Reporter’s Journal: Dock Boys
Mar27

Reporter’s Journal: Dock Boys

By Melati Kaye “Dock boys” take a swim break from sorting and carrying fish at Makassar’s Paotere harbor, where fish caught with hook and line, homemade bombs, and cyanide are brought to port and sold. This photo was taken by SRI fellow Melati Kaye, who is reporting on the State of Indonesian Fisheries.

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Reporter’s Journal: The forests of Uganda
Mar26

Reporter’s Journal: The forests of Uganda

In late January through early February I traveled to Uganda as part of the first Mongabay Special Reporting Initiative (SRI) to report on “the next big thing in tropical forest biodiversity conservation.” I’m a world traveler, and I have a special passion for tropical rainforests — having seen them in Australia, the Peruvian Amazon, Asia, and Central America. Africa was my last continent to visit (OK, does...

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Reporter’s Journal: a different kind of leopard
Mar24

Reporter’s Journal: a different kind of leopard

By Melati Kaye March is leopard coral grouper season in South Sulawesi’s Spermonde islands. The live fish sell for $30 per kilogram. Dead fish fetch less than a third of that price. Careful hook and line fishermen can sometimes manage to keep their catch alive. But a surer method is to stun the fish with cyanide, an illegal but widespread practice. This photo was taken by Mongabay.org’s Special Reporting Initiatives fellow...

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Camera-trap Ecotourism: the next big thing in conservation?
Mar06

Camera-trap Ecotourism: the next big thing in conservation?

By Gregory McCann, Habitat ID Ecotourism is a popular growing trend, and this is especially true in tropical countries that have a wealth of biodiversity to offer the interested trekker. Cambodia is no exception. I have been visiting Virachey National Park in northeastern Cambodia for the past five years, but my most recent trip involved a special purpose: setting up 14 motion-triggered camera-traps throughout the park. Without giving...

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Following giant footsteps: conference on megafauna and ecosystem function
Mar05

Following giant footsteps: conference on megafauna and ecosystem function

By Emily Read, University of Oxford, UK There has been growing awareness in the world of ecosystem science that large animals (megafauna) play a significant role in how ecosystems function. With their huge range and capacity to eat and process a vast amount of vegetation, creatures such as elephants spread nutrients further than smaller creatures as they wander the land, playing a crucial long-term role in biogeochemical cycling. The...

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