Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler has been named to the 2025 Forbes Sustainability Leaders List, which recognizes 50 global leaders working to combat the climate crisis.
Forbes’ annual list highlights individuals driving meaningful environmental change across sectors. Butler’s inclusion reflects more than two decades of work building Mongabay into a leading force in independent environmental journalism.
In an interview with Forbes, Butler traced this recognition back to a formative moment in his youth, when he encountered a wild orangutan in a Borneo rainforest, an experience that helped shape his lifelong commitment to conservation. When he later learned the forest would be cleared for pulp and paper, it catalyzed the mission that would eventually become Mongabay.
“This recognition is especially meaningful because it reflects the contributions of everyone involved,” Butler said, noting Mongabay’s long-standing focus on journalism over self-promotion.
Impact
Butler’s recognition by Forbes underscores the growing influence of Mongabay’s model: prioritizing real-world outcomes over traditional media metrics like clicks or pageviews.
Through direct engagement with policymakers, civil society, and frontline communities, Mongabay’s journalism has contributed to tangible environmental and social change.
In Gabon, reporting on a community’s struggle against a foreign logging company helped lead to the revocation of the company’s permit, a first in the country.
Meanwhile, reporting from Paraguay linked illegal deforestation to cattle and leather production helped inform the EU’s decision to include leather in its anti-deforestation legislation.
And in Peru, coverage of the company United Cacao contributed to the revocation of its permit, its delisting from the London Stock Exchange, and the protection of nearly 100,000 hectares of rainforest.
These outcomes reflect Mongabay’s commitment to a healthy information ecosystem and to ensuring that environmental reporting reaches those with the power to act, while also empowering the communities most affected by ecological harm.
“These aren’t abstract wins – they’re forests still standing, communities empowered and ecosystems given a second chance,” Butler said. “Telling these stories matters.”
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About Mongabay
Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform focused on providing original, reliable, and independent journalism from nature’s frontline. We pride ourselves on producing reporting that has substantial and tangible impacts around the world.
Banner image: Rhett Butler in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.