For centuries, wolves have been cast as vicious, bloodthirsty creatures of nightmares and fairy tales, rather than as deeply social animals with an important place in nature. We wanted to understand the animal behind those stories. So, in the 1990s, we spent six years living alongside a pack of gray wolves (Canis lupus) on the […]
A group of activists in the small border town of Lochiel, Arizona, U.S., is fighting to save 200-year-old cottonwood trees by stopping contractors from building a section of the U.S.’s new wall along its border with Mexico. One activist lived for over 70 days in the upper branches of an ancient cottonwood dubbed the “Grandmother […]
In October 2006, I was supposed to be starting my dissertation research on tropical reforestation in Indonesia. Instead, I found myself in the forests of Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan helping locals to fight fires with brooms, backpack pumps, and hoses connected to hand-dug water wells. It was an ‘all hands-on deck’ moment […]
The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is […]
Changes like increasing geological and glacial instability driven by the warming climate are a growing concern across the Himalayas. Our hearts go out to the thousands of families across Nepal, China, and around the world grieving their loved ones and searching for those missing after the recent catastrophic flash flood at the Nepal-China border. Though […]
Since the launch of global restoration initiatives such as the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), large-scale tree planting has become the hallmark of many restoration projects. Ambitious targets, such as The Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign and the World Economic Forum’s One Trillion Tree Initiative, highlight the potential of tree-based restoration in […]
Egypt’s deserts are often introduced to the world as empty: Wide horizons, silence, heat, sand and stone. In tourism brochures they become dramatic scenery. In archaeological writing they can appear as corridors around monuments. In some conservation documents they are fragile spaces that need technical management from outside. But these descriptions miss something essential. Deserts […]
Vietnam is now the world’s largest producer of robusta, the bitter, sturdy bean behind instant coffee, supermarket blends, and the overall global appetite for cheap caffeine. But behind its meteoric rise to No. 2 coffee producer in the world lies a story the industry has tried very hard to hide: forests are disappearing, wildlife is […]
The forests of the Brazilian Amazon are, by any measure, among the most important ecosystems on Earth. They absorb carbon on a planetary scale, regulate rainfall across South America, and shelter biodiversity that science is still cataloging. International negotiations, carbon markets, and diplomatic agreements all rest on the assumption that these forests will remain standing. […]
Off the coast of Timor-Leste, fishers are building something many countries still lack: A clearer picture of how small-scale fishing nourishes people. For six years, fishers have logged their trips and recorded the gear used, the habitats visited and the catch brought home in a digital system built with the government of Timor-Leste. More than […]
For decades, deforestation has been treated as the central problem. It’s measured in hectares lost, monitored through satellites, and addressed through conservation programs, carbon mechanisms, and development interventions. Yet despite billions of dollars invested, forests continue to decline. What if we have been diagnosing it wrong? Deforestation is not the disease. It is a symptom. […]
The countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have made an important commitment to environmental justice for the 680 million people who call this region home. Now comes the hard part: putting it into practice. Last October, ASEAN member states — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and […]
In general, plantation companies view local communities and smallholders as obstacles to expanding operations and to securing social licenses. In deforestation-free supply chains, smallholders are also often treated as a risk. In my experience, this is one reason forest protection efforts fail: we don’t want to understand why smallholders are perceived as a risk. Yet […]
South Africa’s conservation debate is too often anchored within the blunt slogan, “If it pays, it stays.” At face value, this appears pragmatic, even responsible. But there’s a troubling premise underneath it: the survival of South Africa’s wildlife depends on its ability to generate an enormous income for a select group of wealthy farmers and […]
Several recent articles at Mongabay regarding mental health in the conservation sector provide a much-needed overview of an issue not talked about enough: that conservationists face a mental health crisis, an “epidemic of suffering” that is nestled within a complex biodiversity crisis. We are in a profession in which loss is a normal, everyday occurrence. […]
The fog of war is pervasive, but one thing is clear as “Gulf War 3” escalates: governments around the world are counting the cost of their dependency on oil and gas. “The largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market” is the International Energy Agency’s take on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, […]
Recent Mongabay articles by Jeremy Hance, Vik Mohan and Nerissa Chao, and Rhett Butler have laid bare a painful reality in conservation: the emotional price of witnessing biodiversity loss, the “epidemic of suffering” and burnout, and the psychological stresses assailing professionals on the frontlines. These articles document eco-grief, compassion fatigue, isolation, and moral injury with […]
In March, the Australian Government announced that the Alpine Ash forests of mainland Australia have been listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under national environmental law. The Australian Government made the decision based on the recommendations of the independent Threatened Species Scientific Committee, although it has been opposed by logging lobby interests such as the […]
The influence of Christianity in public life in Kenya is undisputed. Indeed, for more than a century, everyday life in the country — from education to health care and politics — has, in many ways, been shaped by the faith. From missionary origins to indigenous expressions, Christianity has been, and remains, “one of the most […]
In recent years, we have seen clear signs that the global market for forest and nature-based carbon credits is gaining momentum. More and more companies and governments are turning to forests as part of their climate strategies, and analysts expect this trend to continue as demand grows for solutions that deliver real and verifiable benefits for the […]
