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topic: Conservation
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The price of a monkey
The long-tailed macaque has lost a battle for its survival — but won one for scientific integrity, reports Mongabay’s Gerald Flynn. In early October, the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, reaffirmed the species’ endangered status, rejecting an appeal by the U.S. National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR). The lobby group had argued that the […]
Belize’s blue reputation vs. reef reality: Marine conservation wins, and what’s missing (commentary)
- For over a year, journalists from Mongabay and Mongabay Latam have been digging into issues related to the Mesoamerican Reef, the Western Hemisphere’s largest barrier reef system, which runs from Mexico’s Yucatán through Belize and Guatemala to Honduras.
- As part of that effort, which involves exploring both problems and solutions, Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler spoke to experts and reviewed many reports, scientific papers, and stories.
- With its early leadership and significant funding, Belize has emerged as a linchpin in Mesoamerican Reef conservation and fisheries management.
- This summary brings together what various experts have said—highlighting gaps, issues, and actionable recommendations as they relate to Belize.
Six new tube-nosed bats described from the Philippines
Researchers have recently described six new-to-science species of tube-nosed bats from the Philippines, named after their unique nostrils that protrude from the snout. All the specimens were collected from either primary or secondary forests, currently threatened by mining and shifting agriculture, the authors write in a new study. “These bats are notoriously elusive, so the […]
Scientists map Italy’s entire coast to guide seagrass and marine recovery
- Posidonia oceanica is a Mediterranean seagrass whose meadows act as a carbon sink, a coastal protector and a nursery for marine life.
- This ecosystem is under severe threat from human activities, including illegal trawling, pollution and boat anchoring, resulting in significant degradation and loss of biodiversity.
- Italy is employing sophisticated sensors to create an unprecedentedly detailed and comprehensive map of its entire coastline, including its Posidonia meadows, in an effort to improve management and conservation of its marine habitats.
- While large-scale mapping provides the blueprint, targeted protection and restoration efforts demonstrate that it’s possible to reverse the damage and bring life back to the sea.
Stronger arctic cyclones speed up polar melting, impacting global weather
Powerful winds are ripping through the Arctic, breaking up critical sea ice that once acted as a shield against disturbance from wind and waves. Scientists warn the loss of sea ice is speeding up the region’s ecological collapse and could disrupt weather patterns far beyond the Arctic, contributor Sean Mowbray reported for Mongabay. In the […]
Heading into COP, Brazil’s Amazon deforestation rate is falling. What about fires?
- Brazil’s official data show deforestation in the Amazon fell 11% in the 12 months to July 2025, with independent monitoring by Imazon confirming a similar trend—evidence that policies under President Lula da Silva are reversing the sharp rise seen during Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.
- Even as land clearing slows, fires and forest degradation have become major drivers of loss. Exceptional drought in 2024, record heat, and the spread of roads and logging left large areas of the forest dry and flammable, causing 2.78 million hectares of primary forest loss—roughly 60% from fire.
- Burned areas have dropped by 45% over the past year, suggesting some recovery, yet scientists warn the Amazon is entering a more fragile state shaped by climate extremes and the lingering effects of past destruction.
- As Brazil prepares to host COP30 in Belém, attention will center on sustaining recent gains and advancing initiatives like the proposed $125 billion Tropical Forest Forever Facility, even as new roads, gold mining, and policy uncertainty—such as the wavering soy moratorium—continue to threaten progress.
In Rio’s largest favela, used oil becomes soap and social change
- In the heart of Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha favela, the largest in Brazil, a chance discovery led a resident creating a project to turn improperly discarded cooking oil into sustainable soaps and cleaning products.
- Founded in 2020, the Óleo no Ponto initiative acquainted favela residents with environmental stewardship by creating eco-friendly detergents such as soap bars and dishwashing paste.
- In addition to preventing used oil from being dumped into water and clogging sewage pipes, the project empowers vulnerable women from Rocinha, who have found new sources of income by producing and selling detergents under the Sabão do Morro (Favela Soap) brand.
On first International Day of the Deep Seabed, we seek stewardship and consensus (commentary)
- “I could not be more delighted to celebrate this inaugural International Day of the Deep Seabed,” writes the secretary-general of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in a new op-ed at Mongabay.
- On Nov. 1, 2025, she notes that the world will for the first time mark a day that celebrates the great biodiversity of the planet’s mysterious deep seabed and its potential role in the future of humanity’s progress, while reiterating that consensus-building among member states and nongovernmental actors remains critical to ensure its stewardship.
- “Together, by delivering on our commitments under the Law of the Sea, we can ensure that this last great frontier remains a source of wonder, discovery, opportunity and shared benefit for all humankind,” she argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
UK fish stocks in trouble as catch limits exceed scientific advice: Report
Nearly half of the United Kingdom’s most commercially valuable fish populations are either overexploited, critically low or both, according to a new report warning that the government continues to set catch limits above scientific advice. The report, “Deep Decline,” by conservation nonprofit Oceana UK, found that 17 of 105 U.K. fish stocks are both overfished […]
Landmark conviction exposes Sri Lanka’s deep-rooted illegal elephant trade
- A Sri Lankan court imposed one of the toughest penalties on a wildlife crime in September when the Colombo High Court sentenced a notorious elephant trafficker to 15 years in prison and slapped a fine of 20.6 million rupees (nearly $70,000) for the illegal possession of a wild-caught elephant.
- The case, which spanned more than a decade, uncovered how wild elephant calves were laundered into private ownership through forged documents with the aid of corrupt officials, exposing deep flaws in the country’s wildlife registry system.
- In 2015, a total of 39 elephants suspected of having been illegally captured were taken into custody by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, though 15 were later returned to their previous owners, sparking public outrage.
- Conservationists hail the ruling as a landmark victory against wildlife trafficking but warn against rampant corruption and the need to address the demand for captive elephants in cultural and religious processions that continue to threaten Sri Lanka’s wild herds.
Why facts alone won’t save the planet
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. When I think about what makes someone care about the natural world, it rarely begins with statistics or graphs. It begins with a moment. For me, it was an encounter I had at age 12 with frogs in […]
Ousted Nepal gov’t cleared easier path for controversial cable cars, documents show
- Nepal’s ousted KP Sharma Oli administration secretly granted national priority status to six commercial cable car projects, allowing easier forest clearance and land acquisition in protected areas.
- Lawyers and conservationists call the move illegal and contemptuous of court, as it bypassed pending Supreme Court cases and lacked proper environmental and community review, despite prior rulings invalidating infrastructure inside protected zones.
- The Annapurna Sikles cable car and other projects threaten biodiversity hotspots and Indigenous lands; critics highlight flawed environmental impact assessments, risks to ecosystems and lack of consultation with local and Indigenous communities.
- The interim government claims to be unaware of the decision, while experts urge its reversal, warning that the new rule shields developers from accountability and endangers Nepal’s conservation gains across.
California’s grand insect census
- Austin Baker and his team at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County are leading an ambitious effort to DNA-barcode every insect species in California as part of the statewide CalATBI initiative to “discover it all, protect it forever.”
- The project combines traditional specimen collection with modern genetic sequencing to build a comprehensive biodiversity library, revealing surprising hotspots of insect life—from foggy coasts to the species-rich Mojave Desert.
- By creating a genetic baseline of California’s insect diversity, the team hopes to track future ecological change, inform conservation priorities, and preserve the record of countless species that might otherwise vanish unnoticed.
- Baker was interviewed by Mongabay’s Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025.
Australia celebrates ‘humpback comeback,’ but a main food source is under threat
News of Australia’s “humpback comeback” is making waves globally. Numbers of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on the nation’s east coast have rebounded to an estimated 50,000 from a historic low of just a few hundred before commercial whaling was outlawed in the 1970s. And wildlife scientist and whale expert Vanessa Pirotta joins the podcast to […]
Belém faces its social and natural demons as host to COP30
- Deforestation and the city’s historic shift from rivers to roads led to a massive influx of people into low-lying baixadas, where 57% of residents lack services, such as sewage, and are highly prone to flooding.
- The lack of trees in one of the Amazon’s most revered cities, especially in poor neighborhoods, contributes to projections that Belém will face 222 days of extreme heat by 2050.
- Experts argue that the infrastructure projects being implemented don’t offer sustainable solutions, reflecting a long-term failure to address Belém’s water and sewage crises.
Gold mining impacts persist after DRC shuts down company operations: Video
In a new short video, Mongabay visits the Dimonika Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO site in southwestern Republic of Congo. The government shut down a Chinese company’s gold mining operation in November 2024, but mining pollution and its impacts on local communities persist. Photojournalist Berdy Pambou talked with local artisanal gold miners who accuse the Chinese […]
Senegal’s great green wall progress falters amid unfulfilled pledges: Study
- A recent study has examined the progress to realize Africa’s Great Green Wall initiative in Senegal, which is often hailed as the model for this continent-wide project.
- The study finds Senegal has achieved encouraging social and economic results — but far less success on the ecological front.
- The study’s authors, echoing complaints from African officials, say that far less money has actually reached implementing countries and organizations than has been announced at global forums.
Mexico adopts protections for Atlantic sharks
Mexico recently adopted national regulations protecting several threatened shark species in the Atlantic from being caught or retained as bycatch. Shark conservationists welcome the protections but say they are long overdue, coming years after the country’s commitments to a multilateral fishery regulator. Mexican fisheries catch a significant number of various shark species in the Atlantic […]
Bangladesh to reintroduce captive elephants to the wild
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Bangladesh has embarked on an ambitious plan to end the centuries-old practice of keeping elephants in captivity. The government has begun retrieving privately owned elephants and aims to rehabilitate them in the wild. The initiative follows a 2024 […]
Climate change is wreaking havoc on World Cultural Heritage sites, study finds
- A recent study shows that 80% of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites are facing climate stress, with wood and stone constructions susceptible to a range of threats from extreme heat, humidity, aridity and other climatic factors.
- Researchers also found there is no single pathway toward mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions that will uniformly protect these sites.
- In addition, the team found a Global North-South divide in heritage conservation, as Global South nations do not have the same resources to preserve their cultural sites; preservation will take collective efforts.
- This story is part of The 89 Percent Project, an initiative of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.
Most Cambodia & Laos tree cover loss in 2024 happened inside protected areas
More than half of Cambodia and Laos’ tree cover loss in 2024 was recorded inside protected areas, Mongabay’s Gerald Flynn reports. The findings were a result of Mongabay’s analysis of satellite data published by the Global Land Analysis and Discovery laboratory at the University of Maryland, in partnership with Global Forest Watch. In Cambodia, 56% of the nation’s […]
California learns from its beaver reintroductions
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Tásmam Koyóm, a high Sierra meadow in California, U.S. returned to the Mountain Maidu people in 2019, is once again wet where once it had been dry. Rivulets now snake through hip-high grasses and willow thickets, feeding a […]
Report urges full protection of world’s 196 uncontacted Indigenous peoples
- A comprehensive global report on uncontacted Indigenous peoples, published Oct. 27 by Survival International, estimates that the world still holds at least 196 uncontacted peoples living in 10 countries in South America, Asia and the Pacific region.
- About 95% of uncontacted peoples and groups live in the Amazon — especially in Brazil, home to 124 groups. Survival International says that, unless governments and private companies act, half of the groups could be wiped out within 10 years.
- Nine out of 10 of these Indigenous groups face the threat of unsolicited contact by extractive industries, including logging, mining and oil and gas drilling. It’s estimated that a quarter are threatened by agribusiness, with a third terrorized by criminal gangs. Intrusions by missionaries are a problem for one in six groups.
- After contact, Indigenous groups are often decimated by illnesses, mainly influenza, for which they have little immunity. Survival International says that, if these peoples are to survive, they must be fully protected, requiring serious noncontact commitments by governments, companies and missionaries.
‘A very successful story’: An Egypt tribe welcomes tourists & protects its coast
- Al-Qula’an is an “eco-village” in the Wadi El Gemal protected area in Egypt that environmentalists say is an example of how eco-tourism, along with traditional knowledge and practices, can help protect sensitive ecosystems.
- The mangroves of Al-Qula’an provide nursery grounds for marine species, and the coastal habitats serve as nesting sites for endangered sea turtles.
- The village has transformed from a subsistence fishing community to a low-impact eco-tourism destination while upholding principles of the Ababda tribe, like the importance of preserving mangroves.
Radioactive leak in Banten exposes workers to danger & reveals regulatory failures
- A radioactive contamination scandal in Banten, Indonesia, has left local workers like Sakinah and Roni jobless and exposed to health risks after Cesium-137 was traced to factories in the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate.
- Government investigations revealed widespread contamination across 22 companies, prompting cleanup operations and health checks for more than 1,500 residents living near the exposure zone.
- Authorities have struggled to find secure storage for the contaminated materials while admitting regulatory lapses that allowed radioactive scrap metal to enter the country unchecked.
- Experts and environmental groups are now urging tighter import controls, improved radioactive waste management and stronger coordination among ministries to prevent another silent disaster.
Dom Phillips & Bruno Pereira ‘would be killed again,’ Indigenous leader says
- Three years after the killings of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, threats remain in the Javari Valley, in the Brazilian Amazon, despite government efforts to halt violence in the region, prominent Indigenous leader Beto Marubo said.
- “The factors that caused the killings remain the same: drug trafficking and the increase in invasions of Indigenous lands,” Marubo told Mongabay in an interview in São Paulo.
- Phillips and Pereira were killed while the British journalist was investigating illegal fishing in the region for his book; Marubo was one of the contributors who helped to finish the book, launched in May in the U.S., Brazil and the U.K.
- Aware of the importance of the book, Marubo made a commitment to help promote the book. to elevate the voice of those who lost their lives defending the Amazon: “Despite all these deaths — not only Dom and Bruno, but also Chico Mendes, Dorothy Stang and so many others who die for the protection of the environment — they are forgotten, they are relegated; they are just numbers, just records in our history.”
International Gibbon Day: Spotlighting the overlooked, underprotected ‘lesser apes’
Gibbons, commonly called lesser apes, aren’t as well-known as some of their great ape cousins like chimpanzees or gorillas. But the lives of these highly arboreal primates are no less fascinating. They reside in the canopy of the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia, living in small family groups, each patrolling its own territory, […]
Nickel mining damage near UNESCO site stirs outrage in southern Philippines
- A recent survey by the Davao Oriental provincial government engineering office revealed that a strip mine operating in the province had scraped bare about 200 hectares of forestland.
- After the survey, the provincial governor said the province would order the Pujada nickel mine to cease operations.
- The mine is within 10 kilometers of two protected areas: the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site; and the Pujada Bay, a nationally protected seascape.
Arctic seals edge closer to extinction as sea ice vanishes
- Three Arctic seal species have been moved up to higher threat categories on the IUCN Red List, with one now endangered and two now near threatened.
- Global warming is melting away the sea ice they need for breeding, resting and feeding, which has led to widespread breeding failures among ice-dependent seals.
- Loss of sea ice is also opening the region to more human activity, including shipping and oil exploration, bringing added disturbance, noise and pollution.
- The IUCN warns a similar pattern is emerging in the Antarctic. It says urgent global emissions cuts, along with stronger local protections such as reducing bycatch and pollution, are needed to prevent further declines.
AI system eavesdrops on elephants to prevent deadly encounters in India
- Engineer-turned-conservationist Seema Lokhandwala has developed an AI-powered device that listens for elephant vocalizations and plays sounds like tiger roars or buzzing bees to drive herds away from villages near India’s Kaziranga National Park.
- Early field trials show the device is about 80% accurate in detecting elephants and 100% effective in deterring them, gaining support from local communities and forest officials despite limited funding.
- Lokhandwala and other experts stress that while technology can help mitigate human-elephant conflict, true coexistence requires addressing the root causes of conflict — habitat loss, land use and unsustainable development — and restoring respect for elephants among local communities.
- India’s Assam state, where Kaziranga is located, is a hotspot for human-elephant conflict, with expanding farms, infrastructure and climate-driven food shortages pushing elephants into villages, causing hundreds of human and elephant deaths over the past two decades.
After a hiatus, an endemic plant bursts into life in Sri Lanka’s central hills
- Sri Lanka’s highlands burst into violet, pink and white carpets as endemic Strobilanthes shrubs, locally known as nelu, begin to bloom in a synchronized manner, set seed and die, creating a breathtaking but fleeting display.
- The mass flowering overwhelms seed predators and attracts pollinators, boosting survival and reproduction — a rare evolutionary adaptation in the island’s montane ecosystem.
- Thousands of visitors flock to Horton Plains in the Central Highlands during the flowering season, raising risks of trampling, soil compaction, litter and disturbance to wildlife.
- Invasive plants such as mistflower (Ageratina riparia) and blue stars (Aristea ecklonii) could colonize areas left vacant after the bloom, potentially affecting future nelu cycles.
Global conservation body takes first step to protect ocean’s twilight zone
- Delegates at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi voted to adopt a motion urging precautionary measures to protect the ocean’s mesopelagic zone.
- The nonbinding motion calls for prospective activities such as fishing in the mesopelagic zone, deep-sea mining and geoengineering to be guided by the best available science and approached with caution.
- Both conservationists and industry representatives expressed support for the motion, highlighting the mesopelagic zone’s ecological importance and potential as a sustainable resource.
An Indigenous women-led revolution fights fires in Brazil’s Cerrado
- Brazil’s Cerrado savanna has experienced its worst fire season on record, but a tiny Indigenous territory here has for four years now kept the flames at bay.
- The volunteer brigade made up largely of Bakairi Indigenous women has been instrumental in preventing major fires from devastating the Santana Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso state.
- The initiative was born after fires in 2018 destroyed part of the territory and left the community vulnerable as a result of the authorities’ delay in providing help.
- While the Cerrado faces record devastation and public policies remain weak, the Bakairi experience points to a possible path forward that other Indigenous territories in the state also hope to emulate.
International Snow Leopard Day: Conservation and coexistence in India and Nepal
They’re known as the “ghost of the mountains,” so it makes sense that snow leopards can be extremely difficult to spot. Yet, these majestic, thick-furred cats, living in the high mountains of Asia, are also disappearing from much of their range due to declines in prey, retaliatory killing for livestock predation, the illegal wildlife trade, […]
Christmas Island shrew officially declared extinct: IUCN
The Christmas Island shrew, a tiny mammal once found only on the Australian island of the same name, has been declared officially extinct. It’s at least the fourth small mammal species to be wiped out from the island since the introduction of invasive species there a century ago. The Christmas Island shrew (Crocidura trichura) was […]
Forest sanctuaries and spiritual balance in the Karen highlands of Thailand
- One of Thailand’s largest Indigenous groups, Karen Pgaz K’Nyau culture is deeply rooted in animist beliefs that emphasize the importance of living in balance with nature.
- Their approach to land management incorporates sacred and community forests and traditional small-scale farming, where rituals, prayers and customary regulations govern the use of natural resources.
- However, the pressures of modernization and exclusionary conservation policies undermine their capacity to continue their spiritual practices on ancestral land, threatening cultural identity, food security and ecosystem integrity in many highland villages.
Forest Declaration Assessment reveals a forest paradox
- Tropical forests are regenerating across millions of hectares, with Latin America and Asia showing dramatic gains—but this apparent recovery conceals a deeper contradiction: deforestation remains stubbornly high.
- The world continues to clear about 8 million hectares of forest each year, far off the path to meet the 2030 zero-deforestation pledge, as fires, drought, and agriculture erase progress almost as quickly as it appears.
- Primary forests, rich in carbon and biodiversity, are disappearing fastest, driven mainly by agriculture; current funding for forest protection is dwarfed by subsidies for industrial farming.
- Natural regrowth offers hope—young secondary forests sequester carbon efficiently—but without halting new clearings, these green shoots risk becoming temporary pauses in an ongoing cycle of loss.
Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests
- For generations, the Pakayaku community in Ecuador’s Amazon has successfully kept unsustainable mining, logging and oil extraction activities out of forests while preserving their cultural traditions and ecological knowledge.
- Mongabay visited the community to see their guardian program, made up of 45 women warriors who constantly patrol 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of rainforest to detect incursions — which few have been allowed to witness firsthand.
- The community created a “plan of life” map that details their vision, identity and economic alternatives to extraction.
- Leaders worry Ecuador’s concentration on courting international investment in sectors like mining and natural gas could threaten the forests.
Zanzibar must act to conserve its natural & cultural heritage for the future (commentary)
- The popular Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar is further expanding its already extensive tourism footprint to outlying islands like Pemba without considering the environment, a new op-ed argues.
- Major conservation problems include demolition of small islands for resort construction, destruction of nearly a quarter of Pemba Island’s flagship protected area to build an “eco-resort,” and plans to develop the ecologically important islet of Misali.
- “Now is the time for Zanzibar’s government to reexamine past and future investment decisions to ensure they respect Zanzibar’s natural heritage and conserve it for future generations,” the author writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Why is protecting this Honduran lagoon so dangerous?
LAGUNA DE LOS MICOS, Honduras — Tension swirls around the Laguna de los Micos in northern Honduras, which is a critical marine ecosystem surrounded by mangroves and serving as a home and nursery for many species of coral reef fish. The communities living around the lagoon have voluntarily agreed to suspend fishing for two months […]
Radar study shows when offshore turbines pose greatest risks to migrating birds
- A new study looks at bird migration patterns over open ocean in an attempt to assess how much risk offshore wind turbines and other marine infrastructure might pose to them.
- The authors used radar data from U.S. coastal weather stations to find that hundreds of millions of birds migrate over tight windows of time in the spring and fall while flying at slightly lower elevations on average than over land.
- This puts a proportion of them at risk of being killed by wind turbines, but that risk could be mitigated with dynamic management that accounts for their patterns, according to the study.
- The Trump administration, in office since January, says it doesn’t support offshore wind development, but the research has long-term implications and could be used more immediately for mitigating the impact of offshore oil and gas projects.
Primatology goes high tech — from bioacoustics to drones & AI
- From thermal cameras to deep learning AI, researchers are reinventing how they study primates in the wild.
- What began with Jane Goodall’s observational notes has evolved into artificial intelligence that identifies chimpanzees and decodes their social lives.
- A custom-built “dronequi” with a thermal and a high-definition camera is helping scientists spot Brazil’s elusive and endangered muriquis from above the trees.
- Hidden microphones across Borneo’s rainforests capture haunting gibbon duets, revealing clues about hybridization and habitat loss.
Booming sea otters and fading shellfish spark values clash in Alaska
- In Alaska, a state brimming with iconic wildlife — from grizzly bears to king salmon, humpback whales to harbor seals — the charismatic, densely coated sea otter stands out as perhaps the state’s most hotly debated, controversial species.
- Sea otters were nearly hunted into extinction a century ago for their luxurious pelts. But they have been surging in population in the Gulf of Alaska, bringing both benefits to nearshore ecosystems and drawbacks to the shellfish economy (due to the otters’ voracious caloric needs).
- Described by commercial shellfish harvesters and Native Alaskans as pillagers of clams and crabs, sea otters are seen by many marine biologists as having positive impacts on kelp forests — important for biodiversity and carbon storage. Scientists stress that shellfish declines are complex, with sea otters being just one among multiple causes.
- Native Alaskans are the only people given free rein to hunt sea otters. But long-standing federal regulations stipulating who qualifies as Native Alaskan make it illegal for most to manage their own waters. Tribes are fighting for regulatory changes that would enable them to hunt and help balance booming sea otter populations.
Rescued African gray parrots return to DRC forests
- In early October, 50 African gray parrots were released into the wild by the Lukuru Foundation, after having been rescued from poachers and undergoing rehabilitation for a year at a refuge run by the foundation.
- The foundation’s two parrot rehabilitation centers have been joined by a third one, at Kisangani Zoo, in April, which has already received 112 African grays.
- As the DRC begins enforcing a July ban on the trade in African grays, authorities will need to raise awareness in communities, dismantle well-established trading networks, and ensure released birds aren’t recaptured, conservationists say.
Ghost nets entangling turtles, marine life in Sri Lanka’s waters
In Sri Lankan waters, there’s a growing problem of ghost nets that are entangling sea turtles, fish, dolphins and seabirds, reports contributor Malaka Rodrigo for Mongabay. “Ghost nets” are fishing gear that have either been abandoned, lost or discarded into the sea. As these drift with the ocean currents, they continue to trap marine animals […]
Rare dugong calf sighting in Alor spotlights seagrass & marine mammal conservation
- A rare sighting of a dugong calf in Alor, Indonesia, has renewed focus on the health of the region’s seagrass ecosystem and the species’ fragile future.
- Conservationists say the presence of multiple dugongs indicates a thriving habitat, but threats from tourism, habitat loss and limited population data remain pressing concerns.
- Authorities and experts are pushing for stronger monitoring and coordinated conservation strategies under a forthcoming national action plan.
Negro River study finds genetic damage in fish after oil spill
- Scientists assessed harmful effects on Amazonian fish after a barge capsized in 2013 with approximately 60,000 liters of petroleum asphalt cement in Manaus.
- Although the concentration of the contaminant decreased with rising water levels, the fish continued to exhibit effects of exposure three months after the accident, including DNA damage and neurotoxicity.
- The Negro River’s waters are rich in dissolved organic matter, which may increase the toxicity of the chemical compound.
- This research adds to other studies that attest to the harmful effects of oil on vertebrates, aquatic insects and plants in the Amazon, given the pressure for greater exploration in the region.
Mining the deep-sea could further threaten endangered sharks and rays
- A new study indicates that deep-sea mining could threaten at least 30 species of sharks, rays and chimaeras, many of which are already at risk of extinction.
- The authors found that seabed sediment plumes and midwater discharges of wastewater from mining activities could cause a range of impacts on shark, ray and chimaera species, including, but not limited to, disruptions to breeding and foraging, alterations in vertical migration, and exposure to metal contamination.
- The authors recommend precautionary measures, including improved baseline monitoring, the development of protected zones, and discharging wastewater below below 2,000 m (about 6,600 ft).
- With companies planning to begin deep-sea mining in international waters as early as 2027, the authors say more research is urgently needed to understand the full ecological impact of this emerging industry on biodiversity.
Guava yields in South Asia shrink due to unpredictable heat & rainfall
- Changing rainfall patterns due to climate change are posing threats to guava farming in South Asia, the global hub of the tropical fruit.
- In recent years, rising temperatures and delayed monsoons have been affecting the flowering and fruiting of even the drought-tolerant guava varieties.
- Experts in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have identified links to climate change with vulnerabilities in guava farming and suggest solutions.
The slender-billed curlew, a migratory waterbird, is officially extinct: IUCN
The last known photo of the slender-billed curlew, a grayish-brown migratory waterbird, was taken in February 1995 at Merja Zerga, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. There will likely never be another one. The species, Numenius tenuirostris, has officially been declared extinct by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. “The extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew is […]
Measuring success in trees, not clicks
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. “I knew I was disposable.” That realization, from earlier in his career, helps guide Willie Shubert today in building a kind and capable global newsroom. Shubert oversees Mongabay’s English-language newsroom — its largest — and shapes the organization’s […]
Deforestation and disease spread as Nicaragua ignores illegal cattle ranching
- Illegal cattle ranching has torn through Nicaragua’s rainforests in recent years, supplying a growing international market for meat despite calls for better oversight of the industry.
- The practice has led to a spike in cases of New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax), a parasitic fly that feeds on warm-blooded animals
- A new investigation by conservation group Re:wild found that years of industry reforms still haven’t prevented cattle ranchers from deforesting protected areas and Indigenous territories.
Nations delay vote on shipping decarbonization rules after fierce US resistance
- The shipping sector was widely expected to become the first industry to adopt a binding set of global greenhouse gas emissions rules during an Oct. 14-17 meeting in London.
- Instead, member countries of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) committee voted to delay the decision until October 2026.
- The rules would have established emissions intensity limits that become more stringent each year, with substantial fees paid for noncompliance.
- The United States and other oil-exporting countries dominated much of the discussion in London as they sought to prevent the rules from being adopted, arguing that they amounted to an illegitimate international tax and that they would have dire economic consequences.
Deforestation for soy continues in Brazilian Cerrado despite EUDR looming
- Some agricultural producers in the Brazilian Cerrado who indirectly supply soy to the European market still haven’t complied with the forthcoming European Union’s antideforestation regulation, or EUDR, an investigation has found.
- Two companies, Mizote Group and Franciosi Agro, have cleared 986 hectares (2,436 acres) since May 2024, advocacy group Earthsight found, including forested areas — meaning any of the soy grown isn’t EUDR-compliant.
- The Cerrado, a biodiverse savanna, is the Brazilian biome most vulnerable to deforestation driven by agricultural expansion, losing more than 652,000 ha (1.6 million acres) of native vegetation in 2024.
- The EUDR and voluntary certification schemes like the Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS) aim to root out deforestation from supply chains — but the latter has limitations, while implementation of the former risks being delayed by another year.
West Africa’s leopards now officially endangered after 50% population crash
There are only about 350 mature leopards left in West Africa, according to the latest regional assessment by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Leopards (Panthera pardus) in West Africa are thought to be genetically isolated from those in Central Africa, with little or no interbreeding between populations. They’re found in 11 countries: Benin, […]
In Nepal’s hills, a fight brews over the country’s biggest iron deposit
- Nepal’s government has granted a mining concession for what it calls the country’s biggest iron deposit in Jhumlabang, a remote farming community that could supply Nepal’s steel demand for years.
- Local residents say they were never properly consulted and fear displacement, water pollution, and destruction of forests and farmlands that sustain their livelihoods and cultural traditions.
- Community groups and Indigenous rights advocates argue the project violates Nepal’s obligations under international law guaranteeing the right to free, prior and informed consent for Indigenous peoples.
- Officials and the mining company insist due process will be followed, but villagers vow to resist the project, saying development should not come at the cost of their land, health and environment.
Indonesia court clears wildfire scientists in case brought by palm oil company
- A district court in a Jakarta suburb has dismissed a lawsuit brought by palm oil company PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri against two scientists who provided expert testimony in a 2018 court case that found the palm oil firm liable for wildfires on hundreds of hectares of land in Central Kalimantan province.
- Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, two professors at Bogor Institute of Agriculture, said defending the suit required time that could have been spent in the field or laboratory working to establish the facts in other cases.
- Civil society representatives responded to the ruling with relief. The heads of several nonprofits expressed hope that the verdict would provide reassurance to others that corporate actors had limited ability to use the courts against scientists.
Green turtle rebounds, moving from ‘endangered’ to ‘least concern’
The green turtle, found across the world’s oceans, is recovering after decades of decline, according to the latest IUCN Red List assessment. The species has been reclassified from endangered to least concern. “I am delighted,” Brendan Godley, a turtle expert from the University of Exeter, U.K., told Mongabay. “It underlines that marine conservation can work, […]
Indonesia retiree rewilds world’s largest volcano lake as church demands plantation closures
- In 2005, career civil servant Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang became the first district leader of Samosir, home to Lake Toba, the largest lake in Indonesia and largest volcanic lake in the world.
- After retiring, Wilmar devoted his time to building grassroots networks to rewild parts of Lake Toba, while advocating for greater environmental protection in the Sumatran upland.
- In 2013, Wilmar declined to accept the Wana Lestari prize awarded by Indonesia’s government, citing what he saw as shortcomings in government initiatives to manage the land.
- This year, the largest Batak church, the Batak Protestant Christian Church (HKBP), made a public call for the region’s largest plantation company, PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), to be shut down.
As wolves roam California, livestock losses remain low, yet ranchers’ fears grow
- In California, as wolf numbers grow — a remarkable return after a century — livestock producers are increasingly worried as these predators occasionally take down cattle.
- Gray wolves are an endangered species, protected under both federal and state laws, complicating the balance between conservation and economic losses, though livestock kills remain low.
- California introduced a compensation program that pays ranchers for direct and indirect losses from wolves as a way to mitigate conflicts, but ranchers say this program isn’t scalable with expanding wolf numbers. The livestock industry also receives substantial taxpayer-funded subsidies.
- Wolves were extirpated from California a century ago, so ranchers haven’t lived alongside them for generations and are pushing to remove all protections for the species. Conservationists argue coexistence is the only way forward.
Indonesia falls short in bid to increase its share of southern bluefin tuna catch
- The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), a multilateral body that manages the stock of southern bluefin tuna, held its annual meeting Oct. 6-9 in Bali, Indonesia.
- Indonesia pushed for a larger share of the global catch, which is currently dominated by Australia and Japan, but CCSBT members instead kept each nation’s share unchanged.
- Members also agreed to once again fully fund a key stock monitoring program, and to set up a future meeting for discussion of seabird protection in the fishery, amid criticism from conservationists that the commission hasn’t done enough to protect seabirds.
Indigenous monitoring project helps protect isolated peoples in Colombia’s Amazon
- Indigenous communities neighboring the peoples living in isolation in Colombian Amazon have spent more than a decade helping the latter remain separate from the outside world.
- Members of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and of the community of Manacaro use traditional knowledge and technology alike to monitor threats to their territory and to protect nearby communities living in isolation.
- In Manacaro, women take on traditionally masculine roles by patrolling the rivers, collecting data, and safeguarding their neighbors’ lives amid the advance of armed actors and illegal mining.
- Surveillance work has provided evidence of uncontacted peoples, such as the Yuri and Passé ethnic groups, which was fundamental in the federal government’s decision to formally recognize them.
State-NGO collaboration expands protection for Patagonia’s biodiversity hotspot
- A new provincial park in the province of Chubut aims to conserve one of Argentina’s most biodiverse stretches of coastline.
- The park is based on a conservation model that involves an NGO buying up private land and then donating it back to the provincial government in return for new legal protections.
- The park will complement existing legislation and the area’s existing status as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
- Sustainable, low-impact tourism and a no-take fishing zone, which will support the local shrimp industry, are both set to give the region an economic boost.
Drone surveys offer early warnings on whale health and survival
- Scientists have deployed drones and are using photogrammetry to determine how climate change is impacting the health of whale populations.
- By collecting the measurements of whales, scientists are able to track how environmental factors impact the growth and reproduction of right whales off the coast of New England and orcas in Alaska.
- Using the data, they found that a marine heat wave in 2013 reversed the revival of the population in Alaska that had plummeted after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989; they also noticed that the whales didn’t grow as much as they should have.
- The method also enabled scientists to detect pregnant whales well in advance, allowing them to monitor if the pregnancy was successful or not.
20 animal species on the road to recovery: IUCN Red List update
From three species of Arctic seals to more than half of all birds globally, several animals have slipped closer to extinction, according to the latest update of the IUCN Red List. However, 20 species have seen a positive change in their status: they’ve moved farther away from the threat of extinction, thanks to effective conservation […]
Bangladesh plans to rehabilitate captive elephants in the wild
- Bangladesh is one of the Asian elephant’s habitats, with a presence of 268 giant mammals in its wild; the IUCN declared the species critically endangered in Bangladesh, with the animals living in the southeastern hilly forests and the northeastern part of the country.
- Data show that apart from populations in the wild, the country is home to 96 elephants living in captivity for different purposes, including for hauling logs and circuses.
- The government planned to withdraw captive elephants from their current owners and rehabilitate them in the wild and therefore took a project in this regard.
Nickel mining threatens Raja Ampat ecosystems, communities & conservation: Report
- A new environmental report warns that expanding nickel mining is placing Raja Ampat’s coral reefs, forests and Indigenous communities under intensifying threat.
- Using geospatial mapping and field evidence, researchers document how mining concessions overlap with critical ecosystems and biodiversity hotspots within the UNESCO-designated geopark.
- They also describe the industry’s deep colonial-era roots, its modern expansion under state and private control and its connections to global electric vehicle supply chains through companies like Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen.
- Activists are urging the Indonesian government to revoke all remaining mining permits, enforce no-go zones and shift toward sustainable economic alternatives that protect the archipelago’s ecological and cultural heritage.
Feel the heat: New app maps heat stress anywhere on Earth, 1940 to now
- The new Thermal Trace app allows users to explore thermal stress and related data from 1940 until five days before present, for anywhere in the world. The app, free for users, was developed by the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
- Thermal Trace combines a range of metrics including ambient temperature, humidity, wind speed and more to come up with a “feels like” temperature that reflects the impact of heat and cold on the human body.
- Both heat and cold are physiologically stressful, and prolonged exposure can cause short- and long-term health impacts. Building up a greater awareness and understanding of heat stress and the harm it can do is especially important in our globally warmed world.
- Researchers warn that as climate change impacts accelerate, heat-related health impacts will become more serious and of especially grave concern to the parts of the world that reach the limits to human heat stress adaptation.
Putumayo’s women guardians defend land and culture amid Colombia’s deforestation
- In Colombia southwest, Kamëntšá and Inga Indigenous women are at the forefront of the struggle to defend their territory, which provides water to the rest of the Putumayo. Through transmitting their language, cultivating traditional farms, sharing ayahuasca, and traveling the Sibundoy Valley, they keep their knowledge system alive: this is the basis of their defense of the territory.
- Although less than 30% of land in the region is suitable for cattle ranching, approximately 8,000 hectares (84%, 19,700 acres) are dedicated to this activity, impacting key ecosystems and water sources.
- At least 45 women have organized to resist the advance of monocultures and deforestation. They achieve this through their chagras, traditional growing spaces that contain hundreds of edible and medicinal plant species.
- Their knowledge and deep connection with the territory have enabled them to participate in the creation of Indigenous reserves and to oppose large-scale road-building projects on their land.
Aloyce Mwakisoma, keeper of forest knowledge in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains, has died at 45
He was born in the forests that would later define his life. In Tanzania’s Kilombero Valley, where mist drifts down from the Udzungwa Mountains, young Aloyce Mwakisoma learned the names of plants before he could read their Latin equivalents. His father, once a hunter, became a research assistant after hunting was outlawed in the 1990s, […]
‘Alarming’ levels of toxins found in free-range eggs near dumpsites globally
- A recent review paper identifies toxic chemicals, including dioxin, in free-range eggs on five continents — likely the result of nearby open burning and incineration of plastic and e-waste containing legacy and banned chemicals, as well as unregulated toxins.
- Researchers tested eggs produced near e-waste sites, dumpsites, and waste incinerators and found high levels of globally banned flame retardant chemicals, including brominated dioxins which are toxic and pose a serious risk to human health and the environment.
- Experts note that while some brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are regulated and banned, others haven’t been. Critics also note that the chemical industry often replaces individual banned chemicals with other unregulated but still potentially toxic chemicals in the same family, a process known as “regrettable substitutions.”
- Experts are calling for stronger regulation to prevent release of known toxins, not by banning one chemical at a time, but by addressing entire classes of chemicals. But a just completed UN Stockholm Convention meeting deferred listing and monitoring brominated and mixed brominated-chlorinated dioxins.
‘We can have abundant rivers and wildlife’: Director of ‘The American Southwest’ on new film
- “The American Southwest” is a new film that explores the importance of the Colorado River in western North America to people and to wildlife.
- Part natural history film, part social documentary, it explores the challenges the Colorado faces as its resources are stretched thin by the demands for cities, energy and agriculture.
- Negotiations over the river’s water after a current agreement expires at the end of 2026 offer an opportunity for more equitable sharing that includes the river itself and long-marginalized representation from the Native tribes who live along the river’s length.
- The film appeared in theaters beginning Sept. 5 and on streaming platforms Oct. 10.
An invite to the tapir toilet buffet (cartoon)
The tapir’s role as a keystone species includes seed dispersal, ecosystem engineering, and … feeding the forest with its poop! Tapirs have been found to defecate regularly in shared toilet spaces called “communal latrines”, which become important feeding sites for a myriad species like squirrel, tinamou, thrushes and wood quails.
Voices from the Land
Indigenous peoples are experiencing firsthand the impacts of the environmental and climate crises on their lands and communities. This commentary series, produced by the collective Passu Creativa with the support of Earth Alliance, is written by Indigenous leaders from around the world, including Goldman Prize winners, political officials, and representatives of grassroots movements. These leaders […]
Pioneering policies and rights-of-nature rules win World Future Policy Awards
Policies enacted by seven nations and one international agreement have been recognized by the World Future Council for “top policy solutions for [humans], nature and generations to come.” On this edition of Mongabay’s podcast, the council’s CEO, Neshan Gunasekera, shares key highlights of the eight World Future Policy Award laureates. Under the theme of “Living […]
First assessment of UNESCO sites finds widespread climate impacts
- UNESCO’s first global biodiversity and climate assessment finds 98% of its 2,200+ sites have faced climate extremes since 2000, with a 1°C (1.8°F) rise by 2050 expected to triple exposure.
- Around 20% of sites overlap Indigenous lands, putting communities at the frontline of risks like wildfires, droughts, glacial retreat and biodiversity loss.
- Examples of impacts already unfolding include wildfires at UNESCO sites in Brazil and Australia, and shrinking glaciers in sites in Denmark, Tanzania, Argentina and China.
- UNESCO launched a live monitoring platform, Sites Navigator, integrating more than 40 datasets with near-real-time alerts to help policymakers, Indigenous communities and investors respond and plan for resilience.
Local divers pick away at Lake Malawi’s underwater garbage problem
- Accumulations of trash lie below the tranquil waters of Lake Malawi National Park, a problem local environmentalists say likely extends throughout Lake Malawi, the world’s fourth-largest freshwater lake by volume.
- They blame dumping by lake users as well as poor waste handling upland within Malawi and in Mozambique and Tanzania, which share the lake’s shoreline. Malawi does not have public waste recycling facilities and all municipalities dump waste in open landfills where it risks draining into river systems.
- Divers with a local nonprofit volunteer collecting lake garbage in return for training and the use of diving equipment to make a living guiding tourists.
- Meanwhile, the Malawian government is working with universities to map and eventually clean up garbage hotspots in the lake as it works to strengthen waste management in the country.
In Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands, youths blend ancestral and world faiths to protect forests
- In the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia, Indigenous youths continue to practice Arat Sabulungan, a cosmology that sees nature as filled with spirits, while blending it with Islam and Christianity.
- Researchers documented 11 rituals linking spirituality to forest management, such as offerings before tree felling and periods of abstinence, showing how traditions are adapted across generations.
- Scholars note that rituals can both restrain overuse and legitimize extraction, highlighting the complex role of Indigenous cosmology in shaping human-nature relations under modern pressures.
- Ongoing logging, land-use change and weak government support have stripped large tracts of forest from the Mentawais, undermining the islands’ ecosystems and the cultural practices tied to them.
Copper rush pushes Vale to ramp up mining near Amazonian protected areas
- Mining giant Vale has obtained a preliminary license for its Bacaba project, the first step toward doubling its copper production in the Brazilian Amazon over the next decade.
- Experts warn the expansion, near several conservation areas, will worsen deforestation, increase water stress and raise the risk of pollution.
- The global demand for copper is expected to rise by more than 40% by 2040, and almost all of Brazil’s known reserves are in the Amazon.
Migrating elephants get room to roam via community conservation efforts
- Years of elephant movement data reveal distinct routes the animals take to access food and water, but road building and new rail lines, towns, cities and fences are increasingly cutting off their ability to move across the landscape.
- In response, conservationists are working with communities across hundreds of miles of northern Kenya to delineate these corridors, so that any future development will protect their pathways, which are also dwindling due to severe erosion of some areas from heavy grazing followed by rain events.
- In an excerpt from her new book “ROAM: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World,” author Hillary Rosner discusses these issues and how local communities are partnering with NGOs to ensure the future free movement of these iconic animals.
Report finds increased tropical forest regrowth over the last decade
Natural forest regrowth in the world’s tropical rainforests is expanding. According to the Forest Declaration Assessment 2025, more than 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of tropical moist forests are under some stage of forest regrowth between 2015 and 2021. The growth is most notable in the tropical areas of Latin America, where regrowth increased […]
World’s 1,500th known bat species confirmed from Equatorial Guinea
From Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea, researchers have described what is officially recognized as the 1,500th bat species known to science, according to a recent study. The newly described bat is a species of pipistrelle, a group of tiny insect-eating bats, and scientists have named it Pipistrellus etula, with etula meaning “island” or “nation” in […]
Protecting Earth’s oldest data system: the case for biodiversity
- Razan Al Mubarak, president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, describes biodiversity as the planet’s original information network—an archive of genetic data refined over billions of years that encodes solutions to survival.
- Seeing extinction as data loss reframes the crisis: every vanished species deletes a chapter of evolutionary knowledge, erasing information that could inform medicine, technology, or climate resilience.
- The story of the Gila monster illustrates this vividly—its venom inspired the GLP-1 drugs now treating diabetes and obesity, showing how a single organism’s adaptation can unlock transformative human innovations.
- Al Mubarak argues that safeguarding biodiversity is not just an ethical imperative but an act of preserving intelligence itself; protecting this living knowledge system ensures the continuity of life’s most advanced and irreplaceable code.
Peru considers stripping protections for Indigenous people and their territories
- Several bills working their way through Peru’s Congress would loosen restrictions for oil and gas drilling, and make it harder for Indigenous people to obtain protected status for their land.
- One of the laws gives Congress the power to reevaluate the legal categorization and reserve status of Indigenous peoples living in isolation and initial contact, or PIACI.
- Some advocacy groups called for the suspension of international climate financing to several parts of the Peruvian government until they implement concrete PIACI protections.
Connecting Indonesia’s environmental stories to millions
- Akhyari Hananto, Multimedia Manager for Mongabay Indonesia, combines creativity, data, and strategy to ensure environmental journalism reaches and engages audiences across the archipelago.
- His unconventional path—from musician to banker, humanitarian worker, and economic specialist—eventually led him to journalism after witnessing an orangutan shooting that deeply moved him.
- Since joining Mongabay in 2014, Hananto has helped transform its Indonesian platform into a digital force, using visuals, analytics, and storytelling to connect millions with urgent environmental issues.
- Hananto spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025 about his journey, motivations, and the role of purpose in shaping impactful journalism.
Tanzanian conservationists mourn death of plant expert Aloyce Mwakisoma
- Aloyce Mwakisoma, a renowned plant expert from Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains, was struck and killed by a bus on Oct. 6 near the village of Sanje.
- Mwakisoma, who was born and raised in the Udzungwas, had an encyclopedic knowledge of the plants and animals found in his home in the Eastern Arc.
- His colleagues recognized him as one of the many local experts whose indigenous knowledge powerfully informs the description and protection of the continent’s biodiversity.
First oarfish sighting in Sri Lanka highlights citizen science in marine protection
- Scientists have documented the first-ever record of an oarfish (Regalecus russellii) in Sri Lanka, a 2.6-meter (8.5-foot) specimen caught off the country’s western coast.
- The find expands the known distribution of oarfish into the Indian Ocean, offering a new baseline for studying this rarely seen deep-sea species.
- Meanwhile, another oarfish was recorded in India’s Tamil Nadu this year, while within 20 days, three oarfish have been recorded from Australia and New Zealand, puzzling naturalists.
- The importance of promoting citizen science and raising awareness among fishers is needed.
The bias in saving nature: How conservation funding favors the familiar
With the World Conservation Congress meeting this week, I thought it was useful to revisit a study published earlier this year on conservation funding. For decades, conservationists have warned that the planet’s attention—and its purse—are skewed toward the charismatic few. A sweeping analysis of some 14,600 conservation projects over 25 years confirms that bias […]
Indigenous voices shape UNESCO’s new 10-year plan for biosphere reserves
- The Hangzhou Strategic Action Plan 2026-35, adopted at UNESCO’s 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves, in China, sets the global blueprint for conservation, development and research in the 759 reserves.
- Seven of the plan’s 34 targets directly address Indigenous peoples and local communities, calling for free, prior and informed consent, recognition of ancestral territories and integration of traditional knowledge into governance and livelihoods.
- Indigenous leaders and academics welcomed the recognition but noted that the plan could go further in addressing on-the-ground challenges, from limited funding and weak legal support to the need for clearer distinctions and indicators of Indigenous participation.
- UNESCO officials said the next step is to align the plan with reserve-level management strategies and to establish a monitoring and evaluation framework within two years to measure progress.
Supporting frontline leadership in a time of crisis (commentary)
- During Climate Week in New York, Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler joined discussions with grassroots leaders from the Global South that offered a sharper view of how philanthropy meets—and sometimes misses—the realities of frontline work.
- A common theme: philanthropy’s structures often clash with the realities of frontline conservation and climate work, prioritizing short-term, quantifiable outcomes over long-term, relational support that nurtures resilience and agency.
- Leaders noted that true impact often occurs outside traditional metrics—in community empowerment, social cohesion, and local leadership—yet rigid grant cycles and top-down governance continue to stifle this potential. A more durable model of giving would put more emphasis on trust, shared decision-making, mental-health support, and “disciplined optimism,” enabling frontline groups to sustain progress and adapt over decades rather than grant cycles.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
The hidden environmental cost of psychedelics
The world’s appetite for transcendence is endangering the very organisms that once mediated it. From the Sonoran Desert to the Amazon Basin, plants and animals that produce psychedelic compounds—peyote, ayahuasca vine, iboga, and even a toxin-oozing toad—are under pressure. As psychedelic therapies move from ritual to clinic, their biological sources are succumbing to overharvesting, habitat […]
Uphill battle to save California’s endangered mountain yellow-legged frog
- Conservation organizations released 350 mountain yellow-legged frogs earlier this year, marking another step in an intensive, long-running reintroduction project for this highly endangered species in Southern California.
- Once abundant across its range, populations have declined drastically because of invasive fish species, climate change impacts, and the deadly chytrid fungus that is wiping out amphibians worldwide.
- Conservationists are testing out new ways to boost survival rates of released frogs. Though it’s hoped the species may one day recover, today they are locked in a fight against extinction.
Global treaty to end subsidies for destructive fishing takes effect
A landmark global treaty to curb billions of dollars in government subsidies for overfishing took effect on Sept. 15, Mongabay contributor Elizabeth Fitt reported. The agreement marks the first time the World Trade Organization (WTO) has approved an environmental sustainability agreement in its 30-year history. The deal came into effect after Brazil, Kenya, Tonga and […]
Malaysian farmers demand transparency over proposed seed quality bill
- Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is expected to propose a crop seed quality bill in 2026, which is said to protect farmers’ interests, preventing them from incurring loss from low-quality seeds or fake seeds. But critics say they think it could criminalize farmers’ seed-sharing practices.
- Fake seeds have been reported in the news; preventing farmers from planting fake seeds is important, especially for perennial crops, which can take years for farmers to realize the seeds they purchased and planted are not of the variety they had intended.
- Farmers’ groups and NGOs are demanding transparency and inclusivity in the government’s lawmaking process.
- This is one of two proposed changes to Malaysian laws that would affect seeds and the farmers who use them.
IUCN downgrades guiña threat status, prompting conservation warning
- The guiña, a small wildcat, has been moved to least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Found only in Chile and Argentina, this small cat was previously listed as vulnerable.
- But the threat downgrade isn’t a sign of conservation success, researchers say. Rather, it reflects more in-depth knowledge of the species. Three out of six recognized subpopulations remain highly in danger of localized extinction and need special attention and urgent conservation action.
- Some conservationists see the downgrade in status as concerning (especially considering the daunting range of threats and number of imperiled populations) and they fear the improved listing may take attention away from the species and result in a decline in conservation funding.
Linking biodiversity protection with community development in an era of crisis (commentary)
- Environmental discourse and momentum seem to be weakening lately, as urgent geopolitical and economic priorities push concrete action to the margins, overseas development aid and conservation finance shrinks, while conflicts, shifting power balances, and unsustainable development models in megadiverse countries continue to erode ecosystems.
- In response, the conservation sector is beginning to explore new approaches that link biodiversity protection with local development, and one of the most promising of these is the “socio-bioeconomy” concept.
- Social bioeconomies can create value from ecological stewardship, integrate conservation into daily livelihoods, and encourage new imaginaries of what prosperity can mean, a new op-ed argues: “They also remind us that biodiversity conservation is not only a technical challenge, but a profoundly political one — requiring fairness, equity, and strong civic action.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
A cacao rush drives ‘alarming’ deforestation in Liberia
- Satellite data and reports from the ground show how a rapid expansion of smallholder cacao farming in southeastern Liberia is causing “alarming” deforestation.
- Large numbers of migrant workers from Côte D’Ivoire have been invited into Liberia by community leaders looking set up cacao plantations.
- Liberia’s remote southeast is one of its most densely forested regions, and also one of its poorest.
- Cacao grown in these new plantations would likely run afoul of new EU regulations barring deforestation-linked commodities, which the bloc is considering delaying.
COP26 pledge to support Indigenous & local forest tenure was just met. What was learned?
- The $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights made at the 2021 U.N. climate conference has been met one year ahead of schedule.
- Sources told Mongabay that the pledge led to an increase in funding for Indigenous peoples and local communities’ tenure and guardianship, but direct funding to these groups still remained low.
- The pledge succeeded in meeting its goals thanks to the continuous coordination between donors, said stakeholders, and funding patterns shifted over the years to increase direct funding to Indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as to groups in Asia.
- Stakeholders said future pledges must involve early and consistent dialogue with communities, support for the rights of forest defenders, simplified processes and reduced administrative barriers for more direct funding, as well as greater inclusion of women and youth.
Will California’s marine mammal conservation success come undone?
- With protection, many of California’s marine mammals — including whales, sea lions and seals — have made remarkable recoveries over the last half-century since bipartisan passage of the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.
- However, climate-linked changes have now pushed the gray whale population into a state of collapse.
- Despite comebacks, marine mammals face a plethora of threats from pathogens, pollutants — including oil and plastic — disappearing food and more.
- In California, people and institutions are fighting for marine mammals and ocean biodiversity, but federal protections could be substantially weakened if proposed amendments to the Act move ahead.
Study busts big bad myth that wolves are growing fearless of humans
- As wolves return to parts of their historical ranges in Europe and North America, there’s growing concern that the predators are becoming less fearful of people.
- But a recent study from Poland shows that wolves still fully fear people, a finding that extends to other top predators and wildlife elsewhere around the world, where the fear of humans is “ingrained.”
- In May, wolves were moved to a lesser protected status in the EU, partly based on the argument that the canids are becoming fearless of humans.
- However, the study’s authors say that safety from wolves requires behavioral change on the part of humans, including keeping food and livestock secure and away from the canids.
Research aims to link Hansen’s disease & illegal armadillo hunting in Brazil
- There are more cases of Hansen’s disease reported in Brazil than any other nation besides India. Even though the disease is highly prevalent, scientists are developing new studies to map out its occurrence with greater precision.
- One of the main objectives of the new studies is to prove that Hansen’s disease is zoonotic and can be transmitted to humans who illegally hunt wild armadillos and handle their meat for consumption.
- A study carried out by Brazilian researchers and published in May revealed a strong association in Brazil between direct contact with armadillos and a high risk of contracting Hansen’s disease.
- The study led to a new multinational project financed by the Leprosy Research Initiative in the Netherlands. It also emphasizes the role that conservation plays in containing the dissemination of zoonotic diseases and calls for new environmental and sanitation policies in Brazil.
As Singapore heats up, pests are seeking refuge indoors
- In the past few years, previously spotless air-conditioned icons of Singapore such as Changi Airport and the Apple Store have experienced infestations and diseases on indoor greenery.
- Experts say the rise in extreme temperatures as the city-state loses forest cover explains the migration of flies, bees, butterflies and rats into cooler indoor environments.
- Singapore’s pest control industry is booming as a result, with the country’s National Environment Agency mandating tougher rules to curb vector-borne diseases.
- Methods used to control pest species are being challenged by animal welfare groups concerned over the growing use of glue traps, which catch protected as well as target species.
In Panama, poison dart frog move brings hope amid amphibians’ fight with fungus
- Twelve pairs of poison dart frogs were recently translocated in Panama in a bid to strengthen the species’ chances of survival and provide answers over a deadly fungal disease threatening amphibians worldwide.
- The effort hopes to boost the population of these frogs, which play a vital role in forest ecosystems and whose toxins could be important for human medicinal use.
- The amphibian chytrid fungus has affected hundreds of species of amphibians over the last decades, leading to the extinction in the wild of 90 species, estimates say.
- Apart from the fungal disease, amphibians are also at risk because of habitat loss driven by urban development and agriculture, experts warn.
A protected mangrove forest stands strong as Metro Manila’s last coastal frontier
- A Ramsar site described as the Philippine capital region’s last remaining functional wetland, Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park is a vital sanctuary for more than 160 local and migratory birds.
- The wetland also serves as a haven for fish reproduction, bolstering regional fisheries, and serves as a buffer zone during storms.
- In March, the agency responsible for overseeing investments in large-scale reclamation projects put out a call for “lease or joint venture” proposals for the site.
- After facing public backlash, the agency quietly deleted the call, saying it is aware of the site’s ecological importance and does not plan reclamation projects within the park.
Octopus farming is a dangerous detour for marine conservation (commentary)
- Proponents of octopus farming claim it can reduce fishing pressure on wild octopus populations by supplying the seafood industry, and even suggest that these efforts could contribute to restocking wild populations in the future.
- In reality, they have a poor feed conversion rate, requiring a large amount of wild-caught marine protein to produce a relatively small amount of octopus, which risks exacerbating, rather than easing, pressure on wild fish populations and marine ecosystems that depend on them, the author of a new op-ed argues.
- “Octopus farming is a dead end masquerading as a solution. It does not address the root causes of wild population declines — it compounds them. The global community must resist the temptation to exploit another wild species under the guise of sustainability,” the author writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
What fuel will ships burn as they move toward net zero?
- Spurred largely by pending global regulations, the race is on to develop low- and zero-carbon fuels for ships and scale up their use.
- There are “bridge fuels” that could be used during a transition period or in a limited way for the long term, such as biofuels, and then there are options that are more sustainable at scale, such as green methanol and green ammonia.
- Experts continue to debate the pros and cons of green methanol and green ammonia, which are generally seen as the best options in the medium to long term.
- A net-zero framework for shipping that would drive the adoption of alternative fuels is coming up for a vote in mid-October at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization in London.
Amazon Rainforest hits record carbon emissions from 2024 forest fires
In 2024, the Amazon Rainforest underwent its most devastating forest fire season in more than two decades. According to a new study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the fire-driven forest degradation released an estimated 791 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, a sevenfold increase compared with the previous two years. The […]
New road in Peruvian Amazon sparks fear of invasion among Indigenous Shawi
- Peruvian authorities are backing a highway project that would cut through 5,400 hectares (more than 13,300 acres) of the largely preserved ancestral territory of the Shawi Nation.
- The road will connect the departments of Loreto and San Martín, threatening sensitive and biodiverse ecosystems, including unique white-sand forests and montane forests, and critical water sources.
- Indigenous leaders say the road will open up their territory not only to mining interests but also to an expansion of illegal coca cultivation, which is already growing in the region.
Women in Mexico step up to protect the island farms traditionally inherited by men
- In Mexico, traditionally women did not inherit chinampas, island farms first built by the Aztecs thousands of years ago. The farming on such islands, which sit in Mexico City, has also traditionally been done by men.
- Today, women are buying up chinampas and doing sustainable farming, along the way helping to maintain ecosystems that are threatened by urbanization and water pollution.
- This wetland system is the last remnant of what was once the great Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire built on the lakes that once filled the Valley of Mexico.
- What remains of Xochimilco today represents only 3% of the original extension of those lakes. However, the chinampas are still key to the stability of the city.
Africa’s largest freshwater lake could be site of Kenya’s nuclear power plant
- The proposal to build a 1,000-MW nuclear power plant on Kenya’s southeastern coast has faced strong opposition from residents and environmental experts, who warn of potential harm to communities, fisheries and the environment.
- Government agencies are now holding consultations at another prospective location on the other side of the country, near Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake.
- Kenya’s energy needs today are met mostly from low-carbon sources, and the country is on track to achieve universal energy access by 2030, but authorities say nuclear power is needed to meet future development goals.
- Some experts, however, warn about the high costs, delays, and long-term environmental risks associated with nuclear power projects.
Indochinese leopards face ‘bleak’ future, but hope persists
- The Indochinese leopard, a subspecies native to mainland Southeast Asia, has been driven to the edge of extinction by snaring and the wildlife trade.
- Population estimates for the species range from 77 to 766 individuals, highlighting both the cat’s rarity and the difficulty of studying it.
- Conservationists are working to safeguard the leopard’s last remaining strongholds in Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia.
Bird-watching for nature connection & social justice
Wildlife biologist and ornithologist Corina Newsome of the U.S. NGO National Wildlife Federation joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss how bird-watching plays a role in environmental justice for underserved communities in urban areas, and provides an accessible way for people to connect with nature and drives impactful change. “Birding is an opportunity [for] people to fill […]
Mongabay founder Rhett Butler wins the Henry Shaw Award
Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler has been awarded the 2025 Henry Shaw Medal from the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, U.S. Established in 1893, the award recognizes “individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Missouri Botanical Garden, botanical research, horticulture, conservation, or the museum community.” While many recipients have been scientists, […]
Building a global newsroom for a planet in crisis: A conversation with Willie Shubert
- Willie Shubert, Executive Editor and Vice President of Programs at Mongabay, applies a systems-based perspective shaped by his background in geography to lead the organization’s English-language newsroom and global editorial strategy.
- His career began at National Geographic and evolved through the Earth Journalism Network, where he built a worldwide community of environmental reporters and helped launch data-driven platforms such as InfoAmazonia.
- At Mongabay, Shubert has professionalized and specialized the newsroom, fostering trust, independence, and innovation while emphasizing journalism’s power to create transparency and accountability in environmental decision-making.
- Shubert spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025 about journalism’s role in addressing the planetary emergency and the persistence required to drive meaningful impact.
New global guidelines needed to rein in the wildlife pet trade (commentary)
- A key motion under consideration at the upcoming IUCN World Conservation Congress would create guidelines for managing the wildlife pet trade, and that’s key because across the world, millions of live animals — mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians — are taken from the wild every year.
- The illegal and unsustainable wildlife pet trade depends on the appeal of live animals whose capture leaves forests and grasslands silent, stripped of the pollinators, seed dispersers and predators that keep ecosystems functioning.
- “The IUCN congress offers a crucial chance to turn global attention toward the pet trade, and its illegality and unsustainability. If we fail to act, this commerce will continue hollowing out ecosystems, spreading invasive species, and endangering health,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
UK rejects total ban on bottom trawling in offshore marine protected areas
The U.K. government has rejected calls to fully ban bottom trawling in its offshore marine protected areas, despite evidence that the fishing practice tears up seabed habitats and releases large amounts of carbon. Bottom trawling involves dragging weighted nets across the seafloor, often crushing coral reefs and sponges while stirring up sediments. The huge nets […]
Fears of major locust swarms wane in the Sahel but agencies step up monitoring
- Fears of major desert locust swarms in the Sahel in 2025 are receding, as authorities in the region continue to monitor breeding sites.
- The FAO says control measures were carried out by teams in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria in response to earlier alerts.
- While field reporting has been hampered by limited resources and insecurity in many key parts of the region, improved remote surveillance and information-sharing tools have been strengthened.
Women firefighters in Thailand restore community forest
In northern Thailand’s Ban Pong village, a group of women has spent nearly two decades restoring and guarding their community forest to prevent dry-season wildfires. From the restored forest, residents now harvest forest products to sell in markets and feed some of Ban Pong’s 7,100 residents, Mongabay staff writer Carolyn Cowan reported. Led by Rachaprapa […]
Indonesia eyes seagrass zoning for blue carbon; experts urge community benefits
- Indonesia is moving to designate 17 seagrass habitats as national strategic areas for blue carbon, a plan that promises climate and community benefits but raises concerns over safeguards.
- The fisheries ministry says the zoning will help cut emissions, protect marine ecosystems and boost coastal livelihoods, with seagrass storing carbon far more effectively than rainforests.
- Experts welcome the initiative but warn it must avoid privatization, ensure fair benefit-sharing and guarantee transparent governance to prevent conflicts and elite capture.
- With Indonesia holding 11.5% of the world’s seagrass meadows, scientists stress the urgency of protection as the ecosystems vanish globally at alarming rates.
Whose Amazon is it?
In the Ecuadorian Amazon, overlapping land claims and state-issued agreements have intensified a territorial dispute between Indigenous nations living in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, a protected area. This Mongabay special series investigates the legal, cultural and political dimensions of the conflict — between the Siekopai Nation and the Kichwa de Zancudo Cocha — and the potential […]
Protected areas hit hard as Mekong countries’ forest cover shrank in 2024
- The five Mekong countries lost nearly 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of tree cover in 2024, with nearly a quarter of which was primary forest, and more than 30% of losses occurring inside protected areas.
- Cambodia and Laos saw some of the highest levels of loss inside protected areas, driven by logging, plantations and hydropower projects, though both countries recorded slight declines from 2023.
- In Myanmar, conflict has complicated forest governance, with mining and displacement contributing to losses, though overall deforestation fell slightly compared to the previous year.
- Thailand and Vietnam bucked the regional trend, with relatively low forest losses in protected areas, supported by logging bans, reforestation initiatives, and stricter law enforcement.
Tony Pritzker’s patient strategy for the planet
- Tony Pritzker, an engineer by training and philanthropist by practice, frames his environmental giving around patience, pragmatism, and clearly defined goals, from cleaning up Santa Monica Bay to fostering early-career innovators.
- He emphasizes local action as the foundation of global change, citing successes such as stormwater treatment infrastructure in Los Angeles and the educational initiatives of Heal the Bay.
- Pritzker blends optimism with realism, believing that consumer demand, science, and efficiency can align business, policy, and philanthropy to address environmental challenges without partisanship.
- He spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in September 2025 about his journey in environmental philanthropy, his belief in “patient strategy,” and the need to combine innovation with stewardship.
Jane Goodall quotes: Words from a reluctant global icon
- Primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall died on October 1st, 2025 at the age of 91.
- Over the years, Mongabay staff and contributors have conducted numerous interviews with Goodall.
- The following is a recap of her ideas and reflections, organized by theme.
- A list of the interviews and other pieces appears at the end.
Removing rats helps revive forests, birds & coral in the Marshall Islands
On Bikar Atoll and Jemo Islet of the Marshall Islands, seabirds are returning, forests are regrowing and coral reefs are recovering. And it all stems from the removal of a single invasive pest: rats. Rats were once so abundant on Bikar and Jemo that they “utterly dominated the lower levels of the forest,” Paul Jacques, […]
Australia to create a national park for 12,000 koalas
- The New South Wales government has unveiled plans for the Great Koala National Park, a 475,000-hectare reserve that combines existing protected areas with 176,000 hectares of state forest to safeguard an estimated 12,000 koalas and dozens of other threatened species.
- The move comes with a moratorium on native forest logging, $140 million in funding, and promises of new tourism infrastructure, though legislation to finalize the park is not expected until 2026 and is contingent on approval of a carbon credit scheme.
- Supporters hail the plan as a landmark conservation step that could boost biodiversity, generate carbon revenue, and create more sustainable jobs through ecotourism, while critics argue it sacrifices timber workers and delays certainty for communities.
- The decision reflects broader shifts in Australian forest policy, as states retreat from native forest logging, balancing ecological imperatives with political pressures from unions, industry, and rural constituencies.
Scientists rethink Serengeti migration numbers with satellite, AI tools
- An AI-powered satellite survey has found that the number of wildebeests migrating across Kenya and Tanzania annually might be less than half of the million-plus figure that’s widely touted.
- The authors of the study said their findings underscore the need to calibrate the findings from different surveying methods in order to accurately estimate wildebeest numbers.
- The wildebeest migration is one of the largest mammal migrations in the world, with the animals migrating 800 kilometers (500 miles) in search of better grass.
- Estimating accurate numbers of migrating wildebeests is essential to keep track of the population in the face of habitat loss and increased human presence.
Mozambique reserve found to host rare Taita falcon’s largest refuge
The world’s largest-known population of Taita falcons has been recorded in Mozambique’s Niassa Special Reserve, where researchers estimate up to 76 breeding pairs live among its isolated island of rocky hills and woodlands, Mongabay contributor Ryan Truscott reported. The vulnerable Taita falcon (Falco fasciinucha) is smaller than a pigeon and has been called a “stunningly […]
Study warns up to a quarter of Philippine vertebrates risk extinction
- A new study warns that 15-23% of the Philippines’ 1,294 terrestrial vertebrates face extinction, with amphibians and mammals at highest risk.
- Endemic species are most vulnerable, yet many lesser-known taxa like flying foxes, Cebu flowerpeckers and island frogs receive little research or funding compared to charismatic species such as the Philippine eagle and tamaraw dwarf buffalo.
- Habitat loss, overhunting and the wildlife trade remain the leading threats, while research gaps and bureaucratic hurdles hinder effective conservation planning.
- Experts say the findings should guide the updated Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, prioritizing poorly studied species and high-risk sites not yet covered by protected areas.
Indigenous-led protections spark Bali starling’s recovery in the wild
- An Indonesian songbird once nearly extinct in the wild, the Bali starling, is making a comeback through community-led conservation on Nusa Penida and beyond.
- Strict law enforcement and captive breeding failed to reverse the bird’s decline; poaching and habitat loss continued despite decades of formal protections.
- In the early 2000s, conservationists changed tactics, working with communities on Nusa Penida to establish the island as a sanctuary for Bali starlings.
- Villages embraced traditional awig-awig regulations to protect the starling, creating powerful cultural, social and financial deterrents to poaching.
There’s far less land available for reforestation than we think, study finds
- In recent years, policymakers have made pledges for huge tree-planting projects a cornerstone for meeting national carbon reduction goals, while doing little to seriously cut fossil fuel emissions. But a new study shows the carbon sequestration estimates made for those forestation projects may be wildly optimistic.
- The new research determined that land found suitable for forestation in past studies — an area about the size of India — shrank by as much as two-thirds when adverse impacts on biodiversity, food security and water resources were taken into account.
- When the new study figured in environmental and social constraints, the potential for existing tree-planting pledges to store a promised 40 gigatons of carbon by 2050, was reduced to just 12.5 gigatons — a significant sum, but far from what’s needed to offset continued fossil fuel use.
- The new study urges policymakers to be more pragmatic in their planting strategies, and prioritize lands best slated for permanent reforestation. Other researchers urge decision-makers to put more effort and money into protecting already existing biodiverse forests, which hold high carbon storage potential.
Biodiversity is our most sophisticated information network and must be protected (commentary)
- Each species represents a unique library of evolutionary wisdom, encoded in DNA and refined over millions of years.
- In a new commentary prior to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) quadrennial conference this month, IUCN President Razan Al Mubarak argues that biodiversity represents the most ancient and sophisticated information network our planet has ever known.
- “As the world gathers in Abu Dhabi for the IUCN World Conservation Congress, let us safeguard this living network with vigilance, investment and care — ensuring that nature’s silent information exchange endures as our shared inheritance for generations to come,” she writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
How to carry Jane Goodall’s light forward
- Mongabay’s founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler reflects on his 13-year friendship with Jane Goodall, recalling her warmth, humor, and ability to make every interaction—from late-night talks to moments with his children—feel personal and meaningful.
- He highlights her philosophy that hope is not just an emotion but a tool for creating agency, where small victories in conservation ripple outward to show people their actions matter, whether saving a chimpanzee, protecting a wetland, or inspiring a child.
- Jane wanted to be remembered for Roots & Shoots and for teaching that humans are not the only sentient beings; Butler closes by noting her indomitable spirit and urging that her legacy of compassion and hope now falls to others to carry forward.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Just as Raja Ampat fetches UNESCO Biosphere Reserve title, nickel mining looms
- On Sept. 27, UNESCO designated 26 new biosphere reserves, including Indonesia’s Raja Ampat, which is also recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark; the two designations make it one of few places on Earth honored for both geological heritage and biodiversity.
- Yet nickel mining threatens to carve up the region’s forests and coral reefs; a new report finds that nickel concessions in Raja Ampat cover 22,000 hectares, including zones that overlap with coral reefs and marine habitats.
- This raises questions about whether international recognition alone can safeguard Raja Ampat against the growing pressure of nickel extraction, driven by global demand for batteries in electric vehicles and renewable energy storage.
New conservation panel to focus on microorganisms crucial for human and planet health
The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, has established a new expert group that will help shape conservation priorities for a previously overlooked but vital group of organisms: microbes. In a recent commentary, the Microbial Conservation Specialist Group (MCSG), formed in July, announced that it will look at the status and threats to various beneficial […]
Jane Goodall (1934–2025): primatologist, conservationist, and messenger of hope
- Jane Goodall, who began her career in 1960 with little formal training, transformed science’s understanding of chimpanzees and in the process reshaped the boundary between humans and animals. Her discoveries at Gombe forced the recognition of animal minds, emotions, and cultures once thought unique to humanity.
- She built on that science with activism: founding the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977, launching community-centered conservation programs across Africa, and creating sanctuaries for orphaned chimps. In 1991 she established Roots & Shoots, which grew into a vast youth movement spanning more than 100 countries.
- Beyond research and institutions, she became a global messenger, traveling up to 300 days a year to speak with audiences ranging from heads of state to schoolchildren planting trees. She insisted that empathy and objectivity could coexist and called on each person to remember that “every day you live, you make some kind of impact.”
- She described humanity as standing at the mouth of a dark tunnel with a star shining at the end—hope. To reach it, she said, required collective effort. That conviction defined her legacy: a life that reminded the world that hope is not wishful thinking but a discipline, and that every individual makes a difference.
Illegal fishing threatens unique marine ecosystem in Peru
- Park rangers who patrol Illescas National Reserve often confront fishers who use chinchorros, a type of fishing net that is banned in Peru.
- The reserve is designated solely as a terrestrial protected area, which often limits the park rangers’ ability to act, as the marine area is outside their jurisdiction.
- Conservationists warn of the urgent need to safeguard this important marine area and its rich biodiversity.
Urban appetite for lemur meat piles pressure on iconic primates
- Thousands of threatened lemurs are killed by specialist hunters every year to feed a lucrative urban market for their meat in cities across Madagascar.
- While rural subsistence hunting is seasonal and opportunistic, the year-round urban luxury trade for lemur meat threatens large-bodied species, including during key reproductive periods.
- Primatologists recently issued a statement calling for strategies aimed at different actors involved in lemur meat hunting, including stricter gun regulations and enforcement directed at the urban trade, and the development of economic alternatives for rural subsistence hunters.
Indigenous myths reveal Amazon’s past truths: Interview with Stéphen Rostain
- Recent archaeological findings, bolstered by laser-based lidar mapping and by archaeologist Stéphen Rostain, reveal that the Amazon supported vast and complex ancient urban societies.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Rostain says the ancient Upano Valley culture in Ecuador collapsed due to severe drought, offering a stark warning for the Amazon’s current climate vulnerability.
- Rostain says he’s hopeful that a new archaeological understanding of the Amazon will challenge centuries of prejudice against Indigenous people and offer answers for the future.
Jaguar in Brazil swims 2.3 km in longest recorded distance for the species
Biologists in Brazil have documented a jaguar swimming an estimated 2.3 kilometers, or 1.4 miles, across an artificial reservoir in the Cerrado savanna, the longest confirmed swim by the species to date. The previous scientific record, published in 1932, was of a jaguar swimming 200 m (660 ft). “We knew that jaguars might have this […]
DJs inspired by nature
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The music began long before humans arrived. Rivers carried their basslines downstream, insects beat time in the dusk, and birds poured their arias into the dawn. For Dominik Eulberg, who grew up without radio or television, this was […]
Mongabay staffer shares the joy and impact of wildlife photography
On this episode of Mongabay’s weekly podcast, we look at nature through the lens of wildlife photographer and senior marketing associate at Mongabay, Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo, the multilingual staffer charged with sharing the team’s reporting and mission with the world. Prescott-Cornejo details how his work with Mongabay intersects with his passion for wildlife photography, what makes […]
Ghana begins sustainable wood exports to EU under new license
Ghana has issued its first batch of sustainable timber licenses under the European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) system, which aims to block illegal logging and strengthen forest governance. Sixteen years after Ghana signed a voluntary partnership agreement with the EU, the nation approved the first six FLEGT licenses for five companies. […]
Consider the scorpions
- Scorpions have survived for more than 400 million years and endured five mass extinctions, but habitat destruction, climate change and overharvesting now pose significant threats to their survival.
- Scorpions give birth to live young that cling to their backs, the young of some species live with the mother for years, and only about 25 to 30 out of nearly 2,900 known species have venom potent enough to be dangerous to humans.
- Only five scorpion species have international trade protection, despite 350 being sold in the pet trade.
- Scientists are calling for improved conservation assessments, stricter trade regulations, and increased local community involvement to protect scorpions and harness their potential medical benefits.
From South America to Asia, seahorses vanish into trafficking pipeline
- In June 2025, Ecuadorian police seized a package containing almost 3,000 seahorses that were likely destined for Colombia.
- Most seahorses are caught in industrial and artisanal trawl nets as bycatch, but they are then funneled into a lucrative illegal trade.
- Researchers have identified the busiest trafficking routes: Peru to China, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
- Seahorses are in high demand for use in traditional Chinese medicine, and are also sold as trinkets and as exotic additions to aquariums.
Northern Cameroon’s lions are reproducing, but concerns remain
- GPS tracking of 10 collared lions in Bouba Ndjida National Park has confirmed multiple lionesses with cubs, indicating successful reproduction of Cameroon’s highly threatened northern lion subspecies.
- Conservationists warn many cubs may not reach adulthood because dispersing young lions are exposed to snares, retaliatory killings, and other human pressures along the park’s edges.
- With only about 60-80 lions in Bouba Ndjida and fewer than 1,000 northern lions left in Central Africa, the park is seen as crucial to the subspecies’ survival and recovery.
- Uncontrolled livestock grazing, poaching, insecurity, and weak connectivity with neighboring parks hamper conservation; experts call for larger safe areas, community involvement, and coordinated management to ensure long-term survival.
The Indigenous tradition sustaining Nepal’s alpine pastures amid climate change
- The Gurung people of Nepal’s Himalayas manage fragile alpine pastures through the ‘thiti’ system, which sets annual guidelines for rotational grazing, forest use and herb collection.
- Livestock owners pay small per-animal fees that finance habitat protection and support herders, ensuring resources are used fairly.
- Conservationists view thiti as a proven Indigenous approach to protecting high-altitude grasslands threatened by climate change.
- Out-migration, shrinking pasturelands, tourism growth and lack of legal recognition are weakening the tradition.
Indonesia aims to redraw UNESCO site boundaries to allow geothermal projects
- Indonesia is proposing to redraw the boundaries of a UNESCO World Heritage rainforest, excluding two degraded areas, in order to free up geothermal potential in the region.
- Geothermal, which draws from the country’s volcanic geography, is an energy technology the government is aggressively promoting as the country moves away from fossil fuels.
- The area was declared a World Heritage Site in 2004 for its immense biodiversity: more than 10,000 plant species, 200 mammals and 580 birds, including critically endangered Sumatran orangutans, tigers, rhinos and elephants.
- The site is already on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger list due to deforestation, illegal logging, encroachment and road building; environmentalists warn that geothermal development risks worsening pressures on a forest ecosystem already in decline.
Egyptian activists rally to halt hotel project at pristine protected beach
- The Egyptian government opened up Ras Hankorab, a near-pristine beach inside a protected area along Egypt’s Red Sea coastline, to an investor to develop tourism facilities.
- Environmentalists launched a campaign to “save Ras Hankorab,” which succeeded in temporarily halting development activities at the site, and which critics say is aimed at foreign tourists.
- The beach is a nesting ground for endangered turtles, and the waters are home to a variety of coral and fish species and seagrass meadows.
- Ras Hankorab is one of several sites in Egypt where the government’s push to develop tourism in protected areas is facing opposition.
To track a unicorn: Laos team goes all out to find the last saolas
- An intensive search is underway in Laos to find perhaps the most threatened large mammal on the planet: the saola ox.
- Sniffer dogs, local and international wildlife tracking experts, and a state-of-the-art DNA kit have all been deployed to try to home in on any unknown individuals of the species so elusive conservationists once dubbed it the “Asian unicorn.”
- Last documented in 2013, when a camera trap photographed an adult in central Vietnam, previous attempts to study the saola have been stymied by a lack of sightings.
- Conservationists are aware of the ever-ticking clock, however, and warn that extinction is “inevitable” without a dedicated and intensive push to study remaining individuals and safely bring them into captivity to start a conservation breeding program to revive the species.
Conservation in a hotter world
- Protected areas designed for yesterday’s climate are losing relevance as species shift habitats, spurring calls for larger, connected, and “climate-smart” reserves that can accommodate ecological change
- Conservationists are adopting once-controversial strategies such as assisted colonization and rewilding to help ecosystems endure hotter, drier, and more chaotic conditions.
- The promise of sustainable livelihoods tied to static ecosystems is fading, and new models will depend on managing shifting resources and co-designing resilience with local communities.
- NOTE: Mongabay recently produced a series of articles and videos on this topic. This post recaps some of the key themes that emerged.
Seven Indigenous paths to protect the Amazon: Voices from the land (commentary)
- Indigenous leaders representing more than 511 peoples from the Amazon Basin met in Brasília to discuss the solutions they are implementing in their territories to address the global climate crisis, Indigenous authors of this commentary say.
- They affirm seven commitments, which they say can help change the course of the climate crisis.
- “The Amazon is close to the point of no return,” they write in this opinion piece. “Avoiding this is a shared and urgent responsibility. Strong and respectful alliances with Indigenous peoples are the best strategy for protecting life.”
- This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Malaysian small-scale farmers worry about rights under proposed seed law changes
- Malaysia is preparing to amend its Protection of New Plant Varieties Act to join the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) by 2026.
- UPOV membership is a key criterion for Malaysia to join a trans-Pacific free trade agreement, to access a broader international trade market.
- Some farmers’ groups and NGOs oppose any amendment to the law, arguing that it would undermine farmers’ rights to freely save, keep and sell seeds, and that it would jeopardize agro-biodiversity. Without the law amendment bill being made public, the law’s potential impacts on farmers remain unclear.
- This is one of two proposed changes to Malaysian laws that would affect seeds and the farmers who use them.
First review of Amazon plastic pollution finds widespread contamination
Plastic pollution is widespread across the Amazon Rainforest’s rivers, plants and animals, according to a recent study. Previous research suggests up to 10% of total plastics in the ocean arrive there via the vast network of waterways that’s the Amazon Basin. To understand how and where plastic pollution is present within the basin itself, researchers […]
California’s kelp forests struggle to recover a decade after collapse
More than 10 years after unusually high water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean killed off Northern California’s aquatic kelp forests, the region has still not recovered, reports David Helvarg, executive director of ocean conservation group Blue Frontier, for Mongabay. From 2013 to 2017, a mass of unusually warm water nicknamed “the Blob” hugged California’s coast, […]
New deal pushes Amazon’s controversial ‘tipping point road’ ahead
- Brazil’s President Lula has personally cemented his support for the project and set his cabinet to work out a deal to renew the BR-319 highway, which passes through one of the most preserved areas of the Amazon.
- Scientists warn the highway will create a “fishbone effect” of illegal side roads, fueling deforestation that could push the Amazon past a critical tipping point and trigger its irreversible conversion into a savanna.
- A recent congressional reform, labeled the “Devastation Bill” by activists, allows strategic projects like BR-319 to bypass full environmental reviews and shifts approval authority to a politically appointed council.
Hope for the iconic Yangtze sturgeon (cartoon)
After losing two of the Yangtze River’s native wildlife icons — the baiji (a river dolphin) and the Chinese paddlefish — to dams and overfishing, and almost losing the Yangtze sturgeon, China seems to be taking measures to correct the course. The demolition of dams along the Chishui He, a major tributary of the Yangtze River, […]
Rare photos capture fishing cat preying on monitor lizard in the Sundarbans
In July, naturalist Soumyadip Santra was on a trip to the Indian Sundarbans, part of the world’s largest mangrove forest, when he witnessed an unusual scene: a fishing cat jumped on an adult monitor lizard and dragged it away toward some bushes. Santra’s photographs of the fishing cat in action captured a rare bit of […]
Counting kings: How annual lion surveys reveal the health of Africa’s protected areas (commentary)
- Lions are more than charismatic megafauna shaping the balance of species in the savannah food web. As such, their presence or absence can tell us a lot about the health of an ecosystem.
- Annual lion surveys offer a disciplined way to pair concern with action, writes Jon Ayers, board chair of wild cat conservation group Panthera and major supporter of lion conservation.
- Such surveys do not guarantee recovery. They make it possible to know, sooner and more accurately, whether recovery is under way.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Study spotlights West Papua habitat as whale sharks face increased pressures
- A new study shows the Bird’s Head Seascape in West Papua is a crucial nursery for juvenile whale sharks, where most sightings involved young males feeding around fishing platforms.
- Researchers documented 268 individuals over 13 years, with more than half showing injuries tied to human activity, raising concerns about fisheries, tourism and emerging mining pressures.
- Scientists warn that protecting these habitats with stricter rules and better management is essential for the survival and recovery of the endangered species.
Arturo Gómez-Pompa, biologist who revealed the human history in “virgin” forests, has died, aged 90
In the steaming lowlands of Veracruz and the Yucatán, where strangler figs knot the canopy and howler monkeys bellow at dawn, a man with a field notebook kept noticing what others overlooked. Arturo Gómez-Pompa believed tropical forests were not untouched wilderness but “landscapes of memory,” shaped for millennia by Indigenous hands. Long before “biodiversity” became […]
The fate of flying rivers could decide Amazon ‘tipping point,’ report says
- The Amazon’s “tipping point” refers to the transition of the rainforest into a drier, savanna ecosystem. The rainforest’s ecological balance depends on the transport and recycling of moisture, but deforestation has been shown to disrupt the region’s water cycle.
- Moisture moves east to west, from the Atlantic Ocean across the Amazon Basin via what scientists call “aerial” or “flying rivers,” a critical mechanism in the region’s water cycle.
- A new report from Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Project identified areas of deforestation that disrupt these flying rivers from hundreds of miles away. It also found that not all parts of the Amazon have the same tipping point.
- The researchers stressed the need for regional, transboundary conservation efforts that account for varied threats in different parts of the Amazon.
Brazil leads push for novel forest finance mechanism ahead of COP30 summit
- The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) — a proposed $125 billion fund to conserve tropical forests worldwide — was developed by Brazil in 2023, and pushed forward in 2024 at the UN biodiversity summit in Colombia. Since then, momentum has built in support of this market-driven approach to conserving tropical forests.
- Once fully established, the $125 billion fund would spin off as much a $4 billion in interest annually (above what is paid to investors), potentially going to more than 70 TFFF-eligible developing nations, which collectively hold more than one billion hectares of tropical forests. The fund could be operational before 2030.
- At Climate Week in New York City on Sept 23, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that his country will invest the first $1 billion in the fund. Other nations, including China, Norway, the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada seem poised to contribute. Even oil producing nations like Saudi Arabia have shown interest.
- But hurdles lie ahead: TIFFF needs $25 billion from sovereign nations and $100 billion from private investors before a full launch, with Indigenous and local communities (IPLCs) to be major benefactors. The make-or-break moment for TIFFF is expected to occur at the UN climate summit (COP30) in Belém, Brazil Nov. 10-21.
Long-lost white shark tag traces remarkable journey from South Africa to SE Asia
- The discovery of a satellite tag from a subadult female white shark in Indonesia marks the first recorded connectivity of white shark movement between South Africa and Southeast Asia.
- The white sharks found in South Africa and Australia belong to different genetic pools, which makes the two populations distinct from one another, even though they share the same migratory route.
- The biggest threats facing white sharks in South Africa and Indonesia are unsustainable fishing, where the sharks become both the bycatch and main catch.
- While there are attempts to support local fishers to pioneer shark conservation instead of hunting them, such efforts are thwarted by lack of funding.
How we probed a maze of websites to tally Brazilian government shark meat orders
- A recent Mongabay investigation found widespread government purchases of shark meat in Brazil to serve in thousands of public institutions.
- The series has generated public debate, with a lawmaker calling for a parliamentary hearing to discuss the findings.
- Here, Mongabay’s Philip Jacobson and the Pulitzer Center’s Kuang Keng Kuek Ser explain how we built a database of shark meat procurements.
Grue jay or Bleen jay? Researchers confirm hybrid between blue and green jays
Researchers have for the first time confirmed that a blue jay and a green jay have mated in the wild to produce a rare hybrid with mixed features. Spotted by a birder named Donna in her backyard in San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas, this hybrid may have resulted from the two jay […]
Ethnologist Martín von Hildebrand awarded Lovejoy Prize for Amazon conservation
The second recipient of the Thomas E. Lovejoy Prize, launched in 2024, was announced Sept. 23 at the Central Park Zoo in New York City, during New York’s climate week. Martín von Hildebrand, an ethnologist and anthropologist, won the award for his decades of work with Indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon, helping them secure […]
As Sri Lanka struggles with ghost nets, volunteer youth lead seabed cleanup
- Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, commonly called “ghost nets,” continue to trap and kill marine animals such as sea turtles, dolphins and whales, long after these nets being discarded in Sri Lankan waters.
- As this fishing gear can travel long distances via winds and ocean currents before sinking, it accumulates along shorelines or converges in large plastic patches in the oceans, becoming a transboundary issue.
- Volunteer initiatives such as The Pearl Protectors are diving to remove ghost nets, successfully recovering tens of hundreds of kilograms of discarded fishing gear from coral reefs and seagrass beds.
- While recycling efforts continue, a Sri Lankan designer has pioneered an innovative upcycling approach, transforming ghost fishing nets into fashion items — merging marine conservation with sustainable creativity to raise awareness of ocean pollution.
Burkina Faso’s women farmers reviving the land with fertilizer trees
- Land restoration in Burkina Faso’s Centre-Ouest and Kadiogo regions is women’s work.
- Here, women have made fertilizer trees their indispensable allies in reviving farmland.
- Thanks to these nitrogen-fixing and shade-providing trees, they’re bringing degraded soils back to life.
- In Cassou and Bazoulé communes in Centre-Ouest, local women are breathing new life into an ancestral technique that boosts productivity and enriches biodiversity.
From Chile to Greece, ‘ghost gear’ from fish farms haunts the seas
- Studies and NGOs have documented lost or abandoned gear from open-net aquaculture operations in coastal areas across cold and temperate latitudes, where fish farming in the sea expanded rapidly in the 1980s and ’90s.
- In Chile, Greece and Canada, for example, observers have reported finding disused buoys, sections of rusting platforms, expanded polystyrene, net cages and other debris washed up on shorelines, or sunk in the water.
- Guidelines published by the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), a worldwide alliance of groups seeking solutions to fishing gear pollution, say neglected or mismanaged aquaculture gear can disperse in the environment and break down into debris of various sizes, posing risks such as entrapping marine life, damaging habitats or contributing to microplastic pollution.
- Some industry groups say current regulations and practices suffice to prevent ongoing pollution and they are working to resolve legacy contamination.
Rights of nature concept creates room for life, but it’s still ‘fuzzy’: Study
- ‘Rights of nature’ cases are growing worldwide, but perceptions of it as a revolutionary ecocentric movement are too simplistic, according to a recent study that identified nine patterns of its application in Ecuador, India, New Zealand and the U.S.
- The authors found that environmental concerns are not always the common driving force behind rights of nature processes, and Indigenous peoples and local communities are not universally advocates of the legal rights framework.
- At the same time, the interests of traditional communities are most affected by rights of nature reforms, and the rules surrounding the concept have created space to question the way nature is used for short-term human gain.
- Researchers suggest that a successful scenario is one where the rights of nature process align with the local context, addresses local issues, and engages with communities to prevent conflicts.
Turning camera traps into real-time sentinels: Interview with Conservation X Lab’s Dante Wasmuht
- Wildlife technology nonprofit Conservation X Labs has developed and deployed an AI-powered device to make real-time monitoring of camera-trap images easier and more seamless.
- The Sentinel device can be attached to camera traps and serves as a minicomputer with built-in AI models.
- The device has been deployed around the world, and has found applications in detecting invasive species in New Zealand and in the Florida Everglades.
- While camera traps are widely used in conservation, it’s often a challenge to retrieve the data from remote locations, often leading to a delay in conservation action and management.
A dancing lemur could help save one of Madagascar’s most endangered ecosystems
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Madagascar’s rainforests often steal the spotlight, with their flamboyant biodiversity and familiar lemur mascots. Less noticed are the country’s dry forests in the west and southwest, which shelter equally remarkable life yet have been steadily eroded by agriculture, […]
Religion at a crossroads in Indonesia as Islamic groups bid to operate large-scale mines
- Indonesia’s two biggest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, are in the spotlight for a new program under which they would operate large-scale mines.
- The controversy involves a recent uproar over a nickel mine in Raja Ampat, Indonesia’s premier diving destination; public criticism mounted as it came to light that a senior cleric in Nahdlatul Ulama sat on the board of PT Gag Nikel, the company operating the mine.
- Other religious organizations, such as the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference and the Indonesian Communion of Churches, are among those to reject management of mining concessions, citing sustainability reasons.
- Mongabay spoke to religious scholars to get their take on the mining controversy.
Indigenous women in Peru use technology to protect Amazon forests
- Kichwa, Ticuna and Matsés women are leading forest patrols and training other women in the use of technology such as GPS, drones and satellite alerts.
- They are protecting the forest not only as an ecosystem, but also as a vital source of life, food, medicine and cultural heritage for their communities.
- Studies show that access to such technology has helped Indigenous communities significantly reduce forest loss.
- Through cunas, community childcare spaces, women are able to participate actively in forest monitoring workshops while passing ancestral knowledge to new generations, ensuring cultural continuity.
Ocean acidification threatens planetary health: Interview with Johan Rockström
- The newly published 2025 Planetary Health Check report confirms transgression of the ocean acidification planetary boundary — the seventh Earth system threshold crossed, putting a “safe operating space for humanity” at risk. Oceans act as a key climate stabilizer, resilience builder and Earth life-support system.
- Marking the launch of the 2025 Planetary Health Check, Mongabay speaks with report co-author and renowned Earth system scientist Johan Rockström about how the transgression of planetary boundaries is eroding environmental justice — the right of every human being to life on a stable, healthy planet.
- Rockström, who led the international team of scientists who originated the 2009 planetary boundary framework, also speaks about the failure to achieve a U.N. plastics treaty in August and the challenge of accomplishing planetwide sustainability in a time of widespread armed conflict and political instability.
- He likewise emphasizes the need to bring the U.S. back to the negotiating table at COP30, the U.N. climate summit scheduled for November, in Belém, Brazil, and addresses the importance of inserting the planetary boundaries framework into those talks.
Indigenous fishers lead science-backed conservation of Colombia’s wetlands
- A community-based monitoring project is helping protect the rich diversity of freshwater fish species in the Ramsar-listed wetlands in the Colombian Amazon.
- By combining ancestral knowledge with scientific tools, Indigenous Amazonian leaders say their communities are strengthening their connection to their territory.
- Community monitoring and training efforts have helped inform fishing regulations to better protect ecosystems and ensure the sustainability of local populations’ livelihoods.
Scientists weigh giant sea curtain to shield ‘Doomsday Glacier’ from melting
- Scientists have proposed using anchored seabed curtains to block warm ocean water from accelerating ice loss at Antarctica’s rapidly melting Thwaites Glacier — a possible climate fix that falls into the realm of geoengineering.
- Thwaites is losing 50 billion metric tons of ice annually and could raise sea levels by more than 60 cm (2 ft) if it collapses.
- Critics warn that a handful of proposed geoengineering projects in the world’s polar regions distract from decarbonization efforts, while supporters argue some geoengineering may be a necessary last-resort measure as governments fail to address rising greenhouse gas emissions.
- The curtain project could cost up to $80 billion, scientists estimate, but may prevent trillions in climate-related damages.
Oakes Award delivers top prize to Mongabay journalist Karla Mendes
Mongabay journalist Karla Mendes has received the 2025 John B. Oakes Award from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Mendes was presented with the prestigious prize at an event in New York on Sept. 18 for her investigation documenting a direct connection between increased violence against Indigenous Arariboia leaders and the expansion of illegal cattle […]
Permaculture promises peace, food, increased equality in Kenyan county
- In Kenya’s semiarid Baringo county, Indigenous pastoralists like Salina Chepsat are moving from herding to diversified organic crop farming.
- They benefit from training by the Indigenous Women and Girls Initiative in permaculture and seed saving, but male control of land still restrains how much they can do.
- Boreholes and a shared irrigation scheme enable year-round crops and foster cooperation among different ethnic communities with a history of hostilities.
- Experts call for co-designed strategies combining water access, land restoration and inclusive decision-making to secure food and peace.
New species of gecko described from Madagascar’s sacred forests
- An international team of biologists has discovered a new species of gecko in small forest fragments in southeastern Madagascar.
- Due to its extremely limited range, researchers say it should be classified as critically endangered.
- The management of these forests by local communities offers a significant advantage for the species’ conservation, according to the research team.
World Gorilla Day: What imperils our powerful cousins, and what brings hope
They’re powerful, intelligent and majestic, yet increasingly imperiled. Today, on World Gorilla Day, we recap recent Mongabay reporting that highlights both the threats facing gorillas, our great ape cousins, and some signs of hope. Emerging threats The Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) continues to be one of the world’s top 25 most endangered primates, […]
Bridging Indigenous and Western knowledge with science and radio
Aimee Roberson, executive director of Cultural Survival, joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss how her organization helps Indigenous communities maintain their traditions, languages and knowledge while living among increasingly Westernized societies. As a biologist and geologist with Indigenous heritage, Aimee Roberson is uniquely suited to lead the organization in bridging these worlds, including via “two-eyed seeing,” […]
‘Super big deal’: High seas treaty reaches enough ratifications to become law
- The agreement on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, also known as the high seas treaty, was reached in 2023 with much fanfare in marine conservation circles, partly because it sets up a system for establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) in international waters.
- On Sept. 19, Morocco became the 60th country to ratify the deal, which means it will become binding international law in January 2026.
- Experts and advocates celebrated the milestone, calling it a win for conservation and international cooperation.
- Uncertainty remains in how the treaty will interact with other regulatory regimes for fishing and mining, among other activities.
When does beaver reintroduction make sense?
- California has recently relocated beavers from spots where they were causing problems, like flooding, to tribal lands in Northern and Southern California.
- Many advocates say that relocating beavers to areas where they once existed brings back “ecosystem engineering” benefits to the landscapes they live in.
- But experts also caution that while beavers can help with fire resilience and improve water quality, they are only part of broader solutions to climate change and watershed restoration.
- Beaver advocates also note that learning to coexist peacefully with beavers is critical, both for the recovery of the species and for the ecosystem services they provide.
Extinct-in-the-wild plant rediscovered in Sri Lanka thanks to social media
In 2012, Sri Lanka’s National Red List pronounced the towering Doona ovalifolia tree “extinct in the wild.” Known locally as pini-beraliya, the species lingered only as a single cultivated specimen in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya. For years, that lone tree stood as a melancholy reminder of what had been lost. The species’ unlikely […]
Gray wolves’ return to California tests human tolerance for coexistence
Gray wolves are making a comeback in the western U.S. state of California after a century-long absence. Conservationists say their return is a success, but it’s putting pressure on ranchers and rural communities as wolf attacks on livestock mount, Mongabay wildlife staff writer Spoorthy Raman reported. The state’s last wild wolf (Canis lupus) was shot […]
DRC finally moves to protect African gray parrots from unsustainable trade
- Over the past decade, thousands of African gray parrots have been exported from the Democratic Republic of Congo despite a ban on their international trade.
- The endangered species, Psittacus erithacus, was listed under Appendix I of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, in 2016, which would have prohibited its commercial trade, but the DRC government resisted the move.
- Kinshasa was asked to conduct a comprehensive species’ population survey to justify continued trade of the birds, but to date still hasn’t carried one out.
- Meanwhile, the wholesale capture and export of birds has continued, and the DRC government has finally taken action to prohibit the capture and sale of this iconic species.
Harrison Ford says his generation “kicked the can down the road” on the environment
Speaking at the 2025 Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit during New York Climate Week on Monday, Harrison Ford, the actor turned outspoken environmental advocate, issued a rebuke of his generation for its lack of progress in addressing environmental problems. Climate change, he argued, is not merely a scientific or economic problem but a moral one. “Everything […]
Protecting rhinos more urgent than ever this World Rhino Day
To mark World Rhino Day on Sept. 22, we look back at some of Mongabay’s rhino reporting from this year. All five rhino species face threats The Sumatran (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus), both native to Indonesia, are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) in […]
Global CO2 storage capacity may be drastically overstated, study finds
- The storage available for safe carbon storage could be far lower than current estimates, according to a new study.
- Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been touted as a viable method for drawing billions of tons of CO2 out of the air, typically securing it in rock formations deep underground.
- However, this new analysis suggests that many locations suitable for carbon storage may also pose risks, such as water contamination or earthquakes.
- That finding led the study authors to conclude that the “prudent” available storage is much less than has been estimated.
The rhinoceros, under siege but not lost
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For millennia, the rhinoceros stood as one of Earth’s great survivors, armored and immense, its bulk anchoring the landscapes of Africa and Asia. Today, it’s perilously close to vanishing. A recent report by wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC and […]
In the Andean Amazon, countries struggle to fight deforestation
- Goals to reduce deforestation by 2030 set by Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia have been undermined by policies that drive deforestation.
- In Colombia, the Petro administration aims to reduce land inequality by redistributing confiscated land, while investing in rural infrastructure with the hope of motivating individuals to stay in previously deforested landscapes.
- In Ecuador, although illegal deforestation is subject to criminal prosecution, infringers are seldom prosecuted and the permitting system is largely used to manage the timber trade.
- Despite its conservation policies, Peru has no coherent, integrated policy to fight illegal deforestation, while many local public officials are compromised by their participation in the illegal land market.
EV trial among Bali east coast fishers shows promise amid headwinds
- A social enterprise initiative to equip traditional fishing boats in east Bali with battery-powered engines has shown some encouraging responses among the trial cohort.
- More than 90% of the world’s 40 million fishers are small-scale operations working from small boats, which policymakers say are better suited to adopt electric vehicles compared with larger vessels.
- Azura Indonesia, the company manufacturing electric maritime engines, hopes new charging infrastructure will help overcome commonly cited challenges, including the need for inexpensive, frequent charging required by traditional fishers.
- The electric vehicle trial in Kusamba village was conducted under the Bali Net Zero Emissions Coalition’s energy transition work on the island of 4.5 million.
Navigating conservation’s crisis (commentary)
- Conservation is facing a convergence of crises: accelerating ecological decline, weakened institutions, disinformation-fueled information breakdowns, and mounting threats to frontline defenders. These pressures interact, compounding the difficulty of protecting nature and people.
- To endure, the sector must adapt its financing and design models to what governments can sustain, treat information as infrastructure, and build unconventional coalitions that align conservation with livelihoods, public health, and local leadership.
- Resilience also depends on protecting the people doing the work and adopting “optimism as a method” — disciplined, evidence-based approaches that link effort to tangible outcomes, tell small stories of progress, and resist fatalism.
- The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Setting the record straight on Jurisdictional REDD+: The case of Brazil
- Jurisdictional REDD+ (JREDD+) has been a climate finance mechanism under the UN for nearly two decades. In Brazil, JREDD+ is a public policy approach developed by Brazilian federal and state governments to promote large-scale forest conservation and climate mitigation.
- Emission reductions are measured at the jurisdictional level—not tied to individual properties or collective territories—and generate carbon credits based on verified drops in deforestation and degradation.
- Participation is voluntary and protected by safeguards and law, ensuring communities, farmers, and local actors can opt in or out while retaining land and resource rights. JREDD+ enables access to climate finance from private and public sources, with benefits distributed to rural sectors and credits issued only after independent verification.
- The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Mongabay founder Rhett Butler named to Forbes Sustainability Leaders List
Rhett Ayers Butler, Mongabay founder and CEO, has been named to the 2025 Forbes Sustainability Leaders List, which honors 50 global leaders working to combat the climate crisis. “Mongabay has tended to fly under the radar. We’ve focused on the journalism rather than promoting ourselves, so this recognition is especially meaningful — and it reflects […]
Timing, not traits, helps California’s jewelflowers adapt to diverse landscapes
- California’s native jewelflowers, a group of plants that belong to the mustard family, grow in widely diverse landscapes and microclimates across the state. But until now, scientists didn’t understand what allowed their wide distribution.
- To understand this, researchers analyzed information from nearly 2,000 specimens; dug into climate and geological databases; and amassed field observations to understand the climatic conditions that 14 species of jewelflowers need to grow and reproduce.
- Their study found that, despite living in different landscapes, from desert to valleys and mountains, jewelflowers prefer hotter and drier climates, timing their sprouting and flowering accordingly. Even those species growing in colder regions adjust their life cycle to flower later in the summer and seek drought-prone soils.
- The research shows how plants distributed across vast geographies may require specific microclimates and habitats to survive, which are potentially at risk in a warming world.
Protecting Indigenous Amazon lands may also protect public health, study says
- Healthy forests in protected Indigenous territories could help reduce the risk of certain illnesses for humans, a new study shows.
- Different factors influence how effective Indigenous territories are at protecting health, including whether a territory has legal protected status and the type of landscape surrounding it.
- Researchers found that Indigenous territories can effectively reduce the risk of vector-borne or zoonotic diseases if they’re located in municipalities with at least 40% forest cover.
- The study used a data set of respiratory, cardiovascular, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases recorded across the Amazon region between 2001 and 2019 to understand how pollution from forest fires, forest cover and fragmentation, and Indigenous territories impacted the risk from 21 different diseases.
Animals that spread seeds are critical for climate solutions
- New research analyzing more than 3,000 tropical forest sites reveals that areas with fewer seed-dispersing animals store up to four times less carbon than forests with healthy wildlife populations.
- The study found that 81% of tropical trees rely on animals to disperse their seeds, establishing an ancient partnership now threatened by human activities such as deforestation, road construction, and hunting.
- Researchers mapped global “seed dispersal disruption” and found it explains a 57% reduction in carbon storage potential across proposed forest restoration areas.
- The findings demonstrate that protecting wildlife and addressing climate change are interconnected challenges, with conservation strategies like wildlife corridors and species reintroduction offering approaches that serve both biodiversity and climate stability.
100,000 Ecuadorians protest Canadian mining project threatening key water source
More than 100,000 people marched through Cuenca, a city in southern Ecuador, on Sept. 16, demanding that federal authorities revoke an environmental license for a gold mining project that may impact an important freshwater source. The Loma Larga mining project, run by Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals, borders the 3,200-hectare (7,900-acre) Quimsacocha National Recreation […]
São Tomé and Príncipe commits to creating a marine protected area network
- São Tomé and Príncipe will establish eight marine protected areas (MPAs) covering 93 square kilometers (36 square miles) of coastal habitats in the Gulf of Guinea.
- The island nation aims to protect its marine environment while improving the lives of fishing communities, who rely heavily on fish for protein.
- Current challenges include the decline of pelagic fish stocks and loss of biodiversity due to indiscriminate fishing practices and climate change.
- The law designating the MPAs is expected to be enacted in September.
Most Caribbean coral reefs to stop growing by 2040, study warns
Most coral reefs in the Caribbean could stop growing, and even start eroding away, by 2040 if global warming continues unchecked, a new study finds. Coral reefs, especially those near shores, protect valuable coastlines from flooding during cyclones and storm surges by breaking up wave energy. For the reefs to continue to act as natural […]
Landmines and violence in Colombian Amazon confine Indigenous Siona families
Siona Indigenous guards in southern Colombia are raising alarm that landmines and armed groups are cutting off their families from natural resources and trapping them in small portions of their territory. It’s been an ongoing problem for decades, Mongabay contributor Jose Guarnizo reported. In August 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expanded its […]
Pet sharks have become cool, but is owning them ethical?
- Owning a shark and keeping it in a home aquarium has become cool — and it’s no longer just the province of tech bros and celebrities.
- But experts note that most home aquariums are inadequate and can lead to stunted growth, deformities and early death.
- Yet sharks are often easy to buy, with some selling for as little as $90 online; zebra sharks (Stegostoma tigrinum), which are endangered, go for around $6,000.
Funding is needed to save Samoa’s ‘little dodo’ from extinction (commentary)
- Since 2014, Samoa’s “little dodo” has been listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List: related to the extinct dodo, an adult manumea, as it’s called locally, has not been photographed well in the wild, and its song has rarely been recorded.
- But an underfunded conservation effort led by the Samoa Conservation Society and the nation’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) could still snatch this fascinating species from the extinction list, a new commentary argues.
- “In my view, a large-scale, multiyear forest conservation project funded by the Global Environment Facility and led by the MNRE is essential,” the author writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Mass vulture poisonings expose need for cross-border action in Southern Africa
- A cluster of mass vulture poisonings in May and June 2025 has drawn attention to an ongoing problem in the transfrontier conservation area that straddles South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
- The field response to the poisonings involved teams of veterinarians, rapid response teams, and stepped-up monitoring of the area, saving the lives of more than 80 vultures.
- The series of incidents triggered meetings involving South Africa National Parks, conservation NGOs and other authorities to assess where systems were lacking and could be improved.
- Experts say national strategies to address poisoning and strengthen vulture conservation need to be complemented by regional action.
New conservation area protects 53% of carbon in northern Peruvian Amazon
- Peru’s government has established the Medio Putumayo Algodón Regional Conservation Area in the Loreto region of the Amazon Rainforest.
- This new protected area holds 53% of Peru’s carbon stock, which will be conserved by preventing deforestation in the region.
- The regional conservation area covers more than 283,000 hectares of primary rainforest along the Putumayo River, which links Peru and Colombia.
- The area will benefit 16 Indigenous communities, including the Murui (Huitoto), Yagua, Ocaina, Kukama Kukamiria, Kichwa, Maijuna and Bora peoples.
In Guatemala, young Kaqchikel Maya protect their sacred forest with open mapping
- The Indigenous community of San José Poaquil is using technology to monitor the health and integrity of their ancestral forest.
- As a result of an open mapping project started in 2022, locals have created online maps for their forest, which have allowed them to keep track of wildfires, deforestation and other illicit activities that threaten the area.
- The Kaqchikel Maya have long fought to own the title of their communal forest, which was finally granted by the Constitutional Court in 2016, yet tensions persist.
- The community has obtained payments for the ecosystem services they provide through forest monitoring and restoration; these will allow them to further invest in protecting their territory.
Mozambican reserve harbors largest documented breeding population of rare falcon
- A new study estimates Niassa Special Reserve in Mozambique hosts 68–76 breeding pairs of Taita falcons, likely the world’s biggest population of the rare raptor.
- Niassa’s granite inselbergs provide hunting advantages over larger falcons, allowing the Taitas to thrive.
- Woodland clearance, charcoal production, agriculture and domestic fowl could shift the balance in favor of peregrines and lanners, but conservation measures and the resilience of miombo woodlands offer hope.
- Once-healthy populations in South Africa and Zimbabwe have collapsed, underscoring Niassa’s importance for the species’ survival.
24 years on, part one of WTO treaty curbing fisheries subsidies takes effect
- The first part of the WTO’s treaty banning harmful fisheries subsidies, known as Fish One, entered into force Sept. 15 after more than two decades of negotiation and three years of ratification.
- It bans subsidies for IUU fishing and exploitation of overfished stocks while requiring parties to the treaty to disclose detailed data on fleets, catches and subsidy programs.
- Yet it allows certain subsidies to persist; for instance, for fishers targeting unassessed fish stocks or “managed” overfished stocks.
- The treaty will lapse in four years if no follow-up “Fish Two” deal can be reached, but negotiations remain stalled.
With global rules pending, can the shipping industry get more carbon efficient?
- The European Union and the International Maritime Organization have advanced shipping decarbonization regulations that will raise the price of maritime fuels.
- The push could lead to increased use of efficiency measures that reduce how much fuel vessels need in the first place.
- Such measures include everything from adding sails to ships to lubricating or redesigning hulls and optimizing routes or arrival times. These are cheaper and more immediately available than alternative fuels.
- Many associations and companies, particularly in Europe, are working to make efficiency gains as fast as possible.
Growing trees on farms boosts nutrition in rural Malawi
- Malawian households with fruit trees on their farms consumed more vegetables, and each additional tree species increased fruit consumption by 5% over a 10-year study period.
- Trees improve nutrition through direct consumption of fruits, ecosystem services that boost other crop production and potential income from sales, and they provide cooking fuel.
- Despite trees’ benefits, fruit and vegetable intake dropped 42% and 25%, respectively, due to rising food prices, currency devaluation and climate change.
- Researchers recommend including food-producing trees in Africa’s reforestation programs and shifting agricultural policies from focusing solely on staple grains to supporting diverse, nutritious crops.
From shamba to PELIS: Kenyan farmers derive livelihoods from government timber plantations
- Under the Plantation Establishment and Livelihood Improvement Scheme (PELIS), the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) enlists communities living near timber plantations to support replanting of trees in exchange for temporary access to land to grow crops.
- A successor to the widely-criticised “shamba system”, PELIS relies on leaders of community forest associations to curb previous problems such as farmers overstaying on plantation land and and corrupt forest officers allocating large pieces of land to themselves and others.
- KFS is satisfied that the revamped scheme provides a cheap, effective way to restore tree cover, but some environmentalists want further changes to improve the ecological impact of PELIS.
Grassroots community seeds sorghum in eastern Indonesia to adapt to climate change
- In 2022, Ambrosia Ero and Hendrikus Bua Kilok joined forces in Lembata Island to boost locally grown food staples, including persuading a junior high school to plant a field of sorghum on the school estate.
- They helped establish a village organization, Gebetan, which began by documenting nutritious crops grown by past generations of Indigenous farmers on the island. They then conducted outreach to farmers on the resilience of sorghum to drought.
- The grass roots organization has won 84 million rupiah ($5,000) in funding to expand on this work with crops that are better able to withstand the increasingly adverse growing conditions in East Nusa Tenggara province owing to climate change.
The return of the axolotl (cartoon)
Axolotls may enjoy celebrity status among pet owners, but their wild populations have been dealt huge blows by habitat loss, water pollution, invasive species and the pet trade. Now, the success of reintroduction programs in their native ranges in Mexico — where they have tremendous cultural significance — brings new hope for their comeback.
No new record low for Arctic sea ice loss in 2025
- Arctic sea ice hit its 2025 summer minimum without setting a record low on Sept. 10, despite a historically low winter maximum earlier in the year.
- Scientists say sea ice loss has slowed over the past 20 years due to natural variability in atmospheric and ocean systems, counterbalancing the impacts from human-caused climate change.
- However, researchers warn that this slowdown likely offers only a temporary reprieve, and that the continued escalation of global warming could cause rapid sea ice loss before 2050.
- The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center for the first time switched to using Japanese sea ice data after losing access to key U.S. military satellite data, which had allowed for a continuous Arctic sea ice record since 1979.
Warming triggers unprecedented carbon loss from tropical soils, study finds
- Tropical forests exchange more CO2 with the atmosphere than any other terrestrial biome, meaning that even a relatively small shift in the balance of carbon uptake and release there could have a big impact on global climate. Despite this, research on tropical soil responses to warming has lagged behind.
- In a field experiment in Puerto Rico, researchers used infrared heaters to warm understory plants and topsoil by 4° Celsius. Warming significantly increased soil carbon emissions, but terrain also had a major impact: A warmed plot at the top of a slope showed an unprecedented 204% increase in CO2 emissions after one year.
- Carbon emissions from plots lower on the slope increased between 42% and 59% in response to warming — in line with the results from the only other long-term tropical soil warming experiment to date. However, the upper-slope response represents the largest change in any soil warming experiment conducted globally.
- The new study results add to a growing body of evidence that tropical soils are far more sensitive to warming than previously thought. If elevated tropical soil CO2 releases persist in the long term, it could have dire consequences for Earth’s climate. But the soil biome may adjust over time, so future effects remain unclear.
How journalism helps turn information into outcomes
- Journalism acts as a catalyst, not by writing laws or planting trees, but by making hidden issues visible, shifting incentives, and protecting those on the frontlines. Cases in Gabon, Sabah, and Peru show how facts, once public, can alter decisions and outcomes.
- Modern reporting uses tools beyond notebooks—AI, maps, and data—to turn diffuse harms into patterns others can act on. Whether exposing illegal airstrips in the Amazon or tracing deforestation in Paraguay’s leather supply chain, information becomes infrastructure for accountability.
- Impact depends on trust and distribution. Solutions journalism offers usable models rather than despair, and publishing in multiple languages or formats ensures the right people see it. The result is quiet but powerful: small course corrections across systems that together change direction.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Wild horses return to Spain’s Iberian highlands after 10,000 years
For the first time in more than 10,000 years, wild horses once again roam Spain’s northwestern highlands. The 35 horses introduced by Rewilding Spain are bringing renewed resilience to the land, Mongabay senior editor Jeremy Hance reported. In 2023, an initial 16 Przewalski’s horses (Equus ferus przewalskii), the world’s last fully wild horse, were introduced […]
Poisoning crisis could drive vulture extinction in South Africa’s Kruger region
- More than 400 vultures died in a spate of poisoning events in and near South Africa’s Kruger National Park in May and June this year.
- André Botha, co-chair of the Vulture Specialist Group at the IUCN, says more than 2,000 vultures have been poisoned in the wider Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) since 2015, and other raptors and predators have also died.
- Observers have noted an increase in hunting and snaring of species such as impala for the bushmeat trade, with poachers frequently leaving poison-laced carcasses behind to deliberately kill carnivores or vultures.
- Botha and others stress that urgent action is needed to rein in poisoning and wildlife crime in the GLTFCA, particularly preventative engagement with communities.
A nest with a chick brings rare hope for hooded vultures in South Africa
In rare good news for vultures in Africa, conservationists have confirmed the first-ever nest of a hooded vulture containing a chick in KwaZulu-Natal, a province in southeast South Africa. That marks the southernmost recorded nesting site of the critically endangered vulture species, according to KwaZulu-Natal-based nonprofit Wildlife ACT. “It gives us as conservationists some new […]
How AI helps conservationists better understand and protect giraffes
- Scientists have deployed artificial intelligence models to identify and re-identify endangered giraffes in Tanzania.
- The Wild Nature Institute partnered with Microsoft’s AI For Good Lab to launch Project GIRAFFE which uses open-source AI tools to identify and re-identify individual giraffes based on spot patterns on their bodies.
- The data has helped scientists come up with estimates on survival and reproduction rates, movements, and behavior of the animals.
An ancient Indigenous civilization endures beneath an Amazon urban soy hub
- Ocara-Açu, a vast precolonial Amazon settlement, underlies the modern-day city of Santarém in Brazil, once serving as the core of a regional network that may have housed up to 60,000 people before the invasion of Europeans.
- Occasionally, Santarém’s rich Indigenous heritage surfaces through the cracks in the urban concrete, although archaeological sites have disappeared as a result of urban expansion, agriculture, and the construction of a soy terminal by commodities giant Cargill.
- Archaeological discoveries in the Santarém region challenge the long-held belief that the Amazon was too harsh to sustain large, complex human cultures, revealing a radically different urban paradigm.
Women-led patrols and fire prevention restore forests in northern Thailand
- Each year, northern Thailand struggles with choking haze caused by crop burning and forest fires, taking a severe toll on human health.
- Over the past two decades, a group of women in Lampang province have taken action to improve their local environment and curb sources of haze by restoring their local community forest.
- Their bold approach to fire prevention — combining regular patrols, check dams and fire breaks, as well as an innovative wildfire alert system — has earned them a reputation as a regional model for other communities.
- Now thriving, the community forest also yields wild mushrooms, leafy vegetables and other marketable produce that support local livelihoods.
Meet the DJs of nature, inspired by biodiversity
- Technology has allowed electronic music artists endless possibilities for mixing and creating sounds.
- Some of these artists draw inspiration from nature and biodiversity, incorporating birdsong, rainforest soundscapes and the sounds of plant and animal species into their work.
- From Frankfurt, Germany, to the Peruvian Amazon, musicians are creating music that raises awareness about the beauty of biodiversity and how it is nowadays threatened.
Ani Dasgupta watched wetlands tame floods in Kigali. He believes nature is infrastructure we can fund.
- Ani Dasgupta’s path runs from Delhi’s slums to the World Bank and now WRI, where he argues climate, nature, and development must move together. His leadership emphasizes moral purpose, trust, and “orchestration” that links funders, governments, NGOs, and communities to turn knowledge into action.
- He points to pragmatic models: post-tsunami Aceh’s collaborative rebuild, a Kenyan macadamia venture restoring land while raising incomes with Terrafund’s early support, and Kigali’s wetland revival culminating in Nyandungu Park. These show nature-based solutions can cut risk and create jobs, yet financing remains the bottleneck despite WRI’s estimate that $1 in adaptation yields $10 in benefits over a decade.
- Technology is a means, not a cure-all: radar-powered RADD alerts, Global Forest Watch, and WRI’s Land & Carbon Lab aim to democratize environmental intelligence, with AI lowering entry barriers. Evidence like Indigenous monitoring in Peru halving deforestation underpins his measured optimism that systems can bend if collaboration is real and benefits are visible.
- Dasgupta was interviewed by Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in September 2025.
Beavers restored to tribal lands in California benefit ecosystems
- In 2023, California relocated beavers for the first time in more than seven decades.
- The state’s wildlife agency partnered with Native American tribes to move beavers from places where they were causing problems, such as flooding, to parts of their former range.
- The moves and the state’s broader beaver restoration program are the result of decades of advocacy to change an adversarial relationship to one focused on beaver conservation and the benefits beavers can provide, from increased fire resilience to more consistent water supplies.
- The change in mindset involved education and coexistence campaigns, as well as correcting long-held misconceptions about the limited extent of the beaver’s former range in California.
Uruguay’s green hydrogen plans raise ecological concerns in Argentina & at home
- Communities in the Argentinian town of Colón worry that an upcoming major green hydrogen project on the Uruguay River will affect local ecosystems, as well as local tourism.
- The Paysandú e-fuels facility is one of Uruguay’s major hydrogen projects, as the country is pushing to further decarbonize its economy and boost hydrogen exports. The plant will produce green hydrogen using renewable energy to then produce e-methanol for exporting.
- Argentinian activists fear potential pollution from the plant and criticize the project for lack of transparency over its environmental impacts. Opposition is also growing on the Uruguayan side of the river.
- Another green hydrogen project in the town of Tambores is also being denounced for its impact on water resources, as the plant will withdraw large amounts of water from some of the country’s largest aquifers.
Conservationists oppose Peru’s plans to build prison in sensitive ecosystem
- A high-security prison planned on El Frontón Island, off the coast of Lima, Peru, would interfere with the movement of threatened marine species, experts say.
- The project is part of a larger government plan to address overcrowding and organized crime in the country’s prison system.
- The planned island prison will cover 5.7 hectares out of El Frontón’s total area of 100 hectares (14 out of 250 acres) and house approximately 2,000 inmates.
- Conservationists have called for a formal environmental impact assessment for the project, citing multiple threatened species in the greater Humboldt Current ecosystem where the island sits.
Madagascar’s dry forests need attention, and Verreaux’s sifakas could help
- Western Madagascar is home to some of the country’s poorest communities and its most endangered wildlife, presenting intertwined challenges for conservation.
- The region’s characteristic dry forests have been badly damaged by clearing of land for shifting agriculture — and for mining, plantations and timber harvesting — over the past 50 years: Across Madagascar, nearly 60% of dry forest species are classed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
- NGO leaders, scientists and government representatives are forming a dry forest alliance to better coordinate efforts to protect this valuable biome.
- Among the new alliance’s first actions was pushing for the inclusion of the critically-endangered Verreaux’s sifaka on the latest list of the World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates, which alliance members hope will attract greater attention to this primate’s threatened habitat.
Australia approves the world’s first chlamydia vaccine for koalas
Australia’s veterinary medicine regulator has approved a vaccine to protect koalas from chlamydia, one of the leading causes of koala infertility and death. Researchers found the single-dose vaccine reduced mortality in wild koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) by at least 65%. In some cases, it even reversed existing symptoms in koalas that were already infected. “Koalas are […]
Hyped reports of soaring Sri Lanka elephant deaths don’t match data
Claims of a spike in elephant deaths in Sri Lanka this year — amplified by social media and public officials — don’t add up, reports Mongabay contributor Malaka Rodrigo. In fact, analysis of the existing data shows a slight decrease from recent years. The claims are fueled by several headline-grabbing elephant deaths in Sri Lanka […]
How to smuggle a wild Galápagos iguana? Pretend it was bred in Africa
At least 60 wild iguanas have been captured, sold and exported from the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador under permits that shouldn’t have been recognized since Ecuador doesn’t allow the export of live iguanas, Mongabay’s Ana Cristina Alvarado reported. Researchers behind a recent study found that traffickers smuggle the iguanas out of the archipelago, then declare […]
Overcrowding threatens sustainability of jaguar ecotourism in Brazil’s Pantanal
The Brazilian Pantanal is the world’s largest wetland and home to the highest density of jaguars anywhere. Thousands of tourists arrive every year to see the animals in their natural habitat But the boom in tourism has created new problems, Mongabay contributor Francesco Schneider-Eicke reported from Porto Jofre, a jaguar hotspot in the northern Pantanal. […]
The carbon market paradox: Steve Zwick on why financing forests is more complicated than it looks
- Steve Zwick’s career has traced the intersection of climate, finance, and media, from Chicago trading pits to international business reporting, Deutsche Welle, Ecosystem Marketplace, and now his Bionic Planet podcast and Carbon Paradox, where he focuses on clarifying the complexities of carbon markets and REDD+.
- He emphasizes that carbon markets are built on probabilities, not certainties, and criticizes both media and advocacy for flattening nuance into oversimplified verdicts. For him, methods evolve through revision, guardrails, and conservative accounting, with avoidance of deforestation often delivering the greatest climate impact.
- Zwick frames forest carbon as payment for services protecting a global commons, not charity, and insists that best practice must be community-led. He warns that skewed scrutiny and polarized narratives risk sidelining a tool that, while imperfect, can mobilize resources quickly until deeper emissions cuts take hold.
- Zwick was interview by Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in September 2025.
Finding optimism
Since publishing my piece on optimism in conservation, I’ve heard from many who are finding it tough. I’m not an expert, but here are ideas that might help in the right situation. There’s a longer version of this piece here. Treat optimism as a method, not a mood. Narrow the frame, pick levers you […]
Forests on Indigenous lands help protect health in the Amazon
Healthy forests are more than climate shields; in the Amazon, they also serve as public-health infrastructure. A Communications Earth & Environment study spanning two decades across the biome links the extent and legal status of Indigenous Territories to 27 respiratory, cardiovascular, and zoonotic or vector-borne diseases. The findings are complex, but one pattern is clear: […]
Countries shorten tuna fishing closure at Pacific summit with few conservation ‘wins’
- The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), a multilateral body that manages tuna and other fish stocks in the Eastern Pacific, held its annual meeting Sept. 1-5 in Panama.
- Commission members agreed to shorten an annual fishing closure from 72 days to 64 days, which was in keeping with recommendations from the IATTC’s scientific committee.
- The members also agreed to move toward adoption, in 2026, of a long-term harvest strategy for bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus).
- They didn’t adopt proposals to increase monitoring of longline tuna vessels and strengthen shark protection measures, due to resistance from East Asian members.
Indonesia reopens Raja Ampat nickel mine despite reef damage concerns
- Indonesia has allowed state-owned PT Gag Nikel to resume mining operations on Gag Island in Raja Ampat, despite a ban on mining small islands and a previous suspension imposed in June.
- A 2024 survey commissioned by Gag Nikel reported widespread community complaints of dust, health issues, sedimentation, and coral damage from barges — contradicting the government’s claims of minimal impact.
- NGOs say the “green” rating cited by the government to justify the resumption masks real destruction in Raja Ampat, one of the world’s richest marine ecosystems, and note the government has revoked other mining concessions in the area for similar impacts but not Gag Nikel’s.
- More than 60,000 people have signed a Greenpeace petition opposing mining in Raja Ampat, warning sedimentation could destroy coral reefs and threaten local livelihoods even as the nickel feeds Indonesia’s EV battery supply chain.
Conservationists split over greener ranching versus ditching beef
Beef production is a major driver of climate change. It fuels deforestation in crucial biomes, a significant source of carbon emissions, and cows themselves produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Regenerative ranching practices aim to reduce the environmental and climate impacts of rearing cattle, but some conservation groups say a pivot away from beef is […]
On World Dolphin Day, spotlight falls on threats to dolphins worldwide
September 12 is World Dolphin Day. Marine conservation and advocacy nonprofit Sea Shepherd created the day in 2022 to remember that dolphins, among the most intelligent animals on Earth, are under threat and need protection. That date, Sept. 12, was chosen to memorialize the massacre of 1,428 Atlantic white-sided dolphins (Leucopleurus acutus) on the Faroe […]
Ebony’s uncertain future without elephants
In 2017, when Vincent Deblauwe joined the Congo Basin Institute in Cameroon to study African ebony, he soon realized the fate of the tree lay with another species. Around campfires and during treks, the Indigenous Baka people told him that the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) was key to the survival of African ebony (Diospyros crassiflora). […]
Photos: Indigenous elders push for comeback of the revered Philippine crocodile
- The critically endangered Philippine crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis) embodies strength and protective spirits for Indigenous Agta elders who are involved in efforts to rebrand the image of the predator.
- Thanks to conservation efforts led by the Mabuwaya Foundation in partnership with local and Indigenous communities, the wild crocodile population in a region of the northern Philippines increased from one adult in 1999 to 125 individuals by 2024.
- Community sanctuary guards, known as Bantay Sanktuwaryo, play a significant role in safeguarding the crocodiles and their habitat despite ongoing challenges posed by illegal fishing, agricultural encroachment and inadequate law enforcement.
- Conservationists warn that without stable funding and stronger government support, even successful grassroots efforts may not ensure the species’ long-term survival.
Park guardians or destroyers? Study dissects 2 narratives of DRC’s Indigenous Batwa
- A recent study looks at two polarized characterizations of Indigenous people in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo: forest guardians vs. forest destroyers.
- The two narratives are rooted in colonial perspectives on the Batwa people who had lived inside the park until they were evicted in the 20th century; today, some Batwa populations have returned in an effort to try to rebuild their lives.
- Tensions remain between Batwa members who say they have faced broken promises and insufficient support from park management, but the park management team says it prioritizes Indigenous rights and efforts to improve livelihoods; meanwhile, the situation on the ground is changing amid renewed M23 rebel violence.
- Researchers say the overall situation is much more nuanced than the two narratives of forest guardians vs. destroyers allow for.
Largest turtle nest in the world revealed in drone study
Scientists studying the world’s largest river turtles, a South American species that grows to a length of nearly a meter, or 3 feet, have found the largest nesting aggregation ever recorded. Using drones to conduct a population survey in the western Brazilian Amazon, researchers recorded a nesting area of the endangered giant South American river […]
Experimental ocean climate fixes move ahead without regulation
Experimental climate interventions in the world’s oceans are moving ahead in a regulatory vacuum, raising concerns among scientists about potential risks, Mongabay staff writer Edward Carver reported. The projects, known as marine-climate interventions, aim to tackle global warming or help people and ocean life adapt to climate change. But a group of 24 researchers warned […]
An indestructible invasive anemone threatens Chilean Patagonia’s seas
- Native to the northern hemisphere, plumose anemones have spread across Chilean Patagonia.
- Scientists estimate that it was likely introduced in the late 20th century via ship ballast water.
- The exotic species occupies the seabed and displaces native communities of shellfish, mollusks and corals.
- The anemone’s presence is associated with a decline in biodiversity, and artisanal fishers are concerned.
The need for success stories in conservation (commentary)
- Optimism is a strategy in conservation—grounded in evidence and small, local wins that build agency and scale.
- Rhett Ayers Butler, the founder and CEO of Mongabay, argues that pairing hard truths with credible success stories counters doom, mobilizes action, and keeps coalitions working.
- Real-world recoveries—mountain gorillas, revived marshes, and leopard shark reintroductions—show how disciplined optimism, sound policy, and community leadership turn concern into measurable results.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
An elusive deer species clings to survival in Sri Lanka’s south
- The hog deer (Axis porcinus), Sri Lanka’s most threatened deer species, is classified as critically endangered in the country and survives only in fragmented habitats in the island’s southwest.
- A year-long survey recorded 306 adults and 22 fawns, showing a modest increase in their numbers, but an array of threats continues to put pressure on the species’ survival.
- Conservationists warn against major threats including attacks by feral dogs and water monitors, road accidents and habitat loss, while garbage dumping alters predator dynamics, adding a fresh threat.
- Debate continues over whether Sri Lanka’s hog deer is native or introduced, with fossil evidence hinting at an ancient presence but some theories indicating colonial-era introductions.
Researchers describe three new-to-science snailfish species off California coast
In 2019, researchers surveying the seafloor off the coast of California came upon three unusual species of small fishes with large heads: one with bumpy pink skin, and the other two both black in color. The team collected the fish using underwater research vehicles and later analyzed their DNA and bodies. Their analysis showed that […]
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