The audience erupts into cheers and applause. The emcee has just announced the four finalists of the “Miss Juan Chávez Muquinuy” beauty pageant, who take the stage for their final walk down the runway. The competitors are all schoolgirls between 13 and 15 years old, parading in tops, shorts and platform heels. It’s 8 p.m., […]
Mongabay and Earth Genome detected 67 clandestine airstrips used for transporting drugs in the Peruvian regions of Ucayali, Huánuco and Pasco. The analysis used artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite imagery cross-referenced with official sources and on-the-ground observation to verify that each airstrip is associated with narco activity. Thirty-one airstrips are concentrated in Atalaya, which has […]
The governor promised to fill the chronically understaffed Board of Parole. Nearly half of her nominations have ended in disaster.
PANDEGLANG/JAKARTA, Indonesia — A recent revelation that up to 26 Javan rhinos may have been poached, out of a total population of 70-odd, has come as a major blow to conservation efforts in Indonesia. The still-unfolding case has highlighted flaws in security management at Ujung Kulon National Park, the last place on Earth where this […]
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network. LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — On Oct. 13, 2023, on National Road 39, a police officer gestures for us to slow down. The narrow road has been reduced to a single lane from the usual two. A damaged truck lies […]
Some Court of Appeals judges are far more likely to grant requests to hear appeals than others, a New York Focus analysis found.
Reporting for this story was supported by the Dom Phillips Grant of the Rainforest Journalism Fund in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, and it won the 2025 International Anti-Corruption Excellence (ACE) Award for Investigative Journalism. IQUITOS, Peru — On the Peruvian side of the Yavarí River, overlooking the lush Brazilian shore, a weary Matsés man […]
New York jails can transfer people with mental illnesses to maximum security prisons, even while they’re legally innocent.
LAMONGAN, Indonesia — The Brondong Fisheries Port in Indonesia’s East Java province was busy on a Friday morning in February as workers worked as swiftly as possible to unload the catches. Among the landed crates of fish, there were sharks and rays that appeared to be different types. Rizal, one of the many fish buyers […]
This story is the third article of a three-part Mongabay mini-series exploring the link between Cambodia’s garment factories and illegal logging. Read Part One and Part Two. KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia — The lamp dangled precariously under the wooden stilted home. Hooked up to a car battery, it was all that illuminated Saroeun* as the fire […]
This story is the second article of a three-part Mongabay mini-series exploring the link between Cambodia’s garment factories and illegal logging. Read Part One and Part Three. KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia — “Going into the forest is dangerous, some people die when trees fall on them, but they are desperate,” said Saroeun*, a logger who makes […]
This story is the first article of a three-part Mongabay mini-series exploring the link between Cambodia’s garment factories and illegal logging. Read Part Two and Part Three. KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia — The roar of the engine cut through the 5 a.m. gloom one morning in December 2022 as Saroeun* and his cousin Sovann* pulled away […]
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. KOH KONG, Cambodia — “I think there’s a 30% chance we’ll have trouble with the police,” said Ly Chandaravuth, an environmental activist with […]
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. KOH KONG, Cambodia — In April 2022, the sound of a sawmill cut through the murky dawn that was steaming over Cambodia’s western […]
ALTO ACARÁ, Brazil — With trembling hands, Raimundo Serrão lights candles for his grandmother at the Livramento Cemetery’s cross on the Day of the Dead because he couldn’t find her grave. Serrão and others in the area say one of the country’s leading palm oil exporters has buried it under palm crops. “They have planted […]
Lucía lives in Peru, in one of more than 50 indigenous communities along the Putumayo, an Amazonian river that marks the border between Peru and Colombia. She has a banana plantation on the Colombian side of the river, which she has not visited in months out of fear of Los Sinaloa, an armed group of […]
When Adhi Tayuh Braka joined one of China’s largest fishing fleets in 2018, he planned to catch tuna, knuckle down and save money to get married. To pass the time, he photographed his co-workers, their equipment and the fish they pulled out of the western Pacific Ocean. Maybe he’d have some pictures to show his […]
This is the second in a two-part series originally published in Spanish on Mongabay Latam. You can read the first part here. An investigation recently published by Mongabay Latam and Bloomberg Línea seeks to answer the question: Why would a foreign boat request to fly the Panamanian flag? Numerous experts, scientific publications and reports point […]
This is the first in a two-part series originally published in Spanish on Mongabay Latam. You can read the second part here. The crystal-clear waters of the oceans surrounding Panama hold wealth beyond the abundance of fish. Legal gaps and flexibility in some of the regulations governing fishing activity have become the ideal bait, attracting companies […]
ISANGI, Congo — In a secluded corner of the Congo, machetes in hand, scientists make their way through the Yangambi Man and Biosphere Reserve, using shallow streams as natural paths to move faster through the wilderness. Some of them are plotting routes for a large-scale biodiversity survey. Others are climbing a metallic structure the size […]
