
Fire in the Chiquitania forest in the south of Bolivia, September 2024. Image © Juan Karita/AP photo.

Third year of wildfires threaten isolated Indigenous group in Bolivia

Shanna Hanbury 22 Jul 2026
A split-view image of an underwater seascape and coastline of Mussau Island, within the Manus Marine Protected Area, Papua New Guinea.

Melanesian nations announce intention to create massive ocean reserve corridor

Ashley Yeong 17 Jul 2026

In India’s Western Ghats, sacred groves are better at growing future forests

Liz Kimbrough 15 Jul 2026
Yellow-billed kites are found across Africa and play an important role in keeping ecosystems healthy as one of the most common scavengers.

Belief-based use increasing threat to yellow-billed kite, an important African scavenger

Sean Mowbray 7 Jul 2026

New Indonesia roadmap aims to protect Indigenous knowledge for biodiversity

Hans Nicholas Jong 2 Jul 2026

Global pressure on ayahuasca threatens Amazonian plants and knowledge systems

Carlos Minuano 23 Jun 2026
Ruos Lim, 71, a Kuy Indigenous community leader, harvests corn he planted at the L4 station in Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary

Indigenous people in Cambodia claim they’re blocked from sacred sites

Andy Ball, Phoung Vantha, Roun Ry 23 Jun 2026
River near Penalosa in Colombia's Choco region. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

What’s at stake for the environment in Colombia’s upcoming election?

Aimee Gabay 19 Jun 2026
Buddhist monks who participated in the Peace Walk arrive to attend a ceremony marking World Environment Day in Chiang Rai, Thailand, on 5 June 2026. Photo by Ta Mwe.

Northern Thai residents march for action on polluted rivers. ‘This is an emergency’

Gerald Flynn 8 Jun 2026
Harvesters carry baskets full of grapes at Trinity Canyon Vineyards.

How grape farmers are restoring Armenia’s wine heritage while safeguarding ecosystems

Kushane Chobanyan 12 May 2026
Jerry Jangala running a question-and-answer session out on country for participants in the workshop. Image by Anthony Ham.

Using songlines, elders codify traditional knowledge to care for Country

Anthony Ham 7 May 2026
A woman prepares food in her kitchen in a village in Dang.

In Nepal’s plains, traditional bins help keep food safe from heat, floods

Tanka Dhakal 4 May 2026

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