Mongabay Newscast

Data scientist and head of research at Our World in Data, Hannah Ritchie, says her 'radically hopeful' new book that's getting a lot of press, "Not the End of the World: How We Can be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet," offers a pathway to solving the multiple environmental crises our world faces.   However, co-host Rachel Donald finds that key geopolitical challenges are left unaddressed by the book, leaving out important frameworks such as the planetary boundaries, and attempts to ride an "apolitical" line on solutions that inherently need policy shifts in order to be effectively implemented.   In this podcast interview, Donald challenges Ritchie on these questions and more. To hear specific topics discussed, refer to the chapter marks noted below.   Related reading at Mongabay:   The nine boundaries humanity must respect to keep the planet habitable   Mongabay Series: Planetary Boundaries   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 Store or 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 by Pawel Czerwinski via Unsplash.   --- Timecodes:  (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:03:57) - Renewable Energy and Political Will (00:07:06) - Realism of Tech Solutions  (00:09:03) - Degrowth & Decoupling (00:17:33) - Doomerism, Inequality & Politics (00:28:45) - How does a transition happen?  (00:36:51) - Hannah defends terminology used in the book (00:44:58) - Deforestation (00:53:11) - Our World In Data & Bias (01:06:19) - Mike & Rachel post-chat  (01:26:19) - Credits      

In 2015, independent journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown and Sarawak Report uncovered the beginnings of what is now considered the world?s biggest money-laundering scandal. The crime resulted in billions stolen from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund.

While former prime minister Najib Razak is now facing a 12-year prison sentence for his role in the crime, Rewcastle Brown herself has also faced legal actions against her, including an arrest warrant and an attempt to place her on Interpol?s Red Notice list of wanted fugitives.

Mongabay podcast co-host Rachel Donald speaks with Rewcastle Brown, the founder of the Sarawak Report, about what led her to investigate this scandal, as well as environmental destruction in Borneo. 

Related reading:

Amid corruption scandal, Malaysia switches track on future of rail network

INTERPOL rejects Malaysia?s request to place journalist on Red Notice list

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: Kelumpang Sarawak (Sterculia megistophylla) in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Wildlife trafficking is a high-profile but complex topic that reporters struggle to tackle effectively. Three experts recently spoke with Mongabay about some of the thornier questions the media should consider when covering international wildlife crime.    Wildlife trafficking should be covered as a crime story, first and foremost, because that's what it is, as one podcast guest argues.   Simone Haysome, Dwi N. Adhiasto, and Bryan Christy joined host Mike DiGirolamo in a live discussion that originally aired in late 2022 to unpack these questions as part of Mongbay's ongoing webinar series for environmental journalists.    This conversation is useful to anyone interested in wildlife conservation issues, and refers to a CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) meeting that occurred in Panama City, Panama in November of 2022.   Watch more from our webinar series for journalists: Mongabay Webinars (Playlist) How to Cover the Illegal Wildlife Trade | Mongabay Webinars   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: Cameroon?s gorillas and chimps have been hunted to feed a national and international illegal trade in skulls and other body parts. Photo by MCAMERF?LS licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

The idea that nature is something outside of society hampers practical solutions to restoring it, says Laura Martin, associate professor of environmental studies at Williams College.

On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, co-host Rachel Donald speaks with Martin about the restoration vs. preservation debate, and why Martin says a focus on the former is the way to address the biodiversity crisis. Martin defines restoration as ?an attempt to design nature with non-human collaborators,? which she details in her book Wild by Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration.

See related content:

Podcast: Is ecosystem restoration our last/best hope for a sustainable future?

Japanese butterfly conservation takes flight when integrated with human communities

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Image Caption: Project participants planting native species seedlings in the Itapu Restoration Trail, as part of Brazil?s effort to help meet the world?s ambitious restoration commitments made under the Bonn Challenge. The ongoing management of such projects requires long-term financing. Image by Raquel Maia Arvelos/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Conservationist Paul Rosolie co-leads a non-profit deep in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon. Conserving forests beyond where law enforcement is willing to travel can be dangerous work, but his team successfully recruits former loggers to use their forest knowledge to become conservation rangers: this provides alternative income streams for communities and has attracted millions of dollars in funding.

Today, this Indigenous-co-led nonprofit is responsible for protecting 55,000 acres of rainforest.

In this episode, Rosolie shares his recipe for conservation success and what he thinks other conservation organizations can focus on to boost their effectiveness.

Related reading:

Mother of God: meet the 26 year old Indiana Jones of the Amazon, Paul Rosolie

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Image Caption: Image of Paul Rosolie. Courtesy of Paul Rosolie.

The text of the climate loss and damage fund is heading to the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai this December without a mandate that wealthy, industrialized nations pay into it, says Brandon Wu, director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA.

Frequent Mongabay contributor and journalist Rachel Donald joins the Mongabay Newscast as co-host to speak with Wu about why he says this global climate fund ?requires almost nothing of developed countries."

Related reading:

COP27: Climate Loss & Damage talks now on agenda, but U.S. resistance feared

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Image Caption: The most recent negotiations from the UN Transitional Committee on the climate loss & damage fund completed the fifth and final round in Abu Dhabi. Image by Daniel Moqvist via Unsplash (Public domain).

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has declined by 22% for the year ending July 31, 2023, according to data from Brazil?s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, CEO and editor-in-chief Rhett Butler tells us what the data show and what Mongabay will be looking for in the future.

Butler also details more exciting news, such as the 2023 Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication, given to Mongabay for its ?outstanding track record? in communicating issues related to nature and biodiversity, and the launch of an all-new bilingual bureau in Africa.

Related Reading:

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon falls 22% in 2023

Mongabay wins prestigious 2023 Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication

Mongabay launches Africa news bureau

Meet the tech projects competing for a $10m prize to save rainforests

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Image Caption: Scarlet macaw in Brazil. Photo by Rhett Butler.

If current conditions line up just right, much of the Great Barrier Reef could soon suffer another catastrophic bleaching event, so how are conservationists reacting to threats like this in Australia?   ?We could lose a huge part of the reef by February,? says Newscast guest Dean Miller of the Forever Reef Project, so his team is racing to add the final coral specimens to its huge ?biobank? of coral species before then, for use by researchers and conservationists.   Work like this was featured at the first international edition of the famed South by Southwest (SXSW) festival and conference (October 15-22, 2023 in Sydney), and Mongabay spoke with multiple people engaged with coral and kelp reforestation, plus sustainable agriculture.   On this edition of the Mongabay Newscast, guests also include John ?Charlie? Veron from the Forever Reef Project, Mic Black from Rainstick, and Adriana Vergés from the Kelp Forest Alliance, detailing their projects and the challenges they're tackling.   Related Reading

Scientists strive to restore world?s embattled kelp forests

Hope, but no free pass, as Pacific corals show tolerance to warming oceans

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Image Caption: Healthy coral in the Great Barrier Reef. Image by Jonas Gratzer for Mongabay.

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In a yearlong investigation from The New Humanitarian and Mongabay, spanning multiple countries, investigative reporters found the United Nations is not climate neutral as it claims to be.

The UN bases much of its claims on the use of carbon credits--which are already increasingly criticized by experts as having little impact on actually offsetting emissions. 

Reporters found that many projects that issue carbon credits to the U.N. were linked to environmental damage or displacement, and 2.7 million out of 6.6 million credits were linked to wind or hydropower ? which experts say don?t represent true emissions reductions.

Joining the podcast to explain these findings is investigative reporter Jacob Goldberg from The New Humanitarian.

Related reading:

Revealed: Why the UN is not climate neutral

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Episode artwork: More than half of the UN carbon offsets come from high-risk projects. Image by JuergenPM via Pixabay (Public domain).

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The American bison ('buffalo') was once decimated to a tiny fraction of its original population of 30 million, reaching a low point of just 77 individuals. Today, they number around 350,000 thanks to the visionary preservation efforts of Indigenous communities, individual conservationists, and others.

Joining the Mongabay Newscast to discuss this hopeful conservation effort that enabled this comeback is acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker and American documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. His latest project examines the tragic history of the American buffalo and the devastation that their population collapse wrought upon Indigenous Americans. Mongabay staff-writer Liz Kimbrough speaks with him about his process, the role of native peoples in making the film, and what the team discovered by making it.

THE AMERICAN BUFFALO is set to premiere on U.S. public television, PBS, on Oct. 16 and 17.

Read Liz's feature and see the interview transcript here:

Ken Burns discusses heartbreak & hope of ?The American Buffalo,? his new documentary

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Episode artwork: The American bison, once on the very edge of extinction, is making a major comeback, including in protected areas and on tribal lands. Photo courtesy of Kelly Stoner/WCS

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Human beings have a storied and complicated history with bears. The iconic mammals have long been an important symbol for thousands of years in cultures across the globe. Yet, almost all of the eight bear species left in the wild remain threatened.

Some iconic bear species, such as the giant panda, have benefitted from conservation gains, but other species continue to face urgent and increasing threats to their survival.

Award-winning environmental journalist Gloria Dickie joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the state of the world?s eight remaining bear species which she documents in a compelling new book, ?Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future.?

Related reading:

?We will decide their future?: Q&A with ?pro-bear? environmental journalist Gloria Dickie

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Episode artwork: A portrait of a wild grizzly bear, a subspecies of brown bear (Ursus arctos). Photo by Jean Beaufort via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain (CC0). 

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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:

Wildlife crossings built with tribal knowledge drastically reduce collisions

For wildlife on Brazil?s highways, roadkill is just the tip of the iceberg

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

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

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Traditional capitalism is not working for the planet or the public, and needs an overhaul, says Beth Thoren, environmental action and initiatives director at Patagonia. Where governments are failing to regulate, Thoren argues, corporations should be making the change anyway. ?If we continue to live in a world where shareholder value is the only thing that is valued, we will burn up and die,? she says.

She joins the Mongabay Newscast to detail Patagonia's business model?which gives its profit to environmental organizations?and shares how the company is making a push for other corporations to follow, while taking stands against boondoggles like the space race via their #NotMars campaign.

In founder and CEO Yvon Chouinard's words, Patagonia exists to "force government and corporations to take action in solving our environmental problems." These are words the company backs up with its environmental marketing campaigns, its business model, its films and books.

The company details its philosophy and the lessons learned from 50 years in business in the book, The Future of the Responsible Company, published this month.

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Image caption: Beth Thoren, Environment Director, Patagonia. London, U.K.Friday, Nov. 13, 2020. Photographer: Jason Alden for Patagonia

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Ecuadorians have just approved a referendum to halt oil drilling in Yasuní National Park, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, which will prohibit further oil extraction. The "yes" vote effectively keeps its oil in the ground, so for the details we check in with staff writer Max Radwin who covered the news for Mongabay.

Related to that is a recent legal victory in Ecuador's Andean region, another massively biodiverse area ? not only in that country but for the entire planet ? so we're re-sharing a discussion with associate digital editor Romi Castagnino that aired after the winning decision for Indigenous and local communities, whose rights to prior consultation and the 'rights of nature' were both upheld.

You can read more about both stories and watch the video report mentioned by Romi at these links:

Ecuador referendum halts oil extraction in Yasuní National Park

Ecuador court upholds ?rights of nature,? blocks Intag Valley copper mine

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Image caption: Indigenous activist Nemonte Nenquimo stands alongside an oil spill near Shushufindi in the province of Sucumbíos, Ecuadorian Amazon, June 26th 2023. Image by Sophie Pinchetti / Amazon Frontlines.

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Tim Killeen is a top conservation biologist and author whose book is a straight-shooting, non-naive dive into "everything you need to know about the Amazon if you want to save it," he says on this episode.

With 30 years of experience living in the Amazon, his wealth of knowledge springs from having guided the first environmental impact study there, pioneering satellite mapping of deforestation with NASA, and traveling extensively throughout the region, so Killeen has unique insight into the drivers of ? and solutions for ? Amazon deforestation.

On this episode he shares key insights from the second edition of his book "A Perfect Storm in the Amazon Wilderness," plus what gives him hope, and his advice for up-and-coming conservationists.

Mongabay is releasing the book's new edition in short installments in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, find the first two chapters published so far, here:

The state of the Amazon: Chapter 1 of ?A Perfect Storm?

Infrastructure defines the future: Chapter 2 of ?A Perfect Storm in the Amazon?

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Image caption: Rainstorm in the Amazon. Pillcopata, Villa Carmen, Peru. Image by Rhett Butler.

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Conservation technology such as drones, remote sensing, and machine learning plays a critical role in supporting conservation scientists and aiding policymakers in making well-informed decisions for biodiversity protection. Recognizing this, the XPRIZE Foundation initiated a five-year competition with the goal of developing automated and accelerated methods for assessing rainforest biodiversity.

In this episode of the Newscast, Mongabay staff writer Abhishyant Kidangoor interviews Peter Houlihan, the executive vice president of biodiversity and conservation at the XPRIZE Foundation during the semi-finals in Singapore. The foundation recently revealed the six finalists that will compete next year. Houlihan discusses the importance of the collaborative nature of the competition, and why he believes it has become a movement.

Related reading: 

Competing for rainforest conservation: Q&A with XPRIZE?s Kevin Marriott

Meet the tech projects competing for a $10m prize to save rainforests

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Image caption: An extendable arm attached to a drone was used to deploy the platform on top of the canopy. Team Waponi. Photo by Abhishyant Kidangoor.

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Field research stations are vital to rewilding and conservation efforts yet they?re often absent from global environmental policy, a Nature paper argues.

Despite this lack of visibility and funding challenges, their impact is immensely beneficial in regions of the world such as Costa Rica: a nation that had one of the highest rates of deforestation in the 1980s and became the first nation to reverse tropical deforestation.

Joining the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the importance of field research stations --is wildlife ecologist and director of Osa Conservation, Andrew Whitworth.

Related reading: 

Harpy eagle?s return to Costa Rica means rewilding?s time has come (commentary)

Reforestation projects should include tree diversity targets, too (commentary)

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Image Caption: A field biologist with Osa Conservation releasing a king vulture that the team has just tagged with a solar-powered GSM unit. These are some of the first tagged king vultures in the world ? a part of the conservation science focus of the research that will help to understand the health of the ecosystem of the Osa Peninsula and ultimately how healthy this system is for key apex species like king vultures. Photo by Luca Eberle for Osa Conservation

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Great apes are facing a concerning future. If humans neglect to address climate change, they could lose up to 94% of their range by 2050.

In the Congo Basin, a stronghold for great ape species, several challenges pose significant threats to their survival; national interests in exploiting natural resources, security issues in areas like the Albertine Rift, hunting activities, and the illegal wildlife trade all contribute to the severe predicament faced by these charismatic mammals.

In this episode of Mongabay Explores, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Kirsty Graham, Terese Hart, and Sally Coxe shed light on threats to bonobos and mountain gorillas, provide insight from their years of experience working with them, and discuss the pivotal role played by great apes in safeguarding the Congo Basin rainforest.

Listen to the other episodes in this Congo Basin season of Mongabay Explores:

Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin: The ?heart of the world? is at a turning point

Congo Basin communities left out by ?fortress conservation? fight for a way back in

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Image Caption: Bonobos live in more peaceful societies than their two close relatives, chimpanzees and humans. Photo courtesy of Jutta Hof.

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Famed ethnobotanist and conservation advocate, Mark Plotkin, joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss traditional ecological knowledge about the increasingly popular psychedelic and medicinal plants and fungi of the Amazon. He shares his thoughts on the value of this knowledge and how this cultural moment can be used to leverage conservation action.

Plotkin is no stranger to conservation, having co-founded the Amazon Conservation team in the 1990s. Their Indigenous-led and managed conservation model, while considered pioneering at the time, is becoming more recognized as the ideal today.

His own podcast discusses these issues and the great importance of Indigenous knowledge in great detail, listen to 'Plants of the Gods' here via the podcast provider of your choosing: https://markplotkin.com/podcast/

Read more about Mark Plotkin's work on Mongabay here: 

Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin: Indigenous knowledge serves as a ?connective tissue? between nature and human well-being

Everything you need to know about the Amazon rainforest: an interview with Mark Plotkin

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Image Caption: Amanita muscaria is a mushroom that is both hallucinogenic and poisonous. Image posted by creator 942784 to the Creative Commons via Pixabay.

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"Drilled" is a true-crime podcast series from Critical Frequency and journalist, Amy Westervelt, examining the back-door dealings and environmental impacts of major fossil fuel projects. 

The latest season looks into what's happening between the South American nation of Guyana and oil giant Exxon Mobil. For this episode of the Mongabay Newscast we give you a look at the first episode of the 8th season of this critically acclaimed podcast series. You can listen to it here. Follow and subscribe to Drilled on the podcast provider of your choice.

We also encourage you to listen to our previous Newscast interview with Amy Westervelt here.

Related reading on Guyana from Mongabay:

Oil production or carbon neutrality? Why not both, Guyana says

Questions over accounting and inclusion mar Guyana?s unprecedented carbon scheme

Guyana gets ?Drilled?: Weighing South America?s latest oil boom with Amy Westervelt

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Image Caption: Spangled cotinga in Guyana. Image by Mathias Appel via Flickr (CC0 1.0).

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"The planetary boundaries" is a concept that measures the point at which human impact on our Earth's natural systems goes beyond "safe operating grounds." Trespass that boundary, and we risk destabilizing other natural systems in a cascading effect.

A recent study getting a lot of press nowadays indicates that we've passed 7 out of 8 of these thresholds already ? of particular interest beside climate change is that experts announced we crossed the land use change planetary boundary last year, in large part due to forest loss. Globally we've lost 50% of our forest cover since the dawn of agriculture 12,000 years ago.

However, experts have outlined 5 solutions that societies can implement toward staying within this important planetary boundary. Listen to the popular article from Liz Kimbrough: We?ve crossed the land use change planetary boundary, but solutions await

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Image caption: A fire in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, just one region where fires are burned throughout Russia in 2020. Image by Greenpeace International.

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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.

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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, Instagram and TikTok by searching for Mongabay.

Australia suffered catastrophic bushfires in 2019 - 2020, followed by intense rain and flooding from an ensuing La Niña which experts say may be linked to those bushfires. Despite the pleas of scientists to halt development, some governments, such as in the Northern Territories, continue to greenlight massive fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

All of this is 'demoralizing' says award-winning podcast host of 'A Rational Fear,' Dan Ilic. He joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss climate change policy in Australia, recent victories from Indigenous communities, and how comedy provides coverage and catharsis for citizens concerned about the climate crisis. Ilic, who previously made headlines for comedic billboards satirizing Australia's lack of action on climate policy, speaks with host Mike DiGirolamo in person in Sydney.

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Related Reading:

Australia bushfires may have caused global climate phenomenon La Niña: Study Indigenous leader?s court win halts one of Australia?s ?dirtiest gas projects?

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Image Caption: A mother koala and her joey who survived the forest fires in Mallacoota. Australia, 2020. Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

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Scientists have discovered a series of hydrothermal vents in the Mid-Atlantic ridge spanning hundreds of miles and teeming with life adapted to scorching plumes of hot water like shrimp, crabs, mussels, anemones, fish, gastropods, and more.

This discovery, 40 years in the making, adds another layer of consideration to where deep sea mining can occur, which experts argue should not happen in these diverse underwater ecosystems, in part because they store vast amounts of marine genetic resources, besides their biodiversity.

Listen to the new report from Elizabeth Claire Alberts: Seafloor life abounds around hydrothermal vents hot enough to melt lead.

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Image caption: A squat lobster perches atop a bubblegum coral in the deep sea. Image by Schmidt Ocean Institute (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

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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].

The South American nation of Guyana, whose economy has traditionally relied on tourism, agriculture, and fishing, has begun doing business with oil giant ExxonMobil to build a massive offshore oil drilling project along its coast. 

The president has argued that the profits could pay for the nation's clean energy transition, while others argue that the nation's traditional economic models, biodiversity, and coastal population are at risk of severe environmental impacts from the project. 

Award-winning journalist and podcast producer Amy Westervelt joins the Mongabay Newscast to share details of the situation, which is the focus of the 8th season of her acclaimed podcast series Drilled, and she opines about the power of podcasting and the current state of the global effort to tackle climate change:

?What a total failure of international climate negotiations that Global South countries [are] in this position of having to use oil money to pay for climate adaptation. That?s ridiculous,? Westervelt says.

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Related Reading:

Oil production or carbon neutrality? Why not both, Guyana says Guyana?s future and challenges in oil: Q&A with filmmaker Shane Thomas McMillan Guyana seeks offshore oil wealth in a green economy

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Image: Series artwork for "Drilled" Season 8 by Matt Fleming. 

Recent breeding success at a nature reserve in South Africa has given conservationists hope for the survival of Africa's only resident penguin species, whose population has dropped by nearly 65% since 1989.

Researchers are having success boosting breeding colonies near abundant food sources with the help of simple interventions like building nest boxes that mimic their guano burrows which keep the birds cool and safe in a world whose climate is becoming hotter and less predictable.

Listen to the popular article from Ryan Truscott here:

Breeding success raises hopes for future of endangered African penguin

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Image caption: African penguin. Image by Alberto Ziveri via Flickr (BY-SA 2.0)

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Conservation technology is a rapidly growing field with exciting potential. From eDNA to bioacoustics and AI, there's a lot to keep track of in an ever-changing environment.

Here to discuss it on the Newscast this week is new Mongabay staff writer Abhishyant "Abhi" Kidangoor who's joined our newsroom to focus on this quickly growing field: he shares details of his current conservation tech reporting projects and ones our readers can look forward to in the future. 

Related reading:

Bioacoustics in your backyard: Q&A with conservation technologist Topher White On the roof of the world, water is life. Or a sign of it, thanks to eDNA Beyond bored apes: Blockchain polarizes wildlife conservation community

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Image caption: Conservation technology and wildlife manager, Eleanor Flatt, installs a GSM camera trap in the Costa Rican forests protected and managed by Osa Conservation. Image by Marco Molina.

More than 15 years in the making, the United Nations has finally reached an agreement on a landmark, legally binding treaty to protect international waters, where a myriad of wildlife big and small live.

Why did it take so long, and what happens next?

Hear all about it by listening to this audio reading of the popular article by Elizabeth Fitt: 

As U.N. members clinch historic high seas biodiversity treaty, what?s in it?

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Image caption: A humpback whale in Antarctica. Image by Christopher Michel via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

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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:

From traditional practice to top climate solution, agroecology gets growing attention ·      ?During droughts, pivot to agroecology?: Q&A with soil expert at the World Agroforestry Centre ·      American agroforestry accelerates with new funding announcements

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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. 

In 2022, the population of western monarch butterflies reached its highest number in decades, 335,000, according to the annual Western Monarch Count in California and Arizona, marking the second year in a row for a positive tally of the species numbers.

While that count is celebrated by conservationists, they also point to the need to protect monarchs' overwintering sites in North America, which continue to suffer degradation and destruction each year.

Read the popular article by Liz Kimbrough here: Western monarch populations reach highest number in decades

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Image caption: A monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Image by John Banks via Pexels (Public domain).

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This week, 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:

Indigenous lands hold the world?s healthiest forests ? but only when their rights are protected Will the world join Indigenous peoples in relationship with nature at COP-15? (commentary) Podcast: How marine conservation benefits from combining Indigenous knowledge and Western science

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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.

As the world pursues reforestation on an expanding scale, a recurring question is: how do we pay for it? One emerging solution is to grow and harvest timber on the same land where reforestation is happening, as exemplified in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. Another approach is to grow timber trees and natural forests on separate plots of land, with a portion of the profits from timber harvests supporting the reforestation.

However, some experts worry that relying too much on timber revenues could harm ecosystems and existing forests, resulting in additional harvesting. Can we balance the need for funding with the need to preserve native ecosystems?

On this episode, listen to the popular Mongabay article by Gianluca Cerullo that discusses all this: Dollars and chainsaws: Can timber production help fund global reforestation?

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Image caption: Native regeneration under 50% dead standing eucalyptus trees in Brazil?s Atlantic Forest. Image courtesy of Paulo Guilherme Molin/Federal University of São Carlos.

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Modern society is constantly crafting mega solutions to problems it has created, many of which come with even more problems, and no guarantee of solving the issue, long term. 

Whether it's injecting reflective aerosols into the atmosphere to combat climate change (literally turning the sky white), or gene-editing invasive species, ?we seem incapable of stopping ourselves,? argues journalist and Pulitzer-prize winning author Elizabeth Kolbert. 

She joins the Mongabay Newscast to talk about her latest book, ?Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future,? which explores many of these machinations in detail and why she urges readers to be skeptical of them.

Related reading:

Geoengineering Earth?s climate future: Straight talk with Wake Smith Efforts to dim Sun and cool Earth must be blocked, say scientists Is invasive species management doing more harm than good? (commentary) Release the cats: Training native species to fear invasive predators

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Image: The cane toad (Rhinella marina). Native to South and Central America, the toxic species was deliberately introduced in Queensland, Australia, in 1935 and today it is considered an invasive pest, poisoning native fauna. Image by Paul Williams/Iron Ammonite Photography. Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0).

In a national park in southern Malawi, the reintroduction of cheetahs (and lions) is bringing four critically endangered vulture species back to the skies, after a 20-year absence: the big cats' kill sites have increased the food supply, encouraging the birds to return in a conservation 'win-win.' 

A project of African Parks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust begun in 2017, the team has since observed tagged vultures in parks outside Malawi, too. 

Read or share this popular article by Ryan Truscott here:

Cheetah reintroduction in Malawi brings vultures back to the skies

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Photo Credit: A cheetah. Image by Rhett Butler for Mongabay.

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The Intag Valley in Ecuador is one of the world's most biodiverse places, its dense cloud forests bursting with plant and animal species. 

But the world's largest copper company wants to build a mine amidst its riches, so local leaders are organizing a conservation campaign: Mongabay's associate digital editor Romi Castagnino recently visited the area and joins this episode to discuss what she and staff writer Liz Kimbrough reported, and how that article sparked key support from one of Hollywood's top environmentalists, Leonardo DiCaprio.

Click 'play' to hear what she saw, and read Mongabay's full report from the valley here:

In Ecuador, communities protecting a ?terrestrial coral reef? face a mining giant

This is the first feature in Mongabay's new series, Conservation Potential:   

Mongabay?s Conservation Potential series asks: Where do we need to protect biodiversity?

Here's an update on the effort:

Ecuador court upholds ?rights of nature,? blocks Intag Valley copper mine

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Image: A silk eyed moth photographed on the arm of Liz Kimbrough. Image by Romi Castagnino for Mongabay.

It's tough to fund conservation, and deciding exactly how (and where) funding gets used is even trickier. However, researchers recently identified where and when to ?get the most bang for our buck,? in a newly published study.

Many of the highest-conservation-priority areas identified fall within lower-income tropical countries. While substantial international funding is likely needed to conserve and restore forests, securing Indigenous peoples' land rights could be a low-cost, and equitable solution, since 80% of the planet's biodiversity lies within Indigenous peoples' territories. 

Listen to the popular article from Liz Kimbrough: Protecting global forests with a limited budget? New study shows where and when to start

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Photo Credit: Tiger Leg Monkey Tree Frog (Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis). Image by Rhett Butler.

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A decline in botany degree programs, paired with a growing lack of general plant awareness, has scientists concerned about society's ability to tackle existential threats like biodiversity loss and climate change, so Leeds University Ph.D. researcher Sebastian Stroud is our guest on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast. 

While humans depend upon plants for many critical everyday needs, our ability to identify them seems to be decreasing as fewer educational programs continue to study them. Stroud joins us to discuss a recent study he co-authored about this and how we can combat the lack of plant awareness. 

Related reading:

Can ?plant blindness? be cured? Mongabay?s plant conservation coverage

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Image: Orange orchid with magenta spots. Torajaland, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Butler. 

The Paru State Forest is the world's 3rd-largest sustainable-use tropical forest reserve, and is home to a tree standing 30 stories tall.

But in October of last year, its home state of Pará was the 5th-most deforested in Brazil, alarming experts and environmentalists that its giant trees (including the massive red angelim) are at risk.

Listen to the popular article from Sarah Brown, Amazon?s tallest tree at risk as deforestation nears, by clicking the play button. 

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Photo Credit: The Amazon?s tallest tree grows in the Paru State Forest and is one of several giant trees in the region. Each one can sequester up to 40 tons of carbon, nearly as much as a hectare (2.4 acres) of typical forest. Image © Havita Rigamonti/Imazon/Ideflor.

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In December, Mongabay's Montreal-based editor Latoya Abulu attended the 15th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, where the historic Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework was signed by nearly 200 countries.

While the agreement was lauded by scientists, advocates, and Indigenous leaders, others say that there are some concerning omissions from the text, and worrying inclusions of "biodiversity credits" sought by corporations. Click play to hear Latoya share details from her time in the conference halls, what was included in the final text of the agreement, and what was left out.

Related reading on the event:

Nations adopt Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

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Reintroducing rescued anteaters from hunters in northern Argentina into the country's Iberá reserve is no small task. However, In 2007, the first pair was reintroduced by the Conservation Land Trust (now known as the Rewilding Foundation).

14 years on, the program has taken this success and used it as a framework for subsequent reintroduction of other native species.

Click the play button to hear the popular Mongabay article by Oscar Bermeo Ocaña aloud: 

Giant anteaters lead biodiversity resurgence in Argentina?s Iberá

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Photo Credit: The giant anteater paved the way for many other reintroduction programs in Iberá. Image courtesy of the Rewilding Foundation.

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After 6 years and nearly 160 episodes, podcast host Mike Gaworecki is putting his microphone down. The show will go on, but we will miss his expertise and command of conservation science's myriad facets!

One of his favorite topics to cover on the show has been bioacoustics, the use of remote acoustic recording technology to study the behavior, distribution, and abundance of wildlife.

For his final time hosting the Mongabay Newscast, Mike shares an array of his favorite bioacoustics interviews that illustrate the breadth and potential of this powerful conservation technology.

Listen to his bittersweet farewell thoughts, and a range of recordings?from forest elephants to the Big Apple?s dolphins?that he shares, and hit play on these episodes for more goodness:

? 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

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.

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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.

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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!

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The British countryside is increasingly under siege from a scourge of illegal waste dumping ? polluting both water and air ? but one man is bravely taking the criminals on, staking out their sites with night vision goggles, drones and more.

In a three-part, 'true eco-crime' podcast series for the Mongabay Newscast, investigative environmental journalists Lucy Taylor and Dan Ashby trace this illegal 'waste trail' from their quiet English town to the nearby countryside, and as far away as Poland.

Threatened, chased, but undeterred, waste investigator Martin Montague has also established a website, Clearwaste, to document incidents of 'fly-tipping' as the practice is known, and people use it daily to report tens of thousands of incidents all over the country, where illegal landfills are also on the rise.

Episodes two and three will air in the coming weeks and take the issue to a wider European scope, discussing it with Interpol and visiting a destination for U.K. waste in Poland.

Banner image: A mountain of UK plastic waste near Wespack Recycling Factory in Malaysia, via Greenpeace Media Library.

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 Waste Mountain" and is part one of the podcast series, "Into the Wasteland," developed with the support of Journalismfund.eu.

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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Host Mike G. speaks with Mongabay reporters whose new investigations reveal a major and illegal shark finning operation by one of China?s largest fishing fleets, and the role of a giant Japanese company, Mitsubishi, in buying that fleet?s products.

Through an exhaustive interview process with deckhands who worked throughout the company?s fleet, Mongabay's Phil Jacobson and Basten Gokkon revealed that Dalian Ocean Fishing's massive operation deliberately used banned gear to target sharks across a huge swath of the western Pacific Ocean.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission is currently meeting to discuss policies that would crack down even further on use of this gear, and we speak with Jacobson who is there covering the event.

We also speak with Japan-based reporter Annelise Giseburt who was able to verify that the illegal operation benefited greatly from selling a massive share of its tuna catch to the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi.

The investigations:

Exclusive: Shark finning rampant across Chinese tuna firm?s fleet How Mitsubishi vacuumed up tuna from a rogue Chinese fishing fleet

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.

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In a nation gripped by currency depreciation, harsh economic fallout and civil unrest, the Shouf Biosphere Reserve endures as a rare conservation success story in Lebanon.

Previously protected by landmines and armed guards, the region (a UNESCO biosphere reserve) forges ahead with community engagement in tree-planting projects while providing the community with food, fuel, and jobs.

Click the play button to hear this popular article by Elizabeth Fitt aloud: 

From land mines to lifelines, Lebanon?s Shouf is a rare restoration success story

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 this series, 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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Photo Credit: Farid Tarabay, forest guide, under the Lamartine Cedar, one of the oldest in the reserve. Image by Elizabeth Fitt for Mongabay.

Please send feedback to [email protected], and thank you for listening.

Healthy ecosystems are often noisy: from reefs to grasslands and forests, these are sonically rich places, thanks to all the species defending territories, finding mates, locating prey, socializing or perhaps just enjoying their ability to add to life's rich chorus.

Recording soundscapes in such places is one way to ensure we don't forget what a full array of birds, bats, bugs, and more sounds like, and it couldn't be more important, as the world witnesses a decline in many such kinds of creatures, due to the biodiversity crisis. Soundscape recordings provide a kind of sonic baseline which researchers can also pull data from.

On this episode of the podcast, host Mike G. plays a diverse selection of forest soundscapes from South America and Africa and discusses them with their creator, sound recordist George Vlad, who travels the world and shares the acoustic alchemy of nature via his impressive Youtube channel.

Join us to explore these sonic landscapes with Vlad and get inspired to find the richness of natural sounds near you.

Episode artwork: A writhed hornbill, a Philippines endemic species, singing. Image via Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0).

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On Costa Rica's Carribbean coast, sloths are losing their habitat to houses and roads, forcing them to cross between forest patches on the ground, making them vulnerable to traffic incidents and dog attacks. 

However, the Sloth Conservation Foundation, created by British zoologist Rebecca Cliffe, is trying to change that by building rope bridges to allow these famously slow-moving animals to safely cross cleared patches of forest.

Read the popular article written by Monica Pelliccia and translated by Maria Angeles Salazar here:

Bridges in the sky carry sloths to safety in Costa Rica

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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Photo Credit: Baby three-toed sloth hugging a stuffed panda in a Trio Indigenous community. Suriname, 2012. Image by Rhett Butler.

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?Ecuador had not declared community protected area management by Indigenous peoples until Tiwi Nunka Forest. This area is the first of its kind in Ecuador, and one of the few in the entire Amazon,? says Felipe Serrano on this episode.

His organization Nature and Culture International recently helped the Shuar Indigenous community in Ecuador win a historic victory to protect its ancestral territory from cattle ranchers, loggers and miners, and he discusses how the community succeeded on this episode.

We also speak with Paul Koberstein, editor of the Cascadia Times, an environmental journal based in Portland, Oregon, who with Jessica Applegate recently published "Deep Cut," an article at Earth Island Journal that details the flawed basis for the U.S. State of Washington?s new and flawed climate solution: cutting down forests.

Episode artwork: Members of the El Kiim community. Photo courtesy of Nature and Culture International.

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