Tropical forests News

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The Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Apr 2026

Tropical forest loss falls in 2025, but world still off track on deforestation goals

Hans Nicholas Jong 29 Apr 2026
Nickel mining on Manuran Island. Image courtesy of Auriga Nusantara.

Deforestation is surging in Indonesia

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Apr 2026
An Atlantic Forest frog, Dendrophryniscus haddadi. Amphibians are susceptible to habitat split due to its negative impact on their life cycles, but the researchers note that such impacts (including microbiome changes) likely apply to numerous other species in wide-ranging ecosystems.

Linking habitats strengthens wildlife microbiomes, helps fight disease: Study

Sean Mowbray 23 Apr 2026
Tufted-tailed rat (Eliurus sp) in Madagascar. Photo by Elise Paietta

Why forest conservation is also public health

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Apr 2026

Vaupés River contamination identified near rapidly expanding Amazonian town

Aimee Gabay 21 Apr 2026
Joy as a baby. Image courtesy of Gibbon Conservation Society.

To tackle trafficking in gibbons, experts probe what drives demand

Ana Norman Bermúdez 20 Apr 2026
Ivonne Kienast at Dzanga Bai

Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 19 Apr 2026
Misty morning in Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

10 forces that could reshape the future of the world’s forests

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Apr 2026
Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon in 2011. Photo by Rhett Butler.

The Amazon’s silent crime crisis (commentary)

Carlos Nobre, Robert Muggah, Ilona Szabo 15 Apr 2026
A student goes to school wearing a mask in the haze that blankets the city of Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan in 2017.

Indonesia braces for possible ‘Godzilla El Niño’ as fire season escalates early

Hans Nicholas Jong 15 Apr 2026
Of the 500 timber species growing in Bangladesh, boilam is one of the tallest. Image by Mohammad Minhaj Uddin.

Conservation efforts help an endangered dipterocarp spread roots in Bangladesh

Sadiqur Rahman 14 Apr 2026
Emmanuel de Merode at an airstrip near Salonga National Park in DRC in March 2026. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Can nature outcompete war in Eastern Congo?

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 13 Apr 2026

Colombia’s main river redraws the map of little-known night monkeys

Manuel Fonseca 13 Apr 2026

Venezuela’s new mining law could spell disaster for the Amazon, critics warn

Maxwell Radwin 10 Apr 2026

Giant otters, river sentinels, now listed as threatened migratory species

Gustavo Faleiros 9 Apr 2026
Coffee and cocoa production around Virunga National Park are seen by some proponents of the Green Corridor as activities that can help reduce pressure on forest resources. In Salonga National Park, officials are already encouraging cocoa and coffee cultivation as alternative livelihoods for surrounding communities. Photo: Virunga National Park.

From Virunga to Kinshasa, the DRC embarks on a bold conservation gamble

David Akana 9 Apr 2026
Scarlet macaw in Costa Rica. Frugivores are important seed dispersers. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

How quickly do tropical forests recover? Faster than expected, but slower than it seems

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Apr 2026

Mennonites from Belize spark deforestation fears with new settlement plans in Suriname

Maxwell Radwin 8 Apr 2026
Emergent rainforest tree in the Amazon. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler for Mongabay.

Indigenous & community leaders say, ‘secure forest financing with us, not for us’ (commentary)

Inés Morales Lastra, José Ivanildo, Levi Sucre 7 Apr 2026
A forest elephant near Ngounié, Gabon. Image by marcusgmeiner via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

A Congo Basin-led bioeconomy could boost Central Africa’s green transition (analysis)

Metolo Foyet 6 Apr 2026
“For mothers and young elephants, Dzanga Bai becomes something of a playground and a very safe place,” says Yvonne Kienast, project manager and head researcher of the Dzanga Forest Elephant Project. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests

David Akana 6 Apr 2026
Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium), a tiny and endangered subspecies of white-tailed deer, walk along mangroves in Big Pine Key, Florida. Image courtes of AP Photo/Lynne Sladky.

Green and gray: Mangroves and dikes show potential in protecting shorelines together

Claudia Geib 2 Apr 2026

Working together, Indigenous peoples & researchers describe new Amazonian palm

Sofia Moutinho 1 Apr 2026
A lemur eating a strawberry guava. Image courtesy of Natalee Phelps.

An invasive guava is muscling out Madagascar’s forests — and lemurs are helping

Ryan Truscott 31 Mar 2026

Brazilian settlers turn to reforestation in ambitious land recovery plan

Sibélia Zanon 30 Mar 2026

Palm oil clearing advances in Bornean orangutan habitat despite red flags

Hans Nicholas Jong 26 Mar 2026

In Laos, ancestral spirits are helping save one of the world’s rarest crocodiles

Liz Kimbrough 25 Mar 2026
Tourists visit the Kusuma Bangsa Park in Nusantara. Image by Niken Sitoningrum/Mongabay Indonesia.

Indonesia court orders release of withheld impact studies on new capital

Niken D. Sitoningrum 19 Mar 2026

Facebook shuts Indonesia groups after Mongabay and Bellingcat report illegal wildlife trade

Achmad Rizki Muazam, Foeke Postma 19 Mar 2026

Indonesia plan to rezone elephant reserve for carbon trading and tourism sparks backlash

Hans Nicholas Jong 19 Mar 2026
Ariel toucans in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Image courtesy of Flávia Zagury.

Toucans reintroduced 50 years ago disperse seeds of endangered trees in Brazil

Shanna Hanbury 17 Mar 2026

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