topic: Farming

topic: Farming

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Pastoralists in a Changing World
Pastoralism is one of humanity’s oldest ways of life. Moving livestock across vast landscapes in rhythm with seasonal change and environmental conditions, pastoralist cultures rely on freedom of movement and shared arrangements over how to graze rangelands. Today, pastoralists are navigating profound environmental changes to the lands that have sustained their communities for generations. This […]
As hay fever sufferers grow in Japan, the country is looking to plant no-pollen trees
- More than 40% of the population in Japan suffers from hay fever, or kafunsho, an annual affliction.
- The majority of Japan’s hay fever sufferers are allergic to the pollen of two trees — sugi and hinoki. Both trees were widely planted in the years following World War II as a much-needed source of timber.
- In 2023, the Japanese government announced a solution: Fell 750,000 hectares of sugi and hinoki trees in a bid to cut the problem off at the root.
- After decades of work, researchers have developed more than 30 strains of low-pollen and no-pollen sugi trees, which will replace some of the trees cut down.

Land crisis and ‘green revolution’ practices trap millions of Malawi’s farmers
- Malawi’s maize harvest has barely grown in two decades even as its population has surged, leaving millions vulnerable to food shortages each year.
- Small farmers struggle to produce enough food on tiny plots because of high fertilizer costs, degraded soils, erratic rains, and unreliable access to government subsidies.
- Many farmers sell much of their maize to pay for basic necessities, then depend on risky vegetable crops or scarce seasonal jobs to buy food during the lean months.
- After two decades of maize-focused agricultural policy, experts and farmers say Malawi needs stronger support for diverse, resilient farming and rural livelihoods rather than simply producing more maize.

How Sri Lanka’s heirloom rice can preserve Indigenous farming and help manage disease
- Heirloom rice varieties have been cultivated in Sri Lanka for centuries and flourished before the country’s “Green Revolution” that modernized agriculture in the mid-20th century.
- Around 2,500 of these heirloom rice varieties are currently preserved at Sri Lanka’s Plant Genetic Resources Centre.
- Traditional rice varieties possess various nutritional and medicinal properties which are useful in the management of non-communicable diseases, researchers say.
- Scientific recommendations have been developed to help farmers minimize climate-related risks during the upcoming cultivation season.

Suriname moves to evict Mennonites and illegal Amazon settlers
- The government in Suriname has created a task force to crack down on land developers who illegally clear the Amazon Rainforest for agriculture and cattle ranching.
- Many areas under development are connected to Mennonites who migrated to the country from other parts of the region to help meet a domestic demand for food production.
- Conservationists warn that the group’s history of industrial-scale clearing and unauthorized ranching in other nations puts the rainforest at risk.
- Some Mennonites have received a deurwaardersexploot, a written notice delivered by a bailiff to appear in court, according to Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons.

Global hunger levels fall but Africa still lags behind, UN report finds
- The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says the number of people facing hunger globally fell by around 43 million people between 2022 and 2025 — 20% of Africans were food insecure in 2025, compared to just 6% in Asia.
- FAO’s director of agrifood economics, David Laborde, said severe cuts to development aid, armed conflict, and climate shocks have held back food production in Africa over the past decade.
- Analysts told Mongabay that African governments need to stop promoting agriculture approaches that rely on imported synthetic fertilizer and pesticides, and instead support more effective practices that strengthen soil fertility, diversify crops and diets for farmers, and are more resilient to external shocks.

Land records reveal how Mennonites are reshaping Belize’s forests
- Mennonites have become some of the most prolific land buyers in Belize, acquiring large properties and making bids faster than competitors. But who owns what land isn’t always clear.
- To better understand the land management process, a Mongabay investigation gained access to records in deforested and degraded areas in and around Mennonite communities throughout Belize.
- The documents show that the communities use trusts and churches to acquire and collectively manage land, allowing them to transfer property internally and tap collective resources to purchase more.
- At the same time, Belizeans living in and around Mennonite communities often occupy much smaller plots of land, surviving off subsistence crops or working at Mennonite-owned businesses.

Sri Lanka prepares for impending El Niño with traditional and new approaches
- According to traditional Sri Lankan paddy farmers, long dry spells have occurred every four to seven years.
- Sri Lanka has experienced around 25-26 El Niño events from 1950 to date, out of which only three have been strong El Niño events, meteorology department officials say.
- The irrigation department has introduced new water-saving techniques such as alternative wetting and drying to preserve excess water during the forecasted dry season.
- Attempts are also being made to integrate science into decision making, but there are gaps in research due to a lack of access to information, academics say.

Costa Rica banana plantation destroyed protected wetland, complaint alleges
- A legal complaint in Costa Rica alleges that a banana plantation destroyed parts of a protected wetland in Bananito Sur, located in the Valle La Estrella district in the central province of Limón.
- Workers on the La Paz banana plantation, owned by Standard Fruit Company de Costa Rica, a subsidiary of Dole, cut down and burned vegetation, according to several complaints and court filings.
- The area is a state-recognized palustrine wetland, located inland and unconnected to the ocean or rivers. It provides breeding areas for migratory birds and helps resupply the region’s aquifers.

Report: Indonesian authorities weaponize laws to silence environmental and Indigenous defenders
Indonesian authorities are wrongfully prosecuting environmental defenders and Indigenous leaders who protest deforestation, pollution and land grabs, says a new report by international nonprofit Human Rights Watch (HRW). In its 70-page report, HRW uses 15 publicly recorded cases from 2015 to 2025 as examples to suggest how police use complaints from companies and politicians to […]
In Michoacán, Mexico, drying soil threatens water supplies and avocados, says study
- Avocados are grown year-round in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacán, which exports more than 1 million metric tons of avocados annually.
- A recent study in Michoacán found that between 2001 and 2018, soils with high avocado productivity lost 38 liters per cubic meter of water annually.
- Illegal logging of high-altitude forests to accommodate new avocado plantations simultaneously depletes the aquifer, as avocado trees consume 4-5 times more water than native pines.
- If the trend continues, Michoacán’s avocado-growing areas are expected to suffer increased water stress in the short term, negatively affecting both agricultural production and drinking water access in the region.

Vietnam’s coffee boom fueled by decades of deforestation, report finds
Decades of unchecked deforestation for coffee production has devastated Vietnam’s Central Highland forests, according to a new investigation by the Berlin-headquartered watchdog group Coffee Watch. Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest coffee producer, supplying nearly 40% of the world’s exports of Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora). The investigation, which analyzed satellite data and government records, […]
Ecuador’s Amazon coffee farmers get ahead of Europe’s deforestation rules
- Since 2019, nearly 400 coffee producers in the Ecuadorian Amazon have adopted a deforestation-free production model that combines traceability, geospatial monitoring, and certification.
- In 2025 alone, the initiative exported as much deforestation-free coffee as it had during the previous three years combined, totaling 172.5 metric tons of coffee between 2022 and 2025.
- The project currently involves 373 producers across nearly 5,000 hectares (12,300 acres), of which more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of natural forest remain conserved.
- The model is designed to anticipate the requirements of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will require geographic proof that commodities such as coffee aren’t linked to deforestation after 2020.

Thai rubber smallholders race to meet new EU deforestation rules
Thailand’s natural rubber industry is racing to comply with a new EU anti-deforestation law that will take effect in 2027, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. Thailand is the world’s largest producer of natural rubber and relies on approximately 1.7 million small-scale farmers for 90% of its supply. The country exports much of its rubber to China […]
Malawi agroecologists see opportunity in Gulf fertilizer supply disruption
- Geopolitics in the Middle East that has affected shipping through the Strait of Hormuz risk disrupting fertilizer supplies and drive-up prices ahead of the next planting season.
- Small-scale farmers are already dealing with effects of land degradation, and high input costs, with the cost of urea increasing from $96 to $103 for a 50kg bag in a matter of months, before planting season.
- Agroecologists say the instability is an opportunity for the country to refocus on manure, compost and crop diversification to reduce dependence on fertilizer and maize.
- Some farmers remain hopeful that the synthetic fertilizer, on which they rely for improved harvests, will be at least available.

Running on empty: How the gulf war is threatening Kenya’s food security
- Tensions in the Gulf that have disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, causing fertilizer prices to rise. Despite the Kenyan government’s subsidy program, farmers have to deal with high fuel and other input costs.
- At least 26% of Kenya’s fertilizer supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The government has, however, assured its citizens of adequate stocks of fertilizer, with plans to diversify imports.
- Meanwhile, farmers foresee reduced yields, despite government subsidy program, while commercial fertilizer prices continue to soar amid rising fuel costs.
- Kenya has to also deal with land degradation attributed to soil erosion, poor farming practices, overuse of synthetic fertilizers and climate change impacts such as floods.

A coastal Philippine farm offers a blueprint for farming with wetlands
- The Glinoga Integrated Farm in the Philippines’ Quezon province uses permaculture techniques to grow crops in harmony with the surrounding coastal ecosystem.
- One study looking at permaculture farms across 11 provinces in the Philippines found that Glinoga had the highest level of crop diversity among the farms it surveyed.
- Farm operator Ninieveh Glinoga converted the farm to a permaculture system after decades of incapacity by relatives and tenants had left the farms soil degraded.

Thai farmers fear water woes from planned LNG plant
- Farmers in Thailand’s Chachoengsao province worry a planned 600-megawatt LNG power plant could increase water shortages and air pollution in an area already facing recurring drought.
- The project is the latest chapter in an 18-year struggle by local communities, who previously helped stop the same development when it was planned as a coal-fired power station and continue to challenge it on environmental and health grounds.
- Opponents also question why the plant is needed at all, arguing Thailand already has excess generating capacity and that expanding LNG infrastructure could deepen fossil-fuel dependence while delaying a shift to renewable energy.

Extreme heat wave in France kills hundreds of thousands of poultry
Record temperatures have been causing mass poultry deaths in western France since June 22, Reuters reported. The heat wave, with temperatures exceeding 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit), is also behind the drowning of 40 people. Météo-France, the French national weather service, wrote in a statement that June 24 and 25 were the hottest days recorded in […]
Three years after Cyclone Freddy, farms remain under water in Malawi’s Elephant Marsh
- Hundreds of thousands of people depend on Malawi’s Elephant Marsh for their livelihoods.
- Despite the name, there are no longer elephants in these wetlands, whose boundaries expand and contract with seasonal rains, but they provide habitat for hippos, crocodiles, fish and more than 100 waterbird species as well as thousands of farming and fishing households.
- The water from floods caused by 2023’s Cyclone Freddy never receded from large parts of the marsh, and this has displaced more than 1,000 farming households.
- Ongoing changes to the landscape upstream and in the marsh itself have destabilized the wetlands’ ability to absorb seasonal flooding. Increasingly frequent storms like Freddy are a further challenge to the ecosystem’s functioning.

Bangladesh’s lightning death toll persists as years of gov’t safeguards fail
- Lightning strikes continue to claim lives, mostly farmers’, in Bangladesh, especially across its northeastern region.
- Despite several measures by the Bangladeshi government, including palm tree plantation and installation of lightning arresters, all efforts so far have largely failed to protect lives.
- Experts suggest building public awareness about thunderstorms and thunder clouds to reduce deaths from lightning strikes.

How one woman’s farm is a model for small-scale farmers in Malawi
In Malawi’s Chiradzulu district, located in the southern region of the country, Diana Sitima’s farm shows how a combination of agroecology and secure land ownership can create a thriving commercial enterprise. Many neighboring farmers rely primarily on growing and selling maize. But, on her 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) farm, Sitima combines diverse crops of fruits and vegetables […]
The bats that pollinate for tequila: Photo of the week
A Mexican long-tongued bat, featured above, flies into the blooms of an agave plant, a feeding and pollination technique used to reach nectar. The bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) have unusually long tongues to access nectar while their impact spreads pollen grains everywhere to pollinate nearby agave. Peter Hudson, a professor of biology at Penn State University, […]
In Thailand, EUDR pressure on small-scale rubber farmers prompts private-sector assistance
- Small-scale farmers who underpin Thailand’s lucrative natural rubber industry are under pressure to prepare for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), due to take effect at the end of the year.
- From geolocation data to legal documentation, smallholders will have to provide evidence their products are deforestation-free if they want to continue supplying European markets.
- With the industry dependent on smallholder production, private intermediary firms are stepping in to help farmers comply through bespoke tech-based traceability platforms.
- Experts say while the EUDR’s focus on reducing deforestation risks is significant, effective implementation will depend on collaboration across the supply chain and meaningful investment in small-scale producers.

Improved transport opens Mozambique’s forests to new pressures
- Between 2017 and 2022, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Bank financed road and railway upgrades along the Nacala Corridor in northern Mozambique.
- Environmentalists warned that the expansion of transport infrastructure would likely drive forest loss across the corridor.
- Figures for forest loss show accelerating deforestation in many parts of the corridor since completion of the transport upgrades in 2022.
- The AfDB said it took steps to mitigate environmental harm, but observers said implementation of measures to balance protection of ecosystems with this type of development in Mozambique is weak.

Indonesia’s grassroots farmers face increased unpredictability, experts say
The intersection of environmental breakdown, climate change and economic instability has emerged as a primary threat to the resilience of smallholder farmers in Indonesia, according to researchers and local entrepreneurs who spoke at a recent convention. During the 2026 Asia Grassroots Forum, held in Jakarta on June 3 and 4, Alex Arnall, an associate professor […]
Ancient Maya knowledge helps Guatemalan farmers cut agrochemical use
- Guatemalan farmers are turning to organic pesticides, rooted in traditional practices and sustainable ideas, to replace expensive synthetic alternatives.
- Using a mixture of locally available plants, and ideas about farming passed down by ancestors, they are creating natural pesticides to protect their plots.
- Cheaper than agrochemicals, these biopesticides are safer to use and don’t cause the ecological damage associated with chemical use.
- Although international interest in biopesticides is growing, agrochemicals still dominate the market.

Movement gives African rural women farmers a voice, but still battles landownership
- The Rural Women’s Assembly, which claims a membership of 170,000 women across Southern Africa, promotes agroecology as a strategy for its members’ autonomy and resilience.
- One obstacle to the association’s members choosing this agricultural pathway is that relatively few women own the land they cultivate, limiting their decision-making power.
- Rural development specialist Richard Mkandawire says enabling women who work the land to control it is key to resolving food security issues.

In Sumatra, social forestry links conservation with livelihoods
- Sri Atmiatun, a farmer in Indonesia’s Batutegi forest landscape, is among hundreds of community members participating in the country’s social forestry program, which grants legal access to state forest land while requiring sustainable management.
- The program has expanded farmers’ access to training, support and diversified agroforestry systems, contributing to reduced forest clearing and greater conservation awareness, although challenges related to markets, institutions and farming practices remain.
- Batutegi’s experience reflects both the opportunities and limitations of social forestry, as communities, government agencies and conservation groups work to improve livelihoods while preventing further forest loss.
- The changes are also creating new roles for rural women, whose growing involvement in farming enterprises and community organizations is reshaping local economies and decision-making.

Nepal farmers struggle to access relief for wildlife crop damage
- Farmers in Nepal’s Madhesh province lose crops every year to wildlife, including nilgai antelopes, wild boars, deer and elephants, but complex paperwork and bureaucratic procedures make accessing compensation extremely difficult.
- The relief guidelines require 12 types of documents for a maximum payout of 10,000 rupees, or about $65, but exclude crops grown on unregistered land, and only cover 16 specified animals — leaving out deer, peacocks and parrots, which locals say cause significant damage.
- Compensation distributed is widely seen as inadequate, and even those who complete the process face long delays — with some farmers reporting the travel costs to government offices exceed the relief they receive.
- Political parties including the ruling RSP have pledged to address human-wildlife conflict but have yet to take any concrete measures, leaving farmers skeptical and without meaningful relief.

In Malawi, one woman’s farm shows what’s possible with land and support
- In 2006, Diana Sitima bought a plot of land on the outskirts of Malawi’s commercial capital and set about establishing an agroecological farm.
- She grows a variety of fruits and vegetables and keeps a range of livestock on her 3.5 hectares (nearly 9 acres), each element chosen as part of a system complementing the rest.
- Twenty years on, the sought-after produce from her farm in Chiradzulu district illustrates both the success that these agricultural techniques can bring and some of challenges that make her example hard for others to follow.
- As she mentors other farmers in her district, she notes the absence of financial and technical support needed to secure land and build up the knowledge and experience needed to prosper.

In Brazil, a project paying farmers for forests is looking to scale up
- The CONSERV payment for ecosystem services program pays landowners in the Amazon and the Cerrado savanna to protect forests they are legally allowed to convert into plantations or pasture.
- The program’s pilot phase has avoided over 30,000 hectares (around 74,130 acres) of legal deforestation in the states of Mato Grosso, Pará and Maranhão. Across Brazil, millions of hectares of forest on private land are at risk of being legally cleared.
- The Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) is now looking to scale up the project and is evaluating mechanisms that could fund the payments without relying on donations.
- One solution could be combining the sale of carbon credits, price premiums for commodities and access to cheaper credit to provide long-term incentives for landowners to conserve these forested areas.

For Honduran coffee growers, EUDR compliance means changing old habits
- The EU Deforestation Regulation requires companies importing coffee from Honduras into the European market to track their supply chains all the way back to the small-scale farmers who grow the crop.
- For many farmers, the urgency of complying has led to the modernization of farming practices, providing a competitiveness boost to a supply chain historically based on informality.
- Digitalization could help to halt Honduras’s rural exodus and make coffee farming attractive to younger generations, but challenges remain around accessibility, managing digital tools, and data ownership.

In Thailand, burned sugarcane plantations become traps for leopard cat cubs
- Every crop burning season, dozens of leopard cat cubs are admitted to a wildlife rescue center in northeastern Thailand as fires tear through the sugarcane plantations where the cats shelter and hunt.
- Since 2023, admissions have risen sharply, from around 10 per year to between 40 and 65, likely driven by a combination of habitat fragmentation, high fire activity and a higher number of rescues due to a wildlife hotline introduced in 2019.
- This season’s survival rate was around 80% — markedly higher than in previous years. Fewer cubs arrived with severe burns, possibly linked to recent government regulations on agricultural burning.
- But researchers say fires reflect a deeper problem: Habitat fragmentation and climate change are pushing leopard cats into agricultural landscapes where they face compounding threats, including not just fires but also human-wildlife conflict, disease and the illegal wildlife trade.

After quinoa’s boom, Bolivian farmers face degraded soils and climate stress
- Quinoa, a pseudocereal, has been grown in the Andes since pre-Hispanic times. The 2010-2014 quinoa boom benefited some farmers in the region, but intensified production also brought soil depletion, increased erosion and social conflicts.
- Climate change and shifts in regional weather patterns have also brought more frequent and irregular frosts, rains and heat, making quinoa production more difficult.
- Most of the Bolivian quinoa that’s exported is smuggled through Peru and sold as Peruvian, experts say, complicating efforts by Bolivian producers to benefit from using higher-quality seeds.
- Growers in Bolivia’s southern Altiplano, the Andean Plateau, are cultivating a premium variant of the crop in an effort to bypass middlemen and benefit from a price premium, but lack governmental support and direct access to markets.

How grape farmers are restoring Armenia’s wine heritage while safeguarding ecosystems
- Winemaking in the area that is now Armenia has a history going back 6,000 years.
- However, the practice nearly vanished from Armenia during the Soviet era, in the 20th century.
- Wine producers in Armenia are now working to rebuild their craft, establishing “vertical” vineyards in mountainous provinces like Vayots Dzor.
- Many producers employ organic farming techniques to protect neighboring ecosystems, such as using cover crops instead of fertilizer to restore soil nitrogen.

A law to help Bolivian farmers may actually increase land grabbing, critics warn
- A new land reform law passed in April lets small farmers reclassify their land so that it can be used as collateral.
- But it also means they would lose protection from land seizure, which could allow big businesses to more easily buy up the land, some critics of the law say.
- The legislation could also help large landowners divide and sell their properties more easily, potentially leading to development and forest clearing in an area with one of the highest deforestation rates in the region.
- Last month, Indigenous groups started a march from the department of Pando to the capital, La Paz, to pressure the government to revoke the law.

EU deforestation law risks leaving Honduran coffee farmers behind
- Coffee is one of Honduras’s most important exports; half of it goes to the European Union, where stricter supply chain rules aimed at halting deforestation will come into place in 2027.
- The country’s fragile institutions, a fragmented coffee supply chain and competing traceability platforms could impede the coffee industry from complying in time to meet the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
- Some exporters see the EUDR as a chance to strengthen and reorganize their supply chain, with small farmers hoping to market their coffee quality successfully and obtain a better price.
- However, some critics say that while EUDR compliance imposts additional costs on producers, it doesn’t guarantee them a price premium, which could prompt many to turn to other markets with less onerous requirements.

Dangerous arsenic levels detected in Thailand’s Mekong mainstream for first time
- Thai authorities have detected dangerous levels of arsenic contamination in sediment from the Mekong River mainstream and three of its tributaries in the country’s north.
- The contamination has been widely linked to a surge in unregulated mining, including for rare earth minerals, upstream in Myanmar’s Shan state.
- Experts warn that toxic heavy metals could threaten aquatic ecosystems, fisheries and the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on the Mekong Basin.
- Regional coordination and monitoring remain limited, with the Mekong River Commission lacking authority over key upstream areas in Myanmar and China.

Asia’s last great free-flowing river faces toxic contamination crisis
The Salween River, Asia’s longest free-flowing waterway that briefly serves as a border between Thailand and Myanmar, is facing a crisis as recent testing has found arsenic levels far exceeding the safe limit set by the World Health Organization. Researchers from Thailand’s Chiang Mai University first raised the alarm in September 2025 after detecting high […]
In Bangladesh, traditional farming methods are being replaced by a modern system
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh, Indigenous farmers are increasingly abandoning jhum, a traditional method of shifting cultivation. Instead, they’re moving toward the machan method where vegetables are grown above the ground on bamboo trellises. This transition is driven by a growing scarcity of arable land and declining yields, reports Mongabay contributor Sifayet […]
Bangladesh struggles to choose between food security & stable groundwater table
- With an aim to stabilize the groundwater table, Bangladesh declared 25 subdistricts of its northwestern part as water crisis zones in late 2025.
- Identifying irrigation as the major factor of the crisis, a government notice asked farmers to immediately halt the cultivation of high irrigation-fed boro paddy.
- Since the zone is also considered a rice-producing hub, the government later changed the direction for a limited time, considering the immediate impacts of hampering staple food production in the country.
- However, development professionals suggested shifts in agriculture practices from high irrigation-fed rice production to alternative crops to ensure a stabilized water table and livelihood for the people living in the region.

Peru bets on bamboo to restore nature in its main coca-growing region
- Since 2023, Peruvian development agency PROVRAEM has spent nearly $5 million planting almost 1,300 hectares (3,200 acres) of bamboo across the VRAEM, the country’s largest coca-producing region, promoting it as a legal, environmentally restorative alternative to illegal coca cultivation.
- On one farm in Pichari, growing bamboo as a monoculture has created a self-sustaining microclimate that has attracted more than 50 squirrel monkeys and dozens of bird species to what was once degraded land.
- The farm has since expanded into a successful ecotourism venture, and Peruvian authorities are promoting it as a model of success for their program.
- But bamboo is no miracle crop, experts say: It takes up to eight years to reach a first mature harvest, doesn’t bring nearly as much income as high-yielding coca, and its biodiversity benefits only hold when plantations are connected to larger forest corridors.

Heat, fires and agribusiness squeeze traditional Amazon açaí harvesters
- Intensive farming of the popular açaí berry grew by 70% since 2015, while community cooperatives reported losses of 35% or more during recent heat waves and fires.
- Industrial açaí crops often rely on artificial irrigation and nonnative honeybees, adapting the Amazon to intensive methods rather than benefiting from the biome’s own systems.
- Market analysis indicates increasing international demand and rising prices, a trend that pushes for high-yield commercial monocultures over forest-based extraction.

New farming method replaces traditional jhum in crowding Bangladesh hills
- Jhum, or shifting agriculture, has long been a common practice among the farmers in in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh.
- However, due to growing demand for arable lands and reducing yields, farmers have started to give up the traditional jhum for profitable cash crops in recent years.
- Among the changes adopted, cultivating vegetables using the machan method — using bamboo trellises to grow vines — is growing in popularity as the method ensures enough profit as well as a reduction in soil erosion.

Shipping’s biofuel gamble could deepen Africa’s land squeeze and food insecurity (commentary)
- Using crops as fuel to cut emissions from the shipping sector could cause more harm than good, the authors of a new op-ed argue.
- Next month, leaders will gather at the UN’s International Maritime Organization meeting to lay down the rules for decarbonizing shipping, and African governments must ensure that crop-based biofuels are not a part of the solution, they say.
- “African states should demand that food-based biofuels are excluded from shipping’s decarbonization targets, and insist on robust sustainability criteria to prevent the conversion of forests, peatlands, and other high-biodiversity or community-managed areas into fuel plantations,” the authors say.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

In Brazil, regenerative farming advances, but deforestation still pressures ecosystems
- Agribusiness accounts for roughly a fifth of Brazil’s economy and about 40% of exports. While it is a major economic engine, it is also responsible for over 90% of deforestation and about a quarter of national emissions, with cattle ranching and soy production the main drivers of deforestation.
- Agricultural innovation transformed states like Mato Grosso from non-arable land into global farming hubs. Now, agribusinesses and researchers in Brazil are exploring whether similar innovation can boost regenerative farming to restore degraded pasturelands and reduce further deforestation caused by agriculture.
- REVERTE, one of Brazil’s largest agricultural regeneration projects, led by Swiss pesticide producer Syngenta, aims to restore 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of degraded pastureland by 2030. Over the next decade, Brazil aims to restore 40 million hectares (100 million acres) of degraded land.
- Restoring degraded pasturelands will not be enough to halt deforestation for agriculture in the Cerrado and Amazon, experts warn. They say that without robust land-use governance, enforcement of forest protections and binding private-sector commitments, productivity gains risk fueling further expansion rather than reducing pressure on Brazil’s ecosystems.

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

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

The Dutch Nitrogen Crisis
What happens when biodiversity conservation and food systems collide? As the top meat exporter in the European Union, the Netherlands has become a case study in the ecological limits of industrial farming. When courts forced action to protect fragile ecosystems, it set off mass farmer protests, political upheaval, and a tug-of-war between regulation, technology and […]
In Malawi, farmers rebuild soil and livelihoods through agroecology
- Climate change and high input costs are worsening food insecurity in Malawi, leaving millions of people vulnerable and soils degraded.
- But a gradual embrace of agroecology is boosting resilience, cutting fertilizer costs by more than 40% and improving yields.
- Local organizations like Small Producers Development and Transporters Association (SPRODETA) are leading farmer training and seed preservation efforts.
- Government support is increasing, but scaling up agroecology nationwide remains a challenge, proponents say.

Colombia’s coffee industry well placed but wary as EU deforestation rule looms
- About a quarter of coffee exports from Colombia, the world’s No. 3 producer, go to Europe, which means coffee companies need to prepare to comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which should enter into force at the end of this year.
- Colombia’s Coffee Information System (SICA), a georeferenced database managed by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC), contains detailed records on around 1.8 million coffee lots and socioeconomic data on nearly 500,000 coffee-growing families, most of them smallholders.
- This long-established system could help Colombian coffee growers demonstrate compliance with EUDR, placing them ahead of competitors in Africa and parts of Asia.
- Nevertheless, while many large companies say they’re prepared for the EUDR, small-scale farmers, including Indigenous coffee growers, often have limited knowledge about the requirements and are less prepared to comply.

Indonesia farmers count the costs as rains wash out Java durian harvest
- In a quiet village in central Java, farmers report that their durian fruit trees have failed to bear fruit amid local anxieties over climate change and other environmental shifts.
- Every year farmers around Plana village plant a type of durian known as the Kromo, named after a returning Islamic pilgrim whose durian trees produced unusually large fruit, which people here prize for its heightened flavor profile.
- Peer-reviewed research and official comment by Indonesia’s state meteorology agency, the BMKG, shows fruit growers in Java may face declining yields in the future amid increasingly erratic weather.

Profitable cash crop trend in Bangladesh’s hills affects regional ecology
- The hill districts in the Chittagong region in Bangladesh have seen a large scale switch from the traditional shifting agriculture, or jhum, to more profitable cash crop cultivation in recent years.
- According to a study, a major portion of the 40,000 hectares (98,842 acres) of hills that were previously used for traditional agriculture have been transformed for cultivating different cash crops like ginger, turmeric, pineapple and banana.
- Though the transformation ensured economic gain for the farmers and investors, the ecology of the hill landscape has been affected by soil erosion, dried up streams, increased landslides and water scarcity for the locals.

From chemistry to regeneration: Agriculture’s next transformation has begun (commentary)
- Just as the Green Revolution shifted farming from sun and soil to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, we are now seeing a new revolution, one of returning to an agriculture based on biology rather than chemistry.
- The current, chemically dependent model has produced a lot of food but at great cost to soil health, biodiversity and livelihoods.
- “Society must recognize the truth: we cannot continue to poison our environment in the name of food production, and regeneration is the only viable future,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Indonesia says intervention in notorious Sumatran national park part of new ‘model’
- Tesso Nilo National Park was established in 2004 and expanded in 2009 in Sumatra’s Riau province, but has since lost more than three-quarters of its old-growth forest, largely to smallholder oil palm farms, according to remote-sensing platform Global Forest Watch.
- Last year, officials working under a new nationwide forestry task force began work to relocate hundreds of farming families living inside the park, in a radical attempt to regain control of a protected area that’s been almost entirely destroyed.
- The government is framing the Tesso Nilo policy around efforts to save Domang, one of the critically endangered Sumatran elephant calves living within the national park.
- The intervention in Tesso Nilo sparked some low-intensity violence last year, including destruction of a shelter in the forest used by national park staff as a base for fieldwork, prompting a surge in military presence to bolster security as the operation proceeds.

Farmers fear displacement, drought, flooding tied to Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal
- The Cambodian government is set to begin construction of the Funan Techo Canal, a nearly $1.2 billion, 180-kilometer (112-mile) waterway navigation project that will cut across four provinces to connect the Mekong River to the sea.
- The primary rationale for building the canal is to reduce Cambodia’s shipping costs, as well as to generate jobs and economic development.
- Mongabay has followed this mega-project’s development for more than a year, speaking with more than 50 people living along the canal’s proposed route. Virtually everyone we spoke with noted that the government has provided very little information about the project, and amid the uncertainty, fear has taken root.
- In inland communities in the rich floodplains of the Mekong River, farmers we spoke with said they worried they’d lose their homes or land, and that construction would disrupt the annual months-long inundation of the wetlands they rely on for planting rice as well as for fishing, crabbing and raising livestock.

In Kenya’s Jomvu Creek, women help restore a vanishing coast through crab farming
- On the outskirts of the coastal Kenyan city of Mombasa, a women’s organization in Jomvu Creek aims to transform livelihoods and the environment through mud crab farming.
- A blue economy grant is allowing the women to establish a crab-fattening enterprise and build a boardwalk through the creek, with hopes of boosting ecotourism.
- In a good month, the women’s crab sales amount to $310, meaningful income in an area where many had said they were living hand to mouth.
- Beyond income, the Jomvu women see themselves as caretakers of the creek, linking crab farming to mangrove restoration and planting nearly 1 million seedlings; the trees stabilize the shoreline, reduce erosion and create nursery habitats for fish and crabs.

The long struggle of women farmers to halt a zinc mine in North Sumatra
- Women’s rights groups in Indonesia’s Dairi regency have been at the forefront of a legal challenge against a zinc mining company, which ultimately prevailed in court and set a legal precedent in the country in May 2025.
- The women farmers joined a group of 11 villagers who say their successive victories in Indonesia’s courts was due to their unrelenting consistency and not giving up throughout the last two decades.
- Developer PT Dairi Prima Mineral, backed by China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd., is now proposing for a new permit after the environment ministry revoked the old one and is hoping to gain the approval of all community elements, including villagers.
- However, according to the local activists who spoke to Mongabay, they will continue to resist the mine.

Growing native plants to heal land at Indigenous owned nursery in British Columbia
- The Ktunaxa First Nation owned Nupqu Native Plant Nursery in south-eastern British Columbia propagates over 60 native plant species, with a focus on locally-collected seed.
- The nursery grows 700,000 seedlings on site, and through five partner nurseries, supplies 2.5 million seedlings a year for restoration, mostly within Ktunaxa territory in Canada.
- Over the past five years of operation, the nursery has built up a wealth of knowledge on how to propagate many tricky species.
- Nupqu is now working with partners to build up an Indigenous-led native plant nursery industry in British Columbia.

Hopes and fears as Guinea exports iron ore from Simandou mines
- After decades of planning, the first shipment of iron ore from Guinea’s Simandou mines is on its way to China.
- The shipment marks the beginning of an era in which Guinea is expected to become one of the world’s leading producers of iron ore.
- Environmental advocates say that damage from the mines so far has gone largely unaddressed.

Brickmaking keeps eating farmland as Bangladesh misses clean-build goal
- Despite a 2019 mandate to switch to concrete blocks and other alternatives by June 2025, most government projects continued using clay-fired bricks, with only the Ministry of Housing and Public Works fully complying.
- About 7,000 brickfields strip an estimated 9.5 million cubic meters (3.35 billion cubic feet) of topsoil each year, rendering farmland uncultivable for years, while the sector accounts for roughly 3% of Bangladesh’s greenhouse gas emissions due to coal- and wood-fired kilns.
- Concrete alternatives are available, along with government-developed lower-cost options such as compressed stabilized earth blocks made from dredged river sediment, which can cut costs and conserve topsoil, yet their adoption remains limited.
- A 15% VAT on alternative building materials has made them less competitive than traditional bricks, discouraging investment and demand, even as officials plan a new deadline and stricter enforcement to revive the stalled transition.

Photos: Top new species from 2025
- Scientists described several new species this past year, including a tiny marsupial, a Himalayan bat, an ancient tree, a giant manta ray, a bright blue butterfly and a fairy lantern, to name a few.
- Experts estimate that fewer than 20% of Earth’s species have been documented by Western science, with potentially millions more unknown and unnamed.
- Although such species may be new to science, many are already known to — and used by — local and Indigenous peoples, who often have given them traditional names.
- Many new species are assessed as threatened with extinction as soon as they are found, highlighting the urgent need for conservation efforts.

Africa mulls gap in climate adaptation finance for agriculture
- Agricultural adaptation in Africa is underfunded and smallholder farmers remain highly vulnerable to climate shocks despite in international funding pledges, say African stakeholders.
- They call for increased adaptation funding for the agricultural sector, but are skeptical that other countries will fill the shortfall.
- Climate finance is concentrated in a few countries and largely excludes the most vulnerable nations, leaving farmers with limited access to funds for climate-smart practices.
- Stakeholders call for public financing, better early-warning systems, loss-and-damage support, and the implementation of climate-smart agriculture.

Mekong sand mining risks collapse of SE Asia’s largest freshwater lake, study finds
- Surging demand for sand used in construction projects poses an existential threat to Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, new research indicates.
- The seasonal expansion and contraction of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake is often referred to as the Mekong River’s “heartbeat” due to its fundamental role in sustaining ecosystems and human lives across the region.
- Sand mining in the Mekong River, particularly in Cambodia and Vietnam, has deepened the river channel, effectively halving wet season flows into Tonle Sap Lake between 1998 and 2018, the study found.
- The stark findings underscore the severity of sand mining impacts, adding urgency to calls for improved and coordinated river governance throughout the Mekong Basin.

Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report
- A recent report examining land-conversion permits issued by the Papua New Guinea government found that 65 of 67 such licenses are controlled by Malaysian-linked companies.
- The stated purpose of these permits — Forest Clearing Authorities (FCAs) — is for creation of sustainable jobs via agribusiness and other development projects, but critics contend the licenses have been used to facilitate large-scale logging and timber exports.
- After repeated allegations of misuse of the permits, PNG’s government imposed a moratorium on new FCAs in 2023, but exports continue from existing projects.
- The 65 licenses examined by the report cover 1.68 million hectares (4.1 million acres) of rainforests, about 88% of which are categorized as ‘undisturbed forest.’

Banned for years, dangerous pesticides persist in Nigerian farming
- Nigeria has banned a list of organochlorine pesticides since 2008 due to their potential health effects, but lab tests recently revealed the presence of such substances in farm soil, vegetables and animals.
- Farmers interviewed for this story say they use organochlorine pesticides, which are sold in the local market.
- Recent research points to the need for greater education among Nigerian farmers, as many are misusing pesticides — including banned chemicals — applying them without protective gear and suffering negative health effects.
- Experts emphasize the importance of adopting sustainable agricultural practices, such as integrated pest management (IPM), climate-resilient agriculture and agroecological practices to reduce dependency on synthetic pesticides and to promote soil health.

IDB financed meat & poultry company that polluted Indigenous Ecuador lands: Report
- A report from the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group says that agribusiness Pronaca contaminated for decades the Tsáchila Indigenous Territory in Ecuador.
- IDB Invest financed Pronaca, a major player in meat and poultry products, without adequately evaluating the company’s environmental and social impacts, according to its own conclusions.
- According to the report, for years, the company discharged residual waters from pig farms into the rivers that the Tsáchila depend on, affecting their health, culture, farming and tourism.
- Inés Manzano, Ecuador’s Minister for Environment and Energy, is married to Christian Bakker, who is part of the family who founded Pronaca.

Fighting for food sovereignty at COP30: Interview with GRAIN’s Ange-David Baïmey
- The NGO GRAIN defines climate justice as ensuring frontline African communities can control their land, seeds and food systems rather than being pushed toward export-oriented, corporate agriculture.
- Ange-David Baïmey, the group’s program coordinator for Africa, tells Mongabay that climate change is worsening farmers’ access to land, water and resilient seeds, while multinational seed and input companies deepen dependency and erode traditional seed systems.
- He says formal U.N. climate negotiations are ineffective, with GRAIN instead using the COP30 conference to engage with civil society at the People’s COP to advance food sovereignty and agroecology.
- For Baïmey, a COP30 “victory” would mean rejecting carbon markets, which he argues facilitate land grabbing and undermine food security across Africa.

From waffle gardens to terraces, Indigenous groups revive farming heritage in America’s deserts
- Native American farmers in the southwestern United States have long deployed weather-adaptive techniques to grow crops such as corn and beans in high-desert environments only occasionally visited by rain.
- In recent years, a variety of tribal groups have arisen to train the next generation of Native American farmers as a means of promoting cultural identity and improving self-sufficiency, health and well-being while using farming strategies that have worked for centuries on arid lands.
- The techniques range from hillside terracing and “waffle” gardening, to water conservation and leveraging microclimates on a piece of land.
- During Native American Heritage Month in November, Mongabay spoke with the leaders of these groups about their traditional farming techniques and how they can be replicated in increasingly dry regions around the world.

Cacao rush fuels conflict and deforestation in southeastern Liberia
Soaring cacao prices over the last three years are fueling deforestation and conflict in Grand Gedeh county of Liberia, in West Africa, Mongabay staff writer Ashoka Mukpo reported. Satellite imagery by Global Forest Watch indicates that forest loss in and around Grand Gedeh, which borders the neighboring nation of Côte d’Ivoire in southeastern Liberia, has […]
Witch Hunt: Virulent fungal disease attacks South America’s cassava crop
- Witches’ Broom, a devastating fungal disease, has spread for the first time from Southeast Asia to Latin America, arriving in French Guiana in 2023 and has now infiltrated northern Brazil.
- Cassava is a vital crop for food security in South America and Africa, and a critical cash crop in Southeast Asia, where the fungal disease is spreading rapidly. More than 500 million people worldwide rely on cassava for their dietary needs.
- The pathogen has already caused massive cassava losses in Southeast Asia, with infection rates in some fields near 90%, and now it threatens food security in Latin America. Climate change is helping the fungus thrive and spread, as wetter conditions create an ideal environment for infection.
- Brazil has launched emergency measures, including funding research and farmer training, but scientists warn that without swift containment, cassava production across the tropics could face severe declines.

AI system eavesdrops on elephants to prevent deadly encounters in India
- Engineer-turned-conservationist Seema Lokhandwala has developed an AI-powered device that listens for elephant vocalizations and plays sounds like tiger roars or buzzing bees to drive herds away from villages near India’s Kaziranga National Park.
- Early field trials show the device is about 80% accurate in detecting elephants and 100% effective in deterring them, gaining support from local communities and forest officials despite limited funding.
- Lokhandwala and other experts stress that while technology can help mitigate human-elephant conflict, true coexistence requires addressing the root causes of conflict — habitat loss, land use and unsustainable development — and restoring respect for elephants among local communities.
- India’s Assam state, where Kaziranga is located, is a hotspot for human-elephant conflict, with expanding farms, infrastructure and climate-driven food shortages pushing elephants into villages, causing hundreds of human and elephant deaths over the past two decades.

Guava yields in South Asia shrink due to unpredictable heat & rainfall
- Changing rainfall patterns due to climate change are posing threats to guava farming in South Asia, the global hub of the tropical fruit.
- In recent years, rising temperatures and delayed monsoons have been affecting the flowering and fruiting of even the drought-tolerant guava varieties.
- Experts in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have identified links to climate change with vulnerabilities in guava farming and suggest solutions.

Malaysian farmers demand transparency over proposed seed quality bill
- Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is expected to propose a crop seed quality bill in 2026, which is said to protect farmers’ interests, preventing them from incurring loss from low-quality seeds or fake seeds. But critics say they think it could criminalize farmers’ seed-sharing practices.
- Fake seeds have been reported in the news; preventing farmers from planting fake seeds is important, especially for perennial crops, which can take years for farmers to realize the seeds they purchased and planted are not of the variety they had intended.
- Farmers’ groups and NGOs are demanding transparency and inclusivity in the government’s lawmaking process.
- This is one of two proposed changes to Malaysian laws that would affect seeds and the farmers who use them.

In DRC’s Kivu region, the moringa tree offers valuable health benefits
- Moringa is a valuable plant, native to India but also found in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo; it plays a crucial role in treatments used in traditional, traditional-modern and modern medicine.
- All parts of the plant are used for their medicinal properties, and there are many testimonials from patients who have benefited from the advantages of moringa in the region.
- Healer Henry Tazama, who has been practicing his profession for 19 years, declares this plant a “legacy” for him; however, moringa has faced challenges locally amid recent conflict and logging.
- In a context where access to health care remains limited for a portion of the population, its cultivation and protection represent a valuable alternative.

Saving Mexico City’s ancient floating farms
This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and Mongabay. MEXICO CITY, Mexico — After years of working abroad in marine conservation, Cassandra Garduño returned home to find the chinampas of her childhood, Mexico City’s ancient floating farms, choked with pollution and abandoned. Instead of walking away, she bought a piece of land and […]
Women in Mexico step up to protect the island farms traditionally inherited by men
- In Mexico, traditionally women did not inherit chinampas, island farms first built by the Aztecs thousands of years ago. The farming on such islands, which sit in Mexico City, has also traditionally been done by men.
- Today, women are buying up chinampas and doing sustainable farming, along the way helping to maintain ecosystems that are threatened by urbanization and water pollution.
- This wetland system is the last remnant of what was once the great Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire built on the lakes that once filled the Valley of Mexico.
- What remains of Xochimilco today represents only 3% of the original extension of those lakes. However, the chinampas are still key to the stability of the city.

Fears of major locust swarms wane in the Sahel but agencies step up monitoring
- Fears of major desert locust swarms in the Sahel in 2025 are receding, as authorities in the region continue to monitor breeding sites.
- The FAO says control measures were carried out by teams in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria in response to earlier alerts.
- While field reporting has been hampered by limited resources and insecurity in many key parts of the region, improved remote surveillance and information-sharing tools have been strengthened.

Malaysian small-scale farmers worry about rights under proposed seed law changes
- Malaysia is preparing to amend its Protection of New Plant Varieties Act to join the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) by 2026.
- UPOV membership is a key criterion for Malaysia to join a trans-Pacific free trade agreement, to access a broader international trade market.
- Some farmers’ groups and NGOs oppose any amendment to the law, arguing that it would undermine farmers’ rights to freely save, keep and sell seeds, and that it would jeopardize agro-biodiversity. Without the law amendment bill being made public, the law’s potential impacts on farmers remain unclear.
- This is one of two proposed changes to Malaysian laws that would affect seeds and the farmers who use them.

Burkina Faso’s women farmers reviving the land with fertilizer trees
- Land restoration in Burkina Faso’s Centre-Ouest and Kadiogo regions is women’s work.
- Here, women have made fertilizer trees their indispensable allies in reviving farmland.
- Thanks to these nitrogen-fixing and shade-providing trees, they’re bringing degraded soils back to life.
- In Cassou and Bazoulé communes in Centre-Ouest, local women are breathing new life into an ancestral technique that boosts productivity and enriches biodiversity.

Maluku coconut growers cry crisis as Indonesia land-grabs feed energy transition
- Numerous villages in Indonesia’s Halmahera Island face extensive compulsory purchase actions for farming land by mining companies with extraction permits issued by the government.
- One farmer said he faced sustained pressure from local authorities to accept offers of $1.22 per square meter of land, which did not account for the recurring revenues earned from multiple coconut harvests per year.
- The South Wasile’s police chief sent an emphatic denial to Mongabay Indonesia when asked whether local police were involved in company efforts to persuade farmers to sign contracts of sale.
- Mongabay has reported this year from Halmahera on a rise in respiratory disease and high levels of mercury present in blood samples in communities living alongside Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), the giant nickel smelting center on Halmahera.

EUDR implementation comes laden with potential unintended consequences
- The European Union’s regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) is set to enter into force at the end of 2025, after a one-year delay. Experts say this tool is needed to address deforestation within the bloc’s commodities supply chains, but experts say the EUDR, unless revised, may come with unintended consequences.
- A shift of deforestation-linked commodities from the EU to nonregulated markets (known as leakage) could undermine the EUDR, while smallholder farmers could be sidelined to more easily meet the regulation’s goals, worsening social problems, risking land use change and even causing harm to ecosystems beyond forests.
- Experts propose a range of measures to address these problems in advance of EUDR implementation, including direct forest protection, inclusion of other vulnerable ecosystems in the legislation and greater efforts by government and companies to help smallholders adapt to regulatory requirements.

To save a rare South African ecosystem, conservationists bought the land
Three conservation trusts have together purchased an area of a severely threatened vegetation type found in the Overberg region of South Africa’s Western Cape province. Known as the renosterveld, this unique habitat characterized by shrubs and grasses is also a breeding ground for endangered black harriers, the three groups announced in a joint press release. […]
Brazil’s land registry holds farmers accountable, but enables deforestation
- Brazil’s rural environmental cadastre was created to force landowners to comply with the law, regardless of the status of their properties. By registering, they not only provide accurate geospatial data but also acknowledge their environmental obligations and subject themselves to IBAMA oversight.
- Agribusinesses use the CAR to monitor deforestation so they can exclude from their supply chains producers who illegally clear forests.
- Although the CAR was originally designed to combat land grabbing, some land grabbers have taken advantage of it to document fraudulent claims.

Ethiopian initiatives try to mainstream traditional and resilient enset crop in diets
- Enset, a drought-tolerant crop native to Ethiopia and known as the “tree against hunger,” feeds more than 25 million people and is seen as a key to building climate-resilient food systems.
- Despite its importance, enset has long been neglected by both local agricultural policies and international partners, limiting its potential to improve food security on a broader scale.
- Efforts are underway to revive the cultivation and use of enset through innovation and national development programs — turning it into marketable products like flour used for porridge or cookies, which can be consumed in urban areas and across the country.
- However, challenges such as crop disease, limited investment and lack of international support remain key obstacles to its expansion as a sustainable food solution.

Amazon jambu blends tradition and science for numbing flavors and healthcare
- Besides being a star in Amazonian cuisine, new research confirms jambu’s spilanthol compound as a temporary pain reliever, circulation enhancer and anti-inflammatory.
- Promoting forest-sourced products like jambu, grown in home gardens and small farms, provides new revenue and a pathway for a development model that prioritizes Amazon conservation.
- Projections suggest the bioeconomy could expand 30-fold into a multi-billion-dollar market by 2040, while supporting small-scale, sustainable farmers.

Agroecological market gardening: Benin’s climate-resilient farming solution
- Young entrepreneurs from the Agro-Eco Cooperative are bringing fresh energy to market gardening in southern Benin.
- They have adopted environmentally friendly methods and techniques such as using fertilizer made from ash and animal manure, along with natural pesticides to protect biodiversity, while ensuring a healthy diet for local communities.
- They also face numerous challenges, including problems with irrigation, the lack of a dedicated market for agroecological produce and the limited effectiveness of organic pest control products.

Guinea iron ore megaproject pollutes waterways & farmland, communities say
Mining activities at Guinea’s Simandou iron ore megaproject are polluting waterways and degrading agricultural land, according to community representatives and advocates who spoke at a recent press briefing. Their concerns were supported by a study of water and soil samples from seven towns downstream of the mine. The study, conducted in February by the Council […]
A forest garden project attempts to expand into the Sahel
- A project in the Sahel and East Africa claims to fight both soil erosion and poverty through regenerative agroforestry.
- U.S.-based NGO Trees for the Future (TREES) trains farmers in what it calls the forest garden approach, an ancient model to plant diverse species next to each other.
- The approach is one of seven selected by the U.N. as a world restoration flagship program and aims to scale up massively to plant a billion trees by 2030.
- However, some experts say the potential for scaling up is limited, especially in the semiarid Sahel region, given the need for easily accessible sources of water.

Agencies race to prevent new food crisis as locusts return to northern Africa
- Swarms of desert locusts are moving across parts of North Africa following ideal breeding conditions in late 2024 and early 2025, raising fears of major locust infestations moving south into the Sahel later this year.
- The Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Western Region (CLCPRO) has conducted joint surveys and provided equipment and vehicles to strengthen ground response in countries like Libya and Tunisia.
- Mobile apps are helping to integrate Indigenous knowledge and local observations with enhanced satellite and remote monitoring of areas where desert locusts breed.
- These and other efforts are working to keep up with climate change, which has enhanced conditions that spur desert locust outbreaks, and regional insecurity which undermines already patchy monitoring of outbreaks on the ground.

As Thailand’s fishing cats face habitat loss & conflict, experts seek resolution
- Fishing cats have lost vast swathes of their former range in Thailand, where decades of wetland conversion to fish farms, shrimp ponds and plantations have decimated their numbers.
- With habitats shrinking, these wild cats have been driven to living in human-dominated landscapes, where conflicts often arise.
- Fishing cats perceived as competing with farmers for fish and chickens are sometimes killed in retaliation.
- Activists and NGOs are working to reduce these conflicts and encourage landowners to preserve patches of remaining habitat suitable for the cats.

Why is star anise disappearing from northeastern India?
ARUNACHAL PRADESH — India. Over 60% of star anise trees have vanished from the region in just 84 years, pushing this valuable spice toward endangerment and leaving the Indigenous Monpa community struggling to sustain it. Now, conservation efforts are stepping in. The World Wide Fund for Nature-India is helping to form village committees that support […]
As a fishing port rises in Kenya, locals see threats to sea life, livelihoods
- In Shimoni, Kenya, a new fishing port is slated to open in June.
- While the government promises local people opportunities for jobs and businesses once operations start, some residents foresee more harm than good from the port.
- Some conservation activities — including seagrass, coral and mangrove restoration projects as well as fishing, seaweed farming and tourism operations — have already suffered during the port’s construction phase, which began in 2022, local people say. They fear it may get worse once the port opens, especially if planned dredging proceeds.
- A county government official said Kwale county is monitoring the situation and pledged to mitigate any impacts and safeguard fishing activities and conservation efforts.

Seaweed farming as an eco-friendly alternative for Tanzanian fishing communities
Climate change, overfishing and habitat loss have caused a sharp decline in fish stocks around Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania. To find a new income from the sea, women from Pemba are turning to sustainable seaweed farming, Mongabay’s video team reported in May. Seaweed farming was introduced to the island in 1989. It […]
Bring the forest to the farm or the farm to the forest? Agroforestry faces a dichotomy
- A new comment article published in Nature Climate Change makes the case for more forest-based agroforestry — integrating crops into existing forests — as an underutilized climate and livelihood solution.
- The authors find that there’s a noticeable lack of funding for forest-based methods compared to field-based agroforestry, in which trees are added to pasture and croplands, which they say has led to missed opportunities for carbon storage and biodiversity.
- A lack of consensus and understanding on how to define agroforestry is another factor in the misalignment of intentions and outcomes of agroforestry as a climate solution.
- The authors call on policymakers and scientists to fund and study forest-based agroforestry methods with more rigor, especially in places where people depend on rural livelihoods such as agriculture.

Tanzania’s Mafia Island eyes sea cucumber farming to prevent extinction
Residents of Mafia Island in Tanzania don’t really eat sea cucumber; they call it jongoo bahari, or “ocean millipede” in Swahili. But sea cucumbers are a prized delicacy in East Asia, where demand has fueled a black market for the spiny sea creatures, Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo reported in May. A kilogram of dried sea cucumbers […]
On remote Indonesia karst outpost, Indigenous farmers fear the silence of the yams
- The Banggai archipelago is a remote landscape of around 97% limestone karst east of Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island.
- Extractive concessions on 39 locations on Peleng island, the largest island in the Banggai Islands district, may soon cut into the karst bedrock to mine the ancient limestone for cement, glass and other industrial applications.
- Indigenous villagers on Peleng Island say they worry the development could catalyze unprecedented local environmental damage, impairing the cultivation of unique yam varieties grown only here.

Critically endangered chameleon discovered outside its known habitat in Madagascar
- In April, researchers found individuals of a critically endangered chameleon species in southwestern Madagascar.
- Furcifer belalandaensis had not previously been recorded outside of a tiny area threatened by deforestation for charcoal and agriculture, and by the development of a major mining project.
- Researchers working to improve knowledge of the Belalanda chameleon’s distribution were excited to find three of the rare reptile five kilometers (three miles) away, in the PK32-Ranobe protected area.
- But Ranobe’s forests are also under pressure; captive breeding and revising the protected area’s management plan are among of the conservation measures being considered to ensure the species’ survival.

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.

How Costa Rica’s ranchers contribute to jaguar and puma conservation
Ranches in Costa Rica occasionally overlap with jaguar and puma hunting areas, creating conflict that can sometimes be unavoidable. But with the help of conservationists, ranchers are now able to prevent both cattle and predator deaths, Mongabay contributor Darío Chinchilla reported for Mongabay Latam. In communities like Lomas Azules, when a jaguar (Panthera onca) or […]
Delay in land reform fuels new wave of settlers and violence in the Amazon
- Grassroots organizations are settling new areas in the Brazilian Amazon amid disappointment that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been slow to jump-start the stalled land reform agenda.
- According to the federal land agency, Incra, about 145,000 people are inhabiting camps all over Brazil, waiting for a plot of land.
- In one of the Amazon’s deadliest regions, a group fighting for land was besieged by a dozen armed men hired by ranchers; even in established settlements, harassment by land grabbers and lack of government support drive settlers out of their plots.
- The stalling of the land reform agenda pushes Amazonian people further into the forest, driving the cycle of deforestation, or else to the outskirts of cities, where many struggle to make a living.

From chickens to cassava, Brazil’s Munduruku seek alternatives to mining
- The Brazilian government has expelled illegal miners from two Munduruku territories in Pará state, but alliances with some Indigenous groups may facilitate their return, local leaders warn.
- According to Munduruku leaders, the absence of income sources and public services makes illegal mining increasingly attractive to young Indigenous people.
- The federal government promised to offer economic alternatives to the communities, but for now, they count just on a few projects like chicken breeding and cassava flour production, Indigenous people say.
- Some leaders see carbon credits as a viable economic alternative, while others denounce unfair contracts and violations of their autonomy.

Concrete sprawl in Buddha’s birthplace in Nepal threatens sarus cranes
- Sarus cranes, once abundant in Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, are rapidly declining due to unplanned urbanization, wetland loss and habitat degradation, with local elders recalling their disappearance from areas that were once full of ponds and farmland.
- A recent survey found that 59% of respondents believe the crane’s range has shrunk, citing habitat loss (44%), hunting (19%) and wetland degradation (16%) as key threats to the bird.
- Lumbini province hosts Nepal’s largest population of sarus cranes, but only four pairs remain within the 200-hectare (500-acre) Lumbini gardens that constitute a popular pilgrimage site and have seen a surge in the built-up area

Invasive whiteflies pose a new threat to Bangladesh’s cash crops
- The invasion of sap-sucking whiteflies in Bangladesh’s agricultural farms, especially in those of coconuts, bananas and guavas, has become a serious concern among farmers as it can cause widespread damage.
- Farmers first noticed these insects in 2019 on coconut plants, and observed they affected the growth of the plants and yields. Research shows whiteflies have already made 61 types of plants as their hosts in Bangladesh.
- Though the researchers have yet to confirm how they entered the country, they suggest it could be via imported high-yielding coconut plants in 2014 and 2015.
- Researchers suggest deploying a parasitoid wasp, Encarsia guadeloupae, which is considered to tackle the invasion of the whitefly.

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 — […]
Solutions needed as climate change & land use fuel global crop pest menace
- Climate change is colliding with land use practices, deforestation and biodiversity loss to drive a rapidly growing threat of crop pests.
- Future warming of 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels (likely by the 2040s or 2050s, according to current projections) could see substantial losses of staple crop yields for wheat (an estimated 46% loss), rice (19%) and maize (31%) due to pest infestations, according to a recent paper.
- Temperate regions are likely to see the greatest increases in crop pests as warming creates conditions for migrating subtropical species to establish themselves in previously unhabitable areas.
- The authors underline the need for more pest monitoring, diversification of farmland crops and biotechnological solutions to meet this growing threat.

Study reveals untold, and unprotected, wildlife wealth of Nepal’s Madhesh province
- The first comprehensive vertebrate survey in Nepal’s Madhesh province has documented 163 fish, 24 amphibian, 578 bird and 90 mammal species, highlighting the region’s ecological significance despite a lack of protected areas.
- Infrastructure expansion and human-wildlife conflict pose challenges to the province’s biodiversity, fueled by rapid development of roads and railway lines.
- Researchers call for multilevel conservation strategies, including stronger wildlife laws, school-based awareness programs, establishing ecological corridors, and translocating conflict-prone species to tiger habitats.

Building a future from seaweed in coastal Tanzania
PEMBA ISLAND — Tanzania. The coastal communities on Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania, have long depended on the rich marine resources of the Indian Ocean. But in recent years, fish stocks have declined due to overfishing, habitat loss, and the impacts of climate change. Many have had to seek new ways to earn […]
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.

How a remote diner in India is fueling a culinary and ecological revival
CHUNG VALLEY, India — Tucked away in the remote Chug Valley of Northeast India, Damu’s Heritage Dine is quietly leading a food revolution. Run by a group of Monpa women in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, this humble diner is bringing ancient mountain flavors back to life, one traditional dish at a time. […]
Colombian farmers switch from coffee to cacao as temperature and prices soar
- Due to rising temperatures and climate change, small-scale coffee farmers in Colombia are increasingly planting cacao.
- Cacao faces fewer immediate challenges compared to coffee, which is prone to pests and diseases, and can integrate well into agroforestry systems. However, agronomists warn that the switch to cacao can lead to clearing forests and increasing chemical inputs in order to expand existing plantations.
- Higher profits, the high prices of cacao in the market, and the increasing expenses needed to manage coffee crops are also factors pushing small-scale farmers towards the switch.
- Although coffee remains Colombia’s most important agricultural product, cacao is emerging not just as an alternative, but as a defining crop in Colombia’s evolving agricultural future, say agronomists.

Uttarakhand’s extreme weather wreaks havoc on crops, livelihoods & futures
- In Uttarakhand, extreme weather events like droughts, erratic rainfall and hailstorms have severely affected farming, leading to lower crop yields, increased pests and financial distress for farmers.
- Festivals and agricultural practices linked to seasonal changes are losing their significance due to shifting flowering and harvesting periods, affecting both cultural traditions and livelihoods.
- Reduced snowfall and irregular rainfall have led to water shortages, depleting natural aquifers and springs that local communities rely on for drinking water and irrigation, while forest fires, intensified by extreme heat, have caused loss of human life and biodiversity.
- Climate change is also impacting tourism and small businesses, with rising temperatures and unpredictable weather affecting visitor numbers and local economies.

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 […]
Colombia’s coffee farmers try to balance innovation and tradition to adapt to climate change
- Researchers and coffee farmers in Colombia are trying to find strategies to adapt to unpredictable weather, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, which are disrupting Colombia’s coffee industry by fueling pests and diseases like the coffee berry borer and coffee leaf rust.
- Cenicafé, the national coffee research center, is continuously developing new hybrid coffee varieties that are resistant to diseases and climate change for farmers, but pests are evolving, requiring more research and genetic diversification.
- Some farmers are restoring the much slower traditional shade-grown coffee practices through reforestation and agroforestry, which help them access premium high-end coffee markets while tackling and adapting to climate change.
- With the limited options presented, some researchers say coffee growers must at times choose between high-yield hybrids or eco-friendly organic farming, weighing sustainability against economic survival.

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

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

Indiscriminate pesticide use threatens Bangladesh honey bees
- In Bangladesh, honeybee populations are dwindling as unaware farmers use insecticides, particularly neonicotinoids, which disrupt their foraging and survival.
- Experts are seriously concerned about the use of chemical cocktails comprising neonicotinoids without extensive research.
- Despite worldwide concerns over neonicotiniods, Bangladesh authorities are yet to address the issue due to lack of awareness.

Photos: Ethiopian farmers blend tradition, innovation to sustain centuries-old agriculture
- For more than 400 years, the people of the Konso highlands in Ethiopia have used terracing and traditional farming methods to adapting to their harsh environment, building a globally recognize agricultural system on steep, erosion-prone land.
- However, in recent decades, climate change has altered once-predictable weather patterns, making it harder for small-scale farmers to maintain their traditional farming practices and secure their livelihoods.
- Farmers are adjusting to changing weather patterns by blending traditional farming methods with new techniques, aiming to safeguard their livelihoods and ensure the land remains fertile and productive.
- While experts acknowledge farmers’ efforts to adapt, they warn that these efforts alone will not suffice as climate change impacts intensify, stressing the need for external support to sustain local livelihoods and preserve traditional farming practices.

Indigenous community calls out Cambodian REDD+ project as tensions simmer in the Cardamoms
- Indigenous Chorng communities in Cambodia allege continued land restrictions and rights violations by Wildlife Alliance, the U.S.-based NGO running the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project that includes swaths of their farmlands and forest.
- The project was reinstated last September after a 14-month suspension to review the allegations, but concerns persist over unresolved land claims, restricted access to land, and lack of financial transparency.
- Locals have complained of intimidation, threats and economic hardship after losing access to their traditional farmland and struggling to sustain their livelihoods.
- The Cambodian government and Wildlife Alliance have denied the allegations yet continue to benefit from carbon credit sales, even as Indigenous communities are left without sufficient land or decision-making power.

Farmers in Nepal and India see red as blue bulls raid their crops
- The uncontrolled proliferation of nilgai antelopes (also known as blue bulls) in Nepal’s southern plains has forced many farmers to abandon agriculture due to severe crop damage.
- Nilgai numbers have risen rapidly due to reduced hunting and lack of predators, yet no scientific consensus exists on the exact cause for the population boom.
- Farmers are demanding classification of nilgais as an agricultural pest to allow control measures, but authorities are slow to act, citing the need for further studies.
- Potential solutions being touted include relocating nilgais to tiger habitats, clearing away invasive weeds so the animals don’t venture into farms to feed, and allowing controlled hunting — though experts say killing nilgais isn’t a sustainable solution.

Gaza and West Bank farmers salvage olive harvest amid displacement, destruction and Israeli settler violence
- The recent Israel-Hamas ceasefire prompted Gazan farmers to salvage what remained of their 2024 olive harvest two months late.
- However, Israeli settlers tripled their attacks on West Bank olive farmers during the 2024 harvest, destroying 3,100 trees and injuring dozens. Restricted access to their land cost Palestinian farmers 1,365 tons of oil, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture.
- Despite violence and restrictions, the West Bank produced 27,300 tons of olive oil — far exceeding forecasts.
- Israeli settlers have degraded Palestinian agricultural areas through arson, wastewater pollution and trash dumping as the Israeli state exploits Ottoman-era laws to seize land.

In Kenya, grassland restoration can help reduce conflict, study says
- A study says that grassland restoration, which uses nature-based solutions for climate adaptation, can enhance Kenyan farmers’ security, reduce conflicts and mitigate wildlife retaliatory actions.
- Researchers report that grasslands in Kenya provide 60% of fodder for livestock and 70% of wildlife, requiring proximity for survival.
- Rangelands are degrading, causing animals like elephants and zebras to enter farms for food, causing conflict with farmers; healthier rangelands would prevent wildlife from entering farms.
- The researchers call for including grassland restoration in both national and international environmental plans, specifically in Kenya, along with funding and resources for this effort; additionally, they advocate for policies that consider human-wildlife conflicts and social issues while being sensitive to the specific challenges men and women face in these regions.

In Nepal, a eucalyptus boom became an ecological cautionary tale
- Nepal’s Sagarnath Forest Development Project which ran a reforestation program from 1977-1984 and introduced eucalyptus as a fast-growing, low-maintenance solution for deforestation and fuelwood needs.
- While eucalyptus initially thrived, it depleted soil moisture and negatively impacted nearby crops, leading to reduced yields and financial losses for the farmers who had replaced traditional crops like rice and mustard with large-scale eucalyptus plantations.
- Discontent over eucalyptus’s effects, and the lack of guidance by those who promoted the planting scheme, led to widespread removal of trees, legal disputes among farmers, and complaints to local governments.
- Experts say such large-scale exotic tree plantations are no longer permitted under national and international biodiversity laws, with the project’s failure highlighting the importance of considering ecological sustainability, soil health and informed decision-making in reforestation efforts.

Aiding natural pollination can boost cacao yields & climate resilience
- Climate change and rising temperatures pose a major threat to cacao production across the globe, with those impacts already felt in major producers such as Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
- A new study highlights several low-cost, low-tech solutions that support natural pollination, building climate change resilience and increasing cacao yields up to 20%.
- Those methods include upping amounts of leaf litter to improve insect pollinator propagation, increasing the density of cacao tree plantings, utilizing taller native shade trees and limiting agrochemical use.
- Separate research underlines how these agroforestry methods used on farms can be supported by nearby natural forests, further aiding farm productivity.

How birds deepen our awareness of nature: Interview with Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok
- Thailand is home to more than 1,100 species of birds and is a crucial stopover location on global bird migration routes.
- However, the country’s protected area system focuses on mountainous forests, which risks overlooking the conservation of many other habitats, such as wetlands, mudflats and open farmlands that are nonetheless important for birds.
- While bird conservation efforts are well underway in many of these habitats, threats from hunting, wildlife trade and rapid development abound.
- Mongabay recently spoke with Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok, a bird conservationist, photographer and author, about what he perceives as the most pressing bird conservation issues in Thailand.

Order restored in Indonesia as fishers recapture scores of farmed crocodiles
- On Jan. 13, several hours of extreme rain over Indonesia’s Batam archipelago, a one-hour ferry from Singapore, caused a breach in the perimeter of a large saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) farm on the east of Bulan Island.
- More than 100 of the stir-crazy predators reportedly escaped in the storm, causing panic among the population while halting local fishing activities.
- Elected representatives in Batam have since called for the farm to be closed, citing tax irregularities.
- The global supply of reptile skins remains concentrated in northern Australia for the fashion industry, which claims to operate high animal welfare standards despite allegations of extensive suffering on farms.

Over half of Pacific atoll forests are coconut palm plantations — Study
What’s new: More than half of the tree cover in Pacific atolls is largely composed of “abandoned and overgrown” colonial-era coconut palm plantations, reveal satellite images in a study published in December 2024. What the study says: While coconut palm is an integral part of the cultures and economy of Pacific Island communities, colonial powers […]
The Pan Amazon as a hotspot of cultural diversity
- The Amazon is known not only for its biodiversity, but also for its cultural richness, built by Indigenous nations and other groups that have migrated to the region over the past 500 years.
- Indigenous communities in the region include those that have experienced various amounts of cultural loss and/or modification of their cultural traditions, as well as urban dwellers who retain their ethnic identity while partially joining a different stakeholder group.
- Non-governmental organizations provide a moral counterweight to many of the forces that make frontier societies unfair, representing both conservative and progressive viewpoints that reflect the diversity of Pan Amazonian society.

Brazilian soy farms and cattle pastures close in on a land where the grass is golden
- Deforestation, wildfires, illegal land use and climate changes are sources of concern for the traditional Afro-Brazilian quilombola communities in Brazil’s Jalapão region.
- Communities here rely on the sustainable harvest of the region’s native “golden grass” to craft traditional items that provide their main source of income.
- Jalapão is home to the largest mosaic of protected areas in the Cerrado, the savanna biome where the most the deforestation in Brazil occurs today: 5 million hectares (12.4 million acres) of native vegetation have been lost over the last six years.
- Jalapão’s golden grass has earned a Geographical Indication seal, giving the communities bragging rights and exclusivity for the product; but local craftspeople say there’s less of the grass to be found in the humid areas where it grows.

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.

On a São Paulo eco-farm, Brazil’s landless movement makes its case for occupation
- Founded by peasants and progressive members of the Catholic Church, the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) advocates for a fair distribution of land ownership, agrarian reform and agroecological practices in Brazil.
- To achieve its goals, MST occupies rural lands lying idle to force the Brazilian state to implement its constitutional duty to expropriate and redistribute such lands if they aren’t serving the public good.
- On May 21, 2024, Brazil’s lower House of Congress passed a bill that would penalize people occupying public or private land by excluding them from receiving any public benefits, including those related to agrarian reform programs.

In the Pan Amazon, inequality and informality fuel informal economies
- In the mid-twentieth century, the combination of poverty and inequality generated political instability that gave rise to socialist and nationalist movements in different Amazonian countries.
- In societies as stratified as those of the Pan Amazon, shaped by class, ethnicity and geography, inequality is sustained by very real and concrete structural barriers.
- This has resulted in the exponential growth of the informal economy, in which people do not pay taxes to their governments. Irregularities extend to the rural economy, in which smallholder farmers and miners operate without regulation, often damaging ecosystems.

Sustaining a 400-year-old Ethiopian farming tradition: Interview with elder Gehano Guchoir
- In southern Ethiopia, the Konso people have maintained a 400-year-old stone terracing system, essential for farming in the region’s semiarid environment.
- This UNESCO-listed practice helps prevent soil erosion, conserve water and enhance agricultural productivity, and at the heart of it are the Konso elders who play a crucial role in passing down the knowledge of terracing to younger generations.
- However, population growth and climate change threaten the survival of the terracing system, and with land becoming scarce, many young Konso people are migrating to cities, leaving behind traditional farming.
- Combined with the unpredictable impacts of climate change, this exodus risks severing the transmission of critical knowledge and weakening the community’s agricultural practices and cultural identity.

Cameroon aims to double cacao, coffee production, yet also save forests
- The Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) and the Cameroon government have signed a $60 million agreement they say will fund the development of cacao and coffee production, as well as protect the country’s forests.
- The fund will support projects aimed at sustainably raising production from existing agricultural land, rather than expanding into forested areas.
- Cameroonian forestry expert Ghislain Fomou says it’s unclear if cacao and coffee production can be increased without causing more deforestation.

NGOs raise concerns over Borneo pilot of ‘jurisdictional’ certification for palm oil
- A new report by a coalition of Indonesian environmental groups reiterates concerns over a long-running trial of “jurisdictional” certification conducted by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
- The trial underway in Seruyan district, Central Kalimantan province, intends to apply the RSPO standards to the entire district, rather than the more costly, but more specific, vetting of individual plantations or corporate entities.
- A 2017 investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project documented how former Seruyan leader Darwan Ali blanketed the district in oil palm plantation concessions beginning in the mid-2000s, issuing licenses to many companies set up in the name of his relatives and cronies.
- Civil society researchers say they worry that a jurisdictional certificate for Seruyan could gloss over long-standing and ongoing land conflicts, and that the palm oil produced from such plantations could enter “green” supply chains.

Indigenous communities come together to protect the Colombian Amazon
- Indigenous communities are increasingly recognized as the most effective guardians of the Amazon Rainforest, thanks to their deep-rooted beliefs that nature possesses its own life and rights, and also to their focus on long-term sustainability rather than short-term profits.
- In the Colombian Amazon’s Putumayo department, Indigenous women have come together to plant trees, collect waste, monitor water quality, launch educational campaigns, and denounce extractive activities that threaten the rainforest.
- One of the key challenges lies in blending traditional Indigenous knowledge with modern scientific approaches.
- Despite growing interest in Indigenous knowledge and preservation efforts, Indigenous communities remain underrepresented in political decision-making and the funding of conservation projects, and are also left exposed to attacks for their role as environmental defenders.

In DRC bid to grow more food, smallholders are overshadowed by industrial farming
- More than 25 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo suffer food insecurity, largely due to insecurity and inadequate infrastructure.
- South Ubangi province is mostly free of the armed conflict prevalent in the eastern part of the country, but nearly three-quarters of its residents face high levels of food insecurity.
- Agriculture is the livelihood for 80% of people in the province and the government is exploring ways to reinforce their production.
- For the most part, this means incentivizing massive agro-industrial plantations, even at the expense of overlooking smallholder farmers, but some experts say this won’t guarantee improved food security.

Sea change for soy champion Brazil as it wrestles with EUDR compliance
- A dry run of a shipment of soy by commodities trader Cargill from Brazil to Europe, replicating the requirements to comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), found that although the company met several requirements, it still faced other challenges.
- The EUDR, initially planned to come into effect this month and recently postponed for another year, will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas.
- To comply with the EUDR requirements, companies from the soy industry are setting up new business structures to provide 100% traceability point by point from the producer to the port, until it enters the ship, in addition to tackling logistics challenges, says the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove).
- California-based nonprofit CTrees says it’s uncertain whether the EUDR will result in a significant reduction in deforestation, and raised concerns on the potential exclusion of smallholders and local communities from the supply chain because of the difficulty of getting them to meet compliance requirements.

Farmers cleave to sago as mining industry digs deeper in Indonesia’s Maluku
- Many farmers on the coast of East Halmahera district in Indonesia’s Maluku region continue to rely on processing flour from sago trees as a food staple, rather than the ubiquitous white rice consumed by most families in the world’s fourth-most populous country.
- However, expansion of nickel and other mining concessions in the Maluku region threatens much of this traditional foodstuff, a trend Mongabay has documented extensively previously in the eastern Papua region.
- Lily Ishak, the dean of the agriculture faculty at North Maluku’s Khairun University, believes the history of traditional sago consumption could be erased within a century if the government does not expand protection efforts.

Coffee agroforestry promises a path to EUDR compliance, but challenges remain
- Companies in the coffee sector have begun preparing for compliance with the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR); among them are Nespresso and commodity trader Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC).
- For both companies, the pathway to regulatory alignment involves previous commitments to eliminating deforestation from their supply chains and sourcing coffee from farms employing agroforestry and regenerative agriculture methods.
- International NGOs such as the Rainforest Alliance are supporting companies and farmers in implementing best practices and meeting EUDR requirements.
- Despite considerable progress in the coffee sector, challenges remain, particularly in enforcing deforestation-free practices within supply chains, overcoming financial constraints, and distinguishing “forest” from “agroforest” through satellite imagery.

Agribusiness giant Olam gets head start on EUDR; its suppliers, not so much
- Some smallholder farmers, associations and suppliers in exporting countries are concerned about their readiness for the EU’s antideforestation law due to a lack of technology, information and resources.
- Meanwhile, leading agricultural commodity businesses such as Olam Agri and ofi say they expect to be ready before the legislation comes into force at the end of 2025.
- Olam Agri and ofi say they’ve developed and implemented advanced traceability and information systems to meet regulatory requirements, as well as other tools and technologies.
- But independent experts warn that pressure to meet the law’s obligations are leading to large companies dropping suppliers who aren’t ready, and pushing smallholders to switch to crops where traceability and sustainability aren’t strict requirements.

Science brings the bloom of farming to a Brazilian desert
The red landscape and enormous canyons of Gilbués, in Brazil’s Piaui state, are like something out of a science-fiction film. That’s what makes the occasional oasis of green peeping through the raw earth such a surprise, contributor Rafael Martins writes for Mongabay. In his early days in Gilbués, farmer José Rodrigues do Santos had to […]
A Bali farm lights up the night with a one-of-a-kind firefly lab
- Balinese conservationist Wayan Wardika joined with scientists and farmers in Indonesia to launch a firefly breeding program called the Bring Back The Light initiative.
- Fireflies in Southeast Asia are vanishing due to habitat loss, light pollution, pesticide use, and climate change.
- The team is now attempting to identify eight species of firefly it has found locally, and encouraging neighboring farmers to go organic in order to boost firefly numbers.

Climate funds barely reaching small-scale farmers, report finds
Farmers’ organizations globally are having difficulty accessing climate funds, according to a report published last month. Produced by Netherlands-based think tank Climate Focus on behalf of the Family Farmers for Climate Action, an alliance representing 50 million farmers globally, the report analyzed spending by two of the biggest U.N. funds offering finance for environment and […]
Land use change impacting seven planetary boundaries, solutions urgent, say scientists
- A new scientific report lays bare the stark impacts of land-system change and land degradation on planetary health, while also offering solutions to these problems. The report was published on the eve of the 16th session of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, running Dec. 2-13 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- Seven of nine planetary boundaries are now adversely impacted by unsustainable land use and other land practices, the report finds. Six of those boundaries are already transgressed, having moved beyond their safe operating space for humanity and into the high-risk zone.
- Scientists warn that the seriously degraded land use boundary, interacting with the other transgressed planetary boundaries, could result in a domino-effect that may rapidly push Earth systems past dangerous and irreversible tipping points, threatening life as we know it.
- Unsustainable agricultural practices are a leading driver of land use degradation globally, responsible for vast amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, the majority of deforestation and freshwater use. Urgent measures are needed to restore ecosystems, shift to sustainable agriculture, and prevent further degradation.

As climate change upends Ethiopia’s pastoral wisdom, adaptations can help
- In the face of climate change, pastoral and agropastoral communities in eastern Ethiopia remain at the receiving end of worsening droughts and climate shocks that have taken a toll on animal rearing and traditional livelihoods.
- For generations, pastoralists and agropastoralists across the country have used traditional knowledge and weather forecasting for preparedness and drought conditions.
- But these techniques are no longer as effective in the face of frequent unpredictable dry spells and population pressures on pasture.
- Researchers suggest combining this traditional knowledge with innovative strategies to help pastoralists gather real-time data on water conditions that can be key to drought adaptation in the region.

A Nigerian reserve, once a stronghold for chimps, is steadily losing its forest to farming
- Oluwa Forest Reserve once protected an island of old growth forest in southwestern Nigerian.
- But satellite data show only about half of its intact forest remained at the turn of the century — and it’s only dwindled further since then.
- Poverty-driven smallholder farms and profit-driven industrial plantations are the main causes of deforestation in the reserve.
- Researchers worry that habitat loss in Oluwa is driving endangered species — such as the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee — to local extinction.

In Kenya, a water fund brings to light Indigenous cultural identity issues
- Two years into its implementation, the Eldoret-Iten Water Fund (EIWF) in Kenya is helping to protect vital water resources, restore degraded forests and farmlands and work with local communities.
- While the EIWF has seen considerable success so far, several hurdles have emerged — including disputes with the Sengwer Indigenous community.
- The issues with the Sengwer community stem at least in part from decades of controversy over cultural identity and names, dating to colonial times.
- Despite these challenges, the EIWF, administered through The Nature Conservancy, has made progress and local farmers say they are hopeful about the future; for further details on the EIWF, see Part I of this story.

A Kenya water fund partners with farmers to protect vital resources
- Kenya’s Eldoret-Iten Water Fund (EIWF) is one of dozens throughout the world, established to address threats to important water supplies.
- Administered through The Nature Conservancy, the EIWF’s objectives include partnering with thousands of local farmers to adopt sustainable soil and water conservation practices, restoring and protecting more than 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of degraded forests and farmlands, planting more than 1 million trees, reducing sediment flow into rivers and supporting farmers with rainwater harvesting.
- The EIWF also works with local Indigenous communities and includes projects such as beekeeping.
- The EIWF is a response to years of farming practices, population growth, deforestation for charcoal and wood and other factors that have diminished and threatened local water supplies.

Smallholders offer mixed reactions to calls for delay in EU deforestation law
- Smallholder farmers and associations have mixed views on whether the EUDR, a regulation to prevent deforestation-linked products from entering the EU, should be delayed by 12 months.
- While smallholder associations in Africa and Indonesia say they are supportive and prepared for Jan. 1, when the regulation is scheduled to go into force, others say they need extra time or increased government support.
- Most environmentalists say instead of helping smallholders, a delay will kill momentum, allow businesses to prevent its implementation and lead to more deforestation; some forestry researchers say a delay will refine the EUDR and help struggling farmers.
- The cocoa sector is much better prepared for the EUDR than other commodity sectors since Ghana and Ivory Coast prioritized a national approach, got ready early and started investing heavily in farm traceability, researchers say.

NGOs ask to include Brazilian Cerrado in the EUDR at next review
- About 74% of the Brazilian Cerrado falls outside the scope of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
- Unless illegalities are found, such as breaches to national law, commodities from areas of the Cerrado that are excluded from the EUDR will be able to enter the EU.
- Deforestation rates in the Cerrado increased by 43% in 2023, with the greatest destruction concentrated in Brazil’s state of Bahia, where almost a quarter of its original 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of vegetation have been lost since 1985.
- NGOs are calling on EU authorities to review and expand the regulation at its one-year review period. However, the European Commission recently proposed a 12-month delay in the implementation of the EUDR, which could affect the date of the review.

Six months after its worst floods, Rio Grande do Sul works to bounce back
- A combination of wet El Niño weather and human-induced climate change were key drivers of the worst flooding event in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state earlier this year.
- The flooding affected 90% of the state and displaced more than half a million people.
- Poor land management is also responsible for the region’s vulnerability to floods, as current agricultural practices in the highlands favor runoff and reduce the soil’s ability to soak up water, with lowlands particularly exposed to high waters.
- While some scientists are still deciphering the causes and behavior of the floodwaters, other experts are working to rehabilitate farmland, tackle soil erosion, and source native seeds for ecological restoration.

The world’s chocolate cravings speed up deforestation in the Congo Basin: Study
- A recent study found that cacao farming in the Congo Basin, the world’s largest carbon sink, is linked with up to seven times more deforestation than other agricultural activities.
- Outside experts say that major global, economic and social pressures are influencing cacao farmers’ actions and call on international chocolate companies to better support farmers on the ground.
- Across cacao-producing countries in Africa, experts say that diversifying crops, rotating crops and changes in the supply chain are key to more sustainable farming practices.
- Agricultural trade drives an estimated 90% of global deforestation and more than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Coastal farmers in Bangladesh give up shrimp farming for agriculture to combat salinity
- The decades-long shrimp aquaculture on Bangladesh’s southwest coast, which negatively impacts the environment in many ways, including creating a freshwater crisis, is now losing its importance as the farmers are gradually inclining toward agriculture again.
- Increased salinity, both due to sea-level rise and diversion of the upstream flow of freshwater, and peer pressure had forced the coastal farmers to venture into shrimp cultivation about four decades ago.
- For the last couple of years, excessive salinity and repeated viral outbreaks in shrimp farms have pushed the farmers back to agro-based farming again.
- Crop diversification plays a positive role in addressing the changes; however, water shortage poses a big challenge in restoring agriculture.

Coffee agroforestry holds promise for smallholder growers in Malawi
- Coffee accounts for only around 11% of Malawi’s agricultural exports, but the crop is a key source of livelihood for thousands of smallholder farmers in the country.
- Small-scale coffee growers have faced challenges such as inadequate inputs, unstable markets and unpredictable rainfall patterns that have impacted yields.
- A coffee agroforestry project by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Slow Food Coffee Coalition implemented in Malawi and Uganda is promising to tackle some of the challenges and make small-scale coffee farming more profitable.
- The FAO and the SFCC have called for increased adoption of coffee agroforestry as a sustainable agricultural model that redefines the future of coffee farming.

Mining activities threaten honey production in the Caatinga biome
CAATINGA, Brazil — They are not offering jobs, they are underestimating our intelligence. They want to deceive us with jobs that are not real, and that will not exist. This will end the life of the Quilombola community”, says Cláudio Tenório, a Quilombola leader from Lagoas, the largest quilombo in the Caatinga Biome, in Brazil. He […]
Java activists risk jail for exposing shrimp farm pollution crisis
JAKARTA — In 2023, environmental activist Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan was sentenced to seven months in prison under Indonesia’s controversial online hate speech law. His crime? A Facebook post criticizing illegal shrimp farms operating within Karimunjawa National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Tangkilisan was part of the #SaveKarimunjawa movement, which aimed to expose the environmental […]
Crop fields make way for profitable orchards in Bangladesh, imperiling food security
- The mid-western region of Bangladesh has long been characterized by dry weather due to low rainfall. However, over the last four decades, the agriculture thrived here due to a government-run irrigation project that relies on groundwater.
- A few years ago, following a significant increase in rice production, but a decrease in the groundwater level, the government started rationing irrigation to save groundwater.
- Consequently, the farmers began to opt for alternative non-water intensive crops and converted their arable lands into orchards, cultivating fruits like mangoes and lychees.
- Experts feared that although the transition may bring a secure cash crop for the farmers, this change in agriculture could hamper the country’s overall food security.

As in India, tigers in Nepal may seek refuge in sugarcane fields
- A fatal tiger attack occurred near a sugarcane field in Nepal in August, raising concerns about tigers using sugarcane farms as refuge.
- Sugarcane cultivation in Nepal has expanded significantly, from 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) in 1961 to 62,500 hectares (155,000 acres) in 2022, primarily in the Terai region where tiger populations have also grown.
- • Experts suggest that sugarcane fields may provide refuge or even habitat similar to tall grasslands in protected areas, potentially attracting tigers, especially weaker or dispersing individuals.
- While the phenomenon of “sugarcane tigers” is well documented in India, more research is needed in Nepal to determine the extent to which tigers use sugarcane farms.

Resilient women farmers in Chad battle climate challenges and social barriers
- Women in Chad face significant challenges accessing land due to cultural norms, limiting their autonomy and ability to adapt to climate change.
- Initiatives like the AgriJob Booster Chad project (AJB-C) are helping women secure land and improve their livelihoods through access to resources such as seeds and agricultural equipment.
- Climate change exacerbates difficulties for women farmers, with unpredictable weather and conflicts over land use threatening agricultural productivity and economic empowerment.

In Bali, water temple priests guide a sustainable rice production system
- Subak is an ancient rice irrigation system developed in line with the Balinese philosophy of Tri Hita Karana, which holds that human well-being is maintained by balance between people, nature and the gods.
- Water distribution is controlled by a series of water temples and priests who schedule planting, harvesting and fallow cycles in consultation with farming communities.
- Water is a central tenet of the traditional Balinese religion, Agama Tirtha, but the tourism industry that’s the bedrock of Bali’s economy is putting intense pressure on this resource.

Colombia’s coca substitution program failing to help farmers or slow deforestation
- Colombia’s PNIS program, launched after the 2016 peace deal to offer coca growers alternative livelihoods in exchange for eradicating their crops, is failing to achieve its goals due to design, implementation and security issues.
- Many coca leaf growers and pickers who voluntarily committed to the program said that despite eradicating their crops, they haven’t received the agreed technical or financial support from the government.
- As a result, some have found themselves in a worse socioeconomic situation than before, and many have had to turn to illegal mining to survive.
- Coca production has actually increased in Colombia since the start of the program, as has deforestation in and around areas with PNIS agreements, leading some experts to conclude the program has done more harm than good.

Biochar could play big role in Bhutan’s carbon storage — but it’s news to farmers
- A new study shows that Bhutan has the potential to sequester 68% of its greenhouse gas emissions through biochar, a carbon-rich material made from organic waste that is used to help plants grow.
- The research shows that using crop residue as mulch and biochar can significantly increase yields; however, many farmers in Bhutan do not know about biochar nor do they have access to the raw materials, such as rice husks, necessary for its production.
- While many studies note biochar’s potential for mitigating climate change, some research shows that too much biochar under certain conditions can harm soil, soil organisms and water availability and can cause soil erosion.

Harnessing ‘invisible forests in plain view’ to reforest the world
- Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo’s reforestation project in Niger was failing, with 80% of his planted saplings dying, until he stumbled upon a simple solution in plain sight: stumps of previously cut trees trying desperately to regrow in the dry, deforested landscape.
- Rinaudo realized that the degraded land contained numerous such stumps with intact root systems capable of regenerating themselves, plus millions of tree seeds hidden in the soil, which farmers could simply encourage to grow and reforest the landscape, something he refers to as “an invisible forest in plain view.”
- Today, the technique of letting trees resprout and protecting their growth from livestock and wildlife is called farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) and is responsible for reforesting 6 million hectares (15 million acres) in Niger alone.
- Rinaudo joins Mongabay’s podcast to speak with Rachel Donald about his journey implementing this technique and its massive potential to help tackle biodiversity loss and food insecurity through resilient agroforestry systems.

‘Extinct’ trees found in Tanzania spark hope for ecosystem recovery
- Conservationists in eastern Tanzania have found two specimens of a rare tree feared to be extinct.
- Millettia sacleuxii was only known from six specimens in forest reserves that have almost disappeared.
- Thousands of seeds have been collected and seedlings raised, and these are due to be planted out as part of a reforestation project in the Nguru Mountains.
- The two surviving Millettia “mother trees” were found near an area that conservationists hope to soon turn into a wildlife corridor.

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

Traditional foods have the potential to help Kashmir communities adapt to climate change: study
- A new study documented an array of wild edible plant species that four ethnic communities in the Kashmiri Himalayas traditionally depend on for food, medicinal use and to earn a living.
- Although the authors say the wild food sources show promise to alleviate food scarcity a and adapt to climate change, threats persist from over-extraction, changing climate, and traditional knowledge loss.
- Local food advocates are urging communities to cultivate and eat wild edible plant species to conserve traditional knowledge of their rich array.

In a desertscape in Brazil, science brings farms to bountiful life
- Located in the south of Brazil’s Piauí state, the municipality of Gilbués is one of four zones in the country currently experiencing desertification.
- The affected area covers 805 km2 (311 mi2) of degraded Caatinga dry forest that’s home to some 149,000 people.
- In 2006, a pioneering federal program experimented with various ways to control soil degradation and recuperate degraded areas of desertified land in Gilbués, making farming possible, even profitable, here.
- The program ended in 2016 for uncertain reasons, but the legacy of transforming the earth continues among the farmers in Gilbués, which today is one of Piauí’s top corn-producing municipalities.

Shrimp farms threaten Mexico’s mangroves and the jaguars that inhabit them
- Western Mexico’s rapidly expanding shrimp farms, many of which are illegal, are contributing to the deforestation of the Pacific coast’s mangroves, an important habitat for jaguars.
- Satellite images show the total surface area of shrimp ponds along Mexico’s Gulf of California increased by more than 1,100% between 1993 and 2021, to more than 114,000 hectares (282,000 acres).
- Researchers emphasize the importance of small private reserves, like La Papalota in the state of Nayarit, for jaguar conservation: These areas serve as critical sanctuaries and corridors between larger conservation sites, such as Marismas Nacionales Biosphere Reserve, home to a fifth of Mexico’s mangroves.
- Conservationists say urgent action is required to safeguard the remaining mangroves and jaguars, yet efforts continue to be hindered by inadequate enforcement of protection laws and the alleged involvement of cartels reportedly using shrimp farms for money laundering.

Kenyan farmers turn to WhatsApp & AI tools to combat crop diseases
- Farmers in Kenya and other countries are using online chat groups and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help combat crop losses due to pests and diseases.
- New research shows chat groups modeled on those used in human health care can offer benefits to farmers and enhance their communication with plant doctors.
- Organizations such as PlantVillage and CABI are using such digital tools and chat groups to expand their reach and augment the services offered through their extension agents and plant clinics; participating farmers say the knowledge they gain through digital tools can ultimately help increase their crop yields.

‘Water grabs’ pose big threat to farmers amid water crises
- A new report by IPES-Food shows how investors and agribusiness are taking control of water in Latin America by purchasing rights to land or water to secure access and grow water-intensive crops, such as avocados.
- The researchers say such deals take water away from local farmers and communities and puts it in the hands of agribusiness and investors, creating a crisis for local farmers who already face water shortages.
- In Chile’s Petorca province, a combination of climate change and water acquisitions by large agribusiness has put a strain on an already overwhelmed water system, forcing many residents to leave or buy water at high prices.
- The financial advantages large companies have over smallholders also mean they’re more likely to secure water over farmers when there’s little left.

Photos: Exploring Mexico City’s Aztec-era farms, the chinampas
- Chinampas are part of an agricultural system developed during the Aztec Empire in shallow lakes or marshes in the southern valley of what is today Mexico City.
- The system consists of elevated, narrow platforms used as fields that are surrounded by water canals, and is considered one of the most intensive and productive farming systems ever developed.
- However, for decades, chinampas have faced increasing threats due to urbanization, the overexploitation of water resources, water contamination and unregulated tourism, as well as the growing rejection of chinampa culture by traditional farmers and the loss of ancestral knowledge.

Landmark ruling in Suriname grants protections to local and Indigenous communities — for now
- A court in Suriname approved an injunction filed on behalf of twelve Indigenous and maroon groups concerned about losing approximately 535,000 hectares (1,322,013 acres) of rainforest to agricultural development.
- The court said the government doesn’t have the right to grant land without free, prior and informed consent, a process in which developers meet with residents to explain how projects would impact daily life.
- Despite the ruling, there are new efforts to bring Mennonite communities from other parts of the region to develop Suriname’s agricultural industry.

Fishers left with no land, no fish, in fire sale of Cambodian coast
- Coastal communities in Cambodia are facing a double threat, from land and sea, as developers evict them from their homes and farms, and trawlers encroach on their nearshore fishing grounds.
- Illegal fishing, chiefly embodied by rampant, unchecked trawling in protected and prohibited waters, has devastated fish stocks, trashed marine ecosystems and left coastal communities in dire poverty.
- At the same time, the land is being sold out from under them: Nearly half of Cambodia’s coast has been privatized since 2000, with a slew of new projects tied to politically connected wealthy investors announced in the last five years, displacing families and closing off access to the sea.
- This is the second part of a Mongabay series about challenges faced by Cambodia’s small-scale fishers along the coast.

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

In a village divided, farmers stall massive copper mine in Colombian Andes
- A group of farmers and villagers are resisting the construction of a large copper mine in Colombia’s tropical Andes, where agriculture is a key industry; they recently blocked the company from completing environmental impact studies required by the Colombian government.
- International gold mining giant AngloGold Ashanti has been working for more than a decade to obtain a license to extract nearly 1.4 million metric tons of copper from within the mountains surrounding the town of Jericó.
- The company has also integrated into the town, supporting social programs, youth activities and local businesses; residents are divided over the mine, and many view it as a welcome social and economic boost for Jericó.

As coffee expands in Bangladesh hills, conservationists worry about ecosystems
- Though coffee is not a native crop in Bangladesh, in the last couple of years, Bangladeshi farmers, especially those living in hilly regions, have been cultivating coffee thanks to favorable weather conditions.
- The government has been promoting coffee cultivation as a cash crop in places where major crops such as rice, wheat or maze are less suitable.
- However, experts say large-scale coffee cultivation, especially in hilly areas, will damage the diversity of the ecosystems, as the area has historically been rich in biodiversity.

‘Weather whiplash’ cycles of floods & droughts imperil Nigerian farming
- Farmers in Nigeria — and other regions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — are suffering huge losses due to extreme weather shifts in quick succession, a phenomenon that researchers refer to as “weather whiplash.”
- Research shows a connection between poverty and weather whiplash, and farmers in poorer regions are five times more exposed to drought-downpour cycles than people in wealthier regions.
- In April, the independent SciLine service for journalists hosted a webinar with agricultural scientists who discussed these extreme weather cycles, the impacts of climate change on agriculture in different regions and the need for homegrown approaches to support agriculture resilience.

NZ funding helps Indigenous farmers in Indonesia protect forests, boost incomes
- Two Indigenous villages in Indonesian Borneo have received initial funding of nearly $15,000 from the New Zealand government to improve their livelihoods while protecting their ancestral forests.
- Residents of the Dayak villages of Setawar and Gunam mostly grow oil palms, but also still rely on their ancestral forests for making medicinal herbs, producing handicrafts and carrying out traditional rituals.
- The funding, channeled through the Farmers For Forest Protection Foundation (4F), will go toward programs such as training and deployment of forest guards, forest management support, and implementation of good agricultural practices.

Bangladeshi farmers find zucchini’s high yields & low costs palatable
- Though long considered “foreign” to Bangladeshi farmers, zucchini squash is now cultivated among growers who value its high productivity, lower production cost and short growing time.
- Farmers living in dry regions and river islands prefer to cultivate this vegetable, where watering the plant is an issue.
- Bangladesh Agricultural Extensions expects more zucchini squash cultivation in the coming days based on farmers’ enthusiasm and growing local demand in the market.

Rocky rollout for Bangladesh’s ambitious solar-powered irrigation plans
- Nearly half of irrigation costs in Bangladesh are due to irrigation, and the diesel pumps that currently power irrigation networks are responsible for 1.6% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- To address both issues, the government is rolling out a nationwide program to gradually replace these diesel pumps with solar-powered ones, aiming to slash irrigation-related emissions by 0.8 million metric tons by 2030.
- It also says that given that irrigation use is concentrated in the non-monsoon months, the surplus energy generated by the pumps the rest of the time can be fed into the grid, providing up to 480 gigawatt-hours of clean energy a year.
- In pilot programs, however, farmers have expressed concern over the reliability of the solar pump systems, especially for water-intensive crops such as rice and corn, and have also noted that their irrigation costs remain the same.

Etelvina Ramos: From coca farmer to opponent of the illegal crop
- Etelvina Ramos’ story encompasses the war in the Colombian Amazon. She grew up alongside coca crops, witnessed several massacres, and was displaced by violence due to the illicit, but profitable, crop.
- Now, at 52 years old, she is fighting to replace coca.
- Etelvina Ramos has a mission that is contrary to the interests of the drug trafficking industry: through her work in the Workers’ Association of Curillo (ASTRACUR), she is seeking the approval of a rural reserve. This would make it possible to close the pathway to coca production and illegal mining.
- Due to her work as an environmental and land defender, she frequently faces threats by illegal armed groups. She admits that she has learned to live with the fear of death.

Uttarakhand limits agricultural land sales amid protests & tourism development
- Following widespread protests, Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has issued orders to district magistrates to deny permission to sell agricultural lands to those outside the state.
- With just 14% of its land designated for agriculture and more than 65% of the population relying on agriculture, calls for legislation to safeguard residents’ land rights have intensified.
- With a lack of comprehensive, updated land records, monitoring the usage of farmlands for nonagricultural purposes has become challenging.
- Lack of employment opportunities and resources as well as shifting weather patterns and climate change have pushed numerous farmers to sell their land holdings.

Tapirs in Brazil’s Cerrado inspire research on human health & pesticides
- Recent research has revealed human contamination by pesticides in the Brazilian Cerrado, following a previous study that also found contamination in tapirs in the region.
- This research shows how animals are providing information and inspiration for research with humans, while emphasizing that the stress endured by South America’s largest terrestrial mammal is also evidenced in people.
- Despite inspiring research on human health, tapirs themselves are not free from the challenges to their survival imposed by human actions; the species is classified as threatened by the IUCN Red List and qualified as vulnerable to extinction.
- The former president of the Brazilian federal environmental protection agency, IBAMA, says the approval of a bill that made the use of pesticides more flexible in Brazil could worsen situations like those reported by the researchers.

In highly urbanized Japan, city farmers are key to achieving organic goal
- The Japanese government aims to convert at least 25% of all its farmland to organic by 2050, a significant jump from just 0.5% in 2020.
- Researchers found that urban and semi-urban farmers in Tokyo tend to adopt environmentally friendly practices more often than rural farmers, in response to a more environmentally conscious populace, a greater number of organic food stores and restaurants, and freedom from pressure to conform with farming practices in rural communities.
- Japan’s urban farmers are also more likely to diversify their business, such as by engaging in direct sales and creating hands-on farming events or volunteer opportunities, strengthening their ties with the local community.
- Despite positive steps, agricultural land in Tokyo continues to shrink, mirroring a trend in declining biodiversity. Advocates say continued efforts will be needed to preserve and make the best use of the capital’s urban farms.

Spotted softshell turtle release boosts reptile conservation in Vietnam
- The rewilding of 50 captive-bred spotted softshell turtles has sparked hope among conservationists for the future of the rare and threatened species in Vietnam, a country where softshell turtles are widely considered a culinary delicacy.
- Described by scientists as recently as 2019, the species is considered critically endangered throughout its range in China and Southeast Asia due to hunting for human consumption and habitat loss.
- The reintroduction of the young turtles is the first rewilding of offspring reared at a dedicated turtle conservation breeding facility in northern Vietnam to safeguard Vietnam’s rare and threatened amphibian and reptile species.
- Turtle conservationists say that while it will be a long and perilous road to recovery for the species in Vietnam amid persistent threats, the work to preserve the species is a positive step toward changing people’s view of freshwater turtles as primarily a food item and curbing hunting pressure not only on this species, but many others as well.

Brazil’s Cerrado is main beneficiary of 2021 pledge to end deforestation
- The Financial Innovation for Amazonia, the Cerrado and Chaco, or IFACC, has allocated $234.5 million for projects aimed at expanding agriculture to already deforested land in Brazil’s Cerrado grasslands.
- First announced at the COP26 climate summit in 2021, the initiative aims to place small farms on the sustainability agenda by showing that it’s possible to increase profit without clearing native vegetation.
- Funded projects include soybean farming on degraded pastureland and financial incentives for farmers who maintain more preserved native vegetation on their land than the minimum required by law.

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

Fertilizer management could reduce ammonia pollution from 3 staple crops: Study
- Nitrogen fertilizers are applied to crops to increase yield, but some of that nitrogen is lost to the atmosphere in the form of ammonia. Ammonia is a major air pollutant linked to numerous health issues, including asthma, lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.
- Using published agricultural and environmental data, researchers employed machine learning to quantify global ammonia emissions from rice, wheat and corn cultivation at 10-kilometer resolution. This added up to a global estimate of 4.3 billion kilograms (9.5 billion pounds) of ammonia emitted from the three staple crops in 2018.
- The model also revealed that optimizing fertilizer management to suit local conditions could achieve a 38% reduction in global ammonia emissions from the three crops. Optimal fertilizer management and the associated emissions reductions depended on local climate and soil characteristics.
- The model, which utilized machine learning, found that under current fertilizer management practices, climate change will increase ammonia emissions from rice, wheat and corn by up to 15.8% by 2100. But this increase could be entirely offset by optimizing fertilizer management and adapting it to local conditions.

New ecoregion proposed for Southern Africa’s threatened ‘sky islands’
- A group of scientists is proposing the designation of a new African “ecoregion” consisting of an “inland archipelago” of 30 isolated mountains, some harboring animals and plants found nowhere else on Earth.
- The South East Africa Montane Archipelago straddles southern Malawi and northern Mozambique.
- This geographical isolation has fueled the evolution of separate species within the forests that grow on them, and those forests are now severely threatened by charcoal production and agriculture.
- It’s hoped the designation of a new ecoregion encompassing these mountains will promote nature conservation on a landscape-wide scale.

Squeezed-out Amazon smallholders seek new frontiers in Brazil’s Roraima state
- As infrastructure projects and soy plantations pump up land values in the Brazilian Amazon, smallholders are selling up and moving to more distant frontiers, perpetuating a cycle of displacement and deforestation.
- The isolated south of Roraima state has become a priority destination for these migrants, who buy land from informal brokers with questionable paperwork; much of the land has been grabbed from the vast undesignated lands of the Brazilian government.
- Although the appetite for land grabs has diminished since the start of the Lula administration, the region has seen an increase in deforestation in recent years.

Report calls for agroecological rethink of Africa’s food amid $61b industrial plan
- The African Development Bank (AfDB) has released agricultural development plans for 40 countries across the continent that outline pathways to improving food security and productivity.
- But a recent report by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) argues that the AfDB initiative, which seeks to industrialize African food systems at a cost of $61 billion, may potentially marginalize small-scale farmers, harm biodiversity, and foster dependency on multination corporations for seeds and agrochemicals.
- AFSA suggests focusing instead on agroecology and food sovereignty, emphasizing the importance of sustainable agriculture and the empowerment of small-scale farmers.
- High rates of undernourishment across sub-Saharan Africa are largely unchanged since 2005 figures, and a rapidly growing population putting pressure on food resources and production has prompted some policymakers to seek out industrial agriculture projects as a solution.

Breadfruit’s low carbon storage could be offset by fast growth, study finds
- Breadfruit, a perennial tropical tree that produces large, carbohydrate-rich fruit, has been put forward by advocates as a climate solution as well as a way to strengthen food security; but the carbon storage potential of breadfruit has never before been investigated.
- In a new study, researchers from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa found that in orchards, breadfruit’s carbon storage abilities are relatively low compared with other broadleaf trees in wet environments.
- However, the authors say breadfruit compensates for this with a fast growth rate and may be better served as building blocks for agroforestry plots that can sequester even more CO₂; more research is required to understand the full potential of breadfruits in a sustainable system.

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

In Brazil’s soy belt, community seed banks offer hope for the Amazon
- In Brazil’s state of Mato Grosso, monoculture has replaced large swathes of the Amazon rainforest and ushered in changes in climate patterns, including severe droughts and scarce rains, according to climate experts.
- Traditional and Indigenous peoples are looking to counter the impacts of large-scale soy plantations in the region by setting up community seed banks and reforesting degraded lands with species native to the Amazon.
- Experts say seed initiatives could play a key role in restoration efforts as Brazil scrambles to rehabilitate 60,000 square kilometers (23,160 square miles) of deforested land by 2030 and agribusiness faces global demands to reverse the damage it has inflicted on the Amazon.
- Seed banks could also help restore the biodiversity being lost in the Amazon, preserve species central to Indigenous cultures, and mitigate climate change, locally and globally.

New agrarian courts in Colombia raise hopes for end to land conflicts
- The Colombian government announced in December the creation of a new agrarian judiciary to resolve land conflicts in rural areas of the country, often between peasant farmers and large companies.
- The first five agrarian courts will open in May in the cities of Cartagena, Quibdó, Popayán, Pasto and Tunja, with 65 more to come.
- Peasant farmers, or campesinos, have long struggled for recognition by the state, and advocates have praised the new development as a victory years in the making.
- However, some have expressed concerns over its implementation and say the courts must ensure access to justice no matter how unequal the social, economic or cultural differences are between the parties.

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

In Bangladesh, sunflower grows where other crops don’t amid increasing salinity
- The changing climate, rising sea levels and other anthropogenic factors are forcing a vast area of Bangladesh’s coastal zone to remain barren due to the presence of salinity in arable land.
- Overcoming these hurdles, coastal farmers, with the support of the government and various nongovernmental organizations, are now farming sunflowers and benefiting from the alternative crop.
- Bangladesh currently produces only 10% of the oilseeds it uses; imports from different countries meet the rest of the demand.
- The government estimates that the country could produce sunflower to meet the local demand for cooking oil by up to 26% by cultivating the oilseed in saline-prone zones.

Caribbean traditional plant knowledge needs recognition or it’s lost: Study
- Knowledge of Caribbean ethnobotany has so far been limited and little comprehensive island- or region-wide inventories of Caribbean traditional plant knowledge have been developed.
- A recent study highlights an eight-step action plan to foster greater academic recognition of the botanical tradition of Afro-descendent farmers in research, education and policymaking.
- Considering these farmers’ important roles in promoting plant diversity, the study authors say financial support from local and national governments can strengthen their work as plant stewards.

‘Hope is the last to die’: Q&A with Indigenous leader Jose Parava on land rights
- Jose Antônio Parava Ramos is a young leader of the Chiquitano people from the Portal do Encantado Indigenous land, in Mato Grosso state, west-central Brazil, bordering Bolívia.
- The Chiquitano people are an Indigenous group divided by borders, and their largest population currently lives in the neighboring Andean country.
- In Brazil, Parava’s land is the Chiquitano territory closest to completing its demarcation process; the people have waited more than a decade for this, and Portal do Encantado is just one of the many territories in the country in this situation.
- In a Mongabay interview, the Indigenous leader, who is also a health worker, sheds light on the pressures of deforestation and land conflicts on his territory and highlights the importance of demarcation to preserve his people’s identity.

Java’s crumbling coastline and rising tide swamp jasmine flower trade
- Growers of jasmine flowers in lowland areas of Indonesia’s Central Java province are vulnerable to coastal erosion and rising sea levels.
- Research published in 2022 showed Central Java’s Semarang was among the fastest-sinking major cities in the world.
- Jasmine grower Sobirin has altered his home on three occasions since 2010, raising the floor to adapt to increasing tidal surges.

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

Bangladeshi farmers eye moringa as a climate and economic solution
- Farmers in Bangladesh are increasingly turning to the fast-growing, drought-resistant moringa (Moringa oleifera) tree, which is indigenous to South Asian nations such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
- Researchers say moringa is beneficial for human health, as both the leaves and the fruits are rich in nutrients and minerals.
- Researchers also suggest that moringa cultivation could be a part of smart agriculture as climatic patterns change, as the plant can tolerate extreme heat and cold.
- A Bangladeshi entrepreneur has been working to create a social movement and entrepreneurship in moringa cultivation and marketing since 2017; so far, he has engaged some 5,000 farmers in 20 districts of Bangladesh.

Markets and forests: 7 takeaways from our series on the forest carbon trade
This is the wrap-up article for our five-part series on forest carbon credits and the voluntary market. Read Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four and Part Five. Mongabay recently published a five-part series on the carbon trade and its use as a tool to address climate change. The exchange of carbon credits, typically […]
The future of forest carbon credits and voluntary markets
- Observers predicted that 2023 would be a “make-or-break” year for voluntary carbon markets and “an inflection point” for their role in addressing climate change and global deforestation.
- Amid criticisms around carbon accounting, carbon neutrality claims, and issues with forest communities, governance bodies say they’ve worked to increase consistency and “integrity” for the voluntary carbon market and specifically the forest conservation strategy known as REDD+.
- Concerns remain from a variety of observers, including those who say the focus of credit-buying companies should be on eliminating their carbon emissions from across their entire suite of operations.
- But proponents of markets say that while decarbonizing is absolutely necessary to minimize the rise in global temperatures, the carbon trade allows for the mitigation of pesky residual emissions that it’s either impossible or too expensive to get rid of at this point.

Con Chim: A window into Vietnam’s past and future beyond rice fields
CON CHIM, Vietnam —In response to escalating climate concerns, Vietnam is rethinking its approach to agriculture by reducing rice farming and adopting nature-based practices. Con Chim, once an overlooked region, is now emerging as a beacon of sustainable farming. Watch this video to learn more about how this transformation is setting a new standard for […]
Prevention is best defense against Bangladesh crop diseases, researchers say
- Two staples — paddy and wheat — and one cash crop, jute, are the major focus areas of researchers and scientists in Bangladesh due to their importance to food security and the economy.
- However, state research institutes say these crops are damaged by five main crop diseases, which could trigger a yield loss of up to 62% annually if outbreaks occur frequently.
- Researchers suggest various approaches, including natural pest control, that could ensure a healthy ecosystem for crop cultivation and reduce the cost of farm production.

Leveraging the hypothetical: The uncertain world of carbon credit calculations
- Criticisms of the voluntary carbon trade and forest conservation strategies like REDD+ have centered largely on the carbon accounting methods used to calculate credits.
- Each credit traded on voluntary markets is supposed to represent the reduction, avoidance or removal of 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
- But recent science has raised questions about how REDD+ and other types of project figure out the number of tons of emissions saved.
- The process relies on establishing a baseline rate of deforestation against which a project’s emissions-reducing or -removing success is measured. But critics say the process can be faulty and that the conflicts of interest of the parties involved in setting the baseline have not been addressed until recently.

A Mekong island too tiny for industrial farming now points to Vietnam’s future
- In the decades following the U.S. war in Vietnam, the Vietnamese government championed intensive farming methods that boosted rice harvests and turned the country into an export powerhouse.
- While much of the Mekong Delta was reshaped to support intensive farming, the coastal island of Con Chim was deemed too small to be worth installing the necessary dikes and sluice gates, leaving farmers there to continue traditional patterns of wet and dry season agriculture and fishing.
- Now, in an era dominated by climate concerns, Vietnam plans to scale back rice farming and shift to more nature-based agricultural practices. Once a forgotten backwater, Con Chim now stands as a rare guidepost to a more sustainable agricultural future.
- This story was produced in partnership with the Global Reporting Program at the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism, Writing, and Media.

Extreme drought in western Pará pushes family farmers into agroforestry
- Lost crops, reduced fish numbers, low water levels in rivers and difficult access to potable water have all led to a state of disaster declared in many municipalities in the state of Pará.
- Severe drought, the result of increasing climate changes and El Niño, is resulting in a more flammable Amazon rainforest. Farmers and technicians are seeking out more sustainable alternatives to the traditional slash-and-burn system.
- Agroforestry systems (AFS) and native honeybee apiculture cooperatives are increasing in the region.

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

Indigenous Gurung farmers revive climate-resilient millet in Nepal
- Indigenous Gurung farmers in central Nepal are trying to revive the cultivation of an almost-forgotten, drought-resilient crop: foxtail millet.
- This hardy grain was traditionally farmed as a famine crop because it grows at a time of the year when farmers are finished harvesting other crops like rice, maize and wheat.
- With Nepal experiencing increasingly unpredictable changes in weather and droughts that affect their harvests, proponents say local crops like foxtail millet have the potential to help farmers adapt to the changing climate.
- Over the past seven years, organic farming of the crop has seen consistent growth, thanks to the help of a community seed bank.

Extreme drought in the Brazilian Amazon forces small farmers to look for alternatives
JURUTI, Pará — Since May 2023, the Amazon has faced below-average rainfall, leading to an unprecedented drought exacerbated by climate change and the El Niño phenomenon. In the western region of Pará, small-scale farming has been severely affected, a critical concern as agriculture occupies half of the land in this area. To combat these challenges, […]
Indonesian districts trial a shift from commodity monocrops to sustainable produce
- A network of district governments across Indonesia is working on transitioning away from commodity-based economic development to sustainable, nature-based solutions.
- Many of these districts are heavily reliant on monoculture plantations like palm oil, or other extractive industries like oil and gas, and are making the shift to better preserve forests and peatlands, as well as indigenous Indonesian forest commodities.
- Among those making progress is the district of Siak in the palm oil heartland of Riau province, where large palm oil and pulpwood companies are supporting the development of nature-based commodities by local communities.
- The national government is also involved in this search to “innovate economic models outside of plantation commodities that can support forest conservation and are locally based.”

Some hemp with your wine? Study shows better soil, potentially flavors from intercropping
- A new study tests whether hemp is an effective plant for intercropping between wine grapes to increase soil health and potentially add another cash crop to vineyards.
- Vintners planted hemp with other cover crops on a vineyard in New Zealand, and found that while hemp was a robust grower, it didn’t compete with grape vines for water, even in dry conditions.
- Surprisingly, the wine made from grapes grown near hemp had a delicious, complex flavor profile, but researchers say more tests are needed to see if hemp was the driving factor.
- The researchers plan to investigate further whether hemp is an effective plant for intercropping to improve vineyard soil health and carbon storage.

For farmer imprisoned over wildfires, fear and poverty linger
- Sarijan, a farmer in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, spent seven months in jail for setting a controlled fire on his land in 2019.
- Throughout the ordeal, he says he experienced violence in jail and extortion by the authorities.
- Sarijan is one of at least 200 farmers in Indonesian Borneo prosecuted for this offense since 2016, amid a crackdown by the government on land burning.
- To this day, Sarijan hasn’t resumed farming his land; as a result, he now has to buy food instead of growing it, driving an increase in his living costs.

Small farmers caught in Indonesia’s war on wildfires
LIMBUNG, Indonesia — Sarijan is one of many Indonesians facing criminal prosecution for using fire in farming practices. Following President Joko Widodo’s commitment to prevent a recurrence of the devastating 2015 wildfire and air pollution crisis, Mongabay’s investigation—rooted in court records and personal interviews—explores the complexities surrounding agricultural burning in Indonesia. Watch the video to […]
Traditional small farmers burned by Indonesia’s war on wildfires
- An investigation by Mongabay based on court records and interviews shows police in Indonesia are increasingly charging small farmers for slash-and-burn practices.
- Prosecutions surged following a particularly catastrophic fire season in 2015, in response to which Indonesia’s president threatened to fire local law enforcement chiefs for not preventing burning in their jurisdictions.
- Most of those prosecuted were small farmers cultivating less than 2 hectares, and many were of old age and/or illiterate; several alleged they suffered extortion and abuse during their legal ordeal.
- Experts say law enforcers should be more judicious about the charges they bring, noting that a “targeted fire policy” should differentiate between various kinds of actors, such as traditional farmers, land speculators, and people hired to clear land by plantation firms.

In Laos, forest loss and carbon emissions escalate as agriculture intensifies
- Shifting cultivation is expanding into intact forest frontiers in Laos, triggering a spike in associated carbon emissions, according to a new study based on satellite data.
- As the dominant land use type in Laos, shifting cultivation has affected roughly one-third of the country’s total land area over the past three decades, the study says.
- The study also highlights how fallow land, a vital carbon store in Laos, is increasingly undermined by farming practices characterized by shorter fallow periods.
- The authors say their data can be used by policymakers to design programs that support more sustainable forms of shifting cultivation. Experts urge that such interventions sensitively consider why remote communities might be forced to transition away from traditional, subsistence-based farming toward intensified systems.

Palestinian olive farmers hold tight to their roots amid surge in settler attacks
- Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank face economic devastation as a surge in violence by illegal Israeli settlers and the Israeli military prevents them from harvesting their olives. Around 100,000 Palestinian families are estimated to rely on these trees as a source of income.
- The start of the war in Gaza coincided with the autumn olive harvest, but the Israeli military has cut off West Bank farmers’ access to their orchards, while reportedly allowing illegal settlers in to steal the olives and destroy the trees.
- Yet despite the settler attacks and restrictions on the olive harvest, Palestinian farmers are determined to remain steadfast and help each other harvest as much as possible before the nearing end of the season. With its long history of rootedness in the land, the olive tree is often seen as one of the most evocative symbols of resilience, and representative of a generational bond with the land.
- According to a spokesperson for the Israeli military, the restrictions faced by farmers are part of “security operations” in the area aimed at capturing militant groups and protecting Israeli settlers who claim the land, in violation of international law.

As Colombia’s coca economy crashes, new opportunities — and threats — arise
- Between 2001 and 2022, the municipality of Tibú in northern Colombia lost 150,000 soccer fields’ worth of tree cover, with coca cultivation one of the key drivers of the deforestation.
- While minor compared to the deforestation caused by clearing for pasture, coca cultivation still affects local communities through contamination of soil and water, violence and crime — yet remains a vital source of livelihood for more than 230,000 families.
- Over the past year, the rural economy in Tibú and other coca-producing regions of Colombia has collapsed due to an overproduction of the crop; coca paste, often used as a substitute for cash here, has seen its value drop by 40%, leaving locals struggling to make ends meet.
- Amid the crisis, there are calls for seizing the opportunity to transition farmers away from coca and toward more sustainable economies — though the reality is that many farmers are also turning to far more destructive activities, like illegal gold mining.

Study links pesticides to child cancer deaths in Brazilian Amazon & Cerrado
- According to new research, for every 5 tons of soy per hectare produced in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado, an equivalent of one out of 10,000 children under 10 succumbed to acute lymphoblastic leukemia five years later.
- The researchers estimate that 123 childhood deaths during the 2008-19 period are associated with exposure to pesticides from the soy fields, amounting to half the deaths of children under 10 from lymphoblastic leukemia in the region.
- Experts say that the research is just the tip of the iceberg, and many other diseases and deaths may be associated with chemicals used in crops; further studies are needed.

Calls grow to repurpose land squandered in Cambodia’s concession policy
- The mismanagement of large swaths of Cambodia’s land by the country’s elites under the policy of economic land concessions has displaced thousands of rural families and accounted for 40% of total deforestation.
- With even the government seeming to acknowledge the ineffectiveness of ELCs as an economic driver, calls are growing to return the land to dispossessed communities or repurpose them in other ways.
- One expert says the role of local communities will be central to the success of any reformation of the ELC system and will need to be carefully considered to avoid the pitfalls of the old system.
- Another proposes giving land currently owned by nonperforming ELCs to agricultural cooperatives managed by communities, placing more negotiating power in the hands of farmers rather than concessionaires.

World Heritage Site listing for Ethiopian park leads to eviction of farming community
- The new designation of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Ethiopia will also come with the relocation of the more than 20,000 people living inside Bale Mountains National Park, say park officials.
- Home to a wealth of biodiversity, the park has experienced a dramatic increase in illegal human settlements, which park officials and conservationists say threatens its natural resources, forest cover, and habitat for rare and endemic species.
- Community members have mixed feelings about the planned relocation, with longtime residents mostly opposing it due to attachment to the land and fear over their livelihoods, and others open to receiving fair compensation in exchange.
- The relocation strategy is still in its initial stages and hasn’t officially been shared with communities, though UNESCO and Ethiopian officials underline the importance of consulting the locals and supporting their livelihoods.

Amid socioeconomic slump, new sugar cane varieties offer hope in Sri Lanka
- After 20 years of research, the Sugarcane Research Institute (SRI) of Sri Lanka has introduced four new varieties with improved sugar recovery percentages, cane yield and disease resistance.
- An interactive mobile app called Uksaviya has been introduced to assist sugar cane farmers in disease identification, cultivation advice and access to the latest knowledge.
- An institutional business framework too has been developed linking researchers and industry to improve collaboration, precision, and commercialization of cutting-edge research.
- With Sri Lanka’s agriculture hit by multiple issues, SRI’s efforts offer some hope.

Battling desertification: Bringing soil back to life in semiarid Spain
- Southeastern Spain is experiencing the northward advance of the Sahara Desert, leading to declining rainfall, soil degradation, and climate change-induced droughts, threatening agricultural lands that have been farmed for many centuries.
- Local farmers recently began adopting regenerative agriculture practices to better withstand long, persistent droughts punctuated by torrential rains and subsequent runoff.
- Many farmers in the region have formed a collaborative group called Alvelal to address encroaching desertification, depopulation, and the lack of opportunities for youth.
- Alvelal members manage more than 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of farmland using regenerative agriculture techniques and aim to expand further, conserving more farmland against the onslaught of climate change, while restoring natural corridors and promoting biodiversity.

Meet the farmers in southeastern Spain fighting desertification
LOS VÉLEZ, Spain — Southeastern Spain faces a pressing environmental challenge: the encroachment of the Sahara Desert. This northward advance results in reduced rainfall, soil degradation, and severe droughts driven by climate change, jeopardizing centuries-old agricultural lands. In response to these challenges, local farmers are increasingly turning to regenerative agriculture practices. These innovative methods aim […]
Tensions flare as Ecuador’s environment consultation process is put to the test
- In July, farmers in Las Naves, Ecuador, got into violent clashes with police while protesting a new environmental consultation process and a large-scale open-pit mine soon to begin operations in their canton.
- The environmental consultation is part of the new controversial Decree 754 passed in May by outgoing President Guillermo Lasso which may speed up environmental permits for infrastructure projects — including mining — as its oil economy flounders.
- This conflict highlights an important tension that lies at the heart of all extraction projects in Ecuador: the consultation process. Amid much dispute between environmental lawyers and the ministry on the legality of the decree, the Constitutional Court is stepping in to review it.
- Addressing tensions like these will be on the plate of Daniel Noboa, newly elected to become the next president, as he promises to revamp the country’s economy.

Seaweed: The untapped economic potential for Bangladesh
- Bangladesh currently produces some 400 tons of seaweed, valued at 55 million taka (about $500,000), while a study suggested the country could produce 50 million tons of seaweed annually by 2050.
- Despite the potential to grow and earn more foreign currency through export, the sector is dealing with a number of difficulties, including inadequate investment as well as proper guidelines and regulations.
- According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), seaweed farming is one of the fastest-growing aquaculture sectors globally, with an annual production of about 33 billion tons, valued at $11.8 billion.

Salinity hinders Bangladesh agriculture; groups respond with seeds & information
- Bangladesh is the fourth-highest rice-producing country in the world, but much of that production is threatened by salinity.
- More than 30% of the cultivable land in Bangladesh is in the coastal area; a comparative study of the salt-affected area showed that of 2.86 million hectares (7.1 million acres) of coastal and off-shore lands, about 1.056 million hectares (2.6 million acres) — an area roughly the size of Lebanon — of arable lands are affected by varying salinity, hampering agricultural production.
- In the coastal zones, farmers mainly cultivate low-yielding, traditional rice varieties during the wet season, while in the dry season (January- May), most of the land remains fallow because of soil salinity.
- To cope with the situation, government and nongovernmental organizations are introducing different types of saline and extreme weather-tolerant crop varieties to use the farmland yearly.

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

Fisherwomen fight plan for coastal salt farms on Indonesia’s Madura Island
- A group of women in Sumenep district of East Java province is leading a protest against the local government’s proposal to develop a salt farm on 20 hectares (49 acres) of land on the coast of Gersik Putih village.
- In 2009, the local government issued land titles on 73 hectares (180 acres) of land along the coast of Tapakerbau hamlet in Gersik Putih, and all of it was to become salt farms.
- The fishers say the plan could jeopardize their fishing jobs and the sustainability of the marine ecosystem on which they have for generations depended for their livelihoods, and they say they believe the salt ponds have exacerbated the flooding there in recent years.
- The protest in Sumenep is one of many against plans for the development of coastal aquaculture in Indonesia, a country that has the world’s second-longest coastline.

Agroecology holds promise in Congo Basin — if funding woes can be overcome
- Emmanuel Eku has successfully restored exhausted soil to boost productivity on a farm in his village in southwestern Cameroon, relying on his agroecological training.
- He was able to invest five years in the project thanks to financial and other support from NGOs, highlighting the main challenge to other farmers who want to transition away from using synthetic fertilizer and other inputs.
- Today, Eku is sharing his experience with other farmers and helping connect them with similar support.

In Roraima, Indigenous communities forge sustainable solutions amid threats
- Sustainable farming, mercury-free fishing and circular trade are among the strategies Amazon Indigenous peoples have been developing to survive in one of the most hostile states for Indigenous people in Brazil.
- Territorial and Environmental Management Plans (PGTAs) are one of the Indigenous-led tools for communities to create strategies to manage their natural resources and provide income for families in their territories.
- For long-term survival, these sustainable initiatives require investments, but previous experience has shown that a top-down approach is often counterproductive.
- But even as they achieve successes with various initiatives, monoculture agribusiness, illegal mining and land grabbing continue to threaten their livelihoods.

The Dutch farmers’ protests of 2022: A Mongabay Series
- In this three-part series, Mongabay breaks down the Dutch “nitrogen crisis” and the great farmers’ protests of 2022.

The Netherlands weighs up its future amid farmer protests and dying ecosystems
LUNTEREN, Netherlands — With the highest livestock density in Europe, the Netherlands faces a serious environmental dilemma. Nitrogen emissions from livestock manure are damaging ecosystems, prompting urgent calls for reform. However, the proposed solutions have deeply divided the country, raising critical questions about the future of sustainable agriculture, food production, and environmental conservation. In this video, […]
Is the genetically modified, nutrient-rich Golden Rice as safe as promised?
- In April, the Philippines’ Supreme Court heeded farmers’ and activists’ calls to look into the safety promise of Golden Rice, a genetically modified grain created to tackle the vitamin A deficiency that impacts millions, over concerns about its potential impact to rice biodiversity, farmer livelihoods and human health.
- The debate over Golden Rice is long-standing and heated, spanning two decades and primarily centered in the Philippines, where it was initially approved for commercial release.
- As legal debates over its safety promise continue, the country’s Golden Rice rollout is on track and officials aim on cultivating 500,000 hectares (1.24 million acres) of the crop by 2028.
- Mongabay spoke with health experts, Filipino officials, conservationists, farmers’ groups and civil society organizations about the contentious issue.

In the clash over Dutch farming, Europe’s future arrives
- Despite months of protests by farmers and an electoral rebuke, the Dutch government has pressed ahead with an attempt to make its farming system more ecologically sustainable.
- But there are deep divisions in the Netherlands over how extensive any reforms should be, and clashes over the role that new technologies should play in them.
- This summer, talks over a potential consensus position between the Dutch government and the national farmers’ union collapsed in failure.
- The clash between the continent’s green movement and its agricultural industry is building steam, with the EU’s flagship conservation law barely squeaking through parliament in June.

Super flock of pigeons leaves Nepali researchers asking what happened
- Researchers in Nepal say they still don’t know what was behind a massive flock of some 7,500 woodpigeons observed in the country’s plains last December.
- A recently published study suggests a range of factors, from food availability to predator avoidance, combined to bring together the flock, which was 25 times larger than the biggest flock previously observed here.
- Climate factors may also have played a part, particularly the impact of heavy rains on the birds’ overwintering grounds in Pakistan.
- Researchers say more studies are needed to get to the bottom of the mystery, and plan to watch out for another super flock this coming winter.

With fewer birds seen on farms, scientists try listening for them
- Scientists in the U.S. Midwest have piloted a methodology that combines satellite imagery and audio data to study and monitor birds in croplands.
- While remote-sensing technology helped researchers understand the attributes of the habitat, bioacoustic data aided them in identifying the birds that live there.
- Biodiversity monitoring on working lands often doesn’t get a lot of attention due to the logistical hurdles involved in accessing these often privately owned areas.
- The methods used by the scientists involved engaging with farmers and landowners to put up audio recorders in an effort to be more collaborative.

DRC food sovereignty summit yields support for agroecology, local land rights
- The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (ASFA) recently held a meeting in Kinshasa to argue for the reorienting of food production around agroecology in the Congo Basin.
- Civil society groups, donors, government representatives and small-scale farmers gathered to exchange views on challenges and solutions to food security.
- Across Africa, agricultural policy is geared toward greater reliance on large-scale farms and mechanization, commercial seeds, pesticides and synthetic fertilizer.
- A declaration issued at the close of the summit instead called for investment in agroecological methods, as well as recognition of and protection for Indigenous and local peoples’ land rights.

In the Netherlands, pitchforks fly for an empire of cows
- In response to a court ruling, the Dutch government announced in 2022 that it would aim to halve emissions of nitrogen from livestock like cows, pigs, and chickens.
- The announcement enraged farmers in the country and sparked a massive protest movement that upended Dutch politics.
- For years, farmers in the Netherlands were encouraged to produce more milk, eggs, and cheese to meet Dutch export targets.
- The sudden u-turn and subsequent backlash gave rise to a new political party in the Netherlands, the Farmers-Citizens Movement, which swept provincial elections in March.

How manure blew up the Netherlands
- The Netherlands is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but also one of its biggest food producers and exporters, thanks to a wildly successful intensive agriculture sector.
- With the highest density of livestock in Europe, the Netherlands has been in the throes of a years-long crisis over nitrogen emissions from manure, which ecologists say are destroying the country’s ecosystems.
- When the Dutch government announced plans to buy out farms close to nature reserves and cut the country’s livestock herd by as much as one-third, farmers revolted, staging massive demonstrations and destabilizing politics in the Netherlands.
- The “nitrogen crisis” has become a flash point in Dutch society, raising difficult questions over how to reform unsustainable food systems and offering a preview of what’s to come for other countries as well.

Palm oil giants Indonesia, Malaysia start talks with EU over deforestation rule
- Negotiations have begun between the world’s top two palm oil producers and the EU to address sticking points in a deforestation law that would make it harder for the commodity to enter European markets.
- Indonesia and Malaysia account for 85% of global palm oil exports, and would be heavily impacted by the EU Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR), which prohibits imports into the EU of commodities sourced by clearing forests.
- At the first joint meeting of an EU-Indonesia-Malaysia task force, delegates discussed risk designations for producer countries as well as the role of certification schemes like the RSPO to help meet EUDR requirements.
- Indonesian officials say their main issue with the EUDR is that it discriminates against small farmers, who manage 41% of the total plantation area in the country and would have difficulty complying with the new regulation’s requirements.

Transgenics contaminate a third of Brazil’s traditional corn in semiarid region
- A new study identified the presence of up to seven transgenic genes in single seeds of traditional, or “creole” corn from more than 1,000 samples collected in 10% of the towns in Brazil’s Caatinga.
- The results indicate cross-contamination in the fields; it is estimated that pollen from transgenic corn can travel up to 3 kilometers, contaminating nearby traditional corn crops.
- The loss of agricultural biodiversity due to contamination by transgenic plants leaves Brazil vulnerable to climate change and food insecurity. Farmers have put their faith in community creole seed banks.

Agroecology alliance calls for more food at less cost to nature in Congo Basin
- The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) will make the case for reorienting food production systems and agricultural policy at a meeting in Kinshasa from Aug. 29-31.
- Food security across the Congo Basin is threatened by impoverished soils, climate change, and displacement due to armed conflict, forum attendees say.
- Governments in the region back improved seeds and synthetic fertilizer for small-scale farmers as well as large-scale agriculture projects to boost yields and revenue.
- AFSA argues these strategies cause more harm than good to both farmers and forests, and calls for a turn to agroecological methods instead.

Elephants invade as habitat loss soars in Nigerian forest reserve
- Elephants straying out of Afi River Forest Reserve in the Nigerian state of Cross River are reportedly damaging surrounding farms.
- This uptick in human-wildlife conflict comes as satellite data show continuing and increasing deforestation in the Afi River reserve and other protected areas.
- The habitat in Afi River Forest Reserve provides a crucial corridor that connects critically endangered Cross River gorilla populations in adjacent protected areas.
- As in other Nigerian forest reserves, agriculture, poverty and a lack of monitoring and enforcement resources are driving deforestation in the Afi River reserve.

Sumatra women farmers celebrate court win against China-backed zinc mine
- A court in Indonesia’s capital has ordered the cancellation of an environmental permit for PT Dairi Prima Mineral, an Indonesia-based mining company majority-owned by a Chinese enterprise.
- The July 24 ruling throws new uncertainty over the zinc and lead project, which was first given permission to operate in 1998.
- International scrutiny of the proposed mine has focused on designs for the mine’s tailings pond, which engineers have characterized as a potential disaster.
- The lawsuit, filed by women farmers from Dairi district, was directed at the environment ministry, which can still appeal the ruling.

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