Founder's briefs News

Founder’s Briefs is an occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Rhett founded Mongabay in 1999 to raise awareness about tropical forests and biodiversity. In 2012, he transitioned Mongabay to a non-profit organization and oversaw its growth into a multinational, multilingual news service. Beyond Mongabay, Rhett has advised a range of institutions, while his writing and photography have appeared in hundreds of publications. Rhett's work has been recognized with the Heinz Award and the Parker/Gentry Award, among other honors.

Redwood forest in Big Basin, California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

On Mongabay’s legacy

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Jan 2026

Frozen tuna are transferred from the Hung Hwa 202, a Taiwanese longliner, to the Hsiang Hao, a Panama-flagged reefer operating out of Tokyo, Japan, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise and crew are investigating distant water fishing fleet practices in the Mid-Atlantic during September and October 2019. Photo credit: © Tommy Trenchard

The hidden cost of fisheries subsidies

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Mar 2026

Massaha forest. Image by ZB.

How a community defended its ancestral forest from logging

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Mar 2026

Duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) in Scottsdale, Tasmania, Australia. Photo by Charles J. Sharp of Sharp Photography (sharpphotography.co.uk)

Are government subsidies undermining conservation efforts in Australia?

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Mar 2026

Gimlett's reed snake (Calamaria lovii gimletti), rediscovered in Singapore in 2017 after an absence of 84 years. Photo credit: the Law Brothers

Can Singapore rewild its lost reptiles?

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Mar 2026

David Chivers. Courtesy of Selwyn College

David Chivers, student of the singing apes

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Mar 2026

Lagoon in Raja Ampat. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Precision conservation: the rise of place-specific strategies where protection works best

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Mar 2026

Pascale Moehrle. Courtesy of Oceana.

Pascale Moehrle pressed Europe to take its seas seriously

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Mar 2026

Paul Brainerd, President of Aldus, Creator of PageMaker, in 1986. Photo credit: DGHealy

Paul Brainerd turned computers into printing presses and fortune into conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Mar 2026

Royal flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus). Photo by Mileniusz Spanowicz / WCS.

Birds are changing — and Indigenous memory is the longest record we have

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Mar 2026

Yosemite Valley. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

America’s national parks face an uncertain future as climate risks mount

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Mar 2026

Justin Claude Rakotoarisoa, project leader and founding member of Association Mitsinjo. Image by Rivonala Razafison for Mongabay.

Justin Claude Rakotoarisoa, a guardian of Madagascar’s amphibians, has died, aged 45

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Mar 2026

Abu Dhabi port. Courtesy of the European Space Agency (ESA)

The power of cities over the seas

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Mar 2026

Story over a Fijian island. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Who actually uses environmental journalism — and why it matters

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Feb 2026

Rainbow over Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Letters to the future from journalism’s next generation

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Feb 2026

Redwoods in Thornewood Open Space Preserve in Woodside, California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Measuring what works in conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Feb 2026

Smoke from a fire in Far North Queensland, Australia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

After logging bans, Australia turns to “forest thinning”. Does it reduce fire risk?

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Feb 2026

Rain over the Amazon. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

The Amazon’s most valuable export isn’t timber — it’s rain

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Feb 2026

Atoll

Coral bleaching: How warming seas are transforming the world’s reefs

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Feb 2026

Satellite image of the eastern part of the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. Courtesy of Earthstar Geographics SIO / Microsoft maps

Scientists can’t agree on where the world’s forests are

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Feb 2026

Rainforest in Brunei in 2025. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Forests don’t just store carbon. They keep people alive, scientists say

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Feb 2026

Aerial view of mangroves, coral reef, palm trees, and forest in Raja Ampat. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

The business case for biodiversity

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Feb 2026

Why a healthy information ecosystem matters

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Feb 2026

Kathy Jefferson Bancroft

Kathy Jefferson Bancroft, guardian of a stolen lake

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Feb 2026

A fawn sprints across a road as the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, burns in Plumas National Forest, Calif., July 8, 2021. Photo credit: AP Photo/Noah Berger

What is lost when environmental coverage is cut

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Feb 2026

NOAA’s GOES East satellite captured long, parallel bands of clouds called horizontal convective rolls on Feb 1, 2026.

NOAA’s satellites capture extreme cold in striking detail

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Feb 2026

Coral reef, Tioman Island

Malaysia lost 20% of its coral reefs in three years

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Feb 2026

Dave Collins holds a Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta), a local turtle whose populations are doing just fine in the Eastern US. Photo by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay.

A last refuge for turtles on the brink

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Feb 2026

Rainforest in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler.

Getting forest restoration right

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Feb 2026

Fire in Humaitá, Amazonas state, Brazil in August 2022. Photo © Christian Braga / Greenpeace

When nature becomes a security risk

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Feb 2026

Division in April 2023/04/09. Photo credit: New England Aquarium

Division’s final journey

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Feb 2026

Journalist Christ Belseran with traditional leaders of the Upau Tribe who inhabit the South Seram region, Central Maluku Regency, Maluku. Photo courtesy of titastory.id

Christ Jacob Belseran wins the Oktovianus Pogau Award for courage in journalism

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Jan 2026

Redwood forest in Big Basin, California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

On Mongabay’s legacy

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Jan 2026

1 2 3 … 7 Next »

Latest Specials

Beyond the screen: DCEFF

A dairy cow in a farm in the Netherlands.

The Dutch Nitrogen Crisis

Mongabay Explains

Trekking through the Cardamom Tented Camp concession in Botum Sakor National Park Photo by Gerald Flynn

Carving up the Cardamoms

Can anyone save the Sumatran rhino?

Solar panels in an arid part of Sudan.

Negotiating Africa’s Energy Future

Letters to the Future

Natural forests, like this one in Indonesia, contain hundreds of native species that all contribute to the ecosystem services they provide. Protecting standing forests is quicker and cheaper than replanting lost ones. Many forests can regenerate on their own with a little assistance, but where tree planting is needed, it must aim to restore natural diversity and support local communities. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Tech for the Trees

Interested in other Mongabay websites?

Earth HQ

Data Studio

Conservation Effectiveness

Mongabay Latam

Reforestation App

Mongabay Indonesia

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Collage of a red-bellied toad and a bridge broken by flood

Fish on a beach in New Ireland province. Image ©Sebastian Velasquez.

you're currently offline