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LinkedIn highlights of 2024

Over the past couple of years, LinkedIn has become the most important social media platform for Mongabay and the only channel I use on a regular basis. Here are some of my most personally meaningful posts from 2024. While they may not have reached the largest audience, they hold special significance to me. A letter […]

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David Bonderman: The Investor Who Championed Conservation

David Bonderman, who died on Wednesday at the age of 82, was best known as a titan of private equity, acclaimed for turning undervalued companies into lucrative ventures. Over decades, his sharp instincts and strategic acumen at TPG Capital—formerly Texas Pacific Group—yielded control of firms as diverse as Continental Airlines, J. Crew, and Petco. His […]

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Cambodia’s forests lost another defender: Environmental journalist Chhoeung Chheng

In the gathering dusk of December 4th, Chhoeung Chheng, a Cambodian journalist with a dogged commitment to exposing illegal logging, was shot near Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary. He succumbed to his injuries three days later, his body failing to withstand the assault from a homemade gun. It was a weapon often wielded by poachers but, […]

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Mongabay Features

An interview with Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier

Cristina Mittermeier’s journey as a conservation photographer is emblematic of an evolving understanding of the power of imagery in the effort to preserve our planet. Raised in a semi-rural part of Mexico, her early exposure to nature sparked a deep curiosity about the world’s ecosystems. Mittermeier’s path to photography, however, was not a straightforward one. […]

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Media appearances

Appearance on The Urban Q podcast

Singapore is my favorite big city. I’m typically associated with natural environments like tropical forests, but on The Urban Q podcast, Jaya Dhindaw of World Resources Institute India challenged me to think about cities. Our conversation explored how urban spaces and conservation intersect, and what lessons we can draw for a sustainable future. Cities, I […]

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For every kilogram of wild land mammal, there are over 50 kilograms of humans and their domesticated counterparts

Today is Wildlife Conservation Day Nature documentaries and conservation campaigns paint an image of Earth teeming with wildlife, but the numbers tell a different story. A February 2023 study, published in PNAS, quantified the biomass of the world’s mammals and revealed an ecosystem heavily dominated by humanity and its livestock. A few striking figures from […]

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Media appearances The Business of Mongabay

The Columbia Journalism Review features Mongabay

The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), one of the most authoritative and respected voices in journalism, recently profiled Mongabay. The piece, written by Lauren Watson, provides an in-depth look at how our nonprofit newsroom navigates the challenges of reporting on conservation and environmental issues globally, often in high-risk areas. Key points from the article include:🌍 International […]

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International Jaguar Day

Today is International Jaguar Day 🐆 International Jaguar Day is dedicated to a predator whose presence shapes forests, rivers, and plains from northern Mexico to Argentina. The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a creature of paradox: elusive yet emblematic, ferocious yet vulnerable. As the Americas’ largest big cat, its muscular frame and distinctive rosette-patterned coat symbolize […]

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Mongabay Features

The unexpected saviors of Madagascar’s baobabs: Did an introduced species save the island’s baobabs from extinction?

Madagascar’s iconic baobab trees, with their towering trunks and delicate canopies, stand as sentinels of a bygone era. Yet their very existence defies ecological expectations. These trees, believed to rely on the now-extinct giant tortoises and lemurs to disperse their seeds, should have vanished alongside their ancient companions. Instead, they endure, thanks to some unexpected […]

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The wisdom of the elders: Why the oldest animals matter

In the twilight of their lives, the world’s oldest creatures carry the weight of wisdom, experience, and resilience.  Yet, these elders—fish that spawn in abundance, coral that shelters marine life, or elephants that guide their herds—are vanishing.  The causes are disturbingly familiar: overfishing, habitat destruction, trophy hunting, and climate change.  A new review led by […]

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Goodbye to the Round Island hurricane palm—for now.

The last wild Round Island hurricane palm, Dictyosperma album var. conjugatum, met its end in a gusty September storm, snapping the final thread tethering this rare tree to its native soil. For decades, it stood alone on its windswept perch on Round Island, a 1.7-square-kilometer dot off the coast of Mauritius. With its pale blue […]

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The extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew: How can we expect other nations to safeguard their species when we have failed our own?

The slender-billed curlew, Numenius tenuirostris, slipped from the world in the way of rare things: gradually, quietly, and irretrievably. Once it coursed over the steppes of Siberia and wintered along Mediterranean shores, its migratory path a delicate thread connecting continents. Its last confirmed sighting, in Morocco in 1995, marked the end of a lineage and […]

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How bird calls differ between species

Birdsong has long captivated scientists and poets alike, but the evolutionary and ecological forces that shape its dazzling diversity remain incompletely understood. A recent study led by H S Sathya Chandra Sagar sheds light on these mysteries, leveraging a dataset of over 140,000 recordings from 8,450 species—nearly 80% of the world’s avian diversity. The findings, […]

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An obituary for the vaquita

I prepare obituary sketches for high-profile conservation figures and species-on-the-brink in advance, to be held until they’re needed to be developed into full obituaries. The following is one I hope to never publish, though as of today, fewer than ten vaquitas—gentle porpoises no larger than a child—are believed to remain in the wild. 🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬 The […]

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Mongabay Features

X is now virtually irrelevant for Mongabay

X/Twitter has become virtually irrelevant as a source of traffic and engagement for us. In preparation for an upcoming board meeting, I reviewed social media engagement data for Mongabay News (news.mongabay.com), the English-language news section of Mongabay (excluding Mongabay-India). The numbers made clear just how much X/Twitter has declined over the past year, even off […]

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Mongabay Features

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by 31% over the past year

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by 31% over the past year, reaching the lowest level in nine years, according to data from the country’s national space research institute, INPE. For the year ending July 31, the Brazilian Amazon rainforest lost 6,288 square kilometers (2,428 square miles)—roughly the size of Delaware in the U.S.—marking the […]

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Mongabay Features

Brazil pledges to restore an expanse of degraded land half the size of the U.K. by 2030

Brazil has pledged to restore an expanse of degraded land half the size of the U.K. by 2030, reports Shanna Hanbury. The commitment was made on October 28 at COP16 in Cali in the form of the Planaveg 2.0 initiative, which aims to revive 12 million hectares (30 million acres), approximately half of Brazil’s degraded […]

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Obituary for Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo, the Indigenous Nasa defender

Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo, known to friends and comrades as “Lobo,” or “Wolf,” was no stranger to the forces that threatened his land and his people. The son of Colombia’s Andes, he belonged to a long line of Indigenous Nasa defenders and was a dedicated educational coordinator and leader. But in a country labeled as […]

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The dominant arguments for protecting nature are not resonating with most Americans

The election result is a significant setback for efforts to protected biodiversity and slow climate change. For those committed to defending nature, it may feel as though the walls are closing in. Environmental degradation is intensifying, and America is now expected to pull back from even modest leadership on these critical issues. But giving up […]

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An area of deforested land the size of Mexico could regrow without significant human intervention

215 million hectares of deforested and degraded former forest land are capable of natural regrowth without significant human intervention—an area larger than Mexico. That’s according to a study published last week in Nature. The research, based on high-resolution satellite data analysis across the tropics, identified five nations—Brazil, Indonesia, China, Mexico, and Colombia—as having over half […]

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The Business of Mongabay

Regardless of the election outcome, our role is more important than ever.

As we await results from today’s election, one of the most important in recent U.S. history, the implications for the planet and its future feel more pressing than ever. No matter who prevails, our work at Mongabay remains profoundly significant. The outcome will undoubtedly influence policy shifts impacting ecosystems, climate action, and biodiversity, potentially altering […]

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This week’s election stands as one of the most consequential in U.S. history for the world’s beleaguered ecosystems, endangered species, and ultimately, the future of our planet

Tomorrow’s election stands as one of the most consequential in U.S. history—not only for Americans but for the world’s beleaguered ecosystems, endangered species, and ultimately, the future of our planet. The choices voters make will shape the governance of 340 million people and define the fate of Earth’s biodiversity and the fragile web of life […]

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5 weird facts about lemurs for World Lemur Day

Today is World Lemur Day  Lemurs, Madagascar’s iconic residents, encompass over 100 species. Exclusively endemic to the island (one species was introduced to a neighboring island), these fascinating creatures have evolved into one of the most diverse primate groups on the planet.  To celebrate World Lemur Day, here are five lesser-known facts about these remarkable […]

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Reptile appreciation day

With United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP 16) starting today in Cali, I thought a fitting way to mark Reptile Appreciation Day would be to highlight the blue anole (https://mongabay.cc/4Ycrmm), endemic to the island of Gorgona, located off the Pacific coast of Colombia, not far from Cali. Gorgona, long noted for its biodiversity, hosts this vibrant […]

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International sloth day

Today is International Sloth Day 🦥 Sloths, as a group, might be said to epitomize the concept of taking life slowly. The six species, found mainly in Central and South America, spend most of their days hanging from trees, moving deliberately to conserve energy—a strategy shaped by a diet of nutrient-poor leaves. Yet, contrary to […]