Podd: Mongabay Newscast

Are corporate climate targets actually leading to decarbonization?

18 februari 2025 | 53 min

Bobcats provide health benefits for ecosystems and humans, but are largely misunderstood

11 februari 2025 | 38 min

How law enforcement in Africa's protected areas is part of a larger culture in conservation

4 februari 2025 | 32 min

Justice for people, animals and environment are closely linked

28 januari 2025 | 48 min

Turning problems into solutions for culture and agriculture, with Anthony James

14 januari 2025 | 45 min

Christiana Figueres helped deliver the Paris Agreement and remains optimistic on climate action

7 januari 2025 | 54 min

General frustration with the result of the most recent UN climate conference (UNFCCC COP29) spurred the former UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres – under whose leadership the Paris Agreement was struck – to co-author a letter to the UN urging an overhaul to the COP process, and calling it “no longer fit for purpose.”

Figueres joins this episode to speak about why the world’s governments seemingly cannot agree to move decisively on climate action, and what can be done about it.

She shares why – despite these frustrations and disappointments – she remains optimistic about the global effort to decarbonize economies and transport systems, citing recent advancements in the deployment of renewable energy and the power of everyday actions:

“I used to think that it was our collective responsibility to guarantee to future generations that they would have a perfect world. And now that I am a recent grandmother, I really look back at that and I go, ‘my God, we cannot guarantee to future generations that they're going to have a perfect world.’ We cannot. So, what can we do? We can do our darndest and we can wake up every morning and make a choice and say ‘where am I going to put my energy today?’” she says.

Figueres is also the co-host of the popular podcast, Outrage + Optimism, which features conversations and analysis about the climate crisis.

Secretive regional fisheries management organizations need media coverage

23 december 2024 | 83 min

Seventeen regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) regulate commercially valuable fish species across the world's oceans. The members of these organizations do not publicize their meetings and bar journalists from attending, presenting a barrier for public awareness.

On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, Africa staff writer Malavika Vyawahare is joined by a fisheries expert, Grantly Galland, and an RFMO secretary, Darius Campbell, to explain how decisions are made in regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), the consequences their decisions have on global fish populations, human rights and labor rights on the high seas, and how journalists can better cover these secretive organizations.

“Decisions are being made by RFMOs that impact billion-dollar fisheries and take effect next year [so] these stories deserve to be told,” says Grantly Galland, a project director at the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Also joining the conversation is Darius Campbell, secretary of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, an RFMO.

“The sea is [vast and it’s] very difficult to understand what's going on. Most of the [fish] stocks are very difficult to analyze and predict. And it's difficult to enforce [rules],” Campbell says.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

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Image credit: Schools of fish at Cayman Islands, Caribbean. Image by Jason Washington / Ocean Image Bank.

Timecodes

(00:00:00) What is an RFMO?

(00:07:37) Who are the key players?

(00:13:18) Who holds the power?

(00:20:32) Strategies for journalists covering RFMOs

(00:29:47) Transparency and secrecy

(00:38:59) Conservation and RFMO decision-making

(00:48:10) Forced labor and human rights

(00:53:29) What happens when an RFMO breaks the rules?

(01:01:13) Common heritage vs high seas

(01:07:13) BBNJ agreement

(01:15:24) Citizen participation

(01:19:09) Resources

(01:21:39) Credits

A new tropical forest conservation fund has great potential

16 december 2024 | 37 min

Do we need a 'moral reckoning' on aquaculture's environmental impacts?

10 december 2024 | 47 min

Animal aquaculture, the farming of fish, has outpaced the amount of wild-caught fish by tens of millions of metric tons each year, bringing with it negative environmental impacts and enabling abuse, says Carl Safina, an ecologist and author.

On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Safina speaks with co-host Rachel Donald about his recent Science Advances essay describing the “moral reckoning” that’s required for the industry, pointing to environmental laws in the United States, which put hard limits on pollution, as examples to follow.

“In the 1970s in the U.S., we had this enormous burst of environmental legislation. We got the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act … all of these things were not because somebody invented something new. It's because we felt differently about what was important,” he says.

The global fishing industry also contributes to forced labor and other worker abuses, as revealed by whistleblowers and media outlets, including Mongabay. Read our award-winning 2022 investigation, which revealed systemic abuse of foreign workers by China’s offshore tuna fleet.

Like this podcast? Share it with a friend, and please leave a review.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image caption: An Atlantic salmon. In the U.S., the Washington state legislature banned farming of Atlantic salmon in 2018. A state official banned all commercial finfish aquaculture. Alaska and California have similar bans. Image by Hans-Petter Fjeld via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5).

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Timecodes

(00:00) Aquaculture and its impacts

(15:32) How values shape environmental policy

(32:56) The tragedy of the commons

(35:52) Ecological empathy

(45:07) Credits

Conservation is key for planetary health & preventing pandemics

26 november 2024 | 40 min

Neil Vora MD is a former epidemic intelligence service officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with experience combating outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus and running the New York City contact tracing program for COVID-19. He advocates supporting public health infrastructure to respond to diseases.

He much prefers preventing outbreaks before they occur instead of rushing to respond to them, though, and the best way to do this, he says, is by investing in nature.

On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, Vora shares his knowledge of why the “spillover” of zoonotic diseases — when a pathogen jumps from wildlife to humans — is increasingly occurring due to deforestation and land-use change.

He also says that despite science's importance in studying and combating viruses, art and philosophy are necessary tools to drive the global change needed to prevent further outbreaks.

“If we want to see societal transformation, we're going to need people feeling inspired, and that's where art and philosophy come in,” Vora says.

Listen to Mongabay’s previous Newscast episode covering the recent outbreak of avian influenza here.

Like this podcast? Share it with a friend, and please leave a review.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Rainbow over Jambi, Indonesia. Photo credit: Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(01:06) Medical doctor and conservationist: Neil Vora

(04:27) The link between deforestation and disease

(07:33) The 'One Health' movement

(09:41) How disease 'spillover' happens

(13:06) What's happening with marburg and 'bird flu'?

(23:10) Why we need art & philosophy to protect nature

(26:31) Apocalyptic horror films as scenario explorations

(30:04) Solutions and 'radical listening'

(35:09) A rejection of nihilism

Grounded: This pilot quit flying to help the aviation industry change, for the better

12 november 2024 | 48 min

Don't call it the ‘high seas treaty’: New oceans agreement should center biodiversity, expert says

29 oktober 2024 | 42 min

The new BBNJ (biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction) marine conservation agreement is impressive in scope but has since been rebranded by some as the “high seas treaty,” which risks biasing its interpretation by emphasizing the historical, but outdated, freedoms enjoyed by seafaring (and largely Western) nations.

Elizabeth Mendenhall of the University of Rhode Island joins this episode to discuss the treaty with co-host Rachel Donald, detailing the fascinating and complicated nature of ocean governance beyond the jurisdiction of states. The BBNJ agreement was designed to resolve some of these governance issues, but the text contains ample gray area in how the principles of “common heritage,” the concept that something belongs to all of humanity, will apply to the protection and extraction of resources from the water column and seafloor.

“The treaty design that we ended up with [from] my perspective is not really suited to achieve what it is we say we want to do, which is to create a big network of marine protected areas that's effective in terms of protecting biodiversity,” Mendenhall says.

To learn more and find links to the treaty documents, see the commentary Mendenhall co-authored for Mongabay about the topic earlier this year, here.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Baleen whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Image by ArtTower via Pixabay (Public domain).

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:51) How biodiverse are oceans?

(05:20) What's at stake?

(07:47) How are the oceans governed?

(10:47) How international ocean management organizations work

(17:13) What is the treaty for?

(21:21) Is it a marine protected area if you can still exploit it?

(27:55) BBNJ vs. 'High Seas'

(29:09) Principles of High Seas and Common Heritage

(35:35) Post-show

(40:13) Credits

Global Nature Positive Summit features Indigenous & conservation leaders but gets negative marks on government action

22 oktober 2024 | 30 min

Jane Goodall and Rhett Butler celebrate Mongabay’s 25th anniversary

15 oktober 2024 | 80 min

Community conservation, Indigenous rights, and phasing out fossil fuels at Climate Week NYC

8 oktober 2024 | 57 min

An array of top voices are interviewed or heard on this episode straight from Climate Week in New York, a global gathering of leaders and experts working in the climate and environmental sectors on proactive policies and practical initiatives.

The podcast speaks with several individuals on topics ranging from a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty that’s gaining steam currently to ways of improving the financing of Indigenous communities and conservation organizations working in Africa, and many others. Here’s who appears on the show:

Allison Begalman, co-founder of the Hollywood Climate Summit

Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International

Tzeporah Berman, chair of the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty

Luisa Castaneda, deputy director of Land Is Life

Paul Chet Greene, member of the House of Representatives of Antigua and Barbuda

Susana Muhamad, minister of environment and sustainable development of Colombia

Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives

Maria Neira, director of the Department of Public Health and Environment at the World Health Organization

Sam Shaba, CEO of Honeyguide

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Indigenous activists during an End of the Fossil Fuels event during Climate Week 2023. Image courtesy of the Confederation of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA).

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Time Codes

(00:00) Mongabay at Climate Week NYC

(01:34) Mohamed Nasheed

(04:35) Paul Chet Greene

(05:52) Amitabh Behar

(07:23) PLANETWALKER with Allison Begalman

(12:15) Funding justice with Luisa Castaneda

(18:19) Community-led conservation with Sam Shaba

(24:44) The fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty

(29:19) Juan Bay and the Waorani Nation endorsement

(36:49) Maria Neira from the World Health Organization

(38:39) Susana Muhamad on Colombia’s endorsement

(44:07) Tzeporah Berman talks treaty

(53:32) Rainforest reception and a song

High CO2 levels are greening the world’s drylands, is that good news?

1 oktober 2024 | 43 min

“What If We Get It Right?” marine biologist & climate action author Ayana Elizabeth Johnson asks

24 september 2024 | 27 min

Private profit from public lands: How a Cambodian elite with military ties claimed a community forest

17 september 2024 | 41 min

The rights of nature, legal personhood & other new ways laws can protect the planet

3 september 2024 | 45 min

“Legal personhood” and laws regarding the “rights of nature” are being trialed in nations worldwide, but whether they lead to measurable conservation outcomes is yet to be seen, says environmental economist Viktoria Kahui. Still, she says on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast that she’s very hopeful about them.

There’s a global debate surrounding these laws’ efficacy as a tool for conservation, and growing uneasiness about how they may impose a Western viewpoint upon something as inherently complex and extralegal as nature. Some critics argue that such a concept not only transcends the legal system but also cannot be subjected to it without harming the people and places these laws are intended to empower.

Yet Kahui argues that there’s potential for rights-of-nature laws to develop in context-dependent scenarios, where humans can advocate on behalf of nature in places like Ecuador, which she says is a particularly powerful example.

Read more about legal personhood and the rights of nature here:

Is ‘legal personhood’ a tool or a distraction for Māori relationships with nature?

New guidebook supports U.S. tribal nations in adopting rights-of-nature laws

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Blue water of the Quinault river, Olympic Rainforest. Image by Rhett Butler.

Time Codes

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(00:00) Introduction

(00:58) The global debate on rights of nature

(03:52) Can these laws protect biodiversity?

(07:58) Challenges for legal personhood

(14:10) The advantage of using rights of nature

(24:21) Philosophical qualms with anthropocentric laws

(28:55) How laws can shape our relationships with nature

(33:00) The 'big possibility'

(40:56) There's no silver bullet

(44:01) Credits

How coastal communities are adapting to rising seas naturally with Living Shorelines

27 augusti 2024 | 42 min

Experts warn bird flu poses ‘an existential threat’ to biodiversity, and a possible threat to humans

20 augusti 2024 | 28 min

The current clade of H5N1 or bird flu is an "existential threat" to the world’s biodiversity, experts say. While it has infected more than 500 bird and mammal species on every continent except Australia, the number of human infections from the current clade (grouping) 2.3.4.4b is still comparatively small. U.S. dairy workers have recently become infected, and the virus could easily mutate to become more virulent, our guest says.

Joining the Mongabay Newscast to talk about it is Apoorva Mandavilli, a global health reporter for The New York Times. Mandavilli details what virologists and experts know about the human health risks associated with this latest clade, what nations are doing (or not doing) to help contain its spread, and why. She also details how environmental degradation and industrial agriculture help create the conditions for outbreaks like this to occur.

Read Sharon Guynup’s reporting on it here.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Highly pathogenic avian influenza killed thousands of black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) chicks in the Falkland Islands and Islas Malvinas, where two-thirds of the entire population lives. Image © Julia Emerit and Augustin Clessin.

Time Codes

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(00:00) Introduction

(02:44) The evolution of H5N1

(05:47) Clade 2.3.4.4b

(08:21) Challenges in monitoring the spread

(11:10) What are the human health risks?

(16:34) A spotlight on industrialized animal agriculture

(18:26) A vaccination strategy?

(20:05) What lessons are we learning from other pandemics?

(23:08) The degradation of nature and the frequency of disease outbreaks

(25:57) Credits

Indigenous communities' traditional ecological knowledge is key to conservation: National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan

13 augusti 2024 | 41 min

Top National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan joined the show to discuss traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and why Indigenous communities are the world’s most effective conservationists.

Yüyan spoke about this with us in March 2023 and we're sharing the episode again after it recently won a 'Best coverage of Indigenous communities' prize from the Indigenous Media Awards.

While the National Geographic version of "Guardians of Life" is now published, the collaboration between Gleb Raygorodetsky and Yüyan will be published in book form in 2025. Sign up at Raygorodetsky's website here to be notified when it’s out.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

*Come celebrate Jane Goodall's 90th birthday, and Mongabay's 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets atthis link. To get $10 off, use the promo code C1PARTNER. *

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: With a dip net, Karuk fisherman Ryan Reed searches for Chinook salmon under the watchful eye of his father, Ron, on California's Klamath River at Ishi Pishi Falls in October 2020. The Reeds caught no fish in stark contrast to earlier times. Before California became a state, the river saw about 500,000 salmon each fall, but last year just 53,954 mature Chinook swam up, a 90 percent decline. The nation now restricts salmon fishing to Ishi Pishi Falls, but with the slated removal of four dams, the Karuk hope the salmon will return. Image (c) Kiliii Yuyan.

Time Codes

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(00:00) Indigenous peoples: the world's best conservationists

(02:31) Who are the Guardians of Life?

(07:30) Some of Kiliii's favorite memories

(10:39) 'People are not separate from nature'

(18:04) 'Two-eyed seeing': combining Western and Indigenous science

(23:30) Advice from an Indigenous storyteller

(27:26) The Impact of storytelling

(30:52) A kayak is not a ship

(34:02) The Guardians of Life book

(39:50) Credits

The ‘Wild Frequencies’ of Indian wildlife revealed by bioacoustics

6 augusti 2024 | 32 min

How a multi-nation effort has protected North American amphibians from a deadly disease outbreak

30 juli 2024 | 53 min

Sacrificing U.S. forests for solar energy "misses the plot" on climate action

23 juli 2024 | 37 min

U.S. states such as Vermont and Massachusetts are cutting thousands of acres of forest for solar power projects, despite the fact that this harms biodiversity and degrades ecosystems' carbon sequestration capacity.

Journalist and author Judith Schwartz joins the Mongabay Newscast to speak with co-host Mike DiGirolamo about the seeming irony of cutting forests for renewable energy, and why she says states like hers are 'missing the plot' on climate action: she lives near a forest in southwestern Vermont where a company has proposed an 85-acre project that would export its electricity 100 miles south, to customers in Connecticut.

A recent report found that such deforestation in nearby Massachusetts is unnecessary to meet that state's clean energy commitments, and would be better achieved by using already developed land like rooftops and parking lots, instead of farms or forests.

Yet the acreage lost to solar energy projects in Massachusetts since 2010 has already released the equivalent of the annual emissions of more than 100,000 cars.

Read Judith Schwartz's commentary for Mongabay about this situation here.

*Come celebrate Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday and Mongabay’s 25th anniversary during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets at this link. To get $10 off, use promo code C1PARTNER. *

Listen to the entire conversation on the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get your podcasts from.

If you want to support the podcast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image: An array of ground mounted solar panels. Image by Derek Sutton via Unsplash

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(03:09) The Irony of Clearing Forests for Renewable Energy

(10:19) AI and Data Centers Increasingly Demand More Energy

(16:24) Forests and Heat Mitigation

(25:46) Community Awareness and Action

(35:10) Credits

Natural forest regeneration is ‘a restoration of hope’ for farmers & forests worldwide

16 juli 2024 | 49 min

Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo's reforestation project in Niger was failing – with 80% of his planted saplings dying – until he stumbled upon a simple solution in plain sight: stumps of previously cut trees trying to regrow in the dry, deforested landscape.

The degraded land contained numerous such stumps with intact root systems, plus millions of tree seeds hidden in the soil, which farmers could encourage to grow and reforest the landscape, something he refers to as 'an invisible forest in plain view.'

Today, the technique known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) is responsible for reforesting six million hectares in Niger alone.

Rinaudo speaks with Rachel Donald on Mongabay's podcast about his journey implementing this technique and its massive potential to help tackle biodiversity loss and food insecurity through resilient agroforestry systems.

Indigenous communities left in the dark on Borneo hydropower plan advocate for their river

9 juli 2024 | 45 min

'Seeking solutions,' Mongabay's new Africa bureau reports the big issues and conservation wins

25 juni 2024 | 37 min

'Biotic pump’ theory could explain how forests affect weather, wind and climate

18 juni 2024 | 54 min

Unmasking the illusion of renewable biomass energy with Justin Catanoso

11 juni 2024 | 51 min

Burning wood to generate electricity – ‘biomass energy’ – is increasingly used as a renewable replacement for burning coal in nations like the UK, Japan, and South Korea, even though its emissions are not carbon neutral.

On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, reporter Justin Catanoso details how years of investigation helped him uncover a complicated web of public relations messaging used by industry giants that obscures the fact that replanting trees after cutting them down and burning them is not carbon neutral or renewable and severely harms global biodiversity, and forests.

Catanoso lives near biomass industry giant Enviva in North Carolina and has reported on their practices extensively, including the claim that they only use sustainable wood waste in their product, which his investigation disproved. Though it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year, it remains the single largest producer of wood pellets globally.

“When those trees get ripped out, that carbon gets released. And that comes before we process this wood and ship it…then we burn it and don't count those emissions. This is just [an] imponderable policy,” he says in this episode.

Read Justin's coverage of the UK biomass firm Drax and their attempt to open two large wood pellet plants in California to ship 1 million tons annually to Japan and South Korea, where they will be burned in converted coal plants.

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image: Wood pellets for biomass energy. Image courtesy of Dogwood Alliance.

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Timecodes

(00:00:00) Introduction to Biomass and Carbon Emissions

(00:03:08) Understanding the problems with biomass fuel

(00:08:18) Clear-Cutting in North Carolina and British Columbia

(00:12:48) Physics Doesn't Fall for Accounting Tricks

(00:19:55) Understanding the Arguments from the Industry

(00:25:30) Picking Apart the Logic

(00:28:26) Why We Don't Have Long-term Solutions

(00:34:27) Overcoming an Impossible Situation

(00:39:55) Post-chat

(00:49:28) Credits

Indigenous economics offers alternative to Wall Street's financialization of nature

5 juni 2024 | 66 min

Putting a dollar amount on a single species, or entire ecosystems, is a contentious idea, but in 2023, the New York Stock Exchange proposed a new nature-based asset class which put a price tag on global nature of 5,000 trillion U.S. dollars.

This financialization of nature comes with perverse incentives and fails to recognize the intrinsic value contained in biodiversity and all the benefits it provides for humans, argues Indigenous economist Rebecca Adamson, on this episode.

Instead, she suggests basing economies on principles contained in Indigenous economics.

"The most simple thing would be to fit your economy into a living, breathing, natural physics law framework. And if you look at Indigenous economies, they really talk about balance and harmony, and those aren't quaint customs. Those are design principles," she says.

Hear a related Mongabay podcast interview on the connection between nature and financial systems with author Brett Scott, here. We also recently spoke with National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yuyan about what Indigenous knowledge has to offer conservation, here.

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image: The doll orchid. Image courtesy of Bhathiya Gopallawa.

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(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:01:30) The Financialization of Nature

(00:07:35) Indigenous Economic Principles

(00:14:04) Can Putting a Price on Nature Save it?

(00:27:15) Redistribution and Reciprocity

(00:33:15) The Ubiquity of Violence

(00:38:37) The Wealth Gap and Its Implications

(00:41:31) The Power of Shareholder Activism

(00:44:36) Indigenous Economic Systems and Modern Applications

(00:51:57) A Critical Analysis of the Financialization of Nature

(01:00:27) Religious Perspectives on Environmental Awareness

(01:04:24) Credits

Koala conservation delayed while government pursues faulty offset schemes

28 maj 2024 | 39 min

Two experts join the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the decline in koala populations in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), even as city councils and the government green light development projects on koala habitats that aren't being replaced by biodiversity offset schemes, ecologist Yung En Chee of the University of Melbourne, explains.

Meanwhile, the promised Great Koala National Park has been delayed by NSW Premier Chris Minns, even as his state allows logging of koala habitat within the park borders while he tries to set up a carbon credit scheme to monetize the protected area, says journalist Stephen Long with Australia Institute.

“I'm not sure how long this failure has to persist before we decide that we really ought to change course,” says Chee of the biodiversity credit schemes, which seem to be based on outdated data, and don’t come close to satisfying their ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity goals.

See related coverage: How a conservation NGO uses drones and artificial intelligence to detect koalas that survive bushfires, here. If you want to read more on biodiversity offsetting and 'no net loss,' please read this resource from the IUCN.

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image: Gumbaynggirr Country is home to the dunggiirr, the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), one of the totem animals for the Gumbaynggirr people. Koalas numbers are estimated to be in the tens of thousands in the state of New South Wales. Image by Steve Franklin via Unsplash (Public domain).

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(01:34) The Koala Crisis in New South Wales

(04:33) Where is the Great Koala National Park?

(06:39) Logging Activities and Government Delays

(09:53) The Problem with Carbon Credits

(16:46) Interview with Yung En Chee

(18:38) Biodiversity Offsets: Concept and Criticism

(20:15) Failures in Biodiversity Offset Implementation

(31:23) Double Dipping and Offset Market Issues

(35:22) Conclusion

Can the 'Right to Roam' boost nature connection and restoration?

21 maj 2024 | 52 min

What's unique about Canada's environment? 'The Narwhal' brings top news and views

7 maj 2024 | 48 min

How a grassroots legal effort defeated a giant Australian coal mine

29 april 2024 | 30 min

Energy transition minerals: questions, consent and costs are key

23 april 2024 | 71 min

Indigenous rights advocate and executive director of SIRGE Coalition, Galina Angarova, and environmental journalist/author of the Substack newsletter Green Rocks, Ian Morse, join us to detail the key social and environmental concerns, impacts, and questions we should be asking about the mining of elements used in everything from the global renewable energy transition to the device in your hand.

Research indicates that 54% of all transition minerals occur on or near Indigenous land. Despite this fact, no nation anywhere has properly enforced Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) protocols in line with standards in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Further, local communities too seldom benefit from their extraction, while suffering their consequences in the form of reduced air and/or water quality.

This conversation was originally broadcast on Mongabay's YouTube channel to a live audience of journalists but the conversation contains detailed insight and analysis on a vital topic listeners of the Newscast will appreciate. Those interested in participating in Mongabay's webinar series are encouraged to subscribe to the YouTube Channel or sign up for Mongagabay's Webinar Newsletter here.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Image credit: A symbol for a renewable charging station. (Photo courtesy of Nicola Sznajder/Flickr)

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:57) Why are they called 'transition minerals?'

(07:04) Geopolitical tensions and complications

(16:04) Realities of mining windfalls

(26:30) Cartelization concerns

(32:50) Environmental and human rights impacts

(39:46) Reporting on Free Prior and Informed Consent

(46:49) Recycling

(54:45) Additional Indigenous rights concerns

(57:04) Certification schemes and community-led mining initiatives

(01:03:22) Deep-sea mining

(01:09:21) Credits

The high costs of resource-based conflicts for people & planet

16 april 2024 | 52 min

How young activists navigate a hostile climate with honest conversations

9 april 2024 | 51 min

Jane Goodall on turning 90 and building empathy for nature

2 april 2024 | 35 min

On today's episode of the Newscast, world-renowned primatologist and conservation advocate Dr. Jane Goodall sits down with Mongabay founder and editor-in-chief, Rhett Butler. Goodall is celebrating her 90th birthday this week and reflects upon her long (and continuing) career, sharing reflections, lessons, stories and inspirations that guide her philosophy toward protecting the natural world.

Widely recognized for her pioneering work on animal behavior, she explains the importance of having empathy for animals and why it is crucial for meeting conservation goals now and into the future. The iconic conservationist also shares why she thinks that, despite 'doom & gloom' news, humanity can overcome the adversity of its many environmental challenges.

"I've come to think of humanity as being at the mouth of a very long very dark tunnel and right at the end there’s a little star shining. And that's hope. But it's no good sitting, wondering when that star will come to us...We must gird our loins, roll up our sleeves, and navigate around all obstacles that lie between us and the star."

View a print version of this interview at the Mongabay website: https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/jane-goodall-at-90-on-fame-hope-and-empathy/

Editor's Note: Jane Goodall is a member of Mongabay's advisory council.

Subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get podcasts, and if you enjoy the show, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Feedback? Send a message to [email protected].

Image credit: Photo of Jane Goodall by Rhett Butler/Mongabay.

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(04:09) Reflections on conservation and changes

(05:04) How do you keep hopeful?

(06:40) How can individuals make a positive impact?

(08:36) How can people make their voices heard?

(09:34) Ways to rally around nature

(11:53) Why do you think people connect with your work?

(20:08) Overlooked conservation solutions

(22:29) The importance of empathy

(27:44) Collaboration and hope in conservation

(32:22) Choosing the impact we make

Forest elephants, the endangered "gardeners" of the Congo Rainforest

26 mars 2024 | 39 min

Show us the money: Are giant pledges by major conservation funders effective?

19 mars 2024 | 76 min

Billionaires, foundations, and philanthropists often make massive, headline-grabbing pledges for biodiversity conservation or climate change mitigation, but how effective are these donations? How do these huge sums get used, and how do we know? These questions are among the considerations that conservationists and environmental reporters should keep in mind, two guest experts on this episode say.

On this edition of the Mongabay Newscast, Holly Jonas, global coordinator of the ICCA Consortium, and Michael Kavate, staff writer at Inside Philanthropy, break down some of the more overlooked issues these giant gifts raise, and story angles that reporters should consider when covering philanthropy for the environment.

"I think what the public really needs is more critical and in-depth coverage of the ideologies and the approaches behind their kinds of philanthropy, the billionaire pledges and so on, how they're being rolled out in practice, where the funding's actually going," says Jonas.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Image credit: Great Green Macaw in Las Balsas reserve. Photo credit: José León.

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(01:55) Biggest trends in environmental philanthropy

(07:23) Follow the money, follow the power

(20:23) Tools and techniques for reporters

(24:09) Localization & accountability

(37:37) Funding transparency

(53:25) Project finance for permanence

(01:06:14) Western influence in philanthropy

(01:13:37) Credits

Cultural survival through reclaiming language and land, with author Jay Griffiths

12 mars 2024 | 55 min

Rewilding Ireland: Healing from a history of deforestation, one tree at a time

27 februari 2024 | 56 min

In the biodiversity hotspot of Raja Ampat, ecotourism underpins conservation

20 februari 2024 | 55 min

Is media objectivity possible during our environmental crisis?

13 februari 2024 | 63 min

The many social and ecological benefits of a 'degrowth' world

30 januari 2024 | 78 min

Can 'degrowth' solve our economic, social, and ecological problems? Economist Timothée Parrique thinks so. On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, he joins co-host Rachel Donald to interrogate this 20+ year-old concept that critiques the notion of limitless growth in a finite world, and which offers tangible gains for people and planet.

The current economic model stretches the ecological limits of the planet – the Planetary Boundaries. Parrique says degrowth is a pathway for rich countries to scale back production and consumption – much of which contributes nothing to human well-being, research indicates – making room for low and middle-income nations to raise their standards of living, while allowing natural systems to continue supporting the ecosystem services humanity needs, like clean air and water.

The nine boundaries humanity must respect to keep the planet habitable

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find and follow Mongabay on all the social media platforms.

Image Caption: A bicycle lane in Fürth, Germany. Image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash.

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Timecodes:

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:02:35) What is degrowth exactly?

(00:07:46) Is 'decoupling' the answer?

(00:12:52) Will 'limitless growth' improve quality of life?

(00:18:23) Wasted GDP in the USA

(00:25:28) Pushing the 'GDP button'

(00:35:20) Implementing degrowth

(00:47:57) A degrowth future

(00:56:44) Rachel & Mike post-chat

(01:12:45) Rachel asks Mike to imagine a day in a post-growth world

(01:16:42) Credits

Is "Not the End of the World" author's 'techno-realism' enough to solve our ecological problems?

16 januari 2024 | 88 min

When independent journalism exposes crimes against people and planet

9 januari 2024 | 49 min

Wildlife trafficking should be covered as a crime story

19 december 2023 | 72 min

Wild by nature: Ecological restoration brings humanity and biodiversity together

12 december 2023 | 79 min

How the Junglekeepers protect 55,000 acres of the Peruvian Amazon

5 december 2023 | 43 min

Will the UN climate Loss & Damage Fund deliver on its promise?

28 november 2023 | 60 min

Deforestation decline in the Amazon and other positive news

21 november 2023 | 32 min

Corals, kelp and creative conservation in Australia

24 oktober 2023 | 41 min

Debunking the UN's climate neutrality claims

10 oktober 2023 | 43 min

Ken Burns on 'The American Buffalo,' his latest documentary focusing on the iconic species

3 oktober 2023 | 35 min

Why some bears thrive and others barely survive

27 september 2023 | 44 min

Can 'road ecology' save millions of animals?

19 september 2023 | 47 min

Nearly a million animals are killed on roads every day. That's just in the U.S., and this sobering statistic is very likely an underestimate.

“If anything, the number is probably quite a bit higher,” says Ben Goldfarb, environmental journalist and author of the new book "Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of our Planet."

The world is projected to build 25 million more miles of roads by 2050, so wildlife ecologists and engineers are searching for ways to integrate the needs of wildlife into their design. Goldfarb’s book offers a deep examination of some of the most fascinating, inspiring, but also tragic ways human societies develop infrastructure alongside nature.

He joins the Mongabay Newscast to explain the concept of ‘road ecology’ and how wildlife-friendly designs are becoming part of landscapes globally.

Related reading:

Hear Goldfarb's previous visit with this podcast, where he discussed his award-winning book "Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter," by looking up episode #49 via your favorite podcast player or click play here:

Podcast: Beavers matter more than you think

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find and follow Mongabay on all the social media platforms.

Episode artwork: A bison crosses a road in British Columbia, Canada. Image courtesy of Ben Goldfarb.

Please share your thoughts and feedback! [email protected].

Profitability and sustainability go together, Patagonia's advocacy director says

5 september 2023 | 32 min

Ecuadorian environmentalists win historic vote for Yasuní National Park

22 augusti 2023 | 20 min

Protecting the Amazon requires fresh thinking

8 augusti 2023 | 47 min

XPRIZE-Rainforest finalists for $10m conservation tech award announced

25 juli 2023 | 26 min

Biological field stations are key to conservation but often 'invisible'

11 juli 2023 | 34 min

Big problems and potential for great ape conservation

4 juli 2023 | 75 min

Can the boom in psychedelics boost Amazon conservation?

20 juni 2023 | 35 min

The Boom: Amy Westervelt examines Guyana's massive oil project on 'Drilled'

13 juni 2023 | 30 min

Mongabay Reports: Solutions abound for staying within this planetary boundary

6 juni 2023 | 18 min

Can we right the wrongs of 'fortress conservation?'

30 maj 2023 | 69 min

Since the colonization of the Congo Basin by Europeans, many Indigenous communities have been denied land they once relied on in the name of conservation under a contentious conservation model.

The central concept of “fortress conservation” remains popular with some Central African governments, however experts say it is based on a false premise of a "pristine wilderness" devoid of humans. However, Indigenous leaders and conservation experts say it's time for a change. One that includes Indigenous communities and puts them in the drives seat of conservation initiatives.

On this episode of Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin, Cameroonian lawyer and Goldman Prize winner Samuel Nguiffo, Congolese academic Vedaste Cituli, and Mongabay features writer Ashoka Mukpo detail the troubling history of fortress conservation in Central Africa, its impact, and ways to address the problems it has created.

For more Congo exploration coming soon, find & follow/subscribe to Mongabay Explores via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here.

Please also enjoy the first three seasons of Explores, where we dove into the huge biodiversity and conservation challenges in Sumatra, New Guinea, and more.

Episode Artwork: Kahuzi-Biega National Park rangers standing in formation in the park in October 2016, by Thomas Nicolon for Mongabay.

Sounds heard during the intro and outro: The call of a putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans). This soundscape was recorded in Ivindo National Park in Gabon by Zuzana Burivalova, Walter Mbamy, Tatiana Satchivi, and Serge Ekazama.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for Mongabay.

Climate change is no joke for Australians

23 maj 2023 | 40 min

Mongabay Reports: Deep sea discovery shocks and delights scientists

17 maj 2023 | 6 min

The world's second-largest rainforest is at a turning point

2 maj 2023 | 61 min

This week we're sharing the first episode of a new season of Mongabay Explores, a deep dive into the Congo Basin which begins with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which contains 60% of central Africa's forest, but which also aims to open up protected areas and forested peatlands to oil and gas development.

This is big because the Congo Basin contains the world’s second-largest rainforest, a staggering 178 million hectares, containing myriad wildlife and giant trees plus numerous human communities: it is also one of the world's biggest carbon sinks.

We speak with Adams Cassinga, a DRC resident and founder of Conserv Congo, and Joe Eisen, executive director of Rainforest Foundation UK, about the environmental and conservation challenges and opportunities faced by the DRC & the Congo Basin in general.

For more Congo exploration coming on episode 2, find & follow/subscribe to Mongabay Explores via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here.

Until episode 2 airs, please also enjoy the first three seasons of Explores, where we dove into the huge biodiversity and conservation challenges in Sumatra, New Guinea, and more.

Episode Artwork: A female putty-nosed monkey. Image by C. Kolopp / WCS.

Sounds heard during the intro and outro: The call of a putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans). This soundscape was recorded in Ivindo National Park in Gabon by Zuzana Burivalova, Walter Mbamy, Tatiana Satchivi, and Serge Ekazama.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for Mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Guyana gets Drilled: Journalist Amy Westervelt on the latest oil boom

18 april 2023 | 43 min

Mongabay Reports: Breeding new hope for African penguins at De Hoop Nature Reserve

11 april 2023 | 9 min

Conservation technology just keeps on growing

3 april 2023 | 23 min

Mongabay Reports: What's in the new U.N. High Seas treaty?

27 mars 2023 | 11 min

Journalist Tom Philpott on how agriculture impacts the environment & agroecology alternatives

21 mars 2023 | 58 min

The American approach to food production is negatively impacting the environment and depleting natural resources like topsoil and groundwater at an alarming rate. Top agriculture author, journalist, and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future research associate Tom Philpott highlights these problems on this episode first by discussing two regions where such impacts are acutely felt, the Central Valley of California and the Great Plains, and then explains how these problems are spreading to the rest of the globe.

But the author of Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It, Philpott also says there's hope via sustainable practices like agroecology and agroforestry, new land tenure models, and more.

A former food reporter and editor for Mother Jones and Grist, he discusses steps that can be taken to reform our food systems for a healthier and more sustainable future at this moment as a new growing season is about to begin in the Northern Hemisphere.

“We don’t have to have an agriculture that consumes the very ecologies that make it possible, and leads to this catastrophic loss of species that we’re in the middle of right now,” our guest says.

Related reading:

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and feedback! [email protected].

Image caption: Corn is a common food and fodder crop of the Great Plains, and has also long been used to make ethanol. But its most common cultivation methods lead to massive soil erosion, pollution of waterways, and heavy use of chemical herbicides and pesticides. Image courtesy of Tyler Lark.

Mongabay Reports: Monarchs make a comeback

13 mars 2023 | 8 min

Indigenous ecological knowledge: National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yuyan talks TEK

6 mars 2023 | 40 min

This podcast episode won a 2024 Indigenous Media Award.

National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yuyan joins the show to discuss his visits to five Indigenous communities and the value of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) for protecting the world’s biodiversity, which is the subject of his new project, "The Guardians of Life: Indigenous Stewards of Living Earth."

An effort in collaboration with previous guest Gleb Raygorodetsky and with support from the National Geographic Society and the Amazon Climate Pledge, the project takes Yuyan to five different Indigenous communities across the world.

Yuyan shares insights on the TEK of the Indigenous communities he’s visited and his own reflections as a person with Indigenous ancestry doing this work, plus what he wishes more journalists would do when sharing the stories and unique knowledge of Indigenous communities.

Related reading:

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and feedback! [email protected].

Image Caption: Larry Lucas Kaleak listens to the sounds of passing whales and bearded seals through a skinboat paddle in the water. Image (c) Kiliii Yuyan.

Mongabay Reports: Can you fund reforestation by cutting trees down?

27 februari 2023 | 18 min

Geoengineering and other 'solution problems': Discussion with author Elizabeth Kolbert

21 februari 2023 | 32 min

Mongabay Reports: Cheetahs bring vultures back from the brink in Malawi

14 februari 2023 | 9 min

Epic struggle for Ecuador's biodiversity is having success

8 februari 2023 | 17 min

Mongabay Reports: Protecting forests on a budget? Here's how.

31 januari 2023 | 8 min

Are botanists disappearing just when we need them the most?

24 januari 2023 | 28 min

Mongabay Reports: Amazon's tallest tree threatened by deforestation

16 januari 2023 | 8 min

UN Biodiversity Conference an 'important step' toward conserving nature

11 januari 2023 | 25 min

Mongabay Reports: Anteaters lead the way for species reintroductions

2 januari 2023 | 15 min

A bittersweet bioacoustics bonanza

27 december 2022 | 44 min

Into the Wasteland, 3: Buried in Europe's Recycling

20 december 2022 | 14 min

We all send our recycling somewhere for proper handling, but the operations of one such handling center in Poland makes one ask, is it being done right, or at all?

The European Commission estimates that the illegal handling of such waste represents around 15-30% of the total EU waste trade, generating EUR 9.5 billion in annual revenues.

So in part 3 of our investigative podcast series, the team dispatches Outriders journalist Eva Dunal to visit one such recycling facility in the pretty town of Zielona Góra close to the Polish-German border, and finds out just how unpopular it is with the neighbors, and especially the city council. They also speak with Jim Puckett, the 'James Bond of waste trafficking' at Basel Action Network, who reveals that much recycling is being 'laundered' via the Netherlands and shipped on to countries where such resources are often dumped, not recycled.

In a three-part, “true eco-crime” series for Mongabay’s podcast, our hosts trace England’s – and Europe's – towering illegal waste problem: investigative environmental journalists Lucy Taylor and Dan Ashby follow this illegal 'waste trail' from their quiet English town to the nearby countryside and as far away as Poland and Malaysia.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

This episode is "The Wastelands" and is part three of the investigative podcast series, "Into the Wasteland," developed with the support of Journalismfund.eu.

Banner image: The shuttered Eurokey plant in the town of Zielona Góra. Image by Eva Dunal/Outriders.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and feedback! [email protected].

Into the Wasteland, 2: The New Narcotics

13 december 2022 | 13 min

The U.K.’s Environment Agency calls waste crime — where instead of delivering recycling or rubbish for proper disposal, companies simply dump it in the countryside — “the new narcotics” because it’s so easy to make money illegally. It’s estimated that one in every five U.K. waste companies operates in this manner ('fly-tipping'), and the government seems powerless to stop it: it’s so easy to be registered as one of the government’s recommended waste haulers that even a dog can do it — and at least one has, as this episode shares.

In part 2 of our new investigative podcast series, the team also speaks with a lawyer who describes her year-long campaign to get the government to deal with a single illegal dump site, but they fail to act before it catches fire, in an emblematic 'trash fire' for this whole issue. They also speak with a former official at Interpol who shares that his agency also lacks the resources to tackle the problem.

In a three-part, “true eco-crime” series for Mongabay’s podcast, our hosts trace England’s towering illegal waste problem: investigative environmental journalists Lucy Taylor and Dan Ashby follow this illegal 'waste trail' from their quiet English town to the nearby countryside and as far away as Poland.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

This episode is "The Jungle" and is part two of the podcast series, "Into the Wasteland," developed with the support of Journalismfund.eu.

Banner image: The U.K.’s recyclables, plastic packaging and waste soils the countryside across the country and as far away as Turkey (pictured). Image courtesy of Caner Ozkan via Greenpeace Media Library.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and feedback! [email protected].

Into the Wasteland: The true crime of the UK's waste mountain

6 december 2022 | 14 min

Finned: A tale of illegal fishing and the fate of Pacific sharks

1 december 2022 | 57 min

Mongabay Reports: Lebanon's inspiring restoration success

22 november 2022 | 17 min

An escape into soundscapes

16 november 2022 | 47 min

Mongabay Reports: Sky Bridges for Sloth Safety

8 november 2022 | 11 min

How the Indigenous Shuar regained their ancestral forest

2 november 2022 | 44 min

Mongabay Reports: Spectacular fish is the first named by a Maldivian scientist

25 oktober 2022 | 5 min

Science that saves the biodiversity of free-flowing rivers

19 oktober 2022 | 45 min

Mongabay Reports: A "game changing" ecological restoration playbook

11 oktober 2022 | 7 min

Bottom trawling strips the sea of life, but activism is slowing the damage

4 oktober 2022 | 38 min

Mongabay Reports: Agroforestry is climate-positive and profitable, investors say

27 september 2022 | 13 min

Could Brazil's election decide the fate of the Amazon?

20 september 2022 | 27 min

Tropical forest news is coming fast lately, and we've got a top expert to discuss it with, beginning with the deforestation rate of the Brazilian Amazon in 2022 which is on pace to match the dismal heights of 2021; however, the upcoming Brazilian presidential election between incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and former president Luis Inacío Lula da Silva (Lula) could change forest conservation prospects.

Mongabay's CEO and sought after tropical forest news commentator, Rhett Butler, joins the Mongabay Newscast to share his analysis of how former president Lula could (once again) significantly decrease deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, like he's done in the past.

Rhett also shares his insight into a historic legislative move by the European Parliament to block 14 commodities linked to deforestation from entering the EU. The bill places the onus on the buyer to prove any 'dirty commodities' entering the EU are not linked to deforestation, whether legal or illegal. Rhett also discusses the renewed REDD+ agreement between Indonesia and Norway, which was canceled in 2021 when Norway failed to issue payment.

Mongabay Reports: Spies in the sky, albatrosses alert authorities to illegal fishing

13 september 2022 | 7 min

Sumatran elephants' future may hinge on their 'personhood'

6 september 2022 | 24 min

Mongabay Reports: Chocolate frog, anyone?

30 augusti 2022 | 6 min

Top wildlife photography requires patience, ethics, and kindness

23 augusti 2022 | 22 min

Mongabay Reports: Can bugs take a bite out of climate change?

16 augusti 2022 | 15 min

Bitcoin, blockchain, and burgeoning energy use

9 augusti 2022 | 49 min

Mongabay Reports: Chimpanzee tool innovation reveals cultural evolution

2 augusti 2022 | 8 min

Mexico's Maya Train chugs forward, but at what cost?

26 juli 2022 | 21 min

Mongabay Reports: New Guinea has the most plant species of any island

19 juli 2022 | 7 min

'Water always wins' but 'slow' solutions to water scarcity are growing in popularity

12 juli 2022 | 42 min

Human-made 'gray' infrastructure is crumbling, causing some urban areas to lose up to 40% of this precious resource: several major cities across the globe now regularly run out of water or have shortages. Yet our pervasive attempts to control water have actually made accessing it harder, especially as humanity faces the silmultaneously occurring biodiversity, climate and water crises.

Author and journalist Erica Gies joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss her new book 'Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge.' She covers non-invasive solutions ('slow water') that could help humanity not just mitigate our water problems, but also restore biodiversity that's been degraded by 'gray' infrastructure.

Cities such as Chennai, India, are already embracing these slow water practices, many of which are rooted in traditional hydrological knowledge, while other areas like coastal Louisiana contemplate managed retreat from rising water. Solving water access and water infrastructure design isn't a simple one-size-fits-all solution, but there are many measures socieities could take today, and on a local level, to make things easier for us in the future.

Mongabay Reports: Will the vaquita vanish?

5 juli 2022 | 10 min

How marine conservation benefits by blending Indigenous knowledge and western science

28 juni 2022 | 41 min

We discuss the effectiveness of combining traditional Indigenous ecological knowledge and Western science for conservation and restoration initiatives on this episode.

Our first guest is Dr. Gary Paul Nabhan, an ethnobotanist at the University of Arizona, who discusses an ancestral food of the Comcaac people in the state of Sonora in Mexico: eelgrass.

Nabhan explains how eelgrass is making a big comeback thanks to the people's restoration work, and is retaking its place at the table as a sustainable source of food for the Comcaac community while gaining international culinary attention in the process.

Host Mike G. also speaks with Dr. Sara Iverson, a professor of biology at Canada’s Dalhousie University, about a research project called Apoqnmatulti’k that aims to better understand the movements of lobster, eel, and tomcod in two important ecosystems on Canada’s Atlantic coast.

Iverson explains why those study species were chosen by the Mi’kmaq people and why it’s so important that the project combines different ways of knowing, including Western science and traditional Indigenous knowledge, which a Mi’kmaq elder dubbed 'two-eyed seeing.'

Further reading about Apoqnmatulti’k here:

• “In Canada, Indigenous communities and scientists collaborate on marine research”

Listen to episode #145 (June 1, 2022) of this podcast to hear about related Indigenous aquaculture traditions via your favorite podcast provider, or here:

• “Podcast: Indigenous, ingenious and sustainable aquaculture from the distant past to today”

Episode artwork: A conservationist working on a seagrass restoration project. Image courtesy of Seawilding.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Mongabay Reports: 'Lost' Amazonian cities reveal sustainability secrets

22 juni 2022 | 12 min

New whale calls and dolphin behaviors discovered with bioacoustics

15 juni 2022 | 45 min

Host Mike G. dives into new discoveries from the exciting field of marine bioacoustics research that are helping us better understand the lives of whales and dophins, and we feature fascinating recordings from that research.

His first guest is Erin Ross-Marsh, the lead researcher on a study of humpback whales at the Vema Seamount in the South Atlantic off the coast of South Africa. Ross-Marsh tells us about the study’s finding that these humpbacks were making gunshot calls, a type of non-song call that was previously unknown in these particular whales, and plays some humpback songs, non-song calls, and gunshot calls for us to listen to.

He also speaks with Sarah Trabue, a research assistant with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) who is the lead author of a recently published paper detailing the findings of a bioacoustic study of bottlenose dolphins in and around New York Harbor.

Trabue discusses what the study reveals about dolphin behavior in the highly trafficked waters around New York City and plays for us some of the dolphin vocalizations recorded as part of the study.

Mongabay Reports: Palm oil investigation with BBC and Gecko Project exposes corporate theft from communities

7 juni 2022 | 8 min

How Indigenous aquaculture leverages traditional ecological knowledge

1 juni 2022 | 57 min

Coastal cultures have often enjoyed abundant lifestyles thanks to the wide array of food, fiber, and other useful resources provided by the world's seas, sounds, estuaries and oceans. Indigenous peoples have also developed strong marine conservation traditions and ingenious methods of ensuring sustainable long-term harvests through practices commonly called 'aquaculture' today.

On this episode we hear from Nicola MacDonald about Kōhanga Kūtai, a project in New Zealand that aims to replace the plastic ropes used by mussel farmers with more sustainable alternatives. MacDonald tells us about the project's basis in blending traditional Maori knowledge with Western science.

We also speak with Dana Lepofsky, a professor in the archaeology department at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. Lepofsky tells us about her research into clam gardens on the Pacific coast of North America, some of which have been found to be as much as 3500 years old.

These clam gardens are such a reliable and sustainable source of food that there’s a movement afoot today to rebuild them.

Resources & reading:

• ‘We have a full pharmacopoeia of plants’: Q&A with Māori researcher Nicola Macdonald

• The Clam Garden Network website

Hear our conversation with Dune Lankard of the Native Conservancy about their kelp aquaculture project in Alaska on episode #137 or here:

• "Podcast: Kelp, condors and Indigenous conservation"

Episode artwork: Green-lipped mussels are endemic to New Zealand and are commonly grown in aquaculture operations. Image courtesy of Adrian Midgley via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Mongabay Reports: Can celebrities ‘rewrite extinction’?

25 maj 2022 | 10 min

Vandana Shiva on the agroecology solution for climate change, the biodiversity crisis, and hunger

18 maj 2022 | 61 min

Mongabay Explores: She's here! A Sumatran rhino is born

11 maj 2022 | 16 min

Wonder on wings: the fierce nature and enduring beauty of birds

4 maj 2022 | 48 min

It's a really busy time of year for birds all over the world as they migrate and prepare for a new breeding season, so on this episode we discuss the amazing fierceness and beauty of birds, why they deserve your interest and attention, plus some recent research and avian conservation trends in Nepal.

We welcome back the incomparable and award-winning author Sy Montgomery, whose most recent books are all about our avian friends: The Hawk’s Way: Encounters With Fierce Beauty, which is now in stores, and also 2021's The Hummingbird’s Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal On Wings.

In her signature & wonder-rich way, Montgomery shares some of the truly amazing things learned from personal experiences with falconry and hummingbird rehabilitation, and discusses why we find birds so fascinating.

Host Mike G. also speaks with Mongabay staff writer Abhaya Joshi about the birdlife in his country of Nepal, a new bird-counting app that’s sparking newfound interest there, and some of the most recent conservation actions being taken in the country to protect birds.

Hear Sy Montgomery's previous appearance on this show here (or search for episode #37 in your podcast app):

“Podcast: Exploring the minds and inner lives of animals”

Further reading about Nepal's birdlife by Abhaya Joshi:

Episode artwork: Fiery-throated hummingbird at Paraiso del Quetzal, Costa Rica, by Joseph C Boone via Wikimedia Commons.

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Mongabay Explores New Guinea: Community empowerment and forest conservation grow from the galip nut

27 april 2022 | 48 min

Mongabay Explores is an episodic podcast series that highlights unique places and species from around the globe.

By 2025, the edible nut industry will be worth an estimated $2 billion globally. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), a traditional and plentiful staple, the galip nut (Canarium indicum), holds the promise of tapping into that demand.

Its familiarity and the ease with which it can be grown together with coffee and cocoa is adding up to a new source of income for thousands of small scale farmers across PNG while preserving forest cover.

On this episode of Mongabay Explores, we speak with Dorothy Devine Luana, an entrepreneur from the province of East New Britain, whose company grows galip nuts using agroforestry, a farming technique rooted in traditional knowledge that grows multiple cash crops alongside woody perennials.

We also speak with Nora Devoe, research program manager for a special project focused on the galip nut at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). This project has been funding more than a decade of research seeking to understand the viability and potential of the galip nut to drive the canarium industry in PNG and foster new markets for entrepreneurs and locals like Dorothy to sell the crop.

If you missed the first six episodes of Mongabay Explores New Guinea, you can find them via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here.

Episode Artwork: Tinganagalip Women Cooperative Group Chairwoman Caroline Misiel holds a handful of galip nuts. Image by Conor Ashleigh.

Sounds heard during the intro and outro include the following: rusty mouse-warbler, growling riflebird, raggiana/lesser bird-of-paradise, superb fruit-dove, long-billed honeyeater, little shrike-thrush, brown cuckoo-dove, black-capped lory. Special thanks to Tim Boucher and Bruce Beehler for identifying them.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Convention on Biological Diversity: progress, hope and hard work ahead

20 april 2022 | 66 min

Mongabay Explores New Guinea: Who is destroying these rainforests? The Tanah Merah mystery.

13 april 2022 | 48 min

Mongabay Explores is an episodic podcast series that highlights unique places and species from around the globe.

The Tanah Merah project sits in the heart of New Guinea covering 2,800 square kilometers (1,100 square miles). Roughly twice the size of Greater London, it threatens not only dense, primary, tropical rainforest and Indigenous land, but also could release as much carbon as the U.S. state of Virginia emits by burning fossil fuels for an entire year.

However, the true owners of the project have been hidden by a web of corporate secrecy for more than a decade. We speak with Philip Jacobson, senior editor at Mongabay, and Bonnie Sumner, investigative reporter at the Aotearoa New Zealand news outlet Newsroom, to discuss the project from inception to present day, the involvement of a New Zealand businessman, and where the project could go next.

Outstanding in the field: researchers head out for a new season

6 april 2022 | 44 min

Mongabay Reports: Degraded forests still provide immense value

30 mars 2022 | 7 min

Indigenous peoples: the world's top conservationists

23 mars 2022 | 57 min

There’s growing recognition of how vital Indigenous-led conservation practices are to protecting the planet. Because of this, there’s a growing global movement to secure Indigenous land rights, toward safeguarding the Earth’s future. And there’s plenty of science to support it, such as a World Bank study which found that although Indigenous lands account for less than 22% of the world’s land area, their territories protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity. This protection is not passive: in fact, Indigenous-led preservation projects are a vital part of the conservation movement across the world and in the United States. On this pre-Earth Day episode, we speak with two guests: the director of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society – Julie Thorstenson, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe – about how America’s 574 tribes manage more than 140 million acres of land, and which have scientists working to reintroduce and protect endangered or declining wildlife, from bison to condors, salmon, and ferrets. We also discuss the history of Indigenous-led conservation in North America with award-winning author Michelle Nijhuis, whose latest book “Beloved Beasts” – about the history of the modern conservation movement told through the lives and ideas of the people who built it, including Native Americans – is now out in paperback. Related reading at Mongabay.com, featuring Dr. Thorstensen:

"Underfunded but passionate, Native American conservationists call for more support"

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts like Apple Podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

Episode artwork: Endangered black-footed ferrets have benefited hugely from the conservation work of multiple Native American communities. Image courtesy of Kimberly Fraser/USFWS.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Mongabay Explores New Guinea: 'Ghosts of the rainforest'

16 mars 2022 | 58 min

Mongabay Explores is an episodic podcast series that highlights unique places and species from around the globe.

New Guinea's dense tropical montane forests are home to 12 of 14 tree kangaroo species. Over the past couple of decades, conservationists have leveraged these charismatic, intelligent marsupials to spearhead community development, conservation efforts, and the establishment of protected areas.

In Papua New Guinea, the Torricelli mountain range is home to three species of tree kangaroo, including the critically endangered tenkile. This mountain range sits in the crosshairs of a road project threatening to encroach upon the region; however, the government is in the process of reviewing a draft proposal to have it officially declared a protected area.

For this episode of the podcast, we speak with Jim Thomas of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance and Lisa Dabek and Modi Pontio of the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program. They detail the successes and challenges of working for nearly two decades in PNG to conserve these intelligent marsupials and the lands they inhabit.

If you missed the first four episodes of Mongabay Explores New Guinea you can find them via the podcast provider of your choice or find all the episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here.

Episode Artwork: A tree kangaroo, photo courtesy of Tom Jefferson/Greenpeace.

Sounds heard during the intro and outro include the following: rusty mouse-warbler, growling riflebird, raggiana/lesser bird-of-paradise, superb fruit-dove, long-billed honeyeater, little shrike-thrush, brown cuckoo-dove, black-capped lory. Special thanks to Tim Boucher and Bruce Beehler for identifying them.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores via Apple Podcasts or wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Are 'nature based solutions' the best fix for climate change?

9 mars 2022 | 58 min

Mongabay Explores New Guinea: A long and winding road

2 mars 2022 | 46 min

Mongabay Explores is an episodic podcast series that highlights unique places and species from around the globe. Subscribe to the show wherever you get podcasts and stay tuned for subsequent episodes in this season.

Spanning over 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) and being built over the course of decades, the Trans-Papua Highway cuts across the entire length of Indonesian New Guinea’s two provinces, including 7 key protected areas.

While the project is nearly complete, experts warn it will cost billions annually to maintain, and threaten to open up untouched rainforest to palm oil expansion contributing an additional 4.5 million hectares of deforestation by 2036.

For this episode, we interviewed David Gaveau, founder of The TreeMap and Bill Laurance, distinguished professor, and director of the Center for Tropical, Environmental, and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Australia.

Both experts explained the environmental, financial, and social costs of the project, which runs through Indonesia’s Lorentz National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

If you missed the first three episodes of Mongabay Explores New Guinea you can find it via the podcast provider of your choice or find all the episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here.

Episode Artwork: Tearing up trees to expand the road for the Trans West Papua highway. Daniel Beltrá/Greenpeace

Editor's Note: Bill Laurance, is a Distinguished Research Professor at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia as well as the founder and director of ALERT (Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers) and a member of Mongabay’s advisory board.

Sounds heard during the intro and outro include the following: rusty mouse-warbler, growling riflebird, raggiana/lesser bird-of-paradise, superb fruit-dove, long-billed honeyeater, little shrike-thrush, brown cuckoo-dove, black-capped lory. Special thanks to Tim Boucher and Bruce Beehler for identifying them.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

How the sounds of African wildlife aid their conservation

23 februari 2022 | 38 min

Mongabay Explores New Guinea: Protecting paradise

16 februari 2022 | 52 min

Mongabay Explores is an episodic podcast series that highlights unique places and species from around the globe. Subscribe to the show wherever you get podcasts and stay tuned for subsequent episodes in this season. New Guinea is home to the third-largest tropical rainforest in the world—of which 80% is still intact. The two-nation island also contains 44 species of unique birds-of-paradise and dense biodiverse regions unlike anywhere else on the planet. Because of its one-of-a-kind biodiversity, and relatively undeveloped landscape, New Guinea is in a unique position to conserve its forest cover as part of an economy that serves its local inhabitants, rather than extracting from and deforesting these communities.

For this third episode of the New Guinea season, Mongabay interviews Bustar Maitar, CEO of EcoNusa, and biologist Edwin Scholes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology about the diverse and charismatic birds-of-paradise and the potential for New Guinea to harness ecotourism to power a sustainable economy.

If you missed the first two episodes of Mongabay Explores New Guinea you can find it via the podcast provider of your choice or find all the episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here.

Episode Artwork: A Cendrawasih (bird of paradise) on a tree in Malagufuk village, located in the rainforest in Kalasou valley, Sorong, West Papua. Copyright: Jurnasyanto Sukarno/Greenpeace

Sounds heard during the intro and outro include the following: rusty mouse-warbler, growling riflebird, raggiana/lesser bird-of-paradise, superb fruit-dove, long-billed honeyeater, little shrike-thrush, brown cuckoo-dove, black-capped lory. Special thanks to Tim Boucher and Bruce Beehler for identifying them.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Kelp, condors and Indigenous conservation

9 februari 2022 | 65 min

Mongabay Explores New Guinea: 'Carbon cowboys' and illegal logging

1 februari 2022 | 54 min

The 411 on forests and reforestation for 2022

26 januari 2022 | 60 min

What are the main global forest conservation trends for 2022? Though deforestation is declining, how much forest is the world still losing? Host Mike G. speaks with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler about the year in forests, forest-related storylines to watch, and Mongabay’s expanding coverage of topics like these all around the world.

He also speaks with Swati Hingorani, a senior program officer at the IUCN and Global Coordinator for the Bonn Challenge, one of the world's most important reforestation programs.

Hingorani discusses reforestation trends and the Bonn Challenge’s newly revamped and relaunched Restoration Barometer that tracks ecosystem restoration progress being made by countries around the world.

Related reading:

Two related podcast episodes mentioned in this episode include episode #133 (December 9, 2021), "What do two giant land deals mean for the future of Southeast Asia's forests?" and "Natural forest regeneration’s critical role in reforestation goals" from November 10, 2021 (episode #131).

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

Episode artwork: Evergreen forest in California via drone, image by Rhett Butler for Mongabay.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Mongabay Reports: Mt. Pinatubo's 'eruption-proof' mouse

18 januari 2022 | 7 min

Who will lead the conservation movement now?

12 januari 2022 | 40 min

Both E.O. Wilson and Tom Lovejoy were major figures in the conservation field and passed away in late 2021 -- both also appeared on this show, so we play some clips of those conversations and talk with two guests about their legacies, but also where to look for new conservation leadership. Do we need new figures like them, or is this conservation's post-icon era? What about the great diversity of new scientists coming up via programs like STEM, and whole communities like Indigenous ones who have their own scientists, plus rich traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)? We discuss this with two guests: Rebecca McCaffery, who is Society of Conservation Biology's president for North America, and Mongabay staff writer Liz Kimbrough, who interviewed E.O. Wilson just 2 months before his passing.

Both of these women hold conservation science PhDs and share expansive views on what's next for leadership in the field.

Update 2/2022: In late January, correspondence found among the late E.O. Wilson’s papers connected him with J. Phillipe Rushton, whose research in the 1980s and 1990s has been linked with white supremacy. The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation has now issued a statement.

Related listening from the Newscast:

Tom Lovejoy on episode #51: The ‘Godfather of Biodiversity’ on why it’s time to manage Earth as a system
Wilson on episode #56: E.O. Wilson discusses Half-Earth and conservation solutions

And here's Liz Kimbrough's late 2021 print interview of E.O. Wilson & friends for Mongabay.com:

Half-Earth, conservation, and hope: An interview with E.O. Wilson, Paula Ehrlich and Sir Tim Smit

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

Episode artwork: A moray eel in the Daymaniyat Islands, Oman. Image by Warren Baverstock / Ocean Image Bank.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Mongabay Explores New Guinea: Protecting unparalleled biodiversity

5 januari 2022 | 75 min

Mongabay Explores is an episodic podcast series that highlights unique places and species from around the globe. Subscribe to the show wherever you get podcasts and stay tuned for subsequent episodes in this season.

New Guinea is one of the most most biodiverse regions on the planet and also the world's largest tropical island. It makes up less than 0.5% of the world’s landmass, but is estimated to contain as much as 10% of global biodiversity.

To unpack the vast biodiversity of New Guinea, conservation policy, and NGO efforts to protect land, culture and Indigenous rights, we spoke with Rodrigo Cámara-Leret, of the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich, Charlie Danny Heatubun, head of the research and development agency of the provincial government of West Papua, and Miriam Supuma of Synchronicity Earth.

In this third season of the podcast, we take a look at what makes New Guinea unlike any other place in this world, the contributing environmental impacts that threaten its culture and biodiversity, and what is being done to protect it.

Listen to the previous 2 seasons of Mongabay Explores via the podcast provider of your choice or find them at our podcast homepage here.

Episode artwork: (Casuarius unappendiculatus) is one of the majestic birds that New Guinea is famous for. Image by Rhett Butler for Mongabay.

Sounds heard during the intro and outro include the following: rusty mouse-warbler, growling riflebird, raggiana/lesser bird-of-paradise, superb fruit-dove, long-billed honeyeater, little shrike-thrush, brown cuckoo-dove, black-capped lory. Special thanks to Tim Boucher and Bruce Beehler for identifying them.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

In search of wild spectacles and river journeys with Janisse Ray and Jordan Salama

21 december 2021 | 50 min

What do two giant land deals mean for the future of Southeast Asia's forests?

9 december 2021 | 56 min

Mongabay Reports: Why chimp GIFs aren't funny

30 november 2021 | 7 min

Bill McKibben on climate action, grief and 'radical joy' after COP26 climate summit

23 november 2021 | 37 min

Most observers declared the recent climate summit a failure, as world leaders largely delayed action on climate change.

Still there was some progress so we discuss those here plus proactive ways we can all stay engaged with this debate over the planet's future atmosphere, with two guests.

Bill McKibben is a noted activist, author, and founder of 350.org as well as the newly created Third Act initiative, and shares his response to the failures of COP26, why he was inspired by the activism he saw at the COP, and how he sees climate activism evolving to counter the outsized influence of the industries that rely on burning fossil fuels and clearing the world’s forests for profit.

And Trebbe Johnson, author of Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty In Earth’s Broken Places and founder of an organization with the same name, Radical Joy for Hard Times, tells us about ecological grief, how it can affect people concerned about the future of our planet, and how to deal with that grief and stay committed to working towards a better future for all life on Earth.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

Mongabay Reports: Earth Defenders Toolkit strengthens Indigenous voices

17 november 2021 | 7 min

Let it grow: Natural forest regeneration's amazing reforestation power

10 november 2021 | 66 min

Mongabay Reports: Lost chameleon reappears

3 november 2021 | 5 min

Indigenous bioacoustics: listening to the land for conservation and tradition

27 oktober 2021 | 42 min

Mongabay Reports: New species of North America's rare spotted skunks discovered

19 oktober 2021 | 6 min

Extracted, exported and forgotten: the global race for resources and the DRC

14 oktober 2021 | 42 min

The world economy demands clean energy and cheap commodities and these are being extracted at a furious rate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

So the DRC is benefiting from all this activity, right?

Though extremely rich in natural resources, thanks to political instability plus a centuries-long legacy of commercial and colonial resource extraction, the value mainly accrues to the country's east and west, where corporations and governments benefit the most.

Joining the show to discuss are Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, who describes how Western investors like university pension funds and corporations profit from oil palm plantations where human rights violations and environmental abuses are common.

Then Christian-Geraud Neema Byamungu, a Congolese researcher who focuses on natural resource governance, tells us about how the growing demand for cobalt to make electric-car batteries has led to increased mining, the Chinese companies that dominate the DRC's mines, and why the contracts between those companies and the DRC are being called into question.

Mongabay Reports: In search of the ‘forest ghost,’ South America’s giant armadillo

5 oktober 2021 | 8 min

The key role of Indigenous rights for the future of biodiversity conservation

29 september 2021 | 63 min

Two top guests join this episode to discuss the importance of Indigenous rights to the future of biodiversity conservation and efforts to build a more sustainable future for life on Earth.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and is the current executive director of the Tebtebba Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education, based in Manila.

Tauli-Corpuz who is a member of the Kankana-ey-Igorot people of the Philippines describes the Global Indigenous Agenda released at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, why it calls for Indigenous rights to be central to conservation efforts, and what she hopes to see achieved at the UN Biodiversity Conference taking place in Kunming, China next year.

We also speak with Zack Romo, program director for the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) who was in Marseilles for the Congress and helped pass the motion to protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025. The rights-based approach that Amazon protection plan calls for, and what the next steps are to making the plan a reality, are discussed.

Here’s further reading and listening:

• ”‘The tipping point is here, it is now,’ top Amazon scientists warn”

• ”As COP15 approaches, ’30 by 30’ becomes a conservation battleground”

• ”‘Join us for the Amazon,’ Indigenous leaders tell IUCN in push for protection”

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Episode artwork: Participants at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in 2021, image via IISD. Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Mongabay Reports: As Gabon gets paid to conserve its forests, will others follow?

21 september 2021 | 7 min

Are tuna recovering well, like reports say? It's complicated.

15 september 2021 | 40 min

Mongabay Reports: Can climate-friendly agroforestry transform farming in the U.S. Midwest?

8 september 2021 | 16 min

What makes conservation projects succeed, or not?

1 september 2021 | 58 min

Mongabay Reports: ‘Extinction denial’ is the latest anti-science conspiracy theory

19 augusti 2021 | 8 min

What can seashells tell us about the oceans' health?

10 augusti 2021 | 59 min

Optimism for elephants fuels effective Indigenous conservation effort

28 juli 2021 | 57 min

Mongabay Reports: Two new Javan rhino calves spotted in the species’ last holdout

22 juli 2021 | 4 min

Reforestation done right, from Haiti to Honduras and Ho Chi Minh City

14 juli 2021 | 58 min

Often called a panacea, 'tree planting' is a hot topic but it can fail when too little thought goes into it, so the guests on this episode reframe the practice, saying that 'tree growing' ought to be the focus of reforestation programs.

'Right tree, right place, right community” is the approach taken by Trees for Climate Health that guest Erin Axelrod directs, whose approach ensures that the dozens of projects it is implementing currently (and its overall goal to grow over 10 million trees by 2025) are appropriate to the areas, likely to succeed and survive, and benefit local communities.

We also speak with freelance environmental journalist Mike Tatarski who recently filed a story about Vietnam’s plan to plant a billion trees by 2025. Tatarski tells us about the impetus and goals of this nationwide effort, Vietnam’s long history of supporting tree planting, and more.

Articles discussed:

• ”How to pick a tree-planting project? Mongabay launches transparency tool to help supporters decide”

• ”‘Drastic forest development’: Vietnam to plant 1 billion trees — but how?”

Look for episode 119 of the Mongabay Newscast to hear our discussion of reforestation trends and issues with Mongabay staff writer Dr. Liz Kimbrough, who helped develop the new Reforestation Directory and app that rates such projects: Reforestation.app.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

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Episode artwork: Girls from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation planting ponderosa pines in South Dakota, image courtesy of Trees, Water, and People. Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Reconnecting kids and ourselves to the planet with author Richard Louv

30 juni 2021 | 63 min

During the past year's pandemic and lockdowns, spending time outdoors has been soothing for many--whether found outside our homes, in parks, or via nature documentaries--and in some ways it was a meaningful reset.

Both human health and conservation benefit when we spend time in nature, so today we're discussing reconnection for kids and adults: what we know about its beneficial effects, how a movement to connect with nature is growing globally, and what this means for conservation.

Our first guest is author Richard Louv, who coined the phrase ‘nature deficit disorder’ and wrote the 2005 book that introduced the concept, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, in order to facilitate discussion of the human cost of alienation from the natural world. Louv discusses the international movement kicked off by the book, what the latest research says about the connection between nature deficit disorder and a variety of physical and mental ailments, and how the pandemic shifted the public's views on nature.

We also welcome to the show educator Megan Strauss, co-editor of Mongabay Kids, which provides kids, families, and educators with content that helps raise awareness of environmental issues and fosters an appreciation of plants, wildlife, and wild places. She shares the philosophy behind the site and the great variety of activities available there, plus her point of view on nature connection from her home region of Australia.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Episode artwork: Boy and butterfly by Ryan Hagerty via the Creative Commons. Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Mongabay Reports: Camera traps in trees reveal a richness of species in Rwandan park

24 juni 2021 | 5 min

With billion dollar boost, bioacoustics is set to soar

16 juni 2021 | 72 min

“This is an incredibly exciting time to be part of the field of bioacoustics,” our guest on this episode says, and she's right: if you care about wildlife conservation, or really like technology and interesting solutions to big challenges, this episode is for you.

Laurel Symes is assistant director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's bioacoustics lab, which was founded in the 1980s to study whale songs and elephant rumbles, and it just received a massive $24 million gift and changed its name to the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics.

The Cornell program is therefore about to expand this field in many ways, from technology development to implementation, so we discuss their plans and the implications with this repeat guest, who previously joined the show to discuss her own fascinating work on the soundscapes of rainforests (episode 86).

Many bioacoustics researchers like her have been featured by this show, so after discussing Laurel's exciting news, we feature some of our most popular acoustic ecology segments: get ready for an absorbing crash course on what people are learning about animal behavior and ecosystem health with these increasingly affordable and ubiquitous listening devices!

If you want to hear any of the episodes featured in full, look up the episode numbers listed here in your podcast app of choice, or click its link to hear it via the Mongabay website:

Elephant Listening Project, episode 95
Indri lemur choruses, episode 107
Gibbon songs, episode 82
Humpback whales sharing songs, episode 77
Right whales discovered singing for the 1st time, episode 72
Rainforest frogs, episode 54

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps!

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Episode artwork: Topher White of Rainforest Connection installing a bioacoustics device in the forest canopy. Image by Ben Von Wong. Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

Can Biden's 30x30 plan put the U.S. back on a positive conservation track?

3 juni 2021 | 53 min

The U.S. has been M.I.A. on many environmental issues for the last few years, but the new Biden Administration has been announcing positive policies regularly.

Among the most important is the “America The Beautiful” plan, laying out a vision for conserving 30% of its lands and waters by 2030, making it the latest country to release what’s called a 30×30 plan.

But is it enough? Despite a lack of specifics, many are celebrating renewed American leadership on this front, which can encourage other countries to get aboard the 30x30 bandwagon, in addition to other green policy objectives.

Joining us to discuss is Joe Walston, executive vice president of global conservation for the Wildlife Conservation Society--we talk about how the plan has been received, the most important details of the plan needing to be fleshed out, the important role of Indigenous people and farmers it advocates for, and why the U.S. joining the 30×30 movement could have sweeping global impacts.

Other conservation initiatives are also afoot that aim to make profound changes in the way Americans live on the planet. One is through agricultural solutions to the climate crisis, so we're also joined by science writer Sarah Derouin, who recently covered agroforestry programs in the U.S Midwest and Pennsylvania for Mongabay.

Derouin shares the goals and accomplishments of these programs, the vision of trees becoming integral to farming even in areas dominated by monocultures, and how agroforestry can factor into the U.S. meeting the 30×30 targets.

Articles discussed during this episode:

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

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Episode artwork: The Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay. Please share your thoughts! [email protected]

Mongabay Reports: How many trees are on the Earth?

26 maj 2021 | 4 min

Reforestation vs deforestation: Forest losses and gains this past year

20 maj 2021 | 57 min

On this episode we discuss how newly released data shows deforestation rose in 2020, even while tree planting initiatives took root all around the planet.

Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler joins us to discuss the 2020 deforestation data, how that fits into broader trends affecting the world’s forests, and what good news there is to take from last year’s deforestation numbers.

We also welcome Mongabay staff writer Dr. Liz Kimbrough to the program to discuss our new database of hundreds of reforestation projects from around the world she helped assemble that aims to help donors find the most effective tree-planting initiatives to support.

Find this new Reforestation Directory and app to learn about tree planting projects you might want to study or support at Reforestation.app.

Articles discussed in this episode:

• “Global forest loss increased in 2020” (31 March 2021) • “A Madagascar-sized area of forest has regrown since 2000” (12 May 2021) • “Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?” (13 May 2021) • “How settlers, scientists, and a women-led industry saved Brazil’s rarest primate” (14 May 2021) • “How to pick a tree-planting project? Mongabay launches transparency tool to help supporters decide” (17 May 2021)

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Episode artwork: A man carries trees during a reforestation project in Tanzania. Image courtesy of One Tree Planted. Please share your thoughts! [email protected]

Two tunas and a tale of managed extinction

23 april 2021 | 58 min

As humanity exceeds key 'planetary boundaries' many solutions are on the horizon, too

8 april 2021 | 40 min

Climate change & loss of biological diversity are just two of the 9 planetary boundaries scientists say humanity is currently pushing the limits of.

How long can we sustain society if we keep pushing these limits?

We explore this question -- and some leading solutions -- with two guests: Dr. Claire Asher is a freelance science communicator and author who joins us to discuss a recent article she wrote for Mongabay that describes the boundaries, the 4 we are already exceeding, and the opportunities we’ll have in 2021 to transform the way we live on this planet and restore equilibrium to Earth’s vital ecological systems, from sustainable design and agriculture to key international meetings.

"We don't have to give up the nice things to have a planet that is habitable, but we have to start to invest now," Asher says.

Then Andrew Willner discusses his recent Mongabay article “New Age of Sail” that would transform the global shipping industry, a major source of CO2 emissions that are shifting the climate. Willner shares how cutting edge technologies are deployed on ships right now to decrease their fuel consumption, including a number of modern types of sails that are once again harnessing the wind to power the ships moving our goods around the world.

Related reading:

Claire Asher: The nine boundaries humanity must respect to keep the planet habitable
Andrew Willner: New age of sail looks to slash massive maritime carbon emissions

Episode artwork: view of Earth imaged during ISS Expedition 46, courtesy of NASA.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

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See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

New investigation in the Amazon documents impact of palm oil plantations on Indigenous communities

24 mars 2021 | 61 min

Palm oil plantations look likely to become a new cause of deforestation and pollution across the Amazon: though companies say their supply chains are green and sustainable, critics in Brazil--including scientists & federal prosecutors--cite deforestation, chemical pollution, and human rights violations. Mongabay's Rio-based editor Karla Mendes investigated one such project in Para State and joins us to discuss the findings of her new report, Déjà vu as palm oil industry brings deforestation, pollution to Amazon. Beside the health toll of chemical sprays on Indigenous people whose land it encroaches, Mendes studied satellite imagery to disprove claims that the company only plants on land that's already been deforested. Also joining the show are a scientist who's documented contamination of water sources and related health impacts, Sandra Damiani from the University of Brasília, plus a federal prosecutor in the Amazon region, Felício Pontes Júnior, who is trying to hold palm oil companies accountable for polluting Indigenous communities. Palm oil is used in a huge array of consumer goods sold in most countries--from snacks to ice cream & shampoo---and is a main cause of rainforest loss in Africa and Southeast Asia. Now, the industry sees the Amazon as prime new ground. Episode artwork: Fresh palm oil fruit, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo courtesy of Nanang Sujana for CIFOR.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

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Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Mongabay Explores Sumatra: Solutions and optimism that drive conservation

17 mars 2021 | 72 min

'I'm amazed how resilient, adaptable and optimistic the people of Sumatra are,' conservationist and HAkA Sumatra founder Farwiza Farhan says in the first moments of this episode about the women and communities she works with during the final episode of Mongabay's special series on Sumatra.

The giant Indonesian island of course faces many environmental challenges, but there is also tremendous hope and good progress thanks to the work of people like her and educator Pungky Nanda Pratama, who also joins the show to describe how his Jungle Library Project & Sumatra Camera Trap Project are opening the eyes of the next generation to the need for protecting their fabulous natural heritage.

Host Mike DiGirolamo shares the effectiveness of their efforts, what they are hopeful for, their biggest challenges, and the role of grassroots organizing in protecting and revitalizing the land, wildlife, and people of Sumatra.

More about these guests' work:

Listen to the previous 9 episodes of Mongabay Explores Sumatra via the podcast provider of your choice or find them at our podcast homepage here.

Episode artwork: Pungky with the biggest flower on Earth, Rafflesia arnoldii. Photo by Alek Sander.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

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Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Can agroecology feed the world?

10 mars 2021 | 40 min

Agroecology is a style of sustainable farming spreading quickly around the globe, transforming the way food is grown.

Industrial agriculture requires chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides that harm natural systems and people alike, but by working with (and even enhancing) ecosystems, agroecology provides an alternative that encompasses many familiar practices--from composting to organic gardening and seed saving--and many less widely implemented ones, like agroforestry, while bringing modern technology like mobile apps and SMS to bear.

And studies show that it can indeed feed the world's people: food systems expert and author Anna Lappé joins the show to discuss why the idea that it's a “low yield” practice is a myth and how the adoption of agroecological practices around the globe is key to a sustainable future.

And behavioral scientist Philippe Bujold of Rare Conservation’s Center for Behavior & the Environment discusses his organization’s program that employs behavioral science to encourage farmers in Colombia to adopt agroecology in the face of changing climate conditions, like drought and heat, which are causing traditional growing methods to fail.

Episode artwork: Vegetable farmer watering plants at an organic farm in Boung Phao Village, Lao PDR, via Flickr.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

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Mongabay Explores Sumatra: Restoration for peat's sake

3 mars 2021 | 48 min

Rewilding, restoration, and real hope for the future

24 februari 2021 | 64 min

Mongabay Explores Sumatra: where are the rhinos?

17 februari 2021 | 25 min

Biomass and hydropower: climate solutions or delusions?

10 februari 2021 | 49 min

Two technologies being promoted as climate solutions, biomass and hydropower, actually have big environmental consequences and might not be sustainable at all. Can we burn and dam our way out of the climate crisis?

We speak with Justin Catonoso, a Wake Forest University journalism professor and Mongabay reporter, who describes the loopholes in renewable energy policies that have allowed the biomass industry to flourish under the guise of carbon neutrality, even though the burning of trees for energy has been shown to release more carbon emissions than burning coal.

We also talk to Ana Colovic Lesoska, a biologist who was instrumental in shutting down two large hydropower projects in her Balkan country’s Mavrovo National Park. This recent Goldman Environmental Prize winner says there is a tidal wave of 3,000+ other hydropower projects still proposed for the region, and discusses whether hydropower can be a climate solution at all, at any scale.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

Read all of Mongabay's coverage of biomass here and hydropower here.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

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Mongabay Explores Sumatra: Omens and optimism for orangutans

2 februari 2021 | 48 min

Agroforestry: the most climate-friendly and biodiversity-positive agriculture technique is growing

27 januari 2021 | 66 min

Ever drink 'shade grown' coffee or eat 'bird friendly' chocolate? Then you've enjoyed the fruits of agroforestry, an ancient agricultural technique practiced on a huge scale across the world which also sequesters a staggering amount of carbon from the atmosphere.

Agroforestry is poised for growth as the world searches for solutions to the climate crisis, and this one is special because it also produces grains/fruits/vegetables/livestock, builds soil and water tables, and is highly biodiversity-positive.

Today we discuss its power and promise with three guests: Mongabay's agroforestry series editor Erik Hoffner; the director the Center for Agroforestry at the University of Missouri, Sarah Lovell, who discusses agroforestry’s history and extent in the United States, plus what the Biden Administration might do with it; and a true icon in the field, Roger Leakey, an author, researcher, and vice president of the International Tree Foundation. Leakey explains how helps build food security, boosts biodiversity, and reduces conditions that lead to deforestation and migration.

Mongabay’s entire series on agroforestry can be viewed here, but here are some features discussed on the show:

Episode artwork: chocolate thrives under a mix of fruit and timber trees, image via World Agroforestry.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

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Mongabay Explores Sumatra: Elephants and eternity

21 januari 2021 | 43 min

What's in store for the world's forests in 2021?

13 januari 2021 | 56 min

New conservation tech to clean up mining sector

23 december 2020 | 39 min

Mongabay Explores Sumatra: Tiger on the highway

16 december 2020 | 43 min

The wildlife rich island of Sumatra is experiencing a road building boom, causing some of its iconic creatures to be seen by construction workers: a photo of a Sumatran tiger crossing a highway work-site went viral this summer, for example.

This smallest of all tiger subspecies still needs its space despite its stature: up to 250 square kilometers for each one's territory. A single road cut into their forest habitat encroaches on these key areas, where less than 400 of these critically endangered animals persist.

Road building creates access to impenetrable forests that are home to all kinds of creatures, though, enabling illegal hunting and fragmenting habitats.

To discuss the impact of - and alternatives to - such infrastructure projects as the billion dollar Trans-Sumatran Highway, we reached Hariyo “Beebach” Wibisono, a research fellow at the San Diego Zoo Global & director of SINTAS Indonesia, plus Bill Laurance, a distinguished professor at James Cook University, who is also head of ALERT, the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers and Thinkers.

Related reading:

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Episode artwork: a critically endangered Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica). Image courtesy of the Zoological Society of London.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

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Cerrado solutions: Creative conservation for Brazil's massive savanna

9 december 2020 | 57 min

Mongabay Explores Sumatra: Will the world's newest great ape species face a dammed future?

3 december 2020 | 44 min

North Sumatra is home to 1 of only 8 known great ape species in the world, the newly described Tapanuli orangutan, first classified in 2017 after its habits and DNA proved them to be unique. As with many animals in Sumatra, they are amazing creatures that are critically threatened, with a maximum of 800 individuals estimated to be living in an increasingly fragmented habitat.

Now a hydroelectric dam proposed for the center of the animals' tiny territory further challenges this special species' chances of survival, as well as that of 23 other threatened species which also live in the area.

To understand what's interesting about this animal and how the proposed Batang Toru dam would impact it, we speak with a biologist who helped discover its uniqueness, Dr. Puji Rianti of IPB University in Bogor, and Mongabay staff writer Hans Nicholas Jong in Jakarta, who has been covering the controversy over the project, as it's been called into question by activists and funders alike and faces numerous delays.

The saga is definitely not over, and this episode explains why.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify or Audible, or wherever they get podcasts.

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below.

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Land rights, and wrongs: How Indigenous and local communities are fighting to gain title to their territories

25 november 2020 | 47 min

We're taking a look at the importance of securing Indigenous & local communities’ land rights -- and the global push for privatization that can deprive such people access to their territories -- with two guests on this episode.

A 2018 study found that Indigenous Peoples steward about 38 million km2 of land in 87 countries, that's more than a quarter of the world’s land surface, making them the most important conservationists on the planet, you might say. But governments and corporations increasingly want access to these lands, too, so the issue of land rights and titles is heating up.

To discuss the issue and learn how people are gaining title to their lands, we welcome Daisee Francour, a member of the Oneida nation of Wisconsin (U.S.) who is also director of strategic partnerships and communications for the NGO Cultural Survival, plus Anuradha Mittal who's executive director of the Oakland Institute, a think tank that recently released a report titled Driving Dispossession: The Global Push To Unlock The Economic Potential Of Land.

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below.

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Episode artwork: In Zambia, a resident displays a map of her village's land. Villagers confirm that individual plots of land are accurately depicted and will be given a certificate conferring rights to farm and use the land. Photo courtesy of Sandra Coburn/Oakland Institute.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

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Mongabay Explores Sumatra: Deforestation demystified

18 november 2020 | 47 min

Sumatra contains some of the largest tracts of intact rainforest left in the world, but it's at the center of a complicated web of deforestation drivers, many of which began during the Dutch colonial era and are now spurred further by corruption and the global demand for cheap palm oil used in a wide range of consumer products.

To understand the rapid expansion of industrial-scale agribusinesses that market both palm oil and pulp & paper to the global market from this, the largest island in the Indonesian Archipelago, podcast host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with Nur “Yaya” Hidayati and Philip Jacobson.

Hidayati is the national executive director of Walhi, the largest and oldest environmental advocacy NGO in Indonesia, while Jacobson is a contributing editor at Mongabay who has been covering Indonesia for six years.

They discuss what causes the massive deforestation in Sumatra in particular and Indonesia in general, why it’s so difficult to control, what exacerbates efforts to stop it, and what can be done globally and locally to slow or stop the expansion of continued land exploitation.

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

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Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

In Madagascar, award-winning plant passion & lemur love

11 november 2020 | 44 min

We have amazing recordings of indri lemur songs (click for the choruses, stay for the roars) and the award-winning architect of protected areas that house Madagascar’s rich plant life on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast.

Mongabay has a special tie to this biologically-rich East African country--our name comes from an island just off its shores--so we're thrilled to return for this episode.

Jeannie Raharimampionana is a Malagasy botanist who identified 80 priority areas for conservation of plant life there, 11 of which have now been protected: this achievement recently won her the National Geographic Buffett Award for Leadership in Conservation in Africa and the title of National Geographic Explorer.

We also speak with Valeria Torti from University of Turin who researches critically endangered indri lemurs in the protected forests of the Maromizaha region. Torti tells us about the threats indris are facing and plays for us a number of wild recordings of their calls.

Episode artwork is of an indri lemur in the Analamazaotra Special Reserve, photo by Charles J Sharp.

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Mongabay Explores Sumatra: Saving the singing rhino

5 november 2020 | 55 min

Sumatran rhinos are unlike anything else in this world: small in stature and docile by nature, they sport a coat of fur and sing songs reminiscent of a dolphin. In other words, this ancient species surprises and enchants anyone lucky enough to encounter it.

But Sumatran rhinos are also one of the most endangered large mammals on the planet. While its population is difficult to pinpoint, experts estimate there could be as many as 80 – or as few as 30 – still in the wild, leaving their future in doubt.

To understand the wonder and worry associated with this species, Mongabay Explores podcast host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with two guests, Wulan Pusparini and Jeremy Hance, about the unique challenges of conserving them, what is being done for them currently, and what needs to happen in order to save them from extinction.

Pusparini studied them as a species conservation specialist with the Wildlife Conservation Society before pursuing her Ph.D. in Environmental Conservation at Oxford University, while Hance is Mongabay’s senior correspondent who’s traveled Sumatra extensively to cover the species (and is the author of a new book about such travels, “Baggage“).

To learn more, see Mongabay's twin series authored by Hance on the conservation efforts and the scientific advances made in their captive breeding, here:

Music heard during this episode is by Sorbatua Siallagan, chief of the Dolok Parmonangan Indigenous community. The song is called "Gondang tu Mulajadi," where Gondang means ‘music’ and also ‘prayer,’ and Mulajadi means God. This kind of music is typically performed when Indigenous communities in Batak areas of Sumatra conduct rituals. Series theme music heard at the beginning and end is called “Putri Tangguk” and was licensed via Pond5.

Sounds of Sumatran rhinos heard during the show courtesy of Save the Rhino International.

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Amazon defenders, especially women, are set to get new protections

28 oktober 2020 | 38 min

Women are key leaders in Amazon conservation, and we're taking another look at this issue with a discussion of an international agreement that could help protect environmental defenders — of all genders — in Latin America, one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an environmental activist, especially as a woman. Joining us to discuss is Osprey Orielle Lake, founder and executive director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), who talks about the Escazu Agreement and some of the inspiring indigenous female conservationists whose work and safety would be supported by it.

We also speak with journalist Nicolas Bustamente Hernandez about a young Colombian conservationist whose work he recently chronicled for Mongabay, Yehimi Fajardo, who is founder of the Alas Association, which is helping people in her rainforest region of Putumayo in Colombia become bird watchers and forest stewards.

Read more about these women leaders at Mongabay.com:

Patricia Gualinga (regarding her pursuit of environmental justice in the face of threats on her life)
Sonia Guajajara (about her run for Vice President of Brazil)
Nemonte Nenquimo (who was just named to Time Magazine's 100 most influential people list)
Yehimi Fajardo (founder of Alas Association in Colombia)

Mongabay covered the Escazu Agreement here in 2018 & an update can be viewed at its official UN website here.

Episode art: Photo of Nemonte Nenquimo, Waorani leader of the Ecuadorian Amazon by Mitch Anderson/Amazon Frontlines.

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Mongabay Explores Sumatra, Episode 1: A land like no other

22 oktober 2020 | 49 min

"Sumatra is like a fossil relic of rare species...a giant, rhino horn-shaped island blanketed in the richest rainforest you can imagine...there's nothing like it," one of our guests declares.

The 6th largest island in the world and the 2nd largest economy in Indonesia, Sumatra is the only place in the world where you can you find tigers, elephants, rhinos and orangutans all living together in an incredibly rich landscape of rainforests that, until recently, were largely untouched by human activities.

But that's changing rapidly, and this new biweekly series from Mongabay Explores dives into what's special about Sumatra, its amazing biodiversity heritage, and what's at stake as forests fall for uses like oil palm plantations, mines, and hydropower dams. We'll also discuss positive trends for conservation and solutions that meet human and nonhuman needs.

Host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with two guests: Rudi Putra, a biologist who won the Goldman Environmental Prize for his inspiring conservation work in Sumatra and who now serves as chairman of the Leuser Conservation Forum, plus Greg McCann, a biologist and Assistant Professor at Taiwan's Chang Gung University, whose People Resources and Conservation Foundation team is exploring and documenting the incredible richness of Sumatra so that it can be better conserved.

View all of Mongabay's news coverage from Sumatra here, visit Rudi Putra's organization Leuser Conservation Forum's website to learn more about their work, and Greg McCann's organization PRCF has multiple projects in Indonesia described here (and details on the project in Dolok Simalalaksa/ Hadabuan Hills he discusses are here).

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

Series theme song "Putri Tangguk" is inspired by traditional Indonesian gamelan music and licensed via POND5.

Episode artwork: Sunset over Sumatran rainforest by Rhett Butler/Mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Gorilla Radio: innovation in conservation of super rare great apes

14 oktober 2020 | 35 min

The Cross River gorilla is one of the world’s rarest great ape subspecies, with only 300 individuals estimated to be living in Nigeria's Cross River State, but creative efforts to conserve their population and habitat there are changing their fortunes and reduce human-gorilla conflict.

Joining the show is Hillary Chukwuemeka, host of the radio program “My Gorilla My Community” that is heard by nearly 4 million listeners in communities on the frontlines of gorilla conservation there. Chukwuemeka talks about why it's an effective means of community engagement, and the impacts he’s seen among local communities.

We also speak with Inaoyom Imong, program director for the Cross River landscape with Wildlife Conservation Society-Nigeria and a member of the IUCN Primate Specialist Group. Inaoyom discusses the major threats to Cross River gorillas, barriers to their conservation, and why community-based conservation measures are so important in this context.

Here are some recent Mongabay articles referenced in this episode:

• Gorilla radio: Sending a conservation message in Nigeria

• For the world’s rarest gorillas, a troubled sanctuary

• Camera snaps first ever glimpse of a troop of the world’s rarest gorilla

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below!

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Can the oceans support a renewable energy transition?

30 september 2020 | 61 min

Slowing climate change will require a massive increase of renewable energy assets while reducing use of fossil fuels. And who wouldn't like to have a quiet, clean, electric car?

But renewable energy technologies from wind turbines to solar panels and rechargeable batteries to power your Tesla Roadster require large amounts of mined metals and minerals.

That's a problem because mining creates significant environmental impacts on land, and now, there’s a concerted effort to open up vast areas of the ocean floor to mining for this purpose.

On this episode speak with journalist Ian Morse and MiningWatch Canada's research coordinator Catherine Coumans about the overarching implications of mining things like metallic nodules and vents on the sea floor to huge areas of Indonesia for nickel used in rechargeable batteries. Our guests also explain how recent improvements to recycling of existing mined metals could supplant the need for risky projects like deep sea mining.

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below!

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Episode artwork: an electric car charging station in South Korea by hssbb79, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Great ape forest gardeners of Africa benefit from big conservation victory

16 september 2020 | 44 min

In the Amazon, women are key to forest conservation

2 september 2020 | 51 min

Women everywhere are key voices for conservation, and an increasing body of research now recognizes the direct link between gender equality and environmental protection.

Mongabay has published a number of stories lately focused on successful Amazonian conservation initiatives led by women activists and scientists, and we wanted to highlight the issue on this episode of the podcast.

Sarah Sax recently wrote about the Women Warriors of the Forest, an all-female indigenous group that is employing new tactics and building new alliances to protect the forests they call home. Sax joins us to discuss the Women Warriors and some of her other recent reporting that has centered on women conservation leaders in the Amazon.

We’re also joined by Dr. Dolors Armenteras, who was the subject of a recent profile published by Mongabay. Armenteras is known as a pioneer in the use of remote sensing to monitor Amazon forests and biodiversity, and has been named one of the most influential scientists studying forest fires.

Despite her prominence, Armenteras has faced discrimination as a woman scientist, and shares with us how she has navigated that and how she supports the next generation of women scientists to overcome such biases.

Episode artwork of Maisa Guajajara at the march of Indigenous women in Brasilia, 2019, courtesy Marquinho Mota/FAOR.

We now offer a free app in the Apple App Store and in the Google Store for this show, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips, please download it and let us know what you think via the contact info below!

If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Singing cetaceans: New whale & dolphin recordings intrigue researchers

19 augusti 2020 | 42 min

From parks to payments, which conservation methods work best?

4 augusti 2020 | 50 min

Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 6: Hellbenders and super spreaders

29 juli 2020 | 52 min

Hellbenders are North America’s largest salamanders, living in rivers and growing to an incredible length of over two feet. Eastern newts are tiny and terrestrial, but both are susceptible to a fungal pathogen called Bsal. While Bsal has yet to make an appearance in the global hotspot of salamander diversity that is North America, it has wreaked havoc on populations in Europe, so biologists worry its impact could be even worse if it does.

Eastern newts' susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their notable mobility mean they could act as “super-spreaders” of Bsal if the fungus ever gets to North America. For hellbenders, which are already listed as endangered and suffer from habitat degradation, a new pathogen is hardly good news.

On this episode we speak with Dr. Becky Hardman from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Dr. Anna Longo of the University of Florida about these fascinating and unique species, and discuss what is being done to prepare for a Bsal invasion that experts say is inevitable.

Finding nature in the city

22 juli 2020 | 37 min

Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 5: Policy possibilities?

15 juli 2020 | 34 min

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed a trade ban on 201 salamander species in 2016 in order to prevent the import of the the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans ('Bsal') which could be a major threat to the world's salamander hotspot of North America (and the U.S. in particular).

However, the recent discovery that frogs can also carry Bsal has led scientists to urge the American government to ban the import of all salamander and frog species to the country.

But what other policies or regulations could be enacted to prevent Bsal from wiping out this rich amphibian heritage?

In this 5th "Mongabay Explores" bonus episode, host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with Priya Nanjappa, former Program Manager for the Association of Fish and Wildlife agencies, and Tiffany Yap, a Staff Scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, about animal trade policy, differences in the way the United States conducts this policy from other nations, and what the U.S. might do to more effectively combat the threat.

More resources on this topic:

On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
Mongabay's special series on 'Bsal' is here
United States Bsal Task Force website

To hear Part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 (bonus episode #95) discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" Parts 3 & 4 are also helpful in understanding the threats and opportunities presented by Bsal.

Based on a multi-year project Mongabay.com published about Bsal at the site (link above), episodes of this special podcast series delve further to learn what's known about this issue, now.

If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Does trophy hunting support or hurt conservation? Years after Cecil the Lion was killed, debate continues

8 juli 2020 | 69 min

Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 4: The 'Bsal battalion'

1 juli 2020 | 30 min

North America (and the US in particular) is the world’s hotspot of salamander diversity, hosting about 1/3 of all species. Researchers think that about half of these may be susceptible to a deadly fungus called Bsal, and believe it's a matter of time before it gets to North America. If and when it does, it could mean devastation and maybe extinction for a massive amount of amphibians.

To head off the threat, scientists created the Bsal Task Force in 2015 and in this fourth "Mongabay Explores" bonus episode, host Mike DiGirolamo interviews the group's Dr. Jake Kerby who is also the associate chair of biology at the University of South Dakota.

Dr. Kerby details the working relationships their 'Bsal battalion' has with federal entities in Canada, the US, and Mexico and how they are working together to manage and mitigate the damage of this potential pandemic.

He also discusses what citizens can do to help protect North America's amazingly diverse salamander species.

More resources on this topic:

On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as “super-spreaders” of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America.
Mongabay's special series on 'Bsal' is here
United States Bsal Task Force website

To hear Part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 (bonus episode #95) discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?"

Based on a special series Mongabay.com published to its website in 2018-19, the next couple episodes of this special podcast series made possible in part by our Patreon supporters will delve further into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now.

If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Animals have culture, too, and for some it's crucial to their survival and conservation

23 juni 2020 | 59 min

Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 3: On the Hunt

11 juni 2020 | 27 min

Reporter Benji Jones and wildlife disease ecologist with U.S. Geological Survey, Daniel Grear, join this special edition of Mongabay's podcast to discuss the hunt for Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) in North America, which Benji has described as “searching for a needle in a haystack except the needle is invisible and the hay stretches for thousands of miles.”

Host Mike DiGirolamo talks with Jones and Grear about the search, the difficulty in finding it, and what we can expect if the disease ever makes its way to U.S. shores.

This third bonus episode of the podcast tackles these important questions with Senior Editor Morgan Erickson-Davis, who produced Mongabay's series on this topic for the website last year.

For the next several episodes, this special podcast series (made possible by our Patreon supporters) called Mongabay Explores will dive into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now.

More resources on this topic:

On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as “super-spreaders” of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America.
Mongabay's whole series on 'Bsal' is here
United States Bsal Task Force website

To hear Part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" -- Part 2 (bonus episode #95) discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "Why are salamanders so diverse in North America?" If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Conservation leaders create community & opportunity amid current crises of violence and viruses

10 juni 2020 | 33 min

On this episode we look at how current environmental crises intersect with two others: the pandemic and the systemic racism and police brutality that have sparked protests around the U.S. and world in recent weeks, with guests Leela Hazzah, founder and executive director of Lion Guardians, and Earyn McGee, a herpetologist and science communicator who just helped organize the first-ever Black Birders Week, a celebration of black birders and nature lovers.

McGee tells host Mike G. how Black Birders Week came together so quickly and why it's necessary to celebrate black nature lovers, and Egyptian conservationist Hazzah discusses what she sees as opportunities for transformative change in conservation due to the pandemic, like for instance that conservation has been named an "essential service" during the health crisis by the Kenyan government, plus the fact that more female and African representatives have been present at important conservation meetings lately, now that they're all virtual.

"I hope that we continue using these virtual tools so we can continue to have more diverse voices at important meetings," Hazzah says, while also reducing our carbon footprints, she adds.

And as McGee says, diversity is important, and people want to be part of the conservation movement as her group's event proved: "The interest is there...we want to do this work, but there are barriers in our way."

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

And please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on Android, the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 2: Great diversity and danger

3 juni 2020 | 21 min

Why are salamanders so incredibly diverse in the United States? Among other things, a fluke of geography contributed to making it the global hotspot of salamander diversity.

But now, another pandemic is on the march toward the U.S., and this time it's got salamanders in its sights. In this second special episode about salamanders, we'll give you the full context.

How big a role do these ubiquitous animals play in the environment, and what would it mean to forest biodiversity, climate change, and forest food chains to lose whole populations of salamanders?

This second bonus episode of the podcast tackles these important questions with Senior Editor Morgan Erickson-Davis, who produced Mongabay's series on this topic for the website last year.

For the next several episodes, this special podcast series (made possible by our Patreon supporters) called Mongabay Explores will dive into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now.

More resources on this topic:

On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemicTheir susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as “super-spreaders” of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America.
Mongabay's whole series on 'Bsal' is here
United States Bsal Task Force website

To hear part 1 of this special salamander series, see bonus episode #94, "Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?" If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts.

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

How listening to elephants can help conserve rainforests

27 maj 2020 | 31 min

The Elephant Listening Project is a bioacoustics research effort that aims to preserve rainforests of Central Africa--and the biodiversity found in those forests--by listening to forest elephants, and on this episode we hear those animals' calls, rumbles, and trumpets with ELP researcher Ana Verahrami.

Verahrami has spent two field seasons in the Central African Republic collecting behavioral and acoustic data vital to the project & joins us to explain why forest elephants’ role as keystone species makes their survival crucial to the wellbeing of tropical forests and its other inhabitants, and to play some of the fascinating recordings that inform the project’s work.

Helping frame the discussion is Terna Gyuse, Mongabay's Cape Town-based Africa Editor.

ELP is part of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, whose bioacoustics research team we’ve featured several times in the past, listen to these episodes for more fascinating bioacoustics studies that feature the calls, songs, and sounds of diverse animals what they may mean for them and for conservation:

• How listening to individual gibbons can benefit conservation

• What underwater sounds can tell us about Indian Ocean humpback dolphins

• The superb mimicry skills of an Australian songbird

• The sounds of tropical katydids and how they can benefit conservation

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, visit the link above for details.

And please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on Android, the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Mongabay Explores the Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 1: Are we ready?

20 maj 2020 | 39 min

Forest fire season 2020: what will it look like and what can we do?

13 maj 2020 | 46 min

How to photograph wildlife ethically and why that’s so necessary

28 april 2020 | 40 min

Inspiration for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day amid a global pandemic

14 april 2020 | 24 min

The link between pandemics and the destruction of nature, with John Vidal

31 mars 2020 | 22 min

Songs and sounds of Bering Sea whales and seals reveal a story of change

17 mars 2020 | 29 min

New technologies deliver cutting edge conservation, discussion with Shah Selbe

5 mars 2020 | 30 min

Conservation is a growth industry for Africa, Fred Swaniker says

19 februari 2020 | 33 min

Mongabay Newscast trailer

10 februari 2020 | 0 min

Galina Angarova on the indigenous relationship to land, conservation, and the sacred feminine

5 februari 2020 | 26 min

How the sweet sounds of tropical katydids can benefit rainforest conservation

22 januari 2020 | 29 min

Top conservation photographer Ami Vitale discusses rhinos, pandas, hope and more

7 januari 2020 | 41 min

Best animal calls and songs of 2019

23 december 2019 | 27 min

Cleared for coca: Chris Fagan on his new investigation from Peru's rainforest

12 december 2019 | 39 min

Haunting gibbons' songs could aid their conservation

26 november 2019 | 45 min

All zoos should put themselves out of business, Damian Aspinall argues

13 november 2019 | 35 min

Buzzfeed's Katie Baker details their explosive investigation of WWF

29 oktober 2019 | 25 min

Deep sea diva: A dive to the ocean floor with biologist Diva Amon

16 oktober 2019 | 26 min

Hitting the highway in Borneo to assess diversity and development

1 oktober 2019 | 31 min

Are humpback whale groups sharing their songs?

12 september 2019 | 28 min

"I'm excited!" Climate action star Rev Yearwood on the UN, youth and women's leadership & more

4 september 2019 | 39 min

Return of the amazing superb lyrebird

13 augusti 2019 | 34 min

Baltimore, urban rats, and environmental justice

6 augusti 2019 | 29 min

Celebrated author David Quammen on inspiring ecological restoration, evolutionary science, and more

23 juli 2019 | 42 min

Right whales discovered singing for the first time: new recordings

9 juli 2019 | 19 min

New CITES boss discusses reining in online wildlife trafficking, the next COP, and more

25 juni 2019 | 52 min

Zoos are more key to conservation than ever, Bronx Zoo director says

12 juni 2019 | 30 min

What can talkative river dolphins teach us about their marine relatives?

28 maj 2019 | 24 min

How to discover an untouched rainforest

14 maj 2019 | 32 min

Paying for healthcare with a healthy rainforest

30 april 2019 | 33 min

Unusual tool-using chimp culture discovered in the Congo

16 april 2019 | 26 min

Sloths' amazing survival skills create a challenge for their survival

2 april 2019 | 21 min

Studying secretive humpback dolphins through sound

19 mars 2019 | 15 min

Amazon explorer Scott Wallace: Uncontacted indigenous peoples are a true treasure

5 mars 2019 | 28 min

How sound can save a rare bird with an AI assist

20 februari 2019 | 16 min

Good news from Mexico monarch reserve despite looming threats

5 februari 2019 | 22 min

We need nature more than nature needs us: IUCN's Inger Andersen

23 januari 2019 | 36 min

Sound can save forests and major rainforest trends to watch with Mongabay's founder

8 januari 2019 | 25 min

How 96 rare sea turtle hatchlings survived a NY City summer

11 december 2018 | 28 min

Bill McKibben is down on COPs but bullish on climate action

27 november 2018 | 15 min

E.O. Wilson discusses Half-Earth and conservation solutions

13 november 2018 | 30 min

Chasing penguins, a dispatch from Antarctica

30 oktober 2018 | 27 min

Racing to save the world's amazing frogs

18 oktober 2018 | 37 min

Bats and Ebola: studying fruit bats to prevent future outbreaks

2 oktober 2018 | 25 min

Getting social for science and conservation

18 september 2018 | 26 min

'Godfather of biodiversity' says it's time to manage Earth as a whole system

5 september 2018 | 20 min

The amazing song skills of the superb lyrebird

21 augusti 2018 | 33 min

Beavers, our brilliant ecosystem builders

7 augusti 2018 | 34 min

How dark money and shadow companies deforest Indonesia and derail its democracy

24 juli 2018 | 26 min

How to use drones without stressing wildlife

10 juli 2018 | 31 min

Indigenous knowledge and climate science

26 juni 2018 | 41 min

What can soundscapes tell us about animals and their home landscapes?

12 juni 2018 | 42 min

Mexico’s community forests find sustainability by including women and youths

30 maj 2018 | 20 min

Renowned marine biologist Sylvia Earle on acting for the oceans

15 maj 2018 | 47 min

Seabird secrets revealed by bioacoustics in New Zealand

30 april 2018 | 19 min

Exploring Brazil’s biodiverse Cerrado region and the impacts of agriculture

17 april 2018 | 28 min

Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine on stopping illegal rainforest wood from becoming guitars

3 april 2018 | 28 min

Exploring our deep connection to water, plus the sounds of Sandhill crane migration

20 mars 2018 | 55 min

How effective is environmental restoration?

6 mars 2018 | 36 min

Exploring the minds and inner lives of wild animals

19 februari 2018 | 46 min

New eyes in the sky monitor Earth systems like never before

6 februari 2018 | 53 min

David Suzuki on why indigenous knowledge is critical for humanity's survival

23 januari 2018 | 59 min

Climate lessons from indigenous peoples, plus the mysterious night parrot

9 januari 2018 | 43 min

Massive Amazonian medicine encyclopedia gets an update, and Madagascar conservation efforts examined

12 december 2017 | 74 min

Margaret Atwood talks about birds, ecology, and her graphic novel series

28 november 2017 | 37 min

Jane Goodall on being proven right that animals have personalities, and more

15 november 2017 | 42 min

Gas drilling vs wildlife in Peruvian Amazon and a Goldman Prize winner on mercury contamination

1 november 2017 | 57 min

Bat calls from the Amazon plus how Indonesia's rainforests became palm plantations

18 oktober 2017 | 46 min

Javan rhino calls and an analysis of 'green' forest certification

3 oktober 2017 | 50 min

Legendary musician Bruce Cockburn on music, activism, and hope

19 september 2017 | 53 min

From AI to remote sensing, tech and conservation a powerful combo

6 september 2017 | 59 min

New Madagascar mine worries locals and lemurs; plus, banjo frogs and whistling ducks in Australia

22 augusti 2017 | 39 min

Speaking from the heart on climate change with Katherine Hayhoe

8 augusti 2017 | 50 min

Taiwan's natural soundscapes and a critique of the global hydropower building boom

25 juli 2017 | 46 min

A wildlife DJ and a children’s book author inspiring the next generation of conservationists

12 juli 2017 | 54 min

Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem under threat, plus tracking bird movement in Puerto Rico

27 juni 2017 | 38 min

Amazon Reef discovery discussed plus environmental journalism hits milestone in Latin America

13 juni 2017 | 53 min

Why forests, why now? How tropical forests can survive and thrive

31 maj 2017 | 49 min

Singing seals and a discussion of the “infrastructure tsunami” sweeping the planet

17 maj 2017 | 56 min

Deep dive into marine wildlife study with bioacoustics

3 maj 2017 | 56 min

Eyes in the skies for forests, plus mangrove finches on the rebound

18 april 2017 | 36 min

Tech solutions for conservation and a chat with Harvard researchers

4 april 2017 | 53 min

Musician Paul Simon discusses his new environmental concert tour

21 mars 2017 | 54 min

Almost Famous Animals - plus the songs of galagos

7 mars 2017 | 44 min

Author and climate historian Naomi Oreskes on why scientists should speak out

21 februari 2017 | 58 min

Reporter Sue Branford on journalism from the Amazon that makes a difference

7 februari 2017 | 41 min

E.O. Wilson talks about global biodiversity, Trump, Half-Earth, and hope

24 januari 2017 | 41 min

Yaks, curassows, and other cool species overlooked by conservation efforts

10 januari 2017 | 42 min

Top new species discoveries of 2016, and how fig trees can save rainforests

27 december 2016 | 24 min

Undiscovered Sumatran rhinos in the wilds of Malaysia? Maybe, or maybe not.

13 december 2016 | 52 min

Carl Safina discusses marine conservation under a Trump administration, and Rhett Butler shares the origins of Mongabay

29 november 2016 | 36 min

Report from the Climate Talks in Marrakesh and Salamander Conservation in Michoacan, Mexico

15 november 2016 | 27 min

Andrea Crosta of Elephant Action League on “The Ivory Game” and orangutans under threat in Indonesia

1 november 2016 | 37 min

Crucial conservation votes at CITES and the future of socio-ecological research

18 oktober 2016 | 33 min

The Mekong, Earth’s most climate-sensitive river delta, plus conservation in conflict zones

4 oktober 2016 | 28 min

Mongabay Newscast #1: Panama's Barro Blanco Dam

16 september 2016 | 20 min

Mongabay Newscast

News and inspiration from nature’s frontline, featuring inspiring guests and deeper analysis of the global environmental issues explored every day by the Mongabay.

Om podden

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Are corporate climate targets actually leading to decarbonization?

Bobcats provide health benefits for ecosystems and humans, but are largely misunderstood

How law enforcement in Africa's protected areas is part of a larger culture in conservation

Justice for people, animals and environment are closely linked

Turning problems into solutions for culture and agriculture, with Anthony James

Christiana Figueres helped deliver the Paris Agreement and remains optimistic on climate action

Secretive regional fisheries management organizations need media coverage

A new tropical forest conservation fund has great potential

Do we need a 'moral reckoning' on aquaculture's environmental impacts?

Conservation is key for planetary health & preventing pandemics

Grounded: This pilot quit flying to help the aviation industry change, for the better

Don't call it the ‘high seas treaty’: New oceans agreement should center biodiversity, expert says

Global Nature Positive Summit features Indigenous & conservation leaders but gets negative marks on government action

Jane Goodall and Rhett Butler celebrate Mongabay’s 25th anniversary

Community conservation, Indigenous rights, and phasing out fossil fuels at Climate Week NYC

High CO2 levels are greening the world’s drylands, is that good news?

“What If We Get It Right?” marine biologist & climate action author Ayana Elizabeth Johnson asks

Private profit from public lands: How a Cambodian elite with military ties claimed a community forest

The rights of nature, legal personhood & other new ways laws can protect the planet

How coastal communities are adapting to rising seas naturally with Living Shorelines

Experts warn bird flu poses ‘an existential threat’ to biodiversity, and a possible threat to humans

Indigenous communities' traditional ecological knowledge is key to conservation: National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan

The ‘Wild Frequencies’ of Indian wildlife revealed by bioacoustics

How a multi-nation effort has protected North American amphibians from a deadly disease outbreak

Sacrificing U.S. forests for solar energy "misses the plot" on climate action

Natural forest regeneration is ‘a restoration of hope’ for farmers & forests worldwide

Indigenous communities left in the dark on Borneo hydropower plan advocate for their river

'Seeking solutions,' Mongabay's new Africa bureau reports the big issues and conservation wins

'Biotic pump’ theory could explain how forests affect weather, wind and climate

Unmasking the illusion of renewable biomass energy with Justin Catanoso

Indigenous economics offers alternative to Wall Street's financialization of nature

Koala conservation delayed while government pursues faulty offset schemes

Can the 'Right to Roam' boost nature connection and restoration?

What's unique about Canada's environment? 'The Narwhal' brings top news and views

How a grassroots legal effort defeated a giant Australian coal mine

Energy transition minerals: questions, consent and costs are key

The high costs of resource-based conflicts for people & planet

How young activists navigate a hostile climate with honest conversations

Jane Goodall on turning 90 and building empathy for nature

Forest elephants, the endangered "gardeners" of the Congo Rainforest

Show us the money: Are giant pledges by major conservation funders effective?

Cultural survival through reclaiming language and land, with author Jay Griffiths

Rewilding Ireland: Healing from a history of deforestation, one tree at a time

In the biodiversity hotspot of Raja Ampat, ecotourism underpins conservation

Is media objectivity possible during our environmental crisis?

The many social and ecological benefits of a 'degrowth' world

Is "Not the End of the World" author's 'techno-realism' enough to solve our ecological problems?

When independent journalism exposes crimes against people and planet

Wildlife trafficking should be covered as a crime story

Wild by nature: Ecological restoration brings humanity and biodiversity together

How the Junglekeepers protect 55,000 acres of the Peruvian Amazon

Will the UN climate Loss & Damage Fund deliver on its promise?

Deforestation decline in the Amazon and other positive news

Corals, kelp and creative conservation in Australia

Debunking the UN's climate neutrality claims

Ken Burns on 'The American Buffalo,' his latest documentary focusing on the iconic species

Why some bears thrive and others barely survive

Can 'road ecology' save millions of animals?

Profitability and sustainability go together, Patagonia's advocacy director says

Ecuadorian environmentalists win historic vote for Yasuní National Park

Protecting the Amazon requires fresh thinking

XPRIZE-Rainforest finalists for $10m conservation tech award announced

Biological field stations are key to conservation but often 'invisible'

Big problems and potential for great ape conservation

Can the boom in psychedelics boost Amazon conservation?

The Boom: Amy Westervelt examines Guyana's massive oil project on 'Drilled'

Mongabay Reports: Solutions abound for staying within this planetary boundary

Can we right the wrongs of 'fortress conservation?'

Climate change is no joke for Australians

Mongabay Reports: Deep sea discovery shocks and delights scientists

The world's second-largest rainforest is at a turning point

Guyana gets Drilled: Journalist Amy Westervelt on the latest oil boom

Mongabay Reports: Breeding new hope for African penguins at De Hoop Nature Reserve

Conservation technology just keeps on growing

Mongabay Reports: What's in the new U.N. High Seas treaty?

Journalist Tom Philpott on how agriculture impacts the environment & agroecology alternatives