location: East Asia

location: East Asia

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South Korea slashes forest biomass energy subsidies in major policy reform
- In a surprise move, South Korea has announced that it will end subsidies for all new biomass projects and for existing state-owned plants cofiring biomass with coal, effective January 2025, a significant and sudden policy shift.
- Additionally, government financial support for dedicated biomass plants using imported biomass will be phased down, while support for privately owned cofiring plants will be phased out over the next decade. However, subsidy levels for domestically produced biomass fuel remain unchanged.
- The biomass reform is being hailed by forest advocates as a step in the right direction, potentially setting a new, environmentally sound precedent for the region.
- Advocates are now calling on Japan, Asia’s largest forest biomass importer, to follow South Korea’s example.

Indonesian forests put at risk by South Korean and Japanese biomass subsidies
- Subsidies for forest biomass energy in Japan and South Korea are contributing to deforestation in Southeast Asia, according to an October 2024 report by environmental NGOs. The biomass industry is expanding especially quickly in Indonesia; the nation is exporting rapidly growing volumes of wood pellets, and is burning biomass at its domestic power plants.
- Japanese trading company Hanwa confirmed that rainforest is being cleared to establish an energy forest plantation for wood pellet production in Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island. Hanwa owns a stake in the project. The wood pellet mill uses cleared rainforest as a feedstock while the monoculture plantation is being established.
- A Hanwa representative defended the Sulawesi biomass project by claiming the area consists of previously logged secondary growth and that the energy plantation concession is not officially classified as “forest area.”
- The Japanese government is supporting biomass use across Southeast Asia through its Asia Zero Emission Community initiative, begun in 2023.

Easy to catch, yet little known: Meet the Chinese mountain cat
- The Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti) is a little-known felid found only on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in northwestern China.
- The species was first photographed in the wild in 2007, and until recently, very little has been known about its distribution and basic ecology.
- Researchers collected vital data on an active Chinese mountain cat den in 2018, while a recent study in Menyuan county, Qinghai province, managed to GPS-collar Chinese mountain cats for the first time.
- Recent genetic research highlights the growing threat posed by hybridization with domestic cats.

Why I quit the film industry to work on ecological restoration (commentary)
- John Liu set up a CBS News bureau in China during the 1980s, where he was witness to rising pollution levels caused by rapid industrialization across the country.
- The rapid diminishment of China’s landscape at the time struck him deeply and he decided that restoration was key to reclaiming lands and livelihoods for people, both there and globally, and so he left journalism to promote it worldwide.
- “We should recognize what true wealth is. This isn’t just an environmental imperative; it’s a moral one. We must ensure our planet remains vibrant and life-supporting for generations to come,” he argues in this op-ed for Mongabay.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Biomass power grows in Japan despite new understanding of climate risks
- New biomass power plants continue to come online in Japan, requiring an ever-greater quantity of imported fuel. The government’s feed-in tariff scheme, which has been tweaked but not canceled, incentivized these projects.
- Although understanding of forest biomass’s negative environmental and climate impacts is growing in Japan, policy advocates say operators of existing biomass power plants need to pay back construction bank loans, and the government’s refusal to admit its mistake is keeping biomass plants running.
- A major biomass fuel type is wood pellets, which in Japan is presently primarily sourced from plantation forests in Vietnam and primary forests in British Columbia, Canada. While BC ecologists have spoken out against wood pellets, and found allies in Vietnam, the biomass issue has proved challenging for Japan’s forest advocates.
- Though historically a small source of wood pellets for Japan, the growing popularity in Indonesia of pellets for both export and domestic use risks tropical forests there being cleared to make way for biomass energy plantations, NGOs warn.

Messengers of the gods: Nara’s ‘sacred’ deer at a conservation crossroads
- Japan’s Nara city is famous for its sacred deer, protected for a millennium as “messengers of the gods” according to Shinto religious tradition, and today also a valuable tourism resource.
- In recent years, genetic analysis by Japanese researchers has found that Nara’s protected deer population has become genetically isolated over its history. But a nationwide deer population boom now threatens to end the Nara deer’s long isolation, potentially bringing diseases transmissible to humans, the scientists warn.
- In addition, deer overpopulation can harm farmers’ livelihoods and upset the balance of ecosystems. The Nara prefectural government is leading efforts to minimize community conflicts and ecological damage from both protected and “ordinary” deer.
- However, the researchers warn that even stronger deer management measures, including installing more deer-proof fences and expanded culling, may be necessary to address conservation and community conflict issues.

Undercover in a shark fin trafficking ring: Interview with wildlife crime fighter Andrea Crosta
- Worldwide, many of the key players in wildlife trafficking are also involved in other criminal enterprises, from drug smuggling to human trafficking and money laundering.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Andrea Crosta, founder of Earth League International, talks about the group’s new report on shark fin trafficking from Latin America to East Asia and the concept of “crime convergence.”
- International wildlife trafficking, including the illegal trade in shark fins, is dominated by Chinese nationals, Crosta says.
- Since smuggling routes often overlap and criminal groups frequently work together across borders, Crosta calls for field collaboration among countries and law enforcement agencies to fight wildlife crime, the world’s fourth-largest criminal enterprise.

In highly urbanized Japan, city farmers are key to achieving organic goal
- 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.

Smaller population estimate underscores urgency of saving Cao-vit gibbon
- 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.

Japan prepares to mine its deep seabed by decade’s end
- 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.

Hong Kong as a reef fish haven? These scientists want to get the word out
- For the past 10 years, marine biologist and conservationist Stan Shea has been leading a citizen-science program called the 114°E Hong Kong Reef Fish Survey to compile data on local reef fish species and raise awareness about the marine environment.
- The program relies on a core network of around 50 volunteer divers, who assist Shea with his mission to raise awareness about Hong Kong’s aquatic life.
- There are likely about 500 reef fish species in Hong Kong, but only about 460 have been identified so far; Shea and his team aim to find and document as many of the other overlooked as possible.
- Shea is also working on a photographic book about Hong Kong’s reef fish, which will be published in 2026.

Long-term wildlife impacts at Chornobyl, Fukushima may yield ‘a new ecology’
- The world’s worst nuclear power plant accidents to date, at Chornobyl, Ukraine, in 1986, and Fukushima, Japan in 2011, and the human exclusion zones created around them have given scientists a unique opportunity to study the effects on wildlife of radiation and of reduced pressure from people.
- Chornobyl disaster findings regarding the impacts on exclusion zone organisms vary: Some point to a resurgence of the studied wildlife in the absence of humans, while others indicate radiation negatively impacting certain animal populations.
- Fukushima radiation impacts are statistically harder to detect. But scientists have made similar observation to Chornobyl: Some, but not all, species appear to thrive from reduced human pressure.
- Radioactive contamination moves in ecosystem-specific ways, depending on factors such as water flow. A combination of radioactive contamination and reduced human activity in nuclear exclusion zones may be giving rise to “a new ecology,” with nature overall neither suffering nor thriving, simply different in the impacted areas.

Japanese butterfly conservation takes flight when integrated with human communities
- A brilliant blue butterfly species has been declining in Japan as the grassland-mimicking agricultural landscapes its host plant relies on fade, due to urban migration, the ageing of the population, and the nation importing food from abroad.
- The key lies in preserving this traditional landscape called satoyama, a mosaic of various ecosystems like grasslands, woodlands and human uses such as farms and rice fields.
- Researchers with the University of Tokyo have teamed up with the town of Iijima in Nagano prefecture and a local agricultural cooperative to maintain this mixed landscape while reintroducing populations of the butterfly, whose population has grown.
- Though it seems counterintuitive, there are many successful global projects connected via the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative, which prevent human-dominated landscapes from reverting naturally to ecosystem types like forests that rare species aren’t adapted to.

Climate refugees? As the sea warms, corals thrive in Japan’s cool waters
- As tropical and subtropical coral reefs succumb to bleaching due to climate change in many parts of the world, the idea that they could take refuge in cooler, temperate seas has offered cause for hope.
- For a while, this is exactly what researchers thought was happening in Japan, where corals are replacing seaweed as the dominant benthos in many places, shaking up both ecosystems and coastal economies.
- But the latest research has tempered those hopes, showing that it’s mainly Japan’s genetically distinct temperate corals that have been expanding their range and edging out seaweed.
- The long-term implications of this shift are unclear, but researchers say it could take tens of thousands of years for these new high-latitude coral communities to evolve the structures, niches and symbioses necessary to support biodiversity on par with the world’s current tropical reefs.

Endangered Formosan black bears caught in Taiwanese ‘snaring crisis’ (commentary)
- The snaring of Formosan black bears is a much worse situation than many realize, a new op-ed says.
- This species is endemic to Taiwan and considered endangered, with about 200 to 600 of them left.
- “Do national park and forestry officials have a grasp on just how serious the snaring situation is in this country, of how many snares are out there, who is setting them, and how to combat it?” the op-ed asks.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Drones improve counts of rare Cao-vit gibbon, identify conservation priorities
- A survey using drones has come up with a more accurate, albeit smaller, population estimate for the critically endangered Cao-vit gibbon in the border region between Vietnam and China.
- Researchers emphasize the lower estimate isn’t the result of a population decline, citing the discovery of new gibbon groups.
- The finding, they say, “feeds into our assessments of how viable the population is [and] helps us decide what conservation actions are the most urgent.”
- The survey is the latest to underscore the “limitless” utility of drones and their growing importance in wildlife surveys and wildlife research in general.

China’s Qinghai-Tibet ecosystem legislation is a landmark, but for whom? (commentary)
- The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Act is China’s first legislative vision for the environmental protection of the Tibetan plateau and its surroundings, covering an area larger than western Europe.
- Hailed as a legislative landmark by state-sponsored media, its effects could ripple far beyond China’s borders, with likely effects on international rivers such as the Brahmaputra, Indus, Mekong, Irrawaddy and Salween, which flow from the Tibetan plateau.
- In a new commentary, a conservation biologist concerned about the QTP ecosystem explains how its 63 articles cover a nearly panoramic selection of topics, making the act a good starting point for understanding the major environmental issues of the region.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Death of last female Yangtze softshell turtle signals end for ‘god’ turtle
- The last known female Yangtze giant softshell turtle died in April of unknown causes, leaving only two males as the final known living members of a species that has for years been teetering on the brink of extinction.
- “We are devastated,” says the Asian Turtle Program, an NGO working to protect the Yangtze turtle and its habitat.
- The only hope for the species lies in the possibility that a few of these giant creatures may still roam, unknown, in lakes and rivers in Vietnam or Laos.

Saving forests to protect coastal ecosystems: Japan sets historic example
- For hundreds of years, the island nation of Japan has seen various examples of efforts to conserve its coastal ecosystems, vital to its fisheries.
- An 1897 law created protection forests to conserve a variety of ecosystem services. “Fish forests,” one type of protection forest, conserve watershed woodlands and offer benefits to coastal fisheries, including shade, soil erosion reduction, and the provision of nutrients.
- Beginning in the late 1980s, fishers across Japan started planting trees in coastal watersheds that feed into their fishing grounds, helping launch the nation’s environmental movement. Although the fishers felt from experience that healthy forests contribute to healthy seas, science for many years offered little evidence.
- New research using environmental DNA metabarcoding analysis confirms that greater forest cover in Japan’s watersheds contributes to a greater number of vulnerable coastal fish species. Lessons learned via Japan’s protection and fish forests could benefit nations the world over as the environmental crisis deepens.

At the United Nations, Indigenous Ryukyuans say it’s time for U.S. military to leave Okinawa
- Opponents of the latest U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan, are calling for urgent intervention by the United Nations to halt the construction of the new base, release military groundwater test data on toxic spills, and close all 32 U.S. military bases.
- The new facility and other military bases have been linked to toxic environmental pollution and construction threatening marine species, along with historical land conflicts between native Okinawans and the mainland Japan and U.S. governments.
- Latest water tests by the Okinawa government reveal PFAS levels up to 42 times higher than Japan’s national water standards with contamination found in drinking and bathing water for roughly 450,000 people.
- Amid rising tensions with China and efforts to counter its influence in the region, Japan and the U.S. cite Okinawa’s proximity to Taiwan and location in the Indo-Pacific as a strategic reason for maintaining bases on the island.

To save Hainan gibbons, Earth’s rarest primate, experts roll out the big tech
- As scientists and the Chinese government ramp up efforts to protect the critically endangered Hainan gibbon, technology is playing an important part in helping track and monitor the species better.
- In recent years, bioacoustics, infrared technology and machine learning are among the tools that have been used to make data collection and analysis easier in the study of Hainan gibbons.
- According to estimates, there are only 35 or 36 individuals of the species left, limited to Bawangling National Nature Reserve in China’s Hainan province.

Restoring Hong Kong’s oyster reefs, one abandoned oyster farm at a time
- Conservationists and researchers are teaming up to restore oyster reefs across Hong Kong.
- At one site, they are repurposing concrete posts from an abandoned oyster farm that made use of traditional oyster cultivation methods dating back hundreds of years.
- Hong Kong’s oysters, and its oyster farmers, are threatened by development, warming and acidifying marine waters brought on by climate change, and toxic algae blooms due to pollution.
- By restoring the reefs, conservationists and scientists hope they can improve water quality, stabilize shorelines, and provide habitat for the city’s surprisingly rich marine wildlife.

Japan’s example: Can forest planting reduce climate disaster risk?
- In disaster-prone Japan, torrential rains exacerbated by the climate crisis have caused serious flooding and landslides in recent years, including in the country’s many forests.
- While acknowledging the limits of forests’ ability to prevent landslides occurring in the bedrock, Japan’s Forestry Agency is implementing both forest improvement activities and erosion control facility construction to help mitigate future landslide disasters.
- Japan’s monoculture plantation forests, which represent 40% of the nation’s total forest cover, are seen by some experts and civil society members as insufficient to prevent mountain disasters. However, other experts say that a much wider range of geological and environmental factors, not just tree species, determine a forest’s disaster mitigation ability.
- Along Japan’s Pacific coast, others are using trees planted on raised embankments as an as-yet-untested countermeasure against future tsunamis, a type of disaster experts say can also be exacerbated by sea level rise due to climate change.

Illegal fishing, worker abuse claims leave a bad taste for Bumble Bee Seafood
- A new report published by Greenpeace East Asia has found that Bumble Bee Seafoods and its parent company, Fong Chun Formosa Fishery Company (FCF) of Taiwan, are sourcing seafood from vessels involved in human rights abuses as well as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.
- It found that 13 vessels supplying seafood to Bumble Bee violated Taiwanese fishery regulations, and were even on the Taiwan Fisheries Agency’s (TFA) list of vessels involved in IUU fishing, and that many supply vessels were involved in issues of forced labor and human trafficking.
- Both Bumble Bee and FCF have sustainability and corporate social responsibility policies in place.

Biomass cofiring loopholes put coal on open-ended life support in Asia
- Over the past 10 years, some of Asia’s coal-dependent, high-emitting nations have turned to biomass cofiring (burning coal and biomass together to make electricity) to reduce CO2 emissions on paper and reach energy targets. But biomass still generates high levels of CO2 at the smokestack and adds to dangerous global warming.
- In South Korea, renewable energy credits given for biomass cofiring flooded the market and made other renewables like wind and solar less profitable. Although subsides for imported biomass for cofiring have decreased in recent years, increased domestic biomass production is likely to continue fueling cofiring projects.
- In Japan, renewable energy subsidies initially prompted the construction of new cofired power plants. Currently, biomass cofiring is used to make coal plants seem less polluting in the near term as utilities prepare to cofire and eventually convert the nation’s coal fleet to ammonia, another “carbon-neutral” fuel.
- In Indonesia, the government and state utility, encouraged by Japanese industry actors, plan to implement cofiring at 52 coal plants across the country by 2025. The initiative will require “nothing less than the creation of a large-scale biomass [production] industry,” according to experts.

In Japanese waters, a newly described anemone lives on the back of a hermit crab
- A newly described anemone species has been found off the coast of Japan and appears to live exclusively on the shells of one hermit crab species.
- First-of-its-kind video recordings of the hermit crab and anemone duo show the hermit crab moving to a new shell and spending more than 40 hours poking, peeling and dragging the anemone to come along.
- Researchers believe the hermit crab and anemone are in an obligate symbiotic relationship, or that they need each other to survive.
- The anemone eats falling debris and protects the hermit crab from parasites and predators, and in turn, gets to hitch a ride to fresh feeding grounds.

For World Tiger Day, bold new commitments are needed to expand tiger ranges (commentary)
- July 29 marks World Tiger Day for 2022, an important year for tiger conservation.
- A coalition of conservation organizations today issued a statement calling for bold action in advance of meeting next month to identify new tiger conservation commitments for the next 12 years.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Colorful new corals bedeck the busy waters off Hong Kong, study shows
- Scientists have found three new species of sun corals off Sung Kong and Waglan islands in the eastern waters of Hong Kong.
- The discovery of these orange, violet and green corals brings the number of known species in the Tubastraea genus from seven to 10.
- Sun coral species don’t build reefs or host symbiotic algae, but instead live in deeper waters and eat by capturing zooplankton from seawater with their tentacles.
- The discovery “reveals how little we know about marine diversity, and how many undescribed species are still awaiting our discovery,” one of the scientists said.

Planned coal plants fizzle as Japan ends financing in Indonesia, Bangladesh
- Two planned coal-fired power plants, one in Indonesia and the other in Bangladesh, have had their funding withdrawn by the Japanese government, as part of Tokyo’s decision to no longer bankroll coal projects in either country.
- Officials in both countries have already confirmed that neither project — a new installation in Bangladesh and an expansion of an existing plant in Indonesia — will be going ahead.
- For Indonesia in particular, the move also means the loss of the top three foreign funders of coal plants in the country, after similar decisions by China and South Korea; the three East Asian countries account for 95% of foreign funding of coal plants in Indonesia since 2013.
- Activists have welcomed Japan’s announcement, including communities living near the existing plant in Indonesia, who have reported health problems and loss of livelihoods as a result of pollution from the plant.

As biomass burning surges in Japan and South Korea, where will Asia get its wood?
- In 2021, Japan and South Korea imported a combined 6 million metric tons of wood pellets for what proponents claim is carbon-neutral energy.
- Large subsidies for biomass have led Japan to import massive amounts of wood pellets from Vietnam and Canada; two pellet giants, Drax and Enviva, are now eyeing Japan for growth, even as the country may be cooling to the industry.
- South Korea imports most of its pellets from Vietnamese acacia plantations, which environmentalists fear may eventually pressure natural forests; South Korea wants to grow its native production sixfold, including logging areas with high conservation value.
- Vietnam may soon follow Japan and South Korea’s path as it phases out coal, and experts fear all this could add massive pressure on Southeast Asian forests, which are already among the most endangered in the world.

Wage-related abuses in fishing industry exacerbated by pandemic response
- The COVID-19 pandemic left migrant fishers in Asia, already a highly vulnerable section of the workforce, with less income and at higher risk of labor abuses, a new report says.
- The brief, commissioned by the International Labour Organization and authored by Cornell University researchers, looked at workers’ experiences in the fishing and seafood-processing industries of Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan from March 2020 to March 2021.
- Common issues they uncovered included employers paying wages below the legal minimum, making illegal wage deductions, deferring wage payments, and not paying wages upon termination of employment.
- Labor shortages caused by border closures due to the pandemic should have given workers more leverage in wage negotiations, but this wasn’t the case, the researchers found.

Missing the emissions for the trees: Biomass burning booms in East Asia
- Over the past decade, Japan and South Korea have increasingly turned to burning wood pellets for energy, leaning on a U.N. loophole that dubs biomass burning as carbon neutral.
- While Japan recently instituted a new rule requiring life cycle greenhouse gas emissions accounting, this doesn’t apply to its existing 34 biomass energy plants; Japanese officials say biomass will play an expanding role in achieving Japan’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030.
- South Korea included biomass burning in its renewable energy portfolio standard, leading to 17 biomass energy plants currently operating, and at least four more on the way.
- Experts say these booms in Asia — the first major expansion of biomass burning outside Europe — could lead to a large undercounting of actual carbon emissions and worsening climate change, while putting pressure on already-beleaguered forests.

In search of Taiwan’s lost clouded leopards, anthropology uncovers more than camera traps (commentary)
- Indigenous folklore says that the Taiwan’s — likely extinct — clouded leopard species led two human brothers to a heavenly place 600 years ago.
- While biologists have searched extensively for the animal in recent years using camera traps and other modern means, better clues to this enigmatic creature can perhaps be found by consulting Taiwan’s Indigenous people.
- Whether Taiwan’s clouded leopards are extinct or not, its forests could support a population of up to 600 individuals if reintroduced from elsewhere in the region.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Nitrogen: The environmental crisis you haven’t heard of yet
- The creation of synthetic fertilizers in the early 20th century was a turning point in human history, enabling an increase in crop yields and causing a population boom.
- But the overuse of nitrogen and phosphorus from those fertilizers is causing an environmental crisis, as algae blooms and oceanic “dead zones” grow in scale and frequency.
- Of the nine “planetary boundaries” that scientists say we must not cross in order to sustain human life, the boundary associated with nitrogen and phosphorus waste has been far surpassed, putting Earth’s operating system at risk.
- Global policymakers are beginning to slowly recognize the scale of the problem, as climate change threatens to make it worse. Absent major reforms to agribusiness practices, scientists are aiming to convince the world to reduce waste.

Worked to death: How a Chinese tuna juggernaut crushed its Indonesian workers
- One of China’s biggest tuna companies, Dalian Ocean Fishing, made headlines last year when four Indonesian deckhands fell sick and died from unknown illnesses after allegedly being subject to horrible conditions on one of its boats.
- Now, an investigation by Mongabay, Tansa and the Environmental Reporting Collective shows for the first time that the abuses suffered by workers on that vessel — most commonly, being given substandard food, possibly dangerous drinking water and being made to work excessively — were not limited to one boat, but widespread and systematic across the company’s fleet.
- Moreover, migrant fishers were subject to beatings and threats to withhold pay if they did not follow orders. Many have not received their full salaries or been paid at all.
- China has the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet, and Indonesia is widely believed to be the industry’s biggest supplier of labor. In 2019 and 2020, at least 30 fishers from Indonesia died on Chinese long-haul fishing boats, often from unknown illnesses.

Can the Japanese seafood industry reconcile their finances with nature?
- Despite the global depletion of fish populations from overfishing, it seems surprising that Japan’s seafood sector is increasingly generating revenue.
- Investors have rewarded these companies for using management strategies to offset the impact of depleted resources on their businesses, rather than for ensuring those assets stop being degraded.
- A new analysis by Planet Tracker finds that companies have used foreign expansion, acquisitions, vertical integration, cost-cutting and de-leveraging as strategies to increase their profitability.
- Companies should instead ensure that fishing quotas are set in line with scientific advice and not higher than maximum sustainable yields, and ensure that they eventually cover all species.

On the Mongolian steppe, conservation science meets traditional knowledge
- Rangelands and the pastoralists who rely on them are an overlooked and understudied part of global conservation.
- Tunga Ulambayar, country director for the Zoological Society of London’s Mongolia office, says she wants to change this by complementing the scientific understanding with pastoralists’ traditional knowledge of nature.
- “There is no university teaching that kind of traditional knowledge, but if we really aim to care about these regions and their resources, even from an economic perspective, we need this knowledge,” she says.
- Ulambayar also notes that pastoralism, widely practiced in less industrialized countries, is increasingly recognized as an efficient system of resource management and a resilient culture.

New study quantifies impact of hunting on migratory shorebird populations
- Hunting might be a major threat for thousands of migratory shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), one of the major corridors for migratory birds in the world.
- A new study shows that hunting has contributed to the demise of at least a third of migratory shorebirds in the flyway since the 1970s.
- The flyway, which spans 22 countries from the Arctic to Australia, is the most threatened flyway among the nine migratory bird corridors in the world, with habitat loss and climate change the main drivers of the plummeting population.
- Around 50 million waterbirds pass through the flyway on an annual basis, but recent data shows a 61% decline in migrating waterbird species.

Animal crossing: A wild ass makes history
- An Asiatic wild ass, or khulan, made history when it became the first of its species to cross into the eastern steppe in Mongolia in nearly seven decades.
- A photo released by WCS Mongolia shows the khulan crossing the Trans-Mongolian Railroad after modifications were made to the existing fence to allow for wildlife crossings.
- Habitat degradation, human development, and barriers to movement such as fences all threaten the khulan, which is globally assessed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List.

In South Korea, centuries of farming point to the future for sustainable agriculture
- Agriculture in South Korea is a blend of centuries-old traditions and contemporary techniques adapted to a variety of environmental conditions, making it a model to adopt in the effort to future-proof food production against climate change.
- With its emphasis on making the most of local conditions, prioritizing native crops, maximizing the use of organic inputs while minimizing waste, South Korea offers templates for nature-based solutions.
- State and local support of farmer’s livelihoods, revitalizing rural areas and incentivizing youth to enter farming are also ongoing efforts to help guarantee the generational sustainability of agriculture.

South Korea subsidizing biomass so heavily that wind and solar are being crowded out of the market
- The government of South Korea is subsidizing the development of biomass power so heavily that it’s hindering the adoption of renewable energy technologies like solar and wind, new research finds.
- According to a report issued by Seoul-based NGO Solutions For Our Climate (SFOC), forest biomass is considered a carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels under Korean law, and the country’s government has so aggressively supported the growth of biomass-fueled energy production that it has become one of the most subsidized renewable energy sources in South Korea.
- Soojin Kim, a senior researcher at SFOC and an author of the report, told Mongabay that biomass projects have been so overcompensated by the government that it is causing serious disruption and uncertainties in the Korean renewable energy market, including steep declines in the price of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). These uncertainties, in turn, are discouraging utilities from investing in renewables such as solar and wind, she said.

Green groups target South Korea’s bailout of coal power plant builder
- Environmental groups are seeking an injunction against a 1 trillion won ($825 million) bailout by the South Korean government for Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., a builder of coal-fired power plants.
- They say the company’s financial woes predate the COVID-19 crisis that the bailout is meant to address, and also that the rescue goes against South Korea’s climate and public health commitments.
- Eighty percent of Doosan’s revenue comes from building coal power plants, including highly polluting ones in South and Southeast Asia, where it is subject to less stringent air pollution standards than in South Korea.
- The injunction seeks to force the government to condition the bailout on Doosan transitioning away from coal and toward renewable energy technologies; but at a shareholder meeting days after the bailout decision, the company said it wanted to maximize revenue from its core business — coal — before expanding into new activities.

Chinese ban on eating wild animals likely to become law: Q&A with WCS’s Aili Kang
- Wildlife Conservation Society’s China program director, Aili Kang, spoke to Mongabay about an ongoing review of wildlife legislation in China in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, which would permanently ban the consumption of wild animals.
- The current debate in China is not about whether there should be such a ban, which could come in as soon as two months, but what shape the ban should take, according to Kang.
- Businesses that breed wild species are pushing for these species to be excluded because they are raised in captivity and can be considered livestock.
- While conservationists are calling for the permanent ban to apply to all species, the public health risk from interacting with reptile and amphibian species is lower than from birds and animals, so there is still uncertainty about whether the former would be included.

Chinese government reportedly recommending bear bile injections to treat coronavirus
- The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reported today that a list of recommended treatments for the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 published by the Chinese government earlier this month includes injections of a traditional medicine called “Tan Re Qing,” which contains bear bile.
- Last month, China adopted a comprehensive ban on trade and consumption of wildlife in response to the growing COVID-19 outbreak, which scientists believe originated in a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan where wild animals and bushmeat are sold. But the ban does not prohibit the use of wildlife products in traditional Chinese medicine or as ornamental items.
- EIA wildlife campaigner and China specialist Aron White noted the irony in the country recommending a treatment that relies on trade in wildlife in response to a global disease pandemic born from the wildlife trade.

Illegal pangolin trade may have played a part in coronavirus outbreak
- Findings reported in the Chinese media suggest that the novel coronavirus that has led to more than 1,000 deaths could have been transmitted to humans from bats via pangolins.
- These shy nocturnal animals, found in Asia and Africa, are considered the most trafficked mammals in the world.
- Despite a global trade ban, China remains a major destination for pangolins, which are killed for their meat and because their scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
- If pangolins did act as an intermediary host, a link that researchers insist hasn’t been firmly established, the illegal trade in pangolins could have heightened the risk of the outbreak and would make it trickier for researchers and officials to nail down how it started.

The wildlife trade threatens people and animals alike (commentary)
- Princeton University professor of ecology, evolutionary biology, and public affairs David S. Wilcove argues that the coronavirus outbreak in China shows that the wildlife trade imperils more than animals: It puts people at risk of zoonotic diseases.
- What do the coronavirus, HIV, and the impending extinction of the world’s rhinoceroses have in common? The answer is that they are all a result of the wildlife trade, a rapidly growing, multi-billion-dollar enterprise that is driving species to extinction, damaging ecosystems, and—increasingly—threatening human health.
- What is most urgently needed is a change in cultural norms in cities around the world, especially in Asia and Africa: a recognition that keeping wild animals as pets or selling them for products (apart from sustainably caught seafood) is both a threat to the environment and to human health.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Conservationists welcome China’s wildlife trade ban
- In an effort to curb further spread of the deadly Coronavirus, China has temporarily banned the sale of wildlife.
- The virus outbreak that has killed 56 people in China has been traced to a market that sells wildlife.
- NGOs have embraced the move, and are calling for it to be made permanent.
- This comes as China prepares to host the 2020 Convention on Biological Diversity, a major conservation congress that aims to curb the current extinction crisis, in October.

Killing gods: The last hope for the world’s rarest reptile
- After decades of dams, overhunting and pollution the Yangtze giant softshell turtle is down to three known individuals.
- But conservationists say if they can just locate a male and female, survival for the world’s biggest freshwater turtle is still possible.
- The plan would be to capture the animals and keep them in a semi-wild captive state, but more funding and resources are needed to move forward.

Beneficial and harmful fungi are at the root of forest diversity
- If there are many trees of a given species in a tract of forest, a new tree of that same species has a harder time thriving in the same area.
- This “rare-species advantage” produces diversity in forests.
- In a Chinese subtropical forest, researchers showed that the balance between beneficial and harmful soil fungi controls the rare-species advantage.
- This study provides the first look into the mechanism behind the strength of the rare-species advantage and adds to an understanding of how all forests develop.

South Korea funding coal plants overseas that would be banned at home
- South Korean government-owned financial institutions are funding the construction of coal-fired power plants across less-developed countries that wouldn’t meet the stringent pollution standards imposed domestically.
- That’s the finding of a new Greenpeace report, which also warns that pollution from these plants could lead to up to 150,000 premature deaths over the life cycle of the plants.
- Domestically, South Korea has banned the construction of new coal plants and is moving toward phasing out existing ones.
- The report’s authors have denounced the double standard and called on the governments in countries hosting these new plants to eschew coal altogether and invest in renewable energy.

How Laos lost its tigers
- A new camera trap study finds that tigers vanished from Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area by 2014, their last stand in Laos.
- Leopards were killed off 10 years prior, making these big cats also extinct in Laos.
- Scientists believe it’s most likely that the last tigers and leopards of Laos succumbed to snares, which are proliferating in astounding numbers across Southeast Asian protected areas.
- The Indochinese tiger now only survives in Thailand and Myanmar, and may be on the edge of extinction.

Indonesia eyes palm oil export boost to China amid mounting U.S. trade war
- Indonesia has welcomed a move by China to remove palm oil from its import tariff quota management.
- That would allow Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, to increase its exports to China, its No. 3 market.
- A senior Indonesian official said there would be no forest-clearing to support any anticipated increase in exports, with higher yields expected to come from better technology and seeds.
- The move presents a respite for Indonesia, which faces a biofuel phase-out in the EU and a likely increase in duties in India, its top two export markets.

Japan builds coal plants abroad that wouldn’t be allowed at home: Report
- Japan is investing heavily in building coal-fired power plants overseas that would fall short of its own domestic emissions standards, according to a Greenpeace report.
- Pollution from these plants, in places such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh, could potentially lead to 410,000 premature deaths over the 30-year lifetime of the plants.
- Japan is the only country in the G7 group of wealthiest nations still actively building coal-fired plants domestically and overseas, which threatens international efforts to reduce carbon emissions and stall global warning.
- Activists say by building on its own renewable energy potential, Japan can set a positive example for the countries in which it’s investing in energy infrastructure.

Japan resumes commercial whale hunting
- For years, Japan exploited a loophole in international rules to continue hunting whales despite being a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) bound by the commercial whaling moratorium that went into effect in 1986. The country has now quit the IWC altogether and resumed commercial whaling.
- The first minke whale caught under the country’s new commercial whaling program was landed yesterday at Kushiro port in northern Japan, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency, a London-based NGO.
- IWC members Norway and Iceland are the only other countries on Earth that currently hunt whales commercially. But Iceland’s two whaling companies have announced that they’ll be sitting out the summer 2019 whaling season, meaning that, for the first time in 17 years, no whales will be caught in Iceland’s waters.

Researchers and customs officials unite to fight wildlife trafficking using eDNA
- A novel, fast-acting eDNA test can help airport customs officials identify illegally trafficked European eels, which as juveniles cannot be visually distinguished from legally-traded species.
- Although international treaties have historically provided a framework for imposing restrictions when nations violate agreements, enforcement remains a challenge in part because many trafficked specimens go unnoticed.
- Where enforcement proves difficult, technology such as this fast-acting eDNA test can improve monitoring of illegally traded flora and fauna.

Otter cafés and ‘cute pets craze’ fuel illegal trafficking in Japan and Indonesia
- A new investigative film reveals the extent of illegal trafficking of otters to supply Tokyo’s ‘cafés’ where people pay to cuddle the wild animals, and it also shows their unsuitability as domestic pets.
- Otters kept in these cafés endure poor conditions and are fed items like cat food, which is not good for them.
- The business is highly profitable and is likely linked to organized crime, according to the film’s undercover investigation. Adults are often killed and their young captured for the trade.
- Mongabay interviewed the filmmaker as the movie was released, and one can also watch the film below.

Laurel Chor on photojournalism and Hong Kong’s ‘incredible biodiversity’
- Hong Kong is a city of 7.3 million people and isn’t known for its biodiversity, but journalist Laurel Chor has made it her mission to educate people about their natural heritage
- A photojournalist and filmmaker, she has traveled the world covering stories with images and words, from Iceland to the DRC.
- In conjunction with Ecosperity Week and World Environment Day, Laurel will be speaking at a special edition of Ecosperity Conversations on June 7. She is also a judge for the photo competition Shoot for Sustainability.

Survey: Less coal, more solar, say citizens of Belt & Road countries
- Residents in countries where China has invested in infrastructure building under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) would much rather prefer investments in renewable power projects than coal, a survey has found.
- Coal projects accounted for up to 42 percent of China’s overseas investment in 2018, making the country the world’s biggest funder of coal power development overseas, which threatens to scupper international climate goals.
- A draft communiqué of a BRI forum taking place this week in Beijing shows an increased focus on ensuring “green” development, although activists say this may just be lip service.
- The Indonesian delegation to the BRI forum plans to pitch for investments in a slate of projects, including four coal plants, despite being one of the countries where foreign investment in coal is viewed unfavorably.

Seahorse trade continues despite export bans, study finds
- Many countries with export bans on seahorses are still trading in the tiny animals, a new study has found.
- Traders in Hong Kong, the world’s largest importer of dried seahorses, told researchers that their stocks of dried seahorses for 2016-17 had mostly come from Thailand, the Philippines, mainland China, Australia, India, Malaysia and Vietnam — most of these countries have export bans in place.
- Much of the seahorse trade seems to persist despite the bans largely because of indiscriminate fishing practices like trawling that catch millions of seahorses every year while targeting other fish species.
- This suggests that both outright bans on the seahorse trade as well as trade restrictions under CITES aren’t being enforced effectively.

Taiwan: Extinct leopard subspecies allegedly seen by rangers
- Formosan clouded leopards were reportedly spotted by rangers in a remote part of Taiwan.
- Declared extinct in 2013 after a years-long project to capture one on camera failed, community rangers say they saw the creatures twice last year.
- Mongabay asked the IUCN about the reports, but their big cat experts could not comment officially due to the lack of verifiable info on the sightings.
- “I believe this animal still does exist,” National Taitung University’s Department of Life Science professor Liu Chiung-hsi said.

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