Kenya’s pain: famine, drought, government ambivalence cripples once stable nation
Part one in a two part look at the crisis in Kenya. The next article will focus on how the drought is impacting wildlife. Kenya was once considered one of…
‘Greening’ logging concessions could help save great apes
Promoting reduced impact logging in forest areas already under concession could help protect populations of endangered great apes, argues a new report published by WWF. Analyzing scientific studies on the…
Alleviating poverty and saving biodiversity are inherently linked argue scientists
Twenty-nine scientists argue in Science today that the world will not be able to lift up the world's poor unless it also addresses global biodiversity loss. They say that the…
Climate Crisis Sparks Radical Response
The global political process to counter runaway climate change has become, for practical purposes, irrelevant. None of the currently proposed emissions reductions being seriously considered in policy making are appropriate…
Heavy oil pollution remains in Amazon, despite company claiming clean-up is finished
A new report shows that the Corrientes region of the Peruvian Amazon, which suffered decades of toxic contamination by Occidental Petroleum (OXY), is far from being cleaned-up. The survey, conducted…
45 new snail species discovered on Australian islands
Surveys on islands off the coast in the Kimberley region of Western Australia have discovered at least 45 new species of snail. "Because the islands are largely unexplored by modern…
Innovative reforestation project threatened by ‘regime change’ in Madagascar, an interview with Rainer Dolch
Third in a series of interviews with participants at the 2009 Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference. In Madagascar the TAMS Program (Tetik'asa Mampody Savoka, meaning "the project…
Saving gorillas by bringing healthcare to local people in Uganda, an interview with Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka
How can bringing healthcare to local villagers in Uganda help save the Critically Endangered mountain gorilla? The answer lies in our genetics, says Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, wildlife veterinarian and director…
Fifteen indigenous leaders arrested in Borneo for protesting dams that would flood their lands
After attempting to send a memorandum of protest against two dam proposals to the Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, fifteen indigenous leaders were arrested in Kuching, Sarawak, reports the non-governmental…
Independent review finds logging company has abused rights of indigenous Penan in Borneo
An independent review of Interhill Logging found that the Sarawak logging company has regularly violated forest laws and abused the rights of the indigenous Penan peoples. The review, conducted by…
Vlad the Impaler of the bird world now at Bronx Zoo: skewers prey on thorns and barbed wire
The loggerhead shrike, also known as the 'butcher bird', employs a feeding strategy that would have been right at home in 15th Century Transylvania. Like the infamous Vlad the Impaler…
Emissions from cerrado destruction in Brazil equal to emissions from Amazon deforestation
Damage to Brazil's vast cerrado grassland results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by destruction of the Amazon rainforest, said Carlos Minc, the country's Environment Minister. Speaking on…
Saving the last megafauna of Malaysia, an interview with Reuben Clements
Reuben Clements is the species conservation manager for WWF-Malaysia's Malayan tiger and Sumatran rhino projects. Mongabay.com's fifth in a series of interviews with 'Young Scientists'. And second in a series…
On the edge of extinction, Fiji petrels observed at sea for the first time
The Critically Endangered Fiji petrel has been observed at sea for the first time by BirdLife International and NatureFiji-MareqetiViti. First recorded in 1855 from one specimen found on Gau Island,…
Economists, scientists warn that world crises require new order of international cooperation and enforcement
A group of environmental scientists and economists warn that under current governing models the number and scale of human-caused crises are "outrunning our ability to deal with them". The researchers,…
Social causes of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest
Understanding the web of social groups involved in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is key to containing forest loss, argues a leading Amazon researcher writing in the journal Ecology and…
Community engagement is key to saving the rarest zebra
Efforts to protect the world's largest and rarest species of zebra — Grévy's Zebra (Equus grevyi) — hinge on engaging communities to lead conservation in their region, says a Kenyan…
500 scientists call on Quebec to keep its promise to conserve half of its boreal forest
This March, the Canadian province of Quebec pledged to conserve 50 percent of its boreal forest lying north of the 49th parallel, protecting the region from industrial, mining, and energy…
Oil road transforms indigenous nomadic hunters into commercial poachers in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Oil company in Ecuador transforms indigenous community into commercial poachers, threatening wildlife in a protected area The documentary Crude opened this weekend in New York, while the film shows the…
Brazil to step up efforts to save the cerrado grassland
Brazil will try to reduce deforestation of the cerrado, a wooded grassland ecosystem in Brazil that is being destroyed twice as fast as the Amazon rainforest, according to the country's…
France announces carbon tax
The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has announced that he will implement a carbon tax to help "save the human race" from global warming. The tax of 17 Euros (about…
Guatemala latest country to declare food crisis: nearly half a million families face food shortages
The President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, has announced a "state of public calamity" to tackle food shortages throughout the Central American nation. The failure of bean and corn crops from…
Rhino poaching epidemic underway in South Africa
In July national parks in South Africa lost 26 white rhinos and one black rhino to poachers, bringing the total rhinos lost in South Africa to 84 this year alone.…
Photos: new gecko discovered on bizarre and beautiful Socotra island
Lying in the Indian Ocean half way between Somalia and Yemen, the strange island archipelagos of Socotra offer a bewildering array of life found no where else on Earth. Thirty…
Sheikh goes from collector to conservationist in effort to save the world’s rarest parrot
From Collectors to Conservationists: Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation (AWWP) is a private conservation and endangered species breeding-center located in the Arabian gulf State of Qatar. Founded…
World’s only Sumatran rhino to give birth in captivity dies at Cincinnati Zoo
Emi, the world’s only Sumatran rhino to give birth in captivity, died on Saturday at the Cincinnati zoo. She successfully gave birth to three offspring, one of which has been…
Slaughter of dolphins and whales begins in cove made famous by film
Japan Probe reports that the annual dolphin slaughter by fishermen in the Japanese town of Taiji has begun. The hunt was delayed by the presence of Japanese and foreign press…
Hunger drives great tits to kill and eat bats as they hibernate
A common bird in Europe, the great tit tends to stick to insects and seeds as a food source with caterpillars as a particular favorite. However, a new paper in…
South Korea’s frogs have avoided amphibian crisis so far, an interview with Pierre Fidenci
Frogs are on the edge. Blasted by habitat loss, pollution, and a terrible disease, the chytrid fungus, species are vanishing worldwide and those that remain are clinging to existence, rather…
Huge demand for omega-3 fatty acids depleting oceans worldwide for aquaculture
Aquaculture now supplies 50 percent of the world's fish The ever-growing demand for fish and fish oil due to their omega-3 fatty acids has led to exponential growth in the…
Britain bans palm oil ad campaign
Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a group that regulates advertisements, has again banned a "misleading" ad by the palm oil industry, reports the Guardian. ASA ruled that a campaign run…
World Bank’s IFC suspends lending to palm oil companies
The World Bank has agreed to suspend International Finance Corporation (IFC) funding of the oil palm sector pending the development of safeguards to ensure that lending doesn't cause social or…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
- Monitoring group cracks down on deforestation in Cameroon gorilla sanctuary
- Western Kenya’s most important water-capturing forest is disappearing, satellites show
- How a holistic approach aims to heal mangroves in Guinea-Bissau
Oceans
- Conservationists see progress for swordfish, problems for sharks at Atlantic fisheries summit
- As tidal power rides a wave of clean energy optimism, pitfalls persist
- Plan for close season rings alarm bells for Liberia’s artisanal fishers
- Lab-grown corals resisted bleaching during Caribbean’s worst marine heat wave
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
- A national park and its rangers in Bolivia endure persisting road construction, illegal mining
- Can nations ever get artisanal gold mining right?
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
- Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
- Indonesian activist freed in hate speech case after flagging illegal shrimp farms
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
