topic: Interviews

topic: Interviews

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Christiana Figueres & Garik Israelian on Jane Goodall’s legacy and the search for truth
A new award has been created in honor of late conservation icon Jane Goodall by the board of the Starmus Festival, an international gathering of scientists and artists to be held from Oct. 17-22 in Tenerife, Spain. Christiana Figueres has been selected as the recipient of this inaugural Jane Goodall Earth Medal. Figueres is the […]
Environmental crimes don’t stop at borders. Neither can the reporting
- Daniela Quintero is a Colombian journalist and sociologist who develops and edits cross-border investigations as investigations editor at Mongabay Latam.
- Her work combines field reporting with official records, environmental databases, satellite imagery, scientific literature, and legal documents.
- Quintero has reported on glass-eel fishing in the Dominican Republic and the smuggling and laundering of illegally mined Amazonian gold through Venezuela.
- Quintero spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in the Colombian Amazon in July 2026 about her career, investigative methods, and interest in environmental journalism.

Tracing the origins of tulips: Interview with botanist Brett Wilson
- A massive genetic analysis of wild tulips has confirmed that Central Asia is the birthplace of tulips, but no single country can rightfully claim the flower originated within its borders.
- The researchers of the study also traced the closest ancestors of the popular garden tulips down to two possible candidates, Tulipa suaveolens and T. scardica.
- Brett Wilson, the study’s lead author and co-founder of the IUCN SSC Wild Tulip Specialist Group, told Mongabay that “urgent action is needed … if we are not going to lose a great many of these species.”
- More than half of all wild tulips assessed on the IUCN Red List are threatened with extinction.

Inspiring young herpetologists in Sri Lanka: Interview with Anslem de Silva
- Anslem de Silva, Sri Lanka’s pioneering herpetologist, has spent over six decades studying reptiles and amphibians while inspiring generations of conservationists through his work.
- He has authored more than 25 books and 350 scientific papers, shaping global understanding of Sri Lanka’s unique herpetofauna.
- From launching scientific journals such as Lyriocephalus to organizing international crocodile and herpetological conferences, de Silva has created platforms for research and conservation in Sri Lanka and beyond.
- At 86, he is preparing to host the world’s first ever snake conference in Sri Lanka, continuing his lifelong mission to advance snake conservation and awareness.

Drugs are becoming institutionalized: Interview with Ticuna leader in Peru’s Amazon
- Mongabay interviewed Francisco Hernández Cayetano, president of the Federation of Ticuna and Yagua Communities of the Lower Amazon, about substance abuse problems affecting Ticuna youth.
- He says many youth are addicted to drugs and alcohol, which they picked up while working as coca harvesters for drug traffickers due to a lack of alternative employment options.
- The arrival of narcotraffickers, as well as illegal miners, has also led to deforestation and water pollution in Peru.
- In this interview with Mongabay, Hernández describes efforts to bring Ticuna leaders from the Amazon’s tri-border area together to discuss solutions to their shared problems.

Why every endangered species needs a champion: a conversation with conservationist Bill Konstant
- Wildlife conservationist Bill Konstant has spent more than four decades helping build species-conservation programs, connect field biologists with funding, and support threatened wildlife around the world.
- Konstant argues that successful conservation often depends on strong local leadership, committed species champions, diverse teams and relatively small, strategically targeted grants that can launch or sustain field projects.
- He sees the growth of career biologists and conservation organizations in primate range countries as one of the field’s most encouraging changes, even as habitat loss and wildlife population declines remain persistent problems.
- Konstant spoke with Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler in August 2026 about his career, his memoir Wrestles With Wolves, and what decades of species conservation have taught him about how conservation succeeds.

‘Remembering Wildlife’ shines a spotlight on the species we risk losing forever
British wildlife photographer Margot Raggett says she created the book Remembering Elephants after she heard David Attenborough say, “The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?” Her effort was to provoke this question in others and to give the […]
How AI helps gather remote biodiversity data: Interview with Microsoft’s Juan Lavista Ferres
- An AI-powered tool is helping keep an eye on the world’s most remote forests.
- Named SPARROW, the biodiversity monitoring tool continuously gathers and analyzes images and audio from forests over a long time period without human intervention.
- Developed by Microsoft, it aims to make data gathering and analysis from remote forests easier for scientists and conservationists.
- SPARROW has been deployed in five continents and, according to Microsoft, tests on location show it can function for more than a year without interruption.

Forest fires likely to continue to burn twice as much without ‘serious action’ on climate change
Elizabeth Goldman is a co-director of Global Nature Watch, previously known as Global Forest Watch, a database measuring forest loss that’s frequently cited in Mongabay reporting. She joins this week’s podcast to detail GNW’s updated 25-year analysis of global forest fire trends. The picture is stark: Forest fires burn twice as much forest today as […]
What conservation looks like from the outside: A conversation with Adam Falk after his first year as CEO of WCS
- In July 2026, WCS president and CEO Adam Falk spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler about his first year leading the organization.
- Falk said conservation depends as much on relationships with Indigenous peoples, local communities, governments, and funders as it does on protecting wildlife.
- He supports “30 by 30,” but argues that where areas are protected, how they are managed, and their ecological integrity matter as much as acreage.
- Falk also discussed the collapse in U.S. government funding for WCS, the need for long-term philanthropy, and closer cooperation among conservation organizations.

‘My Wild City’ reminds us why cities need nature
In her upcoming book, My Wild City: Finding Nature, Meaning, and Hope in India’s Capital, conservation biologist Neha Sinha takes readers to the hidden and not-so-hidden ecosystems of India’s largest city. And while the book expertly details the biodiversity, I believe its greatest strength lies in connecting with the reader emotionally through powerful stories from […]
Tech helps Vietnam rangers turn the tide on poaching
In Vietnam’s Pu Mat National Park, which borders Laos, an antipoaching unit is integrating high-tech tools with on-the-ground patrols to help turn the tide on illegal wildlife poaching. The antipoaching unit (APU) was formed through a partnership in 2018 between the NGO Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) and the park, to address the widespread use of […]
An Indigenous take on Colombia’s new gov’t: Interview with a Putumayo Indigenous leader
- Mongabay interviewed Marino Peña, a prominent Indigenous leader from Colombia’s Putumayo region, to hear his take on the incoming government’s plans and how it might affect Indigenous communities and forests in Colombia.
- Abelardo de la Espriella, from the far-right Defenders of the Homeland party, won Colombia’s runoff election on June 11 and will be inaugurated on Aug. 7.
- De la Espriella says he will expand fossil fuel production and mining across the country and has promised to tackle violence using greater force and militarization.
- In this interview with Mongabay, Peña explains that the atmosphere on the ground is tense, in part because de la Espriella’s policies might exacerbate existing conflicts linked to a controversial copper mine in the region.

Oil has harmed the nature and people of the Niger Delta; human rights may save it
On this week’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, I speak with travel writer Noo Saro-Wiwa. She has documented the violence and natural destruction that the presence of oil companies have brought to the people of the Niger Delta in her latest book, The Burning Ground: Oil and Militancy in Nigeria. Saro-Wiwa is also the daughter […]
Fighting new oil blocks in the Congo Basin: Interview with activist Pascal Mirindi
- Pascal Mirindi is a Congolese environmental activist fighting oil exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- In 2022, as the Congolese government promoted new oil blocks in eastern DRC, Mirindi and his friends created a movement to raise community awareness of the dangers of fossil fuel exploitation.
- In late 2024, the Congolese government initiated a green corridor extending from the eastern to the western side of the country, aiming to establish the “largest protected tropical forest in the world,” yet a few months later, the country launched new oil blocks covering 60% of the country’s surface.
- Mirindi spoke with Mongabay in June about his activism and the future of the DRC.

Rivers are not just water bodies: Interview with the Waterman of Odisha
- Ranjan Panda — social ecologist, journalist and researcher — is popularly known as the Waterman of Odisha.
- Panda highlights the invisible and noneconomic losses that communities living in coastal areas deal with due to climate change.
- In this interview, he highlights how rivers should be seen beyond their two boundaries of flow; how there is a stark difference in the ways rural and urban India see rivers.

Like ‘climbing Kilimanjaro’ without help: Interview with a Limpopo conservationist
- In South Africa’s Limpopo province, one man, Tshilidzi Mulugana, spearheaded a community project to educate youth about conservation and replant indigenous trees.
- The project received some initial funding, which lasted a few months; despite current financial constraints, Mulugana and his wife continue the push to change the way local residents view trees.
- He says some community members make a living from cutting and selling firewood, and many people are not interested in conservation without compensation; meanwhile, repeated floods have washed away trees and vegetation.
- Mulugana spoke with Mongabay about the challenges he and his wife face in running a community conservation effort on their own.

No corporation can buy the ‘right to destroy’: Interview with activist Raja Waseem Ahmed
- Raja Waseem Ahmed, a dedicated activist in Pakistan’s Chakwal district, is well-known for his decades-long fight to conserve the natural resources and heritage of the Kahoon Valley.
- Through the Kahoon Protection Committee, he led a legal battle against mega cement factories, ultimately prompting the Supreme Court of Pakistan to issue a historic ruling that banned the corporations from extracting local groundwater.
- His persistent advocacy against unchecked industrial expansion recently earned him the WWF-Pakistan Al-Mizan Award for Environmental Justice.
- Raja Waseem Ahmed spoke to Mongabay about his work and steps needed for using the judicial system to safeguard the region’s environment.

Community conservation under fire: Interview with Myanmar’s Clean Mountains founder
- Since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, environmental degradation has worsened, but one small women-led team works on grassroots conservation in conflict areas.
- Clean Mountains helps local communities in Karenni and Karen states with waste management, water conservation, sustainable agriculture and forest conservation.
- Founder Ou Ou discusses how the ongoing conflict has fueled natural resource destruction and also silenced the voices of conservationists.
- She also speaks about the role of gender in conservation work, why women participate more often in waste management efforts and how long-standing traditional beliefs continue to leave women out of decision-making roles.

Waste, women & environmental justice: Interview with Nubian activist Malasen Hamida
- Malasen Hamida, a Nubian Muslim woman from Nairobi’s Kibera, hopes to gain a seat in the Kenyan Parliament as she continues her work in environmental activism.
- Hamida founded the Mazingira Women Initiative, focusing on waste management, smart farming, land rights and women’s leadership.
- She spoke with Mongabay about the history of her people, who were brought to East Africa as soldiers in the King’s African Rifles and given 1,698 hectares, an area that has since diminished to 116 hectares.
- She says the fact that Mazingira is women-led is strategic: “If an environmental issue becomes a priority for a woman, she will ensure it works because she knows it is not for her alone. It is for the long-term well-being of the whole family.”

Humans’ relationship with nature: Interview with ethnobotanist Pavel Partha
- Ethnobotanist and activist Pavel Partha says Bangladesh’s environmental policies overlook the critical relationship between plants and humans; despite an emphasis on conservation, there is no ecological justice.
- Partha says development decisions should account for both ecological and social impacts, arguing that the two are inseparable.
- He also warns that ongoing environmental destruction erases languages, cultural practices and traditional ecological knowledge alongside ecosystems.
- Partha spoke with Mongabay about his activism and how scientific research can support Indigenous communities facing environmental destruction.

Restoring Kashmir’s lakes one community at a time: Interview with Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo
- Conservationist Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo says restoring Kashmir’s lakes and wetlands depends on partnerships between communities, government agencies and local stakeholders.
- Nearly half of the lakes recorded across Jammu and Kashmir in the 1960s have disappeared or shrunk, reflecting decades of pollution, encroachment and unplanned urbanization.
- Through Mission Ehsaas, Wangnoo and the Nigeen Lake Conservation Organisation have helped revive degraded water bodies, showing how community-led conservation can drive ecological restoration.
- Wangnoo discussed the ecological significance of Kashmir’s wetlands, the region’s beauty — and his optimism for the future.

Conserving Sierra Leone’s western chimpanzees: Interview with Tacugama’s Willie Tucker
- Habitat destruction, illegal wildlife trade and climate change remain the leading threats to the western chimpanzee population in Sierra Leone.
- Through community livelihood programs including livestock and seed support, conservationists are trying to help reduce dependence on forests and hunting.
- In 2019, Sierra Leone designated the western chimpanzee as the country’s national animal, strengthening public awareness and support for conservation.
- Willie Tucker, camp supervisor of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, spoke with Mongabay about the sanctuary’s work at the forefront of western chimpanzee conservation, as the facility currently cares for more than 100 western chimpanzees, many of which were rescued from private homes.

Confronting culture to protect vultures: Interview with Nigeria’s Michael Williams
- Michael Manja Williams, an ornithologist and wildlife researcher, has traversed 18 states across Nigeria, studying how cultural practices have spurred a rapid decline in Nigeria’s vulture numbers.
- Williams cites negative public perceptions about vultures as a significant challenge and trains what he calls Vulture Guardians to counteract these beliefs.
- With an increasing number of younger Nigerians lending support to conservation, he is hopeful about the future of vultures in Nigeria.
- Williams recently spoke to Mongabay about his foray into vulture conservation and the challenges thus far.

A fraction of promised climate money reaches Amazon communities: Interview with Latimpacto’s leaders
- Despite major funding pledges for the Amazon, much of the promised capital never reaches Indigenous peoples and local communities, often because funding structures are poorly aligned with on-the-ground realities.
- Latimpacto, a Colombia-based philanthropic network, is working to close this gap through initiatives that train funders, support locally led innovation and integrate Indigenous knowledge into conservation and development projects.
- Mongabay spoke with Latimpacto’s leaders, Carolina Suárez Visbal and Juan David Ferreira, who say the organization is also advocating for stronger domestic philanthropy across Latin America, arguing that better tax incentives, trust-based grantmaking, and patient, flexible capital are needed to complement international funding.
- Suárez Visbal and Ferreira say they see greater collaboration between Latin America and Southeast Asia as a key opportunity, calling for shared funding mechanisms and knowledge exchange to strengthen conservation of tropical forests and broader socioecological resilience.

‘A targeted, data-driven approach’: Interview with Vietnam’s antipoaching unit
- Members of an antipoaching unit in Vietnam’s Pu Mat National Park recently told Mongabay how technology and on-the-ground patrols are combining to reduce poaching pressure in the park.
- Supported by the NGO Save Vietnam’s Wildlife, the APU integrates tools such as SMART data aggregation software and remotely monitored “PoacherCams” to identify trafficking hotspots and guide patrols more strategically.
- Though technologies like AI are highly effective at aggregating data, the team notes these tools have limits in rugged tropical terrain with limited connectivity and ever-shifting conditions.
- Patrol members say they’ve observed signs of wildlife returning to places that were once heavily hunted.

The blueprint for building a fairer world without breaking the planet
A group of more than 40 researchers spent 20 months devising a plan for the world to achieve ecological sustainability within planetary boundaries, all while seeing incomes rise for 98% of the global population and reducing working hours for everybody by half to two and a half days a week. The plan to achieve this […]
Old fire hoses become lifelines for Malaysia’s endangered langurs
On Malaysia’s Penang Island, conservationist Yap Jo Leen is turning old fire hoses into lifesaving bridges that help endangered monkeys cross busy roads in residential areas. The idea took root after she witnessed a female dusky langur and her infant get struck by a vehicle in 2016, Yap told Mongabay’s Phil Jacobson and AFP’s Isabelle […]
Studying giant devil rays through war in Gaza: Interview with Mohammed Abu Daya
- Mohammed Abu Daya is a marine ecologist in Gaza. His research focuses on spinetail devil rays, a large-bodied species of ray that roams the Mediterranean Sea and beyond.
- Since 2013, Abu Daya has monitored the impact that local fisheries have on spinetail devil rays, which are listed as “critically endangered” on the IUCN Red List. Palestinian fishers occasionally target the rays when they stray into Gaza’s coastal water, as other fishing resources in the area have been depleted due to longstanding Israeli restrictions.
- Displaced by Israeli bombings during the war in Gaza that began in 2023, Abu Daya now lives in a tent, with limited access to basic necessities like food and drinking water, or to the internet. His university office has been destroyed, and he can no longer conduct research at sea. Yet he continues to carry out his scientific work, in the hope that it will help improve the conservation of devil rays globally.
- In 2025, at the height of the war, Abu Daya co-authored an international research paper documenting the behavior of spinetail devil rays and showing the importance of the Levantine region for the conservation of this species.

Community more crucial than snow leopard counting: Interview with Rodney Jackson
- Rodney Jackson, a pioneering snow leopard researcher, has worked across the species’ range — the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia.
- In 2000, he founded the nonprofit Snow Leopard Conservancy, focused on community-based conservation in Asia’s high mountain landscapes, and is one of the field’s most cited researchers. Since retiring in 2022, he serves as the president of the Conservancy’s board, focusing on strategy, mentorship and special projects.
- Jackson recently spoke to Mongabay about the big cat’s population monitoring technology, human-wildlife conflict in mountain communities, failure to center herding communities’ needs, and limited collaboration between major snow leopard organizations.

With plastic treaty in limbo, Mongabay speaks to top negotiator Julio Cordano
- At the start of 2026, the world’s efforts to negotiate a global plastics pollution treaty remained deadlocked. Then in February, Julio Cordano was appointed the new chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC) with the hope he can help move the treaty process forward decisively.
- Cordano rarely gives media interviews, but he responded to some of Mongabay’s written questions on how he plans to forge ahead toward an international plastics pollution agreement.
- Cordano continues to fully back the UN treaty negotiations process, which requires any final accord be achieved by consensus between all the national parties. He declined to comment on other possible routes to an agreement that break from the traditional negotiating protocol.
- Observers of the treaty process also weighed in for this story, offering a range of views from hope to skepticism that consensus can get producing nations to mutually agree to major plastic production limits.

The Bougainville community in Panguna wants justice for mining’s ‘toxic legacy’
Theonila Roka Matbob grew up next to what was — at the time — the world’s largest open-pit mine in Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, operated by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. This mine wrought environmental and social devastation on the community of Panguna for decades. And many of these impacts carry […]
Destructive ‘wrong stories’ drive environmental exploitation, Indigenous scholar says
A new book from Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta of Australia explores how human narratives dictate how modern society governs itself and, crucially, how it exploits or protects the natural world. “It’s a terrible thing to … misrepresent things, make false claims, bear false witness in a way that is bending story, the story that everybody […]
How an activist network built pressure without political power
- David Benac’s Rainforest Radicals traces how Rainforest Action Network grew from a small San Francisco-based activist group into an influential force in rainforest protection, Indigenous rights and corporate accountability.
- The book follows RAN’s early campaigns against Burger King, True Geothermal, the World Bank and Mitsubishi to show how the group linked distant forest destruction to everyday choices, public pressure and corporate reputation.
- Benac shows how RAN combined decentralized organizing, nonviolent direct action, media spectacle, boycotts and long-term support for local and Indigenous-led campaigns.
- The interview explores what RAN’s history can teach today’s environmental movements about leverage, persistence, outside solidarity and the challenges that come when a radical network begins to win.

How silk caterpillars became a tool for conservation in Madagascar
- Catherine Craig’s conservation work began with field biology, from chimpanzees at Gombe to decades of research on spiders, silk and insect behavior.
- In Madagascar, she developed a conservation enterprise built around native silk-producing caterpillars, border forests and new sources of income for farmers and artisans. The project’s endurance depended on Malagasy leadership, patient work with communities and a willingness to adapt when markets, weather and local needs changed.
- After more than two decades, Craig stepped back from daily leadership, leaving the program financially secure and increasingly governed by the people who built it locally.
- Craig spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in June 2026.

‘Climate Wayfinding’ can help you unpack the overwhelm of our ecological problems
Katharine Wilkinson has a Ph.D. in geography and the environment, is well known for being a co-author of the book Drawdown and co-founder of The All We Can Save Project. She joins the Newscast this week to discuss her latest book Climate Wayfinding: Healing Ourselves and the Planet We Call Home. As a journalist, it’s […]
Legal protections for Brazil’s isolated Indigenous peoples: Interview with prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto
- Across Brazil, orders known as land-use restrictions serve as temporary protective measures for the territories of recently contacted Indigenous peoples and those living in voluntary isolation.
- But while the measures are meant to allow time for the formal demarcation process to be carried out, they’ve now become an end to themselves, renewed repeatedly and failing to prevent the invasion and exploitation of these lands, says Brazilian federal public prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto.
- Dalberto told Mongabay in an interview that the measure is meant to be precautionary and accompanied by other protective measures by government agencies, such as monitoring work and operations to combat crime.
- He also raised concerns about the frequency with which issues affecting Indigenous territories are being raised to the country’s highest court, rather than being resolved at local courts and tribunals, which closes off an important front in the fight for fundamental rights.

From pledges to road maps, nations organize around fossil fuel phaseout
A group of 57 nations mostly from the Global South, describing themselves as “coalition of the willing” intent on making the Transition Away From Fossil Fuels, or TAFF, convened in the Colombian city of Santa Marta, from April 24-29, 2026, for the inaugural TAFF summit. Also referred to as the “Santa Marta Coalition,” this group of […]
Nature’s feedback loops can drive collapse. Thomas Crowther thinks they can also drive recovery
- Thomas Crowther’s Nature’s Echo argues that feedback loops shape everything from ecosystems and climate systems to human psychology and social change.
- Drawing on ecology, cosmology, and restoration science, the book reframes conservation as the cultivation of self-reinforcing systems rather than isolated interventions.
- Crowther suggests that optimism, behavior, and narrative are not peripheral to environmental outcomes, but part of the forces that influence them.
- In an interview with Mongabay’s founder and CEO, Crowther discusses how these ideas inform his thinking on restoration, regenerative movements, ecological resilience, and the role individuals play in larger systems of change.

Building bridges for human-wildlife coexistence: Interview with Yap Jo Leen
- Conservationist Yap Jo Leen launched the Langur Project Penang after witnessing dusky langurs, an endangered monkey she was studying for her Ph.D. research, getting struck by vehicles on Malaysia’s Penang Island.
- Since 2019, her group has built three canopy bridges made from repurposed fire hoses to help langurs and other tree-dwelling wildlife safely cross busy roads, with no recorded langur roadkill deaths at the first bridge site since its installation.
- The project combines wildlife conservation with citizen science and environmental education, training volunteers to track langur movements, collect ecological and social data, and work with local communities to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
- Yap says the long-term goal is not simply to build more wildlife bridges, but to foster a broader culture of coexistence and community stewardship for urban wildlife across Malaysia.

Australia is failing to meet its environment targets, argues ecologist
Australia is one of 17 “megadiverse” countries that account for 70% of Earth’s biodiversity. However, Australia is unique in having the highest mammalian extinction rate in the world. That makes conservation on the island continent, where most of the wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth, all the more urgent. Conservation and environmental scientists have […]
Measures must be taken now to prevent pandemics at the source, says epidemiologist
“[The]cruel irony here [is] that the world cannot get its act together to address these threats … people are dying, animals are suffering, we’re losing rainforest … these are all interconnected threats,” Neil Vora tells me on this week’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, just a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) reported more […]
Jane Goodall’s grandson on hope after loss
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Five months after Jane Goodall’s death, her grandson Merlin Van Lawick appeared at the ChangeNOW environmental forum in Paris carrying something both public and personal. He was there not as a substitute for his grandmother, but as someone […]
Ecuador failing to end Yasuní oil drilling: Interview with Waorani leader Juan Bay
- Mongabay recently interviewed Juan Bay, the president of the Waorani Nation (NAWE) in Ecuador, on the stalled efforts to shut down oil drilling in Yasuní National Park that overlaps with Indigenous territories.
- A voter referendum in 2023 required the Ecuadorian government to shut down the 43-ITT oil block by August 2024, and the decision was backed up in a 2025 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).
- Since then, however, there’s been virtually no progress, Bay said, with the government having shuttered just 10 out of 247 oil wells in the block.
- Bay said communities continue to suffer from the environmental and cultural destruction caused by oil exploitation, as well as the internal divisions that formed between some Waorani communities.

Protest works, but is under attack and needs your help, veteran activists say
“We are experiencing what some people call sort of a shutdown of the public square in the United States and around the world,” says veteran environmental activist André Carothers. Along with the former executive director of Greenpeace US, Annie Leonard, the two have co-authored a new book about the history of protest, why it works, […]
A new documentary film captures rare mountain gorilla behavior
“That might be something that you see in a decade, not in two years of filming,” Tara Stoinksi, CEO of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, tells me. The behavior she’s referring to occurs in mountain gorilla groups, such as a “dominance transfer,” where a younger male silverback takes over leadership from an older male, and […]
Why evidence matters in environmental journalism
Environmental reporting often begins with a simple proposition: that facts still matter. At a time when climate change and biodiversity loss have become fixtures of public debate, the work of journalism can appear both urgent and increasingly difficult. Scientific evidence accumulates, while political responses lag. Between the two sits a kind of reporting that tries […]
How Spoorthy Raman tells the world’s wildlife stories from a desk in the middle of the Atlantic
- Spoorthy Raman is a staff writer at Mongabay, where she covers wildlife, biodiversity and the complexities of the wildlife trade.
- She began her environmental journalism journey with a Mongabay internship in 2022, which opened the door to writing for other outlets including Hakai, Audubon, BioScience, Nature and others.
- Raman says her inspiration comes from a lifelong curiosity about science, a love for nature, and an admiration for the living world.
- She’s especially proud of her reporting on biodiversity, wildlife and Indigenous food traditions, including award-winning work on baby Dungeness crabs, wild rice restoration in the Great Lakes, and species affected by the wildlife trade.

Reciprocity, not extraction: Centering an Indigenous approach to forestry
Forester and scientist Suzanne Simard is well known for her landmark 1997 paper, which demonstrated that two distinct species of trees could share resources. At the time, it turned traditional Western forestry thinking on its head. Instead of the Darwinian view of trees as being in competition with each other, it introduced the idea that […]
What it takes to make conservation work in Central Africa: Luis Arranz’s 46-year journey
- Luis Arranz has spent more than four decades managing protected areas in Central Africa, taking a field-based approach shaped by long tenures in places like Zakouma, Garamba, Dzanga-Sangha, and Salonga.
- He argues that conservation is less about new plans than about execution—maintaining teams, logistics, and consistent operations in remote and difficult terrain.
- Success depends on aligning conservation with local livelihoods, through mechanisms such as tourism and other income-generating activities tied to protected areas.
- Progress is fragile: parks rely heavily on external funding, operate in unstable security contexts, and can quickly deteriorate without sustained presence on the ground.

How marine flyways could help save the world’s declining seabird population
The routes taken by migratory birds, known as flyways, often cross vast expanses of ocean. Six of these marine flyways have now been formally recognized by the U.N.’s Convention on Migratory Species, at the suggestion of scientists who published their findings on these flyways in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology. Tammy Davies, […]
How do you write the life of someone who avoided the spotlight? Miriam Horn on her biography of George Schaller
- Miriam Horn’s Homesick for a World Unknown presents George B. Schaller as a figure best understood through accumulation rather than revelation, tracing a life oriented outward toward animals and the field.
- Drawing on journals, letters, and archival material, the book moves between landscapes and institutions, emphasizing how Schaller worked and how knowledge was produced under field conditions rather than focusing on personal introspection or narrative drama.
- Horn situates Schaller within broader shifts in zoology and conservation, showing how his long-term observational approach both reflected and helped shape changing scientific practices and conservation thinking.
- In an April 2026 exchange with Rhett Ayers Butler, Horn discussed the challenges of writing about a subject who resisted interpretation, as well as the practical and structural decisions involved in shaping the biography.

Bringing the world’s rewilders together: Interview with Alister Scott
- Rewilding — the process of letting nature take over — is gaining momentum across the globe with several grassroots organizations working on efforts to restore landscapes.
- Global Rewilding Alliance (GRA), an umbrella organization with nearly 300 partner organizations across six continents, aims to bring these efforts together and help rewilders collaborate and learn from each other.
- In an interview with Mongabay, executive director Alister Scott shares what rewilding looks like in practice, challenges it faces and how his organization is helping rewilders take the movement forward.

Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation
- At Dzanga Bai in the Central African Republic—one of the few places where forest elephants gather in large numbers—researchers can observe behaviors that are otherwise difficult to document in dense rainforest.
- Ivonne Kienast leads long-term research combining direct observation with acoustic monitoring, building a detailed record of elephant behavior, social structure, and change over time.
- Her work highlights how sustained presence, local collaboration, and incremental data collection shape understanding of both elephants and the broader forest system they inhabit.
- Kienast spoke with Rhett Ayers Butler, Mongabay founder and CEO, and David Akana, director of Mongabay Africa, over two weeks of conversations in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo during March 2026. Her responses have been edited and consolidated.

From the Atlantic Forest to the Amazon: Alexandre de Santi on camaraderie and uncovering hidden truths in Brazil
- Alexandre de Santi is Mongabay’s managing editor for Brazil, where he leads coverage of the Amazon and other national environmental issues.
- His career spans more than two decades, from founding the investigative studio Fronteira to serving as deputy editor at The Intercept Brazil, where he helped lead landmark investigations.
- Since joining Mongabay in 2022, Santi has brought a collaborative approach to investigative reporting, including editing a 2024 story that exposed links between Amazon carbon credits and timber laundering.
- This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.

Coexisting with America’s growing urban coyote population is easier than you think
Coyotes are now present in almost every major urban-metropolitan area in the United States, yet conflicts between the canines and humans are exceptionally low. Between 1960 and 2006, only 146 documented coyote attacks on humans occurred in the U.S. and Canada. Yet there are 4.5 million dog attacks on humans annually in the U.S. alone. […]
Can nature outcompete war in Eastern Congo?
- In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, pressure on Virunga National Park reflects deeper economic and governance dynamics, where conservation competes with immediate livelihood needs tied to charcoal production and agriculture.
- Emmanuel de Merode frames environmental decline as a consequence of how people earn a living, arguing that protecting biodiversity requires addressing energy access, jobs, and local economic systems.
- Virunga has developed an integrated model built around renewable energy, small business development, financial access, and localized security, aimed at shifting incentives away from conflict-linked and extractive activities.
- The proposed Green Corridor extends this approach across a national scale, testing whether a viable economic system can be built that depends on maintaining forests rather than clearing them, despite ongoing conflict and political constraints.

Creating the North Atlantic’s largest MPA network: Interview with Azores President José Manuel Bolieiro
- In May, José Manuel Bolieiro, president of the Portuguese-administered Azores region, will be honored at the international Peter Benchley Ocean Awards, known as the “Oscars for the Ocean.”
- Bolieiro played a key role in the recent expansion of the archipelago’s existing ocean protections with the establishment of the Azores Marine Protected Areas Network, now the largest MPA network in the North Atlantic.
- He spoke to Mongabay about the importance of ensuring adequate funding and enforcement for the new MPA network, his hope that Portugal can be a global reference for ocean conservation, and how growing up in the Azores fostered his deep love of the sea.

Tracking environmental crime in the Amazon: A conversation with Alexa Vélez
- Environmental investigations in Latin America increasingly combine field reporting with tools such as satellite imagery, cross-border collaboration, and long-term investigative work to document deforestation, illegal mining, wildlife trafficking, and other environmental violations.
- Over the past decade, Mongabay Latam has built a regional reporting network and partnerships with dozens of media outlets, helping environmental investigations reach audiences across the region.
- Alexa Vélez, managing editor of Mongabay Latam, has spent nearly ten years helping coordinate investigations, support reporters, and shape the outlet’s investigative approach to environmental reporting.
- Vélez spoke with Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler in March 2026 about investigative journalism in Latin America, the role of technology in environmental reporting, and how Mongabay Latam’s work has evolved over the past decade.

The ‘unfair’ job of being a conservationist in a world working against nature
Jessie Panazzolo was given a stuffed gorilla when she was 3, and from then on, she always wanted to be a conservationist. But a reasonable career track of being gainfully employed or on a livable wage almost doesn’t exist in the sector, she explains to me this week on the Mongabay Newscast. She details the […]
How saving birds protects the planet: Interview with author Scott Weidensaul
- Birds are struggling, with serious population declines that seem in some cases to be accelerating, which author Scott Weidensaul says in his new book should serve as a warning that the systems on which they depend – and on which we all depend – are breaking down.
- But birds also serve as a handy, readily apparent barometer for when things are starting to go right, too, he argues, in a new interview at Mongabay.
- The bestselling author centers multiple promising efforts to revive species in “The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet,” which W.W. Norton is publishing later this month.

Banned but not silenced: Gerry Flynn’s commitment to uncovering the truth across the Mekong
- Gerald “Gerry” Flynn is Mongabay’s features writer for Southeast Asia, reporting on the intersection of human rights, ecosystems and natural resource governance.
- In January 2025, Flynn was permanently banned from Cambodia in what appeared to be retaliation for his journalistic work; he is now based in Thailand and covers the Mekong region more broadly.
- He emphasizes that environmental journalism in authoritarian contexts must expose realities often omitted from state-controlled media.
- Flynn says he values on-the-ground reporting, amplifying local voices and balancing bravery with safety.

Meaningful conservation demands truth, not just facts, says political ecologist
The people and policies that control how humans treat the natural world are increasingly dominated by a small class of elite political entities and corporations, argues our guest, political ecologist Bram Buscher at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, on this week’s Newscast. This power, he says, is concentrated on platforms that have no allegiance to […]
‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdown
When then-U.S. president John F . Kennedy created the United States Agency for International Development in 1961, it was meant primarily to administer health and food aid around the world. In the decades since, USAID expanded to become one of the world’s largest financial contributors to conservation, providing nearly $400 million annually before the end […]
Juliette Chapalain on building networks and nurturing talent to tell Africa’s environmental stories
- Juliette Chapalain is Mongabay Africa’s multimedia and fellowship editor, leading the bureau’s video, podcast and fellowship initiatives.
- She has more than a decade of experience across French and international media, including TV5 Monde, Arte and BBC News.
- Through Mongabay’s fellowship program, she mentors and trains African environmental journalists, helping build a diverse network of storytellers driving impact across the continent.
- This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.

By protecting tigers ‘we save so much more,’ says Debbie Banks
Tiger populations have risen in some countries, such as Bhutan, Nepal and India, but the global population of the big cat species remains critically endangered, says Debbie Banks, campaign lead for tigers and wildlife crime at the Environmental Investigation Agency. The global tiger population was recorded at roughly 5,574 in 2022, with the species having […]
Beyond the screen: DCEFF
Documentary films have the power to shape how we understand nature. They offer a deeper look into the planet’s challenges, bringing people together through shared experiences and inspiring action. As a media partner for the 2026 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF), Mongabay is featuring exclusive insights into some of this year’s standout […]
How elephants experience time, and what this tells us about protecting them
Khatijah Rahmat, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Germany, says she’s trying to build legitimacy around the concept of animal temporality — the ability to experience time — specifically in elephants. Doing so could have implications for conservation and beyond. “How we envision an animal’s relationship to […]
Bringing storytelling to science: John Cannon’s approach to reporting on nature
- John Cannon is a staff features writer at Mongabay, where he has reported since 2014.
- Cannon says that what inspires him is the chance to tell stories that connect conservation science with the daily lives of people affected by climate change, deforestation and land dispossession.
- He values curiosity, collaboration and the power of storytelling, and is especially proud of his reporting on carbon credit projects in Borneo and entanglement threats to endangered northern right whales.
- This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.

Attention is scarce. Storytelling strategy matters more than ever
Environmental journalism has long struggled with a practical problem: how to make distant ecological change feel relevant to people whose daily lives are shaped by more immediate concerns. Scientific reports document trends in temperature, biodiversity and land use with increasing precision, yet such findings often fail to travel far beyond specialist audiences. Video, once expensive […]
How the ‘wrong story’ ends up harming nature, and how we can change it
Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta (Apalech clan (Wik) Lostmob Nungar) joins the Mongabay Newscast to detail the Aboriginal perspectives behind his latest book, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. The book explains how stories shape society, how they can harm us and the environment, and how they may save our species and the natural […]
Bringing Mongabay’s Amazon narco airstrip exposé to the stage
Mongabay Latam’s award-winning investigation that uncovered 67 secret airstrips in the Peruvian Amazon sent shockwaves across Peru’s media landscape. It drew public attention to Indigenous communities impacted by these illegal airstrips and the 15 Indigenous leaders who were killed defending their territory against drug traffickers. To communicate this story to a wider audience, Mongabay Latam […]
How Lucia Torres is bringing people into nature’s frame
- Lucía Torres is the video managing editor at Mongabay and leads efforts to tell environmental stories through people-centered video journalism.
- With a background in biology and science journalism, she specializes in solutions-focused storytelling that centers on Indigenous voices and local perspectives.
- From covering climate-displaced communities in Mexico to shaping Mongabay’s video strategy, Torres is committed to making complex environmental issues accessible and impactful.
- This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.

A journey from student to Amazon “Junglekeeper”: Interview with Paul Rosolie
- Conservationist Paul Rosolie published a new book describing his journey from student to Amazon “Junglekeeper.”
- In a wide-ranging interview, Rosolie talks about uncontacted tribes, drug traffickers and the distance he still needs to go to achieve his goal of protecting the Las Piedras River.
- Rosolie also discusses the personal challenges and sacrifices of devoting his life to this slice of the Peruvian Amazon.

Kiliii Yüyan puts Indigenous ‘Guardians of Life’ and their planetary stewardship in focus
National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan returns to the Mongabay Newscast to share his experience creating his new book, Guardians of Life: Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Science, and Restoring the Planet from specialty publisher Braided River. This book documents the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of nine Indigenous communities worldwide, featuring contributions and essays from many members of […]
A hundred-year vision: Gary Tabor on the rise of large landscape conservation
- Gary Tabor’s career marks a shift in conservation from protecting isolated “island” parks to designing vast, interconnected ecological networks.
- Informed by his early years in the Adirondacks and a decade in East Africa, Tabor’s work emphasizes that wildlife survival depends on the “connective tissue” between protected areas.
- Through founding the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, he has moved connectivity into the global mainstream, focusing on practical engineering like wildlife crossings and the human work of community organizing.
- Tabor spoke with Mongabay’s Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in February 2026.

Mapping underground fungal networks: Interview with SPUN’s Toby Kiers
- Mycorrhizal fungi are found in every soil system on Earth, and have symbiotic relationships with the plants whose roots they live on.
- They receive carbon dioxide from plants in exchange for nutrients, making them major carbon repositories and an important tool for carbon sequestration.
- The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) is deploying a wide range of technologies, from remote sensing to imaging robots, to map these crucial underground networks.
- “We think of these networks as one of Earth’s circulatory systems, but people are not paying attention,” SPUN co-founder Toby Kiers tells Mongabay in an interview.

60 years of buried lessons on conservation projects from USAID have been saved
A year ago, U.S. President Donald Trump shut down public access to the Development Experience Clearinghouse, a $30 billion database holding 60 years’ worth of institutional knowledge from more than 150,000 projects administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development. But before the closure, former USAID employee and artificial intelligence scientist Lindsey Moore used a […]
‘We have to bring trust’ into funding talks: Valéria Paye on Indigenous-led funds
- Indigenous-led funds provide direct funding and support for Indigenous movements, including on the frontlines of environmental change.
- Mongabay speaks with Valéria Paye, executive director of the Podáali Fund (the Indigenous fund for the Brazilian Amazon), about how their approach differs from mainstream philanthropy by prioritizing trust, reciprocity and Indigenous leadership, governance and management.
- She explains how supporting Indigenous peoples and their territories is a form of “climate policy” and highlights the strong presence of and global support for Indigenous peoples at U.N. climate conference COP30 in Brazil as the reason for tangible outcomes such as the legal recognition of several Indigenous territories.
- Paye shares key lessons from her experience to date with the Podáali Fund, why she thinks the Tropical Forests Forever Fund is “no different” from other state-established funds and her advice for non-Indigenous organizations that want to support Indigenous environmental stewardship.

Financing biodiversity: Lisa Miller on investing in nature
- Lisa Miller’s path into biodiversity finance grew out of an early fascination with animals, later shaped by training in zoology, museum science, and science communication in Australia.
- After nearly two decades working in technology, she began asking how capital, business models, and execution could be redirected toward slowing and reversing biodiversity loss.
- That question led to the creation of the Wedgetail Foundation, which blends philanthropy, investment, and direct land stewardship to support conservation and restoration in practice.
- In January 2026, Lisa Miller spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler about her journey, her approach to investing in nature, and what it takes to make biodiversity work endure.

Partnering up to run a DRC reserve: Interview with Forgotten Parks’ Christine Lain
- In 2017, Upemba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo was largely a “paper park,” badly underfunded and encroached on by poachers, farmers, artisanal miners and armed groups, with its wildlife in steep decline.
- That year, Forgotten Parks signed a 15-year deal with the DRC government to manage the park.
- The agreement was one of a growing number of public-private partnerships for conservation in Africa.
- Mongabay spoke to Forgotten Parks’ DRC director, Christine Lain, about how Forgotten Parks approaches its work at Upemba.

From Kigali to the Congo Basin: Aimable Twahirwa’s path in environmental journalism
- Aimable Twahirwa is a Central and West Africa staff writer at Mongabay, based in Kigali, Rwanda.
- He has worked as a journalist for 25 years, reporting on development, climate change, biodiversity and conservation across Africa and beyond.
- His work has appeared in major outlets including Nature Publishing Group, Inter Press Service, Thomson Reuters Foundation, SciDev.Net and AllAfrica.
- This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.

Why is a Philippine island now the Asia Pacific center for agroecology? Interview with Ramon ‘Chin-Chin’ Uy Jr.
- Ramon “Chin-Chin” Uy Jr., is a sustainable food entrepreneur based on Negros Island in the Philippines, which recently hosted the global “good food” movement Slow Food’s first-ever regional conference in Asia and the Pacific.
- The gathering last November brought together farmers, chefs, food artisans and policymakers from across the region to discuss agroecology, biodiversity and climate-resilient food systems.
- Mongabay reporter Keith Anthony Fabro sat down with Uy during the event to discuss agroecology in the region and what it means that Negros Island is being heralded as its “capital.”

Writer Megan Mayhew Bergman on science, emotion, and the lasting power of ‘Silent Spring’
It’s been more than half a century since the publication of Silent Spring by the scientist and creative writer Rachel Carson. The seminal volume caught the attention of U.S. presidents, artists and musicians, spurring the environmental movement and leading to the eventual ban of the toxic pesticide DDT. Joining the Mongabay Newscast is environmental writer […]
Europe’s olive grove crisis affects nature & culture, but has solutions
Across Mediterranean Europe, olive groves are in decline from a range of factors, from disease to depopulation. In Italy alone, there are estimated to be roughly 30 million abandoned olive trees, and the ecological, cultural and socioeconomic impacts from the loss are devastating, explains the latest guest on the Mongabay Newscast. Still, solutions exist to […]
‘Political will is everything’: Interview with Kenyan Environment Minister Deborah Barasa
- William Ruto won Kenya’s 2022 presidential election on a campaign that included a pledge to plant 15 billion trees by 2032. As the country approaches another election cycle, observers and environmental experts are questioning how much progress has been made.
- Around 1.5 billion trees have been planted so far, Deborah Barasa, the environment minister, said in an interview with Mongabay. Despite concerns over planning, monitoring and funding, she said Kenya can still meet the 15 billion target.
- She added that community ownership, long-term care and tree survival matter more than the number of seedlings planted, noting that the tree plantation campaign is “about instilling a culture of protecting and caring for the environment.”
- Barasa spoke to Mongabay on the sidelines of an event celebrating the legacy of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist and winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai built a landmark women-centric movement to plant trees and combat deforestation and desertification.

Staying with the story: Isabel Esterman on long-term nature reporting in Southeast Asia
- Isabel Esterman is Mongabay’s managing editor for Southeast Asia, overseeing reporting across one of the world’s most complex environmental and political regions.
- Her work is defined by long-term coverage of critical issues, including Sumatran rhinos, carbon credit land deals in Malaysia, and the illegal ape trade in both Asia and Africa.
- Esterman values collaboration across bureaus, particularly with Mongabay Indonesia, and sees supporting freelance journalists and building sustainable career paths as a meaningful part of her role.
- This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our newsroom.

Drag artist Pattie Gonia on why nature advocacy needs joy to succeed
Professional drag artist and environmental activist Pattie Gonia has more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram and has raised $1.2 million for environmental nonprofits by hiking 100 miles, or 160 kilometers, in full drag into San Francisco. She has gained international recognition for using drag artistry to advocate for the environment, in acknowledgment and celebration […]
Democratizing AI for conservation: Interview with Ai2’s Ted Schmitt and Patrick Beukema
- OlmoEarth is a platform that integrates multiple AI models to extract meaningful insights from environmental data.
- The platform, developed by nonprofit organization Allen Institute for AI, is trained on 10 terabytes’ worth of Earth observation data.
- The platform enables researchers as well as conservation organizations to analyze massive data sets by customizing AI models on the platform.

Helping Cape Town’s toads cross the road: Interview with Andrew Turner
- Endangered western leopard toads have lost habitat to urban development in Cape Town, and crossing roads during breeding season adds another danger: getting “squished.”
- Mongabay interviewed Andrew Turner, scientific manager for CapeNature, who discussed underpasses to help the toads safely reach their destinations: ponds for mating and laying eggs.
- Citizen science offers a useful data source, as volunteers record and photograph the toads they help cross the road; “It’s hard for scientists and researchers to be everywhere, but citizenry is everywhere,” Turner says.

Plastic pollution requires urgent action, says author Judith Enck
Judith Enck is a former regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, appointed by President Barack Obama, and the founder of Beyond Plastics, an organization dedicated to eradicating plastic pollution worldwide. She joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss how governments can implement policies to turn off the tap on plastic pollution, which harms human health […]
Up close with Mexico’s fish-eating bats: Interview with researcher José Juan Flores Martínez
- The fish-eating bat (Myotis vivesi) catches fish and crustaceans thanks to its long legs, hook-shaped claws and waterproof fur.
- The species is found only on islands in Mexico’s Gulf of California; it’s considered endangered under Mexican law.
- Invasive species such as cats and rats threaten the bats.
- Researcher José Juan Flores Martínez has been studying fish-eating bats for more than 25 years, and discusses his fascination with the species and the threats it faces.

‘The bargain of the century’: An economist’s vision for expanding clean energy access in Africa
- The recent U.N. climate conference (COP30) in Brazil resulted in the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) to bring about a just energy transition that embraces renewable energy and expands access to power.
- But details on how the transition will be accomplished remain elusive.
- Economist Fadhel Kaboub contends that the transition should not reinforce existing inequalities in Africa and other parts of the Global South.
- Kaboub sees an opportunity in the energy transition to remedy those power imbalances, which he calls “the bargain of the century.”

The top 10 most listened-to podcasts of 2025 from Mongabay
- Another year has come and gone on Mongabay’s flagship podcast with over 40 episodes added to the catalogue.
- The following are the top 10 interviews people listened to the most.
- This chronological list includes professors, authors, Mongabay staffers, conservationists, and advocates detailing investigations, research, advocacy philosophy, examining the existential and environmental threats humanity faces.
- The editorial team agrees with the audience: if you want to hear some of the best conversations from 2025, start here.

How ‘Adventure Scientists’ provide pioneering data for conservation
Gregg Treinish didn’t start out as an outdoor enthusiast, but found solace and purpose in nature during his youth. After years of enjoying the outdoors, he was left feeling a need to give something back to the world. He found fulfillment by using his passion for outdoor adventures to gather critical data that researchers need […]
The lab-in-a-backpack busting illegal shark fins: Interview with Diego Cardeñosa
- Diego Cardeñosa chose lab-based DNA research over fieldwork during his Ph.D. on sharks, betting it could deliver greater conservation impact despite being less glamorous.
- He developed a portable, rapid DNA test — like the kits used during the COVID-19 pandemic — that allows inspectors to identify shark species from fins on the spot, solving a key bottleneck that let illegal shipments slip through.
- The tool has evolved from identifying a handful of protected species to distinguishing among more than 80 sharks and rays in a single test.
- Now deployed across multiple countries, the relatively low-cost kit is expanding through grant support, with plans to adapt the technology to other trafficked wildlife beyond sharks.

Brazilian government serves shark to infants, prisoners and more: How Mongabay broke the story
Mongabay senior editor Philip Jacobson joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss a two-part investigation published this year in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center about how state governments in Brazil have been procuring shark meat — which is high in mercury and arsenic — served to potentially millions of schoolchildren and thousands of public institutions. With Mongabay’s […]
From Kalimantan’s haze to Jakarta’s grit: A journalist’s journey
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Indonesia’s environmental challenges can feel overwhelming when taken as a whole. A country said to contain more than 17,000 islands, it holds the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest and a resource economy that has reshaped much of that landscape. […]
Chris Grinter has spent much of his life surrounded by insects
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Chris Grinter has spent much of his life surrounded by insects — though not in the way most people imagine. As senior collection manager of entomology at the California Academy of Sciences, he oversees one of the world’s […]
Can we create new inland seas to lower sea level rise? Interview with researcher Amir AghaKouchak
- A new research project is looking into the possibility of reflooding the Qattara Depression, a massive low-lying desert area in Egypt, to help counter sea level rise.
- Scientists forecast global sea levels will rise by at least 30 centimeters (12 inches) over present-day levels by the end of the century — and that’s a conservative prediction.
- Mongabay spoke with Amir AghaKouchak, the project’s leader, who says reflooding the Qattara Depression could also bring potential benefits to Egypt, including aquaculture, renewable energy and tourism.
- The idea remains in its infancy and would require the backing of the Egyptian government as well as a great deal of further study.

Governments must prioritize nature protection, former US senator Russ Feingold says
Bill Gates recently claimed that protecting nature or improving human health is an either-or choice, but former national leaders like Russ Feingold, a retired U.S. senator, and Mary Robinson, former Irish president, disagree. As chair of the Global Steering Committee of the Campaign for Nature, a nonprofit organization uniting prominent politicians in support of nature […]
How dropping ads set us free to focus on impact
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo, Mongabay’s senior marketing associate, recently interviewed me about my journey with Mongabay. Here’s my response to his question about pivoting our business model. The transition in 2012 was a turning point. At the time, the advertising […]
Turning adventure into data
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Gregg Treinish’s turning point came somewhere between mountain ranges and moral unease. Years of wandering through wilderness had left him restless. “I was spending years in the wilderness, doing long expeditions, and I began to feel selfish for […]
A ‘Life After Cars’ can provide huge human health and environmental benefits
Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon and Aaron Naparstek realized that no one was discussing the many cultural factors that have played a role in humanity’s car dependency, or the negative impacts this reliance on motor vehicles has on human health and the planet. So they started their own show to do exactly that, The War on […]
Rights to millions of hectares of Indigenous & local communities’ lands restored by ‘barefoot lawyers’
Nonette Royo is a lawyer from the Philippines and executive director of The Tenure Facility, a group of “barefoot lawyers” working to secure land tenure for Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities across the world. To date, the organization has secured more than $150 million in funding and has made progress in securing land rights covering […]
Norway’s multibillion-dollar bet on forests: An interview with Minister Eriksen
- Two major forest finance initiatives announced at COP30 — the Brazil-led Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), backed by $6.7 billion, and the newly launched Canopy Trust — signal renewed global attention on the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest.
- Canopy Trust, formally launched Nov. 17, relies on blended public–private finance and has already raised $93 million, with a goal of mobilizing $1 billion by 2030 to support sustainable enterprises and early-stage, high-impact forest projects in the Congo Basin.
- Norway, the largest contributor to both the TFFF and Canopy Trust, sees the new fund as complementary to existing mechanisms like CAFI — rewarding low deforestation and strengthening sustainable production. One of its key functions is to de-risk investments in local small and medium-sized enterprises, which might otherwise find it hard to attract private investors.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said the ultimate test will be whether these mechanisms finally deliver what communities demand: direct access to finance, local ownership and tangible economic benefits on the ground.

Bearing witness to Indonesia’s environmental challenges: Sapariah Saturi
- Sapariah “Arie” Saturi grew up in West Kalimantan amid recurring forest and peatland fires, experiences that shaped her understanding of Indonesia’s environmental crises.
- After beginning her journalism career in Pontianak in the late 1990s, she joined Mongabay Indonesia at its inception and helped build it into a national environmental newsroom.
- As managing editor, she oversees a dispersed team of more than 50 reporters, beginning her days before dawn to edit stories, coordinate coverage, and guide investigations across the archipelago.
- Her commitment is grounded in independence, empathy, and the belief that environmental journalism can help communities, influence policy, and deepen public understanding of Indonesia’s overlapping crises.

Inside California’s race to document its insects: A conversation with Chris Grinter
- Christopher C. Grinter, Senior Collection Manager of Entomology at the California Academy of Sciences, discussed his work documenting California’s insect diversity through the California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI).
- He described how DNA barcoding and voucher specimens together form a lasting record of life, helping scientists track species and environmental change across the state.
- Grinter reflected on both the urgency of discovery amid biodiversity loss and the promise of new technologies and collaborations that make large-scale insect research possible.
- He spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025.

‘The perfect ingredients’: WRI Africa deputy director shares vision for the continent’s energy transition
- Rebekah Shirley, the deputy director for Africa at the World Resources Institute (WRI), says that increasing energy access for Africans, 600 million of whom lack basic access to electricity, requires thinking about entire economies.
- In a conversation with Mongabay, Shirley notes that technological advances, especially for renewable energy, are no longer the hurdle they once were.
- Instead, bringing energy access to households, community services and industry will result from investment in manufacturing, commerce and industry that will support the expansion of universal household energy access, Shirley says.
- Mongabay spoke with Shirley in the lead-up to the 2025 U.N. climate conference, COP30, in Belém, Brazil.

Mongabay journalist Malavika Vyawahare honored with SEAL Award
Mongabay contributing editor Malavika Vyawahare has been awarded a 2025 SEAL environmental journalism award, which recognizes reporters covering the complexities of the environment and climate. “This award is a huge encouragement for me, as a journalist and as an exhausted toddler mom,” Vyawahare said. “It is also a recognition of the kind of work Mongabay […]
Pioneering primatologist in Madagascar shares decades of conservation wisdom
Patricia Wright, a pioneering primatologist who established the Centre ValBio research station in Madagascar, began her work there in 1986. As the person who first described the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) to Western science, her contributions led to the creation of Ranomafana National Park, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She joins the Mongabay […]
From rock music to rainforests: Akhyari Hananto’s unlikely path to impact
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Before dawn breaks over Surabaya, Indonesia’s “City of Heroes,” Akhyari Hananto is already at work. After morning prayers, he opens Google Analytics to watch the night’s reading patterns unfold — what stories drew attention, which headlines resonated, and […]
‘Africa can become a green leader’: Interview with Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa
- Although Africa contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it suffers the worst consequences of climate change and still receives only around 2% of global renewable energy investments.
- Mohamed Adow from the think tank Power Shift Africa tells Mongabay that delegates at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, must deliver a “just transition framework” that prioritizes African needs, expands access to clean energy, and strengthens green industrialization across the continent.
- Adow says he envisions an Africa that harnesses its transition minerals and renewable potential for its own prosperity — leading the global energy transition instead of powering other countries’ economies.
- In 2025, African countries experienced escalating climate disasters, including deadly floods and severe droughts, while facing cuts in U.S. aid funding.

‘Our zeal is unwavering’: 3 environmental defenders share trials, tribulations, hopes
- Environmental defenders face various challenges depending on their context, whether in Colombia, Uganda or the Philippines.
- Since 2012, more than 2,100 defenders have fallen victim to violence, according to Global Witness. This includes activists in these three countries.
- Mongabay spoke with three defenders from these nations at the 2024 Climate Change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. They were there to raise their voices on issues around just transition to energy, equity, inclusion and that the global climate policies work for them.
- Despite serious threats to their lives, these defenders remain steadfast in their commitment to their cause. They are determined to continue their work, believing their mission is worth the risks they face.

What Central Park’s Squirrel Census says about conservation tech: Interview with Okala’s Robin Whytock
- At the end of New York Climate Week this year, ecologist Robin Whytock spent a few hours in Central Park counting squirrels.
- His mission was to prove how scalable tech solutions could help make biodiversity monitoring easier and more efficient.
- Whytock, who runs AI-powered nature monitoring platform Okala, said that while data-gathering tools have become easily accessible, analyzing massive amounts of biodiversity data still remains a challenge.

Turning outdoor exploration into environmental discovery: Gregg Treinish and the rise of Adventure Scientists
- Gregg Treinish, founder of Adventure Scientists, has built a global network of trained volunteers who collect high-quality environmental data for researchers, agencies, and conservationists. His organization bridges the worlds of outdoor adventure and scientific rigor.
- From microplastics and illegal timber to biodiversity mapping, Adventure Scientists’ projects have filled crucial data gaps and influenced policy, research, and corporate practices around the world.
- In California, Treinish’s team is partnering with the California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI) to help catalog the state’s immense diversity through thousands of insect and soil eDNA samples collected by volunteers.
- Treinish spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025 about scaling trust-based citizen science, the value of human observation in nature, and why adventure remains a powerful gateway to environmental action.

Brazil can protect its forests while growing its economy, says Arapyaú’s Renata Piazzon
- Renata Piazzon, CEO of the Instituto Arapyaú, is one of Brazil’s leading voices for aligning conservation with economic development, arguing that protecting forests and improving livelihoods must go hand in hand.
- Under her leadership, Arapyaú has helped catalyze initiatives like MapBiomas and the Forest People Connection, which link data, finance, and connectivity to reduce deforestation and strengthen Amazonian communities.
- As Brazil prepares to host COP30, Piazzon envisions the country shifting from negotiation to implementation—demonstrating global leadership through regenerative agriculture, forest restoration, and a low-carbon economy.
- Piazzon spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in November 2025.

Rhett Butler reflects on recent accolades, and Jane Goodall’s legacy of hope
Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler was recently awarded the Henry Shaw Medal by the Missouri Botanical Garden and named to the 2025 Forbes Sustainability Leaders list alongside conservation greats such as David Attenborough. The credit for this success belongs to Mongabay, Butler says on this week’s podcast. “ While my name is on the award, […]
California’s grand insect census
- Austin Baker and his team at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County are leading an ambitious effort to DNA-barcode every insect species in California as part of the statewide CalATBI initiative to “discover it all, protect it forever.”
- The project combines traditional specimen collection with modern genetic sequencing to build a comprehensive biodiversity library, revealing surprising hotspots of insect life—from foggy coasts to the species-rich Mojave Desert.
- By creating a genetic baseline of California’s insect diversity, the team hopes to track future ecological change, inform conservation priorities, and preserve the record of countless species that might otherwise vanish unnoticed.
- Baker was interviewed by Mongabay’s Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025.

Australia celebrates ‘humpback comeback,’ but a main food source is under threat
News of Australia’s “humpback comeback” is making waves globally. Numbers of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on the nation’s east coast have rebounded to an estimated 50,000 from a historic low of just a few hundred before commercial whaling was outlawed in the 1970s. And wildlife scientist and whale expert Vanessa Pirotta joins the podcast to […]
Plastic’s triumph was no accident. It built an economy addicted to throwaway living
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. When Saabira Chaudhuri began covering consumer goods companies for The Wall Street Journal, she expected stories about marketing and product launches. Instead, she uncovered a deeper pattern: industrial ingenuity turned liability. Her new book, Consumed: How Big Brands […]
New book unearths environmental crime’s psychological roots
Psychologist and true crime presenter Julia Shaw joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss her latest read, examining some of the highest-profile environmental crimes and why they occur, in Green Crime: Inside the Minds of the People Destroying the Planet and How to Stop Them. She details the commonalities behind six major cases, and what can be […]
Measuring success in trees, not clicks
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. “I knew I was disposable.” That realization, from earlier in his career, helps guide Willie Shubert today in building a kind and capable global newsroom. Shubert oversees Mongabay’s English-language newsroom — its largest — and shapes the organization’s […]
‘We can have abundant rivers and wildlife’: Director of ‘The American Southwest’ on new film
- “The American Southwest” is a new film that explores the importance of the Colorado River in western North America to people and to wildlife.
- Part natural history film, part social documentary, it explores the challenges the Colorado faces as its resources are stretched thin by the demands for cities, energy and agriculture.
- Negotiations over the river’s water after a current agreement expires at the end of 2026 offer an opportunity for more equitable sharing that includes the river itself and long-marginalized representation from the Native tribes who live along the river’s length.
- The film appeared in theaters beginning Sept. 5 and on streaming platforms Oct. 10.

Pioneering policies and rights-of-nature rules win World Future Policy Awards
Policies enacted by seven nations and one international agreement have been recognized by the World Future Council for “top policy solutions for [humans], nature and generations to come.” On this edition of Mongabay’s podcast, the council’s CEO, Neshan Gunasekera, shares key highlights of the eight World Future Policy Award laureates. Under the theme of “Living […]
Connecting Indonesia’s environmental stories to millions
- Akhyari Hananto, Multimedia Manager for Mongabay Indonesia, combines creativity, data, and strategy to ensure environmental journalism reaches and engages audiences across the archipelago.
- His unconventional path—from musician to banker, humanitarian worker, and economic specialist—eventually led him to journalism after witnessing an orangutan shooting that deeply moved him.
- Since joining Mongabay in 2014, Hananto has helped transform its Indonesian platform into a digital force, using visuals, analytics, and storytelling to connect millions with urgent environmental issues.
- Hananto spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025 about his journey, motivations, and the role of purpose in shaping impactful journalism.

Bird-watching for nature connection & social justice
Wildlife biologist and ornithologist Corina Newsome of the U.S. NGO National Wildlife Federation joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss how bird-watching plays a role in environmental justice for underserved communities in urban areas, and provides an accessible way for people to connect with nature and drives impactful change. “Birding is an opportunity [for] people to fill […]
Building a global newsroom for a planet in crisis: A conversation with Willie Shubert
- Willie Shubert, Executive Editor and Vice President of Programs at Mongabay, applies a systems-based perspective shaped by his background in geography to lead the organization’s English-language newsroom and global editorial strategy.
- His career began at National Geographic and evolved through the Earth Journalism Network, where he built a worldwide community of environmental reporters and helped launch data-driven platforms such as InfoAmazonia.
- At Mongabay, Shubert has professionalized and specialized the newsroom, fostering trust, independence, and innovation while emphasizing journalism’s power to create transparency and accountability in environmental decision-making.
- Shubert spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025 about journalism’s role in addressing the planetary emergency and the persistence required to drive meaningful impact.

Tony Pritzker’s patient strategy for the planet
- Tony Pritzker, an engineer by training and philanthropist by practice, frames his environmental giving around patience, pragmatism, and clearly defined goals, from cleaning up Santa Monica Bay to fostering early-career innovators.
- He emphasizes local action as the foundation of global change, citing successes such as stormwater treatment infrastructure in Los Angeles and the educational initiatives of Heal the Bay.
- Pritzker blends optimism with realism, believing that consumer demand, science, and efficiency can align business, policy, and philanthropy to address environmental challenges without partisanship.
- He spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in September 2025 about his journey in environmental philanthropy, his belief in “patient strategy,” and the need to combine innovation with stewardship.

Protein for a crowded planet: An interview with the Good Food Institute’s Nigel Sizer
- Nigel Sizer has become the CEO of the Good Food Institute, bringing decades of experience in forest conservation, human rights, climate initiatives, and pandemic preparedness to a role focused on transforming global protein production.
- He told Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in September 2025 that alternative proteins can relieve pressure on forests, protect wildlife, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and improve resilience to health and climate shocks.
- Sizer’s early priorities include learning GFI’s global operations, meeting teams across regions, and advocating for increased public investment in plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-enabled proteins to accelerate research, manufacturing, and infrastructure.
- He emphasized building coalitions with farmers, regulators, and stakeholders worldwide and called for development banks and climate-finance agencies to support alternative protein projects, arguing this would unlock new markets, jobs, and environmental benefits.

Mongabay staffer shares the joy and impact of wildlife photography
On this episode of Mongabay’s weekly podcast, we look at nature through the lens of wildlife photographer and senior marketing associate at Mongabay, Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo, the multilingual staffer charged with sharing the team’s reporting and mission with the world. Prescott-Cornejo details how his work with Mongabay intersects with his passion for wildlife photography, what makes […]
Turning camera traps into real-time sentinels: Interview with Conservation X Lab’s Dante Wasmuht
- Wildlife technology nonprofit Conservation X Labs has developed and deployed an AI-powered device to make real-time monitoring of camera-trap images easier and more seamless.
- The Sentinel device can be attached to camera traps and serves as a minicomputer with built-in AI models.
- The device has been deployed around the world, and has found applications in detecting invasive species in New Zealand and in the Florida Everglades.
- While camera traps are widely used in conservation, it’s often a challenge to retrieve the data from remote locations, often leading to a delay in conservation action and management.

Ocean acidification threatens planetary health: Interview with Johan Rockström
- The newly published 2025 Planetary Health Check report confirms transgression of the ocean acidification planetary boundary — the seventh Earth system threshold crossed, putting a “safe operating space for humanity” at risk. Oceans act as a key climate stabilizer, resilience builder and Earth life-support system.
- Marking the launch of the 2025 Planetary Health Check, Mongabay speaks with report co-author and renowned Earth system scientist Johan Rockström about how the transgression of planetary boundaries is eroding environmental justice — the right of every human being to life on a stable, healthy planet.
- Rockström, who led the international team of scientists who originated the 2009 planetary boundary framework, also speaks about the failure to achieve a U.N. plastics treaty in August and the challenge of accomplishing planetwide sustainability in a time of widespread armed conflict and political instability.
- He likewise emphasizes the need to bring the U.S. back to the negotiating table at COP30, the U.N. climate summit scheduled for November, in Belém, Brazil, and addresses the importance of inserting the planetary boundaries framework into those talks.

Bridging Indigenous and Western knowledge with science and radio
Aimee Roberson, executive director of Cultural Survival, joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss how her organization helps Indigenous communities maintain their traditions, languages and knowledge while living among increasingly Westernized societies. As a biologist and geologist with Indigenous heritage, Aimee Roberson is uniquely suited to lead the organization in bridging these worlds, including via “two-eyed seeing,” […]
Consumed by convenience: The culture of disposability
When Saabira Chaudhuri began covering consumer-goods companies for The Wall Street Journal, she thought she was writing about marketing campaigns, product launches, and quarterly results. What she found instead was a tale of industrial ingenuity turned liability: a business model built on disposability, dressed up in the rhetoric of sustainability. Her new book, Consumed: How […]
Canada’s mining companies destroy biodiversity with impunity, Indigenous journalist reports
An international tribunal of environmental rights activists recently found extensive evidence that the Canadian mining sector is “guilty for the violation of Rights of Nature across South America and Serbia.” The guest on this episode of Mongabay’s podcast corroborates these accusations, and describes human rights abuses in South American nations that she has seen in […]
Ani Dasgupta watched wetlands tame floods in Kigali. He believes nature is infrastructure we can fund.
- Ani Dasgupta’s path runs from Delhi’s slums to the World Bank and now WRI, where he argues climate, nature, and development must move together. His leadership emphasizes moral purpose, trust, and “orchestration” that links funders, governments, NGOs, and communities to turn knowledge into action.
- He points to pragmatic models: post-tsunami Aceh’s collaborative rebuild, a Kenyan macadamia venture restoring land while raising incomes with Terrafund’s early support, and Kigali’s wetland revival culminating in Nyandungu Park. These show nature-based solutions can cut risk and create jobs, yet financing remains the bottleneck despite WRI’s estimate that $1 in adaptation yields $10 in benefits over a decade.
- Technology is a means, not a cure-all: radar-powered RADD alerts, Global Forest Watch, and WRI’s Land & Carbon Lab aim to democratize environmental intelligence, with AI lowering entry barriers. Evidence like Indigenous monitoring in Peru halving deforestation underpins his measured optimism that systems can bend if collaboration is real and benefits are visible.
- Dasgupta was interviewed by Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in September 2025.

The carbon market paradox: Steve Zwick on why financing forests is more complicated than it looks
- Steve Zwick’s career has traced the intersection of climate, finance, and media, from Chicago trading pits to international business reporting, Deutsche Welle, Ecosystem Marketplace, and now his Bionic Planet podcast and Carbon Paradox, where he focuses on clarifying the complexities of carbon markets and REDD+.
- He emphasizes that carbon markets are built on probabilities, not certainties, and criticizes both media and advocacy for flattening nuance into oversimplified verdicts. For him, methods evolve through revision, guardrails, and conservative accounting, with avoidance of deforestation often delivering the greatest climate impact.
- Zwick frames forest carbon as payment for services protecting a global commons, not charity, and insists that best practice must be community-led. He warns that skewed scrutiny and polarized narratives risk sidelining a tool that, while imperfect, can mobilize resources quickly until deeper emissions cuts take hold.
- Zwick was interview by Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in September 2025.

Top court delivers a ‘huge’ climate win for island nations
The recent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on states’ obligations regarding climate change was celebrated globally for providing clarity on countries’ legal obligation to prevent climate harm, but was also appreciated by island nations for its additional certainty on their maritime boundaries remaining intact regardless of sea level rise. This week […]
Collaboration key to lemur survival: Interview with primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy
- Primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy has warned that primate conservation is at critical juncture, and success will depends on collective effort.
- As he concluded his term as president of the International Primatological Society, he urged its members to work collaboratively and inclusively.
- Mongabay interviewed Ratsimbazafy about the state of research and protection for the Madagascar’s iconic lemurs on the sidelines of the 30th congress of the IPS in Antananarivo in July.

To save humanity and nature we must tackle wealth inequality, says Cambridge researcher
Wealth inequality is a primary culprit behind the ecological and environmental collapse of societies over the past 12,000 years, which have come to be dominated by a small circle of elites hoarding resources like land, research shows. Today, instead of an isolated collapse, we face a global one, says Luke Kemp, a researcher at the […]
How scientists unmask climate change’s role in extreme weather
How do scientists determine whether climate change is driving extreme weather events like the floods, heat waves and droughts that we’re experiencing today? To find out about the science of attribution, Mongabay’s Kristine Sabillo recently interviewed environmental statistician Clair Barnes of World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers that has been analyzing the […]
Tracking rhino horn trade: Interview with International Rhino Foundation’s Nina Fascione
- A new report has found that the population of Javan rhinos has decreased since 2021 as a result of poaching.
- The report by the IUCN also found that the population of black rhinos saw an increase in Africa.
- Nonprofit International Rhino Foundation, which synthesized the data in the report, has now helped fund a tool to monitor and visualize illegal rhino horn trade globally.
- The tool aims to aid conservationists, NGOs and governments in informing and enforcing stricter policies.

The honesty, humor and wonder of ‘Nature’s Last Dance,’ from Natalie Kyriacou
I recently received an advance copy of Natalie Kyriacou’s widely praised new book, Nature’s Last Dance: Tales of Wonder in an Age of Extinction, and found myself agreeing with its many high-profile fans, like Paris climate agreement architect Christiana Figueres, who calls it a “lyrical call to awaken our love for the wild before the […]
Ecosystems as infrastructure: Tim Christophersen on how to rebuild humanity’s ties to nature
- Tim Christophersen argues that humanity’s crises of climate, biodiversity, and pollution stem from a fractured relationship with nature—one that cannot be abandoned, only repaired.
- He sees restoration as both urgent and possible: ecosystems, once given diversity and space, can recover quickly, offering resilience, carbon storage, and abundance.
- From UN diplomacy to corporate initiatives, he presses for treating ecosystems as essential infrastructure, requiring imagination, investment, and a “century of ecology” to secure civilization’s future.
- Christophersen was interviewed by Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in August 2025.

How can we make nature’s wellbeing impossible to ignore? For Natalie Kyriacou, it is the defining challenge
- Natalie Kyriacou’s path to conservation began not in academia or government, but in childhood curiosity and persistence, leading her to found My Green World, a nonprofit that uses education and technology to engage people in protecting nature.
- From backyard expeditions in Australia to fieldwork in Borneo and Sri Lanka, her experiences shaped both her frustration at nature’s marginal place in politics and her belief that conservation needs new narratives that connect ecological systems to everyday life.
- In her new book, Nature’s Last Dance, Kyriacou blends humor and human-centered stories—from New Zealand’s kākāpō to India’s vanishing vultures—to show that nature is not ornamental but essential, and that collective effort is key to its survival.
- Kyriacou spoke with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in August 2025.

Learning to live with lions: Interview with Claw Conservancy’s Andrew Stein
- An automated, real-time alert system is helping local communities in Botswana protect their cattle from approaching lions.
- A team at the nonprofit Claws Conservancy is also working with communities to name individual lions in order to help them build a connection with the animals.
- The initiative was launched to mitigate human-lion conflict, which often led to loss of livestock and the retaliatory poisoning of the lions.
- The lack of vehicles and torches, however, continue to be hurdles when it comes to effectively responding to alerts, which tend to come at night, when the lions are most active.

England’s rewilding movement is gaining steam, Ben Goldsmith says
Rewilding advocate, financier and host of the popular podcast Rewilding the World, Ben Goldsmith, joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss nature restoration in his home country of England, where a significant cultural change is taking hold toward reviving biodiversity, such as beavers. Once seen as a nuisance there, many farmers and planners now embrace the rebound […]
She built a newsroom across 7 countries—Here’s how she did it
- Maria Isabel Torres, Program Director of Mongabay Latam, has spent nearly a decade shaping the bureau into a regional leader in environmental journalism, building a cross-border newsroom recognized for investigative depth, collaboration, and a deep commitment to public-interest reporting.
- Drawing from a background in political journalism, anthropology, and environmental policy, Torres has built a multicultural team spanning seven countries, fostering a values-driven culture grounded in empathy, resilience, and shared purpose.
- Under her leadership, Mongabay Latam has become an innovator in using satellite data, AI, and investigative tools to expose environmental threats, while amplifying underrepresented voices—especially women and frontline defenders—with a steadfast focus on impact and integrity.
- Torres spoke with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in July 2025.

In ‘Hope Dies Last,’ author Alan Weisman chronicles the people fighting for the planet
I bought Alan Weisman’s Hope Dies Last in a bookstore despite knowing nothing about it and based purely on the title. Four hundred pages later, I sat down with the author to talk about the miraculous accomplishments and resilience of the book’s protagonists, many of whom are working to solve humanity’s most intractable ecological problems. […]
Guarding Mexico’s blue frontiers: A conversation with Alejandro González
- Alejandro González has spent nearly 20 years advancing marine conservation in Mexico, leading efforts in iconic marine protected areas like Cabo Pulmo and Revillagigedo, where he combined fieldwork, enforcement, and diplomacy to protect remote ocean ecosystems.
- Now Director for Global Conservation in Mexico, González focuses on scaling enforcement through technology like Marine Monitor radar systems and strengthening institutional capacity to safeguard no-take zones such as the Islas Marías Biosphere Reserve.
- Grounded in community realities, he emphasizes the need to align conservation with local livelihoods—especially amid growing threats like cartel involvement in fisheries—and is motivated by a vision of protecting the ocean for future generations.
- González spoke with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler aboard a ship off the Revillagigedo Archipelago in June 2025.

Forget decrees; try patience. Martin Goebel plays the long game in conserving Baja California Sur
- Martin Goebel champions a patient, relationship-based approach to conservation, focusing on community trust and long-term collaboration rather than top-down mandates or rapid results.
- Through LegacyWorks and its ResiMar initiative in Baja California Sur, Goebel and partners work to regenerate ecosystems from mountains to sea by aligning environmental goals with local aspirations, emphasizing social legitimacy as a prerequisite for success.
- Drawing from decades of experience, including missteps like the vaquita reserve, Goebel argues that the toughest conservation challenges are social—not ecological—and require humility, listening, and time to build something that truly lasts.
- Goebel spoke with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in Mexico in June 2025.

Empathy and spiritual ecology are a conservation solution and ‘radical cure’
The Nature Of is a new podcast series from the nonprofit nature and culture magazine Atmos that speaks with prominent figures in conservation and culture about how humans relate to the natural world, and how they might heal and strengthen that relationship. On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, its host and Atmos editor-in-chief Willow Defebaugh […]
Saving polar bears and beluga whales: Interview with Alysa McCall
- Beluga Cam is a long-running initiative that aims to document the migration of almost 57,000 beluga whales through Hudson Bay in Canada.
- The project is run by the nonprofit Polar Bears International in a bid to collect more data about beluga migration as well as to create more awareness about the species.
- The initiative got an upgrade this year with a new boat that houses the cameras and other equipment deployed for the work.
- As the Arctic rapidly loses sea ice, species such as beluga whales and polar bears bear the brunt in terms of losing access to food and their habitats.

From sports desk to nature’s frontlines: David Akana’s unlikely path to lead Mongabay Africa
- David Akana, Director of Programs at Mongabay Africa, leads with a vision of inclusive, long-term environmental journalism, drawing on a career that began in sports reporting and evolved through development communications and conservation storytelling.
- Since taking the helm, Akana has built a diverse, multilingual newsroom and expanded Mongabay’s reach across the continent, with a strategic focus on reporting in local languages like Swahili to deepen engagement and impact.
- Grounded in the belief that journalism can inform, empower, and hold power to account, Akana emphasizes patience, integrity, and a mission-driven approach to storytelling in the face of disinformation and growing environmental threats.
- Akana spoke with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in July 2025.

Singapore’s regreening is a model for cities everywhere
Singapore has come a long way since the 1880s, when only roughly 7% of its native forests remained. Since the 1960s, when the city-state gained independence, it has implemented a number of urban regreening initiatives, and today, nearly 47% of the city is considered green space, providing numerous benefits to human residents and wildlife, like […]
From deforestation to renewal: Why reforestation isn’t just about trees
- Sociologist Thomas Rudel explores the social and political forces behind global reforestation, arguing that forest regrowth is rarely automatic and often depends on human decisions and local conditions.
- He critiques top-down climate pledges for failing to engage with smallholder farmers and Indigenous communities, who are frequently the key actors in both forest loss and recovery.
- Rudel highlights the importance of “corporatist coalitions” that link global funders with grassroots actors, enabling more flexible and locally effective forest restoration efforts.
- Rudel spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in July 2025.

From protection to control : Van Beemen and Kaplin discuss conservation in Africa
- Dutch investigative journalist Olivier van Beemen is the author of an award-winning book about the NGO African Parks and its controversial management of national parks across sub-Saharan Africa.
- Some of the 23 parks that it manages in 13 countries have been at the center of allegations of human rights abuses.
- According to researcher Beth Kaplin, who worked in Rwanda, the roots of the problem are poor national governance and the separation between local communities and nature in conservation.
- Mongabay interviewed both Van Beemen and Kaplin to get their take on the sources of the problems and how to address rights violations in conservation efforts.

To change the environment, change the narrative
Narratives help shape our society, culture and environment, entrenching beliefs that can help — or harm — our planet and human rights. Tsering Yangzom Lama, story manager at Greenpeace International, joins Mongabay’s podcast to explain how dominant narratives — stories shaped by existing power structures and institutions — often undergird destructive industries and favor the […]
Wildlife & tourists on the up in Zambia’s Kafue Park: Q&A with manager Craig Reid
- Zambia’s Kafue National Park, co-managed by Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife and conservation NGO African Parks, is home to up to 22 different species of antelopes, the highest diversity in Africa, more than 500 species of birds and at least 2,400 hippos in the river from which the park takes its name.
- Park manager Craig Reid says the nine game management areas that provide a buffer zone around the park have been modified in one way or another — including by climate-affected farmers and livestock herders — and illegal hunting also poses a threat to the core zone’s ecological integrity, as does pollution from mining and large settlements upstream.
- But, he says, around 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of the GMA buffer remains completely unsettled, and the park and the stretch of the Kafue that runs through it are doing well – more than $4 million worth of fish is sustainably caught within its boundaries every year.
- African Parks plans to introduce as many as 60 black rhinos to Kafue NP in the coming years and has already reestablished a thriving population of Kafue lechwe, a wetlands antelope unique to this landscape.

A success story at Zambia’s leopard hotspot: Interview with ecologist Chisomo M’hango
- At the Musekese Conservation research station, deep in Zambia’s Kafue National Park, trainee field ecologist Chisomo M’hango analyzes camera trap images of leopards, lions and wild dogs.
- M’hango and colleagues have identified 95 individual leopards, one of the highest densities of this vulnerable species anywhere in Southern Africa.
- The camera traps have caught relatively few lions, likely due to lack of prey in an area where widespread hunting of large antelopes has taken place for decades; M’hango says lion numbers are starting to rise, signaling renewed efforts to prevent poaching in the park and its buffer areas is bearing fruit.
- There are also encouraging signs that populations of wild dogs are recovering, with the single pair monitored soon after Musekese’s research began in 2020 multiplying into three healthy packs of this gregarious endangered carnivore.

Can conservation go viral in Africa? Peter Knights thinks so.
- Wild Africa aims to “mainstream conservation” across the continent by using local ambassadors, pro bono media, and entertainment-based campaigns to build public and political support for wildlife protection. Peter Knights believes that shifting cultural attitudes is essential to ensure lasting conservation outcomes.
- The organization partners with over 80 media outlets and 200 ambassadors to create and distribute content—from music shows to chatbots—that addresses issues like human-wildlife conflict, illegal bushmeat, and poaching. These efforts are designed to inform, inspire, and empower local communities.
- Knights draws on lessons from his work with WildAid, where he helped slash demand for shark fin and ivory in Asia, to catalyze a pan-African movement. He argues that small, strategic teams can have outsized impact by focusing on communication, awareness, and coalition-building.
- Knights spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in June 2025.

From intern to Mongabay India director in less than 4 years: Sandhya Sekar’s journey
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Sandhya Sekar never intended to lead a newsroom. Trained as an ecologist with a Ph.D., Sekar pivoted into journalism to pursue a wider lens on environmental science. Her path wasn’t linear, but it was intentional. First as a […]
This nonprofit connects frontline conservationists with funders, catalyzing impact
Jean-Gaël “JG” Collomb says community-based conservation organizations know best how to tackle the complex conservation challenges unique to their ecosystems. However, they’re also among the most underserved in terms of funding of all stripes. On this week’s episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Collomb explains how his nonprofit, Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), is working to change that. […]
The cost of conservation without consent: Astrid Puentes on rights-based environmentalism
- Astrid Puentes’s journey from Bogotá to the UN is shaped by a deep awareness of how environmental harm often mirrors social injustice. Early in her legal career, she confronted cases where pollution and exclusion disproportionately affected Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and rural communities in Colombia.
- As the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment, Puentes champions a rights-based approach to conservation. She urges the global community to recognize marginalized communities not as victims, but as essential leaders with solutions to the biodiversity and climate crises.
- Puentes calls for a shift from fragmented environmental action to a holistic, justice-centered vision. For her, protecting ecosystems means addressing systemic inequalities and listening to the lived expertise of those most affected by environmental degradation.
- Puentes spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in May 2025.

WWF’s top leader acknowledges reforms in wake of abuse allegations
- Six years after facing widespread allegations of human rights abuses linked to conservation enforcement, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says it has overhauled how it operates in some of the world’s most sensitive ecosystems.
- The global conservation NGO commissioned an independent panel in 2020 to investigate the allegations, which Mongabay and other media outlets reported extensively. The resulting 160-page report outlined more than 170 recommendations, calling for reforms in WWF’s policies, project oversight, risk management practices, etc.
- Today, WWF claims it has implemented close to 98% of those recommendations. In an interview with Mongabay on the sidelines of the Villars Institute Symposium in Switzerland, director-general Kirsten Schuijt detailed some of the organization’s reforms: the rollout of grievance mechanisms, the creation of an ombuds office and the appointment of WWF’s first Indigenous board member. While some have dismissed the appointment as tokenism or mere box-ticking, Schuijt contends that true success lies in ensuring WWF’s decision-making reflects a diversity of voices.
- WWF is looking to reposition itself with a renewed focus on people-centered conservation. Its new global strategy, Roadmap 2030, places locally led conservation at the heart of its work — marking a decisive shift from fortress-style models to approaches that empower Indigenous peoples and local communities in shaping and delivering conservation on their terms.

What sharks are worth—and why that matters
- Stefanie Brendl, founder of Shark Allies, transitioned from shark tourism to advocacy after a pivotal free-diving encounter with a tiger shark, leading her to champion the world’s first shark fin trade ban in Hawaii.
- Her legislative work has since expanded across U.S. states and Pacific island nations, focusing on pragmatic, economically grounded arguments for shark protection over purely emotional appeals.
- Brendl is now developing valuation models that frame sharks as renewable assets, arguing that live sharks provide far greater long-term value through ecosystem services and tourism than the short-term gains from finning.
- She spoke with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in June 2025 during an interview conducted aboard a boat in the Pacific Ocean.

DNA sequencing to meet global biodiversity goals: Interview with Tyler Kartzinel
- A new study has highlighted gaps in reference databases that are required by scientists for DNA sequencing, especially in tropical biodiversity hotspots around the world.
- DNA technology has advanced rapidly in recent years, but the lack of extensive reference databases makes species identification a challenge, especially in remote areas.
- The lead author of the study emphasizes the need to ramp up work to create these databases, especially as the world works toward critical goals to protect ecosystems and the biodiversity that lives in them.

Some rivers have rights, but author Robert Macfarlane argues they’re also alive
This week on Mongabay’s podcast, celebrated author and repeat Nobel Prize in Literature candidate Robert Macfarlane discusses his fascinating new book, Is a River Alive?, which both asks and provides answers to this compelling question, in his signature flowing prose. Its absorbing narrative takes the reader to the frontlines of some of Earth’s most embattled […]
How Mongabay Indonesia grew into a trusted environmental voice
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. When Ridzki Sigit first joined Mongabay in 2012, the environmental journalism platform had yet to establish itself in the language of his native Indonesia. The concept was unconventional: a remote, international team with no physical office, focused solely […]
The ocean is in crisis. A new effort is betting on coastal communities to save it.
The ocean has long been treated as the world’s forgotten frontier — out of sight, out of mind, and dangerously overused. Yet efforts to reverse decades of neglect are gaining momentum. Late April saw the launch of Revive Our Ocean, a new initiative helping coastal communities create marine protected areas (MPAs) to restore marine life […]
Peru’s new bycatch training aims to help save hooked sea turtles: Q&A with fisher Gustavo Rosales
- Sea turtles often get caught on hooks intended for mahi-mahi in the waters off the coast of southern Peru.
- The government is training fishers in best practices for releasing turtles, seabirds and other species accidentally caught by fishing gear.
- A 2022 regulation for the mahi-mahi fishery requires that at least one crew member per boat has obtained a training certificate.
- “If it weren’t for the turtles, there would be no balance,” says Gustavo Rosales, a fisher from the city of Ilo, who says the training has been beneficial.

Finishing Dom Phillips’ posthumous book was ‘the hardest thing emotionally’ co-authors say
- How to save the Amazon: A journalist’s fatal quest for answers, a posthumous book by British journalist Dom Phillips with contributors, is being launched in the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil, accompanied by dedicated events in the three countries.
- On June 5, 2022, Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were brutally killed in the Javari Valley region, in the Brazilian Amazon; Phillips was investigating illegal fishing in the region for his book.
- Right after the tragedy, Jonathan Watts, fellow British journalist based in Brazil and a close friend of Phillips’, led a group of expert writers to finish Phillips’ book; hundreds of people collaborated from writing, editing and translating the chapters to donating money to finish the book.
- “For me, it’s all about collaboration and solidarity. That’s really what this is: a gesture of,” Watts says.

Soaring coffee prices are fueled by deforestation, but solutions exist
Roughly a billion people enjoy coffee daily, and more than 100 million people rely on it for income. However, the coffee industry is the sixth-largest driver of deforestation and is also rife with human rights abuses, including the labor of enslaved persons and children. But it doesn’t have to be this way, says this guest […]
‘Culture & nature are one’: Interview with Mudja Chief Bitini Ndiyanabo Kanane
- Bitini Ndiyanabo Kanane has been the customary chief of the Mudja community near Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2001, having ascended to power through family heritage and assuming the role of a protector — both of his community and the environment, which is home to many rare and endangered species.
- Over the course of decades, Indigenous communities with ancestral homes in Virunga have been expelled from the park; today, decades-old conflict has flared in the region, with a surge of M23 rebel violence that has displaced more than a million people in 2025 so far.
- The chief tells Mongabay that culture and nature are one, and that culture plays a critical part in the community’s conservation efforts in and around Virunga.
- Many of the Mudja community’s traditional customs work to preserve, rather than exploit, plant and animal species, the chief explains.

‘Mining companies will lie to your face’: Carlos Zorrilla on 30 years of fighting for Intag Valley
Carlos Zorrilla has been living in an Ecuadorian cloud forest since the 1970s, and his last 30 years there have been spent fighting mining companies seeking to extract its large copper deposits. He and his community have successfully fought proposals by multiple firms in one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, but sometimes […]
Uniting plantations to save Bornean elephants: Interview with Farina Othman
- Conservationist Farina Othman, a 2025 Whitley Award winner, has been working with endangered Bornean elephants in Sabah, Malaysia, since 2006.
- Since the 1970s, logging, oil palm plantations and roads have reduced and fragmented elephant habitats, increasing contact between the animals and humans; retaliatory killings arising from human-elephant conflict are now among the major threats to the species’ survival.
- Equipped with knowledge of the Bornean elephant’s behavior, Othman works with local communities and oil palm plantations to promote coexistence with the elephants.
- In a recent interview with Mongabay, Othman dives deep into the human-elephant conflicts in the Lower Kinabatangan area, explaining why and how she attempts to change communities’ perceptions of elephants and reconnect elephant habitats.

Methods to recognize the Amazon’s isolated peoples: Interview with Antenor Vaz
- Mongabay interviewed Antenor Vaz, an international expert on recognition methodologies and protection policies for Indigenous peoples in isolation and initial contact (PIACI), about the importance of confirming and recognizing the existence of isolated peoples.
- Vaz is a regional adviser for GTI-PIACI, an international working group committed to the protection, defense and promotion of the rights of PIACI, which recently launched a report to help governments, Indigenous organizations and NGOs prove the existence of Indigenous peoples living in isolation.
- In this interview, Vaz highlights strategies states can use to confirm and recognize the existence of isolated peoples while maintaining the no-contact principle.

Kim Stanley Robinson on how his novel ‘Ministry for the Future’ holds lessons for the present
Roughly five years since Kim Stanley Robinson’s groundbreaking climate fiction novel, The Ministry for the Future, hit shelves and The New York Times bestseller list, there’s little he says he’d change about the book, were it to be published again, he tells Mongabay’s podcast. The utopian novel set in a not-so-distant future depicts how humans […]
Rigorous, not righteous: How Gopi Warrier helped build Mongabay India’s newsroom
- S. Gopikrishna Warrier, editorial director of Mongabay-India, has spent the past seven years shaping a newsroom known for clarity, credibility, and a calm approach to environmental reporting.
- With nearly four decades of experience, Warrier helped bring biodiversity and climate issues into India’s mainstream discourse through rigorous journalism—not advocacy.
- Under his leadership, Mongabay-India has published thousands of impactful stories in English and Hindi, influencing public debate and policy on issues ranging from forestry to environmental politics.
- In May 2025, Warrier reflected on his journey, editorial philosophy, and vision for the future in a conversation with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in Kerala, India.

How Mongabay India took root: Interview with Sandhya Sekar
- Mongabay India, a news service covering issues at the intersection of people and nature in India, was launched after an individual pledged startup funding following a conversation with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in 2017.
- Trained as an ecologist, Sandhya Sekar transitioned into journalism to explore the full breadth of environmental science, eventually becoming the founding program director of Mongabay India.
- Since the bureau’s 2018 launch, Sekar has played a central role in shaping its strategy, operations, and collaborations, building a lean, impactful newsroom producing thousands of stories across India. Known for her behind-the-scenes leadership and systems thinking, Sekar championed the launch of Mongabay-Hindi to expand access and has helped make the organization more inclusive and approachable.
- Sekar talked about her journey and more during a May 2025 conversation with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in Kerala, India.

Deforestation in REDD-protected Congo rainforests is ‘beyond words’
The Republic of Congo had been protecting about half of its dense rainforests via the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) framework. In exchange, the country is supposed to receive payments from the World Bank. But Mongabay Africa staff writer Elodie Toto’s recent investigation revealed the nation has also granted nearly 80 gold […]
How a road engineer became an ocean activist & won the world’s top environmental prize
Carlos Mallo Molina has been awarded the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize for protecting the marine biodiversity of Tenerife, the most populated of the Canary Islands. On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Molina explains what led him to quit his job as a civil engineer on a road project impacting the Teno-Rasca marine protected area (MPA) […]
Angling for answers, this saltwater fishing group boosts research for better conservation
- Though anglers aren’t generally thought of as environmentalists, many people who fish are conservation minded, whether because it’s an outdoor pursuit, or because they wish to ensure future harvests.
- Whatever their reasons, there aren’t many groups that help anglers advocate for sustainable fishing regulations based on solid science, nor ones that also work to generate new data that helps them argue for better conservation.
- “Until we came along, there was no voice for those saltwater anglers who cared about conservation, but didn’t have enough time to put into it to really understand it,” says American Saltwater Guides Association vice president Tony Friedrich.
- His team not only helps its members articulate the need for conservation and regulation, they actively participate in developing data that helps managers set better limits, through projects like their GotOne App.

‘De-extinction’ isn’t just misleading — it’s dangerous, ecologist says
A biotech company in the United States made headlines last month by revealing photos of genetically modified gray wolves, calling them “dire wolves,” a species that hasn’t existed for more than 10,000 years. Colossal Biosciences edited 14 genes among billions of base pairs in gray wolf DNA to arrive at the pups that were shown, […]
How Mongabay Indonesia grew into a trusted environmental voice: Interview with Ridzki Sigit
- This series features interviews with Mongabay leaders about their personal and professional journeys, beginning with Ridzki Sigit, Program Director of Mongabay Indonesia.
- Ridzki joined Mongabay when it was a novel concept in Indonesia, helping transform it into one of the country’s most influential environmental news platforms since its 2012 launch.
- With a background in forestry and documentary filmmaking, Ridzki brought storytelling and environmental expertise to Mongabay, leading investigations that have influenced policy and spotlighted urgent conservation issues.
- He emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and local empowerment, viewing environmental journalism as both a mission and legacy to protect Indonesia’s biodiversity for future generations.

Protecting coastal waters may be the best investment you’ve never heard of, says Kristin Rechberger
- In this interview, Kristin Rechberger—founder of Dynamic Planet and a Mongabay board member—discusses Revive Our Ocean, a new initiative empowering coastal communities to establish marine protected areas (MPAs) that benefit both nature and livelihoods.
- With only 3% of the ocean fully protected and the 2030 “30×30” target looming, Rechberger argues that waiting on governments isn’t enough; community-led efforts are crucial to scaling marine conservation rapidly and equitably.
- Drawing on a decade of experience creating large offshore marine reserves, Rechberger is now focusing on coastal regions where local communities have a direct stake in healthy seas—but often lack the legal authority, tools, or support to act.
- She emphasizes that marine protection is not only ecologically effective but economically smart, citing examples like Spain’s Medes Islands Reserve and Mexico’s booming dive tourism as models for prosperity through conservation.

Listening to whales is key to their conservation
Biological oceanographer John Ryan joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss his team’s multiyear study that examined vocalizations of baleen whales, including blue (Balaenoptera musculus), humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), and how this science is critical for understanding their feeding habits, and thus informing their conservation. The study found that these whales’ songs rise […]
‘It has been worth it’: The local women saving Yucatán’s mangroves
- Mangrove forests provide important ecosystem services, from acting as nurseries for fish to buffering coasts from storms.
- Mangroves along the northern coast of the Mexican state of Yucatán have been impacted by deforestation and highway and port development.
- A group of women called Las Chelemeras has for the past 15 years worked to restore the region’s mangrove forests and ecosystem function.
- Their restoration tasks involve opening and maintaining channels so that water can infiltrate and drain with the tides, and planting mangrove tree seedlings.

An interview with orangutan conservationist and advocate Gary Shapiro
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Orangutans, with their expressive eyes and human-like behaviors, have long fascinated us. Few people, however, have delved as deeply into their world as Gary L. Shapiro. His five-decade career began with a groundbreaking study in primate communication, where […]
Saving saiga antelope with cooperation and community in Kazakhstan
In 2006, a group of international NGOs and the government of Kazakhstan came together to save the dwindling population of saiga antelope of the enormous Golden Steppe, a grassland ecosystem three times the size of the United Kingdom. Since that moment, the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative has successfully rehabilitated the saiga (Saiga tatarica) from a […]
Why the nonprofit newsroom model is vital to Mongabay’s impact
At a time when media outlets are downsizing newsrooms and the audience for traditional news is in decline, Mongabay continues to grow thanks to its impact-driven, nonprofit model. Mongabay’s director of philanthropy, Dave Martin, joins the podcast this week to explain the philosophy behind Mongabay’s fundraising efforts, why the nonprofit model is essential for impact-driven […]
Rethinking carbon: The climate movement needs to be a human one, says Paul Hawken
Celebrated author, thinker and entrepreneur Paul Hawken joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss his new book, Carbon: The Book of Life, and argues that the jargon and fear-based terms broadly used by the climate movement alienate the broader public and fail to communicate the nuance and complexity of the larger ecological crises that humans are causing. […]
As Australia’s ‘nature positive’ plans ring hollow, how will other nations respond?
The Australian government recently promised and then shelved its key environmental protection commitments, including the establishment of an environmental protection agency (EPA) with legal authority to prevent extractive projects from moving forward without strict oversight, and the development of a robust accounting of the nation’s ecological health via an environmental information authority. These programs were […]
Microplastic within humans now a health crisis: Interview with ‘Plastic People’ filmmakers
- The documentary ‘Plastic People: The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics’ reveals microplastics have been found in human brains, placentas, and virtually every organ, highlighting a global environmental and health crisis.
- Executive producers Rick Smith and Peter Raymont explore how humans are becoming “plastic people” with microplastic contamination beginning before birth and persisting after death.
- Nations are negotiating a UN treaty on plastic pollution to address the estimated 400 million tons produced annually, with experts calling for eliminating unnecessary plastic use and banning toxic formulations.
- The film will be screened in Washington, DC, on March 29 at the 2025 DC Environmental Film Festival, where Mongabay is a media partner.

What environmental history reveals about our current ‘planetary risk’
Recent and major shifts in international environmental policies and programs have precedent in history, but the scale and urgency of their potential impacts present a planetary risk that’s new, podcast guest Sunil Amrith says. A professor of history at Yale University, he joins the show to discuss the current political moment and draw comparisons across […]
How ‘ecological empathy’ can help humans reconnect with nature and shape a better world
A useful framework for considering the needs of the “more-than-human world” when designing human-made systems is “ecological empathy,” the focus of Lauren Lambert, founder of Future Now, a sustainability consulting firm. Her research on the topic, Ecological empathy: Relational theory and practice, was published in the journal Ecosystems and People in late 2024, when she […]
How one woman’s wolf ‘moon shot’ changed Yellowstone forever: Interview with director Tom Winston
- A new documentary film, “Mollie’s Pack,” tells the story of the then-head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mollie Beattie, and the controversial, but ultimately triumphant, restoration of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995.
- The filmmakers were able to find and access lost footage to make a compelling and emotional film about success and loss.
- The restoration of wolves into Yellowstone was a “moon shot” moment, according to director Tom Winston.
- Winston says the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone will be “a motivating factor” for future rewilding initiatives around the world.

Clash of worlds for the Amazon’s Cinta Larga: Interview with author Alex Cuadros
- Journalist Alex Cuadros’s latest book, “When We Sold God’s Eye: Diamonds, Murder, and a Clash of Worlds in the Amazon” tells the story of how an Indigenous group in Brazil was forced to reckon with Western culture.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Cuadros says the Cinta Larga group were introduced to Western tools and concepts by the Brazilian state, ultimately eroding part of their lifestyle.
- In a short period of time, the group began to experience money, violence, illegal logging, and mining, while some members of the Cinta Larga profited from these activities.
- “When prospectors started moving into their territory, the Cinta Larga sought them out because they were curious and wanted metal tools,” Cuadros said when explaining the complex relationship with invaders and the “outside” world.

‘Degrowth’ gains a foothold in Barcelona and support internationally
With the purchasing power of middle and working-class citizens shrinking as billionaires hoard ever more wealth, many people are searching for a new economic reality in line with their ecological values and planetary boundaries. “People are really hungry for solutions [and] really hungry to find alternatives,” says Alvaro Alvarez, a journalist and filmmaker of the […]
An investment fund that pays out for nature? Mongabay podcast explains the TFFF
The Brazilian government in 2023 announced a novel funding mechanism to incentivize forest preservation: the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). In an episode of Mongabay’s weekly podcast Newscast, host Mike DiGirolamo explored what experts think about the TFFF, what it can do, and what it can’t. Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso, who has written previously […]
Beyond COP, former UN climate chief talks nuance, optimism on Mongabay podcast
Christiana Figueres, the former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change, led the climate negotiations that birthed the landmark Paris Agreement. Yet, in November 2024, after the 29th climate talks held in Azerbaijan, Figueres was among 22 scientists who wrote to the U.N. calling for “a fundamental overhaul of the COP.” […]
Many companies meet climate pledges on paper — not on the ground, analyst says
A recent paper in the journal Nature Climate Change concludes there is limited accountability for corporations that fail to achieve their climate change mitigation targets. Lofty sounding initiatives like “carbon neutrality” or “net zero emissions” goals are often met with positive fanfare, but when companies eventually fail to reach them, there are scant consequences. According […]
Conservation education is about people too: Interview with Gabon’s Léa Moussavou
- With nearly 90% forest cover, Gabon is home to a biodiverse landscape that prompts the need for both conservation and environmental education among young generations.
- Environmental educator Léa Coralie Moussavou stresses that conservation is not just about protecting wildlife and forests; it’s also about helping local communities.
- Moussavou spoke to Mongabay about her role as the head of community education and environmental awareness at the NGO Conservation Justice.
- “We need to make people understand that everything is linked, that we are all in the same boat, and that our project is not about protecting animals at the expense of human beings,” Moussavou said.

Ecology vs. development in Karachi: Interview with photographer Salman Baloch
- Malir, the largest district in Karachi, has long been home to Indigenous Sindhi and Baloch tribes that lived for centuries as communal agrarian societies, dependent on the environment; now, rapid urbanization and development projects threaten the land, water and wildlife.
- Wildlife photographer, activist and writer Salman Baloch has fought against development projects such as the 39-kilometer (24-mile) Malir Expressway and Bahria Town, a 19,000-hectare (46,000-acre) gated suburb of Karachi, both of which pose dire consequences for the region’s wildlife.
- Baloch is also photographically documenting hundreds of bird species that have historically lived in the area.
- Baloch recently spoke to Mongabay about his activism, photography, fears and hopes for the future of Karachi’s wildlife and ecosystems.

Bobcats benefit both human and ecological health, but their growing populations are often misunderstood
The bobcat population has rebounded over the past 125 years, making it North America’s most common wildcat: as of 2011, there were an estimated 3.5 million bobcats in the United States alone, a significant increase from the late 1990s. These intelligent felids, Lynx rufus, have benefited from conservation efforts that have increased their natural habitat. […]
As Africa eyes protected areas expansion of 1 million square miles, concerns over enforcement persist
The global effort to protect 30% of Earth’s land and water by 2030, known as the 30×30 goals, means nations across the world are expanding their protected areas. In Africa, that would mean an additional 2.59 million square kilometers, or 1 million square miles roughly — about the size of the Democratic Republic of the […]
Military-backed conservation ‘without firing a single shot’: Interview with Nepal’s Babu Krishna Karki
- In 1973, Nepal’s government established Chitwan National Park, to fight pervasive poaching and habitat degradation, and deployed the military Nepal Army to protect threatened species such as rhinos and tigers.
- The role of the force, which still guards the national parks, remains controversial: proponents credit it with saving wildlife, while critics say it militarized conservation and sidelined Indigenous communities.
- The Maoist conflict from 1996-2006 severely impacted national parks across the country, leading to increased poaching and habitat destruction. But post-conflict initiatives strengthened protection measures, including advanced surveillance and community involvement, says Babu Krishna Karki, a retired general who headed the military’s conservation operations.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Karki emphasizes that the military’s role in national parks is temporary, as it envisages a future where local communities take over conservation efforts.

Seeking the ‘humanity–wetland’ balance: Interview with Zimbabwean activist Jimmy Mahachi
- For the past decade, Jimmy Mahachi has advocated for his community’s right to water and the preservation of the Cleveland Dam wetland, a peri-urban wetland in the Zimbabwean capital Harare.
- The wetland is threatened by sand mining, development and the overexploitation of water resources.
- Some residents of the New Mabvuku suburb where Mahachi lives haven’t had running water for more than 30 years, forcing them to collect water from unprotected and even contaminated sources.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Mahachi sheds light on the pressures on environmental activism in Zimbabwe and the connection between humanity and wetlands.

Justice for people, animals and the environment are inextricable, Arcus Foundation says
Bryan Simmons, communications vice president at the Arcus Foundation, joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss the 25-year-old foundation’s philosophy, human rights focus, and how the latter is linked with conservation. “ We think about humans, nonhuman animals, and the environment as one inextricable whole that has many, maybe even an unlimited number of component elements that are […]
Introducing wildlife crime to Nepal’s law enforcement: Interview with Prasanna Yonzon
- Nepal is both a source and transit hub for wildlife crime targeting iconic species like tigers, rhinos and pangolins. Conservationist Prasanna Yonzon has led efforts for over two decades through an NGO to train law enforcement, gather intelligence and build networks for combating wildlife crime.
- The NGO, Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN), played a pivotal role in establishing a dedicated wildlife crime unit under Nepal Police. It collaborates with various law enforcement agencies, providing intelligence, capacity building and resources to curb illegal wildlife trade.
- Over time, WCN’s training programs have evolved to focus on practical skills, intelligence sharing and tools like visual aids, helping officers retain critical information and adapt their approach to combat wildlife trafficking effectively.
- WCN’s efforts have helped officials apprehend big perpetrators. However, Yonzon and his team faced personal risks, including threats, underscoring the dangers of addressing transnational wildlife crime.

‘We’re getting back on track’: Interview with IBAMA head Rodrigo Agostinho
- Rodrigo Agostinho, head of IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, for two years now, spoke with Mongabay about the progress of his agency and the challenges it faces in protecting the country’s biomes after four years of regression under former president Jair Bolsonaro.
- Agostinho revealed plans to strengthen the agency and try to reach the 2030 zero-deforestation goal before the deadline, with investments in cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence: “IBAMA went four years without using satellite images for embargoes. We’ve taken that up again with full force”.
- Agostinho also detailed IBAMA’s restructuring plans, with the opening of offices in the Amazon and support from financial authorities to cut off funding for embargoed areas: “We embargo them due to deforestation, and then that person can’t get agricultural financing anymore.”

Digitizing 6 million plant specimens: Interview with Gunter Fischer & Jordan Teisher
- Researchers at Missouri Botanical Garden in the U.S. have launched an initiative to create a digital repository of the 6 million plant specimens stored in the herbarium there.
- The six-year Revolutionizing Species Identification initiative aims to combine data obtained from visual and hyperspectral scanning with artificial intelligence to build up a plant repository unlike any before.
- The team behind the project says they hope the reference database will speed up plant identification; it could also potentially be used to gauge the health of forests in the face of climate change.

As Gálapagos ecotourism booms, top naturalist guide urges sustainability
- Galápagos National Park and the marine reserve protecting the islands’ surrounding waters welcome 300,000 visitors a year and support sustainable fisheries and tourism jobs for about 30,000 residents.
- The Ecuadorian government restricts the number of visitors accessing each island or dive site daily, and requires each tourist or group to hire a guide to accompany them, ensuring that maximum ecological information is shared and that park rules aimed at protecting the unique flora and fauna are followed.
- Many hundreds of Galápagos residents work year-round in this capacity, like veteran guide Marco Andres Vizcaino Garcia, who Mongabay interviewed about the challenges and opportunities he sees for ecotourism, conservation and research across these iconic islands he calls home.

Turn problems into solutions for culture and agriculture across Australia and the Americas, Anthony James says
Anthony James, host of The RegenNarration Podcast, joins Mongabay’s podcast to share news and views on community resilience and land regeneration in both the Americas and Australia. James recounts how some creatures seen as invasive pests in Australia, like donkeys, are actually now being managed in a way that benefits the land, in places like […]
How tortoise conservationist Hery Razafimamonjiraibe manages risks to antipoaching teams
- Environmental defenders in Madagascar have faced a spate of threats and attacks in recent years, overshadowing their work to protect biodiversity and human rights.
- Against this backdrop, tortoise conservationist Hery Razafimamonjiraibe spoke with Mongabay about how his team manages threats working in often isolated conditions in the south of the country.
- Antipoaching work is risky, he says, but this can be managed through close collaboration and cohesion between communities, NGOs and law enforcement agencies.

One atlas to map all ecosystems on Earth: Interview with Yana Gevorgyan
- The Global Ecosystems Atlas is a tool that aims to serve as an open-source repository for data on all the ecosystems in the world.
- Developed by the intergovernmental initiative Group on Earth Observations, the Global Ecosystems Atlas pulls together existing data while also using remote sensing and AI technologies to fill gaps in areas where data don’t exist.
- The proof of concept for the tool was launched at the COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, in November last year.

Former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres remains optimistic despite disappointing COP process
The 29th United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, ended late and with a massive finance shortfall of pledged climate finance for countries in the Global South, roughly $1 trillion less than what was sought. Many delegates were already on flights home when the final agreement was reached, while other […]
‘These stories deserve to be told’: Shining a light on secretive fisheries managers
In 2024, the U.N.’s climate and biodiversity conferences, COP29 and COP16, drew the attention of more than 3,500 media delegates and 1,000 journalists, respectively. Though these massive global negotiations are consequential for international policy on the environment and have human rights implications, there were also international negotiations this year on managing the majority of the […]
Coral destruction for toilet construction: Interview with a Malagasy fisher
- Toamasina, a coastal city in eastern Madagascar, is surrounded by an extensive network of coral reefs that are home to near-threatened species.
- For decades, these reefs have been under threat from an unusual activity: The use of coral in the construction of septic tanks.
- Mongabay spoke with Abraham Botovao, a boat skipper and the president of a local fishers’ association, who has been closely monitoring this trade and its impact on the local marine environment.
- “It frustrates me every time I see them when I’m out fishing, but unfortunately all I can do is watch without being able to do anything,” Botovao said.

What’s the TFFF? A forest finance tool ‘like no other’ shows potential
In 2023, at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, the Brazilian government proposed a new funding mechanism to help tropical nations keep their forests standing. They called it the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), and its incentive is relatively simple: using satellite monitoring in participating nations to determine which ones have preserved their forests, and […]
Time for a ‘moral reckoning’ of aquaculture’s environmental impacts
Aquaculture is often promoted as a solution to declines in wild fish populations, and has outpaced the amount of wild-caught fish by tens of millions of metric tons each year. But it carries its own myriad environmental impacts, to the detriment of both humans and the ocean, says Carl Safina, an ecologist and author. He […]
How conservation photographer Cristina Mittermeier uses visual storytelling to inspire action
- Cristina Mittermeier, a pioneer in conservation photography, blends art and advocacy to inspire action and amplify often-overlooked voices, particularly Indigenous communities and unsung conservation heroes. Her work emphasizes optimism and solutions over despair.
- Raised in Mexico with a love for nature, Mittermeier transitioned from marine biology to photography after witnessing the devastating impacts of industrial fishing, realizing that visual storytelling could bridge the gap between scientific data and public emotion.
- In a December 2024 exchange with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler, Mittermeier shared her philosophy of “enoughness,” advocating for conservation approaches rooted in inclusivity and honoring Indigenous stewardship as a cornerstone of biodiversity protection.
- Through projects like Hope and her organization SeaLegacy, Mittermeier uses her photography as “visual medicine” to galvanize action, spotlight small victories, and inspire youth to reshape humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

Researchers propose a ‘circular economy’ solution to housing affordability against climate change
A global housing affordability crisis is underway, so when the Center for Demographics and Policy at Chapman University in the U.S. released a report this year highlighting the “disastrous” state of housing affordability for 94 markets — where median home prices far exceed median wages by many times, making housing much more expensive for the […]
How are mangrove restoration projects doing? Interview with Tom Worthington
- A new tool aims to help managers of mangrove restoration projects track their progress and measure final outcomes against initial goals.
- The Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool was developed by the University of Cambridge, WWF and the Global Mangrove Alliance in a bid to streamline global data on mangrove restoration projects around the world.
- Mangroves are crucial ecosystems that serve as carbon sinks and act as a buffer against coastal erosion; however, they’re threatened by deforestation as well as by the impacts of global warming.

‘Trump is a disease’, says Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa
- In addition to being a shaman, Davi Kopenawa is a shaman and a political leader active in denouncing the gold miners who illegally invaded the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in the Brazilian Amazon.
- The Yanomami, who inhabit Brazil’s largest Indigenous Land, still face a humanitarian and health crisis, worsened by the invasion of 70,000 illegal miners. Increased under the Jair Bolsonaro government, the invasion brought diseases and contaminated rivers with mercury.
- In this interview, Kopenawa criticizes the environmental and social impacts of administrations led by politicians such as Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump.

Using science to fight deforestation: Interview with World Forest ID’s Jade Saunders & Andrew Lowe
- World Forest ID, a nonprofit consortium of research organizations, uses chemical and genetic profiling techniques to trace timber to the location where it was grown and harvested.
- The technique has been used to locate the origin of wood in the European Union and to keep a check on the import of products made with sanctioned Russian timber.
- The organization is now working to expand its database to include soy, cocoa and coffee to be able to use its technique when the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) comes into effect.

How nature protection and inspiring art are key to planetary health & preventing pandemics
Dr. Neil Vora is no stranger to dangerous diseases, as a former epidemic intelligence service officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Vora has deployed to nations like Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to combat outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus, and is an ardent supporter of investing in […]
Cities are climate solution leaders: Interview with Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson
- 2024 will likely be the hottest year on record, surpassing the heat record set in 2023. The resulting extreme heat waves, floods, droughts and wildfires took a terrible toll in death, global suffering and economic loss.
- The biggest climate change impacts have by far been in the world’s cities. And the world’s cities have responded proactively, becoming climate solution leaders, even as national governments have dragged their feet for nearly three decades.
- If nations and investment banks offered billions in financing to boost climate work now underway in cities, that effort could then be vastly scaled up, said Gregor Robertson, former mayor of Vancouver, Canada, and a special envoy to the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships. This is an exclusive Mongabay interview.

As nations develop circular economy plans, Finland’s top expert shares how they lead the way
In 2016, Finland became the first nation to design a circular economy roadmap, and has set specific goals to reach “maximum circularity” by 2035. While the nation has made great progress, significant challenges remain. For this second episode of a new series of the Mongabay Explores podcast all about the circular economy — the effort […]
Using regenerative agriculture to heal the land and help communities: Q&A with Kaleka founder Silvia Irawan
- Industrial oil palm cultivation is a major driver of deforestation in Indonesia and other tropical countries.
- Kalimantan’s Seruyan regency is one of the main palm oil-producing regions in Indonesia.
- Through regenerative agriculture trials in Seruyan, research organization Kaleka is trying to find ways for smallholders to cultivate oil palm more sustainably, without reducing their incomes.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Kaleka founder Silvia Irawan discusses the process, benefits and challenges of this approach.

Grounded: A pilot who quit flying to help tackle climate change works to change aviation, for good
Todd Smith didn’t intend to quit his career as a commercial pilot, but a visit to the Quelccaya Ice Cap in Peru, which has been receding by about 60 meters, or 200 feet, per year, prompted a frank personal examination of the airline industry’s impacts on the planet. During a subsequent medical leave, he decided […]
Tracking footprints to monitor wildlife: Interview with WildTrack’s Zoe Jewell
- WildTrack, a U.S.-based nonprofit, uses footprints as a noninvasive way of identifying and tracking wildlife.
- The organization has developed an artificial intelligence model that can identify 17 species, including rhinos, lions, leopards and polar bears.
- The footprint identification model has been used to identify the home range of fishers in California, support antipoaching efforts in Botswana, and understand human-wildlife conflict in South America.

Salmon is ‘everything’ for Lummi Nation highlighted in new PBS documentary
- A new documentary, Scha’nexw Elhtal’nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life, premieres on PBS Nov. 4, following two Lummi families as they maintain fishing traditions amid declining salmon populations.
- In an interview, co-director Beth Pielert and Lummi fisher Tah Mahs Ellie Kinley discuss the film’s origins, salmon’s importance to Lummi culture, and current threats to wild salmon populations.
- For the Lummi people, salmon fishing is described as “everything” — it’s not just an activity but the foundation of their identity, with families tracing their lineage through traditional reef net sites and finding spiritual fulfillment in continuing ancestral practices.
- The filmmakers hope viewers will walk away with both understanding and hope, recognizing that while salmon face serious threats from fish farms and industrial development, there’s still time to protect these resilient fish that are essential to Lummi cultural survival.

‘Don’t call it the high seas treaty’: Ocean biodiversity risks being sidelined in new deal
The global treaty designed for the “objective of the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction,” adopted last year, has more recently gained an inaccurate, but popular, nickname, and lacks independent enforcement, according to some observers. Known officially as the BBNJ agreement (biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction), it has since […]
50 years of geographic insight: In interview with Jack Dangermond on Esri’s journey and the future of GIS
- The digital mapping platforms developed by Esri, including ArcGIS, have revolutionized conservation and environmental planning, management and policymaking. Esri co-founder Jack Dangermond calls geographic information systems (GIS) “a sort of intelligent nervous system for our planet at a time when humanity desperately needs one to address the environmental and humanitarian crises at hand.”
- He credits Esri’s success to a sustainable trajectory of heavy investment in R&D, not being beholden to outside investors, and providing discounted and free use of its software to environmental nonprofits.
- In this interview with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler, Dangermond says that technology, amid the current fractured political climate, should be employed to encourage understanding rather than dwell on divisions.
- The text of the interview has been edited for clarity and flow.

Australia’s Global ‘Nature Positive’ Summit features Indigenous voices, but little government action
SYDNEY – Just prior to the COP16 biodiversity summit in Colombia, the Australian Government hosted the world’s first Global ‘Nature Positive’ Summit. ‘Nature positive’ means “an improvement in the diversity, abundance, resilience, and integrity of ecosystems from a baseline” according to Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) and is a key part of […]
‘Treat us as partners, central actors’: Interview with Indigenous activist Joan Carling
- Joan Carling recently became the first Indigenous Filipino to win the Right Livelihood Award, often referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Carling called for the recognition of Indigenous peoples as partners and central actors in conservation and climate action.
- Carling said the push for development projects, the transition to renewable energy, and “fortress conservation” have resulted in criminalization and human rights violations.
- Instead, she said, governments should recognize Indigenous land rights and incorporate traditional knowledge in conservation efforts.

Forests and the Fate of Civilizations: A Conversation with John Perlin
- John Perlin’s A Forest Journey explores how forests and wood were fundamental to the rise and fall of civilizations, providing materials for construction, energy, and industry, but also contributing to societal collapse when overexploited.
- The book highlights the recurring pattern of deforestation throughout history, drawing comparisons between ancient civilizations’ mismanagement of forest resources and today’s environmental challenges.
- Hope through forest preservation: Perlin emphasizes that protecting old-growth forests is one of the most effective strategies to combat climate change, urging modern society to learn from the mistakes of the past to avoid further ecological and societal decline.
- Perlin spoke with Mongabay’s Rhett Ayers Butler about his book in a recent interview.

Mongabay celebrates 25 years with Jane Goodall at sold out event
The popular climate-focused radio show and podcast Climate One, a program of The Commonwealth Club of California, recently hosted Mongabay and Jane Goodall at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in downtown San Francisco to celebrate the news organization’s 25th anniversary and her 90th birthday, respectively, in front a live audience of 1,700. Mongabay’s podcast previously spoke […]
Indigenous perspectives and a fossil fuel phaseout treaty featured at Climate Week
The Mongabay Newscast traveled to Climate Week in New York City in September to document the perspectives of conservation NGOs, activists and policymakers hailing from Asia to African and the Amazon. On this episode, we share an array of views on the myriad topics discussed there, like improving conservation finance, an effort to popularize a […]
Orangutan conservation and communication: Gary Shapiro’s half-century journey from zoos to the wilds of Borneo
- Gary Shapiro’s work on orangutan cognition and communication spans five decades, beginning with his pioneering studies teaching sign language to ex-captive orangutans in Borneo.
- His research evolved into a lifelong commitment to orangutan conservation, leading him to co-found organizations like Orangutan Foundation International, focusing on protecting orangutans and their rainforest habitats from logging and palm oil plantations.
- Shapiro advocates for “orangutan personhood,” emphasizing their intellectual and emotional capacities, and calls for global action to save both the orangutans and their critical habitats amidst the ongoing climate and biodiversity crises.
- Shapiro recently spoke with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler about his work and the state of orangutans in the wild.

‘Indigenous women in the Amazon must be empowered’: Interview with Nemonte Nenquimo
- The new book Seremos Jaguares (We Will Be Jaguars) by Indigenous leader Nemonte Nenquimo is the memoir of a woman who fought against large oil companies to preserve her people’s land and thousands of hectares of Amazon rainforest.
- The book, written with her husband and executive director of the organization Amazon Frontlines, Mitch Anderson, is a story of hope and resistance from the Amazon in the fight against climate change and the protection of nature.
- In this interview, Mongabay speaks with Nemonte Nenquimo about her work to defend the Amazon and what her new book symbolizes for Indigenous women around the world.

An inventory for acoustic monitoring: Interview with Kevin Darras
- The Worldwide Soundscapes project is a global database that documents when and where passive acoustic monitoring has been deployed to study biodiversity in terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems.
- The initiative aims to build a community of bioacoustics researchers with the goal of fostering collaboration and facilitating macro-ecological analyses.
- Passive acoustic monitoring, which involves listening in on wildlife using audio recorders, has helped scientists detect elusive species; it also helps understand complicated behavioral patterns.
- Kevin Darras, who initiated the Worldwide Soundscapes project, said the goal is to “harmonize our approaches and to benefit from each other’s experience.”

High CO2 levels are greening the world’s drylands, but is that good news?
The increased concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times isn’t just driving climate change — it’s also making much of the world’s drylands greener with increased plant growth. This is known as the CO2 fertilization effect, and politicians sometimes cite it to rhetorically downplay the negative global impacts of climate change, saying it’s […]
Alan Dangour on reframing climate change as a health crisis
- Alan Dangour, Director of Climate and Health at Wellcome, is working to highlight the profound links between climate change and human health, moving beyond traditional climate metrics to focus on lives at risk.
- Wellcome’s Climate and Health program aims to strengthen the evidence base on climate-sensitive health issues, such as heatwaves and the spread of infectious diseases, while translating research into practical, policy-driven solutions.
- Dangour emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and communities to develop real-world interventions, such as cooling strategies during extreme heat and addressing maternal health risks.
- Wellcome seeks to leverage technology, such as AI, to enhance research dissemination and build a thriving, global field of climate and health research, ensuring health is central to climate action policies.

A future where we might ‘get climate right’: A conversation with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Solving our ecological and climate problems looks a lot less like a techno-utopia and more like a mosaic of actions both to protect and restore nature, and to increase and safeguard human equity in the face of climate change, marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson says on Mongabay’s latest podcast episode. In other words, flashy technology, […]
Community forest or corporate fortune? How public land became a mine in Cambodia
Mongabay features writer Gerry Flynn joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss a new investigation he published with freelance journalist Nehru Pry looking at how mining company Lin Vatey acquired thousands of hectares of a public forest, essentially kicking local people, including the Kuy Indigenous community, off public lands that they previously relied on. In this conversation, […]
Action at Scale: Elizabeth Yee on The Rockefeller Foundation’s Climate Strategy
- Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President of Programs at The Rockefeller Foundation, leads the Foundation’s global efforts to address the climate crisis, focusing on building resilient communities and systems. The Rockefeller Foundation has committed $1 billion over five years to tackle climate change, emphasizing solutions in renewable energy, food systems, health, and finance that benefit vulnerable populations.
- Yee emphasizes the importance of cross-sector partnerships—governments, private companies, and civil society—to drive systemic change and scale innovative solutions like clean energy access and AI-driven resilience.
- The Asia-Pacific region plays a central role in the Foundation’s climate strategy, as its success will be pivotal in global climate action, with Yee highlighting the region’s leadership in climate innovation and research.
- Yee recently spoke with Mongabay’s Matthew Boyer.

The ocean ‘belongs to all of us’: Interview with Palau President Whipps
- The President of Palau, Surangel S. Whipps Jr., has been calling for a moratorium — an official pause — on deep-sea mining in international waters for more than two years now, and he continues to reiterate his position.
- Palau has banned deep-sea mining in its national waters, but Whipps says his country is calling for a moratorium, rather than an outright ban, on seabed mining in international waters since the ocean “belongs to all of us.”
- While plans are progressing to allow deep-sea mining to start in international waters — and in some countries’ national waters — Whipps says he believes the world is starting to understand the importance of the deep sea as a growing number of nations call for a moratorium.

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