Mongabayorg Corporation

Rhett A. Butler founded Mongabay.com in 1999 out of his passion for tropical forests. He called the site Mongabay after an island in Madagascar. Mongabay has since grown into the world’s most popular rainforest information site and a well-known source of environmental news reporting and analysis. Today Mongabay draws more than 2.5 million visitors per month and publishes stories in half a dozen languages. It is commonly used as an information source by mainstream media, including The Economist, Bloomberg, National Geographic, and the Associated Press.

Over the years Mongabay’s impact has been substantial. Articles on the site have sparked protests in Madagascar against a French shipping company transporting timber logged illegally from rainforest reserves and helped block destructive projects like a plan to log 70 percent of Woodlark Island off New Guinea for a giant oil palm plantation. Mongabay.com stories have influenced investment flows, including a decision to spare Cameroon’s rainforests from logging in order to win payments from the carbon market. Stories have even inspired art in the case of Angela Palmer’s Ghost Forest exhibit that toured the U.K and the climate convention in Copenhagen in December 2009.

In 2012 Mongabay.org was formed to facilitate the development of new education and journalism initiatives and leverage its existing network, traffic, and reputation. Mongabay.org aims to raise awareness about social and environmental issues relating to forests and other ecosystems.

2013 ACHIEVEMENTS

• published over 350 environmental science and conservation news articles on Mongabay-News, which as a whole published more than 1,300 articles;
• created 10 standards-based environmental education books for kindergarten and first-grade students;
• published over 1,000 articles in Indonesian on Mongabay-Indonesia and reached more than 3,000 Indonesians in person via journalism workshops and environmental education events;
• leveraged a team of 120+ translators to translate 640+ articles into 7 languages;
• published 6 issues of Tropical Conservation Science;
• awarded one $20,000 journalism prize for the next big idea in rainforest conservation.

In regards to our education initiatives, few children are lucky enough to have hands-on experiences in tropical forests. Many kids -- especially in inner cities and poor communities -- don't even have chances to experience nature in any form. Disconnected from the world around them, these potential environmental advocates aren't aware of the importance of native ecosystems or the fate that is befalling them. Mongabay.org's education initiative aims to change that. Mongabay.org's freely available materials boost environmental awareness among a generation that will be faced with many of the tough decisions our generation has not had to make.

We have been providing free content for children, parents and teachers for years.  One school teacher had this to say about our efforts: “I am a primary school teacher in Bury, Britain, and I just wanted to thank you for your amazing website! I stumbled across it just by doing a Google search for kids info on rainforests, as I'm doing a topic with them this term called 'Saving the World', all about rainforests, indigenous people, creatures and plants they hold, deforestation effects and the need to conserve. Your website page for kids and teachers is pretty much a complete reference bank for everything I will be teaching them! The photos you have taken are amazing… and as I can't run a trip to a rainforest (shame!!) the perspective the children will grasp on this and other photos you have is like gold dust. I just wanted to...express my thanks and admiration for such a great site!”

In the field of modern journalism, important environmental stories are hardly ever properly told, but ignorance rarely triggers resolution. Mongabay.org's SRI program enables journalists to pursue in-depth reporting on key environmental topics, generating stories, videos, and pictures to illustrate problems and solutions. Content produced under the fellowship is be registered under an open created commons license to allow it to be repurposed across other media. 

Countries that suffer the highest rates of forest loss and degradation often lack sufficient environmental news reporting. Mongabay.org's overseas reporting initiatives address this shortfall. In May 2012, we launched Mongabay-Indonesia to provide in-depth coverage of environmental issues and the social and economic factors that underpin them. Mongabay-Indonesia has been a resounding success to date, with rapidly growing readership, social media following, and influence.