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topic: Forests
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Gold mining damages dung beetle communities in the Amazon, study finds
Small-scale gold mining is a major cause of deforestation in the Amazon, and researchers found that in Guyana it destroys dung beetle communities and prevents their recovery for decades. Gold mining causes 90% of the deforestation in the Guiana Shield, which contains a quarter of the Amazon rainforest as well as large gold deposits, according […]
How small actions can become planetary forces
- Nature’s Echo argues that feedback loops shape everything from the formation of stars and the spread of life to climate change, ecological recovery, and human behavior.
- Crowther is strongest when applying this framework to ecology, showing how forests, food webs, restoration, and resilience depend on the balance between reinforcing and stabilizing forces.
- The book moves from explanation to application, suggesting that restoration succeeds when nature recovery creates tangible benefits that people want to sustain.
It’s time to engage Mennonite communities in reducing deforestation across Latin America (analysis)
- Across 50 years and multiple countries, it’s clear that Mennonite colonies are systematic agents of deforestation in Latin America, yet they are seldom engaged by policymakers or NGOs seeking to reduce forest loss.
- In part this is due to the colonies’ closed nature but also because their habit of buying in frontier regions is effectively banned by law in Brazil — a nation which dominates the Amazon policy sphere — but a new analysis posits that engagement with these groups is necessary and potentially fruitful.
- “Mennonite pioneers have transformed the South American forest frontier with remarkable, and unfortunate, efficiency. The question now is whether the legal, regulatory, and civil society frameworks of the countries where they now reside can engage them as partners in a different kind of transformation,” the author argues.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Descendants of people pushed out for DRC national park lead forest conservation efforts
- Gangala Yafali Mangusa Jr. is a descendant of one of the families that had to leave the forests of what is today in and around Maiko National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Now, he heads the management committee of the Bamasobha Local Community Forest Concession (CFCL) and works with communities to protect biodiversity through local conservation efforts.
- According to experts, the sustainability of conservation efforts depends largely on the ability to balance biodiversity protection with improving the living conditions of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
- According to satellite imagery from Global Forest Watch, forest loss in the Bamasobha CFCL was reduced from 940 hectares in 2024 to 120 hectares in 2025.
World Peatland Day honors a crucial ecosystem in the fight against climate change
Peatlands are boggy wet ecosystems found from boreal forests in the Russian Arctic to the tropics of central Africa. Typically, when vegetation decomposes it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, when that same organic matter falls in a bog and is covered with water, carbon gets trapped and becomes sequestered there, sometimes for millennia. […]
In Java, a women’s collective is helping save gibbons through forest-inspired textiles
- A group of women in Indonesia’s West Java province have become skilled printers on fabric using motifs derived from various plant species found in their local environment.
- Last year, Indonesian primatologist Rahayu Oktaviani received an award in recognition of her organization’s work with Java’s silvery gibbon, which included formation of the grassroots printing collective.
- The most recent assessment estimates fewer than 4,500 Javan gibbons remain in the wild, with half of the world’s Javan gibbon population living in the national park contiguous to the site of the Ambu Halimun initiative.
Nature’s feedback loops can drive collapse. Thomas Crowther thinks they can also drive recovery
- Thomas Crowther’s Nature’s Echo argues that feedback loops shape everything from ecosystems and climate systems to human psychology and social change.
- Drawing on ecology, cosmology, and restoration science, the book reframes conservation as the cultivation of self-reinforcing systems rather than isolated interventions.
- Crowther suggests that optimism, behavior, and narrative are not peripheral to environmental outcomes, but part of the forces that influence them.
- In an interview with Mongabay’s founder and CEO, Crowther discusses how these ideas inform his thinking on restoration, regenerative movements, ecological resilience, and the role individuals play in larger systems of change.
IMF lending programs linked with deforestation should be rethought (commentary)
- The IMF provides financial assistance to countries to balance their books but recent research by the co-authors of a new commentary shows this support comes at an environmental cost: an increase in deforestation.
- The co-authors reveal countries experience 9.2% higher annual tree cover loss during years in which they are under such programs, which is an unnecessary cost; and thus, the IMF should consider how to fix this issue while it’s currently reviewing the design of its lending programs, they argue.
- As the IMF rethinks its lending approach, these groundbreaking new findings underscore the need to deepen understanding of the impacts of forest and biodiversity loss on economic systems, the co-authors write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Report alleges élite ties behind logging permits in Cameroon’s Ebo Forest
- A report by a Swiss advocacy group says a timber company logging Cameroon’s Ebo Forest is tied to a wider network of political élites in Yaoundé.
- The company, Sextransbois, is part of a network of logging and agriculture interests owned by prominent businessman Aboubakar Al Fatih.
- Corporate registry documents analyzed by the group show that Sextransbois was incorporated by relatives of President Paul Biya’s eldest son before being transferred to Al Fatih’s half-brother in 2014.
- Environmental groups have accused a number of companies owned by or linked to Al Fatih of breaking Cameroonian law.
The Amazon’s path from crisis to durability
- Amazon biodiversity protection depends on more than keeping forests standing; a forest can remain on the map while losing ecological function, governance protections, enforcement capacity, or public support.
- Six connected gaps shape Amazon conservation: finance and forest economy, governance, enforcement, forest function, Indigenous rights, and narrative.
- Progress is possible. Brazil has reduced deforestation before, satellite alerts can strengthen enforcement, Indigenous land rights can protect forests, and better finance and monitoring can make protection more durable.
- The central challenge is making the systems around the forest pull in the same direction: finance that favors protection, governance that reduces impunity, enforcement with consequences, rights that hold on the ground, monitoring that reveals what tree cover hides, and stories that show where action is possible.
Has Ecuador started fracking? New oil project causes confusion and concern
- State-owned oil company Petroecuador announced a new project involving “hydraulic fracturing” in an oil block in the Ecuadorian Amazon, creating confusion about the level of risk posed to the environment.
- The announcement concerned oil in Block 57, also known as the Shushufindi Libertador block, located in Sucumbíos province, which is largely covered by Amazonian rainforest.
- Conservation groups said they want more transparency from the government as it attempts to boost sagging oil production numbers.
Most wildlife AI focuses on the ground. This model looks up in the trees
- Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence model that can detect and identify tree-dwelling species.
- TropiCam-AI can recognize 84 taxa, including 63 species, with the tool showing an accuracy of 95% with the majority of the taxa.
- AI is widely used to automate the detection of animals from camera-trap data sets that can run into millions of images.
- However, the existing AI models developed for this purpose focus primarily on ground-dwelling animals, with tree-dwelling species largely overlooked.
European Commission linked leather to deforestation, then ignored it
- According to the European Commission’s own research, leather could account for up to 17% of the deforestation footprint tied to European Union Deforestation Regulation-covered imports. This is roughly 390 square kilometers (149 square miles) of forest lost a year, an area twice the size of the Italian city of Pisa.
- Despite the evidence, Brussels moved earlier this month to drop bovine hides from the scope of the EUDR. The commission says it considered “qualitative considerations” in its decision.
- The move comes after intense lobbying by the leather industry. The main groups representing the sector held at least 22 meetings with European lawmakers since 2021, according to lobbying records, with more than a third occurring in the past year as the regulation neared implementation.
- Environmental campaigners argue that removing leather would create a loophole: beef remains covered, but leather — a high-value product in the same supply chain — could still enter EU markets without the same traceability obligations.
A ‘symphony’ of wildlife suggests carbon financing is working in Sierra Leone
- A study conducted in Sierra Leone’s Gola Rainforest National Park found that the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) financing program, set up to ensure that forests sequester carbon, also confers some benefits to the park’s animal biodiversity.
- Compared to a neighboring protected area without REDD+ funding and a bordering community-owned agroforestry area, the national park had higher soundscape saturation, a proxy for biodiversity. However, the authors also found that the agroforestry area had a higher diversity of insects than the two other study areas.
- The study emphasizes that carbon financing programs can provide benefits outside of storing carbon, but experts also highlight that it shows that on-the-ground monitoring can be cheaply, effectively added to programs like REDD+ to help better conserve forests as whole ecosystems.
Nepal’s infrastructure risks wildlife habitats beyond protected areas, study warns
- A WWF Nepal mapping study has identified 515 “biodiversity important areas” across Nepal, many of which overlap with existing or planned road, railway and power line projects.
- Conservationists warn that Nepal’s infrastructure boom could fragment wildlife habitats and movement corridors, especially in wetlands, river valleys and mid-hill forests outside protected areas.
- Experts say Nepal doesn’t need to halt development, but must integrate wildlife safeguards early, including route changes, underpasses, overpasses, canopy bridges, and bird-safe power-line designs.
Luxury yacht maker Sunseeker pleads guilty to violating a US environmental law
Luxury yacht manufacturer Sunseeker has pleaded guilty to violating a U.S. environmental law by using illegally sourced teak from Myanmar on two of its yachts imported into the U.S. The U.K.-based Sunseeker International Limited, which describes itself as “the world’s leading brand for luxury motor yachts,” along with its U.S. subsidiary pleaded guilty on May […]
Building bridges for human-wildlife coexistence: Interview with Yap Jo Leen
- Conservationist Yap Jo Leen launched the Langur Project Penang after witnessing dusky langurs, an endangered monkey she was studying for her Ph.D. research, getting struck by vehicles on Malaysia’s Penang Island.
- Since 2019, her group has built three canopy bridges made from repurposed fire hoses to help langurs and other tree-dwelling wildlife safely cross busy roads, with no recorded langur roadkill deaths at the first bridge site since its installation.
- The project combines wildlife conservation with citizen science and environmental education, training volunteers to track langur movements, collect ecological and social data, and work with local communities to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
- Yap says the long-term goal is not simply to build more wildlife bridges, but to foster a broader culture of coexistence and community stewardship for urban wildlife across Malaysia.
Nepal’s rhododendron tourism sparks unchecked liquor trade concerns
- Mongabay found unlicensed rhododendron liquor being sold openly in tourist shops across eastern Nepal’s Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) region, which is home to at least 26 rhododendron species, with no official labeling, no health testing and no tracking of sources.
- Nepal’s conservation laws prohibit commercial harvesting of rhododendrons from community forests without approval, but legal ambiguity over privately cultivated flowers has left officials uncertain about how to enforce existing rules.
- Some rhododendron species contain grayanotoxins that can be toxic, even fatal in rare cases. Yet none of the bottles being sold in the TMJ region have been tested for safety, according to local officials and vendors.
- Local residents say the practice emerged roughly three years ago alongside a post-pandemic tourism rebound; some producers say it gives them extra income.
Asia’s overlooked leopard cat
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Asia’s mainland leopard cat is easy to overlook. It’s small, nocturnal, and often mistaken for a domestic cat or a leopard cub. On paper, it appears secure. The species ranges from India to the Russian Far East, and […]
Brazil has protected much of the Amazon. It now has to pay for it.
- Brazil has built one of the world’s most important protected-area systems, but a new study finds that most federal protected areas remain underfunded, with the largest shortfalls in the Amazon.
- The funding gap reflects more than the size of Brazil’s conservation estate: remote Amazon reserves are costly to manage, politically less visible, and often receive far less support than protected areas near cities and institutions.
- Underfunding has practical consequences, limiting staff, patrols, fire response, monitoring, community engagement, and the ability of protected areas to prevent deforestation and other threats.
- Tourism, ARPA, the Amazon Fund, and rising federal environmental budgets can help, but Brazil needs stable, transparent, long-term financing that matches the recurring cost of turning legal protection into management.
In India’s Nagaland, communities turn to Indigenous law to protect pangolins
To protect pangolins in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, conservationists are turning to community-driven customary laws, reports contributor Kasturi Das for Mongabay India. In February this year, the United Sangtam Likhum Pumji (USLP), the apex tribal body of the Sangtam Naga community, passed a resolution banning pangolin hunting in 42 villages in Nagaland’s Kiphire […]
Will my president save the Amazon? (commentary)
- Voters in Brazil, Peru, and Colombia will soon choose presidents whose policies could shape the future of roughly 82% of the Amazon rainforest.
- Environmental issues have been largely absent from recent presidential debates, even as droughts, floods, deforestation, illegal mining, and organized crime increasingly threaten public well-being and national economies.
- Protecting the Amazon should be treated as an economic, social, and public health priority, argues Peruvian American ecologist Enrique Ortiz, because the forest helps sustain water supplies, food production, energy systems, and climate stability across South America.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
In Kyrgyzstan, a climate-ready corridor gives snow leopards and herders room to roam
- A stretch of high-altitude terrain in central Kyrgyzstan has been officially designated as the Ak Ilbirs ecological corridor, connecting protected areas to give snow leopards and other wildlife room to move as climate change alters their habitat.
- Unlike typical protected areas, the corridor allows herding, forestry and other land uses to continue under a monitoring system that tracks compliance with grazing rules and other requirements.
- Designed using climate models projected through 2070, the corridor captures more than 60% of suitable habitat for snow leopards, argali sheep, Asiatic ibex and gray wolves.
- To ease pressure on pastures, local NGOs are training herders in alternative livelihoods, such as beekeeping and fruit and vegetable cultivation, while volunteer rangers monitor wildlife and watch for illegal activity.
What drives the trafficking of gibbons? Conservationists shed light on demand
As gibbon seizures reached a record high in 2025, conservationists warn that dismantling the illegal trade requires a deep understanding of the diverse motivations driving consumer demand, contributor Ana Norman Bermúdez reports for Mongabay. In 2025, authorities confiscated 336 gibbons between January and August alone, representing approximately 20% of all recorded seizures since 2016, according […]
Gunmen kill two rangers in latest deadly attack in DRC’s Virunga National Park
Gunmen have killed two rangers in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest deadly attack in a region roiled by militia violence. Park sources said a heavily armed group opened fire on a control post at Kamuhororo, on the southern shore of Lake Edward inside Virunga, early on May 21. Kasereka […]
New survey methods uncover new insights into Madagascar’s biodiversity
- LIFEPLAN tracks arthropods, fungi, mammals and birds simultaneously using identical methods repeated year-round across continents, generating one of the largest standardized biodiversity data sets ever assembled.
- A forthcoming study found that geographic distance is a key driver of endemism in Madagascar’s arthropods.
- Entomologists use LIFEPLAN data to identify new priority areas for insect conservation that are not represented in the current protected area network.
- Researchers say they hope LIFEPLAN methods can support long-term biodiversity monitoring in Madagascar’s protected areas in collaboration with different partners.
Communities say sacred groves are shrinking in India’s eastern ghats
Sacred groves in the Indian state of Odisha continue to be protected now, as they have for hundreds of years because of cultural and spiritual values associated with them, a recent study has found. However, the forests are decreasing in size, nearly all residents interviewed by researchers said. India is estimated to have roughly 100,000 […]
In Malaysia, a bridge helps endangered langurs and humans coexist
In Malaysia’s Penang state, conservationists and residents are collaborating to reduce conflict between humans and endangered dusky langurs displaced by urban development and habitat loss. The Langur Project Penang built a canopy bridge to help langurs safely cross a busy road and access more habitat, reducing time spent in residential areas and lowering complaints from […]
Smallholders are not the weak link in forest protection (commentary)
- Smallholders are often treated as risks in deforestation-free supply chains, writes Aida Greenbury, yet many are also among the people with the strongest reasons to keep forests standing.
- Greenbury argues that standards, traceability rules and buyer requirements can push costs onto farmers who lack the maps, documents, legal recognition and market access needed to comply.
- She says forest protection will work only if companies, donors, governments and NGOs make long-term commitments to smallholders, including support for land rights, incentives, better yields and trusted local institutions.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Timor green pigeon could go extinct without immediate action, study finds
The extremely rare Timor green pigeon has fewer than 500 individuals left in the wild, according to a recent study. Researchers say its extinction risk must be revised from endangered to critically endangered. The fruit-eating Timor green pigeon (Treron psittaceus), known for its distinctive mango-green plumage, is “endemic to Timor, Rote and adjacent satellite islands” […]
Jane Goodall’s grandson on hope after loss
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Five months after Jane Goodall’s death, her grandson Merlin Van Lawick appeared at the ChangeNOW environmental forum in Paris carrying something both public and personal. He was there not as a substitute for his grandmother, but as someone […]
Popular Miyawaki reforestation method lacks evidence, study finds
- Devised in the 1970s, the Miyawaki method has been a popular reforestation approach in urban areas worldwide.
- The method involves densely planting seedlings, which proponents say makes them grow more quickly as they compete for light.
- Proponents of the method claim that it enhances biodiversity, boosts carbon storage and results in rapid tree growth, among other benefits.
- However, a recently published review of scientific literature indicates the Miyawaki method may not be as effective as claimed.
Ecuador failing to end Yasuní oil drilling: Interview with Waorani leader Juan Bay
- Mongabay recently interviewed Juan Bay, the president of the Waorani Nation (NAWE) in Ecuador, on the stalled efforts to shut down oil drilling in Yasuní National Park that overlaps with Indigenous territories.
- A voter referendum in 2023 required the Ecuadorian government to shut down the 43-ITT oil block by August 2024, and the decision was backed up in a 2025 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).
- Since then, however, there’s been virtually no progress, Bay said, with the government having shuttered just 10 out of 247 oil wells in the block.
- Bay said communities continue to suffer from the environmental and cultural destruction caused by oil exploitation, as well as the internal divisions that formed between some Waorani communities.
Long dubbed a ‘climate refuge,’ warming Tasmanian forests need our help
- Tasmania has long been considered a global “climate refuge,” where cool, ocean-influenced conditions allow species like the giant freshwater crayfish to persist as mainland Australia warms.
- But new research shows that the world’s climate refuges are not immune to threats: shifting rainfall, warming waters, sediment runoff, land-use change and other impacts are eroding the ecological conditions that sustain numerous species.
- In Tasmania, emerging pressures are impacting the island’s biodiversity, ranging from warming and sedimentation in forest streams affecting sensitive crayfish habitat, to declining oxygen levels putting the endemic Maugean skate at risk.
- Scientists say protecting climate refuges now requires active coordinated management between federal, state and local partners, with multimillion-dollar investments in watershed restoration and ongoing conservation efforts.
New Jaguar Rivers Initiative aims to reconnect South America’s fragmented ecosystems
- Four major conservation groups have joined forces to establish the Jaguar Rivers Initiative across South America’s Paraná River Basin.
- Its goal is to protect the big cat and other threatened species, rewild native wildlife, and protect land throughout the basin, a biodiversity hotspot shared by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.
- Many rivers form the borders between the four countries, and by collaborating on protections, the initiative seeks to reconnect fragmented habitat, using rivers and riparian forests to rebuild wildlife corridors.
- By 2030, the initiative plans to protect at least 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of land in these countries, preserving approximately 34 million metric tons of carbon at risk of being released through deforestation, fire and land-use change.
Rare swamp deer subspecies thriving in new home in India
Forest authorities in central India have successfully helped establish a new breeding population of the vulnerable hard-ground swamp deer, an animal previously restricted to just one protected area, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India. Once widespread in India, the hard-ground swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii branderi) was until recently reduced to a single, isolated population […]
Nigeria aims for stronger wildlife protections with sweeping new law
- Nigeria’s Senate recently passed a new bill to strengthen wildlife legislation in the country, which is a hub for international trafficking rings.
- Supporters say the government will need to provide resources for agencies to enforce the law.
- Despite many headline seizures of illegally trafficked wildlife, many cases do not go to court and even fewer end in convictions; experts also point to a confusing and contradictory patchwork of existing wildlife legislation.
- Conservationists see this as an opportunity to reset Nigeria’s handling of wildlife crime, but villagers who supplement their income through hunting fear that enforcement of the new law could mean the loss of an important safety net in difficult farming seasons.
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.
The European wildcat hovers between recovery and local extinction
- European wildcats are making a comeback in the Czech Republic, where they’re critically endangered. Conservationists found evidence of this species breeding in the Lusatian Mountains.
- Though these wildcats, similar in size to large domestic cats, aren’t at risk range-wide, some populations face local extinction.
- Experts note that positive recovery in Central European countries is countered by declines and a lack of basic population data elsewhere.
In Mozambique, four isolated mountains yield four new chameleon species
Scientists have identified four new-to-science species of chameleons inhabiting four distinct, isolated mountains in northern Mozambique. These mountains — Namuli, Inago, Chiperone, and Ribáuè —are granite inselbergs rising sharply from the arid savanna. They act as “sky islands” or ecological oases that have allowed unique species to evolve in isolation for millions of years. The […]
African elephant genomes reveal ancient mixing — and modern pressures
A continent-wide genomic study of both savanna and forest elephants in Africa has found that African elephants once roamed widely, both species exchanging genes throughout their range. However, as humans decimated elephant populations for their ivory and fragmented their habitats with farms and urban development, the effects of these disturbances appeared in the genomic patterns […]
Climate change could erase most South American cloud forests, study warns
- Climate change could eliminate up to 91% of South America’s cloud forests by 2070 under a high-emissions scenario; even the most optimistic projections show significant losses.
- Because cloud forests capture moisture from fog and release it into streams, their disappearance threatens the drinking water supply of an estimated 16 million people who live downstream.
- Only about one-third of South America’s cloud forests fall within protected areas, and those protections cannot shield the forests if the climate itself becomes too warm and dry to support them.
- Scientists say cutting greenhouse gas emissions is the most essential step, alongside stronger protections and financial incentives for landowners to conserve and restore forests in areas projected to remain climatically suitable.
In one forest, native rats remain. In another, only invaders.
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In a lowland forest in southeastern Madagascar, what was missing proved as telling as what was found. Researchers working in the Manombo Special Reserve trapped tufted-tailed rats in intact interior forest. But in the nearby degraded littoral areas, […]
Australia’s new national park links habitat to protect koalas
- The government of New South Wales has created a vast new protected area, the Great Koala National Park, along Australia’s east coast to safeguard koalas and 66 other threatened native species.
- Conservationists say this could mark a turning point for a species that is declining rapidly as the eucalyptus forests they depend on disappear and climate change sparks more frequent, intense wildfires.
- However, loopholes in land-use regulations, ongoing logging, development pressures and weak enforcement still threaten this key koala habitat.
- Experts warn that without stronger safeguards and consistent policies, the protected area may not be able to foster lasting conservation gains for koalas and other species.
Overtourism threatens Sri Lanka’s leopards
Yala National Park, Sri Lanka’s most famous wildlife destination, is facing a conservation crisis as overcrowding and speeding safari jeeps increasingly threaten its wildlife, particularly its famed leopards, reports Mongabay contributor Kamanthi Wickramasinghe. Block I of the park, which boasts of one of the world’s highest leopard densities at one animal per square kilometer (2.6 […]
Despite restrictions, forest loss continued on Ituna land, home to isolated people
- The Ituna/Itatá Indigenous land in Brazil lost 2,211 hectares of tree cover from 2022-25, despite being protected by a temporary land use restriction order to protect people living in voluntary isolation, according to data from Global Forest Watch.
- The land has been under a series of land use restriction orders since 2011.
- Authorities told Mongabay that the illegal deforestation is caused by land-grabbers who clear the forest without permits to establish cattle ranches and other agricultural activities, later exploiting loopholes to legitimize land appropriation.
- In 2023, Brazil’s federal government carried out an operation to remove invaders. Though satellite data show forest loss continues, it significantly reduced in 2025.
EU moves to drop leather from deforestation law after industry lobbying
- The European Union is on the cusp of removing leather from the scope of its landmark antideforestation law, following months of intense lobbying by the industry.
- Leather industry groups led by COTANCE and UNIC have held at least 22 meetings with lawmakers since 2021, with more than a third occurring in the past year as the regulation neared implementation. The EU Deforestation Regulation was explicitly discussed in 11 of those meetings.
- The tannery industry argues that leather should be exempt from complying with the regulations, contending that hides are simply waste in beef production.
- Environmental campaigners have called this stance “shameful,” pointing out bovine hides often share the same origins as problematic beef supply chains.
Australia’s declining tree health is a slow-burning crisis (commentary)
- Unlike destructive bushfires, tree health is often treated as a niche or technical issue, but its implications pose equally important questions about ecological resilience and public health, a new op-ed argues.
- Threats to Australian tree species are multiplying like an invisible bushfire via a proliferation of introduced insects and pathogens, the authors suggest, ahead of his country’s first national forum on the topic later this month, Safeguarding Australia’s Tree Health, in Brisbane.
- “We recognize bushfires as a national crisis because their impacts are visible and immediate, but some ecological crises arrive more quietly. If we fail to notice them early, the damage can become harder to reverse for forests, for biodiversity, and for the communities that depend on them,” they write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Can listening to a forest reveal whether it is ecologically healthy?
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Researchers have been using sound to study ecosystems for years. A study from ETH Zürich uses it to examine Costa Rica’s payment for ecosystem services program, reports Mongabay’s Abhishyant Kidangoor. Giacomo Delgado, a doctoral researcher, compares the method […]
Singapore’s population of Raffles’ banded langur has doubled
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In a forest reserve on the edge of Singapore, volunteers spend hours scanning the canopy for a primate they may not see. The exercise points to a simple constraint of conservation in a dense city: most habitats are […]
Brazil bill aims to ban satellite tool used to slow Amazon deforestation
- The Brazilian agribusiness caucus is accelerating a bill to ban remote embargoes, a tool that allows environmental agents to block deforested land using satellite data.
- The measure impacts IBAMA’s raids and risks reversing the system that halved Amazon deforestation under the Lula administration.
- IBAMA officials warn that banning the technology is equivalent to “going back to the fax machine,” as it makes enforcement in remote areas significantly slower and more expensive.
- The proposal is part of a broader “Destruction Package” gaining momentum in Congress ahead of October’s general elections.
A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems
- Tropical primary forest loss saw a significant drop in 2025, but the decline likely represents a temporary reprieve driven by favorable weather rather than a fundamental shift in the root causes of deforestation.
- The reduction was largely due to a decrease in fire-related losses following the extreme droughts of 2024, highlighting how forest health is increasingly dictated by climate variability and rainfall extremes.
- While policy-driven successes in Brazil and Indonesia offer a blueprint for enforcement, these gains remain fragile and vulnerable to shifting political dynamics and weakening governance.
- The resilience of recent progress faces an imminent test in 2026, as forecasts for a returning El Niño threaten to bring back the dry conditions that historically trigger catastrophic forest loss.
Species thought extinct for thousands of years ‘rediscovered’ thanks to Indigenous knowledge
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. On a remote peninsula in Indonesian Papua, a species long thought extinct by scientists has been confirmed to survive. The evidence did not come from a formal survey. It began with conversations with Tambrauw elders, who described a […]
Angola’s highest mountain and its unique wildlife are now protected
Angola has declared its highest mountain, Mount Moco, part of a new conservation area to protect its threatened Afromontane forests. The Serra do Moco Conservation Area, which includes a complex of elevations, slopes and valleys in the municipality of Londuimbali, Huambo province, will now be under “a special regime of environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, and […]
Reciprocity, not extraction: Centering an Indigenous approach to forestry
Forester and scientist Suzanne Simard is well known for her landmark 1997 paper, which demonstrated that two distinct species of trees could share resources. At the time, it turned traditional Western forestry thinking on its head. Instead of the Darwinian view of trees as being in competition with each other, it introduced the idea that […]
India has a wealth of bats, but our knowledge of them is poor: Report
India is home to 135 known bat species, but their natural history and ecology remain poorly understood, according to the first nationwide assessment of the country’s bats. The report, developed by 36 experts from 27 institutions in India, was released by the nonprofit organizations Bat Conservation International (BCI) and the Nature Conservation Foundation. “Bats […]
On World Tapir Day, data gaps cloud future of Malaysia’s tapirs
Asia’s only tapir species still remains understudied in Malaysia, researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society say. Recent findings from Thailand suggest that some forest complexes there may hold more Malay, or Asian tapirs (Tapirus indicus) than previously estimated. However, across the border in Malaysia, experts warn that the endangered species faces an uncertain future, complicated […]
Deforestation is surging in Indonesia
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Indonesia’s forests, long held up as a case of tentative progress, are again under pressure. New analysis shows deforestation rose sharply in 2025, reversing several years of decline and returning to levels not seen in nearly a decade, […]
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.
Peter Raven, botanist and advocate for biodiversity, has died, aged 89
- Peter Raven was one of the most influential botanists of the 20th century, helping to shape modern understanding of biodiversity and coevolution.
- As director of the Missouri Botanical Garden for nearly four decades, he transformed it into a global center for research, conservation, and education.
- He was an early and persistent voice warning that human activity—through habitat loss, consumption, and population growth—was driving a mass loss of species.
- His work combined science and public engagement, emphasizing that understanding the natural world carries an obligation to sustain it.
Citizen science helps reconnect Singapore treetops for elusive leaf-eating langurs
- Singapore’s fragmented forests are home to a small population of Raffles’ banded langurs, one of the world’s most threatened primates.
- Citizen scientists are helping conservationists protect the arboreal species across the island’s densely urbanized landscape.
- By collecting long-term and consistent data in known strongholds, volunteers have identified langur food plants and movement corridors, boosting efforts to enrich and reconnect their habitats.
- The citizen science program has also built public awareness of the elusive species, one of only three primates left in Singapore, an outcome experts hope will rouse wider support for biodiversity protection amid intense development pressure.
Elephants adjust what they eat in altered habitats, signaling growing pressure
Asian elephants are adapting to rapidly changing landscapes by diversifying their diets — a sign of resilience, but also a warning about the pressures reshaping their habitats, according to a recent study from Malaysia. Researchers collected feces from wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) across two distinct landscapes in Peninsular Malaysia: one with primary and secondary […]
Brazil FOIA confirms Lula & Macron talked before key CITES vote on endangered tree
- Earlier in 2026, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s office denied to Mongabay that he had had a phone call with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, before a decisive vote at the 2025 meeting of CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty to secure the highest trade protections for endangered Brazilwood.
- But after Mongabay’s Freedom of Information Act request, Lula’s office confirmed the two leaders had, in fact, been in direct communication during the CITES summit. The confirmation comes after allegations that last-minute political maneuvers by France diluted Brazil’s proposal and resulted in reduced protections. France has not responded to Mongabay’s similar freedom of information request, and has declined to comment about any communications between Lulu and Macron at the CITES summit.
- Brazilwood is highly sought-after by the music industry to craft violin bows costing up to $8,200 apiece. The species, endemic to Brazil, has declined by 84% over the last three generations and is now critically endangered.
Push for solar park in Sri Lanka’s elephant terrain raises concern
- A state-approved solar energy park in Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka is being developed on the edge of a managed elephant range, or MER, with some land clearances overlapping with elephant ranges.
- Local communities are protesting the clearing of shrub forests, which are key elephant habitats, a disruption of which can result in the fragmentation of traditional elephant corridors and intensify human-elephant conflict, driving the animals toward villages and farms.
- Conservationists call for adherence to the original MER boundaries, noting that unclear procedures for land-use approval, de-listing and boundary revisions are impacting the intended conservation framework.
- While renewable energy expansion is critical for Sri Lanka’s energy security and to reach its climate goals by reducing fossil fuel dependence, the Hambantota solar push highlights growing tension between clean energy development and biodiversity protection in Sri Lanka.
Five ‘lost’ bird species rediscovered in 2025
In 2025, birders and scientists found five “lost” bird species that had gone undocumented for a decade or more. As Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman reports, these findings have helped reduce the total number on the global “Lost Birds List” from 163 in 2022 to 120 today. To be classified as “lost,” a species must not have […]
Meet the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
- Each year, the Goldman Environmental Prize honors grassroots activists from each of the six inhabited continental regions.
- The 2026 prize winners are Iroro Tanshi from Nigeria, Borim Kim from South Korea, Sarah Finch from the United Kingdom, Theonila Roka Matbob from Papua New Guinea, Alannah Acaq Hurley from the United States, and Yuvelis Morales Blanco from Colombia.
Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation
- At Dzanga Bai in the Central African Republic—one of the few places where forest elephants gather in large numbers—researchers can observe behaviors that are otherwise difficult to document in dense rainforest.
- Ivonne Kienast leads long-term research combining direct observation with acoustic monitoring, building a detailed record of elephant behavior, social structure, and change over time.
- Her work highlights how sustained presence, local collaboration, and incremental data collection shape understanding of both elephants and the broader forest system they inhabit.
- Kienast spoke with Rhett Ayers Butler, Mongabay founder and CEO, and David Akana, director of Mongabay Africa, over two weeks of conversations in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo during March 2026. Her responses have been edited and consolidated.
What the grim outlook for Alpine Ash forests tells us about forestry dogma (commentary)
- Australia’s Alpine Ash forests have been listed as an endangered ecological community, with logging, repeated high-severity fires, and increased flammability in regenerating forests driving their decline.
- Conventional forestry practices such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burning are presented as solutions, but a growing body of evidence suggests they can increase fire risk and further destabilize these ecosystems.
- The evidence points toward a different path—halting logging, avoiding disturbance-based interventions, and investing in fire detection and recovery—argue David Lindenmayer, Phil Zylstra and Chris Taylor from the Fenner School of Environment and Society at The Australian National University.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Chimp ‘civil war’ follows rare community split in a Ugandan national park
- A 30-year study documents a rare split within a chimpanzee community in Uganda’s Kibale National Park — one that sparked a deadly war.
- Two rival chimp groups have staged coordinated raids that killed both adult males and infants.
- Researchers recorded at least 24 attacks between 2018 and 2024, suggesting unusually intense violence.
- The findings show how shifting social ties can fracture animal societies and trigger collective violence.
EU deforestation law nudges timber trade, Indonesia probe shows, but risks persist
- An investigation tracing Indonesian timber to recently cleared forests shows EU-bound supply chains still carry deforestation risks, even as the bloc prepares to enforce stricter rules.
- The upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is already shifting behavior, with some European buyers and Indonesian suppliers cutting ties and tightening traceability.
- But trade data from 2025 show high-risk imports continue, highlighting uneven progress and persistent loopholes in complex, opaque supply chains.
- Researchers and advocates say only full, consistent enforcement of the EUDR, alongside stronger due diligence and reforms in Indonesia, will meaningfully curb deforestation-linked timber trade.
Listening to forests reveals signs of recovery beyond tree cover
- Scientists have deployed acoustic monitoring techniques to measure the success of a forest protection mechanism in Costa Rica.
- Using more than 16,000 hours of audio data, scientists found that the payments for ecosystem services (PES) initiative in Costa Rica has helped recover biodiversity in naturally regenerated forests.
- On comparing the soundscapes, scientists found that naturally regenerated forests sound more similar to protected forests than to pastures.
Australia declares mainland alpine ash forests endangered
The Australian government recently listed the iconic alpine ash forests of mainland Australia as an endangered ecological community, citing ongoing threats from increasingly severe, frequent bushfires and climate change. While conservationists supported this decision, members of the timber and forestry industry questioned the move. Alpine ash forests occur on high country slopes in the states […]
The Amazon’s silent crime crisis (commentary)
- The Amazon is approaching a critical tipping point, where deforestation, degradation, fire, and climate change together risk pushing large areas toward irreversible ecological collapse.
- A growing nexus between organized crime and environmental crime is accelerating forest loss, distorting economies, and undermining governance across the basin.
- Addressing the crisis requires more than conservation alone: stronger enforcement, institutional reform, and investment in a sustainable socio-bioeconomy are essential, argue Carlos Nobre, Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabo.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Primate Planet
Across the tropics, a growing movement is working to secure a future for primates in the face of disease, deforestation and wildlife trade. Reporting from across the planet, this video series highlights how scientists, conservationists and local communities are rebuilding populations and reconnecting fragmented forests. Along the way, it reveals the innovation, collaboration and resilience […]
A reforestation corridor in Madagascar offers a future for lemurs and locals
- A reforestation corridor project aims to reconnect 150 hectares of fragmented forest between Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and the Analamazoatra Special Reserve, home to a dozen lemur species and many other animals and plants that are found nowhere else on Earth.
- Led by the Mad Dog Initiative in partnership with The Dr. Abigail Ross Foundation for Applied Conservation, Association Mitsinjo and Ecovision Village, the project represents a unique convergence of science, private investment and community action.
- The project has already planted more than 100 native tree species across 70 hectares, a portion of which were grown in soil inoculated with mycorrhiza, with seedlings showing high survival and growth rates. Even in its early stages, lemurs are using the corridor.
- To address local challenges and increase the chances of long-term restoration success, project partners are investing in ecotourism, health care and education, among other strategies.
Māori knowledge shows climate change domino effects on forest food chains
- An Indigenous-led team of researchers worked with Māori knowledge-holders in the Te Urewera and Whirinaki forests of Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island to document forest change over the past 75 years.
- Drawing on bioindicators from traditional ecological knowledge, they found dramatic changes in native tree fruiting patterns in line with climatic shifts.
- The research showed cascading impacts from the fruiting shifts across the food chain — including for pigeons, pigs and people.
Conservation efforts help an endangered dipterocarp spread roots in Bangladesh
- Conservation of the endangered boilam tree (Anisoptera scaphula) — Bangladesh’s tallest tree species — has reached a milestone after a 34-year-old man planted saplings across all the districts of the country.
- A Bangladeshi forestry professor’s dedicated work offers fresh hope for science-based conservation of the rare species.
- With no established conservation approach in Southeast Asia, where the species is also endangered, the Bangladeshi model could serve as a replicable solution.
Can nature outcompete war in Eastern Congo?
- In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, pressure on Virunga National Park reflects deeper economic and governance dynamics, where conservation competes with immediate livelihood needs tied to charcoal production and agriculture.
- Emmanuel de Merode frames environmental decline as a consequence of how people earn a living, arguing that protecting biodiversity requires addressing energy access, jobs, and local economic systems.
- Virunga has developed an integrated model built around renewable energy, small business development, financial access, and localized security, aimed at shifting incentives away from conflict-linked and extractive activities.
- The proposed Green Corridor extends this approach across a national scale, testing whether a viable economic system can be built that depends on maintaining forests rather than clearing them, despite ongoing conflict and political constraints.
Researchers find ‘remarkable’ hot-pink insect in Panama rainforest
In March 2025, biologist Benito Wainwright and his colleagues were searching for katydids — leaf-mimicking insects related to crickets and grasshoppers — in the rainforest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama, when they came across an unexpected sight: a hot-pink katydid individual of the species Arota festae. The researchers captured the katydid and raised her […]
Venezuela’s new mining law could spell disaster for the Amazon, critics warn
- Venezuela passed a law to update the country’s mining regulations and attract international investment in gold, silver, coltan and other minerals.
- While some environmental protections are included in the bill, critics say they’re not rigorous enough to stop the deforestation or human rights abuses already happening in the Venezuelan Amazon.
- The law describes a commitment to “ecological mining development” that critics call a dangerous attempt at greenwashing.
Christianity can be an ally for Kenyan conservation (commentary)
- Part of the difficulty in mainstreaming religious faith into conservation thinking and practice comes down to outdated narratives.
- The negative impact of Christianity on the environment has in particular been well-circulated for over a half-century, but this doesn’t fully reflect current realities in nations like Kenya.
- “As the diversity of Christian expression in Kenya demonstrates, the faith, its theologies and its outworkings are plural, contested, and capable of generating both productive and destructive relationships with the environment and its non-human inhabitants,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Novel research finds unexpected climate resilience in up to 36% of Amazon forest
- In recent decades, the Amazon Rainforest has repeatedly and increasingly been struck by devastating drought along with record heat due to climate change. Add to this record wildfires, rapid deforestation and land conversion for agriculture.
- Numerous field studies and modeling have found that these extreme changes are pushing the Amazon toward a tipping point and collapse of the biome — an ecological disaster that would release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
- But one research team, in a recently published study, offered up some hope: They found that little-studied low water table wetland Amazon forests — constituting up to 36% of Amazon trees — have stood up well to, and even thrived, during major droughts, with an increase in aboveground biomass.
- Those findings, the research team says, put the inevitability of an Amazon tipping point and collapse in some doubt, with the possibility that low water table forests could serve as a refugia for biodiversity. They also urge that these areas become a priority for protection and conservation as a hedge against future climate change.
Invasive plant drives ecological change in America’s gigantic Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness (commentary)
- There’s a new plant growing in one of the largest designated wilderness areas in the U.S. — the Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness — which spans the states of Idaho and Montana.
- Though it feels like a true wilderness, this introduced plant — spotted knapweed — has begun changing the ecosystem and threatens to drive local extinctions of some native species.
- “From a distance, the Selway still looks intact. But at the level of its living fabric — the layer supporting insects, birds, amphibians, mammals and forest regeneration — losses are underway,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
From Virunga to Kinshasa, the DRC embarks on a bold conservation gamble
- More than a year ago, Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi announced the Green Corridor, a conservation initiative that may stretch across the country, create 500,000 jobs, conserve over 540,000 km2 (208,500 mi2) of land, and improve infrastructure along the Congo River.
- According to people familiar with early discussions, the concept grew in part from Virunga National Park’s efforts to tackle an illegal war economy in North Kivu province and to try delivering alternative benefits to surrounding communities, including energy, agriculture and livelihoods.
- With uncertainty lingering over the conflict in eastern Congo, the government is now seeking to adapt elements of the Virunga conservation-and-development approach to a much larger landscape.
- While praised by some, observers, conservation groups and advocacy organizations caution that significant questions remain, particularly around the management of existing concessions — including agriculture, logging, oil and hydrocarbon blocks — as well as the protection of communities’ rights.
Chile’s ancient conifers host underground web of life that sustains forests: Study
- Estimated to be more than 2,400 years old, one alerce tree in Chile’s Alerce Costero National Park hosts about twice as much fungal diversity underground as younger alerce trees, a team of researchers found.
- The scientists found 361 fungal DNA sequences unique to this tree, indicating that older trees harbor a vaster fungal network that benefits other plants on the forest floor.
- Real estate expansion, climate change and infrastructure projects continue to threaten the alerce, which is listed as endangered. Although Chile protects the species, experts say older trees that support complex ecosystems should enjoy higher levels of protection and limited interaction from humans.
Indonesia’s plan to rezone national park sparks backlash
Indonesia is moving to rezone Way Kambas National Park, transforming the Sumatran sanctuary from a “cost center” into a “profit center.” As Mongabay’s Hans Nicholas Jong reports, the government has framed the initiative as a carbon-trading and luxury-tourism initiative to fund conservation for ecosystem restoration. The proposed land reclassification would cut the park’s strictly protected […]
How quickly do tropical forests recover? Faster than expected, but slower than it seems
- Tropical forests can regrow within decades, with species abundance and diversity recovering quickly, but full ecological recovery—especially the return of original species composition—takes much longer.
- Many mobile species such as birds, bats, and bees persist or return early, helping drive regeneration by dispersing seeds and pollinating plants, while slower-moving or long-lived species lag behind.
- Forests may regain high numbers of species relatively fast, but the specific mix of old-growth species takes decades or longer to reassemble, meaning a regrown forest is not the same as the one that was lost.
- Recovery depends on time, prior land use, and proximity to intact habitat, suggesting that protecting and allowing secondary forests to regenerate can be a practical and cost-effective path for restoring biodiversity.
Loss of prey could drive Atlantic Forest jaguars to extinction
- There’s little prey left for jaguars in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, which is driving the big cat’s decline there, according to new research.
- Hunting is wiping out species like deer and peccaries that sustain jaguars, which could spell localized extinctions for the fewer than 300 jaguars thought to remain there.
- To save these last jaguars, enforcement is needed to reduce hunting, the study authors and conservationists say.
- It may be necessary to translocate prey species to rewild this forest, experts say, and fragmented habitat must be reconnected to allow safe movement for jaguars and other wildlife.
Mennonites from Belize spark deforestation fears with new settlement plans in Suriname
- Mennonite families in Belize could pay millions to settle on around 24,000 hectares (59,300 acres) in Para, Suriname, a district with around 90% forest cover.
- Community leaders from Shipyard and Indian Creek, Belize, have taken multiple trips to Suriname to analyze soil quality and learn about the country’s farming regulations. Members from Spanish Lookout, another Mennonite community, have also started looking into a Suriname relocation.
- The move is being facilitated by Braganza Marketing Group, run by Ruud Souverein, a Dutch national living in Suriname who was involved in a previously failed government program to bring Mennonites from Bolivia in 2023.
- Environmental groups have expressed concern about Mennonites’ tendencies to expand into forested areas, circumvent environmental regulations, and settle on land without proper titles.
Indigenous & community leaders say, ‘secure forest financing with us, not for us’ (commentary)
- With the expansion of government forest protection programs like REDD+ in recent years, Indigenous communities are increasingly asking if these initiatives boost their autonomy and benefits, or repeat old patterns of exclusion.
- These programs’ success will increasingly depend on the full participation of their peoples in the process that determines how benefits and revenues from these transactions are shared, three Indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders write in a new op-ed.
- “We believe the path forward is clear: climate policy must be built with communities, not for them,” they say.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
A Congo Basin-led bioeconomy could boost Central Africa’s green transition (analysis)
- As the global economy shifts toward greener, more sustainable models, the Congo Basin has a unique opportunity to position itself within this landscape by building a resilient bioeconomy that prioritizes local value creation while preserving critical ecosystems.
- Despite its rich natural endowments, this region often faces a paradox: while conservation protects, extraction exploits, and agreements frequently stall.
- “Promoting innovative approaches to biodiversity value creation directly supports efforts to enhance innovation and competitiveness, while emphasizing the need for durable, inclusive systems that capture long-term value for local communities,” a new analysis argues.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests
- Dzanga Bai is an exceptional forest clearing where hundreds of elusive forest elephants gather, offering scientists and visitors opportunities to observe their behavior, social interactions and family dynamics in the open.
- Mineral-rich soil and shallow pools draw elephants and other wildlife like bongos and forest buffalo, making the clearing a unique ecological hotspot and a valuable site for long-term research on a little-understood species.
- Dzanga Bai is a growing tourism spot for the Central African Republic, but growth remains limited by difficult access, infrastructure constraints and perceptions of insecurity.
Pyrenees brown bear population climbs to an estimated 130 in latest census
The annual census of brown bears in the Pyrenees mountain range of Spain, France and Andorra estimated that 130 bears are now living in the region with an average annual population growth rate of more than 11% over the last 18 years. The subpopulation of Pyrenees brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) has been steadily increasing […]
Green and gray: Mangroves and dikes show potential in protecting shorelines together
- A recent paper modeled how restoring mangroves in front of water-controlling infrastructure like dikes might create a hybrid coastal defense system in the face of global sea level rise.
- The model found that this combination, put in place today, could reduce the annual damage from storms and flooding by $800 million, and that 140,000 fewer people would be impacted by these events every year.
- They also found that these numbers would increase over time with the impacts of climate change.
- The researchers also evaluated where these projects would be most cost-effective, finding that the benefits disproportionately help lower-income areas, particularly in Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Africa.
How wild cattle recovery is transforming local livelihoods near key Thai reserve
- Banteng, a species of wild cattle, have suffered an 80% population decline across their range in recent decades. But in Thailand, populations are rebounding strongly in well-protected areas.
- Decades of strict habitat protection and ranger patrols have reduced poaching and recovered numbers to such an extent that several herds have spread outside of protected sites into surrounding buffer areas, where enforcement of wildlife laws is limited.
- In an effort to protect the growing herds, villagers living in the buffer area of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, who once experienced conflict with the banteng, have set up a community-led ecotourism initiative based on banteng-watching.
- The wildlife tours are creating powerful cultural, social and financial deterrents to poaching, and the banteng are proving to be a key species around which to rally local support for conservation.
Ethiopian women plant trees, restoring lands & livelihoods
- In southern Ethiopia, unsustainable farming practices and tree cutting for fuel are causing land degradation.
- The Integrated Women’s Development Organization has planted fruit and other trees as well as grass for animal fodder to restore soil and tree cover and provide additional income for its members.
- IWDO recently became a member of the GLFx network, connecting it with similar independent, community-oriented groups to strengthen its work protecting and restoring healthy forests and other landscapes.
An invasive guava is muscling out Madagascar’s forests — and lemurs are helping
- The island of Madagascar is a hotspot for animal and plant biodiversity, but since the 1950s it has suffered high rates of deforestation.
- Once damaged, these forests are susceptible to takeover by a nonnative plant invader, the strawberry guava tree originally from Brazil.
- The guavas produce delicious fruit that the lemurs relish and whose seeds the lemurs themselves help to spread.
- Conservationists say forest restoration, critical to the survival of lemurs, needs to take into account the pernicious effects that strawberry guavas have on the ecology of forests — both those that are still intact, and those that are being restored.
Indonesia reviews firms in river basins after latest floods affect 7% of Bornean province
- The province of South Kalimantan experiences annual flooding, frequently worse than other Indonesian provinces on the island of Borneo.
- In late December, Indonesia’s environment minister said the government would review companies operating within watersheds in the province after a large share of the province’s 4.4 million people were impacted by floods at the end of last year.
- Civil society organizations and scientists say land-use change in the water catchment area has reduced the drainage capacity of soils and increased the likelihood of runoff, which inundates a large share of settlements in the province every year.
- A spokesperson for the environment ministry told Mongabay in March that a review of companies operating in the river basis was ongoing.
‘Ancient’ carbon venting from lakes in the Congo Basin peatlands: Study
- A new study finds that lakes are likely releasing carbon that’s been held in the peatlands of the Congo Basin for thousands of years.
- Scientists know these lakes release carbon dioxide, which until now was thought to result from recently decayed plant matter.
- A team of researchers radiocarbon-dated carbon from water samples to show that some of the CO₂ probably has much older origins, reporting their findings in a new study.
- The authors says more work is needed to understand the implications of this ancient carbon release for carbon dynamics and climate change.
As traditional forest governance erodes in Peru, ‘ghost permits’ fill the vacuum
- In the Peruvian Amazon, prosecutors and documents show how “ghost paper forests” have allowed illegal logging to penetrate Indigenous governance, with forest permits rented or sold by community leaders and used to launder timber cut in unapproved or protected areas, turning legal paperwork into a shadow supply chain.
- Around Peru’s Boiling River, deforestation and land pressure tied to ecotourism and spiritual entrepreneurship are also reshaping who controls the forest, with mestizo healers warning that rituals, language use, elder authority and secure land tenure are being sidelined in favor of extractive, tourism-driven claims.
- Sources say the erosion of Indigenous governance of forests is one cause of these issues, transforming the forest as deeply as any external pressure, weakening language, ritual life and communal authority while allowing corruption to drive deforestation from within.
- In response, Peru’s modern forest system has increasingly turned to institutional reforms that aim to counter these pressures by formally involving Indigenous communities in forest governance, monitoring and decision-making.
Grasslands and wetlands are being lost to agriculture four times faster than forests
Wild ecosystems such as grassland savannas, bush and open wetlands are losing ground worldwide to make way for large pastures and grain fields. A new study found these ecosystems are being converted at a rate four times higher than for forests. Over a 15-year period, from 2005-2020, researchers found that 190 million hectares (470 […]
In Nepal, calls for reform grow louder in buffer zones
- Residents in Nepal’s buffer zones — defined spaces surrounding protected areas — face restrictions on resource collection, infrastructure development and daily activities, leading to frustration and political protests, including election abstentions.
- Communities suffer from wildlife attacks, crop destruction and livestock losses, with relief programs often failing marginalized residents, particularly those without land ownership certificates.
- Local buffer zone councils are perceived as ineffective or serving the park wardens’ interests, as the wardens hold extensive authority, sometimes overriding elected representatives.
- Locals and activists demand clearer guidelines, insurance systems, better infrastructure, equitable revenue sharing and legal amendments to balance conservation with community welfare.
US-Indonesia trade deal slammed as ‘extractive colonialism’ over mining, fossil fuels
- Activists warn a new U.S.-Indonesia trade deal could accelerate mining, deforestation and fossil fuel use, with weak, nonbinding environmental safeguards.
- The agreement prioritizes critical minerals and energy access, opening up Indonesia’s resource sectors to deeper U.S. investment while limiting state control.
- Expanded nickel mining and coal-powered processing risk worsening pollution, land conflicts and forest loss, especially in already affected regions like Sulawesi and the Malukus.
- Large fossil fuel import commitments could undermine Indonesia’s climate goals, highlighting contradictions in the global energy transition and raising concerns for Indigenous and local communities.
Birutė Galdikas, primatologist who spent a lifetime studying & defending orangutans, has died at 79
- Birutė Galdikas established one of the longest-running field studies of any wild mammal, helping to transform scientific understanding of orangutans and their behavior.
- Her work combined research with hands-on rehabilitation, returning hundreds of orangutans to the wild while navigating debates over the role of intervention in field science.
- As Borneo’s forests declined, she expanded her efforts into conservation, founding an organization and working with local communities to protect habitat under growing economic pressure.
- As part of the “Trimates”, a group of female researchers recruited by Louis Leakey, she helped bring great apes into public view and frame orangutans as emblematic of broader environmental loss.
Palm oil clearing advances in Bornean orangutan habitat despite red flags
- A palm oil firm has cleared more than 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) of forest inside a UNESCO biosphere reserve in Indonesian Borneo, threatening areas identified as orangutan habitat.
- The concession overlaps with a wildlife corridor linking two national parks, raising concerns over habitat fragmentation and increased human-orangutan conflict.
- Authorities have acknowledged the presence of the habitat inside the company’s concession, but proposed voluntary conservation measures rather than halting clearing, drawing criticism from environmental groups.
- The case highlights broader issues of weak enforcement, disputed land rights with Indigenous communities, and supply-chain loopholes that continue to allow deforestation-linked palm oil into global markets.
Five more community-led African groups join global landscape restoration network
- The Global Landscapes Forum recently announced the addition of 12 new “chapter” members to its GLFx network.
- The GLFx network connects independent, community-oriented groups worldwide to strengthen their work protecting and restoring healthy forests and other landscapes.
- Five of the new members are in Africa, including the School Food Forest Initiative in Uganda, which works with children to plant trees and grow food on school grounds.
World Frog Day: New species described amid threats to amphibian survival
March 20 is World Frog Day. Frogs and toads have inhabited Earth for hundreds of millions of years, but 40% of amphibians species are now at risk of extinction, according to the latest conservation assessments. Every year, roughly 150 new amphibian species are described. But many are immediately listed as threatened or endangered due to […]
Indonesia plan to rezone elephant reserve for carbon trading and tourism sparks backlash
- Indonesia plans to rezone large parts of Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra for carbon trading and luxury tourism to raise conservation funds.
- Critics warn the move could fragment core habitat and harm critically endangered species like Sumatran elephants, tigers and rhinos.
- Experts say carbon projects and reforestation could reduce elephant food sources and worsen human-wildlife conflict.
- Concerns are mounting over transparency, governance and whether revenues will truly support conservation and local communities.
At dusk in Kenya’s caves, scientists study the hidden lives of bats
- David Wechuli and other researchers are studying bats living in cave systems in Kenya, to better understand how they interact with their environment and how human activities affect bat habitat.
- Research shows that many bat species are highly sensitive to disturbances, sometimes abandoning their roosts, with damaging consequences.
- Wechuli works for Bat Conservation International, which has helped communities develop guidelines to protect caves hosting bat colonies from disturbance.
How a community defended its ancestral forest from logging
- In northeastern Gabon, the community of Massaha used participatory mapping to document ancestral villages, sacred sites and traditional land use inside a rainforest slated for industrial logging.
- Their biocultural map revealed a long history of occupation that colonial records and modern conservation maps had largely overlooked.
- The evidence helped the community argue for protection of their forest, prompting government intervention that halted logging and opened discussions about formal conservation.
- The case highlights how local knowledge and community-led mapping can complement global conservation data and reshape how forests are understood and protected.
Forest advocates accuse EU energy firm of Dutch biomass certification fraud
- The sustainability certification of forest biomass produced to generate industrial-scale energy has long been controversial and called into question.
- Wood pellet companies argue their product is sustainable and doesn’t cause deforestation, while governments claim biomass burning results in climate-neutral emissions, which is why they offer subsides to energy companies burning sustainability certified forest biomass.
- However, forest advocates and scientists have provided significant evidence that forest biomass production contributes to deforestation, is not sustainable and that burning wood generates more carbon emissions per unit of energy than coal.
- In an unprecedented move, Dutch law enforcement is considering a criminal investigation into RWE, one of the Netherlands’ largest energy providers, after a Dutch forest advocate alleged that the firm dodges biomass certification rules, using wood pellets imported from Malaysia sourced not from sawmill waste, but allegedly from whole trees.
Growing number of Indigenous Twa forced out of DRC’s forests and into towns
- In the last decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of Indigenous Twa families leaving forests their ancestors relied on in the Congo Basin for urban centers in northern North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
- According to reports seen by Mongabay, the number of Indigenous peoples climbed by 5,000 in some small towns.
- For some Twa people, moving to the city is not only a consequence of expulsion from protected areas, but also a choice motivated by insecurity, trying to escape land conflicts with Bantu communities and finding alternative livelihoods as extractive activities take up forests.
- These displacements have profound social, cultural, and environmental consequences, say environmental activists, as Twa people severe ties with the forest, and traditional ecological knowledge built over millennia declines.
Brazil Supreme Court opens path to mining in Indigenous land for first time
- Last month, the Brazilian Supreme Court authorized the possibility of mining exploration and exploitation inside an Indigenous territory for the first time, at the request of an Indigenous Cinta Larga association in the southwestern Amazon.
- While the decision does not automatically authorize mining within Cinta Larga land, it has set a deadline for Congress to regulate mining in Indigenous lands and has established provisional rules in case mining authorization is approved by Congress, such as allowing mining on only 1% of the territory.
- A representative of the Cinta Larga Patjamaaj Association told Mongabay that the absence of such a law has prevented them from being able to benefit economically from mining on their land, leading to a lack of income for health, education and sustainability projects.
- Brazil’s Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI), several public prosecutors and other Indigenous peoples and organizations have raised concerns about the precedent this could set, and say that by establishing these rules, it can be interpreted as opening the door to future exploration requests while on-site environmental compliance inspections in Brazil remain rare.
Works on planned luxury resort on Pemba island go ahead despite concerns
- A 4 meter high perimeter wall was built alongside a village bordering Ngezi Forest Reserve as construction to a luxury resort estate has started on Zanzibar’s Pemba island.
- A dirt road cutting through the protected forest has been widened to facilitate the transport of goods.
- Researchers warn that no environmental planning has been done and that animal and plant species could go extinct if the development goes ahead.
From forest to flatpack, IKEA faces timber traceability test under EUDR
- As the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) nears implementation this year, furniture giant IKEA may need stronger traceability systems to prove its timber isn’t linked to post-2020 deforestation.
- Although nearly all IKEA wood is FSC-certified or recycled, past investigations show this voluntary scheme can miss illegal or unsustainable logging.
- The EUDR requires geolocation data and stricter due diligence than existing certifications or regulations, but repeated delays and possible rule changes have created uncertainty for companies like IKEA preparing to comply.
- Industry watchdogs say high-profile companies like IKEA can “do more” to champion the landmark regulation and implement leading wood traceability systems, rather than relying solely on existing — voluntary— certification schemes.
Mining rush for critical minerals threatens Amazon land reform settlements
- A survey of mining records found dozens of requests for copper, manganese and nickel targeting land reform settlements in northern Brazil’s Carajás region in the last five years.
- The rush for critical minerals is creating potential “sacrifice zones” of contaminated waterways and declining fish populations in the Amazonian settlements.
- These minerals are vital for cars, batteries and war industries, linking increasing global demand to local Amazon conflicts and poverty, despite a local tax boost.
Study maps tree-planting risks and rewards for climate and biodiversity
- Afforestation and reforestation (AR) have emerged as key climate change mitigation strategies.
- Forestation can be a benefit for biodiversity, but poorly planned projects can do more harm than good.
- A recent study offers a new way of gauging the potential of AR to achieve both carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation, across different biomes.
- The study finds that some biomes have higher potential than others for AR, but considerable variation exists within biomes. The researchers caution that careful planning is needed.
The Cerrado is threatened but crucial for Brazil’s biodiversity & water security (commentary)
- The Cerrado is a massive and biodiverse ecodomain that also plays an important role in carbon storage and water cycling, making it a crucial asset for Brazil.
- Yet more than 55% of the Cerrado’s native vegetation has been lost since the 1970s, and less than 3% is under full protection, far below what is needed to maintain biodiversity and ecological processes.
- Biodiversity loss advances silently, with species disappearing before they are even formally described by science, as several co-authors of a new review article explain.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Restoration of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest may hinge on market for native plants
- Brazil’s Atlantic Forest is one of the richest biomes on the planet, hosting around 5% of Earth’s vertebrate species, but deforestation has decimated the region, with less than a quarter of original forests still standing.
- Reforestation efforts provide varying environmental, economic and societal values, also known as bioeconomics.
- New research weighs the economic potential of native plants to bolster the bioeconomics of reforestation projects, supporting conservation efforts and supporting small landowners and Indigenous communities.
Indonesian communities push to reclaim lands following company permit revocations
- In January, the Indonesian government ordered the revocation of PT TPL’s forest utilization permit, along with those of 27 other companies, for allegedly violating environmental and forestry regulations that contributed to deadly floods and landslides in November 2025.
- Twenty-nine communities whose customary lands overlap with the pulpwood company’s concession are demanding the return of 37,219 hectares after decades of conflict with the enterprise. Some people have reoccupied lands.
- According to officials, the state-owned investment agency Danantara will take over the companies’ concessions, but community leaders say the legal status of customary lands and forests is still unclear after meetings with government officials.
- Community leaders and NGOs have drafted next steps for the lands, including reforestation following decades of eucalyptus plantations and land titling.
Climate or biodiversity? Global study maps out forestation’s dilemma
- A new study maps areas designated for potential carbon dioxide removal projects, such as planting forests or bioenergy crops, that might conflict with biodiversity hotspots.
- Such climate strategies could harm species if they change existing ecosystems or use too much land.
- The study points to the importance of more careful site selection for these projects.
- The authors of the study also note the importance of reducing humanity’s CO2 emissions, rather than relying solely on removing CO2 from the atmosphere later on.
Beetle known for ravaging mango trees now killing baobabs, study finds
- Researchers say baobabs face a potential new threat from the mango stem borer, a beetle long known to devastate other trees.
- The warning comes from research in Oman, where scientists found the pest had killed six baobabs and severely infested a dozen more in a small valley population.
- Authorities there are fighting the infestation with pesticides, light traps and manual removal of larvae from the trees.
- Scientists note that similar infestations have not yet been recorded in other countries where baobabs grow.
Cameroon’s decade of conflict leaves apes and conservationists in peril
- Dozens of protected areas in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, including parks that are home to great apes and other threatened species, have been swept up in a decade-long armed conflict between government forces and separatist militias.
- The ongoing conflict has blocked conservationists’ access to forests, and exposed conservationists, local civilians and the region’s wildlife to violence.
- Displaced people have turned to farming and hunting in forests in order to survive, while militias also hunt and camp in the forest.
- Conservationists have explored new strategies to keep their work alive, including working with local citizen scientists, but say the task of rebuilding organizations in the midst of a humanitarian crisis is huge.
Birds are changing — and Indigenous memory is the longest record we have
- A global study drawing on Indigenous and local knowledge across three continents finds that bird communities have shifted toward smaller-bodied species over the past 80 years, suggesting a substantial loss of larger birds even in places with little formal monitoring.
- Traditional ecological knowledge, built through daily interaction with landscapes over generations, can reveal long-term environmental changes that scientific datasets — often only decades deep — fail to capture.
- Because larger species tend to be more vulnerable to habitat fragmentation and environmental stress, a shift toward smaller birds may signal deeper ecological restructuring rather than a simple decline in numbers.
- Integrating lived experience with scientific methods offers a fuller picture of environmental change, highlighting that some of the earliest warnings come from people who depend most directly on the natural world.
Brazil wanted more protections for its endangered national tree. Then France called
- Alleged last-minute political maneuvers prevented Brazil from securing the highest protections from international commercial trade of Brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata) at the 2025 meeting of CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty.
- The music industry, which covets the wood to produce violin bows — costing up to $8,200 a piece — saluted French President Emmanuel Macron’s “decisive involvement” to avoid new trade restrictions.
- The French press reported that Macron personally called Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to discuss the issue, but the Brazilian Presidency denied receiving such a call.
- Found only in Brazil, Paubrasilia echinata has experienced an 84% decline over the last three generations, and now the country deems the tree critically endangered.
Out of captivity, into conflict: slow lorises struggle to survive after release
- A study in Bangladesh found that seven of nine rescued Bengal slow lorises died within six months of release, showing that rewilding trafficked animals can become a “death trap” if habitat and social conditions aren’t right.
- Most of the dead lorises bore venomous bite wounds from their wild counterparts, indicating that releasing highly territorial animals into already occupied forests can trigger lethal fights.
- The two that survived established larger home ranges, while those kept longer in captivity fared worse, underscoring the need for careful site selection, population surveys, and evidence-based release protocols.
- Experts say that rescue and release only address the symptoms of illegal wildlife trafficking, and that curbing poaching and habitat loss is essential to prevent further harm to both individuals and wild populations.
Agroforestry offers market-based way to boost Amazon rains & farmer incomes (analysis)
- Since the 1970s, Brazil has cleared a large amount of Amazon Rainforest, and the consequences extend beyond biodiversity loss, carbon emissions and social disruption, because the forest generates its own weather.
- Continued deforestation could push the system past a tipping point where the Amazon can no longer sustain its rainfall regime, threatening the continent’s productive capacity and the economic livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.
- The economic opportunity that can change this is agroforestry systems that reforest areas to produce global commodities that can also comply with Brazil’s Forest Code, which requires private properties in the Amazonian region to maintain native vegetation on 80% of their landholdings.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
In Brazil, a free platform uses government data to track EUDR compliance
- Developed by researchers at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, the Selo Verde platform provides a free, public tool to check a Brazilian producer’s compliance with environmental laws, including the upcoming EU deforestation regulation.
- The tool crosses data from state and federal governments on land use, deforestation, cattle transport and legal infractions, to monitor environmental compliance on rural properties.
- Selo Verde is run by state governments: First launched in the state of Pará in 2021, it has since been adopted in Minas Gerais, Acre and Espírito Santo, with other states interested in developing their own Selo Verde, and other countries encouraged to emulate their own.
- The adoption of the platform by businesses remains a challenge, however, with experts saying there’s no incentive to do so amid ongoing delays to the EUDR.
Indigenous communities oppose Papua forest rezoning for palm oil
- Indigenous communities in Indonesian Papua have filed an administrative objection against forestry ministry decrees that reclassify more than a million acres as nonforest land, clearing the way for oil palm development under the government’s food estate program.
- The rezoning last September was carried out without the communities’ knowledge or consent, and the affected areas include swaths of forest that they have proposed as customary forests.
- The communities only learned of the decision months later, after NGOs obtained the decree. If the ministry fails to respond to their objection, they plan to sue in the State Administrative Court.
- The expansion aligns with the government’s drive to boost food and biofuel production, but Indigenous rights advocates warn the plan could cost communities their forests, livelihoods and cultural ties to the land.
In Thailand, old camera-trap photos shed new light on Asian tapirs
- Archived camera-trap data from southern Thailand’s Khlong Saeng–Khao Sok Forest Complex identified at least 43 individual Asian tapirs, suggesting the area may be a key refuge for the endangered species.
- Researchers used “bycatch” images from camera traps originally set to photograph bears to estimate tapir density at 6-10 individuals per 100 square kilometers, showing existing data can help monitor elusive species.
- Modeling suggests the forest complex could hold up to 436 mature tapirs, far higher than previous estimates for Thailand and Myanmar combined, though researchers warn the figure may overestimate actual numbers.
- Despite the promising findings, Asian tapirs face ongoing threats from habitat loss and snaring, and experts say protecting intact forest strongholds is vital for the species’ survival.
After logging bans, Australia turns to “forest thinning”. Does it reduce fire risk?
- As native forest logging ends in parts of Australia, governments and industry are turning to large-scale forest thinning as a tool to reduce bushfire risk, prompting a new debate over how best to protect communities in a warming climate.
- Research shows thinning can lower fire severity under some conditions, especially when paired with prescribed burning, but its effectiveness often diminishes during extreme fire weather — the very conditions driving the most destructive fires.
- Scientists warn that removing trees can alter forest structure, dry fuels, release stored carbon, and eliminate critical wildlife habitat, meaning the ecological and climate costs may be substantial in high-conservation forests.
- The controversy reflects deeper tensions over land use, public safety, and economic transition, with critics arguing that large-scale thinning risks becoming logging by another name while supporters see it as a necessary adaptation to escalating fire danger.
The cost of compliance with the EUDR will limit its impact on reducing deforestation (commentary)
- Many links in agri-commodity supply chains have very narrow profit margins, making them particularly sensitive to additional costs.
- The costs of implementing “zero deforestation” agri-commodity supply chain commitments requiring physical segregation are likely to cause positively engaged companies to avoid commodities grown in regions with active deforestation, leaving companies with no deforestation commitments in their place.
- Contrary to dominant beliefs in adding controls and costs, systemically linking markets and public policy in producer regions enables cheaper, more price-competitive and thus more effective forest-climate strategies; jurisdictional REDD+ is poised to provide such a bridge, argue Bjørn Rask Thomsen, Europe Director at Earth Innovation Institute and former food industry CEO and Daniel Nepstad, Executive Director and President at Earth Innovation Institute in this op-ed.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
The Amazon’s most valuable export isn’t timber — it’s rain
- Tropical forests actively generate rainfall by releasing moisture into the atmosphere, with each square meter producing hundreds of liters of rain annually across surrounding regions. Clearing even small portions can measurably reduce precipitation, especially during dry seasons.
- Much of the rain that falls far inland originates from forests through long-distance moisture transport known as “flying rivers,” meaning farms, cities, and reservoirs may depend on ecosystems located hundreds or thousands of kilometers away.
- Reduced rainfall from deforestation can undermine agriculture, river flows, and hydropower, revealing forests as a form of natural water infrastructure that supports food production, energy systems, and economic stability.
- By assigning a monetary value to forest-generated rainfall, researchers estimate the service in the Amazon alone is worth on the order of tens of billions of dollars annually, underscoring that forest loss threatens not only biodiversity and carbon storage but regional climate systems themselves.
Amazon deforestation on pace to be the lowest on record, says Brazil
- Near-real-time satellite alerts show Amazon deforestation in Brazil continuing to decline into early 2026, with clearing from August through January falling to its lowest level for that period since 2014.
- Over the previous 12 months, detected forest loss also dropped to a 2014 low, reinforcing a broader downward trend that is corroborated by official annual data and independent monitoring. Clearing in the neighboring Cerrado savanna has also fallen
- Environment Minister Marina Silva attributed the decline to strengthened enforcement and municipal cooperation, saying Brazil could record the lowest Amazon deforestation rate since record-keeping began in 1988 if current efforts continue.
- While the data is positive for conservation advocates, short-term satellite data can fluctuate seasonally, and long-term outcomes will depend on economic pressures, infrastructure expansion, and climate-driven risks such as drought and fire.
Malaria outbreak among Indigenous Pirahã linked to forest loss, satellite data find
- According to data from Global Forest Watch, the Pirahã Indigenous Territory in Brazil lost 7,000 hectares of tree cover from 2002-24.
- A large spike occurred in 2024, when the territory lost 3,200 hectares of tree cover.
- Government officials told Mongabay that the recently contacted Pirahã people are facing a malaria outbreak, and the deforestation is the result of an effort by Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency to improve food security.
- The situation is complex, conservationists say, and although the clearings to plant crops may exacerbate the risk of malaria, the Pirahã people need food to improve their ability to fight the disease.
Scientists can’t agree on where the world’s forests are
- A global comparison of ten satellite-based forest datasets found striking disagreement about where forests are located, with only about a quarter of mapped forest area recognized by all sources. Differences in definitions, resolution, and methodology mean that estimates of forest extent vary widely depending on the map used.
- The inconsistencies are greatest in dry forests and fragmented landscapes, where sparse tree cover makes classification difficult. Even small technical choices—such as canopy thresholds or sensor type—can determine whether an area counts as forest at all.
- These discrepancies translate into large differences in real-world indicators. Estimates of forest carbon in Kenya, forest-proximate poverty in India, and habitat loss in Brazil varied dramatically across datasets, with potential implications for funding, policy, and conservation priorities.
- Because forest maps underpin climate targets, biodiversity planning, and development decisions, the authors urge treating estimates as ranges rather than precise figures and testing results across multiple datasets. Greater standardization and transparency, they argue, will be essential for credible monitoring of global environmental goals.
Helicopter translocation brings isolated banteng to safer grounds in Cambodia
- Earlier this month in northeastern Cambodia, conservationists deployed helicopters, trucks and more than 50 personnel to translocate a group of critically endangered banteng into a protected reserve.
- Banteng, a type of wild cattle that once roamed widely across Southeast Asia, have suffered crippling population declines due to hunting and deforestation.
- The effort is part of wider plans to secure a future for the species in Cambodia while rewilding Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary, a site that experts say is one of Cambodia’s best protected sites.
- Against the backdrop of intense forest loss, even within protected areas, experts say translocation of isolated animals away from frontiers of development could offer a viable future for conservation in Cambodia.
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.
Forests don’t just store carbon. They keep people alive, scientists say
- Forests influence climate not only by storing carbon but by cooling the air, moderating extreme temperatures, and regulating water flows in ways that directly affect human well-being, concludes an academic review published this week in the journal Science.
- These effects are strongest at the local level: intact forests can make surrounding areas markedly cooler, stabilize rainfall, and create microclimates that support agriculture, health, and daily life.
- When forests are cleared, those protections can disappear quickly, often producing hotter, drier conditions and exposing large populations to increased heat stress and associated health risks.
- The greatest climate benefits occur where forests are native, underscoring that protecting and restoring natural ecosystems can be as important for adaptation to climate change as for reducing emissions, argues the paper.
From land acquisitions to local ownership: Alternatives for carbon offsetting (commentary)
- Land-based carbon offsetting poses serious risks, including inflated climate benefits and harmful livelihood impacts. A recent Land Matrix Initiative report argues that large-scale land acquisitions in the Global South under the auspices of carbon markets are adding substantial risks to global climate policies.
- Given these developments, the Land Matrix provides critical, evidence-based scrutiny by documenting the scale and diversity of carbon-related land deals and advancing harm-reduction measures such as transparency, land governance, and accountability.
- Among the recommendations, prioritizing community-based projects — while not risk-free — may offer a conditional alternative, provided there is genuine ownership, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and strong safeguards, with communities ultimately deciding whether and how to engage.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Thousands of peat fires flare across Indonesia despite rainy season
- More than 5,000 fire hotspots were detected across Indonesia’s peatlands in January, according to an independent watchdog — an alarming spike despite peak rainy season conditions and recent severe flooding in parts of Sumatra and Borneo.
- About a third of the hotspots were inside company concessions, mostly oil palm, reinforcing long-standing evidence that drained and degraded peatlands are highly flammable even after short dry spells, with fire risk now shaped more by hydrology than by calendar seasons.
- Provinces such as West Kalimantan and Aceh were hardest hit, with fires producing thick haze in cities like Pontianak and contributing to respiratory illness, underscoring how degraded peat amplifies both flood and fire risks.
- After a presidentially appointed peat restoration agency was allowed to lapse in 2024, watchdogs say fragmented oversight, weak monitoring and uncertainty over responsibility have created setbacks in peat protection, raising concerns ahead of potential future El Niño conditions.
Brazil gov’t builds map to help exporters comply with EU anti-deforestation rule
- Brazil’s National Space Research Institute, INPE, created a new technology to generate deforestation data in polygons of a half-hectare threshold for the first time, following the European Union’s new regulation on deforestation-free products, or EUDR.
- When it comes into effect at the end of 2026 (delayed for the second year in a row), the EUDR will require suppliers to provide geolocalized data and other documentation to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from areas illegally deforested after Dec. 31, 2020.
- December is the start of the Amazon rainy season, which poses challenges to track deforestation due to the high incidence of clouds; to tackle this, INPE created the Brazil Data Cube, which captures all remote sensing images of a period and radar to get cloud-free images for that month.
- The map was built per request of the agriculture ministry, which made it available for rural producers in late December 2025 through a platform aimed at integrating information from public and private databases to generate compliance reports to be used by exporters.
Brazil’s Atlantic Forest Indigenous lands show strong restoration gains
- A recent study comparing different land tenure regimes in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest found that Indigenous lands and agrarian-reform settlements have greater restoration gains than private properties — by 189 hectares on average.
- Concurrently, the study also found Indigenous lands and agrarian-reform settlements had 21 hectares and roughly 4.5 hectares more restoration reversals than private properties, respectively.
- Farming and agroecological land use practices may be among the reasons for higher restoration reversals, the authors suggested, while strong restoration gains are influenced by different governance structures and Indigenous cosmologies centered around relational connection to forest species.
- Indigenous advocates say communities need strong policies, sustained funding and land demarcation to establish environmental preservation areas and continue forest restoration.
Bolivia Indigenous communities, local gov’ts help protect nearly 1 million hectares
- Bolivia has created four new protected areas covering 907,244 hectares (2.2 million acres) of Amazon lowlands and Andean highlands, creating corridors intended to improve wildlife migration and maintain forest-based economies for local families.
- Because the creation of nationally protected areas has slowed in Bolivia in recent years, conservation groups have looked to departmental and local governments for help protecting the rainforest.
- The new protected areas help strengthen wildlife corridors between larger national parks.
Partnering up to run a DRC reserve: Interview with Forgotten Parks’ Christine Lain
- In 2017, Upemba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo was largely a “paper park,” badly underfunded and encroached on by poachers, farmers, artisanal miners and armed groups, with its wildlife in steep decline.
- That year, Forgotten Parks signed a 15-year deal with the DRC government to manage the park.
- The agreement was one of a growing number of public-private partnerships for conservation in Africa.
- Mongabay spoke to Forgotten Parks’ DRC director, Christine Lain, about how Forgotten Parks approaches its work at Upemba.
Mines, dams move in as protection slips in a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
- Since 2020, at least five companies have been granted mining concessions in land designated as a community protected area adjoining Cambodia’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Satellite analysis and on-the-ground reporting reveal that marble extraction has been underway since 2021, with companies piling up and shipping out thousands of blocks of marble, leaving behind cleared forests and water-filled pits.
- Government officials and mining companies did not respond to interview requests, but local residents and community chiefs say they have not been consulted, or been given adequate compensation, as quarries tore through land in the community zone.
- Lumphat sanctuary is also under pressure from industrial agriculture and a planned hydropower development.
What’s next for the major pledge to halt & reverse Congo Basin deforestation?
- In January, high-level policymakers came together to discuss the implementation of the recent Belém Call to Action for the Congo Basin Forests, a $2.5 billion pledge to conserve the world’s second-largest rainforest.
- Central topics included the need for innovative funding approaches, such as moving beyond traditional donors in the Global North, direct funding for communities, the need to fund projects that link forest conservation with socioeconomic development and how to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.
- For this commitment to work, where other environmental pledges have failed, panelists said there must be clear, traceable financing channels, strong institutional coordination, strong legal frameworks and genuine engagement of civil society and local actors.
- The Congo Basin, covering several Central African countries in a wide green canopy, is facing several threats, chronic underfunding — and attention — for its conservation.
Successful campaign proves Ghana’s forests are worth more than gold (commentary)
- An unprecedented campaign recently pushed Ghana’s government to repeal legislation allowing mining in forest reserves.
- Originally passed in 2022, the regulations had opened up nearly 90% of Ghana’s forest reserves to mining, but the campaign spurred nationwide protests, petitions, a strike and a prayer walk on the streets of Accra.
- “Together, we rallied behind the idea that our forests are more important to us than gold. But as momentous as repealing the legislation is, it’s only a staging post in a longer journey to end the devastation that mining is inflicting in Ghana,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
What the forest reveals from above
Aerial photography invites a level of uncertainty. The ground offers clues but rarely the full picture. Once the view lifts, certain patterns begin to register: peat-dark water cutting through forest, the abrupt change from canopy to cleared land, the geometry of river bends, or mountains rising in the distance. At times, the colors can be […]
Getting forest restoration right
Tree planting has become a favored response to environmental loss. Governments, companies, and philanthropies announce large targets with reassuring round numbers. Forests, after all, store carbon, shelter wildlife, and support livelihoods. Yet the details matter. Planting the wrong species, or planting trees where forests did not exist, can undermine both biodiversity and climate goals. That […]
When nature becomes a security risk
Britain’s national security thinking has traditionally been shaped by familiar concerns: hostile states, terrorism, energy supply, and, more recently, cyber threats. A new assessment from the U.K. government adds a different category to that list. Global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, it argues, now pose a direct and growing risk to national security, with implications […]
The fair costs for forest rehabilitation in Indonesia (commentary)
- Aida Greenbury, a sustainability leader and forestry expert, argues that Indonesia’s plan to spend US$9.2 billion in public funds to rehabilitate degraded forests lacks transparency and risks placing the financial burden on taxpayers rather than those most responsible for deforestation.
- She points to consistent evidence showing that large corporations in sectors such as palm oil, timber, pulp and paper, and mining are the primary drivers of forest loss, raising questions about why national and regional budgets should pay for restoring landscapes damaged by private industry.
- Greenbury calls for clearer disclosure, stronger accountability mechanisms, and a public–private financing model that requires companies linked to deforestation to bear most of the restoration costs, while ensuring reforms are grounded in credible data and community consent.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
‘Blew us away’: Researchers find nitrogen boost spurs faster tropical forest growth
- A new study in Panama finds that nitrogen availability limits forest growth in the early stages of regeneration.
- Nitrogen addition to newly cleared land and 10-year-old forests substantially boosted regeneration, though adding nutrients to older forests did not have the same effect
- The study also found that phosphorus availability did not limit forest growth at any stage of forest maturity.
- The researchers recommend ensuring nitrogen-fixing species are included during reforestation.
Australia’s land-use squeeze
- Australia’s recent land use change has steadily reduced and degraded native vegetation, shrinking the amount of intact habitat available to wildlife and weakening ecosystem resilience.
- Clearing has been concentrated in productive regions, especially along the eastern seaboard and parts of the north, where agriculture, development, and resource extraction continue to reshape landscapes.
- The biodiversity impacts are not only about area lost: fragmentation breaks habitats into smaller, drier, more isolated patches, making populations more vulnerable to fire, heat, invasive species, and local collapse.
- Conservation tools like protected areas and restoration help, but they struggle to keep pace when habitat loss continues through thousands of incremental decisions across overlapping state and federal systems.
Indonesia fast-tracks final permit for Papua rice megaproject without Indigenous consent
- Indigenous rights activists in Indonesia’s Papua region are condemning the government’s rapid approval of a massive rice plantation, arguing the government fast-tracked a key land permit without proper consultation or consent from Indigenous landowners.
- The activists say the process ignored Indigenous communities’ free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and reflects a broader pattern under the food estate program that sidelines Indigenous rights and environmental safeguards in the name of national food security.
- Critics warn of widespread deforestation, land dispossession and social conflict, echoing past failures of similar schemes elsewhere in Indonesia.
- The government claims that procedures were followed, but Indigenous representatives and civil society groups say consultations were minimal, protests were ignored and the project amounts to forced land appropriation.
Brazil sets out its strategy for nature
Brazil is the world’s most biodiverse country, and the title is not closely contested in absolute numbers: between 10% and 15% of all known species live within its borders. The country contains nearly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest and supplies about a tenth of the world’s food. That combination of ecological wealth and economic […]
Seminarian-turned-fire-agent preaches new tactics to fight Amazon’s burn crisis
- Lacking trucks and gear, a civil servant once destined for the priesthood now uses WhatsApp groups to direct volunteers who must manually carry river water through dense forest to tackle record blazes deep in an Amazonian town five times the size of New York City.
- Once rare, record-breaking wildfires destroyed millions of hectares across the Brazilian Amazon in recent years, leaving surviving forests increasingly fragile and susceptible to recurring blazes.
- Only 16% of Amazonian municipalities in Brazil have operational military fire brigades, forcing rural towns to rely on underfunded local offices and unpaid volunteers to defend the rainforest.
World Bank carbon program risks further infringing upon rights of Indonesian Indigenous community (commentary)
- The Indigenous Dayak Bahau community of Long Isun has long fought for recognition, land rights and justice in Indonesian Borneo, and while those disputes remain unresolved, a new threat to their sovereignty has appeared: the World Bank’s carbon program.
- The bank did not create the conflict, but by moving forward with a carbon offset project on this land that is still contested, it would risk reinforcing the status quo that enabled logging companies to operate on their territory without genuine consent.
- “A genuine response from the World Bank could set an important precedent: resolving customary land disputes before launching carbon projects,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Patagonia fires reignite debate over Argentina’s underfunded environmental agencies
- Two major fires broke out in early January in Argentina’s southern Chubut province, threatening parts of Los Alerces National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- The fires have destroyed at least 21,000 hectares (52,000 acres) of forest and grassland in and around the park, home to the alerce tree (Fitzroya cupressoides), a cypress that can live for more than 3,600 years.
- Critics pointed to recent budget cuts and staff shortages for environmental programs, which make it difficult to both prevent fires and put them out when they start.
Kirtida Mekani, Singapore’s tree lady, has died, aged 66
Singapore sells itself as an engineered miracle: a dense city that works, where heat, rain, and scarcity are managed rather than endured. Greenery is part of that bargain. Trees soften the concrete and help make the place livable, but they are also a kind of civic language. They signal order, foresight, and the idea that […]
Sumatra’s female forest protectors
“We’re not patrolling; we’re roaming.” In the forests bordering Mount Leuser National Park, a group of Indigenous women are demonstrating a new paradigm of conservation in what is traditionally male-dominated industry. Through the Nuraga Bhumi Institute, a female-led initiative founded by Nayla Azmii, these women patrol a 5-hectare buffer zone that was once destined to […]
Francis Hallé, the botanist who took a raft into the rainforest canopy
- The richest part of a tropical rainforest is often the hardest to study: the canopy, where much of its biodiversity lives beyond reach from the ground. Francis Hallé helped change that by finding ways to observe the treetops without cutting them down.
- A French botanist, biologist, and illustrator, he became known for the “canopy raft,” a platform set onto the crowns of trees by a balloon. It turned the upper forest from a place described in theory into one examined up close.
- Hallé was an expert in tropical forest ecology and “the architecture of trees,” a way of identifying trees by how they grow and branch. He paired field science with drawing and plain speech, and he was unsparing about the forces driving deforestation.
- In his later years he pursued a long-term plan to restore a “primeval forest” in Western Europe, left to evolve with minimal human interference over centuries. It was, in his view, a test of whether societies could think beyond the political moment.
Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits over role in deadly Sumatra landslides
- Indonesia has revoked the permits of 28 companies after a post–Cyclone Senyar audit found environmental violations that authorities say worsened deadly floods and landslides in Sumatra in late 2025, which killed about 1,200 people.
- The revoked permits cover about 1 million hectares of forests and include major players such as pulpwood producer PT Toba Pulp Lestari, marking a shift toward framing permit enforcement as post-disaster accountability.
- Two high-profile projects in the Batang Toru ecosystem were hit: a nearly completed hydropower plant and the Martabe gold mine, both long criticized for operating in landslide-prone terrain that’s the only habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan.
- Environmental groups have welcomed the revocations, but warn the move is incomplete, calling for transparency, ecosystem restoration, protection against permit transfers to new operators, and broader action to halt deforestation in vulnerable watersheds.
How US intervention could deepen Venezuela’s environmental crisis
- Following the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. has expressed interest in the country’s oil and minerals. But the current landscape means that a rushed investment could be disastrous for the environment, critics warn.
- Venezuela has an estimated 300 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the largest in the world. But decaying infrastructure and corruption make investment almost impossible, with a high risk of spills inside sensitive ecosystems.
- The country also has massive mineral deposits, many of them in the rainforest and on Indigenous territory. The mines are largely controlled by criminal groups, making U.S. involvement there extremely complicated, critics said.
Too many African plants fall into the IUCN’s ‘not evaluated’ trap (commentary)
- Of the approximately 350,000 vascular plant species in the world, only about 18% have been assessed by the IUCN Red List, and the situation is starker still if one looks at just tropical African species.
- Further, IUCN’s “not evaluated” category simply means a species has not yet been assessed against Red List criteria, and in practice, African conservationists often meet a more confusing reality: Many species are not on the global Red List at all but are still informally talked about as if they are NE.
- “Here’s a constructive way forward via “Red List + Reality” decision rules…A stronger system could combine global assessments with local intelligence,” a new commentary suggests.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
For two of the world’s most at-risk primates, threats abound and the future looks grim
- Preuss’s red colobus is found in two populations in West Africa — roughly 3,000 individuals in the Korup–Cross River forest block and none confirmed in the Yabassi Key Biodiversity Area for more than a decade — and faces intense pressure from hunting and habitat loss.
- The Bangka slow loris, restricted to Bangka Island in Indonesia has not been systematically studied for decades and has suffered extensive habitat loss from mining and forest conversion.
- Proper field studies and conservation approaches used for other slow loris species could provide a road map for assessing and protecting the Bangka slow loris.
- For Preuss’s red colobus, a regional action plan is advancing in Nigeria, where monitoring and community outreach are underway, but implementation in Cameroon has been hampered by ongoing civil unrest around Korup National Park.
Indonesia sues 6 companies over alleged links to deadly floods & landslides
- Indonesia’s environment ministry is seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($284 million) in environmental damages from six companies it has linked to deadly floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Senyar in November.
- Following the disasters, the ministry launched an investigation into dozens of companies in the region; the findings determined six companies were responsible for alleged damage to watersheds in North Sumatra.
- The areas affected include Batang Toru, an ecologically fragile ecosystem home to the Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape.
Colombia poised for another drop in deforestation in 2025, data show
- Deforestation in Colombia appears to have declined in 2025, with notable reductions in several departments like Meta, Caquetá and Guaviare.
- The main drivers of deforestation include the spread of cattle ranching and agriculture, as well as illicit crops like coca, the primary ingredient in cocaine.
- Officials attributed the declining trend to collaboration with Indigenous communities and environmental zoning in rural areas, as well as ecotourism and a program providing financial incentives for communities involved in forest conservation.
Hidden heroes: Australian tree bark microbes consume greenhouse & toxic gases
- A new study carried out in Australia finds that the bark of common tree species holds diverse microbial communities, with trillions of microbes living on every tree.
- The research determined that many of these microbial species specialize in metabolizing methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
- Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, while hydrogen and carbon monoxide are considered indirect greenhouse gases. Carbon monoxide and VOCs are also both hazardous to human health.
- The study found that tree bark microbes play a significant, previously unknown role in atmospheric gas cycling, potentially boosting estimations of the climate benefits offered by global forests. Learning which tree species boast the best microbes for curbing climate change and pollution could better inform reforestation strategies.
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.
In the race for DRC’s critical minerals, community forests are on the frontline
- In the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s copper-cobalt belt, a region rich in critical minerals, villagers are turning to local community forest concessions (CFCLs) to prevent their eviction and conserve the remaining savanna forests in the face of mining expansion.
- This is an area where miners from the DRC, China, the U.S. and elsewhere are searching for the minerals powering the high-tech, weapons and clean energy industries.
- Community forest concessions offer communities land titles in perpetuity and have environmental management plans led by Indigenous and local communities with the support of environmental NGOs and donors.
- But these concessions are not a perfect solution against deforestation or eviction for mining, as communities often complain companies still obtain mining licenses on secured lands even without receiving consent or reaching benefit-sharing agreements. The concessions also suffer from a lack of funding to support all their environmental efforts.
Involuntary parks: Human conflict is creating unintended refuges for wildlife
- Involuntary parks — areas made largely untenable for human habitation due to environmental contamination, war, border disputes or other forms of conflict and violence — have often unintentionally benefited nature, with flora and fauna sometimes thriving in the absence of people.
- In some cases, these unanticipated refugia have been formalized as wildlife preserves. Hanford Reach National Monument in the U.S. state of Washington is one example. Though the land of this conserved area surrounds a Cold War site contaminated by chemical and radioactive waste, hundreds of species thrive there.
- The southern Kuril Islands — territory disputed by Russia and Japan — offer another example. Russia has set up preserves within the long-contested area, while Japan has declared a national park just outside it. But attempts at creating a permanent border peace park or resolving tensions have failed, and future conservation is uncertain.
- With the world now rocked by geopolitical conflict and by worsening environmental disasters (due to pollution, climate change and land-use change), nations need to assess how places that become unhealthy to humanity — turning them into involuntary parks — can be healed, and what role conservation can play in recovery.
Indonesia says 4 million hectares of plantation, mining lands reclaimed in crackdown
- The Indonesian government says it has reclaimed more than 4 million hectares of land used for plantations, mining and other activities inside officially designated forest areas.
- This is part of a sweeping crackdown on illegal activities in forest areas, carried out by a year-old task force formed by President Prabowo Subianto.
- Land seizures have exceeded the initial target by 400%, officials say, and the scale of the enforcement raises questions about how many oil palm plantations in the country are actually illegal.
- The task force has recovered about 2.3 trillion rupiah (about $136 million) in administrative fines, collected from 20 oil palm companies and one nickel mining company; it remains unclear what the money will be used for — and what will happen to the seized plantations and mines.
After years of progress, Indonesia risks ‘tragedy’ of a deforestation spike
- Deforestation is accelerating, underscoring Indonesia’s reputation as a big greenhouse gas emitter and potentially inviting more scrutiny of its commodity exports.
- Gross deforestation in Indonesia in 2025 was on track to at least match 2024’s tally, which reflected the most extensive losses since 2019, Indonesia’s forestry minister, Raja Juli Antoni, told a parliamentary committee in December.
- Indonesia’s Merauke Food Estate project involves clearing at least 2 million hectares of forest, and worries are mounting that commodity exports may suffer if big markets like the EU force importers to prove they are not buying palm oil and other products that have resulted from clearing rainforest.
- A reacceleration in the rate of Indonesia’s deforestation risks is also drawing attention to the country’s spotty climate record: At No. 6, Indonesia ranks among the top greenhouse gas emitters after China, the U.S., India, the EU and Russia.
Photos: Kew Gardens’ top 10 newly named plants and fungi for 2025
- Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, formally named 125 plants and 65 fungi in 2025, including a zombie fungus that parasitizes Brazilian spiders, a bloodstained orchid from Ecuador, and a fire-colored shrub named after a Studio Ghibli character.
- Up to three out of four undescribed plant species are already threatened with extinction, with at least one species described this year possibly already extinct in its native Cameroon habitat.
- An estimated 100,000 plant species and between 2 million and 3 million fungal species remain to be described and formally named by science.
- Many newly described species face immediate threats from habitat loss, illegal collection and climate change, highlighting the urgent need to protect areas before species disappear.
Measuring biodiversity in a world of tree-planting pledges
- The Global Biodiversity Standard (TGBS) is a certification scheme for forest restoration projects that show positive outcomes for biodiversity.
- Each assessment includes a field visit by experts from regional hubs, who have been trained in TGBS methodology.
- The regional hubs also offer ongoing mentoring to projects, to promote internationally recognized best practices in restoration.
- One year on, TGBS has certified six sites, and 15 regional hubs offer mentoring.
When Indigenous knowledge enters the scientific record
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For most of Peru’s scientific history, Indigenous knowledge has existed outside the formal record. It shaped how forests were used, how species were managed, and how risk was understood, but rarely appeared in journals or policy. The boundary […]
New species of burrowing snake described from coffee farm in India
A decade after tour guide Basil P. Das stumbled upon a small black-and-beige snake while working on his coffee farm in southern India, researchers have described it as a new-to-science species. They’ve named it Rhinophis siruvaniensis, the species name referring to the Siruvani Hills, the only place the snake is currently known from, according to […]
A catastrophe that might offer a glimpse of hope for Indonesia (commentary)
- A sequence of disasters in late 2025, including floods, landslides, and a rare cyclone in Sumatra, killed more than 1,100 people and devastated communities and wildlife in landscapes already weakened by forest loss.
- Public anger and political attention have converged, with deforestation emerging as a central topic of national debate and senior Indonesian leaders acknowledging failures in forest protection and governance.
- Amid tragedy, there are signs of possibility, as investigations, policy commitments, and evidence of resilient wildlife suggest Indonesia still has a narrow window to change course and protect its remaining forests, argues Aida Greenbury, a sustainability leader and forestry expert with decades of experience in Indonesia’s forest sector.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Bob Weir, a musician who took the environment seriously
Bob Weir, who died on January 10th, was best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. For decades he was also an unusually persistent environmental advocate, one who treated land, forests, and climate not as metaphors but as material systems under pressure. His activism ran alongside his music for most of his adult […]
Madhav Gadgil, advocate of democratic conservation, has died at 83
- Madhav Gadgil argued that conservation was not a technical problem but a political one, centered on who decides how land and resources are used, and on what evidence.
- Trained as a scientist but shaped by fieldwork, he rejected elite, top-down conservation models in favor of approaches that treated local communities as part of ecosystems rather than obstacles to be managed.
- He became nationally prominent after chairing the 2011 Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, which proposed strict safeguards and a democratic, bottom-up decision-making process that governments largely resisted.
- Until the end of his life, he remained a sharp critic of development that ignored law, ecology, and consent, insisting that democracy, not convenience, should guide environmental decisions.
Ghana repeals legislation that opened forest reserves to mining
- The Ghanaian government repealed Legislative Instrument 2462, which had empowered the president to allow mining in forest reserves previously closed to the extractive activity, including globally significant biodiversity areas.
- An act of Parliament enacted in December effected the change, with green groups describing it as a major victory for forest protection and environmental governance.
- Some experts cautioned that Ghana’s forests continue to face serious threats, stressing that concrete reforms in forestry governance must accompany the revocation.
Chimpanzees and gorillas among most traded African primates, report finds
- A new report finds thousands of African primates, including chimpanzees and gorillas, are being traded both legally and illegally.
- Most of the legal trade in great apes is for scientific and zoo purposes, but the report raises some concerns on the legality of recent trade instances for zoos.
- Chimpanzees topped the list of the most illegally traded African primates, as the exotic pet trade drives the demand for juveniles and infants.
Indonesia’s illegal gold boom leaves a toxic legacy of mercury pollution
- A nearly 70% rise in global gold prices has accelerated illegal gold mining across Indonesia, including in Bukit Gajah Berani, a forest buffer next to Kerinci Seblat National Park, threatening critical tiger habitat and protected forests nationwide.
- Despite decades of evidence and Indonesia’s commitments under the Minamata Convention, illegal gold mining remains the country’s largest source of mercury emissions, contaminating rivers, fish, crops and communities, with documented health impacts ranging from toxic exposure to malaria spikes.
- While Indonesia has strong regulations on paper, including a pledge to eliminate mercury use in illegal mining by 2025, enforcement is weak, agencies operate in silos, illegal cinnabar mining continues, and attempts to formalize “community mining” have largely failed in practice.
- Illegal mining has destroyed forests, farmland and waterways, reducing rice production, worsening floods, and eroding traditional forest-based livelihoods, leaving communities with polluted landscapes and long-term ecological and economic costs as criminal networks adapt faster than regulators.
Indonesia launches sweeping environmental audits after Sumatra flood disaster
- After Cyclone Senyar killed more than 1,100 people across Sumatra, the Indonesian government has acknowledged that deforestation and land-use changes — not extreme weather alone — amplified the scale of floods and landslides.
- In a significant shift, authorities are now explicitly linking disaster impacts to development decisions and corporate activity, signaling that permits will not shield companies from accountability.
- The government has launched a three-track response: rapid disaster impact assessments, reviews of provincial zoning plans, and environmental audits of more than 100 companies across extractive and infrastructure sectors.
- Civil society groups have cautiously welcomed the move, but note that meaningful reform will depend on whether Jakarta is willing to revise permissive zoning plans that legally enable large-scale forest conversion.
Urban sprawl and illegal mining reshape a fragile Amazon frontier
- Ever since Mitú was first established as a settlement in 1935, it has rapidly transformed into an expanding urban town in one of Colombia’s most isolated departments.
- The Amazonian forests, rivers and Indigenous communities who surround Mitú are impacted by urbanization, the overexploitation of natural resources, cattle ranching, illegal mining and timber extraction which have caused deforestation, soil degradation and water pollution.
- Researchers say the construction of a highway from Mitú to Monfort has attracted settlers who cleared land around the road to expand the urban center and develop agricultural production and cattle ranching.
- Mongabay found 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of tree cover loss in Mitú since 2014.
7 hopeful wildlife sightings that researchers celebrated in 2025
Once in a while, an animal shows up where it’s least expected, including places from where it was thought to have gone extinct. These rare sightings bring hope — but also fresh concerns. These are some of the wildlife sightings Mongabay reported on in 2025. Colossal squid recorded for the first time in its deep-sea […]
Amazon entrepreneur spreads seeds of growth with recycled paper
- In the Brazilian city of Altamira, a small business transforms recycled paper into seed-embedded sheets that grow into flowers, herbs and even local plants, merging creativity and sustainability.
- Founder Alessandra Moreira turned personal adversity into purpose, building a backyard business that inspires sustainable entrepreneurship.
- Experts say initiatives like Ecoplante embody the future of the Amazon’s bioeconomy, where innovation, inclusion and forest conservation can grow hand in hand.
Poaching down but threats remain for forest elephants, recent population assessment finds
- The first authoritative population assessment for African forest elephants estimates there are more than 145,000 individuals.
- Researchers say new survey techniques relying on sampling DNA from elephant dung provide the most accurate estimate of a species that’s difficult to count in its rainforest habitat.
- Central Africa remains the species’ stronghold, home to nearly 96% of forest elephants, with densely forested Gabon hosting 95,000 individuals.
- Conservationists say the findings can help inform the design of targeted conservation actions and national plans for forest elephants.
The climate fight may not be won in the Amazon, but it can be lost there
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. After five decades studying the plants and peoples of the Amazon, Mark Plotkin, an ethnobotanist and co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team, is still asked whether the rainforest’s glass is half-full or half-empty. His answer is unchanged. “By […]
‘I’m proud to be the first published Asháninka researcher’: Richar Antonio Demetrio on bees
- Richar Antonio Demetrio is the first Indigenous Asháninka scientist to publish in a high-impact journal, combining traditional ecological knowledge with scientific methodology to study meliponiculture, the farming of stingless bees.
- His first paper, published in March 2025, reveals that Asháninka communities can identify more than 14 plant species used by stingless bees to build their nests, and apply sustainable practices in honey production.
- His second warns that more than 50% of the habitat of stingless bees in the Avireri-Vraem Biosphere Reserve overlaps with areas at high risk of deforestation.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Demetrio talks about the challenges he faced from both the scientific and Indigenous communities during his studies, and about the importance of balancing Western scientific methods with age-old traditional knowledge.
Camera traps in China capture first-ever footage of Amur tigress with five cubs
Camera traps installed in the world’s largest tiger reserve, in China, have captured footage of an Amur tigress and her five cubs for the first time. Recorded in November 2025, the footage from Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park shows an adult tigress ambling along a dirt road, and four young cubs tootling behind […]
Guatemala’s eco defenders reel from surge in killings and persecution
- In 2023, there were four recorded killings of environmental defenders in connection to their work; in 2024, this figure shot up to at least 20, according to advocacy group Global Witness.
- An ongoing political crisis, persistent criminalization, and the spread of organized crime have all fed the rise in violence against Indigenous and campesino communities and defenders.
- This is happening despite a change of government, led by President Bernardo Arévalo, whose movement was backed by Indigenous communities.
- Land grabbing, mass arrest warrants and judicial persecution are increasingly common, together with the use of force, say human rights defenders and activists.
How are California’s birds faring amid ever more frequent wildfires?
- Long-term research in California shows that many bird populations increase after wildfires and can remain more abundant in burned areas for decades, especially following moderate fires.
- Although some bird species are adapted to fire and benefit from low to moderately severe blazes, megafires in California are becoming more frequent.
- Megafires, scientists say, are unlikely to benefit most bird species and harm those that depend on old-growth forests.
- Wildfire smoke poses a serious threat to birds’ health, with evidence linking heavy exposure to particulate matter in smoke to reduced activity, weight loss and, possibly, increased mortality.
Road to recovery: Five stories of species staging a comeback
Amid accelerating biodiversity loss and shrinking ecological spaces, it’s easy to lose hope. But every year, there are stories of optimism: of species that are making a comeback after being nearly wiped out. Here are five such species whose recovery Mongabay reported on in 2025: Cape vulture The Cape vulture (Gyps coprotheres), southern Africa’s largest vulture […]
Indonesia closes 2025 with rising disasters and stalled environmental reform
- Deadly floods and landslides in Sumatra in late 2025 underscored how deforestation, weak spatial planning and extractive development have increased Indonesia’s vulnerability to extreme weather — problems scientists and activists say the government has largely failed to confront.
- Forest loss surged nationwide in 2025, with Sumatra overtaking Borneo as the main deforestation hotspot, while large areas of forest in Papua were redesignated for food estates, agriculture and biofuel projects, raising concerns over carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.
- Despite international pledges to phase out coal, national energy plans continued to lock in coal, gas and biomass co-firing for decades, while palm oil expansion and mining — including in sensitive areas like Raja Ampat — remained central to development strategy, often prompting action only after public pressure.
- Civil society groups increasingly turned to lawsuits amid shrinking space for dissent, rising criminalization of Indigenous communities and activists, and growing militarization of land-use projects — trends campaigners warn are weakening democratic safeguards and environmental protections alike.
Satellite data show forest loss persists in Brazilian Amazon’s most deforested reserve
- Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area was established to protect a swath of the Amazon Rainforest from the cattle industry.
- However, satellite data show the reserve has lost around 50% of its primary forest cover since it was created in 2006.
- The data show forest loss peaked in 2024, and continued into 2025.
- Research indicates rates of deforestation are higher in Triunfo do Xingu than in the unprotected areas around it.
A small preserve leads a big effort to save native plants in the Bahamas
- The Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve is a 12-hectare (30-acre) estate on Eleuthera, an island in the Bahamas, dedicated to conserving and educating people about the island-nation’s native plants.
- Since 2009, resident botanist Ethan Freid has led a local restoration effort prioritizing native plants of the Bahamas’ subtropical dry forest ecosystem.
- The Levy preserve also offers a summer internship for university students interested in environmental science and biology, which teaches them about native plant taxonomy — filling a generational knowledge gap.
- Though small in scale, the project provides a haven for the Bahamas’ native plants; has a herbarium of plant specimens for research; and manages an online digital database of Caribbean plant species.
Rare bats at risk as iron ore mine advances in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains
- Guinea’s government is assessing the potential impacts of a mining project in the Nimba Mountains, in a biodiversity hotspot that has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site while being threatened by mining.
- U.S. mining company Ivanhoe Atlantic recently submitted an environmental impact assessment for an iron ore mine at a site that is the only known home of two unique bat species, as well as critically endangered chimpanzees and threatened toads and frogs.
- Conservationists say open-pit mining in this ecologically sensitive region could spell extinction for Lamotte’s roundleaf bat and the orange-furred Nimba Mountain bat if their forest habitat is disturbed for mine infrastructure.
Andy Mahler, advocate for public forests in America
- Forest conservation in the eastern United States often depended on persistence rather than decisive victories, shaped by slow regulatory processes and fragmented governance that rewarded those willing to keep showing up after attention faded.
- Out of this context grew a form of grassroots activism grounded in local knowledge and personal trust, skeptical of hierarchy and resistant to the idea that extractive outcomes were inevitable or natural.
- Andy Mahler embodied that approach through decades of work protecting public forests, most notably as a central figure in Heartwood, a decentralized network built on sustained relationships rather than efficiency or scale.
- He favored patient, place-based engagement over professionalized advocacy, believing that lasting protection came from continued involvement and shared responsibility rather than fixed outcomes or abstract measures.
Southeast Asia’s 2025 marked by fatal floods, fossil fuel expansion and renewed mining boom
- 2025 has been a year of global upheaval, and Southeast Asia was no exception, with massive disruption caused by changes in U.S. policy and the intensifying effects of climate change.
- The region is poised at a crossroads, with plans to transition away from fossil fuels progressing unevenly, while at the same time a mining boom feeding the global energy transition threatens ecosystems and human health.
- On the positive side, deforestation appears to be slowing in much of the region, new species continue to be described by science, and grassroots efforts yield conservation wins.
In California’s redwoods, scientists rebuild lost ecosystems high up in the canopy
- Roughly 95% of California’s old-growth redwood forests have been logged at least once, leaving mostly young trees and making the overall ecosystem less diverse.
- Fern mats — spongy masses of leather-leaf ferns and decomposed plant matter that build up high in the canopy — are an important part of that system, providing critical habitat for plants and animals in California’s redwood forests.
- Now, a pilot project is trying to restore fern mats to the canopies of particularly robust redwood trees.
- Scientists are finding that manually planting fern mats is also an effective buffer in a warming climate: they mitigate forest temperatures for salmon, birds and a host of other animals.
George Teariki-Mataki Mateariki, the Birdman of Atiu, has died, aged 67
- In small island states, conservation often hinges on daily vigilance rather than formal institutions, where routine tasks like watching harbors and checking traps determine whether endemic species survive invasive threats. Such work is repetitive, underfunded, and easily overlooked, yet decisive.
- In the Cook Islands, late-20th-century bird recoveries paired outside science with local enforcement, showing that plans mattered only insofar as they were sustained on the ground at airstrips, wharves, and forest edges.
- George Teariki-Mataki Mateariki, known as Birdman George, embodied this approach by monitoring birds, trapping predators, and responding quickly to changes, helping establish Atiu as a refuge for the critically endangered kakerori and later the Rimatara lorikeet.
- Through guiding visitors, sharing practical knowledge, and maintaining constant vigilance, he treated conservation as prevention rather than rescue, asking not for admiration but for attention, and making extinction less likely through persistence rather than spectacle.
How Mongabay’s journalism made an impact in 2025
The guiding star at Mongabay isn’t pageviews or clicks; it’s meaningful impact. As 2025 draws to a close, we look back at some of the ways Mongabay’s journalism made a difference this year. Empowering Indigenous and local communities A Mongabay Latam investigation found 67 illegal airstrips were cut into the Peruvian Amazon to transport drugs, […]
Beyond human loss, floods from Cyclone Ditwah devastate Sri Lanka’s wildlife
- Cyclone Ditwah caused extensive flooding across several protected areas in Sri Lanka in late November and early December, resulting in mass deaths of deer and other wildlife that perished largely unreported.
- Wildlife officers rescued several stranded elephant calves separated from their herds, including around five still dependent on milk, with fears that more may have perished.
- Floodwaters destroyed roughly 860 kilometers (534 miles) of electric fencing, about one-sixth of the national total, raising the risk of human-elephant conflict in affected regions.
- Floods also drove venomous snakes into residential areas, prompting wildlife officers and volunteers to carry out urgent rescue operations.
15 forces that could reshape conservation in the next 10 years
- A recent horizon scan led by William J. Sutherland shifts conservation thinking away from visible damage toward emerging developments that could shape biodiversity outcomes over the next decade, even if they have not yet hardened into crises.
- The fifteen issues identified span technology, climate, biology, and finance, with a particular emphasis on computational advances that could expand monitoring and modeling while also narrowing what can later be revisited or challenged.
- Alongside technological change, the scan highlights physical, institutional, and biophysical pressures, from drone-related plastic pollution and new forest finance mechanisms to drying soils, darkening oceans, and abrupt shifts in the Southern Ocean.
- The authors also situate these risks against two background constraints already underway—eroding environmental data systems and tightening conservation finance—and, looking back ten years, argue that the value of horizon scanning lies less in prediction than in improving preparedness before change becomes costly.
Joann Andrews, a patient force behind Yucatán’s protected landscapes
- Joann Andrews helped professionalize conservation on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, treating it less as romance than as practical work: building institutions, securing funding, and negotiating the political and social realities of protecting land. She died on December 22, 2025, in Mérida at 96.
- After arriving in Yucatán in 1964 and losing her husband to cancer in 1971, she chose to remain in Mexico with six children, a decision that tied her future to the region’s environmental fate. Her background in political science, international economics, and a decade in the U.S. diplomatic service shaped a style that was disciplined and unsentimental.
- She began with logistics for archaeological research but became a serious orchid student, contributing to early documentation of Yucatán’s orchid diversity and publishing on the subject; an orchid species, Lophiaris andrewsiae, was named in her honor. Her scientific curiosity later broadened into full-time environmental work.
- In 1987 she co-founded Pronatura Península de Yucatán, which became a leading conservation organization in the region, and she helped launch the Toh Bird Festival to broaden support for nature protection. She emphasized youth engagement and warned that conservation would always require persuading people and managing development pressure, not just celebrating nature.
Jay M. Savage, witness to disappearing frogs and builder of tropical science
- In the late 1980s, Jay M. Savage was among the first to recognize that amphibian declines in protected cloud forests were not isolated anomalies but part of a broader, global pattern that defied familiar explanations.
- His long career combined meticulous field science with institutional foresight, including foundational work in Central American herpetology and a central role in building the Organization for Tropical Studies as a durable base for tropical research and training.
- Savage treated institution-building and mentorship as integral to science itself, quietly supporting generations of students while insisting on continuity, rigor, and collaboration over spectacle or quick results.
- He approached extinction not as tragedy alone but as evidence with consequences, attentive to what disappears as much as what remains, and to the slow signals detected by those who return often enough to notice absence.
The year in rainforests 2025: Deforestation fell; the risks did not
- This analysis explores key storylines, examining the political, environmental, and economic dynamics shaping tropical rainforests in 2025, with attention to how policy, markets, and climate stress increasingly interact rather than operate in isolation.
- Across major forest regions, deforestation slowed in some places but degradation, fire, conflict, and legacy damage continued to erode forest health, often in ways that standard metrics fail to capture.
- Global responses remained uneven: conservation finance shifted toward fiscal and market-based tools, climate diplomacy deferred hard decisions, and enforcement outcomes depended heavily on institutional capacity and credibility rather than formal commitments alone.
- Taken together, the year showed that forest outcomes now hinge less on single interventions than on whether governments and institutions can sustain continuity—of funding, governance, science, and oversight—under mounting environmental and political strain.
Declared extinct in 2025: A look back at some of the species we lost
Some species officially bid us farewell this year. They may have long been gone, but following more recent assessments, they’re now formally categorized as extinct on the IUCN Red List, considered the global authority on species’ conservation status. We may never see another individual of these species ever again. Or will we? Slender-billed curlew This […]
France’s largest rewilding project
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. He has spent much of his life in the shadow of the Dauphiné Alps in southeastern France, where limestone cliffs catch the morning light and the silhouettes of horned ibex move across the ridgelines. To Fabien Quétier, who […]
Environmentalist hugs tree for 72 hours for Kenya’s native forests
A Kenyan environmentalist hugged a palm tree for 72 straight hours in Nyeri county to draw attention to the rapid loss of the country’s native forests, many of which face extinction. Truphena Muthoni’s feat, reported by Mongabay contributing editor Lynet Otieno, is in the process of being considered for a new Guinness World Record. It […]
New pitcher plant found in the Philippines may already be critically endangered
Researchers have described a new-to-science species of carnivorous plant that’s known from only three locations on the Philippines’ Palawan Island. The newly described pitcher plant, which grows on very difficult-to-access vertical limestone walls, may already be critically endangered given its extremely restricted range and tiny population, the researchers say in a recent study. Nepenthes is […]
Agroforestry grows in popularity among central Colombia’s coffee farmers (analysis)
- As the world’s third-largest coffee producer and a nation that has been growing the popular Arabica variety since 1870, there’s not much that Colombia doesn’t know about growing the crop.
- In some areas of the country, though, growing coffee via diverse agroforestry systems is now gaining popularity, thanks to its sustainability and benefits for local biodiversity.
- However, a new analysis also shares that in some areas, there still exists a low level of technical understanding among small-scale growers as to how to grow coffee well while reducing pests and diseases with agroecological methods.
- This post is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
New miniature bright-orange toadlet found in southern Brazil and named after Lula
In a small stretch of the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil lives a bright-orange species of frog that’s new to science, researchers report in a recent study. The miniature amphibian measures just over a centimeter long, less than half an inch, or the length of an average fingernail. The team has named the toadlet Brachycephalus […]
Project sees long-term success restoring forests in the high Andes: Study
- The Polylepis forests of Peru are some of the highest high-altitude forests in the world, playing an essential role in the water cycle.
- Over the past few decades, various restoration projects have worked to restore Polylepis forests across their former range.
- In 2022, researchers revisited a restoration project in Aquia, Peru, to understand what factors contributed to its success. The study concludes that stakeholder participation and formal conservation agreements helped the project succeed.
- Over the past four years, initiatives by ECOAN and Accion Andina have built on previous success.
Mongabay contributor Glòria Pallarès wins top anti-corruption reporting award
Journalist Glòria Pallarès won the Anti-Corruption Excellence (ACE) Award for her investigation into corrupt forest finance schemes published in collaboration with Mongabay. The award ceremony was held in Doha, Qatar, on Dec. 16. The investigation, published in January 2024, exposed a scheme in which companies registered in Peru, Bolivia and Panama were using false claims […]
In the Amazon, law enforcement against environmental crime remains controversial
- In general terms, the reputation of police forces throughout Latin America lacks legitimacy and public trust. In the case of environmental conflicts, the issue takes on overtones of violence and corruption in areas where the state’s presence is scarce.
- In Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, it is almost tacitly understood that the police are, for the most part, colluding with organized crime. Meanwhile, in Brazil, their role as a shock force is excessive and, in rural areas, they may associate with private security forces to carry out evictions.
- The Catholic Church began monitoring these types of conflicts in the early 1990s, and since then, disputes have caused the deaths of 773 people.
Statewide survey aims to put California’s fungi on the conservation map
- A state-funded survey has sampled and collected fungi species from across California, identifying hundreds of new-to-science species.
- It’s part of a statewide effort to protect biodiversity, which has yielded thousands of specimens and is the first of its kind in North America.
- Fungi are often neglected compared to the attention given to plants and animals, yet they play an important role in maintaining ecological health by supporting plant growth and storing carbon.
- Understanding fungi’s role in nature has implications for conservation and for forest restoration as wildfires grow larger and more frequent. Other researchers in California are working on putting fungi to use cleaning up polluted areas.
A flood of logs post-Cyclone Senyar leaves Padang fishers out of work
- Flash floods in late November swept timber and mud from upstream forests into coastal waters around Padang, blocking access to the sea and cutting off the livelihoods of hundreds of fishers.
- Fishers say massive floating logs have damaged boats and halted daily incomes, forcing many families to rely on credit to meet basic needs.
- Marine scientists warn that suspended sediment and decaying timber threaten coastal ecosystems by blocking sunlight, disrupting food chains and degrading water quality.
- Environmental groups link the disaster to illegal logging and weak forest governance upstream, calling for stronger law enforcement, national disaster status and urgent government action.
Rethinking how we talk about conservation—and why it matters
- Feedback from across the conservation sector suggests a shift in how the movement talks about itself—from crisis-heavy messaging toward agency and evidence—because constant alarm fatigues audiences while stories of progress keep them engaged.
- Respondents to date have emphasized that scalable, durable conservation efforts share core traits: genuine local leadership, transparency about what works (and what doesn’t), visible community benefits, and diversified funding that strengthens resilience.
- Practitioners highlighted the importance of aligning human well-being with environmental outcomes, with models like Health in Harmony showing how rights, livelihoods, and conservation can reinforce one another when communities define their own priorities.
- This piece builds on a conversation Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler had last week at the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL) conference in Washington, D.C.
Protected areas in Africa are vital but local perceptions vary (commentary)
- Protected areas are cornerstones of global biodiversity conservation strategy, yet their social impacts remain contentious.
- A recent study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in collaboration with Middlebury College examined perceptions of these areas among thousands of local residents living near five forested regions of Central Africa and Madagascar.
- “Conservation practice needs to take seriously how the people living near protected areas perceive those areas, and what benefits and harms they associate with them, in their full unevenness and complexity,” the authors of a new op-ed say.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Researchers find concerning gaps in global maps used for EUDR compliance
- Most companies importing certain products into the EU must comply with the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR), which will go into application on Dec. 30, 2026.
- Satellite and other remote-sensing maps can guide both companies trying to comply with the regulation and government agencies verifying levels of deforestation risk attached to imports.
- But a recent review paper suggests that most of the available maps struggle to meet all of the requirements of the EUDR and could over- or underestimate the risk of deforestation for certain products.
- A key issue is the maps’ ability to differentiate forest from systems that look similar, such as agroforestry, commonly practiced by smallholder farmers producing cocoa, coffee and rubber.
Tanzania’s tree-climbing hyraxes have adapted to life without trees
Despite their name, tree hyraxes — small, furry, nocturnal African mammals — don’t always live in trees. In Tanzania’s Pare mountains, near the border with Kenya, they’ve adapted to life on steep rocky outcrops as forests disappeared over the centuries, a recent study has found. Eastern tree hyraxes (Dendrohyrax validus) are known to inhabit the […]
All new roads lead to increased deforestation in Ecuador’s Indigenous territory
- Between 2022 and 2025 at least 62 kilometers (39 miles) of roads were opened in Achuar territory in southern Ecuador, several without environmental permits or technical studies.
- Global Forest Watch documented the loss of thousands of hectares of primary forest. Community monitoring found that a lack of control on the part of the authorities has facilitated illegal logging.
- The arrival of illegal loggers led to confrontations between communities, which resulted in two murders of Indigenous people.
- The area is one of the poorest in the country with few basic services: Some communities complain about the lack of roads, but others are concerned about their social and environmental impacts.
Congo’s communities are creating a 1-million-hectare biodiversity corridor
- The NGO Strong Roots Congo is securing lands for communities and wildlife to create a 1-million-hectare (2.5-million-acre) corridor that spans the space between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The effort requires multiple communities to register their customary lands as community forestry concessions under an environmental management plan, which, piece by piece, form the sweeping corridor.
- To date, Strong Roots has secured 23 community forest concessions in the area, covering nearly 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land.
- The corridor aims to rectify a historical wrong in the creation of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, which displaced many families, by engaging communities in conservation. Advocates say the project has had a positive impact so far despite challenges, but persistent armed conflict in the eastern DRC is slowing progress.
Tapanuli orangutan, devastated by cyclone, now faces habitat loss under zoning plans
- A proposed zoning overhaul in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province could strip legal protections from nearly a third of the Batang Toru ecosystem, threatening the last remaining habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan.
- The proposal came just before a powerful cyclone triggered floods and landslides that may have killed or displaced dozens of Tapanuli orangutans and severely damaged thousands of hectares of forest.
- The changes would weaken scrutiny of mining and plantation projects, including a planned expansion of a nearby gold mine, by removing the area’s “provincial strategic” designation.
- Conservationists say rolling back protections now would be a “nail in the coffin” for the species, calling for emergency protections and expanded conservation measures to prevent population collapse.
In Peru, community-led camera trapping boosts conservation and ecotourism
- Community members in Alto Mayo, Peru, are protecting 4,000 hectares (nearly 10,000 acres) of unique wetland forest by combining sustainable ecotourism, scientific research and participatory management of the territory.
- In the Tingana Conservation Concession, visitors explore the flooded forests by canoe and learn about sustainable agriculture and local species, while contributing revenue to the community’s economy.
- Since 2023, community members have installed eight camera traps to monitor biodiversity and strengthen surveillance against encroachers.
- The cameras have captured species like jaguarundis, margays, neotropical otters and razor-billed curassows, providing valuable scientific information that has been integrated into local environmental education programs.
Navigating the complex world of reforestation efforts
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Reforestation has become a feel-good global rallying cry. From corporations touting “net zero” targets to philanthropies seeking visible impact, planting trees has become shorthand for planetary repair. Yet behind the glossy photos of saplings and smiling farmers lies […]
From Kalimantan’s haze to Jakarta’s grit: A journalist’s journey
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Indonesia’s environmental challenges can feel overwhelming when taken as a whole. A country said to contain more than 17,000 islands, it holds the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest and a resource economy that has reshaped much of that landscape. […]
Green labeler PEFC under fire for certifying Indonesian firm clearing orangutan habitat
- Sustainable forestry certifier PEFC is under fire for its endorsement of Indonesian plantation firm IFP despite it being a major recent deforester, with tens of thousands of hectares cleared in orangutan habitat and ongoing forest loss documented into 2024.
- Earthsight and other NGOs say the certification exploits loopholes, including PEFC’s “partial certification” model that lets companies exclude recently cleared areas while still selling certified timber.
- Deforestation-linked timber may have entered global supply chains, with mills processing IFP-linked wood exporting large volumes to the EU ahead of the bloc’s new deforestation regulation.
- Critics say PEFC’s weak safeguards and Indonesia’s IFCC certification system enable greenwashing, and call for IFP’s certification to be revoked and rules tightened to bar any company or corporate group involved in post-2010 forest clearing.
New technologies offer hope in fight to save the world’s imperiled rosewoods
- Rosewood accounts for nearly a third of the value of illegal wildlife trade seizures worldwide, and illegal harvesting of the trees has continued in spite of efforts to regulate its trade and harvest.
- Researchers say that new and existing technologies such as AI-equipped drones could help detect the illegal logging of rosewood trees inside inaccessible and remote forests, allowing forest officials to intervene in real time.
- AI could also help predict the risk of future rosewood logging activities, helping forest officials focus their monitoring efforts.
- In addition, the nonprofit TRAFFIC is currently testing AI-based image recognition tools for species identification, while other scientists are working on techniques that identify rosewood species based on DNA samples.
Cyclone Ditwah takes heavy toll on Sri Lanka’s biodiversity-rich Central Highlands
- Sri Lanka’s ecologically significant Central Highlands suffered severe but still largely undocumented ecological damage following the recent Cyclone Ditwah, which devasted unique yet highly vulnerable ecosystems harboring the country’s richest biodiversity and highest endemism.
- Early reports indicate major landslides in the UNESCO-listed Knuckles Mountain Range that led to canopy trees uprooted, forest layers buried and streams clogged with sediment, with inaccessibility delaying a comprehensive assessment.
- Illegal construction and poorly planned development in ecologically sensitive zones have intensified disaster’s impacts on the Indian Ocean island.
- Conservationists urge Sri Lanka to adopt a science-led post-disaster biodiversity assessment mechanism and climate-resilient land use planning, warning that invasive species, unstable slopes and damaged ecosystems pose long-term ecological and economic risks to this highly significant region.
Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report
- A recent report examining land-conversion permits issued by the Papua New Guinea government found that 65 of 67 such licenses are controlled by Malaysian-linked companies.
- The stated purpose of these permits — Forest Clearing Authorities (FCAs) — is for creation of sustainable jobs via agribusiness and other development projects, but critics contend the licenses have been used to facilitate large-scale logging and timber exports.
- After repeated allegations of misuse of the permits, PNG’s government imposed a moratorium on new FCAs in 2023, but exports continue from existing projects.
- The 65 licenses examined by the report cover 1.68 million hectares (4.1 million acres) of rainforests, about 88% of which are categorized as ‘undisturbed forest.’
Sumatra’s ‘natural’ disaster wasn’t natural: How deforestation turned a rare cyclone catastrophic
- Cyclone Senyar was an unusually rare event for Sumatra, but the scale of destruction cannot be explained by weather alone. Decades of deforestation, mining, plantations, and peat drainage left watersheds unable to absorb intense rainfall, turning extreme weather into a mass-casualty disaster.
- Forest loss and land conversion have systematically weakened Sumatra’s natural defenses. The island has lost millions of hectares of forest since 2001, increasing runoff, destabilizing slopes, and amplifying floods and landslides when heavy rain hits.
- Peatland drainage has created a hidden, compounding flood risk. Canals dug for plantations dry and compact peat soils, causing land subsidence and transforming once water-retentive landscapes into low-lying areas prone to chronic inland and coastal flooding.
- Rising exposure, not just rising hazards, is driving future risk. Urban expansion into floodplains and degraded catchments means that even rare storms now endanger more people and infrastructure, locking much of Sumatra into a cycle of disaster unless land-use governance changes.
Top-down projects, exotic trees, weak tenure: Congo Basin restoration misses the mark
- Despite a panoply of projects — from tree-planting drives to agroforestry schemes — a new study finds that much of what’s happening in the name of “forest restoration” in the Congo Basin may not be restoring forests at all, but largely focused on growing nonnative, commodity species.
- The research found nearly two-thirds of projects favored planting exotic species over native ones, primarily because they grow more quickly, require less care, and their seeds are easier to source.
- It also noted a lack of ecological monitoring, with few initiatives tracking tree survival rates, soil recovery or carbon storage, and most lasting less than five years — far too short to measure real ecological impact.
- Beyond agroforestry and fuelwood plantations, the study calls for approaches that promote natural regeneration, restore native biodiversity and reconnect fragmented habitats.
Sumatran flood disaster may have wiped out a key Tapanuli orangutan population, scientists fear
- As many as 35 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans — 4% of the species’ total population — may have been wiped out in the catastrophic floods and landslides that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra recently, scientists warn, after the discovery of a carcass.
- Satellite and field evidence show massive destruction of the western block of the Batang Toru ecosystem, with thousands of hectares of steep forest slopes destroyed — an “extinction-level disturbance” for the world’s rarest great ape.
- Conservationists have lost contact with monitored orangutans in the disaster zone, raising fears more individuals were killed or displaced as feeding areas and valleys were obliterated.
- The tragedy has renewed calls to safeguard the Batang Toru ecosystem by halting industrial projects and granting it stronger protection, as climate-driven disasters escalate across Sumatra.
Small cat conservationists hail Uganda’s new Echuya Forest National Park
- Uganda’s Echuya Forest Reserve will become a national park, alongside five other forest areas. That news is being heralded by small cat conservationists as a win for the threatened African golden cat (Caracal aurata) and other wildlife that dwell in the forest.
- African golden cats are forest dependent and considered vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN. They’re especially threatened by snaring across their range. It’s unknown exactly how Echuya’s population is faring, but camera-trapping efforts in 2015 required 90 days to record just one of these elusive cats.
- Data coming out of Uganda suggest that national parks can act as strongholds for the felid, raising hopes that Echuya’s population can recover and possibly thrive.
- Wildcat conservationists have also developed programs to build engagement and benefit communities near the new park, initiating goat and sheep “seed banks” as alternatives to bushmeat, setting up savings and loan associations to improve quality of life, and arranging community soccer matches to build goodwill.
Mexico is inflating its climate spending by billions of dollars. Here’s how.
- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took office last year touting her climate science background, yet continues to neglect renewable energy and conservation while subsidizing state-owned oil company Pemex.
- Funds her government earmarked for climate change and a renewable energy transition are actually going to infrastructure, oil and gas, and other projects unrelated to the environment, a review of the 2026 budget shows.
- In one case, more than $40 million for a train line is counted twice but only spent once, misrepresenting how much money the government is dedicating to the environment.
Wildlife and communities bear the cost as Simandou rail corridor advances across Guinea
- A 650-km (400-mi) railway corridor is being built that will link the iron ore mine in eastern Guinea to the country’s Atlantic port of Moribaya.
- Its route crosses forests that are home to some of the last populations of forest elephants and western chimpanzees in the country, with NGOs warning of disruptions and fragmentation of vital habitat, putting several species at risk of local extinction.
- Villagers along the route also complain that dust and pollution have impacted their livelihoods, and that compensation has been delayed or incomplete.
- Experts and civil society actors are calling for a strategic environmental study and better implementation of environmental and social management plans.
Real-time deforestation alerts get an AI boost to identify the causes
- A new alert system developed by online deforestation-tracking platform Global Forest Watch tells users what’s causing the deforestation.
- The new alert system deploys AI models to classify deforestation alerts based on what’s causing them, from agriculture (large- and small-scale), to mining and wildfires.
- While the data currently focus on the Amazon Rainforest, Congo Basin and Indonesia — home to most of the world’s tropical rainforests — the team plans to expand to other forests as well as non-forest ecosystems.
Hope, solidarity & disappointment: A familiar mix for Indigenous delegates at COP30
- COP30, held in Brazil, was promoted as both the “Amazonian COP” and the “Indigenous COP,” where more than 900 Indigenous representatives from around the world formally took part in the negotiations.
- While Brazil announced the demarcation of new Indigenous territories and 11 signatories issued a joint commitment to strengthen land tenure for Indigenous peoples, wider frustrations overshadowed these measures.
- Indigenous delegates described a familiar pattern: They were invited into the venue but not into the center of decision-making; that divide was visible in the Global Mutirão, the main COP30 outcome, in which Indigenous peoples appear in the preamble but are absent from the operative paragraphs — the part of the text that directs how countries must act and report.
What would this scientist tell Trump? Interview with Robert Watson, former chair of the IPCC
- This week, the UN Environment Program launched the Global Environment Outlook 7 (GEO-7), a stark assessment that comes on the heels of US President Donald Trump’s dismissal of climate change as a “con job.”
- In this context, Mongabay interviewed GEO-7 co-chair Sir Robert Watson about what to tell a political leader who rejects the science.
- “The evidence is definitive,” says Watson, who argues that countries must rethink their economic and financial systems and that science must be heard in the rooms where power lies.
Reforestation and wild pig decline spark surge in miniature deer in Singapore
- Once thought extinct in Singapore, a little-known species of miniature deer has reemerged in unprecedented numbers on a small island reserve in the Johor Strait.
- Researchers documented the greater mouse-deer thriving on Pulau Ubin at the highest population density recorded anywhere in the species’ range.
- The team put the surge down to increased availability of prime habitat following a decade of forest restoration, as well as reduced competition for food after the collapse of the island’s wild pig population due to African swine fever.
- Experts say the dramatic “ecological cascade” underscores the need for long-term, ecosystem-wide monitoring throughout Southeast Asia, particularly at sites impacted by sudden shifts triggered by disease.
New financial tools boost traditional bioeconomy projects in the Amazon
- The Brazil Restoration and Bioeconomy Finance Coalition (BRB FC), an alliance of NGOs, funders and financial institutions, aims to mobilize $10 billion by 2030 to support Indigenous and traditional communities-led enterprises.
- By supporting these initiatives, BRB FC and other projects seek to help communities restore millions of hectares of degraded land in the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado savanna, the semiarid Caatinga, and the Atlantic Forest.
- Existing conventional financial systems often exclude grassroots initiatives due to rigid, centralized requirements that clash with local governance and realities.
- With the shift championed by BRB FC, proponents say low-bureaucracy funding models can effectively reach and empower forest-based communities while supporting the bioeconomy.
Lemurs are at risk. So are the people protecting them.
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Patricia Wright arrived in Madagascar nearly four decades ago to look for a lemur thought to be extinct. She found it, along with a new species, and then ran headlong into a broader reality: protecting wildlife would depend […]
How dropping ads set us free to focus on impact
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo, Mongabay’s senior marketing associate, recently interviewed me about my journey with Mongabay. Here’s my response to his question about pivoting our business model. The transition in 2012 was a turning point. At the time, the advertising […]
Philippine mangroves survived a typhoon, but now confront a human-made challenge
- A new study shows mangroves in Tacloban, the Philippine city hit hardest hit by Typhoon Haiyan in December 2013, have expanded beyond pre-storm levels.
- This recovery was driven by community-led reforestation efforts from 2015-2018, when residents planted 30,000 Rhizophora mangrove seedlings across 4 hectares (10 acres) of Cancabato Bay.
- Satellite image analysis and modeling reveal how the forest was destroyed by Haiyan and how it later withstood 2019’s Typhoon Phanfone.
- However, experts warn that the recovering mangroves may be threatened by an ongoing project to build a causeway across the bay, which could generate pollution and physical disturbances.
An Empire of Nature: African Parks and Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest
- In 2020, South Africa-based NGO African Parks signed a 20-year deal to manage Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, one of the largest montane rainforests in Africa.
- Nyungwe is one of 24 protected areas managed by African Parks in 13 countries.
- Founded by a Dutch industrialist, African Parks is a pioneer of the “public-private” conservation model in Africa.
- Mongabay visited Nyungwe to look at African Parks and its approach to conservation.
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