![A group of elephants standing in mud and shallow water, pausing from digging for salt-rich mud in the Dzanga baï in the Sangha Rainforest in the Central African Republic. Image courtesy Jan Teede.](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/14192754/MoreElephantsAtDzangaBai_DzangaSanghaProtectedAreasCAR_JanTeede-MEDIUM-768x512.jpg)
Articles by Leonie Joubert
Leonie Joubert is a South Africa-based science writer grappling with many of today's tough environmental and social justice issues: climate collapse, environmental change, energy policy, cities as development hubs, and why today’s food system leaves many hungry, heavy, and sick (the hunger-obesity poverty-paradox).
She has spent 20 years exploring these topics through books, journalism, communication support to academics and civil society organisations, non-fiction creative writing, podcasting, and public speaking.
Leonie has received several awards for her work over the years. She has written more than 10 books, most recently has been published in National Geographic magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Daily Maverick Our Burning Planet climate team (https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/our-burning-planet/).
http://leoniejoubert.co.za/
![A group of elephants standing in mud and shallow water, pausing from digging for salt-rich mud in the Dzanga baï in the Sangha Rainforest in the Central African Republic. Image courtesy Jan Teede.](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/14192754/MoreElephantsAtDzangaBai_DzangaSanghaProtectedAreasCAR_JanTeede-MEDIUM-768x512.jpg)
![Wandering albatross on Marion Island.](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/05110359/Wandering-Albatross-on-Marion-Island-768x512.jpg)
S. Africa to purge bird-eating mice from key albatross breeding island
![](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/21182247/AP_2_TeganCarpenterKling_1-768x512.jpg)
Will shipping noise nudge Africa’s only penguin toward extinction?
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Cut down once again: Uncontrolled logging puts new Sahel reforestation projects at risk
- VIDEO: The truth about Cambodia’s Prey Lang sanctuary | Chasing Deforestation
- New concession in Botum Sakor National Park handed to Cambodia’s Royal Group
- Elephants invade as habitat loss soars in Nigerian forest reserve
![Forest Trackers](https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/themes/mongabay_v1/img/series/forest-trackers.jpg)
Oceans
- Indonesian village forms coast guard to protect octopus in Mentawai Islands
- From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model
- Seventy-plus nations sign historic high seas treaty, paving way for ratification
- First Nation and scientists partner to revive climate-saving eelgrass
![Oceans](https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/themes/mongabay_v1/img/series/oceans.jpg)
Amazon Conservation
- Cacao and cupuaçu emerge as Amazon’s bioeconomy showcases
- Amazon drought cuts river traffic, leaves communities without water and supplies
- New online map tracks threats to uncontacted Indigenous peoples in Brazil’s Amazon
- Brazil Supreme Court quashes time frame proposal in win for Indigenous rights
![Amazon Conservation](https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/themes/mongabay_v1/img/series/amazon-conservation.jpg)
Land rights and extractives
- Indigenous community fighting a mine in Palawan wins a milestone legal verdict
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- South Africa community members decry traditional leaders’ power amid mine plans
- Can upcoming referendum in Ecuador stop oil drilling in Yasuní National Park?
![Land rights and extractives](https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/themes/mongabay_v1/img/series/land-rights-and-extractives.jpg)
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
- Indigenous activists demand justice after 5 shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
![Endangered Environmentalists](https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/themes/mongabay_v1/img/series/endangered-environmentalists.jpg)
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
![Indonesia's Forest Guardians](https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/themes/mongabay_v1/img/series/indonesias-forest-guardians.jpg)
Conservation Effectiveness
- Forest restoration can fare better with human helping hand, study shows
- From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model
- Video: Rice as a peace offering in India’s human-elephant conflict capital
- Group certification helps Malaysia’s Sabah aim for palm oil sustainability
![Conservation Effectiveness](https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/themes/mongabay_v1/img/series/conservation-effectiveness.jpg)
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
![Southeast Asian infrastructure](https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/themes/mongabay_v1/img/series/southeast-asian-infrastructure.jpg)