Mongabay Newscast

"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...

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 sp...

When it comes to the world's forests, two commonly asked questions are "How many trees are on Earth?" and "How many are cut down each year?" A study in the journal Nature proposed answers: 3 trillion and 15.3 billion. Mongabay Reports is a new series that shares evergreen articles like this from Mongabay.com, read by host Mike DiGirolamo. This episode features one of our most read stories of the l...

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 M...

Are international groups that manage declining tuna populations doing too good a job? Two guests on our show this week illustrate how these managers aren't aiming for sustainability, but rather enable maximum extraction of the 'tuna resource' that graces peoples' dinner plates. Author Jennifer Telesca calls the Atlantic bluefin tuna program one of 'managed extinction' while Mongabay staff writer M...

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 wr...

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 join...

'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...

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 garden...

Once drained for palm oil or other agricultural uses, Indonesia's peatlands become very fire prone, putting people and rich flora and fauna--from orchids to orangutans--at risk. Over a million hectares of carbon-rich peatlands burned in Indonesia in 2019, creating a public health crisis not seen since 2015 when the nation's peatland restoration agency was formed to address the issue. To understand...

Landscape rewilding and ecosystem restoration are likely our last/best chances to maintain life on Earth as we know it, the guests on this week's show argue. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration just began, so we invited author Judith Schwartz to discuss her new book The Reindeer Chronicles and Other Inspiring Stories of Working with Nature to Heal the Earth , which documents numerous restoratio...

The Sumatran rhino is a ridiculously cute but cryptic species that teeters on the brink: with an estimated 80 individuals left in the wilds of its super dense rainforest home, experts are also divided on *where* they are. With conflicting and sometimes misleading data on their whereabouts, it is exceedingly difficult to track them down, and to therefore protect them. To discuss this 'rhino search...

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 bioma...

The Sumatran orangutan is a lowland species that has adapted to life among this Indonesian island's highlands, as it has lost favored habitat to an array of forces like deforestation, road projects, plus the trafficking of young ones to be sold as pets, so this great ape is increasingly in trouble. On this episode, Mongabay speaks with the founding director of Orangutan Information Centre in North...

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 pro...

The Sumatran elephant is a small species of Asian elephant whose numbers are dwindling as their lowland forest habitats are converted to crops like oil palms. Experts say that Indonesia has 10 years to turn this trend around and save them from the eternity of extinction--and that doing so will have many additional benefits for human communities and wildlife.  To explore the issues surrounding the...

From fires to COVID, 2020 was a *bit* of a rough year for forest conservation efforts. But what's in store, and hopeful, for 2021? On this episode, we catch up with Mongabay's founder and CEO Rhett Butler to hear what's on his radar for the year--from the Amazon to Africa and Indonesia--plus for a forest focus on Africa, we ask Joe Eisen, the executive director of the NGO Rainforest Foundation UK...

Valuable minerals are regularly dug out of sensitive ecological areas like rainforests, and a growing slice of this mining is of the small, "artisanal," and unregulated kind. The result is often a moonscape devoid of trees that is difficult to restore. But a new tech interface called Project Inambari , which was recently named a winner of the Artisanal Mining Challenge , aims to change that with t...

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...

On this episode we look at how the largest and most biodiverse tropical savanna on Earth, Brazil's Cerrado , may finally be getting the conservation attention it needs. We're joined by Mariana Siqueira , a landscape architect who's helping to find and propagate the Cerrado's natural plant life, and who is collaborating with ecologists researching the best way to restore the savanna habitat. Arnaud...

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 d...

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 mo...

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 t...

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. Je...

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...