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Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore & seabirds
- The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), a multilateral body that sets fishing rules for an area that covers nearly 20% of the planet, held its annual meeting Dec. 1-5 in Manila, the Philippines.
- The parties adopted a harvest strategy for South Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) that will set near-automatic catch limits based on scientific advice, considered a best practice in fisheries management. Conservationists celebrated the move.
- The parties also adopted a measure that aims to keep seabirds from drowning on industrial fishing lines.
- They didn’t adopt any new rules on the ship-to-ship transfer of fish and other goods at sea, a practice known as transshipment that’s been linked to illegal fishing and other illicit activity.
New study points to private land as key to Atlantic Forest recovery
- A new study shows that restored private lands in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest achieved up to 20% more forest cover than unrestored neighboring private lands.
- With 75% of the Atlantic Forest in private hands and a 6.2-million-hectare (15.3-million-acre) deficit of native vegetation, according to the law, private landowners are key to recovery.
- Over the past decade, forest gains and losses in the Atlantic Forest have essentially stagnated; but last year, half of all deforestation hit mature forests over 40 years old, threatening biodiversity and carbon stocks.
Philippines’ newest marine protected area ‘sets inspiring example’ (commentary)
- Nestled in the heart of the Coral Triangle, one of the most biodiverse marine regions on the planet, Panaon Island is a jewel of the Philippines’ natural heritage.
- Despite its biodiversity, Panaon Island faces growing threats, so a broad coalition of community leaders, environmental advocates and government agencies have rallied to designate the waters surrounding it as a new marine protected area (MPA).
- But safeguarding marine habitats requires more than designations and new maps. “Marine protected areas need proper funding, active monitoring and strong enforcement to prevent illegal activities from undermining conservation,” a new op-ed says.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Hope for tigers grows as Thailand safeguards a key link in their habitat
- Tiger conservation in Thailand is a rare success story, bucking the trend of regional declines of the Indochinese subspecies across Southeast Asia.
- Thailand’s Western Forest Complex is at the core of the country’s success, with its tiger population growing from about 40 in 2007 to more than 140 today.
- Conservation nonprofits are working to protect a network of corridors that will help usher younger tigers into the southern part of the complex, chiefly through the Si Sawat Corridor, a designated non-hunting area.
- Scientists have recently discovered tigers reproducing in the southern WEFCOM for the first time.
Brazilian government serves shark to infants, prisoners and more: How Mongabay broke the story
Mongabay senior editor Philip Jacobson joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss a two-part investigation published this year in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center about how state governments in Brazil have been procuring shark meat — which is high in mercury and arsenic — served to potentially millions of schoolchildren and thousands of public institutions. With Mongabay’s […]
West and Central Africa tackle coastal erosion
- Coastal erosion along the coastline of West and Central Africa has been attributed to both natural causes and to human causes, including infrastructure development.
- With support from international finance agencies, governments cross the region have favored intensive engineering solutions to attempt to protect eroding shorelines.
- Environmentalists say nature-based interventions such as restoring mangrove forests that can stabilize soil and protect marine biodiversity.
A Thin Green Line: The 2,000-strong ranger force of African Parks
- Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda is policed by 93 armed rangers and around 100 community eco-rangers.
- Both are employed by African Parks, a South Africa-based NGO that commands 2,119 rangers in total across the 24 protected areas in 13 countries it manages — the largest standing ranger force in Africa.
- In some of these protected areas, African Parks rangers have been accused of human rights abuses or been caught in the crossfire of violent conflicts.
- This year, the group announced it would convene a panel of African legal experts to review its human rights record and design a grievance process for victims of abuse.
Navigating the complex world of reforestation efforts
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Reforestation has become a feel-good global rallying cry. From corporations touting “net zero” targets to philanthropies seeking visible impact, planting trees has become shorthand for planetary repair. Yet behind the glossy photos of saplings and smiling farmers lies […]
South Africa considers site near African penguin colony for third nuclear power plant
South African state electricity company Eskom is reevaluating two sites to host the country’s third nuclear power plant, having previously dismissed both for an earlier facility. The two potential sites are Thyspunt, on the Eastern Cape coast, and Bantamsklip, near Dyer Island in the Western Cape, home to a significant, but declining colony of critically […]
Indonesia’s 1st Javan rhino translocation ends in death, in conservation setback
- Indonesia’s first effort to translocate a Javan rhino ended in loss when Musofa died days after his move to a protected facility in Ujung Kulon National Park.
- Officials said a necropsy found long-standing health problems linked to severe parasitic infection, though questions remain about the sudden decline linked to the relocation.
- Conservationists say the setback should not stop efforts to save the species, which faces serious risks from low numbers and limited genetic diversity.
Seafloor survey in Cambodia finds simple anti-trawling blocks help seagrass recover
- A recent study provides the first large-scale map of Cambodia’s coastal habitats and reports early seagrass recovery near anti-trawling structures in the Kep Marine Fisheries Management Area.
- Surveys across 62,146 hectares (153,566 acres) show a 39% loss of seagrass cover in Kampot province over the past decade.
- The study doesn’t examine potential impacts from the planned $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal, which is set to meet the sea about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) away from the Kep Marine Fisheries Management Area.
From Kalimantan’s haze to Jakarta’s grit: A journalist’s journey
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Indonesia’s environmental challenges can feel overwhelming when taken as a whole. A country said to contain more than 17,000 islands, it holds the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest and a resource economy that has reshaped much of that landscape. […]
Noisy traffic is making Galápagos’ yellow warblers angry
A recent study found that birds that live closer to roads display more aggression than birds of the same species that live farther away from noisy vehicles, Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman reported. Researchers looked at the behavioral differences of male Galápagos yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia aureola) on two islands of the Galápagos, an Ecuadorian archipelago in […]
Collapses of Amazon riverbanks threaten communities and shipping routes
- Extreme droughts, human interventions and growing boat traffic are contributing to riverbank collapses that endanger riverside communities in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Four public river ports in Amazonas state have been damaged by riverbank collapses in the past decade, prompting concerns about the safety of Amazon port infrastructure.
- Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry is investigating alleged failures to prevent collapses at regional ports that connect riverside communities and provide access to essential services.
Green labeler PEFC under fire for certifying Indonesian firm clearing orangutan habitat
- Sustainable forestry certifier PEFC is under fire for its endorsement of Indonesian plantation firm IFP despite it being a major recent deforester, with tens of thousands of hectares cleared in orangutan habitat and ongoing forest loss documented into 2024.
- Earthsight and other NGOs say the certification exploits loopholes, including PEFC’s “partial certification” model that lets companies exclude recently cleared areas while still selling certified timber.
- Deforestation-linked timber may have entered global supply chains, with mills processing IFP-linked wood exporting large volumes to the EU ahead of the bloc’s new deforestation regulation.
- Critics say PEFC’s weak safeguards and Indonesia’s IFCC certification system enable greenwashing, and call for IFP’s certification to be revoked and rules tightened to bar any company or corporate group involved in post-2010 forest clearing.
New technologies offer hope in fight to save the world’s imperiled rosewoods
- Rosewood accounts for nearly a third of the value of illegal wildlife trade seizures worldwide, and illegal harvesting of the trees has continued in spite of efforts to regulate its trade and harvest.
- Researchers say that new and existing technologies such as AI-equipped drones could help detect the illegal logging of rosewood trees inside inaccessible and remote forests, allowing forest officials to intervene in real time.
- AI could also help predict the risk of future rosewood logging activities, helping forest officials focus their monitoring efforts.
- In addition, the nonprofit TRAFFIC is currently testing AI-based image recognition tools for species identification, while other scientists are working on techniques that identify rosewood species based on DNA samples.
Artisanal fishers in Liberia question benefits of new tracking devices from government
- The Liberian government earlier this year distributed 400 automatic identification system (AIS) transponders to small-scale fishers in the counties of Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Margibi and Montserrado.
- The devices transmit a vessel’s position and speed via radio signals, and Liberian authorities say they hope it will help in speeding up responses to vessels that are in distress.
- However, many small-scale fishers appear reluctant to adopt the new device, with some saying they would prefer GPS-equipped devices that let them track their own location.
- The Liberia Artisanal Fishermen Association (LAFA), an advocacy group, blames the low adoption rate on the inadequate involvement of fishers during the design and rollout of the project.
Cyclone Ditwah takes heavy toll on Sri Lanka’s biodiversity-rich Central Highlands
- Sri Lanka’s ecologically significant Central Highlands suffered severe but still largely undocumented ecological damage following the recent Cyclone Ditwah, which devasted unique yet highly vulnerable ecosystems harboring the country’s richest biodiversity and highest endemism.
- Early reports indicate major landslides in the UNESCO-listed Knuckles Mountain Range that led to canopy trees uprooted, forest layers buried and streams clogged with sediment, with inaccessibility delaying a comprehensive assessment.
- Illegal construction and poorly planned development in ecologically sensitive zones have intensified disaster’s impacts on the Indian Ocean island.
- Conservationists urge Sri Lanka to adopt a science-led post-disaster biodiversity assessment mechanism and climate-resilient land use planning, warning that invasive species, unstable slopes and damaged ecosystems pose long-term ecological and economic risks to this highly significant region.
Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report
- A recent report examining land-conversion permits issued by the Papua New Guinea government found that 65 of 67 such licenses are controlled by Malaysian-linked companies.
- The stated purpose of these permits — Forest Clearing Authorities (FCAs) — is for creation of sustainable jobs via agribusiness and other development projects, but critics contend the licenses have been used to facilitate large-scale logging and timber exports.
- After repeated allegations of misuse of the permits, PNG’s government imposed a moratorium on new FCAs in 2023, but exports continue from existing projects.
- The 65 licenses examined by the report cover 1.68 million hectares (4.1 million acres) of rainforests, about 88% of which are categorized as ‘undisturbed forest.’
The vanishing pharmacy: How climate change is reshaping traditional medicine
- Climate change is threatening medicinal plants globally, with rising temperatures, shifting rainfall and habitat loss causing species to lose suitable habitats and face extinction, jeopardizing health care for the 80% of the world’s population that relies on traditional medicine.
- Environmental stress from extreme weather is altering the chemical composition of medicinal plants, changing their therapeutic properties and making traditional remedies less predictable or effective.
- The loss of these plants means losing not only potential sources for pharmaceutical development (more than 70% of modern drugs derive from natural compounds) but also millennia of Indigenous and traditional knowledge, cultural practices and spiritual connections to healing.
- Communities worldwide are fighting back through conservation efforts including creating medicinal plant gardens, developing alternative species lists, training new healers, documenting traditional knowledge and combining agroforestry with forest restoration to protect their health care systems.
Sumatra’s ‘natural’ disaster wasn’t natural: How deforestation turned a rare cyclone catastrophic
- Cyclone Senyar was an unusually rare event for Sumatra, but the scale of destruction cannot be explained by weather alone. Decades of deforestation, mining, plantations, and peat drainage left watersheds unable to absorb intense rainfall, turning extreme weather into a mass-casualty disaster.
- Forest loss and land conversion have systematically weakened Sumatra’s natural defenses. The island has lost millions of hectares of forest since 2001, increasing runoff, destabilizing slopes, and amplifying floods and landslides when heavy rain hits.
- Peatland drainage has created a hidden, compounding flood risk. Canals dug for plantations dry and compact peat soils, causing land subsidence and transforming once water-retentive landscapes into low-lying areas prone to chronic inland and coastal flooding.
- Rising exposure, not just rising hazards, is driving future risk. Urban expansion into floodplains and degraded catchments means that even rare storms now endanger more people and infrastructure, locking much of Sumatra into a cycle of disaster unless land-use governance changes.
Nepal Indigenous leaders refile writ petition against hydropower project
- In 2024, Indigenous Bhote-Lhomi Singsa people filed a writ petition against a hydropower project expressing concerns over what they say is a flawed EIA, forged signatures and community rights violations in Lungbasamba landscape, a biocultural heritage home to endangered flora and fauna.
- More than a year since the petition, leaders say the construction work has progressed in the absence of an interim order from the court to halt the construction, which has impacted their livelihoods, supported by farming, yak herding and trade in medicinal herbs.
- Demanding the project’s cancellation with an interim order to halt the ongoing construction activities, and to declare the EIA void, leaders filed another petition in November.
- Given the criticisms over the project and impacts outlined by the EIA report, the company says it still looks forward to the project, which is set to be completed in 2028.
Sumatran flood disaster may have wiped out a key Tapanuli orangutan population, scientists fear
- As many as 35 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans — 4% of the species’ total population — may have been wiped out in the catastrophic floods and landslides that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra recently, scientists warn, after the discovery of a carcass.
- Satellite and field evidence show massive destruction of the western block of the Batang Toru ecosystem, with thousands of hectares of steep forest slopes destroyed — an “extinction-level disturbance” for the world’s rarest great ape.
- Conservationists have lost contact with monitored orangutans in the disaster zone, raising fears more individuals were killed or displaced as feeding areas and valleys were obliterated.
- The tragedy has renewed calls to safeguard the Batang Toru ecosystem by halting industrial projects and granting it stronger protection, as climate-driven disasters escalate across Sumatra.
The Amazon’s lakes are heating up at ‘alarming’ rate, research finds
Five out of 10 lakes in the central Amazon had daytime temperatures over 37° Celsius, (98.6° Fahrenheit) during the region’s 2023 extreme heat wave, a recent study found. One of the most well-known water bodies is Tefé Lake in Amazonas state, northern Brazil. In September and October 2023, 209 pink and grey river dolphins, roughly […]
African environment programs still try to fill funding gap since USAID freeze
- Close to a year after the suspension of USAID funding in Africa, the future of many environmental programs remains uncertain.
- Alternative funding is sought from the EU, World Bank and private sector initiatives, yet experts say a significant climate finance gap remains, especially as some of these sources curtail their funding as well.
- Africa receives just 3-4% of global climate finance, according to the African Development Bank Group; while the continent contributes just 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it remains especially vulnerable to climate disasters.
Africa’s wildlife has lost a third of its ‘ecological power,’ study says
- A recent study quantifies the impact of biodiversity loss on ecological functions by tracking energy flows within them. It found that declines in birds and small mammals have led to a significant erosion of ecological functions in sub-Saharan Africa.
- The study crunched data on nearly 3,000 bird and mammal species found in the region, which performed 23 key ecosystem functions, ranging from pollination to nutrient disposal.
- In the paper, the researchers group animals according to the ecological roles they play. By taking into account species present in an area, their abundance, body sizes, diets, and metabolic rates, they turn the animal’s food consumption into a measure of energy flow.
- The analysis found that the “ecological power” of wild mammals and birds weakened drastically, by about 60%, in areas converted to agricultural land; however, in well-managed protected areas, ecological functions are almost 90% intact.
As fish catches fall and seas rise, Douala’s residents join efforts to restore mangroves
- Cameroon’s coastal fisheries are in decline, leaving fishers with dwindling catches — a crisis linked directly to the depletion of the country’s mangroves, experts say, which are breeding grounds for fish.
- The expansion of urban settlements, conversion of coastal land for agriculture, and sand extraction drives mangrove loss in Cameroon; another key driver is the use of mangrove wood for smoking fish.
- The Cameroon government and NGOs have set themselves an ambitious goal of restoring 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of mangrove forests by 2050.
- A key strategy involves engaging local communities in the replanting process and providing alternative livelihoods, such as urban farming and beekeeping, to reduce dependence on mangrove wood.
‘My mother would not be happy with the state of the planet’: Interview with Wanjira Mathai
- Twenty years after Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize, her daughter Wanjira Mathai says the world has grown more fragmented even as environmental crises deepen — but insists there are bright spots Africa must seize on.
- Wanjira warns that her mother would be troubled by the pace of climate action and the growing dangers faced by environmental defenders, but she believes Africa’s youth, green industrialization, and renewable energy potential offer unprecedented hope.
- Speaking after a Nairobi event honoring her mother’s legacy, Wanjira reflects on the “power of one,” Africa’s leadership gaps and opportunities, and what it means to “bask in her mother’s light” while carving her own path.
Small cat conservationists hail Uganda’s new Echuya Forest National Park
- Uganda’s Echuya Forest Reserve will become a national park, alongside five other forest areas. That news is being heralded by small cat conservationists as a win for the threatened African golden cat (Caracal aurata) and other wildlife that dwell in the forest.
- African golden cats are forest dependent and considered vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN. They’re especially threatened by snaring across their range. It’s unknown exactly how Echuya’s population is faring, but camera-trapping efforts in 2015 required 90 days to record just one of these elusive cats.
- Data coming out of Uganda suggest that national parks can act as strongholds for the felid, raising hopes that Echuya’s population can recover and possibly thrive.
- Wildcat conservationists have also developed programs to build engagement and benefit communities near the new park, initiating goat and sheep “seed banks” as alternatives to bushmeat, setting up savings and loan associations to improve quality of life, and arranging community soccer matches to build goodwill.
Mexico is inflating its climate spending by billions of dollars. Here’s how.
- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took office last year touting her climate science background, yet continues to neglect renewable energy and conservation while subsidizing state-owned oil company Pemex.
- Funds her government earmarked for climate change and a renewable energy transition are actually going to infrastructure, oil and gas, and other projects unrelated to the environment, a review of the 2026 budget shows.
- In one case, more than $40 million for a train line is counted twice but only spent once, misrepresenting how much money the government is dedicating to the environment.
Despite a growing planetary crisis, leaders find hope in community efforts
- This week in Nairobi, yet another report on the planet’s decline was released, at the seventh United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7), amid dire alarms on everything from wetlands to pollution and climate disinformation.
- Yet cost-effective solutions exist, and leaders called for multilateral approaches that move toward a more circular economy.
- Grassroots leaders say they find hope in real-world examples of restoration and reform efforts led by community groups and in the growing evidence that, even in a destabilized world, communities, institutions and governments are laying the foundations of a livable future.
Corridors, not culls, offer solution to Southern Africa’s growing elephant population
- Elephant populations in Southern Africa are stable or growing, but the space available for them is not.
- Often, elephant populations are constrained, increasing their impact on the environment or surrounding communities, and triggering calls for controversial solutions, like culls or contraception.
- But studies in a region that hosts 50% of Africa’s remaining savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) show how the animals make use of wildlife corridors to move between protected areas and neighboring countries.
- Encouraging elephants to migrate can help relieve overpopulation in some areas, but any corridor invariably intersects with human communities, making it both vital ecological infrastructure and a social challenge.
Choosing coexistence over conflict: How some California ranchers are adapting to wolves
- California’s expanding gray wolf numbers — a conservation success for an endangered species — have worried ranchers in recent years as wolf-related livestock kills mount.
- Some ranchers are adapting to the changing landscape, using short-term nonlethal deterrents, some of which are funded by a state compensation program.
- A few ranchers are exploring long-term approaches, such as changing their ranching practices and training their cattle to keep them safe from wolves.
- While change is hard, ranchers acknowledge that learning to live with the new predator is the only way forward, and it pays to find ways to do so.
Chris Grinter has spent much of his life surrounded by insects
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Chris Grinter has spent much of his life surrounded by insects — though not in the way most people imagine. As senior collection manager of entomology at the California Academy of Sciences, he oversees one of the world’s […]
Wildlife and communities bear the cost as Simandou rail corridor advances across Guinea
- A 650-km (400-mi) railway corridor is being built that will link the iron ore mine in eastern Guinea to the country’s Atlantic port of Moribaya.
- Its route crosses forests that are home to some of the last populations of forest elephants and western chimpanzees in the country, with NGOs warning of disruptions and fragmentation of vital habitat, putting several species at risk of local extinction.
- Villagers along the route also complain that dust and pollution have impacted their livelihoods, and that compensation has been delayed or incomplete.
- Experts and civil society actors are calling for a strategic environmental study and better implementation of environmental and social management plans.
Unregulated tourism risks disrupting Timor-Leste’s whale migration
- 2025 has been a big whale tourism season in Timor-Leste; operators were fully booked during the peak season of September to December.
- But increasingly aggressive practices fueled by competition between tour operators could mean “another Sri Lanka,” where whales already stressed by climate-induced food scarcity are disappearing from the area.
- East Timorese are mostly excluded from the sector, which is controlled by expats and foreign tour operators raking in thousands from “bucket listers” and social media “influencers.”
- Whale tourism in Timor-Leste needs regulation, enforcement and legal compliance to ensure sustainable, inclusive growth, experts say.
Deep-sea mining interests raise alarms among Mariana Trench communities
- On Nov. 12, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a request for information (RFI), indicating its interest in “leasing” marine minerals located on the CNMI’s outer continental shelf, a process that would allow commercial mining to proceed on the seabed of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).
- Critics say BOEM’s handling of the RFI was rushed and opaque, noting that the agency failed to consult the CNMI and Guam governments or communities before opening a brief 30-day window for public comment.
- Critics also warn that deep-sea mining could irreversibly harm the marine environment and undermine the region’s deep cultural ties to the ocean, while amounting to another form of U.S. colonial exploitation in the Pacific.
Real-time deforestation alerts get an AI boost to identify the causes
- A new alert system developed by online deforestation-tracking platform Global Forest Watch tells users what’s causing the deforestation.
- The new alert system deploys AI models to classify deforestation alerts based on what’s causing them, from agriculture (large- and small-scale), to mining and wildfires.
- While the data currently focus on the Amazon Rainforest, Congo Basin and Indonesia — home to most of the world’s tropical rainforests — the team plans to expand to other forests as well as non-forest ecosystems.
Boom in burning waste for fuel could put human health and environment at risk
- Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) — conglomerated waste often composed of up to 50% plastic — is being burned globally in waste-to-energy incinerators, cement kilns, paper mills, and by other industries.
- Proponents say RDF reduces fossil fuel use and produces cleaner energy, while diverting waste from landfills.
- Critics say a lack of monitoring often hides RDF’s true environmental and human health footprint, and that when burned alongside fossil fuels, the technology can significantly worsen pollution. Health issues potentially connected to RDF contaminants range from cancer to hormone disruption.
- That’s a major concern as RDF ramps up, with countries in the Global South especially starting to use and dispose of waste in this way. Burning RDF and the incineration of plastic waste has been linked to greenhouse gas emissions and also extremely toxic pollutants such as dioxins.
With a target on their bellies, can California’s sturgeon survive?
- California’s green sturgeon and white sturgeon face numerous threats from dams, harmful algal blooms and overfishing.
- White sturgeon are highly prized for their eggs, which are made into caviar.
- Their numbers have dropped so precipitously that they’re now being considered for protection under the California Endangered Species Act.
- The state banned commercial sturgeon fishing in 1954, but the amount of poaching and caviar trafficking is unknown, and there have been cases linked to criminal networks involved in other illegal activities.
UK, Dutch agencies pull funding from Total’s controversial Mozambique LNG project
U.K. and Dutch export credit agencies have withdrawn their financial commitments for French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies’ gas project in Mozambique, in an unprecedented move that marks the latest setback for the controversial project. UK Export Finance (UKEF), a government agency, and Netherlands-based Atradius, both of which provide companies with loans, guarantees and insurance […]
Hope, solidarity & disappointment: A familiar mix for Indigenous delegates at COP30
- COP30, held in Brazil, was promoted as both the “Amazonian COP” and the “Indigenous COP,” where more than 900 Indigenous representatives from around the world formally took part in the negotiations.
- While Brazil announced the demarcation of new Indigenous territories and 11 signatories issued a joint commitment to strengthen land tenure for Indigenous peoples, wider frustrations overshadowed these measures.
- Indigenous delegates described a familiar pattern: They were invited into the venue but not into the center of decision-making; that divide was visible in the Global Mutirão, the main COP30 outcome, in which Indigenous peoples appear in the preamble but are absent from the operative paragraphs — the part of the text that directs how countries must act and report.
What would this scientist tell Trump? Interview with Robert Watson, former chair of the IPCC
- This week, the UN Environment Program launched the Global Environment Outlook 7 (GEO-7), a stark assessment that comes on the heels of US President Donald Trump’s dismissal of climate change as a “con job.”
- In this context, Mongabay interviewed GEO-7 co-chair Sir Robert Watson about what to tell a political leader who rejects the science.
- “The evidence is definitive,” says Watson, who argues that countries must rethink their economic and financial systems and that science must be heard in the rooms where power lies.
The last of the Vaquita Porpoise (cartoon)
With an estimated less than 10 individuals alive, the vaquita porpoise of the Gulf of California is on the brink of extinction. Entanglement in gill nets used for fishing totoaba fish in the Sea of Cortez has been the prime threat to vaquitas, and while bans are already in place, the lack of enforcement leaves […]
Can we create new inland seas to lower sea level rise? Interview with researcher Amir AghaKouchak
- A new research project is looking into the possibility of reflooding the Qattara Depression, a massive low-lying desert area in Egypt, to help counter sea level rise.
- Scientists forecast global sea levels will rise by at least 30 centimeters (12 inches) over present-day levels by the end of the century — and that’s a conservative prediction.
- Mongabay spoke with Amir AghaKouchak, the project’s leader, who says reflooding the Qattara Depression could also bring potential benefits to Egypt, including aquaculture, renewable energy and tourism.
- The idea remains in its infancy and would require the backing of the Egyptian government as well as a great deal of further study.
Governments must prioritize nature protection, former US senator Russ Feingold says
Bill Gates recently claimed that protecting nature or improving human health is an either-or choice, but former national leaders like Russ Feingold, a retired U.S. senator, and Mary Robinson, former Irish president, disagree. As chair of the Global Steering Committee of the Campaign for Nature, a nonprofit organization uniting prominent politicians in support of nature […]
Iain Douglas-Hamilton, elephant protector, has died at 83
- Iain Douglas-Hamilton was a pioneering elephant researcher who spent nearly 60 years studying Africa’s elephants, beginning in Tanzania’s Lake Manyara National Park with the first scientific study of elephant behavior in the wild.
- A leading voice against the ivory trade, he helped drive the 1989 global ban after witnessing devastating population declines in the 1970s and 1980s.
- As founder of Save the Elephants, he advanced GPS tracking and new conservation strategies that transformed protection efforts across Africa.
- Also a mentor and advocate, Douglas-Hamilton is celebrated for his communication skills and unwavering belief that protecting elephants is a generational responsibility — a mission that continues through the people and systems he helped build.
Balancing evidence and empathy in an age of doubt
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. People often say that good journalism requires a 30,000-foot view. I’ve found the opposite to be true. The stories that move the world rarely start in boardrooms or at summits; they start with someone standing knee-deep in a […]
Death toll rises in Sumatra flood catastrophe as gov’t moves to protect Batang Toru forest
- The number confirmed killed following the most fatal flooding to hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra for decades increased to almost 1,000 on Dec. 9.
- On Dec. 6, Indonesia’s Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq suspended companies operating in the badly affected Batang Toru ecosystem, an old-growth Sumatran rainforest home to the Tapanauli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), the world’s most endangered species of ape.
- The chief executive of Mighty Earth praised the move, saying reducing deforestation was critical to avoiding a repeat of the disaster.
- In the week beginning Dec. 8, first responders in three provinces continued work in challenging terrain to recover the dead and rescue the injured two weeks after a rare cyclone, named Senyar, made landfall over Indonesia’s largest island.
A new ‘fairy lantern’ species is found at a Malaysian picnic site
In November 2023, naturalist Gim Siew Tan chanced upon an unusual plant with whitish-peach flowers growing near the buttress of a tree at a popular picnic site in Hulu Langat Forest Reserve in Selangor, Malaysia. Researchers subsequently collected and analyzed specimens of the plant and found that it was a new-to-science species of “fairy lantern” […]
New underwater acoustic camera identifies individual fish sounds, helping track threatened species
- More than 35,000 species of fish are believed to make sounds, but less than 3 percent of species have been recorded.
- A new audio and visual recording device allowed scientists to identify the most extensive collection of fish sounds ever documented under natural conditions.
- Labeling the unique sounds of fish will allow conservationists to better track the behaviors, locations, and populations of threatened fish species.
Reforestation and wild pig decline spark surge in miniature deer in Singapore
- Once thought extinct in Singapore, a little-known species of miniature deer has reemerged in unprecedented numbers on a small island reserve in the Johor Strait.
- Researchers documented the greater mouse-deer thriving on Pulau Ubin at the highest population density recorded anywhere in the species’ range.
- The team put the surge down to increased availability of prime habitat following a decade of forest restoration, as well as reduced competition for food after the collapse of the island’s wild pig population due to African swine fever.
- Experts say the dramatic “ecological cascade” underscores the need for long-term, ecosystem-wide monitoring throughout Southeast Asia, particularly at sites impacted by sudden shifts triggered by disease.
Global leaders seek action on environment, despite divide
- The United Nations Environment Assembly takes place this week in Nairobi, at a time when wars, protectionist economic policies and global divisions are undermining nations’ ability to reach consensus on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution — issues that require collective action.
- UNEA president abdullah Bin Ali Al-Amri reminded delegates that despite the turbulence, multilateral cooperation remains the only credible pathway.
- Despite divisions between major powers, growing North-South mistrust and an emerging “America First” posture in Washington, UNEP executive director Inger Andersen insisted that environmental diplomacy still works when countries choose compromise over paralysis.
New financial tools boost traditional bioeconomy projects in the Amazon
- The Brazil Restoration and Bioeconomy Finance Coalition (BRB FC), an alliance of NGOs, funders and financial institutions, aims to mobilize $10 billion by 2030 to support Indigenous and traditional communities-led enterprises.
- By supporting these initiatives, BRB FC and other projects seek to help communities restore millions of hectares of degraded land in the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado savanna, the semiarid Caatinga, and the Atlantic Forest.
- Existing conventional financial systems often exclude grassroots initiatives due to rigid, centralized requirements that clash with local governance and realities.
- With the shift championed by BRB FC, proponents say low-bureaucracy funding models can effectively reach and empower forest-based communities while supporting the bioeconomy.
South Africa withdraws abalone listing even as illegal trade threatens species
- Ahead of the recent CITES summit to hash out wildlife trade regulations, South Africa was expected to table a proposal that would have tightened the legal trade in South African abalone, a shellfish in high demand in East Asia.
- The proposal was aimed at protecting an endangered species that’s been severely depleted by a massive illegal trade driven largely by organized crime.
- However, the South African delegation withdrew the proposal at the last minute, amid ongoing tensions in the country between conservationists, abalone farmers and coastal communities dependent on income from the illegal trade.
- A recent report by wildlife trade NGO TRAFFIC calls for coordinated international action to curb the illegal trade, including a CITES listing.
Africa’s stakes in global UN environment talks in Nairobi
- The United Nations Environment Assembly meets in Nairobi Dec. 8-12, with governments, civil society, business and scientists seeking to inject fresh momentum into strengthening global governance to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
- For African nations — grappling with droughts, floods, toxic air pollution and environmental degradation — the talks will test whether the world can finally move from declarations to delivery, as ministers and civil society decry unfulfilled finance pledges, slow progress on biodiversity plans and a deadlock in plastic pollution negotiations.
- With emissions rising, biodiversity declining and pollution worsening, African leaders say the U.N. talks must deliver concrete, accountable outcomes — or risk leaving the continent to confront the triple planetary crisis largely on its own.
Botswana’s elephant hunting quota threatens to wipe out mature bulls: Report
The reintroduction of elephant trophy hunting in Botswana in 2019, following a five-year moratorium, is likely severely depleting the number of large, older bulls, according to a recent report. This has put the country’s elephant population at risk and induced behavioral changes in the mammals, researchers say. Since 2019, Botswana has permitted roughly 400 elephants […]
Warmer climate triggers pest infestations in Bangladesh, India tea estates
- A warmer climate triggers pest infestations across tropical tea estates in Bangladesh and India.
- Since traditional pesticides fail in pest control, the producers experience significant losses in terms of production as well as earning.
- Experts recommend comprehensive solutions with integrated pest management and improvement of soil health.
East African court dismisses controversial oil pipeline case in setback to communities
On Nov. 26, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) dismissed an appeal filed by four African NGOs, marking the end of a landmark case against the construction of a contentious oil pipeline. The case against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), expected to become the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world, […]
Cristina Gallardo, 39, a devoted guardian of Spain’s wild places, is lost to a fall
The cliffs above Cala de Moraia are steep and inaccessible. To most people, the terrain would signal danger rather than duty. But dangerous places often shelter life that needs defending. Rare plants cling to the cliff face, surviving only because most people cannot reach them. On November 25th, 2025, one person did. She was there […]
Lemurs are at risk. So are the people protecting them.
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Patricia Wright arrived in Madagascar nearly four decades ago to look for a lemur thought to be extinct. She found it, along with a new species, and then ran headlong into a broader reality: protecting wildlife would depend […]
Assessments argue carbon offsets are failing communities and climate goals (commentary)
- A new report from the Land Matrix documents 9 million hectares (more than 22 million acres) of land that are subject to carbon offset deals worldwide.
- The Land Matrix data does not include what it calls “community- or farmer-based projects” as it claims that these do not contribute to land concentration and inequality — but a similar analysis sees it very differently.
- “The takeaway is that we all have to build stronger analyses of what is going on with these carbon land grabs, and put an end to offsetting as a false solution to the climate crisis,” the authors of a new op-ed argue.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Brazil fast-tracks paving controversial highway in Amazon with new licensing rule
Brazil’s Senate approved an environmental licensing bill that could expedite major infrastructure projects, including paving a highway that cuts through one of the most intact parts of the Amazon Rainforest in northwestern Brazil. The BR-319 highway runs through 885 kilometers (550 miles) of rainforest, connecting Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, with Rondônia state farther […]
From COP30 to Sri Lanka, indigenous voices shape climate & food sovereignty
- Indigenous protests at the recently concluded COP30 echo global climate-justice demands, calling for territorial rights, forest protection and an end to extractive industries — themes strongly reflected in the discussions at the Nyéléni Global Forum on Food Sovereignty held this August in Sri Lanka.
- Sri Lanka’s third Nyéléni Forum brought together more than a thousand grassroots food producers and Indigenous communities, who warned that climate impacts in the country — from erratic rainfall to coastal disruption — are deepened by land-grabs, industrial agriculture and weak community rights.
- Nyéléni concluded with a collective call — the Kandy Declaration — which rejected market-driven climate solutions such as carbon offsets, instead promoting agroecology, community control of land and seeds and people-led governance as essential for climate resilience and food sovereignty.
- Links between Brazil’s Indigenous protests and Sri Lanka’s forum reveal a growing global movement, asserting that climate stability depends on protecting the rights, knowledge and territories of the communities that safeguard biodiversity and produce much of the world’s food.
For fossil fuel-dependent islands, ocean thermal energy offers a lifeline
- Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is gaining renewed attention as a reliable, 24/7 clean-energy option for tropical islands, with a pilot project in the Canary Islands showcasing its potential and building on small-scale tests in Japan and Hawai‘i.
- The technology uses the temperature difference between warm surface water and cold deep water to evaporate a working fluid, drive a turbine and regenerate the cycle — offering massive theoretical potential to generate up to 3 terawatts globally.
- Seawater-based heating and cooling systems, including seawater heat pumps and seawater air-conditioning (SWAC), are already in use and could be scaled up rapidly to cut emissions when paired with renewables.
- Major barriers include cost, investor reluctance and environmental concerns, especially around deep-water discharge and ammonia use, prompting calls for large-scale demonstration projects to prove first prove their viability and safety.
How dropping ads set us free to focus on impact
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo, Mongabay’s senior marketing associate, recently interviewed me about my journey with Mongabay. Here’s my response to his question about pivoting our business model. The transition in 2012 was a turning point. At the time, the advertising […]
Philippine mangroves survived a typhoon, but now confront a human-made challenge
- A new study shows mangroves in Tacloban, the Philippine city hit hardest hit by Typhoon Haiyan in December 2013, have expanded beyond pre-storm levels.
- This recovery was driven by community-led reforestation efforts from 2015-2018, when residents planted 30,000 Rhizophora mangrove seedlings across 4 hectares (10 acres) of Cancabato Bay.
- Satellite image analysis and modeling reveal how the forest was destroyed by Haiyan and how it later withstood 2019’s Typhoon Phanfone.
- However, experts warn that the recovering mangroves may be threatened by an ongoing project to build a causeway across the bay, which could generate pollution and physical disturbances.
What was — and the uncertainty of what will be: Youth voices from COP30
- COP30 in Brazil drew youths from around the world who are experiencing climate change effects in different ways and working to mitigate the crisis in their communities.
- Mongabay spoke with young representatives from Gabon, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Germany and Brazil during the November conference in Belém.
- The youths found mixed results at COP30, with some progress made on the technical side, especially in transparency, adaptation metrics and certain aspects of loss and damage; while issues like phasing out fossil fuels, securing predictable climate finance and ensuring a just transition faced significant pushback.
- German Felix Finkbeiner, who, at 9 years old, created the organization Plant-for-the-Planet, noted, “When young voices come together at conferences like COP30, they inspire hope, innovation, and accountability, reminding the world that change is not only necessary but possible.”
The Indigenous women changing the course of their communities
- Indigenous women leaders play a key role as defenders of their territories, biodiversity and ancestral knowledge.
- From their communities, they lead environmental restoration, collective health care, political participation and economic autonomy.
- Three women leaders from Peru, Mexico and Colombia share their stories of resilience and leadership in territories beset by violence as well as social, economic and environmental challenges.
- They do it by caring for bees, water, and the lives of Amazonian peoples, not only for the present but for future generations.
An Empire of Nature: African Parks and Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest
- In 2020, South Africa-based NGO African Parks signed a 20-year deal to manage Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, one of the largest montane rainforests in Africa.
- Nyungwe is one of 24 protected areas managed by African Parks in 13 countries.
- Founded by a Dutch industrialist, African Parks is a pioneer of the “public-private” conservation model in Africa.
- Mongabay visited Nyungwe to look at African Parks and its approach to conservation.
Turning adventure into data
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Gregg Treinish’s turning point came somewhere between mountain ranges and moral unease. Years of wandering through wilderness had left him restless. “I was spending years in the wilderness, doing long expeditions, and I began to feel selfish for […]
In wake of Cyclone Ditwah, Sri Lanka faces continuing disaster risks
- The devastating Cyclone Ditwah has left a trail of destruction over 25 districts in Sri Lanka and killed 474 people; among the hardest-hit are those inhabiting low-lying coastal areas and the tea growing Central Highlands.
- Increasing vulnerability to extreme weather events among littoral populations is exacerbated by high population density, experts say.
- More than one-third of the Sri Lankan population, or more than 4.5 million people, live along the coastline and population density is projected to reach 134 people per square kilometer by 2050.
- Nearly 34% of the island population lives in high-risk landslide-prone areas of the country, making the island’s central hills highly susceptible to disaster impacts.
Filipinos wade through floodwaters due to sinking land, rising sea & corruption
- Rising sea levels and sinking lands are leaving communities in the Philippines with the challenge of adapting to a combination of hazards that are reshaping coastal and island life.
- Globally, around 40% of the population lives in coastal areas, with more than 850 million people in low elevated coastal zones less than 10 meters above sea level, including more than 150 million living less than 5 above sea level.
- Between 2000 and 2019, an estimated 1.6 billion people were affected by different types of flooding, threatening infrastructure and disrupting basic services.
- On July 28, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his State of the Nation Address ordered an investigation into possible corruption in flood control projects; since then, the scandal has ignited a broader anti-corruption movement among Filipinos.
International Cheetah Day: Survival still at stake for the world’s fastest cat
Dec. 4 is International Cheetah Day. It was established in 2010 by the Cheetah Conservation Fund to raise awareness about the dwindling populations and shrinking habitats of the fastest land animal on Earth. The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is one of the most endangered big cats in the world, with a severely fragmented population of around […]
More than 1,400 dead across Asia after ‘rare’ cyclone & typhoon converge
At least 1,400 people have died as a result of flooding and landslides across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, with many more still missing. The unusual combination of a tropical typhoon and two tropical cyclones is behind the mounting humanitarian disaster. Scientists and meteorologists note that Cyclone Senyar formed just north of the equator, […]
Can two Amazons survive? Invisible e-waste is poisoning the world
- E-waste, which refers to discarded electrical or electronic devices, is the fastest growing domestic waste stream in the world, and it is highly toxic, threatening public health. Much of this e-waste, largely produced by rich countries, is dumped in poor countries, with Asia and Africa major destinations.
- Because poor countries mostly lack the highly sophisticated equipment and processes needed to dismantle and recycle these complex composite products safely, unskilled scrap workers, including children, plunder them for resalable components, often with a disastrous impact on their health and the environment.
- Increasingly, the torrent of discarded cell phones and obsolete computers is greatly exacerbated by invisible e-waste: a vast, varied plethora of microchip-containing products, ranging from vaping devices to e-readers, toys, smoke detectors, e-tire pressure gauges and chip-containing shoes and apparel.
- Invisible e-waste greatly adds to developing world recycling challenges. The U.N. Environment Programme warns that “the increasing proliferation of technological devices has skyrocketed the amount of electronic waste worldwide” with nations now facing “an environmental challenge of enormous dimensions.”
‘Silent epidemic of chemical pollution’ demands radical regulatory redo, say scientists
- An international team of 43 scientists has called for a “paradigm shift” in toxicology and chemical regulation globally after having found severe lapses in current regulatory systems for evaluating the safety of pesticides and plastics derived from petrochemical byproducts.
- The researchers note that the full commercial formulations of common petrochemical-based pesticides and plasticizers have never been subjected to long-term tests on mammals. Only the active ingredients declared by chemical companies have been assessed for human health risks, while other ingredients have not.
- The scientists found that synthesized pesticides and plasticizers contain petroleum-based waste and heavy metals such as arsenic that can make them “at least 1,000 times more toxic” than the active ingredients alone, posing chronic disease and health threats, especially to children — claims that the chemical industry denies.
- Researchers urge lowering the admissible daily intake, or toxicity threshold, for already approved chemical compounds; long-term testing on the full formulations of new pesticides and new plasticizers; and requiring all toxicological data and experimental protocols for approved commercial compounds be made public.
African forest hornbills gain new protections from unsustainable trade
Negotiators discussing wildlife trade rules have agreed overwhelmingly to back a proposal that regulates the currently unrestricted trade in all seven species of African forest hornbills. Eight West and Central African countries had tabled the proposal at the ongoing summit of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It calls for […]
Peregrine falcons retain trade protections, despite downlisting bid by Canada and US
The U.S. and Canada have failed in their bid to loosen restrictions on the international trade in peregrine falcons, with delegates to CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, voting against it at an summit underway in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The two countries had submitted a joint proposal to move peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) from CITES Appendix […]
Jean Beasley, who turned her young daughter’s dying wish into a mission to save sea turtles, has died
- After the death of her daughter Karen in 1991 and her dying wish to “do something good for sea turtles,” Jean Beasley committed herself to sea turtle conservation on Topsail Island, North Carolina.
- She founded the state’s first sea turtle rehabilitation center, beginning in a cramped 900-square-foot space and growing it into a respected 13,000-square-foot hospital and public education facility in Surf City.
- Beasley valued both direct action and education, believing that saving one turtle mattered but inspiring others—especially children—to care about the ocean could save many more.
- Her decades of work helped protect more than 3,000 nests and rehabilitate at least 1,600 turtles, while also motivating future conservationists and proving that a daughter’s dying wish could become a movement of hope.
Saving critical winter habitat for monarch butterflies may depend on buy-in from their human neighbors
- Monarch butterflies are in decline largely because of habitat degradation, including in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in the forested mountains of Central Mexico.
- Researchers looked at aerial and satellite photography of forest cover in the Reserve over 50 years, assessing the impact of the Reserve’s protective decrees on logging.
- They found that implementation of logging bans worked well when the local community was consulted and compensated, and poorly when done without their involvement.
Unequal access to nature: Few outdoor spaces in Europe and the U.S. accommodate sensory, mental disabilities
- Of the 193 members of the United Nations, 164 signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, agreeing to provide access as a right for all people to effectively participate in society, but many fall short when it comes to outdoor spaces.
- Researchers reviewed accessibility features provided by UNESCO Biosphere Reserves for physical, sensory, mental, and cognitive disabilities.
- They found that while more than half of the Reserves provide access for people with some physical disabilities, most do not appear to accommodate sensory, cognitive, or mental disabilities.
Extinctions ‘already happening’ in Wales as report lists 3,000 at-risk species
Nearly 3,000 species in the country of Wales, in the U.K., are now found in just a handful of locations, according to a recent report. These species include hundreds of plants, fungi and mosses, as well as 25 bird, six mammal, five freshwater fish and one amphibian species. The report, produced by Natural Resources Wales […]
Predators in peril: Protected areas cover just a fraction of global carnivore ranges
- Globally, human impacts threaten the ranges of carnivores that depend on large swaths of natural land to survive.
- A new study found that a majority of the total, combined range of land-dwelling carnivores falls outside of land designated for habitat conservation.
- Researchers determined that Indigenous lands are particularly important for supporting carnivore ranges.
A ‘Life After Cars’ can provide huge human health and environmental benefits
Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon and Aaron Naparstek realized that no one was discussing the many cultural factors that have played a role in humanity’s car dependency, or the negative impacts this reliance on motor vehicles has on human health and the planet. So they started their own show to do exactly that, The War on […]
New ventures set out to tackle the plastic choking Bangladesh’s ECAs
- Bangladesh generates around 87,000 tons of single-use plastics annually, of which 96% are directly discarded as garbage.
- Due to lack of awareness, many people dump plastic waste at convenience, which congregate especially near rivers or lakes. Rainfall, wind and other factors lead the plastic waste to mix with water and sediment, causing harm to the ecosystems.
- In addition, managing the country’s 13 Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs) is becoming more difficult due to the presence of the large amount of plastic waste.
- Considering the negative impacts, the NGO BRAC started a project to turn the single-use plastic waste into raw material for plastic products in one of the ECAs.
International Jaguar Day: A year of wins for the big cat
Every Nov. 29 is International Jaguar Day, created to raise awareness about threats the jaguar (Panthera onca) faces, including habitat loss and poaching. While the Amazon and Brazil’s Pantanal biomes are strongholds for the jaguar, hosting a high density of the animals, the species has lost most of its historic range, a reality that conservationists […]
Critical minerals dropped from final text at COP30
Delegates at last month’s U.N. climate change summit, or COP30, adopted a new mechanism to coordinate action on a just energy transition worldwide toward a low-carbon economy, away from fossil fuels. However, a proposal at the conference in Brazil to include language on critical minerals within the mechanism’s scope was scrapped at the last minute […]
Indigenous Dayak sound alarm as palm oil firm razes orangutan habitat in Borneo
- Indigenous Dayak communities report wildlife encroaching into villages, land grabbing, and loss of cultural and livelihood resources as a palm oil company begins clearing forests on their customary lands — in some cases without consent or even prior notification.
- PT Equator Sumber Rezeki (ESR) has already cleared nearly 1,500 hectares (3,700 hectares) of rainforest inside this region that’s designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and orangutan habitat, with much of the deforestation occurring this year and signaling far more destruction to come.
- The company’s parent group, First Borneo, is driving widespread deforestation across Kapuas Hulu with two other plantations, yet its palm fruit is still entering global “zero-deforestation” supply chains through intermediary mills despite corporate no-buy pledges.
- Environmental groups are urging the government to halt or revoke ESR’s permits and protect the orangutan-rich landscape, warning that continued clearing undermines Indonesia’s climate commitments and threatens both biodiversity and cultural survival.
Lost at sea, found in Latin America: the journeys of discarded plastic bottles
- A regional study led by citizen scientists reveals the scope and sources of plastic bottle pollution along Latin America’s Pacific coast.
- Central America hosts the most polluted sites, where high population density and limited recycling infrastructure drive plastic buildup.
- Bottles traced to distant continents show how maritime currents spread waste across borders.
- Researchers suggest implementing standardized bottle return systems while highlighting citizen science as a tool for environmental action.
Healthy oceans are a human right (commentary)
- In 2022, the United Nations affirmed the basic human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
- The idea is straightforward: people’s fundamental human rights to health, food, security and even life rely on a healthy environment.
- But we are still far from ensuring that these rights are protected for the coastal communities living with the consequences of ocean decline every day, a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
SE Asia forest carbon projects sidelining social, biodiversity benefits, study finds
- Across Southeast Asia, forest carbon projects intended to offset greenhouse gas emissions are falling short on social justice safeguards, according to recent research.
- The study identifies weak governance, land tenure conflicts, corruption and fragmented policies as contributing to the shortcomings.
- Well-managed forest carbon initiatives have an important role to play in global efforts to reduce emissions, the researchers say, but they must center the rights of traditional custodians of forests.
- Against the backdrop of global democratic backsliding, experts urge greater scrutiny of project accountability to uphold social and environmental standards within the carbon sector.
Octopuses use their arms to sense and respond to microbiomes on the seafloor
- Octopus suckers can sense and react to microbiomes in their environment.
- Distinct microbial populations on objects relevant to the octopus’s survival, like eggs and prey, inform the animal’s behavior.
- Scientists found that in response to different microbial signals, chemotactile receptors trigger reflexive responses in octopus suckers and arms.
In Kenya, Maasai private landowners come together to protect wildlife corridors
- The Nashulai Maasai Conservancy in Kenya is entirely owned and managed by Maasai people and covers 2,400 hectares of land to protect biodiversity and secure land rights.
- Maasai herders lease their private lands to the conservancy, and in return, they cannot sell the land to anyone other than another member of the conservancy for conservation purposes, nor can they put up fences.
- The conservancy’s land strategy arose after outsiders purchased land in the county, fencing it off and blocking open grazing areas for wildlife and livestock to roam.
- Conservationists say the conservancy’s model has seen success but caution that it will continue working if Maasai landowners feel like they will continue receiving benefits from the land strategy and are included in decision-making.
Amazon’s stingless bee propolis shows potent healing power, studies show
- Researchers in Brazil identified anti-inflammatory properties of a cream made with the propolis of Amazon stingless bees, with results similar to commercial healing ointments.
- Stingless bees (meliponines) are the primary pollinators for the açaí berry, making their conservation crucial for both the Amazon ecosystem and a billion-dollar global industry.
- For one Amazon family, swapping cattle ranching for beekeeping and cosmetics is a real-world example of a bioeconomy that experts say offers a powerful alternative to deforestation.
Endangered knowledge and endangered plants: Threats to Indigenous medicinal traditions in Borneo
- Borneo’s Indigenous Punan people’s centuries-old plant knowledge is fading as younger generations turn to modern medicine, and secrecy limits knowledge sharing.
- Two important medicinal species, Cissus rostrata and Coscinium fenestratum, face severe conservation threats.
- Researchers emphasize long-term partnerships with Indigenous communities as essential for preserving both biodiversity and cultural heritage.
The long life of a Galápagos tortoise
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. She moved slowly, as if time were something best savored. Visitors leaned over railings or knelt at the edge of her enclosure as she stretched her neck toward a leaf of romaine. Children noted she was older than […]
First state-authorized killings mark escalation in California’s management of wolves
- California’s wildlife department killed four gray wolves in the Sierra Valley in late October, in a dramatic escalation of tactics to address growing predation of cattle by the canids and despite protection under state and federal endangered species laws.
- The department says the wolves killed at least 88 cattle in Sierra and Plumas counties and continued to target livestock despite months of nonlethal deterrents deployed to drive them away.
- The state employed lethal action despite its compensation program, which pays ranchers for cattle killed by wolves, and additional federal subsidies paid to the livestock industry at large.
- The state wildlife agency confirmed a new pack –– the Grizzly pack–– earlier this week with two adults and a pup. Though the state’s wolf population remains small and vulnerable, ranchers are increasingly concerned about livestock deaths.
As agroforestry declines in Indonesia’s Flores, a traditional ecological lexicon fades with it
- In Indonesia’s Flores highlands, the Manggarai people once practiced diverse agroforestry that blended farming with forest care — traditions carried in hundreds of specialized words for crops, tools and rituals.
- A new study recorded 253 of these agroforestry terms now at risk of disappearing as monoculture farming, tourism and forest loss reshape Manggarai’s landscapes and livelihoods.
- From 2002 to 2024, Manggarai lost about 71 hectares (175 acres) of humid primary forest, mostly cleared for monoculture plantations that disrupt traditional agroforestry systems.
- Researchers say reviving the fading lexicon — through schools, community exchanges and policy support — can help restore Indigenous knowledge crucial for biodiversity, food security and climate resilience.
A fragile Sri Lankan island fights back against the threat of mineral extraction
- Mannar Island, home to seagrass beds, migratory bird pathways, and diverse ecosystems is facing risk from deep sand mining that could destabilize its low-lying terrain and mineral-rich soil.
- Around 70,000 residents, including more than 22,000 fishers, live on the island, which has swathes of paddy and coconut plantations. Locals fear sand mining would disrupt livelihoods and offer minimal economic benefits.
- Residents of Mannar Island have periodically organized protests, including several peaceful demonstrations in Colombo, to voice their concerns over the environmental and social risks of proposed ilmenite sand mining and demanded their land rights.
- Experts and activists emphasize the need for an entire-island Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that goes beyond individual project-based assessments before any large-scale development initiatives get underway, thus avoiding or minimizing irreversible environmental and social impacts.
Lemurs are being eaten as an urban delicacy in Madagascar
- Lemur meat has become a discreet urban delicacy in Madagascar, with an estimated 13,000 lemurs sold annually in surveyed cities—mostly through hidden hunter-to-client channels.
- Peri-urban hunters run efficient one-stop operations, earning up to a third of their cash income from lemur sales while traveling long distances to harvest increasingly rare species.
- Wealthier consumers fuel demand based on perceptions of taste, luxury, and health benefits, with little fear of legal consequences and high prices reinforcing the status of lemur dishes.
- The trade targets vulnerable species, peaks during breeding season, and threatens rapid population declines; effective responses require firearm regulation, alternative livelihoods for hunters, and demand-focused strategies.
Afro-descendant territories slash deforestation, lock in carbon, study shows
- New research documents the positive impacts that Afro-descendant populations have had on tropical ecosystems in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Suriname.
- The study found that deforestation rates are between 29% and 55% lower in Afro-descendant lands than in protected areas.
- This is the first scientific study to employ statistical, geographical and historical data to assess the contribution of Afro-descendant communities in conservation.
- According to the researchers, Afro-descendant populations and their good practices are at risk due to a lack of legal recognition, invisibility of their contributions, and extractive activities in their territories.
Indian megacities are sinking putting thousands of buildings at risk: Study
Parts of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, India’s largest cities, are slowly sinking, mainly due to overextraction of groundwater, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay India’s Manish Chandra Mishra. Researchers used eight years of satellite radar data and found that 878 square kilometers (339 square miles) of land across the five megacities show […]
Behind Sri Lanka’s ‘fish rain’ lies a web of migrations now blocked by rising dams
- Sri Lanka recently reported a “fish rain,” where fish were found far from water bodies after heavy rains; but rather than falling from the sky, experts say these were amphibious fish that “walked” overland after the rains, making a rare but real phenomenon appear mysterious.
- Events like this highlight the subtle yet vital migrations that many freshwater species undertake — from overland movements by climbing perch and snakeheads, to upstream monsoon breeding runs by small fishes, to the epic sea-to-river-to-sea journeys of eels navigating rocks, dams and reservoirs.
- Such migrations are ecological lifelines, linking wetlands, rivers and coastlines, enriching ecosystems (as with salmon), and ensuring the survival and reproduction of a wide range of freshwater species.
- But in Sri Lanka, a growing network of dams, mini-hydro barriers and irrigation weirs is fragmenting rivers and blocking these ancient routes; despite fish ladders being proposed by dam developers, they’re rarely built, leaving many species unable to complete migrations essential for their survival.
How religious beliefs may help protect Mentawai’s forests
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, the Mentawai Islands rise from the Indian Ocean in a patchwork of forests and rivers where macaques, gibbons and hornbills thrive. Among the Indigenous Mentawai, an ancient cosmology called Arat Sabulungan […]
New agreement aims to streamline Amazon Rainforest protection efforts
- A new agreement announced at the COP30 climate talks in Brazil intends to unify countries and institutions from around the world to monitor and protect the Amazon Rainforest.
- The Mamirauá Declaration aims to develop a streamlined framework that will unify various long-term efforts to streamline data gathering and analysis.
- The agreement focuses on the active participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities in monitoring; it also calls for more capacity building in countries in the Amazon Basin.
What’s at stake for the environment in Honduras’ presidential election?
- Honduras will hold elections Nov. 30 for president and all 128 seats in Congress.
- The winners will hold office for the next four years, shaping the country’s environmental policies at a time when its many forests and ocean ecosystems are rapidly disappearing.
- Leading candidates include Rixi Moncada of the progressive LIBRE party, Salvador Nasralla of the centrist Liberal party and Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura of the conservative National party.
Fossil fuel failure eclipses Africa’s wins at COP30
- African negotiators secured significant gains on just transition, including recognition of clean cooking and energy poverty, marking the first time these priorities entered the formal United Nations climate negotiations.
- Adaptation finance advanced but remains insufficient, with wealthy nations pledging to triple support only by 2035, despite Africa’s urgent needs and widespread concern over loan-heavy climate finance.
- Forest conservation gained new momentum, with broad backing for a global deforestation roadmap and fresh funding initiatives like Brazil’s Tropical Forever Forest Fund (TFFF) and the Canopy Trust targeting Amazon and Congo Basin conservation.
- Failure to agree on a fossil fuel phaseout puts Africa at heightened risk, with scientists warning that if carbon emissions continue to rise unabated, they could fuel more extreme events like droughts and floods, destabilize food systems, and displace people.
Brazil nut hauling effort gets easier with zip lines and ‘Amazon Waze’
- Researchers are developing solutions to help Brazil nut collectors in the Amazon Rainforest reduce the physical toll of the trade.
- These include zip lines to haul heavy sacks across difficult terrain, and ergonomic baskets to reduce back strain while picking up the nut pods.
- These new technologies could encourage Indigenous youths to continue the practice, a crucial step for sustaining local communities who keep the Amazon standing.
- These advances are part of Brazil’s national push for a bioeconomy, a model designed to generate economic growth and social inclusion while protecting the rainforest.
Saving forests won’t be enough if fossil fuels beneath them are still extracted, experts warn
- A new analysis finds that tropical forests in 68 countries sit atop fossil fuel deposits that, if extracted, would emit 317 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases — more than the remaining 1.5°C (2.7°F) carbon budget — revealing a major blind spot in global climate policy.
- Because Brazil’s proposed Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) focuses only on stopping deforestation, researchers warn it risks missing far larger emissions from potential oil, gas and coal extraction under protected forests.
- India, China and Indonesia hold the largest fossil reserves beneath forests, with Indonesia facing acute trade-offs as most of its coal lies under forest areas where mining threatens biodiversity and Indigenous communities, including rhino habitats in Borneo.
- Experts say that compensating countries for leaving fossil fuels unextracted — through mechanisms like debt swaps or climate finance — could unlock massive climate benefits, but fossil fuel phaseout remains excluded from TFFF negotiations despite growing calls to include it.
As Sri Lanka continues new elephant drive, scientists warn against creating new conflicts
- In Sri Lanka’s southern district of Hambantota, authorities have launched a large-scale elephant drive, mobilizing wildlife officers, armed forces and villagers to push herds from villages into what is known as the Managed Elephant Reserve (MER).
- Conservationists warn the Hambantota operation could mirror past failed drives, such as the 2006 drive in the south and the 2024 operation in north-central Sri Lanka that left elephant herds stranded.
- Experts urge a shift from elephant drives to implementing coexistence strategies, including habitat management and community-based fencing, as outlined in Sri Lanka’s national action plan to mitigate human-elephant conflict.
- Despite having reliable data on Asian elephant behavior and HEC, local scientists lament Sri Lanka is not adopting a scientific approach to find solutions to HEC while repeating past mistakes.
Island-confined reptiles face high extinction risk, but low research interest
Reptile species found only on islands are significantly more vulnerable to extinction than their mainland counterparts, yet remain vastly overlooked by researchers, according to a recent study. “Reptiles, partly due to their ability to endure long periods without food or water, are particularly effective island colonizers,” Ricardo Rocha, study co-author and an associate professor at […]
The roughed-up roughy fish (cartoon)
The orange roughy may be among the oldest living deep-sea fish in the world, with a lifespan of up to 250 years. But bottom trawling practices in Australia and New Zealand might have already decimated their slow-breeding populations beyond recovery.
Rights to millions of hectares of Indigenous & local communities’ lands restored by ‘barefoot lawyers’
Nonette Royo is a lawyer from the Philippines and executive director of The Tenure Facility, a group of “barefoot lawyers” working to secure land tenure for Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities across the world. To date, the organization has secured more than $150 million in funding and has made progress in securing land rights covering […]
Botanists decode secret life of rare plants to ensure reintroduction success
- Working with South African daisies, Colombian magnolias and Philippine coffee trees, botanists the world over are discovering the secrets to bringing extremely rare and threatened plants back from the brink of extinction. Reintroductions are often the only way to build back thriving populations, but scientists face numerous hurdles.
- A major barrier is lack of botanical knowledge about rare species, making it hard to produce sufficient viable seeds, determine triggers for germination, and identify suitable seedling habitat. If seeds aren’t available from rare plants, botanists must use cuttings to propagate plants.
- Newly established plant populations often need help in the face of numerous threats. Climate change, for example, can not only create harsh new growing conditions but also fuels the spread of plant pests. Young plants frequently need to be protected from human activities like poaching, intentional burning or land-use change.
- While it can take decades for reintroduced plants to grow into sustainable, self-replenishing populations, project funding is often limited to three years or less, especially in the Global South. Experts say they hope funding will increase as recognition grows that ecosystem restoration requires plant diversity, including rare species.
Brazil aims for alternative route to fossil fuel road map after COP30 failure
- Brazil will collaborate with the Colombian and Dutch delegations to develop the road map outside the formal U.N. process, with the goal of bringing it back for discussion at COP31.
- Experts say the Belém summit showed disappointing deals after ambitious promises, failing to address the environmental and economic needs of climate change.
- The turbulent final plenary exposed deeper diplomatic rifts, with one delegate accusing Colombian counterparts of behaving “like children” amid high tensions.
It’s ‘whack-a-mole’: Alarming rise in pet trade fuels wildlife trafficking into California
- California has become a wildlife trafficking hotspot in the U.S., with a notable spike in live animals smuggled across the southern border to be sold as pets, from monkeys and exotic birds to venomous snakes.
- The state has three high-traffic border crossings with Mexico and millions of tons of cargo shipped through some of the nation’s busiest airports and seaports. With limited staff, resource-strapped agencies face serious challenges in policing the illegal import of protected plants and animals into California.
- Poachers also target California’s native plants and reptiles, threatening local species. Meanwhile, some imported animals get loose and become invasive species that destroy ecosystems or may carry diseases, creating public health risks.
- As traffickers exploit new technologies and follow market demand for different animals, enforcement officials struggle to control the influx of illegally traded species.
Already disappearing, Southeast Asia’s striped rabbits now caught in global pet trade
- Rare, elusive and little-known to science, two species of striped rabbits are endemic to Southeast Asia: Sumatran striped rabbits from Indonesia and endangered Annamite striped rabbits from the Vietnam-Laos border region.
- Both species are threatened by habitat loss and illegal snaring, despite having protected status in their range countries.
- In recent months, authorities have seized at least 10 live rabbits smuggled from Thailand on commercial flights to India, highlighting the first known instance of these rabbits being trafficked internationally for the pet trade.
- Conservationists say this trend is alarming, given that the two species are on the brink of extinction. They urge range countries to add the two species to CITES Appendix III, the international wildlife trade convention, and to work with Thai authorities to establish a conservation breeding program with the seized rabbits.
Chronic diseases prevalent across animals, but understudied: Study
From obesity in cats and dogs and osteoarthritis in pigs, to cancer in whales and high blood glucose in racoons, chronic diseases are increasingly becoming a concern across the animal world, a recent study finds. Most of these ailments can be traced back to human-driven changes, the author says. Antonia Mataragka, the study’s author from […]
In Indonesia’s courts, truth can be a lonely witness
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than two decades, professors Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture have stood where science meets power, testifying against companies accused of torching forests and draining peatlands. Their measurements of ash […]
Norway’s multibillion-dollar bet on forests: An interview with Minister Eriksen
- Two major forest finance initiatives announced at COP30 — the Brazil-led Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), backed by $6.7 billion, and the newly launched Canopy Trust — signal renewed global attention on the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest.
- Canopy Trust, formally launched Nov. 17, relies on blended public–private finance and has already raised $93 million, with a goal of mobilizing $1 billion by 2030 to support sustainable enterprises and early-stage, high-impact forest projects in the Congo Basin.
- Norway, the largest contributor to both the TFFF and Canopy Trust, sees the new fund as complementary to existing mechanisms like CAFI — rewarding low deforestation and strengthening sustainable production. One of its key functions is to de-risk investments in local small and medium-sized enterprises, which might otherwise find it hard to attract private investors.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said the ultimate test will be whether these mechanisms finally deliver what communities demand: direct access to finance, local ownership and tangible economic benefits on the ground.
Conservation can emphasize human well-being to navigate its current funding crisis (commentary)
- Cuts in funding, weakening support from governments, and disinformation are all driving a current crisis for conservation.
- But these challenges need not hold conservation programs back, the authors of a new op-ed with decades of experience at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other development programs argue, and suggest three strategies that can work.
- “Leaning into the human well-being outcomes of conservation can also shift the pervasive and harmful view that conserving nature is primarily an environmental undertaking rather than a cornerstone of sustainable development,” they write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Brazil’s forest fund faces a slow takeoff at COP30 despite initial support
- The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) secured $6.7 billion in sponsor capital at COP30, representing less than a quarter of the $25 billion initially required for a full-scale rollout.
- Policy analysts warn that a smaller fund could likely lose the capacity to outpace deforestation drivers in tropical forests — key in the race to avoid climate disaster.
- Rich nations blamed operational rifts and budget constraints to hold off funding TFFF, a struggle that reflects a worldwide crisis in climate finance; nearly one-third of the funds raised by global forest mechanisms remain undisbursed.
Why are Amazonian trees getting ‘fatter’?
- A new study has found that the trunks of trees in the Amazon have become thicker in recent decades — an unexpected sign of the rainforest’s resilience in response to record-high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
- Nearly 100 scientists involved in the study have stated that old-growth forests in the Amazon are sequestering more carbon than they did 30 years ago, contradicting predictions of immediate collapse due to climate change.
- But the warning still stands: Despite the trees’ capacity to adapt, scientists fear that the extreme droughts and advancing deforestation could invert the rainforest’s balance and threaten its vital role in global climate regulation.
Weather disasters are surging in the Amazon. Reporting isn’t.
The Amazon’s climate hazards are growing faster than governments can track.
Abrolhos: A South Atlantic marine treasure in need of protection
- Located off the coast of the Brazilian states of Bahia and Espírito Santo, the vast Abrolhos Seascape is home to some of the South Atlantic Ocean’s richest marine biodiversity. Here, more than 500 species inhabit coral reefs, mangrove forests and islands. Brazil’s largest humpback whale breeding ground also occurs within the seascape.
- Yet little legislation has been created to protect this region, leaving it at risk of predatory fishing and deep-sea mining: Less than 2% of the South Atlantic’s largest coral reef, which occupies 46,000 square kilometers within the wider Abrolhos Seascape, is fully protected.
- A recent study identified critical areas and vulnerable ecosystems within Abrolhos Seascape that the authors say need urgent conservation action; these include rhodolith beds — clusters of limestone rock that are crucial for climate security and marine species reproduction.
TotalEnergies faces criminal complaint in France over alleged massacre in Mozambique
As French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume work on its multibillion-dollar offshore gas project in northern Mozambique, it faces a criminal complaint back home over its role in funding an army unit accused of torturing and executing dozens of civilians in 2021. The complaint was filed with France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor by […]
Mongabay Latam wins the Global Shining Light Award for investigative journalism
- Mongabay Latam has won the Global Investigative Journalism Network’s Global Shining Light Award for its investigation into illegal airstrips in the Amazon rainforest.
- Working with its partner Earth Genome, Mongabay Latam combined AI, drone footage, and interviews with more than 60 local sources to uncover a network of drug-trafficking airstrips in Peru. The reporting also documented links to violence and assassinations targeting Indigenous leaders and communities.
- The year-long investigation sparked national and international media coverage, caught the attention of lawmakers and authorities, and equipped Indigenous leaders with evidence to advocate for greater protections.
- The award was presented today at the 14th Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC25) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
A killing with precedent: Kaiowá man’s murder fits a pattern in Brazil
- Gunmen killed Vicente Kaiowá e Guarani on November 16th during a land-reclamation effort, in an attack his community says was carried out by organized militias rather than internal rivals.
- The Kaiowá of Pyelito Kue and Mbarakay face a long pattern of violence as they try to return to their tekoha, despite their territory being officially recognized but still undemarcated.
- Recent assaults—including multiple attacks in early November and clashes linked to pesticide drift—reflect a recurring cycle in which reoccupations are met with armed reprisals.
- Rights advocates say Vicente’s death underscores a broader failure of the state to enforce constitutional land rights, leaving the Kaiowá exposed to continued killings on territory that legally belongs to them.
Bearing witness to Indonesia’s environmental challenges: Sapariah Saturi
- Sapariah “Arie” Saturi grew up in West Kalimantan amid recurring forest and peatland fires, experiences that shaped her understanding of Indonesia’s environmental crises.
- After beginning her journalism career in Pontianak in the late 1990s, she joined Mongabay Indonesia at its inception and helped build it into a national environmental newsroom.
- As managing editor, she oversees a dispersed team of more than 50 reporters, beginning her days before dawn to edit stories, coordinate coverage, and guide investigations across the archipelago.
- Her commitment is grounded in independence, empathy, and the belief that environmental journalism can help communities, influence policy, and deepen public understanding of Indonesia’s overlapping crises.
‘Forever chemical’ contamination could undermine sea otters’ fragile recovery in Canada
- Sea otters living along the coastline of Canada’s British Columbia province are exposed — and absorb — forever chemicals, a new study shows.
- Each of the 11 sea otters tested carried residues PFAS chemicals, with concentrations higher for those living near dense human populations or shipping lanes.
- The Canadian government released an assessment earlier this year recommending that PFAS be classed as toxic and is moving toward adopting tighter rules for these chemicals. Environmentalists support the initiative.
Lesotho communities allege greenwashing by project transferring water to South Africa
- The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), a scheme to transfer water from Lesotho’s river systems to neighboring South Africa, also aims to provide hydropower to Lesotho’s people.
- However, complainants from communities impacted and displaced by the complex of dams, water channels, feeder roads, and bridges accuse the developers of promoting the LHWP as a climate mitigation project and ignoring its impacts on their livelihoods and the environment, and call it “greenwashing.”
- The project is degrading the environment, polluting water streams used by residents, destroying cultivable land used to grow food crops, eating into forests, and reducing access to pastures, according to the complaint filed with the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is partly financing the LHWP.
- “We are not just being denied benefits from the project, we are suffering harm from it,” the complaint says.
In Thailand, a cheap bottle crate hack gives tree saplings a fighting chance
- A recent study in Thailand finds that raising native tree seedlings inside repurposed bottle crates improves performance compared to standard methods in community-run nurseries.
- Saplings grown in bottle crates had better root formation and superior growth when planted out in a deforested site, thanks to better air circulation for the roots.
- Crating the saplings also saved on labor costs, which more than offset the cost of purchasing the crates.
- Adoption of the new method could improve the quality of saplings grown in community nurseries, a benefit for reforestation projects where sapling survival is key to success.
It’s time to end the carbon offset era, COP30 scientists & communities say (commentary)
- The COP30 Science Council and Indigenous delegates, activists and local communities in Belém this week argued that forests are not offsets and that the world cannot simply trade its way out of the climate crisis.
- Carbon offsetting programs have been under intense scrutiny for years, and a broad coalition of COP30 attendees and advisors say that this is the moment to move forward on climate finance with greater effectiveness and equity.
- “This is the Amazon COP. If it ends with a decision that ignores Indigenous rights and props up offset markets that science says cannot work, it will squander the moral clarity of this moment,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Why don’t forest protectors get paid? asks Suriname’s president
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. At the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP30, in Brazil, Suriname is taking a large step into the spotlight, reports Mongabay’s Max Radwin. With about 93% forest cover and a status as one of only three nations to boast […]
Inside California’s race to document its insects: A conversation with Chris Grinter
- Christopher C. Grinter, Senior Collection Manager of Entomology at the California Academy of Sciences, discussed his work documenting California’s insect diversity through the California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI).
- He described how DNA barcoding and voucher specimens together form a lasting record of life, helping scientists track species and environmental change across the state.
- Grinter reflected on both the urgency of discovery amid biodiversity loss and the promise of new technologies and collaborations that make large-scale insect research possible.
- He spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025.
Study finds important Nassau grouper spawning site in Belize near collapse
- The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), a large-bodied top predator, was once the most abundant and commercially important fish in the Caribbean.
- Each winter, the groupers gather en masse at special places to breed, but many of these so-called fish spawning aggregation sites have been dwindling or succumbing entirely to overfishing.
- A new study looked at an important spawning site at Northeast Point on Glover’s Reef Atoll in Belize and found that the number of Nassau groupers attending the annual gathering declined by 85% over the past two decades and is now “on a trajectory towards local extirpation.”
- It attributes the decline to the government’s limited capacity to enforce regulations aimed at protecting the groupers from fishing at the remote site.
The land deal threatening a vital piece of Bolivia’s Chiquitano dry forest
- A 30,019-hectare (74,178-acre) forest in Santa Cruz, Bolivia is on the verge of being sold to Bom Futuro, a Brazilian agriculture company with plans to clear the land, documents reviewed by Mongabay suggest.
- The forest is being sold by a local affiliate of Dutch wood flooring producer INPA, which has helped sustainably manage the area since the mid-2000s.
- Conservationists say the plot is an important part of Bolivia’s Chiquitano dry forest, which acts as a transition between the Amazon Rainforest and the Gran Chaco and Cerrado savannas.
EU touts climate leadership while undermining antideforestation rules, critics say
- European governments are pushing to delay and weaken the EU Deforestation Regulation, backing a one-year postponement to 2026 and major reductions in due-diligence requirements.
- The political shift is driven largely by Germany and supported by France, despite earlier European Commission rollbacks and opposition from only a few member states.
- Civil society groups warn that further delays would gut the law, punish early-compliant companies, and undermine the EU’s regulatory credibility.
- At COP30, the EU’s silence on deforestation has fueled accusations of hypocrisy as advocates say weakening the EUDR would have severe consequences for tropical forests.
Makassar women press for water as taps and wells run dry in sweltering Indonesian city
- Located on the coast of Sulawesi Island’s largest city, Makassar, Tallo ward endures high water stress and contamination of local sources with heavy metals and other pollutants.
- Water stress is a well-documented driver of gender-based violence around the world, with extensive correlation established by numerous research studies, and causation in many circumstances.
- In Makassar, women are commonly responsible for ensuring local households are supplied with water, which typically involves hauling more than two dozen plastic containers of water across town.
- In response to these challenges, a grassroots women-led organization has entered direct talks with local political leaders and the municipal water company in a bid to improve access to water for consumption and sanitation.
Soot: The super-pollutant choking a burning Earth, in photos
Burning fossil fuels and forests releases the well-known greenhouse gases that drive anthropogenic climate change. That burning also produces soot, a fine black particle that harms health and accelerates warming. A new photo series highlights the often overlooked consequence of burning. Award-winning photojournalist Victor Moriyama, in partnership with the Clean Air Fund and Climate Visuals, […]
With COP30, Indigenous Brazilians strive for new resources to protect nature
- Less than 1% of global climate funding reaches Indigenous peoples and traditional groups, despite their leading roles in environmental conservation, particularly in the Amazon, according to reports.
- In addition to a lack of access to conventional financing options, many traditional initiatives remain isolated by bureaucratic hurdles and struggle to adapt typical funding requirements to their communal dynamics.
- In response to these challenges, several Indigenous and traditional-led funds are seeking solutions. Across Brazil, organizations are working to align financial procedures with the reality of local communities, aiming to ensure the autonomy of their representatives.
- As Brazil hosts the COP30 climate summit, leaders of these Indigenous funds see the event as a window of opportunity to draw the world’s attention and seek new routes for proper investment.
Game of tiny thrones: Parasitic ants grab power by turning workers against their queen
Queens of some ant species have evolved an unusually hostile mode for colony takeover: they infiltrate colonies of other ant species and manipulate the worker ants into killing their own queen — their mother — then accepting the intruding queen as their new leader, according to a recent study. In the world of ants, where […]
Amazon Indigenous groups fight soy waterway as Brazil fast-tracks dredging
- Brazil is pushing the Tapajós River waterway as one of the main Amazon shipping corridors and preparing it for privatization, which will enable regular dredging and maintenance to improve its capacity.
- Traditional communities and environmental groups warn that dredging and heavy vessel traffic threaten fish stocks, turtle nesting areas and other wildlife.
- The Tapajós waterway is a central component of the new Amazonian logistics plans to move commodities such as soy and beef, including the contested Ferrogrão railway.
‘The perfect ingredients’: WRI Africa deputy director shares vision for the continent’s energy transition
- Rebekah Shirley, the deputy director for Africa at the World Resources Institute (WRI), says that increasing energy access for Africans, 600 million of whom lack basic access to electricity, requires thinking about entire economies.
- In a conversation with Mongabay, Shirley notes that technological advances, especially for renewable energy, are no longer the hurdle they once were.
- Instead, bringing energy access to households, community services and industry will result from investment in manufacturing, commerce and industry that will support the expansion of universal household energy access, Shirley says.
- Mongabay spoke with Shirley in the lead-up to the 2025 U.N. climate conference, COP30, in Belém, Brazil.
Lethal dose of plastic for seabirds and marine animals ‘much smaller than expected’
- A new study looking at the impacts of plastic ingestion by seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals found that relatively small amounts of consumed plastic can be deadly.
- The research analyzed the necropsy results for more than 10,000 animals and quantified the amount of plastic that could prove deadly as well as the types of plastic with the biggest impact, which included synthetic rubber, soft plastics (such as plastic bags and wrappers) and discarded plastic fishing gear.
- Overall, one in five of the deceased animals had consumed plastic (affecting 50% of all studied sea turtles, 35% of seabirds and 12% of marine mammals); nearly half of the species studied were considered threatened or near threatened on the IUCN Red List.
- The researchers didn’t consider other health impacts of plastic, such as chemical exposure and entanglement, which led the lead author to conclude the study likely underestimates the “existential threat that plastic pollution poses to ocean wildlife.”
With military backing and oligarch allies, Indonesia pushes controversial food estate
- The Indonesian government is fast-tracking a massive food estate and biofuel push in South Papua, anchored by new plantations, an $8 billion bioethanol supply chain, and major infrastructure projects including a new highway and expanded airport plans.
- The initiative revives decades of state-driven “food estate” ambitions that have repeatedly failed — from Suharto’s peat-wrecking Mega Rice Project to Joko Widodo’s abandoned cassava fields — yet now comes with stronger political will, military backing, and efforts to attract private and international partners, including Brazil.
- Funding and execution remain shaky, with the appointed operator, PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara, still unfunded amid competing fiscal pressures as the government pursues costly programs like nationwide free school meals.
- Large-scale land clearing is already underway amid reports of militarized suppression of local resistance, while oligarch allies such as the Jhonlin Group are playing prominent roles, underscoring both the urgency and controversy surrounding Prabowo’s self-sufficiency drive.
Mongabay journalist Malavika Vyawahare honored with SEAL Award
Mongabay contributing editor Malavika Vyawahare has been awarded a 2025 SEAL environmental journalism award, which recognizes reporters covering the complexities of the environment and climate. “This award is a huge encouragement for me, as a journalist and as an exhausted toddler mom,” Vyawahare said. “It is also a recognition of the kind of work Mongabay […]
Indigenous Dayak resist new southern Borneo national park amid global protection deficit
- Indigenous peoples and student protesters staged several demonstrations in Indonesian Borneo in August in a bid to pressure local authorities to cancel plans for a 119,779-hectare (295,980-acre) national park in the Meratus mountain range.
- Meratus Mountains National Park would be the first national park in South Kalimantan province, and the 58th in Indonesia.
- The draft plans will absorb almost two dozen villages impacting several thousand families, many of whom fear displacement given the lack of formal state recognition of Indigenous communities.
- Local civil society organizations say the public protests reflect a lack of consultation with affected communities, a pattern established by many governments as countries rush to protect 30% of the world’s land and marine areas by 2030.
How Indonesian communities rescued the Bali starling from the brink of extinction
One of the world’s rarest birds has rebounded from near extinction after Indigenous communities on the Indonesian island of Bali committed to protect it under traditional laws, Mongabay contributor Heather Physioc reported. The Bali starling (Leucopsar rothschildi) is a songbird with striking white plumage and a cobalt-blue face. In 2001, just six birds were known […]
As Zambia eyes green minerals, Kabwe’s poisoned past looms large
- Zambia is seeking to capitalize on the green energy boom through copper and other critical minerals, but campaigners warn that without real accountability and community participation, the next mining wave could create new “sacrifice zones,” repeating a painful history.
- The town of Kabwe remains severely polluted after decades of lead and copper mining, with more than 95% of children showing dangerous blood lead levels.
- The “Zambia’s Sacrifice Zone” campaign, launched by young activists, journalists and NGOs, uses storytelling and radio to demand accountability, raise awareness and amplify community voices in the fight for environmental justice and cleanup.
- Authorities have rolled out remediation projects with World Bank support, testing tens of thousands of residents and improving water and infrastructure, but activists say compensation is lacking and enforcement of environmental laws remains weak.
Pioneering primatologist in Madagascar shares decades of conservation wisdom
Patricia Wright, a pioneering primatologist who established the Centre ValBio research station in Madagascar, began her work there in 1986. As the person who first described the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) to Western science, her contributions led to the creation of Ranomafana National Park, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She joins the Mongabay […]
Scientists slam Canada-US proposal to lower trade protections for peregrine falcons
- Peregrine falcons, the world’s fastest and most widespread raptors, recovered spectacularly after pesticides that nearly drove them to extinction were banned and captive-bred birds were rewilded, making the effort a remarkable conservation success story.
- Although the species is no longer endangered, international commercial trade in this bird, coveted by falconers, is banned for wild-caught specimens and highly regulated for captive-bred ones. Canada and the U.S. propose loosening those restrictions, a proposal that will be voted on at the upcoming meeting of CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty.
- Some raptor scientists have concerns. The Canada-U.S. downlisting proposal includes population estimates of just a few subspecies; many others are understudied. Some populations have declined in recent years and illegal trade continues.
- Until there are safeguards against unsustainable trade and accurate assessments for all subspecies, conservationists say lowering protections could undo the efforts that have brought this bird back from the brink.
Trade in marine fish for aquariums includes threatened species, lacks oversight: Study
- A new study of major U.S.-based online retailers of marine fish bound for aquariums found that nearly 90% of traded species are sourced exclusively from the wild, including a number of threatened species, and that the trade is poorly tracked.
- The study raises concerns about the ecological impact of the trade on marine ecosystems, including around coral reefs, in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, where the fish are caught.
- Experts called for more work to develop sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in coastal communities in the Global South, and for building consumer awareness and establishing eco-certification schemes.
Construction of TotalEnergies pipeline cuts through coral reefs in Mozambique
- A Dutch company dredged through a highly sensitive coral area for TotalEnergies’ liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, satellite imagery and vessel traffic data confirm.
- The French oil and gas company declared force majeure after insurgents attacked the facility in 2021, but some work on the project continued.
- Environmental groups warn that the environmental impact assessments for TotalEnergies’ project and three others in the same waters are inadequate.
Study maps whale shark stranding hotspots in Indonesia, highlights conservation needs
- A new study has identified whale shark stranding hotspots in Indonesia and linked them to seasonal ocean conditions, offering scientists a clearer picture of when and where risks are highest.
- The researchers found that most strandings involved juveniles and often occurred during upwelling seasons; they highlighted that human pressures such as fishing gear, ship traffic and pollution may further increase the danger.
- The study calls for stronger rescue networks, better community training, and international cooperation to improve survival rates and protect these migratory animals across the region.
Indonesia labeled ‘Fossil of the Day’ for echoing industry talking points at COP30
- Indonesia has been publicly rebuked at COP30 with a “Fossil of the Day” award after civil society groups accused its delegation of echoing fossil fuel and carbon industry lobbyists during negotiations on Article 6.4, the U.N.’s new carbon market mechanism.
- Observers say Indonesia’s position closely mirrors the talking points in an industry-backed letter calling for weaker safeguards under Article 6.4 — a move critics warn could undermine the integrity of global carbon markets and benefit groups with financial stakes in nature-based carbon projects.
- Indonesia denies being influenced by lobbyists, even though at least 46 representatives from fossil fuel and heavy-industry companies are accredited under its delegation — raising broader concerns about corporate access to negotiations amid a COP already flooded with a record proportion of fossil fuel lobbyists.
- Experts warn Indonesia’s push to loosen Article 6.4 rules risks weakening international oversight, aligning the mechanism with the far less transparent Article 6.2, and potentially undermining both Indonesia’s climate credibility and the robustness of the Paris Agreement’s carbon market safeguards.
Plans to dispose of mining waste in Norway’s Arctic Ocean worries Sámi fishers, herders
- Mining company Blue Moon Metals plans to dispose of its mining waste in Repparfjord, a nationally protected salmon fjord in the Norwegian Arctic that Indigenous Sámi fishers rely on.
- When operational, the Nussir ASA copper mine will deposit between 1 million and 2 million metric tons of tailings at the bottom of the fjord annually, according to the company’s permit.
- The Norwegian Environment Agency told Mongabay that the company plans to place its mining waste into the fjord in a controlled manner to limit the dispersal of harmful residues.
- Some Sámi residents, whose livelihoods depend on fishing and reindeer herding, told Mongabay they fear the tailings and mine will destroy vital marine habitats for salmon and disrupt traditional reindeer breeding and migration areas.
Top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin’s COP30 reflections on Amazon conservation (analysis)
- The global battle to mitigate climate change cannot be won in the Amazon, but it can certainly be lost there, writes top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin in a new analysis for Mongabay. Though he’s well-known for investigating traditional uses of plants in the region, he’s also a keen observer of and advocate for Indigenous communities and conservation there.
- Compared to the 1970s, he writes, the Amazon enjoys far greater formal protection, understanding and attention, while advances in technology and ethnobotany have revealed new insights into tropical biodiversity, and Indigenous communities — long the guardians and stewards of this ecosystem — are increasingly recognized as central partners in conservation, and their shamans employ hallucinogens like biological scalpels to diagnose, treat and sometimes cure ailments, a technology that is increasingly and ever more widely appreciated.
- “The challenge now is to ensure that the forces of protection outpace the forces of destruction, which, of course, is one of the ultimate goals of the COP30 meeting in Belém,” he writes.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
A slowdown, not salvation: what new extinction data reveal about the state of life on Earth
- Extinction rates appear to have slowed since their peak in the early 1900s, suggesting not a reprieve for nature but a shift in how and where losses occur. Much of the damage was concentrated on islands, where invasive species drove many native plants and animals to extinction.
- The study challenges the assumption that past extinction patterns predict future ones, highlighting major data gaps—especially for invertebrates—and warning that today’s threats stem mainly from habitat loss and climate change on continents.
- Conservation efforts have shown that targeted actions, such as invasive species removal and habitat restoration, can be highly effective, though success remains uneven and far smaller than the scale of global biodiversity loss.
- Even as outright extinctions slow, ecosystems continue to unravel through declining abundance, lost ecological knowledge, and homogenization of species—signs that life’s diversity is eroding in subtler but equally serious ways.
Pakistan declares its third marine protected area, but has a long way to go
- In September, Pakistan declared its third marine protected area, around Miani Hor Lagoon on the country’s central coast.
- The biodiversity-rich lagoon hosts a lush mangrove forest, numerous bird species and threatened marine mammals.
- Conservationists welcomed the new marine protected area as a baby step toward meeting the country’s so-called 30×30 commitment to protect 30% of its land and sea by 2030. However, the new addition puts Pakistan’s total protected marine area at just 0.23% of its marine and coastal jurisdiction.
- The scope of protections for the new protected area remains to be determined. Local people expressed concern that restrictions could upend the livelihoods of the local community, which depends on the lagoon and mangroves and already lacks basic necessities.
France’s largest rewilding project takes root in the Dauphiné Alps
- The nonprofit Rewilding Europe announced its 11th project this summer in the Dauphiné Alps, a forested mountain range in southeastern France where wild horses, bison and lynx thrived more than 200 years ago.
- Rewilding is a restoration concept that works toward wildlife comeback to a landscape with minimal other human intervention.
- The project is focused on fostering an environment where wild horses, alpine ibex, roe deer, vultures, Eurasian lynx and wolves can build healthy populations.
- The biggest challenges include working with private landowners and convincing locals that predators, such as wolves, can be beneficial.
Are Belize’s fisheries policies delivering?
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Belize has built an enviable brand as a small country taking on a big problem: how to keep the sea alive while sustaining the people who depend on it. The story sells well. A 2021 debt-for-nature “blue bond” […]
South Africa to lift fracking moratorium in Karoo Basin, despite concerns
South Africa plans to lift a 13-year moratorium on shale gas exploration in the ecologically sensitive Karoo Basin, despite serious environmental and climate concerns raised by advocacy groups. In 2011, the government imposed a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo, a semidesert region spanning more than 400,000 square kilometers (154,000 square miles) across northern […]
As fires flare in Brazil’s Cerrado, heat-resistant seeds offer restoration lifeline
- Research from Brazil shows that tree species adapted to extreme heat may be key to reforesting areas affected by fires.
- The ongoing research focuses on plants native to the Cerrado savanna, a biome where fire is a natural mechanism for vegetation regeneration and seeds can germinate after the land is burned.
- The findings have practical implications for the Cerrado, which is the most burning-prone biome in Brazil, with the risk of fire exacerbated by agriculture.
- Proponents say restoration strategies that include heat-resistant species can minimize the impacts and prepare the restoration site for other species to take root.
Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley, who helped Indonesian communities restore their reefs, has died
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In the shallows off northern Bali, where the reefs flicker with life and the sea carries the rhythm of work and prayer, a quiet revolution took root. Women who once had few choices began tending tanks of clownfish […]
Saalumarada Thimmakka, mother of trees, has died, aged 114
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Along a dusty road between Hulikal and Kudur in southern India, banyan trees rise like sentinels. Their thick roots grasp the earth, their canopies stretch wide, casting deep shade over the red soil. Travelers who pass beneath them […]
UK court finds mining giant liable for decade-old dam disaster in Brazil
A U.K. judge has found that the Australian multinational mining company BHP is liable for a 2015 dam collapse in southeastern Brazil. The incident killed 19 people and unleashed at least 40 million cubic meters (1.4 billion cubic feet) of toxic mine tailings onto downstream towns and waterways for 675 kilometers (419 miles). In […]
Mongabay Fellows share their ‘Letters to the Future’
Uncertainty and hope — these sentiments prevail in a series of commentaries published by the latest cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as they conclude their program and forge new paths into environmental journalism. Uncertainty centers on the future of our planet, the journalists who cover it and the people who defend it. […]
AI data center revolution sucks up world’s energy, water, materials
- Data centers are springing up across tropical Latin America, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Africa. But these facilities are often unlike those of the recent past. Today’s advanced data centers are built to provide artificial intelligence (AI) computing capacity by Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.
- As large AI data centers proliferate, they are competing for water, energy and materials with already stressed tropical communities. National governments frequently welcome Big Tech and AI, offering tax breaks and other incentives to build AI complexes, while often not taking community needs into consideration.
- Aware that fossil fuels and renewables by themselves likely can’t handle the astronomical energy demands posed by AI mega-data centers, Internet companies are reactivating the once moribund nuclear industry, despite intractable problems with radioactive waste disposal.
- Voices in the Global South say that AI computing (whose producers remain principally in the Global North) is evolving as a new form of extractive colonialism. Some Indigenous people say it is time to question limitless technological innovation with its heavy environmental and social costs.
Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking
- A sting by Mexican authorities in September uncovered more than 2,300 live, wild-caught freshwater turtles and other valuable wildlife products. Three men were arrested and charged with wildlife crimes.
- Vallarta mud turtles, the world’s smallest and the most imperiled in the Western Hemisphere, were among the eight species seized by authorities. All are in high demand as pets, and were headed for the U.S. and Asia.
- Smuggled under horrific conditions, nearly half of the turtles seized in this raid died; the rest are being cared for at Guadalajara Zoo.
- This operation highlights rampant turtle smuggling in Mexico, home to the second-most turtle species on the planet. Conservationists urge officials to tighten law enforcement and intelligence gathering to combat trafficking that threatens the survival of the country’s wildlife.
As Indonesia turns COP30 into carbon market showcase, critics warn of ‘hot air’
- Indonesia is using the COP30 climate summit to aggressively market its carbon credits, launching daily “Sellers Meet Buyers” sessions and seeking international commitments 6 despite unresolved integrity issues in its carbon market.
- Experts warn Indonesia’s credits risk being “hot air,” since its climate targets are rated “critically insufficient,” meaning many claimed reductions may not be real, additional or permanent — especially in forest-based projects.
- Forest and land-use credits, Indonesia’s biggest selling point, are among the riskiest, with high risks of overcrediting, leakage and nonpermanence; ongoing fires and deforestation further undermine credibility.
- Environmental groups say the carbon push distracts Indonesia from securing real climate finance, enabling wealthy nations to offset rather than cut emissions, while leaving Indonesia vulnerable to climate impacts and dependent on a fragile market.
Newly described ‘lucifer’ bee found visiting critically endangered plant in Australia
In 2019, researcher Kit Prendergast was surveying the insects visiting an incredibly rare plant in the Bremer Ranges of Western Australia when a bee grabbed her attention. Prendergast and her colleague dug deeper and found that the native bee, now named Megachile lucifer, is a new-to-science species, according to a recent study. The species name […]
From rock music to rainforests: Akhyari Hananto’s unlikely path to impact
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Before dawn breaks over Surabaya, Indonesia’s “City of Heroes,” Akhyari Hananto is already at work. After morning prayers, he opens Google Analytics to watch the night’s reading patterns unfold — what stories drew attention, which headlines resonated, and […]
Small grants are key to a successful next generation of conservationists (commentary)
- Large numbers of early-career conservationists and fledgling organizations are poised to implement solutions to the biodiversity crisis, but the prevailing funding logic isn’t adapting fast enough to support them.
- Small grants can make a huge difference in this moment, as they are fast, flexible and comprehensible to people on the ground doing local conservation work, especially when unhinged from onerous restrictions and reporting requirements.
- “We must support the next generation of conservation leaders to ensure they have viable career paths that do not come at the expense of burnout,” a new op-ed argues. “Small grants must step forward, not as charity, but as infrastructure for resilience.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
‘Green’ energy transition leaves a dirty trail in the Philippines’ nickel belt
- Nickel mining in the southern Philippines is damaging the environment and health and livelihoods of local communities, according to a recent report from U.S.-based NGO Climate Rights International.
- The report looked at the Caraga region on the island of Mindanao, where 23 active nickel mines currently operate.
- Residents interviewed for the report cited siltation of rivers, farms and coastal areas as damage caused by nickel mines, as well as dust pollution during the dry season. They also listed human rights violations against people opposed to the mines.
- The vast majority of nickel mined in the region is exported to China.
Cacao rush fuels conflict and deforestation in southeastern Liberia
Soaring cacao prices over the last three years are fueling deforestation and conflict in Grand Gedeh county of Liberia, in West Africa, Mongabay staff writer Ashoka Mukpo reported. Satellite imagery by Global Forest Watch indicates that forest loss in and around Grand Gedeh, which borders the neighboring nation of Côte d’Ivoire in southeastern Liberia, has […]
Strategic ignorance, climate change and Amazonia (commentary)
- With the support of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, essentially all of Brazil’s government outside of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is promoting actions that push us toward tipping points, both for the Amazon Rainforest and the global climate.
- Crossing any of these tipping points would result in global warming escaping from human control, with devastating consequences for Brazil that include mass mortalities.
- The question of whether Brazil’s leaders understand the consequences of their actions is relevant to how they will be judged by history, but the climatic consequences follow automatically, regardless of how these actions may be judged, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Ecuador freezes bank accounts of Indigenous leaders, land defenders
- Dozens of bank accounts that belong to Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have been reportedly frozen for weeks, by order of the state.
- Sources told Mongabay their accounts froze suddenly without warning or explanation. Some have gone over six weeks, unable to access their funds, saying it has drastically affected their mobility.
- The freezes come at a time of social protests and rising tensions in the country, and ahead of a controversial referendum in November that will ask citizens if they want to re-write the country’s constitution.
- The freeze on some bank accounts have been lifted with help from lawyers. However, dozens remain in place.
What’s at stake for the environment in Chile’s upcoming election?
- Chileans will go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote for a new president, 23 Senate seats and all 155 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies.
- The elections could be a deciding factor in how the country addresses a number of ongoing environmental issues.
- Candidates range from the left-wing Jeannette Jara to conservatives José Antonio Kast, Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei.
- Whoever wins will have to address the clean energy transition, ongoing land disputes with Indigenous groups, and a controversial mining sector that has clashed with local communities.
TotalEnergies moves to restart Mozambique LNG project despite security, eco concerns
Four years after suspending operations at a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique’s Afungi Peninsula following insurgent attacks in the nearby village of Palma, French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies and its partners have decided to lift their force majeure, local media reported. The company communicated the decision to the Mozambican government on Oct. 24. […]
Photos: Drones help First Nations track down cold-water havens for salmon amid warming
- Indigenous fisheries association and river guardians, representing several Mi’kmaq nations in eastern Canada, have launched a drone-based thermal-mapping campaign to locate and protect cold-water refuges vital for threatened Atlantic salmon.
- Warming temperatures are pushing the Atlantic salmon beyond their ideal thermal tolerance, compounding existing pressures on the species, such as overfishing.
- Warming waters and declining river flows during droughts are impacting both the fisheries and the cultural lifeblood of Mi’kmaq society.
- Indigenous river guardians hope the project will pre-emptively shield cool-water habitats before key spawning and migration corridors become unviable.
Protecting Vietnam’s vast caves may have sparked a wildlife comeback
- Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in Vietnam is billed as a successful example of sustainable tourism, with efforts to conserve the area’s unique caves and wildlife.
- The park’s management has implemented measures to limit tourism’s impact, such as restricting visitor numbers and offering guided tours, which has helped curb illegal hunting and logging.
- Local communities have benefited from tourism, with many former hunters and loggers now working as guides and porters, and wildlife populations are showing signs of recovery.
- The success of conservation efforts in the park has led to plans to expand protection to the Laotian side of the border, creating a transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site.
At her memorial, a call to carry Jane Goodall’s hope forward
- Jane Goodall’s memorial at Washington National Cathedral brought together scientists, diplomats, activists, and children for a service rooted in gratitude rather than grief, reflecting a life that reshaped how the world understands the natural world.
- Speakers described her quiet authority and her belief that conservation depended on relationships, resilience, and collective purpose, with Anna Rathman urging the audience to continue the work Jane had begun.
- Francis Collins and Leonardo DiCaprio offered personal reflections on her blend of scientific rigor, moral clarity, humor, and hope, recalling how she moved through the world with curiosity and purpose, insisting that every individual could make a meaningful difference.
- Her grandson Merlin van Lawick spoke of the wonder she carried through her life and promised to continue her mission, underscoring a service that closed not with finality but with an invitation to carry her light forward and to show, through action, that hope endures.
‘Africa can become a green leader’: Interview with Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa
- Although Africa contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it suffers the worst consequences of climate change and still receives only around 2% of global renewable energy investments.
- Mohamed Adow from the think tank Power Shift Africa tells Mongabay that delegates at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, must deliver a “just transition framework” that prioritizes African needs, expands access to clean energy, and strengthens green industrialization across the continent.
- Adow says he envisions an Africa that harnesses its transition minerals and renewable potential for its own prosperity — leading the global energy transition instead of powering other countries’ economies.
- In 2025, African countries experienced escalating climate disasters, including deadly floods and severe droughts, while facing cuts in U.S. aid funding.
Donors renew $1.8 billion pledge for Indigenous land rights
The governments of four countries, along with several philanthropies and donors, have renewed a $1.8 billion pledge over the next five years to help recognize, manage and protect Indigenous and other traditional community land. The Forest and Land Tenure Pledge, first made in Glasgow at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference, provided $1.86 billion in […]
Governments commit to recognizing 160 million hectares of Indigenous land
The governments of nine tropical countries recently made a joint pledge to recognize 160 million hectares, or 395 million acres, of Indigenous and other traditional lands by 2030, according to a Nov. 7 announcement at the World Leaders Summit, an event hosted ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil. The Intergovernmental Land Tenure […]
Peru Indigenous patrols see success & struggles in combating illegal miners
- In 2024, the Wampís Indigenous nation formed the territorial monitoring group Charip to combat the expansion of illegal gold mining, loggers and other invaders in their territory in the Peruvian Amazon.
- Charip combines traditional knowledge with monitoring technology but lacks the financial resources to expand its control posts and cover more ground.
- Members of the group are unpaid, which has led to a decline in the number of available guards.
New directory helps donors navigate the complex world of global reforestation
- The Global Reforestation Organization Directory provides standardized information on more than 125 major tree-planting organizations, making it easier for donors to compare groups and find the ones that match their priorities.
- Researchers from the University of California Santa Cruz evaluated groups across four categories: permanence, ecological, social and financial, each backed by scientific literature on best practices.
- Much of the evaluation relies on the organization’s self-reporting through surveys or website statements and, while researchers acknowledge this limitation, they say it still provides a valuable framework and a starting point for donors.
- The directory doesn’t rank organizations but rather shows what organizations publicly share about following scientific best practices, avoiding common mistakes and monitoring their results.
‘Our zeal is unwavering’: 3 environmental defenders share trials, tribulations, hopes
- Environmental defenders face various challenges depending on their context, whether in Colombia, Uganda or the Philippines.
- Since 2012, more than 2,100 defenders have fallen victim to violence, according to Global Witness. This includes activists in these three countries.
- Mongabay spoke with three defenders from these nations at the 2024 Climate Change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. They were there to raise their voices on issues around just transition to energy, equity, inclusion and that the global climate policies work for them.
- Despite serious threats to their lives, these defenders remain steadfast in their commitment to their cause. They are determined to continue their work, believing their mission is worth the risks they face.
What Central Park’s Squirrel Census says about conservation tech: Interview with Okala’s Robin Whytock
- At the end of New York Climate Week this year, ecologist Robin Whytock spent a few hours in Central Park counting squirrels.
- His mission was to prove how scalable tech solutions could help make biodiversity monitoring easier and more efficient.
- Whytock, who runs AI-powered nature monitoring platform Okala, said that while data-gathering tools have become easily accessible, analyzing massive amounts of biodiversity data still remains a challenge.
Gibbon trafficking pushes rehabilitation centers to the max in North Sumatra
- Famed for their free-flow swinging through the forest canopy, gibbons are being relentlessly shot, stolen and incarcerated to supply an escalating illegal pet trade that targets babies in particular.
- Experts point to misleading social media content and a surge in private zoo collections as fueling the trade. Hundreds of the small apes have been confiscated by authorities across South and Southeast Asia in the past decade, with India and the UAE emerging as primary destinations.
- Gibbon rehabilitation centers, mostly operated by NGOs struggling for funding, are buckling under the numbers of animals in need of rescue and care.
- The trade imposes overwhelming suffering on the trafficked animals and immense wastage among the complex social groups gibbons live in, driving already threatened species ever closer to extinction.
Cautious win for Indigenous groups in Malaysia as palm oil firm pauses forest clearing
- Indigenous Penan and Kenyah residents in Malaysian Borneo have filed a lawsuit and a complaint with Malaysia’s sustainable palm oil certifier, accusing palm oil company Urun Plantations of clearing natural forest within its concession along the Belaga River in violation of its lease and sustainability certification.
- Urun Plantations agreed in late October to pause development activities after a palm oil mill suspended buying palm fruit from the plantation.
- Satellite imagery and NGO field evidence indicate ongoing deforestation since 2023, while the company says it is only replanting previously developed land and denies breaching certification rules.
- The company maintains the project has local support, with the dispute underscoring growing tensions in Malaysia’s Sarawak state over palm oil expansion into remaining forests and Indigenous territories.
Turning outdoor exploration into environmental discovery: Gregg Treinish and the rise of Adventure Scientists
- Gregg Treinish, founder of Adventure Scientists, has built a global network of trained volunteers who collect high-quality environmental data for researchers, agencies, and conservationists. His organization bridges the worlds of outdoor adventure and scientific rigor.
- From microplastics and illegal timber to biodiversity mapping, Adventure Scientists’ projects have filled crucial data gaps and influenced policy, research, and corporate practices around the world.
- In California, Treinish’s team is partnering with the California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI) to help catalog the state’s immense diversity through thousands of insect and soil eDNA samples collected by volunteers.
- Treinish spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025 about scaling trust-based citizen science, the value of human observation in nature, and why adventure remains a powerful gateway to environmental action.
Embrace ‘blue’ foods as a climate strategy at COP30, fisheries ministers say (commentary)
- The “blue” or aquatic foods sector is often overlooked as a climate strategy, despite its potential to help meet demand for protein with a smaller environmental footprint, fisheries ministers from Brazil and Portugal argue in a new op-ed at Mongabay.
- Many blue foods generate minimal carbon emissions and use modest amounts of feed, land and freshwater, and their increased consumption could cut annual global CO₂ emissions by a gigaton or more.
- “Brazil and Portugal stand ready to champion global efforts to harness and safeguard blue foods for climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, generating multiple benefits across sustainable development goals. We call on more countries to implement measures across the blue food sector that strengthen food security and climate strategies at COP30 and beyond,” the authors write.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Radioactive rhinos (cartoon)
South Africa’s rhinos now have an unlikely superpower: radioactivity! Scientists working on the Rhisotope Project inject the horns of live rhinos with a radioactive isotope. This is harmless to the rhinos, but makes smuggled horns easy to detect during customs inspections with the hope of deterring rhinoceros poaching.
Sierra Leone communities sign carbon agreement based on carbon justice principles
- Hundreds of communities in Sierra Leone’s Bonthe district have signed a benefit-sharing carbon agreement with the Africa Conservation Initiative targeting the protection of mangroves in the Sherbro River Estuary.
- The agreement is based on “carbon justice principles” aimed at making carbon projects fairer for communities, such as a 40-50% gross revenue share; free, prior and informed consent, including transparency of financial information and buyers; and community-led stewardship of the mangroves.
- If implemented correctly, the agreement could address “deep-rooted issues of fairness,” experts say.
Coal-dependent South Africa struggles to make just energy transition real
- Communities in South Africa’s coal-mining towns say there’s little sign of a clean energy transition on the ground, where they complain of persistent pollution and violence toward activists.
- A metalworkers’ union leader who sits on South Africa’s climate commission says the transition is racing forward, outpacing new jobs promised to mine workers.
- A mine operator says coal is a critical element in producing renewable energy infrastructure.
Chilean pulp giant Arauco’s history of pollution trails it to Brazil biodiversity site
- Chile-based Arauco has begun building a pulp and paper mill in a Brazilian region that’s been prioritized for conservation.
- The project overlaps with the Três Lagoas biodiversity conservation area, where it could potentially contaminate rivers, dry up groundwater, increase wildlife roadkill, and transform this region of Cerrado savanna into a “green desert” of eucalyptus monocultures.
- While Arauco has promised to implement monitoring and mitigation measures for the environmental impacts of its new project, its track record in Chile is rife with cases of pollution and environmental violations.
Brazil hosts COP30 with high ambitions — and scaling environmental ambiguities
- Three environmental moves in Brazil are drawing criticism as the country hosts COP30: a green light for exploratory oil drilling on the Amazon coast, an end to the Soy Moratorium and a push for looser environmental licensing.
- Experts fear the plans could risk a lack of global accountability, watering down COP30’s outcome to vague promises and softer language.
- Following COPs held by petrostates, the summit in Belém comes with recent decisions from Norway, Australia and China to support new fossil fuel projects, illustrating a global trend that jeopardizes bolder deals at COP30.
To fix the climate, simply empower Indigenous people (commentary)
- While nations search for complex climate solutions at this year’s COP30 climate meeting in Belém, a simple yet powerful answer is just waiting in the wings: empowering the world’s most powerful protectors of forests and nature – Indigenous people – and we must let them point the way, a new op-ed argues.
- Ending fossil fuel use and transforming global food systems are essential but expensive and take time, but nations like Indonesia can score an immediate climate win by enacting its long debated Indigenous Peoples Bill, for example.
- “Humanity seeks an answer, but the answer has always been here,” the Sira Declaration states. “The answer is us.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
‘Not good’: Ocean losing its greenness, threatening food webs
- The ocean is losing its greenness, a new study has found: Global chlorophyll concentration, a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, declined over the past two decades, especially in coastal areas.
- Phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web, supporting fisheries and broader ecosystems, so their decline could have far-reaching implications, experts say.
- The phytoplankton decline could hurt coastal communities that live off the sea, and affect the ocean’s ability to act as a carbon sink, the authors say.
What does the just energy transition mean for Africa?
- Around 600 million Africans lack even basic access to electricity.
- The challenges this deficit poses have led to a call for a “just” energy transition that brings access to energy from renewable sources without imposing undue costs on individuals, communities and countries.
- The rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are largely the result of fossil fuel burning in industrialized countries, and yet countries in Africa and elsewhere in the Global South are often on the frontlines of the impacts of climate change, including unbearable heat, droughts and flooding.
- The debate about how to facilitate a “just” transition includes questions around the continued use of fossil fuels, nations’ sovereignty, and mobilizing funding to finance the necessary changes.
African summit seeks clean energy future to combat climate change impacts
- Nonstate actors have adopted the “Cotonou Declaration” at the Climate Chance Africa 2025 summit.
- The summit featured renewable energy commitments as well as a road map for integrating adaptation as a crucial step in addressing climate change.
- Benin is leading the way on climate resilience by anticipating and addressing the challenges posed by climate change.
Rise in Chinese off-grid coal plants in Indonesia belies pledge to end fossil fuel support
- Chinese president Xi Jinping has pledged to end the country’s financing of overseas coal projects — but a surge in Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants to supply electricity to nickel mining and processing undermines that pledge.
- Chinese investment has been flowing into Indonesia’s metal mining and smelting sector in a bid to supply raw materials to electric vehicle battery makers amid a transition to the zero-emission vehicles.
- By the end of the decade, about 44% of processed nickel for use in batteries and also for stainless steel will come from Indonesia.
Healing life on Earth begins with healing our bonds: Voices from the land (commentary)
- When Indigenous activists in Samoa talk about healing the planet, what they are really talking about is healing the vā, the space between things and the invisible thread between people, land, ocean, ancestors and future generations, says Brianna Fruean, member of the Council of Elders for the Pacific Climate Warriors, or 350 Pacific.
- Fruean says many Indigenous knowledge systems, from the Pacific to the Amazon, already hold the principles of balance, reciprocity and care that our world needs.
- “We cannot solve this crisis with the same mindset that caused it,” she says in this opinion piece. “The path forward is not only paved with innovation, but with a return to watering and feeding our relationships.”
- This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
A blueprint for communicating about the Amazon rainforest (commentary)
- Rhett Ayers Butler contributed a section on communicating about the Amazon to the Amazonia in Danger report, a multilingual collection of 22 essays by 55 authors organized by COICA, the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin.
- His piece suggests that stories of crisis could evolve from despair to agency by pairing truth with tangible examples of progress—verified, replicable actions that show systems can still respond and that hope, grounded in evidence, can be a form of endurance.
- He emphasizes that credibility depends on who delivers the message as much as what is said, calling for communications infrastructure that centers local voices, prioritizes trust, adapts messages to specific audiences, and measures success by lasting outcomes rather than fleeting attention.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Three tracks to rescue 1.5°C: fossil exit, forest protection, and nature’s carbon (commentary)
- Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, co-founder and president of the Igarapé Institute and of the Green Bridge Facility, argues that keeping global warming below 1.5 °C requires action on three simultaneous fronts: phasing out fossil fuels, ending deforestation, and scaling up natural carbon capture in forests and oceans.
- She contends that energy decarbonization alone is insufficient; protecting and restoring ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and mangroves is essential for both emissions reduction and resilience, and must be backed by transparent finance and accountability.
- With COP30 approaching in Belém, her piece calls for an integrated, finance-backed plan that ties together clean-energy expansion, a time-bound zero-deforestation roadmap, and rigorous safeguards for community-led nature-based solutions.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Why Sweden’s forest policy matters to the world (commentary)
- Sweden is one of the world’s largest exporters of forest-based products: paper, timber, cardboard and biofuels travel across the globe, ending up in your packaging, your books, in your home.
- A recent government proposal encourages fertilization with nitrogen to speed up tree growth, which may work in the short term but eventually fails and is leached into waterways, altering ecosystems and being released back into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases.
- “If a country with some of the world’s largest intact boreal forests chooses to double down on short-term extraction, it will not only undermine the EU’s climate goals — it will send a dangerous signal to other forest nations, from Canada to Brazil, that soil and biodiversity can be sacrificed in the name of so-called green growth,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Asian golden cat range expands, but declines continue amid rising threats
- The Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) is a medium-sized cat species that was once abundant across Asia, ranging from India to China. Today its population is undergoing a significant decline.
- That’s resulted in it now being declared a threatened species as its habitat is lost or fragmented, and indiscriminate snaring removes it from forests, particularly in Southeast Asia.
- Targeted research, conservation and funding are rare for this species, resulting in significant knowledge gaps about its basic ecology and threats. That uncertainty is causing some conservationists to say it could warrant endangered status.
- It’s hoped that increasing threat levels imperiling the Asian golden cat will spur donor funding, giving researchers the tools to shine a light on the needs of this lesser-known felid. Nepal has so far led the way in conservation efforts.
New pledge, old problems as Indonesia’s latest Indigenous forest promise draws skepticism
- Indonesia has pledged to recognize 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of Indigenous and customary forests by 2029, a move the government says will curb deforestation and advance Indigenous rights.
- Advocates call the pledge another empty promise, citing years of stalled reforms, including a long-delayed Indigenous Rights Bill and a slow, bureaucratic process that has recognized less than 2% of mapped customary forests.
- Rights groups say state-backed development continues to drive land grabs and forest loss, with a quarter of Indigenous territories overlapping extractive concessions and widespread conflicts linked to the government’s strategic national projects (PSN).
- Critics urge the government to enact legal reforms and recognize Indigenous land beyond the 1.4-million-hectare target, warning that without real action, the pledge will be symbolic rather than transformative.
Europe’s under-pressure bats face ‘astonishing’ threat: Ambush by rats
Researchers have captured video of an unexpected predator at two bat hibernation sites in northern Germany: invasive brown rats that lie in wait to intercept the bats mid-flight. Invasive rodents are known predators of native animals on islands, including bats. However, this is likely the first time invasive brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) have been recorded […]
UNESCO biosphere listing raises hope, questions for Malaysia’s Kinabatangan floodplain
- UNESCO has declared the floodplain around Malaysian Borneo’s Kinabatangan River a biosphere reserve, linking the Heart of Borneo to the Lower Kinabatangan–Segama Wetlands.
- Conservationists warn that the landscape remains heavily fragmented by oil palm plantations and faces persistent threats from pollution and weak land governance.
- They argue that lasting change will require land reform, corporate accountability and stronger coordination between Sabah’s forestry and wildlife authorities.
Expedition charts Cook Islands seafloor, amid scrutiny over mining motives
- Between Oct. 1 and 21, a U.S government-funded vessel, the E/V Nautilus, conducted an expedition in the Cook Islands’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), following an agreement between the U.S. and the Cook Islands to “advance scientific research and the responsible development of seabed mineral resources.”
- During the 21-day expedition, the E/V Nautilus mapped more than 14,000 square kilometers (5,400 square miles) of the Cook Islands’ seafloor while also documenting deep-sea biodiversity.
- Environmental activists protested the expedition, arguing it would help accelerate deep-sea mining in the Cook Islands. The crew of the E/V Nautilus, however, rejects the accusation.
- The Cook Islands government has issued three deep-sea mining exploration licenses, which will expire in 2027. One company operating in the Cook Islands has said it hopes to apply for an exploitation license in 2027.
Vietnam’s protected areas fall short of safeguarding most bats, study finds
- Bats play crucial roles in biodiverse ecosystems the world over, yet they’re often overlooked in conservation planning.
- New research from Vietnam indicates the existing network of protected areas fails to adequately safeguard the small flying mammals, risking continued population declines.
- The study identifies priority areas where Vietnam’s efforts to expand its protected area network would most benefit bats in the central highlands, the western central coast and the northwest regions.
- Experts say a lot could be achieved for bats in Southeast Asia by ending the illegal wildlife trade, particularly the “frivolous” international ornamental bat trade.
Journalism is failing to report on environmental leaders’ fights (commentary)
- Environmental leaders in Latin America are facing out-of-control violence and deaths, with little accountability.
- Journalism is failing environmental leaders by focusing on statistics instead of their stories.
- Journalists must immerse themselves in the field, along with environmental leaders, to expose their fights and struggles.
- This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Witch Hunt: Virulent fungal disease attacks South America’s cassava crop
- Witches’ Broom, a devastating fungal disease, has spread for the first time from Southeast Asia to Latin America, arriving in French Guiana in 2023 and has now infiltrated northern Brazil.
- Cassava is a vital crop for food security in South America and Africa, and a critical cash crop in Southeast Asia, where the fungal disease is spreading rapidly. More than 500 million people worldwide rely on cassava for their dietary needs.
- The pathogen has already caused massive cassava losses in Southeast Asia, with infection rates in some fields near 90%, and now it threatens food security in Latin America. Climate change is helping the fungus thrive and spread, as wetter conditions create an ideal environment for infection.
- Brazil has launched emergency measures, including funding research and farmer training, but scientists warn that without swift containment, cassava production across the tropics could face severe declines.
Brazil can protect its forests while growing its economy, says Arapyaú’s Renata Piazzon
- Renata Piazzon, CEO of the Instituto Arapyaú, is one of Brazil’s leading voices for aligning conservation with economic development, arguing that protecting forests and improving livelihoods must go hand in hand.
- Under her leadership, Arapyaú has helped catalyze initiatives like MapBiomas and the Forest People Connection, which link data, finance, and connectivity to reduce deforestation and strengthen Amazonian communities.
- As Brazil prepares to host COP30, Piazzon envisions the country shifting from negotiation to implementation—demonstrating global leadership through regenerative agriculture, forest restoration, and a low-carbon economy.
- Piazzon spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in November 2025.
Scientists call for stronger action to save Indonesia’s vanishing seagrass meadows
- Marine experts at the Indonesian Seagrass Symposium in Bali warned that seagrass ecosystems — vital for carbon storage, biodiversity and coastal protection — remain largely overlooked in national policy and conservation efforts.
- Seagrass coverage in Indonesia has fallen from around 30,000 km2 in 1994 to about 8,000 km2 today, with losses driven by pollution, mining, coastal development and sedimentation that reduces water clarity and habitat quality.
- Indonesia holds some of the world’s most extensive remaining seagrass meadows, estimated to store more than 30 million metric tons of CO2, making their protection crucial for both national and global climate goals.
- Scientists and conservation leaders urged stronger data collection, funding and institutional capacity to support restoration, monitoring and community participation, positioning Indonesia as a potential leader in seagrass conservation.
Wildlife charities a third of the way to buying key UK nature refuge
A conservation alliance in the U.K. has raised nearly one-third of the 30 million pounds ($39 million) it needs to buy land in northeastern England to turn into a refuge for wildlife and local communities. The land, known as the Rothbury Estate, is roughly the size of the Greek capital of Athens, at 3,839 hectares […]
Ethanol plant spills harmful wastewater into Philippine marine reserve
A chemical spill from an ethanol distillery has put one of the Philippines’ largest marine protected areas at risk. A wall retaining the wastewater pond of an ethanol distillery plant collapsed on Oct. 24, causing about 255,000 cubic meters (67 million gallons) of wastewater to flow into Bais Bay in the central Philippines, according to […]
Investing in the next generation of environmental journalists (commentary)
- The accelerating loss of forests, reefs, and rivers is also a failure of information: those closest to the crises often lack the training, mentorship, or editorial support to tell their stories effectively. Structured programs like fellowships bridge that gap, turning local knowledge into credible reporting, argues Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in this commentary.
- Targeted investment in emerging journalists builds both professional capacity and public accountability. Fellows have exposed corruption, documented ecological recovery, and influenced policy, showing how informed reporting can strengthen environmental governance and democratic institutions.
- Empowering local reporters shifts the narrative from victimhood to agency and from crisis to possibility. When journalists are equipped to investigate, explain, and inspire, they help societies make informed choices about the planet’s future—and ensure that stories of loss can also become stories of renewal.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
‘A big no’: Opposition grows to proposed mine in Malawi’s newest UNESCO site
- Malawi’s Mount Mulanje is a biodiversity hotspot, a sacred cultural site, and provides critical resources for the more than 1 million people who live in the surrounding districts.
- In July, Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- In August, senior traditional chiefs held a press conference affirming their support for the UNESCO listing.
- Local leaders and conservationists fear proposed mining projects would threaten the mountain’s natural heritage, and negatively impact tourism and jeopardize gains in sustainable development.
Report identifies 10 emerging tech solutions to enhance planetary health
- A recent report underlines 10 emerging technologies offering potential to accelerate climate action, restore ecosystems, and drive sustainable innovation within safe planetary boundaries. These technologies include AI-supported Earth observation, automated food waste upcycling, green concrete and more.
- Innovative AI improvements in Earth observations (EO) can better identify and track human-caused environmental impacts and offer improved early warning alerts for planetary boundary overshoot. Such systems use AI-powered analytics to synthesize satellite, drone and ground-based data for near-real-time results.
- Artificial intelligence and automation can also work in tandem to manage citywide food waste programs, ensuring that food scraps are diverted from landfills or incineration, decreasing carbon emissions and reducing waste.
- Another tech solution is green concrete which could not only reduce emissions from traditional cement production, but when incorporated into infrastructure construction, can offer a permanent storage place for captured CO2.
Antarctic conservation summit closes with stalemate on MPAs & krill fishing rules
- The annual meeting of the international body responsible for the conservation of Southern Ocean marine ecosystems concluded Friday with no progress on two contentious issues before it: the creation of new marine protected areas and the strengthening of regulations governing the fishery for krill (Euphausia superba), a species on which numerous iconic species of Antarctic wildlife depend.
- This year’s annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was particularly tense, due to a clash between two occasionally overlapping groups of countries: on one side, those working to establish new marine protected areas (MPAs), and on the other, those more focused on increasing krill fishing.
- CCAMLR has considered proposals to establish three large MPAs annually for years but has failed to pass them under its consensus-based decision-making process. This year was the same, due to vetoes of MPA proposals by Russia and China.
- The combination of a lack of will to reinstate previously agreed regulations governing the krill fishery and a new push to drastically increase the krill harvest suggests a change in direction at CCAMLR toward more permissive fishing.
Rhett Butler reflects on recent accolades, and Jane Goodall’s legacy of hope
Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler was recently awarded the Henry Shaw Medal by the Missouri Botanical Garden and named to the 2025 Forbes Sustainability Leaders list alongside conservation greats such as David Attenborough. The credit for this success belongs to Mongabay, Butler says on this week’s podcast. “ While my name is on the award, […]
Youth, hope & the role of environmental journalism in building a better future (commentary)
- In September, Y. Eva Tan Fellow Fernanda Biasoli was invited to speak during Journalism Week at São Paulo State University (UNESP); here, she shares some of the messages she conveyed about environmental journalism, youth and hope as the planet faces crisis.
- “Think, for example, of a river basin,” she writes. “Each spring, stream, creek and river comes together to form a large territory that allows life to flourish. For me, environmental journalism can be seen as one of these streams: a fundamental part of a large democratic ecosystem.”
- Now, more than ever, Biasoli says, the world must unite to inspire and create new ideas — and to keep alive the connection with nature and respect for all beings that inhabit this planet.
- This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
These banks fund oil & gas in the Amazon amid climate crisis: Report
- Since 2016, banks have provided $15 billion in direct financing for oil and gas extraction in the Amazon, according to a Stand.earth analysis of transactions from 330 banks.
- Between January 2024 and June 2025, direct financing added up to $2 billion, with more than 80% benefiting just six oil and gas companies.
- Some banks have scaled back this type of financing, mostly due to the adoption of Amazon exclusion policies, but none have stopped completely.
- The continued financing of oil and gas extraction in the Amazon comes amid a wider rollback of banks’ sustainability pledges and an increase in fossil fuel financing globally.
Brazil charges 31 people in major carbon credit fraud investigation
Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted 31 suspects for fraud and land-grabbing in a massive criminal carbon credit scheme in the Brazilian Amazon, according to Brazilian national media outlet Folha de S.Paulo. It is the largest known criminal operation involving carbon credit fraud to date in the nation. The police probe, called Operation Greenwashing, was launched […]
Suriname’s plan to capitalize on carbon: Q&A with President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons
- Suriname’s first female president, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, sat down with Mongabay to discuss her goals for the U.N. Climate Change Conference taking place next week in neighboring Brazil.
- She’s been a vocal proponent of climate financing for countries meeting their emission targets and conserving the rainforest.
- At the same time, Geerlings-Simons is grappling with Suriname’s deep-seated mining industry, which often skirts regulations and destroys natural ecosystems with mercury and cyanide.
- Geerlings-Simons said she recognizes the importance of extractive industries for funding the country’s infrastructure, law enforcement and the agencies that provide environmental oversight.
India’s Ganga River drying at unprecedented levels
The Ganga River, which sustains the lives of at least 600 million people, is facing its worst dry spell and lowest streamflow in 1,300 years, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay India’s Simrin Sirur. Researchers extrapolated the Ganga’s water levels going back to the year 700 C.E. using a combination of paleoclimatic and historical […]
Indonesia pledges energy transition — but the country’s new NDC says otherwise
- Indonesia’s newly submitted second nationally determined contribution (SNDC), in accordance with the Paris Agreement, contains emission-reduction targets widely seen as insufficient to meet the goal of limiting warming to 1.5° Celsius.
- This contrasts with President Prabowo Subianto’s pledges to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to phase out coal within 15 years, raising hopes that Indonesia could embark on a genuine energy transition.
- Under the SNDC’s high-growth scenario of 8% annual economic growth, Indonesia’s emissions are projected to be roughly 30% higher in 2035 than in 2019; in contrast, a 1.5°C-compatible pathway would require a 21% reduction.
- Critics say this suggests deep climate action is still seen as incompatible with rapid economic growth.
Indigenous communities protect Colombia’s uncontacted peoples
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than a decade, two Indigenous communities deep in Colombia’s Amazon have been safeguarding those who wish to remain unseen, reports contributor Pilar Puentes for Mongabay. The residents of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and the neighboring […]
New arrangements should preserve Nairobi’s much-loved Karura Forest
- In Kenya, an uproar briefly followed the August announcement that the beloved Karura Forest north of Nairobi would no longer be jointly managed by local citizens’ group Friends of Karura Forest and the Kenya Forest Service; the decision has since been reversed.
- The 15-year partnership has restored several indigenous plant species to the Karura Forest, which is also a haven for wildlife such as jackals, bush pigs and small antelopes.
- Previously, the area was threatened by land-grabbers and illegal logging; today, the initiative employs more than 35 staff, who work on forest restoration, security and infrastructure maintenance while some 300 local community members supply thousands of tree seedlings each month for reforestation.
Thai agri giant CPF sues activist over claims linking it to invasive fish outbreak
- The head of a Thai NGO focused on agricultural monitoring and food sovereignty is being sued by agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) for alleging the firm is linked to the outbreak of an invasive fish species in Thailand’s waterways.
- The lawsuit has been slammed as a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) and a tactic to divert attention away from containing the outbreak and identifying the source and parties responsible.
- The blackchin tilapia has spread to at least 19 provinces, where it outcompetes wild and commercially viable aquatic species, disturbing ecosystems and devastating farmers’ livelihoods.
- The case comes as Thailand awaits public hearing of new anti-SLAPP regulations aimed at curbing judicial harassment.
Critical minerals drive legalization of mining on Amazon Indigenous lands
- Brazilian lawmakers are advancing controversial bills to legalize mining on Indigenous lands, where hundreds of mining bids have already been filed, as the nation positions itself as a key supplier for the energy transition.
- The proposed expansion of mining would intensify deforestation and mercury pollution, bringing violence to Indigenous communities and threatening the Amazon, reports show.
- The move raises concerns among Indigenous organizations and experts, who warn that the bills are unconstitutional and may be taken without properly consulting traditional communities.
Chaos on Cambodia’s Coast
Along Cambodia’s rapidly transforming coastline, illegal trawling, elite-backed development, and weak enforcement are driving marine ecosystems and fishing communities to the brink. This 2024 series investigates the institutional breakdown behind the country’s marine crisis, from ineffective patrols in protected areas to billion-dollar land deals displacing small-scale fishers. It examines the competing interests reshaping Cambodia’s coast, […]
Despite new land title, Bolivia’s Indigenous Tacana II still face invaders
- After a process lasting more than two decades, the Bolivian government has granted the Indigenous Tacana II people a formal title to their ancestral territory, encompassing more than 272,000 hectares of land.
- While this recognition grants them full ownership and legal security, leaders and researchers say it is not enough to protect them from the country’s political insecurity, the lack of enforcement of environmental regulations and invasions by illegal actors.
- The Tacana people have reported land encroachments and the illegal opening of roads, which impact the transit zone for uncontacted Indigenous peoples.
- ● Experts on Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) told Mongabay that the title may provide a territorial barrier for the isolated people, but specific territorial protection measures are still required to guarantee their full protection.
Beyond deforestation: redesigning how we protect and value tropical forests (analysis)
- Following his earlier essay tracing possible futures for the world’s forests, Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler turns from diagnosis to design—asking what concrete interventions could still avert collapse. This piece explores how governance, finance, and stewardship might evolve in a second act for tropical forests.
- The essay argues that lasting protection depends structural reform: securing Indigenous land rights, treating governance as infrastructure, and creating steady finance that outlasts election cycles and aid projects.
- Butler also examines overlooked levers—from restoring degraded lands and valuing forests’ local cooling effects to rethinking “bioeconomies” and building regional cooperation across borders. Each points toward a shift from reactive conservation to deliberate, sustained design.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
One man’s mission to rewild a dying lake
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. From a hillside overlooking Lake Toba, the vast volcanic basin at the heart of Sumatra, Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang looks down on what he calls both a blessing and a warning, reports Sri Wahyuni for Mongabay. Once the first […]
What might lie ahead for tropical forests (analysis)
- Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler offers a thought experiment—tracing today’s trajectories a little further forward to imagine where they might lead. What follows are scenarios, some improbable, others already taking shape.
- The essay envisions a world where deforestation gives way to disorder: weakened governance, runaway fires, and ecological feedback loops eroding forests from within even without the swing of an axe. It explores how technology and biology—AI-driven agriculture, gene-edited trees, and microbial interventions—could either accelerate destruction or redefine restoration, depending on who controls them.
- Across these imagined futures, one pattern recurs: forests thinning, recovering, and thinning again, as human ambition, migration, and climate instability test whether nature will be given the time and space to heal.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Belize’s blue reputation vs. reef reality: Marine conservation wins, and what’s missing (commentary)
- For over a year, journalists from Mongabay and Mongabay Latam have been digging into issues related to the Mesoamerican Reef, the Western Hemisphere’s largest barrier reef system, which runs from Mexico’s Yucatán through Belize and Guatemala to Honduras.
- As part of that effort, which involves exploring both problems and solutions, Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler spoke to experts and reviewed many reports, scientific papers, and stories.
- With its early leadership and significant funding, Belize has emerged as a linchpin in Mesoamerican Reef conservation and fisheries management. This summary brings together what various experts have said—highlighting gaps, issues, and actionable recommendations as they relate to Belize.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Six new tube-nosed bats described from the Philippines
Researchers have recently described six new-to-science species of tube-nosed bats from the Philippines, named after their unique nostrils that protrude from the snout. All the specimens were collected from either primary or secondary forests, currently threatened by mining and shifting agriculture, the authors write in a new study. “These bats are notoriously elusive, so the […]
Scientists map Italy’s entire coast to guide seagrass and marine recovery
- Posidonia oceanica is a Mediterranean seagrass whose meadows act as a carbon sink, a coastal protector and a nursery for marine life.
- This ecosystem is under severe threat from human activities, including illegal trawling, pollution and boat anchoring, resulting in significant degradation and loss of biodiversity.
- Italy is employing sophisticated sensors to create an unprecedentedly detailed and comprehensive map of its entire coastline, including its Posidonia meadows, in an effort to improve management and conservation of its marine habitats.
- While large-scale mapping provides the blueprint, targeted protection and restoration efforts demonstrate that it’s possible to reverse the damage and bring life back to the sea.
A fisheries observer disappeared at sea. His family still waits for answers
- Samuel Abayateye, a 38-year-old fisheries observer from Ghana, vanished from the Marine 707 in 2023 while monitoring tuna catches. Six weeks later, a mutilated body washed ashore near his home, but authorities have never released DNA results or an autopsy report.
- Fisheries observers like Abayateye work alone at sea to record catches and report illegal practices, often among the very crews they monitor. Their role is vital to enforcing fishing laws but exposes them to isolation, threats, and violence.
- His disappearance echoes that of Emmanuel Essien, another observer who vanished after documenting illegal fishing on a Chinese-owned trawler. Both cases remain unsolved, part of a global pattern in which at least one observer dies or disappears each year.
- Ghana’s government still mandates observers on every industrial vessel, yet offers them little protection—no insurance, secure contracts, or emergency communication. Abayateye’s family continues to seek answers, while his body, if it is his, remains unburied.
Amid systemic corruption, Amazon countries struggle to fight environmental crime
- Pan Amazon countries experience high levels of corruption across their judiciary, which prevents them from creating substantial legal reforms.
- In Andean countries, environmental crimes are committed through bribery and extortion, major sources of judicial corruption. In Brazil, judges are more likely to commit crimes of omission, using delaying tactics that keep cases suspended for years.
- Reforms of the judicial branches in these countries are often managed by alternative entities that have their own internal affairs units. It is rare for these actors to be punished, so the system remains opaque and flawed.
Heading into COP, Brazil’s Amazon deforestation rate is falling. What about fires?
- Brazil’s official data show deforestation in the Amazon fell 11% in the 12 months to July 2025, with independent monitoring by Imazon confirming a similar trend—evidence that policies under President Lula da Silva are reversing the sharp rise seen during Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.
- Even as land clearing slows, fires and forest degradation have become major drivers of loss. Exceptional drought in 2024, record heat, and the spread of roads and logging left large areas of the forest dry and flammable, causing 2.78 million hectares of primary forest loss—roughly 60% from fire.
- Burned areas have dropped by 45% over the past year, suggesting some recovery, yet scientists warn the Amazon is entering a more fragile state shaped by climate extremes and the lingering effects of past destruction.
- As Brazil prepares to host COP30 in Belém, attention will center on sustaining recent gains and advancing initiatives like the proposed $125 billion Tropical Forest Forever Facility, even as new roads, gold mining, and policy uncertainty—such as the wavering soy moratorium—continue to threaten progress.
In Malawi, a rural community shines bright with 100% solar power milestone
- A UK-based charity has installed solar photovoltaic systems in all 9,000 households of a rural village in Malawi, Kasakula.
- The nonprofit has trained local technicians to maintain the systems — and says it retrieves damaged or retired batteries or other components for now, as no system for safely recycling these exists in Malawi.
- Raising foreign exchange to import PV systems tailored for the low-income customers that SolarAid’s model is aimed at is among the future challenges.
In Rio’s largest favela, used oil becomes soap and social change
- In the heart of Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha favela, the largest in Brazil, a chance discovery led a resident creating a project to turn improperly discarded cooking oil into sustainable soaps and cleaning products.
- Founded in 2020, the Óleo no Ponto initiative acquainted favela residents with environmental stewardship by creating eco-friendly detergents such as soap bars and dishwashing paste.
- In addition to preventing used oil from being dumped into water and clogging sewage pipes, the project empowers vulnerable women from Rocinha, who have found new sources of income by producing and selling detergents under the Sabão do Morro (Favela Soap) brand.
UK fish stocks in trouble as catch limits exceed scientific advice: Report
Nearly half of the United Kingdom’s most commercially valuable fish populations are either overexploited, critically low or both, according to a new report warning that the government continues to set catch limits above scientific advice. The report, “Deep Decline,” by conservation nonprofit Oceana UK, found that 17 of 105 U.K. fish stocks are both overfished […]
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