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By David Akana
- The United Nations weather agency (WMO) says El Niño is already underway and getting stronger. It is almost certain to continue through February 2027, according to the WMO.
- Regional weather forecasters predict a 90% chance of heavier-than-usual rain in southern Ethiopia, central to southern Somalia and northeastern Kenya from October to December 2026. Too much rain could cause floods and destroy crops.
- Action Against Hunger, an international aid organization, warns that failed harvests can leave families hungry months after a drought or flood. In southern Madagascar, it says, families are facing food shortages earlier than usual.
- Rotimy Djossaya, the aid organization’s chief impact officer, wants governments and donors to help families prepare now. He says repeated crises and cuts in aid leave people less able to cope with another lost harvest.
By Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a lobster fisherman who alleged the government requiring commercial fishing boats to use electronic tracking devices amount…
By Fernanda Wenzel
- Researchers conducted a comprehensive review of scientific studies to provide an overview of wildlife trafficking in the Brazilian Amazon and help close the information gap about animal abuse in the region.
- Amazon birds are the main targets of wildlife traffickers, followed by mammals, reptiles and fish, the researchers found.
- Feeding and using animals in religious rituals or for medicinal purposes are main drivers of violations.
- Brazil’s neighboring countries act as export hubs for Brazilian wildlife, such as zebra pleco fish sent to Asia through Colombia.
By Bernard Chiguvare
- Tshakhuma in South Africa’s Limpopo province was ravaged by January floods, killing people and disrupting livelihoods.
- Community members say blocked drainages and overgrown river courses exacerbate the problem amid fears of future disasters.
- Residents are finding their own ways to respond, including the use of WhatsApp to warn neighbors of potential flooding.
- The Limpopo government and Makhado municipality have intensified public awareness campaigns in the area, but community members say communication alone is not enough.
By Samuel Ogunsona
- Globally, mangrove cover has grown by 477 square kilometers (184 square miles) between 1985 and 2025, marking a turnaround from the losses that have predominated for years, but gains are uneven.
- India recorded significant net increases, followed by Pakistan, Australia, the Philippines and Senegal.
- Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nigeria and Cuba led in net losses as land-use changes — agriculture, aquaculture and development — together with pollution drove mangrove destruction.
- Experts say community-led mangrove restoration works, along with greater corporate accountability and better enforcement of existing laws protecting the coastal forests.
By Mongabay.com
Fishers have caught at least 440 invasive lionfish off the coast of Porto Seguro in northeastern Brazil in recent weeks. The local government paid fishers to harvest the fish in an attempt to curb th…
By Rhett Ayers Butler
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The jaguarundi was recently recategorized from least concern to n…
By Elaine Mills
- Chinese-controlled MC Mining is advancing its Makhado coal mine toward full production within South Africa’s Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, amid concerns over habitat destruction and the pressure its substantial water demand could place on already scarce regional supplies.
- A 2021 appeal against an amendment to its environmental authorization remains unresolved, with appellants saying the mine cannot lawfully continue; the company disputes this interpretation, arguing that the underlying environmental authorization is valid.
- A disputed water-supply agreement has increased the mine’s reliance on groundwater in an already water-stressed region.
- Makhado is part of wider development plans centered around the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone, raising concerns about cumulative environmental impacts and growing pressure on regional water supplies.
By Ashley Yeong
- Saliza Bono, a Malaysian bioacoustician at nonprofit research group MareCet, studies the sounds of marine mammals to protect their population.
- Her research focuses on the impacts of underwater noise, particularly on Indo-Pacific humpback and Irrawaddy dolphins in Malaysia.
- In an interview with Mongabay, the marine biologist discusses her journey into bioacoustics, how underwater noise pollution impacts dolphin behavior, and the challenges of her research.
By Romi Castagnino
What do snakes, poisonous frogs, and wind turbines have in common? Scientists tested whether warning color patterns inspired by nature could help birds avoid deadly collisions with wind turbines. In …
By Francesco De Augustinis
- In recent years, a series of high-profile investigations implicated the Chinese fleets targeting squid in international waters in illegal fishing practices, environmental violations, and poor working conditions, including forced labor and deaths at sea.
- The revelations received widespread public attention, including from elected officials in the U.S. and Europe.
- A Mongabay analysis shows that the largest Western markets have continued to import Chinese squid products in large quantities, raising concerns about regulatory gaps and lack of transparency and consumer awareness.
- The most recent evidence of problems in the Chinese squid industry came in a June 2026 report by U.K.-based NGO Environmental Justice Foundation that covers a five-year investigation, including interviews with more than 400 fishers who worked on Chinese squid-fishing vessels in three oceans.
By Basten Gokkon
- Two near-extinct Sumatran rhinos are pregnant at a sanctuary in Indonesia, offering a rare boost for a species that numbers only a few dozen in the wild.
- The pregnancies are the latest result of a decades-long captive-breeding effort aimed at helping the solitary animals reproduce as their wild populations become increasingly isolated.
- But the expected births also underscore the challenges of managing a small captive population with limited genetic diversity: the pregnant females are related, as are the two sires.
By Liz Kimbrough
- Scientists identified 57 new marine species and five new genera from Argentina’s Mar del Plata Canyon in just two weeks.
- Most specimens came from a 2025 expedition whose livestream drew more than 4 million viewers, many of whom tuned in for a sea star that looked like the cartoon character Patrick Star.
- The finds include a horned sea cucumber nicknamed Loki and 20 new copepods, with 90% of the copepod samples still unexamined.
- Researchers also found plastic and fishing litter in the canyon, a sign that even this remote deep-sea habitat faces human pressures.
By Mike DiGirolamo
The global pet trade, particularly in exotic reptiles and amphibians, poses significant biodiversity and potential human health risks, scientists say; yet compared to other pressing crises like clima…
By Mongabay.com
Seven of Brazil’s nine Amazonian states are set to be governed by politicians aligned with far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, Karla Mendes and Lucas Berti reported for Mongabay Brasil. On Oct. …
By Shanna Hanbury
The Iranian spider-tailed horned viper, a rare snake endemic to western Iran, hunts by holding its body completely still while twitching its tail. Its body camouflages among the rocks of its semi-ari…
By Patricia Sia Ngevao
- Sand mining at Sierra Leone’s Mahera Beach is impacting local tourism and coastal ecology while also defacing the landscape.
- Nearly 50,000 cubic meters is extracted from Mahera Beach annually, even as communities are torn between eking out a living and conserving coastal ecosystems.
- Many involved in the sand value chain are women and they disproportionately bear the economic and social burden of the trade.
By Edward Carver
- Two invasive forms of a seaweed called caulerpa were discovered in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2021, forming meadows that blanketed the seabed. This raised fears that the caulerpa would smother marine life, compete with native species for space and displace habitats.
- A suite of innovative caulerpa-removal methods has been developed in New Zealand, some with government funding.
- Nationwide eradication is no longer seen as achievable, but a major natural dieback has tempered some of the worst fears about ecological devastation.
By Associated Press
SERANGAN ISLAND, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities on the tourist island of Bali released 20 protected green sea turtles back into the ocean Tuesday after they were found and seized on an emp…
By Malaka Rodrigo
- A new study estimates that Sri Lankan and the Indian subcontinent cobra lineages diverged around two million years ago, evolving from an African ancestor and potentially linked to past sea-level changes separating the island from India.
- In 1939, Sri Lankan zoologist P. E. P. Deraniyagala first recognized an unusual Sri Lankan cobra form and named it Naja naja polyocellata where it was later synonymized and resurrected as a species in 2022 only to be challenged in 2023.
- The latest findings confirm the genetic distinctiveness of Sri Lankan cobra but does not formally establish them as a separate species, leaving taxonomists to determine whether the lineage warrants species-level recognition.
- Beyond science, the cobra is deeply woven into Sri Lanka’s history, folklore and traditions, making its identity a part of the island’s natural and cultural heritage.
By Pratch Rujivanarom
- Trained as a marine biologist, Thai photojournalist Sirachai “Shin” Arunrugstichai has taken photos that capture issues pertinent to marine conservation, from beached coral reefs to beaches polluted by oil spills.
- He co-authored a study on necrophilia in squids after photographing a squid engaging in the behavior while retrieving ghost fishing nets in Myanmar.
- While saying he is not a campaigner, Shin believes photography can help draw public attention to environmental issues and help initiate change.
- Shin spoke to Mongabay about his career journey, scientific study and photography work.
By David Akana
- “Protected areas are protected areas,” says Nadège Nzoyem, the regional director of WWF for the Congo Basin, in reference to new studies showing the pressure from mining on protected and conserved areas in Central Africa and globally.
- A new analysis published on Oct. 8 finds that oil and gas blocks overlap with nearly 62 million hectares (153 million acres) of protected and conserved areas across the tropical countries examined, while WWF’s own report finds an average 80% decline in the size of monitored wildlife populations in Africa between 1970 and 2022.
- In an exclusive interview with Mongabay following the release of WWF’s “Living Planet Report 2026,” Nzoyem points to conservation gains in some landscapes but acknowledges continued wildlife declines, insufficient funding, and gaps in monitoring.
- Ahead of a global biodiversity summit in Armenia this month, the interview examines whether conservation commitments translate into effective protection, and seeks Nzoyem’s perspective on WWF’s influence over conservation funding and whether Indigenous peoples and local communities have meaningful decision-making power.
By Barry Christianson
- Authorities in Cape Town are planning to capture and relocate two “highly habituated” troops of chacma baboons that range close to a city suburb.
- The baboons will be moved to enclosures where they will live out the remainder of their lives.
- The impending removal is part of a “hard reset” by authorities after decades of interventions and will be accompanied by a new fence in the northern Cape peninsula and 6,000 baboon-proof bins.
- Some experts say that while baboons should be kept out of urban areas, the plans to remove the troops are not convincing.
By Rhett Ayers Butler
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For the first time in the modern history of the Democratic Republ…
By Michael O. Snyder
- Taiwan’s Shenkeng region was once a major tea-producing center, but industrialization and urbanization hollowed out the industry by the 1970s, allowing abandoned tea terraces to return to forest.
- A government-backed effort is now restoring tea production and its cultural heritage, using the region’s historic stone terraces alongside drip irrigation, soil sensors, and more resilient tea varieties.
- Climate change is making the revival harder, with earlier-dissipating mist, erratic rainfall, and increasingly intense typhoons threatening tea plants and increasing landslide risks.
- Researchers and local growers are combining traditional farming techniques with new technology to make Shenkeng’s tea industry more resilient and preserve its cultural heritage for future generations.
By David Brown
The Klamath River in the U.S. was heavily dammed over the 20th century, blocking spawning Chinook salmon. As a result, the population of salmon that spawned in the river, which runs through Southern …
By Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Wildfires sweeping across parts of Indonesia’s Borneo island have left endangered orangutans struggling to survive, prompting rescuers to evacuate animals found injured,…
By Justine Apodaca
- “On Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s honor the leadership and contributions of Indigenous women in water,” a new op-ed says.
- Women bring people together, build partnerships, solve problems, and move important work forward every day, the author writes, and Indigenous women in particular exhibit the kinds of community knowledge and relationship-building skills that lead to greater health outcomes, like access to clean water.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
By Rhett Ayers Butler
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In Clayoquot Sound, in the Canadian province of British Columbia,…
By Shreya Dasgupta
Zuzana Burivalova, a tropical forest ecologist who uses sound to understand the health of forests globally, was recently named the winner of the 2026 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award. The…
By Shanna Hanbury
Oil slicks from vessels and offshore oil operations repeatedly drifted into marine protected areas around the world between 2022 and 2025, a new analysis has found. The report raises concerns for imp…
By Hans Nicholas Jong
- A government official announced that Indonesia had achieved rice self-sufficiency three years ahead of schedule and no longer needed the previously announced 2 million hectares for food production.
- Instead, future food and biofuel production would be directed toward degraded land.
- But the government has yet to clarify how the announcement will affect food and energy projects already underway, raising questions about whether policy and implementation will follow its stated shift.
By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe
- As temperatures soar, Sri Lanka’s urban dwellers are becoming more dependent on mechanical or active-cooling methods such as fans and air conditioners.
- The urban residential sector consumes nearly a third of Sri Lanka’s total energy demand to heat and cool buildings, and run lights, devices, and appliances.
- Passive cooling is an approach that uses natural energy flows such as wind to lower indoor temperatures, engineers say.
- Proponents say natural ventilation is one of the most effective passive-cooling strategies and especially suitable for humid climates such as Sri Lanka’s.
By Eung Sea
- Sorn Srenh is a local commune leader in Cambodia’s Koh Sdach archipelago, where he also serves as a marine advocate, working with fishing communities to protect ocean ecosystems and livelihoods.
- He describes how community patrols, stronger fisheries enforcement, plastic-waste initiatives and women’s participation are helping address illegal fishing and other threats to Koh Sdach’s waters.
- Srenh also discusses the challenges of balancing conservation with community livelihoods, gaps in law enforcement, and the need for stronger collaboration and long-term support from government and conservation groups.
- In a recent interview with Mongabay, Srenh discussed his path into marine conservation, the challenges facing Koh Sdach’s waters, and his vision for community-led protection of Cambodia’s seas.
By Naina Rao
A recent study has proposed a road map for countries to better monitor wildlife health and disease outbreaks. Previous research found that nearly 60% of the 107 countries it surveyed showed no eviden…
By Alejandroprescottcornejo
As the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in the Brazilian Amazon marks 10 years of operation, it faces a contentious environmental license renewal. At the heart of the debate are urgent calls to revise …
By Juan MazaVictoria Schneider
When researchers mapped almost 100,000 square kilometers of South Africa, or nearly 40,000 square miles, they only found 83 mature adults. They called their project the Free-Roaming Cheetah Census, a…
By Julia LimaRomi Castagnino
PATAGONIA NATIONAL PARK — Chile. Mongabay traveled to Chile’s Patagonia National Park to follow a women-led team on a mission to bring 13 Darwin’s rheas back to the wild in April 2026. Working…
By Maxwell Radwin
Paraguay has provided updated information to the United Nations about the Chaco Biosphere Reserve, a protected area where deforestation from farming and cattle ranching threatens the survival of Indi…
By Aimee Gabay
Since Sept. 23, a group of rural producers has maintained a blockade on the road to the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land in the Volta Grande do Xingu region of Brazil’s Pará state. The blockade is supp…
By Bobby Bascomb
Wind energy is a valuable tool for addressing the climate crisis, but wind turbines can be deadly for birds. A recent study found that a low-tech, relatively inexpensive fix can dramatically reduce b…
By Malaka Rodrigo
- Sri Lanka’s tallest living tusker Kavantissa was recently found with a gunshot wound on the right foreleg, prompting urgent veterinary treatment.
- The recent incident has renewed calls for armed protection of iconic tuskers such as Kavantissa, Agbo and Mahasen, echoing Kenya’s measures to protect famous elephants such as Ahmed and Craig.
- Conservationists caution that Africa’s individual-elephant protection models may not be easily translated to Sri Lanka’s densely settled, human-dominated landscapes.
- A recent assessment valued an individual wild elephant in Sri Lanka to be around 3.8 billion rupees ($11.5 million), highlighting the ecological, cultural and economic significance of elephants.
By Isabel Alarcón
- In the Ecuadorian Amazon, young people from several Indigenous nationalities are turning to rap to speak out against the toll extractive industries take on their home territories.
- Each track is performed in the artist’s native language (some of which are on the verge of disappearing), with some incorporating Spanish verses to connect with listeners from other cultures.
- Indigenous rappers include Willan Gualinga (Taki Supay) of the Kichwa nationality of Sarayaku; Misael Elías Criollo Grefa (Misa17), from the A’i Cofán community; Raúl Vargas (Robenban), Kichwa from Pastaza; and Tzitzanu, from Sapara.
- Their music is reaching national and international audiences, with Misa17’s track “Ingi Tsampi” drawing more than 400,000 views on TikTok just a month after its release.
By Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Heavy rains lashed much of central Vietnam on Friday and caused flooding in parts of the historic city of Hue, a day after floods and landslides hit the coastal port city of D…
By Maxwell Radwin
- Mining activity in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, has allegedly undergone substantial excavation, and could be using polluting chemicals like cyanide.
- Two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, sent a letter to President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons calling for an immediate investigation and temporary halt to all mining activity in the area.
- The lawmakers questioned the government’s ability to regulate mining impacts on the environment and public health, and said they wanted to see all permits, concessions and other documents granting the right to operate in the area.
By Ian Urbina
- Fishmeal was once a major shipping hazard because it could spontaneously combust, with at least 90 fires reported on ships and in plants worldwide from the 1950s through the 1970s.
- The industry largely solved the problem by adding ethoxyquin, an antioxidant that sharply reduced fishmeal fires but was later found to pose potential health and environmental risks and banned in the EU and several other countries.
- Ethoxyquin is still permitted in some countries and continues to turn up in imported seafood, including shrimp, salmon and tilapia sold in the U.S., though detected levels have been below the FDA’s safety limit.
- As producers shift away from ethoxyquin, they are increasingly turning to alternatives such as BHA, which has also raised carcinogenicity concerns and is now being reassessed by U.S. regulators.
By Ian Urbina
- A proposed fishmeal plant in Cuncolim on India’s southwestern coast has reignited opposition to an industry accused of pollution, unsafe working conditions, and unsustainable fishing practices.
- An Outlaw Ocean Project investigation found at least 30 Indian fishmeal plants linked to environmental violations or other legal infractions between 2018 and 2024, as well as 18 episodes of civil unrest.
- The industry provides jobs and tax revenue, but also diverts fish from local food supplies, exposes workers and nearby residents to health and safety risks, and contributes to pressure on overfished species.
- Despite documented concerns, India is backing further growth in fishmeal production, with the government lifting a moratorium on new plants and officials approving the Cuncolim facility in February 2026.
By Ian Urbina
- Senegal’s rapidly growing fishmeal industry is diverting fish from local markets into factories producing feed for farmed seafood and livestock, raising concerns about food security and fishing livelihoods.
- The country’s fishmeal plants have faced repeated accusations of pollution and harming health, with at least eight plants linked to environmental violations, unsustainable fishing practices, and civil unrest between 2018 and 2024.
- Local fish supplies are declining. Fish are increasingly diverted to make fishmeal for export. Coastal communities are struggling. Some fishers are attempting the dangerous sea journey to Europe in search of better prospects.
- The Outlaw Ocean Project investigated Senegal’s fishmeal industry, visiting three factories and speaking with residents, workers and managers about its environmental, economic and human costs.
By Elizabeth Claire Alberts
- Scientist Paul Spong, whose career has been entwined with cetaceans for nearly six decades, advocates for a hands-off approach to studying orcas, using land-based hydrophones and cameras, rather than tracking the orcas by boat and physically tagging them.
- Spong is the founder and co-director of OrcaLab, a whale-research facility on Hanson Island in British Columbia, Canada.
- In addition to his cetacean research, Spong has long campaigned against whaling and the captivity of orcas.
- Mongabay interviewed Spong shortly after the 70th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) finished in Hobart, Australia. We discussed his work with orcas, his experiences at the IWC, and what needs to change for cetaceans to thrive in the future.
By Shreya Dasgupta
A chance sighting of photos on Instagram, then a five-day expedition, including a last-minute, late-night detour in a Colombian rainforest — that’s what it took for researchers to confirm a new-t…
By Abhishyant Kidangoor
- A new data platform is helping scientists understand the extent of protected land worldwide; it also aims to serve as a watchdog for conservation initiatives.
- Global Safety Net v3 (GSN3) uses satellite data, artificial intelligence technology, and mapping techniques to see how landscapes are faring, and if conservation is working.
- Data on how ecosystems around the world are faring are crucial, especially in the face of a global agreement that aims to protect 30% of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030.
By Naina Rao
A new-to-science species of egg-eating snake has been documented in the forested mountains of southern Ethiopia, according to a recent study. The snake, which has an ink-black body, bluish skin betwe…
By Mongabay.com
Construction of a power plant that will burn waste to generate electricity at a landfill near Bangladesh’s capital faces strong opposition from nearby communities, who say they fear severe health r…
By Basten Gokkon
- Wildfires in West Kalimantan are leaving wildlife struggling to find fresh water as forest pools dry up and ponds turn brackish, pushing animals toward villages and coastal areas.
- Residents and conservation groups have begun providing water and rescuing animals affected by the fires, as prolonged dry conditions put further pressure on wildlife and freshwater supplies.
- Conservationists warn the crisis is also affecting coastal communities, with rising salinity threatening access to fresh water and potentially putting food production at risk.
- Warning: This story contains disturbing images of animals.
By David Brown
Happy World Octopus Day! Every Oct 8, the world celebrates one of the more unusual creatures of the sea. Octopuses are well-known for their eight legs and ability to squirt ink when frightened. The…
By David Brown
In Africa, high-quality seeds can produce improved crops with enhanced nutrition, pest-resistance, and drought tolerance. However, such seeds for maize, vegetables, and cereal crops can be indistingu…
By Fernanda Wenzel
- In April 2026, the Brazilian government prohibited the import of meat from endangered shark species, making it illegal to sell any species of the genus Squatina, the angelsharks.
- Despite the new regulation, angelsharks continue to be sold freely in the South of Brazil and local governments have placed new orders for the product.
- Three public agencies said they would suspend the purchase plans after being contacted by Mongabay.
- In addition to a lack of enforcement, experts point out that compliance with the new rules is hampered by the sale of meat from various shark species under the generic name “cação.”
By Meg Perret
- The San Rafael Valley in the U.S. state of Arizona is an important wildlife corridor, but these migrations will soon be blocked by a wall being constructed by the U.S. government to prevent passage of human migrants.
- Activists had been staging tree sits in a group of old cottonwoods adjacent to the construction until they were cut down this week, including a very large one dubbed “Grandmother Tree,” whose felling has caused furor on social media.
- “The movement that formed around it demonstrates why protecting biodiversity in the borderlands requires recognizing both ecological and social connectivity across the region,” the author of a new commentary argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
By Spoorthy Raman
Authorities across nine Latin American and Caribbean countries have arrested hundreds of people and recovered more than 1,000 animals as part of a two-month coordinated operation against environmenta…
By Associated Press
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The families of thousands of people who remain missing in Nepal weeks after catastrophic floods devastated the country have expressed mixed feelings after the government sai…