Nature conservation Influencers News

Nature conservation influencers is a series of interviews conducted by Mongabay Founder and CEO, Rhett Ayers Butler, with leading conservation thinkers, funders, and practitioners.

Wendy Schmidt explores Agog’s website in webXR as Amy Seidenwurm, chief of programs and strategy for Agog, looks on. Credit: Ben Gibbs / Agog

Using immersive media to strengthen support for the environment: An interview with Wendy Schmidt

Rhett A. Butler 17 Jun 2024
Green rice paddies in Udomxai province, Laos. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Alan Dangour on reframing climate change as a health crisis

Matthew Boyer, Rhett A. Butler 24 Sep 2024
Wendy Schmidt explores Agog’s website in webXR as Amy Seidenwurm, chief of programs and strategy for Agog, looks on. Credit: Ben Gibbs / Agog

Using immersive media to strengthen support for the environment: An interview with Wendy Schmidt

Rhett A. Butler 17 Jun 2024
Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) in a dry forest in Madagascar. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Beyond the myths: Anthropologist Alison Richard on Madagascar’s environmental realities and future

Rhett A. Butler 3 Jan 2024
Monica Medina in the Democratic Republic of Congo traveling before she arrived at WCS. Photo credit: Justin Kenney

‘We must never assume that a healthy planet is automatic’ says WCS’s new CEO Monica Medina

Rhett A. Butler 25 Jul 2023
Dax Dasilva. Photo credit: Monique Weston

We need to show that planetary wins are possible, says Dax Dasilva

Rhett A. Butler 24 Apr 2023
Rainbow over rainforest in Sumatra. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Accelerating biodiversity-positive impact: A conversation with Silverstrand Capital’s Kelvin Chiu

Rhett A. Butler 10 Jan 2023
Scarlet macaws in flight over the Amazon rainforest in Peru. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay

‘Birds are messengers’: Q&A with BirdLife’s Patricia Zurita

Rhett A. Butler 10 Aug 2022
Guests awaken on the sky deck of the home Ken and Cynthia within the KampOng Campus for Ecoliteracy & Change. Image credit: Ken Wilson

Journeying in biocultural diversity and conservation philanthropy: Q&A with Ken Wilson

Rhett A. Butler 8 Feb 2022
Mark Plotkin with an Embera shaman in the Darien on the Colombia-Panama. Photo credit: Amazon Conservation Team

Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin: Indigenous knowledge serves as a ‘connective tissue’ between nature and human well-being

Rhett A. Butler 31 Jan 2022
Long-house at Sungai Utik, an Iban community in West Kalimantan that has successfully defended its customary forests against loggers. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler / mongabay

Climate efforts won’t succeed without secure community rights, says Nonette Royo

Rhett A. Butler 13 Dec 2021
A Rainforest Alliance / UTZ Program that provides training of tea farmers in climate smart agriculture methods, which are designed to help farmers adapt to and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Photo credit: Giuseppe Cipriani

‘Collaboration is key’ to address big environmental challenges, says Daniel Katz

Rhett A. Butler 8 Dec 2021
WCS President and CEO Dr. Cristián Samper observes forest elephants from an observation tower at the Dzanga Bai research site in the Central African Republic. Photo: Elizabeth Bennett/WCS.

Achieving a ‘nature positive future’: an interview with Cristián Samper

Rhett A. Butler 3 Nov 2021
Tense and Mulunesh, members of the women-led Nano Hena savings and credit cooperative, pick coffee beans during harvesting season in Illubabor Zone, Ethiopia. The cooperative is supported by Population, Health, and Environment Ethiopia Consortium and Ethio Wetlands and Natural Resources Association, partners working to improve biodiversity and increase resilience in communities in Southwestern Ethiopia. Photo credit: Maheder Haileselassie, Getty Images

Supporting more holistic approaches to conservation: an interview with Kai Carter

Rhett A. Butler 20 Oct 2021
El Cono in Sierra Del Divisor National Park, Peru. Photo credit: Diego Perez / CEDIA

Conservation will only scale when non-conservationists see its value, says James Deutsch

Rhett A. Butler 12 Oct 2021
Myrna Cunningham

For some Indigenous, COVID presents possibility of cultural extinction, says Myrna Cunningham

Rhett A. Butler 11 Oct 2021
Clouded leopard in India. Photo credit: Steve Winter/National Geographic

Small cats should be a conservation priority, says Panthera’s new board chair Jonathan Ayers

Rhett A. Butler 20 Sep 2021
Logging concession in Indonesia. Photo credit: Yudhi Mahendra / Mighty Earth

Fomenting a “Perfect Storm” to push companies to change: Q&A with Glenn Hurowitz

Rhett A. Butler 9 Sep 2021
In Hebei province, smoke billows from chimneys from the steel plants in 2014. Photo © Lu Guang / Greenpeace

There is no climate solution without China and America, says Li Shuo

Rhett A. Butler 2 Sep 2021
Ivindo River in Gabon. Photo credit: ZB

Building the Campaign for Nature: Q&A with Brian O’Donnell

Rhett A. Butler 31 Aug 2021
Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak

Conservation needs more women, says Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak

Rhett A. Butler 30 Aug 2021
Photo credit: Felipe Rodriguez

It’s time to scrutinize who’s in the room when conservation decisions are made, says Laly Lichtenfeld

Rhett A. Butler 25 Aug 2021
Hammerheads. Photo credit: Yves Lefèvre

Protecting Colombia’s shark paradise: Q&A with Sandra Bessudo

Rhett A. Butler 9 Aug 2021
Road in Indonesian Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

‘I never give up’: Q&A with Chinese environmental lawyer Jingjing Zhang

Rhett A. Butler 5 May 2021
Sphere panoramic photo of redwoods in California. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

The Nature Conservancy’s Jennifer Morris is an ‘impatient optimist’

Rhett A. Butler 27 Apr 2021
Sierra del Divisor. Photo credit: the Field Museum

We need more rewilding and connections to nature, says Enrique Ortiz

Rhett A. Butler 26 Apr 2021
California redwoods. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Nature is no longer “a nice to have,” it’s “a must-have”: Q&A with André Hoffmann

Rhett A. Butler 21 Apr 2021
Pair of zebra in Rwanda. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Momentum is building for a ‘robust’ biodiversity framework: Q&A with Elizabeth Mrema

Rhett A. Butler 20 Apr 2021

Recognizing the true guardians of the forest: Q&A with David Kaimowitz

Rhett A. Butler 14 Apr 2021
Layang Layang Atoll, Spratly Islands, South China Sea.

‘We’re at a tipping point with coal’: Q&A with Bloomberg’s Antha Williams

Rhett A. Butler 13 Apr 2021
Sophie, head of the pangolin working group of the CBCGDF, sampling a Chinese pangolin's oral and nasal secretions and skin surface tissues at the Jinhua Wildlife Rescue Center. After being cleared, the pangolin was released into the wild. CBCGDF was been working to protect pangolins since 2015. Photo credit: CBCGDF

Civil society’s push to advance conservation in China: Q&A with Jinfeng Zhou

Rhett A. Butler 7 Apr 2021

“Activism gives you hope”: Q&A with Wallace Global Fund’s Ellen Dorsey

Rhett A. Butler 6 Apr 2021
Eliza, a Haruku Kewang, is helping protect a local population of gosong birds. Photo credit: EcoNusa/Victor Fidelis

Helping Papuans protect Indonesia’s last frontier: Q&A with Bustar Maitar

Rhett A. Butler 5 Apr 2021

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