News
Fewer fish and more rules lead to illegal catches, Italian fishers say (26 Apr 2024 15:20:56 +0000)
- The line between legal and illegal fishing in the waters off Italy’s Calabria region is often blurred, with fishers blaming stringent top-down regulations for constricting their traditional practices.
- The issue is further muddied by the presence here of the ‘ndrangheta or Calabrian mafia, which investigations have shown is involved in the fish trade and also uses it as cover for illicit activities such as drug smuggling.
- The Mediterranean Sea is experiencing a decline in fish stocks, ranging from 60-90% depending on the species, with the NGO Sea Shepherd Italia blaming illegal fishing for environmental damage.
It’s tough to be a wild orchid: Interview with conservation biologist Reshu Bashyal (26 Apr 2024 14:36:24 +0000)
- Conservation biologist Reshu Bashyal highlights gaps in Nepal’s implementation of CITES regulations, leading to ineffective protection measures.
- Nepal’s transition to a federal system has brought challenges and opportunities for orchid conservation, with local communities often unaware of conservation needs.
- Protected areas struggle to prioritize plant conservation alongside charismatic megafauna, while road construction further fragments orchid habitats.
- Bashyal emphasizes the importance of raising awareness about the significance of wild plants and updating inventories to guide conservation efforts.
Fishing by dodgy fleets hurts economies, jobs in developing countries: Report (26 Apr 2024 13:13:48 +0000)
- A recent report gauged the economic damage done by fishing fleets with shady track records in five vulnerable countries: Ecuador, Ghana, Peru, the Philippines, and Senegal.
- It found that these fleets’ activities could be costing the five countries 0.26% of their combined GDP, leaving some 30,000 people jobless and pushing around 142,000 deeper into poverty.
- “The report emphasizes that the uncontrolled growth in global fishing has led to overfishing, stressing fish stocks and impacting communities and the oceans’ well-being,” one of the authors told Mongabay.
Wildlife from space: Winners of Satellites for Biodiversity Award named (26 Apr 2024 10:38:27 +0000)
- The winners of the second edition of the Satellites for Biodiversity Award have been announced.
- The winners include conservation initiatives that use satellite data to monitor and protect wildlife such as chimpanzees, bears, wolves and rhinos in South Sudan, Peru, Ethiopia and Nepal respectively.
- The award was launched in December 2022 as a partnership between the Airbus Foundation and U.K.-based nonprofit the Connected Conservation Foundation.
- The winners of the award will be granted access to Airbus’s high-resolution satellites as well as funding and training from the Connected Conservation Foundation.
Etelvina Ramos: From coca farmer to opponent of the illegal crop (26 Apr 2024 10:22:18 +0000)
- Etelvina Ramos’ story encompasses the war in the Colombian Amazon. She grew up alongside coca crops, witnessed several massacres, and was displaced by violence due to the illicit, but profitable, crop.
- Now, at 52 years old, she is fighting to replace coca.
- Etelvina Ramos has a mission that is contrary to the interests of the drug trafficking industry: through her work in the Workers’ Association of Curillo (ASTRACUR), she is seeking the approval of a rural reserve. This would make it possible to close the pathway to coca production and illegal mining.
- Due to her work as an environmental and land defender, she frequently faces threats by illegal armed groups. She admits that she has learned to live with the fear of death.
DRC’s 1 billion trees program makes progress, but hurdles remain (26 Apr 2024 10:10:26 +0000)
- According to the FAO, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) loses 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of forest cover every year due to shifting cultivation, mining and illegal and informal logging.
- As part of addressing this, a Congolese government program aspired to plant 1 billion trees between 2019 and 2023, aiming to strengthen climate resilience, alleviate poverty and protect biodiversity.
- Program officials say they achieved 90% of their target. A forestry specialist says that future reforestation efforts should include feasibility studies, informing tree species selection to maintain ecological balance.
A single gang of poachers may have killed 10% of Javan rhinos since 2019 (26 Apr 2024 04:56:51 +0000)
- A poaching case currently being heard in an Indonesian court has revealed that at least seven Javan rhinos were killed from 2019-2023 for their horns.
- The world’s sole remaining population of Javan rhinos lives in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park, with official population estimates standing at around 70 individuals.
- A single suspect has been arrested and indicted in the case, with three alleged accomplices still at large.
- The revelation from the recent indictment raises questions about security at the park, most of which has been closed off to the public since September 2023 over poaching concerns.
Women weave a culture of resistance and agroecology in Ecuador’s Intag Valley (25 Apr 2024 15:09:57 +0000)
- In Ecuador’s Intag Valley, the women’s artisan collective Mujer y Medio Ambiente (Women and the Environment) has developed an innovative way to dye and stitch fibers from the cabuya plant, an agave-like shrub.
- The women use environmentally friendly techniques, such as natural dyes from native plants and insects, and agroecological farming practices to cultivate cabuya as a complementary crop to their primary harvests.
- Being part of the collective has empowered the women economically and personally, enabling them to contribute to their children’s education, gain autonomy, and become community leaders in the nearly 30-year struggle to keep mining companies out of their forests.
- In March 2023, the community’s resistance paid off when a provincial court recognized that mining companies had violated the communities’ constitutional rights and canceled their permits, setting an important precedent for protecting constitutional and environmental rights in Ecuador.
Latest Peruvian oil spill cuts Indigenous communities from life-giving river (25 Apr 2024 14:42:14 +0000)
- On March 5, a collision between two oil barges in the Peruvian Amazon led to an oil spill in the Puinahua River, near Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, a protected region of rainforest.
- Since the spill, local Indigenous communities, who almost exclusively depend on the river for their livelihoods, have been unable to collect water or fish due to fear of contamination.
- The impacted communities are awaiting compensation for their losses, yet face a deadlock as environmental assessments, which could take weeks, must be conducted first before payments are made.
- The ecological, economic and social impacts of the oil spill have not yet been published; for decades, the Peruvian Amazon has been subjected to hundreds of oil spills and leaks, which experts say have wreaked havoc on the basin.
EU law to reduce deforestation is on a knife’s edge, will leaders act? (commentary) (25 Apr 2024 14:41:41 +0000)
- The landmark law to halt the import of products linked to global deforestation into the European Union is at a crucial stage.
- The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) could stand or fall in the coming days, depending on how the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, acts, and she should listen to the large chorus of corporations — many of whose industries are linked to deforestation — a new op-ed states.
- “It’s not every day that such a broad bench of companies encourages environmental and human rights regulation, and this thousands-strong corporate movement is worth celebrating. Von der Leyen can take heart in knowing she can act courageously for global forest protection, whilst maintaining considerable corporate support.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Navigating the rise in conflicts between humans and fishing cats in Bangladesh (25 Apr 2024 13:18:49 +0000)
- In Bangladesh, rapid village expansion shrinks wetlands, forcing fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) closer to humans. This triggers human-cat conflicts occurring every two weeks, with over half of them ending in a cat’s death.
- The main reason for the killings is fear. Locals often mistake fishing cats for tigers and feel threatened. Social pressure to participate in killings and revenge for livestock losses (often caused by other animals) further fuel the conflicts.
- Despite ongoing threats like infrastructure projects that fragment habitats, some hope exists. Government awareness campaigns and dedicated nongovernmental efforts are educating communities and finding solutions to promote peaceful coexistence with fishing cats.
IKEA blamed for Romanian forest destruction (25 Apr 2024 13:09:50 +0000)
- IKEA is facing scrutiny over its wood sourcing practices after two damning reports linked the furniture giant to destructive logging in some of Europe’s last ancient forests.
- The investigations by Greenpeace and fellow environmental groups Agent Green and the Bruno Manser Fonds focus on IKEA’s procurement of wood from ecologically sensitive areas in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains.
- Inter IKEA Group, the franchisor responsible for the IKEA supply chain, and Ingka told Mongabay they “strongly disagree” with the findings and that the operations complied with national and European laws.
Outdated infrastructure and oil spills: the cases of Colombia, Peru and Ecuador (25 Apr 2024 10:56:05 +0000)
- Outdated oil pipelines built by foreign companies in the Andean Amazon have repeatedly put at risk ecosystems and Indigenous communities in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, exposing them to oil spills and wide-scale contamination.
- Unlike modern extractive infrastructure, those pipelines are built on the surface, making them vulnerable to the elements, accidents and sabotage. For example, in Putumayo, Colombia, oil infrastructure was attacked more than 1,000 times between 1986 and 2015, triggering at least 160 oil spills.
- Highly dependent on oil revenues, governments in the region are unlikely to give up on the income provided by the old pipelines in order to remedy environmental impacts that affect a small percentage of their population.
Human rights allegations prompt World Bank to freeze project’s funds in Tanzania (25 Apr 2024 10:14:30 +0000)
- Nine months after its Inspection Panel registered allegations of gross human rights violations linked to a $150 million project in southern Tanzania, the World Bank has suspended further payments.
- People living near one of the project sites, Ruaha National Park, accuse rangers of killings, sexual assault and livestock seizures as well as preventing farmers from accessing their land in connection with a project aimed at improving management and infrastructure at the park.
- The government has also announced plans to expand the park’s boundaries, a move that residents say will mean 21,000 people will be forcibly resettled.
- The bank has sent a high-level delegation to Tanzania to look into the allegations; a separate investigation into whether the financial institution has failed to monitor and act on violations of its social and environmental policies is ongoing.
Liberia puts a wartime logger in charge of its forests (25 Apr 2024 09:15:22 +0000)
- In February, Liberia’s newly inaugurated president, Joseph Boakai, appointed timber lobbyist Rudolph Merab to head the country’s Forestry Development Authority.
- Merab has been a fixture in Liberia’s logging industry for decades, and was the co-owner of a company that operated on the Sierra Leonean border during the region’s civil wars.
- Environmental advocates describe Merab as an opponent of community forestry and donor-driven conservation projects.
- Merab’s predecessor as head of the Forestry Development Authority, Mike Doryen, was controversial, with the FDA marred by allegations of corruption and mismanagement under his watch.
Indigenous community fights to save its lands on Indonesia’s historic tin island (25 Apr 2024 04:40:52 +0000)
- The Lanun Indigenous community of Indonesia’s Belitung Island have responded to increasing environmental damage by building their capacity in skills such as advocacy and mediation.
- At issue is the growth in illegal mining and forest clearing by the plantation industry on land that the Lanun consider to have long been theirs.
- In 2021, UNESCO announced this area of Indonesia would become an international geopark, which required joint applications by government and local communities to conserve a landscape of global significance.
U.S. East Coast adopts ‘living shorelines’ approach to keep rising seas at bay (24 Apr 2024 16:32:16 +0000)
- Along the U.S. East Coast, communities are grappling with the dual destructive forces of rising sea levels and stronger storms pushed by climate change, resulting in effects ranging from ‘ghost forests’ of saltwater-killed coastal trees in the Carolinas, to inundations of New York City’s subway system.
- While the usual response has been to build higher seawalls and other concrete or rock structures, a natural approach that aims to protect coastal areas with natural assets that also create habitat and are generally cheaper and less carbon intensive — ‘living shorelines’ — is increasingly taking hold.
- State agencies and landowners alike are shoring up the shore with innovative combinations of locally sourced logs, rocks and native plants and shrubs to protect homes, dunes and beaches.
- In Maine, where a trio of powerful winter storms recently pummeled the coast, living shorelines designers are in growing demand.
Deforestation haunts top Peruvian reserve and its Indigenous communities (24 Apr 2024 16:01:01 +0000)
- Peru’s Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, considered one of the best-protected nature reserves in the world, has seen a spike in deforestation on its fringes from the expansion of illegal coca cultivation and mining, and new road construction.
- The forest loss appears to be affecting the ancestral lands of several Indigenous communities, including the Harakbut, Yine and Matsiguenka peoples, according to a new report by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP).
- The report found that 19,978 hectares (49,367 acres) of forest have been cleared in the buffer of the reserve over the past two decades.
- According to Indigenous leaders, the state is doing “practically nothing” to address deforestation drivers in the buffer zone, and they warn that if left unchecked, the activity will spread into the protected area itself.
Global study maps most detailed tree of life yet for flowering plants (24 Apr 2024 15:34:12 +0000)
- A new study unveils the most comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary history of flowering plants to date.
- The research analyzed 1.8 billion letters of genetic code from more than 9,500 species, clearing up some of the mystery surrounding the rapid rise of flowering plants.
- Some data came from dried and preserved specimens from herbarium collections that are nearly 200 years old.
- To ensure the widest possible use of this data, the tree and all its underlying data have been made openly and freely accessible to all.
Tribes turn to the U.N. as major wind project plans to cut through their lands in the U.S. (24 Apr 2024 15:26:26 +0000)
- Last week a United States federal judge rejected a request from Indigenous nations to stop SunZia, a $10 billion dollar wind transmission project that would cut through traditional tribal lands in southwestern Arizona.
- Indigenous leaders and advocates are turning to the U.N. to intervene and are calling for a moratorium on green energy projects for all U.N. entities “until the rights of Indigenous peoples are respected and recognized.”
- Indigenous leaders say they are not in opposition to renewable energy projects, but rather projects that don’t go through the due process and attend their free, prior and informed consent.
- According to the company, the wind transmission project is the largest clean energy infrastructure initiative in U.S. history, and will provide power to 3 million Americans, stretching from New Mexico to as far as California.
All aboard Tren Maya: Here’s what we found riding Mexico’s controversial railway (24 Apr 2024 14:00:08 +0000)
- Mongabay sent a team to the Yucatán Peninsula to ride the Tren Maya, a multibillion-dollar train that’s become controversial for its environmental impacts.
- Reporter Maxwell Radwin and videographer Caitlin Cooper set out to ride the train from Cancún toward Palenque and back, with a stop in Playa del Carmen.
- On their journey, they looked for evidence of deforestation, the relocation of local and Indigenous communities, and the pollution of waterbodies — all part of multiple injunctions filed by communities and activist groups.
- In addition to deforestation, one of the major concerns is that pilings under line 5 are penetrating cave systems along the Caribbean coast, threatening freshwater and subterranean habitats.
Forest officer’s killing highlights Bangladesh authorities’ waning power (24 Apr 2024 09:01:59 +0000)
- The recent killing of a forest officer by illegal quarriers in Bangladesh has raised questions about the effectiveness of law enforcement amid intensifying encroachment into protected forests.
- Sajjaduzzaman, 30, was struck by the quarriers’ truck after confronting them for digging up a hillside in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar.
- Attacks on forest officers by people illegally logging, quarrying, hunting or carrying out other forms of natural resource extraction are a long-running problem, with around 140 officers attacked over the past five years.
- Experts have called for a more coordinated approach from various government law enforcement agencies to support the Forest Department in keeping encroachers out of protected areas.
Afro-Brazilian communities fight a rain of pesticides & the company behind it (24 Apr 2024 00:16:08 +0000)
- Quilombola communities in the Sapê do Norte region of Brazil’s Espírito Santo state have been reporting toxic crop dusting by pulp and paper company Suzano on its eucalyptus plantations.
- Inhabitants speak of damage to their gardens, dried-up water sources, dead fish and diseases.
- The use of aerial pesticide application has been prohibited in the EU since 2009; in Brazil, the number of people affected by the practice increased by 86% between 2021 and 2022.
Consent and costs are key questions on extraction of ‘energy transition’ minerals (23 Apr 2024 22:41:03 +0000)
- The many environmental, social, and health impacts of extracting minerals that power renewable energy, mobile phones and electric vehicles need more debate and detailed media coverage, an Indigenous rights activist and journalist say on the podcast.
- Mongabay speaks with Galina Angarova, Indigenous executive director of the SIRGE Coalition, and environmental journalist Ian Morse about critical questions to ask about the demand for certain minerals and who benefits from their extraction.
- Research indicates as much as 54% of all transition minerals are on or near Indigenous land, however, no nation has properly implemented the protocols of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), a framework that’s key to ensuring that local communities are aware of, benefit from – and especially are not harmed by – such activities.
- The risk of global supply chain disruptions due to the concentration of minerals in relatively few countries, or the potential formation of cartels restricting their supply, adds further complexity to the situation, the two podcast guests say.
Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters (23 Apr 2024 16:55:34 +0000)
- Many of India’s more than 4 million fishers are sailing beyond the country’s exclusive economic zone into the high seas in search of a better catch.
- Rising sea surface temperatures, overfishing near the shore, and the destruction of reefs have decimated nearshore fisheries, forcing India’s fishers farther out to sea where they face greater risk.
- A common danger they run is straying into the waters of another country, which can lead to their boats being seized and the crew being jailed or even killed.
- The Indian government has issued policies to protect and recover nearshore fish stocks, even as it encourages fishing in the high seas.
Ecuador’s first Indigenous guard led by Kichwa women: Interview with María José Andrade Cerda (23 Apr 2024 16:03:54 +0000)
- In 2020, over 40 Kichwa women began organizing themselves to defend their territory and expel mining from the Ecuadorian Amazon. This is how Yuturi Warmi, the first Indigenous guard led by women in the region, began.
- María José Andrade Cerda, one of the leaders of Yuturi Warmi, explains that Indigenous women have an integral vision for territorial defense. Accordingly, Yuturi Warmi’s work includes not only physically guarding and overseeing their territory but also the defense of their culture, ancestrality, language, education, and health.
- In May 2023, María José Andrade Cerda spoke with Mongabay Latam about how they organize themselves and the challenges that women face when defending their territory.
Nepal’s tigers & prey need better grassland management: Interview with Shyam Thapa (23 Apr 2024 13:09:05 +0000)
- Researcher Shyam Thapa, who recently completed his Ph.D. in ecology, highlights flaws in traditional grassland management methods, particularly in Bardiya National Park.
- Thapa’s findings suggest the need for improved grassland management to enhance the health and numbers of tiger prey species.
- He emphasizes the importance of tailored management approaches based on grassland functionality.
- Implementing his study’s recommendations could potentially increase herbivore numbers in tiger habitats, reducing human-wildlife conflicts, Thapa says.
Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests (23 Apr 2024 07:00:09 +0000)
- The number of fires shows no signs of easing as Brazil’s Roraima faces unprecedented blazes, and several Amazonian countries, including Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela, registered record-high outbreaks in the first quarter this year.
- Fire outbreaks in primary (old-growth) forest in Brazil’s Amazon soared by 152% in 2023, according to a recent study, rising from 13,477 in 2022 to 34,012 in 2023.
- Fires in the mature forest regions are the leading drivers of degradation of the Amazon Rainforest because the biome hasn’t evolved to adapt to such blazes, according to the researchers.
- The fires are a result of a drought that has been fueled by climate change and worsened by natural weather phenomena, such as El Niño, which has intensified dry conditions already aggravated by high temperatures across the world, experts say.
Activists file last-gasp suit as Indonesia fails again to pass Indigenous bill (23 Apr 2024 06:08:55 +0000)
- Lawyers for Indonesia’s main Indigenous alliance have initiated legal proceedings against the government for its failure to pass a long-awaited bill on Indigenous rights.
- The suit seeks to compel Indonesia’s parliament to expedite passage of the bill, which has remained deadlocked for more than a decade amid intransigence by elected representatives.
- “It still needs to be discussed,” a senior parliamentarian from the Golkar party said earlier this month.
- However, few expect any progress over the next few months, with a new parliament to be sworn in on Oct. 1 and a new president on Oct. 20.
Bioplastics as toxic as regular plastics; both need regulation, say researchers (22 Apr 2024 19:57:50 +0000)
- Emerging research shows that plant-based plastics — just like petroleum-based plastics — contain many thousands of synthetic chemicals, with large numbers of them extremely toxic. However, the bioplastics industry strongly denies that bio-based plastics contain hazardous substances.
- Scientists are finding that while plant sources for bioplastics, such as corn or cane sugar, may not themselves be toxic or have adverse health impacts, the chemical processes to manufacture bioplastics and the many performance additives needed to give them their attributes (hardness, flexibility, color, etc.) can be quite toxic.
- Those doing the research no longer see bioplastics as a solution to the global plastic pollution crisis and would like to see them regulated. However, a very large number of petroleum-based plastics and the chemicals they contain also lack tough government oversight.
- This week, representatives from the world’s nations gather for a fourth session to hammer out an international treaty to curb the global plastic pollution crisis. The High Ambition Coalition (including 65 countries) hopes to achieve a binding global ban on the worst toxins in plastics. But the U.S., China and other nations are resisting.
No protection from bottom trawling for seamount chain in northern Pacific (22 Apr 2024 18:56:58 +0000)
- A recent meeting of the intergovernmental body that manages fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean failed to confer new protections for the Emperor Seamount Chain, a massive and richly biodiverse set of underwater mountains south of the Aleutian Islands.
- Bottom trawlers plied the Emperors aggressively in the past, decimating deep-sea coral communities and fish stocks.
- A proposal by the U.S. and Canadian delegations at the meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) would have temporarily paused the limited trawling that continues there today, but failed to reach a vote.
- The NPFC did pass a separate proposal to regulate fishing of the Pacific saury (Cololabis saira), a severely depleted silvery fish that Japanese people traditionally eat in the fall.
Uttarakhand limits agricultural land sales amid protests & tourism development (22 Apr 2024 18:14:38 +0000)
- Following widespread protests, Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has issued orders to district magistrates to deny permission to sell agricultural lands to those outside the state.
- With just 14% of its land designated for agriculture and more than 65% of the population relying on agriculture, calls for legislation to safeguard residents’ land rights have intensified.
- With a lack of comprehensive, updated land records, monitoring the usage of farmlands for nonagricultural purposes has become challenging.
- Lack of employment opportunities and resources as well as shifting weather patterns and climate change have pushed numerous farmers to sell their land holdings.
A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon (22 Apr 2024 15:00:36 +0000)
- A paper trail left by a notorious land grabber reveals how he used relatives and an employee as fronts to evade environmental fines and lawsuits, shedding light on this widespread practice in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Fronts prevent the real criminals from having their assets seized to pay for environmental fines, besides consuming time and resources from the authorities, who spend years trying to prove who the real financier of the deforestation is.
- Experts say it’s best to go after environmental offenders where it hurts the most, by seizing their assets, rather than to chase down their true identity.
- This investigation is part of a partnership between Mongabay and Repórter Brasil.
Mexico’s avocado industry harms monarch butterflies, will U.S. officials act? (commentary) (22 Apr 2024 14:15:40 +0000)
- Every winter, monarch butterflies from across eastern North America migrate to the mountain forests in Mexico, but those forests are threatened by the rapidly expanding avocado industry.
- Avocado production in Mexico is tied to deforestation, water hoarding and violence, and much of the resulting crop is exported to the U.S.
- Conservation groups are urging the U.S. State Department, USDA and USTR to ban imports of avocados from recently deforested lands in Mexico.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Bangladesh uses satellite transmitters on saltwater crocodiles in Asia’s first (22 Apr 2024 12:59:34 +0000)
- On March 13, the Bangladesh forest department tagged satellite transmitters on two saltwater crocodiles for the first time in Asia and released them in the Sundarbans waters.
- So far, four saltwater crocodiles — three from captivity and one from the wild — have been tagged and the preparation is in place to tag more.
- The forest department has already started collecting data using the satellite transmitters to understand the crocodile’s habits in this ecosystem and identify nesting its hotspots, ecology, mortality rate and habitat range.
- Experts say the satellite data will play an important role in crocodile conservation in Bangladesh, where the species is critically endangered, and will help the authorities make proper conservation management plans to protect it.
Study challenges use of charismatic wildlife as umbrella species for conservation (20 Apr 2024 01:08:09 +0000)
- A new study from Indonesia’s Leuser forests challenges the traditional use of charismatic “umbrella species” like tigers and rhinos to represent ecosystem biodiversity.
- Researchers found that focusing on these well-known species neglects other important wildlife and may not accurately represent overall biodiversity.
- Instead, the study proposes a data-driven approach using camera-trap data to identify the most suitable umbrella species based on their association with higher levels of community occupancy and diversity.
- The study identified the sambar deer and Sunda clouded leopard as better umbrella species than tigers and rhinos in the Leuser Ecosystem, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to wildlife conservation that includes multiple species, not just the most charismatic ones.
New calf, same threats: Javan rhinos continue to reproduce despite perils (19 Apr 2024 16:11:53 +0000)
- Recent camera-trap images of a Javan rhino calf, estimated to be 3-5 months old in March, demonstrate that the species continues to reproduce despite being beset by challenges.
- The species is confined to a single habitat, and while its population is officially estimated at more than 70 individuals, a report last year cast doubt on those figures, alleging that 18 of those rhinos had not been spotted on camera for years.
- The peninsula of Ujung Kulon National Park, where all Javan rhinos live, has been closed to all visitors since September 2023 after poaching activity was detected.
Annual ocean conference raises $11.3b in pledges for marine conservation (19 Apr 2024 16:08:19 +0000)
- The 9th Our Ocean Conference (OOC) took place in Athens from April 15-17.
- Government, NGO and philanthropic delegates made 469 new commitments worth more than $11.3 billion to help protect the oceans, which was lower than in previous years.
- While some conference hosts and attendees celebrated the many successes of the OOC, there was also a shared concern that decision-makers aren’t moving fast enough to secure a sustainable future for the global ocean.
Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state (19 Apr 2024 07:00:37 +0000)
- The state of Pará has created two new conservation areas along the Amazonian coastline, placing almost all of its mangroves under federal protection.
- The two reserves mean that an additional 74,700 hectares (184,600 acres) have been included in the largest and most conserved continuous belt of mangroves on the planet.
- The process to create the reserves took more than 13 years and faced several setbacks; the final outcome has been celebrated by environmentalists as a victory for local communities and biodiversity.
- The new extractive reserves allow resident populations to engage in traditional and sustainable extractive practices such as fishing and hunting, while keeping out big businesses, such as commercial aquaculture or logging.
In Philippines’ restive south, conflict is linked to reduced biodiversity (19 Apr 2024 06:34:47 +0000)
- Mindanao, the Philippines’ second largest island group, has a troubled history of conflict dating back to the Spanish colonial era in the 16th century.
- A recent study of Mindanao found that higher levels of both state and non-state conflict correlated with reduced biodiversity and forest cover.
- The security problems associated with conflict also mean there are gaps in knowledge about the biodiversity of conflict-affected areas, and difficulties in implementing and monitoring programs to protect natural resources.
Indonesian capital project finally gets guidelines to avoid harm to biodiversity (19 Apr 2024 04:11:53 +0000)
- Beset by criticism over its environmental and social impacts, the controversial project of building Indonesia’s new capital city in the Bornean jungle has finally come out with guidelines for biodiversity management.
- The country’s president has hailed the Nusantara project as a “green forest city,” but just 16% of its total area is currently intact rainforest.
- The new biodiversity master plan outlines a four-point mitigation policy of avoiding harm, minimizing any inevitable impacts, restoring damaged landscapes, and compensating for residual impacts.
- The master plan considered input from experts, but several didn’t make it into the final document, including a call for the mitigation policy to extend to a wider area beyond the Nusantara site.
Deforestation alerts in the Brazilian Amazon fall to a 5-year low (18 Apr 2024 22:36:42 +0000)
- Forest clearing detected by Brazil’s deforestation alert system fell to the lowest level in nearly five years.
- According to data released last week by the country’s space agency, INPE, deforestation registered over the past twelve months amounts to 4,816 square kilometers, 53% below the level this time last year.
- The drop in deforestation has occurred despite a severe drought affecting much of the Amazon basin.
UN puts spotlight on attacks against Indigenous land defenders (18 Apr 2024 22:29:20 +0000)
- At the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, experts called attention to the criminalization of Indigenous Peoples worldwide, exacerbated by intersecting interests in extractive industries, conservation, and climate mitigation.
- While Indigenous peoples are affected by the global trend of using criminal law to dissuade free speech and protests, the bulk of criminalization of Indigenous Peoples happens because of a lack of — or partial implementation of — Indigenous rights in national laws.
- Urgent actions are needed to address systemic issues, including legal reforms, enhanced protections for defenders, and concerted efforts to prevent and reverse the criminalization of Indigenous communities.
Sierra Leone cacao project boosts livelihoods and buffers biodiversity (18 Apr 2024 22:26:19 +0000)
- The Gola rainforest in West Africa, a biodiversity hotspot, is home to more than 400 species of wildlife, including endemic and threatened species, and more than 100 forest-dependent communities living just outside the protected Gola Rainforest National Park and dependent on the forest for their livelihoods.
- In the last few decades, logging, mining, poaching and expanding agriculture have driven up deforestation rates and habitat loss for rainforest-dependent species, prompting a voluntary REDD+ carbon credit program in 2015 to incentivize conservation and provide alternative livelihoods.
- One activity under the REDD+ project is shade-grown cacao plantations, which provide a wildlife refuge while generating income for cacao farmers in the region.
- Independent evaluations have found that the REDD+ program has slowed deforestation, increased household incomes, and avoided 340,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually — all while enjoying support from local communities.
Cross-border Indigenous efforts in Peru & Brazil aim to protect isolated groups (18 Apr 2024 17:21:15 +0000)
- Indigenous organizations in Peru and Brazil are joining forces to push their respective governments to safeguard the Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor, which covers 16 million hectares (39.5 million acres) across both countries.
- The cross-border initiative aims to protect the ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples in isolation and initial contact who travel freely across both borders and are threatened by those who engage in illegal activity in or near their territories.
- The Indigenous organizations plan to create a commission, made up of groups from both sides of the border, to exchange knowledge and define cross-border Indigenous policies for the protection of isolated peoples, such as measures to prevent territorial invasions and collaborate on health matters.
Circular solutions vital to curb enviro harm from cement and concrete (18 Apr 2024 17:12:31 +0000)
- Concrete is ubiquitous in the modern world, but building cities, roads and other infrastructure and more comes with an environmental cost. Cement and concrete production is responsible for significant pollution, human health impacts and vast amounts of climate-fueling emissions.
- Manufacturing cement is particularly problematic as the chemical process used to make it produces nearly 8% of global carbon emissions. Experts also underline that demand for the mined and quarried aggregate materials used to make concrete, such as sand, is responsible for biodiversity and ecosystem harm.
- Demand for cement and concrete is set to grow, especially in developing countries to improve infrastructure and living standards. Experts say that solutions reigning in the sector’s environmental footprint are vital, especially curbing greenhouse gas emissions that could absorb a major chunk of our remaining carbon budget.
- Solutions to address these challenges include a suite of technological advances, material changes, improved resource efficiency, and circular economy approaches. Some specifics: electrifying cement kilns, low-carbon concrete, carbon capture, and bio-architecture utilizing natural building materials.
Malawi police arrest elephant poachers in Kasungu National Park (18 Apr 2024 16:31:09 +0000)
- Police and wildlife authorities in Malawi have arrested two men suspected of having killed an elephant in Kasungu National Park.
- Residents of villages just outside the park’s boundaries informed police about two men selling elephant meat, who were subsequently found in possession of 16.6 kg (36.6 lbs) of ivory.
- Kasungu forms part of a transfrontier conservation area that extends into Zambia, a previous poaching hotspot where authorities have spent the past five years strengthening enforcement in collaboration with the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
- In July 2022, 263 elephants were translocated to Kasungu from Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi; communities have reported increased raids by elephants on farms and granaries since then, with four people killed by elephants between July and October.
Snack giant PepsiCo sourced palm oil from razed Indigenous land – investigation (18 Apr 2024 15:30:22 +0000)
- In the last few years it is likely that PepsiCo has been using in its production palm oil from deforested land claimed by the Shipibo-Konibo people in eastern Peru, a new investigation has found.
- Palm oil from Peru enters PepsiCo’s supply chain via a consortium that shares storage facilities with Ocho Sur, the second largest palm oil producer in the country which has been associated with deforestation and violation of Indigenous peoples’ rights. In the last three years, further deforestation occurred within the company’s land, the investigation found.
- Some of the forest loss on company-run oil palm plantations occurred on land claimed by the Santa Clara de Uchunya community of Shipibo-Konibo Indigenous people.
- PepsiCo manufactures at least 15 products containing Peruvian palm oil that could be linked to deforestation. The company has pledged to make 100% of its palm oil supply deforestation-free by the end of 2022 and for its operation to be net zero by 2040.
Drone cameras help scientists distinguish between drought stress & fungus in oaks (18 Apr 2024 11:53:01 +0000)
- Scientists have used remote sensing, spectroscopy and machine learning to detect sick oak trees and distinguish between drought stress and oak wilt, a fungal disease.
- A recently published study describes how researchers established a link between physiological traits of trees and light reflectance to monitor the progression of symptoms in trees afflicted by oak wilt and drought.
- They used the data to build a predictive model that can identify symptoms and detect sick oaks 12 days before visual symptoms appear.
- Oaks are vital for climate regulation and carbon sequestration; however, the trees face threats to their survival because of a fatal fungal disease as well as the worsening impacts of climate change.
How predatory fishing has decimated Brazil coastal fish populations for decades (18 Apr 2024 09:15:27 +0000)
- A study by the ReefSYN group analyzed reef fish landings between 1950 and 2015, finding significant changes in the species caught.
- Reduced catch volumes, increased diversity of species and catches of small fish at the bottom of the food chain indicate unsustainable fishing.
- The lack of updated official data since 2015 makes fisheries management, monitoring and control more difficult in Brazil, but new measures by the Ministries of Fisheries and the Environment aim to improve this scenario.
In largest ever study, Indigenous and local communities report the impacts of climate change (18 Apr 2024 05:30:25 +0000)
- Indigenous peoples and local communities are reporting a series of tangible and nuanced impacts of climate change, according to a new study.
- The study collected 1,661 firsthand reports of change in sites across all inhabited continents and aggregated the reports into 369 indicators of climate change impacts, including changes in precipitation, plant cultivation and marine ecosystems.
- Existing measures to track climate change impacts are barely able to relate to the diverse and complex ways in which local people experience and observe environmental changes, according to the authors. For instance, instrumental measurements might capture changes in rainfall patterns but miss crucial relationships between climate change awareness, sensitivity and vulnerability.
- This research constitutes the largest global effort by Indigenous peoples and local communities to compile and categorize local observations of climate change and its impacts.
Report links H&M and Zara to major environmental damage in biodiverse Cerrado (17 Apr 2024 22:25:09 +0000)
- A report by U.K. investigative NGO Earthsight links supply chains of fashion giants H&M and Zara to large-scale illegal deforestation, land-grabbing, violence and corruption in Brazil.
- The country’s Cerrado region, home to a third of Brazil’s species, has already lost half of its vegetation to large-scale agriculture and is under increasing pressure from a booming cotton industry.
- The two major producers linked to illicit activities, SLC Agrícola and Grupo Horita, deny the accusations, as does Abrapa, Brazil’s producer association, which also oversees cotton certification implementation in the country.
- Earthsight found that most of the tainted cotton it tracked had the Better Cotton label, raising the alarm over the practices and traceability of the certification system.
Panama delays promised relocation of sinking island community (17 Apr 2024 15:50:36 +0000)
- The government of Panama continues to delay the process of relocating almost 1,300 Indigenous Guna inhabitants from an island experiencing rising sea levels due to climate change.
- The lack of space on the tiny Caribbean island of Gardi Sugdub means there’s no room to relocate, and a new site on the mainland for the community has been in the works since 2019.
- But plans for the relocation have been repeatedly delayed due to administrative issues, previous COVID-19 restrictions and poor budgeting, leaving residents skeptical that government promises will be upheld.
- Members of this fishing community have also expressed concern about the relocation site, which is a 30-minute walk from the coast, and about the design of the new homes, for which the government didn’t seek Guna input.
International hesitancy to adopt environmental regulations threatens Indigenous rights (17 Apr 2024 15:22:59 +0000)
- In recent years, state and corporate actors have been hesitant to adopt measures to reach climate and biodiversity goals, in some cases watering down regulatory frameworks or pulling out of voluntary commitments.
- Industry experts, the private sector and environmental organizations say this is not surprising, but for different reasons: Some argue the measures are too difficult to meet, while others say parties are putting profits before sustainability.
- The EU has struggled to pass its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), a new legislative framework that aims to enhance the protection of the environment and human rights. Meanwhile, major banks and financial institutions are pulling away from various voluntary frameworks, such as Climate Action 100+ (CA100+) and the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
- Critics warn that a lack of such regulations could deprive Indigenous peoples of important protections to safeguard and guarantee their rights.
The environmental mismanagement of enduring oil industry impacts in the Pan Amazon (17 Apr 2024 13:15:08 +0000)
- The history of extractivism in the Pan Amazon shows that environmental damage has been commonplace, only now there are new demands from the parent companies that influence all service providers involved.
- In this section, Killeen explains that any hydrocarbon project (whether oil or gas) entails a high risk of social conflict with the communities living next to exploration and exploitation areas.
- The governments of countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Brazil must ensure that there is real environmental responsibility for the oil spills that are damaging ecosystems and the livelihoods of communities.
Indigenous efforts to save Peru’s Marañon River could spell trouble for big oil (17 Apr 2024 13:06:04 +0000)
- In March, the Federation of Kukama Indigenous Women in the Parinari district of Loreto won a lawsuit against the oil company Petroperú and the Peruvian government, protecting the Marañon River from oil pollution.
- Since the 1970s, the exploration of oil reserves in the Peruvian Amazon has resulted in hundreds of oil leaks and spills, compromising the health of Indigenous communities.
- While the defendants have already appealed the decision, a favorable ruling in higher courts could force oil and gas companies to answer for decades of pollution in the Peruvian Amazon.
Sumatra villages count cost of deadly river tsunami swelled by illegal logging (17 Apr 2024 09:14:56 +0000)
- Several days of extreme rainfall beginning March 7 triggered fatal flash flooding across Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, resulting in at least 30 deaths and devastating villages on the fringe of Kerinci Seblat National Park.
- Deforestation upstream of the affected areas has exacerbated the risk of landslides and flash floods, according to officials.
- The Indonesian Forum for the Environment, a national civil society organization, called for government action to address illegal logging and land management practices to prevent future disasters.
Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest (17 Apr 2024 03:16:49 +0000)
- The South Korean auto company Hyundai has ended its 2022 agreement for procuring aluminum for its electric vehicles from Adaro Minerals, which plans to build 2.2 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants to power its aluminum smelter.
- The decision follows campaigns coordinated by Kpop4Planet, a climate movement led by K-pop fans who protested Hyundai’s business with Adaro.
- Climate group Market Forces has estimated Adaro’s coal plants would emit 5.2 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, and activists say Hyundai would be pushed further from reaching its goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.
- The campaign collected more than 11,000 petition signatures from K-pop fans in 68 countries.
Protected areas bear the brunt as forest loss continues across Cambodia (17 Apr 2024 02:50:03 +0000)
- In 2023, Cambodia lost forest cover the size of the city of Los Angeles, or 121,000 hectares (300,000 acres), according to new data published by the University of Maryland.
- The majority of this loss occurred inside protected areas, with the beleaguered Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary recording the highest rate of forest loss in what was one of its worst years on record.
- A leading conservation activist says illegal logging inside protected areas is driven in part by demand for luxury timber exports, “but the authorities don’t seem to care about protecting these forests.”
- Despite the worrying trend highlighted by the data, the Cambodian government has set an ambitious target of increasing the country’s forest cover to 60% by 2050.
Resource wars and the geopolitics behind climate-fueled conflicts (16 Apr 2024 21:34:05 +0000)
- Journalist Dahr Jamail joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the history and present context of resource wars, which he says are putting pressure on the planet’s ecological limits.
- Noted for his work as an unembedded journalist during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Jamail says resource-based motives are behind many if not most conflicts today.
- Scientists have warned governments this risks wasting time and money that could otherwise be spent on addressing the looming threats of climate change.
- One estimate puts the total cost of all post-9/11 wars at $8 trillion to the U.S. alone, and the death toll at between 4.5 million and 4.7 million people.
Caribbean startups are turning excess seaweed into an agroecology solution (16 Apr 2024 15:22:15 +0000)
- Sargassum, a type of brown macroalgae, has been inundating beaches across the Caribbean since 2011. It comes from the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean.
- The seaweed has harmed Caribbean economies and human health, making it a national emergency in some island-nations.
- Over the past decade, entrepreneurs and scientists have found ways to turn sargassum into nutrient-rich biofertilizers, biostimulants and other organic products to boost agricultural yields while cutting back on chemicals.
- But there are hurdles to scaling the industry, including sargassum’s inconsistent arrival, heavy metal content and fast decomposition rates.
Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground (16 Apr 2024 14:29:51 +0000)
- Measures throughout 2023 to curb the illegal gold trade in Brazil led to a 20% drop in the country’s exports of the precious metal.
- In Itaituba, the hub of the Amazon illegal gold trade, taxes from gold sales fell by more than 90% in just the first quarter of this year.
- Experts attribute this drop to police raids on illegal mining operations and on requirements for sellers to issue electronic invoices.
- But they warn the illegal gold still persists, shifting to unofficial channels to evade the eye of regulators.
Global coral bleaching now underway looks set to be largest on record (16 Apr 2024 09:40:23 +0000)
- Scientists say that coral reefs are currently undergoing a global bleaching event, with more than 54% of the world’s coral reef areas in the territorial waters of over 50 countries experiencing heat stress. According to one scientist, the percentage of areas dealing with bleaching-level heat stress “has been increasing by roughly 1% per week.”
- To assess the current bleaching event, scientists drew on satellite-derived sea surface temperature data and in-water measurements.
- Experts say the current El Niño, a phase in the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern, in combination with rising global sea temperatures, is responsible for the extensive coral bleaching.
- Mongabay interviewed scientists most familiar with coral reef bleaching data, and experts attending the 9th Our Ocean Conference in Athens, taking place from April 15-17.
Climate change could drive mammal extinction in Brazil’s Caatinga, study warns (15 Apr 2024 18:10:50 +0000)
- According to a new study, 91.6% of terrestrial mammal communities in the Caatinga will lose species by 2060, with 87% of them being deprived of their habitats if the temperature in the region increases by at least 2°C.
- Small mammals will suffer the strongest impact, and some species may disappear from the biome, such as the giant anteater and the giant armadillo.
- In addition to more drought and rising temperatures, deforestation caused by wind farms also threatens some species, such as the jaguar.
- In a previous study, the same researchers had warned that 99% of plant communities in the Caatinga will lose species by 2060.
Rapid growth of Bolivia’s lithium industry creating new problems for local communities (15 Apr 2024 17:53:49 +0000)
- A lithium plant is using untested equipment and potentially mismanaging its use of freshwater, raising concerns for residents about whether the Bolivian government can responsibly manage the rapid growth of the industry.
- Activists are concerned about what they found during a recent inspection of lithium facilities in the Salar de Uyuni, a salt flat with an estimated 21 million tons of lithium.
- They called for increased transparency about what lithium facilities are able to produce and how much water and electricity they’re using.
It will take 880 years to achieve UN ocean conservation goals, at this rate (commentary) (15 Apr 2024 16:33:22 +0000)
- Indigenous conservationist Angelo Villagomez will speak at the Our Ocean conference, one of the largest and highest profile conferences of its kind, this week in Athens, Greece.
- He plans to say that ocean conservation has lost momentum toward protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030 and that a lot more needs to be done to address the human dimensions of conservation, including guaranteeing access rights, equity, and justice.
- “At this rate, raising the area of global ocean protection from 8% to 30% will take an additional 880 years,” he argues in a new op-ed.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
On the trail of Borneo’s bay cat, one of the world’s most mysterious felines (15 Apr 2024 15:20:33 +0000)
- The bay cat, named for its brownish-red coat, is arguably the most elusive of all the world’s wildcats. And among the most endangered.
- The bay cat is the only feline endemic to Borneo. Researchers — some of whom have never seen the cat in the wild — say it is potentially threatened by habitat loss and killings by locals, with accidental snaring another possible major cause of loss.
- But the biggest threat may be ignorance. In order to better protect this species, researchers urgently need to figure out: Why is it so rare? And why is it vanishing?
- Jim Sanderson, the world’s leading expert on wildcats, suggests research on the bay cat should focus on why it’s so uncommon, what is causing its decline, and how to reduce those threats. Then conservationists can make a viable plan to protect it.
Faced with an extreme future, one Colombian island struggles to rebuild (15 Apr 2024 13:49:02 +0000)
- In 2020, Hurricane Iota destroyed most of the housing and infrastructure on the Island of Providencia, in Colombia’s Caribbean archipelago of San Andres.
- Although the government sent aid and rebuilt homes, communities complained they were left out of the consultation process and that the reconstruction had been poorly done, without addressing the island’s increased vulnerability to climate change.
- Locals sued the government, obtaining a reopening of consultations, which the new left-wing government has agreed must reach a solution that accords with the islanders’ traditional customs.
- More than 700 islands in the Caribbean could be increasingly exposed to more extreme weather, as climate change threatens to make events such as hurricanes more destructive.
Conservationists welcome new PNG Protected Areas Act — but questions remain (12 Apr 2024 16:08:07 +0000)
- In February 2024, Papua New Guinea’s parliament passed the Protected Areas Bill, first introduced two decades ago, into an act, which aims to establish a national system of protected areas to achieve the conservation target of protecting 30% of PNG’s territory by 2030.
- The act lays out a legal framework for working with customary landowners in the country to earmark protected areas, establishes regulations to manage these areas and provides provisions for alternative livelihoods to forest-dependent communities.
- The act also mandates the establishment of a long-term Biodiversity and Climate Task Fund, which communities can access to implement their management plans and conservation objectives.
- While conservationists say the act is a good step toward protecting biodiversity, they raise concerns about its implementation and whether the promised benefits of protected areas will reach landowning communities.
Traceability is no silver bullet for reducing deforestation (commentary) (12 Apr 2024 15:54:27 +0000)
- The European Union, UK and US have passed, or are in the process of passing, legislation which places a duty on companies to prove that products they import do not come from recently deforested land.
- Businesses and governments are ramping up efforts to address emissions and deforestation in their supply chains, but the scale at which these initiatives are being implemented limits their effectiveness in tackling deforestation.
- Investments by companies and governments in farm-level traceability must be backed up by landscape approaches that address the systemic drivers of deforestation, climate change and biodiversity loss, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Bonobos, the ‘hippy apes’, may not be as peaceful as once thought (12 Apr 2024 15:39:16 +0000)
- Bonobos have a reputation of being the hippies of the ape world, due to their propensity to “make love, not war.”
- But a new study reveals that bonobos, found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo, may not be as peaceful as once thought.
- Researchers discovered aggressive acts between bonobos from the same group exceeded those recorded among chimpanzees, and that aggressive male bonobos were more successful in mating.
- The study provides a more nuanced analysis of these endangered apes, but also highlights the need to protect them from hunting and habitat loss.
Between Brazil’s Caatinga & Cerrado, communities profit from native fruits (12 Apr 2024 11:49:02 +0000)
- People from the Caatinga, geraizeiros, veredeiros, Quilombolas and Indigenous communities in the northern region of Minas Gerais, in Brazil, have been generating income by harvesting native fruits such as umbu, buriti, coquinho azedo and pequi.
- The Grande Sertão Cooperative serves as the primary purchaser of this produce, spanning 36 municipalities and supporting approximately 2,000 families. During the last harvest, the cooperative processed 700,000 kilograms (1.5 million pounds) of pequi.
- Building the kitchen, laying the floor or buying a cupboard are common reports from the extractivist women who benefit from their new profits; they now make money from fruit that used to go to waste.
- Valuing native species also plays a crucial role in preserving the health of threatened biomes; for instance, the Caatinga is currently the third-most-deforested biome in Brazil, and approximately half of the Cerrado has already been lost.
New technologies to map environmental crime in the Amazon Basin (commentary) (12 Apr 2024 00:10:51 +0000)
- Environmental crimes like land grabbing, illegal deforestation, and poaching hinder climate action, deter investment in sustainable practices, and threaten biodiversity across major biomes worldwide.
- Despite challenges such as vast territories difficult to police and weak rule of law, new technologies like geospatial and predictive analytics are being leveraged to enhance the detection and disruption of these activities.
- Innovative approaches, including public-private partnerships and AI tools, show promise in improving real-time monitoring and enforcement, although they require increased investment and training to be truly effective, argue Robert Muggah and Peter Smith of Instituto Igarapé, a “think and do tank” in Brazil.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Rainwater reserves a tenuous lifeline for Sumatran community amid punishing dry season (11 Apr 2024 22:07:22 +0000)
- Kuala Selat village lies on the coast of Indragiri Hilir district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
- In the first half of the year, residents of the village arrange buckets and drums to collect rainwater to meet their daily needs.
- They will then stockpile water to last through the dry months from June-September, but a longer dry spell has led to an acute shortage of water.
- Residents say they believe the water crisis in the village was linked to bouts of diarrhea, and that many fled the village during an outbreak.
Research links deforestation in Cambodia to stunting in kids, anemia in women (11 Apr 2024 17:11:33 +0000)
- An analysis of public health data in Cambodia has found increased rates of malnutrition among children born in areas where deforestation had recently occurred.
- It also found that pregnant women in these areas were more likely to suffer from anemia, a condition that often correlates with incidences of malaria.
- Cambodia has lost nearly 30% of its forest cover this century, while more than 30% of its children under 5 have stunted growth due to malnutrition.
- The study illustrates how deforestation and the ecological disruptions it causes can compound previously existing rural health issues.
New online tool is first to track funding to Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities (11 Apr 2024 16:01:45 +0000)
- The Path to Scale dashboard is the first online tool developed to track all funding for Indigenous peoples, local communities and Afro-descendant peoples’ forest stewardship and land tenure.
- It’s already highlighted several trends, including that disbursements globally have averaged $517 million per year between 2020 and 2023, up 36% from the preceding four years, but with no evidence of increased direct funding to community-led organizations.
- Although information gaps exist based on what’s publicly available, Indigenous leaders say the tool will be useful to track progress and setbacks on funding pledges, as well as hold donors and organizations accountable.
- According to developers, there’s an increased diversity of funding, but it’s still insufficient to meet the needs of communities.
A new and improved bird family tree shows rapid post-dinosaur evolution (11 Apr 2024 12:15:30 +0000)
- An international team of scientists has created the largest and most detailed bird family tree ever, spanning 93 million years and representing 92% of bird families species, using cutting-edge computational methods and a supercomputer to analyze vast amounts of genomic data.
- The study revealed that modern bird groups appeared within a 5-million-year window after the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago, with early birds experiencing rapid increases in population size, evolution speed and brain size during this time.
- The researchers identified a new group of birds called Elementaves, which includes diverse birds found in the air, on land, and in the sea, but couldn’t resolve the evolutionary position of the unique hoatzin bird from South America.
- The ongoing research aims to sequence the genomes of all living bird species and has important implications for conservation efforts, particularly for evolutionarily distinct and endangered bird species.
In Java Sea, vigilantism and poverty rise as purse seine fishing continues (11 Apr 2024 09:10:13 +0000)
- Fishing communities on small islands in the Java Sea and farther afield have long complained that large purse seine vessels are encroaching on traditional fishing grounds.
- On Sembilan Island, between the islands of Java and Borneo, local fishers have resorted to vigilantism due to what they say is inaction by authorities to prevent fishing with the purse seine, known locally as cantrang.
- The head of the local fisheries department told Mongabay Indonesia that fishers would see a crackdown against the boats.
Unseen and unregulated: ‘Ghost’ roads carve up Asia-Pacific tropical forests (11 Apr 2024 08:34:58 +0000)
- A new study indicates that significant networks of informal, unmapped and unregulated roads sprawl into forest-rich regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
- Slipping beneath the purview of environmental governance, construction of these “ghost roads” typically precede sharp spikes in deforestation and represent blind spots in zoning and law enforcement, the study says.
- The authors underscore that the relentless proliferation of ghost roads ranks among the gravest of threats facing the world’s remaining tropical forests.
- The findings bolster a growing momentum toward the development of AI-based road-mapping systems to help conservation biologists and resource managers better keep track of informal and illegal road networks and curb associated deforestation rates.
Forests in Vietnam’s Central Highlands at risk as development projects take priority (10 Apr 2024 21:00:32 +0000)
- Lâm Đồng province in Vietnam’s Central Highlands plans to delist an area of forest a quarter the size of the country’s biggest city, Ho Chi Minh City, in a bid to legalize farmland that’s currently zoned as forest.
- But an analysis of district- and city-level plans indicates an additional area more than half as large, most of which is natural forest, is also slated to be converted for a series of projects and infrastructure to serve socioeconomic development.
- More than three-quarters of that additional forest conversion will go toward mining projects, compared with a fraction of a percent that will be allocated for the use of ethnic minority communities.
- The forest delisting raises another concern: for every hectare of forest it converts, Lâm Đồng must reforest a hectare elsewhere — triple if it’s natural forest — and the province simply doesn’t have enough land available to do that.
A short walk through Amazon time: Interview with archaeologist Anna Roosevelt (10 Apr 2024 19:06:36 +0000)
- Anna Roosevelt has been working in the Amazon for four decades and her pivotal research has changed the knowledge of the rainforest’s occupation.
- In an interview with Mongabay, she explains how her research led to evidence of much older Amazon settlements than previously thought, challenging a decades-long scientific consensus about how Indigenous people related to the forest.
- “One reason I was able to make some great discoveries is because of how opinionated archaeologists in the mid-20th century were. I only benefited from their mistakes,” she said.
- Roosevelt said the recent hype regarding the “garden cities” in Ecuador is “annoying”, as it is not a new discovery and it ignores older research from Latin American archaeologists.
Haunting song pays tribute to Toughie, the frog whose extinction went unnoticed (10 Apr 2024 18:37:45 +0000)
- The extinction of the last Rabbs’ fringe-limbed treefrog, named Toughie, in 2016 received little media coverage, prompting environmental journalist Jeremy Hance to express his anger in an article for The Guardian.
- Musician Talia Schlanger was deeply moved by Hance’s article and wrote a song titled “The Endling” as a tribute to Toughie.
- The Earth is facing an extinction crisis driven by human activity and amphibians like Toughie have experienced massive population declines due to the chytrid fungus.
- Schlanger and Hance say that art and storytelling play a vital role in helping people connect emotionally to the biodiversity crisis.
Brazil’s cattle industry could suffer major losses without climate policies, report says (10 Apr 2024 18:32:43 +0000)
- Domestic beef production in Brazil could drop by 25% by 2050 as governments and the private sector look to step up climate change and forest conservation strategies, according to a new report from Orbitas, an initiative from Climate Advisers.
- Deforestation from cattle ranching could lead to hotter, drier conditions that worsen cattle health. It could also reduce soil productivity needed for growing animal feed, the report said.
- The industry has to invest in new technological and management techniques in order to prevent major losses.
Tapirs in Brazil’s Cerrado inspire research on human health & pesticides (10 Apr 2024 16:49:32 +0000)
- Recent research has revealed human contamination by pesticides in the Brazilian Cerrado, following a previous study that also found contamination in tapirs in the region.
- This research shows how animals are providing information and inspiration for research with humans, while emphasizing that the stress endured by South America’s largest terrestrial mammal is also evidenced in people.
- Despite inspiring research on human health, tapirs themselves are not free from the challenges to their survival imposed by human actions; the species is classified as threatened by the IUCN Red List and qualified as vulnerable to extinction.
- The former president of the Brazilian federal environmental protection agency, IBAMA, says the approval of a bill that made the use of pesticides more flexible in Brazil could worsen situations like those reported by the researchers.
In highly urbanized Japan, city farmers are key to achieving organic goal (10 Apr 2024 14:53:14 +0000)
- The Japanese government aims to convert at least 25% of all its farmland to organic by 2050, a significant jump from just 0.5% in 2020.
- Researchers found that urban and semi-urban farmers in Tokyo tend to adopt environmentally friendly practices more often than rural farmers, in response to a more environmentally conscious populace, a greater number of organic food stores and restaurants, and freedom from pressure to conform with farming practices in rural communities.
- Japan’s urban farmers are also more likely to diversify their business, such as by engaging in direct sales and creating hands-on farming events or volunteer opportunities, strengthening their ties with the local community.
- Despite positive steps, agricultural land in Tokyo continues to shrink, mirroring a trend in declining biodiversity. Advocates say continued efforts will be needed to preserve and make the best use of the capital’s urban farms.
The potential for tracking wildlife health & disease via bioacoustics is great (commentary) (10 Apr 2024 14:14:15 +0000)
- Bioacoustics is the passive, non-invasive recording of sounds emitted by a wide range of animals.
- Analysis of this information reveals the presence and behavior of wildlife, and can also be valuable indicator of animal health, which can then be used in ecosystem monitoring.
- “As disease prevalence skyrockets in wildlife, we are desperately in need of tools to remotely monitor ecosystem health,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
One of Colombia’s largest estuary ecosystems is drying up, communities warn (10 Apr 2024 14:06:03 +0000)
- Decades of sediment pollution, contamination and government infrastructure projects have disrupted the natural flow of saltwater and freshwater into the Ciénaga Grande of Santa Marta, one of Colombia’s key wetlands and a major estuary on the Caribbean Sea.
- Fish stocks have also plummeted, with profitable, big species being replaced by smaller ones and leaving fishing communities without their livelihoods.
- Although authorities claim that they are investing in the region, locals complain the autonomous corporation in charge is not taking steps to dredge the canals and that there isn’t enough transparency on how the money is being spent.
Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion (09 Apr 2024 22:31:59 +0000)
- Due to runaway global demand for sand used in construction, coastal communities say mining of their beaches for sand is accelerating the damage done by waves and wind.
- On Indonesia’s Seram Island, the arrival of a sand mining company has stimulated demand for the commodity, but may have introduced environmental risks.
- The United Nations says around 50 million metric tons of sand is produced every year, while a separate study shows costal erosion is set to “radically redefine” the world’s coastlines this century.
Effective climate activism requires honest conversations about its challenges (09 Apr 2024 21:36:11 +0000)
- Climate activist Clover Hogan says environmental activists face growing challenges not just from outside their movements, but also from within.
- She shares how the prevalence of unpaid labor can make young activists’ lives even more difficult in the present while they advocate for a more livable future.
- Add to that criticism for perceived imperfections over lifestyle choices and infighting between colleagues that can lead some to choose not to identify as activists at all, or leave movements altogether, she says.
- On this episode of the podcast, Hogan discusses these challenges in addition to direct and existential threats that environmental defenders face worldwide, and how she thinks more inclusive and effective activism can be fostered.
As fires ravaged Indonesia in 2023, some positive trends emerged, data show (09 Apr 2024 16:22:57 +0000)
- Indonesia’s 2023 fire season saw 1.16 million hectares (2.87 million acres) of land and forest go up in flames, and while this was five times higher than in 2022, experts highlight a positive trend.
- The fires were exacerbated by an intense El Niño weather system, unlike in 2022; the last time similar conditions prevailed, in 2019, the area affected by fires was much larger, suggesting fire mitigation efforts may be working.
- Most of the burning occurred in scrubland and areas of degraded forest rather than in intact forests, meaning greenhouse gas emissions from the burning were also much lower than in 2023.
- But a worrying trend highlighted by the numbers is that severe fires are now occurring in four-year cycles, intensified and exacerbated by the impacts of a changing climate.
Analysis of largest elephant surveys ever shows stable population, but disturbing trends (09 Apr 2024 10:26:58 +0000)
- New research comparing data from the two largest-ever elephant surveys reveals the overall population in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area is stable, but also uncovers some concerning local trends.
- Elephant numbers in Botswana, home to more elephants than any other country, are stable overall, but declining numbers in areas where hunting is permitted, and increasing numbers in protected areas, suggest underlying issues for Botswana’s elephants.
- Survey comparisons reveal that elephants have all but disappeared from the western Angolan section of the KAZA area, but a lack of local research, an issue across the region, means conservationists are unsure why.
- More research is needed across the transfrontier conservation area to ensure a safe future for the world’s largest elephant population.
Illegal mining in the Pan Amazon: an ecological disaster for floodplains and local communities (09 Apr 2024 10:13:24 +0000)
- Floodplains are extraordinarily productive because they are the connection between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are socially and economically vital because tens of thousands of families depend on their natural resources for their livelihoods.
- However, placer mining – as Killeen explains in this section – generates catastrophic impacts when miners remove and turn over topsoil as they search for gold sediments. The most optimistic estimate is that 350,000 hectares of forest and wetlands have been lost in the Pan Amazon region as a result.
- Although visible on the banks of rivers and their headwaters, the damage caused by mercury is invisible when it comes to the health of miners, their families and communities. In reviewing 33 studies conducted in the Tapajós watershed, Killeen found that high levels of mercury were widespread.
- Remediation can be very costly economically and politically, as governments need to take measures against illegal mining and protect affected communities.
Alis Ramírez: A defender of the Colombian Amazon now living as a refugee in New Zealand (08 Apr 2024 19:18:56 +0000)
- Because of her opposition to mining, indiscriminate logging in forests and the social and environmental consequences of oil exploration, María Alis Ramírez was forced to abandon her farm in Caquetá, in southern Colombia, and move across the world.
- The various threats she received because of her work as an environmental defender forced her and her family to first move to New Zealand, where she arrived as a refugee in 2019.
- According to reports by human rights organization Global Witness, Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for environmental and land defenders.
- In New Zealand, she says she can live with a sense of tranquility that would be impossible in Colombia. Although Alis Ramírez is now safe, she has not stopped thinking about her country, the jungle and the river that was alongside her throughout her childhood.
Rewilding program ships eggs around the world to restore Raja Ampat zebra sharks (08 Apr 2024 17:21:40 +0000)
- A rewilding project aimed at saving endangered zebra sharks (Stegostoma tigrinum is sending eggs from aquarium sharks more than 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) away to nurseries in Raja Ampat.
- After hatching, the young sharks are kept in tanks until they are strong enough to release into the wild.
- Researchers hope to release 500 zebra sharks into the wild within 10 years in an effort to support a large, genetically diverse breeding population.
- A survey estimated the zebra shark had a population of 20 spread throughout the Raja Ampat archipelago, making the animal functionally extinct in the region.
Costa Rican community struggles to stop an airport ‘destroying our country’ (08 Apr 2024 15:55:33 +0000)
- Some 350 families in Palmar Sur, in southeastern Costa Rica, face eviction over the construction of a new international airport designed to serve the country’s growing tourism industry.
- The project, endorsed by the country’s president, also threatens a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Terraba Sierpe National Wetlands, a large mangrove ecosystem that provides habitat for scores of bird species.
- Since its approval in 2010, the airport project has faced opposition from local communities, who fear the loss of their land, for which they lack property titles.
- Now, locals are considering taking legal action against the state, and are pinning their hopes on pre-Columbian archaeological finds on their land putting an end to the airport project.
New FPIC guide designed to help protect Indigenous rights as mineral mining booms (08 Apr 2024 13:24:01 +0000)
- In the face of growing demand for critical minerals, Indigenous organizations developed a guide to help Indigenous communities implement their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) when investors visit their lands for potential mining projects.
- Of the 30 metals and minerals needed to feed these technologies, about 54% are on and near Indigenous and peasant lands, according to a study published in Nature.
- The guide helps communities mold the FPIC framework to their governance and value systems and provides them with a “menu of options,” including preparations in advance of investor meetings, how to work through the negotiation process, steps to consider after a decision and a framework to agree on benefits of a project.
- By not following the FPIC process, companies open themselves up to operational, political, legal, reputational and investment risk when Indigenous activists protest their activities, a legal expert says.
Island-building and overfishing wreak destruction of South China Sea reefs (08 Apr 2024 06:54:52 +0000)
- The offshore islets and reefs of the South China Sea have been the stage of intense geopolitical standoffs for decades, as the region’s coastal states compete for territorial control of the productive maritime area that includes oil and gas fields and reef and oceanic fisheries.
- A new investigation based on satellite monitoring and fisheries data reveals that overfishing, giant clam harvesting and island-building have devasted significant portions of the region’s shallow coral reefs.
- Experts say the direct loss of some of the world’s most diverse marine ecosystems is not the only cost, citing likely consequences for distant fisheries that depend on spawning grounds on some of the now-obliterated reefs.
- Actions by China and Vietnam were found to be by far the most egregious; however, experts say the onus lies on all South China Sea coastal states to work together toward solutions that will ensure the long-term protection and health of remaining reefs.
Putting a value on Indonesia’s marine resources: Interview with Annisya Rosdiana & Heidi Retnoningtyas (08 Apr 2024 02:34:02 +0000)
- A group of experts led by Annisya Rosdiana from the Fisheries Resource Center of Indonesia (FRCI) is designing Indonesia’s ocean account to determine the exact abundance of the country’s maritime and fisheries resources.
- This initiative, begun in 2021, is part of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries’ efforts to improve sustainable marine management.
- Indonesia’s ocean account is also part of the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP), which aims to establish globally accepted ocean accounting methods.
- The initiative faces challenges due to data deficiencies, lack of coordination among government agencies, and weak enforcement of fisheries policies on the ground.
A tiger cat gains new species designation, but conservation challenges remain (05 Apr 2024 13:38:50 +0000)
- Two Latin American tiger cat species were previously recognized by science in 2013: the southern tiger cat (Leopardus guttulus) and northern tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus). Both are considered vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List.
- But a paper published in January 2024 described a third, new tiger cat species; Leopardus pardinoides. Dubbed the clouded tiger cat, the species is found in high-altitude cloud forests in Central and South America. This taxonomic reshuffling has major conservation implications for the group as a whole, said experts.
- In addition to proposing the new species, the authors reassessed the tiger cats’ distribution and current status. New data indicate that the small wildcats are not present in areas where they were previously assumed to be, which has slashed their remaining habitat considerably.
- Experts warn that these little-known wildcat species have long flown under the conservation radar. Urgent action is required to protect them in the long term against a litany of threats, including habitat loss, persecution and disease transmission from domestic animals.
As a megaport rises in Cameroon, a delicate coastal ecosystem ebbs (05 Apr 2024 07:45:19 +0000)
- The deepwater port at Kribi, Cameroon, is a massive project, begun in 2011 and slated for completion in 2040.
- It aims to decongest the existing port at Douala and become a trade hub for all Central African countries.
- The port is located just a few kilometers from Cameroon’s only marine protected area, home to green, olive ridley and hawksbill turtles.
- While aiming to improve the country’s economy, the port has generated unintended environmental consequences, intensifying coastal erosion, increasing human pressure and pollution, and endangering marine life and local fishers’ livelihoods.
World Bank’s IFC under fire over alleged abuses at Liberian plantation it funded (04 Apr 2024 22:10:34 +0000)
- An investigation into the International Finance Corporation’s handling of human rights abuses at a project it financed in Liberia, the Salala Rubber Corporation, is expected to severely incriminate the World Bank’s private lending arm.
- The World Bank’s Compliance Advisory Ombudsman investigated whether the IFC did enough to address allegations of gender-based violence, land grabbing and unfair compensation by its client, Socfin, between 2008 and 2020.
- It’s anticipated that the report will find the finance institution didn’t act to prevent Socfin from violating its legal obligations to local communities and protect the environment; this finding would follow closely on a damning report into similar failures to hold another IFC client, Bridge International Schools in Kenya, to account
- The IFC missed a February deadline to respond to the CAO report and submit an action plan; the delay comes as a new remedial action framework for the IFC is due to be finalized and released
How to ‘stop mining before it starts’: Interview with community organizer Carlos Zorrilla (04 Apr 2024 21:29:07 +0000)
- Over nearly 30 years, Carlos Zorrilla and the organizations he co-founded helped stop six companies from developing open-pit copper mining operations in the Intag Valley in Ecuador.
- As a leader and public figure, Zorrilla is often for advice from communities facing similar struggles, so in 2009 he published a guide on how to protect one’s community from mining and other extractive operations.
- The 60-page guide shares wisdom and resources, including mines’ environmental and health risks, key early warning signs a company is moving in, and advice on mitigating damage if a mine does go ahead.
- The most important point, Zorrilla says in an interview with Mongabay, is to stop mining before it starts.
Spotted softshell turtle release boosts reptile conservation in Vietnam (04 Apr 2024 15:58:16 +0000)
- The rewilding of 50 captive-bred spotted softshell turtles has sparked hope among conservationists for the future of the rare and threatened species in Vietnam, a country where softshell turtles are widely considered a culinary delicacy.
- Described by scientists as recently as 2019, the species is considered critically endangered throughout its range in China and Southeast Asia due to hunting for human consumption and habitat loss.
- The reintroduction of the young turtles is the first rewilding of offspring reared at a dedicated turtle conservation breeding facility in northern Vietnam to safeguard Vietnam’s rare and threatened amphibian and reptile species.
- Turtle conservationists say that while it will be a long and perilous road to recovery for the species in Vietnam amid persistent threats, the work to preserve the species is a positive step toward changing people’s view of freshwater turtles as primarily a food item and curbing hunting pressure not only on this species, but many others as well.
Delhi gets the attention — but Kolkata’s air pollution is just as dangerous (04 Apr 2024 14:39:35 +0000)
- Delhi’s air pollution problems often receive global attention, but Kolkata’s air quality often ranks among the world’s worst.
- Data show that levels of PM2.5 — small particulate matter that can enter the lungs and harm human health — can be dangerously high in Kolkata.
- PM2.5 pollution is associated with a long list of heart and respiratory diseases including cancer; data show lung cancer rates in Kolkata to be higher than in other cities.
- Transportation and diesel pollution are major contributors to Kolkata’s air pollution.
Mining in the Pan Amazon in pursuit of the world’s most precious metal (04 Apr 2024 12:47:38 +0000)
- Gold exploitation is usually carried out by large mining companies with dedicated subsidiaries. However, the exploration companies in charge of discovering the ore are usually small specialized companies.
- The environmental and social impacts of corporate gold mines are similar to those of other industrial polymetallic mines; they vary though according to the type of mining – underground or at the surface – and to the type of ecosystems they overlap.
- Illegal miners are the source of two of the most insidious environmental and social impacts associated with the extractive industries in the Pan Amazon: floodplain destruction and mercury pollution. About 20% of total annual gold production comes from illegal mining.
Tropical forest loss puts 2030 zero-deforestation target further out of reach (04 Apr 2024 12:26:01 +0000)
- The overall rate of primary forest loss across the tropics remained stubbornly high in 2023, putting the world well off track from its net-zero deforestation target by 2030, according to a new report from the World Resources Institute.
- The few bright spots were Brazil and Colombia, where changes in political leadership helped drive down deforestation rates in the Amazon.
- Elsewhere, however, several countries hit record-high rates of forest loss, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia and Laos, driven largely by agriculture, mining and fires.
- The report authors call for “bold global mechanisms and unique local initiatives … to achieve enduring reductions in deforestation across all tropical front countries.”
Mato Grosso shelves environmental license application for Amazon dam (04 Apr 2024 11:15:21 +0000)
- The Mato Grosso government has halted the licensing for the Castanheira hydropower plant, proposed for construction in the Juruena River Basin, which would flood a 95-km2 [37-square-mile] area and directly affect Indigenous and rural communities in northern Mato Grosso state.
- Social movements in the area see this as a victory in a struggle that lasted more than a decade.
- The fact that the project was shelved does not mean it has been put to rest; Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy may still resubmit plans for the construction of the dam.
Indonesian court jails environmentalist for flagging illegal farms in marine park (04 Apr 2024 10:57:16 +0000)
- An Indonesian court has sentenced an environmental activist to seven months in jail for a Facebook post in which he criticized the growing problem of illegal shrimp farms operating inside a marine park.
- The court found that Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan had “created unrest” because of his post, under a controversial 2008 law on online speech that’s been widely used to silence environmental and human rights activists.
- Three other activists face similar charges in the case, which centers on their efforts to highlight the presence of illegal shrimp farms inside Karimunjawa National Park, which is supposed to be a protected area.
- Fellow rights activists have lambasted the ruling against Daniel, saying it sets a dangerous precedent for exploitation of the justice system to silence and criminalize individuals.
‘The Javan tiger still exists’: DNA find may herald an extinct species’ comeback (04 Apr 2024 02:52:35 +0000)
- A 2019 sighting by five witnesses indicates that the long-extinct Javan tiger may still be alive, a new study suggests.
- A single strand of hair recovered from that encounter is a close genetic match to hair from a Javan tiger pelt from 1930 kept at a museum, the study shows.
- “Through this research, we have determined that the Javan tiger still exists in the wild,” says Wirdateti, a government researcher and lead author of the study.
- The Javan tiger was believed to have gone extinct in the 1980s but only officially declared as such in 2008, along with the Bali tiger; a third Indonesian subspecies, the Sumatran tiger, is also edging closer to extinction.
What’s really at stake in the Venezuela-Guyana land dispute? (commentary) (03 Apr 2024 21:28:53 +0000)
- Venezuela recently deployed military forces to the Guyanese border in what may be an attempt to annex part of the smaller country’s national territory.
- Media coverage has generally focused on the rich natural resources of the area which Venezuela may be interested in– including oil, gold, and diamonds–but others including the region’s Indigenous peoples say its ecological role is just as important for Guyana to protect.
- “If we truly value this land – not only for its natural resources but for its unique beauty, its cultural and biological diversity, and its outsized role in combating climate change – then we must defend it from foreign interests and extractive industries in equal measure,” argues a Goldman Prize-winning Indigenous leader from the region in a new op-ed.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Florida growers eye agroecology solution to devastating citrus disease (03 Apr 2024 15:48:14 +0000)
- Virtually all of Florida’s citrus groves have been infected with citrus greening disease, also known by its Chinese name Huanglongbing, since the early 2000s.
- Despite billions of US dollars put toward rescue efforts, citrus production numbers are the lowest they have been since the Great Depression.
- Scientists from Argentina are now testing the agroecological method of push-pull pest management using an organic plant-hormone solution to lure pests away from citrus crops and toward “trap crops” instead.
- Proponents hope push-pull management, first developed in East Africa, could be part of the solution and lessen dependence on pesticides.
Brazil’s Cerrado is main beneficiary of 2021 pledge to end deforestation (03 Apr 2024 10:25:52 +0000)
- The Financial Innovation for Amazonia, the Cerrado and Chaco, or IFACC, has allocated $234.5 million for projects aimed at expanding agriculture to already deforested land in Brazil’s Cerrado grasslands.
- First announced at the COP26 climate summit in 2021, the initiative aims to place small farms on the sustainability agenda by showing that it’s possible to increase profit without clearing native vegetation.
- Funded projects include soybean farming on degraded pastureland and financial incentives for farmers who maintain more preserved native vegetation on their land than the minimum required by law.
Jane Goodall at 90: On fame, hope, and empathy (03 Apr 2024 00:28:09 +0000)
- Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday is today, April 3, 2024. To mark the occasion, Goodall sat down with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler at his home in California.
- In the conversation, Goodall delves into the evolving consciousness regarding environmental degradation and the loss of biodiversity, while stressing the importance of fostering hope amidst the doom and gloom often associated with these issues.
- “I’ve come to think of humanity as being at the mouth of a very long very dark tunnel and right at the end there’s a little star shining. And that’s hope,” she said. “However, it’s futile to just sit and wonder when that star will come to us. We must gird our loins, roll up our sleeves, and navigate around all obstacles that lie between us and the star.”
- The conversation also touches upon the transformative power of youth engagement in environmental activism. Goodall highlights the influence young people can have on older generations, emphasizing the importance of voting in elections as a means to support candidates who prioritize environmental concerns.
Resort in Philippines’ protected Chocolate Hills sparks uproar, probes (02 Apr 2024 17:50:44 +0000)
- A video of a resort cut into the Philippines’ Chocolate Hills, a protected area, has caused public outrage in the island nation.
- The public outcry has prompted government investigations into the resort, which received approval at the local level but failed to obtain environmental permits required by national law.
- The controversy comes as tourism makes a post-pandemic comeback in the Philippines, prompting questions about how the industry can be managed more sustainably.
Deep-sea mining’s future still murky as negotiations end on mixed note (02 Apr 2024 16:37:13 +0000)
- Between March 18 and 29, members of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-affiliated regulator of deep-sea mining activities in international waters, met for talks in Kingston, Jamaica.
- One focus of discussion was the ongoing revision of the regulations governing exploitation, which are still in draft form, but which member states are aiming to finalize by July 2025. Seabed mining activities could begin before then, as early as next year.
- ISA officials said “good progress” was made on the regulations. However, one NGO observer pointed out that there were “many areas where these negotiations have not progressed.”
- Delegates to the meetings also didn’t adopt either of two proposals to limit the ability of Greenpeace International to protest deep-sea mining activities at sea.
Cerrado mammals change their habits to escape humans, study shows (02 Apr 2024 16:20:08 +0000)
- A study that observed five species of mammals in northeast São Paulo state reveals that most animals change their routines to escape contact with humans, usually by adopting nocturnal habits.
- For the giant anteater, the biggest disturbance factor is the presence of dogs that roam free in rural areas and end up hunting and scaring wildlife away.
- Despite the adaptation attempts, animals do not evolve at the same pace as habitat destruction, which can lead to the animals’ extinction.
Land tenure lesson from Laos for forest carbon projects (commentary) (02 Apr 2024 15:29:54 +0000)
- Laos has lost approximately 4.37 million hectares of tree cover since 2001, and some suggest forest carbon projects could be a solution.
- However, these haven’t had a good track record in the nation, in part due to its land tenure rules — land is owned by the state but largely used by local communities through customary tenure arrangements — leading to misunderstandings between companies, communities, and government agencies.
- “Forest carbon projects should continuously engage in capacity-building for local communities and authorities, thus creating an enabling environment for just benefit-sharing, securing land tenure, and the sustainability of these projects to reduce emissions over the long term,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Enviva bankruptcy fallout ripples through biomass industry, U.S. and EU (02 Apr 2024 14:45:11 +0000)
- In March, Enviva, the world’s largest woody biomass producer for industrial energy, declared bankruptcy. That cataclysmic collapse triggered a rush of political and economic maneuvering in the U.S. (a key wood pellet producing nation), and in Europe (a primary industrial biomass energy user in converted coal plants).
- While Enviva publicly claims it will survive the bankruptcy, a whistleblower in touch with sources inside the company says it will continue failing to meet its wood pellet contract obligations, and that its production facilities — plagued by chronic systemic manufacturing problems — will continue underperforming.
- Enviva and the forestry industry appear now to be lobbying the Biden administration, hoping to tap into millions in renewable energy credits under the Inflation Reduction Act — a move environmentalists are resisting. In March, federal officials made a fact-finding trip to an Enviva facility and local communities who say the firm is a major polluter.
- Meanwhile, some EU nations are scrambling to find new sources of wood pellets to meet their sustainable energy pledges under the Paris agreement. The UK’s Drax, an Enviva pellet user (and also a major pellet producer), is positioning itself to greatly increase its pellet production in the U.S. South and maybe benefit from IRA subsidies.
Report shows dire state of Mekong’s fish — but damage can still be undone (01 Apr 2024 18:27:54 +0000)
- A recent report by 25 conservation organizations raises alarm about the state of fish in the Mekong River, determining that at least 19% of species are threatened with extinction.
- The report calls for the global “Emergency Recovery Plan” for freshwater biodiversity to be implemented in the Mekong, with an emphasis on letting the river and its tributaries flow more naturally, improving water quality, protecting and restoring critical habitats and species, and curbing unsustainable resource extraction.
- Despite the threats, the report notes conservation bright spots, including the discovery of new species, and emphasizes that it is not too late to protect the river, its fish, and the millions of people who depend on it.
Locals slam Zimbabwe for turning a blind eye to Chinese miner’s violations (01 Apr 2024 16:06:44 +0000)
- Mining workers and villagers near the Bikita Minerals lithium mine in Zimbabwe accuse the government and Chinese mining company Sinomine Resource Group of sidelining environmental and social standards in the scramble for lithium.
- After a series of displacements, spills, labor abuses, a death, and little action by authorities, locals and experts accuse the government of failing to enforce its own laws and letting bad mining practices run loose.
- According to industry experts, in theory, Chinese investments come with an increasingly robust set of ESG standards, but in practice these aren’t followed if host countries “shy away” from making such demands from their new partners.
- Zimbabwe, under economic stress, holds Africa’s largest lithium reserves and sees potential for an economic boost from mining the critical mineral, which represents the country’s fastest growing industry, with companies from China as the largest share of investors
E-bikes could cut smog, energy use and congestion globally — but will they? (01 Apr 2024 15:50:55 +0000)
- The global market for e-bikes is surging. These bicycles, usually equipped with pedals and an electric motor assist, are popular with consumers and commuters and are becoming part of local business delivery systems. The trend could significantly reduce particulate pollution and smog, as well as cut carbon emissions in the transportation sector.
- But there are barriers. No international manufacturing standard yet exists for e-bikes. Also, transportation and charging infrastructure doesn’t adequately accommodate e-bikes, especially in the developing world where electric bicycles have the potential to replace super-polluting gas-powered scooters, motorcycles and pedicabs.
- Poorly made or improperly maintained e-bike batteries have developed a reputation for sometimes causing fires, exploding and even killing people, which has caused hesitation among consumers. While this safety problem is a real one, manufacturers and enthusiasts say the e-bike industry can effectively deal with it.
- Some governments are offering subsidies and tax incentives to e-bike buyers, while some companies are offering deals allowing customers to trade in gas two-wheelers for e-bikes. As sales and use grow, updated bike lane construction and safety rules setting permissible e-bike horsepower, speed and size will be required.
Maydany Salcedo: the environmental defender who catches the ire of armed groups (01 Apr 2024 15:33:39 +0000)
- In southwestern Colombia, Maydany Salcedo, 49, faces constant threats to her life and that of her family due to her opposition to illegal activities of armed groups in the region.
- She founded Asimtracampic, an organization that works to ensure that no more coca (an addictive plant which cocaine is derived from) is planted in the region, and that deforestation does not increase.
- The organization opposes the expansion of the agricultural frontier in the Amazon, illicit crops, oil pollution, deforestation and all activities that pose a risk to the environment and territory.
- A victim of the constant violence in the region since she was raped by guerillas as a child, Salcedo is under 24/7 security protection. Despite these threats, she has not abandoned her dream of creating biological corridors for the vulnerable species that live in Piamonte, among which include the Caquetá titi monkey, which is endemic to the region.
DNA analysis of rare Philippine fruit dove sheds new light on a 70-year mystery (29 Mar 2024 15:29:35 +0000)
- The Negros fruit dove is known to science from a single female sample collected in the Philippines in 1953; nothing is known about its habits, song, or even what the male of the species looks like.
- A recent genetic analysis supports the identification of the dove as a unique species within the genus Ptilinopus.
- It also identifies habitats where the bird may possibly still be found, based on statistical analysis of its historical range.
- Whether any Negros fruit doves survive remains a mystery, but researchers say ongoing surveys paired with modern technology like audio loggers and environmental DNA monitoring might help find the species in the wild.
Adventure tours with tigers? Nepal’s proposed policy changes raise alarm (29 Mar 2024 12:00:06 +0000)
- Nepal’s government is proposing zoning changes to allow adventure tourism activities such as canyoning, mountain biking and motorboating inside protected areas.
- The proposed changes are part of a wider push, which includes allowing the operation of hotels and cable cars inside protected areas, to commercialize the country’s globally acclaimed conservation sector.
- Critics argue that the proposed changes could potentially jeopardize hard-won achievements in biodiversity preservation and land restoration.
Cable car proposal is Nepal’s latest plan to commercialize national parks (29 Mar 2024 09:57:54 +0000)
- Nepal’s Ministry of Forest and Environment is considering allowing the construction of ropeways to carry cable cars within protected areas, according to a draft regulation seen by Mongabay.
- The proposed regulation aims to permit ropeway construction if it facilitates transportation to religious or tourist sites, provided no alternative transport options exist or if cable cars are deemed more environmentally friendly.
- The draft regulation suggests criteria for ropeway construction, including locating base or final stations outside protected areas and minimal infrastructure within, along with proposed fees based on the length of the ropeway.
- The plan comes on the heels of similar moves to open up Nepal’s protected areas to hydropower development and to hotels.
Expediting environmental policy: Interview with Bangladesh minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury (29 Mar 2024 07:09:20 +0000)
- Dhaka is considered to have some of the poorest air quality of any city in the world, the result of industrial-scale coal- and wood-burning brick kilns, diesel-powered vehicles, and ongoing construction work.
- At the same time, sea-level rise, shrimp cultivation and reduced water flow in its major rivers leave the southwestern part of the country barren for nearly half of the year due to saltwater intrusion.
- Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s newly appointed minister of environment, forest and climate change, has declared a 100-day baseline program to identify the various environmental issues in the country and possible solutions to overcome them.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Chowdhury emphasizes the need for strong coordination across government, political will and leadership, and increased awareness from the public to protect the environment and meet the country’s clean energy goals.
Cambodian official acquitted in trial that exposed monkey-laundering scheme (29 Mar 2024 05:25:17 +0000)
- A U.S. court has acquitted a senior Cambodian official accused of involvement in smuggling wild-caught and endangered monkeys into the U.S. for biomedical research.
- Kry Masphal was arrested in November 2022 and has been detained in the U.S. since then, but is now free to return to his job as director of the Cambodian Forestry Administration’s Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity.
- Evidence presented at his trial in Miami included a video of him appearing to acknowledge that long-tailed macaques collected by Cambodian exporter Vanny Bio Research were in fact being smuggled.
- The Cambodian government has welcomed news of the acquittal, while animal rights group PETA says that despite the ruling, “the evidence showed that countless monkeys were abducted from their forest homes and laundered with dirty paperwork.”
Nepal mulls policy shift to allow hotels back into tiger strongholds (29 Mar 2024 02:17:43 +0000)
- Nepal’s Ministry of Forest and Environment is working new regulations to permit hotels to operate within national parks like Chitwan, a draft of the document seen by Mongabay suggests.
- The decision follows the closure of seven hotels in Chitwan National Park in 2009 due to ecological concerns and alleged involvement in poaching, with the last of them shutting down in 2012.
- Despite opposition from conservationists and local communities, the government has shown interest in allowing commercial activities, including large-scale hydropower plants, within national parks, raising concerns about environmental degradation.
This year’s ranking of EV carmakers from most to least ‘clean’: Report (28 Mar 2024 18:52:44 +0000)
- A new scorecard by a coalition of labor and environmental civil society organizations ranked the top 18 automakers against 80 measures of what a clean car supply chain would look like.
- While car companies are increasingly embracing electric vehicles, a lack of tailpipe emissions is not enough for a car to be considered truly ‘clean,’ the authors say.
- From the steel, aluminum, tires, batteries and people affected along the supply chain, the mining and manufacturing of these metal-dense machines puts heavy burdens on landscapes, Indigenous peoples and workers.
- Ford and Mercedes-Benz lead the automotive world in working to clean up their supply chains, while Tesla jumped to third from last year’s ninth spot. East Asian firms fell behind as they lacked policies to address decarbonization in the production of steel and aluminum.
Indigenous Filipinos fight to protect biodiverse mountains from mining (28 Mar 2024 15:25:58 +0000)
- The global transition to renewable energy is driving a boom in applications to mine nickel and other critical minerals in the Victoria-Anepahan Mountains in the Philippines’ Palawan province.
- The Indigenous Tagbanua are organizing to halt these mining plans before they begin, along with downstream farmers, church and civil society groups.
- Concerns raised by the Tagbanua and other mining opponents include loss of land and livelihood, reduced supply of water for irrigation, and damage to a unique and biodiverse ecosystem.
Agribusiness bill moves to block grassland protections in Brazilian biomes (28 Mar 2024 15:23:56 +0000)
- The Brazilian Congress is analyzing a bill that would leave all the country’s non-forestry vegetation unprotected, affecting an area twice the size of the United Kingdom.
- Behind the proposal are the interests of economic sectors such as agribusiness and real estate companies.
- The most affected biome would be the Pantanal wetlands, a Natural World Heritage Site known for its highly biodiverse grasslands and flooded fields.
Beneath the surface, a toxic tide threatens Bangladesh’s water lifeline (28 Mar 2024 13:24:19 +0000)
- Despite widespread water access, millions in Bangladesh lack safe drinking water due to contamination by arsenic, salinity and heavy metals as unveiled by the nation’s first comprehensive report on groundwater quality assessment.
- Depletion of groundwater, driven by irrigation and exacerbated by climate change, intensifies contamination, particularly affecting coastal areas with saltwater intrusion and surpassing safe limits in certain regions.
- Freshwater pockets and deep aquifers provide temporary relief, but experts emphasize that long-term strategies are imperative to address the problem in coastal districts.
- The Bangladeshi government’s commitment to water issues is evident, but urgent global cooperation, improved infrastructure and data-driven solutions are essential for ensuring safe water access nationwide.
In Liberia, a former mining activist gets the bully pulpit (28 Mar 2024 13:06:54 +0000)
- In 2013, Foday Fahnbulleh led a group of student activists who were arrested for protesting the operations of a Chinese mining firm in Liberia.
- The activists accused China Union, which holds a 25-year concession agreement to mine iron ore in Bong County, of neglecting the social development terms of its contract.
- Elected to represent Bong County’s District #7 in October 2023, Fahnbulleh has already forced China Union to testify about what it admitted were “lapses” to its contract responsibilities.
- After one of its managers was held in contempt and detained, the company has asked for a joint working group to address its strained relationship with Fahnbulleh’s district.
Nepali experts question rhino relocation within park for population balance (28 Mar 2024 09:57:52 +0000)
- Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation relocated five one-horned rhinos from Chitwan National Park’s western region to its eastern side on March 21 to balance the distribution of the animal’s population and reduce competition and fighting for limited resources.
- Factors contributing to low rhino numbers on the east include changes in the Rapti River due to human settlement, which reshaped the riverbed, and the closure of settlements and hotels leading to habitat alterations.
- Conservationists question the efficacy of translocation, suggesting habitat restoration and water management as more sustainable approaches. Government officials promise efforts to manage suitable habitats for rhinos in the eastern sector.
Study identifies species with a long history but short future amid threats (28 Mar 2024 09:05:33 +0000)
- A new study analyzing human-driven extinction threats to jawed vertebrates warns that we could lose between 86 billion and 160 billion years’ worth of evolutionary history over the next 50-500 years without concerted conservation action to save unique species.
- The study is the latest in an increasing body of research that indicates evolutionarily distinctive species are frequently also those most at risk of extinction.
- Turtles and tortoises, sharks and rays, and ray-finned fish were identified as among the groups of species most at risk of extinction.
- Given that global targets under the U.N. Global Biodiversity Framework are based on safeguarding evolutionary history, the authors call on conservationists and policymakers to do more to protect such evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered species.
Previously logged forests struggle to thrive, even with restoration, study finds (27 Mar 2024 18:22:55 +0000)
- A newly published study has found that seedlings in previously logged forests in Borneo struggle to survive compared to those in intact forests, even with restoration efforts.
- Researchers monitored more than 5,000 seedlings for 18 months in three types of landscapes — unlogged forest, naturally regenerating logged forest, and actively restored logged forest — and found the benefits of restoration efforts diminished over time.
- The study suggests that changes in canopy structure, microclimate, soil, low genetic diversity of planted trees, excessive herbivory, and failure to restore soil conditions may contribute to the stress experienced by seedlings in logged forests.
- The low survival rates of seedlings, even 30 years after selective logging, raise concerns about the long-term recovery of biodiversity and the ability of future tree generations to thrive in human-modified tropical forests worldwide.
Report links pulpwood estate clearing Bornean orangutan habitat to RGE Group (27 Mar 2024 18:18:42 +0000)
- NGOs have accused PT Mayawana Persada, a company with a massive pulpwood concession in Indonesian Borneo, of extensive deforestation that threatens both Indigenous lands and orangutan habitat.
- In a recent report, the NGOs also highlighted links that they say tie the company to Singapore-based paper and palm oil conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle (RGE).
- RGE has denied any affiliation with Mayawana Persada, despite findings of shared key personnel, operational management connections, and supply chain links.
- The report also suggests the Mayawana Persada plantation is gearing up to supply pulpwood in time for a massive production boost by RGE, which is expanding its flagship mill in Sumatra and building a new mill in Borneo.
We need rapid response support for Indigenous peoples in the face of growing extreme weather events (commentary) (27 Mar 2024 16:58:29 +0000)
- Climate change can sometimes feel distant and intangible, but the increasingly frequent extreme weather events in tropical forest regions like the Amazon and Congo Basin are already having very real-world impacts on Indigenous and other local communities in these areas.
- While Indigenous and grassroots organizations are often the first responders and are best placed to know the needs of their communities, they face huge challenges in accessing heavily bureaucratic disaster response funding.
- This is why we are calling for the establishment of a dedicated fit-for-purpose rapid response fund for them to be able to respond and recover from such events.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Lebanese youths take up rods and reels to learn sustainable fishing (27 Mar 2024 15:54:44 +0000)
- Lebanon’s fisheries face multiple challenges, including the prevalence of illegal and destructive practices, like dynamite fishing.
- New initiatives aim to shift mentalities, particularly among the younger generation.
- One of them, run by the Lebanese NGO Friends of Nature, aims to train 300 youths across the country in sustainable fishing methods.
Smaller population estimate underscores urgency of saving Cao-vit gibbon (27 Mar 2024 15:47:18 +0000)
- A recent survey based on “vocal fingerprinting” puts the total population of Cao-vit gibbons at just 74 individuals, down from previous estimates of 120.
- Researchers say the lower number represents more precise data, not an actual decline in gibbon numbers.
- However, habitat loss and hunting, along with a slow rate of reproduction, have pushed Cao-vit gibbons to the edge of extinction.
- Reforestation and establishing protected forest corridors are key to increasing population numbers, while inbreeding remains a concern for the small population.
Mining industry touts green pledges to attract talent, but Gen Z isn’t buying it (27 Mar 2024 15:39:37 +0000)
- A massive increase in renewable energy capacity will require critical minerals, such as rare earth elements, lithium, cobalt and graphite, which mining companies and governments say can create jobs and generate wealth to the benefit of communities and the environment.
- However, finding the next generation of employees appears to be a growing concern: A 2023 McKinsey report found 70% of its respondents aged 15-30 said they definitely or probably wouldn’t work in mining, and Australia has seen a 63% decrease in mining graduates from 2014 to 2020.
- Mining industry insiders and representatives say that rebranding mining from its past, in part by being more responsible as well as connecting how mined minerals can be part of the solution to net zero, will be key.
- Youth activists and community members, however, remained concerned about the persistent disconnect between mining companies’ pledges and the reality of their actions, to the detriment of people and the planet.
Jaguar release offers a lifeline to Gran Chaco’s lonely big cats (27 Mar 2024 15:18:46 +0000)
- On March 15, the first female jaguar was released into El Impenetrable National Park in northern Argentina in the hope she will mate with resident males.
- Just 10 male jaguars live in Argentina’s Gran Chaco region, with the last confirmed female sighting there 35 years ago, meaning a viable jaguar population is impossible without rewilding efforts.
- By increasing numbers in El Impenetrable, rewilding experts aim to bridge Argentina’s disperse jaguar populations and promote genetic diversity between them.
- The NGO Rewilding Argentina has been working with local communities to develop an ecotourism-centered economy to boost the chances of the jaguars’ survival.
Amazon prosecutors get sharper impact tool to charge illegal gold dealers (27 Mar 2024 14:00:00 +0000)
- New research from the NGO Conservation Strategy fund, working with federal prosecutors in Brazil, has refined a tool that puts a dollar value on the socioenvironmental costs of illegal gold mining across vital ecosystems in the Amazon.
- Brazilian environmental investigators and prosecutors say the updated Mining Impacts Calculator is improving cases they’re bringing against the largest buyers of illegal gold in the country.
- Each kilogram of gold of artisanal mining causes damage valued at up to $389,200, more than twice the market value of gold, the new study found.
- Prosecutors in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and other Amazonian countries are also adopting the new calculator, but with gold values soaring and official corruption entrenched, observers say that reducing illegal mining will remain a significant challenge.
Global cobalt rush drives toxic toll near DRC mines (27 Mar 2024 11:05:43 +0000)
- A new report highlights the social and environmental harms from cobalt mining in the DRC, driven by surging global demand for clean energy minerals.
- Researchers investigated five mines supplying major electric vehicle manufacturers and linked them to water contamination, health impacts and human rights abuses.
- Despite efforts to mitigate pollution, ongoing incidents and failure to meet clean water provision standards demand urgent action from companies and regulators, co-authors RAID and AFREWATCH say.
Tanzania’s ‘mountain of millipedes’ yields six new species (26 Mar 2024 21:35:35 +0000)
- Scientists have recently described six new species of millipedes found in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains.
- The six were among thousands of specimens collected by researchers studying forest ecology there and in the nearby Magombera Nature Reserve.
- Magombera was damaged by commercial logging in the 1970s-80s, and affected areas have been overrun by woody vines known as lianas.
- But teams working on the ground think that millipede diversity and abundance in liana thickets is equal to that of undisturbed forests, suggesting they may be dynamic places poised for forest regeneration with minimal human intervention.
Agroforestry project sows seeds of hope in drought-hit Honduras (26 Mar 2024 15:30:54 +0000)
- In response to longer and more intense droughts, Indigenous Tolupan farmers in Honduras are turning to agroforestry and agroecology strategies to adapt to the changing climate.
- The strategies include diversifying their crops, building water storage systems, introducing methods to better conserve water in the soil, and building up banks of native seeds.
- Although Honduras wasn’t among the 22 countries that declared a drought emergency in 2022 and 2023, severe heat waves and El Niño events are hitting harvests hard, leading to an exodus of young people out of rural areas.
- Locals participating in the adaptation initiative say it’s starting to bear fruit and give them hope — a precious resource in a dry land.
‘Another catastrophe’: Flooding destroys Indigenous agroforestry projects in Peru’s Amazon (26 Mar 2024 14:55:59 +0000)
- Heavy rains likely caused by El Niño began flooding Peru’s Ene River at the beginning of March, with waters reaching around 2 feet high and spreading across 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of land occupied by around 300 Indigenous Asháninka families.
- Families in five Asháninka communities lost their homes as well as years of work on successful and sustainable agroforestry projects for cacao, coffee and timber, among other products.
- The flood waters have only recently receded, so a long-term or even mid-term plan for recovering their agroforestry projects hasn’t been developed yet.
- The Asháninka have faced many other setbacks over the years, from drug trafficking groups to unsustainable development projects, but have often overcome them to defend their territory. This flood marks the latest setback.
Conservation comeback in Central African Republic’s Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park (commentary) (26 Mar 2024 14:55:52 +0000)
- Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park is the largest park in the Central African savannas, covering 17,400 square kilometers, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 due to its Outstanding Universal Value.
- However, the combined effects of poaching, livestock intrusions, artisanal mining, and other threats saw it added to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1997.
- Recent cooperative efforts between the Central African Republic, NGOs and UNESCO to enact a new management plan have greatly improved the situation, and were recognized by the International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme last year.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
The environmental and social liabilities of the extractive sector (26 Mar 2024 14:42:31 +0000)
- Many environmental advocates consistently oppose mining and hydrocarbon development because they believe that the Amazon should remain intact. A similar view is held by Indigenous peoples, who fear that their communities will be transformed by immigrants or altered by catastrophes that will damage their livelihoods.
- Despite numerous initiatives and significant investment in redesigning tailings storage facilities and improving risk management, the number of incidents classified as ‘serious’ or ‘very serious’ has increased over the last thirty years.
- Long-term liabilities created by mining must be remediated – as is the case of tailings storage facilities – or offset, for example, where habitat loss can be compensated by creating a protected area with similar biodiversity.
Biomass-burning coal plants leave the air even dirtier, Java communities say (25 Mar 2024 18:59:37 +0000)
- PLTU 1 Indramayu, a 13-year-old coal power complex, has begun adding biomass to the coal it burns on the north coast of West Java province.
- Indonesia’s state electricity firm said its 43 coal units nationwide consumed 1 million metric tons of biomass across in 2023, a 71% increase over 2022, as it seeks ways to trim emissions.
- In Indramayu, local people fear coal plants are endangering public health.
New U.S. agroforestry project will pay farmers to expand ‘climate-smart’ acres (25 Mar 2024 17:15:59 +0000)
- The Nature Conservancy is leading the Expanding Agroforestry Project to provide training, planning and funds for 12,140 hectares (30,000 acres) of new agroforestry plantings in the U.S.
- Goals for the program include enrolling at least 200 farmers, with a minimum of 50 from underserved communities.
- Initial applications have surpassed expectations — 213 farmers applied in the first cycle with 93% coming from underserved populations.
- The first round of payments is set for distribution in fall 2024.
‘Planting water, eating Caatinga & irrigating with the sun’: Interview with agroecologist Tião Alves (25 Mar 2024 16:40:19 +0000)
- In an interview with Mongabay, Brazilian agroecologist Tião Alves tells how he has been teaching thousands of rural workers to survive in the Caatinga biome, severely afflicted by drought, climate change and desertification.
- At the head of Serta, one of the most important agroecology schools in the Brazilian Northeast, he teaches low-cost technologies that ensure food security with a minimum of resources, both natural and financial.
- Currently, 13% of the Caatinga is already in the process of desertification, the result of a combination of deforestation, inadequate irrigation, extreme droughts and changes in the global climate.
Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park (25 Mar 2024 16:24:01 +0000)
- Four environmental activists in Indonesia face up to 10 months in jail for “hate speech” after complaining online about the proliferation of illegal shrimp farms inside a marine park.
- Karimunjawa National Park, which is supposed to be a protected area, has seen the number of such farms inside its borders proliferate in recent years, which groups like Greenpeace have linked to ecosystem degradation.
- Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan is the first of the four members of the #SaveKarimunjawa movement to go to court; a verdict in his case is expected on April 4.
- All four men have been charged under a controversial 2008 law on online speech, which critics say has been abused vigorously by the Indonesian state to stifle dissent and opposition.
In Nepal, environmental advocates fend off ‘anti-development’ smear (25 Mar 2024 12:31:32 +0000)
- Nepal’s political focus on large-scale infrastructure development has long raised environmental concerns, with projects like dams and highways lacking adequate safeguards.
- Despite international commitments and constitutional rights to a healthy environment, Nepal’s government faces challenges in implementing effective environmental policies.
- Conservationists advocating for nature and sustainable development say protecting ecosystems is important for both the planet and its people.
- They also rebuff accusations from politicians that they’re “anti-development,” saying supporting nature doesn’t mean being opposed to development.
Under the shadow of war in the DRC, a mining company acts with impunity (25 Mar 2024 07:00:21 +0000)
- In Walikale, a territory located in the eastern DRC, Indigenous Twa people accuse the Canadian and South African-owned mining company Alphamin Bisie Mining SA of obtaining mining rights without consulting all the communities affected by the company’s activities.
- An analysis by Mongabay highlights several inconsistencies in the process of receiving mining and exploration permits that violate the law.
- For years, the Indigenous communities of Banamwesi and Motondo have been unsuccessfully calling on the mining company to recognize that it is occupying part of their community forests. In an exchange with Mongabay, Alphamin Bisie denies they are affected and says they will clarify these matters with the communities.
- In light of the conflict devasting the eastern DRC and government officials’ silence in addressing the communities’ situation, inhabitants and civil society representatives say the conflict is being used as a cover for the violations of the law taking place around them.
Despite investment in conservation, Bengal tigers still struggling in Bangladesh (25 Mar 2024 03:30:39 +0000)
- As a major tiger habitat country, Bangladesh has been spending a remarkable amount of money to protect the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) for the last two decades; however, the population of the big cat has dropped during this period.
- According to the last survey conducted in 2018, only 114 tigers remain in the Bangladesh portion of the Sundarbans, compared to 440 in 2004.
- In Bangladesh, Sundarbans is the only place where the Bengal tiger lives. Three portions of the mangrove forest are designated as wildlife sanctuaries, but none are specifically dedicated to the tiger.
- Experts blame inefficient and inadequate measures in conservation initiatives as the major reasons for the failure in population increase.
Nepal’s release of endangered crocs into historical habitat raises concerns (23 Mar 2024 01:45:09 +0000)
- Nepal recently released 25 critically endangered gharials into a tributary of the Mahakali River to reintroduce them to historical habitats, but concerns have arisen over transparency and timing of the process.
- Gharials are released into the Chaudhar river, part of the Terai Arc Landscape, to augment dwindling populations, although previous translocations have yielded mixed results.
- Researchers highlight challenges faced by gharials, including migration obstacles due to dams and barrages, and they advocate for better timing of releases to optimize adaptation and survival.
- Issues such as lack of publicized government studies, potential influence of reciprocal gifts in translocation decisions and denial of budget-related motives are raised amid efforts to conserve gharials.
‘Mind-blowing’ new orchid species found in Madagascar forest canopy (22 Mar 2024 18:23:21 +0000)
- Scientists from Madagascar, the U.S. and Europe have described a new orchid species from the forests of central Madagascar, which has a record-breaking long nectar spur relative to its small flower size.
- The orchid is pollinated by a species of hawkmoth with a very long tongue, similar to Darwin’s orchid, which was predicted to exist by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1800s.
- Habitat of the newly described orchid species is threatened deforestation and mining activities, especially from the Ambatovy nickel and cobalt mine nearby, though Ambatovy is funding conservation actions to protect the species.
- Madagascar’s unique biodiversity, including many species found nowhere else on Earth, is under serious threat from rapid deforestation driven by agriculture, fires and mining.
In Raja Ampat, pearl farming balances business and ecological sustainability (22 Mar 2024 13:55:11 +0000)
- In the Raja Ampat islands of eastern Indonesia, pearl farming thrives within a healthy marine ecosystem, with companies like PT Arta Samudra focusing on sustainable practices.
- Pearl farms are very secretive about their methods, which include the delicate process of implanting beads into oysters to cultivate pearls, a technique developed to accelerate pearl production.
- Challenges such as climate change impacts and maintaining a pristine environment highlight the importance of balancing industry growth with ecosystem preservation.
- With concerted efforts to protect marine habitats, Raja Ampat’s pearl industry aims for global recognition while emphasizing sustainability.
How to reward tropical forest conservation: Interview with Tasso Azevedo (22 Mar 2024 12:57:54 +0000)
- A new initiative led by Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment plans to financially reward conservationists of the planet’s tropical forests.
- In an interview with Mongabay, one of the system’s creators, Tasso Azevedo, details the financial instrument, called Tropical Forests Forever.
- Countries that join the system will receive a fixed amount for each hectare of forest preserved or recovered, but the amount will be deducted if they allow deforestation.
- The Brazilian government estimates that $250 billion is needed to kickstart the operation.
PalmWatch platform pushes for farm-to-fork traceability of palm oil (22 Mar 2024 03:31:54 +0000)
- PalmWatch, an online, open-source tool, is seeking to bring greater transparency to the global palm oil supply web, to better help consumers trace the impact of the commodity.
- A key hurdle to transparency has long been the fact that batches of palm oil and their derivatives sourced by consumer brands like Nestlé and PepsiCo potentially contain product from hundreds of mills processing palm fruit from thousands of plantations.
- By scraping various websites with mill disclosure data and standardizing the information in one place, PalmWatch can come up with a supply chain map that can link specific mills, suppliers and consumer brands to harms associated with palm oil.
- Advocacy groups have welcomed the launch of the tool, saying it will allow for improved targeting of campaigns to get brands to push for more sustainable practices in their supply chains.
Deforestation from soy shows no sign of stopping in Cerrado, report says (21 Mar 2024 17:12:18 +0000)
- A recent report from Mighty Earth shows that approximately 26,901 hectares (66,473 acre) suffered deforestation and forest degradation in the Cerrado between last September and December, while 30,031 hectares (74,208 acres) were affected in the Amazon.
- Mighty Earth, in partnership with AidEnvironment and Repórter Brasil, are monitoring short-term soy and cattle ranching activities contributing to deforestation, aiming to highlight recent forest loss cases every three months.
- The report called for improved regulations that protect savanna biomes like the Cerrado, not just the Amazon Rainforest.
Japan prepares to mine its deep seabed by decade’s end (21 Mar 2024 15:28:34 +0000)
- Japan is one among just a handful of nations actively pursuing deep-sea mining within its own waters.
- The country aims to be ready to mine by the late 2020s and could be among the first nations to exploit the deep sea.
- The country has completed multiple small-scale mining tests that it claims are world firsts, and it positions itself as a global leader in the “sustainable development” of deep-sea mining.
- However, concerns about the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining have prompted widespread opposition to the practice, and one critic notes that Japan’s momentum may be too great to stop for any warning signs its research might raise.
Critics fear catastrophic energy crisis as AI is outsourced to Latin America (21 Mar 2024 13:19:34 +0000)
- AI use is surging astronomically around the globe, requiring vastly more energy to make AI-friendly semiconductor chips and causing a gigantic explosion in data center construction. So large and rapid is this expansion that Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, has warned that AI is driving humanity toward a “catastrophic energy crisis.”
- Altman’s solution is an audacious plan to spend up to $7 trillion to produce energy from nuclear fusion. But even if this investment, the biggest in all of history, occurred, its impact wouldn’t be felt until mid-century, and do little to end the energy and water crises triggered by AI manufacture and use, while having huge mining and toxic waste impacts.
- Data centers are mushrooming worldwide to meet AI demand, but particularly in Latin America, seen as strategically located by Big Tech. One of the largest data center hubs is in Querétaro, a Mexican state with high risk of intensifying climate change-induced drought. Farmers are already protesting their risk of losing water access.
- As Latin American protests rise over the environmental and social harm done by AI, activists and academics are calling for a halt to government rubber-stamping of approvals for new data centers, for a full assessment of AI life-cycle impacts, and for new regulations to curb the growing social harm caused by AI.
Mineral commodities: the wealth that generates most impacts in the Pan Amazon | Chapter 5 of “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon” (21 Mar 2024 11:27:07 +0000)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- The paradox of minerals is that thousands of families depend on their exploitation and the economic activities generated, but at the same time suffer the impacts on their ecosystems, livelihoods and health.
- According to Killeen, governments know that the promotion of mineral development generates an unfavorable balance of payments in the long term. Thus, the overall cost-benefit equation may require a different development strategy.
- In the meantime, people living in the surrounding of projects are often torn between the desire for employment (however temporary) and the fear of environmental impacts that persist for decades.
Ancient giant river dolphin species found in the Peruvian Amazon (20 Mar 2024 22:35:31 +0000)
- Paleontologists discovered a fossilized skull of a newly described species of giant freshwater dolphin in the Peruvian Amazon, which lived around 16 million years ago and is considered the largest-known river dolphin ever found.
- The ancient creature, measuring 3-3.5 meters (9.8-11.5 feet), was surprisingly related to South Asian river dolphins rather than the local, living Amazon river pink dolphin and shared highly developed facial crests used for echolocation.
- The discovery comes at a time when the six existing species of modern river dolphins face unprecedented threats, with their combined populations decreasing by 73% since the 1980s due to unsustainable fishing practices, climate change, pollution, illegal mining and infrastructure development.
- Conservation efforts are underway, including the signing of the Global Declaration for River Dolphins by nine countries and successful initiatives in China and Indonesia, highlighting the importance of protecting these critical species that serve as indicators of river ecosystem health.
Ecological overshoot is a ‘behavioral crisis’ & marketing is a solution: Study (20 Mar 2024 21:27:21 +0000)
- The current ecological crises facing our planet are extensively the result of a human behavioral crisis, according to a 2023 paper appearing in the journal Science Progress. The paper cites economic growth, marketing and pronatalism as key drivers of human “maladaptive behaviors” resulting in ecological overshoot.
- The authors, three of whom have affiliations with the marketing industry, argue that behavior manipulation through the use of marketing, media, and entertainment could go a long way toward solving our environmental problems. It “may just be our best chance at avoiding ecological catastrophe,” they write.
- Experts interviewed by Mongabay say they agree that human behavior contributes to the environmental problems faced today, but they disagree with the paper’s focus on behavior manipulation of individuals as a leading solution, which risks shifting focus from the urgent need for broader systemic changes, such as decarbonization.
- “The most effective and scalable behavior change interventions often target social, physical and economic factors rather than individuals directly,” notes behavioral scientist Kristian Steensen Nielsen.
Suriname cancels controversial Mennonite pilot program, but bigger problems loom (20 Mar 2024 19:25:21 +0000)
- Suriname President Chan Santokhi confirmed to local media this week that he shuttered a pilot program setting aside 30,000 hectares (74,131 acres) for 50 Mennonite families, easing some fears that the country was on the verge of destroying large parts of the Amazon Rainforest.
- Mennonite colonies have a history of contributing to widespread deforestation in other parts of Latin America, including Belize, Mexico and Bolivia.
- But many conservation groups said there are bigger challenges than the Mennonites, including the development of around 467,000 hectares (1,153,982 acres) of land for agricultural activity.
Communities worry anew as PNG revives seabed mining plans (20 Mar 2024 14:30:39 +0000)
- Coastal communities in Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland province rely on the sea for their livelihoods and culture.
- But Solwara 1, a resurgent deep-sea mining project aimed at sourcing metals from the ocean floor, could threaten their way of life, community leaders and activists say.
- They also say they haven’t been properly consulted about the potential pros and cons of Solwara 1, and government and company leaders have provided little information to the public about their plans.
- A coalition of leaders, activists and faith-based organizations called the Alliance of Solwara Warriors is opposing the project in Papua New Guinea and abroad, and calling for a permanent ban on seabed mining in the country’s waters.
Lula’s deforestation goals threatened by frustrated environmental agents (20 Mar 2024 13:54:17 +0000)
- Brazilian environmental agents worked hard in 2023 to control the Amazon deforestation, with impressive results that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has used to promote himself in the international arena.
- But since early January, these public servants went on strike, claiming their salaries do not make up for their risky and highly-qualified work, in a threat to Lula’s zero deforestation target.
- The workers’ movement has provoked a sharp decrease in environmental fines, besides affecting the licensing of infrastructure works and the importing of vehicles.
Comeback on the cards for Asian antelope declared extinct in Bangladesh (20 Mar 2024 11:52:33 +0000)
- Nilgais, the largest antelope species in Asia, are reappearing in northwestern Bangladesh, a country that was part of their historical range but where they were declared locally extinct in the 1930s due to habitat loss and hunting.
- Forays by nilgais, mostly from neighboring India but also from Nepal, suggest that the species can be reestablished in parts of Bangladesh that still have sufficient areas of undisturbed natural landscape.
- A 2023 study identified 13 instances of nilgai sightings in the country from 2018-2022 from media reports, but it’s likely that most sightings are going unreported because they end up in local residents catching and killing the antelopes for their meat.
- Experts say any attempt to reestablish a nilgai population within Bangladesh’s borders should be carried out in tandem with a public education campaign to discourage the hunting of the animal.
How effective are giant funding pledges by major conservation donors? (19 Mar 2024 20:08:52 +0000)
- Big-name conservation philanthropy is having a moment, but does the news cycle adequately capture the nuances required when huge new pledges of funding by billionaires or foundations are announced?
- On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, two experts weigh in on what conservationists and environmental journalists should consider when evaluating climate change or biodiversity conservation pledges.
- Holly Jonas, global coordinator at the ICCA Consortium, and Michael Kavate, staff writer at the news outlet Inside Philanthropy, offer expert advice for conservationists, curious readers and journalists who want to know more about the topic.
- “I think what the public really needs is more critical and more in-depth coverage of the ideologies and the approaches behind their kinds of philanthropy, the billionaire pledges and so on, how they’re being rolled out in practice, where the funding’s actually going,” Jonas says.
Are biodiversity credits just another business-as-usual finance scheme? (19 Mar 2024 18:11:05 +0000)
- There’s a new emerging innovative finance scheme to support biodiversity conservation: voluntary biodiversity credits. These are meant to be purely voluntary, “positive investment” in nature by the private sector and, in theory, should not be used to offset damage elsewhere.
- But several Indigenous and environmental groups and researchers worry that, like the voluntary carbon credit market, a voluntary biodiversity market could end up being used for offsets, allowing companies and governments to continue business as usual.
- Critics also say there is lack of a clear demand for such credits from the private sector, and a voluntary biodiversity credit market won’t be a sustainable solution at a global scale.
- Indigenous and local communities have the potential to financially benefit from these biodiversity credit projects, which are likely to target their lands. But experts point out the need to first fix several fundamental problems that have already emerged in the carbon credit market, from the lack of land rights among Indigenous communities to unscrupulous middlemen, unjust contracts and dilution of funds.
Culture of harassment persists for women in Southeast Asia’s conservation space (19 Mar 2024 17:09:39 +0000)
- Recent years have seen an increase in regulations addressing sexual harassment in Southeast Asia, including amendments to Vietnam’s labor code in 2019 and a 2022 anti-sexual harassment bill in Malaysia.
- However, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community say harassment remains widespread, enforcement on the ground is lacking, and the culture in many conservation organizations discourages speaking out.
- While victims of harassment say they’re often left to come up their own coping measures, experts call for women-to-women mentorship, participation of male allies, and deeper transformational change in the conservation sector.
Soraida Chindoy: the Indigenous guardian defending the sacred Putumayo mountains (19 Mar 2024 16:09:05 +0000)
- An Indigenous woman from the Inga community in the Condagua reservation in Putumayo, Colombia, is leading the struggle against a Canadian mining company that plans to mine the community’s sacred mountains for copper and molybdenum.
- Within Soraida Chindoy’s territory is the Doña Juana-Chimayoy páramo, where eight rivers have their source and where there are 56 lagoons. The site, where the Amazon rainforest and the Andes meet, is sacred to the Indigenous population.
- Her campaign against mining was borne of tragedy. In 2017, she and her family were among the almost 22,000 people affected by the landslide in Mocoa, when Mother Earth provided a stark warning as to why it is so important to take care of her.
Road paving in a Peruvian bird paradise threatens wildlife and ecotourism (19 Mar 2024 12:48:52 +0000)
- In the Manu Biosphere Reserve of Southeastern Peru, one of the world’s most biodiverse protected areas, a winding dirt road has historically been the only route from the Andes into the Amazon. Now that road has been paved from top to bottom.
- The resulting increase in vehicle speed is causing concerns among conservationists about road-killed wildlife and damage to eco-tourism, while raising the specter of expanding extractive industries in the region.
- However, poor construction may have ensured that any impacts are short-lived; the thin asphalt is expected to erode quickly and may leave the road worse than it was before.
- Critics say such shoddy construction is a consequence of endemic corruption in the Peruvian road-building sector, which fuels an unsustainable development model that fails to meet local people’s needs.
Irrawaddy dolphin death in Thailand’s Songkhla Lake underscores conservation needs (19 Mar 2024 09:02:06 +0000)
- As few as 14 critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins remain in the world’s smallest freshwater population of the species, in southern Thailand’s Songkhla Lake.
- The recent death of one of the remaining few raised the alarm among cetacean specialists, who say more must be done to save the imperiled population.
- Teetering on the brink of extinction, the dolphins face a slew of threats from entanglement in fishing nets, depletion of fish populations, and deteriorating lake conditions due to increasing pressures from agriculture, industry and infrastructure development.
- Experts say a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to reverse the dolphin’s trajectory of decline is on the horizon in the form of major funding for dolphin conservation linked to a road bridge megaproject, but they warn it will only be successful if government agencies can put aside their competing agendas.
UN probes controversial forest carbon agreement in Malaysian Borneo (18 Mar 2024 20:01:08 +0000)
- The government of Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo will continue to move forward with an opaque nature conservation agreement despite concerns raised by the United Nations.
- In a letter, the U.N. calls in question the transparency of the agreement and the state’s approach to the human rights law principle of free, prior and informed consent.
- The agreement was signed by state officials and a representative of a Singaporean company in 2021. Shortly after news of the deal became public, some Indigenous groups in the state said they hadn’t been consulted or informed about the deal covering 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of the state’s forests.
- The U.N. letter was written by a group of “special procedures experts” with mandates established by the U.N. Human Rights Council, including the special rapporteurs on the rights of Indigenous peoples, on human rights and the environment, and on the right to development.
Fanned by El Niño, megafires in Brazil threaten Amazon’s preserved areas (18 Mar 2024 19:27:11 +0000)
- Researchers and protection agencies expected a dry season with more fires in Brazil’s Roraima state at the start of 2024, but the effects of an intense and prolonged El Niño have aggravated the situation.
- In February alone, the number of hotspots detected in this northernmost Amazonian state hit an all-time high of 2,057.
- According to IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, 23% of the outbreaks recorded in Roraima are in Indigenous areas, affecting at least 13 territories.
- The Roraima state government says controlled fires in private areas are allowed with a permit, but the large number of fires this year indicates criminal activity.
Rising temperatures threaten the tiny animals responsible for groundwater quality (18 Mar 2024 17:01:28 +0000)
- A new study compared temperatures inside 12 caves around the world with their respective surfaces, showing that average annual temperatures in underground systems tend to mirror those of the surface, but with far less variation.
- The researchers also found that while some caves follow outdoor temperatures with little or no delay, others have temperatures that are very asynchronous with the surface, being at their warmest when the world outside is at its coldest, and vice versa.
- Scientists also detected the existence of daily thermal cycles in the deepest sections of some caves, suggesting that such cycles might mark the circadian rhythms of cave-adapted organisms.
- The results indicate that underground fauna — with many species ill-adapted to handle large temperature variations — might be at threat due to climate change, and that their extinction might risk the water quality of aquifers worldwide.
Chocó land deal shows flaws in Ecuador’s forestry incentive program (18 Mar 2024 16:09:22 +0000)
- A conflict over thousands of hectares of the Andean Chocó bioregion of northwestern Ecuador — now enmeshed in a decade-long legal battle — shows that the country’s Socio Bosque program is susceptible to potential corruption and political dealmaking, activists in the area claim.
- Over 9,000 hectares (22,239 acres) were stolen from local communities through an illegal land sale that was then used to benefit from the Socio Bosque program, critics say.
- Complaints filed to the Ministry of Environment have led to multiple inspections of the land, and the person who collected Socio Bosque payments was ordered to return $152,364.
Oman’s mountain oases offer ancient farming lessons for a warming future (18 Mar 2024 15:34:50 +0000)
- Traditional oasis agriculture in Oman’s northern mountains is an outstanding example of sustainable land-use in dryland ecosystems.
- But major socioeconomic development throughout Oman over the past 50 years means that traditional agricultural practices, more than a millennium old, are changing too.
- Climate change is also affecting the types of crops that can be grown, particularly at higher altitudes.
- The high value of traditional agricultural products, agritourism, and new cash crops offer ideas on how to sustain the economic viability of these mountain oases.
Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout (18 Mar 2024 15:13:36 +0000)
- The Moa Indigenous community live in a remote region of Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, on the fringe of a national park established in the 1990s.
- The society’s customary rules and norms mandate matrilineal aspects, including that women in the community have responsibility for a type of subsistence farming known as pampa.
- Forestry economics professor Syukur Umar says a crucial boundary change made by the government has led to sudden shifts in the community’s forestry.
Fertilizer management could reduce ammonia pollution from 3 staple crops: Study (18 Mar 2024 14:11:31 +0000)
- Nitrogen fertilizers are applied to crops to increase yield, but some of that nitrogen is lost to the atmosphere in the form of ammonia. Ammonia is a major air pollutant linked to numerous health issues, including asthma, lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.
- Using published agricultural and environmental data, researchers employed machine learning to quantify global ammonia emissions from rice, wheat and corn cultivation at 10-kilometer resolution. This added up to a global estimate of 4.3 billion kilograms (9.5 billion pounds) of ammonia emitted from the three staple crops in 2018.
- The model also revealed that optimizing fertilizer management to suit local conditions could achieve a 38% reduction in global ammonia emissions from the three crops. Optimal fertilizer management and the associated emissions reductions depended on local climate and soil characteristics.
- The model, which utilized machine learning, found that under current fertilizer management practices, climate change will increase ammonia emissions from rice, wheat and corn by up to 15.8% by 2100. But this increase could be entirely offset by optimizing fertilizer management and adapting it to local conditions.
In Peru, conservationists and authorities struggle to get turtle eggs off the menu (18 Mar 2024 11:12:24 +0000)
- A staple dish in Peruvian cuisine, turtles eggs are being illegally poached in the upper Peruvian Amazon, with little oversight or intervention from authorities.
- Belén, a floating market in the town of Iquitos, has long been a hub for illegally trading turtles and their eggs, fueling a phenomenon that is threatening several species of Amazonian turtles.
- Poachers harvest not just the eggs, but also take away the nesting turtles, further threatening the sustainability of the trade.
- A local conservation group in Tapiche is working to protect the eggs and turtles before poachers get to them and hopes that more awareness will improve turtles’ chances of survival.
Spying on wildlife with biorobots: Interview with engineer Kamilo Melo (18 Mar 2024 02:50:12 +0000)
- Biorobotics combines engineering and biology, yielding robots that can mimic biological systems.
- Biorobots can and have been used in wildlife studies to better understand animal movements, behaviors and interactions between different species.
- In 2016, engineer Kamilo Melo designed two robots, one shaped like a crocodile and the other like a monitor lizard, for the BBC nature documentary series “Spy in the Wild” that captured animal interactions in real life.
- A recent study authored by Melo documents his experience of using biorobots in the field and the scope of using biorobots for scientific research purposes.
Fires surge in the Amazon, but deforestation continues to fall (17 Mar 2024 00:05:04 +0000)
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has continued on a downward trajectory despite a sharp increase in fires associated with the severe drought in the region.
- According to data published by Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE) earlier this month, forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon amounted to 5,010 square kilometers over the past twelve months, the lowest level recorded since May 2019.
- Despite the declining rate of forest loss, fires in the Amazon are on the rise, driven by the severe drought gripping the region.
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen precipitously since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva replaced Jair Bolsonaro as president last year.
Toilet paper: Environmentally impactful, but alternatives are rolling out (15 Mar 2024 15:26:09 +0000)
- While toilet paper use is ubiquitous in China, North America, parts of the EU and Australia, its environmental impact is rarely discussed. Environmentalists recently began urging people to be more aware of the real price paid for each roll — especially for luxury soft, extra-absorbent TP made from virgin tree pulp.
- Though not the global primary source of tissue pulp, large tracts of old-growth forest in Canada and Indonesia are being felled today for paper and tissue products, impacting biodiversity and Indigenous communities. Eucalyptus plantations to provide pulp for TP are mostly ecological deserts, and put a strain on water supplies.
- The environmental impacts of toilet paper occur all along its supply chain. Making TP is an energy- and water-intensive process, and also requires toxic PFAS and other chemicals. Upon disposal, toilet paper can become an insoluble pollutant that resists wastewater treatment and adds bulk and chemicals to sewage sludge.
- Many large tissue makers are investing in improved technologies to lighten this impact. But emerging markets in the developing world, beyond the reach of environmental watchdogs, are raising alarms. Bidets, recycled paper, bamboo, sugarcane and other alternative pulp sources offer more environmentally friendly options.
Brazilian youngsters discuss how they are tackling the climate emergency (15 Mar 2024 11:58:09 +0000)
- Affected by drought, pollution, high waters and floods, young people from different Brazilian states describe how climate change is impacting their routines and causing illness, malnutrition, displacement and school disruption.
- According to a UNICEF report, 2 billion children and adolescents in the world are exposed to risks arising from the climate emergency; in Brazil, there are 40 million affected children and adolescents — 60% of Brazilians under 18.
- According to experts, the climate crisis is a crisis of the rights of children and adolescents, as it affects everything from the right to decent housing and health care to education and food, leading to problems in child development and learning abilities.
To detect illegal roads in remote areas, AI comes into play (15 Mar 2024 11:03:05 +0000)
- Scientists have deployed an artificial intelligence model to identify and detect roads in rural and remote areas.
- The model was trained to analyze satellite images and pick out the roads within them; according to a recent study, it managed to do this accurately eight times out of 10.
- Road construction has increased drastically in recent decades, with 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) of paved roads expected to be built by 2050.
- Illegal roads, which fall outside the purview of environmental governance, often cut through dense forests and cause harm to the biodiversity living in fragile ecosystems.
Huge new no-fishing zones give Antarctic marine predators and their prey a break (14 Mar 2024 19:02:30 +0000)
- The government of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI), which operates as a British overseas territory, recently announced that it had established new no-fishing zones over 166,000 km² (64,100 mi²) of its existing marine protected area, and prohibited krill fishing in an additional 17,000 km² (6,600 mi²) of the MPA.
- These new no-fishing zones were established to protect krill-dependent marine wildlife, including baleen whales and penguins, while also considering the fisheries operating in the area, which target krill and other species.
- While conservationists initially pushed for further protections, they ultimately accepted the decision, with one calling it a “positive and good outcome.”
- However, Argentina, which claims the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands as part of its Tierra del Fuego province, has expressed its dissatisfaction with the SGSSI government’s decision.
Brazil’s Amazonian states push for court reforms in bid for justice (14 Mar 2024 19:01:18 +0000)
- Brazil’s Supreme Court has sworn in Flávio Dino, the first justice of the country’s highest court with an Amazonian background in almost 20 years.
- Amazonian states have gone largely unrepresented at the top of the Brazilian judicial system for decades, a political distortion that has spurred calls for reform.
- Federal courts are of special interest in the Amazon because illegal activity in the region tends to be intertwined with environmental, Indigenous, mining and land reform issues — all of which fall under federal jurisdiction.
- The lack of federal courts of appeal in the Amazon and the large distances that people have to travel to access justice have long been a common complaint among Amazonian lawyers, public defenders, judges and politicians.
E-Sak Ka Ou Declaration underscores Indigenous rights as a conservation solution (commentary) (14 Mar 2024 17:50:15 +0000)
- The E-Sak Ka Ou Declaration calls attention to the key role of Indigenous peoples to (as well as the challenges they face from) climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation programs.
- A word meaning ‘gill of the manta ray’ and released ahead of COP28 last year by Asian Indigenous leaders, the E-Sak Ka Ou Declaration is a reminder of what remains undone toward upholding the rights of Indigenous communities.
- Commitments at the global level to recognize Indigenous knowledge and protect communities’ rights must also be reflected in regional and national policy frameworks, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Mini radio tags help track ‘murder hornets’ and other invasive insects (14 Mar 2024 17:30:51 +0000)
- Our increasingly interconnected world is moving insect pests around the planet, introducing invasive species that threaten agriculture and local ecologies.
- But tech is fighting back: Researchers have developed radio-tracking tags small enough to attach to invasive yellow-legged hornets in the U.K. and Europe, allowing scientists to find
and destroy their nests.
- Researchers are now deploying this technology in the U.S., to address yellow-legged hornets in Georgia and northern giant hornets in the Pacific Northwest.
Climate change brews trouble for tea industry, but circular solutions await (14 Mar 2024 17:15:31 +0000)
- In its many varieties, tea is renowned as one of the world’s most consumed beverages, second only to water.
- Like many other agricultural crops, tea production impacts the environment: Production in tropical countries is implicated in deforestation, pollution and impacts on fragile biodiversity.
- Climate change imperils the tea industry, threatening to reduce yields and hammer millions of smallholder farmers who derive their livelihood from the crop.
- Experts say circular solutions can help build resilience in tea production against climate change, while at the same time lessening its environmental impact.
Not just polar bears — climate change could push African rhinos to extinction (14 Mar 2024 15:06:33 +0000)
- New research finds climate change threatens black and white African rhinos by making their current habitats hotter, drier and less hospitable.
- Rhinos, unable to sweat, rely on shade, water and food sources that are becoming scarcer due to rising temperatures and arid landscapes.
- The study reveals that hotter periods will also likely force rhinos into areas with more humans, raising the risk of conflicts and compounding threats like poaching.
- Experts say strong global climate change mitigation efforts paired with on-the-ground adaptation tactics, such as shade-tree planting, corridor creation and misting stations, would give rhinos a fighting chance.
Palm oil deforestation persists in Indonesia’s Leuser amid new mills, plantations (14 Mar 2024 14:56:04 +0000)
- Deforestation for palm oil persists in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, including inside a national park that’s supposed to be off-limits to plantation activity, a new investigation has found.
- The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) characterizes the current deforestation trend as a “death by a thousand cuts,” with a large number of small operators hacking away at the ecosystem, in contrast to past deforestation carried out by a small number of large concession holders.
- RAN’s investigation also identified two new palm oil processing mills near the deforesting concessions, indicating that the presence of the mills, which need a constant supply of palm fruit, may be a driver of the ongoing deforestation.
- There’s a high risk that mills in the area may ultimately be supplying deforestation-linked palm oil to major global consumer products companies, including those with stated no-deforestation policies.
How a wind farm on Brazil’s coast erased a fishing village from the map (14 Mar 2024 14:31:18 +0000)
- Environmental authorities approved what was then the largest wind farm in Brazil’s Ceará state in 2002 without assessing its socioenvironmental impact, including on the local fishing community and the ecosystem.
- The community resisted and ended up receiving unusual compensation that nonetheless failed to resolve the permanent problems and triggered internal conflicts.
- With support from a state university, the residents have fought against their erasure from the official records, but today are entitled to the use of a smaller territory than they had before, and have lost access to natural resources like lagoons.
Big problems for little animals when floodwaters rise, study finds (14 Mar 2024 14:22:27 +0000)
- Increasingly frequent and severe weather events are testing the resilience of both human and animal communities across Africa; Cyclone Idai, which made landfall in Mozambique in 2019, caused massive flooding that killed more than 1,600 people.
- Researchers studying the aftermath of Idai in Gorongosa National Park found many smaller-bodied animals in low-lying areas drowned or starved before forage recovered from the severe flooding that followed the cyclone.
- Larger animals were able to both reach higher ground ahead of rising waters and adapt to reduced availability of food in the long months it took for the floodplain to dry out and recover.
- The study is a rare example of close monitoring of animals before, during and after an extreme weather event, and provides conservationists with important insights into planning and managing protected areas in a changing climate.
Peru’s illegal pet monkey trade is also an infection superhighway (14 Mar 2024 13:20:58 +0000)
- A recent study has found that monkeys trafficked in Peru are spreading viruses, parasites and bacteria to humans all along the trafficking route.
- These pathogens can lead to tuberculosis, Chagas disease, malaria, gastrointestinal ailments, and other diseases in humans.
- Those directly involved in illegal wildlife trafficking are the most at risk of infection; however, climate change is increasing the chances of broader community transmission.
- After a brief lull during the COVID-19 pandemic, the illegal monkey trade is in full swing again in Peru, with most of the animals sold ending up as pets in local households.
Reforestation and restoration: Two ways to make the Pan Amazon greener (14 Mar 2024 10:29:14 +0000)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- Efforts to save agroforestry zones require long-term patience and heavy investment, but ensure that plantations sequester up to 20% of the carbon stored in a natural forest, and even more carbon can be retained through natural habitat restoration.
- Killeen explains that tropical areas need to retain around 70% of their canopy cover to maintain the atmospheric recycling that sustains historical rainfall levels. In the southern Amazon, this would need to be applied to 15 million hectares with an investment of between $20 and $100 billion.
- For the author, these issues are all the more urgent as the threat of climate change is accelerating the Pan-Amazonian region to an irreversible tipping point. Are carbon markets providing incentives that ‘reward’ conservation in the Pan-Amazonian region?
Reconciling conservation agriculture and agroforestry for sustainability (13 Mar 2024 08:16:56 +0000)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- In this section, Killeen focuses on land management that seeks to reconcile the technologies of modern agriculture with the worn-out practices of organic farming.
- It also analyzes the case of livestock farmers, who are not as likely to change their land management practices, as they have an underutilized surplus that has suffered from mismanagement.
- For Killeen, smallholder farmers should be more willing to diversify such production systems and adopt practices that increase resilience. Because mitigating risk is essential to their livelihoods: without crops comes bankruptcy and hunger. This is the case in countries such as Ecuador and Peru, where smallholder farmers occupy more than 90% of previously deforested areas.
Traditional Aboriginal fire practices can help promote plant diversity: Study (13 Mar 2024 05:51:26 +0000)
- While research is still mixed on whether diverse fire patterns promote biodiversity, a new study suggests that practices under active Indigenous stewardship can do so.
- The study draws a reference to Aboriginal Martu peoples in the northwest deserts of Australia, who have an ancient history of fire practices and experience used to manage the land and hunt.
- Martu fire patterns and post-fire stages help influence plant richness and diversity in arid landscapes dominated by spinifex, say the authors say.
- Indigenous burning practices are often carried out during cooler times of the year, such as in the winter for the Martu, which resulted results in slow, cool, and low-intensity fires that reduced the potential for fire burning out of control and into becoming wildfires.
New ecoregion proposed for Southern Africa’s threatened ‘sky islands’ (13 Mar 2024 04:09:28 +0000)
- A group of scientists is proposing the designation of a new African “ecoregion” consisting of an “inland archipelago” of 30 isolated mountains, some harboring animals and plants found nowhere else on Earth.
- The South East Africa Montane Archipelago straddles southern Malawi and northern Mozambique.
- This geographical isolation has fueled the evolution of separate species within the forests that grow on them, and those forests are now severely threatened by charcoal production and agriculture.
- It’s hoped the designation of a new ecoregion encompassing these mountains will promote nature conservation on a landscape-wide scale.
New report details rights abuses in Cambodia’s Southern Cardamom REDD+ project (13 Mar 2024 00:01:21 +0000)
- Human Rights Watch has detailed forced evictions, property destruction and violence against Indigenous communities living within a REDD+ carbon offset project area in southwest Cambodia.
- Trade of carbon credits from the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project were suspended last year amid similar allegations, and the project’s carbon certifier recently announced it’s expanding its ongoing investigation.
- Residents told Mongabay that Wildlife Alliance, the NGO that manages the project, has effectively outlawed their traditional methods of farming and livelihood, including restricting their access to sustainable forest products.
- Wildlife Alliance has denied the allegations, suggesting HRW has an agenda against carbon offsetting projects, but says it’s making improvements in response to the allegations.
Why language is central to the survival of cultures and communities (12 Mar 2024 21:21:09 +0000)
- More than half the world’s languages could go extinct by 2100, The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues says.
- Roughly 4,000 of the world’s 6,700 languages are spoken by Indigenous communities and contain knowledge key for conservation and human health, but multiple factors threaten their existence along with their speakers’ cultures.
- Joining the podcast is Jay Griffiths, author of ‘Wild’ and other seminal books about how language and relationship are central to cultural survival, and why connection to the land is a universal human right.
- The guest also draws parallels between humans, nature and culture: “There’s great research that suggests that we learned ethics from wolves [of taking] an attitude to the world of both me the individual, and of me the pack member,” she says.
Gundi tool gets conservation hardware and software talking the same language (12 Mar 2024 16:24:20 +0000)
- A new open-source platform aims to help conservationists and protected-area managers seamlessly integrate data between hardware and software tools.
- Currently being used at 600 sites, Gundi takes data from different sources — wildlife trackers, camera traps, acoustic monitors — transforms them into a common format, and sends them to different destinations for analysis.
- Gundi was developed with the goal of helping reduce the time and effort required to figure out compatibility issues between different conservation technology tools.
Conflict in the canopy as human and climate factors drive liana dominance over trees (12 Mar 2024 11:25:45 +0000)
- Lianas, woody vines that rely on trees for structural support, are growing more abundant in tropical forests around the world, negatively impacting forest recovery and carbon sequestration.
- A new study shows that forest disturbance and climate change give lianas a competitive edge over trees.
- Understanding how climate change and disturbance influence liana growth can help forest managers develop management practices to aid recovering forests.
Squeezed-out Amazon smallholders seek new frontiers in Brazil’s Roraima state (12 Mar 2024 11:00:28 +0000)
- As infrastructure projects and soy plantations pump up land values in the Brazilian Amazon, smallholders are selling up and moving to more distant frontiers, perpetuating a cycle of displacement and deforestation.
- The isolated south of Roraima state has become a priority destination for these migrants, who buy land from informal brokers with questionable paperwork; much of the land has been grabbed from the vast undesignated lands of the Brazilian government.
- Although the appetite for land grabs has diminished since the start of the Lula administration, the region has seen an increase in deforestation in recent years.
Brazil risks losing the Pampa grassland to soy farms and sand patches (12 Mar 2024 10:26:33 +0000)
- Nearly a third of the Brazilian portion of South America’s Pampa grassland has been lost since 1985, largely to agricultural expansion and forestry plantations.
- This biome is often overlooked in comparison to the higher-profile Amazon, Pantanal and Cerrado landscapes, but has greater plant diversity than the others.
- The expansion of agriculture may also be exacerbating an age-old problem in the Pampa, which is the spread of barren, sandy patches of land.
- Efforts to reverse this process, known as arenization, often involve growing eucalyptus plantations, but experts say this commercial approach solves nothing.
Norway pension fund breaks with U.K. conglomerate Jardines over endangered orangutan habitat (12 Mar 2024 04:28:00 +0000)
- Norway’s state pension fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has cut ties with Jardine Matheson (Jardines) due to concerns that the conglomerate’s gold mining activities in Indonesia could damage the only known habitat of the world’s most threatened great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis).
- The fund joins 29 financiers that have excluded Jardines and/or its subsidiaries from financing due to climate and environmental concerns, according to data from the Financial Exclusions Tracker.
- The Tapanuli orangutan was only first described in 2017, and its estimated population numbers fewer than 800 that survive in a tiny tract of forest; 95% of the ape’s historical habitat has been lost to hunting, conflict killing and agriculture.
- The Martabe mining concession in northern Sumatra lies in the portion of the orangutan’s habitat, the Batang Toru forest, with the largest orangutan population, where the probability of the species’ long-term survival is highest; the fund worried that further expansion of the mine would increase threats to the ape.
Tien Hai reserve saved from development in win for nature in Vietnam (11 Mar 2024 20:29:08 +0000)
- In 2023, the government of Vietnam’s Thai Binh province announced plans to remove protection from 90% of Tien Hai Nature Reserve, part of the UNESCO-recognized Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve.
- This month, Vietnam’s prime minister signed a decision that will fully retain the reserve’s protected status.
- The reversal announcement marks a rare win for environmental protection over development, and comes after local NGOs led awareness-raising efforts about the importance of the reserve.
Proposed copper mine modifications spark community outcry in Peru (11 Mar 2024 18:25:07 +0000)
- The Las Bambas mine in Peru, one of the world’s largest copper mines, has announced a new amendment to its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the fourth time.
- The change aims to expand a mining block that could have serious contamination of water resources.
- Communities and organizations have voiced concerns over the expansion’s potential environmental impacts and have lamented the lack of consultation and ambiguous information in the EIA amendment.
- In January, a consortium of local organizations and leaders requested that the Peruvian government annul the amendment and have said they plan to escalate the conflict if needed.
Riverine communities join forces to preserve threatened Amazon turtles (11 Mar 2024 16:41:18 +0000)
- Residents of 32 communities in Juruti, western Pará state, organize to preserve species such as the Amazon turtle (Podocnemis expansa), tracajá (P. unifilis), pitiú (P. sextuberculata) and irapuca (P. erythrocephala).
- Monitoring beaches during the spawning season to collect eggs and then take them to a protected hatchery are the main actions of riverside dwellers. The numbers are on the rise: Some communities have already protected 300 nests in a single season.
- The Brazilian Amazon is a priority area for chelonian conservation, with 21 species described by scientists. Fourteen species live in Juruti, one of which is endemic.
- Despite being banned by environmental legislation, consumption of turtle eggs and meat still seems to be part of local traditions, contributing to reduce the number of individuals; mining and dam construction projects also threat the survival of the species.
Indonesian gold mine expanding in ‘wrong direction’ into orangutan habitat (11 Mar 2024 16:13:39 +0000)
- A gold mine in the only known habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan is expanding, prompting alarm from activists and conservationists.
- The Martabe mine on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, run by a company associated with the U.K.’s Jardine Matheson Holdings, already cleared 100 hectares (about 250 acres) of forest from 2016 to 2020, and looks set to clear another 100 hectares.
- Advocacy group Mighty Earth says the expansion will impact an area recently established to help protect the orangutan and other threatened species.
- Jardines says an independent forestry and sustainability assessment concluded that the long-term impact of the planned exploration and development work was minimal.
Global conference to accelerate nature-based solutions: Q&A with Self Help Africa’s Patricia Wall (11 Mar 2024 15:58:45 +0000)
- This week, more than 150 conservation and community organizations, experts and policymakers are gathering in Zambia for the Accelerating Nature-based Solutions conference.
- Discussions will dive deep into critical issues and concerns regarding nature-based solutions and the roles of agroforestry, farmer-managed natural regeneration and wildlife conservation in NbS.
- The conference will also address the issue of carbon offsetting and greenhouse gas emissions, and the need to safeguard the rights of local communities or Indigenous communities when implementing nature-based solutions.
Java rice farmers suffer crop failure as copper mine pollutes local irrigation (11 Mar 2024 15:12:07 +0000)
- Rice farmers in Cokrokembang village, East Java province, suspect contamination from a nearby copper mine operated by PT Gemilang Limpah Internusa is to blame for recent crop failures.
- Water pollution from the mine is visible in the Kedung Pinihan River, while tests conducted by the local government reveal levels of copper compounds far exceeding environmental standards.
- Despite attempts to address the issue, including government involvement and remedial measures by the company, farmers like Parno continue to suffer declining yields, prompting calls for compensation for affected farmers.
Project retraces Darwin’s voyage, educating young conservation leaders (11 Mar 2024 09:48:30 +0000)
- The DARWIN200 Project is retracing English naturalist Charles Darwin’s 19th-century voyage, stopping at 32 ports around the globe by 2025.
- The sailing ship’s crew is composed of 200 young people who work in environmental conservation around the world, taking turns aboard the vessel to learn about projects in the places where they moor.
- Mongabay visited the ship as it passed through Rio de Janeiro together with Sarah Darwin, Charles Darwin’s great-great-granddaughter.
Studies still uncovering true extent of 2019-20 Australia wildfire catastrophe (11 Mar 2024 01:28:42 +0000)
- Australia’s 2019-20 bushfires burned with unprecedented intensity through a total of 24 million hectares (59 million acres), an area the size of the U.K.
- New research shows total costs incurred to the tourism industry from that single bushfire season may be 61% higher than previously calculated.
- Up to 1.5 billion wild animals may have perished in the fires, and new research is uncovering the cost to individual species as a result of the fires.
- One study published shows 15% of all known roost locations of the gray-headed flying fox, Australia’s largest bat species, may have been directly impacted by the fires.
No joking: Great apes can be silly and playfully tease each other, finds study (08 Mar 2024 17:07:42 +0000)
- Cracking a good joke is no laughing matter, but the complex cognitive abilities that underpin humor have so far been studied mostly in humans, with our great ape cousins going largely overlooked.
- Now, a new study reports playful teasing behavior — a precursor to joking — in small groups of chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans.
- The study is the first to define playful teasing as a distinct behavior separate from play in great apes and describe its various forms.
- The findings suggest that the cognitive requirements for joking and playful teasing evolved at least 13 million years ago in ancestors common to humans and great apes.
Fishers’ memories on par with scientific data on historic catches: Study (08 Mar 2024 13:23:17 +0000)
- A new study investigated how the memories of about 400 fishers from traditional communities in Brazil can serve as sources of data on historic fishing effort and catch size.
- It measured the reliability of this “harvest recall data” by comparing it to other data collected by standard scientific methods.
- The researchers found that when considered as a whole, the fishers’ memories agreed with standard data collection methods about 95% of the time, which suggests that this recall method can be an effective fisheries management tool.
Mongabay Data Studio: Revealing nature’s hidden stories through data (commentary) (08 Mar 2024 11:58:34 +0000)
- High-quality data journalism serves as a powerful tool in revealing complex environmental issues, transforming raw data into compelling narratives that illuminate the hidden stories behind the numbers.
- Ultimately, high-quality data journalism empowers citizens, policymakers and activists with the information needed to make informed decisions, driving meaningful action towards environmental sustainability and conservation. Through meticulous data analysis and creative storytelling, environmental journalism can thus significantly amplify its reach and impact, guiding society towards a more informed and conscientious stewardship of the natural world.
- To this end, last month we announced Mongabay Data Studio which aims to strengthen our data journalism capabilities.
- The initiative supports data journalism across all of Mongabay’s languages, bureaus, and formats, including investigations, news reporting, videos, and social media visualizations. It is structured to operate across various topics and geographies, enabling comprehensive data journalism integration in all our work. It aims to elevate our storytelling by incorporating and utilizing more data as a foundational element for new stories.
Migratory Amazonian catfish placed on the international protection list (08 Mar 2024 10:42:50 +0000)
- The gilded and piramutaba catfish (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii and B. vaillantii, respectively) were recently placed on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) list, also known as the Bonn Convention.
- These fish carry out the longest freshwater migration on the planet: The gilded or “dorado” travels 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) between the mouth of the Amazon River and the foot of the Andes to lay its eggs; the piramutaba swims 5,500 km (3,400 mi).
- Both species are endangered due to overfishing and construction of hydroelectric plants on rivers in the Amazon; the dorado’s distribution range has shrunk by 37% because of the dams.
Madagascar takes key step toward improving transparency of its fisheries (07 Mar 2024 18:49:18 +0000)
- Madagascar recently released its first fisheries transparency report, part of an effort to open up, democratize, and improve the sustainability of its fisheries sector.
- The report is a key step in a process defined by the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), a Seychelles-based nonprofit.
- It contains important information on traditional, artisanal and industrial fisheries, a list of the laws and regulations governing the sector, tenure arrangements, and access agreements — including previously undisclosed information.
- It also assesses the country’s transparency according to the availability and accessibility of data from six thematic areas as outlined by the FiTI Standard.
Rehabilitation of Guatemalan fauna highlights opacity of illegal wildlife trade (07 Mar 2024 18:45:03 +0000)
- Endangered monkeys, some of them trafficked into the pet trade, were among the animals released into the wild in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve last November after rehabilitation at a nonprofit center.
- According to conservationists, there are major information gaps when it comes to the illegal wildlife trade in Guatemala, with government institutions doing very little to control it.
- In Latin America, increasing sophistication and specialization in the illegal wildlife trade are complicating detection and enforcement.
Report calls for agroecological rethink of Africa’s food amid $61b industrial plan (07 Mar 2024 17:01:48 +0000)
- The African Development Bank (AfDB) has released agricultural development plans for 40 countries across the continent that outline pathways to improving food security and productivity.
- But a recent report by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) argues that the AfDB initiative, which seeks to industrialize African food systems at a cost of $61 billion, may potentially marginalize small-scale farmers, harm biodiversity, and foster dependency on multination corporations for seeds and agrochemicals.
- AFSA suggests focusing instead on agroecology and food sovereignty, emphasizing the importance of sustainable agriculture and the empowerment of small-scale farmers.
- High rates of undernourishment across sub-Saharan Africa are largely unchanged since 2005 figures, and a rapidly growing population putting pressure on food resources and production has prompted some policymakers to seek out industrial agriculture projects as a solution.
Phantom deeds see Borneo islanders lose their land to quartz miners (07 Mar 2024 17:00:55 +0000)
- Gelam is a small uninhabited island off the southwest coast of Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province that used to be home to a community of fishers.
- In the previous decade, residents moved away from Gelam in order to access schools and public services, but the community continues to regard the island as home.
- In 2021, the local government began processing land deeds before transferring the titles to quartz mining companies.
- Several residents told Mongabay Indonesia they hadn’t been consulted about the transfer of the land.
For threatened Andean condors, garbage dump offers a buffet of risks & rewards (07 Mar 2024 12:20:48 +0000)
- In a 17-year study, Chilean researchers observed that Andean condors (Vultur gryphus) use landfills as supplemental food sources when natural food is scarce.
- The researchers found that females and juveniles lower in the pecking order are more likely to scavenge in landfills than older males.
- While this food subsidy could help Andean condors when times are tight, it may also put them at an increased risk of poisoning.
New trackers bring prairie dogs’ little-known underground life to light (07 Mar 2024 11:03:56 +0000)
- Researchers have deployed a new tracker that helps them monitor prairie dogs and track their movements underground.
- The tracker uses sensors, including accelerometers and magnetometers, and combines them with GPS technology to enable researchers to retrace the trajectories of the animals.
- Prairie dogs dig up complex burrow systems and spend most of their time underground, making their movements elusive.
- During initial trials, researchers were able to use the trackers to reconstruct the trajectories of prairie dogs while they were underground.
Impunity for Cambodia’s exotic pet owners as trade outpaces legislation (07 Mar 2024 03:00:03 +0000)
- High-profile interventions by Cambodia’s former leader and weak legislation have allowed the illegal wildlife trade to persist largely in the open.
- The case of a gas station menagerie in western Cambodia is emblematic of the ease with which even endangered species can be bought and sold.
- The collection, owned by a police officer, includes cockatoos from Indonesia, marmosets and parakeets from South America, and a native gibbon.
- Authorities said they were aware of the collection, but were “following the format” set in the wake of their 2023 seizure of peacocks from a breeder, which culminated in them having to return the birds after then-prime minister Hun Sen criticized their actions.
Study on Brazilian heat wave deaths shows gender & racial disparities (06 Mar 2024 18:01:25 +0000)
- A new study estimates that the deaths of nearly 50,000 people in Brazil in recent decades could be attributed to the occurrence of heat waves, and it points out that these extreme events have become increasingly frequent.
- The paper reveals that Blacks, Browns, females, older adults and those with lower educational levels are the most affected population subgroups, suggesting that the impacts of heat waves are felt unevenly, thus exposing socioeconomic inequalities.
- The researchers analyzed data from 14 metropolitan regions with a population of 74 million people, representing nearly one-third of Brazil’s population.
- This research is important because it joins others in analyzing racial and gender dimensions of the populations most vulnerable to extreme events, the scientific coordinator at Iyaleta Research Association says.
Pollution poses big risks to global clean water supplies, study shows (06 Mar 2024 17:23:55 +0000)
- Nitrogen pollution could intensify global water scarcity threefold by 2050, scientists warn in a recently published paper. In addition, “newly emerging pollutants,” such as microplastics, heavy metals, pathogens and pharmaceuticals, emitted into waterways could cause “severe water degradation in the future.”
- Modeling the escalating impact of nitrogen pollution on water quality, the scientists found that more than 3,000 river basins globally are at risk of water scarcity by 2050 in one future scenario. That finding comes along with concern that climate change could exacerbate water quality decline and increased scarcity.
- Nitrogen pollution and water contamination by heavy metals and pathogens have serious known public health consequences, while health impacts from microplastics and pharmaceuticals need far more research.
- The researchers suggest solutions that include curbing nitrogen pollution through better fertilizer management practices and improved wastewater treatment.
Biological field stations deliver high return on investment for conservation, study finds (06 Mar 2024 17:20:54 +0000)
- Field stations provide many overlooked benefits and a significant return on investment for conservation, according to a new study authored by 173 conservation researchers.
- Areas near field stations lost about 18% less forest than similar spots without stations, especially in Africa; stations also provide habitat for more than 1,200 species at risk of extinction.
- Conservation benefits from field stations come at a median cost of around $637/km2 ($1,640/mi2), according to the study, far below the average budgets for protected areas globally.
- Field stations are described as underfunded and underappreciated, and although much of the information and research used to inform global environmental policy and goals come from field stations, few explicitly mention them.
Sumatra firefighters on alert as burning heralds start of Riau dry season (06 Mar 2024 16:55:23 +0000)
- On the northeast coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, the first of two annual dry seasons led to a spike in wildfires in some peatland areas in February.
- In the week ending March 2, Indonesian peatland NGO Pantau Gambut said 34 hotspots, possibly fires, were identified by satellite on peatlands in Riau province.
- Emergency services in the province have been concentrated to the east of the port city of Dumai, where a fire started in the concession of a palm oil company, according to local authorities.
Indonesia unveils plan to launch a satellite network for maritime monitoring (06 Mar 2024 16:44:04 +0000)
- Indonesia plans to launch a satellite constellation starting in July to monitor its marine and fisheries resources more effectively.
- This constellation of 20 nanosatellites aims to actively manage conservation efforts and ensure economic benefits from marine resources.
- The satellites will feature radio frequency, imaging and vessel-tracking equipment, allowing officials “to know every condition in Indonesia from one [data] center.”
- Challenges such as budget cuts and low compliance among fishing companies underscore the need for technological solutions to protect Indonesia’s vast marine areas.
Ten years since anti-deforestation pledge, corporate world still not doing enough (06 Mar 2024 16:15:00 +0000)
- Global Canopy released its Forest 500 list of the 350 companies and 150 financial institutions connected to deforestation-linked commodities, including beef, leather, soy, palm oil, timber, pulp and paper.
- This is the organization’s 10th report, showing that numerous companies haven’t done enough to remove deforestation from their supply chains over the last decade.
- The report found 30% of companies still haven’t developed a single deforestation policy for their supply chains, while others have developed policies but failed to implement them in a meaningful way.
- The few companies with strong, long-term goals aren’t always doing enough to meet them, according to the report.
Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers (06 Mar 2024 16:09:36 +0000)
- Curichi Las Garzas is a natural refuge where thousands of wood storks (Mycteria americana) arrive each year to reproduce before continuing their journey.
- Land grabbers have destroyed 300 of the protected area’s 1,247 hectares in the municipality of San Carlos, planting rice and soybean crops.
- The encroachers claim to have endorsement from the INRA (Bolivia’s National Institute of Agrarian Reform), but the INRA has denied this and has asked the mayor to intervene. In the last three months, more than 4,500 deforestation alerts have been recorded along with a peak of 42 fire alerts, the highest number for the last 10 years.
Land irrigation as an obstacle to agricultural intensification in Mato Grosso (06 Mar 2024 15:50:48 +0000)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- In this section, Killeen looks at industrialized crops in Brazil, specifically in Mato Grosso, where irrigation is expected to be heavily impacted by decreasing rainfall as a result of climate change and deforestation.
- The outlook over the next few years is grim. While current extraction levels are within parameters, the effective expansion rate of 10% per year will eventually outstrip surface water supplies, increasing demand for groundwater.
- According to studies conducted in Mato Grosso, the combined surface and groundwater resources could support 3.9 million hectares of agriculture.
Ecuador project empowers cacao farmers to save spider monkey habitat (06 Mar 2024 15:29:04 +0000)
- The Washu Project helps farmers in northern Ecuador conserve forests and save forest-dwelling species by combining scientific research, environmental education, and strengthening communities.
- The flagship animal that the organization focuses on is the brown-headed spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps fusciceps), one of the most threatened primates in Ecuador and the world.
- By empowering farmers to plant fine-aroma cacao, the project has helped to economically sustain farming families and ease the deforestation pressure on the spider monkeys’ habitat.
Son of Cali Cartel leader tied to Colombia-Hong Kong shark fin trafficking (06 Mar 2024 11:18:10 +0000)
- Although Colombia banned the fishing and trading of sharks in early 2021, their fins — taken from sharks in Colombia and around the world — have continued to feed a global industry worth $500 million per year.
- This is the story of the largest seizure of its kind ever carried out in Colombian territory. A shipment of more than 3,400 shark fins destined for Hong Kong was intercepted at the airport in Bogotá in September 2021.
- For the first time, this investigation reveals the owner of this contraband: Fernando Rodríguez Mondragón. He is the son of the late Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, who was the leader of the Cali Cartel, once one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the world.
- This investigation reconstructs the shipment’s route from the department of La Guajira, on the border with Venezuela, to Colombia’s capital, passing through the mountains in the department of Valle del Cauca.
In climate-related flooding, a Ugandan river turns poisonous (06 Mar 2024 10:57:56 +0000)
- Uganda’s Nyamwamba river, in the Rwenzori Mountains, has begun to flood catastrophically in recent years, partly due to climate change.
- Along the river are copper tailings pools from an old Canadian mining operation, which are becoming increasingly eroded by the flooding.
- According to a series of studies, these tailings have been washing into the water supply and soil of the Nyamwamba River Basin, contaminating human tissue, food and water with deadly heavy metals.
- Cancer rates are higher than normal near the tailings pools, and scientists fear that as the flooding continues to worsen, so will the health crisis.
Report: Rising slaughter of small whales and dolphins threatens ocean balance (06 Mar 2024 08:00:41 +0000)
- Killings of small whales, porpoises and dolphins are rising, with more than 100,000 of these marine mammals slaughtered each year, according to a new report from German and British NGOs.
- Many regions report increased catches driven by demand for dolphin meat as food and shark bait in areas impacted by economic crisis and dwindling fish stocks.
- Failure to address unsustainable exploitation of small cetaceans exacerbates ecological imbalance and heavy metal toxicity risks to humans who eat them, according to the report.
- Insufficient legislation and enforcement remain critical issues, according to the report, which calls for international collaboration and stronger protection measures.
What is most convenient in land distribution? (05 Mar 2024 23:12:59 +0000)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- Predictions indicate that an ecological tipping point will be crossed when 25% of the Amazon’s forests will have been converted to agriculture, just a few percentage points from the current 18%. How can deforestation be halted?
- There are two approaches taken by specialists and academics: the savings approach, which involves using technology to intensify production on the land; and the sharing approach, which seeks to diversify production systems.
- For Killeen, both approaches could be applicable but their social, economic and environmental impacts will vary dramatically depending on where they are applied and on what scale.
Stalemate: WTO talks again fail to end overfishing subsidies (05 Mar 2024 21:34:54 +0000)
- At the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13), which closed in Abu Dhabi on March 2, negotiators failed to finalize phase two of an international treaty banning harmful fisheries subsidies.
- Despite 22 years of negotiations, member states remained divided on crucial aspects of the treaty to phase out subsidies worth an estimated $22 billion annually that support overfishing.
- The draft negotiating text includes contentious loopholes, raising concerns about fairness and effectiveness from state delegates, fisheries experts and scientists.
- Ratifications of phase one of the treaty leapt to 71 as 10 more states signed up during MC13, but 39 more are needed for implementation.
Global protected area policies spark conflicts with Mexico Indigenous groups (05 Mar 2024 20:27:23 +0000)
- The creation of the UNESCO-listed Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Mexico’s Campeche region has led to a long-standing conflict with Indigenous residents who argue the government restricted their livelihoods, despite promises of support and land titles by Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT).
- According to researchers, these conflicts are due to a fault in nations’ application of international conservation policy by overemphasizing the expansion of protected areas while paying less attention to socioeconomic factors and equitable management included in these policies.
- Authors underline the importance of adapting international conservation policy, such as the “30 by 30” pledge, which plans to conserve 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030, to specific local contexts and needs.
Fears of marine disaster loom after fertilizer-laden ship sinks in Red Sea (05 Mar 2024 20:20:07 +0000)
- The MV Rubymar, a cargo ship carrying about 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer, has sunk in the Red Sea following an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, raising fears of an environmental disaster.
- In addition to the fertilizer potentially entering the ocean, the vessel is also leaking heavy fuel, which experts say will impact the marine environment.
- The Red Sea is known to harbor some of the world’s most heat-resistant coral reefs, which makes the sinking of the Rubymar particularly concerning.
Surprise discovery of wind farm project in Philippine reserve prompts alarm (05 Mar 2024 17:59:13 +0000)
- In late 2023, conservationists monitoring the Philippine’s Masungi Georeserve were surprised to encounter four drilling rigs operating within the ostensibly protected wildlife sanctuary.
- The construction equipment belongs to a company building a wind farm within the reserve, which claims to have received the necessary permits despite the area’s protected status.
- Masungi Georeserve Foundation, Inc. (MGFI), the nonprofit organization managing the site, has launched a petition calling for the project to be canceled, saying that renewable energy generation should not be pursued at the expense of the environment.
Breadfruit’s low carbon storage could be offset by fast growth, study finds (05 Mar 2024 17:56:14 +0000)
- Breadfruit, a perennial tropical tree that produces large, carbohydrate-rich fruit, has been put forward by advocates as a climate solution as well as a way to strengthen food security; but the carbon storage potential of breadfruit has never before been investigated.
- In a new study, researchers from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa found that in orchards, breadfruit’s carbon storage abilities are relatively low compared with other broadleaf trees in wet environments.
- However, the authors say breadfruit compensates for this with a fast growth rate and may be better served as building blocks for agroforestry plots that can sequester even more CO₂; more research is required to understand the full potential of breadfruits in a sustainable system.
Forest and climate scientists fear Biden delay on mature forest protection (05 Mar 2024 14:51:21 +0000)
- More than 200 forest ecologists and top climate scientists, including Jim Hansen and Michael Mann, have written the Biden administration urging it to quickly move forward on the president’s commitment to protect old-growth and mature forests on federal lands.
- The scientists made an urgent plea for an immediate moratorium on logging federal forests with trees 100 years old or older, many of which remain vulnerable to logging and dozens of timber sales nationally. They also asked for the establishment of substantive federal management standards to protect those forests.
- Federally owned old-growth and mature forests play an outsized role in storing carbon, offering a vital hedge against escalating climate change.
- At stake are 112.8 million acres (45.6 million hectares) of old-growth and mature forest on federal lands, according to a 2023 U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management inventory — an area larger than California. Less than a quarter of those forests are currently protected against logging.
Sumatra community faces up to ‘plasma’ disappointment after palm oil policy shift (04 Mar 2024 23:35:21 +0000)
- A 2022 investigation by Mongabay, the BBC and The Gecko Project found that hundreds of thousands of hectares of land had not been handed to communities by palm oil companies despite provisions in a 2007 law.
- In 2023, Indonesia’s Directorate-General of Plantations published updated rules stating that companies with licenses issued prior to 2007 would not be required to hand 20% of their concession to local farmers, although companies licensed after 2007 would still be required to do so.
- In Tebing Tinggi Okura on the island of Sumatra, a community is coming to terms with this change after a near two-decade dispute from which they hoped to win rights to farming land for hundreds of families.
Scientists and doctors raise global alarm over hormone-disrupting chemicals (04 Mar 2024 19:53:16 +0000)
- Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which harm the human body’s regulation of hormones, have become ubiquitous in consumer products, food, water, and soil, says a new report, leading to serious global health impacts.
- There are some 350,000 synthetic chemicals and polymers used worldwide, and thousands may be endocrine disruptors. Most were not studied for their human health effects before being marketed. Known and suspected endocrine disruptors are found in pesticides, plastic additives, cosmetics, and waterproofing finishes.
- The new report examines four sources of endocrine-disrupting chemicals: plastics, pesticides, consumer products, and PFAS. Rising rates of cancer, infertility, and obesity are suspected to be at least partially attributable to the presence of endocrine disruptors in the human body.
- The Endocrine Society and International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), which co-authored the new report, are calling for legally binding global treaties to restrict and ban endocrine disruptor production and use.
Culture and conservation thrive as Great Lakes tribes bring back native wild rice (04 Mar 2024 17:20:52 +0000)
- Wild rice or manoomin is an ecologically important and culturally revered wetland species native to the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, which once covered thousands of acres and was a staple for Indigenous peoples.
- Over the past two centuries, indiscriminate logging, dam building, mining, and industrial pollution have decimated the wild rice beds, and today climate change and irregular weather patterns threaten the species’ future.
- In recent years, native tribes and First Nations, working with federal and state agencies, scientists and funding initiatives, have led wild rice restoration programs that have successfully revived the species in parts of the region and paved the way for education and outreach.
- Experts say more research and investments must be directed towards wild rice, and such initiatives need the support of all stakeholders to bring back the plant.
To save topsoil & reduce pollution, Bangladesh moves toward alternative bricks (04 Mar 2024 17:06:12 +0000)
- Bangladesh plans to move from traditional fuel-burned bricks to alternative bricks to save agricultural topsoil and reduce air pollution.
- As part of the initiative, the government has already set a target to use alternative bricks made from concrete blocks for all government works starting this year.
- The environment department estimates that the nation’s 7,000 or so brickfields currently use 3,350 million cubic feet of topsoil or clay annually as a raw material to produce around 23 billion bricks.
- Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) demonstrates through its research and development how the nation could save an enormous amount of topsoil by utilizing alternative building materials and bricks in place of the conventional bricks made from agricultural topsoil, which is necessary to maintain soil fertility.
Male dominance isn’t the default in primate societies, new study shows (04 Mar 2024 17:01:08 +0000)
- A recent study challenges the notion that it’s a man’s world when it comes to primate social groups.
- The study found that while a majority of species (58%) exhibited male-biased power structures, female- or co-dominant structures were identified in every major primate group.
- The pattern held true for apes as well; all five gibbon species studied were classified as non-male-dominant, as were bonobos among the great apes.
- Experts say that long-held beliefs in male power as the default among primates could have developed due to chance (the earliest studied primate species happen to have male-dominant structures), or due to “who’s been doing the research and publishing.”
Indonesians uprooted by mining industry call for a fairer future amid presidential vote (04 Mar 2024 15:49:28 +0000)
- Ahead of Indonesia’s presidential election on Feb. 14, people from across the country affected by extractive industries gathered at the site of a notorious mudflow disaster in East Java province.
- The Lapindo mudflow continues to impact thousands of residents with diverse social repercussions, including displacement, environmental pollution, and obstructed access to education and health care.
- The gathering attracted participants from various regions across Indonesia to raise awareness of the impact of mining and extractive industries on affected communities.
A feathered cape bridges past and present for Brazil’s Indigenous Tupinambá (04 Mar 2024 11:55:04 +0000)
- Used in rituals by the ancestors of the Indigenous Tupinambá people in Brazil, sacred capes made from bird feathers were lost in time and today survive only as museum pieces in Europe.
- Only 11 of these capes are known to exist today; one of them, held in Denmark, is set to be returned to Brazil.
- A key player in the negotiations to secure its return was Indigenous artist and activist Glicéria Tupinambá, who in 2020 started making these sacred capes once again.
- “The Tupinambá who made the original cape lived more than 400 years ago, so the first person to make it, to design this cape, [manifests themselves] through my hands,” she says of her painstaking work.
Major meatpacker JBS misled the public about sustainability efforts, NY lawsuit claims (01 Mar 2024 20:18:45 +0000)
- New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against JBS USA Food Company and JBS USA Food Company Holdings for misrepresenting plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
- The lawsuit cites numerous instances in which the company’s claims to the public didn’t align with what was happening behind closed doors. Its website and advertisements have boasted claims about reaching net-zero carbon emissions while company executives were making plans to grow.
- The New York attorney general said JBS Group’s greenhouse gas emissions calculations don’t include deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, making its environmental goals “not feasible given the current scope of [its] business operations.”
PNG communities resist seabed mining: Interview with activist Jonathan Mesulam (01 Mar 2024 19:35:08 +0000)
- The government of Papua New Guinea appears poised to approve Solwara 1, a long-in-development deep-sea mining project in the country’s waters.
- However, PNG has signed onto several seabed mining moratoria, and scientists have urged caution until more research can determine what the effects of this practice will be.
- Proponents say the seafloor holds a wealth of minerals needed for batteries, especially for electric vehicles, and thus are vital for the transition away from fossil fuels.
- But coastal communities in PNG’s New Ireland province have mounted a fierce resistance to Solwara 1, arguing that it could damage or destroy the ecosystems that provide them with food and are the foundation of their cultures.
Night light, habitat loss & pesticides threaten Brazil’s bioluminescent insects (01 Mar 2024 12:38:36 +0000)
- Brazil’s diverse habitats house a remarkable variety of firefly species, many of which are habitat specialists, thriving in unique ecological niches but vulnerable to environmental changes.
- A new study from the Cerrado shows a drastic decline in the diversity of fireflies and other bioluminescent beetles in areas affected by habitat loss and pesticide use over 30 years and suggests that ALAN — Artificial Light At Night — might also pose a threat to these insects in the future.
- Global research has also pointed to habitat loss, pesticide use and light pollution as the main threats to firefly populations, singling out the latter as the fastest-growing threat in southeastern Brazil.
- While protected areas offer some refuge against habitat loss and pesticide use, the subtler impacts of light pollution combined with a lack of fundamental knowledge about fireflies and other bioluminescent beetles remain ongoing obstacles to effective conservation efforts.
As lightning strike fatalities increase, Bangladesh still has no reliable preventive measures (01 Mar 2024 05:31:27 +0000)
- Between 2011 and 2020, lightning strikes claimed the lives of 2,164 people, or nearly four people every week, in Bangladesh, according to the country’s disaster management department. However, a Bangladeshi NGO reports at least a thousand more lightning related fatalities between 2010 and 2021.
- Researchers linked the increased frequency of lightning with climate change; as for the increased death toll, they blamed the government’s inefficient protection measures, including the lack of tall trees.
- To reduce the number of fatalities, the government has started working on long-term solutions, such as installing lightning arresters and growing palm trees. Nevertheless, a significant sum of money is being squandered and nothing functions as expected, say experts.
Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation (01 Mar 2024 02:20:15 +0000)
- Amboró National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area is located in the Santa Cruz department of central Bolivia, at the confluence of three different ecosystems: the Amazon, the northern Bolivian Chaco and the Andes.
- Amboró has been losing forest cover to illicit activities such as the cultivation of coca crops for the production of cocaine.
- National and departmental officials say Amboró authorities aren’t doing enough to keep encroachers out of the park.
- But rangers in Amboró say they don’t have enough resources to effectively enforce regulation.
In the Amazon, what happens to undesignated public lands? (29 Feb 2024 22:32:10 +0000)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- Indigenous communities compete with other stakeholders with economic, demographic and political power. Among them, the livestock, agricultural and logging sectors stand out. This competition for land includes the interests of mining companies and the oil and gas industry.
- Broadly speaking, there are still important areas of public lands waiting to be assigned as protected areas, Indigenous reserves or open to some type of sustainable development.
- Therefore, it is important to understand that insecure and uncertain land is directly related to the deforestation crisis. Hoarders and settlers appropriate public lands due to the incomplete nature of land records.
Major meatpackers are unlawfully deforesting Brazil’s Cerrado, report says (29 Feb 2024 18:56:31 +0000)
- In the state of Mato Grosso, some of the country’s largest meatpackers are clearing parts of the Cerrado at an even faster rate than the Amazon Rainforest, a new report from U.K.-based NGO Global Witness says.
- Meatpackers JBS, Marfrig and Minerva have cut down nearly five times more of the state’s Cerrado than they have its Amazon. One in three cows that the companies purchased from the Cerrado had grazed on illegally deforested land.
- A major EU law regulating deforestation in supply chains is scheduled for review this year, and the Global Witness report said its language should be expanded to include “other wooded land” that would protect the Cerrado.
Agroecological solutions better than pesticides in fighting fall armyworm, experts say (29 Feb 2024 16:21:45 +0000)
- Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) is an invasive agricultural pest, which first hit West Africa in 2016 and quickly spread across the continent.
- Experts have now found that the pest’s impact on maize yields is no longer as severe as initially feared.
- An integrated pest management approach, prioritizing nontoxic control measures, is the best way to tackle the infestation, improve yields and protect human health, according to experts.
New precedent as Afro-Brazilian quilombo community wins historic land claim (29 Feb 2024 16:08:22 +0000)
- The Afro-Brazilian community of Quilombo de Bombas in São Paulo state has welcomed a court ruling ordering the state to issue it with a land title to its ancestral territory located inside a state park.
- The ruling is historic because it’s the first time this kind of traditional community whose ancestral territory overlaps with a state protected area will receive a title.
- Government agencies involved in the process have acknowledged that quilombo inhabitants, known as quilombolas, have historically tended to be among the best environmental stewards in the country.
- Despite the win, most of the nearly 500 quilombos throughout Brazil remain officially unrecognized, with only one in eight quilombolas living in formally titled territories.
Conservation success leaves Nepal at a loss for dealing with ‘problem tigers’ (29 Feb 2024 16:02:52 +0000)
- Nepal’s success in tiger conservation has come at the cost of rising human-tiger conflict, prompting the government to capture “problem tigers” deemed to pose a threat to human life.
- But the government has no definitive plans for these tigers, of which there are 18 currently in captivity, costing the environment ministry nearly $100,000 a year just to feed.
- Various stakeholders have proposed a range of solutions, from sport hunting that would also generate revenue, to establishing rescue centers, to gifting the tigers to foreign zoos, to even simply culling them.
- The country’s environment minister, criticized for the sport hunting proposal, has spoken out against the prioritization of conservation at the expense of local communities’ increasingly urgent safety concerns.
Study points to which Amazon regions could reach tipping point & dry up (29 Feb 2024 13:56:02 +0000)
- Scientists warn that 10% of the Amazon has a high risk of being converted into a drier and degraded ecosystem by 2050, while 47% has a moderate transitional risk.
- The article, published in Nature, used evidence collected by field researchers who are already witnessing changes in the rainforest as a response to increasing temperatures, extreme droughts, fires and deforestation.
- These regional tipping points may lead to a systemic breakdown of the biome unless humanity controls global warming, stops deforestation and starts to recover degraded parts of the rainforest, the authors say.
Should all marine reserves ban fishing? Not necessarily, new study shows (29 Feb 2024 13:38:24 +0000)
- A new study examined the performances of two types of marine protected areas: no-take MPAs, where all fishing activity is banned, and multiple-use MPAs, which allow certain forms of fishing.
- It found that no-take MPAs increased fish biomass by 58.2%, and multiple-use MPAs increased by 12.6% compared to zones without any form of protection; the study also found that both types of MPAs were more than 97% likely to improve fish populations.
- The authors suggest that multiple-use MPAs can provide “a viable and potentially equitable pathway to advance local and global conservation” when adequately designed and managed.
- However, an expert not involved in the study suggests that MPAs with full protection are more urgently needed to protect marine ecosystems like coral reefs.
Planetary boundary pioneer Johan Rockström awarded 2024 Tyler Prize (29 Feb 2024 13:20:56 +0000)
- The 2024 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement will go to Johan Rockström who led the team of international researchers who originated the planetary boundary framework in 2009.
- The theory defines a scientifically based “safe operating space for humanity” to safeguard stable Earth conditions established in the Holocene when civilization arose, with the intention of preventing dangerous tipping points in the Anthropocene — a new era in which humanity has the capacity to wreak havoc on Earth systems.
- In a new interview with Mongabay, Rockström discusses how the planetary boundaries framework formulates quantified safe limits to protect nine Earth systems (including climate, biodiversity, freshwater and more), all vital for sustaining life and he shares some updates on this cutting-edge research.
- “Planetary sustainability is a security issue because staying within planetary boundaries gives us stable societies, food security, water security and reduces conflicts,” says Rockström. “Placing planetary boundaries at the UN Security Council positions sustainability, climate, biodiversity, water, where it belongs — in security.”
Climate change brings a river’s wrath down on western Uganda (29 Feb 2024 11:15:39 +0000)
- Since the 1960s, Uganda’s climate has warmed by an average of 1.3°C (2.3°F).
- The warming is partly responsible for an increasing number of catastrophic floods on the Nyamwamba River, in western Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains.
- In 2020 alone, 173,000 people were affected by flooding in Kasese district, when 25,000 houses were destroyed.
- Many of those rendered homeless by the floods continue to languish in temporary housing camps four years on.
Nile Basin farmers grow food forests to restore wetlands and bring back a turtle (28 Feb 2024 22:59:56 +0000)
- Sugarcane is a widely grown crop in the Nile Basin, but its destructive effects on soils, water resources and biodiversity have become increasingly apparent.
- As the thirsty crop draws down water resources, aquatic species like the critically endangered Nubian flapshell turtle suffer a loss of habitat, forage and nesting sites.
- In an effort to revive soils, diversify diets and incomes, and boost water levels that many animals rely on, communities are implementing agroforestry projects in lieu of monocultures.
- The resulting “food forests” attract an array of wildlife while refilling wetlands and river systems where the culturally important flapshell turtles swim.
Ecuador, Colombia and the Guiana Shield join the planning of sustainable land use (28 Feb 2024 22:40:08 +0000)
- Mongabay is publishing a new edition of the book, “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon,” in short installments and in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.
- This section shows how land use planning in Ecuador loses value if it is not accompanied by programs that motivate landowners to reform their business models and reward forest communities.
- Likewise, in countries like Colombia the challenge is not access to information or technical capacity, but rather the weak presence of the State in various areas of the country that live without law. Finally, although Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela were late in planning the development of their forested areas, the deforestation factors linked to agriculture and infrastructure are quite low.
- Despite this, the threats facing these countries include new offshore oil and gas reserves, as well as small and medium-scale gold mining.
New giant anaconda species found on Waorani Indigenous land in Ecuador (28 Feb 2024 20:54:45 +0000)
- A new species of giant anaconda has been found in the Bameno region of Baihuaeri Waorani Territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
- The largest snake the team found in Waorani territory was a female anaconda that measured 6.3 meters (20.7 feet) long from head to tail, but there are Indigenous reports of larger individuals.
- As apex predators, anacondas play a vital ecological role in regulating prey populations like fish, rodents, deer and caimans.
- Anacondas face a number of threats across their range, including habitat loss from deforestation, hunting by humans and pollution from oil spills.
Nepal’s human-wildlife conflict relief system hits roadblock with new guidelines (28 Feb 2024 11:16:53 +0000)
- New guidelines intended to streamline relief and compensation for human-wildlife conflict victims in Nepal have instead created a bottleneck in the process.
- Implementation challenges arise as forest offices lack budgets under the new arrangement, hindering their ability to provide compensation.
- Human-wildlife conflict remains a significant challenge in Nepal, with more than 200 fatalities reported in the past five years, prompting discussions on alternative solutions such as insurance-based schemes
Seabird poop is recipe for coral recovery amid climate-driven bleaching (28 Feb 2024 09:41:08 +0000)
- Researchers have found that nutrients from seabird poop led to a doubling of coral growth rates and faster recovery after bleaching events, promoting overall resilience.
- Islands with invasive rats, which kill birds, saw half the coral growth rate of islands with healthy seabird populations, emphasizing the need for rat eradication to restore seabirds and nutrient flow.
- Individuals, organizations and governments can help coral reefs by better protecting seabirds, implementing and funding invasive predator control programs, restoring native vegetation, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Gharial conservation plan leaves Nepal fishing communities searching for new jobs (28 Feb 2024 08:52:54 +0000)
- Since the creation of Chitwan National Park, some Indigenous Bote people who have lost access to their ancestral lands and livelihoods have been employed by the park as gharial keepers to help conserve the critically endangered species.
- However, community members say the park’s restrictions on their fishing livelihoods to protect the reptile species is taking a toll on their economic needs and restricting their rights; the possibility of working as gharial keepers and other livelihood alternatives are insufficient, they say.
- Many parents are now encouraging their children to migrate to Persian Gulf countries to work as migrant laborers in order to lead a better material life.
- Conservationists say restricting fishing is an important step in protecting the species, which would struggle to survive if many economically dependent communities fished in the rivers.
Rewilding Ireland: ‘Undoing the damage’ from a history of deforestation (27 Feb 2024 21:23:59 +0000)
- Eoghan Daltun has spent the past 14 years successfully rewilding 29 hectares (73 acres) of farmland on the Beara Peninsula in southwestern Ireland.
- Ireland is one of the most ecologically denuded countries in the world, only possessing about 11% forest cover but on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, co-host Rachel Donald speaks with Daltun about how he came to accomplish his rewilding feat simply by letting nature take its course and erecting a good fence, which has rapidly led to the regeneration of native forest, wildflowers and fauna.
- They also discuss the historical drivers of ecological devastation that have led to the classic, tree-less Irish landscape, from ancient times to imperial colonization and the advent of modern farming, and what the potential of rewilding is to change that and boost biodiversity.
We’re losing species faster than we can find them, study shows (27 Feb 2024 19:47:18 +0000)
- Researchers compiled a database showing the number of lost species is increasing faster than rediscovered species: since 1800, more than 800 amphibian, bird, mammal and reptile species have not seen by scientists in at least a decade.
- Reptiles as well as small, nocturnal or underground species tend to stay lost longer than larger, more widespread mammals and birds.
- Once found, many lost species remain threatened with extinction as their populations are often small and fragmented due to habitat loss.
- New technologies like camera traps and environmental DNA are aiding rediscovery efforts, but the involvement of local communities is also key to finding lost species.
‘Shocking’ mortality of infant macaques points to dangers of oil palm plantations (27 Feb 2024 17:36:40 +0000)
- As oil palm plantations encroach on rainforests, wild primates increasingly enter them to forage, where they face the threat of being eaten by feral dogs, killed for raiding crops, or caught by traffickers for the pet trade.
- A new study from Peninsular Malaysia finds that exposure to oil plantations also significantly increases the risk of death among infant southern pig-tailed macaques.
- In addition to known threats, researchers speculate common pesticides used in oil palm plantations might play a role in the increased death risks for infant macaques, but their study stops short of providing direct evidence implicating any specific toxic chemical in these deaths.
- Conservationists call for using environmentally safe and wildlife-friendly agricultural practices in oil plantations to minimize risks and establishing wildlife corridors and tree islands so that endangered primates, like southern pig-tailed macaques, can move freely without being exposed to threats.
Maluku farmer turns guardian of eastern Indonesia’s threatened parrots (27 Feb 2024 15:06:07 +0000)
- Jamal Adam, a former farmer, began volunteering with forest rangers on Indonesia’s Halmahera Island before joining the region’s largest bird sanctuary when the rehabilitation facility opened in 2019.
- The Halmahera center admits mostly parrots on site and rehabilitates numerous species before later releasing them back into the wild.
- Indonesia’s North Maluku province historically saw relatively low tree cover loss compared to the rest of the country, but groups have raised concerns that a local nickel mining boom will threaten bird habitat in the medium term.