serial: Evolving Conservation

serial: Evolving Conservation

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Facebook shuts Indonesia groups after Mongabay and Bellingcat report illegal wildlife trade
- Facebook parent company Meta has closed nine groups on the social network after reporters from Mongabay and Bellingcat found evidence of illegal wildlife trade being conducted openly on the platform in Indonesia.
- In one Facebook group, reporters last year found an advertisement for a rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), a protected species.
- “Bad actors constantly evolve their tactics to avoid enforcement, which is why we partner with groups like the World Wildlife Fund and invest in tools and technology to detect and remove violating content,” Meta said in a statement.

Indonesia plan to rezone elephant reserve for carbon trading and tourism sparks backlash
- Indonesia plans to rezone large parts of Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra for carbon trading and luxury tourism to raise conservation funds.
- Critics warn the move could fragment core habitat and harm critically endangered species like Sumatran elephants, tigers and rhinos.
- Experts say carbon projects and reforestation could reduce elephant food sources and worsen human-wildlife conflict.
- Concerns are mounting over transparency, governance and whether revenues will truly support conservation and local communities.

Hat Yai’s floods are a warning for cities built against nature (analysis)
- Hat Yai’s economy is still struggling to recover from the devastating November 2025 floods, raising fears that repeated disasters could drive businesses and investment away from the southern Thai tourism hub.
- Flood risk is rising due to urban expansion, altered drainage, upstream land-use change and increasingly intense rainfall linked to climate change.
- Decades of costly engineering fixes have failed to keep pace, and without major land-use reforms and nature-based solutions, the city risks locking itself into a cycle of worsening floods.
- This post is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

From endangered to invasive: Rare ocelot spotted on Mexico’s Cozumel Island
In 2016, when biologists in Mexico reviewed their photo traps from Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, they were surprised to see an ocelot, a wildcat considered endangered in the country. But curiosity soon turned to alarm: ocelots are effective predators of endemic species on the island, which have no experience or natural defense […]
Brazil protects huge coastal area with endangered dolphins and megafauna fossils
Brazil’s federal government created a huge conservation area on March 6 to protect a critical biodiversity hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean. The newly created Albardão marine park and coastal environmental protected area are home to at least 25 endangered species and Pleistocene epoch megafauna fossils. The new national park is off the coast of Brazil’s […]
Rwanda advances nuclear ambitions after positive IAEA assessment
In early March, while attending the Nuclear Energy Summit, Rwandan President Paul Kagame reaffirmed his ambition to develop civilian nuclear reactors in Rwanda. “Nuclear energy is not too complex or risky for developing countries,” he said during the meeting. “It will diversify our energy mix while providing the stability required for industrial growth and long-term […]
Paul Ehrlich, ‘Population Bomb’ ecologist, dies at 93
- Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford ecologist whose research on butterflies and population dynamics helped shape modern ecology, became one of the most prominent scientific voices in the early environmental movement. He died March 13 at age 93.
- His 1968 book, The Population Bomb, argued that rapid human population growth threatened to outstrip the planet’s capacity to provide food and resources, influencing public debate while also drawing sustained criticism.
- Ehrlich’s forecasts of widespread famine proved too stark as agricultural productivity rose, and a widely publicized wager with economist Julian Simon over commodity prices ended in Ehrlich’s loss.
- Despite the controversies, his scientific work on extinction risk, habitat fragmentation and biodiversity decline helped frame how ecologists think about the pressures human societies place on the living world.

A bonobo named Kanzi could play pretend, challenging ideas about animal imaginations
- Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo, identified and tracked pretend objects across tea party-like experiments, marking the first controlled demonstration of imagination in a nonhuman animal
- In three experiments, Kanzi repeatedly pointed to the correct location of imaginary juice and grapes, and chose real juice over pretend juice, showing that he understood the difference between real and imaginary objects.
- This study suggests that the cognitive capacity for imagination may date back 6 to 9 million years to the common ancestor of humans and great apes, though some researchers question whether simpler explanations could account for Kanzi’s responses.
- Kanzi died in March 2025 at age 44, but researchers hope to explore whether other apes, including those without extensive human language training, share this capacity.

Nepal’s rural women at increasing risk of human-wildlife conflict
- Women in forest-edge communities around Bardiya National Park are increasingly exposed to human-wildlife conflict, as daily subsistence work brings them into forests where encounters with tigers and other wildlife occur.
- Labor migration has shifted agricultural and household responsibilities onto women, pushing many to collect fodder, firewood and other forest resources in high-risk areas.
- Most fatal wildlife encounters occur during routine livelihood activities, such as cutting grass or grazing livestock in forests and buffer zones where people and wildlife share space.
- Nepal’s widely celebrated tiger conservation success is unfolding alongside growing risks for rural communities, particularly women who depend on forests for daily survival; meanwhile, women remain largely absent from the institutions that shape conservation policy.

Dams, drains and other artificial habitats could buy time for threatened mussels: Study
Described as the “liver of rivers” for their water filtering capabilities, freshwater mussels are facing an extinction crisis. These slow-growing, long-lived bivalves are one of the most threatened groups of animals on the planet. Now researchers in Australia have found that artificial water bodies could provide a lifeline for some species. Freshwater mussels live in […]
By protecting tigers ‘we save so much more,’ says Debbie Banks
Tiger populations have risen in some countries, such as Bhutan, Nepal and India, but the global population of the big cat species remains critically endangered, says Debbie Banks, campaign lead for tigers and wildlife crime at the Environmental Investigation Agency. The global tiger population was recorded at roughly 5,574 in 2022, with the species having […]
Two marsupials thought extinct for 6,000 years found alive in Indonesian Papua
Two species of marsupials thought to have been extinct for the past 6,000 years have been found very much alive on the island of New Guinea. The two Lazarus species, named after a biblical figure who was said to have risen from the dead, were recently described from rainforests in the Bird’s Head Peninsula on […]
Flagship conservation platforms SMART and EarthRanger join forces in new tech partnership
- The two largest conservation technology platforms, SMART and EarthRanger, are merging into a single product known as SERCA.
- SMART and EarthRanger have overlapping functions yet are different enough that many organizations need to adopt both. Managing data across two platforms has created logistical challenges that ultimately led to the idea of merging the software.
- SERCA will combine EarthRanger’s user-friendly interface and real-time visualization with SMART’s data collection and analysis capabilities.
- The project is a collaboration between WCS, WWF, Re:wild, Panthera, North Carolina Zoo, Wildlife Protection Solutions, the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Zoological Society of London and EarthRanger, developed by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Beyond the screen: DCEFF
Documentary films have the power to shape how we understand nature. They offer a deeper look into the planet’s challenges, bringing people together through shared experiences and inspiring action. As a media partner for the 2025 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF), Mongabay is featuring exclusive interviews with the makers of this year’s […]
In Brazil, regenerative farming advances, but deforestation still pressures ecosystems
- Agribusiness accounts for roughly a fifth of Brazil’s economy and about 40% of exports. While it is a major economic engine, it is also responsible for over 90% of deforestation and about a quarter of national emissions, with cattle ranching and soy production the main drivers of deforestation.
- Agricultural innovation transformed states like Mato Grosso from non-arable land into global farming hubs. Now, agribusinesses and researchers in Brazil are exploring whether similar innovation can boost regenerative farming to restore degraded pasturelands and reduce further deforestation caused by agriculture.
- REVERTE, one of Brazil’s largest agricultural regeneration projects, led by Swiss pesticide producer Syngenta, aims to restore 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of degraded pastureland by 2030. Over the next decade, Brazil aims to restore 40 million hectares (100 million acres) of degraded land.
- Restoring degraded pasturelands will not be enough to halt deforestation for agriculture in the Cerrado and Amazon, experts warn. They say that without robust land-use governance, enforcement of forest protections and binding private-sector commitments, productivity gains risk fueling further expansion rather than reducing pressure on Brazil’s ecosystems.

War exacerbates long-standing irrigation crisis for Sudan farmers
- Sudan’s Gezira irrigation scheme spans nearly 890,000 hectares (2.2 million acres), pumping water from the Nile to farmers through a network of canals fed by the Sennar Dam.
- Twenty years ago, the government moved to privatize and decentralize operation and maintenance of this and other irrigation infrastructure.
- The loss of resources and experienced state employees has seen the system of pumps and canals deteriorate, leaving tens of thousands of farmers to improvize solutions.
- Wealthier farmers have installed pumps — increasingly turning to solar-powered ones — but with civil war making fuel and spare parts unaffordable, many small-scale farmers have been unable to grow food.

Amazon waterway noise threatens unique social life of giant river turtles
- A planned shipping waterway on the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon, may disrupt the sophisticated social communication systems used by the Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis expansa), a species likely to be endangered.
- Underwater noise from barges risks drowning out the vocalizations used by adult females to guide their young during collective migration in the species’ second-most important nesting area, scientists say.
- The waterway is a central piece of Brazil’s new push to ease the transport of soybean and corn for export.

Toucans reintroduced 50 years ago disperse seeds of endangered trees in Brazil
More than 50 years ago, the ariel toucan was reintroduced to Tijuca National Park, the world’s largest urban forest, located in Rio de Janeiro in southeastern Brazil. Now, a new study finds that the bird, which became locally extinct in the 1960s, has almost entirely settled back into its original role in the ecosystem, serving […]
At dusk in Kenya’s caves, scientists study the hidden lives of bats
- David Wechuli and other researchers are studying bats living in cave systems in Kenya, to better understand how they interact with their environment and how human activities affect bat habitat.
- Research shows that many bat species are highly sensitive to disturbances, sometimes abandoning their roosts, with damaging consequences.
- Wechuli works for Bat Conservation International, which has helped communities develop guidelines to protect caves hosting bat colonies from disturbance.

A decade after the death of Berta Cáceres, we can no longer tolerate threats to environmental activists (commentary)
- On the 10th anniversary of the murder of environmental activist Berta Cáceres, the director of the Goldman Environmental Prize argues in a new op-ed that the era of impunity for such crimes is over and that the capacity to defend such people is steadily increasing.
- A 2015 winner of the award for her work defending her Indigenous community against a hydroelectric development in Honduras, Cáceres was killed by gunmen hired by executives of the dam-building company.
- Her legacy has since made her a legend, with her likeness now adorning a banknote in her nation, and her story inspiring a wave of philanthropy aimed at protecting nature’s defenders.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Kenya’s renewed oil push faces a tainted legacy
- Nairobi-based Gulf Energy is reviving a dormant project to extract oil from northwestern Kenya, five years after the previous operator, Tullow Oil, abandoned the field.
- Residents of Turkana county say Tullow’s exploration activities damaged the environment; a 2022 study found heavy contamination in eight of 11 groundwater samples collected near oil well pads in the Lokichar Basin, and people have reported health problems.
- Seventy-three residents have filed a case against Tullow and the county and national government to press for land rehabilitation and prevent further harm.
- Locals say they will hold Gulf Energy and regulatory authorities to account as efforts to develop the oil field resume.

Planters stranded amid degraded forests as Bangladesh agarwood scheme falters
- Between 1999 to 2011, the Bangladesh Forest Department created 4,822 hectares (11,915 acres) of agarwood plantations across the country with local beneficiaries carrying out the clearing of forest land and planting and maintenance of the plantations.
- Agarwood trees take 6-8 years to mature. However, even the older trees from these plantations have not been auctioned since plantation.
- Agarwood and attar (agar perfume) exports from Bangladesh have seen unsteady profits over the last few years.
- Now, there are too many agar plantations in the country while the size of the local perfume industry remains small, and planters wait for buyers.

Accidental discovery reveals new climate threat to emperor penguins
- Scientists have discovered new sites in Antarctica where emperor penguins gather for their annual molt, a vulnerable life stage when they shed and replace all their feathers.
- Through satellite data, they also discovered that many of these sea ice sites might have melted from under the penguins.
- The discovery suggests that the threats posed by global warming to emperor penguins might be more dire than previously thought.

The hidden cost of fisheries subsidies
- Governments provide roughly $35 billion a year in fisheries subsidies, much of it supporting fleets that can operate beyond what fish stocks alone would sustain.
- Research suggests many high-seas fisheries would be unprofitable without public support, raising questions about whether some “productive” fishing activity exists largely because of subsidies.
- Recent efforts such as the WTO fisheries subsidies agreement aim to curb support tied to illegal fishing and depleted stocks while improving transparency around how governments finance their fleets.
- Treating oceans as assets on the public balance sheet—from reforming subsidies to investing in monitoring and coastal ecosystems—could help governments reduce long-term fiscal risks while supporting healthier fisheries.

The Dutch Nitrogen Crisis
What happens when biodiversity conservation and food systems collide? As the top meat exporter in the European Union, the Netherlands has become a case study in the ecological limits of industrial farming. When courts forced action to protect fragile ecosystems, it set off mass farmer protests, political upheaval, and a tug-of-war between regulation, technology and […]
Pharmaceutical companies move away from horseshoe crab biomedical testing
Horseshoe crabs were crawling along the shallow sandy bottoms of Earth’s oceans 200 million years before the first dinosaurs came on the scene. But some populations have declined dramatically with the rise of humans, raising concerns they may be headed toward extinction. One of the biggest drivers of their population collapse is their unsustainable harvest […]
Glyphosate found in South African baby cereal; watchdog group calls for ban
In February, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) released a report documenting concentrations of glyphosate in wheat and maize that exceeded default maximum residue limits. ACB also found traces of the herbicide in bread and baby cereal. “Finding glyphosate in baby cereal was very disturbing. Babies are the most vulnerable. It shouldn’t be there. We […]
Cambodia’s Supreme Court denies release of five imprisoned environmental activists
- Five environmental activists from the group Mother Nature Cambodia remain in prison after a Supreme Court judge declined on March 2 to release them pending their appeal against a conviction for subversion.
- The activists, who were profiled in the Mongabay-produced film “The Clearing,” have been in prison since July 2, 2024 — more than 600 days — when they were sentenced to six to eight years in prison and ordered to pay fines for plotting against the government and insulting the king.
- Mother Nature activists have campaigned against logging, destructive dams and sand mining in Cambodia — activism they and others say is their right to carry out.
- Currently, sources say no date is set for the activists’ appeal; human rights groups contend its repeated postponement constitutes a violation of their fundamental right to a trial without undue delay.

How a community defended its ancestral forest from logging
- In northeastern Gabon, the community of Massaha used participatory mapping to document ancestral villages, sacred sites and traditional land use inside a rainforest slated for industrial logging.
- Their biocultural map revealed a long history of occupation that colonial records and modern conservation maps had largely overlooked.
- The evidence helped the community argue for protection of their forest, prompting government intervention that halted logging and opened discussions about formal conservation.
- The case highlights how local knowledge and community-led mapping can complement global conservation data and reshape how forests are understood and protected.

An ancient fishing tradition in Indonesia could help build a more sustainable fishery
In the remote coastal areas of eastern Indonesia, a centuries-old tradition is providing a contemporary blueprint for sustainable development. The practice, known as Sasi Laut, imposes temporary fishing closures of six to 12 months to allow sedentary marine species such as sea cucumbers and shellfish to replenish. A new study published in Marine Policy reveals […]
Brazil is both the world’s environmental treasure and its most exposed victim (commentary)
- Brazil is one of the countries most exposed to climate breakdown and the one with the most power to slow it. Its failure to act on either front is becoming an economic and political emergency, argue Robert Muggah and Igor Oliveira of the Igarapé Institute.
- Brazil’s major biomes—the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal—function as an interconnected system that regulates rainfall, water supplies, and agricultural productivity across the country. Degrading one part of that system destabilizes the others, creating cascading economic and environmental risks.
- Despite mounting evidence of climate vulnerability—from floods and droughts to energy and food price shocks—Brazil’s political and economic institutions have yet to integrate climate risk into national planning at the scale required, leaving the country increasingly exposed to systemic disruption.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Climate-resilient housing models slow to gain ground in disaster-prone Bangladesh
- In one of the world’s most climate sensitive deltas, disasters are on the rise. The need for resilient housing has become a significant concern for Bangladesh.
- Amid various challenges, architectural models to promote sustainable construction materials are emerging.
- Experts recommend separate zonal building codes for specific climatic event-prone areas.

Are government subsidies undermining conservation efforts in Australia?
- A new analysis finds Australia spends tens of billions of dollars each year on subsidies that likely harm biodiversity — far more than it allocates to conservation.
- Most of the identified support flows to fossil fuels, transport infrastructure, and resource-intensive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, shaping land and sea use in ways that degrade ecosystems.
- These incentives can lower the cost of activities that drive habitat loss, overexploitation, and climate pressures, potentially undermining environmental policies intended to protect species and landscapes.
- Reforming harmful subsidies is now a global commitment under the Kunming-Montreal framework, but doing so will require balancing ecological goals with economic realities for affected industries and communities.

The toughest toad in town
Meet our story hero: the admirable red-belly toad. A tiny amphibian found nowhere else on Earth but a small forest patch in southern Brazil. Listed as a critically endangered species, it is capable of amazing things. In 2014, it stopped the construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have destroyed its home. In 2024, catastrophic […]
In search of the tiny toad that stopped a dam
Arvoreznha, Brazil — Meet the admirable red-belly toad — a tiny amphibian found nowhere else on Earth but a small forest patch in southern Brazil. Don’t let its size fool you. In 2014, it made history by halting the construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have wiped out its only home. With just over […]
Mass pilot whale stranding in Indonesia raises questions about ocean health
Villagers in central Indonesia rescued 34 short-finned pilot whales following a mass stranding on March 9, but despite their overnight efforts were unable to save 21 others. Mongabay Indonesia’s Ebed De Rosary reports that residents first discovered the pod in the shallow waters off Deranitan village, in East Nusa Tenggara province, at approximately 3:30 p.m. […]
Indigenous knowledge confirms what scientists observe: Large birds are disappearing
Many Indigenous peoples and local communities live in close contact with nature and learn to identify the wildlife around them from an early age. New research published in the International Journal of Conservation draws on that knowledge to better understand a scientifically documented trend: large bird populations are shrinking. Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, an ethnobotanist with the […]
A fish a day: More than 300 freshwater species described in 2025
Taxonomists described 309 new species of freshwater fish in 2025, according to a report released by SHOAL, the IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG) and the California Academy of Sciences (CAS). With nearly one new description each day of the year, the tally is the highest since 2017, and the third-highest since 1758, when scientists […]
Costa Rica’s head start may mask tougher EUDR road ahead
- The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), passed in 2023, will require that traders in several agricultural commodities, including coffee, prove that their products don’t contribute to deforestation.
- To prepare, Costa Rica developed a pilot program with the country’s largest coffee growers’ cooperative, and started shipping deforestation-free coffee to Europe in March 2024.
- Costa Rica has since provided the tools developed for this pilot to the entire coffee sector, with the aim of all coffee shipped from the country being certified deforestation-free.
- However, Costa Rica’s long-standing sustainability standards gave it a head start on meeting the new regulations, experts say, warning that other countries with lower standards and fewer resources may find it difficult to quickly emulate its success.

Photos show the dramatic dawn flight of migrating snow geese
KLEINFELTERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Birdwatchers gather before dawn at Middle Creek in Pennsylvania to witness thousands of migrating snow geese lifting off from the reservoir in a swirling mass. The display lasts only minutes before the birds fan out to nearby farm fields to feed as they continue their annual spring migration north toward New […]
Disastrous floods in Colombia reignite debate over hydroelectric dam
- In early February, severe flooding across the Colombian department of Córdoba affected 24 municipalities and displaced tens of thousands of people across the region.
- The heavy rainfalls occurring during the dry season have been linked to increasing temperatures and stronger coastal winds, which have amplified the impacts of a cold front in the Caribbean region. As official efforts to clean up the flooded areas fall short, locals worry that mosquito-borne diseases like dengue might spread.
- The flooding has reopened debate over Urrá, a large hydroelectric dam on the Sinú River. The project has been the subject of Indigenous resistance for decades, and some locals, experts and politicians blame it for intensifying recent flooding.

South Africa endorses treaty to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050
South Africa has endorsed the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy Capacity by 2050, joining 33 other countries that signed the nonbinding pledge during the United Nations climate summit in Dubai in 2023. Tsakane Khambane, spokesperson for South Africa’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy, told Mongabay via email that the move marks a “significant moment” beyond […]
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.

Study finds livestock pushing lions away from shared rangeland in Kenya
- A new study in Kenya’s Mara conservancies finds lions increasingly avoiding areas used by Maasai livestock, even after the animals have moved on.
- Researchers suggest lions are responding not just to immediate encounters with herders but to past grazing pressure and perceived long-term risk.
- The findings raise questions about how livestock grazing may reshape predator behavior and wildlife use of shared landscapes.
- Experts say any grazing limits must balance conservation goals with Maasai livelihoods that depend heavily on livestock.

Conservationists are burning out — and some are breaking
Conservation has long been framed as a moral calling. For many who enter the field, it is precisely that sense of purpose that sustains difficult work in remote places, under uncertain funding, and against problems that rarely yield quick victories. Yet the same intensity of commitment now appears to be exacting a psychological toll, Mongabay’s […]
At least 50 people killed and 125 others reported missing after landslides sweep Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — At least 50 people have died and 125 others are missing after landslides hit three districts in southern Ethiopia following a week of heavy rains, a local official said Thursday. The landslides happened in Gamo Zone and affected the Gacho Baba District, Kamba District and Bonke District, according to Gamo […]
Why saving seagrass meadows could help save the world’s coastlines
- Seagrass is known for its blue carbon potential, but meadows also play an important role in coastal protection by helping reduce wave intensity and stabilizing sediments, both of which are key to reducing coastal erosion.
- Experts point out that seagrass brings multiple other benefits, such as improving water quality that helps the marine environment, including coral reefs.
- Yet seagrass meadows across the globe face declines due to multiple stressors, including climate change.
- Conservationists and researchers are working to restore meadows and help them become resilient to increasing ocean temperatures and potentially devastating marine heat waves.

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.

If Florida reefs aren’t protected, storms will increase flooding & costs: Study
- Coral reefs absorb incoming waves, protecting shorelines from tropical storms.
- A recent Earth’s Future study examines flood risks from tropical storms to communities in Florida, if coral reefs keep degrading at current rates.
- The study finds that future coral reef degradation will increase the annual risk of flooding to people by 42% and to buildings by 47%.
- This increased degradation would predictably cause $412.5 million in damages to structures and economic disruption of $438.1 million annually.

Marine biologist Edie Widder chases bioluminescence in new ‘Life Illuminated’ film
- The new documentary “A Life Illuminated” traces the career arc of U.S. marine biologist Edie Widder, an expert on bioluminescence who’s made headlines for decades.
- The film documents her team’s attempt to capture a remarkable deep-water phenomenon called “flashback” on camera. (Spoiler alert.)
- Bioluminescence serves a variety of functions for deep-sea creatures, and flashback may originate from bioluminescent bacteria on drifting organic matter, Widder said.
- “A Life Illuminated” will make its Washington, D.C., premiere on Mar. 19, the first night of the D.C. Environmental Film Festival, where Mongabay is a media partner.

Modest controls put on freewheeling squid fleet at South Pacific fisheries meeting
- The 14th meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) took place in Panama City from March 2-6.
- The intergovernmental organization regulates fishing activities in the high seas of the South Pacific, a vast area encompassing about 59 million square kilometers.
- Key decisions concerned tightening regulation of the jumbo flying squid fishery following increased fishing activity and signals of overfishing, and adopting measures to reduce illegal fishing practices and labor abuses in the squid fleet.
- Decision-makers also took steps toward finalizing a new management procedure for jack mackerel. Negotiations over regulating bottom trawling, a source of disagreement at recent SPRFMO meetings, remained stalled.

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.

The dark side of smiling sloths
The apparent friendliness of “smiling” sloths have made them tourist darlings, but have also put a target on their backs. In their home range of South and Central America, tourism companies encourage customers to take photos with sloths, and the government fears the smuggling of animals across country borders. The rise in sloth trafficking has […]
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.

‘We do not have time’: Interview with MEP Delara Burkhardt on the EUDR’s second delay
- In 2023, the European Parliament passed a sweeping law meant to curb the import of goods and products linked to deforestation.
- After right-wing parties won the 2024 EU elections, the law, called the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), was weakened and postponed.
- Late last year, the European Parliament postponed the EUDR’s implementation for a second time.
- Mongabay spoke to German MEP Delara Burkhardt, the lead EUDR negotiator for the Socialists and Democrats Group, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

Rights violations prompt world’s largest sovereign wealth fund to divest from Bolloré
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund has decided to divest from French conglomerate Bolloré, the target of long-running allegations of human rights violations, sexual violence and labor rights abuses at plantations in Africa and Southeast Asia. The decision followed a recommendation issued in 2024 by the ethics council of Norway’s $2.2 trillion Government Pension Fund […]
Growing number of Indigenous Twa forced out of DRC’s forests and into towns
- In the last decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of Indigenous Twa families leaving forests their ancestors relied on in the Congo Basin for urban centers in northern North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
- According to reports seen by Mongabay, the number of Indigenous peoples climbed by 5,000 in some small towns.
- For some Twa people, moving to the city is not only a consequence of expulsion from protected areas, but also a choice motivated by insecurity, trying to escape land conflicts with Bantu communities and finding alternative livelihoods as extractive activities take up forests.
- These displacements have profound social, cultural, and environmental consequences, say environmental activists, as Twa people severe ties with the forest, and traditional ecological knowledge built over millennia declines.

Belugas facing euthanasia at shuttered Canada theme park may find new homes in US
- In August 2025, Canada’s only entertainment park with cetaceans, Marineland of Canada, closed for good, prompting concern about the fate of 30 beluga whales and four dolphins remaining at the facility.
- After a plan to transfer them to a theme park in China was blocked by the Canadian government, Marineland called for euthanizing the animals. The Canadian government has now conditionally approved their possible transfer to four U.S. institutions.
- Keeping highly intelligent and social creatures in concrete-lined tanks adversely affects their health and well-being, experts say.
- With changing public perceptions and a growing number of countries, including Canada, banning the keeping and breeding of whales and dolphins, conservationists are calling for alternatives to house the more than 3,700 cetaceans in captivity worldwide, including building seaside sanctuaries.

Rush to put AI data centers in space poses poorly understood dangers
- Recently announced plans by companies and nations to send AI data centers into space come as experts warn of a perilous situation developing in Earth orbit as thousands of new satellites are launched, orbit the planet, risk collision, and burn up on reentry.
- Concerns are that the booming numbers of satellites could incur an as yet undefined toll on Earth’s environment — with potential pollution impacts on the atmosphere, ozone layer and even terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
- Lack of regulation of space activity is a major challenge as researchers work to understand potential impacts of launching and decommissioning satellites.
- Though arguments are made that AI data centers in space could relieve environmental pressures on Earth, there are multiple trade-offs to consider, experts say. Researchers underline the need to embrace the precautionary principle and define possible hazards before satellites multiply further.

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