Morgan Erickson-Davis

BODO, Nigeria — Christian Kpandei is a man of many memories. Still, the vital incidents of his life, like the death of his childhood hero, environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, grow blurry and remote as time wears on. One series of events, however, with its decade-old vestiges, has remained as clear as the sunrise at dawn. […]

A new analysis of satellite data finds the Western Indian Ocean region lost around 4% its mangrove forests over the past quarter-century. In a report that discusses the state of these mangroves, the authors write that their findings provide decision-makers with the high-quality, reliable data they need to protect these threatened coastal forests. Published July […]

IWUOCHANG, Nigeria — It was morning in mid-March and the wooden canoe skimmed silently across the Ibeno River in the southern Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom. A young boy and an elderly man paddled with measured rhythm towards the shore of Iwuochang, where passengers disembarked beside a group of chatting fishers and a pile of […]

Jean Wiener should be elated. The organization he leads, FoProBim, has just won a series of grants to help protect mangroves in Haiti. In the coming months, he and his team will crisscross the country, helping replant mangrove marshes, conducting environmental workshops and training sessions, and starting alternative income projects for those whose livelihoods depend […]

This report is part of a journalistic collaboration between Mongabay Latam, La Región and Red Ambiental de Información. ROBORÉ, Bolivia—The Ñembi Guasu region is referred to as the “great refuge” by the Guaraní people of the Bolivian Chaco. To recognize its ecological and social importance, the Charagua Iyambae Rural Indigenous Autonomous Government (GAIOC) incorporated it […]

ROBORÉ, Bolivia — Tucabaca Valley Municipal Wildlife Reserve comprises around 2,644 square kilometers (1,021 square miles) of semi-arid forest and scrubland in the heart of southern Bolivia’s Chiquitania region. But the reserve, like the region around it, was beset by wildfires this year. In September, fires burned across some 130 square kilometers (50 square miles)—or […]

Once covering an expanse of more than 2,140 square kilometers (826 square miles) of the Colombian Amazon Rainforest, Tinigua National Natural Park has lost 29% of its forests over the past 20 years. Much of this loss has occurred only since 2018, when the park lost nearly 6% of its tree cover in a single […]

APYTEREWA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — Deep in the Apyterewa reserve, Tye Parakanã waves a hand toward the lush rainforest flanking his village. In the distance, a faint cloud of smoke rises above the emerald canopy of the Brazilian Amazon. “You see this forest here? Behind it, it’s all ranches,” the 35-year-old Indigenous leader says as […]

Not quite aquatic but not fully terrestrial, mangrove forests are uniquely adapted to inhabit the interface between land and sea in the warmer parts of the world. Compared to the vast boreal forests of the north and inland rainforests of the tropics, mangroves are tiny, perched mostly in thin strips along intertidal zones. But research […]

TRIUNFO DO XINGU, Brazil — Lenice Divina Ramos weaves through knee-high weeds and scorched shrubs before halting abruptly near the slice of jungle where, not long ago, she found the charred carcass of her pet monkey. “The little fellow had no way to escape,” she says wistfully, waving toward the burnt-orange patch of vegetation that […]

It’s hard to know exactly what’s happening to the environment in Nicaragua. Data on everything from mining to deforestation to biodiversity loss is nearly impossible to get from the government. Hundreds of journalists and environmental defenders have been arrested or fled the country, including much of the newsroom of La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper. And […]