An illegal timber trade supply chain stretching from Chinese companies operating out of two countries in West Africa to major hardware stores located throughout the U.S. has been uncovered. A…
JACKSONVILLE, Liberia — When rebels tore through the ancient forests of Sinoe county during the civil wars that ravaged Liberia between 1989 and 2003, villagers often fled to the only road…
KANYANG, Nigeria — Former bushmeat hunter Jacob Osang says poverty and lack of options drove him to the trade. “There were no jobs, no opportunity anywhere,” Osang says. In 1985,…
This week, Norway released the 2018 investment holdings of its massive government pension fund. Notably absent were four plantation companies previously listed in the portfolio: Olam International, Halcyon Agri Corp,…
BUTATONG, Nigeria — Until mid-2017, smallholder farmer Anthony Okwo was suspicious of the conservationists who visited his village of Butatong in southeastern Nigeria’s Cross River state. The village, where most…
African leaders came together on Nov. 13 to back the restoration of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of degraded ecosystems ahead of the start of the U.N. Biodiversity Conference.…
Gabon's President Ali Bongo announced on September 26, during a visit to a Rougier wood processing plant, that all forest concessions in Gabon will have to be certified with the…
At first glance, the slender-snouted crocodiles living in Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa look very similar to the ones in the Gambia River in West Africa. But as it turns…
This is the third story in Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Kawawana ICCA, read the others here: Senegal: After reviving fish and forests, Jola villages tackle new threats and here: Watching…
Last month, S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s leading financial market index providers, released its annual listing of sustainable companies. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) considers its…
This is the second story in Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Kawawana ICCA. Read the others: Senegal: After reviving fish and forests, Jola villages tackle new threats Women’s work in…
This is the main story in Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Kawawana ICCA. Read the others: Watching the wildlife return: Q&A with a rural Senegalese river monitor Women’s work in…
In early 2018, the Africa branch of Rougier announced its bankruptcy. Founded in 1923, Rougier is one of the oldest and largest timber companies in Africa, present in five Congo…
An Indonesian-owned plantation company operating in Liberia has come under renewed scrutiny for allegedly clearing hundreds of hectares of protected forestland, including chimpanzee habitat, wetlands and river buffer zones. Between…
According to a recent report, mining companies currently have claims on 11 percent of all intact rainforests left in the world, meaning 590,000 square kilometers (227,800 square miles) of pristine…
Hunting for meat consumption and the bushmeat trade is threatening several species of hornbills in Ghana, in some cases leading to their complete disappearance, according to a recent study. Ecologist…
The surge in armed conflicts across the Sahara Desert and the band of dry savanna to its south called the Sahel is devastating the region’s wildlife, according to recent findings…
Anti-trafficking authorities have seized 513 kilograms (1,131 pounds) of pangolin scales at Cotonou airport in the West African country of Benin, the Beninese newspaper La Nouvelle Tribune reports. The paper reported…
Both the RSPO and GVL have responded to this commentary. Click here to jump to GVL's response. Click here to jump to the RSPO's response. Below these is a response…
Sefwi Wiawso doesn’t feature in Ghana’s tourist guides. Its main town, Wiawso, is little more than a single road — albeit one bursting with vitality and color, with hawkers selling…
The fate of the northern white rhinoceros now hangs by an extremely thin thread. Forty-five-year-old Sudan, believed to be the world's last surviving male northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni),…
A British government office has prosecuted a wood importer certified by the Forest Stewardship Council after it was found to have failed to ensure the legality of a shipment of…
An African monkey first described to science more than 150 years ago has now been elevated to full species status. The Blue Nile patas monkey is found in the Blue…
The government of Chad has enlisted the aid of a conservation NGO to run a massive national park in the country’s northeast that is home to signs of human habitation…
Benin’s Pendjari National Park, one of West Africa’s largest remaining strongholds for the elephant and the critically endangered West African lion, has now received a major funding boost. Four groups…
Officials in Ivory Coast have announced the seizure of over half a ton each of elephant tusks and pangolin scales following a crackdown on a transnational trafficking network. Authorities also…
While surveying the rainforests of eastern Ghana’s Atewa mountain range, scientists stumbled upon a surprise as they were checking footage from their camera traps: monkeys with long tails and distinctive,…
The government of Nigeria has announced its plans to restore four million hectares, or nearly 10 million acres, of degraded lands within its borders. The West African nation is now…
At COP23, the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany that wrapped up last week, top cocoa-producing countries in West Africa announced new commitments to end the massive deforestation for cocoa…
Camera traps have proven to be a powerful tool in conservationists’ arsenal for monitoring forests and wildlife. But the mountains of data they capture need to be sifted through in…
