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.

As he stepped carefully along the seafloor in the warm shallows of French Polynesia, I could hardly tell where the boy ended and the sea began. The pink whiptail ray swooped playfully around him and for a moment I could see clearly the path to coexistence between humanity and all the denizens of the sea.

How conservation photographer Cristina Mittermeier uses visual storytelling to inspire action

Rhett A. Butler 9 Dec 2024

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

Photo credit: Sacred Earth Solar

Melina Laboucan-Massimo: Catalyzing an Indigenous-led just energy transition

Rhett A. Butler 22 Mar 2021

Rewilding public lands in Patagonia and beyond: Q&A with Kris Tompkins

Rhett A. Butler 9 Mar 2021

Bernadette Demientieff at a protest.

“Our identity is non negotiable” says Gwich’in leader Bernadette Demientieff

Rhett A. Butler 8 Mar 2021

The border region between Bears Ears and Navajo Nation. Photo credit: NASA Landsat

Conservation would be more effective with more Indigenous leadership, says Patrick Gonzales-Rogers

Rhett A. Butler 4 Mar 2021

Satellite image of Reserve de chasse de la Lefini in Republic of Congo. Photo credit: NASA Landsat

‘There are no silver bullets’ in conservation: Synchronicity Earth’s Jessica Sweidan

Rhett A. Butler 2 Mar 2021

Young girl in the Kayapó-Mẽbêngôkre village of Aukre in the Brazilian Amazon. Photo credit: Cristina Mittermeier

“Securing Indigenous guardianship of vital ecosystems”: Q&A with Nia Tero CEO Peter Seligmann

Rhett A. Butler 23 Feb 2021

Satellite image of Mount Aspiring National Park, New Zealand in February 2021. Photo credit: Maxar Technologies and Planet.

‘Everything on this planet is connected’: Q&A with WWF’s Marco Lambertini

Rhett A. Butler 22 Feb 2021

Backing the stewards of biocultural diversity: Q&A with Indigenous rights leader Carla Fredericks

Rhett A. Butler 19 Feb 2021

Greenpeace volunteers create a burnt smoldering rainforest with a lifelike animatronic orangutan at the headquarters of Oreo cookies near Uxbridge, UK as part of a campaign to pressure Wilmar, which is a palm oil supplier to Mondelez, which makes Oreo cookies. Photo © Chris J Ratcliffe / Greenpeace

‘A better world is within reach’: Q&A with Greenpeace’s Jennifer Morgan

Rhett A. Butler 16 Feb 2021

White pelicans, Pelecanus onocrotalus, Danube Delta rewilding area, Romania. Photo by Staffan Widstrand / Rewilding Europe.

With shared knowledge, ‘we could build a new world’: Q&A with Lisbet Rausing

Rhett A. Butler 8 Feb 2021

Elephants in Namibia. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler.

Investing in African wildlife: An interview with David Bonderman

Rhett A. Butler 7 Jan 2021

Gentoo penguins watching an iceberg. Image credit: Mongabay

We’re approaching critical climate tipping points: Q&A with Tim Lenton

Rhett A. Butler 6 Jan 2021

How to transform systems: Q&A with WRI’s Andrew Steer

Rhett A. Butler 5 Jan 2021

Pine forest in the Sierra Nevada. Photo by Rhett A. Butler / mongabay

Bold sustainability commitments: An interview with Microsoft’s Lucas Joppa

Rhett A. Butler 18 Dec 2020

A canoe on the Maroni river, which forms the border between French Guiana and Suriname. Photo © Didier Gentilhomme.

France’s tropical forest conservation efforts: an interview with AFD’s Gilles Kleitz

Rhett A. Butler 16 Dec 2020

Redwood forest in California. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

‘Nature is next’: Q&A with Finance for Biodiversity’s Simon Zadek

Rhett A. Butler 27 Nov 2020

School of hammerhead sharks, northwest Galápagos. Photo by Greg Asner / DivePhoto.org

Could China become a partner in Galapagos marine conservation? Yolanda Kakabadse thinks so

Rhett A. Butler 16 Nov 2020

Map of Biodiversity. Esri, NatureServe

Esri co-founder Jack Dangermond: ‘People and planet are inextricably linked’

Rhett A. Butler 30 Oct 2020

The ROV SuBastain with careful guidance by its pilots uses the manipulator arm to collect a geological sample at 500m on Flinders Reef. Photo credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute

Philanthropist Wendy Schmidt: ‘Solutions are always local’

Rhett A. Butler 29 Oct 2020

Frigatebird displaying in the Galapagos. The Wyss Campaign for Nature partnered with the Charles Darwin Foundation to strengthen the management of the 138,872 square kilometer Galapagos Marine Reserve. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Despite COVID, political divides, conservation can advance: Hansjörg Wyss

Rhett A. Butler 26 Oct 2020

Jacob Hamblin Arch, Escalante, Utah. Photo by Tina Butler.

Public lands and parks are our common heritage: Bruce Babbitt

Rhett A. Butler 22 Oct 2020

Satellite image of a portion of Everglades National Park in Florida. Courtesy of Zoom.Earth

Data drives Bloomberg’s support for climate solutions, says Antha N. Williams

Rhett A. Butler 20 Oct 2020

Waves breaking on a beach in California. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Putting sustainability at the center of business strategy: An interview with Paul Polman

Rhett A. Butler 19 Oct 2020

The post-COVID opportunity for the environment: An interview with the GEF’s Carlos Manuel Rodriguez

Rhett A. Butler 12 Oct 2020

Lightning over the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Manument. Photo by Adam Haggerty / BLM

Can public lands unify divided Americans? An interview with John Leshy

Rhett A. Butler 14 Sep 2020

Transforming African conservation from old social cause into next-gen growth market

Rhett A. Butler 3 Sep 2019

Jane Goodall. Photo credit: Jane Goodall Institute.

Jane Goodall on Leonardo DiCaprio, her 85th birthday, and the need for hope

Rhett A. Butler 21 Apr 2019

One man’s quest to save the world’s wildest places: Hansjörg Wyss

Rhett A. Butler 18 Oct 2017

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