topic: Environmental Heroes

topic: Environmental Heroes

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Owl conservationist Raju Acharya wins Whitley Award in hat trick for Nepal
- Raju Acharya, a Nepali conservationist, won the Whitley Award for his owl conservation efforts, marking the third consecutive win for Nepal.
- Acharya’s work focuses on challenging stereotypes and advocating for owl conservation in Nepal, despite facing societal stigmas and challenges.
- He plans to use the prize money of 50,000 pounds ($62,600) to enhance conservation initiatives in central Nepal, targeting law enforcement training and community engagement.

Indigenous leader Danilo Villafañe dies at 49 in trying to save drowning women in Colombia
- Danilo Villafañe, an Arhuaco Indigenous leader renowned for his efforts to protect the “Heart of the World” in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada, died on Christmas Day while trying to rescue two women who were drowning. He was 49.
- According to reports, Villafañe drowned while attempting to aid two young women who were caught in rough seas near the mouth of the Palomino River.
- Villafañe, who served as the governor of the Arhuaco, originally gained prominence for his work to protect the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta from deforestation and colonization.

Shrinking civil space and persistent logging: 2023 in review in Southeast Asia
- Home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest and some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Southeast Asia has seen conservation wins and losses over the course of 2023.
- The year was characterized by a rising trend of repression against environmental and Indigenous defenders that cast a shadow of fear over the work of activists in many parts of the region.
- Logging pressure in remaining tracts of forest remained intense, and an El Niño climate pattern brought regional haze crises generated by forest fires and agricultural burning returned.
- But some progress was made on several fronts: Most notably, increasing understanding of the benefits and methods of ecosystem restoration underpinned local, national and regional efforts to bring back forests, mangroves and other crucial sanctuaries of biodiversity.

Conservationists in Nepal say government must step up in coming years
- In 2023, scientists, conservationists and activists in Nepal shared with Mongabay the successes, setbacks and challenges they face working with species ranging from the red panda to the fishing cat.
- Though a diverse group, most highlighted a common theme: urging the government to institutionalize and sustain hard-won conservation gains and emphasizing the need for the benefits of biodiversity to reach local communities for long-lasting impact.
- They spoke of the importance of ramping up community-based conservation efforts, especially in community forests and areas outside protected zones, and raising awareness that conservation isn’t solely about tourism income but also about preserving the environment for future generations.
- Funding for less-prominent species remains an issue, they said, as does the need to balance conservation needs with community interests and the ongoing spate of large-scale infrastructure building and development.

Communities track a path of destruction through a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
- Illegal logging persists deep in the heart of Cambodia’s Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary amid government inaction and even complicity with the loggers.
- Routine patrols by local activists and community members have painstakingly documented the site of each logged tree in the supposedly protected area, even as these community patrols have been banned by the authorities.
- Mongabay reporters joined one of these patrols in April, where a run-in with rangers underscored complaints that the authorities crack down harder on those seeking to protect the forest than on those destroying it.
- A government official denied that the logging was driven by commercial interests, despite evidence to the contrary, instead blaming local communities for cutting down trees to build homes.

In Nepal, Chepang take up the challenge to revive their cultural keystone tree
- In Nepal, the Chepang people have long relied on the chiuri tree (Diploknema butyracea or Indian butter tree) for timber, fuelwood and butter.
- According to folklore, the Chepang tribe, the chiuri tree and bats are all part of a three-pronged system of survival, as each helps the other two; that system — and the chiuri tree — has fallen to the wayside.
- Now, young Chepangs are trying to revive the chiuri tree and market the valuable fruits.

Nepali pangolin conservationist Tulshi Suwal among winners of Whitley Awards
- Nepali pangolin conservationist Tulshi Laxmi Suwal has been named one of the winners of this year’s Whitley Awards, known as the “Green Oscars.”
- The 40,000 pound ($50,000) award recognizes her work studying and protecting pangolins in a field that has traditionally been male-dominated.
- Suwal says she will use the prize money to conduct Nepal’s first impact assessment of the effects of fires on the Chinese pangolin and create 10 community pangolin conservation groups.
- She also plans to plant 20,000 local mixed broad-leaved trees and reach 200,000 people through an awareness campaign, all aimed at protecting the world’s most trafficked mammal.

Nepal’s wild yaks ‘need more conservation than research’: Q&A with Naresh Kusi
- In July, researchers Naresh Kusi and Geraldine Werhahn spotted three wild yaks in Nepal, where sightings are rare and the animal was once thought to have gone extinct.
- Kusi spoke with Mongabay about the significance of the sightings of this iconic bovine’s distribution in the region and the need for conservation.
- Wild yaks (Bos mutus) are considered the ancestor of the domesticated yak (Bos grunniens) and hold an important place in the region’s culture and history.

The war on journalists and environmental defenders in the Amazon continues (commentary)
- Journalists in Brazil and around the world are devastated about the tragic end of a 10-day search for British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira in the Amazon rainforest near the Brazil-Peru border in northern Amazonas state. Bodies believed to be theirs were found on June 15 after a huge outcry against the federal government’s inaction following their disappearance. Indigenous patrols bravely conducted their own search while the government did little.
- The murders of Dom and Bruno are emblematic of the plight of journalists across Latin America as violence against both journalists and activists in the region escalates. It also raises an alarm for the need to protect reporters as we report on environmental crime from Nature’s frontline.
- But these crimes will not stop us: Exposing wrongdoing across Brazil’s critical biomes — from the Mata Atlantica to the Cerrado to the Amazon — is more necessary than ever now. At the same time, demanding justice for the murder of Bruno and Dom became a fight for all of us.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

‘Protecting snow leopards benefits other species’: Q&A with Rinzin Phunjok Lama
- Rinzin Phunjok Lama is an award-winning conservation biologist who studies one of the most elusive big cats in the world: the snow leopard.
- Based in Nepal’s Trans-Himalayan region, he puts his conservation learnings to practical use, working with local communities to minimize human-wildlife conflict, the main threat to the snow leopard.
- An evolving threat is climate change, which is pushing other top predators, including leopards and Himalayan black bears, into snow leopard territory, putting them in direct competition for prey. Lama says that while the climate threat is largely out of conservationists’ control, there’s still room to work on the human threat, including helping communities build alternative livelihoods that don’t put them in conflict with snow leopards.

Josefina Tunki: ‘If we have to die in defense of the land, we have to die’
- Josefina Tunki, the first woman to preside over the Shuar Arutam People (PSHA), an Indigenous association in Ecuador, faces death threats due to her opposition to mining on Indigenous lands.
- The Ecuadoran government has granted 165 concessions to mining companies — for copper, gold and molybdenum — that covers 56% of PSHA territory in the Condor mountain range in southeastern Ecuador.
- Tunki’s election as president of the PSHA has revealed structural sexism, but it has also shown hope to a generation that sees women like her in positions of power.
- This report is part of a journalistic collaboration between Mongabay Latam and La Barra Espaciadora (The Space Bar).

In Colombia, threatened women of the Wayuú community continue to fight rampant mining
- The Wayuú Women’s Force, founded in 2006, is an Indigenous organization that denounces the coal mining that has dammed and contaminated rivers, leaving much of La Guajira without water.
- Members of the organization have received death threats but continue to train women to stand up for their human rights.
- In addition to their work in La Guajira, the Wayuú women are developing ways of holding companies all over the world accountable for their negative environmental impact.

Jane Goodall wins Templeton Prize for work at intersection of science and spirituality
- Famed scientist and environmental advocate Jane Goodall, DBE, won the 2021 Templeton Prize, a $1.5 million award that recognizes achievements of people “harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.”
- Goodall, who joins a list of illustrious winners including Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, was awarded for her “scientific and spiritual curiosity”. She represents an unusual choice for the prize because she isn’t a religious figure.
- Goodall’s honor comes as more religious leaders are speaking out about the need to protect nature as part of their faith.

Notable deaths in conservation in 2020
- It is impossible to capture all of 2020’s losses.
- Every death is of course notable, but this list acknowledges a few of the 2020 deaths that carry special significance to the conservation community.
- The list is grouped into three categories: murders and killings, reportedly COVID-19-related, and other deaths.
- Note: this list only includes deaths that occurred in 2020.

In the Colombian Amazon, a leader trains her people to save the forest
- María Clemencia Herrera Nemerayema is the founder of the School of Political Education in the Colombian Amazon, which trains Indigenous people to protect their territory; her dream is to establish an intercultural university in the heart of the jungle.
- This year, the Indigenous leader won the Bartolomé de las Casas Prize from the Spanish Foreign Ministry for her work in defending Indigenous territories, based on restoring local cultures and sustainably using Amazonian resources.
- She has been working for more than 30 years to empower Amazonian women through education.
- One of the organizations she founded is Mujer, Tejer y Saberes (Women, Weaving and Knowledge), in which displaced Indigenous women based in Bogotá put their knowledge into practice to generate an income.

Rangers on the run: Half-marathon aims to raise funding for front-liners
- Wildlife ranger groups across Africa are struggling to maintain operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic drying up funding sources, which has resulted in ranger redundancies and salary reductions.
- Tusk, a U.K. nonprofit, is spearheading the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, a race and fundraiser that aims to help keep wildlife rangers employed.
- $2 million has already been distributed as emergency funding to several wildlife ranger groups.

Conservation biologist and wildtech journalist Sue Palminteri, 1965-2019
- Sue Palminteri — Mongabay’s wildtech editor, conservation biologist, professional tennis player, and long-time exercise enthusiast — lost her battle with cancer on November 30th. She was 54.
- Whether it was radio-collaring elephants across the savannas of South Africa, competing internationally alongside the Israeli national team in tennis, tracking saki monkeys through the rainforest in the sweltering mid-day heat of the Peruvian Amazon, or evaluating the practicalities of implementing technological solutions to conservation challenges, Sue fully embraced all she pursued with rare tenaciousness, passion, and grace.
- Her persistence and intelligence enabled her to excel as an athlete, a conservation biologist, and a journalist, while her authenticity, upbeat nature, and companionship made her a good colleague, friend, and partner.

Cook Islands MPA leader fired after supporting seabed mining freeze
- Last month the Cook Islands government dismissed the director of the world’s biggest mixed-use marine protected area (MPA), which is called Marae Moana.
- Jacqueline Evans, a marine scientist, had played a key leadership role in the seven-year campaign to establish Marae Moana and served as its director since the MPA was enshrined into law in 2017.
- Her firing came after she expressed support for a 10-year moratorium on seabed mining across the Pacific Ocean. Seabed mining has been a sticking point throughout the history of Marae Moana, with some environmentalists hoping to prohibit it outright and other parties wanting to explore it as a potential source of revenue.
- Evans was a 2019 winner of the prestigious international Goldman Prize for grassroots environmentalists in recognition of her work to make Marae Moana a reality.

‘Pray & continue’: Death of Philippine ranger is latest in legacy of violence
- Forest ranger Bienvinido “Toto” Veguilla Jr. was hacked to death by suspected illegal loggers on the Philippine island of Palawan on Sept. 5.
- He’s the 18th environmental defender slain in the province since 2001, and at least the 31st killed this year in the Philippines, identified in a recent report as the deadliest country for those trying to protect their land and the environment.
- Logging accounts for the third-highest number of deaths related to environmental violations in the Philippines, after mining and agriculture.
- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has called on Congress to pass legislation that would create an environmental law enforcement bureau to better protect rangers.

Building the world’s biggest MPA: Q&A with Goldman winner Jacqueline Evans
- In July 2017, the South Pacific nation of the Cook Islands made a bold bid to convert its entire territorial waters, the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), into a mixed-use marine protected area.
- Called Marae Moana, or “sacred ocean,” the MPA spans almost 2 million square kilometers (772,200 square miles), making it the biggest in the world, although only parts of it are strictly protected from fishing and other extractive activities.
- Jacqueline Evans, a marine conservationist, was the driving force behind the MPA.
- This week, Evans was awarded a prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her work on Marae Moana.

Meet the winners of the 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize
- This year is the 30th anniversary of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.
- Also called the Green Nobel Prize, the annual award honors grassroots environmental heroes from six continental regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Central and South America, Africa, and islands and island nations.
- This year’s winners are Alfred Brownell from Liberia, Bayarjargal Agvaantseren from Mongolia, Ana Colovic Lesoska from North Macedonia, Jacqueline Evans from the Cook Islands, Alberto Curamil from Chile, and Linda Garcia from the United States.

Jane Goodall on Leonardo DiCaprio, her 85th birthday, and the need for hope
- Primatologist Jane Goodall is arguably the world’s best known conservationist for her research on chimps and her efforts to raise awareness on environmental issues globally.
- On April 3rd, Jane turned 85 and was honored by the City of Los Angeles for her contributions to the planet. And actor Leonardo Dicaprio hosted a star-studded birthday dinner for her.
- For the occasion, Mongabay’s founder Rhett Butler interviewed Jane about some examples of why she remains optimistic for wildlife and wild places.
- Disclosure: Jane is a member of Mongabay’s advisory council.

Five wildlife conservationists held by Iran could face the death penalty
- Four conservationists arrested for suspected espionage in Iran in January face charges of “sowing corruption on Earth.”
- The charges stem from the team’s use of camera traps to track the Asiatic cheetah, but Iran’s Revolutionary Guard contends that the accused were collecting information on the country’s missile program.
- If convicted, the conservationists could be sentenced to death.

In a Colombian sanctuary, once-trafficked birds fly again
- Colombia is home to the most important aviary in South America, a sanctuary containing almost 2,000 birds.
- The privately run National Aviary of Colombia serves as a refuge in which birds representing 165 different species have a second chance at life after escaping the hands of illegal wildlife traffickers.
- So far in 2018, Colombian authorities have rescued nearly 4,000 birds — victims of a trafficking industry that has become the third-largest illicit economy in the country.

Photos: Meet the 2018 ‘Green Oscars’ winners
- The six winners of 2018 Whitley Award are Munir Virani of Kenya; Shahriar Caesar Rahman of Bangladesh; Kerstin Forsberg of Peru; Dominique Bikaba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Anjali Chandraraj Watson of Sri Lanka; and Olivier Nsengimana of Rwanda.
- Each recipient was awarded £40,000 ($56,000) in project funding over one year at an awards ceremony held at the Royal Geographic Society in London, U.K., on April 25.
- A seventh conservationist, Pablo “Popi” Garcia Borboroglu from Argentina, who won the Whitley Award in 2010, received the Whitley Gold Award for his commitment to safeguarding the world’s penguin species.

Meet the winners of the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize
- Six of the seven winners of the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize recipients are women.
- Dubbed the Green Nobel Prize, the annual award honors grassroots environmental heroes from Europe, Asia, North America, Central and South America, Africa, and islands and island nations.
- This year’s winners are Makoma Lekalakala and Liz McDaid from South Africa; Claire Nouvian from France; Francia Márquez from Colombia; Khanh Nguy Thi from Vietnam; LeeAnne Walters from the United States; and Manny Calonzo from the Philippines.

Two dozen Latin American countries sign agreement to protect environmental defenders
- The Principle 10 treaty deals mainly with the defense of environmentalists, promoting transparency in public access to environmental information, and shoring up environmental democracy and justice.
- The principles were approved on March 4 in the so-called Escazú Agreement in Costa Rica, by 24 countries from around Latin America and the Caribbean. It must now be ratified by the member countries.
- Environmental activists have hailed it as a massive step forward in the protection of environmental defenders, in a region where such advocates face the greatest threats to their lives.

In rural Indonesia, women spearhead the fight to protect nature
- This past July, some 50 environmental defenders, most of them women, from across Indonesia’s rural areas gathered for a discussion at an Islamic boarding school in West Java.
- The event highlighted women’s increasingly leading role in the grassroots movement to protect the country’s indigenous cultures, its natural resources and its long-held, but now threatened, traditional wisdoms and customs that champion sustainable development.
- Researchers say these women are at the leading edge of a new wave to defend and protect their homeland.

Audio: Margaret Atwood on her conservation-themed graphic novel, dystopian futures, and how not to despair
- Today’s episode features best-selling author and environmental activist Margaret Atwood as well as the founder of a beverage company rooted in the Amazon whose new book details the lessons he’s learned from indigenous rainforest peoples.
- Margaret Atwood, whose novels and poetry have won everything from an Arthur C. Clarke Award for best Science Fiction to the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction, recently tackled a medium she is not as well-known for: comic books. Not only that, but she has written a comic book series, called Angel Catbird, that “was a conservation project from the get-go,” she told Mongabay.
- Our second guest is Tyler Gage, co-founder of the beverage company Runa. “Runa” is the word the indigenous Kichwa people use to describe the effects of drinking guayusa; it translates to “fully alive” — which also happens to be the name of a new book that Gage has just published detailing the lessons he learned in the Amazon that led to the launch of Runa and its mission to partner with indigenous communities in business.

Audio: Dr. Jane Goodall on being proven right about animals having personalities, plus updates direct from COP23
- On today’s episode, we speak with the legendary Jane Goodall, who truly needs no introduction, and will have a direct report from the United Nations’ climate talks happening now in Bonn, Germany.
- Just before Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler was scheduled to speak with Goodall recently, research came out that vindicated her contention, which she’s held for nearly 60 years, that animals have personalities just like people. So we decided to record her thoughts about that for the Mongabay Newscast.
- Our second guest today is Mongabay contributor and Wake Forest University journalism professor Justin Catanoso, who appears on the podcast direct from COP23 to tell us how the UN climate talks are going in Bonn, Germany, what the mood is like amongst delegates, and how the US delegation is factoring into the talks as the Trump Administration continues to pursue a pullout from the Paris Climate Agreement.

One man’s quest to save the world’s wildest places: Hansjörg Wyss
- A summer spent in Colorado in 1958 prompted Hansjörg Wyss’s life-long commitment to conservation.
- As his means increased, Wyss became one of the world’s most generous philanthropists, supporting causes ranging from the arts to social justice to science to conservation.
- Much of Wyss’s support of conservation has focused on creating permanent public access to the rugged landscapes of the American West
- In recent years Wyss has expanded his efforts to other regions, including the Amazon rainforest, African savannas and forests, and in Romania.

Audio: Katharine Hayhoe on how to talk about climate change: ‘Share from the heart and then the head’
- Our first guest on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast is atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe, a professor in the Department of Political Science and the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, who teamed up last year with her local PBS station, KTTZ, to write and produce a web series called “Global Weirding.”
- We check in with Hayhoe as she’s in the midst of shooting the second season of Global Weirding in order to get a sense of what to expect from the new episodes of the show and how Hayhoe views the overall political landscape around climate action today.
- Our second guest is Branko Hilje Rodriguez, a PhD student in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of Alberta, Canada who studies the soundscapes of different successional stages of the tropical dry forest in Costa Rica’s Santa Rosa National Park, the largest remaining remnant of tropical dry forest in Mesoamerica.
- In this Field Note segment, Hilje Rodriguez plays for us a number of the recordings he’s made in the park, allowing us to hear the sounds of the dry forest during different stages of regrowth and different seasons, as well as some of the iconic bird species that call the dry forest home.

Meet the 2017 ‘Green Oscars’ winners
- The winners include Purnima Barman from India, Sanjay Gubbi from India, Alexander Blanco from Venezuela, Indira Lacerna-Widmann from Philippines, Ian Little from South Africa and Ximena Velez-Liendo from Bolivia.
- At an awards ceremony held last evening at the Royal Geographic Society in London, each of the six winners received £35,000 (~$46,000) in project funding to help scale up their work.
- Zafer Kizilkaya, a 2013 Whitley Award winner from Turkey, received this year’s Gold Award (£50,000) for his conservation project “Guardians of the sea: securing and expanding marine reserves along the Turkish coastline”.

The rise and fall of Regina Lopez, the Philippines’ maverick environment minister
- Lopez was a well-known environmental activist prior to her 2016 appointment as director of the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
- During her 10-month tenure, Lopez shut down or suspended 26 mines that failed to pass environmental audits, cancelled approval of 75 proposed mines, and banned new open-pit metal mines.
- On May 3, Lopez was removed from her post by a House-Senate committee charged with rejecting or confirming political appointments. The committee included politicians with ties to the mining sector.
- President Rodrigo Duterte — a firm supporter of Lopez — appointed a former Armed Forces chief of staff to replace her.

Meet the winners of the 2017 Goldman Environmental Prize
- The Goldman Environmental Prize, dubbed the Green Nobel Prize, honors grassroots environmental heroes from Europe, Asia, North America, Central and South America, Africa, and Islands and Island nations.
- The winners will be awarded the Prize today at the San Francisco Opera House.
- The winners include Uros Macerl from Slovenia, Prafulla Samantara from India, mark! Lopez from the United States, Rodrigo Tot from Guatemala, Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo from DRC and Wendy Bowman from Australia.

From CEO to Conservation Legend: An Interview with Kristine Tompkins
- In addition to protecting habitat, Tompkins and her team are reintroducing megafauna – from giant anteaters to jaguars – back into Iberá National Park.
- Tompkins calls climate change a ‘disaster’ and ‘horrifying,’ says the signs are obvious in South America.
- She continues to preserve land in Chile and Argentina after losing her husband and conservation partner, Doug Tompkins, in 2015.

Audio: Paul Simon on his new tour in support of E.O. Wilson’s Half-Earth initiative
- The 12-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter recently announced on Mongabay.com that he is embarking on a 17-date US concert tour, with all proceeds benefitting Half-Earth, an initiative of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.
- Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso interviewed Paul Simon about his long-time friendship with E.O. Wilson and why Dr. Wilson’s Half-Earth idea inspired him to get involved in this environmental cause.
- We also feature another Field Notes segment, this time with Zuzana Burivalova, a conservation scientist at Princeton University who has recorded the soundscapes of over 100 sites in the Indonesian part of Borneo.

Rachel Carson: A sensitive soul who changed the way we see — and treat — the world
- Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz touted Rachel Carson as a heroine and role model for girls in his comic strips. That may well have been the case, but the more I learned about her as I matured and my interest in nature and the environment deepened, the more she became my hero, too.
- PBS recently aired a two-hour documentary on the life, times, personal struggles, and influence of Rachel Carson, the soft-spoken, retiring, self-effacing woman who became an unlikely champion for nature and helped launch the modern environmental movement.
- Carson’s seminal work, Silent Spring, represented a necessary rebuke to the ascendant hubris of the “Atomic Age,” one symbolized by radioactive fallout, “duck and cover,” and the arrogant slogan “better living through chemistry.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Environmental lawyer killed in the Philippines
- Mia Mascariñas-Green, a lawyer with the NGO Environmental Legal Assistance Center who also handled civil and criminal cases, was ambushed in broad daylight.
- Police believe her death was connected to her work on a property-dispute case in the resort island of Panglao.
- The Philippines is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for environment and land defenders; according to tallies by rights groups, more than 100 have been killed since 2002.

E.O. Wilson on Half-Earth, Donald Trump, and hope
- Celebrated biologist’s new book outlines an audacious plan to save the biodiversity of Earth
- He is also the author of numerous biological concepts, including island biogeography and biophilia
- In a wide-ranging interview, he also discusses the Trump phenomenon and decries de-extinction and so-called ‘Anthropocenists’

Recognizing environmentalists under threat
- Environmental defenders are under threat: each year hundreds are killed, according to Global Witness.
- Alex Soros, a young philanthropist who established the Alexander Soros Foundation in 2012, believes recognition of these advocates is long overdue.
- Accordingly, each year the foundation honors environmental defenders with the ASF Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Environmental and Human Rights Activism.

Hectare by hectare, an indigenous man reforested a jungle in Indonesia’s burned-out heartland
- In 1998, a Dayak Ngaju man named Januminro started buying up and reforesting degraded land not far from Palangkaraya, the capital of Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan province.
- Today the forest spans 18 hectares and is home to orangutans, sun bears and other endangered species.
- Januminro uses funds from an adopt-a-tree program to operate a volunteer firefighting team. He has big plans to expand the forest.

Park ranger murdered while trying to protect rare gorillas
- On October 4, a park ranger, Munganga Nzonga Jacques, was killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kahuzi Biega National Park while trying to protect the park’s rare Grauer’s gorillas.
- Jacques is the second ranger to be killed in Kahuzi Biega in the last six months.
- Kahuzi Biega National Park is believed to be the last stronghold of Grauer’s gorillas, so the murder of Jacques has conservationists worried about the future of the rangers, their families, as well as the gorillas.

Environmental official murdered in Brazilian Amazon
- Luiz Alberto Araújo, head of the Altamira municipal government environmental department in the state of Pará, was gunned down in an execution-style killing last Thursday. 448 environmentalists were killed in Brazil between 2002-2013 — half the total murdered worldwide.
- Araújo provided information this year that helped lead to the arrest of a major illegal logging operation led by Antonio José Junqueira Vilela Filho, known as Ajj.
- Ajj ran his operation near Altamira for ten years, often only cutting valuable understory trees, and leaving the tallest behind to fool satellites and avoid detection. His operation kept loggers in slave-like conditions. Ajj was fined US$37 million, the largest such fine ever in the Amazon.
- Last February, Araújo’s team collected tons of dead fish secretly buried near the newly completed Belo Monte mega-dam, near Altamira. Norte Energia, the company operating the dam, was fined US$11 million for the 16.2 tons of fish illegally killed during the flooding of the dam’s reservoir.

Anti-coal activist murdered in the Philippines
- On July 1, two gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed anti-coal activist, Gloria Capitan, inside her karaoke bar in Mariveles, Bataan in the Philippines.
- She sustained three gunshot wounds, two in the neck and one in the arm, local media reported.
- Capitan, 57, led her community in a series of protests against pollution from an open coal storage facility close to her neighborhood, and demanded its permanent closure.

Deadliest year on record for environmental activists
- Of the 185 documented cases of environmental activists murdered around the world in 2015, more than half of the killings took place in Brazil (50), the Philippines (33), and Colombia (26).
- Indigenous peoples account for roughly five percent of the world’s population, but they were the victims in almost 40 percent of the 2015 killings documented by Global Witness.
- The mining and extractive industries sector was linked to 42 killings in 10 countries.

PHOTOS: On a Chinese mountain, an aging anti-poaching hero ponders the future
- Yu Jiahua, a 65-year old villager living on Jiuding Mountain in Sichuan province, was a skilled hunter when he was in his 20s.
- After an influx of outside poachers severely curtailed local wildlife populations, he and his brother began patrolling the mountain, confronting poachers and confiscating their rifles and snares.
- Eventually Yu convinced other villagers to help, establishing an organization that won outside acclaim and financial support.
- Wildlife on the mountain has rebounded, but finances remain thin and patrollers few. As Yu Jiahua ages, it is unclear who will take on his mission.

Biologist Carl Jones wins top prize for saving many rare species from extinction
- On May 4, Welsh conservationist Carl Jones was awarded the prestigious Indianapolis Prize at the London Natural History Museum for his decades-long efforts to bring back several rare species from the brink of extinction.
- Jones, who is Chief Scientist of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and Scientific Director of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, was selected from among six other finalists.
- He received an unrestricted $250,000 as prize money, and the Lilly Medal.

Indian conservation geneticist wins Field Museum’s top conservation award
- The Field Museum in Chicago has awarded the 2016 Parker/Gentry award to Uma Ramakrishnan, an Indian conservation geneticist who has worked extensively on the population genetics, evolutionary history and conservation of tigers and other mammals in India.
- Ramakrishnan is the first Indian to receive the award.
- Ramakrishnan’s team has developed genetic tools to help count tigers, understand connectivity between tiger populations and trace origins of black market tiger parts.

Amazon journalist endures, despite decades of threats and harassment
- Since 1987 Lúcio Flávio Pinto has published his own one-man bimonthly newspaper in the Brazilian state of Pará, Jornal Pessoal.
- His independent coverage of the plunder of the Amazon, shady dealings by prominent families, and government corruption earned him national and international accolades over the years, as well as many prominent enemies.
- Pinto has continued his work in spite of numerous death threats, a beating, and dozens of lawsuits that have left him in precarious circumstances.

Honduran environmental and indigenous rights activist, Berta Cáceres, is gunned down
- Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize, a prestigious award for her environmental activism on behalf of her fellow indigenous Lenca people.
- During her last few weeks of life, Cáceres and COPINH faced an escalation in threats and violence.
- In a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world, Cáceres’ murder joins hundreds of other indigenous activists who have been slaughtered in Honduras for the right to land and resources.

Munduruku building new alliances to fight Tapajós Basin dams in Amazon
- The Munduruku people are utilizing lessons learned in their failed fight against the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River to battle newly proposed Tapajós Basin hydroelectric projects. Most significantly, they’ve learned there is strength in unity.
- The indigenous group has made a major appeal to the Brazilian government in opposition to the Tapajós dams, and also presented its case to the international environmental community at the Paris Climate Summit in December, 2015.
- The Munduruku are building strong partnerships with other indigenous groups, the quilombola (Amazonian descendants of fugitive slaves), impacted riverine communities, sympathetic city-dwellers, and environmental organizations.

Environmentalist gunned down by illegal miners in Peru
- On Thursday night, Alfredo Ernesto Vracko Neuenschwander was gunned down at his home along the Interoceanic Highway.
- Vracko, 58, was a woodworker who led a movement to resist forest invasions by illegal gold miners in Peru’s biodiverse Tambopata region.
- Illegal gold miners are suspected to be responsible for the murder.

Crocodile conservationist awarded Field Museum’s prestigious prize
- The Field Museum in Chicago has awarded this year’s prestigious Parker/Gentry Award to Merlijn van Weerd, a Dutch wildlife conservationist, for his extensive work to protect the rare and critically endangered Philippine crocodile in the Philippines.
- Weerd and his colleagues founded the Mabuwaya Foundation in 2003, a conservation organization aimed at protecting the Philippines crocodiles by engaging with local communities.
- Weerd has also helped establish the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park in northern Luzon, and has been part of the team that discovered the fruit-eating monitor lizard.

Nature guide freed in Madagascar 5 months after arrest for exposing rosewood trade
- Armand Marozafy, a nature guide in Madagascar, has been freed after spending 5 months in prison.
- Marozafy had been arrested for ‘defamation’ for exposing two businessmen allegedly linked to illegal rosewood logging.
- Critics said Marozafy’s arrest undermined Madagascar’s ecotourism sector, while empowering illegal loggers.

2015 Equator Prize winners span 19 countries
- The United Nations today announced 21 winners of the 2015 Equator Prize, a prestigious award that recognizes community-led environmental initiatives.
- The winners, selected from a pool of 1,461 nominations across 126 countries, include a wide range of groups from around the world.
- The winners were announced during a ceremony hosted by actor Alec Baldwin

Mining activist released after being charged with terrorism, rebellion in Ecuador

Yesterday, mining and environmental activist, Javier Ramírez, walked out of an Ecuadorian courtroom with his freedom. Ramírez, who has long fought against a massive state-owned massive copper mine in the cloud forest village of Junin, was arrested in April last year and subsequently charged with rebellion, sabotage, and terrorism among other thing. The judge sentenced […]
Peru’s first environment minister dies at 74

Antonio Brack Egg left a legacy of biodiversity conservation in one of Latin America’s most biodiverse countries
Indigenous leader murdered before he could attend Climate Summit

Known for his opposition to Chinese mine project, indigenous leader found bound and buried in Ecuador Days before José Isidro Tendetza Antún was supposed to travel to the UN Climate Summit in Lima to publicly file a complaint against a massive mining operation, he went missing. Now, the Guardian reports that the body of the […]
Jane Goodall: 5 reasons to have hope for the planet

su Dr. Jane Goodall with Freud, a chimpanzee from Gombe. Photograph © Michael Neugebauer Jane Goodall is not only arguably the most famous conservationist who ever lived, but also the most well-known and respected female scientist on the planet today. Her path to reach that stature is as unlikely as it is inspiring. Told to […]
A tale of 2 Perus: Climate Summit host, 57 murdered environmentalists

New report finds that 83 percent of recent murders of environmental activists in Peru linked to police, military, or private security guards On September 1st, indigenous activist, Edwin Chota, and three other indigenous leaders were gunned down and their bodies thrown into rivers near the border of Peru and Brazil. Chota, an internationally-known leader of […]
Daring activists use high-tech to track illegal logging trucks in the Brazilian Amazon

Illegal Logging in Para State, Brazil as revealed by Greenpeace activists. Photo by: © Greenpeace. Every night empty trucks disappear into the Brazilian Amazon, they return laden with timber. This timber —illegally cut —makes its way to sawmills that sell it abroad to places like the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan using fraudulent paperwork to […]
Jane Goodall joins mongabay

Jane Goodall. Photo by: Morten Bjarnhof/GANT. Famed primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall—whose image is known the world over—has joined the advisory board of mongabay.org. This is the non-profit branch of mongabay.com, an environmental and science website with a special focus on tropical forests. “I began visiting [Mongabay] when I was researching information for my books, […]
The only solution for polar bears: ‘stop the rise in CO2 and other greenhouse gases’

Steven Amstrup will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 11th, 2014. In 1773, an expedition headed by Constantine John Phipps, the Second Baron Mulgrave, embarked on a dangerous journey North—to see how far they could go before having to turn back. In his report at the end of […]
What makes the jaguar the ultimate survivor? New books highlights mega-predator’s remarkable past and precarious future

An interview with Alan Rabinowitz, author of the new book, An Indomitable Beast: the Journey of the Jaguar Female jaguar (staring into camera) with subadult male offspring moving through an old oil palm plantation in the jaguar corridor of Colombia. Photo by: Esteban Payan, Panthera. For thousands of years the jaguar was a God, then […]
Leonard DiCaprio to UN Climate Summit: ‘You can make history or you will be vilified by it’

DiCaprio: not enough for individuals to make changes, governments and industry must do so as well Actor, environmental activist, and recently named UN Messenger of Peace, Leonardo DiCaprio, spoke today to a UN Climate Summit. The summit, which is hosting the largest gathering of world leaders to address the crisis in five years, is meant […]
‘The green Amazon is red with indigenous blood’: authorities pull bodies from river that may have belonged to slain leaders

Indigenous groups call for land rights in wake of assassinations of Edwin Chota Valera and three other leaders Peruvian authorities have pulled more human remains from a remote river in the Amazon, which may belong to one of the four murdered Ashaninka natives killed on September 1st. These human remains—and those found last week—will undergo […]
Mongabay founder, Rhett Butler, wins Field Museum’s top conservation prize

Rhett A. Butler, founder of mongabay.com. The Field Museum has honored Rhett A. Butler, the founder of mongabay.com, with this year’s prestigious Parker/Gentry Award. The award is giving annually to an “individual, team or organization whose efforts have had a significant impact on preserving the world’s rich natural heritage and whose actions can serve as […]
Featured video: new Netflix documentary highlights the work of Sylvia Earle to save the oceans

Sylvia Earle is one of the ocean’s staunchest defenders. A National Geographic Society Explorer in Residence and former chief scientist with NOAA, Earle has spent a lifetime documenting the rapid decline of the world’s oceans and calling for more action to defend the body of water that cradles the world’s continents. Her most recent undertaking, […]
Why conservationists need a little hope: saving themselves from becoming the most depressing scientists on the planet

Have conservationists become too pessimistic for their own good—and the good of their cause? Tad Lo waterfalls in Laos. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Here’s a challenge: take a conservationist out for a drink and ask them about their work. Nine times out of ten—or possibly more—you’ll walk away feeling frustrated, despondent, and utterly hopeless. […]
World Ranger Day: honoring our wildlife protectors

Like Memorial Day, when we honor our nation’s military veterans, World Ranger Day is a day to recognize and celebrate the thousands of rangers who put their lives on the line as they protect wildlife and natural resources around the world. To commemorate this day, the International Ranger Federation released a Ranger Roll of Honor […]
Pope Francis: ‘if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us!’

Pope Francis I, who named himself after the nature-loving Saint from Assisi, spoke about the need to safeguard creation during an audience at the Vatican last week. “We are Custodians of Creation,” he said on Wednesday. “But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are […]
Lemur expert becomes first woman to win top conservation prize

Patricia Wright attends a cocktail reception at the Mission to the UN of Madagascar, May 15, 2014 in New York. INSIDER IMAGES/Gary He. Lemur expert Patricia C. Wright has become the first woman to win the prestigious Indianapolis Prize, an award granted every two years for achievement in wildlife conservation. Wright was selected among six […]
53 indigenous activists on trial for police-protester massacre in Peru

In the summer of 2009, on a highway in Peru known as Devil’s Curve: everything went wrong. For months, indigenous groups had protested new laws by then President Alan Garcia opening up the Amazon to deregulated logging, fossil fuels, and other extractive industries as a part of free trade agreements with the U.S. But the […]
Indonesian activist wins Goldman Prize for fighting palm oil, deforestation

Rudi Putra. Photo courtesy of the Goldman Prize. An Indonesian has won the world’s most prestigious award for environmental activism for his efforts to fight illegal logging, forest encroachment for palm oil production, and a policy that would open up vast swathes of an endangered ecosystem for mining and industrial plantations. Rudi Putra, a biologist […]
The remarkable story of how a bat scientist took on Russia’s most powerful…and won

Suren Gazaryan. Photo by: Goldman Environmental Prize. In a country increasingly known for its authoritarian-style crackdown on activists and dissidents, a bat scientist has won a number of impressive victories to protect the dwindling forests of the Western Caucasus. Beginning in the 1990s, Russian chiropterologist Suren Gazaryan led a number of campaigns to fight illegal […]
Mother of God: meet the 26 year old Indiana Jones of the Amazon, Paul Rosolie

Flying over the endless forest of the West Amazon, while searching for short-eared dogs. From so high up it was possible to see just how much forest there really is, and how much there is still to save. Photo courtesy of: Paul Rosolie. Not yet 30, Paul Rosolie has already lived a life that most […]
Assassination 25 years ago catalyzed movement to protect the Amazon

Chico Mendes in the window of his home in Xapuri, Brazil with Sandino, his son, in November 1988. Photo by Miranda Smith, Miranda Productions, Inc. Twenty-five years ago today, Chico Mendes, an Amazon rubber tapper, was shot and killed in front of his family at his home in Acre, Brazil at the age of 44. […]
UN talks tough to global coal industry

Yesterday, at the International Coal and Climate Summit—just a couple miles from the ongoing UN Climate Summit—Christiana Figueres delivered a speech unlike anything ever heard at a coal industry meeting before. Figueres, the Executive Director of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), took time off from wrangling world leaders and officials toward a […]
David Attenborough: someone who believes in infinite growth is ‘either a madman or an economist’

Sir David Attenborough has said that people living in poorer countries are just as concerned about the environment as those in the developed world, and “exporting environmentalism” isn’t necessarily an “uphill struggle”. The veteran broadcaster said ideas about protecting the natural world were not unwelcome in less developed nations—but added that wealthier countries should work […]
Unlikely success: how Zimbabwe has become a global leader in rhino conservation

Raoul du Toit will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 12th, 2013. With its collapsed economy, entrenched poverty, and political tremors, one would not expect that a country like Zimbabwe would have the capacity to safeguard its rhinos against determined and well-funded poachers, especially as just across the […]
Celebrities aim to raise $1.6 million to keep orangutan forests from the the chopping block in Borneo

Sir David Attenborough, Bill Oddie and Chris Packham are supporting an effort to save the orangutan from extinction by raising £1m in just two weeks. Orangutans in their natural environment live in undisturbed ancient forests and for many years it was believed they shunned any other habitats. But researchers have discovered they can survive just […]
Clinton Global Initiative pledges $80 million to combat elephant poaching

Hillary and Chelsea Clinton on Thursday deployed their mother-daughter star power to help the effort to save African elephants, brokering an $80m effort to stop the ivory poaching which threatens the animals with extinction. The crackdown on 50 poaching hot spots in Africa involves several conservation groups and African governments. But conservation leaders, unveiling the […]
A year after devastating attack, security returns to the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (photos)

John Lukas will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 12th, 2013. On June 24th of last year, MaiMai Simba rebels, led by an elephant poacher known as Morgan, launched a devastating attack on the headquarters of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in Epulu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The […]
Sea Shepherd to name new ship after slain sea turtle activist

Marine conservation group Sea Shepherd will name its newest vessel after Jairo Mora Sandoval, a sea turtle conservationist who was slain on a Costa Rican beach last month. “We do not want the name of this courageous and passionate young man to be forgotten and hopefully this will help to keep his memory alive,” said […]
Decades-long fight leads to old-growth forest protection in Tasmania

Almost 200,000 hectares of Tasmania’s old growth forest have been world heritage listed, bringing hope that a three-decade fight between environmentalists, politicians and loggers is over. The World Heritage Committee has extended the heritage listed boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area by more than 170,000 hectares after accepting a proposal from the Australian […]
Why endangered species need conservation champions

The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. Jaguar coming up for air in the Brazilian Pantanal. […]
Costa Rican environmentalist pays ultimate price for his dedication to sea turtles

Jairo Mora Sandoval walking on the beach where he died after releasing over a hundred turtle hatchlings in 2012. Photo by: Carlyn Samuel. On the evening of May 30th, 26-year-old Jairo Mora Sandoval was murdered on Moin beach near Limón, Costa Rica, the very stretch of sand where he courageously monitored sea turtle nests for […]
Loris champion: conserving the world’s most surprising primate family

The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th—July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed. Close-up of Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus), listed as […]
Saving Gorongosa: E.O. Wilson on protecting a biodiversity hotspot in Mozambique

If you fly over the Great African Rift Valley from its northernmost point in Ethiopia, over the great national parks of Kenya and Tanzania, and follow it south to the very end, you will arrive at Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique. Plateaus on the eastern and western sides of the park flank the lush […]
Conservation without supervision: Peruvian community group creates and patrols its own protected area

“Rural dwellers are not passive respondents to external conservation agents but are active proponents and executers of their own conservation initiatives.”—Noga Shanee, Projects Director for Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC), in an interview with mongabay.com. When we think of conservation areas, many of us think of iconic National Parks overseen by uniformed government employees or wilderness […]
Iraqi who is bringing back the Garden of Eden wins top environment award

The vast Mesoptomian marshes in southern Iraq were said to be the site of the original Garden of Eden. On their fringes have risen and fallen 12,000 years of Sumerian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Persian and Arab civilizations. Organized farming is thought to have begun here, as did the first cities and writing. In legend, Gilgamesh fell […]
Anti-mining activist from Indonesia wins top green honor

Aleta Baun, an activist who led a movement to block a destructive mine in a remote part of Indonesia, was today awarded the prestigious Goldman Prize, the top honor for grassroots environmental campaigners. Aleta, who’s known locally as “Mama Aleta”, is an indigenous Mollo from Timor, an island in Eastern Indonesia (the eastern half of […]
Landowner who allegedly ordered Amazon murders acquitted

Jose Rodrigues Moreira, a Brazilian landowner who allegedly ordered the killings of Amazon activists Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria, was acquitted this week due to lack of evidence. But, the two men who carried out the assassinations, Lindonjonson Silva Rocha and Alberto Lopes do Nascimento, were found guilty and sent to […]
Killings over land continues in the Amazon

On Wednesday, in the Brazilian state of Pará, the trial begins of three men accused of murdering José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo, who had campaigned against loggers and ranchers for years. Their assassinations in May 2011 generated international outrage, just like that of Chico Mendes, 25 years ago, […]
Wildfire forces anti-logging activist from tree after 449-day vigil

Miranda Gibson in the Observer Tree. Photo courtesy of Gibson. A bushfire has forced an environmental campaigner from the top of a tree following a 449-day vigil to block logging of a stand of old-growth forest in Australia. Miranda Gibson, 31, has been perched 60 meters of an ancient gum tree in southwestern Tasmania since […]
A lifetime with elephants: an interview with Iain Douglas-Hamilton

This interview is an excerpt from The WildLife with Laurel Neme, a program that explores the mysteries of the animal world through interviews with scientists and other wildlife investigators. “The WildLife” airs every Monday from 1-2 pm EST on WOMM-LP, 105.9 FM in Burlington, Vermont. You can livestream it at theradiator.org or download the podcast […]
Becky Tarbotton, head of the Rainforest Action Network, dies in accident in Mexico

Rebecca Tarbotton, the executive director of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) died Wednesday. She was 39. Tarbotton died in rough surf off a beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where she was vacationing with her husband and friends. According to RAN, “the coroner ruled cause of death as asphyxiation from water she breathed in while swimming.” […]
Congo ranger ambushed and killed defending wildlife

Atamato Madrandele, 1969 – 2012 Atamato Madrandele, Chief Warden of Upemba National Park, was ambushed and killed December 16, 2012 by Mai-Mai militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reports the Upemba Conservation Project. Madrandele was killed as he was returning to the park’s headquaters, according to the conservation group. Madrandele was 43. “Atamato […]
‘The ivory trade is like drug trafficking’ (warning graphic images)

Confiscated elephant parts from poachers. Photo by: Nuria Ortega. For the past five years, Spanish biologist Luis Arranz has been the director of Garamba National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Arranz and a team of nearly 240 people, 140 guards among them, work to protect a vast area of about 5,000 square […]
Cambodia drops case of murdered forest activist, Chut Wutty

Aerial view of illegal logging in Cambodia. Photo by: Paul Mason USAID/Cambodia/OGD. An investigation into the mysterious death of Cambodian forest activist, Chut Wutty, has been dismissed by the courts, which critics allege is apart of an ongoing cover up. The court decided that since the suspect in Wutty’s death, In Rattana, was also dead […]
Featured video: trailer for Living Downstream
After suffering from bladder cancer at 20, Sandra Steingraber began to study the links between toxic chemicals and deadly diseases. Her research led her to write the the much-acclaimed book Living Downstream, which combines her personal struggles with disease and the on-going contamination of our environment. Now, a new film based on the book, Steingraber’s […]
Environmental journalist investigating illegal logging murdered in Cambodia

Aerial view of illegal logging in Cambodia. Photo by: Paul Mason USAID/Cambodia/OGD. Less than five months after high-profile forest activist, Chut Wutty, was killed in Cambodia, an environmental journalist, Hang Serei Oudom, has been found slain in the trunk of his car, possibly murdered with an ax, reports the AFP. Oudum, who worked at the […]
Picture of the day: Yao Ming with baby elephant orphaned by ivory trade

Yao Ming walks with Kinango, an infant elephant whose mother was killed by poachers at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. Photo by: Kristian Schmidt/WildAid. Former NBA Basketball player and Olympian, Yao Ming is taking his first trip through Africa in order to see the on-the-ground impacts of the black-market ivory and rhino trades […]
Cowards at Rio?: organizations decry ‘pathetic’ agreement

A Malagasy girl. While Madagascar faces widespread deforestation and erosion, it is estimated that 70 percent of its people suffer from malnutrition. The Rio+20 Summit is attempting to tackle both environmental degradation and poverty, but civil groups say the agreement falls far short of what is needed. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. As world leaders […]
Over 700 people killed defending forest and land rights in past ten years

José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva speaking at a TEDx Amazon in 2010, just a few months before he and his wife were assassinated for their activism. On May 24th, 2011, forest activist José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva, were gunned down in an ambush in the Brazilian […]
Featured video: why one scientist is getting arrested over climate change
In March 2012 the head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and well-known climatologist, James Hansen, spoke at a TED conference to explain what would push a 70-year-old scientist to participate in civil disobedience against mountaintop coal mining and the Keystone Pipeline, even leading to several arrests. In his talk, Hansen outlines the basics […]
Cambodia suspends economic land concessions

A portion of Virachey National Park as viewed by Google Earth in Cambodia. Last year Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, approved a 9,000 hectare (22,200 acre) rubber plantation inside the park as apart of the government’s economic land concessions. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced today that Cambodia would be temporarily suspending new economic land […]
Assassinated forest activist Chut Wutty: ‘I want to see people live with freedom’

Chut Wutty with Prey Lang Network representatives, November 2011. Copyright Fran Lambrick 2011. All rights reserved. Chut Wutty, a dedicated Cambodian activist, was shot dead at an illegal logging site by military police, on Thursday. At the time Wutty was driving with two journalists, who wrote a shocking eyewitness account of his death, revealing that […]
Forest activist shot dead in Cambodia allegedly over photos of illegal logging

Aerial view of illegal logging in Koh Kong Province where forest activist, Chut Wutty, was shot dead today. Photo by: Paul Mason USAID/Cambodia/OGD. Chut Wutty, a prominent activist against illegal logging and deforestation, has been killed in the Koh Kong province of Cambodia. Wutty was shot dead at a military police checkpoint while traveling with […]
Doing good and staying sane amidst the global environmental crisis

An interview with Dr. Sarah Bexell. The vanishing giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is just one victim of the global environmental crisis. Photo by: Sarah Bexell. Several years ago while teaching a course in environmental science a student raised her hand during our discussion of the circumstances of modern ecological collapse and posed the question, “what […]
Featured video: How to save the Amazon
The past ten years have seen unprecedented progress in fighting deforestation in the Amazon. Indigenous rights, payments for ecosystem services, government enforcement, satellite imagery, and a spirit of cooperation amongst old foes has resulted in a decline of 80 percent in Brazil’s deforestation rates. A new video Hanging in the Balance by the Skoll Foundation […]
For Earth Day, 17 celebrated scientists on how to make a better world

Observations of planet Earth from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on July 11, 2005. Photo by: NASA. Seventeen top scientists and four acclaimed conservation organizations have called for radical action to create a better world for this and future generations. Compiled by 21 past winners of the prestigious Blue Planet Prize, a new paper […]
David vs. Goliath: Goldman Environmental Prize winners highlight development projects gone awry

Right of left: Evgenia Chirikova, Edwin Gariguez, Ma Jun, Ikal Angelei, Caroline Cannon, and Sofia Gatica. Photo courtesy of Goldman Environmental Prize. A controversial dam, a massive mine, poisonous pesticides, a devastating road, and criminal polluters: many of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize winners point to the dangers of poorly-planned, and ultimately destructive, development initiatives. […]
“Don’t be so silly” about climate change: Mohamed Nasheed on The Daily Show

Former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed speaking to reporters at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009. Photo by: Adam Welz. Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives, told the world on The Daily Show Monday night: “Just don’t be so silly” about climate change. Nasheed, who in February was forced to resign his presidency, […]
Featured video: Honoring Wangari Maathai, who would have been 72 yesterday
The indomitable Wangari Maathai would have turned 72 yesterday, April 1st, 2012. Maathai, who was the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win a Nobel Peace Prize (in 2004), passed away last September. Founder of the Green Belt Movement, Maathai spent her life working to save Kenya’s forests, uplift the country’s women, and […]
Girl Scouts activists win forest heroes award for challenging organization on sustainability

UNFF Director Jan McAlpine with winners Paulo Adario, Rhiannon Tomtishen, Madison Vorva, Paul Nzegha Mzeka, Shigeatsu Hatakeyama, and Anatoly Lebedev. Courtesy of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) The United Nations on Thursday honored five “Forest Heroes” for their contributions toward protecting forests. Winners of the Forest Heroes Awards included individuals from five regions: […]
Interview with conservation legend George Schaller

Dr George Schaller is a veteran ecologist affiliated with two conservation organizations in New York, Panthera and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Spending much of his time during the past six decades in various countries of Asia, Africa and South America, he has studied and helped protect species as diverse as the Tiger, Mountain Gorilla, Giant […]
Unsung heroes: the life of a wildlife ranger in the Congo

Bunda Bokitsi. Photo by: Zoological Society of Milwaukee (ZSM). The effort to save wildlife from destruction worldwide has many heroes. Some receive accolades for their work, but others live in obscurity, doing good—sometimes even dangerous—work everyday with little recognition. These are not scientists or big-name conservationists, but wildlife rangers, NGO staff members, and low level […]
After protracted campaign, Girl Scouts pledges to cut out some palm oil

Palm oil plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Girl Scouts USA has announced that it will lessen palm oil in its ubiquitous cookies by using alternatives when possible and cutting overall usage. The organization also committed to purchasing GreenPalm certificates for all of its palm oil in order to financially support more […]
Group pushes entrepreneurship model for conservation

The Wildlife Conservation Network’s co-founder, Charles Knowles, looks back at a decade of hands on work in conservation. The Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) is dedicated to protecting endangered species and preserving their natural habitats. This group supports innovative strategies for people and wildlife to co-exist and thrive. This year the group celebrates it’s ten year […]
Nobel laureate and Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai dead at 71

Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai died Sunday after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was 71. Wangari Maathai. Courtesy of the Green Belt Movement Maathai is best known for founding the Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1977. The initiative empowered rural women by getting them engaged in management and protection of forests. […]
Tribal leader to the UN: Indigenous peoples of the Amazon are in danger

Editor’s note: the following statement was presented by Almir Surui Narayamoga of the Surui tribe to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 21, 2011. Translation by Rhett Butler. Amazonian indigenous peoples and their traditional territories are living under constant threat. Illegal deforestation — carried out by loggers, ranchers, miners and intruders on […]
Two arrested in connection with murdering Amazon activists
Two suspects have been arrested for allegedly taking part in the killing of Amazon activist, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva, and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva. The men, who are brothers, were arrested after police stormed their remote jungle camp on Sunday in Brazilian state of Para. A third man remains at […]
Climate test for Obama: 1,252 people arrested over notorious oil pipeline

James Hansen (on the left) with religious leaders at Keystone XL civil disobedience. Photo by: Josh Lopez/Tar Sands Action. Two weeks of climate disobedience at the White House ended over the weekend with 1,252 people arrested in total. Activists were protesting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline in an effort to pressure US President Barack Obama […]
Over 100 protestors arrested as civil action begins against tar sands pipeline to US
In the first two days of a planned two week sit-in at the White House in Washington DC, over 100 activists against the Keystone XL pipeline have been arrested, reports Reuters. If approved by the Obama Administration, the 1,700 mile pipeline would bring around 700,000 barrels of oil daily from Canada’s notorious tar sands to […]
Climate activist sentenced to 2 years in jail for civil disobedience
Yesterday a federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah convicted climate activist Tim DeChristopher of defrauding the US government, sentencing him to two years in jail and a fine of $10,000, reports the Associated Press. In December 2008, Tim DeChristopher, won the mineral rights for 22,500 acres of US Interior Department land at a Bureau […]
Suspects named for assassination of husband and wife activists in Brazil

José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva speaking at TEDx Amazon in 2010 Brazilian authorities have fingered three men for the killing of environmental activist, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva, and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva, in May. The grisly murders received international attention, since José da Silva was a well known activist against […]
Richard Leakey: ‘selfish’ critics choose wrong fight in Serengeti road

To read more about Tanzania’s recent announcement related to the Serengeti road: Unpaved road through Serengeti to progress. The controversial Serengeti road is going ahead, but with conditions. According to the Tanzanian Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ezekiel Maige, the road will not be paved and it will be run by the Tanzanian park […]
Arctic on the line: oil industry versus Greenpeace at the top of the world

Not long ago such an image would have been impossible, but here polar bears meet a US attack submarine. US Navy Photo by: Chief Yeoman Alphonso Braggs, US-Navy. At the top of the world sits a lone region of shifting sea ice, bare islands, and strange creatures. For most of human history the Arctic remained […]
Killing in the name of deforestation: Amazon activist and wife assassinated

José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva speaking at TEDx Amazon in 2010 José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva, were gunned down last night in an ambush in the city of Nova Ipixuna in the Brazilian state of Pará. Da Silva was known as a community leader and an […]
Cambodia’s wildlife pioneer: saving species and places in Southeast Asia’s last forest
- Suwanna Gauntlett has dedicated her life to protecting rainforests and wildlife in some of the world’s most hostile and rugged environments and has set the trend of a new generation of direct action conservationists.
- She has designed, implemented, and supported bold, front-line conservation programs to save endangered wildlife populations from the brink of extinction.
- When she first arrived in Cambodia in the late 1990s, its forests were silent.

Al Gore compares climate change deniers to ‘birthers’
Former US Vice President, Al Gore, stated in a Time Magazine interview and in a recent presentation that climate change deniers and the so-called birthers—those who refuse to accept that President Obama was born in the US despite clear evidence—are similar. The implication being that both groups are denying clear evidence and creating a “struggle […]
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: ‘quest for profit subverts our present and our future’

As the honorary speaker at an event celebrating fifty years of the conservation organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Archbishop Desmond Tutu stated that overconsumption and obsession with economic growth were imperiling the global environment and leaving the poor behind. “Our desire to consume everything of value, to extract every precious stone, every drop […]
Mexican environmental activist shot dead

La Morena Mexico in the Petatlán Mountains in the state of Guerroro as viewed by Google Earth. Javier Torres Cruz, 30, who fought illegal deforestation by drug traffickers in the Mexican state of Guerroro, was murdered a week ago. A member of the local NGO, Environmental Organization of the Coyuca and Petatlán Mountains, Torres Cruz […]
The value of the little guy, an interview with Tyler Prize-winning entomologist May Berenbaum

Honeybees in an apiary in Germany. Photo by: Björn Appel. May Berenbaum knows a thing or two about insects: in recognition of her lifelong work on the interactions between insects and plants, she has had a character on The X-Files named after her, received the Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award for her work […]
Bill Clinton takes on Brazil’s megadams, James Cameron backs tribal groups
Former US President, Bill Clinton, spoke out against Brazil’s megadams at the 2nd World Sustainability Forum, which was also attended by former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and film director, James Cameron, who has been an outspoken critic of the most famous of the controversial dams, the Belo Monte on the Xingu River. As reported by […]
Women are key to global conservation
Anne Hallum is founder of the Alliance for International Reforestation and for her work was recently named a “CNN Hero.” Her daughter, Rachel Hallum-Montes has been planting trees with her mother since the age of 12 and she is now a sociologist. In 1991, my nine-year-old daughter Rachel traveled with me to Guatemala where we […]
A lion’s story, an interview with the filmmakers of The Last Lions

Male lion in the Okavango Delta. © National Geographic Entertainment. Photo by: Beverly Joubert . The new theatrical film, The Last Lions does not open, as one would expect, with a shot of lions or even an African panorama. Instead the first shot is a view of our planet from space at night. Billions of […]
Prince Charles: ‘direct relationship’ between ecosystems and the economy

At an EU meeting in Brussels, dubbed the Low Carbon Prosperity Summit, the UK’s Prince Charles made the case that without healthy ecosystems, the global economy will suffer. “We have to see that there is a direct relationship between the resilience of Nature’s ecosystems and the resilience of our national economies,” he told Members of […]
The ocean crisis: hope in troubled waters, an interview with Carl Safina

The view from Lazy Point. Photo courtesy of Carl Safina. Being compared—by more than one reviewer—to Henry Thoreau and Rachel Carson would make any nature writer’s day. But add in effusive reviews that compare one to a jazz musician, Ernest Hemingway, and Charles Darwin, and you have a sense of the praise heaped on Carl […]
Sarawak’s last nomad: indigenous leader and activist, Along Sega, dies

Along Sega never knew exactly how old he was, but when he passed away yesterday in a hospital far from the forest where he born, he was likely in his 70s. Leader among the once-nomadic hunter and gatherer Penan people of Borneo and mentor to Swiss activist, Bruno Manser, Along Sega will be remembered for […]
After another ranger killed, Virunga National Park requests UN peacekeepers
Less than a week after 3 wildlife rangers and 5 soldiers were killed in Virunga National Park by the rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), another ranger has been killed and a driver put in the hospital in critical condition. The situation has pushed park authorities to request UN peacekeepers for […]
Eight rangers, soldiers killed in Virunga National Park
Yesterday morning, 3 wildlife rangers and 5 soldiers working in Virunga National Park were killed by the rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). These 8 were killed and 3 more wounded when their vehicle was fired on by FDLR rebels with rocket launchers. Park director Emmanuel de Merode told the AFP […]
Jane Goodall and David Attenborough: overpopulation must be addressed

In a recent interview with The Telegraph world famous primatologist and conservationist, Jane Goodall, and wildlife documentarian Sir David Attenborough agreed that overpopulation must be addressed to protect the global environment. “There are three times as many people on earth as when I first started making television programs all of whom require food and a […]
Når en lillebitte ønation bringer et stort offer, vil resten af verden så følge trop?

Kiribati, et lille ø-rige bestående af 33 stillehavsatoler, forudsiges at være blandt de første lande, der bliver oversvømmet pga. stigende vandstande. Ikke desto mindre kom landet for nyligt med et forbløffende løfte: Landet lukkede over 150.000 kvadratmil af sit fisketerritorium, på trods af, at fiskeri er en beskæftigelse, som udgør næsten halvdelen af regeringens skatteindtægter. […]
Berantas Pemburu, Lakukan Penyamaran, Selamatkan Hewan Liar: Semua dalam Satu Hari Kerja Arief Rubianto

Arief Rubianto akan berbicara di Wildlife Conservation Network Expo di San Francisco, 3 Oktober 2010. Arief Rubianto, kepala satuan anti-perburuan di Pulau Sumatera, Indonesia, mendeskripsikan kehidupan sehari-harinya dengan ini: “seperti Mission Impossible”. Tidak percaya pada saya? Rubianto telah bertarung melawan penebang liar, baku tembak dengan pemburu, berhasil bertahan selama 4 hari di hutan tanpa makanan, […]
Fighting poachers, going undercover, saving wildlife: all in a day’s work for Arief Rubianto

Arief Rubianto will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 3rd, 2010. Arief Rubianto, the head of an anti-poaching squad on the Indonesian island of Sumatra best describes his daily life in this way: “like mission impossible”. Don’t believe me? Rubianto has fought with illegal loggers, exchanged gunfire with […]
Ketika Sebuah Pulau Mungil Lakukan Pengorbanan Besar, Akankah Seluruh Dunia Melakukan yang Sama?

Kiribati, sebuah negara kecil yang terdiri atas 33 pulau karang Pasifik, diramalkan menjadi negara pertama yang terendam akibat kenaikan ketinggian laut. Bagaimanapun, negara ini baru-baru saja membuat sebuah komitmen yang luar biasa: mereka menutup seluas 150.000 mil persegi wilayahnya untuk mencari ikan, sebuah aktivitas yang terhitung hampir separuh dari pendapatan pajak pemerintah. Apa yang menggerakkan […]
Into the Congo: saving bonobos means aiding left-behind communities, an interview with Gay Reinartz

Gay Reinartz will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 3rd, 2010. Unlike every other of the world’s great apes—the gorilla, chimpanzee, and orangutan—saving the bonobo means focusing conservation efforts on a single nation, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While such a fact would seem to simplify conservation, […]
As a tiny island nation makes a big sacrifice, will the rest of the world follow suit?

Kiribati, a small nation consisting of 33 Pacific island atolls, is forecast to be among the first countries swamped by rising sea levels. Nevertheless, the country recently made an astounding commitment: it closed over 150,000 square miles of its territory to fishing, an activity that accounts for nearly half the government’s tax revenue. What moved […]
On the Road with Dr. Laurie Marker: Reflections on Conservation in the Media Age

Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF)is supported in part by the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), an innovative group that uses a venture capital model to protect some of the world’s most endangered species. WCN will be hosting Laurie Marker at its upcoming Wildlife Conservation Expo in San Francisco, California on October 3rd. Expo attendees will be able […]
Activist against illegal mining shot dead in India

On July 20th two unidentified men rode up to Amit Jethwa on a motorcycyle as he was coming out of his office in Ahmedabad and shot him dead at point blank range. Jethwa had recently filed a petition against illegal logging in the Gir Forest, the last home of the Asiatic lion, a subspecies of […]
Kekerasan sebagai Bagian dari Perdagangan Kayu Ilegal, Ujar Aktivis yang Diculik

Wawancara dengan Faith Doherty. Parlemen Eropa melakukan tindakan historis hari ini dengan memilih dengan sangat untuk melarang kayu ilegal dari pasarnya. Untuk aktivis di dunia, pelarangan pada kayu ilegal di UE merupakan alasan untuk merayakannya, namun untuk satu aktivis, Faith Doherty dari Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), tindakan tersebut memunculkan gaung yang istimewa. Di awal 2000, […]
Violence a part of the illegal timber trade, says kidnapped activist

An interview with Faith Doherty. The European parliament made a historical move today when it voted overwhelmingly to ban illegal timber from its markets. For activists worldwide the ban on illegal timber in the EU is a reason to celebrate, but for one activist, Faith Doherty of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the move has […]
Norwegia sediakan USD 1 milyar bagi Indonesia untuk lindungi hutan hujan
Norwegia akan menyediakan hingga USD 1 milyar bagi Indonesia untuk membantu mengurangi penggundulan hutan dan degradasi hutan, menurut laporan The Jakarta Post. Agus Purnomo, kepala Kesekretariatan Dewan Perubahan Iklim Nasional, mengatakan pada koran tersebut bahwa perjanjian itu akan ditandatangani pada 27 Mei dan dana akan mulai mengalir secepatnya tahun ini. Perjanjian ini muncul dua tahun […]
‘Prepare for war’: tensions rising over Brazil’s controversial Belo Monte dam

Tensions are flaring after Brazil’s approval of the Belo Monte dam project last month to divert the flow of the Xingu River. The dam, which will be the world’s third larges, will flood 500 square miles of rainforest, lead to the removal of at least 12,000 people in the region, and upturn the lives of […]
Kisah Nyata Avatar: Perlawanan masyarakat pribumi untuk menyelamatkan rumah hutan mereka dari eksploitasi korporasi

Spoiler Alert: artikel ini mengungkapkan akhir dari cerita di film Avatar. Dalam film terbaru James Cameron Avatar sebuah suku alien di planet yang jauh melawan untuk menyelamatkan rumah hutan mereka dari manusia penyerbu yang akan menambang planet tersebut. Perusahaan penambang telah membawa mantan tentara untuk ‘keamanan’ dan tidak akan berhenti untuk apapun, bahkan ketika harus […]
Norway to provide Indonesia with $1 billion to protect rainforests
Norway will provide up to $1 billion to Indonesia to help reduce deforestation and forest degradation, reports The Jakarta Post. Agus Purnomo, head of the secretariat of Indonesia’s National Climate Change Council, told the newspaper that the deal will be signed on May 27 and funds may start flowing as early as this year. The […]
Elephants march in London, trumpeting conservation

Although urban Britain is not the native habitat of the Asian elephant, the well-loved pachyderm has invaded London for the summer. Raising awareness and funds for the threatened Asian elephant, 250 fiberglass statues by different artists are being displayed all over London. At the end of the summer the elephants will be auctioned off. All […]
One man’s mission to save Cambodia’s elephants

Since winning the prestigious 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize in Asia, Tuy Sereivathana has visited the US and Britain, even shaking hands with US President Barack Obama, yet in his home country of Cambodia he remains simply ‘Uncle Elephant’. A lifelong advocate for elephants in the Southeast Asian country, Sereivathana’s work has allowed villagers and elephants […]
A nation of tragedies: the unseen elephant wars of Chad

Chad’s few remaining elephants are “survivors of a ‘holocaust'”. [warning: graphic images of killed elephants] Stephanie Vergniault, head of SOS Elephants in Chad, says she has seen more beheaded corpses of elephants in her life than living animals. In the central African nation, against the backdrop of a vast human tragedy—poverty, hunger, violence, and hundreds […]
Taking back the rainforest: Indians in Colombia govern 100,000 square miles of territory

An interview with Martin von Hildebrand, founder at head of Gaia Amazonas. Indigenous groups in the Colombian Amazon have long suffered deprivations at the hands of outsiders. First came the diseases brought by the European Conquest, then came abuses under colonial rule. In modern times, some Amazonian communities were virtually enslaved by the debt-bondage system […]
Video: Madagascar could become “Haiti-like”

Niall O’Connor from the World Wildlife Fund warns in a Carte Blanche production that if the ecological destruction of Madagascar continues, the poor island country could become “Haiti-like”, where he says, “most of the biodiversity, most of the forests are gone”. Carte Blanche, an African investigative journalism show, went to Madagascar to look into the […]
A day to celebrate (and save) the world’s amphibians: the 2nd Annual Save the Frogs Day

Friday, April 30th is for the frogs: educational programs, conservation walks with experts, frog leaping races, and the world’s first protest to save frogs are all planned for the world’s 2nd Annual Save the Frogs Day. Organized by the non-profit SAVE THE FROGS!, events are so far planned in 15 countries on every continent besides […]
150,000 turn out for climate rally in Washington DC

A rally in support of strong action on climate change drew some 150,000 people to the National Mall in Washington DC according to organizers. The rally—which also celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day—alternated its program with music and speakers. Heavyweight musicians, including Sting, John Legend, the Roots, Jimmy Cliff, Passion Pitt, and Joss Stone, […]
Off and on again: Belo Monte dam goes forward, protests planned

An auction to build the Belo Monte dam, a massive hydroelectric project in Brazil, is going ahead despite two court-ordered suspensions, both of which have been overturned. The dam, which would be the world’s third-largest, has been criticized by indigenous groups, environmental organizations, and most recently filmmaker James Cameron who created the wildly popular Avatar. […]
New report alleges Sarawak government, police, and loggers “act in collusion to harass and intimidate indigenous communities”

A new report by JOANGOHutan, the Malaysian Network of Indigenous Peoples and Non-Governmental Organizations, paints an atmosphere of abuse and ambivalence toward indigenous communities embroiled in land disputes in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. According to the report, there are currently 140 land dispute cases in limbo in the Sarawak […]
Jane Goodall renews her faith in nature and humanity during the “Gombe 50” anniversary, An interview with Dr. Jane Goodall

Celebrating 50 years of pioneering research and sharing an inspiring vision for our future, world-renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall renews her faith in nature and humanity during the “Gombe 50” anniversary. 2010 marks a monumental milestone for the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and its founder, Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE. Fifty years ago, Goodall, […]
Photos: rescued sun bears in Borneo moved to new facility

Rescued sun bears in Sabah, Borneo are getting a new home this week. The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center (BSBCC) has finished Phase 1 of its construction of a new home for the bears. Eventually the center will include visitor facilities and observation gallery where tourists will have the chance to watch the bears. For […]
James Cameron, in real life, fights to save indigenous groups from massive dam construction in Brazil
After creating a hugely successful science-fiction film about a mega-corporation destroying the indigenous culture of another planet, James Cameron has become a surprisingly noteworthy voice on environmental issues, especially those dealing with the very non-fantastical situation of indigenous cultures fighting exploitation. This week Cameron traveled to Brazil for a three-day visit to the Big Bend […]
When it comes to Yellow Fever, conserving howler monkeys saves lives

Abundant and diverse wildlife help people in many ways: for example bees pollinate plants, birds and mammals disperse seeds, bats control pest populations, and both plants and animals have produced life-saving medicines and technological advances. But how could howler monkeys save people from a Yellow Fever outbreak? A new study in the open-access journal Tropical […]
Secrets of the Amazon: giant anacondas and floating forests, an interview with Paul Rosolie

Paul Rosolie leads volunteer expeditions into the Peruvian rainforest with an aim towards education and grassroots conservation. Mongabay.com’s eighth in its series of interviews with ‘Young Scientists’. At twenty-two Paul Rosolie has seen more adventure than many of us will in our lifetime. First visiting the Amazon at eighteen, Rosolie has explored strange jungle ecosystems, […]
Savior of endangered crocodiles dies of malaria

Crocodile-expert and conservationist, Dr. John Thorbjarnarson, died of falciparum malaria in India on February 14th at the age of fifty-two. While many conservationists work with publicly popular animals like tigers and whales, Thorbjarnarson’s passion was for crocodiles. A Senior Conservation Scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Thorbjarnarson proved instrumental in saving both the Orinoco […]
The real Avatar story: indigenous people fight to save their forest homes from corporate exploitation

Spoiler Alert: article reveals end of the film Avatar. In James Cameron’s newest film Avatar an alien tribe on a distant planet fights to save their forest home from human invaders bent on mining the planet. The mining company has brought in ex-marines for ‘security’ and will stop at nothing, not even genocide, to secure […]
Uninhabited tropical island paradise seeks REDD funding to save it from loggers

Tetepare may be one of the last tropical island paradises left on earth. Headhunting and a mysterious illness drove its original inhabitants from the island two hundred years ago, making Tetepare today the largest uninhabited island in the tropical Pacific. The 120 square kilometer island (46 square miles), long untouched by industry or agriculture, is […]
Jane Goodall Institute hosts the ‘Academy Awards’ of conservation

“Jane has been my hero for so many years. She was out there teaching us how important chimpanzees are and about our shared history with them; how important the web of life is to us all. We thought of ourselves as separate and she showed us we are not. She showed us primates made tools […]
Pope Benedict: environmental crisis requires review of world’s economic model

Pope gives advice on how to move forward at Copenhagen. Pope Benedict XVI has released a message linking world peace with preserving the environment for the World Day of Peace, which will be held on January 1st 2010. In it Benedict calls for a “long-term review” of the world’s current economic model, including “[moving] beyond […]
Obama on global warming and forest protection

President of the United States, Barack Obama, was in Oslo, Norway this morning accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, which he won in part for promising to bring the United States to the negotiating table on climate change—something he has recently done. In his speech Obama spoke briefly about why future peace depends on tackling climate […]
Islands and African nations present toughest treaty yet to combat global warming
Led by the small island state of Tuvalu, developing nations particularly vulnerable to climate change have put forward the most ambitious plan yet to mitigate climate change. Their move has split them from usual partners, such as China, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa, who are concerned about the economic consequences of the proposal. Tuvalu—an […]
James Hansen says Copenhagen approach “fundamentally wrong” would be better to “reassess”

James Hansen, one of the world’s foremost climatologists, told the Guardian today that he believes the Copenhagen talks are flawed to the point where failure of the talks may be the best way forward. “The approach that is being talked about is so fundamentally wrong that it would be better to reassess,” Hansen said. Hansen […]
Face-to-face with what may be the last of the world’s smallest rhino, the Bornean rhinoceros

Meeting Tam in Borneo: our last chance to save Asia’s two horned rhino Nothing can really prepare a person for coming face-to-face with what may be the last of a species. I had known for a week that I would be fortunate enough to meet Tam. I’d heard stories of his gentle demeanor, discussed his […]
What would the Dalai Lama do?: spiritual leader speaks out on climate change
The Dalai Lama has given up taking baths in favor of showers and makes certain all lights are off when he leaves a room to help lower his carbon footprint, he told a crowd of reporters in Sydney, Australia today. The 74-year-old spiritual leader of Tibet, said that “taking care of the environment … (is […]
Americans need to be resolute in protecting our last wild places

We’re All “Wilderness Warriors” In Wilderness Warrior, a new and acclaimed biography of Theodore Roosevelt, author Douglas Brinkley says the former Rough Rider’s crusade for conservation was perhaps the greatest presidential initiative between the Civil War and World War II. Brinkley credits the 26th president with saving, virtually single-handedly, 234 million acres of public lands […]
After declining 95% in 15 years, Saiga antelope begins to rebound with help from conservationists

An interview with Elena Bykova, founder of the Saiga Conservation Alliance In a decline on par with that suffered by the American bison in the Nineteenth Century, in the 1990s the saiga antelope of the Central Asian steppe plummeted from over one million individuals to 50,000, dropping a staggering 95 percent in a decade and […]
Saving gorillas by bringing healthcare to local people in Uganda, an interview with Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

How can bringing healthcare to local villagers in Uganda help save the Critically Endangered mountain gorilla? The answer lies in our genetics, says Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, wildlife veterinarian and director of Conservation through Public Health (CTPH). “Because we share 98.4% genetic material with gorillas we can easily transmit diseases to each other.” Therefore, explains Kalema-Zikusoka […]
Concerns over deforestation may drive new approach to cattle ranching in the Amazon

As the world’s biggest cattle producer, Brazil braces for change While you’re browsing the mall for running shoes, the Amazon rainforest is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Perhaps it shouldn’t be. The globalization of commodity supply chains has created links between consumer products and distant ecosystems like the Amazon. Shoes sold in downtown […]
Discovering nature’s wonder in order to save it, an interview with Jaboury Ghazoul

First in a series of interviews with participants at the 2009 Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference. Sometimes we lose sight of the forest by staring at the trees. When this happens we need something jarring and eloquent to pull us back to view the big picture again. This is what tropical ecologist […]
Penan tribe to continue blockade against loggers with blowpipes and spears

The Pope: “creation is under threat”
Pope Benedict XVI spoke today on environmental issues, singling out the importance of a September U.N. summit in New York to work on negotiations for an international framework to tackle global warming, preparing for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December. The Pope said that he wishes “to encourage all the participants […]
A new effort to save global biodiversity? Just ask E.O. Wilson

Economic crisis threatens conservation programs and endangered species, an interview with Paula Kahumbu of WildlifeDirect

Founded in 2004 by legendary conservationist Richard Leakey, WildlifeDirect is an innovative member of the conservation community. WildlifeDirect is really a meta-organization: it gathers together hundreds of conservation initiatives who blog regularly about the trials and joys of practicing on-the-ground conservation. From stories of gorillas reintroduced in the wild to tracking elephants in the Okavango […]
Marine scientist calls for abstaining from seafood to save oceans

In April marine scientist Jennifer Jacquet made the case on her blog Guilty Planet that people should abstain from eating seafood to help save life in the ocean. With fish populations collapsing worldwide and scientists sounding warnings that ocean ecosystems—as edible resources—have only decades left, it is perhaps surprising that Jacquet’s call to abstain from […]
Orangutan guerrillas fight palm oil in Borneo

An interview with Hardi Baktiantoro, Director of the Centre for Orangutan Protection Despite worldwide attention and concern, prime orangutan habitat across Sumatra and Borneo continues to be destroyed by loggers and palm oil developers, resulting in the death of up to 3,000 orangutans per year (of a population less than 50,000). Conservation groups like Borneo […]
Prince Charles’ new online initiative for rainforests makes media splash
Releasing a video with as many species of celebrity as ants in the rainforest and simultaneously turning to online sites such as MySpace and YouTube appears to have worked for Prince Charles, a longtime advocate of rainforest conservation. His conservation organization’s new outreach to online users has garnered considerable coverage from the international media. The […]
The story of ‘Save the Frogs Day’, April 28th, An Interview with Kerry Kriger

Gabonese environmental activist receives prize for standing up to government, Chinese company

Marc Ona Essangui is a beloved environmental leader in his native Gabon, however by winning the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize he is now being introduced to a larger audience: the world. Essangui received the prize for exposing unsavory truths about a deal between the Gabon government and a Chinese company, CMEC, to mine for iron […]
Group devoted to cutting human population receives boost from David Attenborough

Legendary filmmaker, broadcaster, and conservationist, David Attenborough has become a patron of the group Optimum Population Trust (OPT). The organization’s goal is to use education and policy to lower the world’s population. “I’ve seen wildlife under mounting human pressure all over the world and it’s not just from human economy or technology – behind every […]
Former environment minister Silva honored with prestigious environmental award
Brazil’s former Environment Minister Marina Silva was awarded Norway’s $100,000 Sophie Prize for her efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest. Silva, who resigned last year following battles with national industrial interests over plans to develop the Amazon, was recognized for Brazil’s 60 percent reduction in deforestation from 2004 to 2007. “Silva used drastic measures and […]
All about giraffes: an interview with a giraffe expert

Uncovering the mysteries of the imperiled giraffe, an interview with Julian Fennessy
Mountain gorilla population in DR Congo increases 12.5%

20 years ago the Amazon lost its strongest advocate

Twenty years ago today, Chico Mendes, an Amazon rubber tapper, was shot and killed in front of his family at his home. He was 44. Photo by Denise Zmekhol. Zmekhol photographed Chico Mendes and his family during the last weeks of his life. His assassination in Xapuri, a remote town in the Brazilian state of […]
How youth in Kenya’s largest slum created an organic farm

How youth in Kenya’s largest slum created an organic farm How youth in Kenya’s largest slum created an organic farm An interview with an organic pioneer, Su Kahumbu Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com December 9, 2008
Often overlooked, small wild cats are important and in trouble

Often overlooked, small wild cats are important and in trouble Often overlooked, small wild cats are important and in trouble: An interview with small cat specialist Dr. Jim Sanderson Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com August 5, 2008 While often over-shadowed by their larger and better-known relatives like lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars, small cats are important […]
Gore launches second campaign… for Earth

Gore launches second campaign… for Earth Gore launches second campaign mongabay.com July 17, 2008 In a speech Thursday, Al Gore challenged the U.S. to generate 100 percent of its electricity from zero carbon emission sources within 10 years. Speaking at Washington’s Constitution Hall, Gore said America’s security, environmental and economic crises are all related, and […]
Birds face higher risk of extinction than conventionally thought

Birds face higher risk of extinction than conventionally thought Birds face higher risk of extinction than conventionally thought An interview with ornithologist Dr. Cagan Sekercioglu mongabay.com July 15, 2008 Birds may face higher risk of extinction than conventionally thought, says a bird ecology and conservation expert from Stanford University. Dr. Cagan H. Sekercioglu, a senior […]
Wildlife conservationist in Tanzania awarded prestigious prize

Wildlife conservationist in Tanzania awarded prestigious prize Wildlife conservationist in Tanzania awarded prestigious prize mongabay.com May 29, 2008 A wildlife conservationist working in Tanzania has been awarded the prestigious 2008 Parker/Gentry Award for Conservation Biology. Awarded by The Field Museum in Chicago, the prize recognizes Dr. Tim Davenport of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Africa program […]
After acquittal, fear of open season on activists in the Amazon rainforest
After acquittal, fear of open season on activists in the Amazon rainforest After acquittal, fear of open season on activists in the Amazon Michael Astor, the Associated Press May 14, 2008 ABAETETUBA, Brazil (AP) – Bishop Flavio Giovenale was crushed by the acquittal last week of a rancher accused of ordering the killing of a […]
Convicted nun-killer freed in the Brazilian Amazon

Convicted nun-killer freed in the Brazilian Amazon Convicted nun-killer freed in the Brazilian Amazon mongabay.com May 14, 2008 Charges against a Brazilian rancher convicted of arranging the 2005 murder of a 73-year-old American nun in the Amazon rainforest have been dismissed. The jury’s 5-2 decision, which came after a key witness contradicted his own testimony, […]
Brazil’s environmental minister resigns after losing Amazon fight

Marina Silva, Brazil’s environmental minister, resigned Tuesday after losing several key battles in her fight to rein in destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Silva, a former rubber tapper and famed environmentalist, was frequently at odds with development interests, including powerful farmers and ranchers who are seeking to turn the Amazon into Brazil’s agricultural breadbasket. She […]
Photos by late Borneo rainforest hero, indigenous rights activist go online

Photos by late Borneo rainforest hero, indigenous rights activist go online Photos by late Borneo rainforest hero, indigenous rights activist go online Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com April 17, 2008 Bruno Manser Fonds releases over 10,000 photos by environmentalist hero Bruno Manser On April 19th over 10,000 of Bruno Manser’s photographs will be made available to the […]
Amazon environmentalist gunned down in Peru

Amazon environmentalist gunned down in Peru Amazon environmentalist gunned down in Peru Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com March 14, 2008 After reporting a truck loaded with mahogany illegally logged from the Amazon rainforest, Julio Gualberto García Agapito, a Peruvian authority who worked to protect forests, was gunned down by Amancion Jacinto Maque, an illegal timber operator, […]
Amid accusations of bribery by loggers, Borneo chief’s remains to be exhumed

Amid accusations of bribery by loggers, Borneo chief’s remains to be exhumed Amid accusations of bribery by loggers, Borneo chief’s remains to be exhumed Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com February 19, 2008 With Penan chieftain’s body to be exhumed, son accuses loggers of complicity in cover up surrounding his death. Police have announced that they plan to […]
Rainforest chief killed in Borneo for his opposition to logging

Rainforest chief killed in Borneo for his opposition to logging Honored chieftain allegedly murdered in Borneo for his opposition to logging Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com January 3, 2008 Keleasu Naan, a Penan chieftain and longtime activist against logging, disappeared in October while checking animal traps. His tribes’ worst fears were confirmed when they found what they […]
Amazon conservation Team wins “Innovation in conservation Award” for path-breaking work with Amazon tribes

Amazon Conservation Team wins “Innovation in Conservation Award” for path-breaking work with Amazon tribes Amazon Conservation Team wins “Innovation in Conservation Award”for path-breaking work with Amazon tribes mongabay.com December 11, 2007 The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) [donate] was today awarded mongabay.com’s inaugural “Innovation in Conservation Award” for its path-breaking efforts to enable indigenous Amazonians to […]
Carbon credits for forest conservation concept faces challenges

Carbon for forest conservation concept faces challenges but offers big payoff Carbon credits for forest conservation concept faces challenges But initiative could save forests and alleviate rural poverty: An interview with Indonesian forest expert Ketut Deddy Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com November 27, 2007 While environmentalists, scientists, development exports, and policymakers across the political spectrum are […]
7-year old nature guide becomes Belize environmental hero as adult

The State of Forests and Ecotourism in Belize The State of Forests and Ecotourism in Belize An interview with Colin Young, a Belizean Ecologist mongabay.com November 16, 2007 A 7-year old nature guide grows up to become environmental and scientific role model for Belize Each year hundreds of thousands of nature-oriented tourists visit Belize to […]
conservationist Schaller named to Time’s ‘Hero of the Planet’

Conservationist Schaller named to Time’s ‘Hero of the Planet’ Conservationist Schaller named to Time’s ‘Hero of the Planet’ WCS November 13, 2007 Renowned conservationist Dr. George Schaller of the Wildlife Conservation Society was recently named by Time Magazine as one of 60 “Heroes of the Planet.” He joins an elite group of environmental champions, including […]
Carbon for forests will help Aceh recover from war, tsunami

Carbon for forests will help Aceh recover from war, tsunami Carbon for forests will help Aceh recover from war, tsunami mongabay.com September 18, 2007 Aceh Governor Irwandi Jusuf, a former rebel who was one of only 40 survivors after the December 2004 tsunami struck the prison where he was incarcerated, is now one of Indonesia’s […]
Ethnobotanist honored for contributions to wilderness medicine

Ethnobotanist honored for contributions to wilderness medicine Ethnobotanist honored for contributions to wilderness medicine mongabay.com August 8, 2007 Renowned ethnobotanist and conservationist Dr. Mark Plotkin of the Amazon Conservation Team was honored Wednesday with the 2007 Paul S. Auerbach Award, a distinction awarded by the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS). In selecting Plotkin, WMS recognized his […]
Leading Amazon biologist imprisoned in Brazil; witch-hunt suspected

Leading Amazon biologist imprisoned in Brazil; witch-hunt suspected Leading Amazon biologist imprisoned in Brazil; witch-hunt suspected Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com June 23, 2007 A world-renowned primatologist has been arrested in the Brazilian Amazon under charges that he was illegal sheltering 28 primates in his home, according to The Guardian. Supporters say Marc van Roosmalen, 60, […]
An interview with author and eco-lodge pioneer Jack Ewing

Ecotourism works in Costa Rica True ecological tourism works in Costa Rica: An interview with author and eco-lodge pioneer Jack Ewing Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com June 12, 2007 In 1970 a young man went to Costa Rica, a place he initially confused with Puerto Rico, on an assignment to accompany 150 head of cattle. 37 […]
World’s largest movement has no leader but 100M employees

A Wiser Earth? World’s largest movement has no leader but 100M employees A Wiser Earth? World’s largest movement has no leader but 100M employees Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com June 11, 2007 Visionary Paul Hawken discusses WiserEarth and new book The world’s largest movement has no name, no leader, and no ideology, but may directly involve […]
Dorothy Stang fought for social equity in the Amazon

Dorothy Stang fought for social equity in the Amazon Amazon nun’s brother speaks about her murder: Dorothy Stang fought for social equity in the Amazon David Stang June 7, 2007 Dorothy Stang, 1931 – 2005 Editor’s note: Dorothy Stang, an American nun who spent more than 30 years fighting for land rights for poor settlers […]
Can cattle ranchers and soy farmers save the Amazon?
- An Interview with John Cain Carter.
- The key to making conservation successful is making it profitable. John Carter may hold that key.

Globalization could save the Amazon rainforest

Globalization could save the Amazon rainforest An interview with Dr. Daniel Nepstad: Amazon rainforest at a tipping point But globalization could help save it Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com June 4, 2007 The Amazon basin is home to the world’s largest rainforest, an ecosystem that supports perhaps 30 percent of the world’s terrestrial species, stores vast […]
Amazon nun-killer sentenced to 30 years in Brazil

Amazon nun-killer sentenced to 30 years in Brazil Amazon nun-killer sentenced to 30 years in Brazil mongabay.com May 15, 2007 Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, a Brazilian rancher charged with ordering the killing of Dorothy Stang, an American nun, in the Amazon rainforest in February 2005, was convicted today of murder and sentenced to 30 years […]
conservation is saving lemurs and helping people in Madagascar

An interview with lemur expert Dr. Patricia Wright Conservation is saving lemurs and helping people in Madagascar: An interview with lemur expert Dr. Patricia Wright wildmadagascar.org May 7, 2007 Madagascar, an island nation that lies off the coast of southeastern Africa, has long been famous for its unique and diverse species of wildlife, especially lemurs—primates […]
Biodiversity extinction crisis looms says renowned biologist

An Interview with Dr. Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden Jump to Interview What do tigers in India, chameleons in Madagascar, redwood trees in California, and tube worms living in deep-sea hydrothermal vents have in common? They are all components of Earth’s biological diversity, or “biodiversity” for short. Biodiversity is the sum of […]
Indians are key to rainforest conservation efforts says renowned ethnobotanist

Indigenous people are key to rainforest conservation efforts says renowned ethnobotanist An interview with ethnobotanist Dr. Mark Plotkin: Indigenous people are key to rainforest conservation efforts says renowned ethnobotanist Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com October 31, 2006 Integrated biodiversity and cultural conservation can be more effective than traditional protected areas while delivering health benefits to local […]
Global warming could cause catastrophic die-off of Amazon rainforest by 2080

Global warming could cause catastrophic die-off of Amazon rainforest by 2080 Amazon conservation efforts must come soon to save world’s largest rainforest says leading scientist Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com October 23, 2006 An interview with Dr. Philip M. Fearnside of the National Institute for Research in the Amazon. In the past four years Brazil has […]
Rainforests face myriad of threats says leading Amazon scholar

Rainforests face myriad of threats says leading Amazon scholar Rainforests face myriad of threats says leading Amazon scholar But there are reasons to be optimistic adds biologist William F. Laurance Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com October 16, 2006 An interview with tropical biologist William F. Laurance William F. Laurance The world’s tropical rainforests are in trouble. […]
A look at the biodiversity extinction crisis

A look at the biodiversity extinction crisis A look at the biodiversity extinction crisis Education is the key says tropical biologist David L. Pearson Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com October 6, 2006 An interview with Dr. David L. Pearson As tropical forests — the world’s biological treasure troves — continue to dwindle, biologists are racing to […]

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