Language and conservation (insider)
The words we choose matter. Benjamin Lee Whorf, an influential U.S. linguist, theorized that the language one speaks directly impacts our thoughts; he is quoted as saying, "Language shapes the…
Articles by Jeremy Hance
Jeremy Hance is a senior correspondent for Mongabay as well as being a blogger for the Guardian and a freelance journalist. He started his journalism career with Mongabay in 2009 and served as an editor on the site for six years. He's the author of "Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac," and in 2010, Mongabay published a book of his articles entitled "Life is Good: Conservation in an Age of Mass Extinction." He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife, his daughter, his miniature schnauzer and lots and lots of books.
Will trade bans stop a deadly salamander plague from invading the US?
If it happens, it’ll likely go something like this: American parents decide to buy something special for their child’s birthday – a pet salamander. Although immediately excited, the child quickly loses…
The rhino reckoning
The Sumatran rhino captive breeding plan is poised for a re-evaluation — and a relaunch.
A ‘monoculture of jellyfish’ threatens the oceans as we know them (insider)
It could be a plot of a (bad) science-fiction film: a man-made disaster creates spawns of millions upon millions of jellyfish that rapidly take over the ocean. Humans, starving for…
The great rhino U-turn
After 17 years, researchers finally unlock the mysteries of Sumatran rhino reproduction
A herd of dead rhinos
Capturing Sumatran rhinos was one thing. Keeping them alive turned out to be another thing entirely.
1984: the meeting that changed everything for Sumatran rhinos
This is the first article in our four-part series “The Rhino Debacle." It’s hardly the most likely place to meet a Sumatran rhino. But as you enter Zimmer Hall at…
Another Cecil? Secrecy surrounds June trophy lion hunt
Mystery surrounds the hunting and killing of a lion in South Africa by an American on June 7th. Skye, a beloved lion, hasn’t been seen since that day.
After logging, activists hope to extend protections for Bialowieza Forest
But for the rumble of frogs or the song of a bluethroat, Bialowieza Forest in Poland has become quiet again after two years of heavy machinery, chainsaws and falling trees.…
‘Not all doom and gloom’: Q&A with conservation job market researchers
You grew up watching David Attenborough documentaries and reading Gerald Durrell memoirs. You volunteered banding marmosets in Brazil. You have a bachelor’s in biology and a master’s in conservation biology.…
Geneticists: It’s time to mix the Sumatran rhino subspecies
In a forest in Borneo, a single two-horned rhino lives, separated from any other of her kind. Conservationists are currently planning to catch this Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and bring…
Trump’s elephant, lion trophy hunting policy hit with double lawsuits
Conservationists have slapped the Interior Department and USFWS with suits challenging their “case-by-case” trophy hunting policy and a new advisory council.
Trump to allow elephant and lion trophies on case-by-case basis
In a decision conservationists say could potentially invite corruption, the Trump administration will allow trophy hunting imports from Africa on a case-by-case basis.
After exporting baby elephants, Zimbabwe pledges to turn over new leaf on conservation
Less than a month after exporting thirty-five wild elephants to China, the new government of Zimbabwe has signaled it is moving in a new direction on conservation issues. On December…
U.S. court ruling complicates Trump’s elephant and lion policy
A new federal ruling against an Obama-era ban on Zimbabwe elephant trophy hunting imports could throw Trump’s trophy hunting policy into even further confusion.
Trump’s indecision on trophy hunting reignites heated debate
A U.S. decision to allow import of trophy hunted elephants led to public outrage, Trump’s halt to the order, and the revival of a trophy hunting ethics discussion.
In search of the fireface: The precarious, scandalous lives of the slow lorises of Java
On patrol with the researchers working to understand Indonesia's bizarre, little-studied and critically endangered slow loris.
The fate of the Sumatran rhino is in the Indonesian government’s hands
A fragile consensus to capture more rhinos has finally been reached, but one major roadblock remains: Indonesian officials.
Is anyone going to save the Sumatran rhino?
Time is running out for this Critically Endangered species. So why aren’t we doing more?
Where, oh where, are the rhinos of Bukit Barisan Selatan?
Are the park's Sumatran rhinos getting better at hiding from humans, or have they simply disappeared?
Worst-case scenario: There could be only 30 wild Sumatran rhinos left
Nobody knows exactly how many Sumatran rhinos survive in the wild. But the numbers aren't looking good.
A rich person’s profession? Young conservationists struggle to make it
Nika Levikov swore she would never work as a waitress again. But, today — with a master’s degree in conservation science from Imperial College London — she’s taking orders, delivering…
Thylacine survey: Are we going to rediscover the ‘moonlight tiger’?
The 1980s rock band Cinderella had its biggest hit with the song, “Don’t Know What You Got (Till it’s Gone),” riffing off the age-old proverb. Of course, Cinderella’s song is…
Big animals can survive reduced-impact logging — if done right
Reduced-impact logging doesn’t need to be a death knell for a region’s big animals, according to a new study in Biotropica — but only if hunting is well-regulated. Employing camera…
Al Gore and Bangladesh PM spar over coal plants in the Sundarbans
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, star of the upcoming An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, has come out against the hugely controversial coal plants under construction in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans,…
Conservation’s best kept secret (database)
A small NGO, Species360, manages a database that stores records on thousands of species around the world, with countless potential applications.
E.O. Wilson on Half-Earth, Donald Trump, and hope
At 87, E.O. Wilson has lost none of his intellectual rigor. His sentences are long, rolling, full of enough parentheticals to make Proust smile, and delivered in a wonderfully soothing,…
Vanishing point: Bumblebee bat is world’s smallest; it’s also at risk
It’s a hummingbird… it’s a bumblebee… it’s Kitti’s hog-nosed bat. Yes, seriously, look at it: it’s a bat. A teensy, tiny, teeny, weeny bat. Kitti’s hog-nosed bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai) is…
Cash-strapped rhino groups turn to crowdfunding, with little success
There’s probably only one thing left that can save the Bornean rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni): cutting-edge, high cost in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology. This subspecies of the Critically Endangered Sumatran…
Exclusive: New satellite images show Ecuador drilling in Yasuni’s ITT
ongabay has obtained a new, high-resolution satellite image of Petroamazona’s suspected pipeline and drilling platforms in the famed Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) block. Obtained from Planet, the image was analyzed by the…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- ‘We just want to be left in peace’: In Brazil’s Amazon, soy ambitions loom over Indigenous land
- Deforestation continues in Kenya’s largest water capturing forest, satellites show
- Drug trafficking imperils national park and Indigenous reserves in the Peruvian Amazon
- Indonesia’s besieged Tesso Nilo National Park hit hard by yet more deforestation, satellites show
Oceans
- Lethal or not? Australia’s beaches are a crucible for shark control methods
- Is ocean iron fertilization back from the dead as a CO₂ removal tool?
- Dominica set to open world’s first reserve centered around sperm whales
- ‘Very good progress’ but nothing firm as deep-sea mining rules are hashed out
Amazon Conservation
- Study links pesticides to child cancer deaths in Brazilian Amazon & Cerrado
- Amazon drought: Much damage still to come (commentary)
- Amazon recovery offers hope of big rewards but poses equally big challenges
- The Amazon’s archaeology of hope: Q&A with anthropologist Michael Heckenberger
Land rights and extractives
- Australia crackdown on climate protesters grows amid fight against gas project
- Study: Despite armed conflicts, Indigenous lands have better environment quality
- Indigenous community fighting a mine in Palawan wins a milestone legal verdict
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
- Indigenous activists demand justice after 5 shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- 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
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
Conservation Effectiveness
- Forest restoration can fare better with human helping hand, study shows
- From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model
- Video: Rice as a peace offering in India’s human-elephant conflict capital
- Group certification helps Malaysia’s Sabah aim for palm oil sustainability
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- 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
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
