The guiding star at Mongabay isn’t pageviews or clicks; it’s meaningful impact. As 2025 draws to a close, we look back at some of the ways Mongabay’s journalism made a difference this year.
Empowering Indigenous and local communities
- A Mongabay Latam investigation found 67 illegal airstrips were cut into the Peruvian Amazon to transport drugs, resulting in deforestation and a surge in violence against local Indigenous groups. The report was republished by national news outlets, bringing broader attention to the threats against an often marginalized group.
- National media also picked up a Mongabay story about an Indigenous community protecting a biodiversity corridor in Colombia and a report about an Indigenous group in Mexico protecting mangroves from an ammonia facility.
From newsroom to classroom
- Mongabay Kids was named a media partner by the U.S.-based nonprofit Lemur Conservation Network “to create and share content about lemurs and Madagascar” every October during the World Lemur Festival.
- A French article about a great ape census in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now being used as educational material for conservation stakeholders.
Serving as evidence
- An analysis, made at the request of Mongabay, found two carbon credit projects in the Brazilian Amazon are linked to illegal timber laundering. The Brazilian federal police have since indicted the people identified in Mongabay’s reporting.
- Following an investigation into the Brazilian government’s practice of purchasing shark meat for public institutions including schools and hospitals, members of Brazil’s Congress said they would call for a parliamentary hearing and Brazil’s National Environmental Council recommended a government ban on shark fin exports. The report was also cited as part of a class-action civil suit to ban federal public institutions from issuing tenders to purchase shark meat.
- Brazilian authorities used Mongabay’s award-winning coverage of illegal cattle ranching in the Brazilian Amazon to launch an operation to remove invaders from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory. The reporting will also be used in a court case against loggers accused of killing a local Indigenous leader.
- A recent Mongabay investigation in collaboration with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) found a rise in tourist shops in Laos illegally selling wildlife products including rhino horn, elephant ivory and pangolin scales. Since the report, WWF notified GI-TOC it had begun warning visitors about the consequences of purchasing illegal wildlife products.
Community engagement
Of the more than 870 impacts that Mongabay logged in 2025, many spurred community engagement and support.
- For example, Mongabay’s podcast interviews with authors of environment books inspired some people to start community book clubs.
- Another story resulted in additional funding for marine protected areas in Ghana.
These positive outcomes are what motivate our journalism. As Mongabay CEO and founder Rhett Butler puts it, “When credible information circulates freely, it holds powerful interests accountable, equips decision-makers with evidence, and gives frontline communities the tools to defend their rights and ecosystems.”
Banner image of a rainbow over a forest in Sabah, Malaysia, by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
Credits
Shreya Dasgupta Editor
