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Pacific island nations launch plan for world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve
The governments of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have announced their commitment to create a massive multinational Melanesian Ocean Reserve. If implemented as envisioned, the reserve would become the world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve, covering an area nearly as big as the Amazon Rainforest. Speaking at the U.N. Ocean Conference underway in Nice, France, representatives […]
‘It’s our garden’: PNG villages fight to prevent mine waste dumping in the sea
- Communities in Papua New Guinea filed a lawsuit asking for a review of an environmental permit awarded in 2020 to companies for the Wafi-Golpu copper and gold mine. But a decision from the country’s Supreme Court had been delayed several times, before happening on June 12, even as other officials have signaled the government’s apparent support for the project.
- The villages are located near the outflow of a proposed pipeline that would carry mining waste, or tailings, from the mine and into the Huon Gulf.
- The companies say the method, known as deep-sea tailings placement (DSTP), would release the waste deep in the water column, below the layer of ocean most important for the fish and other sea life on which many of the Huon Gulf’s people rely.
- But community members are concerned this sediment and the potentially toxic chemicals it carries could foul the gulf — risks they say they were not adequately informed of.
French Polynesia creates world’s largest marine protected area
French Polynesia has announced the creation of the world’s largest marine protected area. Speaking on the first day of the United Nations Ocean Conference in France, French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson said the MPA will cover the territory’s entire exclusive economic zone (EEZ), or 4.8 million square kilometers (roughly 1.9 million square miles). “We have […]
Climate futures: What’s ahead for our world beyond 1.5°C of warming?
- This two-part Mongabay mini-series examines the current status of the climate emergency, how the global community is likely to respond and what lies ahead for Earth systems and humanity as the planet almost inevitably warms beyond the crucial 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) goal established in the Paris Agreement 10 years ago.
- For global average temperatures to stabilize at less than 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, humanity likely needs to achieve 43% greenhouse gas emissions cuts by 2030. But progress on climate action has stagnated in recent years, global GHG emissions are yet to peak and our remaining carbon budget is dwindling.
- Above 1.5°C of warming, we risk passing critical tipping points in natural Earth systems, triggering self-perpetuating changes that could shift the planet out of the habitable zone for humanity and life as we know it. Even with rapid, large-scale action on climate change, crossing some tipping points may now be unavoidable.
- However, analysts have identified positive social, technological and economic tipping points we can nurture to decarbonize far more rapidly. These include the decreasing cost of renewable energy, the rise of circular economy principles to reduce waste in industry and a societal shift to more plant-based diets.
Record-breaking heat wave due to climate change hits Iceland & Greenland: Scientists
In May, both Iceland and Greenland experienced record-breaking heat. A new rapid analysis has found that the heat wave in both regions was made worse and more likely in today’s warmer climate. The analysis was conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers that evaluates the role of climate change in extreme […]
Climate futures: World leaders’ failure to act is pushing Earth past 1.5°C
- This two-part Mongabay mini-series examines the current status of the climate emergency; how world leaders, scientists and the global community are responding; and what may lie ahead as the world warms beyond the crucial 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) limit established in the Paris Agreement 10 years ago.
- The unprecedented warming that began in 2023, continued through 2024 and extended into 2025 has caused surprise and alarm. Scientists still don’t fully understand the cause, but some fear it signals the global climate is transitioning into a new state of accelerated warming.
- 2024 was the first full calendar year to exceed 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. A recent projection finds it likely Earth will see a 20-year average warming of 1.5°C by as early as 2029, exceeding a key Paris accord goal and which could trigger self-perpetuating changes pushing Earth’s climate into a less habitable state.
- In January, President Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, signaling that the U.S. will not lead on climate action. To date, nearly all the world’s nations have fallen far short of what is needed to stay within 1.5°C. As countries submit new U.N. carbon commitments, some fear the U.S. reversal will ripple around the world.
Endangered shark trophies dominate the online wildlife trade, study finds
- A recent study analyzed wildlife product listings from 148 online marketplaces over a three-month period and identified more than 500 products from 83 threatened wildlife species, some of which were also listed on CITES Appendix I.
- Shark trophies — mainly jaws — dominated the listings, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the advertised products, and 73% of those came from endangered and critically endangered shark species.
- The study found 95% of animal products were sold on just four websites in 2018 and, since then, most of these companies have changed their policies to prohibit the trade of certain species. But researchers say it’s not enough.
- This study highlights the need to strengthen policies in regulating the online wildlife trade, spreading awareness and closing loopholes in legal trade, especially for species threatened with extinction.
‘Madness’: World leaders call for deep-sea mining moratorium at UN ocean summit
- World leaders have renewed calls for a global moratorium on deep-sea mining at the 2025 U.N. Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, as the U.S. moves to mine the deep sea in international waters under its own controversial authority.
- Four additional countries have joined the coalition of nations calling for a moratorium, precautionary pause, or ban on deep-sea mining, bringing the total number to 37.
- The U.S., which did not have an official delegation at UNOC, is pushing forward with its plans to mine in international waters — a decision that has drawn criticism from the international community.
High-profile wildlife trafficking case tests Malawi’s conservation commitment
- In 2021, Malawian authorities arrested and sentenced Chinese national Lin Yunhua, a key figure in an international wildlife trafficking syndicate, to 14 years in prison for possession of pangolin scales, rhino horns and ivory.
- Recently unearthed documents reveal that, since then, there have been attempts to secure a pardon and allegations of bribery and corruption, but that Malawi’s justice system has resisted efforts to undermine the sentence.
- Lin now faces additional charges for attempting to bribe a judge and a prison official, with the case referred to the high court due to its complexity and public significance.
- Conservationists and government officials cite Lin’s prosecution as evidence of Malawi’s strengthened commitment to fighting high-level wildlife crime and corruption, though challenges remain.
In Yaoundé, fecal sludge flows through ‘Caca Junction’ streets
- In Yaoundé, fecal sludge contaminates neighborhoods where locals say the combination of insufficient sanitation and the costs of septic tank service lead to dumping in the streets.
- The city has just one fecal sludge treatment plant that receives up to double its capacity every day.
- City residents pinch their noses at the smells, while water contamination poses disease risks to local residents.
- Similar situations occur in other African cities that lack sanitation facilities capable of handling the needs of growing urban populations.
EU appetite for EVs drives new wave of deforestation in tropical forests
- The European Union’s demand for electric vehicles may lead to the deforestation of 118,000 hectares (291,584 acres) in critical minerals-supplying countries, according to a new report.
- Brazil, which accounts for large reserves of nickel, graphite, rare earths, lithium and niobium, would be one of the most affected countries.
- Despite the mining project’s socioenvironmental impacts, the Brazilian federal government has backed companies with financing and political support.
- Experts warn that the new minerals rush increases pressure on Indigenous communities already suffering from mining companies’ violations.
Bumble Bee asks court to dismiss lawsuit alleging forced labor in tuna supply chain
- In March, four Indonesian men filed a landmark lawsuit in the U.S. against canned tuna giant Bumble Bee Foods, accusing the company of profiting from abuse and exploitation aboard Chinese-owned vessels supplying its tuna.
- The plaintiffs described brutal conditions while working on vessels that allegedly supplied albacore tuna directly to Bumble Bee, including physical violence, inadequate food, lack of medical care and withheld wages.
- Despite claims of traceability and sustainability, Bumble Bee and its parent company, Taiwan-based FCF, have been linked to a network of vessels implicated in labor abuses. Critics argue the company failed to act on repeated warnings from rights groups and resisted regulatory changes.
- On June 2, Bumble Bee filed papers requesting the federal court handling the case dismiss it on legal grounds. The next step will be for a judge to decide whether to dismiss it or let it proceed.
Strategic planning for development in the Pan Amazon
- The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was conceived to broaden Environmental Impacts Assessments and consider long-term, indirect and cumulative impacts, as well as alternative development scenarios.
- In the early 2000s, these SEAs generated a great deal of interest and were applied to several high-profile projects in the Amazon.
- Beyond looking at impacts, they evaluated impacts on forests, the expansion of secondary roads, potential real estate speculation, agriculture and deforestation and how they would affect biodiversity and livelihoods.
Unnoticed oil & gas threat looms for Indigenous people near Amazon blocks
- While oil prospects in the Amazon north shore attract international attention, the offer of exploration blocks around Indigenous territories goes unnoticed in Mato Grosso state.
- Brazil will auction 21 blocks in the Parecis Basin, an area with dense Indigenous activity, yet none of these communities have been consulted, as leaders struggle to handle existing threats such as ranchers and miners.
- Impacts on Indigenous territories include the influx of workers and machinery during research and the risk of toxic gas emissions and water pollution if projects move forward.
- The rainforest is the most promising frontier for the oil industry, with one-fifth of the world’s newly discovered reserves from 2022-24.
The reaches, limits and (alleged) biases of feasibility studies and environmental licenses
- In the last 20 years, EIA has become a factor already incorporated into the strategic planning of countries, where the potential trade-offs arising from environmental and social impacts are of great importance.
- This is how public consultations arise, allowing civil society to have a voice in the appearance of private or public investment. In all the systems of Panamazonia, the principle is the same: the possibility of canceling a project if its negative impacts are unacceptable.
- For Killeen, one of the most obvious conflicts of interest occurs when the construction contract gives the mining company itself responsibility for conducting both the feasibility study and the environmental assessment.
- Likewise, multilateral financial organizations require high-quality environmental studies, but their credit advisors are evaluated by the number of projects managed, not by their ability to reject high-risk projects.
Latin American banks still slow to protect the environment, report finds
- Across Latin America, banks have failed to integrate sustainability regulations into lending, bond issuance and financial advisory services, according to a WWF sustainable finance assessment.
- WWF examined the policies of 22 banks across Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, and found that the countries’ financial sectors had largely failed to implement protections against nature-related risks, such as deforestation and biodiversity loss.
- Only six of the 22 banks have policies that acknowledge the “societal and economic risks” associated with environmental degradation, and just two of them have made net-zero carbon emission commitments for their lending portfolios.
In a big win, Yurok Nation reclaims vital creek and watershed to restore major salmon run
- Four dams are now down on the Upper Klamath River in northern California in the largest river restoration project in U.S. history. But a rarely mentioned cold-water creek is essential to restoring health to what was once the third-largest salmon run on the West Coast of North America.
- Blue Creek is located just 25 km (16 mi) from the mouth of the Lower Klamath at the Pacific Ocean. Critically, it’s the first cold-water refuge for migrating salmon that enables the fish to cool down, survive, and move farther upriver to spawn. The dams and logging have damaged this important watershed for decades.
- The Yurok, California’s largest Indigenous tribe, lost ownership of Blue Creek to westward U.S. expansion in the late 1800s. In 2002, a timber company, negotiating with the Yurok, agreed to sell back the 19,000-hectare (47,100-acre) watershed to the tribe.
- It took Western Rivers Conservancy, an Oregon-based NGO, nearly two decades to raise the $60 million needed to buy the watershed. In a historic transition, Blue Creek returns this spring to the Yurok for conservation in its entirety. The tribe considers the watershed a sacred place.
Study shows Vietnam’s ethnic communities’ grapple with hydropower plant impacts
- A recently published study based on fieldwork in northwest Vietnam shows how even small hydropower projects can have a large impact on communities.
- With an increase in small hydropower projects, residents of Bien La commune report loss of farmlands, fishing, local jobs and culture, as well as insufficient compensation.
- While these impacts force the villagers to migrate to other districts in search of jobs, the community women try to revive their culture of traditional textiles and indigo dyeing to preserve their way of life.
Indonesia new capital yet to spark electricity for low-income neighbors on Borneo
- In a district that holds Indonesia’s biggest coal reserves and sits near the new national capital, the country’s largest construction site, a large share of households in Paser district remain without an electricity connection.
- Data published by Indonesia’s statistics agency showed 10% of Paser district had yet to receive a connection to the grid.
- Households without electricity told Mongabay Indonesia that the lack of basic infrastructure provided by the state restricted economy activity and cultivated security fears at night.
Is rising CO2 really bad for the world’s drylands? Mongabay podcast probes
Increased carbon dioxide emissions since industrialization have accelerated climate change, and its widespread negative impacts have been reported worldwide. But the rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are also making some parts of our planet greener in what’s called the CO2 fertilization effect. Some politicians claim this effect means more atmospheric CO2 is doing […]
Indigenous forest stewards watch over one of the world’s rarest raptors
The Philippine eagle is considered one of the world’s rarest birds of prey, with roughly 400 breeding pairs left in the wild. Amid ongoing threats from logging and hunting, Indigenous forest rangers are helping conservationists protect the species’ nests and habitat, Mongabay contributor Bong S. Sarmiento reported last year. Datu Julito Ahao of the Obu […]
Carbon capture projects promise a climate fix — and a fossil fuel lifeline
- Governments across Southeast Asia are looking at carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) as a way to meet climate targets.
- Projects have been proposed in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, with Japanese companies involved in all three countries.
- Critics say CCS costs too much to be commercially viable, underperforms at capturing carbon, and serves as a diversion from actually reducing emissions.
Samoa’s new marine spatial plan protects 30% of the country’s ocean
- The Samoan government announced June 3 that it has enacted a law establishing a marine spatial plan to sustainably manage 100% of its ocean by 2030.
- The country has also created nine new marine protected areas that cover 30% of its ocean.
- Fishing is prohibited in the new protected areas, which include a migration route for humpback whales.
- The plan became law on May 1.
New maps reveal Earth’s largest land mammal migration
Researchers have released new maps documenting the “Great Nile Migration,” the Earth’s largest-known land mammal migration across South Sudan and Ethiopia. The maps chart the seasonal movements of two antelope species, the white-eared kob (Kobus kob leucotis) and the tiang (Damaliscus lunatus tiang). Every year, around 5 million white-eared kob and 400,000 tiang migrate across […]
Brazil set to blast 35 km river rock formation for new Amazon shipping route
- The Brazilian environmental agency, IBAMA, approved a license to blast a natural rock barrier on the Tocantins River in Pará state to enable boats to pass during the dry season, as part of wider efforts to build a massive waterway for commodities.
- Federal prosecutors requested the suspension of the license due to missing studies and other issues.
- A federal court stated that the proposed blasting will have a limited and controlled impact, asserting there are no Indigenous, Quilombola (Afro-Brazilian) or riverine communities living in that section of the Tocantins River — a claim that advocates say is inaccurate.
- Rock removal will impact endangered fish, Amazon turtles and the Araguaia river dolphin, which is found only in this region and feeds on fish that spawn in Pedral do Lourenço.
After terror attacks, Mozambique nature reserve faces ‘new reality’
- On April 29, ISIS-affiliated insurgent fighters attacked a conservation outpost inside Niassa Special Reserve in northern Mozambique.
- The attack claimed the lives of two rangers working with the Niassa Carnivore Project, and another two remain missing.
- Mozambican officials said last week there were “clear indications” that the fighters had left the reserve.
What does it take to expose 67 illegal airstrips in the Amazon? A year of reporting — and the trust of local communities
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. At the close of SF Climate Week, María Isabel Torres, program director of Mongabay Latam, shared how local journalism is driving environmental change across Latin America. Speaking as a Peruvian journalist based in Lima, María Isabel detailed investigations […]
A fragile win as Indonesia cancels high-risk mine permit after court ruling
- Indonesia’s environment ministry has finally revoked a permit for a controversial zinc-and-lead mine in earthquake-prone Dairi district, following a Supreme Court ruling and years of community protests over safety and environmental risks.
- The court last August found the mine’s planned tailings dam posed unacceptable dangers due to high seismic activity, landslide risk, and unstable terrain; experts called the location one of the worst possible sites for such a project.
- The revocation sets a legal precedent by confirming that environmental approvals under Indonesia’s deregulation law can be challenged in court, strengthening public access to environmental justice.
- Despite the ruling, concerns persist that developer PT Dairi Prima Mineral may seek a new permit, as similar cases have seen revoked projects revived; activists urge the government and China, a key investor, to respect the court decision.
After 15 years, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court blocks road upgrade in national park
- In a landmark judgment, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court recently ended a 15-year legal battle over plans to upgrade a road through Wilpattu National Park, making conservationists heave a sigh of relief.
- The court ruling follows an election pledge by Anura Kumara Dissanayake during the presidential race to reopen the road, which drew sharp criticism from environmentalists.
- The proposed road would have reduced travel time but fragmented critical habitats besides increasing the threat of roadkill due to speeding vehicles.
- The ruling highlights the judiciary’s crucial role in upholding environmental protections, especially when political leaders push development agendas that threaten ecologically sensitive areas.
USAID cut curbs hopes at Ethiopia’s largest community conservation area
- A sudden USAID funding cut has stalled conservation efforts in Ethiopia’s Tama Community Conservation Area (TCCA), a 197,000-hectare (486,000-acre) corridor home to elephants, giraffes and other threatened species.
- The project, launched in 2022 with $8.5 million in USAID support, had helped reduce illegal hunting, create local jobs and improve community-led biodiversity management.
- The suspension, announced in January this year, has triggered community members to lose hope and return to illegal hunting and deforestation, while fueling land-grab rumors that undermine Indigenous land rights.
- Conservationists and Indigenous leaders say the crisis reveals the risks of overreliance on foreign aid and that, without urgent support, hard-won ecological and social gains could be lost.
Mining companies use legal loopholes to move forward without environmental licensing off the Brazilian coast
- Applications for deep-sea mining permits in Brazil have soared in recent years: of the 950 requests filed since 1967, nearly half were submitted between 2020 and 2024.
- Demand for key minerals used in the clean energy transition, as well as geopolitical uncertainties, are driving the race to the seabed.
- Loopholes in Brazilian legislation are allowing mining companies to work without environmental licensing, a situation made worse by the lack of specific rules for deep-sea mining.
- Researchers warn that the lack of environmental impact studies could have widespread impacts on marine ecosystems, especially on coral reef biodiversity.
Ahead of hosting COP30, Brazil is set to weaken environmental licensing
- A new bill may dismantle Brazil’s environmental license framework, easing the way for infrastructure projects such as oil exploration on the Amazon coast and paving the BR-319 road, in one of the rainforest’s most preserved areas.
- The new rules, considered unconstitutional by experts, would benefit around 80% of the ventures with a self-licensing process that exempts environmental impact studies and mitigation measures.
- More than 1,800 Indigenous lands and Quilombola territories not fully demarcated would be ignored in the licensing process.
- The bill is still pending approval by the Chamber of Deputies, but experts say they believe the measure will be challenged in the Brazilian Supreme Court.
After years of silence, Indonesia moves to assess its iconic wildlife
- Indonesia, home to critically endangered orangutans, elephants, tigers and rhinos, has gone nearly two decades without official updates on the populations of some key species.
- Under the previous forestry minister, population surveys and conservation plans were shelved or retracted, and relationships with conservation organizations were often tense.
- Under new leadership, the ministry has signaled that initiating wildlife surveys and publishing population and habitat viability analyses (PHVAs) are key priorities, and surveys of several key species are already underway.
- While welcoming pro-science statements from environment authorities, conservationists caution that data remain alarmingly deficient for many species, and that updating surveys is time-consuming and expensive — a particular concern given recent cuts to the ministry’s budget.
Amazon illegal gold mines drive sex trafficking in the Brazil-Guyana border
- Poverty and poor border controls have allowed young women to be trafficked into the sex trade catering to illegal gold miners in Brazil’s border areas with countries like Guyana and Venezuela.
- Research by the Federal University of Roraima identified 309 people who were victims of human trafficking between 2022 and 2024.
- In the Guyanese border town of Lethem, young women, mostly from Venezuela but also from Brazil, are trafficked into bars from across the border in Brazil, seemingly without restriction.
- Organized crime networks associated with illegal mining use elaborate recruiting tactics and exploit the vulnerability of victims, who often don’t recognize themselves as trafficked or are afraid to speak out.
Tuna fishing devices drift through a third of oceans, harming corals, coasts: Study
- Drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs) are floating rafts with underwater netting used by fishing vessels to attract tuna.
- A recent study estimated that between 2007 and 2021, 1.41 million dFADs drifted through 37% of the world’s oceans, stranding in 104 maritime jurisdictions and often polluting sensitive marine habitats.
- Strandings were most frequent in the Indian and Pacific oceans, with the Seychelles, Somalia and French Polynesia accounting for 43% of cases; ecosystem damage and cleanup costs fall on local communities.
In Pakistan, desert irrigation plans spark protests & fears among Sindh farmers
- In Pakistan, thousands of protesters have fought against the Cholistan Canal Project, which would divert water from the Indus River to irrigate millions of hectares of desert for corporate farming.
- Opponents say the project would threaten local desert species and leave small-scale farmers and fishers in Sindh province without the water they need; this comes on top of an existing water shortage in the region.
- Water has been one of the region’s most contentious issues, dating back decades and causing a rift between Sindh province and the Federation of Pakistan; now, the future of Pakistan’s water is even more uncertain since India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which governs shared waters between the two countries.
Future of Mexican communal land in limbo as mining company overstays agreement
- Canadian mining company Equinox Gold has failed to implement a closure process after its land use and social-cooperation agreement with the Carrizalillo ejido in Mexico’s Guerrero state ended on March 31.
- It instead announced the indefinite suspension of its Los Filos mine, which the country’s agrarian attorney and legal experts say is not permitted in Mexico.
- Prior to the termination date, representatives of the ejido told Mongabay the company carried out a smear campaign to pressure them into signing a renegotiation proposal which they rejected because of its unfair conditions.
- Meanwhile, members of the ejido who rely on rent payments from the company to survive, have not received any compensation from the company and cannot return to their agrarian way of life because the mine occupies most of their land and the few available areas are contaminated.
In Nepal, confrontation looms over controversial cable car project as court lifts stay order
- Nepal’s Supreme Court recently discontinued its interim order that had earlier halted the construction of a cable car project opposed by Indigenous Limbu communities over its potential cultural and environmental impacts.
- Community members against the private project say in addition to undermining their rights, the project is based on a flawed environmental impact review.
- While lawyers say the final judgment in the case will determine the fate of the project, the developer says it plans to resume construction work.
‘Satellites for Biodiversity’ upgrades with new projects and launches insight hub
The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF) recently announced the winners of their “Satellites for Biodiversity” grant, which now uses higher-resolution satellite imagery to aid conservation efforts. They also launched an Ecosystem Insight Hub, which comprehensively documents the processes and findings of their grantees. The latest batch of six “Satellites for Biodiversity” awardees […]
Community conservancies in Kyrgyzstan see conservation success against illegal hunting
- Vast terrains in northern Kyrgyzstan that host numerous flora and fauna — many of them endemic to the country — were a hub for illegal hunting and poaching of the species.
- Community-based conservancies established by local NGOs are helping species make an effective comeback, conservationists say.
- Records of roe deer increased from 33 in 2013 to more than 250 in 2020 in an area of 20,000 hectares (49,421 acres) protected by Shumkar-Tor.
- As the community-led conservation shows progress with increased species populations, conservancies are scaling up their monitoring efforts by introducing digital tools for patrolling and installing camera traps in isolated areas.
Meet Pedro Porras, the priest who first rediscovered Amazon ancient cities
- A Catholic priest, Pedro Porras, was the first to research and document the Amazon rainforest’s Upano Valley culture dating back 2,500 years.
- He did archaeological research all across Ecuador, often facing extremely difficult situations.
- In January 2024, a Science article on the Upano Valley culture triggered a surge of media publications around the world, falsely claiming “a lost city” had been found, ignoring Porras’ discoveries.
- In 1964, Porras was appointed professor of archaeology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE), where he established a center for archaeological research.
Central Java villages take fast fashion to the cleaners at Indonesia’s Supreme Court
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court recently confirmed the bankruptcy of the country’s largest textile group, Sritex, which made garments for global fast fashion retailers like H&M.
- The court also awarded damages to 185 people in Central Java province who had filed a class action suit against a Sritex subsidiary over toxic gas leaks and river pollution.
- More than 10,000 Sritex workers lost their jobs as the heavily indebted firm collapsed, but local residents say the environment has showed signs of recovery since the subsidiary stopped producing synthetic fibers near Java’s longest river, the Bengawan Solo.
Indigenous Bajo suffer child deaths & toxic sludge amid green energy push
- Nickel mining on Kabaena Island has caused severe environmental degradation, threatening the health, livelihoods and cultural identity of the Indigenous Bajo people and resulting in child deaths due to toxic sludge.
- Investigations by environmental groups revealed dangerous heavy metal contamination, deforestation and violations of environmental laws, linking the mining operations to politically exposed persons and global electric vehicle supply chains.
- Indonesia’s Environment Ministry has acknowledged the crisis, pledged enforcement and is developing restoration plans but has so far avoided criminal charges.
- Local activists and experts call for a moratorium on mining permits and stronger law enforcement, stressing that temporary fixes and economic gains must not come at the cost of human lives and ecological collapse.
What’s at stake for the environment in Suriname’s upcoming elections?
- Voters in Suriname this weekend will elect all 51 members of the National Assembly, who will then choose the president, usually the leader of a majority party or coalition.
- Incumbent President Chandrikapersad Santokhi is a likely candidate, but critics say he’s prioritized agribusiness and mining over conserving the country’s vast Amazon Rainforest or land rights for Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities.
- Other candidates include Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk and former National Assembly chair Jennifer Geerlings-Simons.
Environmental defenders targeted in 3 out of 4 human rights attacks: Report
More than 6,400 attacks against human rights defenders were reported between 2015 to 2024, according to a new report from nonprofit Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC). “That’s close to two attacks every day over the past 10 years against defenders who are raising concerns about business-related risks and harms,” said Christen Dobson, co-head […]
Bangladesh protects sacred forests to strengthen biodiversity conservation
- Bangladesh is making a list of sacred forests, aged trees and other socially important flora in a bid to strengthen forest conservation.
- The need for conservation of these fragmented forest patches has been neglected for a long time despite being mentioned in the country’s 2012 Wildlife (Conservation and Protection) Law. However, the issue is now finally being looked into.
- Conservationists welcome the initiative and say they believe that the new measures will help protect the biodiversity and ecology that had been set aside in the past.
EU anti-deforestation law could overlook big violators, NGO warns
The European Union’s landmark anti-deforestation law could fail to deliver on its environmental promises if enforcement authorities disproportionately focus on small importers while missing less obvious violations from major commodity firms, according to a new analysis by U.K.-based investigative nonprofit, Earthsight. The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which comes into force Dec. 30, 2025, aims to […]
Indigenous rights advocates petition to overturn Indonesian conservation law
- In Indonesia, where state-designated conservation areas often overlap with customary territories, Indigenous peoples have faced prosecution and imprisonment for living in and managing their ancestral lands as they always have.
- Many hoped a new 2024 conservation law would recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples to manage their lands; instead, the law continues to sideline communities and potentially criminalizes their traditional practices, despite scientific evidence that Indigenous peoples are among the most effective stewards of nature.
- Indigenous rights proponents say the new law was passed without meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples, and several groups have filed a judicial review petition with the Constitutional Court, seeking to overturn the new law.
West Sulawesi erupts in protest over sand mining for Indonesia’s new capital
- Hundreds of protesters, including Indigenous and coastal youth from Karossa, Pasangkayu and Kalukku, rallied on May 5 at the West Sulawesi governor’s office to demand the closure of PT Alam Sumber Rezeki’s sand mining operations, citing environmental harm, permit irregularities and lack of community consent.
- Tensions flared after Governor Suhardi Duka dismissed anti-mining resistance as “thuggery,” triggering public outrage and a clash with security forces during the protest, where demonstrators were met with water cannons and no official response.
- The mining, tied to supplying materials for Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, has fueled a wider grassroots resistance across West Sulawesi, with activists condemning the criminalization of local opposition and calling for meaningful community involvement in environmental decision-making.
Wildlife crime crackdown in jeopardy worldwide after US funding cuts
- In 2019, Malawi dismantled the Chinese-led Lin-Zhang wildlife trafficking syndicate, a major win in its fight against the illegal wildlife trade, thanks in part to funding from the U.S. government.
- The Trump administration’s recent slashing of international development funds, however, threatens these gains, leaving frontline enforcers and conservation programs without critical support.
- NGOs across Africa and Southeast Asia, running initiatives from sniffer rat programs to antipoaching patrols, tell Mongabay they’re struggling to fill the funding gap.
- Experts warn that without urgent alternative, and sustainable, sources of funding, heavily trafficked species like elephants, rhinos and tigers could face accelerated declines.
Why biological diversity should be at the heart of conservation
For the last several decades, global biodiversity has been in crisis. Yet, as we celebrate International Day for Biodiversity on May 22, which commemorates the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a global treaty, we offer some recent Mongabay stories highlighting lessons from undoing past harms and conserving biodiversity for our planet’s future. What […]
Brazil & China move ahead on 3,000-km railway crossing the Amazon
Plans to build a railway that would slice South America from east to west, crossing part of the Amazon Rainforest, are advancing with Chinese funding, according to a recent announcement by the Brazilian government. Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, along with ministers and Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, met in Beijing on […]
Brazil rewilds urban forest with vaccinated brown howler monkeys
Following a deadly yellow fever outbreak in 2016, brown howler monkeys are slowly making a recovery through targeted vaccination and reintroduction efforts in one of the world’s largest urban forests. The recovery is detailed in a Mongabay video by Kashfi Halford and a report by Bernardo Araujo. Brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba) are endemic to […]
Crisis hits community-led conservation group in northern Kenya
- Since its founding in 2004, the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) has attracted both admiration and criticism for its model of encouraging communities to register wildlife conservancies across northern Kenya.
- Earlier this year, a court ruled that two of its member conservancies had been set up illegally, and that same month it lost a major donor with the end of USAID funding.
- Now, a carbon credit project it manages has been suspended, and the organization’s founder, who was pushed out by its board last year, says he thinks it’s “dead.”
Soldiers raid village as tensions flare over DRC’s Kamoa mine expansion
- In late April, security forces fired live ammunition to disperse protesters near a mine in the DRC province of Lualaba.
- The protesters were demanding compensation from the mine’s owner, Kamoa, as part of a stalled resettlement process.
- The company says the delay is because the number of people claiming to have been displaced by its operations has ballooned.
German supermarket palm oil linked to Indigenous rights abuses in Guatemala
- Since 2019, human rights groups have filed numerous complaints against German supermarket chain Edeka and palm oil supplier NaturAceites, alleging the companies failed to respond to concerns from Indigenous communities in the municipality in El Estor, Guatemala, about land grabs, worker mistreatment, and water pollution.
- When residents complained, law enforcement allegedly used force to quiet protests — including firing tear gas into crowds that included women, children and elderly people.
- Last year, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil terminated certification for three of NaturAceites’ palm oil mills.
Protection is only the beginning: Creating connection through Belize’s Maya Forest Corridor
- In central Belize, the Maya Forest Corridor, a narrow section of forested land, is key for wildlife movements across Belize, conservationists say.
- A land acquisition by the Maya Forest Corridor Trust in 2021 was a major step forward in protecting the corridor.
- Members of the Trust are now working on ways to secure and bolster the ecological integrity of the land, but face threats like roads, fire and even a national sporting event.
Venomous snakes, freshwater fish among legally traded species most likely to become invasive in US
- The U.S., the largest importer of wildlife products in the world, brings in nearly 10,000 species of plants and animals into the country legally, some of which have a high potential to become invasive species.
- A recent study assessed these imported species and identified 32 as having the highest risk for becoming invasive, posing threats to local ecosystems and to human health.
- These include venomous reptiles like puff adders and spitting cobras, and freshwater fish; similar species that have already established themselves as invasives have wrought havoc on native wildlife and caused widespread economic harm.
- The researchers say their findings can help authorities regulate the imports of such high-risk species and add them to watchlists to prevent them from becoming invasives.
Countries failing to stop illegal bird killings despite 2030 commitment: Report
Most countries that pledged to reduce the number of birds being illegally killed along an important migratory route in Europe and the Mediterranean region are failing to do so, a new report shows. For the report, conservation organizations BirdLife International and EuroNatur tracked the progress of 46 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, […]
Republic of Congo’s gold mining boom undermines conservation efforts
The Republic of Congo has one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world, but “uncontrolled gold mining” in recent years could harm the country’s biodiversity, especially in the Sangha region, Mongabay’s Elodie Toto reported in a video published in February. Sangha, located in the country’s north, on the border with Cameroon and the Central […]
Brazil’s offshore wind farms could sacrifice small-scale fishing in Ceará
- In Brazil, the expansion of coastal wind energy has already disrupted traditional communities’ way of life; now, the concern is that these impacts will be repeated at sea, after a bill regulating offshore wind energy was signed into law in January.
- In the state of Ceará, 26 projects overlap with small fishing zones used by hundreds of traditional communities, including maroon, Indigenous, fisher and extractivist groups that have had a direct relationship with the sea for generations.
- The northeast region seeks to expand offshore wind energy, as it is vital to the production of green hydrogen aimed for European markets.
Kenyan soil carbon project suspended for a second time
The carbon credit certifier Verra has placed the Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Project under review for a second time, it confirmed to Mongabay in an emailed statement. Until the review is completed, the project will not be permitted to sell any credits it generates through its model of managing livestock grazing routes. The decision is […]
Brazil antideforestation operation blacklists more than 500 farms in the Amazon
The Brazilian government blocked 545 rural properties in the Amazonian state of Pará from selling crops and livestock both domestically and internationally, citing illegal deforestation, according to a May 6 announcement by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The announcement marks one of Brazil’s largest uses of remote sensing to sanction agriculture activity associated […]
Malaysian timber company accused of abuse & rights violations: Report
A new Human Rights Watch report alleges abuse and human rights violations in an Indigenous community in Malaysia’s Sarawak state. The report finds Malaysian timber company Zedtee Sdn Bhd (Zedtee) destroyed culturally valuable forests without the consent of Indigenous people, who are facing an eviction notice from their land. The HRW report says the Sarawak […]
Community-led system boosts fisheries in a corner of fast-depleting Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi’s fish stocks are declining, but one community stands apart: around Mbenje Island, a traditional fisheries management plan has ensured thriving fish populations for generations, Mongabay contributor Charles Mpaka reports. Landlocked Malawi is highly dependent on the lake, which supplies 90% of the country’s fish catch; more than 1.6 million people rely directly or […]
Indonesian pangolin trafficking prosecution reveals police involvement — and impunity
- Late last year, Indonesian investigators arrested four men for allegedly attempting to traffic nearly 1.2 metric tons of scales from critically endangered pangolins.
- Prosecutors in Asahan district, North Sumatra province, allege that the mastermind of the scheme was a police officer who removed the pangolin scales from a police warehouse used to store evidence and seized goods.
- But while the three other men arrested in the case — two soldiers and a civilian — are facing court-martial and trial, respectively, for their roles in the case, the police officer has so far avoided any charges and has even been promoted.
- Wildlife trade observers say the case highlights the apparent impunity of law enforcement officials involved in wildlife trafficking in Indonesia, a major hub for the illegal pangolin trade.
Traffickers slither through loopholes with wild-caught African snakes and lizards
- South Africa’s native reptiles and amphibians, including threatened species, are being illegally captured and exported for the global pet trade.
- A recent study found that eight of the 10 most-exported reptiles from South Africa are native species, most of which are not protected by CITES, the global wildlife trade convention.
- Conservationists suspect some breeders falsely claim wild-caught reptiles, such as giant girdled lizards, are captive-bred to bypass trade restrictions.
- Legal loopholes at both the national and international levels allow non-CITES-listed species to be traded with little oversight.
Lack of funds, cattle ranchers challenge Brazil’s sustainable farmers
In 2005, the Brazilian government created PDS Brasília, a sustainable settlement in the state of Pará. The settlement was designed to encourage 500 families to practice small-scale family farming, while also collectively using a standing forest to harvest its fruits and nuts, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in March. The 19,800-hectare (49,000-acre) settlement was created following the […]
Study offers new tool to compare environmental impacts of crops
In a recently published study, researchers offer a new tool to compare how different crops affect the environment in different regions. Named PLANTdex, the tool assesses the environmental impact of a crop by considering five key indicators — greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater biodiversity loss, marine biodiversity loss, land biodiversity loss, and water resource depletion — […]
Singapore study says roadside flowers can improve urban butterfly biodiversity
Narrow strips of flowering plants along road edges can support high butterfly diversity, a recent study from Singapore has found. In late 2023, researchers surveyed 101 road verges — strips of green planted along the side of roads — across the tropical city-state of Singapore, recording 56 species of butterflies feeding on nectar from 96 […]
European body proposes mass killing of cormorants to protect fish stocks
A regional fishery body is seeking to reduce cormorant numbers across Europe through “coordinated” culling, citing the aquatic birds’ reported impacts on fisheries and aquaculture. The European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC), a body under the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the U.N., published its draft plan on April 25. The proposal […]
At the U.N., mining groups tout protections for Indigenous peoples
- At the U.N., international mining organizations committed to consulting with Indigenous people.
- The reality on the ground looks different in the U.S., say Indigenous activists. Projects like Oak Flat in Arizona are continuing to move ahead over Indigenous objections.
- Mining industry groups have released voluntary rules for getting consent from Indigenous people — with stronger requirements than the U.S. has. Legal experts say it could goad governments into action.
Ground-level ozone wreaks havoc on warming planet
Ozone as a layer several kilometers up in the atmosphere protects living beings, including humans, from ultraviolet rays. But its accumulation at ground level can be very dangerous, Mongabay contributor Sean Mowbray explains in an article published in April. Ground-level, or tropospheric, ozone forms when methane, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds react […]
Science lays out framework to assess climate liability of fossil fuel majors
- In recent decades a growing number of lawsuits have been launched by states, cities and other government entities to hold fossil fuel companies financially liable for the climate harm caused by the greenhouse gas emissions their products produce.
- But those efforts often come up against challenging legal arguments made by the companies saying that their actions and emissions cannot be scientifically linked to specific climate change-driven extreme weather events.
- Now, fast-advancing attribution science is offering answers to those legal arguments. A new study has created a framework that connects the emissions over time of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies — BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Saudi Aramco and Gazprom — to rising temperatures and specific heat-related climate disasters.
- Researchers say that, in time, this framework for assigning attribution and financial damages could be extended to specific fossil fuel companies and a range of climate change-intensified extreme events such as hurricanes, flooding, sea-level rise and wildfires. The framework has yet to be tested in court.
Trophies, body parts & live animals dominate global lion trade, data show
- Lions are the most-traded wildcat in the world, and the only big cat whose commercial trade is permitted under CITES, the international wildlife trade agreement.
- Lion body parts, including bones, skins, claws and teeth, trophies and live individuals are traded across the world, both legally and illegally.
- South Africa stands out as a hotspot for the trade due to the flourishing captive lion industry, which also supplies body parts and engages in canned hunting.
- Unsustainable trade in lion bones and other body parts, including from poached lions, poses a threat to the already declining wild lion populations across the world.
Mozambique’s farmers pay the price of Europe’s paper packaging demands
The rise in e-commerce has created a commensurate rise in demand for single-use paper packaging. Fast-growing, high-yield eucalyptus has become a popular choice for paper but farming communities in Mozambique are paying the price for cheap paper according to a Mongabay documentary produced by Boaventura Monjane, Davide Mancini and Juan Maza. Portugal used to be […]
Meet the Nepali lawyers defending nature one case at a time
- Lawyers in Nepal are increasingly turning to public interest litigation to demand accountability and stronger enforcement of environmental laws.
- They have filed public interest cases targeting issues like air pollution, deforestation, illegal quarrying and the misuse of protected areas.
- Their efforts have led to landmark rulings by the Supreme Court, including directives for better regulation and enforcement of existing laws. However, many of these rulings remain unimplemented due to government inaction and bureaucratic delay.
- Critics caution that while litigation is a powerful tool, it must be used judiciously, and that civil society must also mobilize to ensure environmental justice beyond the courtroom.
Scientists warn of S. Korea airport project’s impact on migratory bird habitat
Scientists have raised the alarm about biodiversity loss if construction of an airport near South Korea’s west coast begins as proposed this year. In an open letter published in the journal Science, they highlight the loss of migrating birds from the Sura area, the last remaining tidal flat within the once-thriving Saemangeum estuary, where saltwater […]
Protected parks in peril as Republic of Congo ramps up oil drilling
- The Republic of Congo plans to nearly double its oil production over the next three years, including drilling in protected areas like Conkouati-Douli National Park, sparking outrage from environmental activists and civil society groups.
- This expansion directly contradicts the country’s climate commitments made at the 2023 U.N. climate conference and its stated goals of preserving biodiversity.
- Major international oil companies — including TotalEnergies, Perenco, and Chinese firms — are supporting this fossil fuel push despite past pollution scandals and a lack of public environmental impact assessments.
- Critics also warn of systemic corruption and resource mismanagement, questioning whether the projected revenues will benefit the public as fuel shortages and extreme climate impacts continue to hit the country.
Bangladesh cracks down on illegal wildlife captivity — but what happens after?
- In one of several such crackdowns, forest authorities in Bangladesh recently rescued 48 animals — including endangered species — from an illegal mini zoo in Mymensingh.
- The animals were found in poor health, confined to cramped cages, and were reportedly sourced from poachers over a decade ago.
- The Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU) coordinated the rescue operation, transporting the animals to safari parks and eco-parks for rehabilitation, while some were released into the wild without adequate research.
- While the WCCU’s efforts are commendable, concerns persist regarding the adequacy of local rehabilitation centers, many of which lack necessary veterinary support and infrastructure to properly care for rescued wildlife.
Cable car project in Nepal under fire for flawed environmental review
- Nepal’s Pathibhara cable car project faces increased backlash after its environmental assessment was found to omit key species and understate its forest impact, bypassing the need for a full environmental impact assessment.
- The project, in a sacred site for Indigenous Yakthung (Limbu) communities, threatens biodiversity and spiritual heritage, with critics alleging more than 40,000 trees may have been cut, far exceeding the figures stated in the assessment report.
- Protests over the development have turned violent, and Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered a halt to construction pending a review of alleged regulatory violations and community exclusion.
- While developers and some local officials argue the project boosts tourism and access, conservationists and many Indigenous residents continue to call for its cancellation and a full ecological audit.
Amazon people brace for a drier future along the endangered Madeira River
- The Madeira River, the largest tributary of the Amazon, has been losing water flow over the last 20 years while facing severe droughts.
- The water drop is worrying the local population, whose livelihoods depend on balanced water bodies for small-scale agriculture, wild fruit extractives, fishing and transportation.
- The Madeira is particularly vulnerable to hydrological extremes and reached its lowest level ever recorded in September 2024.
- The Amazon has been warming since the 1980s, suffering 15 extreme droughts so far.
Mother Nature Cambodia activists denied bail by Supreme Court
- Cambodia’s Supreme Court has denied bail to five environmental activists from the NGO Mother Nature Cambodia, all of whom are appealing their convictions after spending more than nine months behind bars.
- The activists had already served prison sentences but were released on bail in November 2021 on the condition that they stopped their environmental work; the charges against them were never dropped and the Cambodian government arrested them again in 2024.
- The activists have won praise globally, with the group receiving the Right Livelihood award in 2023; the five are being held in separate prisons across Cambodia, hundreds of kilometers from their homes and families, which rights advocates say is needlessly cruel.
In the Pan Amazon, regulators struggle to punish environmental crimes
- Escaping legal liability in the Pan Amazon is likely, as courts are overwhelmed with cases, which end up reaching their statute of limitations.
- Governments in the region began by joining international conventions and agreements, which have also served for the creation of ministries of the environment and public policies to implement intergovernmental agreements.
- In Brazil, the authority of the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA) stems from the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which mandates protection of the environment for present and future generations.
Gold rush moves closer to Amazon’s second-tallest tree
Illegal gold miners are now operating very close to the second-tallest tree in the Amazon Rainforest, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in April. Six giant trees, including a red angelim (Dinizia excelsa) that stands 85 meters (279 feet) tall, are found inside the Iratapuru River Sustainable Development Reserve in Brazil’s Amapá state. Despite the area’s protected status, […]
Wood pellet maker Drax denied pollution permit after small town Mississippi outcry
- Nearly 30 wood pellet mills operate in the southeastern U.S., with more planned. Environmental advocates have long opposed biomass for energy schemes, noting that the burning of wood pellets is a poor replacement for coal because it releases major carbon emissions, while also causing deforestation and biodiversity harm.
- But those arguments have barely moved the dial when it comes to regulating the industry or banning its lucrative green subsidies, so activist wins have been few. But the angry protests of southeastern U.S. citizens — many of them poor and Black —in rural areas where pellet mills are located have raised another big issue: pollution.
- A case in point is Drax’s Amite County plant located in Gloster, Mississippi. Drax is one of the biggest forest biomass producers in the world, but that hasn’t stopped Gloster’s citizens from opposing the company for its impacts on health and quality of life, like toxic air pollution, excessive noise and truck traffic.
- Drax has been fined twice, totaling more than $2.7 million for its pollution, with Gloster citizens recently winning over the state of Mississippi, which for now is refusing to give Drax a permit to legally pollute even more. Pollution is bad near other wood pellet plants, and forest advocates are now allying with irate citizens.
The Metals Company applied to the U.S. for a deep-sea mining license
- The Metals Company (TMC) has submitted its first application to commercially exploit seabed minerals in international waters, along with applications for two exploration licenses, under the U.S. regulatory authority.
- The contentious move follows a recent executive order from the Trump administration that directed the U.S. government to fast-track deep-sea mining in an effort to secure supplies of critical minerals for the U.S.
- Both TMC and the U.S. have faced international pushback over these plans, with both the U.N.-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA) and China criticizing them as potentially violating international law because only the ISA has the authority to permit mining in international waters.
- While the U.S. regulator and TMC say they will manage environmental risks, critics say deep-sea mining could cause significant and potentially irreversible damage to marine ecosystems.
How to conserve species in a much hotter world
By 2075, we will be living on a planet that is much hotter, possibly 3-5° Celsius (5.4-9° Fahrenheit) hotter than the preindustrial average. But how can humanity help nature improve its climate resilience in the years to come? Mongabay’s Jeremy Hance found some answers after interviewing several conservationists. “In 50 years, it’s entirely possible that […]
Brazil prosecutors dispute $175m Amazon Rainforest carbon credit deal
Brazilian prosecutors are calling for the cancellation of the largest carbon credit deal in the Amazon Rainforest, saying it breaks national law and risks harming Indigenous communities. The 1 billion real ($175 million) contract, signed last year by the state of Pará, promises to sell up to 12 million metric tons of forest-based carbon credits […]
‘We belong to one ocean’: Indigenous leaders push for seat at the table of high seas biodiversity treaty
- Members of Indigenous peoples and coastal communities convened at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to call for their inclusion in the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), also known as the High Seas Treaty.
- These are the first-ever calls by Indigenous and coastal communities as members attending the forum prepare for the entry into force of the BBNJ agreement.
- Their participation could include involvement in governance, environmental management, and best-practice strategies based on traditional ecological knowledge and values.
- The BBNJ agreement will enter into force once at least 60 countries ratify it. So far, 113 countries have signed the agreement, while 19 have ratified the treaty.
England’s flooded farmlands offer habitat, carbon storage & storm protection
When aging infrastructure failed to protect coastal farmland in southwest England from sea level rise, conservationists chose to embrace the flooding and created a new wetland reserve. Mongabay’s Leo Plunkett and Sandy Watt report in a recent Mongabay video that the newly created marsh has brought a host of benefits to the region. The Steart […]
Oil companies have downplayed extent of spills in Gulf of Mexico, investigation finds
- Mongabay Latam and Data Crítica examined and compared official data of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, including satellite images by scientists studying oil spills and evidence compiled by fishing communities. Their analysis found that most oil spills are not reported.
- Occasionally, even the spills that are reported are played down. The volume of the Ek’ Balam oil spill in 2023 — the most serious spill in Mexico in recent years — was under-reported by 10 to 200 times, according to calculations performed by scientists using satellite images of the disaster.
- Between January 2018 and July 2024, the government of Mexico initiated 48 sanctioning processes against oil companies, but fines were only imposed in fewer than half of those cases. And only eight of those fines have been paid.
- Fishers are demanding oil companies release actual data and take responsibility and the government take action to protect their environment and livelihood.
How did Finland lead the pursuit of a circular economy? Mongabay podcast explores
As the first nation to develop a circular economy road map in 2016, Finland has had a head start in trying to develop an economy that’s based on reusing and regenerating materials and products. A lot can be learned from Finland’s experience so far, including challenges and gaps, Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo found in an episode of […]
EV supply chain & transport need redesign, Mongabay podcast shows
Reducing transportation’s carbon footprint is not as easy as replacing internal combustion engine (ICE) cars with electric vehicles (EVs). Producing EVs and disposing their components have environmental and human rights impacts, which also need to be carefully considered and mitigated, Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo found in an episode of Mongabay Explores podcast in November. In this […]
Pope Francis’ uncompromising defense of nature may be his greatest legacy
- The world has never before seen a pope like Francis, who died this week at the Vatican in Rome. He spoke with uncompromising conviction for all of nature, the poor, Indigenous and traditional peoples, and for all those who lack a voice in the halls of corporate and political power.
- His spiritual writings on climate change are unprecedented. From 2015 onward, he spoke out in official papal documents in defense of all living beings — recognizing the importance of preserving the complex web of life, melding science and faith, and urging humanity to embrace an iron-willed resolve to conserve “our common home.”
- His lofty words directly inspired the preamble of the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and helped launch conservation advocacy alliances between people of all faiths. But Francis met with great opposition and was often minimized or ignored by many in the Catholic Church, by the business community and global leaders.
- Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso has reported on the pope’s progress as conservationist and humanist over the last decade. Here he offers a sampling of the pontiff’s words urgently imploring all of us, but especially consumers, the business community and world leaders, to live into our sacred duty as Earth stewards.
In Borneo village, Indigenous Dayaks leave farming amid stricter fire rules
- Rice growers from an Indigenous Dayak community in Central Kalimantan province say stricter rules enacted to prevent wildfires have contributed to a decline in the number of farmers growing rice, potentially elevating risks of food insecurity among rural communities on Indonesian Borneo.
- Remie, a 46-year-old from Mantangai subdistrict, said higher input costs have also worsened the business case for growing rice. Many Dayak farmers have migrated in search of alternative work, local officials said.
- “We don’t burn the forest,” the kepala adat, the customary law authority, in Mantangai Hulu village told Mongabay Indonesia.
Global agarwood trade heavily dependent on wild, threatened trees: Study
- The global agarwood trade heavily depends on wild-harvested endangered tree species, despite international regulations for protection, with significant volumes going undocumented in official trade records, a new study reveals.
- About 70% of the trade depend on Aquilaria filaria and Aquilaria malaccensis, both threatened species, sourced from the wild, raising major sustainability concerns. Meanwhile, there are some tree species that are not even covered by CITES, the global wildlife trade convention.
- Due to discrepancies between CITES and customs data, along with weak enforcement and outdated regulations, researchers suggest the illegal trade is far larger than reported.
- Researchers urge stronger monitoring, updated data, expanded species protection, and a shift to cultivated sources. They also call on consumers and wealthy importers to support conservation and governments to promote sustainable practices.
Indian trawlers leave Sri Lankan small-scale fishers a ravaged, bereft sea
- Bottom trawlers from India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu have been encroaching Sri Lanka’s northern waters for years, carrying out destructive fishing practices that have caused serious depletion of fish stocks and damaged marine habitats.
- Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s local small-scale fishers continue to struggle due to reduced catches, destruction of their fishing nets and financial loss while being forced to fish in limited nearshore areas or abandon fishing temporarily to avoid conflict with the trawlers.
- In this political bone of contention, Tamil Nadu has been demanding reclamation of Katchatheevu — an uninhabited island between India and Sri Lanka — to gain unrestricted fishing rights, and the past bilateral promises to phase out bottom trawling have gone unfulfilled.
- Sri Lanka banned bottom trawling in 2017 and now needs to take specific actions to prevent illegal bottom trawling in its northern waters to avoid the risk of fisheries there from collapsing.
Church pressure spurs scrutiny of Indonesian geothermal projects
- In early April, the governor of Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province said his administration would review all geothermal development on Flores Island.
- The statement followed a campaign by the Catholic Church, led by the Archdiocese of Ende, which advocated for local residents concerned about environmental damage.
- Indonesia has the world’s largest potential for geothermal energy, and use of the technology has grown in recent years as the country seeks to expand renewables to meet its international climate commitments.
- The Vatican assumed a leadership role on climate change under the late Pope Francis, who died over Easter at the age of 88.
Mexican government looks to correct Tren Maya environmental damages
- Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena said the government is considering ways to correct some of the damage done by Tren Maya to cenotes and rainforests in the Yucatán peninsula.
- Officials want to remove fencing along the tracks, create new protected areas and ban the construction of additional roads connecting the train with harder-to-reach tourism activities in rainforests.
- At the same time, the government plans to expand the Tren Maya route and build several other trains across the country that could threaten protected areas.
Amazon illegal miners bypass enforcement by smuggling gold into Venezuela
- Criminal groups are operating to smuggle illegal gold from the Brazilian Amazon into Venezuela, where the metal is laundered and exported overseas.
- Illegal gold traders adopted this new strategy after Brazil’s administration increased control over the metal’s commerce.
- Mongabay followed the steps of Adriano Aguiar de Castro, who, according to authorities, jumped from one gold laundering scheme to another and now is also involved with gold smuggling into Venezuela.
- The need to cross national borders brings gold trading groups closer to organized crime and poses new challenges to authorities.
With deep-sea mining plans in limbo, Norwegian companies fold or dig in
- Norway’s plans to mine seabed minerals in Arctic waters remain in limbo after the first licensing round was delayed in December 2024. However, the government maintains that progress will resume soon, with a licensing round tentatively set for 2026.
- Some deep-sea mining companies have faced significant financial struggles due to the delay, with one company going bankrupt and another slashing costs; yet, other firms remain optimistic, insisting the industry’s future is still secure.
- Experts warn that considerable knowledge gaps must be addressed before deep-sea mining can proceed, particularly regarding environmental impacts.
- In Norway, the industry also continues to face heavy opposition from environmental groups, the fishing sector, and several political parties.
New EU plastic pellet rules greeted with caution
- The EU has agreed binding rules to reduce plastic pellet pollution, aiming to tackle up to 184,000 metric tons of annual leakage into the environment.
- Provisional measures will require companies to prevent spills, implement risk management, and report losses — but reliance on self-reporting may limit accountability, environmental groups argue.
- Campaigners have welcomed the deal but criticized loopholes, delays for maritime transport, and lighter rules for small businesses, warning these could undermine the regulation’s impact.
Armed groups, cattle ranchers drove 35% rise in Colombia’s deforestation in 2024
- Colombia lost 1,070 km² (413 mi²) of forest in 2024, according to data from the country’s environment ministry, representing a 35% increase from 2023.
- Illegal agriculture is thought to be the main driver behind this increase, with cattle ranching spreading inside national parks.
- The environment ministry notes that despite the increase in deforestation last year, the 2024 figure is still one of the lowest in the past 23 years.
- However, experts fear that the increase will continue in 2025 and that armed groups will continue to strengthen their hold over the Colombian Amazon, hindering the progress of conservation strategies with communities.
Locals, researchers race to save unique biodiversity of PNG’s Torricellis
Torricelli Mountains, a tiny mountain range in northern Papua New Guinea, is estimated to host roughly 4% of the world’s known species, many found nowhere else on Earth, Mongabay’s John Cannon reported in March. “I mean, for 0.003% of the world’s land area — it’s a ‘wow’ factor for me,” Jim Thomas, CEO of the […]
Nature on the move: How conservation must adapt to survive
Resilience means getting through something — tough, messy, with losses, but surviving. So said Andrew Whitworth, executive director of Osa Conservation in Costa Rica, summing up a growing shift in conservation thinking. As the planet hurtles toward a future 3-5° Celsius (5.4-9° Fahrenheit) warmer by 2075, holding the line is no longer enough. The goal […]
Ecuador communities resist Canada-backed gold mine in sacred highlands
- Indigenous and local communities in southern Ecuador are struggling to stop a Canadian gold-and-copper mining project that many community members say will largely impact the Quimsacocha páramo ecosystem while violating their rights to self-determination.
- Despite legal rulings to suspend mining operations, and referendums in which communities voted overwhelmingly against the mining project, critics say Dundee Precious Metals Inc. continues to initiate consultation with a limited number of people in favor of mining.
- According to its technical report, the Loma Large mining project approved by the Ecuadorian government will provide jobs for locals and ensure the protection of water sources and the environment. The company also says the environmental consultation process was completed, with local communities voting overall in favor of the development of the project.
- Although community leaders seek to uphold their rights defending their land and waters, they say plans to sign free-trade agreement between Canada and Ecuador is yet another blow to their hopes.
‘Trophies’ shared on social media reveal scale of mass bird slaughter in Lebanon
- Millions of migratory birds fly over Lebanon, which is on the African-Eurasian flyway, where hunters indiscriminately shoot them, often illegally, despite some of the species being threatened and/or protected.
- A first-of-its-kind study uses social media photos and posts to assess the level of illegal hunting in Lebanon, where studies show an estimated 2.5 million birds are killed each year.
- The study found that 94% of the hunted bird species, identified by assessing more than 1,800 photographs, were legally protected, and the poachers posed with their hunt in nearly half of these photos without fear of consequences for their illegal acts.
- Conservationists blame weak law enforcement and small penalties for poachers’ blatant disregard for regulations, and point to the growing trend of using social media to garner likes and views as a driving reason behind the carnage.
Bolivian communities push back against foreign-backed lithium projects
- In 2024, Bolivia’s state-owned lithium company, signed contracts worth a combined $2 billion with Russian and Chinese companies to mine lithium from Salar de Uyuni in the country’s southwest.
- Local communities already experiencing water shortages say they’re concerned the projects will divert large amounts of freshwater from agricultural lands.
- Experts have pointed out inconsistencies with the contracts, including the lack of environmental impact assessments required under Bolivian law, and the lack of community consultation.
- Bolivia holds an estimated 23 million metric tons of lithium reserves, or about a fifth of the global total, which is in growing demand for production of electric vehicle batteries.
Most frogs in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands to lose habitat by 2100: Study
Amphibians in Brazil’s Pantanal, one of the world’s largest and most biodiverse wetlands, could lose huge swaths of their habitat as the region dries out from climate change, a new study has found. Researchers studied the Upper Paraguay River Basin (UPRB), which stretches into parts of Paraguay and Bolivia and fully contains the Pantanal. Of […]
Kenya arrests 4 suspected ant traffickers, seize 5,300 harvester ants
In two separate but related incidents, Kenyan authorities have arrested four suspects for illegally possessing and attempting to smuggle some 5,300 ants valued at about 1.2 million Kenyan shillings ($9,250), destined for the exotic pet trade. The ants, which included the giant harvester ants (Messor cephalotes), were being trafficked to Asia and Europe. In the […]
How to use the law to save the planet | Against All Odds
Increasingly, legal courts have become the battleground in the fight for a climate-positive future. In the last two decades, 320 cases around the world have been litigated on behalf of regular citizens that have framed climate change as a human rights issue. Activists are finding the legal path to be a useful tool for holding […]
Still no trial over Argentina cyanide mine spill, 7 years after officials were charged
- In 2018, Argentina charged the former director of the country’s glacier research institute and three former environment secretaries with abuse of authority that allegedly led to a toxic cyanide spill at a gold mine in the country’s San Juan province.
- Seven years later, the four officials have not yet been tried and officials have not provided an explanation for the delay.
- Fellow scientists came to the director’s defense at the time, saying he followed international standards in his work and was being scapegoated even as the mine owner, Canadian company Barrick Gold, evaded responsibility.
- Meanwhile, affected community members still live with the effects of the spill that contaminated their water sources and affected biodiversity, livestock and agricultural production.
Giant rats trained to sniff out illegal wildlife trade
From land mine detection to sniffing out illegally trafficked wildlife parts, a group of trained African giant pouched rats in Tanzania is proving a valuable partner for humans, Mongabay’s Lucia Torres reported in February. In the 1990s, Belgian industrial engineer Bart Weetjens was exploring ways to detect land mines when he thought of rats: they’re […]
Fishing rights, and wrongs, cast small-scale South African fishers adrift
- A community of mixed-race families has lived and fished in South Africa’s Langebaan Lagoon since the 1800s.
- Starting with the former apartheid government in the 1970s, a series of conservation-oriented decisions ostensibly aimed at protecting fish stocks have slowly squeezed the number of these fishers allowed to operate in the lagoon.
- The government now says fish stocks have collapsed and it has reduced the number of small-scale fishers operating in the lagoon even further, while allowing recreational fishing to continue unimpeded. For their part, the fishers deny the stocks have collapsed, and blame declining catches on industrial developments.
- One expert likened the three-decade-long exclusion of the Langebaan net fishers to a case of fortress conservation, in which local people are squeezed out of nature and denied access to resources they’ve long used in order to preserve them for elites.
As big money wavers, Southeast Asia’s green startups fight to stay powered
- Southeast Asia’s clean-energy startups like Vietnam’s SmartSolar and Indonesia’s Swap Energi are expanding but face growing challenges due to waning government support and shifting global investment trends.
- U.S. and regional funding cuts, along with economic uncertainty and geopolitical shifts, are making it harder for renewable startups to secure long-term financing and scale their operations.
- Despite these headwinds, founders say local demand remains strong, and backing from European development agencies is helping maintain momentum — though the path to profitability is getting narrower.
Illegal gold mining creeps within a kilometer of Amazon’s second-tallest tree
- Prosecutors in Brazil’s Amapá state have warned of an illegal gold mine operating just 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from second-highest known tree in the Brazilian Amazon — an 85-meter (279-foot) red angelim.
- Illegal gold miners have been moving into Amapá in the wake of federal raids on mining hotspots in other parts of the Brazilian Amazon, including the Yanomami and Munduruku Indigenous territories.
- A surge in the gold price has fueled the miners’ destructive potential and their capacity to open new areas in highly isolated places.
Mongabay investigation spurs Brazil crackdown on illegal cattle in Amazon’s Arariboia territory
- An ongoing Brazilian government operation launched in February has removed between 1,000 and 2,000 illegal head of cattle from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Amazon Rainforest.
- In June 2024, Mongabay published the results of a yearlong investigation, revealing that large portions of the Arariboia territory have been taken over for commercial cattle ranching, in violation of the Constitution; the project received funding and editorial support from the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network.
- “Your report is very similar to what we’re actually finding in the field. It showed an accurate reality and this helped us a lot in practical terms,” Marcos Kaingang, national secretary for Indigenous territorial rights at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, told Mongabay in a video interview.
- The investigation also revealed details that authorities said they hadn’t been aware of, including the illegal shifting of the territory’s border markers, Kaingang said: “We brought it up as an important point in our discussions and we verified that the [markers] had in fact been changed.”
Nature protection is part of fundamental law in Amazon countries
- The constitutions of Pan Amazon countries contain at least one article on the state’s obligation to protect the environment.
- Brazil’s 1988 Constitution was the first in the Pan Amazon to include access to a healthy environment as a basic human right.
- Ecuador constitutionally recognizes the rights of nature or of Mother Earth (Pachamama).
How is conservation preparing for a much hotter world? Experts share
- Fifty years from now, in 2075, the world will be considerably hotter, perhaps as much as 3-5° Celsius (4.5 to 9° Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average.
- Experts say we need to focus on building greater resilience into ecosystems now to help species get through the next half century.
- We should be protecting large landscapes, including altitudinal gradients, according to experts.
- We should also be focusing on good management, community relations, rewilding and restoration.
Nepal farmers regret planting government-hyped eucalyptus
In the late 1970s, Nepal launched a reforestation project to restore its massively deforested lands in the southeastern Terai landscape. However, the main tree of choice, eucalyptus, after showing initial signs of success has now proven detrimental to the region’s soil moisture and fertility, Mongabay contributor Mukesh Pokhrel reported in February. To prepare for the […]
For scandal-ridden carbon credit industry, Amazon restoration offers redemption
- As REDD projects around the world face setbacks, restoration projects in the Amazon are flourishing as a means of reviving market confidence in forest-based carbon credits.
- In Brazil, the golden goose for restoration, this business model has attracted companies from the mining and beef industries, banks, startups, and big tech.
- Federal and state governments are granting public lands to restoration companies to recover degraded areas.
- Restoration projects require substantial investments and long-term commitment, face challenges such as increasingly severe fire seasons, and deal with uncertainty over the future of the carbon market.
What pushes Indigenous Munduruku people to mine their land in Brazil’s Amazon?
- The involvement of Munduruku people in illegal mining inside the Munduruku Indigenous Territory made Brazil’s efforts to stop it more complicated, federal officials said.
- Munduruku sources told Mongabay that deception, abandonment by the state and a lack of alternative income sources are what push some Munduruku people to mine.
- The recruitment of Indigenous peoples is an important mechanism used by miners to secure access to lands and gain support against government crackdowns, researchers said.
- Sources said the government should invest in public policies and alternative income projects to strengthen food security, improve health and the sustainable development of communities.
122 companies responsible for a third of present day sea-level rise: Study
What’s new: Almost half of global average temperature rise and a third of sea-level rise can be attributed to the “carbon majors,” the world’s 122 largest fossil fuel and cement producers, a recent paper shows. What the study says: Research from U.S.-based science advocacy NGO Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) used climate-carbon cycle models, and […]
How tires leave a long trail of destruction
Tires play an essential role in modern society, but have enormous negative environmental impacts. Mongabay recently reported on how the world’s top tire manufacturers are unable to prove that the supply chain of their rubber products is deforestation-free. A look back at an episode of Mongabay’s video series “Consumed,” published in January 2024, shows how […]
Funding freeze threatens global reforestation and restoration efforts
- The sudden halt in U.S. foreign aid has left reforestation and forest restoration projects around the world scrambling for alternative resources, jeopardizing years of progress.
- Without consistent funding, ongoing projects face the threat of scaling back or shutting down entirely, potentially impacting, in the long-term, both the environment and the communities that rely on these initiatives for their livelihoods.
- According to Mongabay’s research, the funding freeze has affected the operations of many nature-based projects worldwide, particularly in biodiversity hotspots and some of the world’s poorest regions.
- Despite the challenges, affected organizations are working tirelessly to diversify their funding sources and fill the gaps left by the U.S. government, including launching online campaigns to request donations and calling the international community to step up.
What do CITES data tell us about the legal wildcat trade?
- All 40 species of wildcats are traded globally, both legally and illegally, posing conservation concerns for big and small cats.
- Wildcats are listed on CITES, the global international wildlife trade agreement, and analysis of data on wildcats for the last 25 years shows that most trade permits are issued for lions, followed by leopards, bobcats, Canada lynx and tigers.
- Although drivers of the trade vary for each species, data show a demand for body parts such as skin, claws and bones, and live animal trade is common for the most-traded wildcat species.
Palm oil company uses armed forces, tear gas against protesting villagers in Cameroon
- Cameroonian villagers protesting on March 25 against plantation company Socapalm’s replanting of oil palm trees on disputed land were dispersed with tear gas by local law enforcement.
- Socapalm rejects the villagers’ claim that the company was supposed to return this land following an amendment to its lease, explaining that this part of the plantation is not leased.
- Gendarmes escorted Socapalm workers despite a local official’s previous statement that replanting required an agreement with villagers.
- Socfin, Socapalm’s parent company, has been accused of land grabbing and human rights abuses, with investigators confirming many community grievances at its Cameroon plantations.
Lithium Triangle mining may strain water sources more than expected, study says
- Measuring water availability for lithium extraction can still be unpredictable, especially in the high-altitude Lithium Triangle in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.
- Current models can overestimate how much water is available, potentially exacerbating scarcity for local communities, according to a new study in Communications Earth and Environment.
- The study suggests using a more accurate model as well as improving transparency and resources for gathering observational data where lithium is being extracted.
After outcry, Brazil Supreme Court nixes proposal for mining on Indigenous lands
- Brazil’s Supreme Court backed down and withdrew its proposal to open up Indigenous territories to mining and economic activities from a controversial bill that critics say violates the Constitution.
- On the same day, the Federal Attorney General’s Office presented a draft presidential decree also excluding mining activities on Indigenous territories but allowing tourism and other activities led by Indigenous communities.
- Both drafts would keep contentious articles regarding compensation for non-Indigenous settlers, which could make the land demarcation process unfeasible, critics say.
- The proposals are the outcome of a yearslong legal battle centered in the highly controversial time frame thesis, aiming to nullify any Indigenous land demarcation claims to areas that weren’t physically occupied before the 1988 Constitution.
Nepali farmers switch crops to reduce human-elephant conflict
A village on Nepal’s border with India has found a way to reduce conflicts with wild Asian elephants in recent years: By switching their crops from rice and maize, which elephants love to eat, to tea and lemon, the farmers of Bahundangi are now seeing fewer elephants devouring their harvest, Mongabay contributor Deepak Adhikari reported […]
Maltese Falcon Poachers: European hunters endanger Egypt’s birds
- A 15-month-long investigation has exposed the cracks in international conservation efforts around the hunting of Maltese falcons and other species in Egypt.
- Millions of euros have flowed from EU conservation funds to protect these species, only for them to be gunned down by Europeans in Egypt.
- With exclusive accounts from conservationists and hunting trip organizers, alongside public records of raids and arrests, this investigation highlights the urgent need for international cooperation to uphold global conservation commitments.
Global seabed regulator concerned by mining company’s unilateral actions
The International Seabed Authority has expressed concern following reports that the U.S. subsidiary of The Metals Company is seeking deep-sea mining permits from the U.S. instead of waiting for the global regulator’s finalization of a mining code. Mongabay recently reported that The Metals Company (TMC), based in Canada, has started a process to apply for […]
Innovators battling wildfires with AI, drones & fungi get $50k grants to scale up
To address the devastating effects of wildfires in Western North America, the nonprofit Conservation X Labs (CXL) and its partners have awarded $50,000 each to 12 shortlisted teams seeking to scale up novel technologies and processes to lower wildlife risk and increase ecosystem and community resilience. CXL announced the 12 finalists of its first Fire […]
Bangladesh continues promotion of biodegradable bags amid battle against polythene
- Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban plastic bags in 2002. However, due to weak law enforcement, the country still sees a high usage of plastic.
- Approximately 24 kilograms (53 pounds) of plastic per capita are discarded yearly in the capital city, Dhaka, alone.
- Alternatives to plastic bags have been created using cassava, potato starch, cloth and jute, but they are more expensive than polythene.
- The high cost of these reusable bags is hindering the adoption of everyday eco-friendly alternatives.
Key transit province in DRC bans gray parrot capture and trade
African gray parrots, one of the world’s most trafficked birds, can no longer be captured or traded across the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Tshopo province, a key transit route for traffickers, according to a recent decree passed by the provincial government. Known for their intelligence and ability to mimic human speech, gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus) […]
UK delays to environment law have led to massive deforestation, report says
- U.K. lawmakers have spent the last four years delaying the implementation of “forest risk” regulations on imported commodities like beef, soy, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and rubber.
- A law passed in 2021 needs secondary legislation to implement the regulations, which would establish what supply chain information needs to be collected by businesses and how it should be reported to the government.
- As the country waits for the law’s implementation, U.K. imports have resulted in more than 39,300 hectares (97,100 acres) of deforestation, according to a report from NGO Global Witness.
Leaked data reveals decades of unreported pollution by Colombia oil giant
Colombia’s state-led oil company Ecopetrol caused more than 600 instances of major environmental damage between 2010 and 2016, according to internal data leaked by one of their former employees. Mongabay contributor Mie Hoejris Dahl reports that the leaked information suggests the company kept track of spills internally but did not adequately report them to the […]
Brazil plans new Amazon routes linking the Pacific & China’s New Silk Road
- New roads and riverways integrating the Brazilian Amazon and ports on the Pacific coast of South America are expected to be announced in 2025, reducing shipment costs to supply China.
- Brazil’s plans to build ports and roads to help move grains, beef and iron ore from the rainforest echo a development vision that dates back to the military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Environmentalists warn the new routes boost deforestation and encourage land-grabbers and ranchers to keep exploring the Amazon as a commodity hub.
Australia’s environment minister sued for failure to act on threatened species
Australian conservation NGO The Wilderness Society has launched a court case against the country’s environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, alleging her failure to put in place formal recovery plans for a number of threatened species. The public interest legal organization Environmental Justice Australia recently announced that its lawyers are representing The Wilderness Society in the federal […]
Madagascar highway pushes on through controversy
- More than a hundred Malagasy civil society organizations have called on the government to halt construction of a major highway after thousands of farmers were affected by unusual flooding linked to the project.
- They are calling for compensation for affected communities and inclusive consultations before the project continues.
- The highway, intended to link the capital Antananrivo to the port of Toamasina, has also been criticized for threatening ecologically important forests and a significant heritage site.
Deep-sea miner TMC seeks U.S. approval, potentially bypassing global regulator
- The Metals Company (TMC) has announced that it is in discussions with U.S. regulators to apply for an exploration license and commercial recovery permit under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA), a U.S. law that oversees deep-sea mining activities.
- This move could serve as an alternative to TMC seeking approval from the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-mandated body overseeing deep-sea mining in international waters, that has previously issued exploration licenses to the company.
- However, legal experts warn that if TMC is able to move forward with its plans, it would be in violation of international law and strain relations with Pacific communities.
- While TMC argues that deep-sea mining is vital for U.S. national security and mineral independence, critics warn of irreversible ecological damage and financial risks.
Panama conducts large illegal fishing bust in protected Pacific waters
- Panamanian authorities seized six longliner vessels on Jan. 20 for fishing illegally in protected waters. They also opened an investigation into an additional 10 vessels that surveillance data showed had apparently been fishing in the area but left by the time authorities arrived.
- The seizures took place in the Cordillera de Coiba, a marine protected area that’s part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor, which connects several MPAs in four countries. It was the largest illegal fishing bust in the history of Panama’s MPAs.
- The vessels, whose activity is still under investigation, were Panamanian-flagged, meaning they were registered in the country, but the identity and nationality of the owners isn’t clear.
- The surveillance work in the case was done in part through Skylight, an AI-powered fisheries intelligence platform, and was supported by a group of fisheries monitoring nonprofits.
Are your tires deforestation-free? Even their makers can’t tell, report finds
Only one out of the world’s 12 major tire manufacturers have shown evidence their supply chain is deforestation-free, a recent assessment has found. The report, released March 26 by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), assessed 30 natural rubber companies, including 12 that manufacture tires, to see what portion of their supply chain is independently […]
Locals debunk myths linking endangered pink river dolphins to ‘love perfumes’
A colonial-era myth about endangered pink river dolphins in the Amazon has led to a false belief that perfumes or pusangas made from their body parts are potent love potions. According to a recent Mongabay documentary, the myth has created a market for the perfumes, further endangering the dolphins. The film, released in February, follows […]
Colombia creates landmark territory to protect uncontacted Indigenous groups
- Colombia has created a first-of-its-kind territory meant to protect a group of Indigenous people living between the Caquetá and Putumayo Rivers in the Amazon Rainforest.
- The 2.7-million-acre (1,092,849-hectare) territory is the first in the country specifically designed for people living in isolation.
- The Yuri-Passé people have faced increasing pressure from illegal mining and organized crime groups, forcing neighboring Indigenous communities to reach out to the government on their behalf.
Pirates of the Pacific terrorize artisanal fishers on the Peruvian coast
- For more than 15 years, artisanal fishers in the Tumbes region of northwestern Peru have been plagued by an evil that seems straight out of an adventure book: pirate attacks.
- But this is no fiction: more than 20 fishers have been killed in the past 21 years during pirate attacks.
- To date, no one has been tried or even arrested for these crimes.
- Although the police dismantled a pirate gang in 2018, the situation hasn’t improved significantly, and fishers are forced to pay protection fees to the pirates.
How Peruvian cockfighters could tip the scales for endangered sawfish
- In Peru, where cockfighting is not only legal but regarded as an important cultural practice, cockfighters have long brought their roosters to fight wearing sharp spurs fashioned from the “teeth” of sawfish.
- The largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis), the only sawfish that lives in Peru, is incredibly rare and considered critically endangered.
- Advocates for the species both within and outside the sport have increasingly realized that cockfighting plays a role in preventing or hastening its demise in Peru and are working to eliminate sawfish spurs from the sport.
- Although trade in sawfish parts is now illegal in Peru, times are tough for the country’s artisanal fishers. Experts worry that demand for sawfish spurs could drive more sawfish killings than the species can support.
Indonesians suing pulpwood firms over haze face intimidation, seek human rights protection
- A group of South Sumatran residents suing three pulpwood companies for recurring haze pollution has sought protection from Indonesian human rights commission, citing intimidation, including bribes and threats.
- The lawsuit highlights violations of the right to a healthy environment, as recurring fires on company concessions have caused severe air pollution, harming residents’ health, education and livelihoods.
- The case, which seeks both financial compensation and environmental restoration, is now in the evidentiary stage after mediation failed, and could set a precedent for corporate responsibility in Indonesia’s recurring haze crisis.
- Despite the threats, plaintiffs like Yeyen say they remain committed to the fight for justice and environmental protection, emphasizing the need for corporate accountability and a healthier future for all Indonesians.
How bobcats protect us from diseases, Mongabay podcast explores
“Bobcats are disease defenders,” Zara McDonald, founder of the U.S.-based conservation nonprofit Felidae Conservation Fund, tells host Mike DiGirolamo on Mongabay’s weekly podcast Newscast in February. Today, bobcats (Lynx rufus) are North America’s most common small wildcat. But this wasn’t always the case: At the start of the 20th century, the bobcat population was close to […]
New allegations of abuse against oil palm giant Socfin in Cameroon
- For several years, coastal communities in Edéa, Cameroon, have been campaigning for the return of land they say Socapalm, a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Socfin, illegally seized from them.
- Now a series of reports published by environmental consultancy the Earthworm Foundation in February have substantiated new allegations land grabbing and of sexual harassment on Socapalm’s oil palm plantations.
- The Socfin group requested Earthworm’s investigations of its subsidiaries’ operations in Cameroon and elsewhere; following the release of the latest findings, the group has announced the launch of quarterly action plans aimed at addressing the rights violations.
- Financial institutions that have backed Socfin declined to say how they will in their turn respond to findings that show that guidelines for ethical investment have not been effective across Socfin’s operations in West and Central Africa, as well as Asia.
5 takeaways from the 2022 Repsol oil spill in Peru
- On Jan. 15, 2022, the largest oil spill in Peruvian history occurred when a pipeline broke during the offloading of oil from a tanker to a refinery owned by the Spanish company Repsol.
- 11,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the ocean off the coast of Callao, near Lima. It sullied miles of beaches, killed untold marine animals and upended the livelihoods of thousands of fishers.
- Three years later, the consequences of the tragedy persist, even as the oil industry’s activities along the coast of Peru continue to cause environmental disasters.
- These are the latest details of the case, which has continued to affect Peru’s marine ecosystem and the fishers who depend on it to survive.
Uncontacted Ayoreo could face health risks as Gran Chaco shrinks, experts warn
- The International Working Group for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI) visited northern Paraguay to better understand the threats against the Indigenous Ayoreo communities living in isolation.
- The Ayoreo live semi-nomadically between the Paraguayan and Bolivian Gran Chaco, where they’re threatened by deforestation from the expanding agricultural frontier.
- GTI-PIACI called on the Paraguayan government and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to develop more thorough measures to protect the groups and stop deforestation.
Baby sightings spark hope for critically endangered gibbons in Vietnam
A community conservation team saw not one but two baby Cao-vit gibbons, one of the world’s rarest apes, in the remote forests of northern Vietnam in 2024, the NGO Fauna & Flora announced this month. The first infant sighting was in February 2024 and the second in November, in two separate troops. “It is very […]
An arachnid in your orchid? Ornamental plant trade risks spreading invasive species
What’s new: Your recently imported ornamental tree might have a stowaway spider or lizard hidden in its branches, a recent study warns. What’s more, these accidentally transported wildlife can turn into invasive pests in their new environment, researchers say. What the study says: The increasing popularity of imported ornamental plants has resulted in a multibillion-dollar […]
World Water Day: 3 stories of resistance and restoration from around the globe
More than 2 billion people around the world live without access to safe drinkable water, as rivers, groundwater, lakes and glaciers face continued threats of pollution and overexploitation due to urbanization, environmental destruction, and climate change. This World Water Day, Mongabay looks back at some of its coverage from 2024 on how local communities are […]
Conservationists, fishing industry find balance on protecting African penguins
Conservation NGOs and commercial sardine and anchovy fisheries in South Africa have reached an out-of-court settlement agreeing to extents of fishing closures around six key African penguin breeding colonies. The agreement, endorsed by the environment minister, was made a court order on March 18. The boundaries of the new fishing closures achieve “the sweet spot […]
Housing affordability through sustainability? Mongabay podcast explores
Countries all over the world face huge deficits in affordable housing today. But pursuing a circular economy, or the practice of making a good’s life cycle less resource-intensive, can pave the way for less expensive and longer-lasting houses, Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo found in an episode of the Mongabay Explores podcast published last December. In the episode, DiGirolamo talks […]
Ecuador must improve conditions for uncontacted Indigenous communities, human rights court rules
- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that Ecuador violated numerous rights of the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous peoples and failed to protect them from violent attacks.
- The nomadic Tagaeri and Taromenane rely on hunting and gathering in the Amazon Rainforest, but the area has also been an attractive location for oil development and logging.
- The court ruled that Ecuador must expand protection zones where the uncontacted Indigenous communities live and improve monitoring of threats in those areas.
‘Unprecedented’ Supreme Court bill threatens Indigenous rights in Brazil
- Presented in February by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, a draft bill violates Indigenous people’s constitutional rights by stripping their veto power against impactful activities on their ancestral lands and adding further obstacles to an already long land demarcation process.
- Critics say the Supreme Federal Court’s act is “unprecedented” in Brazil’s history by an institution that’s entitled to protect Indigenous and minorities’ rights — as dictated by the Constitution.
- The move comes months after the same court decided those Indigenous rights couldn’t be stripped by a legislative bill, with the support of Mendes.
- Critics say the bill “brings together the main threats to Indigenous peoples” and “directly contradicts the Brazilian Constitution, the decisions of the Supreme Court itself and international human rights law.”
Microplastic within humans now a health crisis: Interview with ‘Plastic People’ filmmakers
- The documentary ‘Plastic People: The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics’ reveals microplastics have been found in human brains, placentas, and virtually every organ, highlighting a global environmental and health crisis.
- Executive producers Rick Smith and Peter Raymont explore how humans are becoming “plastic people” with microplastic contamination beginning before birth and persisting after death.
- Nations are negotiating a UN treaty on plastic pollution to address the estimated 400 million tons produced annually, with experts calling for eliminating unnecessary plastic use and banning toxic formulations.
- The film will be screened in Washington, DC, on March 29 at the 2025 DC Environmental Film Festival, where Mongabay is a media partner.
EUDR compliance costs to be minimal, report finds — but industry disagrees
- A recent report from the Dutch NGO Profundo suggests that complying with the EUDR, the regulation designed to root out deforestation in the supply chains of products entering the European Union, will add little cost to companies’ bottom lines.
- Researchers from Profundo used available customs data for 12 small, medium and large companies that import one or more of the seven commodities regulated by the EUDR.
- On average, it will cost companies about 0.1% of their annual revenues, though the cost will likely be higher for smaller companies, according to the report. The impact on the prices consumers pay will be even smaller.
- Industry sources told Mongabay that the report’s methodology was “flawed,” however, and said the authors did not take into account the full suite of accommodations companies must make.
The rough road to sustainable farming in an Amazon deforestation hotspot
- Far from international forums and economical centers, locals in one of the Amazon deforestation hotspots seek alternatives to agribusiness and gold mines.
- Mongabay went to Pará state’s southwest and found examples of people struggling to keep sustainable initiatives in a region dominated by soy, cattle, gold and logging.
- Despite the bioeconomy buzz, people working on the ground say they miss support from banks and public administrations.
Critically endangered parakeets get a new home on New Zealand island
Conservation authorities and groups, along with Māori people, recently established a new population of the critically endangered kākāriki karaka, or orange-fronted parakeet, on a New Zealand island. Thirty-four kākāriki karaka (Cyanoramphus malherbi), raised in captivity, were released on the predator-free Pukenui, or Anchor Island, in the Fiordland National Park. The parakeet was once common across […]
Indonesian watchdog demands prosecution for environmental crime ‘cartels’
- Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi, has filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office, accusing 47 companies in the palm oil, mining and forestry sectors of corruption and environmental destruction, allegedly causing 437 trillion rupiah ($26.5 billion) in state losses.
- Walhi identified 18 forms of corruption, including government officials altering forest status to legalize deforestation, granting permits for illegal concessions, and accepting bribes to ignore violations.
- Notable examples include a palm oil company that allegedly cleared 1,706 hectares (4,215 acres) of forest in Aceh province before obtaining an environmental permit, and nickel mining in North Maluku that has devastated marine ecosystems.
- The AGO has confirmed receipt of Walhi’s complaint, and said that it will pursue allegations of corruption in those cases; however, it noted that any environmental violations would fall under the jurisdiction of other agencies.
Indigenous schools ensure next generations protect Borneo’s ‘omen birds’
In the rainforests of West Kalimantan, in Indonesian Borneo, the Indigenous Dayak Iban listen to what they call “omen birds,” or birds they say sing messages from spirits, Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo reported in November 2024. These omen birds include species such as the white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabarincus), scarlet-rumped trogon (Harpactes duvaucelii) and Diard’s trogon […]
To save a Honduran reef, locals craft custom gear and hunt invasive lionfish
Without a natural predator, invasive lionfish, which damage coral reefs, have become widespread throughout the Caribbean over the last several decades. To prevent further harm off the northern coast of Honduras, locals have resorted to crafting their own spears to effectively and safely hunt lionfish, reports Mongabay contributor Fritz Pinnow. Julio San Martín Chicas, program […]
A tale of two cities: What drove 2024’s Valencia and Porto Alegre floods?
- In 2024, catastrophic floods occurred in the cities of Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Valencia, Spain. These two record floods number among the thousands of extreme weather events that saw records for temperature, drought and deluge shattered across the globe. Such horrors have only continued in 2025, with the cataclysmic wildfires in Los Angeles.
- Scientists have clearly pegged these disasters to carbon emissions and intensifying climate change. But a closer look at Porto Alegre and Valencia shows that other causes contributed to the floods and droughts there, and elsewhere on the planet — problems requiring nuanced but Earth-wide changes in how people live and society develops.
- Researchers especially point to the drastic destabilization of the world’s water cycle, which is increasingly bringing far too little precipitation to many regions for far too long, only to suddenly switch to too much rain all at once — sometimes a year’s worth in a single day, as happened in Valencia when 445.5 mm (17.5 inches) fell in 24 hours.
- The problem isn’t only CO2 emissions, but also local deforestation and hardened urban infrastructure that promote flooding. But what may be seriously underestimated is how large-scale destruction of forest, marshland and other vegetation is dangerously altering rainfall patterns, a theory proposed decades ago by a little-known Spanish scientist.
Only 5% of deforesters in Brazil’s Amazon fully paid fines, report finds
If you are caught cutting down the Amazon Rainforest illegally, chances are you will get off without being required to pay for the environmental damage. According to a recent report, only 5% of offenders have paid court-ordered fines for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Researchers at Imazon, a Brazilian environmental research nonprofit, analyzed more than […]
Brazil’s crackdown on illegal mining in Munduruku Indigenous land sees success, but fears remain
- Government efforts to evict illegal miners from the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon so far have led to a reduction in illegal mining, according to government officials and Munduruku organizations.
- Since the operation began in November 2024, agents have destroyed 90 camps, 15 vessels and 27 heavy machinery, in addition to handing out 24.2 million Brazilian reais ($4.2 million) in fines.
- While there has been some interruption to mining in the region, Munduruku organizations said the operation has not been completely effective, as there are still some invaders and machinery in certain areas of the territory.
- A Munduruku source told Mongabay they are worried that miners will return once security forces withdraw and also, without alternative income sources, Indigenous people involved in mining will have no option but to continue.
Asian elephants fall victim to poor development policies in Bangladesh
- Around 270 Asian elephants live in Bangladesh, where they are regionally critically endangered. Conflict between humans and elephants has been a significant cause for death in both humans and elephants.
- Unplanned infrastructure development in elephant habitats in the country’s southeastern zone and transboundary border fencing in the northeast are the two critical factors behind such conflicts.
- Experts suggest that the government take suitable measures, such as involving local communities in the elephant conservation process to protect resident elephant and implementing the protocol signed with neighboring India for managing conflicts with non-resident elephants.
Tragedy haunts community on shore of Sumatra’s largest solar farm
- A joint venture between Indonesia’s state-owned electricity utility PLN and Saudi developer ACWA Power says it remains on track to build Sumatra’s largest floating solar power array on Lake Singkarak by 2027.
- The renewable energy project’s managers face a difficult task on the ground getting local community members on board with the project, given lingering memories of a flash flood 25 years earlier linked to a hydroelectric plant.
- Local fishers told Mongabay Indonesia they also fear the installation of solar panels on the lake’s surface will impact the stocks of the fish they rely on as their primary source of income.
- Indonesia has set ambitious renewable energy goals to meet its international climate change commitments, but several energy transition projects are creating new land conflicts and cases of displacement across the world’s fourth most populous country.
How one woman’s wolf ‘moon shot’ changed Yellowstone forever: Interview with director Tom Winston
- A new documentary film, “Mollie’s Pack,” tells the story of the then-head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mollie Beattie, and the controversial, but ultimately triumphant, restoration of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995.
- The filmmakers were able to find and access lost footage to make a compelling and emotional film about success and loss.
- The restoration of wolves into Yellowstone was a “moon shot” moment, according to director Tom Winston.
- Winston says the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone will be “a motivating factor” for future rewilding initiatives around the world.
Breast milk contamination exposes Africa’s ‘forever chemicals’ problem
- Researchers warn that synthetic chemicals in various products, including carpets, clothes, furniture, adhesives, food packaging, and nonstick cookware, pose a significant threat to infants in Africa.
- Over the past two decades, the chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals,” have become a significant public health concern in Europe and North America. Emerging data from African countries point to the pervasive nature of the problem in the continent.
- PFAS exposure is linked to liver damage, thyroid diseases, cancer, and reproductive health problems, and can be especially dangerous for infants and children, experts say.
- Countries like the U.S. are beginning to pass laws to control PFAS levels in drinking water systems. Still, regulations that target PFAS are “rare across African countries,” a recent study notes.
Initiative sets sights on rewilding three New Zealand islands
Three New Zealand islands will join an international initiative to remove invasive species and restore native wildlife. With the addition of Maukahuka (Auckland) Island, Rakiura (Stewart) Island and Chatham Island, the Island-Ocean Connection Challenge (IOCC) will have 20 ongoing projects aimed at restoring and rewilding 40 globally significant island-ocean ecosystems by 2030. “New Zealand’s three […]
Rich nations fuel global biodiversity loss at ‘disproportionate’ scale, study finds
High-income nations are wiping out wildlife far beyond their own borders by outsourcing their production of food and timber, according to a new study that shows their demand for these commodities fuels 15 times more habitat destruction overseas than at home. Researchers found that wealthy nations account for 13% of global forest habitat loss outside […]
New species of parrot snake described in Brazil’s threatened Cerrado
A new species of parrot snake lay undetected for nearly nine years in a scientific collection in Brazil. It closely resembled related species with bright green and yellow tones. But one detail set it apart: a bold black stripe running across its snout, like a mustache. When scientists took a closer look, they suspected it […]
Mangroves at risk as El Salvador begins work on new airport
- Officials broke ground last week on the Airport of the Pacific near the coastal town of La Unión, in eastern El Salvador, where mangrove ecosystems support wildlife and prevent coastal erosion.
- While the project could bring thousands of jobs to an undeveloped part of the country, it could also lead to massive development where coastal habitats currently protect drinking water for local communities.
- The airport is part of President Nayib Bukele’s plan to invest over a billion dollars into the eastern side of the country.
Researchers track Florida’s crocodiles to increase acceptance amid urbanization
Researchers in Florida, U.S., have attached satellite transmitter tags on 15 crocodiles to learn more about their movement patterns in urbanized areas. Through the multi-year study, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), aims to better understand the behavior of American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) to help minimize human-wildlife conflict. Native to south Florida and […]
Clash of worlds for the Amazon’s Cinta Larga: Interview with author Alex Cuadros
- Journalist Alex Cuadros’s latest book, “When We Sold God’s Eye: Diamonds, Murder, and a Clash of Worlds in the Amazon” tells the story of how an Indigenous group in Brazil was forced to reckon with Western culture.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Cuadros says the Cinta Larga group were introduced to Western tools and concepts by the Brazilian state, ultimately eroding part of their lifestyle.
- In a short period of time, the group began to experience money, violence, illegal logging, and mining, while some members of the Cinta Larga profited from these activities.
- “When prospectors started moving into their territory, the Cinta Larga sought them out because they were curious and wanted metal tools,” Cuadros said when explaining the complex relationship with invaders and the “outside” world.
COP16 biodiversity summit in Rome OKs finance pathway; big obstacles loom
- When the COP16 U.N. biodiversity summit ended without a final agreement in October 2024 in Cali, Colombia, negotiators agreed to meet in Rome, Italy, in February. There, the parties mapped a sweeping permanent plan on how to raise $200 billion annually by 2030 to reverse global species extinctions and conserve life on Earth.
- In Rome, the parties approved mechanisms for raising, tracking and reporting on that huge sum, with funding potentially coming from nations, philanthropies, banks and even corporations. The Achilles’ heel of this agreement is that no funding commitment made by any party now or in the future is legally binding.
- Even as participants celebrated this funding strategy breakthrough, two major powers dealt blows to finance targets. The U.S. under President Donald Trump abandoned USAID conservation financial commitments abroad, while the U.K. announced a shift in priorities away from climate and biodiversity foreign aid to military spending.
- The final Rome agreement also reduced the likelihood that trillions of dollars paid out by the world’s nations in “perverse subsidies” to industries that do the greatest harm to life on Earth would be redirected in a timely way to global biodiversity goals.
91% of Brazilian Amazon deforestation last year was illegal, report finds
Nearly all deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in the past year was illegal, a new report finds. Between August 2023 and July 2024, 91% of forest clearing in the Amazon lacked authorization, according to an analysis by the NGO Center of Life Institute (ICV). In the Cerrado, an expanding agricultural frontier and the world’s most […]
Illegal sea fence displaces fishers and sparks land scandal near Jakarta
- A property developer installed 30 kilometers (19 miles) of bamboo fencing in the sea near Jakarta, blocking fishers’ access; an investigation revealed it encompassed 280 ocean plots for which title deeds had been illegally issued.
- The fence has forced many fishers to stop working, while coastal farmers have lost their land to the same luxury development; residents also face eviction with no clear alternatives.
- Authorities have sanctioned a handful of individuals from the public and private sectors and started revoking the illegal deeds, but activists are demanding criminal prosecutions against the companies responsible.
- The case highlights weak oversight of Indonesia’s national strategic projects, raising concerns over environmental destruction, loss of livelihoods, and government favoritism toward big developers.
UN accuses Indonesia’s No. 2 palm oil firm of rights & environmental abuses
- United Nations special rapporteurs have singled out Indonesia’s second-largest palm oil company, PT Astra Agro Lestari (AAL), for alleged human rights violations and environmental degradation, marking the first time they’ve targeted a specific company rather than the industry as a whole.
- AAL and its subsidiaries are accused of operating without proper permits, seizing Indigenous and farming communities’ lands without consent, and suppressing protests with violence, intimidation and arrests, often with support from police and security forces.
- The Indonesian government has largely backed AAL’s operations, claiming compliance with legal standards, despite evidence that several subsidiaries lack necessary permits and continue operating illegally on disputed lands.
- Major brands like Kellogg’s, Hershey’s and Mondelēz have stopped sourcing palm oil from AAL, while global agribusiness giants like ADM, Bunge and Cargill still source from mills linked to the company, despite the ongoing allegations of rights abuses.
New Zealand blocks tighter trawling rules at South Pacific fisheries meeting
- The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), a multilateral body that regulates fishing in the vast waters of the South Pacific Ocean, held its annual meeting Feb. 17-21 in Santiago, Chile.
- At the meeting, Aotearoa New Zealand blocked an effort to implement a rule that would reduce bottom trawling, a fishing practice that disrupts the seabed, in areas occupied by vulnerable marine ecosystems.
- Conservationists lambasted New Zealand’s move, while a New Zealand official defended the country’s approach.
- In other meeting news, the parties raised the fishing quota for jack mackerel above scientifically advised limits and, at the same time, moved forward toward adopting a harvest strategy for the stock that could prevent such abrupt quota hikes in the future.
Land rights bill in Suriname sparks outrage in Indigenous communities
- Indigenous and Tribal communities are upset about legislation to establish their collective land rights, saying it still gives the government too much power.
- The law would remove communities’ ability to reject development projects on their land, including infrastructure, agribusiness and logging and mining concessions.
- The government would be allowed to continue developing on ancestral land if deemed in the “public interest” of the country, according to the bill.
- Activists said they could mount a legal challenge through the UN, but haven’t formalized a plan.
Yanomami youth turn to drones to watch their Amazon territory
- In the Yanomami Indigenous Land, the largest in Brazil, leaders believe in their youths’ skills to maintain their ancestors’ legacy and safeguard the future of a sprawling territory covering almost the size of Portugal.
- Located in the Brazilian Amazon between the states of Roraima and Amazonas, the Indigenous territory faced a severe humanitarian and environmental crisis with the invasion of around 20,000 illegal miners in search of gold and cassiterite.
- Trained youths can now act as multipliers of drone monitoring and watch the land against new invasions.
Concerns of illegal sea turtle trade persist in Bali as police foil smugglers
- Seizures of large consignments of live turtles in northwest Bali in January have raised concerns among conservationists that trade in the protected species may remain pervasive despite recent progress by civil society and law enforcement.
- Six of the world’s seven species of sea turtle live in the waters around Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago country.
- WWF Indonesia said the scale of the seizures in January indicated that the trade may be to supply turtle meat for consumption, rather than just for Hindu ceremonial uses.
- A 2019 investigation found authorities in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam seized at least 2,354 whole turtles and more than 91,000 eggs from 163 law enforcement operations between 2015 and July 2019.
African NGOs appeal judgement in controversial oil pipeline case
Four NGOs recently appealed to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) to have their concerns about a contentious oil pipeline heard on merit. The landmark case, filed four years ago, had previously been dismissed on technical grounds. The four East African NGOs — the Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT) and the […]
Colombia’s cattle traceability bill awaits approval as deforestation spikes
- Lawmakers in Colombia are considering a bill that would create an improved traceability system for monitoring the movement of cattle, with the goal of controlling illegal deforestation connected to grazeland.
- This would be the fourth attempt at passing such a law, after previous efforts in 2021, 2022 and 2023 came up short.
- There are an estimated 30 million head of cattle in the country, requiring significant amounts of pasture, one of the main factors in the rise in deforestation last year.
- If passed, the law would integrate multiple monitoring systems to improve communication between officials and their ability to identify where cattle are being raised, and would establish “high-surveillance zones” in deforested areas, requiring ranchers to share cattle registration information and install identification devices like ear tags.
Yet another abandoned mine erodes — this time, in a Panamanian protected area
- After the Cobre Panamá copper mine shut down in 2023, the mine’s infrastructure was left to waste away by the company in a biodiverse jungle area on Panama’s Atlantic coast.
- A new report by Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) has found that the mine’s tailings dam is at a very serious and imminent risk of failure due to poor monitoring and internal erosion.
- Indigenous communities nearby have reported even more contamination in the water sources that run through their communities, leading to the disappearance of key species, the destruction of wetlands and health issues among residents.
- Experts said current mine closure regulations in Latin America are insufficient and the planning and development of responsible closure plans should focus on managing both social and environmental impacts.
Endemic fish wiped out in Brazilian Amazon hydroelectric dam area, study finds
- The construction of the Balbina hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon led to the loss of seven endemic fish species in the Uatumã River, researchers have found.
- The hydroelectric dam has transformed the Uatumã River’s fast-flowing habitats into static environments, making them unsuitable for certain fish species.
- Researchers call for the investigation of unaffected tributaries, such as the Jatapu River, as possible refuges for the missing species and future conservation efforts.
- The study underscores the broader threat of hydropower dams and other environmental stressors, like industrial fishing and climate change, to Amazonian fish populations.
Baja California tourism poses mounting challenges for conservation, critics say
- Baja California Sur attracts more foreign tourism investment than any other state in Mexico, but the rapid development also poses threats to protected areas, marine habitats and the traditional customs of small communities.
- Numerous hotel projects underway this year could level sand dunes and encroach on protected areas, overwhelming many environmental activists who aren’t sure how to combat the rapid development.
- Some critics question the eco-tourism model that has been applied to coastal fishing villages, many of which regret trading in their customs for tourist businesses.
Deforestation and airstrip close to isolated teen’s Indigenous land in Brazil Amazon
On the evening of Feb. 12, a teenager from an isolated Indigenous group voluntarily made contact with people in a fishing village in the western Brazilian Amazon, according to Brazil’s Indigenous agency, Funai. He returned to his land on Feb. 15. The young man is likely part of an isolated Indigenous group in the Mamoriá […]
Chanel wanted ‘responsible’ gold. It turned to a protected area in Madagascar
- In 2019, French fashion house Chanel sought to obtain responsibly sourced gold from artisanal miners in Madagascar — who happened to operate inside a protected area that’s home to critically endangered lemurs and other wildlife.
- Under the initiative, which eventually fell through, Chanel partnered with Fanamby, the local NGO managing Loky Manambato Protected Area in northern Madagascar, to formalize the operations of some 1,000 miners.
- Fanamby has acknowledged that its tolerance for mining in the reserve’s buffer zone “is contrary to conservation,” but added “there is an arrangement” allowing this as long as the core area is left protected.
- Conservation experts say Chanel’s approach — exploiting the fact that many supposedly protected areas aren’t very strictly protected at all — highlights weaknesses in the current conservation paradigm that will only grow more apparent as governments seek to designate more protected areas.
Conservation in wealthy nations may worsen global biodiversity loss, study finds
Efforts to rewild landscapes across Europe and North America could be making global biodiversity loss worse by shifting environmental destruction to poorer, more biodiverse regions, a new study warns. Scientists from the University of Cambridge, U.K., found that when farming and resource extraction move abroad to accommodate conservation in wealthy countries, it can result in […]
Illegal seabed dredging surges as Indonesia resumes sand exports
- Reports of unauthorized seabed dredging have surged following Indonesia’s decision to resume sea sand exports in 2023, raising environmental concerns and exposing weak marine law enforcement.
- Officials argue that removing sediment helps ocean health and prevents land buildup, but experts and activists warn the policy contradicts marine conservation efforts and lacks transparency.
- Dredging threatens mangroves, coral reefs, and fish populations, with projected losses to fishing communities far outweighing state revenue and corporate profits.
- Experts urge the government to reinstate the export ban, conduct thorough environmental impact assessments, and allocate funds for ecological restoration and affected communities.
Taranaki Maunga, New Zealand mountain, declared a ‘legal person’
New Zealand has formally granted a mountain legal personhood for the first time, recognizing not only its importance to Māori tribes but also paving the way for its future environmental protection. The law, passed in January, notes that the mountain, located in Taranaki on New Zealand’s North Island, will be called by its Māori name […]
Investigating the real price of Congo’s gold
BAMEGOARD, Republic of Congo — In the Republic of Congo’s Sangha region, the expansion of mining activities within conservation areas undermines the objectives of carbon sequestration and biodiversity preservation efforts. In 2020, the government initiated the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program aiming to reduce deforestation and enhance carbon sequestration. Through this programme, the Congolese government claims […]
As the rainforest gets drier, Amazon Indigenous groups thirst for clean water
- The 2024 extreme and historical drought that hit the Amazon exposed a chronic problem: access to drinking water and sanitation in Indigenous lands, where only a third of households have proper water supply systems.
- In some Amazon rivers in Brazil, cases of diseases related to inadequate basic sanitation, such as malaria and acute diarrhea, have been increasing amid climate change and population growth.
- Indigenous organizations have been demanding the implementation of adapted infrastructures in the villages, such as water tanks, wells, cesspools and septic tanks.
- The Brazilian federal government already has resources and plans to begin addressing these issues.
Conservation groups look for new strategies, tech to halt vaquita decline
- Experts believe fewer than 10 vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise, survive in Mexico’s Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, the only place the species lives.
- Illegal fishing has decimated their population, forcing environmental groups to come up with innovative conservation solutions.
- Vaquitas get caught in illegal gillnets that fishermen use to target totoaba, a fish whose swim bladder can go for tens of thousands of dollars per kilo on the international black market.
- Some environmental groups have focused on patrolling vaquita habitats with ships, sonar, radar and drones, while others maintain that dismantling the organized crime groups behind the totoaba trade is a better use of resources.
Wave of arrests as Madagascar shuts down tortoise trafficking network
- A crackdown on the illegal trade in Malagasy tortoises has led to a series of recent arrests.
- Following the arrest of a Tanzanian national with 800 tortoises in December 2024, officials said a major investigation had uncovered a major international trafficking network that led to the arrests of more than 20 people in Madagascar and Tanzania.
- Wildlife trade monitoring watchdog TRAFFIC says more than 30,000 trafficked radiated tortoises were seized between 2000 and 2021; the critically endangered Malagasy tortoises are in demand internationally.
Deforestation boom in Gran Chaco raises alarm over Argentina’s forest law
- The Gran Chaco was hit by a rise in deforestation in 2024, damaging the dry forest ecosystem that spans an area more than one and a half times the size of California across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil.
- In 2024, Argentina lost 149,649 hectares (369,791 acres) of its approximately 52.6 million hectares (130 million acres) of Gran Chaco forest — most of it from agriculture and fires, according to a Greenpeace report.
- The problem may stem from a flawed categorization system in which provincial governments are supposed to rate the rigor of forest protections in different areas.
- Critics of the system say it’s out of date and easily manipulated to allow development in forested areas that should otherwise be protected or exploited sustainably.
Small-scale fishers’ role in feeding the planet goes overlooked: Study
- A new study found that small-scale fishing accounts for at least 40% of catch worldwide and provides employment for 60 million people, more than a third of whom are women.
- Small-scale fishing could provide a significant proportion of the micronutrient intake for the 2.3 billion people on Earth who live near coastlines or inland bodies of water, the study found.
- More than 60% of small-scale fishing catch in the studied countries came from places where small-scale fishers had no formal rights to participate in management and decision-making processes.
- “We wanted to have a paper that provided key findings at the global level for each of these dimensions, so that it will be clear for governments that small-scale fishing cannot continue to be overlooked in terms of policymaking,” one of the study authors told Mongabay.
Ecology vs. development in Karachi: Interview with photographer Salman Baloch
- Malir, the largest district in Karachi, has long been home to Indigenous Sindhi and Baloch tribes that lived for centuries as communal agrarian societies, dependent on the environment; now, rapid urbanization and development projects threaten the land, water and wildlife.
- Wildlife photographer, activist and writer Salman Baloch has fought against development projects such as the 39-kilometer (24-mile) Malir Expressway and Bahria Town, a 19,000-hectare (46,000-acre) gated suburb of Karachi, both of which pose dire consequences for the region’s wildlife.
- Baloch is also photographically documenting hundreds of bird species that have historically lived in the area.
- Baloch recently spoke to Mongabay about his activism, photography, fears and hopes for the future of Karachi’s wildlife and ecosystems.
‘I’m Still Here’ Eunice Paiva’s pivotal role in Brazil’s Indigenous & environmental rights
- The critically acclaimed film ‘I’m Still Here’ focuses on the personal and political history of Eunice Paiva but offers glimpses of her Indigenous rights work as a lawyer — a rarity in Brazil’s 1980s.
- Paiva is a famed lawyer who went into the field in her 40s after the kidnapping and killing of her husband by Brazil’s military dictatorship.
- Eunice Paiva’s role was critical to the acknowledgement of Indigenous rights in the Constitution of 1988 and the demarcation of Yanomami land in the Amazon Rainforest.
- Mongabay speaks to sources who were close to Eunice Paiva, including a family friend, Indigenous leaders and lawyers, to document her impact on Indigenous rights and the environmental movement in Brazil’s history.
Lawsuit is latest push to curb bottom trawling in protected European waters
- The fishing practice of bottom trawling continues in European marine protected areas (MPAs) despite conservation concerns over its destruction of seabed habitats and indiscriminate catches.
- Four NGOs have sued the Netherlands to stop bottom trawling in the Dutch section of Dogger Bank, an MPA in the North Sea, citing its ecological importance.
- Advocacy efforts across Europe, including other lawsuits, have led to some restrictions on the practice, such as the closure of the U.K. section of Dogger Bank to bottom trawling, but most European MPAs remain insufficiently protected, a 2024 study indicates.
- Fishing interests often disagree with the NGOs’ position on bottom trawling in MPAs, saying that regulated bottom trawling can coexist with conservation goals and support communities socioeconomically, and that blanket restrictions risk marginalizing fishing communities without addressing broader environmental challenges like pollution or climate change.
Sun, sand and skulls: Bali tourism trade peddles threatened primate skulls
- Indonesia’s Bali, with its beautiful beaches and ancient temples, is a tourist hotspot where many businesses cater to foreign travelers, including those that sell art and curios.
- A new study finds that primate skulls, including those from threatened species such as orangutans, gibbons and proboscis monkeys, are openly sold in these shops, despite the trade being illegal.
- Between 2013 and 2024, researchers recorded more than 750 carved and uncarved primate skulls sold to mainly foreign tourists, with sales increasing over time.
- Conservationists say this illegal, barely monitored international trade poses an additional threat to already threatened primates in Indonesia, and call for stricter law enforcement and monitoring to shut down the trade.
Unchecked illegal trawling pushes Indonesia’s small-scale fishers to the brink
- Small-scale fishers in Indonesia face declining catches as illegal trawlers deplete fish stocks in near-shore waters, violating exclusion zone regulations.
- Trawling, a destructive fishing method banned in certain areas, is widely practiced due to weak law enforcement, with local authorities citing budget constraints for lack of patrols.
- The impact on traditional fishers has been severe, with daily catches and incomes plummeting, leading to economic hardship, job changes and social issues, such as increased poverty and divorce rates.
- Fishers and advocacy groups are calling for stricter enforcement of fishing laws and government action to protect small-scale fishers’ rights and livelihoods.
Mining dredges return to Amazon River’s main tributary, months after crackdown
- Five months after a major operation by federal forces, illegal mining dredges are back on the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon.
- The return of the floating structures shows the resilience of illegal gold mining in the Amazon, which destroys the riverbeds and contaminates the water with mercury.
- As the federal administration closes miners’ siege of Indigenous territories, the illegal miners are migrating to less-monitored areas, experts says.
‘Helicopter tourism’ in the Himalayas affecting Sherpas, wildlife
A surge in “helicopter tourism” at Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Mount Everest, is adversely affecting the local community and wildlife, reports Mongabay contributor Shashwat Pant. Helicopters have previously only been used for medical emergencies or high-profile visitors at Sagarmatha. But with choppers now regularly transporting tourists to Sagarmatha’s base camp, their noise plagues the […]
Nearly 20,000 animals seized in global wildlife trafficking crackdown
- Nearly 20,000 threatened and protected animals were rescued in a global policing operation coordinated by Interpol at the end of 2024.
- The campaign, Operation Thunder , involved law enforcement agencies in 138 countries and targeted six transnational criminal groups.
- Officials made hundreds of arrests and seized thousands of birds, turtles and other reptiles, primates, big cats and pangolins.
Rhino poachers imprisoned in back-to-back South Africa sentencing
A South African court in January sentenced four poachers to several years in prison for two separate crimes committed in Kruger National Park (KNP). The Skukuza Regional Court, which in the past has boasted a near-100% conviction rate and under whose jurisdiction KNP falls, held two South African citizens, Sam Khosa and Solly Selahle, and […]
EU legislators urge IMF to protect Madagascar forests against road projects
Thirty-five members of the European Parliament are calling on the International Monetary Fund to renegotiate its funding to Madagascar that could support two highway projects expected to cut across the nation’s vital forests. The IMF in June 2024 announced $321 million to Madagascar through its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). It aims to aid the […]
Handcrafted woodwork helps save an Amazonian reserve, one tree at a time
- A community in the Brazilian Amazon is transforming fallen trunks and dead trees into everyday items and art pieces.
- Household utensils, furniture, miniature trees and jewelry made with forest seeds are some items being produced by women and youth in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve.
- The woodshop sits in a region where rubber tappers have fought for environmental and labor rights for ago, and which still faces deforestation pressure.
Expected ban on Mexican GM corn fetches praise — and worry over imports
- A constitutional ban on transgenic corn production in Mexico is expected to be approved this month and has been lauded by the government as a measure to protect the country’s native corn varieties.
- In recent years, Mexico issued controversial presidential decrees to ban human consumption of transgenic corn and its use in dough and tortillas, claiming genetically modified varieties have adverse health impacts.
- Mexico is the largest importer of U.S. transgenic corn, and in December, an independent USMCA panel ruled the claims that consumption causes negative health impacts weren’t scientifically supported.
- Mexico’s large-scale import of U.S. genetically modified corn is considered by local experts to be a risk to small and Indigenous farmers, as they say it exposes native species of the crop to potential cross-pollination with transgenic seeds.
What’s at stake for the environment in Ecuador’s upcoming election?
- Ecuador will hold presidential elections on Feb. 9, with incumbent center-right Daniel Noboa facing left-wing challenger Luisa González.
- Both candidates have prioritized security concerns and the economy over environmental issues like climate change, deforestation and water scarcity, but do have some policy proposals that could be promising.
- Noboa and González both promise to increase protections for forests, protected areas and Indigenous communities, but also plan to continue attracting foreign investment in mining, oil and gas, and other activities that threaten Ecuador’s vulnerable ecosystems.
Mother of 2 jailed in Sumatra as wildfires dragnet continues to catch small farmers
- A court in Jambi province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has sentenced a local woman to one year and four months in prison for using fire to clear farmland, a traditional practice among smallholder farmers.
- Indonesia’s laws technically allow small farmers to use controlled burning in certain circumstances, but conflicting regulations and government crackdowns have led to harsh penalties for individuals like Dewita.
- A 2023 Mongabay investigation found that more than 200 farmers across Indonesian Borneo had been convicted for land burning since the country’s 2015 wildfire crisis, highlighting systemic targeting of smallholders.
- While hundreds of small farmers have been prosecuted for land burning, large plantation companies responsible for far more extensive fires rarely face criminal charges.
Amazon states lead rebellion on environmental enforcement
- Brazilian Amazon states are leading an offensive against environmental regulations in the Amazon and beyond.
- The movement gained momentum in October when Brazil’s granary, Mato Grosso state, approved a bill undermining a voluntary agreement to protect the Amazon from soy expansion.
- Before Mato Grosso, other Amazon states like Acre and Rondônia had already approved bills reducing protected areas and weakening the fight against illegal mining.
- With its economy highly reliant on agribusiness, Mato Grosso is considered a successful model for other parts of the Amazon.
No justice in sight for World Bank project-affected communities in Liberia
- With one year delay, the International Finance Corporation has submitted its response to an investigation of human rights violations at a rubber project in Liberia to the World Bank’s board.
- While the case was pending, Socfin, the parent company of Salala Rubber Corporation, sold the plantation, creating uncertainty over its commitment to taking responsibility for failures identified by the IFC’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman.
- Affected communities and civil society in Liberia say the IFC has watered down recommendations from its ombudsman and fear the change of ownership will prevent accountability.
Illegal trade is pushing Bangladesh’s freshwater turtles to the brink
- The Bangladesh Forest Department recently confiscated a large shipment of freshwater turtles from smugglers in the capital city.
- Experts say the consumer base for freshwater turtles is expanding in Bangladesh and attribute the raise in demand to the increasing foreign residents, mainly from East Asia, who are employed in the country’s infrastructural development projects.
- Conservationists warn that if the freshwater turtle trade is not controlled, it could drive multiple turtle species to extinction.
CITES secretariat urges suspension of Cambodian long-tailed macaque trade
- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is considering a total ban on the sale of endangered Cambodian long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), and the CITES secretariat recommends suspending trade until Cambodian authorities outline measures to prevent wild monkey laundering through breeding facilities.
- This comes after Cambodian authorities responded to questions posed by the CITES animals committee in July 2024 regarding discrepancies between reported trade data and suspiciously high reproductive rates among captive-bred monkeys.
- The high birth rate among Cambodia’s breeding facilities suggests “that some regular supply of wild specimens was necessary (at least in the past) to maintain a high reproductive output at least in some facilities,” the animal committee wrote.
- Animal rights activists say this could be a game changer for the biomedical research industry.
Seeking the ‘humanity–wetland’ balance: Interview with Zimbabwean activist Jimmy Mahachi
- For the past decade, Jimmy Mahachi has advocated for his community’s right to water and the preservation of the Cleveland Dam wetland, a peri-urban wetland in the Zimbabwean capital Harare.
- The wetland is threatened by sand mining, development and the overexploitation of water resources.
- Some residents of the New Mabvuku suburb where Mahachi lives haven’t had running water for more than 30 years, forcing them to collect water from unprotected and even contaminated sources.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Mahachi sheds light on the pressures on environmental activism in Zimbabwe and the connection between humanity and wetlands.
As the gold rush surges in Nicaragua, Indigenous communities pay the price
- Nicaragua has experienced a boom in gold mining over the last few years, with concessions covering millions of hectares of land — often near protected areas and on Indigenous territory.
- The government doesn’t require environmental impact studies and pushes through consultations with local communities as quickly as one day, allowing mining projects to move forward at an unprecedented pace.
- Mining companies from China, Canada, the U.K. and Colombia often find loopholes that allow them to avoid international sanctions, according to one study.
Court decision to stop Tren Maya comes too late for ecosystems, critics say
- A court halted the construction of lines 5 and 7 of the Tren Maya project in southern Mexico. But the construction has already finished, drawing criticism from activists who say the court took too long to evaluate environmental risks.
- The nearly $30 billion Tren Maya is divided into seven lines traversing 1,554 kilometers (966 miles) of the Yucatán peninsula, connecting Cancún and Tulum, and Escárcega and Chetumal.
- The court said developers need to comply with numerous environmental conditions to ensure the protection of rainforests and cave ecosystems currently under threat from train construction.
Kenyan court orders two community wildlife conservancies shut down
A Kenyan court dealt a blow to the conservation group Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) when a three-judge panel ruled that two of its community conservancy affiliates were set up illegally. The decision, issued by the Environment and Land Court of Isiolo county in northern Kenya, ordered the conservancies to shut down their operations effective immediately. […]
In Honduras, communities race to establish reserve as La Mosquitia forest disappears
- Several Indigenous communities in Honduras are trying to set up the Warunta Indigenous Anthropological Reserve, which will allow them to continue traditional hunting and fishing practices while co-managing the forest with the government.
- The reserve will cover 65,369 hectares (161,530 acres) in the department of Gracias a Dios, near the border with Nicaragua.
- Global Forest Watch data show that around 13% of the area’s forest was cleared between 2002 and 2023.
- The reserve has already gone through the consultation process with residents, but needs to complete technical studies by the government, which could take the rest of the year.
How conservation NGOs can put human rights principles into practice (commentary)
- While human rights principles have advanced, there is insufficient clarity or political will in some quarters of the conservation sector to translate them into practice.
- Two human rights practitioners argue that, by focusing on creating tangible improvements in the lives of those who live around protected areas and to support Indigenous or local-led models of conservation, the conservation sector can take a principled course to respect and protect human rights over a long term where governments fail to uphold them. It is the role of such large conservation organizations to help realize the interconnectedness of human rights and conservation, they say.
- The authors elaborate on several areas this can apply, including shifting mindsets and changing organizational culture and leveraging institutional capabilities.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Mineral exploitation overshadows green diplomacy in Congo’s Sangha region
- The Republic of Congo’s minister of mines has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits in the Sangha region, despite the area being officially designated for a REDD+ project.
- Sangha’s REDD+ program aims to reduce deforestation and degradation and is fundamentally incompatible with gold mining, which has caused widespread destruction of forests and pollution of water bodies in Congo and elsewhere.
- The head of the country’s REDD+ program argues that the mining industry drives national development.
- Some of the mining permits have been issued to individuals with ties to the government as well as to controversial figures.
Underwater citizen science reveals the specter of ghost fishing in Thailand
- Teams of scientists and hobbyist scuba divers have assessed the extent of discarded fishing gear on Thailand’s marine wildlife, finding it poses a pervasive threat to a huge range of species.
- Discarded or “ghost” fishing gear comprises 10% of all marine plastic debris in the ocean, persisting for decades and passively catching and killing species from sea snails to whale sharks.
- Thailand is famed for its recreational diving, and efforts are underway to retrieve ghost gear from the ocean and rescue animals found entangled, as well as to work with fishers to help them recycle their old equipment.
- Experts say preventing gear from entering the ocean in the first place is paramount; solutions must extend beyond cleanup and recycling efforts to encompass policy reform, economic incentives, and improved infrastructure.
Indonesia rushes mining law amendments, raising environmental and governance alarms
- Indonesia’s parliament is rapidly advancing changes to its mining law, allowing universities and religious organizations to acquire mining permits without bidding, raising concerns over environmental harm and weakened governance.
- Critics warn that easier access to mining for nontraditional actors will accelerate deforestation, pollution and social conflicts, contradicting Indonesia’s climate commitments while benefiting business elites.
- The amendments were approved in just 12 hours, during a recess period, with minimal transparency, fueling speculation that oligarchs and officials with mining ties are pushing the changes for personal gain.
- The inclusion of religious and educational institutions in mining risks conflicts of interest, weakening environmental advocacy and undermining public faith in these institutions.
Nigeria’s new coastal highway runs over communities & biodiversity hotspots
- Fifty years after it was first proposed, construction of a $12 billion highway from Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos east across the Niger Delta to the city of Calabar has begun.
- Nigeria’s government says the project will improve transport links and stimulate economic development across a densely populated region.
- The highway passes through or near several biodiversity hotspots, including two that are known to be home to endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus.
- Worrying questions have been raised over environmental and social impact assessments for the highway as well as compensation for people who will lose land and property.
Yanomami sees success two years into Amazon miner evictions, but fears remain
- Brazil’s federal government celebrated a decrease in deaths and the decline in gold mining two years after agents started to evict invaders on the Yanomami Indigenous territory in the Amazon.
- The Yanomami report that rivers are cleaner, and people are finally healthy enough to work in fields and resume rituals.
- Once estimated as 20,000 in the territory, hundreds of illegal miners still remain and may expand business at the slightest sign of the security forces withdrawing.
Increase in gibbon trafficking into India has conservationists worried
- In recent months, seizure incidents of gibbons trafficked from Southeast Asia into India have increased.
- The growing demand for gibbons as pets is behind the increased trafficking, fueled by social media and aided by porous borders and weak enforcement of wildlife laws.
- Since the trafficked gibbons are caught from the wild, the process of capture causes deaths, disturbs gibbon social structures, and causes life-long trauma for those captured alive.
- In light of increased trafficking incidents, conservationists call for stricter law enforcement, improved training to detect wildlife crimes, increased awareness, and repatriation of seized gibbons to their countries of origin.
Rhino horn trafficker jailed in legal first on financial charges in S. Africa
A South African court has sentenced a Democratic Republic of Congo national named Francis Kipampa to 18 years’ imprisonment for his involvement in money laundering linked to illegal rhino trade. “It is the first time an individual has been successfully prosecuted for their role in the illegal wildlife trade linked to serious financial offenses,” the […]
Pilot-turned-climate activist Todd Smith finds other ways to fly
Todd Smith says he fell in love with planes after watching an air show at age 5. “And I just thought, well, they look like they’re having fun, and that’s what I want to do,” he tells host Rachel Donald on an episode of the Mongabay Newscast, a weekly podcast by Mongabay. Smith says he […]
Investors wary of Indonesia’s big climate promises amid record of flip-flopping
- Energy industry insiders and experts say they’re skeptical about Indonesia’s lofty climate goals, the latest of which, as announced by the country’s president at last year’s G20 summit, is to shutter all coal-fired power plants over the next 15 years.
- President Prabowo Subianto also pledged to develop 75 gigawatts of cleaner forms of energy during the same period — more than five times the country’s current renewable generation.
- On the solar front, rooftop solar startup Xurya Daya Indonesia points out that ever-changing regulations now ban sales of excess power to the grid, putting off investors looking to set up shop in the country.
- And in EVs, an ambitious program to subsidize the conversion of 50,000 gasoline-powered motorcycles to electric in 2024 saw just 1,500 make the transition.
‘We’re getting back on track’: Interview with IBAMA head Rodrigo Agostinho
- Rodrigo Agostinho, head of IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, for two years now, spoke with Mongabay about the progress of his agency and the challenges it faces in protecting the country’s biomes after four years of regression under former president Jair Bolsonaro.
- Agostinho revealed plans to strengthen the agency and try to reach the 2030 zero-deforestation goal before the deadline, with investments in cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence: “IBAMA went four years without using satellite images for embargoes. We’ve taken that up again with full force”.
- Agostinho also detailed IBAMA’s restructuring plans, with the opening of offices in the Amazon and support from financial authorities to cut off funding for embargoed areas: “We embargo them due to deforestation, and then that person can’t get agricultural financing anymore.”
In Panama, major port construction begins at key mangrove site
- The Puerto Barú project, located outside the town of David in the Pacific province of Chiriquí, will be a new industrial port on Panama’s west coast, where channels and lagoons support mangroves, breeding grounds and nurseries for a variety of marine species.
- The project requires dredging a riverbed and increasing maritime traffic of cargo ships, cruise ships and yachts.
- More than 50 conservation groups have organized a “No to Puerto Barú” campaign, but an initial injunction to stop construction was shot down in court.
Five-month-old male gorilla, victim of illegal wildlife trade, seized in Istanbul
On Dec. 22, 2024, Turkish customs officers conducting a random search of a plane’s cargo hold found a surprise stowaway inside a small wooden crate with holes: a malnourished baby gorilla dressed in a soiled T-shirt. The Turkish Airlines flight was headed from Nigeria to Thailand and was transiting via Istanbul, authorities told local media. […]
In Uganda, local communities bear the brunt of militarized conservation
At Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park, violent enforcement of wildlife laws leaves broken families behind and damages the relationship between conservation authorities and local communities, reports Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo. In October 2023, Mukpo visited the massive park, home to various wildlife including elephants, lions, hippos and leopards, to investigate human-wildlife conflicts and heard of accounts […]
Probe details the playbook of one of Amazon’s top land grabbers
- Professional land grabbers operating in the Brazilian Amazon have sophisticated strategies to steal and deforest public lands and get away with it.
- According to the Federal Police, Bruno Heller is one of Amazon’s largest deforesters and relied on legal and technical advice, including a fake contract, bribing police officers, and near-real-time monitoring of deforestation work through satellite imagery, investigators said.
- Low penalties and hurdles faced by federal bodies in seizing back stolen lands from criminals have spurred the land-grabbing industry in Brazil.
Plans for bauxite mine in Suriname reignite Indigenous land rights debate
- A bauxite mine run by Chinese corporation Chinalco could begin operating next year, endangering a 280,000-hectare (about 692,000 acres) area of western Suriname inhabited by Indigenous communities.
- The mine will require refurbishing and expanding infrastructure for a harbor and railroad built in the 1970s, and gives the company “priority right” to use the Corantijn river for dredging.
- Indigenous groups said they weren’t properly consulted about the project and that the government is unfairly labeling their territory as public domain.
Mining in a forest conservation site clouds Republic of Congo’s carbon credit scheme
- The Republic of Congo set up a REDD+ program in the Sangha and Likouala regions, aiming to reduce deforestation and store carbon from 2020 through to 2024.
- However, in the Sangha region alone, the country’s mining minister has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits since the project began.
- Scientists reviewing images of these mining activities condemn the “reckless” destruction of biodiversity.
- The government says the program stored more than 1.5 million metric tons of carbon in 2020, for which it expects to be paid more than $8 million from the World Bank.
Indonesian scientist under fire for revealing extent of illegal tin mining
- An Indonesian forensic scientist whose testimony has proved crucial in securing rulings against environmental violators faces a third potential lawsuit.
- A complaint filed with police alleges that Bambang Hero Saharjo lacked competence to assess the damages in an illegal tin laundering case, which he calculated had caused more than $16 billion in environmental damages.
- Bambang’s testimony has led to several convictions in court, including for the CEO of Indonesia’s biggest tin miner.
- Prosecutors have defended his assessment, and activists say the campaign against him is a systematic attempt to silence him from speaking out against environmental crimes.
El Salvador reverses landmark mining ban, setting up clash with activists
- Lawmakers in El Salvador recently voted to reintroduce industrial mining in the country, ending a 2017 landmark ban that has protected freshwater and public health.
- President Nayib Bukele has advocated for the return of mining despite the unpopularity of the industry in El Salvador, arguing that it will bring in billions of dollars and create thousands of jobs.
- The government will have at least 51% control over every mining project while also being in charge of oversight, causing concern from environmentalists that it will be hard to challenge projects that aren’t being carried out responsibly.
World’s record heat is worsening air pollution and health in Global South
- 2024 was the hottest year on record, producing intense, long-lasting heat waves. Climate change-intensified extreme events last year included the formation of vast heat domes — areas of high pressure that stalled and persisted above continental land masses in Asia, Africa, South and North America, and Europe.
- Heat domes intensify unhealthy air pollution from vehicles, industry, wildfires and dust storms. When a heat wave gripped New Delhi, India, last summer, temperatures soared, resulting in unhealthy concentrations of ground-level ozone — pollutants especially unhealthy for outdoor workers.
- When climate change-driven heat, drought and record wildfires occurred in the Brazilian Amazon last year, the fires produced massive amounts of wood smoke containing dangerous levels of toxic particulates that cause respiratory disease. Indigenous people living in remote areas had little defense against the smoke.
- Intense heat also impacted Nigeria in 2024, where major dust storms and rising temperatures created conditions that helped increased cases of meningitis — a sometimes deadly disease, especially in poor areas. Escalating climate change is expected to exacerbate pollution and worsen public health in the future.
Indonesia’s voracious songbird trade laps up rare and poisonous pitohuis
- In Southeast Asia, the time-honored tradition of keeping songbirds in cages has resulted in an unsustainable trade in wild-caught songbirds and an alarming decline of many species — a phenomenon ecologists have termed the Asian songbird crisis.
- A recent study finds evidence for a new family of poisonous birds — the pitohuis that are endemic to New Guinea — featuring in the songbird trade in Indonesia.
- Researchers analyzing bird market surveys over a 30-year period have found that pitohuis first entered the trade in 2015, both online and in bird markets, and their trade numbers have since increased.
- Although it’s illegal to buy or sell these birds in Indonesia, the thriving trade suggests a need for closer monitoring and stricter enforcement of laws, say conservationists.
It’s time for a U.N. ‘universal declaration on nature’ (commentary)
- Nature needs an equivalent to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a new op-ed argues.
- The ‘rights of nature’ is an allied approach, but nature needs something with more and broader teeth, that can elicit a moral and political consensus on the need for nature conservation.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
After a searing Amazon fire season, experts warn of more in 2025
- South America recorded the highest number of fire outbreaks in 14 years in 2024, with Brazil at the epicenter of the crisis.
- In the Amazon, fire outbreaks grew out of control even amid a sharp reduction in deforestation rates, indicating deforesters are relying on fire as a new technique to clear land.
- Experts are urging more investment in fire prevention since the rainforest may face another intense fire season in 2025.
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