Mongabay

The trade of live birds in South America is down to its lowest levels in years, according to a report released Jan. 16 by conservation NGOs TRAFFIC and WWF. But bird populations are still in danger across the continent, Bernardo Ortiz-von Halle, the report’s…

MADANG, Papua New Guinea — On the banks of the Banab River in Papua New Guinea’s northern province of Madang, rows of makeshift wooden shops, eateries and huts have popped up alongside the remnants of a bridge that collapsed a year ago. Since January 2018,…

AYAPOKIAR, Indonesia — Mince and Atafia Momo make light work of the rocky terrain as they press toward higher ground deep in the Tambrauw forest. The pair move with a practiced agility, hauling gear in wicker baskets tied to a stretch of colorful fabric…

When Liberia emerged from its civil war in 2003, one of the first major acts of its national legislature was to reform the laws that governed logging and forestry in the small West African country. Illicit logging had played a critical role in prolonging the…

Researchers find that the biome, under assault by soy agribusiness, may need 300 to 3,000 years of focused conservation to recover and maintain its genetic diversity.

SIERRA NEVADA DE SANTA MARTA, Colombia — Asdrúbal Torres Torres places the thin, opaque leaf between his cheek and gums and begins to chew a sacred plant that has perhaps surpassed any other in its history of demonization and violence: the coca leaf. A…

On today’s episode, we talk with the Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Inger Andersen. Listen here:   Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Switzerland, the IUCN is probably best known for its Red List of…

KUMROJ, Nepal — In March 2016, a team of experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) arrived in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park. Dispatched at the request of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the mission was charged with…

A leaf-tailed gecko can be incredibly tricky to find. These lizards in the genus Uroplatus, found only in the forests of Madagascar, can masterfully camouflage themselves among dried leaves, sometimes with a foot that sticks out, resembling a twig. “One is,…

It was an ambitious project from the start: to capture the Congo Basin rainforest in the pages of a book. Stretching across an area larger than Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-largest rainforest straddles six countries in Central Africa. Many are crippled…

TABIR, Indonesia — Several hours into the search, Karina was still hiding, deep in the undergrowth, far from the road. The mission, led by a team of forest rangers, police officers and conservationists from Indonesia and abroad: find and sedate Karina, a…

JAKARTA — Road projects throughout Indonesian Borneo threaten to fragment a third of the forest habitat currently accessible to the island’s wildlife, according to a new study. Completion of ongoing and planned road construction would reduce accessible…

Research on soft-bodied marine invertebrates such as squid and jellyfish has been slow in coming. Squid are keystone taxa and important food sources for myriad larger species, said T. Aran Mooney, associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute…

QUITO, Ecuador – Tucked away in Quito’s historical center, along the narrow sidewalks and colonial architecture, is Jorge Rivadeneira Granda’s workshop. It is the only storefront on the street with an oversized spinning top installed above the door. The…

Tanzania has officially created a new protected area, the Magombera Nature Reserve, extending protection to numerous species of rare plants and animals, including the endangered Udzungwa red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus gordonorum) and Verdcourt’s Polyalthia…

Central Island province in the Solomon Islands has blocked new logging and mining operations in an apparent attempt to halt the degradation of the archipelago’s sensitive ecosystems. “With timber on the islands harvested at a hugely unsustainable rate,…

The recent top stories from Mongabay Latam, our Spanish-language service, include a ‘pirate’ fishing vessel being welcomed in Panama, news of forestry officials indicted for illegal logging in Peru’s Amazon, and the loss of 11 protected areas in Brazil.…

Andry Rajoelina is set to be sworn in as president of Madagascar on Jan. 19, following his victory over longtime rival Marc Ravalomanana in the final round of the country’s presidential election last month. Many conservationists and civil society…

Several years ago, my colleague Richard York and I were sitting outside on a Eugene, Oregon patio discussing Elizabeth Kolbert’s then-new book, The Sixth Extinction, and we came to an odd conclusion. As Kolbert makes clear, there is no question that…

Tropical forests Indonesia’s plans to build thousands of kilometers of roads in New Guinea could endanger the island’s rainforests (Yale e360). Deforestation is dimming the prospects for tourism in a small town in the West African country of Benin…