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.

Jane with Uruhara pant-hooting, 1996. Photo by Michael Neugebauer

Jane Goodall (1934–2025): primatologist, conservationist, and messenger of hope

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Oct 2025

Puerto Caimán Island in the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve’s conservation area.

Indigenous communities protect Colombia’s uncontacted peoples

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Nov 2025

Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang

One man’s mission to rewild a dying lake

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Nov 2025

Corals and fish in Lighthouse Reef atoll, Belize.

Belize’s blue reputation vs. reef reality: Marine conservation wins, and what’s missing (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Oct 2025

Hagar Kudzordi Widow of Samuel Abayateye, looks at photos of her deceased husband, hoping to get answers. Image by Gideon Anku

A fisheries observer disappeared at sea. His family still waits for answers

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Oct 2025

A Bornean orangutan. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Why facts alone won’t save the planet

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Oct 2025

Visitors to a safari park in Gazipur enjoy a ride on an elephant.

Bangladesh to reintroduce captive elephants to the wild

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Oct 2025

A beaver explores its new home at Tásmam Koyóm in 2023.

California learns from its beaver reintroductions

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Oct 2025

A representation of a bisected nautilus.

Supporting journalism: The catalytic role of independently verified information (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Oct 2025

Christmas Island shrew

In memory of the Christmas Island shrew

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Oct 2025

Cultivated poke bowl produced by Ivy Farm. Photo courtesy of Ivy Farm

Reimagining meat: The Good Food Institute’s bid to redesign the global food system

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Oct 2025

Clearing of peat forest in Indonesia's Riau Province. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Forest Declaration Assessment reveals a forest paradox

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Oct 2025

Consumed book cover

Plastic’s triumph was no accident. It built an economy addicted to throwaway living

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Oct 2025

Starling Murmuration. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

Trust-based philanthropy: Lessons from MacKenzie Scott and Laurene Powell Jobs (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Oct 2025

Willie Shubert in Madagascar with lemurs at a rehabilitation center. Note: visitors are not permitted to touch lemurs, but lemurs do as they please. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Measuring success in trees, not clicks

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Oct 2025

Mamai Lucille William. Photo courtesy of the North Pakaraimas District Council

Mamai Lucille Williams, a quiet symbol of dignity amid destruction, has died, aged about 93

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Oct 2025

Aloyce Mwakisoma. Photo by Andrea Bianchi

Aloyce Mwakisoma, keeper of forest knowledge in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains, has died at 45

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Oct 2025

Coralscape in Komodo, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Protecting Earth’s oldest data system: the case for biodiversity

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Oct 2025

Blue dart frog (Dendrobates azureus).

The bias in saving nature: How conservation funding favors the familiar

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Oct 2025

Redwoods in California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Supporting frontline leadership in a time of crisis (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Oct 2025

Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute

How to carry Jane Goodall’s light forward

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Oct 2025

Jane with Uruhara pant-hooting, 1996. Photo by Michael Neugebauer

Jane Goodall (1934–2025): primatologist, conservationist, and messenger of hope

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Oct 2025

Jane Goodall in 2024. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute.

Jane Goodall, primatologist who taught the world to hope, has died at 91

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Oct 2025

DJ Edwin Carrasco, known in the artistic world as Tayta Bird, recording sounds of a rainforest.

DJs inspired by nature

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Oct 2025

Redwood forest in California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Conservation in a hotter world

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Sep 2025

Hema Sane. Image courtesy of Vision Publications

Hema Sane, botanist who lived without electricity, died on September 19th

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Sep 2025

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

A dancing lemur could help save one of Madagascar’s most endangered ecosystems

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Sep 2025

Sumatran rhino at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

The rhinoceros, under siege but not lost

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Sep 2025

Sumatran rhino. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

Navigating conservation’s crisis (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Sep 2025

A hunter in Colombia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

146 environmental defenders were killed or disappeared last year

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Sep 2025

Robert Redford at Sundance Ranch, 1975. Courtesy of Robert Redford. Via Orion Magazine.

Robert Redford, filmmaker who fought for nature, has died, aged 89

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Sep 2025

Waterfall in the Upper Amazon. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

How journalism helps turn information into outcomes

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Sep 2025

Finding optimism

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Sep 2025

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The last photo taken between Rhett Butler and Jane Goodall--who shared a friendship for nearly 15 years--at the Forbes Sustainability Leadership Summit. Photo by Sofia Negron.

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