location: Asia

location: Asia

Social media activity version | Lean version

Forest advocates accuse EU energy firm of Dutch biomass certification fraud
- The sustainability certification of forest biomass produced to generate industrial-scale energy has long been controversial and called into question.
- Wood pellet companies argue their product is sustainable and doesn’t cause deforestation, while governments claim biomass burning results in climate-neutral emissions, which is why they offer subsides to energy companies burning sustainability certified forest biomass.
- However, forest advocates and scientists have provided significant evidence that forest biomass production contributes to deforestation, is not sustainable and that burning wood generates more carbon emissions per unit of energy than coal.
- In an unprecedented move, Dutch law enforcement is considering a criminal investigation into RWE, one of the Netherlands’ largest energy providers, after a Dutch forest advocate alleged that the firm dodges biomass certification rules, using wood pellets imported from Malaysia sourced not from sawmill waste, but allegedly from whole trees.

Oil patch appears after IRIS Dena sinking in Sri Lanka; origins still unverified
- Following the March 4 sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, fishers and coastal communities have spotted an oil patch along the Hikkaduwa coast in southern Sri Lanka, raising concerns about its origin.
- Authorities are conducting investigations to determine the origin of the oil patch and debris washed ashore.
- Studies show the sea around Sri Lanka as highly vulnerable to oil spills, as more than 25% of oil transported globally passes through Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone.
- Legal experts say in the event of confirmed environmental impact due to the ship sinking, the “polluter pays principle” should be applied.

Outlook for migratory species worsens amid habitat loss & avian flu, report finds
- A U.N.-backed report finds that nearly half of the world’s migratory species protected under a global treaty are now decreasing — and about one in four now faces extinction.
- Habitat loss and degradation as well as hunting and fishing are driving these declines, but a deadly virus, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, is also taking a heavy toll on bird populations.
- Wildlife corridors and protected ocean networks can play a pivotal role in conserving imperiled species: Animals need to move to find food, a mate and migrate.

Indonesia’s orangutan trafficking cases reveal need for a change in approach (commentary)
- Indonesia needs a new approach to illegal wildlife trafficking that does more than intercept and repatriate animals to their home habitats, a new op-ed suggests.
- Seizures of trafficked orangutans have been in the news often lately, and the nation needs to make trafficking of animals such as these unprofitable, unviable and socially unacceptable.
- “Repatriation brings (trafficking) victims home, but it should never become a routine that normalizes the crime. If a country celebrates each return while shipments keep moving through the next gap, it is responding, never preventing,” he argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Bangladesh sees rise in ray, shark fishing as traditional seafood species dwindle
- Bangladesh has seen a sudden rise in illegal shark and ray fishing and consumption in recent years.
- A decrease in catch of traditionally consumed fish species and the lower prices of sharks and stingrays have led to this rise in popularity. Additionally, traders export ray skins and shark parts to East and Southeast Asian countries.
- Sharks and rays are protected species in Bangladesh and existing laws prohibit their catching, selling and consumption.
- Conservationists blame the weak law enforcement and lack of awareness among fishers and suggest that the government initiate stricter conservation measures besides providing subsidies to the poor fishers.

Plastic, from home and abroad, spills into Türkiye’s waters
- Türkiye has become a major destination for plastic waste recycling, notably from Europe and the U.K. Most of this scrap heads to the roughly 180 waste facilities handling plastic in Adana province.
- But large quantities are dumped along riverbanks or escape the facilities through their wastewater and eventually flow downstream into the Mediterranean Sea.
- The resulting pollution is taking a toll on riverine and marine ecosystems, including important sea turtle nesting sites.
- Some experts say Türkiye should stop importing plastic altogether to stem the tide of pollution, but the government has said the recycling industry plays an important economic role.

Thai data center boom sparks fears of water shortage, air pollution
- Thailand is experiencing a rapid data center boom, with more than 70 projects planned or underway, many clustered in the industrial Eastern Economic Corridor.
- Residents and farmers in Chonburi and Rayong provinces say they fear the facilities will intensify water shortages and pollution in a region already struggling with industrial impacts.
- Data centers require large volumes of water for cooling and major electricity supply, raising concerns about wastewater contamination and increased burning of fossil fuels.
- Critics say the sector is expanding with little transparency or community consultation, leaving locals uncertain about environmental safeguards and benefits.

From forest to flatpack, IKEA faces timber traceability test under EUDR
- As the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) nears implementation this year, furniture giant IKEA may need stronger traceability systems to prove its timber isn’t linked to post-2020 deforestation.
- Although nearly all IKEA wood is FSC-certified or recycled, past investigations show this voluntary scheme can miss illegal or unsustainable logging.
- The EUDR requires geolocation data and stricter due diligence than existing certifications or regulations, but repeated delays and possible rule changes have created uncertainty for companies like IKEA preparing to comply.
- Industry watchdogs say high-profile companies like IKEA can “do more” to champion the landmark regulation and implement leading wood traceability systems, rather than relying solely on existing — voluntary— certification schemes.

Sumatra officials stress environment checks continue in wake of deadly cyclone
- More than three months after flash flooding caused by the landfall of Cyclone Senyar over Sumatra killed more than 1,000 people in three provinces, officials continue to face pressure to review companies operating in forests and watersheds.
- In West Sumatra province, environmental officials point to sanctions issued against quarries operating near Mount Sariak, a short distance to the north of Padang, the provincial capital.
- However, West Sumatra is a mountainous province larger than Switzerland, with many extractive areas operating in forests that can take inspectors at least a day to reach from the provincial capital.
- At least 267 people were killed in West Sumatra, with 70 people still missing at the time of writing, after Cyclone Senyar struck on Nov. 26 and 27.

The promise and perils of the 1995 Mekong River Agreement (commentary)
- Thirty years after the 1995 Mekong Agreement, the treaty and the Mekong River Commission have failed to stop cumulative damage to the river from dams, sediment loss, sand mining and altered flows.
- Hydropower expansion and major projects such as Laos’s mainstream dams and Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal are accelerating ecological decline, harming fisheries, sediment flows and the Tonle Sap–Mekong system despite consultation processes meant to prevent such impacts.
- “This is not cooperation,” the author writes of the agreement. “It is a rat race tearing the Mekong apart.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Can Singapore rewild its lost reptiles?
- Singapore has lost most of its primary forest since the 19th century, and roughly a third of terrestrial vertebrate species have disappeared locally, often through gradual habitat thinning rather than sudden collapse.
- Snakes and lizards show a two-stage pattern of decline tied first to plantation-era deforestation and later to rapid urbanization, with forest specialists hardest hit while adaptable species persist in degraded habitats.
- Despite losses, reptiles have proven relatively resilient; many can survive in disturbed environments, but fragmented populations remain vulnerable and natural recolonization is unlikely across the sea barrier to Malaysia.
- Maturing secondary forests and restoration efforts create conditions for cautious rewilding, and scientists suggest targeted translocation—such as reintroducing the forest gecko Gekko hulk—could restore some lost ecological functions even if the original ecosystem cannot be fully recovered.

Cambodian market survey a snapshot of a resilient — but stressed — Mekong
- In February, an international team of researchers conducted a two-week survey of fish species sold in markets in the Mekong River towns of Stung Treng and Kratie in Cambodia.
- The survey builds on a benchmark set by a 1994 survey in Stung Treng, allowing scientists to detect patterns in the size and diversity of fish being pulled from the river.
- The team identified 130 species, compared with 113 in the 1994 survey; 46 species were newly documented, many of them linked to aquaculture, while 29 species documented in 1994 were not found.
- Survey members say the tally shows the resilience of the Mekong, especially in places like Stung Treng where it remains undammed, but also points to worrying trends such as smaller fish dominating catches.

David Chivers, student of the singing apes
Field primatology expanded rapidly in the late 20th century as biologists began to study apes and monkeys where they lived rather than only in museums or laboratories. Southeast Asia’s rainforests became an important setting for that shift. Among the researchers who helped shape the discipline there was David Chivers, a British primatologist whose work […]
U.S.’ hunger for Halloween trinkets is killing Vietnam’s painted woolly bats
- Taxidermied, framed bats are sold as souvenirs in shops across Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City that cater to international tourists, according to a new study documenting the trade.
- Painted woolly bats — one of the world’s most colorful bats, with wings streaked in orange and black — were the top-selling species both in these markets and online, and are in demand as decorations in the U.S.,as well as Europe and Canada.
- Vendors told researchers that most of the painted woolly bats they sold were pulled from the wild. Evidence suggests these mammals have almost disappeared from the country’s Mekong Delta region, partly because of this intensive trade.
- Experts urge Vietnam to outlaw harvest and trade of these bats, and ask that all 11 countries where these bats are found protect them under CITES, a global wildlife trade treaty, to regulate and monitor international sales.

Electrocution, conflict, poaching mark grim start to year for Sumatran elephants
- The office of Indonesia’s state conservation agency in the semiautonomous region of Aceh said an elephant found dead in Central Aceh district on Feb. 20 likely died due to electrocution following contact with an electric fence.
- Local residents in Karang Ampar village told Mongabay that human-elephant encounters have become increasingly frequent. Police in the province of Riau announced they had made multiple arrests over the fatal shooting of an elephant on an industrial palm oil concession.
- One day after the discovery of the deceased female Sumatran elephant in Central Aceh, a farmer in neighboring Bener Meriah district died after being trampled by an elephant near a corn field.
- Indonesia’s state conservation agency in Aceh said the recent Cyclone Senyar may also be driving human-elephant conflict, after floods from the November storm that killed more than 1,000 people across Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra disrupted wildlife movement corridors.

Sri Lankan waters under ‘close watch’ following wreckage of Iranian warship
- At least 90 bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the IRIS Dena, an Iranian warship that was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine on March 4.
- The Sri Lanka Navy has spotted oil patches and life rafts during the rescue mission but no oil spill reported so far.
- Maritime experts say Sri Lanka will have an opportunity to raise a claim for environmental damage following the sinking of the frigate.
- If the Indian Ocean island intends to seek damages, the government may have to claim environmental damages through an international tribunal, considering the frigate was sunk under conditions of war.

Indonesian communities push to reclaim lands following company permit revocations
- In January, the Indonesian government ordered the revocation of PT TPL’s forest utilization permit, along with those of 27 other companies, for allegedly violating environmental and forestry regulations that contributed to deadly floods and landslides in November 2025.
- Twenty-nine communities whose customary lands overlap with the pulpwood company’s concession are demanding the return of 37,219 hectares after decades of conflict with the enterprise. Some people have reoccupied lands.
- According to officials, the state-owned investment agency Danantara will take over the companies’ concessions, but community leaders say the legal status of customary lands and forests is still unclear after meetings with government officials.
- Community leaders and NGOs have drafted next steps for the lands, including reforestation following decades of eucalyptus plantations and land titling.

Beetle known for ravaging mango trees now killing baobabs, study finds
- Researchers say baobabs face a potential new threat from the mango stem borer, a beetle long known to devastate other trees.
- The warning comes from research in Oman, where scientists found the pest had killed six baobabs and severely infested a dozen more in a small valley population.
- Authorities there are fighting the infestation with pesticides, light traps and manual removal of larvae from the trees.
- Scientists note that similar infestations have not yet been recorded in other countries where baobabs grow.

Indonesia farmers count the costs as rains wash out Java durian harvest
- In a quiet village in central Java, farmers report that their durian fruit trees have failed to bear fruit amid local anxieties over climate change and other environmental shifts.
- Every year farmers around Plana village plant a type of durian known as the Kromo, named after a returning Islamic pilgrim whose durian trees produced unusually large fruit, which people here prize for its heightened flavor profile.
- Peer-reviewed research and official comment by Indonesia’s state meteorology agency, the BMKG, shows fruit growers in Java may face declining yields in the future amid increasingly erratic weather.

China’s Pacific squid fishery rife with labor, fishing abuses: Report
- A new report from U.K.-based NGO the Environmental Justice Foundation draws on interviews with 81 fishers, mainly Indonesian sailors who worked between 2021 and 2025 on 60 Chinese vessels targeting jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas) in the Southeast Pacific Ocean.
- It documents frequent labor abuses affecting crew members, including several indicators of forced labor as described by the International Labour Organization.
- The report also documents regular shark finning, targeted hunting of marine mammals, and involvement in suspected illegal fishing incidents, often inside Ecuador, Peru or Chile’s exclusive economic zones.
- The report was launched days before the annual meeting of the commission of the South Pacific Regional Fishery Management Organisation, the intergovernmental body that manages the fishery. Officials with fishing organizations mentioned in the report and members of China’s delegation to the meeting did not respond to Mongabay’s request for comment on the report.

Deadly landfill collapse exposes risks faced by Philippines’ waste pickers
- A catastrophic dumpsite collapse buried scavengers collecting recyclables at a landfill in the Philippines’ Rizal province on Feb. 20, following a similar incident in Cebu in January that killed 36 people.
- So far, one person has been officially confirmed dead and two missing, but eyewitnesses say as many as 50 people were trapped under mounds of waste.
- Across the Philippines, scavengers pay a fee to dumpsite operators to be allowed to search for plastic and metal waste they can sell for recycling.
- Environmental authorities found “operational lapses” at the site following an initial investigation, and have issued a cease and desist order to the operator.

Out of captivity, into conflict: slow lorises struggle to survive after release
- A study in Bangladesh found that seven of nine rescued Bengal slow lorises died within six months of release, showing that rewilding trafficked animals can become a “death trap” if habitat and social conditions aren’t right.
- Most of the dead lorises bore venomous bite wounds from their wild counterparts, indicating that releasing highly territorial animals into already occupied forests can trigger lethal fights.
- The two that survived established larger home ranges, while those kept longer in captivity fared worse, underscoring the need for careful site selection, population surveys, and evidence-based release protocols.
- Experts say that rescue and release only address the symptoms of illegal wildlife trafficking, and that curbing poaching and habitat loss is essential to prevent further harm to both individuals and wild populations.

Profitable cash crop trend in Bangladesh’s hills affects regional ecology
- The hill districts in the Chittagong region in Bangladesh have seen a large scale switch from the traditional shifting agriculture, or jhum, to more profitable cash crop cultivation in recent years.
- According to a study, a major portion of the 40,000 hectares (98,842 acres) of hills that were previously used for traditional agriculture have been transformed for cultivating different cash crops like ginger, turmeric, pineapple and banana.
- Though the transformation ensured economic gain for the farmers and investors, the ecology of the hill landscape has been affected by soil erosion, dried up streams, increased landslides and water scarcity for the locals.

Nepal signs major carbon deal but community access remains challenging
- Nepal is the first country in Asia to sign an agreement potentially worth $55 million with the LEAF Coalition to reduce emissions from deforestation across three provinces.
- Experts and community representatives emphasize the deal’s success hinges on local people’s access, transparent funding, strong safeguards and inclusive benefit sharing.
- While communities push for 80% of the funds to go directly to forest communities, bureaucratic processes, administrative fees and gaps in coordination and capacity could limit direct access, echoing lessons from Nepal’s previous REDD+ programs.

In Nepal polls, political parties root for mega infrastructure
- Nepal’s major political parties focus their election manifestos on mega projects, viewing big construction as the primary engine for economic growth.
- Despite Nepal ranking as the sixth most climate-vulnerable nation globally, parties largely treat environmental issues as an afterthought or a development delay, often ignoring the fact that recent climate-driven disasters have already severely damaged expensive infrastructure like the Melamchi water project.
- While “green” terminology occasionally appears in the fine print to satisfy international frameworks, experts warn that low budget allocations and a lack of coordination mean these environmental commitments usually remain “on paper” while industrial expansion takes center stage.

Australia hands record prison sentence to reptile smuggler in trafficking crackdown
- A 61-year-old Sydney man was sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to smuggle native Australian reptiles to Europe and Asia.
- Australia is home to 10% of the world’s reptile species, and 90% can be found nowhere else in the world.
- The Australian government is cracking down on wildlife trafficking, with arrests tripling from mid-2023 to early 2025. During that period, authorities seized more than 200 parcels at the border containing 780 native species.

Big cats get the press, but small wildcats are being poached and trafficked in silence
- While black market sale of jaguars, tigers and other big cats has been carefully tracked for decades, trade in small and medium-sized felines has gone largely undocumented. Many are threatened or endangered species.
- Researchers in Colombia discovered that a substantial number of smaller wild cats were seized by or surrendered to wildlife officials from 2015 to 2021.
- The cats are mostly sold alive as pets, though some skins, teeth and other parts were also confiscated.
- Seizures of illegally traded wildlife represent just a small percentage of those that are poached and trafficked. The smaller cats are, the more they seem to be traded, researchers say, and globally, there needs to be greater monitoring of international trade in small and mid-sized felines.

Indigenous communities oppose Papua forest rezoning for palm oil
- Indigenous communities in Indonesian Papua have filed an administrative objection against forestry ministry decrees that reclassify more than a million acres as nonforest land, clearing the way for oil palm development under the government’s food estate program.
- The rezoning last September was carried out without the communities’ knowledge or consent, and the affected areas include swaths of forest that they have proposed as customary forests.
- The communities only learned of the decision months later, after NGOs obtained the decree. If the ministry fails to respond to their objection, they plan to sue in the State Administrative Court.
- The expansion aligns with the government’s drive to boost food and biofuel production, but Indigenous rights advocates warn the plan could cost communities their forests, livelihoods and cultural ties to the land.

In Myanmar’s limestone hills, people and bats are often too close for comfort
- A recent census of cave-dwelling bats in northeastern Myanmar found many karst caverns are increasingly inhospitable for the winged mammals due to human disturbance, posing risks to both bats and people.
- Bats are natural reservoirs for many viruses, researchers say, which means managing the ways humans interact with them is vital to managing potential disease spillover, researchers say.
- The main sources of disturbance are limestone quarrying, tourism and religious activities, hunting of bats for food, and guano harvesting.
- To manage the ecological threats and disease risk, the researchers recommend better conservation protections, improved land-use planning, and dedicated cave management plans that include public education programs on cave hygiene and zoonotic disease risk.

In Thailand, old camera-trap photos shed new light on Asian tapirs
- Archived camera-trap data from southern Thailand’s Khlong Saeng–Khao Sok Forest Complex identified at least 43 individual Asian tapirs, suggesting the area may be a key refuge for the endangered species.
- Researchers used “bycatch” images from camera traps originally set to photograph bears to estimate tapir density at 6-10 individuals per 100 square kilometers, showing existing data can help monitor elusive species.
- Modeling suggests the forest complex could hold up to 436 mature tapirs, far higher than previous estimates for Thailand and Myanmar combined, though researchers warn the figure may overestimate actual numbers.
- Despite the promising findings, Asian tapirs face ongoing threats from habitat loss and snaring, and experts say protecting intact forest strongholds is vital for the species’ survival.

As Nepal votes, climate change is an elephant in the room for Sherpa community
- Seasonal migration and low resident voter presence in Nepal’s Sagarmatha (Everest) region mean election campaigns concentrate on infrastructure rather than climate adaptation, leaving long-term environmental resilience underprioritized.
- Sherpa communities are witnessing retreating glaciers, erratic snowfall, avalanches and flooding, consistent with IPCC reports on elevation-dependent warming, changing snow and monsoon patterns and downstream water risks.
- Everest mountaineering revenue and helicopter tourism generate income, but limited reinvestment in climate adaptation, environmental regulation and sustainable infrastructure threatens ecosystems and the local economy in the face of climate change.

In Thailand, a coral cryobank tries to buy time for dying reefs
- Scientists in Phuket are freezing coral larvae and their symbiotic algae, aiming to create a “living seed bank” to preserve Thailand’s reef genetic diversity amid accelerating climate stress.
- Thailand’s reefs, home to more than 300 coral species, have experienced repeated mass bleaching events since 2022, with damage compounded by tourism pressure, wastewater runoff, sedimentation and overfishing.
- Researchers describe coral cryobanks as a form of “genetic insurance” and ex-situ conservation, but stress they can’t replace in-water protection and must be integrated into broader restoration and marine management strategies.
- Conservation experts say improving water quality, regulating tourism impacts and strengthening community-led marine protection are essential if preserved coral material is to be successfully restored to the wild.

Migrant fishers’ deaths at sea tied to unchecked captain power, study shows
- A new study finds migrant fishers’ deaths at sea stem from systemic labor and governance failures, not isolated safety lapses.
- Far from shore, captains control food, medical care and even how deaths are recorded, with little oversight or accountability.
- Researchers documented 55 cases of Indonesian fishers who died or went missing, showing deaths occur through both direct abuse and prolonged neglect.
- The authors call for stronger international cooperation, mandatory death reporting and supply chain transparency, arguing existing rules alone cannot prevent further fatalities

Sumatra province plan to permit ‘community’ mines alarms civil society
- The devolved government in West Sumatra province, which is home to 5.8 million people on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, intends to present new zoning plans to the central government that could regulate currently illegal mines operated by small groups of people.
- The small-scale gold mining sector is responsible for lasting environmental damage to both environment and public health, owing in large part to the use of mercury, a banned heavy metal and neurotoxin, to separate gold particles from ores retrieved from valley sides and river basins.
- It remains unclear how the government would treat the use of mercury, which is the subject of international agreement under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
- The international price of gold has surged by more than 70% since the beginning of last year as central banks and investors buy precious metals to mitigate political uncertainty and high inflation. This has led to a surge in illegal gold mining in forests from the Amazon to Indonesia.

Indonesia faces scrutiny over permit revocations following deadly floods and landslides
- The Indonesian government is facing new scrutiny of its revocation of 28 forestry, plantation and mining permits following Cyclone Senyar, which triggered landslides and flash floods that killed around 1,200 people.
- An analysis by the NGO Auriga Nusantara found that some of the permits cited in the announcement had already been revoked years earlier, while others had expired before the floods occurred.
- The discrepancies add to growing confusion over which companies are actually linked to the November 2025 floods and landslides and what will happen to former concession areas now slated for transfer to state-owned enterprises under the sovereign wealth fund Danantara.

The most desirable songbird in Indonesia is disappearing from the wild
SUMATRA, Indonesia — Armed with a machete, some sticky gum and a recording of birdsong on his phone, “Peni” makes his way into the forest. He’s searching for songbirds in the Sumatran jungle, specifically the white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus), known locally as murai batu. The popularity of murai batu has boomed in the past decade […]
Scientists discover a new whale highway after tagging a pygmy blue whale by drone
- Scientists in Indonesia have tagged a pygmy blue whale for the first time using a drone.
- Data from the tag revealed a previously unknown path used by the species on its southern migration from Indonesia to the west coast of Australia.
- The biggest threats to the pygmy blue whale include ship strikes in busy shipping lanes, ocean noise pollution, and climate change.
- A team from Timor-Leste will now repeat the drone tagging protocol in their waters.

Helicopter translocation brings isolated banteng to safer grounds in Cambodia
- Earlier this month in northeastern Cambodia, conservationists deployed helicopters, trucks and more than 50 personnel to translocate a group of critically endangered banteng into a protected reserve.
- Banteng, a type of wild cattle that once roamed widely across Southeast Asia, have suffered crippling population declines due to hunting and deforestation.
- The effort is part of wider plans to secure a future for the species in Cambodia while rewilding Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary, a site that experts say is one of Cambodia’s best protected sites.
- Against the backdrop of intense forest loss, even within protected areas, experts say translocation of isolated animals away from frontiers of development could offer a viable future for conservation in Cambodia.

Indonesia says intervention in notorious Sumatran national park part of new ‘model’
- Tesso Nilo National Park was established in 2004 and expanded in 2009 in Sumatra’s Riau province, but has since lost more than three-quarters of its old-growth forest, largely to smallholder oil palm farms, according to remote-sensing platform Global Forest Watch.
- Last year, officials working under a new nationwide forestry task force began work to relocate hundreds of farming families living inside the park, in a radical attempt to regain control of a protected area that’s been almost entirely destroyed.
- The government is framing the Tesso Nilo policy around efforts to save Domang, one of the critically endangered Sumatran elephant calves living within the national park.
- The intervention in Tesso Nilo sparked some low-intensity violence last year, including destruction of a shelter in the forest used by national park staff as a base for fieldwork, prompting a surge in military presence to bolster security as the operation proceeds.

Study refutes claim that Indonesia’s legal turtle trade supports livelihoods
- Tens of thousands of freshwater turtles and tortoises are legally harvested each year in Indonesia for their meat and exported primarily to China, while many species teeter on the brink of extinction.
- Although this turtle trade is thought to provide livelihoods for harvesters, a study finds that with current market prices, it only supports a few hundred people nationwide with a barely sustainable minimum wage income.
- A big proportion of the trade must be illegal to keep it profitable, researchers say. They question whether it should be permitted at all, given that many targeted species are threatened with extinction.
- To prevent illegal trade, conservationists urge Indonesian authorities to enforce harvest quotas, ban the trade of threatened species and provide alternative livelihoods for harvesters to save the country’s chelonians.

Baby gorilla seized from traffickers languishes in Turkish zoo
- Türkiye has refused to return a western lowland gorilla named Zeytin, who was smuggled out of Africa a year ago; Turkish authorities seized him as an infant from the cargo hold of an airplane headed to Bangkok.
- The decision marks an about-turn in Türkiye’s plans to return him to Africa, where he’d be in a Nigerian sanctuary with other gorillas, after a DNA test ruled out Nigeria as his country of origin. Turkish authorities announced he will remain in the country permanently.
- Gorillas are social animals that live in family groups, and with no other gorillas in the country, conservationists worry Zeytin will be doomed to a life of isolation in a zoo.
- Conservationists urge Turkish officials to reconsider their decision and send the baby gorilla to a sanctuary in Africa as soon as possible so he has a better chance of possible release into the wild.

Thousands of peat fires flare across Indonesia despite rainy season
- More than 5,000 fire hotspots were detected across Indonesia’s peatlands in January, according to an independent watchdog — an alarming spike despite peak rainy season conditions and recent severe flooding in parts of Sumatra and Borneo.
- About a third of the hotspots were inside company concessions, mostly oil palm, reinforcing long-standing evidence that drained and degraded peatlands are highly flammable even after short dry spells, with fire risk now shaped more by hydrology than by calendar seasons.
- Provinces such as West Kalimantan and Aceh were hardest hit, with fires producing thick haze in cities like Pontianak and contributing to respiratory illness, underscoring how degraded peat amplifies both flood and fire risks.
- After a presidentially appointed peat restoration agency was allowed to lapse in 2024, watchdogs say fragmented oversight, weak monitoring and uncertainty over responsibility have created setbacks in peat protection, raising concerns ahead of potential future El Niño conditions.

Pilot projects aim to break Indonesia’s habit of burning household waste
- More than half of Indonesian households still burn their trash, often because bulky or inorganic waste isn’t collected and dumping it creates safety risks in dense neighborhoods.
- Burning waste releases fine particles and black carbon that penetrate deep into the body, contributing to respiratory and cardiovascular disease, organ damage and conditions such as anemia.
- Black carbon is also a potent climate pollutant, meaning cutting household waste burning could deliver fast benefits for both air quality and global warming if addressed at the source, experts say.
- Cultural norms, lack of infrastructure, limited enforcement and financial constraints drive waste burning, prompting pilot projects that combine community engagement, better waste systems and real-time pollution monitoring.

Farmers fear displacement, drought, flooding tied to Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal
- The Cambodian government is set to begin construction of the Funan Techo Canal, a nearly $1.2 billion, 180-kilometer (112-mile) waterway navigation project that will cut across four provinces to connect the Mekong River to the sea.
- The primary rationale for building the canal is to reduce Cambodia’s shipping costs, as well as to generate jobs and economic development.
- Mongabay has followed this mega-project’s development for more than a year, speaking with more than 50 people living along the canal’s proposed route. Virtually everyone we spoke with noted that the government has provided very little information about the project, and amid the uncertainty, fear has taken root.
- In inland communities in the rich floodplains of the Mekong River, farmers we spoke with said they worried they’d lose their homes or land, and that construction would disrupt the annual months-long inundation of the wetlands they rely on for planting rice as well as for fishing, crabbing and raising livestock.

Mapping underground fungal networks: Interview with SPUN’s Toby Kiers
- Mycorrhizal fungi are found in every soil system on Earth, and have symbiotic relationships with the plants whose roots they live on.
- They receive carbon dioxide from plants in exchange for nutrients, making them major carbon repositories and an important tool for carbon sequestration.
- The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) is deploying a wide range of technologies, from remote sensing to imaging robots, to map these crucial underground networks.
- “We think of these networks as one of Earth’s circulatory systems, but people are not paying attention,” SPUN co-founder Toby Kiers tells Mongabay in an interview.

Bangladesh’s political parties share manifestos, leave environmentalists frustrated
- Ahead of Bangladesh’s first national elections post the uprising of the previous government in 2024, major political parties have proposed environmental protection plans, which experts term “inadequate” and “unrealistic.”
- Crucial issues like biodiversity conservation, climate change-driven internal migration and other environmental actions, like taking up appropriate projects and deliberate fund management, are not addressed, experts say.
- They also say the election manifestos completely ignore the reforms in environmental laws enacted by the interim government.

Indonesia’s steel expansion risks a surge in greenhouse gas emissions
- As global demand for steel is rising, Indonesia’s steel industry is one of the country’s largest industrial greenhouse gas emitters and is set to become far more polluting if current trends continue, according to a nonprofit report.
- Indonesia’s high emissions stem largely from its reliance on coal-based blast furnace steelmaking, which uses coal both as a chemical input and as a source of the extremely high heat required to smelt iron ore.
- The climate footprint of Indonesia’s steel industry is closely tied to public health risks for communities living near major production hubs; steelmaking releases hazardous air pollutants that are linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease and reduced productivity.
- The Ministry of Industry has introduced policies intended to promote more sustainable practices across industrial sectors, including steel, but the recent report found that these policies lack binding sector-specific emissions targets, clear transition timelines and enforcement mechanisms.

Nepal’s community forests sit on unsold timber
- Community forests across Nepal produce large volumes of timber that remain unsold due to high government taxes, collection costs and competition from private and imported wood, leaving user groups without revenue for sustainable forest management and conservation, officials admit.
- While Nepal’s community forestry program has successfully increased forest cover to 44%, government royalty rates make legally harvested timber expensive, pushing consumers toward cheaper private or imported options like aluminum and UPVC.
- Unsold timber undermines forest management programs (planting, thinning, fire prevention), encourages illegal logging and creates storage and decay problems, affecting both environmental conservation and local livelihoods.

How intermediaries are reshaping mangrove restoration
- Despite growing global interest in mangrove conservation and restoration, many projects fail; experts say one reason is that restoration efforts are often led by small community groups with limited resources and expertise.
- Over the past five years, Seatrees, a California-based NGO, has supported mangrove restoration projects in Kenya, Mexico, the U.S. and Indonesia by providing funding to scale up tree planting, produce storytelling materials and build capacity in science, monitoring and impact measurement.
- In Kenya, where their restoration efforts are most advanced, Seatrees and its local project partner have supported more than 30 community groups to plant more than 1 million mangrove seedlings, maintain nurseries, dig trenches to improve hydrology and patrol forest areas for illegal logging — while paying participants for this important work.
- Seatrees has recently funded the creation and operation of a mangrove seedling nursery in the Florida Keys, run by CoastLove, a local NGO that engages residents and tourists in hands-on activities.

Mines, dams move in as protection slips in a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
- Since 2020, at least five companies have been granted mining concessions in land designated as a community protected area adjoining Cambodia’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Satellite analysis and on-the-ground reporting reveal that marble extraction has been underway since 2021, with companies piling up and shipping out thousands of blocks of marble, leaving behind cleared forests and water-filled pits.
- Government officials and mining companies did not respond to interview requests, but local residents and community chiefs say they have not been consulted, or been given adequate compensation, as quarries tore through land in the community zone.
- Lumphat sanctuary is also under pressure from industrial agriculture and a planned hydropower development.

Plastic household waste burned as fuel on rise in Global South, risking health
- Urban households in developing countries are burning plastic waste in their homes to dispose of waste and as a cooking fuel to a greater extent than realized, according to a new study.
- Researchers surveyed urban households in 26 Global South countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, revealing that this practice is widespread in some regions — particularly in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
- Data suggest that urban households are burning plastics as fire starters, as a secondary fuel source and due to no alternatives to waste disposal.
- The burning of plastics is linked to serious health risks as well as environmental pollution. The authors urge further studies, along with targeted solutions to support marginalized communities with better fuel alternatives for cook fires and for plastic disposal.

Malaysia lost 20% of its coral reefs in three years
Malaysia’s coral reefs are shrinking at a pace that is hard to ignore. According to the latest national survey by Reef Check Malaysia, about one-fifth of the country’s coral cover has been lost since 2022, a decline compressed into just three years. What had been gradual erosion now looks more like a slide. The 2025 […]
Thailand’s Hat Yai picks up the pieces in wake of devastating floods (analysis)
- Despite a history of flooding and forecasts of heavy La Niña rains, the Thai city of Hat Yai received little effective warning before floodwaters surged last November to devastating levels.
- Power, communications and access were cut, and rescue services struggled to reach flooded areas, leaving residents to survive by sheltering with neighbors under extreme conditions.
- Many lost everything, and government compensation is limited, while decades of poor urban planning raise doubts about Hat Yai’s ability to withstand future extreme weather events under a changing climate.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

A dam threatens Nepal’s Indigenous community; they want it on the ballot
- Residents of Mulkharka, largely from the Indigenous Tamang community, learned only in 2023 about plans for the Nagmati Dam near their settlement on the northern edge of Kathmandu and now strongly oppose it, saying officials highlighted benefits but hid social, environmental and safety risks.
- Locals fear displacement as well as loss of forests, rituals, grazing land and medicinal plants, with estimates of up to 80,000 trees cut, increased human-wildlife conflict and erosion of ancestral ties to the land.
- Critics and engineers warn the $190 million dam is unnecessary and systemically risky, citing weak environmental assessments, seismic vulnerability and catastrophic flood potential for downstream Kathmandu if the dam fails.
- As Nepal heads into parliamentary elections, Mulkharka residents want the dam debated at the ballot box calling for development models that prioritize community consent, ecological safety and accountability.

Whale sharks released from nets along India’s coast as fishers turn rescuers
- Once hunted and butchered for oil and meat, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are now being rescued by fishers along India’s western Arabian Sea coast.
- Since 2001, the nonprofit Wildlife Trust of India has been educating fishing communities about whale sharks, training fishers in safe disentanglement techniques and offering compensation for destroyed nets.
- During that time, more than a thousand whale sharks have been released from accidental entanglement in fishing nets along India’s west coast.
- However, experts say the compensation for rescues remains insufficient and that social security, insurance, training and livelihood-linked incentives should be offered to protect the fishers who engage in whale shark rescues.

Seagrass restoration in Malaysia finds multi-species approach boosts recovery
- Seagrass restoration is increasingly recognized as crucial for addressing the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change.
- However, much remains unknown about the most effective techniques, especially in tropical ecosystems where long-term projects struggle for funding.
- A decade-long seagrass recovery program in Peninsular Malaysia has achieved high survival rates at a site heavily impacted by coastal development, raising hopes that degraded meadows can be revitalized.
- The study also identified several factors that can increase success, including: knowledge of the biology of local seagrass species, adapting methods to suit local environmental and physical conditions, and properly addressing the original drivers of decline.

Why is a Philippine island now the Asia Pacific center for agroecology? Interview with Ramon ‘Chin-Chin’ Uy Jr.
- Ramon “Chin-Chin” Uy Jr., is a sustainable food entrepreneur based on Negros Island in the Philippines, which recently hosted the global “good food” movement Slow Food’s first-ever regional conference in Asia and the Pacific.
- The gathering last November brought together farmers, chefs, food artisans and policymakers from across the region to discuss agroecology, biodiversity and climate-resilient food systems.
- Mongabay reporter Keith Anthony Fabro sat down with Uy during the event to discuss agroecology in the region and what it means that Negros Island is being heralded as its “capital.”

The fair costs for forest rehabilitation in Indonesia (commentary)
- Aida Greenbury, a sustainability leader and forestry expert, argues that Indonesia’s plan to spend US$9.2 billion in public funds to rehabilitate degraded forests lacks transparency and risks placing the financial burden on taxpayers rather than those most responsible for deforestation.
- She points to consistent evidence showing that large corporations in sectors such as palm oil, timber, pulp and paper, and mining are the primary drivers of forest loss, raising questions about why national and regional budgets should pay for restoring landscapes damaged by private industry.
- Greenbury calls for clearer disclosure, stronger accountability mechanisms, and a public–private financing model that requires companies linked to deforestation to bear most of the restoration costs, while ensuring reforms are grounded in credible data and community consent.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Christ Jacob Belseran wins the Oktovianus Pogau Award for courage in journalism
Today Christ Jacob Belseran received the Oktovianus Pogau Award for courage in journalism from Pantau Foundation. The citation is usually reserved for reporters who continue their work despite adversity and, at times, direct threats. Belseran is a contributor to Mongabay Indonesia and the editor and founder of Titastory, a local outlet he established in […]
Viral hyena incident reveals Nepal’s growing online information disorder
- A false social media claim about hyenas entering an eastern Nepal town highlights how rapidly online misinformation is spreading across the country, as internet and smartphone use rise.
- With dozens of complaints lodged over misleading content in recent months, the information disorder is challenging public trust and distorting perceptions of wildlife, experts warn.
- Nepal remains divided over how to respond, as debates continue between stricter regulation and greater investment in media and digital literacy, amid concerns that existing laws are being used to curb freedom of expression.

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