topic: Conservation Solutions

topic: Conservation Solutions

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Agroforestry can reduce deforestation, but supportive policies matter, study finds
- Agroforestry is recognized as a way to boost local biodiversity, improve soils and diversify farming incomes. New research suggests it may also benefit nearby forests by reducing pressure to clear them.
- The study found agroforestry has helped reduce deforestation across Southeast Asia by an estimated 250,319 hectares (618,552 acres) per year between 2015 and 2023, lowering emissions and underscoring its potential as a natural climate solution.
- However, the findings also indicate agroforestry worsened deforestation in many parts of the region, highlighting a nuanced bigger picture that experts say must be heeded.
- Local social, economic and ecological factors are pivotal in determining whether agroforestry’s impacts on nearby forests will be positive or negative, the authors say, and will depend on the prevalence of supportive policies.

Photos: The volunteers standing guard at one of Nepal’s human-wildlife frontiers
- CBAPU, a dedicated volunteer group, is actively working to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts in Nepal’s Bardiya National Park by preventing wildlife incursions and protecting local communities.
- The region experiences frequent human-wildlife conflict incidents, mostly involving elephants and tigers, leading to fatalities and injuries among both communities and wildlife.
- CBAPU’s initiatives combine local ecological knowledge with modern techniques like firecrackers, laser lights and drones to safely deter wildlife.
- Despite its successes, CBAPU faces challenges due to the lack of legal recognition, financial support and safety measures for volunteers, threatening the sustainability of their efforts.

Conserving vultures in Southern Africa may provide substantial economic gain: Report
- A new report has found that conserving vulture populations in Southern Africa could have potentially huge economic value. Many vulture populations in Africa are in sharp decline, the authors highlight.
- The report, published by the NGO BirdLife, attached a value to a range of ecosystem services — including an important sanitation role and their existence for future generations — at $1.8 billion for the region.
- This illustrates the importance of conserving vultures and addressing the multitude of threats facing them, the NGO says.
- But other vulture experts say caution is needed in interpreting some of their findings, as assigning an economic value to traditional medicine and belief-based use could lead to the demise of entire populations.

Farmers turn to living ‘yam sticks’ to grow their crop and spare the forest
- In major yam-producing areas such as West Africa and the Caribbean, the tuber is traditionally grown using sticks as scaffolds for vine growth, which are traditionally cut from the forest, causing deforestation.
- Scientists and yam breeders are trialing ways to replace these sticks through agroforestry, introducing living supports that can also improve the soil and provide other benefits to farmers.
- Trials using plants such as pigeon pea and bitter damsel as living yam sticks have shown potential.
- However, conservationists say that entrenched traditional farming methods and a lack of funding to promote more sustainable approaches are preventing living vine sticks from widespread application.

As US agroforestry grows, federal funding freeze leaves farmers in the lurch
- Agroforestry has been steadily gaining ground over the past eight years in the U.S., with the number of projects increasing 6% nationwide according to a new study.
- A federal funding freeze imposed on Jan. 27 put many agroforestry projects on hold pending a 90-day review.
- The freeze has had immediate impacts on farmers and the nonprofit organizations that support them, including a halt on reimbursements and stop work orders.
- Appalachian farmers and their communities are facing a loss in income and the dissolution of important community food resources.

Colombia’s women clam collectors protect Pacific mangroves and mollusks
- Along Colombia’s Pacific coast, women belonging to the Afro-Colombian community who harvest piangüa mollusks have united in efforts to conserve these small, black-shelled clams.
- For generations, piangüa collecting has been their livelihood, a nutrient-rich food source and important symbol of cultural heritage.
- But piangüa populations have diminished in recent years, due to commercialization and overharvesting as well as exports to Ecuador.
- The women piangüeras monitor the local mangroves, crucial to piangüa conservation, and when they observe signs of human disturbance or logging, they encourage people to leave the area alone during “rest periods” so the mangroves can recover.

Smallholder agriculture blossoming with the use of renewables in Africa
- With agriculture employing more than 60% of Africa’s workforce, experts emphasize boosting energy access as a critical input to enhancing productivity and food security.
- The World Resources Institute (WRI) has collaborated with local partners and policymakers to support the integration of clean energy in the smallholder agriculture sector.
- The Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE) aims to support efforts to integrate renewable energy into agricultural value chains.
- Innovative irrigation systems with solar panels are now becoming important job creators in Africa, yet the capital investment for ordinary farmers to acquire the technology is still high.

Surgically implanted tags offer rare insight into rehabilitated sea turtles

Banner image of a loggerhead sea turtle released in 2021, courtesy of Vanessa Kahn/New England Aquarium.

In 2021, the New England Aquarium in the U.S. state of Massachusetts began surgically implanting acoustic tags in rescued loggerhead sea turtles before returning them to the ocean. Four years on, these tags are providing a rare peek into where rehabilitated turtles travel. “Surgically implanted acoustic transmitters have been used for many years in many […]
2024 was worst year for British bumblebees: Report

Banner image of a bumblebee in the U.K. by Flappy Pigeon via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Bumblebee numbers in Great Britain declined by almost a quarter in 2024 compared with the 2010-23 average, making it the worst year for the genus Bombus since records began, according to the latest “BeeWalk” report. BeeWalk, run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, is an annual standardized monitoring program, in which volunteers and partner organizations record […]
How ‘ecological empathy’ can help humans reconnect with nature and shape a better world

A useful framework for considering the needs of the “more-than-human world” when designing human-made systems is “ecological empathy,” the focus of Lauren Lambert, founder of Future Now, a sustainability consulting firm. Her research on the topic, Ecological empathy: Relational theory and practice, was published in the journal Ecosystems and People in late 2024, when she […]
Sri Lanka calls for five-minute surveys to identify crop-raiding animals
- Sri Lanka’s agriculture suffers significant losses due to crop-raiding wildlife, especially elephants, monkeys, wild boars, giant squirrels, porcupines, and peafowls.
- An island-wide, citizen-assisted count of wild animals on agriculture land and in home gardens is planned for Mar. 15, lasting five minutes starting 8 a.m.
- Crop-raiding wild animals remain a significant challenge in Sri Lanka as cultivations suffer but the problem is exacerbated by limited scientific data, prohibitive costs and public opposition to certain solutions like culling.
- The forthcoming survey excludes major nocturnal raiders such as elephants, wild boars, and porcupines, raising questions on the effectiveness of the exercise, while some consider it a step in the right direction.

In the drylands of northern Kenya, a ‘summer school’ for young researchers
- In northern Kenya’s Isiolo county, young researchers who study pastoralism gathered for a week of training and lectures.
- Most of the researchers were from East Africa; many were themselves raised in pastoralist communities.
- Isiolo county, a semiarid rangeland where most people make their living herding livestock, has been hit hard by drought in recent years.
- The researchers said they wanted to change the “old narrative” about pastoralist communities and their relationship to the environment.

Pastoralists know every landscape has a history: Interview with Gufu Oba
- Pastoralism, the practice of moving livestock like cattle across landscapes to forage, provides a livelihood for between 200 million and 300 million people globally.
- In East Africa, pastoralists are being pressured by climate disruptions, infrastructure projects, land-use changes, and in some cases wildlife conservation projects.
- Gufu Oba, professor emeritus from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, tells Mongabay that pastoralists are an integral part of the world’s rangelands, and their knowledge is crucial to protecting those landscapes.

Seeds of 19 African tree species added to Svalbard Global Seed Vault
- Seeds from 19 species of African trees have been added to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.
- The trees were selected by the World Agroforestry Center for their value to communities across Africa.
- Traditional seed preservation and institutional seed banks are vulnerable to damage.
- The seeds deposited in Svalbard in February add to a vast collection intended to secure the world’s vital genetic heritage against any eventuality.

An Ecuadorian hotspot shows how forests can claw back from destruction
- The Ecuadorian Chocó Forest is a little-known biodiversity hotspot, under immense pressure from deforestation.
- A joint German-Ecuadorian team is studying how this tropical forest ecosystem rebounds after clearing.
- The project, called the Reassembly Research Unit, is based out of a lab in the Jocotoco Foundation’s Canandé Reserve.
- The findings so far indicate that tropical forests have a remarkable capacity to heal, given suitable conditions. The findings can inform vital regeneration strategies.

Lawsuit is latest push to curb bottom trawling in protected European waters
- The fishing practice of bottom trawling continues in European marine protected areas (MPAs) despite conservation concerns over its destruction of seabed habitats and indiscriminate catches.
- Four NGOs have sued the Netherlands to stop bottom trawling in the Dutch section of Dogger Bank, an MPA in the North Sea, citing its ecological importance.
- Advocacy efforts across Europe, including other lawsuits, have led to some restrictions on the practice, such as the closure of the U.K. section of Dogger Bank to bottom trawling, but most European MPAs remain insufficiently protected, a 2024 study indicates.
- Fishing interests often disagree with the NGOs’ position on bottom trawling in MPAs, saying that regulated bottom trawling can coexist with conservation goals and support communities socioeconomically, and that blanket restrictions risk marginalizing fishing communities without addressing broader environmental challenges like pollution or climate change.

In Ecuador, a mountain shrub could hold the key to restoring a precious ecosystem
- The spread of agriculture, including the use of fires to clear native vegetation, have devastated Ecuador’s páramo, a high-altitude ecosystem that represents a critical source of drinking water for local communities.
- Reforestation of frailejones, a rare shrub species that helps trap humidity from the air and filter water to the ground, may prove key to restoring the ecosystem.
- A privately financed initiative in Ecuador is researching how to grow the shrub at scale in a nursery for mass replanting, but faces teething challenges in this first-of-its-kind initiative for the country.

Early results suggest communities stop logging during basic income pilot project
- An unconditional cash-transfer pilot project for Indigenous peoples in Peru’s Amazon is underway to help support families who turn to unsustainable or illegal forest activities due to economic stress and food insecurity.
- According to the latest internal assessment of the project, three communities are no longer engaging in illegal forest activities, like logging, to make ends meet.
- There are not yet any independent assessments on the conservation impacts of the two-year pilot project, which ends in November 2025.
- The impacts of a ‘conservation basic income’ for communities living near sensitive biodiversity-rich areas is under debate, and the scant available evidence can both point in favor or against it depending on the context.

World’s tiniest transmitter finds nesting area of rarest migratory shorebird

Banner image of the spoon-billed sandpaper dubbed K9, courtesy of Dongming Li.

Using the world’s smallest known satellite transmitter, conservationists were able to track a spoon-billed sandpiper, thought to be the world’s rarest migratory shorebird. The transmitter revealed new stopovers and nesting areas for an individual known as K9. “K9 led us to a newly discovered breeding location and habitat, which could be a game-changer for Spoon-billed […]
In Uganda, a women-led reforestation initiative fights flooding, erosion
- Changing rainfall patterns have led to increasingly frequent flooding in western Uganda’s Kasese district, destroying farmers’ homes and fields.
- The damage is exacerbated by the loss of tree cover, as many trees have been cut down by locals for firewood.
- Janet Nyakairu Abwoli from Kasese organizes workshops to teach women how to plant and care for trees, particularly Dracaena and Ficus species.
- These native species can help prevent erosion of slopes and riverbanks, retain soil moisture, and provide fodder for small livestock and ingredients for traditional medicine.

Birdwatchers rally behind endemic hummingbird, spurring conservation movement in Mexico
- In Veracruz, the charismatic Mexican sheartail, one of the 58 hummingbird species in the country, is threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation for agriculture and urbanization.
- Chavarillo, an important spot for migratory birds, located in central Veracruz, has leveraged income gained from birdwatching to create a natural reserve for the Mexican sheartail.
- One local in Chavarillo donated land to establish the Doricha Natural Reserve, which provides the sheartail with much needed habitat and helps promote biodiversity conservation more widely.
- Birdwatchers, local landowners and conservationists have come together here to protect a habitat and ecosystem important for many endemic species.

Turn problems into solutions for culture and agriculture across Australia and the Americas, Anthony James says

Anthony James, host of The RegenNarration Podcast, joins Mongabay’s podcast to share news and views on community resilience and land regeneration in both the Americas and Australia. James recounts how some creatures seen as invasive pests in Australia, like donkeys, are actually now being managed in a way that benefits the land, in places like […]
Amazon communities reap the smallest share of bioeconomy profits
- Recently praised by environmentalists, governments and companies as a solution for rainforest conservation, bioeconomy has been practiced for centuries by Amazon’s traditional communities.
- Despite their key role in generating income from the standing forest, these communities continue to reap the smallest share of the profits, according to a new book.
- Traditional people need more financing, better access to energy and improved roads to get their products into the market.

IPBES report highlights Indigenous & local knowledge as key to ‘transformative change’
- On Dec. 16, IPBES, the U.N.’s biodiversity policy panel, released a report on transformative change to address the biodiversity crisis, which centers the role of Indigenous and local knowledge and rights.
- The report identifies the three underlying causes of biodiversity loss and concludes with four principles to guide the change, five strategies to advance the change, six broad approaches, and five challenges this change faces.
- Many Indigenous and local traditional knowledge systems can offer insights into fostering human-nature interconnection and provide cost-effective strategies in conserving high-value areas for nature when they’re included in conservation strategies.
- With only six years left to achieve the 2030 global biodiversity goals, nature conservation faces many challenges, but the authors say they believe transformative change is still possible.

Sani Isla: A Kichwa community that found alternatives to oil in conservation and tourism
- The oil industry has attempted several times to enter the Kichwa commune of Sani Isla in northern Ecuador’s Amazon, but the community has found alternatives for development through conservation and tourism.
- The community receives incentives for conserving nearly 10,000 hectares through the state-run Socio Bosque program. Additionally, they independently protect 16,577 hectares to sustain their way of life, safeguard the environment, and showcase the area’s biodiversity to tourists.
- The main challenges facing Sani Isla are environmental disasters caused by the regressive erosion of the Coca River—which also affects the Napo River—and the lack of basic services. Its residents demand that authorities provide essential services without harming the region’s biodiversity.

Electrochemical removal of ocean CO2 offers potential — and concerns
- Stripping seawater of carbon dioxide via electrochemical processes — thereby prompting oceans to draw down more greenhouse gas from the atmosphere — is a geoengineering approach under consideration for largescale CO2 removal. Several startups and existing companies are planning projects at various scales.
- Once removed from seawater, captured carbon dioxide can be stored geologically or used commercially by industry. Another electrochemical method returns alkaline seawater to the oceans, causing increased carbon dioxide absorption over time.
- In theory, these techniques could aid in carbon emission storage. But experts warn that as some companies rush to commercialize the tech and sell carbon credits, significant knowledge gaps remain, with potential ecological harm needing to be determined.
- Achieving the scale required to make a dent in climate change would require deploying huge numbers of electrochemical plants globally — a costly and environmentally risky scenario deemed unfeasible by some. One problem: the harm posed by scale-up isn’t easy to assess with modeling and small-scale projects.

Asiatic wild asses return to Saudi Arabia after 100 years

Banner image of the recently born onager foal in Saudi Arabia, courtesy of Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve.

It’s been a century since an onager or Asiatic wild ass was last seen in Saudi Arabia. But in April this year, seven onagers were relocated from neighboring Jordan into one of Saudi Arabia’s nature reserves. One of the onagers has even birthed a female foal since then. “These are the first free running onager […]
What’s the TFFF? A forest finance tool ‘like no other’ shows potential

In 2023, at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, the Brazilian government proposed a new funding mechanism to help tropical nations keep their forests standing. They called it the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), and its incentive is relatively simple: using satellite monitoring in participating nations to determine which ones have preserved their forests, and […]
Wildlife conservation is a key climate change solution (commentary)
- It’s time for global leaders, funders, and policymakers to prioritize the inclusion of local conservationists in major climate discussions, a new op-ed argues.
- The effects of climate change, such as fires, droughts, and extreme weather events are not just environmental threats, but crises that directly impact human well-being and wildlife survival alike.
- “If we are serious about tackling climate change and preserving biodiversity, we must embrace holistic and inclusive approaches to conservation that integrate both wildlife and community needs,” two conservationists write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Agroecology offers blueprint for resilient farming in northern Ghana
- Erratic rainfall and rising temperatures have hit farmers in Ghana’s semiarid Upper East region hard in recent years.
- Planting rows of trees and allowing goats and sheep to graze their fields is helping retain soil moisture and fertility, while encouraging birds and bats to return, helping to control pests.
- The trees and small livestock also provide additional sources of income for farmers.
- These agroecological practices of alley cropping and mixed farming can be adapted to other drought-prone regions across Africa, proponents say.

Traditional fishers in Peru guard the coast from illegal fishing
- In Chimbote, north of Lima in Peru, fishers have been working for years to protect the Peruvian grunt (Anisotremus scapularis), a fish species in high demand for its meat, along a 1.5-kilometer (almost 1-mile) stretch of coast.
- Illegal fishing methods such as explosives have become common in this area, and the authorities have failed to deter them.
- The fishers, who use traditional methods to catch the grunt from shore, keep watch for illegal activities in the area in hopes that the species will not disappear.

Earthshot Prize names 5 winners working on environmental solutions

Wild male saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) visiting a waterhole at the Stepnoi Sanctuary, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Photo credit: Andrey Giljov [CC BY-SA 4.0]

The Earthshot Prize announced its five winners for 2024 at an award ceremony hosted and livestreamed from Cape Town, South Africa, on Nov. 6. The prize was dubbed “Planet Earth’s biggest celebration of climate creativity” at the start of the event. Launched by Prince William of the U.K. in 2020, the Earthshot Prize is awarded […]
Mountain highland bats lack data, face climate threats: Study

Banner image of bats in a Malaysian limestone cave. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Bats in mountainous regions are facing more threats and lack of data compared with their lowland counterparts, a recent study showed. Lead author Rohit Chakravarty in an interview with Mongabay said there is much to be learned about bats dwelling in mountains, which are known to host one-third of the world’s biodiversity and half of […]
For Tanzania’s Maasai, adapting to climate change may mean less livestock, more trees
- An NGO working with Maasai pastoralists in northern Tanzania says its efforts to restore tree cover in the semiarid region and offer alternative forms of livelihood in the face of climate change impacts are bearing fruit.
- TACCEI promotes tree planting and better management of water resources by community members, and helps local government officials integrate consideration of climate change into development policies and strategies.
- Tanzania’s Simanjiro district experienced a 20-year spell of poor rainfall starting in the early 2000s, during which the largely pastoralist population has seen its livestock herds shrink and die out.
- By helping community members to start cultivating vegetables and fruit trees and take up beekeeping and craft making, TACCEI aims to build up community resilience to the worst impacts of climate change.

In Kenya, a river restoration initiative pays for itself, and then some
- The water supply for the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, depends on the Tana River, which flows for 1,000 km (620 mi) across the northern part of the country into the Indian Ocean.
- In recent decades, farmers have cut down forests to grow crops on ever-steeper hillsides in the river basin’s upper reaches, damaging water quality.
- The Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund was established in 2015, drawing money from corporations and government to pay for watershed restoration and reforestation of this vital resource.
- The fund has enjoyed some success, but obstacles include building up expert knowledge of nature-based solutions by officials in the water sector

Startups replace plastics with mushrooms in the seafood industry
- A handful of startups in the U.S., Europe and Asia are helping the seafood industry fight plastic pollution by creating equipment made from fungi.
- Efforts are currently focused on replacing plastic foam, a polluting component of numerous elements of the seafood supply chain, with mycelium, the root-like structure of fungi.
- A company in Maine makes mycelium-based buoys for the aquaculture industry, for example.
- Elsewhere, projects are seeking to create biodegradable mycelium-based coolers for transporting fish.

Australia’s Global ‘Nature Positive’ Summit features Indigenous voices, but little government action

SYDNEY – Just prior to the COP16 biodiversity summit in Colombia, the Australian Government hosted the world’s first Global ‘Nature Positive’ Summit. ‘Nature positive’ means “an improvement in the diversity, abundance, resilience, and integrity of ecosystems from a baseline” according to Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) and is a key part of […]
At Mexico’s school for jaguars, big cats learn skills to return to the wild
- In Oaxaca, southern Mexico, a multidisciplinary team is launching a program to return rescued wildcats to their natural habitat.
- The program is run by the foundation Jaguares en la Selva (Jaguars in the Wild) at the Yaguar Xoo sanctuary, where two wildlife enclosures have been designed for jaguars and pumas to learn to hunt and survive on their own.
- In 2021, the program successfully released two jaguars and is currently working to reintroduce two more jaguars and three pumas back into their natural habitats.

Tiger population census in Bangladesh shows a hopeful upward trend in the Sundarbans
- The latest tiger population census in Bangladesh, which was done by evaluating camera-trapping data, shows that the country is home to at least 125 adult Bengal tigers.
- The report shows almost a 10% increase since the last census in 2018 in the Sundarbans mangrove forests, which is considered to be Bangladesh’s only remaining habitat for tigers.
- Conservationists attribute this success to the efforts made in the region in recent years, including installing fences and increased patrolling against poaching.

Thailand’s budding mangrove restoration plans spark both hope and concern
- Mangrove restoration projects based on mass tree planting have often proved unsuccessful due to a focus on quantity rather than carefully selecting planting sites or prioritizing long-term social and ecological gains.
- Thailand’s state-led and corporate-funded restoration approaches have typically followed this unsustainable model, prompting critics to call for more ecological and community-based approaches that place more emphasis on natural regeneration.
- Several new national initiatives aim to improve mangrove management in Thailand: A collaborative public-private program called the Thailand Mangrove Alliance aims to bring 30% of Thailand’s mangroves under effective management by 2030.
- However, a new carbon credits initiative that aims to link coastal communities with corporate partners has drawn widespread skepticism from environmental groups, who warn the scheme could effectively transform public forests into corporate lands.

Local NGO RAINS brings relief to Ghana’s semiarid north with regenerative farming
- An NGO in the semiarid north of Ghana is helping farming communities cope with a range of challenges through initiatives that center social and human rights and build on Indigenous knowledge.
- The Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS) promotes regenerative agricultural practices to local farmers, including intercropping, the planting of cover crops, and the use of traditional seeds and compost and manure.
- It also engages typically marginalized groups such as women and youth in community land-use planning, and tackles gender inequality by improving women’s access to savings schemes and microcredit.
- Those working with the NGO say its efforts have had a material impact on improving food security and reducing incidents of fires, and express hope for its sustained support.

26 elephants from Namibia moved to Angola’s only private conservation area
- A translocation of 26 elephants from Okonjati Game Reserve in Namibia to Cuatir Conservation Area in southeastern Angola has just been completed.
- Private conservation areas are not yet an official designation in Angola, making Cuatir a pioneer of the approach.
- Southeast Angola has recently been highlighted as an area with a lot of conservation potential, but there’s still a lot of work required to make the region’s national parks viable.
- Proponents say private conservation areas like Cuatir offer another currently underutilized way to catalyze conservation in Angola.

In Madagascar, Taniala Regenerative Camp aims to heal deforestation scars
- Expanding agriculture by both residents and new migrants threatens the dry forest of Madagascar’s Menabe Antimena Protected Area.
- The ongoing deforestation also threatens the livelihoods of communities.
- A local association, Taniala Regenerative Camp, uses resilient forest systems as a model to regenerate degraded soil by planting trees alongside crops.
- The association supports surrounding communities through training in agroecology and agroforestry, and through additional income earned from intercropping in agroforestry plots.

Across reforestation organizations, best practices claims abound, but details are scarce
- Researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, reviewed the websites of 99 international organizations that promote and fund reforestation projects to determine how well they report following best practices.
- They found that while these organizations increasingly acknowledge the importance of clear goals, local community involvement, and monitoring, few publicly report in detail the measures used to track progress and results achieved.
- For the study’s second phase, the researchers plan to investigate the links between reported practices and tree-growing outcomes, and identify effective reforestation models.
- Readers can nominate organizations for the new research and share information about tree-planting projects via Mongabay’s Reforestation.app.

Do Indigenous peoples really conserve 80% of the world’s biodiversity?
- A new commentary piece in Nature argues that the much-cited claim that Indigenous peoples protect 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity is not only baseless, but wrong.
- Although scientists and Indigenous advocates agree the statistic is under-researched, not all agree with the authors’ conclusions, especially as they did not provide evidence that suggests the statistic is wrong nor provide alternative ways of estimating biodiversity conservation on Indigenous lands.
- Scientists share their ideas and insights on calculating biodiversity on Indigenous lands, including the complexities of such research and what to avoid in the future to maintain scientific rigor.
- Indigenous advocates say the Nature commentary is unethical as it makes conclusions without enough evidence and undermines Indigenous guardianship of biodiversity, their land rights and access to funding ahead of the upcoming U.N. biodiversity conference.

At Climate Week and beyond, investing in community conservation pays big dividends (commentary)
- As representatives of NGOs, governments and funding organizations gather in New York City this week for the UN General Assembly and Climate Week to seek climate solutions, they should be looking at community conservation projects, too, a new op-ed says.
- Such projects offer big benefits for people and wildlife, in addition to the climate, yet it typically receives a mere fraction of the funds directed at other solutions.
- “In a world where natural climate solutions can provide 30% of needed global carbon reductions, we ask that they don’t just look for shiny, new and innovative ideas, but instead take a good hard look at the solutions that are already working and that just need more support and funding to help them grow and thrive.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Plan for close season rings alarm bells for Liberia’s artisanal fishers
- Liberia revealed plans in May for a close season for fishing, but still hasn’t given any details of what it covers, whom it will apply to, or even when it will come into force.
- Policymakers say a pause in fishing activity is necessary to allow stocks to replenish, and is also an obligation for Liberia under a regional fisheries bloc whose other members have also planned or even implemented close seasons.
- Liberia’s small-scale fishers say the plan could be a solution to dwindling catches, but say there must be some form of livelihood support for them during the period when they can’t fish.
- They also say a close season must apply first and foremost to the industrial vessels that harvest a large amount of the country’s fish, including from nearshore waters that are supposed to be the exclusive domain of small-scale fishers.

Earthshot Prize announces 15 finalists solving urgent environmental challenges

ASH Achuar by Leticia Valverdes Adult, Female, Male, Man, Person, Tribe, Woman Alliance Amazon Headwaters-Achuar by Leticia Valverdes-EarthShot Prize.ASH Achuar by Leticia Valverdes

Prince William’s Earthshot Prize has announced its 15 finalists at the Earthshot Innovation Summit held Sept. 24 in New York. Launched in 2020, the prize is given annually to encourage and sustain innovative solutions to the most serious environmental problems facing the planet. “The passion of these Finalists is a testament to what can be […]
Experts call for urgent leopard conservation efforts in Bangladesh
- The Indian leopard was once prevalent across most the forests in the Bangladesh landscape, but is now critically endangered in the country.
- The big cat’s population has rapidly declined in the country due to habitat fragmentation and degradation, prey crisis and wildlife trafficking.
- Experts suggest taking urgent conservation initiatives for the neglected species and bringing it into national conservation focus in Bangladesh.

To save endangered trees, researchers in South America recruit an army of fungi
- Mycorrhizal fungi live in symbiosis with plants, providing them with nutrients necessary to thrive and potentially playing a key part in preserving threatened species.
- Although research into mycorrhizae has so far been sparse in Latin America, efforts are gaining momentum, with experts studying how the fungi could help save the Colombian black oak, an endangered, endemic species.
- In Huila, Colombia, local communities are successfully working with researchers on a black oak restoration project using seeds “inoculated” with fungi.

How coastal communities are adapting to sea level rise with ‘living shorelines’

Drone image of the erodible bluff (bottom) being stabilized by tiers of logs pinned to the ground, back-filled with soil, and planted among erosion-slowing rocks to keep the rising waters at bay, for a 'living shorelines' project on the Blue Hill Peninsula in Maine. Image by Erik Hoffner for Mongabay.

Along the U.S. East Coast, communities are adapting to sea level rise with a promising approach called “living shorelines.” These projects bolster shorelines against stronger storms and higher tides with native plantings and natural materials like driftwood and even holiday trees. Maine Geological Survey coastal geologist Peter Slovinsky joins the Mongabay Newscast to describe several […]
As Amazonian rivers recede under drought, manatees are left exposed to poaching
- Increasingly prolonged and intense droughts in the Amazon pose a deadly threat to the native Amazonian manatee, lowering river levels that expose these giant aquatic mammals to poachers.
- Conservationists warn that more frequent droughts will intensify manatee poaching, banned in 1967 (although manatee meat is still widely consumed across the Amazon) and still a major threat to the already vulnerable population.
- Experts urge stronger law enforcement to curb the sale and consumption of manatee meat, while conservation efforts focus on educating communities on the importance of the mammal to the biome.
- Despite the persistence of poaching, conservation and enforcement actions appear to have helped reverse the decline in the manatee population, although comprehensive population estimates aren’t available.

As southern African freshwater fish & fisheries struggle, collaboration is key (commentary)
- Freshwater fish populations in the Kavango and Zambezi (KAZA) river systems of southern Africa are in decline, so many stakeholders met last month in Namibia to share knowledge and suggest ways to address the situation.
- Of the many things shared during the conference, one message was clear: most fish stocks in KAZA are in trouble. Fewer fish means that the people and fish-dependent wildlife are also in trouble.
- “The challenges of fish conservation in KAZA are insurmountable if any of these stakeholders face them alone, but if they work together, it is possible to turn back the tide to restore fish populations and save the lives and livelihoods of our people,” a new op-ed contends.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

How a fun women’s gathering led to small wildcat conservation in Peru’s Andes
- Habitat loss due to deforestation of Polylepis forests is increasing the incidence of human-wildlife conflict between communities and threatened feline species such as the Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita), puma (Puma concolor) and pampas or Peruvian desert cat (Leopardus garleppi) in the central Andes of Peru.
- A pioneering new Indigenous women-led citizen science conservation project in the Ayacucho region of Central Peru aims to obtain baseline data on wildcats and mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
- At first, local women were quite bemused by the project, but they’ve slowly began to weave it into their lives, and find it enjoyable community space they can claim ownership over where men do not dominate.
- Since the start of the project, there’s been a reduction in puma and wildcat attacks on livestock and attitudes toward the animals are changing within the community.

African Parks embarks on critical conservation undertaking for 2,000 rhinos
- African Parks, which manages national parks in several countries across the continent, plans to rewild all 2,000 southern white rhinos from Platinum Rhino, winding up John Hume’s controversial intensive rhino breeding project.
- The conservation organization needs to find safe spaces to translocate 300 rhinos to every year, as poaching of the animals for their horns continues.
- Potential recipient areas are assessed in terms of habitat, security, national regulatory support, and the recipient’s financial and management capacity.
- Earlier this year, 120 rhinos were translocated to private reserves operating as part of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation.

National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan on why Indigenous peoples are the best conservationists

In 2023, Mongabay invited renowned National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan onto our podcast to discuss his multiyear reporting effort “Guardians of Life,” which was published this year in the July issue of National Geographic magazine. The episode was awarded a prize for “Best coverage of Indigenous communities” in the radio or podcast category by the […]
Rio’s grassroots agroforestry sustains birds, bees & communities
- In 2017, some residents of the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Governor’s Island spontaneously started tending a neglected garden that originated from a brief corporate event.
- Lacking ongoing governmental or corporate support, the initiative shifted toward agroforestry — a sustainable agroecology system where fruit trees, shrubs, medicinal plants and vegetables are grown in combination to benefit each other — inspiring a dozen more such projects across the island.
- These agroforests have reshaped the urban landscape and now attract an array of fauna, from birds to bees and even fireflies, drawn by the diversity of plant life thriving on improved soils.
- Perhaps most importantly, the agroforests offer free food and medicines to residents in need, plus shade and educational opportunities for the whole community, from schoolchildren to university students and residents.

In a fight to save a rare bird, Indigenous communities in Guyana are winning
- The red siskin has long been sought out by illegal bird traders and breeders due to its unique red-and-black plumage and cheerful song.
- The endangered species had almost disappeared from tropical South America until 2000, when a population was recorded in the South Rupununi region of Guyana.
- Local Indigenous communities have rallied behind the small bird, successfully maintaining population levels and encouraging a broader conservation movement that focuses on education and deterring poaching.

Agroforestry offers Thai rubber farmers a pathway to profit and sustainability
- Rubber farmers in Thailand are increasingly adopting agroforestry as a more climate-friendly and sustainable way of cultivating the commodity, which ranks among the world’s largest drivers of tropical deforestation.
- Much of Thailand’s lowland tropical forests were cleared decades ago to make way for the booming rubber industry, transforming the landscape into a patchwork of monoculture plantations and turning the nation into the world’s top rubber producer.
- But cultivating rubber in an agroforestry system is not only better for the environment and wildlife compared to monocultures, it also supports livelihoods by giving Thai farmers greater profits plus a wider array of produce to sell over a longer span of time each year.
- To help more farmers make the switch, government agencies, trade groups and key parts of the rubber supply chain are backing agroforestry as an alternative to monoculture by providing trainings and price premiums, though experts say additional supports like policy changes are needed.

Indigenous communities in the Bolivian Amazon combat droughts and floods
- The Tsimané, Mosetén and Tacana Indigenous ethnic groups in the Bolivian Amazon feared the worst for early 2024. They believed that the cycle of floods would bring misfortune and affect their communities
- However, the water management projects they have implemented have provided favorable results and helped the communities avoid disasters. This is an example of a communitywide effort to commemorate World Water Day 2024, which was March 22.
- Members of these Indigenous communities collect water from several watersheds and transport it through kilometers of pipes so that it reaches their homes, a complex engineering project that also has allowed them to adapt to the more intense droughts and floods caused by climate change.

Protecting Nigeria one child & one tree at a time: Interview with Doyinsola Ogunye
- Nigeria’s Doyinsola Ogunye is known across Africa for her work to help children and women build more sustainable futures; the environmental advocate founded the Mental and Environmental Development Initiative for Children (MEDIC) as well as the Recycling Scheme for Women and Youth Empowerment (RESWAYE).
- She says partnerships with corporations and the ability to scale are important in helping the initiatives grow.
- Many of her initiatives center on activities with children and schools — from cleaning up beaches to planting trees — and now, many of the children she initially worked with have entered university and they have carried their experiences into adult life.
- Doyinsola Ogunye recently talked with Mongabay about her work in the face of some of the biggest environmental challenges in Lagos.

African markets tackle food insecurity and climate change — but lack investment
- Global food insecurity has risen substantially across the world due to extreme weather events, climate change and conflict.
- A new report by IPES-Food shows how territorial markets, which are embedded in the culture of African communities, can increase food security and boost climate resilience.
- According to researchers, territorial markets are more accessible and affordable to low-income populations and are more flexible than supermarkets in providing a diversity of indigenous climate-resilient foods.
- Yet a lack of infrastructure, investment and government support present barriers to territorial markets and their ability to deliver the benefits they can bring.

Frog ‘saunas’ may help threatened frogs fight off deadly fungus
- Researchers have developed simple, sun-heated shelters that allow frogs to raise their body temperatures and fight off a deadly fungal disease called chytridiomycosis.
- The study focused on the green and golden bell frog in Australia, a threatened species, showing that frogs given access to these warm shelters cleared infections faster and developed resistance to future infections.
- This innovative approach could provide a valuable, low-cost tool for protecting various amphibian species threatened by the fungal disease, which has devastated amphibian populations worldwide.
- The research comes at a critical time, as a recent study found that two in five amphibian species are now threatened with extinction, with climate change becoming a primary threat.

To protect the planet’s rangelands, give pastoralists a boost, UN report says
- In May, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) released its “Global Land Outlook,” report which focused on the role that pastoralism can play in conserving rangelands.
- Rangelands, which include deserts, grasslands and savannas, cover 54% of the planet’s terrestrial surface.
- Pastoralist communities have often been framed as a threat to wildlife and conservation; in East Africa, many still face harsh grazing restrictions or eviction from their traditional landscapes.
- But the UNCCD report said that sustainable grazing practices can boost both carbon storage and soil fertility, and that pastoralism is vital to protecting the world’s rangelands.

French Polynesians revive traditional rāhui to protect fish — and livelihoods
- In French Polynesia, fishing is of paramount importance. Many residents depend on fishing to feed their families and make a living.
- Confronted with a decline in fish stocks, communities across the country are reviving a traditional method of managing natural resources called rāhui.
- This bottom-up solution, managed by local communities with help from scientists and the government, although imperfect, appears to demonstrate some degree of effectiveness.
- The island of Tahiti currently counts 13 rāhuis, and more communities are establishing them as a way to fight poverty, sustain fishers’ incomes and regain their culture.

Hydropower dams further undermine REDD+ efforts in Cambodia
- Five hydropower dams are currently being built in the Cardamom Mountains with reservoirs set to collectively span more than 15,000 hectares (37,065 acres) across protected forests.
- Three of these new dams encroach on forests where REDD+ projects are currently operating, pitting “green” energy infrastructure against conservation goals.
- Residents living nearby one of the dam sites fear that history may repeat as hydropower dams have typically been used to illegally extract valuable timber.

In ‘the century of Africa,’ Mongabay’s new bureau reports its biggest environmental issues and solutions
- Mongabay recently launched a brand-new bureau dedicated to covering the African continent in French and English, led by veteran Cameroonian journalist David Akana.
- Though Mongabay has covered Africa for all of its 25 years, the new bureau formalizes and ramps up its coverage of core environmental topics plus solutions-oriented stories, which Akana says are vital to delivering a fair picture of what happens on the continent.
- Akana joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss the importance of covering Africa well and why the news that happens there should be on readers' radar worldwide.
- "The bottom line here is that whatever happens — whether it's in the business of forests [or] biodiversity or climate change in the Congo Basin — [it] has linkages to anywhere else in the world," Akana says.

Beekeeping helps villagers tend coastal forests in Thai mangrove hotspot
- Community-led approaches to mangrove restoration are increasingly recognized as more effective than many state- or market-driven initiatives in terms of both ecological and economic outcomes.
- Nestled within southern Thailand’s mangrove-rich but fast-developing Phang Nga Bay, the village of Ban Nai Nang has developed a mangrove conservation model based on beekeeping.
- By rearing colonies of native honey bees and stingless bees that are important pollinators of local mangrove trees, the villagers earn money from honey sales, which in turn fund their community mangrove conservation efforts.
- Since they began their beekeeping and conservation activities, they’ve observed signs of rejuvenation in their local mangrove forests and are now helping neighboring villages to follow their conservation model through training and mentorship.

Beekeeping for Mangrove Conservation in Thailand

PHANG NGA, Thailand – Community-led mangrove restoration is proving to be more effective than traditional state or market-driven methods, both ecologically and economically. In southern Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay—a region known for its rich mangrove ecosystems but rapid development—the village of Ban Nai Nang has pioneered a unique mangrove conservation approach centered on beekeeping. By […]
Efforts to save Cambodia’s coast tread water as fish stocks plummet
- Along the coast of Cambodia, illegal fishing is driving fish stocks toward collapse and fishing communities into poverty.
- The Cambodian government’s capacity for and will to counter fisheries problems are minimal, and several government fisheries reform efforts are off track or behind schedule.
- As one multimillion-dollar foreign project to bolster government capacity and revive Cambodian fish stocks comes to an end, another is just kicking off.
- Whether these efforts to salvage Cambodia’s coastal resources will pay off depends on a range of factors and actors, but so far the plans implemented haven’t been enough to stave off the impending collapse of marine fish stocks.

Scientists and farmers restore Aztec-era floating farms that house axolotls
- In 1987, UNESCO declared the Xochimilco wetland area in southern Mexico City a World Heritage Site, recognizing in particular its chinampas, an ancient agricultural system in use since the time of the Aztecs.
- In the past few decades, Xochimilco’s levels of production and of biodiversity have shifted: people have changed the purpose of many chinampas, and the population of axolotl salamanders, an iconic species endemic to the area, has decreased drastically.
- Scientists from the Ecological Restoration Laboratory at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and farmers from the area are promoting a comprehensive restoration program to conserve this group of chinampas and all the living things that depend on it.

Indigenous people and NGO grow a wildlife corridor in the world’s oldest rainforest
- Environmental charity Climate Force is collaborating with the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people and rangers to create a wildlife corridor that runs between two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Australia: the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.
- Wildlife habitats in this region have become fragmented due to industrial agriculture, and a forested corridor is expected to help protect biodiversity by allowing animals to forage for food and connect different populations for mating and migration.
- The project aims to plant 360,000 trees over an area of 213 hectares (526 acres); so far, it has planted 25,000 trees of 180 species on the land and in the nursery, which can also feed a range of native wildlife.
- The project is ambitious and organizers say they’re hopeful about it, but challenges remain, including soil regeneration and ensuring the planted trees aren’t killed off by feral pigs or flooding.

An ancestral solution ensures water for Peruvian alpaca farmers, but is it enough?
- A community of alpaca farmers in the high Peruvian Andes is witnessing the loss of its mountain glaciers as a result of a warming climate and unseasonal droughts.
- In response, community members have turned to an ancestral practice of harvesting rainwater runoff and snowmelt, caching it in artificial lagoons that they can then tap to irrigate their alpaca pastures.
- Today, the community of Santa Fe, on the slopes of Mount Rit’ipata, has 41 of these lagoons, or qocha, but increasingly prolonged droughts mean it will need many more.
- Other communities across Peru have launched similar water harvesting initiatives, and while the government backs these projects, communities like Santa Fe are ineligible for state funding under a 2022 regulation.

Rewilding efforts throw a lifeline to Brazil’s most trafficked endangered bird
- The great-billed seed finch (Sporophila maximiliani), thought to be the most trafficked endangered bird species in Brazil, has long been coveted in the caged-bird trade, which has caused the local extinction of the species over most of its former range in the Cerrado savanna.
- One conservation project is working to conserve the species holistically through research and environmental education, while collaborating with bird keepers and breeders to bring the species back to the wild.
- With support from these experts and local communities, the species is being reintroduced in the Cerrado within the Grande Sertão Veredas region between the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia.

Campesinos bring life back to a deforestation hotspot in the Colombian Amazon
- More than 700 campesinos from the municipality of Cartagena del Chairá have started restoring 4,762 hectares (11,767 acres) of degraded rainforest in one of Colombia’s deforestation hotspots. To date, they’ve planted almost a million trees.
- In collaboration with researchers from SINCHI, the Amazonian Scientific Research Institute, and the Association of Community Action Boards (Asojuntas), the families have recorded more than 600 plant and more than 100 animal species in the area.
- Environmental education, research and restoration activities have also included children and teenagers from several communities, with many young people motivated to pursue environmental careers by applying to universities.

Uzbekistan plants a forest where a sea once lay
- The Aral Sea, once the lifeblood of peoples in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, is parched, shrouded in a layer of toxic salt and dust.
- Officials from both countries are working with locals to plant a new forest of drought-resistant plants in the dried-out lakebed, to prevent sandstorms and mitigate the health impacts of breathing in the toxic dust.
- The initiative in Uzbekistan has so far planted 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) of forest, with up to 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of new forest planned for 2024.
- Forestry and climate researchers say the nature-based solution shows promise, but that the afforestation project must follow important steps to succeed and may struggle in the face of increased droughts.

Are carbon credits another resource-for-cash grab? Interview with Alondra Cerdes Morales & Samuel Nguiffo
- Indigenous and traditional communities around the world are increasingly being recognized for their stewardship of forests.
- That’s led to their lands being seen as prime targets for carbon credit projects, the idea being that the carbon sequestered here can be sold to offset emissions elsewhere.
- While some Indigenous communities have welcomed these projects and the funds they bring in, others say they’re just another example of the monetization of natural resources that’s driving the climate crisis in the first place.
- Mongabay interviewed two leading Indigenous voices on both sides of the debate, who say the issue is a deeply nuanced one that carries implications for Indigenous land rights, culture and sustainability.

Tackling climate change in one of Colombia’s largest wetlands
- La Mojana, a complex network of more than 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of different types of wetlands, has drastically deteriorated in recent decades.
- Thousands of farmers are working to restore their livelihoods, and the swamps, marshes and streams they inhabit.
- By doing so, they hope that floods and droughts, which are becoming more unpredictable and more severe than ever due to climate change, will affect them less.

Shade-grown coffee benefits birds, forests & people in Venezuela
- The Aves y Cafe program in Venezuela aids rural communities by encouraging community-centered shade coffee agroforestry, while protecting rare and migrating birds.
- The project has so far succeeded in protecting 415 hectares (1,025 acres) of montane forest, ensuring the survival of threatened endemic and migratory bird species.
- Through empowering local smallholders, the program is enhancing livelihoods, promoting biodiversity conservation and safeguarding crucial ecological corridors, including carbon sequestration.

U.S. East Coast adopts ‘living shorelines’ approach to keep rising seas at bay
- Along the U.S. East Coast, communities are grappling with the dual destructive forces of rising sea levels and stronger storms pushed by climate change, resulting in effects ranging from ‘ghost forests’ of saltwater-killed coastal trees in the Carolinas, to inundations of New York City’s subway system.
- While the usual response has been to build higher seawalls and other concrete or rock structures, a natural approach that aims to protect coastal areas with natural assets that also create habitat and are generally cheaper and less carbon intensive — ‘living shorelines’ — is increasingly taking hold.
- State agencies and landowners alike are shoring up the shore with innovative combinations of locally sourced logs, rocks and native plants and shrubs to protect homes, dunes and beaches.
- In Maine, where a trio of powerful winter storms recently pummeled the coast, living shorelines designers are in growing demand.

Malawi police arrest elephant poachers in Kasungu National Park
- Police and wildlife authorities in Malawi have arrested two men suspected of having killed an elephant in Kasungu National Park.
- Residents of villages just outside the park’s boundaries informed police about two men selling elephant meat, who were subsequently found in possession of 16.6 kg (36.6 lbs) of ivory.
- Kasungu forms part of a transfrontier conservation area that extends into Zambia, a previous poaching hotspot where authorities have spent the past five years strengthening enforcement in collaboration with the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
- In July 2022, 263 elephants were translocated to Kasungu from Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi; communities have reported increased raids by elephants on farms and granaries since then, with four people killed by elephants between July and October.

Caribbean startups are turning excess seaweed into an agroecology solution
- Sargassum, a type of brown macroalgae, has been inundating beaches across the Caribbean since 2011. It comes from the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean.
- The seaweed has harmed Caribbean economies and human health, making it a national emergency in some island-nations.
- Over the past decade, entrepreneurs and scientists have found ways to turn sargassum into nutrient-rich biofertilizers, biostimulants and other organic products to boost agricultural yields while cutting back on chemicals.
- But there are hurdles to scaling the industry, including sargassum’s inconsistent arrival, heavy metal content and fast decomposition rates.

Florida growers eye agroecology solution to devastating citrus disease
- Virtually all of Florida’s citrus groves have been infected with citrus greening disease, also known by its Chinese name Huanglongbing, since the early 2000s.
- Despite billions of US dollars put toward rescue efforts, citrus production numbers are the lowest they have been since the Great Depression.
- Scientists from Argentina are now testing the agroecological method of push-pull pest management using an organic plant-hormone solution to lure pests away from citrus crops and toward “trap crops” instead.
- Proponents hope push-pull management, first developed in East Africa, could be part of the solution and lessen dependence on pesticides.

Indigenous Filipinos fight to protect biodiverse mountains from mining
- The global transition to renewable energy is driving a boom in applications to mine nickel and other critical minerals in the Victoria-Anepahan Mountains in the Philippines’ Palawan province.
- The Indigenous Tagbanua are organizing to halt these mining plans before they begin, along with downstream farmers, church and civil society groups.
- Concerns raised by the Tagbanua and other mining opponents include loss of land and livelihood, reduced supply of water for irrigation, and damage to a unique and biodiverse ecosystem.

Indigenous Filipinos fight to protect biodiverse mountains from mining

NARRA, Philippines — In the heart of Palawan province in the Philippines, the Victoria-Anepahan Mountains are a treasure trove of biodiversity and a crucial watershed. This unique ecosystem is now facing an urgent threat from the global shift towards renewable energy, which has sparked a surge in mining applications for nickel and other essential minerals […]
Conservation comeback in Central African Republic’s Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park (commentary)
- Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park is the largest park in the Central African savannas, covering 17,400 square kilometers, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 due to its Outstanding Universal Value.
- However, the combined effects of poaching, livestock intrusions, artisanal mining, and other threats saw it added to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1997.
- Recent cooperative efforts between the Central African Republic, NGOs and UNESCO to enact a new management plan have greatly improved the situation, and were recognized by the International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme last year.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

New U.S. agroforestry project will pay farmers to expand ‘climate-smart’ acres
- The Nature Conservancy is leading the Expanding Agroforestry Project to provide training, planning and funds for 12,140 hectares (30,000 acres) of new agroforestry plantings in the U.S.
- Goals for the program include enrolling at least 200 farmers, with a minimum of 50 from underserved communities.
- Initial applications have surpassed expectations — 213 farmers applied in the first cycle with 93% coming from underserved populations.
- The first round of payments is set for distribution in fall 2024.

‘Planting water, eating Caatinga & irrigating with the sun’: Interview with agroecologist Tião Alves
- In an interview with Mongabay, Brazilian agroecologist Tião Alves tells how he has been teaching thousands of rural workers to survive in the Caatinga biome, severely afflicted by drought, climate change and desertification.
- At the head of Serta, one of the most important agroecology schools in the Brazilian Northeast, he teaches low-cost technologies that ensure food security with a minimum of resources, both natural and financial.
- Currently, 13% of the Caatinga is already in the process of desertification, the result of a combination of deforestation, inadequate irrigation, extreme droughts and changes in the global climate.

Despite investment in conservation, Bengal tigers still struggling in Bangladesh
- As a major tiger habitat country, Bangladesh has been spending a remarkable amount of money to protect the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) for the last two decades; however, the population of the big cat has dropped during this period.
- According to the last survey conducted in 2018, only 114 tigers remain in the Bangladesh portion of the Sundarbans, compared to 440 in 2004.
- In Bangladesh, Sundarbans is the only place where the Bengal tiger lives. Three portions of the mangrove forest are designated as wildlife sanctuaries, but none are specifically dedicated to the tiger.
- Experts blame inefficient and inadequate measures in conservation initiatives as the major reasons for the failure in population increase.

E-Sak Ka Ou Declaration underscores Indigenous rights as a conservation solution (commentary)
- The E-Sak Ka Ou Declaration calls attention to the key role of Indigenous peoples to (as well as the challenges they face from) climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation programs.
- A word meaning ‘gill of the manta ray’ and released ahead of COP28 last year by Asian Indigenous leaders, the E-Sak Ka Ou Declaration is a reminder of what remains undone toward upholding the rights of Indigenous communities.
- Commitments at the global level to recognize Indigenous knowledge and protect communities’ rights must also be reflected in regional and national policy frameworks, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Global conference to accelerate nature-based solutions: Q&A with Self Help Africa’s Patricia Wall
- This week, more than 150 conservation and community organizations, experts and policymakers are gathering in Zambia for the Accelerating Nature-based Solutions conference.
- Discussions will dive deep into critical issues and concerns regarding nature-based solutions and the roles of agroforestry, farmer-managed natural regeneration and wildlife conservation in NbS.
- The conference will also address the issue of carbon offsetting and greenhouse gas emissions, and the need to safeguard the rights of local communities or Indigenous communities when implementing nature-based solutions.

Culture and conservation thrive as Great Lakes tribes bring back native wild rice
- Wild rice or manoomin is an ecologically important and culturally revered wetland species native to the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, which once covered thousands of acres and was a staple for Indigenous peoples.
- Over the past two centuries, indiscriminate logging, dam building, mining, and industrial pollution have decimated the wild rice beds, and today climate change and irregular weather patterns threaten the species’ future.
- In recent years, native tribes and First Nations, working with federal and state agencies, scientists and funding initiatives, have led wild rice restoration programs that have successfully revived the species in parts of the region and paved the way for education and outreach.
- Experts say more research and investments must be directed towards wild rice, and such initiatives need the support of all stakeholders to bring back the plant.

Agroecological solutions better than pesticides in fighting fall armyworm, experts say
- Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) is an invasive agricultural pest, which first hit West Africa in 2016 and quickly spread across the continent.
- Experts have now found that the pest’s impact on maize yields is no longer as severe as initially feared.
- An integrated pest management approach, prioritizing nontoxic control measures, is the best way to tackle the infestation, improve yields and protect human health, according to experts.

Nile Basin farmers grow food forests to restore wetlands and bring back a turtle
- Sugarcane is a widely grown crop in the Nile Basin, but its destructive effects on soils, water resources and biodiversity have become increasingly apparent.
- As the thirsty crop draws down water resources, aquatic species like the critically endangered Nubian flapshell turtle suffer a loss of habitat, forage and nesting sites.
- In an effort to revive soils, diversify diets and incomes, and boost water levels that many animals rely on, communities are implementing agroforestry projects in lieu of monocultures.
- The resulting “food forests” attract an array of wildlife while refilling wetlands and river systems where the culturally important flapshell turtles swim.

Can ecotourism protect Raja Ampat, the ‘Crown Jewel’ of New Guinea?
- The world’s most biodiverse marine environment, Raja Ampat in Indonesia, is often seen as a conservation success story.
- With more than 20,000 square kilometers (7,700 square miles) of marine protected areas, the archipelago is famous for its government-supported conservation efforts, ecotourism, sapphire-blue waters, and stunning geography.
- On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, host Mike DiGirolamo travels to several islands in the area to speak with local communities about the benefits and challenges of ecotourism and to catch a glimpse of some amazing endemic species.

Black rhinos moved to Kenya’s Loisaba Conservancy as species recovers
- Twenty-one critically endangered black rhinos are settling into their new home at Loisaba Conservancy in northern Kenya.
- The translocations were prompted by the fact that Kenya’s 16 black rhino sanctuaries are running out of space — a remarkable turnaround from rampant poaching in the 1970s and ’80s that reduced the country’s rhino population from 20,000 to fewer than 300.
- The translocated animals, 10 bulls and 11 cows, arrived at Loisaba from Nairobi National Park, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.
- The animals were carefully moved over a period of three weeks and released into a fenced sanctuary covering nearly half the conservancy, marking the first time the species has been present at Loisaba since 1976.

From exporting coral to restoring reefs, a Madagascar startup rethinks business
- After her father died, Jeimila Donty took over her family’s coral export business and shifted its focus to conservation, creating Koraï.
- Donty is part of a young “pro-climate” generation that’s keen to incorporate the environment into business models.
- Koraï plants corals in Madagascan waters on behalf of other companies as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments.
- The business is ambitious and faces challenges, such as recruiting workers and a lack of political support.

Indigenous Zenú turn to ancestral seeds, agroecology to climate-proof their farming
- In response to last year’s record-breaking heat due to El Niño and impacts from climate change, Indigenous Zenú farmers in Colombia are trying to revive the cultivation of traditional climate-resilient seeds and agroecology systems.
- One traditional farming system combines farming with fishing: locals fish during the rainy season when water levels are high, and farm during the dry season on the fertile soils left by the receding water.
- Locals and ecologists say conflicts over land with surrounding plantation owners, cattle ranchers and mines are also worsening the impacts of the climate crisis.
- To protect their land, the Zenú reserve, which is today surrounded by monoculture plantations, was in 2005 declared the first Colombian territory free from GMOs.

‘We’re doing so much with so little’: Interview with WildLabs’ Talia Speaker
- The use of technology for conservation and wildlife monitoring increased in recent years, with camera traps and remote sensing being the most popular tools, a report has found.
- The report by conservation technology network WildLabs also found that artificial intelligence was highly ranked for its potential impact, but was ranked low in terms of current performance because of accessibility issues.
- Marginalized groups, including women and people from lower-income countries, were found to face disproportionate barriers to accessing resources and training.
- “The motivation behind this research was to capture the experiences of the global conservation technology community, and to speak with a united voice,” says Talia Speaker, who led the research.

Pakistan bucks global trend with 30-year mangrove expansion
- Around the world, mangrove forests have undergone a decades-long decline that is just now slowing to a halt.
- In Pakistan, by contrast, mangroves expanded nearly threefold between 1986 and 2020, according to a 2022 analysis of satellite data.
- Experts attribute this success to massive mangrove planting and conservation, as well as concerted community engagement.
- Many in Pakistan are looking to mangroves to bolster precious fish stocks and defend against the mounting effects of climate change — even as threats to mangroves, such as wood harvesting and camel grazing, continue with no end in sight.

New fund supports Indigenous-led land management in biodiverse area of Bolivia
- A new funding mechanism aims to support the territorial land management visions of four Indigenous groups in the region, including the Tacana, Lecos, T’simane Mosetene and San José de Uchupiamonas Indigenous peoples, who also contributed to the creation of this fund, along with the Regional Organization of Indigenous People of La Paz (CPILAP).
- The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) launched the new funding mechanism, in collaboration with Bolivia’s Foundation for the Development of the National System of Protected Areas (FUNDESNAP); the new mechanism will channel conservation funds to Indigenous organizations in the Madidi Landscape.
- The Madidi Landscape is one of the most biodiverse terrestrial protected areas in the world, where scientists have recorded the most plant, butterfly, bird and mammal species.
- The new fund, announced Oct. 30, has so far attracted $650,000 in initial support from the Bezos Earth Fund.

First ever U.S. Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area declared in California
- The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, Resighini Rancheria, and Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community designated the first ever Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area (IMSA) in the U.S. along the northern California coast.
- The tribes plan to steward nearly 700 mi2 (1,800 km2) of their ancestral ocean and coastal territories from the California-Oregon border to Little River near the town of Trinidad, California.
- As sovereign nations, the tribes say they’re not seeking state or federal agencies’ permission to assert tribally led stewardship rights and responsibilities; rather, they want to establish cooperative relationships recognizing their inherent Indigenous governance authority.
- The tribes aim to restore traditional ecological knowledge and management practices that sustained the area’s natural abundance before colonial disruption.

Kenyan villagers show how to harvest more octopus by fishing less
- Residents of Munje, a fishing village south of the Kenyan port of Mombasa, have established an octopus closure to ensure sustainable fishing.
- Octopus catches in the reefs just offshore had been declining as larger numbers of fishers, often using damaging techniques, hunted this profitable species.
- Previous attempts to regulate the octopus fishery had failed, but the village’s beach management unit enlisted support from an NGO to replicate successful strategies from elsewhere.
- Clearer communication and patient consensus-building have secured buy-in from the community, and the village is anticipating a second successful harvest period in February.

We need a better understanding of how crops fare under solar panels, study shows
- In agrivoltaics, farmers grow crops beneath or between solar panels.
- Proponents say the technology can help achieve clean energy goals while maintaining food production, but experts caution that careful analysis and guidelines are needed if we’re not to compromise agricultural production.
- A new synthesis of previously published studies finds that overall crop yields decline as the amount of land covered by solar panels increases.
- This ground cover ratio is a convenient, easily measured and reproducible metric that can be used to predict crop yields and better evaluate agrivoltaic systems.

Indigenous effort in Bangladesh helps reverse endangered fish’s slide to extinction
- Unchecked logging and quarrying of rocks from streambeds in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts led to springs drying up and populations of putitor mahseer fish, an endangered species, disappearing.
- The situation was worsened by climate change impacts, characterized here by a more intense dry season during which even streams that once ran year-round now dry up.
- A project launched in 2016 and backed by USAID and the UNDP is working with Indigenous communities to reverse this decline, starting with efforts to cut down on logging and quarrying.
- As a result of these efforts, areas where forests have been conserved have seen the flow of springs stabilize and populations of putitor mahseer and other fish revive.

Aigamo method: using ducks as rice farmers
- This Mongabay Explains’ episode examines the agroecology method of aigamo, where ducks are introduced into rice fields to provide weed and pest control, plus free fertilizer, for the grains.
- Originating in Asia, it’s been successfully adapted at a rice farm in Vermont, which is now training other farmers in the sustainable technique to boost the production of rice in the region.
- Agroecology is a set of sustainable agricultural techniques modeled upon natural ecosystems that also applies ancient growing traditions developed by Indigenous, traditional and local communities.

Camera-traps help identify conservation needs of Thailand’s coastal otters
- Otters are sometimes described as the “tigers of the mangrove” in Southeast Asia, where they’re well-known to display extraordinary resilience and adaptability to human activity and urbanization.
- A new camera-trap study now highlights the importance of expanses of natural habitat, such as coastal forests and wetlands, for two species of otter living along southern Thailand’s increasingly modified coasts.
- The research team found that while otters are able to live within human-modified landscapes, tracts of natural habitat offer them vital refugia from a slew of threats, such as road collisions, prey depletion due to pollution of watercourses, and conflict with fish and shrimp farmers.
- The authors used their findings to create maps that indicate where conservationists and wildlife departments should prioritize management and monitoring for these vital top wetland predators.

How will we know when local communities benefit from carbon offset schemes? (commentary)
- Carbon credit schemes face a crisis of legitimacy and often struggle to demonstrate the support of communities who must forgo land uses not compatible with the production and retention of carbon.
- At the very least, such projects should not negatively impact affected communities, but community support is also not a simple matter of just obtaining free prior and informed consent (FPIC), but rather it is a matter of building relationships and assessing impacts on communities over the life of such projects, which can span generations.
- “We have proposed a framework for measuring, assessing, and improving community benefits and impacts from carbon projects [which] includes a subjective data collection survey instrument that measures holistic well-being as a critical measure of community well-being in climate projects,” the authors of a new op-ed write.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Do carbon credits really help communities that keep forests standing?
- Communities play a critical role in REDD+, a forest conservation strategy that aims to reduce emissions that can be sold as credits to raise money for forest protection.
- REDD+ projects often include components for the benefit of the communities, such as a focus on alternative livelihoods and provision of health care and education.
- But reports that REDD+ communities have faced abuses and rights violations have emerged recently in connection with high-profile REDD+ projects.
- Several Indigenous-led organizations have voiced their support for REDD+ because, they say, it provides an avenue to fund their climate-related conservation work, while other groups say it’s not the answer.

‘No end in sight’ for potential of conservation tech: Q&A with Megan Owen
- For the past seven years, the conservation technology lab at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been working to develop and deploy technology that can automate the collection and processing of wildlife data.
- Running a tech lab in a zoo has the benefit of providing scientists with a setting where they can use the wildlife in their care to validate the data and calibrate the technology.
- Team members at the lab are also working to develop and mentor the next generation of conservation technologists who can keep up with the rapidly evolving field.
- Making the technology “low-cost and accessible, fixable, deployable and programmable” continue to be some of the challenges that the team is working to overcome, according to SDZWA vice president of conservation science Megan Owen.

Who protects nature better: The state or communities? It’s complicated
- In a new study, more than 50 researchers conducted a review comparing the effectiveness of state-managed protected areas and areas managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities.
- The review found that comparing the two was very challenging for various reasons, including the difficulty in figuring out who was managing an area, as well as a lack of comparable data and different groups of researchers measuring different things, making comparisons hard.
- The studies that did allow for comparisons showed that no single governance type consistently outperformed the other. What works better seems to be super local and context dependent.
- At the same time, the review found that, in general, the existing scientific literature underscores the importance of community-driven conservation.

Sumatra coffee farmers brew natural fertilizer as inflation bites
- Farmers in Indonesia’s Lampung province are making their own organic fertilizer in order to lessen reliance on volatile external supply chains.
- They’ve also diversified the number of crops they grow, interspersing avocado and candlenut trees among crops like coffee and vanilla.
- Advocates of organic farming maintain that techniques like those on display in Lampung can boost yields while countering some of the costs and negative impacts of chemical products.

In Brazil’s Caatinga, adapted agroforests are producing food from dry lands
- In northeastern Brazil, the model known as Agrocaatinga has proven to be the most productive and effective in increasing food security for families, generating income and preserving native vegetation.
- Previously degraded lands now produce around 50 types of food, thanks to the combination of an agroforestry system with rainwater harvesting techniques.
- Agrocaatingas emerged from the commercial demand for wild passion fruit, a native fruit that today yields up to $600 per harvest for families — four times the local per capita monthly income.

In Brazil’s Caatinga, these families excel in farming productivity

UAUÁ, Bahia, Brazil — In northeastern Brazil, the innovative Agrocaatinga model is revolutionizing food security, income generation, and native vegetation preservation. This sustainable approach combines agroforestry with rainwater harvesting techniques, revitalizing previously degraded lands to produce over 50 different food types. Originating from the growing commercial demand for wild passion fruit, this model enables families […]
Ten top sustainable agriculture stories of 2023

The new Future Seeds facility holds the world's largest collection of bean varieties. Photo via The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT / Juan Pablo Marin

Agriculture is a core area of Mongabay’s coverage both because the world must find more sustainable ways to feed its human societies and because how it’s currently practiced is generally detrimental to forests, biodiversity, and the climate. Agroecology is the overarching term which encompasses such sustainable agriculture solutions that we cover, from organic farming to […]
Causeway threatens mangroves that Philippine fishers planted as typhoon shield
- The city of Tacloban in the central Philippines was ground zero for Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded and the deadliest in the Philippines’ modern record.
- A decade after the storm, the city is moving forward with controversial plans to build a road embankment and land reclamation project that proponents say will help protect the city from storm surges.
- Opponents of the plan say it threatens local fisheries, will disrupt natural storm protection measures like mangroves, and is poorly designed as a barrier against storms.
- The plan will also result in the relocation of a coastal village of 500 households, who have been active stewards of the bay’s mangrove forests.

Marine conservation technology hub rises from old L.A. wharf (analysis)
- In 2014, the Port of Los Angeles gave a 50-year lease to an aging wharf called City Dock No. 1 to a project called AltaSea.
- AltaSea is a non-profit project founded in 2014 that in less than 10 years has become a leading ‘blue economy’ research hub focused on renewable ocean energy, sustainable aquaculture and other blue technologies.
- Hub tenants include marine renewable energy startups, sustainable aquaculture projects, a marine seed bank, a research effort aimed at decarbonizing oceanic shipping, and other projects.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Community forestry is a conservation solution in Nepal: Q&A with Teri Allendorf
- Conservation biologist Teri Allendorf talks about the opportunities and challenges facing the community-based forest conservation program in Nepal.
- She argues that the program has been a success and the government needs to do more to empower the communities to work on biodiversity conservation.
- With Nepalis getting more exposure to the wider world, many will want to return home and help protect the environment and their forests, she hopes.

Bird-friendly maple syrup boosts Vermont forest diversity & resilience
- A relatively new program in Vermont is helping both maple syrup-producing farms and their customers to improve forest habitat preferred by a diversity of bird species.
- Launched in 2014, the Bird-Friendly Maple Project furnishes a logo to qualifying farms for use on their products, if they can demonstrate that the forests where they tap sugar maple trees contain a diversity of trees and shrubs, which improves the woodlands’ structure and foraging and nesting opportunities for birds.
- Creating a biologically diverse farm is a major tenet of the sustainable agriculture technique of agroecology, because it leads to greater resilience and health of the farm, its farmers and its wildlife.
- Maple syrup operations included in the program cover 7,284 hectares (18,000 acres) of forests via 90 participating farms as the program is now being replicated in New York, Massachusetts and Maine.

Protecting the Brazilian Caatinga from desertification

UAUÁ, Bahia, Brazil — In northern Bahia, 35 communities have united to protect and restore nearly 100,000 acres of the unique Caatinga dry forest in northeastern Brazil. Through the Recaatingamento project, families are learning essential skills to conserve native vegetation, manage goat overpopulation, and explore sustainable income sources, such as foraging for wild fruits. The […]
New tool aims to make nature-based solutions projects in SE Asia a better sell
- A coalition of conservation NGOs has introduced a new tool aimed at helping local communities in Southeast Asia apply more effectively for funding for nature-based solutions projects.
- The group, which includes Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy, says the region has massive potential for projects to absorb carbon and protect wildlife, but that access to funding remains a huge gap.
- The new NbS tool is designed to help project managers put together project documentation that includes data analysis that should make it easier for donors to immediately identify the benefits from the projects being proposed.
- The tool isn’t limited to helping package nature-based solutions projects; proponents say it can also be used to put together the paperwork needed for other community-led initiatives that require data documentation and analysis.

Wild by nature: Ecological restoration brings humanity and biodiversity together
- Ecological restoration is “an attempt to design nature with non-human collaborators” in response to the biodiversity crisis.
- The very idea that nature is something outside of society often hampers practical solutions, and is an impediment to restoring ecosystems, Laura Martin, associate professor of environmental studies at Williams College, argues in this episode of the Mongabay Newscast.
- In this podcast conversation, co-host Rachel Donald speaks with Martin about the shift in mindset required to tackle biodiversity loss that centers on a restorative approach that’s human-inclusive and mobilizes public participation rather than exclusion.

A community-led strategy to save Brazil’s dry forests from desertification
- In northern Bahia state, 35 communities have come together to conserve and recover close to 100,000 acres of Caatinga dry forest in northeastern Brazil.
- With the Recaatingamento project, families learn to preserve native vegetation, control the overpopulation of goats, and invest in sustainable sources of income, such as gathering wild fruits.
- Affected by recurrent droughts, the Caatinga is one of the regions most susceptible to climate change in the world; it’s also Brazil’s third-most deforested biome, which contributes to accelerating desertification — 13% of the soil there is already sterile.

How a group in Ecuador protects 10% of the world’s bird species
- The Jocotoco Foundation, an Ecuadorian non-profit organization, has carved out a distinctive approach to nature conservation in Ecuador, leveraging a mix of approaches to preserve habitats critical for endangered bird species and other wildlife.
- The group, which now has 15 reserves across Ecuador that protect 10% of the planet’s bird species, works with a range of partners, including local communities.
- Martin Schaefer, Jocotoco’s head, told Mongabay the group adapts its approach depending on local conditions and circumstances: “For each species, we analyse its threats, whether we, as Jocotoco, can make a difference and by how much. Then, we review what the best approach may be.
- Following Rhett Ayers Butler’s visit to Jocotoco’s Narupa Reserve in July, Schaefer spoke about the organization’s work, the global challenges facing wildlife, and the shifting tides of public perception towards the environment.

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.

Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- With an economy largely underpinned by irrigated crops like rice, water is a crucial resource in Thailand. But as climate change exacerbates floods and droughts in the country, sustainable water management is an increasing challenge.
- Nature-based solutions that incorporate the natural processes of the country’s abundant rivers, floodplains and watershed forests are beginning to be trialed via various projects at large and small scales.
- A new report assesses the efficacy of two nature-based approaches to water management in Thailand, which represent a step away from the country’s typically top-down, hard-engineering approach and present several benefits to the environment and communities.
- However, environmental and societal tradeoffs, complex policy frameworks, and the need for greater understanding and expertise around the concept, design and implementation of nature-based approaches are barriers to their widespread implementation.

A Brazilian NGO restores widely degraded Atlantic Forest amid mining threats
- Iracambi is a Brazilian NGO in the Serra do Brigadeiro mountain range, located in the heart of the Atlantic Forest, a biome largely destroyed by rampant deforestation.
- Leveraging partnerships with local schools and communities, Iracambi hopes to replant 1 million native trees by 2030 and restore the lost Atlantic Forest; 250,000 trees have already been planted.
- The Serra do Brigadeiro region has the second-largest reserve of bauxite in Brazil, attracting mining interests to the region.
- Relentless activism swayed a prospecting mining company to invest in important social development projects in the region, but activists remain concerned about the possible impacts mining will have on the environment and small producers’ livelihoods.

How creative & emotive communication conserved 55,000 acres of Peru’s Amazon
- Protecting the Peruvian Amazon is dangerous work, but conservationist Paul Rosolie and his nonprofit Junglekeepers team have attracted millions of dollars in funding to protect 55,000 acres of rainforest in the country’s Madre de Dios region.
- Rosolie first received international recognition via his 2014 memoir, “Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey in the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon.”
- Today, he runs both a nonprofit and an ecotourism service that employs and is co-led by local and Indigenous people.
- In this podcast episode, Rosolie reflects on his decade-plus journey to today and shares his recipe for conservation success.

NGO restores the Atlantic Forest amid mining threats in Brazil

MINAS GERAIS, Brazil — Serra do Brigadeiro State Park in Minas Gerais, Brazil, is not only a stunning natural haven but also home to Iracambi, a dedicated NGO focused on conservation and environmental education within the Atlantic Forest biome. This vital area has faced significant destruction due to deforestation, making Iracambi’s work even more crucial. […]
Despite progress, small share of climate pledge went to Indigenous groups: report
- A report from funders of a $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights made at the 2021 U.N. climate conference found that 48% of the financing was distributed.
- The findings also show that only 2.1% of the funding went directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities, despite petitions to increase direct funding for their role in combating climate change and biodiversity loss.
- This is down from the 2.9% of direct funding that was disbursed in 2021.
- Both donors and representatives of Indigenous and community groups call for more direct funding to these organizations by reducing the obstacles they face, improving their capacity, and respecting traditional knowledge systems.

Keeping herbivores at bay helps in early stages of restoration, studies show
- Excluding herbivores from restoration areas may lead to an increase in both vegetation abundance and plant diversity, according to a new analysis.
- The global-scale analysis, which reviewed hundreds of studies, found that herbivores tend to be more common in areas undergoing restoration and can slow down vegetation recovery.
- While native herbivores play a crucial role in healthy ecosystems, researchers argue it may be beneficial to keep them from entering heavily degraded areas in the early stages of restoration.
- The impact of herbivores on restoration varies, and project managers should consider timing and local conditions when deciding whether to exclude, tolerate, or introduce herbivores.

How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
- Decades of deforestation to make way for oil palm monoculture have transformed the Kinabatangan River floodplain in east Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, dividing wildlife populations and confining many of the region’s most iconic species to small fragments of forest that cling on along the river.
- Local communities and conservation initiatives are working together to restore and reconnect pockets of remaining habitat along the river to preserve the vital wildlife corridor, but restoration in the unpredictable and often-waterlogged floodplain is notoriously difficult.
- One such initiative, Regrow Borneo, is facing the challenge by leveraging the expertise of scientists and local knowledge of community members who have been planting forests along the Kinabatangan for decades.
- They say that by focusing their approach on a model that benefits both people and wildlife, they hope their program inspires others to shift away from simply planting numbers of trees toward restoring forests where they’re most needed, including in areas that present challenging conditions.

Jamaica battles relentless plastic pollution in quest to restore mangroves
- In recent decades, mangroves in Jamaica have declined rapidly, from about 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) in the 1970s to about 9,945 hectares (24,574 acres) now.
- Currently there are several efforts to restore mangroves in the island country, as experts recognize the many ecosystem services they provide, including the protection and stabilization of coastlines as human-induced climate change worsens.
- However, restoration efforts face numerous challenges: Near Kingston, the main one is voluminous tides of plastic waste, which can stunt mangrove growth or kill them.

As U.S. insurers stop covering prescribed burns, states and communities step up
- Prescribed fires are a positive land management method, but when the flames occasionally escape control, the resulting damage to land and private property also hurts this conservation tool’s reputation.
- U.S. insurance companies are thus charging increasingly unaffordable premiums for coverage of this activity or are dropping the service altogether in the wake of some particularly large recent accidents.
- As a result, many small conservation groups and private businesses are getting out of the habit of using fire to improve grassland health, boost wildlife habitat, and decrease likelihood of catastrophic wildfires.
- California is bridging this gap with a new state program that insures the activity, while prescribed fire associations, where residents and firefighters cooperate to carry out burns on private land, are increasingly popping up in communities.

Is ocean iron fertilization back from the dead as a CO₂ removal tool?
- After a hiatus of more than 10 years, a new round of research into ocean iron fertilization is set to begin, with scientists saying the controversial geoengineering approach has the potential to remove “gigatons per year” of carbon dioxide from Earth’s atmosphere.
- The idea behind ocean iron fertilization is that dumping iron into parts of the ocean where it’s scarce could spark massive blooms of phytoplankton, which, when they die, can sink to the bottom of the sea, carrying the CO₂ absorbed during photosynthesis to be sequestered in the seabed for decades to millennia.
- So far, proof that this could work as a climate-change solution has remained elusive, while questions abound over its potential ecological impacts.
- Scientists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, U.S., recently received $2 million in funding from the U.S. government that will enable computer modeling research that could pave the way for eventual in-ocean testing, effectively reviving research into ocean iron fertilization.

Can carbon markets solve Africa’s climate finance woes?
- The African Carbon Markets Initiative, a consortium of Global North donors, corporate representatives, conservation groups and energy lobbyists, is pushing to expand carbon markets on the continent.
- The effort has gained the vocal support of Kenyan President William Ruto, along with a number of other African heads of state, who see carbon markets as a way to generate badly needed climate finance.
- But African environmental groups have sharply criticized carbon markets, saying they represent a “false solution” to the climate crisis and will mostly enrich bankers and traders based outside the continent.
- The drive to scale up carbon markets in Africa and elsewhere is set to be a major agenda item at this month’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

To keep track of salmon migrations in real time, First Nations turn to AI
- Partnering with First Nations, a new interdisciplinary study proposes harnessing artificial intelligence and computer-based detection to count and produce real-time data about salmon numbers.
- Monitoring their population when they return to the rivers and creeks is crucial to keep tabs on the health of the population and sustainably manage the stock, but the current manual process is laborious, time-consuming and often error-prone.
- Fisheries experts say the use of real-time population data can help them make timely informed decisions about salmon management, prevent overfishing of stocks, and give a chance for the dwindling salmon to bounce back to healthy levels.
- First Nations say the automated monitoring tool also helps them assert their land rights and steward fisheries resources in their territories.

Not MPAs but OECMs: Can a new designation help conserve the ocean?
- To meet the landmark commitment struck last year to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030, the world’s nations will have to designate many new and large marine protected areas. But there’s also a different, less familiar option for meeting that target: “other effective area-based conservation measures,” or OECMs, areas that are not necessarily designed to protect biodiversity — they just happen to do so.
- Countries are now working to identify areas that meet the criteria and register them as OECMs, including in Africa where a recent webinar highlighted the promises and pitfalls of this relatively new conservation designation.
- Conservationists say OECMs could bring many positives, including the development, recognition or financing of de facto conservation areas led by local communities or Indigenous peoples.
- However, they also warn of the dangers of “bluewashing” or creating so-called paper OECMs that fail to deliver real conservation benefits in the rush to meet the 2030 deadline.

A mobile solution for Kenyan pastoralists’ livestock is a plus for wildlife, too
- The use of mobile bomas, or corrals, to keep livestock safe from predators has shown a wide range of benefits for both pastoral communities and wildlife in Kenya’s Maasai Mara.
- The bomas reduce the risk of disease and predation among livestock, while allowing for the regeneration of degraded grazing land, which in turn draws in more wild herbivores to the area.
- The increased wildlife presence has led to a rise in wildlife tourism, valued at $7.5 million annually in the 2,400-hectare (6,000-acre) Enonkishu Conservancy.
- Observers warn of potential downsides, however, including food insecurity as community members abandon farming in favor of more lucrative tourism work, and a rise in human-wildlife conflict as the area’s wildlife population grows.

Betting on biodiversity: Q&A with Superorganism’s Kevin Webb & Tom Quigley
- Superorganism is a newly launched venture capital firm, touted to be the first that’s dedicated to addressing the biodiversity crisis.
- The firm aims to support startups that are developing and deploying technology to prevent biodiversity loss and protect nature.
- The firm’s early portfolio includes companies that are working to tackle extinction drivers and finding solutions that lay at the intersection of biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

A sanctuary for elephants and forests in Cambodia
- The Elephant Valley Project in eastern Cambodia is a sanctuary where aging captive elephants can live out their days amid the forested foothills of the Annamite Mountains supported by tourism.
- But tourists stopped coming when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began and the world ceased traveling in 2020, leaving the project searching for ways to continue its work with the elephants and the nearby communities.
- Leaders of the project said it has provided jobs, education and health care support, and protection for a key area of mature forest along the edge of Keo Seima, Cambodia’s most biodiverse wildlife sanctuary.
- One possible avenue for funding may be the nearby REDD+ forest conservation project in Keo Seima, based on the protection of the forest from threats like illegal logging and hunting that the presence of the elephants and their mahouts has provided.

São Paulo nurseries bring the city’s rare and forgotten trees back to life
- São Paulo’s three municipal nurseries produce around 1.5 million native seedlings every year to green up the city.
- The Harry Blossfeld nursery alone produces 270,000 seedlings from more than 200 species of trees, 22 of which are threatened with extinction.
- By rescuing forgotten tree species, municipal nurseries have become spaces for science and the production of knowledge about the behavior of little-known native plants.
- Public landscaping helps recharge aquifers, combats heat islands, prevents flooding, attracts wildlife, improves air quality, reduces noise pollution, and contributes to city dwellers’ emotional and physical well-being.

Taking the global pulse of biodiversity monitoring: Q&A with Andrew Gonzalez
- A group of scientists have put forward a proposal to set up a global network that centralizes biodiversity monitoring and facilitates seamless sharing of data.
- The group wants its proposed Global Biodiversity Observing System (GBiOS) to function similarly to the network of local weather monitoring stations across the world, whose data are used to analyze and monitor climate change.
- While the technology being used to monitor biodiversity has become more sophisticated over the years, there still exists a void in getting different communities to work together to address the broader challenges in dealing with the biodiversity crisis.
- “We would not only federate people who are working together more effectively, but also fill many of the gaps in the data that currently exist in the biodiversity field,” Andrew Gonzalez, who is leading the proposal for GBiOS, told Mongabay.

Indonesian village forms coast guard to protect octopus in Mentawai Islands
- An island community in Indonesia’s Mentawai archipelago has responded to dwindling octopus stocks with a seasonal fishing closure to enable recovery.
- Global demand for octopus is expected to outpace supply over the medium term, implying higher dockside prices for many artisanal fishers, if stocks can be managed sustainably.
- Maintenance of local fishing grounds also offers crucial nutritional benefits for remote coastal communities in the Mentawais, where rates of child stunting exceed Indonesia’s national average.

Forest restoration can fare better with human helping hand, study shows
- A two-decade-old experiment in the tropical rainforest of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, is beginning to reveal that human-assisted restoration of logged forests can increase the speed of an ecosystem’s recovery.
- The researchers also found that planting a diverse suite of seedlings, instead of only one species, led in just one decade to greater biomass and forest complexity.
- The study provides more weight to the argument that greater forest species diversity in general — and specifically for restorations — delivers more ecosystem services, possibly including carbon sequestration.
- However, there is the possibility that the particular life cycle of the type of trees used in this study — hardwood tropical species from the Dipterocarpaceae family, chiefly found in Southeast Asia — could have especially enhanced diversity in this case.

From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model
- In 2016, conservationists began restoring the island of Redonda, part of Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, by removing invasive rats and goats.
- Shortly after removing these invasive species, vegetation on the island sprang back to life, and seabirds and other wildlife recolonized the island.
- In September 2023, the government of Antigua and Barbuda announced it had established the Redonda Ecosystem Reserve, covering nearly 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of land and sea.
- Experts say they hope Redonda’s restoration and successive protection will be used as a model for similar projects across the Caribbean.

Video: Rice as a peace offering in India’s human-elephant conflict capital
- Assam state in northeastern India, where farmers and elephants jostle for space and food, has one of the highest incidences of human-elephant conflict in the country.
- Conservationists from Hati Bondhu, a nonprofit organization, are working with farmers in Assam’s Golaghat district to pursue a more peaceful human-elephant coexistence.
- Their first experimental project, which was to grow rice in some fields dedicated to elephants so farmers could harvest separately elsewhere, was a success.
- They’re now planning solutions to overcome the limitations of this short-term project, involving more villages and planting more species outside of farmlands in large-scale projects.

First Nation and scientists partner to revive climate-saving eelgrass
- Seagrass meadows, of which eelgrass is a key species, are some of the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems in the ocean, and play a crucial role in sequestering carbon.
- But eelgrass is disappearing rapidly around the globe, and in Canada, questions remain about where exactly these meadows are distributed, and how effective they are at storing carbon.
- A collaborative project between marine biologists and Indigenous Mi’kmaq communities is attempting to answer these questions in eastern Canada while also restoring lost eelgrass meadows.
- The project could help with eelgrass’s long-term survival in the area, as researchers identify eelgrass populations that are more resilient to climate change, and communities work toward eelgrass conservation.

In São Paulo’s cityscape, community gardens prompt a new food paradigm
- The NGO Cidades sem Fome (Cities Without Hunger) has established more than 80 urban and school gardens across São Paulo, turning vacant lots that were once breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes into sources of income, health and food security.
- The project’s largest garden, beneath transmission lines run by power utility Enel, measures nearly 1 hectare (2.5 acres) and produces up to 6 metric tons of 33 different types of leafy and root vegetables per month.
- One-third of São Paulo territory is zoned as rural, with more than 700 commercial agricultural units registered on the city’s Sampa+Rural platform, contribute to food security and helping fight climate change impacts.

Can ‘road ecology’ save millions of animals?
- About a million animals are killed on roads every day in the U.S., and globally that number is much higher.
- One of the most ubiquitous features of human societies, roads are only projected to increase, with 25 million more miles predicted to be built by 2050.
- Author Ben Goldfarb’s latest book, “Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of our Planet,” details the problem of roads and he joins Mongabay's podcast to discuss the havoc they have wreaked upon the natural world and the wildlife-friendly solutions that are now emerging.
- “If we want to show empathy and compassion and love to other beings, well, one way to do that is to design roads that don’t kill them,” he says on this episode.

‘The forest is so much more than money’: Q&A with Fijian carbon project ranger Jerry Lotawa
- Jerry Lotawa grew up in Drawa village in the forested highlands of Fiji’s largest island, and is now putting his ecological knowledge to use as lead ranger for the country’s first verified forest carbon project.
- The Indigenous-led project protects 4,120 hectares (10,181 acres) of rainforest that’s under threat from logging and clearing for agriculture, through a 30-year conservation lease that stretches across land belonging to eight mataqali (clans).
- The project has been selling carbon credits since 2018, with the proceeds distributed to the mataqali according to the amount of land they set aside for conservation, and each clan then choosing whether to share the money equally among its members or to hold it collectively for larger projects such as education and infrastructure.
- According to Lotawa, the project has helped locals to better understand the importance of their forest in maintaining their lives and livelihoods, and to pursue economic activities that don’t negatively impact the ecosystem.

Photos: Fiji’s first Indigenous-owned carbon credit project
- Fiji’s first verified forest carbon credit project is based in the Drawa rainforest on the country’s largest island, and has been earning income for its Indigenous landowners for five years now, in exchange for keeping their forests standing amid pressure from logging companies to fell its ancient trees.
- To make sure the project offers a compelling alternative to quick cash from logging permits, alternative livelihood opportunities are important ways to provide day-to-day income for individuals, alongside the cash from carbon credits that’s disbursed to mataqali (clans) on a quarterly basis and often used for collective projects.
- A number of local young men have been trained as rangers to monitor the protected areas, while other villagers, mostly women, are benefiting from their roles in a growing rainforest honey business — though scaling up the business to a more lucrative level remains a challenge.

African Parks to rewild 2,000 rhinos from controversial breeding program
- African Parks, which manages national parks in several countries across the continent, announced it has purchased Platinum Rhino, John Hume’s controversial intensive rhino breeding project
- The conservation organization plans to rewild all 2,000 southern white rhinos in Hume’s project, following a framework to be developed by independent experts.
- The biggest challenge African Parks will face is finding safe spaces to translocate 300 rhinos to every year, as poaching the animals for their horns shows little sign of diminishing.

NASA satellites reveal restoration power of beavers
- A new partnership between NASA and researchers is measuring the impact of beavers reintroduced to landscapes in Idaho.
- Beavers are one of the world’s most powerful ecosystem engineers, building new habitats by slowing water flow and reducing flooding, while also boosting biodiversity.
- Beavers are all the more important in an age of rapid climate change, as they produce wetter and more resilient habitats, even in the face of wildfires.
- “NASA is interested in how satellite Earth observations can be used for natural resource management,” a member of the space agency’s Ecological Conservation Program tells Mongabay.

Sundarbans tiger and prey numbers rise amid Bangladesh conservation efforts
- Recent surveys of big cats and prey in the Sundarbans indicate that numbers for both have increased significantly in recent years, thanks to different conservation measures taken by the Bangladesh government.
- According to the last survey conducted in 2018, there were 114 tigers in the Bangladesh portion of the Sundarbans, while the number counted in 2004 was 440.
- An ongoing camera trapping tiger census has found more presence of tigers across the forest than in earlier counts. The final count of the tiger population will be announced on International Tiger Day, July 29, 2024.
- Experts say that an increase in tigers’ prey animals will reduce human-tiger conflict and help increase the tiger population.

Study finds old pear trees make for surprisingly rich reef habitats
- In a new study, researchers used old pear trees to create artificial reefs and settled them in the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands to see what kinds of marine biodiversity aggregated on or around them.
- They found that the tree reefs attracted a surprising amount of biodiversity over a short period of time, including sessile organisms like barnacles and mobile species like fish and crabs.
- The authors say tree reefs can be replicated in other parts of the world, mainly temperate regions.

A forest gave Cambodia’s captive elephants a new life. Now they’re paying it back
- Until 2020, the Elephant Valley Project in eastern Cambodia had developed into a self-sustaining sanctuary where aging captive elephants could live out their days amid the forested foothills of the Annamite Mountains.
- Leaders of the project say it provided jobs, education and health care support, and protection for a key area of mature forest along the edge of Keo Seima, Cambodia’s most biodiverse wildlife sanctuary.
- But tourists stopped coming when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began and the world ceased traveling in 2020, leaving the project searching for ways to continue its work with the elephants and the nearby communities. Visitors have begun to return, though not yet in the numbers prior to the pandemic.
- Site leaders say one possible avenue for funding may be the nearby REDD+ forest conservation project in Keo Seima. They argue that the sustained presence of elephants and their mahouts has helped protect the forest from threats like illegal logging and the deforestation that has pressed ever closer as the human population in the region has grown.

Mongabay Explains: How high-tech tools are used for successful reforestation
- This Mongabay Explains’ episode is part of a four-part Mongabay mini-series that examines the latest technological solutions to help tree-planting projects achieve scale and long-term efficiency.
- Using these innovative approaches could be vital for meeting international targets to repair degraded ecosystems, sequester carbon, and restore biodiversity.
- Advanced computer modeling, machine learning, drones, niche models using data, robotics and other technologies are helping to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of lost and degraded forest worldwide.

How the Amazon’s ‘greatest devastator’ sold cattle to a Carrefour supplier
- Arrested by Brazilian Federal Police, cattle rancher Bruno Heller and relatives have already received over $5 million in environmental fines. He is also suspected of land grabbing.
- Heller transported cattle from a family farm fined for environmental violations to two other properties free from environmental implications — this maneuver is an indication of the so-called “cattle laundering.”
- A Frialto Group meatpacking plant confirmed that it slaughtered 249 animals for the Heller family. The facility supplies Carrefour, but the French retail company states that the meat from animals raised by Heller did not reach its supermarkets.

Big promises to Indigenous groups from new global nature fund — but will it deliver?
- On August 24, 2023, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) ratified and established the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund to help developing countries meet their targets set up as part of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
- The new fund promises to invest 20% of its resources to directly support initiatives led by Indigenous peoples and local communities to protect and conserve biodiversity.
- While Indigenous communities welcome the move and are hopeful the new allocation will help them achieve their targets, they are skeptical about the barriers to accessing the funds, including delays and lack of knowledge.
- Some Indigenous representatives urge the GEF to rethink documentation requirements, the need for capacity building in the communities, and respect the individual community’s differences while designing the modalities for the GBFF.

Study: Tall trees and shade boost bat diversity on Africa’s cocoa farms
- Insect-eating bats prefer cocoa farms that retain large, old-growth trees that mimic the natural forest conditions.
- New research found higher abundance and diversity of bats on farms with 65% or greater shade cover — still common on cocoa farms in places like Cameroon, but rare in major cocoa-producing areas of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
- Related research has established that bats and birds can reduce the amount of pesticides cocoa farmers use, but also find yields decline where shade cover is greater than 30%.
- Researchers hope to find optimal levels of shade from native trees for agroforestry systems that provide homes for friendly bat and bird species while maximizing yields for farmers.

‘All will be well’: Q&A with Kenyan fisher turned coral gardener Katana Ngala
- Once a fisherman, Katana Ngala has been restoring corals near his home in Kuruwitu, Kenya, for more than 20 years.
- Early on, the area’s coral was degraded due to destructive fishing practices and coral bleaching, and he and other fishermen were experiencing diminished catches.
- Now the coral and fish are flourishing in the area, which the local community set aside as a no-fishing zone.
- Ngala spoke about the changes he’s seen in the coral garden over time and how he shares his commitment to the sea with fishers, students, scientists and the wider community in an interview with Mongabay at his seaside coral workshop.

Can land titles save Madagascar’s embattled biodiversity and people?
- Through its Titre Vert or Green Title initiative, the Malagasy government is opening up a path to land ownership for its most vulnerable citizens in the hopes it will help tackle hunger, internal migration, and forest loss.
- The state is using the initiative to lean on potential migrants to remain in the country’s deep south, where five years of failed rains have left 2 million people hungry, instead of migrating north, where they are often blamed for social tensions and for destroying forests.
- This March, the Malagasy government started work on a Titre Vert enclave in the Menabe region, a popular destination for migrants from the drought-hit south, to dissuade them from clearing unique dry forests to grow crops.
- Critics say the government is holding people back in a rain-starved region without providing enough support; in Menabe, backers of the project hope to provide ample assistance to get migrants out of the forests and onto their feet.

For International Youth Day, three youth conservation success stories
- This Saturday is International Youth Day, a day established by the U.N. to draw attention to youth issues worldwide.
- This year celebrates youth developing the “green skills” needed to shift the world into one that is environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly.
- In recognition of the international day, Mongabay spoke with three youths worldwide who initiated successful environmental restoration organizations in their communities.

World’s largest private rhino herd doesn’t have a buyer — or much of a future
- Controversial rhino breeder John Hume recently put his 1,999 southern white rhinos up for auction as he can no longer afford the $9,800 a day running costs — but no buyers have come forward so far.
- Hume’s intensive and high-density approach is undoubtedly effective at breeding rhinos, but with the main issue currently a shortage of safe space for rhino rather than a shortage of rhino, the project’s high running costs and concerns over rewilding captive-bred rhino make its future uncertain.
- Platinum Rhino’s financial issues reflect a broader debate around how to move forward with rhino conservation and the role that private owners have to play when the financial costs of rhino ownership far outweigh the returns.
- Update: The nonprofit conservation organization African Parks has moved to buy the rhinos and reintroduce them to the wild.

Zika, dengue transmission expected to rise with climate change
- A new study foresees a 20% increase in cases of viruses like dengue, Zika and chikungunya over the next 30 years due to climate change.
- Higher temperatures are already causing the diseases carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito to spread in cooler regions like southern Brazil and southern Europe.
- Deforestation also favors the spread of these illnesses because biodiversity-rich forests with more predators tend to inhibit mosquito populations.
- Brazil set a historic record in 2022, when more than 1,000 deaths resulting from the dengue virus were reported.

Kenyan fishers put new twists on an age-old marine conservation system
- Over the past two decades Kenyan fishing communities have been setting up no-fishing zones called tengefus, Swahili for “set aside.”
- The idea was inspired by the fishing habits of their forebears, who prior to colonization established seasonal fishing closures to ensure plentiful harvests.
- Today there are 22 tengefus in various stages of development in the country, some more successful than others.
- Successful tengefus have seen fish populations and coral cover increase, and they’ve established tourism enterprises that fund community initiatives. To work, experts say tengefus need support from communities, donors and the government.

Three new studies on Indigenous conservation for International Indigenous Peoples Day
- Indigenous peoples and local communities have nuanced, in-depth knowledge of climate change impacts that needs to be recognized by scientists and policy-makers, according to researchers.
- Industrial development threatens nearly 60% of Indigenous lands worldwide and renewable energy infrastructure expansion could become a dominant driver, according to a new peer-reviewed study.
- Indigenous groups and a growing body of studies emphasize the importance of Indigenous leadership, rights and land tenure for climate change mitigation.

Translocation is a viable option for Brazil’s threatened porcupines: Study
- Brazil’s thin-spined porcupine (Chaetomys subspinosus) is a picky eater that lives only in dense coastal habitats with well-developed canopies that allow the animals to move between trees; however, these habitats are increasingly under threat due to coastal development.
- Researchers used radio telemetry to monitor three porcupines that had been translocated to a new, permanent preservation area, as well as one local resident; they determined that translocation is a viable conservation tool for protecting these animals.
- The research also highlights the importance of conserving the porcupines’ restinga forest habitat and its unique features.

From debt to diversity: A journey of rewilding, carbon capture and hope
- Rewilding has transformed an English estate from a debt-ridden, conventional farm to a profitable haven of biodiversity.
- A study also shows that the rewilded farmland at Knepp absorbs more carbon dioxide than conventional farms, providing hope for climate change mitigation and soil restoration.
- The U.K. is transitioning to a new environmental land management framework offering incentives for practices that restore soil health and biodiversity, but private investment is still needed to bridge the funding gap.
- Nature restoration investment mechanisms to attract private investment are being developed using Knepp data and government funding.

As Bhutan reports big boost in tigers, coexistence strategies become necessary (commentary)
- Bhutan recently reported a 27% increase in its tiger population from the last systematic survey in 2015.
- This second national tiger survey was made possible thanks to data from 1,200 camera trap stations set up across some of the most treacherous Himalayan terrain.
- “Bhutan’s achievement is reason to celebrate [but] the tiger’s turnaround begs an important question: will people in Bhutan and other tiger range countries necessarily be enthusiastic about growth in tiger populations?” a new op-ed asks and then offers strategies to achieve greater coexistence.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Prickly babies: A Jamaican nursery aims to restore sea urchins felled by disease
- The long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) is a key algae grazer in the Caribbean. A disease outbreak in the 1980s killed off most of the urchins, resulting in the overgrowth of many Caribbean coral reefs with algae.
- Last year, a recurrence of the disease hampered the species’ slow recovery. This time, scientists were able to discover the culprit, which they revealed in a recent paper.
- The waters of Jamaica’s Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary remained largely unaffected by the disease. Scientists there collected healthy long-spined sea urchins and started an urchin nursery in hopes of restoring the species on reefs around the island.
- This story was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center.

Sulawesi sea nomads who inspired Avatar movie chart new course saving forests
- Umar Pasandre, a member of the seafaring Bajo people, has spent more than two decades protecting mangroves in Indonesia’s Gorontalo province.
- The Bajo people were first recorded by 16th-century explorers and inspired James Cameron’s sequel to “Avatar.”
- Umar leads local mangrove-replanting initiatives and has confronted those seeking to convert the forests for aquaculture production.

‘Mud, muck and death’: Cambodia’s plan to obstruct trawlers and revive local fishing
- On Cambodia’s coast, a local NGO is building concrete underwater structures in an effort to deter destructive illegal trawlers that kill most everything in the habitat.
- The structures also serve as artificial reefs that provide small nurseries for fish, sponges, grasses and other species.
- An ambitious government plan will erect the structures near 25 fishing communities along the country’s coastline in a bid to revive Cambodia’s nearshore marine fisheries, besieged by years of destructive illegal fishing and increasing development.
- If successful, the plan could bring an influx of funding to fishing communities hit hard by the destruction of marine habitats and loss of income that have forced many to leave in search of other work.

How biological surveys prevent destructive dams in the Balkans
- Over 3,000 hydropower dams are proposed to be built in the next few years on Balkan rivers.
- A conservation research and advocacy project says this number is too high, due to such dams’ likely detrimental effects on fragile freshwater ecology, and argues that permits granted to hydropower companies do not take biological richness adequately into account.
- The Balkan country of Albania agreed with them recently, using the group’s data as part of its decision to cancel a giant dam project proposed for the Vjosa River, and instead named the area a national park.
- Mongabay visited the group’s latest biological survey of the Neretva River in Bosnia-Herzegovina and shares this new video report.

Seaweed farmers in eastern Indonesia struggle in a changing climate
- Seaweed farmers in Indonesia are losing out on revenue from their harvests as a result of erratic weather patterns and warming waters — signs of climate change impacts.
- The warming seas encourage the growth of a bacteria that attacks the commercially valuable Eucheuma cottonii species of seaweed.
- To avoid this, farmers are harvesting their crops earlier, before the seaweed grows to the optimal size, giving them a smaller yield and lower revenue at the market.
- The farmers have devised some workarounds to adapt to the situation, but say these solutions can’t be sustained in the face of a changing climate.

Virtual fences can benefit both ranchers and wildlife
- Virtual fencing manages livestock using GPS-linked collars to train animals to stay within a set boundary, similar to an invisible dog fence.
- Coupled with the removal of existing barbed-wire fencing, it could open up whole landscapes for wildlife by removing injurious barriers for migratory herds, reducing mortality from fence strikes for numerous bird species, and protecting sensitive habitats from trampling by cattle.
- Virtual fences are easily moved with a tap on an app, and can be used to improve pasture management through rotational grazing, reduce wildfire risk, and other benefits.
- These systems are cheaper than building and maintaining physical fences, and are already in use in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Norway.

Sweet solution: Armadillo-friendly honey helps Brazil beekeepers, giant armadillos
- Giant armadillos in Brazil have been spotted destroying bee hives in search of larvae, causing economic losses to beekeepers and consequent retaliatory killings.
- The species has a low population growth rate, meaning human-wildlife conflicts like these significantly threaten their survival.
- One NGO promotes coexistence between beekeepers and giant armadillos by certifying beekeepers who use mitigation measures to prevent attacks on beehives, allowing them to sell armadillo-friendly honey at a higher price.
- The armadillo-friendly honey project has been applied within the Cerrado savanna and is now being implemented within the Amazon Rainforest region, zeroing armadillo killings in the apiaries involved in the scheme.

New Tree Tech: Real-time, long-term, high-tech reforestation monitoring
- This four-part Mongabay mini-series examines the latest technological solutions to help tree-planting projects achieve scale and long-term efficiency. Using these innovative approaches could be vital for meeting international targets to repair degraded ecosystems, sequester carbon, and restore biodiversity.
- Many people see reforestation as a quick fix to the climate emergency, but tree-planting projects often fail to put in place the monitoring programs needed to track newly planted forests. Traditionally, forest monitoring has been done by hand, one tree at a time, which is extremely expensive and time-consuming.
- Satellites are mapping and remapping the entire planet daily, providing real-time data that can be used to monitor forests remotely. Drones can fly over or through forests to collect data on tree growth, bridging the gap between on-site measurements and distant satellites.
- Sensors can be installed to monitor individual trees directly, while people can collect and analyze the data electronically from a safer and easier-to-access location. Multiple sensors can form a distributed network that returns detailed information on the growth of each tree within huge reforestation plots.

New Tree Tech: Cutting-edge drones give reforestation a helping hand
- This four-part Mongabay mini-series examines the latest technological solutions to help tree-planting projects achieve scale and long-term efficiency. Using these innovative approaches could be vital for meeting international targets to repair degraded ecosystems, sequester carbon, and restore biodiversity.
- Restoring hundreds of millions of hectares of lost and degraded forest worldwide will require a gigantic effort, a challenge made doubly hard by the fact that many sites are inaccessible by road, stopping manual replanting projects in their tracks.
- Manual planting is labor-intensive and slow. Drone seeding uses the latest in robotic technology to deliver seeds directly to where they’re needed. Drones can drop seeds along a predefined route, working together in a “swarm” to complete the task with a single human supervisor overseeing the process.
- Drone-dropped seed success rates are lower than for manually planted seedlings, but biotech solutions are helping. Specially designed pods encase the seeds in a tailored mix of nutrients to help them thrive. Drones are tech-intensive, and still available mostly in industrialized countries, but could one day help reseed forests worldwide.

New Tree Tech: Data-driven reforestation methods match trees to habitats
- This four-part Mongabay mini-series examines the latest technological solutions to help tree-planting projects achieve scale and long-term efficiency. Using these innovative approaches could be vital for meeting international targets to repair degraded ecosystems, sequester carbon, and restore biodiversity.
- To create healthy, diverse ecosystems, native tree species need to be identified that will thrive at each unique site within a habitat. But with more than 70,000 tree species worldwide, gathering and analyzing the data needed to understand species’ needs, habitat preferences and limitations is no small feat.
- Environmental niche models use data on climate, soil conditions and other characteristics within a species’ range to calculate a tree’s requirements. Artificial intelligence helps sort through vast data sets to make informed predictions about the species suited to an ecosystem, now and in a warmer future.
- Biotechnology company Spades uses laboratory testing of tissue samples from plant species to quantify what growing conditions a species can tolerate and to identify its optimum growing conditions.

New Tree Tech: AI, drones, satellites and sensors give reforestation a boost
- This four-part Mongabay mini-series examines the latest technological solutions to help tree-planting projects achieve scale and long-term efficiency. Using these innovative approaches could be vital for meeting international targets to repair degraded ecosystems, sequester carbon, and restore biodiversity.
- Current forest restoration efforts fall far short of international goals, and behind the hype lies a string of failed projects and unintended environmental consequences that have left a bad taste in the mouths of many investors, politicians and conservationists. Projects are often expensive and labor-intensive.
- Applying cutting-edge technology to the problem is helping: Advanced computer modeling and machine learning can aid tree-planting initiatives in identifying a diverse set of native species best able to thrive in unique local conditions, today and in a warming future.
- Drones are revolutionizing large-scale tree planting, especially in remote and inaccessible locations. Once trees are planted, satellite-based and on-site sensors can help monitor young forests — offering long-term scrutiny and protection often missing from traditional reforestation initiatives, and at a lower cost.

Agroecology schools help communities restore degraded land in Guatemala
- The transformation of ancestral lands into intensive monoculture plantations has led to the destruction of Guatemala’s native forests and traditional practices, as well as loss of livelihoods and damage to local health and the environment.
- A network of more than 40 Indigenous and local communities and farmer associations are developing agroecology schools across the country to promote the recovery of ancestral practices, educate communities on agroecology and teach them how to build their own local economies.
- Based on the traditional “campesino a campesino” (from farmer to farmer) method, the organizations says it has improved the livelihoods of 33,000 families who use only organic farming techniques and collectively protect 74,000 hectares (182,858 acres) of forest across Guatemala.

Villagers turn to charcoal made from bamboo to save a protected forest in Madagascar
- Rice paddies have become silted up around Ankarafantsika National Park in northwestern Madagascar. To survive, local residents are forced to illegally exploit the forest’s natural resources.
- To reduce their dependency on the forest, local communities are planting the versatile bamboo species from Asia to make charcoal and restore watersheds.
- Although the exotic bamboo species can be used to protect the forest and watersheds, scientists raise concerns about the ecological impacts of its use.

S. Africa to purge bird-eating mice from key albatross breeding island
- Non-native house mice arrived on Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean two centuries ago, when the island was a stopping-off point for sealing ships.
- Their population has exploded recently, as temperatures warm and summers lengthen. With more mouths to feed, they’ve gutted their main food source — insects — and are now feeding on seabird chicks and adults.
- While mouse attacks on seabirds remain low and their impact on nesting or breeding success isn’t known yet, conservationists nevertheless see them as a serious and growing threat.
- Now the South African government is planning a rodent eradication program for mid-2025 that will be the largest of its kind on a sub-Antarctic island.

Effort to save rare Colombian monkey looks to crowdfund its conservation
- The nonprofit Fundación Proyecto Tití has conserved some 5,100 hectares (12,600 acres) of forest in Colombia, helping to reconnect forest fragments and secure more habitat for the critically endangered cotton-top tamarin.
- To combat deforestation and fragmentation, the project aims to buy an additional 386 hectares (954 acres) with the help of ReWorld, a fully volunteer-run organization that has committed to raising $1.2 million for Proyecto Tití.
- Researchers say restoration initiatives can help with the conservation and management of ecosystems by controlling fragmentation and the expansion of deforestation.

Bangladesh ramps up freshwater fish conservation in bid for food security
- Bangladesh is reviving 39 native freshwater fish species through hatchery breeding, in an effort to secure stocks of commercially important fish.
- A quarter of the freshwater fish found in Bangladesh are threatened with extinction, according to a 2015 assessment, largely as a result of habitat loss, overfishing and pollution.
- In response to the decline, the Bangladesh government is breeding several species in captivity and distributing the fry for free to fish farmers.
- Bangladesh produces 4.6 million metric tons of fish a year, and is the No. 3 producer of freshwater fish globally.

Sounds of the soil: A new tool for conservation?
- Researchers are discovering that listening to the soil can be a way to understand biodiversity belowground without having to overturn every bit of the land.
- Studies have shown that soils of restored forest areas have both more complex sounds and more critters than soils of degraded sites.
- Soils of intensively managed agricultural lands, also appear to be quieter, indicating that soil sounds could be a proxy for soil health.
- Some researchers are also using sounds to identify distinct species in the soil, which could open up lots of possibilities for both pest management and wildlife conservation.

One seed at a time: Lebanese project promotes agroecology for farmer autonomy
- Lebanese organic seed farm Buzuruna Juzuruna is on a mission, part of a growing network of agroecological efforts in the country, to change conventional farming through seed sharing and communal education.
- Despite its location in the Fertile Crescent, Lebanon today relies heavily on imports to feed its population due to economic collapse, conflicts and political upheaval.
- Buzuruna Juzuruna is using multiple efforts, including free classes, festivals and even circus performances to expose local farmers to older, more ecological methods of farming.
- In its work, Buzuruna Juzuruna emulates the ecosystems it treasures, by being open-source and horizontal in design.

Indonesian architect presses vision for low-cost homes from nature
- Architect Yu Sing is among a number of notable Indonesian architects prizing natural materials and traditional techniques as part of contemporary design.
- For more than a decade, Yu Sing’s Bandung-based Studio Akanoma has built projects great and small, from showpiece convention spaces to communal bamboo kitchens for women farmers.
- In 2009, Yu Sing published a book, Mimpi Rumah Murah, setting out his vision for affordable homes using locally available natural materials.

Microbes play leading role in soil carbon capture, study shows
- Soil is a significant carbon reservoir, storing more carbon than all plants, animals and the atmosphere combined, making it crucial for addressing the climate crisis.
- Microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, are the primary drivers of carbon storage in soil, surpassing other soil processes by a factor of four, according to a new study in Nature.
- The efficiency of microbial metabolism plays a vital role in determining the amount of organic carbon stored in soils worldwide, according to the research, which also calls for improved soil carbon models for effective policies and climate solutions.
- Enhancing microbial efficiency can lead to increased carbon storage in soils, but further research is needed to understand how to achieve this.

In the land of honey and nuts: Indigenous solutions to save Brazil’s Cerrado
- Indigenous groups including the Terena, Kayapó and Kuikuro peoples are helping to both protect biodiversity and improve their welfare in the Cerrado by producing honey, roasted baru nuts and babaçu palm oil.
- Brazil’s second-largest biome and one of its most deforested, the Cerrado has lost half its original vegetation due to pressure from agribusiness and infrastructure projects.
- The paving of the BR-242 and MT-322 highways and construction of the EF-170 rail line are among the controversial projects driven by agribusiness that are expected to highly impact Indigenous territories in the biome.
- Indigenous communities are developing economic projects centered on the sustainable production of food resources native to the Cerrado, in the process helping to safeguard the world’s most biodiverse savanna and one of its richest in cultural diversity.

At sea as on land? Activists oppose industrial farming in U.S. waters
- Aquaculture produces more than half of the world’s seafood, mostly in inland and coastal waters. Industrial marine and coastal finfish aquaculture, such as salmon farming, accounts for just a fraction of that production, and comes with a host of negative environmental impacts.
- A set of agribusiness giants and other corporate interests are pushing to expand industrial finfish aquaculture into U.S. federal waters — the open seas — where proponents argue that it will help feed a growing global demand for seafood and have less environmental impact. They want Congress to pass legislation establishing a federal aquaculture system.
- Though Congress has not yet acted, in 2020, Donald Trump issued an executive order that gave the industry a boost, and government agencies have begun the permitting process for several projects in which finfish would be raised in open-ocean pens miles out to sea.
- Environmental advocates, including the campaign group Don’t Cage Our Oceans, are fighting against the proposed congressional bills, calling for a reversal of the executive order and a stop to the proposed projects in U.S. federal waters.

Miyawaki forests are a global sensation, but not everyone’s sold on them
- The Miyawaki method is an afforestation technique for cultivating fast-growing groves of native plants, with the dense, mixed planting intended to simulate the layers of a natural forest.
- Originally developed by Japanese ecologist Akira Miyawaki in the early 1970s for Nippon Steel, the method has been adopted by various Japanese corporations, which planted Miyawaki forests both domestically and overseas.
- Although the popularity of Miyawaki forests has skyrocketed in India, some ecological restoration practitioners question the method’s applicability to the country’s diverse ecological environments.

Volunteers, First Nations work to bring back a disappearing oak prairie
- The rain-shadow regions of North America’s Pacific Northwest, stretching from British Columbia to Oregon, are home to a unique carbon-rich oak-prairie ecosystem dominated by Garry oaks and several species of grasses and shrubs, including endemic plants.
- The ecosystem also holds a special significance in the way of life for the Indigenous peoples in the region, who have stewarded it for millennia and depended on it for food.
- In the past few centuries, however, rapid urbanization, agricultural expansion, development along the coast and proliferation of invasive plants have destroyed more than 95% of the ecosystem, pushing it toward near-extinction.
- Communities, partnering with different national and regional agencies, First Nations and nonprofits, are working to restore and preserve the remnants using various strategies, many of which have borne fruit.

Mycorrhizal fungi hold CO2 equivalent to a third of global fossil fuel emissions
- A recent study estimates that more than 13 billion metric tons of CO2 from terrestrial plants are passed on to mycorrhizal fungi each year, equivalent to about 36% of global fossil fuel emissions.
- The study highlights the overlooked role of mycorrhizal fungi in storing and transporting carbon underground through their extensive fungal networks
- Researchers analyzed nearly 200 data sets from various studies that traced carbon flow and found that plants allocate between 1% and 13% of their carbon to mycorrhizal fungi.
- Understanding the role of mycorrhizal fungi is essential for conservation and restoration efforts, as soil degradation and the disruption of soil communities pose significant threats to ecosystems and plant productivity.

Europe’s top science panel supports call for moratorium on deep-sea mining
- The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council has announced its support for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.
- In a new report, the council conveys its skepticism that deep-sea mining is necessary to meet the needs of critical minerals for renewable technologies.
- It also points out that deep-sea mining would cause irreparable harm to marine ecosystems, and that the mining regulator lacks a scientific definition of what qualifies as serious harm.
- Many European nations and companies currently possess licenses to explore the international seabed for resources, although exploitation has yet to begin.

For urban poor in Global South, nature-based solutions have always been a way to get by
- Nature-based solutions are increasingly being seen as a way of providing societal benefits and conserving biodiversity.
- Informal settlements, which lack necessary infrastructure and are often at the forefront of climate change and other natural disasters, can benefit from nature-based solutions and improve residents’ quality of life.
- A recent study explored the different forms of nature-based solutions in practice in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, their benefits and disadvantages, and identifies factors that make them successful.
- While the term “nature-based solutions” has recently been popularized in the Global North, researchers note that communities in many parts of the world have engaged in these practices for centuries.

Learning to live with — and love — bears and eagles in Colombia’s cloud forest
- Human-wildlife conflict is on the rise in the cloud forests of Colombia’s northern Andes, exacerbated by drivers such as deforestation due to the rapid expansion of agriculture.
- Retaliatory killing due to predation of livestock and crop raiding is a major driver of the decline of the black-and-chestnut eagle (Spizaetus isidori) and spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), both of which face their greatest risk of extinction in Colombia.
- In the Western Cordilleras of Colombia’s Antioquia department, a local NGO has been achieving remarkable success in reducing human-wildlife conflict at the local scale through promoting dialogue, inclusion and community participation in conservation efforts.

Award-winning community group in Sumatra cleans up lake
- A group of locals have since 2013 tried to clean up the trash pooling in Lake Sipin in the Sumatran province of Jambi.
- Their efforts have received national attention, with their leader, Leni Haini, awarded the country’s highest environmental award in 2022 by the government.
- Indonesia has announced a plan to restore 15 lakes (Sipin isn’t included) across the country by 2024, citing their high degree of degradation, chiefly sedimentation, which has resulted in their rapid shrinking and a decline in the biodiversity they host.
- These lakes are crucial in supporting the livelihoods of millions of Indonesians, serving as a source of freshwater, a form of flood control, and a site for fish-farming and tourism.

Bangladesh tries fences to tackle growing human-tiger conflict in Sundarbans
- About 300 people and 46 tigers have been killed since 2000 in human-tiger conflicts in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans.
- Authorities here have decided to install fencing along the rivers and canals that the big cats use to cross into human settlements.
- Experts point to a successful application of this measure in the Indian Sundarbans, and say the fencing will both keep tigers out of human settlements, and humans and their domestic animals out of tiger habitat.
- The Sundarbans is the only mangrove habitat in the world that supports tigers, but the ecosystem continues to be degraded due to human and natural causes.

Overlooked and underfoot, mosses play a mighty role for climate and soil
- Mosses cover a China-size area of the globe and have a significant impact on ecosystems and climate change, according to a new study.
- Researchers conducted the most comprehensive global field study of mosses to date to quantify how soil moss influences soil and ecosystem services in different environments on all seven continents.
- Soil mosses can potentially add 6.43 billion metric tons of carbon to the soil globally, an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of 2.68 billion cars.
- Moss-covered soil offers several other benefits, including cycling of essential nutrients, facilitating faster decomposition, and reducing harmful plant pathogens.

Studies show oyster reef restoration can work out well — given enough time
- Researchers have found that the restoration of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reefs in the U.S. have been largely successful, improving oyster production, enhancing habitat, and increasing nitrogen cycling.
- They also found that oyster restoration was more successful in deeper, saltier parts of coastal waters and that it generally took at least eight years for restored reefs to yield long-term benefits.
- But since the 1800s, more than 85% of global reefs have disappeared due to overfishing, disease and other anthropogenic pressures.
- Researchers say their findings can help restoration managers identify which ecosystem services can benefit from their work, how long those benefits might take to accrue, where to construct oyster reefs.

Award-winning, Indigenous peace park dragged into fierce conflict in Myanmar
- Two years since the Feb 1, 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Indigenous activists continue their struggle to protect the Salween Peace Park, an Indigenous Karen-led protected area, from conflict.
- The park was subject to military-led deadly airstrikes in March 2021 and renewed violence in the vicinity of the park continues to force people to flee their homes into the forest.
- The Salween Peace Park was launched in 2018 and encompasses 5,485 square kilometers (nearly 1.4 million acres) of the Salween River Basin in one of Southeast Asia’s most biologically rich ecoregions.
- With many examples around the world, peace parks seek to preserve zones of biodiversity and cultural heritage using conservation to promote peacebuilding. The SPP includes more than 350 villages, 27 community forests, four forest reserves, and three wildlife sanctuaries.

Honey production sweetens snow leopard conservation in Kyrgyzstan
- Kyrgyzstan is one of a dozen countries where snow leopards live, but its population of 300-400 of the big cats living along its highest peaks is stressed by climate change, mining, road construction, and conflict with herders, whose livestock can be tempting prey.
- A new program by two snow leopard conservation NGOs is helping herders diversify away from livestock toward beekeeping, agroecology, ecotourism and handicrafts.
- Participants receive beehives and training, and help with education and research into the local snow leopard population via deployment of many camera traps, which so far suggest that the local populations of leopards and a favorite prey species, ibex, are stable or increasing.
- Half of the honey profits are invested back into the program to improve beekeeping education, purchase supplies, and to fund environmental projects chosen by the participants.

Seabird conservation mostly works, comprehensive new data set shows
- Researchers compiled a data set of seabird restoration projects, including those that used translocation and social attraction, from around the world.
- Ornithologist Stephen Kress pioneered translocation and social attraction, but these methods have been used more than 850 times in the last 70 years — mostly to great success.
- Experts say seabirds are one of the most threatened bird groups in the world, and translocation and social attraction can help protect them against threats like invasive species and the impacts of climate change.

The Mexican family who gave up fishing to monitor and rescue sea turtles
- The Kino Bay Turtle Group is made up of a family of former fishers from the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico.
- The group keeps a close watch on sea turtles in the La Cruz Lagoon, a Ramsar site spanning 6,665 hectares (about 16,470 acres), monitoring the animals, rescuing any that become entangled and educating the public about their importance.
- The group has captured and logged data on more than 800 sea turtles; it is now training a team of Indigenous Comcáac youth to form their own turtle group and begin monitoring and conservation work along a 10-kilometer (6-mile) stretch of coast in Sonora.

Colombian farmers turn deforested land into sustainable Amazonian farms
- More than 450 families from seven towns in the south of Caquetá, Colombia, have transformed their farms into spaces for soil, forest and water conservation while pursuing agricultural production projects that give them food sovereignty.
- Most of the people living in the Amazonian foothills of Caquetá were displaced by the armed conflict and colonized the region through the extensive livestock projects promoted by the government.
- Amazonian Farms (Finca Amazónica) was created 17 years ago to provide sustainable production alternatives, and many of the program’s trainers are farmers from the region who understand the importance of living in harmony with the forest.

A Philippine town and its leaders show how mangrove restoration can succeed
- In the early 1990s, the coastal town of Prieto Diaz, in the Philippines’ Bicol region, was selected as a pilot area for a community-based resource management program created by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
- Today, an award-winning community organization helps maintain a mangrove ecosystem that has grown to be the region’s largest and supports the livelihoods of both its members and the broader community.
- Residents credit the restored mangrove ecosystem with protecting the village from storm surges, and point to committed local leaders as vital to the ongoing success of mangrove restoration and protection.

World’s ‘largest’ tropical reforestation project slowed by Covid, Bolsonaro, fires
- In 2017, Conservation International launched what was dubbed the “largest tropical forest restoration in the world” and slated for the Brazilian Amazon. Despite a goal of completing the project by the end of this year, CI is less than 20% of the way there.
- According to project managers, the initiative has been slowed by two main factors: the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2019-2022 presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.
- But fire, once a rarity in the Amazon, has also played a role, destroying 2,700 hectares (nearly 6,700 acres) of restoration areas in 2021 alone.
- Still, the initiative is moving ahead across the “arc of deforestation,” with organizers hoping to prove it’s possible to restore the rapidly receding southern edge of the Brazilian Amazon before a large part of the rainforest biome hits a tipping point and changes over to savanna — releasing huge amounts of carbon to the atmosphere.

More evidence backs Indigenous territories as best safeguard against Amazon deforestation
- Protected areas and Indigenous territories in the Amazon Rainforest experienced just one-third the loss of primary forest compared to non-protected areas, according to a new report by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP).
- Over the five-year study period, between 2017 and 2021, protected areas lost slightly less forest than Indigenous territories, but deforestation was lower in Indigenous territories.
- The MAAP study estimated that 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of primary forest were lost over the five years of the study, of which 71% were lost to deforestation and 29% to fire.
- The study highlights the effectiveness of Indigenous territories in protecting forests and the need for more protective designations, particularly for Indigenous territories.

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.

We need to show that planetary wins are possible, says Dax Dasilva
- In 2021 Canadian entrepreneur Dax Dasilva donated $40 million to launch “Age of Union,” which supports conservation projects working to address climate change and the extinction crisis.
- Dasilva aims to bring a startup mentality to conservation, supporting grassroots, locally-led, and Indigenous-led projects with resources and guidance on scaling impact.
- Age of Union places a strong emphasis on storytelling to demonstrate that conservation efforts can have an impact, and has supported short documentaries and social media videos: “One of the main things we want to do is to show people that things can be done,” said Dasilva. “The worst outcome would be for people to stop believing that we’re out of time and that there’s nothing left to do.”
- Dasilva spoke about his passions, his philosophy on conservation, and more during a March 2023 conversation with Mongabay Founder Rhett A. Butler.

Counterintuitive conservation: Fire boosts aquatic crustaceans in U.S. savannas
- In an interesting twist, two kinds of rare American freshwater crustaceans have been found to thrive after prescribed burns in their habitats.
- Populations of vernal pool fairy shrimp in Oregon and several species of threatened crayfish on the Gulf Coast increased after the removal of invasive plants, woody shrubs and trees from their habitats using fire or mechanical means.
- Fairy shrimp populations were shown to increase more than fivefold following habitat treatments that featured fire, while speckled burrowing crayfish also responded positively following fires set to favor nesting of sandhill cranes (whose own population has soared since).
- Both areas are savanna ecosystems that have relied on frequent fires over millennia — whether naturally occurring or intentionally set by Indigenous peoples — to maintain the open habitats to which myriad organisms have adapted.

Indigenous women in Colombia protect rich Amazonian wetland from overfishing
- Dozens of Indigenous women in Colombia’s Amazon are monitoring, managing, raising awareness and restoring a wetland ecosystem impacted by overfishing.
- After partnering with environmental organizations to establish a fishing agreement in the area, they have witnessed the increase and recovery of fish species such as sardines, catfish and the pirarucu (Arapaima gigas).
- The wetland area of Lake Tarapoto, located in the department of Amazonas in southern Colombia, provides a habitat for numerous aquatic animals and supports the livelihoods of 22 Indigenous communities.

Conservationists unite to tackle Latin America’s dog threat to wild cats
- Across Latin America, free-ranging and domestic dogs pose a threat to endangered wildlife, including several small cat species, conservationists say.
- Dogs entering forests or protected areas can disturb wildlife, directly prey upon them, decimate prey populations, and also spread disease.
- Last year, small-cat conservationists from Mexico to Chile united to vaccinate dogs in multiple countries to raise awareness of the problem and mitigate the threat.
- A second phase of this international campaign is planned this May, potentially focused on other threatened species.

From scarcity to abundance: The secret of the ‘peace farmers’ of Colombia
- During the 1990s, in Colombia’s Meta region, paramilitaries and guerrilla groups fought a bloody civil war. A main driver of conflict was the struggle for land. Wealthy elites, resisting popular demands for land reform, took violent control of large areas to breed cattle and grow cash crops for export.
- Meanwhile, a peasant university in Meta, established against the backdrop of the civil war, taught the rural population a different way of farming: offering up skills for living in peace with each other and in harmony with nature. Farmer and agronomist Roberto Rodríguez led the way.
- More than 7,000 students from all over Colombia have taken classes at La Cosmopolitana Foundation and spread its philosophy of sustainable, diversified agriculture, even influencing Amazon Indigenous groups. Nearly 200,000 people globally have witnessed La Cosmopolitana’s work in person.
- Several foundation graduates now live in the town of Lejanías, in a rural community they’ve transformed into Colombia’s “capital of abundance.” Here, farmers grow sustainably, sell locally made goods at a weekly organic market, and offer popular ecotours and accommodations at their farms.

Could biodiversity be a key to better forest carbon storage in Europe?
- A new project is reintroducing key species into Europe’s forests to help restore natural balance and boost the ability of woodlands to store carbon. But there are concerns that unless such reintroductions are made on a much wider, landscape scale, they will have little positive impact in a region so dominated by humans.
- Others argue that the best way to improve Europe’s carbon storage potential is via heavy forest management, even going so far as to clear-cut some older stands and replace them with fast-growing new forests to encourage rapid carbon uptake, and using thinnings from timber operations to burn as biomass to make energy.
- This heavy management approach has raised deep concerns within the scientific community. Many researchers say this method ignores the growing body of evidence that plantation forest monocultures are not only bad for biodiversity and store less carbon, but also increase the risk of spreading devastating diseases.
- A middle ground could see more natural management of some forests where timber is harvested, while other woodland areas are left undisturbed, with a mixture of tree species, deadwood allowed to rot where it falls, and native animals reintroduced to help restore a natural balance and healthy ecosystems.

Scientists and fishers team up to protect Bolivian river dolphin
- Hunting, fishing, pollution and degradation and loss of habitat are the main threats facing the Bolivian river dolphin, a species of river dolphin that is found in 10 protected areas in the country.
- For almost three decades, scientists have involved local commercial fishers in an effort to document and monitor the landlocked country’s sole cetacean.
- A team of reporters joined them in sailing 450 kilometers (280 miles) upriver during the most recent population census.

15 community-based conservation opportunities to help people and the planet
- A recently published horizon scan on community-based conservation identified 15 topics that offer opportunities to yield positive change for people and the planet, as well as provide insights on avoiding pitfalls in achieving 2030 global policy targets.
- These resulted from work undertaken over the past two years by a group of 39 conservation practitioners from around the globe, including staff at Mongabay.
- Community-based conservation has for decades tried to tackle these interrelated challenges with mixed success and, at times, counter-productive results, but has arisen as a promising and popular approach on global agendas.

Study: Women, youths can be more effective at driving sustainable farming changes
- A study in a farming community on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island shows that women and younger farmers can be more influential than older men in persuading peers to adopt new technologies and practices.
- The findings could have significant implications for conservation organizations trying to implement sustainable agriculture programs within communities.
- The study looked at two groups — one made up of older men perceived as “opinion leaders,” and the other of mostly women and younger men — and how effective they were at convincing fellow farmers to try out a new pair of cacao pruning scissors.
- Experts say the findings don’t mean older men no longer carry any weight when it comes to influencing community members, and that they should still be consulted and engaged with when introducing development initiatives.

Chile communities defy the desert by capturing increasingly scarce water
- The inhabitants of a rural community on the expanding frontier of Chile’s Atacama Desert are able to harvest around 500,000 liters (132,000 gallons) of water per year, thanks to fog nets installed 17 years ago.
- This water has allowed them to revive their mountain region’s vegetation and launch new businesses to improve their quality of life and adapt to drought.
- Other initiatives in the region, aimed at making the most use of the less frequent rains, help retain water for livestock and prevent soil erosion and mudslides.
- But these initiatives are pilot projects, with no funding or political support to sustain them over the long term, which the community says are what are needed the most.

Rewilding animals could be key for climate: Report
- A new report published in Nature Climate Change suggests that trophic rewilding, or restoring and protecting the functional roles of animals in ecosystems, is an overlooked climate solution.
- Reintroducing just nine species or groups of species (including African forest elephants, American bison, fish, gray wolves, musk oxen, sea otters, sharks, whales and wildebeest) would help limit global warming to less than the 1.5°C (2.7°F) threshold set by the Paris Agreement, according to the report.
- Animals play a significant role in how much carbon plants, soil and sediments can capture, as they redistribute seeds and nutrients and disturb soil through digging, trampling, and nest-building.
- The report emphasizes the need for a change in mindset within science and policy to take advantage of the vast potential of wildlife, while working closely with local communities to address social issues that can affect conservation efforts.

Reconnecting ‘island habitat’ with wild corridors in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
- This three-part Mongabay mini-series examines grassroots forest restoration projects carried out within isolated island ecosystems — whether those islands are surrounded by ocean as on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, or cloud forest mountaintop habitat encircled by lowlands in Costa Rica, or forest patches hemmed in by human development in Brazil.
- Reforestation of degraded island habitat is a first step toward restoring biodiversity made rare by isolation, and to mitigating climate threats. Though limited in size, island habitats can be prime candidates for reforestation because extinctions are typically much higher on isolated habitat islands than in more extensive ecosystems.
- Scientists mostly agree that the larger the forest island habitat, the greater its biodiversity, and the more resilient that forest system will be against climate change. Forests also store more carbon than degraded lands, and add moisture to soil and the atmosphere as a hedge against warming-intensified drought.
- The projects featured in this series are small in size, but if scaled up could become big forest nature-based climate solutions. In this third story, the NGO Saving Nature works to create wild corridors to reconnect fragmented patches of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.

Jashodhon Pramanik: The farmer guardian of birds in Bangladesh
- Jashodhon Pramanik, a farmer from Natore, Bangladesh, has initiated a bird conservation movement.
- His 23 years of activism led to the banning of air guns, the creation of bird sanctuaries in every district and the creation of watering holes for birds.
- His one-man initiative Pokkhikuler Asroy O Khaddo Nischitkaron Prokolpo (Project for Ensuring Food and Shelter for Birds) influenced the government to make more than 30 decisions in favor of protecting birds.

Mountain islands: Restoring a transitional cloud forest in Costa Rica
- This three-part Mongabay mini-series examines grassroots forest restoration projects carried out within isolated island ecosystems — whether those islands are surrounded by ocean as on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, or cloud forest mountaintop habitat encircled by lowlands in Costa Rica, or forest patches hemmed in by human development in Brazil.
- Reforestation of degraded island habitat is a first step toward restoring biodiversity made rare by isolation, and to mitigating climate threats. Though limited in size, island habitats can be prime candidates for reforestation because extinctions are typically much higher on isolated habitat islands than in more extensive ecosystems.
- Scientists mostly agree that the larger the forest island habitat, and greater its biodiversity, and the more resilient that forest system will be against climate change. Forests also store more carbon than degraded agricultural lands, and add moisture to soil and the atmosphere as a hedge against global warming-intensified drought.
- The projects featured in this series are small in size, but if scaled up could become big forest nature-based climate solutions. In this second story, two tourists vacationing in Costa Rica and stunned by the deforestation they see, buy degraded land next to Chirripó National Park and restore a transitional cloud forest.

From ukuleles to reforestation: Regrowing a tropical forest in Hawai‘i
- This three-part Mongabay mini-series examines grassroots forest restoration projects carried out within isolated island ecosystems — whether those islands are surrounded by water as on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, or cloud forest mountaintop habitat encircled by lowlands in Costa Rica, or forest patches hemmed in by human development in Brazil.
- Reforestation of degraded island habitat is a first step toward restoring biodiversity made rare by isolation, and to mitigating climate threats. Though limited in size, island habitats can be prime candidates for reforestation because extinctions are typically much higher on isolated habitat islands than in more extensive ecosystems.
- Scientists mostly agree that the larger the forest island habitat, the greater its biodiversity, and the more resilient that forest system will be against climate change. Forests also store more carbon than degraded agricultural lands, and add moisture to soils and the atmosphere as a hedge against global warming-intensified drought.
- The projects featured in this series are small in size, but if scaled up could become big forest nature-based climate solutions. In this first story, two ukulele makers strive to save Hawai‘i’s koa tree, found nowhere else in the world. In the process they restore a biodiverse tropical forest on the slopes of the Big Island’s Mauna Loa volcano.

‘Manta grid’ provides a ray of hope against industrial bycatch threat
- Most species of manta and devil rays (genus Mobula) are endangered, yet industrial purse seine fishing vessels unintentionally catch about 13,000 each year while hunting tuna, according to one scientific estimate.
- New regulations, handling techniques and equipment aim to reduce this number.
- Fishers are working with scientists to return the rays, which are slippery and can weigh as much as a small car, back into the sea when they are brought on deck in fishing nets.
- At the same time, experts warn that far more mobulids die in gillnets set by small-scale and semi-industrial local fishers in countries throughout the tropics.

Can we control marine invaders by eating them?
- The Mediterranean Sea is home to more than 750 exotic species. Some have adverse ecological effects, like lionfish and blue crabs, but are also edible and even tasty.
- Observers often argue that eating invasive marine species is the best way to deal with them, but some scientists warn that this doesn’t always offer a straightforward solution.
- Setting up targeted fisheries to control marine invaders involves balancing many considerations: fishers’ interests, markets, government policy and conservation.
- Even so, harvesting and serving marine invasive species has immense power to raise awareness about them.

For Argentina’s ruddy-headed goose, threats grow while population shrinks
- The ruddy-headed goose is on the brink of extinction, with just 700 birds left in southern Argentina and Chile, the result of hunting in the 20th century and habitat loss in the 21st.
- Every southern winter, these aquatic birds migrate more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) north, alongside the closely related ashy-headed and upland geese, from southern Patagonia to the province of Buenos Aires.
- A sanctuary in the species’ wintering area, a site specifically for the conservation of the species in the Argentine sector of the island of Tierra del Fuego, and a breeding center in Chile are among the conservation strategies being implemented to save the species.

Duck, duck, rice: Vermont farm models diverse method of raising sustainable grains
- Traditionally thought of as a warm climate crop, some varieties of rice can also thrive in temperate regions, including the northeastern U.S.
- One rice farm in Vermont has successfully implemented the agroecology method of “aigamo,” where ducks are introduced to rice paddies to provide weed and pest control, plus free fertilizer, to the grains.
- Agroecology is a sustainable agricultural technique modeled upon natural ecosystems that also applies ancient growing traditions developed by Indigenous, traditional and local communities.
- The farm is now working to train others in its methods to boost the production of rice in the region and create a “community of practice,” so farmers can support and advise each other on rice growing, paddy construction, and more.

For Dutch farming crisis, agroforestry offers solutions: Q&A with Lennart Fuchs & Marc Buiter
- The Dutch government aims to halve nitrogen emissions by 2030 by downsizing and closing farms, sparking a wave of farmer protests and a surprising win for a new agrarian political party.
- Agricultural and environmental experts are calling for the need to introduce food system solutions that both address farmer livelihoods while tackling the climate and environmental crises.
- Agroforestry, agroecology and silvopasture — climate change and conservation solutions that can be profitable — are among the solutions they say can contribute positively to the country’s nitrogen goals.
- Mongabay spoke with two Dutch agricultural experts — Lennart Fuchs from Wageningen University & Research, and Marc Buiter from the Dutch Food Forest Foundation — on how agroforestry could be part of a solution that works for both farmers and the environment.

Five years since the death of Sudan, new film highlights hope for rhinos
- Though the northern white rhino is functionally extinct – following the loss of Sudan, the last known living male, five years ago this week – conservationists are finding hope in a technique that is creating new embryos using genetic material taken from him and two remaining females.
- To mark the occasion, photographer Ami Vitale has released a new short film called “Remembering Sudan,” which will be screened at upcoming film festivals.
- The film can also be viewed online, and a trailer is visible on the page below.
- “Our fate is linked to the fate of animals,” the filmmaker told Mongabay. “What happens next is in all of our hands.”

Last chance: Study highlights perilous state of ‘extinct in the wild’ species
- A study published in the journal Science highlights that “extinct in the wild” species, those that cling on in captivity or as part of conservation efforts outside their natural habitat, are at serious risk of disappearing entirely.
- The researchers found that 33 animals and 39 plants have no wild population remaining, and at least 15 of these animals are down to fewer than 500 individuals.
- The researchers found that out of the 95 species classified as extinct in the wild since 1950, 11 have gone extinct since the 1990s. On the flip side, 12 of these species have been successfully reintroduced, brought back from the brink of extinction.
- The study highlights the challenges associated with maintaining genetic diversity in captivity and the need for more support of as well as greater coordination and communication among conservation institutions.

Brazilian 3-banded armadillo benefits from community conservation in Bahia
- The Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus), endemic to the semiarid dry forests of northeastern Brazil, is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and threatened by habitat loss and hunting.
- A new initiative to study the Brazilian three-banded armadillo has begun in the Chapada Diamantina region in the state of Bahia, aiming to estimate the species’ population trends through long-term monitoring and citizen science in the village of Sumidouro.
- Conservationists are beginning to see encouraging results that point to the recovery of the armadillo population thanks to effective community-based conservation — a strategy that could prove helpful at larger scales.

Indigenous funding model is a win-win for ecosystems and local economies in Canada
- First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii of Canada, have successfully invested in conservation initiatives that have benefited ecosystems while also increasing communities’ well-being over the past 15 years, a recent report shows.
- Twenty-seven First Nations spent nearly C$109 million ($79 million) toward 439 environmental and economic development projects in their territories, including initiating research, habitat restoration, and guardian programs, that attracted returns worth C$296 million ($214 million).
- Funding has also set up 123 Indigenous-led business and was spent towards sustainable infrastructure and renewable energy projects.
- One of the world’s first project finance for permanence (PFP) models, this funding scheme is exemplary of how stable finance mechanisms can directly benefit Indigenous communities and the environment, say Indigenous leaders.

What Indigenous knowledge can teach the world about saving biodiversity
- Nearly 80% of the world’s biodiversity is stewarded by Indigenous peoples and local communities, each practicing their own traditional ecological knowledge, or TEK.
- With the world facing twin biodiversity and climate crises, experts emphasize the need to recognize the land rights and sovereignty of Indigenous people from a human rights perspective to protect the planet’s wildlife and ecosystems.
- On this episode of the podcast, National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yuyan discusses his latest project that shares stories of Indigenous stewardship, “The Guardians of Life: Indigenous Stewards of Living Earth.”
- This podcast episode won a 2024 Indigenous Media Award.

Agroecology is a poverty solution in Haiti (commentary)
- Haiti is facing a political and economic crisis: Functional governance that serves the interests of Haiti’s people is largely nonexistent.
- In this commentary, Cantave Jean-Baptiste, Director of Partenariat pour le Développement Local (PDL), and Steve Brescia, Executive Director of Groundswell International, argue that replacing Haiti’s extractive agricultural and economic model with one that regenerates rural communities and landscapes and promotes food sovereignty is a potential solution to problems that plague Haitians.
- Through a regenerative model of agricultural and rural development, Haiti could become “a positive example of how some of the most marginalized smallholder farmers in the world can replace the longstanding model of extractive agriculture with one that continuously regenerates their land, food production, rural economies, and dignity.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

After decades away, rare Peruvian seabird nests on island freed of invaders
- Chañaral Island off the coast of Chile used to be a prime nesting site for the Peruvian diving petrel, but the species largely disappeared from the island after the introduction of invasive rabbits and foxes.
- In 2013, researchers and wildlife managers eradicated these invasive species from Chañaral, and in 2019, a team began to lure the diving petrels back to the island by creating artificial nests and playing petrel calls.
- These efforts paid off: in November 2022, a Peruvian diving petrel chick hatched in a naturally dug burrow, generating optimism for the species’ future on the island.

Restoration turns pastures into wildlife haven in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
- After centuries of intensive deforestation, experts say fragmentation and degradation are worse in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest than in the Amazon.
- Experts say restoration can complement primary forest conservation by helping to reconnect fragments of original forest and to bring back lost biodiversity.
- The nonprofit Guapiaçu Ecological Reserve conserves 12,000 hectares (29,652 acres) of Atlantic Forest in the Guapiaçu River Basin, protecting both the environment and the water supply of 2.5 million people.
- In two decades, the nonprofit has planted 750,000 trees, seen a return of hundreds of birds, and reintroduced the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) to Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 100 years.

Ukrainian biologists fight to protect conservation legacy
- As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into a second year, conservation biologists have been forced to implement new solutions to protect their country’s conservation legacy.
- Dangerous conditions have made it difficult to go afield and survey threatened species such as the sandy blind mole-rat, the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin, wetland birds and native plants, so finding ways to work away from field sites and conservation areas, has become key.
- Missile strikes, fires and thefts have threatened both digital and physical conservation data, spurring the scientific community to digitize and upload as much information as possible to an international biodiversity database.
- So far, 310,600 records have been added to the database, and physical assets like Kherson’s entire herbarium have been moved to safety in western Ukraine.

Lula wants to mirror Amazon’s lessons in all biomes, but challenges await
- A new decree intends to protect all of Brazil’s biomes and promote sustainable development in arguably one of the country’s most ambitious environmental policies to date.
- The mandate establishes action plans for the Amazon Rainforest, Cerrado savanna, Atlantic Forest, semi-arid Caatinga, Pampas grasslands and Pantanal wetlands, based on past strategies in the Amazon that have already proven successful against deforestation.
- Environmentalists have welcomed the decree amid the country’s surging deforestation levels and rising greenhouse emissions during the past four years under Jair Bolsonaro’s rule.
- The decree’s implementation won’t be easy, experts warn, and its success depends on coordinated action across all levels of the government, increased personnel in struggling environmental enforcement agencies and highly tailored plans for each biome.

Fishing communities create marine refuges to protect Chile’s biodiversity
- In Chile’s Valparaíso region, artisanal fishers have created grassroots marine reserves to protect marine biodiversity.
- The areas are small, some of them just 15 hectares (37 acres) in size, but they provide a haven for marine creatures to grow and reproduce.
- This growth can contribute to regenerating coastal biodiversity, making the region more resilient to climate change, while the fisherfolk can benefit from a greater availability of resources in the long term.

Kew Gardens joins local partners to save tropical plants from extinction
- The U.K.’s Kew Gardens does far more than preserve and display 50,000 living and 7 million preserved specimens of the world’s plants; it also educates the public about the importance of plant conservation via its famous London facility.
- In 2022, Kew Gardens identified 90 plants and 24 fungi completely new to science. They include the world’s largest giant water lily, with leaves more than 3 meters across, from Bolivia; and a 15-meter tree from Central America, named after the murdered Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres.
- The institution is working actively with local partners in many parts of the world, and especially in the tropics, to save these species in-situ, that is, where they were found. When Kew can’t do this, it saves seeds in its herbarium, carrying out ex-situ conservation.
- Kew researchers, along with scientists from tropical nations, are also working together to ensure that local communities benefit from this conservation work. The intention is to save these threatened plants for the long term, helping slow the pace of Earth’s current extinction crisis — the only one caused by humans.

Temperature extremes, plus ecological marginalization, raise species risk: Studies
- In a business-as-usual carbon emissions scenario — humanity’s current trajectory — two in five land vertebrates could be exposed to temperatures equal to, or exceeding, the hottest temperatures of the past decades across at least half of their range by 2099. If warming could be kept well below 2°C (3.6°F), that number drops to 6%, according to a new study.
- More than one in eight mammal species have already lost part of their former geographical range. In many cases, this means those species no longer have access to some (or sometimes any) of their core habitat, making it much more difficult to survive in a warming world.
- When animal populations continue to decline in an area even after it has been protected, one possible explanation may be that the conserved habitat is marginal compared to that found in the species’ historical range.
- In the light of recent pledges to protect 30% of the planet’s surface, it is important to prioritize the right areas. The focus should be on conserving core habitat — which is often highly productive and already intensively used by humans — while respecting the rights and needs of Indigenous people, many of whom have also been pushed to the margins.

Sri Lanka seeks lasting solution as human-elephant conflict takes record toll
- The death toll, both human and elephant, from Sri Lanka’s long-running human-elephant conflict problem hit a record high in 2022, with 145 people and 433 elephants killed.
- With the trend worsening in recent years, the government has recently set up a committee to implement a 2020 draft national action plan to tackle the problem from various angles.
- Community fences surrounding villages and cultivated plots are considered the most viable solution over the current default of fences enclosing protected areas, which are only administrative boundaries that the elephants don’t recognize.
- But these and other proposed solutions won’t be rolled out widely; Sri Lanka’s current economic crisis means only pilot projects in two of the worst-affected districts will go ahead for now.

Re-carbonizing the sea: Scientists to start testing a big ocean carbon idea
- Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) involves releasing certain minerals into the ocean, sparking a chemical reaction that enables the seawater to trap more CO₂ from the air and mitigating, albeit temporarily, ocean acidification.
- Some scientists believe OAE could be a vital tool for drawing down and securely storing some of the excess CO₂ humanity has added to the atmosphere that is now fueling climate change.
- Yet many questions about OAE remain, including most prominently how it would impact marine life and ecosystems.
- Several programs are aiming to spark the research needed to answer these questions, including field tests in the ocean.

From Japan to Brazil: Reforesting the Amazon with the Miyawaki method
- Reforestation using the Miyawaki method seeks to restore nature to its original state with results that can be seen in around six years.
- Miyawaki works around three concepts: trees should be native, several species should be randomly planted, and the materials for the seedlings and the soil should be organic.
- The method is suitable for urban areas, which gives it a significant capacity to connect human beings with nature, with benefits for the health and well-being of the population.
- Different from other reforestation methods that may seek a financial return, like agroforestry, the motivation of the Miyawaki method is purely ecological.

Biodiversity, human rights safeguards crucial to nature-based solutions: Critics
- Nature-based solutions (NbS), a hotly debated concept, gained significant political traction throughout 2022, even as challenges and concerns over the failure to implement biodiversity and human rights safeguards in current and future NbS projects have increased among Indigenous peoples and NGOs.
- Recent global policy instruments have recognized NbS, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in December 2022, and the U.N. climate summit cover decision agreed to in November. In March 2022, the U.N. Environment Assembly adopted a multilaterally agreed definition of NbS.
- Despite NbS policy advances, skepticism continues to swirl around the potential for misuse and abuse of nature-based solutions as a greenwashing mechanism by businesses to offset their ongoing carbon emissions, but without curbing them, and as a market mechanism to commodify and put a price tag on nature.
- Experts emphasize that there can be no successful nature-based solutions without the preservation of biodiversity and human rights. Therefore, projects that are a detriment to conservation, and involve monocultures, land grabs or human rights abuses, should be disqualified and rejected for not meeting the NbS definition.

Birds in Bangladesh find a new lease of life in community-run sanctuaries
- There are around 100 community-based bird sanctuaries across Bangladesh, built through the initiative of local bird lovers, and backed by local authorities and NGOs.
- The Bangladesh Forest Department has so far demarcated 24 wildlife sanctuaries catering to different types of wildlife species, from mammals and reptiles, to amphibians and birds.
- Bangladesh is the home to 714 bird species, more than half of them native and the rest migratory.
- Native bird populations have declined significantly in the past 30 years, from an estimated 800,000 birds in 1994, to 233,000 in 2017, and 163,000 in 2018.

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