Mongabay Explores
A podcast about the world's unique places and species – from areas of amazing natural heritage to environmental challenges and conservation solutions – hear inspiring conversations with experts, scientists, authors, and activists on Mongabay Explores.
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Circular Economy, Pt 3: Are there circular solutions for global housing unaffordability and climate change?
12/03/2024
Circular Economy, Pt 3: Are there circular solutions for global housing unaffordability and climate change?
According to UN-Habitat, a global housing affordability is underway, with 1.6 billion people currently in need of adequate, affordable homes. That number could rise to three billion in just a few years. Home prices in urban markets have reached "impossible" of unaffordability while temperatures continue to rise as a result of climate change. On this third episode of the Mongabay Explores podcast season on the circular economy — the effort to design goods to be less resource-intensive, from their manufacture to disposal and recycling — Louise Dorignon, a postdoctoral research fellow and housing circularity expert at RMIT University in Melbourne, details this to address sustainability in the most unaffordable housing market in the English-speaking world: Australia. Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne have devised a for combatting this housing shortage, improving housing circularity, and reducing emissions from construction to help alleviate the housing sector's contributions to climate change. "Our goal was to find out how implementing a circular economy approach can lead to a more sustainable housing system. And we didn't want to juxtapose sustainability and circular economy as two different things. But instead, we wanted to see how they work together," Dorignon says. Listen to the first two episodes of Mongabay Explores the Circular Economy and . Mongabay Explores is a podcast series investigating some of the biggest environmental issues of our time, and the people working to solve them. This conversation is the third episode of the fifth season. To listen to them all, simply subscribe to or follow Mongabay Explores wherever you listen to podcasts, from to , and you can also listen to all episodes on the Mongabay website. Image credit: Die Sonnenblumenhäuser is a housing project in Vienna's Wildgarten neighborhood. The 11-building plan is an evolution of an award-winning project from the Europan 10 competition, which values "sustainable projects capable of creating urban intensity while taking care of the environment." Arenas Basabe Palacios built 82 units as commissioned by the Vienna city council, which owns the land. Image courtesy of Kurt Hoerbst. Timecodes (00:00) A more sustainable and affordable housing system (02:18) How do we make housing circular? (07:36) Curious case studies (12:57) First pillar: Reappraising value (18:23) Second pillar: Shaping markets with regulation (22:06) Third pillar: Tilting investment flows (23:57) Fourth pillar: Building capacity and skills (27:38) Australia's housing affordability crisis (34:54) The problem with using housing as an investment (38:57) Addressing vacant homes (40:53) Which nation is 'getting it right?' (44:39) One thing to change right now
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Circular Economy, Pt 2: How Finland is leading the world in circular economy planning
11/19/2024
Circular Economy, Pt 2: How Finland is leading the world in circular economy planning
In 2016, Finland became the first nation to design a circular economy roadmap, in an effort to design goods to be less resource-intensive, from their manufacture to disposal and recycling. Tim Forslund of the Finnish Innovation Fund (SITRA) was one of its architects and joins this episode of Mongabay Explores to detail his nation’s circularity plan and the challenges ahead. Over 50 nations now have such plans in development, and while Finland is years ahead of them all, it hasn’t yet seen a reduction in its economy's resource consumption so far. Forslund explains why, and how policies implemented today may only produce results much later. “We're seeing a lot of these policies being implemented, but it will take more [time] to see the change.” Read more on Finland’s circular economy roadmap by Mongabay contributor Sean Mowbray here: Subscribe to or follow Mongabay Explores wherever you listen to podcasts, from to . You can also listen to all episodes on the Mongabay website. Image Credit: Finland has produced innovative solutions seeking to increase circularity in the textile sector. For example, a pilot project incentivizing textile collection in the city of Lahti claimed a 500% increase in recycling rates. Companies such as Spinnova are adopting methods that use renewable resources, such as wood. Other circular solutions, including expanding markets for recycled materials, increasing circularity in design, and reducing consumption, are required, experts say. Image courtesy of Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto. Timecodes (00:00) Introduction (02:17) It’s Not Just Finland (05:58) Sector by Sector, Country by Country (11:30) Roadblocks and Challenges (17:16) Policy and Market-Based Solutions (20:17) A ‘Greenlash’ to Mandates? (25:37) Slowing Down Fast Fashion (29:07) Plastics Recycling (31:33) Transforming Education (33:50) Designing Solutions for People (36:41) Credits
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Circular Economy, Pt 1: EV issues are about ‘more than just cars’
11/04/2024
Circular Economy, Pt 1: EV issues are about ‘more than just cars’
The fifth season of Mongabay Explores dives into the circular economy: the effort to design goods to be less resource intensive, from their manufacture to disposal and recycling. In this episode, we speak with circular economy researcher and policy expert Jessika Richter, associate senior lecturer at Lund University in Sweden, who discusses the environmental and social impacts of electric vehicles (EVs), and what we can do to mitigate them. As she says, any conversation about solving transportation emissions that only discusses cars misses the bigger picture: “We need to go back to, exactly, what do we need? And are there different ways we can solve this? Again, public transport, biking, walking need to be part of the discussion when we're talking about transport. It can't be just about cars, and any conversation that is just about cars or vehicles is too narrow at solving a problem, because it's only going to be shifting things,” says Richter. Read more on the circularity of electric vehicles from contributor Sean Mowbray here: Mongabay Explores is our in-depth podcast series which investigates some of the most significant environmental issues of our time. Check this podcast’s feed to hear previous seasons about Congo rainforest conservation issues, and other compelling topics. Image credit: While electric vehicles have no tailpipe emissions, there are a lot more factors involved in producing a car: steel, tires and people affected along the supply chain. Image by Ivan Radic via (). --- Time codes (00:00) Introduction (03:28) The benefits of EVs (05:02) The costs (08:04) Cleaning up the supply chain (13:33) It’s not just about cars (17:30) Rethinking how we use urban centers (22:28) To retrofit or not to retrofit? (27:41) Mining and NIMBYism (34:35) Pricing externalities for real (35:42) Credits
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Congo Basin, Bonus: Pollution & impunity in the DRC
05/13/2024
Congo Basin, Bonus: Pollution & impunity in the DRC
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), pollution from extracting minerals commonly used in the energy transition like cobalt and copper is on the rise, and miners generally ignore their legal obligations to clean it up. Cases of such pollution have killed and displaced people and caused major health problems, say residents and community organizations. The DRC is estimated to hold 64% of the world's cobalt reserves (3.5 million tons of cobalt, plus 31 million tons of copper) and could benefit from these metals by becoming a major player in the energy transition. But the state-owned mining company, Gécamines, is itself not immune, and is also a shareholder in several other companies, some of which are accused of these same rights abuses. In the investigation you're about to hear, Mongabay visited several villages in Lualaba Province affected by pollution and human rights violations, to assess the state of the unresolved damages. This story is supported by the Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigation Network. If you missed the first six episodes of our podcast series on the Congo Basin, please subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts from, and follow the links below: Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Image: Ruined homes and shops in Kabwe Village. In 2018 an accident caused by Mutanda Mining, a subsidiary of Anglo-Swiss company Glencore, cost the lives of 21 people here. They company has not completed the compensation process for the victims. Photo by Didier Makal for Mongabay. --- Timecodes: (00:00) Introduction (01:27) Bye bye Kabombwa (02:50) Fleeing pollution in Gécamines and Musonoïe (04:55) Mines, the economic lifeblood of the DRC (08:48) Forgotten victims, stolen livelihoods
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Congo Basin, Part 6: How the Congo Rainforest is shaped by elephants
11/07/2023
Congo Basin, Part 6: How the Congo Rainforest is shaped by elephants
The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) plays a critical role in shaping the Congo rainforest, experts say. Though they represent incalculable and intrinsic value, there is much scientists still do not know about this critically endangered species of megafauna. On this final episode of the Congo Basin season of Mongabay Explores, Fiona "Boo" Maisels, a conservation scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Andrew Davies, assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University, detail the 'irreplaceable' value of African forest elephants, what would happen if we lose them, and why they need urgent protection. If you missed the first five episodes of this podcast series, please subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts from, and follow the links below: Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores –where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more –via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Sounds heard during this episode: Soundscape recording from the Dzanga Bai forest clearing in the Dzanga Sangha Protected Area in the Central African Republic, where elephants aggregate in very large numbers. It is likely that there were 80 elephants or more at the clearing at the time of the recording, which was shared by The Elephant Listening Project at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Image Credit: Forest elephants, pictured in Central African Republic. Photo ©Cristián Samper/WCS
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Congo Basin, Part 5: Where's the money for Congo Basin conservation?
08/29/2023
Congo Basin, Part 5: Where's the money for Congo Basin conservation?
How much does it cost to protect the Congo Rainforest? The world's second-largest rainforest provides critical ecological services that millions of people and myriad species rely on. It is also a massive carbon sink, storing tens of billions of tons of carbon in its trees, soils and peatlands. One would think protecting it would be an international priority, and yet funding commitments have historically struggled to adequately finance forest protection in the region. Experts say many commitments end before funding can be fully disbursed, and efforts rarely translate to a better life for local communities who live in these forests. For episode five of Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin, we speak with experts who explain the challenges of financing forest protection in the region and what's needed to address gap: Paolo Cerutti, senior scientist and DRC unit head at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR-ICRAF); Chadrack Kafuti at Ghent University; Wahida Patwa Patwa-Shah, senior regional technical specialist, UNDP Climate Hub; and Lee White, minister of water, forests, the sea and environment in Gabon. If you missed the first four episodes of this podcast series, please subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts from, or click on the links below: Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Episode Artwork: Rainforest in Gabon in the Congo Basin, which is home to chimpanzees. Natural forest has far greater biodiversity and carbon storage value than tree plantations. Photo credit: ZB / 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 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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Congo Basin, Part 4: A 'just energy transition' requires justice in the DRC
07/19/2023
Congo Basin, Part 4: A 'just energy transition' requires justice in the DRC
The global 'just energy transition' has increased demand for critical minerals – such as cobalt and copper – for products like lithium-ion batteries, solar panels, and other renewable energy sources. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which produces nearly 70% of the global supply of cobalt, has a poorly regulated mining sector that's fueled by demand for these natural resources and which has forced Indigenous communities off their land and otherwise done little to lift millions of Congolese citizens out of poverty. The DRC has now opened up land for oil and gas exploration, too, and experts are skeptical that oil will do much to improve people's lives, either. Christian-Geraud Neema Byamungu, Francophone editor at the China Global South Project, and Joseph Itongwa Mukumo, an Indigenous community member of Walikale in the North Kivu province, and director of ANAPA-DRC, speak with Mongabay about what DRC residents need for a just energy transition, and the impacts mining has had on lives and the environment. If you missed the first three episodes of this podcast series, please subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts from, or click on the links below: Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Episode Artwork: Cobalt, copper and malachite from a copper mine in the DRC. Image by Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) 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 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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Congo Basin, Part 3: Big challenges and potential for ape conservation
06/28/2023
Congo Basin, Part 3: Big challenges and potential for ape conservation
Recent research shows that great apes of the Congo Basin stand to lose up to 94% of their habitat due to climate change. In the world's only habitat of bonobos and mountain gorillas, time (and land) is running out to save them. Hunting, natural resource extraction, disease, and other human impacts threaten their prospects. On this episode of the Mongabay Explores podcast, we speak with Terese Hart, a researcher with the ICCN (the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature); Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, a wildlife veterinarian and founder of the NGO Conservation Through Public Health; Kirsty Graham, a researcher from the University of St Andrews; and Sally Coxe, co-founder and president from the Bonobo Conservation Initiative about the importance of great apes, the potential they have for the protection of the Congo rainforest, and the challenges that persist in protecting them. If you missed the first two episodes of this podcast series, please subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever you get your podcasts from, or click on the links below: Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Episode Artwork: Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a sanctuary for half of the world’s remaining population of endangered mountain gorillas, alongside forest elephants and many other species. Image by Brian Harries via (CC BY 2.0). 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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Congo Basin, Part 2: Can we right the wrongs of fortress conservation?
05/15/2023
Congo Basin, Part 2: Can we right the wrongs of fortress conservation?
The debate about how to best protect the Congo Basin's rainforest increasingly finds experts and Indigenous leaders arguing that it's time for a change, one that brings local and Indigenous people into the conversation. Fortress conservation, a model exported to Africa during the colonial era, typically expels local people from land they once relied on for food, fiber and medicine, but experts argue the concept that this model uses – that of a 'pristine wilderness' untouched by humans – is a flawed construct. Many protected areas in Africa still use this conservation model, though, to the detriment of local people, sometimes resulting in violence. On this episode of Mongabay Explores the Congo Basin, we interview lawyer and Goldman Prize-winner Samuel Nguiffo, Mongabay features writer Ashoka Mukpo, and conservation and Indigenous relations expert Vedaste Cituli about the legacy of fortress conservation in the Congo Basin, how the militarization of rangers has exacerbated tension with local people, and potential pathways forward to return some conservation control to local and Indigenous populations. Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Episode Artwork: The Indigenous Batwa were evicted from their forest home in Uganda in the early 1990s when Mgahinga Gorilla National Park was established, leaving them landless and poor in a society that saw them as a lower class. Image by USAID Biodiversity & Forestry via (). 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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Congo Basin, Part 1: Second-largest rainforest in the world at a turning point
04/26/2023
Congo Basin, Part 1: Second-largest rainforest in the world at a turning point
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. On this first episode of a new season of Mongabay Explores, we take you to the Congo Basin and begin 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. 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 faced by the DRC and the Congo Basin in general. Find the first three seasons of Mongabay Explores – where we explored Sumatra, New Guinea, and more – via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Episode Artwork: A girl carries fruit back to Konye village. As industrial agricultural techniques spread into forests of the Congo Basin, alternatives like agroforestry that can benefit farmers, consumers and natural resources are also on the rise. Image © Greenpeace / John Novis 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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Bonus: Can young Indonesians help their iconic elephants survive?
09/14/2022
Sumatra, Bonus: Can young Indonesians help their iconic elephants survive?
Leif Cocks returns to the podcast to discuss the status of the Sumatran elephant, a critically endangered species that we discussed with him in season 2, which is estimated to have less than 10 years to find a conservation solution or face extinction: he says the ranks of passionate, young Indonesian conservationists he's recently met that are working for the iconic animals' future gives him great hope. He also shares an update on the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan, whose land is threatened by a controversial hydroelectric project in North Sumatra, which has also claimed the lives of 16 workers in less than two years. To hear our previous conversation with Leif, find episode 6 of season 2, or listen here: To listen to our previous conversation with him about the Tapanuli orangutan, find episode 4 of season 2, or go here: Related Reading: If you missed the ten part series of Mongabay Explores Sumatra, you can find them via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Episode Artwork: Sumatran elephants in Bukit Barisan National Park. Photo by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Bonus Ep: She's here! Rare Sumatran rhino calf born
05/11/2022
Sumatra, Bonus Ep: She's here! Rare Sumatran rhino calf born
Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry recently announced the birth of an incredibly rare Sumatran rhino calf at a captive breeding facility at Way Kambas National Park in Indonesia's Lampung province. For this bonus episode of Mongabay Explores, we speak with Mongabay's senior staff writer for Indonesia, Basten Gokkon. He explains the significance of this event, the difficulty in breeding Sumatran rhinos, and what this birth means for the future of this critically endangered species. If you missed the ten part series of Mongabay Explores Sumatra, you can find them via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage . Related Reading: Episode Artwork: A new Sumatran rhino calf born in Way Kambas sanctuary. Image courtesy of Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry. Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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New Guinea, Part 7: Galip nut drives community empowerment and forest conservation
04/27/2022
New Guinea, Part 7: Galip nut drives community empowerment and forest conservation
By 2025 the global, edible nut industry will be worth an estimated $2 billion. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the traditional and plentiful staple, the galip nut (Canarium indicum), holds promise of tapping into that demand. Its relative ease of access for smallholder (non-commercial) farms means a new source of income for thousands of farmers across PNG. 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 , 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 . Episode Artwork: Tinganagalip Women Cooperative Group Chairwoman Caroline Misiel holds a handful of canarium. ACIAR has been supporting research into the development of a canarium industry in Papua New Guinea. The group has been planting new canarium trees as well as exploring new value-added canarium products they can make such as canarium cakes and scones. 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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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New Guinea, Part 6: Who is destroying these rainforests? The Tanah Merah mystery.
04/13/2022
New Guinea, Part 6: Who is destroying these rainforests? The Tanah Merah mystery.
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. Related Reading: If you missed the first five 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 . Episode Artwork: An Indigenous Auyu man and child in Boven Digoel. Image by Nanang Sujana for The Gecko Project. 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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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New Guinea, Part 5: 'Ghosts of the rainforest'
03/16/2022
New Guinea, Part 5: 'Ghosts of the rainforest'
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 and Lisa Dabek and Modi Pontio of the . 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 . Episode Artwork: A Matschie's tree kangaroo in the Wasaunon Field site in the YUS Conservation Area in Morobe Province in PNG. Image by Jonathan Byers. Courtesy of the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program. 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 or wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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New Guinea, Part 4: A long and winding road
03/02/2022
New Guinea, Part 4: A long and winding road
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 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 . Episode Artwork: A part of the Trans Papua highway that snakes across Indonesia's easternmost provinces Papua and West Papua. Photo courtesy of Public Works and Housing Ministry. 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 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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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New Guinea, Part 3: Defending paradise
02/16/2022
New Guinea, Part 3: Defending paradise
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 , and biologist Edwin Scholes from the 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 . 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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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New Guinea, Part 2: 'Carbon cowboys' and illegal logging
02/01/2022
New Guinea, Part 2: 'Carbon cowboys' and illegal logging
Since 2014, Papua New Guinea has been the world’s largest tropical timber exporter: more than 70% of that is considered illegal. Timber companies continue to possess land originally owned by local Indigenous communities through legal loopholes: while the carbon market has gained popularity as an alternative source of revenue for Indigenous communities, it suffers from some of the same land rights abuses as timber extraction. For this episode of Mongabay Explores we interview Gary Juffa, governor of Oro province in Papua New Guinea, and investigative journalist, Rachel Donald. If you missed episode one 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 . Episode artwork: Greenpeace activists paint 'Forest Destruction',' Climate Crime' and 'Moratorium Now' on barges of illegally felled trees. The logs wait on Paia Port waterways - prevented from being loaded onto the 'Harbour Gemini' ship in the rainforests of the 'Turama extension' logging concession, Gulf Province. Image by Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert for 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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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New Guinea, Part 1: Protecting unparalleled biodiversity
01/05/2022
New Guinea, Part 1: Protecting unparalleled biodiversity
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 . Episode artwork: The stocky, flightless northern cassowary (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 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 10: Solutions and optimism that drive conservation
11/01/2021
Sumatra, Part 10: Solutions and optimism that drive conservation
'I'm amazed how resilient, adaptable and optimistic the people of Sumatra are,' conservationist and 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 & 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 . Episode artwork: Pungky with the biggest flower on Earth, Rafflesia arnoldii. Photo by Alek Sander. Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. You can access episodes to our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, by downloading our free app and to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 9: Restoration for peat's sake
11/01/2021
Sumatra, Part 9: Restoration for peat's sake
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 what is being done to restore peatlands, we speak with the Deputy Head of the National Peatland Restoration Agency, Budi Wardhana, and with Dyah Puspitaloka, a researcher on the value chain, finance and investment team at CIFOR, the Center for International Forestry Research. Restoration through agroforestry that benefits both people and planet is one positive avenue forward, which Dyah discusses in her remarks. For more on this topic, see the recent report at Mongabay, "." Episode artwork: Haze from fires in a peatland logging concession pollutes the air in Jambi Province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Greenpeace Media Library. Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. You can also access our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, by downloading our free app and to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 8: Where are the rhinos?
11/01/2021
Sumatra, Part 8: Where are the rhinos?
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 and rescue' as she calls it, host Mike DiGirolamo contacted repeat guest , who studied them as a species conservation specialist with the Wildlife Conservation Society before pursuing her Ph.D. in Environmental Conservation at Oxford University. Articles discussed in this episode: Episode artwork: Rosa is the wild-born female Sumatran rhino noted by Wulan during the interview who now lives at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park. Image courtesy of Terri Roth/Cincinnati Zoo. Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. We also offer a free app and for our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, providing instant access to our latest episodes and previous ones. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all of our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 7: Omens and optimism for orangutans
11/01/2021
Sumatra, Part 7: Omens and optimism for orangutans
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 Sumatra, Panut Hadisiswoyo, about these challenges plus some hopeful signs. His center is successfully involving local communities in this work: over 2,400 hectares of rainforest have been replanted by local women since 2008, creating key habitat for the orangutans, which also provides the villagers with useful agroforestry crops, for instance. Related reading from this episode: Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. We also offer a free app and for our sister show, the Mongabay Newscast, providing instant access to our latest episodes and previous ones. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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 of our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 6: Elephants and eternity
11/01/2021
Sumatra, Part 6: Elephants and eternity
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 species' conservation, we spoke with 3 guests: Leif Cocks, the founder of the , Sapariah “Arie” Saturi, 's Senior Writer who's reported regularly on the issue; and Dr. Wishnu Sukmantoro an elephant expert at Indonesia's . Two articles Arie reported for Mongabay on the topic: Episode artwork courtesy of World Wildlife Fund's . Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. We now offer a free app and for our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, so you can have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 5: Tiger on the highway
10/27/2021
Sumatra, Part 5: Tiger on the highway
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: Batang Toru: Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. We now offer a free app and for our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, 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. Episode artwork: a critically endangered Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica). Image courtesy of the Zoological Society of London. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 4: Will the world's newest great ape species face a dammed future?
10/27/2021
Sumatra, Part 4: Will the world's newest great ape species face a dammed future?
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 Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. We now offer a free app and for our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, 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 our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 3: Deforestation demystified
10/27/2021
Sumatra, Part 3: Deforestation demystified
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 used in a wide range of consumer products. To understand the rapid expansion of industrial-scale agribusinesses that market both palm oil and 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 , 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 and for this our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, 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 Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. If you enjoy our podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 2: Saving the singing rhino
10/27/2021
Sumatra, Part 2: Saving the singing rhino
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 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, and , 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, ““). 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. heard during the show courtesy of Save the Rhino International. We now offer a free app and for our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, 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 Mongabay's podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts. Feedback is always welcome: .
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Sumatra, Part 1: A land like no other
10/27/2021
Sumatra, Part 1: A land like no other
"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 , and this 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 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 , visit Rudi Putra's organization Leuser Conservation Forum's to learn more about their work, and Greg McCann's organization PRCF has multiple projects in Indonesia described (and details on the project in Dolok Simalalaksa/ Hadabuan Hills he discusses are ). We offer a free app and for our sister series, the Mongabay Newscast, 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 Mongabay's podcast content, please visit 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: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Explores 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: .
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The Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 6: Hellbenders and super spreaders
10/07/2021
The Great Salamander Pandemic, Part 6: Hellbenders and super spreaders
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 final episode of the first season 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. More on this topic: Mongabay's article series on Bsal is United States Bsal Task Force To hear Part 1 of this season, see, "" -- Part 2 discussed the amazing diversity of salamanders, "" Parts 3, 4, & 5 are also helpful in understanding the conservation community's response to the threat (and some opportunities) presented by Bsal. Based on a that Mongabay.com published about Bsal, episodes of this podcast season delve further to learn what's known about this issue, now. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to and subscribe. Be sure to check out our sister podcast, the Mongabay Newscast, via , , , , Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you get podcasts. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit 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: .
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