Sites: news | india | latam | brasil | indonesia
Feeds: news | india | latam | brasil | indonesia
topic: Governance
Social media activity version | Lean version
‘Culture & nature are one’: Interview with Mudja Chief Bitini Ndiyanabo Kanane
- Bitini Ndiyanabo Kanane has been the customary chief of the Mudja community near Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2001, having ascended to power through family heritage and assuming the role of a protector — both of his community and the environment, which is home to many rare and endangered species.
- Over the course of decades, Indigenous communities with ancestral homes in Virunga have been expelled from the park; today, decades-old conflict has flared in the region, with a surge of M23 rebel violence that has displaced more than a million people in 2025 so far.
- The chief tells Mongabay that culture and nature are one, and that culture plays a critical part in the community’s conservation efforts in and around Virunga.
- Many of the Mudja community’s traditional customs work to preserve, rather than exploit, plant and animal species, the chief explains.
In the Brazilian Amazon, decentralization can be a double-edged sword
- The process of decentralization involves a structured transfer of political power from central governments to subnational jurisdictions. This becomes particularly important in the Amazon, rich in resources but still facing chaotic development.
- Negative experiences from centuries of colonization have shown that a more democratic governance system could have avoided some of the injustices that have marked the region’s history.
- In Brazil, despite efforts to decentralize, there are several federal entities that have retained substantial administrative and regulatory powers over the natural resources of the Legal Amazon.
Pacific island nations launch plan for world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve
The governments of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have announced their commitment to create a massive multinational Melanesian Ocean Reserve. If implemented as envisioned, the reserve would become the world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve, covering an area nearly as big as the Amazon Rainforest. Speaking at the U.N. Ocean Conference underway in Nice, France, representatives […]
It’s time to pay the true value of tropical forest conservation (commentary)
- Conserving the world’s tropical forests requires large-scale and predictable finance, a new op-ed by Brazilian officials argue in making their case for the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), a finance regime that will be discussed at this year’s U.N. climate summit (COP30) in their nation.
- The TFFF would pay a fixed price per hectare of tropical forest conserved or restored, providing positive incentives aligned with national fiscal planning via a funding model that blends public investment and private market borrowing.
- “The time to act boldly for our forests is now. The TFFF is not only possible — it is essential. We are calling on the world to join us,” they write.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
French Polynesia creates world’s largest marine protected area
French Polynesia has announced the creation of the world’s largest marine protected area. Speaking on the first day of the United Nations Ocean Conference in France, French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson said the MPA will cover the territory’s entire exclusive economic zone (EEZ), or 4.8 million square kilometers (roughly 1.9 million square miles). “We have […]
Climate futures: What’s ahead for our world beyond 1.5°C of warming?
- This two-part Mongabay mini-series examines the current status of the climate emergency, how the global community is likely to respond and what lies ahead for Earth systems and humanity as the planet almost inevitably warms beyond the crucial 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) goal established in the Paris Agreement 10 years ago.
- For global average temperatures to stabilize at less than 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, humanity likely needs to achieve 43% greenhouse gas emissions cuts by 2030. But progress on climate action has stagnated in recent years, global GHG emissions are yet to peak and our remaining carbon budget is dwindling.
- Above 1.5°C of warming, we risk passing critical tipping points in natural Earth systems, triggering self-perpetuating changes that could shift the planet out of the habitable zone for humanity and life as we know it. Even with rapid, large-scale action on climate change, crossing some tipping points may now be unavoidable.
- However, analysts have identified positive social, technological and economic tipping points we can nurture to decarbonize far more rapidly. These include the decreasing cost of renewable energy, the rise of circular economy principles to reduce waste in industry and a societal shift to more plant-based diets.
Record-breaking heat wave due to climate change hits Iceland & Greenland: Scientists
In May, both Iceland and Greenland experienced record-breaking heat. A new rapid analysis has found that the heat wave in both regions was made worse and more likely in today’s warmer climate. The analysis was conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers that evaluates the role of climate change in extreme […]
Climate futures: World leaders’ failure to act is pushing Earth past 1.5°C
- This two-part Mongabay mini-series examines the current status of the climate emergency; how world leaders, scientists and the global community are responding; and what may lie ahead as the world warms beyond the crucial 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) limit established in the Paris Agreement 10 years ago.
- The unprecedented warming that began in 2023, continued through 2024 and extended into 2025 has caused surprise and alarm. Scientists still don’t fully understand the cause, but some fear it signals the global climate is transitioning into a new state of accelerated warming.
- 2024 was the first full calendar year to exceed 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. A recent projection finds it likely Earth will see a 20-year average warming of 1.5°C by as early as 2029, exceeding a key Paris accord goal and which could trigger self-perpetuating changes pushing Earth’s climate into a less habitable state.
- In January, President Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, signaling that the U.S. will not lead on climate action. To date, nearly all the world’s nations have fallen far short of what is needed to stay within 1.5°C. As countries submit new U.N. carbon commitments, some fear the U.S. reversal will ripple around the world.
Endangered shark trophies dominate the online wildlife trade, study finds
- A recent study analyzed wildlife product listings from 148 online marketplaces over a three-month period and identified more than 500 products from 83 threatened wildlife species, some of which were also listed on CITES Appendix I.
- Shark trophies — mainly jaws — dominated the listings, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the advertised products, and 73% of those came from endangered and critically endangered shark species.
- The study found 95% of animal products were sold on just four websites in 2018 and, since then, most of these companies have changed their policies to prohibit the trade of certain species. But researchers say it’s not enough.
- This study highlights the need to strengthen policies in regulating the online wildlife trade, spreading awareness and closing loopholes in legal trade, especially for species threatened with extinction.
‘Madness’: World leaders call for deep-sea mining moratorium at UN ocean summit
- World leaders have renewed calls for a global moratorium on deep-sea mining at the 2025 U.N. Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, as the U.S. moves to mine the deep sea in international waters under its own controversial authority.
- Four additional countries have joined the coalition of nations calling for a moratorium, precautionary pause, or ban on deep-sea mining, bringing the total number to 37.
- The U.S., which did not have an official delegation at UNOC, is pushing forward with its plans to mine in international waters — a decision that has drawn criticism from the international community.
Death of tagged white shark on bather protection gear in South Africa sparks debate
The recent killing of a juvenile great white shark on a drum line — a shark control method consisting of baited hooks attached to floating drums — off the east coast of South Africa has sparked a debate over the measures employed to protect swimmers at the expense of the threatened species. The 2.2-meter (7.2-foot) […]
New study dismisses Amazon River runoff as primary cause of sargassum blooms
- Brazil’s northern beaches recently suffered from arrivals of sargassum blooms, a phenomenon affecting Caribbean nations that most scientists so far have associated with nutrients coming from the Amazon River plume into the Atlantic Ocean.
- A recent study suggests that ocean changes are the primary nutrient source for sargassum blooms since 2011, challenging previous hypotheses.
- Sargassum is causing considerable health and economic concerns as large amounts of this brown macroalgae arrive and accumulate in coastal ecosystems of western Africa and the greater Caribbean Sea every year.
- Brazilian authorities are learning from Caribbean countries how to manage sargassum blooms best, and experts think they should keep monitoring possible ocean current changes.
Stars & lighthouses: Marine conservation that blends Pacific Islander wisdom and Western knowledge (commentary)
- The U.N. Ocean Conference this week is tackling a range of issues, such as how to conserve and sustainably use the oceans and marine resources: a new op-ed argues that the strength of Indigenous islander conservation practices lies in their flexibility and adaptability, while Western conservation efforts bring clear, formal, and intentional goals — and that blending the two can return inspiring results.
- “Conservation is not just about the number of lighthouses we build — about visible policies and formal designations — but we must also name and recognize the stars that have guided us all along; the quiet, steadfast traditions that have protected our oceans for thousands of years,” the author writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
When our oceans can’t breathe, a sea change is needed (commentary)
- “Even if we can’t see it, the ocean is telling us it can’t breathe. It’s time to listen and to act,” a new op-ed argues as global leaders and changemakers gather for the U.N. Oceans Conference this week.
- When oxygen levels in parts of the ocean drop dangerously low due to land-based pollution, hypoxic “dead zones” where marine life can no longer thrive are the result, driving ecosystem and fisheries collapses.
- These zones have grown by an area the size of the European Union over the past 50 years, but the Global Environment Facility’s Clean and Healthy Ocean Integrated Program is aimed at tackling this overlooked yet expanding threat.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
EU appetite for EVs drives new wave of deforestation in tropical forests
- The European Union’s demand for electric vehicles may lead to the deforestation of 118,000 hectares (291,584 acres) in critical minerals-supplying countries, according to a new report.
- Brazil, which accounts for large reserves of nickel, graphite, rare earths, lithium and niobium, would be one of the most affected countries.
- Despite the mining project’s socioenvironmental impacts, the Brazilian federal government has backed companies with financing and political support.
- Experts warn that the new minerals rush increases pressure on Indigenous communities already suffering from mining companies’ violations.
Revived hydropower project to bring forced displacement, Peru communities warn
- The construction of the Pakitzapango hydroelectric dam in Peru’s Junín region
should be a matter of national interest, according to a bill proposed in February that claims the project would boost national energy security.
- The dam would be constructed on a sacred gorge on the Ene River that is central to the mythology of the local Indigenous Asháninka population. The reservoir would flood homes and ancestral territories of more than 13 communities, as well as cemeteries where many Asháninka people who were killed during a recent internal war are buried.
- The proposal is a revival of a project that was canceled more than a decade ago due to environmental irregularities and local rejection.
- Community members speaking to Mongabay are worried they will be forced to move, while environmental experts challenged the project’s energy security rationale.
Bumble Bee asks court to dismiss lawsuit alleging forced labor in tuna supply chain
- In March, four Indonesian men filed a landmark lawsuit in the U.S. against canned tuna giant Bumble Bee Foods, accusing the company of profiting from abuse and exploitation aboard Chinese-owned vessels supplying its tuna.
- The plaintiffs described brutal conditions while working on vessels that allegedly supplied albacore tuna directly to Bumble Bee, including physical violence, inadequate food, lack of medical care and withheld wages.
- Despite claims of traceability and sustainability, Bumble Bee and its parent company, Taiwan-based FCF, have been linked to a network of vessels implicated in labor abuses. Critics argue the company failed to act on repeated warnings from rights groups and resisted regulatory changes.
- On June 2, Bumble Bee filed papers requesting the federal court handling the case dismiss it on legal grounds. The next step will be for a judge to decide whether to dismiss it or let it proceed.
Heavy rains inundate northeast India
Dozens of people are reported dead amid torrential rains over the past week in India’s northeastern region, local media reported. The most heavily affected states are Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. In Assam, more than 640,000 people have been affected as the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries overflowed beyond danger levels, flooding many areas. Around 40,000 […]
Unnoticed oil & gas threat looms for Indigenous people near Amazon blocks
- While oil prospects in the Amazon north shore attract international attention, the offer of exploration blocks around Indigenous territories goes unnoticed in Mato Grosso state.
- Brazil will auction 21 blocks in the Parecis Basin, an area with dense Indigenous activity, yet none of these communities have been consulted, as leaders struggle to handle existing threats such as ranchers and miners.
- Impacts on Indigenous territories include the influx of workers and machinery during research and the risk of toxic gas emissions and water pollution if projects move forward.
- The rainforest is the most promising frontier for the oil industry, with one-fifth of the world’s newly discovered reserves from 2022-24.
Why Brazil should abandon its plans for oil and gas in Amazonia (commentary)
- The Brazilian government has major plans for oil and gas extraction both in the Amazon Rainforest and offshore — including at the mouth of the Amazon River — with a drilling rights auction scheduled for June 17 for fields both in the forest and offshore.
- Under intense pressure, the head of the federal environmental agency has now overridden his technical staff to allow the proposed mouth-of-the-Amazon project to move forward for approval.
- In addition to the risk of an uncontrollable oil spill, the economics of opening this and other new oilfields implies continued extraction long past the time when burning fossil fuels must cease if a global climate catastrophe is to be avoided.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Climate strikes the Amazon, undermining protection efforts
Fires raged across the Amazon rainforest in 2024, annihilating more than 4.6 million hectares of primary tropical forest—the most biodiverse and carbon-dense type of forest on Earth. That loss, which is larger than the size of Denmark, was more than twice the annual average between 2014 and 2023, according to data released last month by […]
Hundreds die after flash floods tear through Nigerian market town
At least 200 people have been confirmed dead and 500 more remain missing after flash floods devastated a Nigerian market town, media reported. Torrential rain started early on May 29, and within just a few hours caused intense flooding in the town of Mokwa, Niger state, a major trading hub for northern farmers selling beans, […]
In a big win, Yurok Nation reclaims vital creek and watershed to restore major salmon run
- Four dams are now down on the Upper Klamath River in northern California in the largest river restoration project in U.S. history. But a rarely mentioned cold-water creek is essential to restoring health to what was once the third-largest salmon run on the West Coast of North America.
- Blue Creek is located just 25 km (16 mi) from the mouth of the Lower Klamath at the Pacific Ocean. Critically, it’s the first cold-water refuge for migrating salmon that enables the fish to cool down, survive, and move farther upriver to spawn. The dams and logging have damaged this important watershed for decades.
- The Yurok, California’s largest Indigenous tribe, lost ownership of Blue Creek to westward U.S. expansion in the late 1800s. In 2002, a timber company, negotiating with the Yurok, agreed to sell back the 19,000-hectare (47,100-acre) watershed to the tribe.
- It took Western Rivers Conservancy, an Oregon-based NGO, nearly two decades to raise the $60 million needed to buy the watershed. In a historic transition, Blue Creek returns this spring to the Yurok for conservation in its entirety. The tribe considers the watershed a sacred place.
Indonesia new capital yet to spark electricity for low-income neighbors on Borneo
- In a district that holds Indonesia’s biggest coal reserves and sits near the new national capital, the country’s largest construction site, a large share of households in Paser district remain without an electricity connection.
- Data published by Indonesia’s statistics agency showed 10% of Paser district had yet to receive a connection to the grid.
- Households without electricity told Mongabay Indonesia that the lack of basic infrastructure provided by the state restricted economy activity and cultivated security fears at night.
Indigenous forest stewards watch over one of the world’s rarest raptors
The Philippine eagle is considered one of the world’s rarest birds of prey, with roughly 400 breeding pairs left in the wild. Amid ongoing threats from logging and hunting, Indigenous forest rangers are helping conservationists protect the species’ nests and habitat, Mongabay contributor Bong S. Sarmiento reported last year. Datu Julito Ahao of the Obu […]
Carbon capture projects promise a climate fix — and a fossil fuel lifeline
- Governments across Southeast Asia are looking at carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) as a way to meet climate targets.
- Projects have been proposed in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, with Japanese companies involved in all three countries.
- Critics say CCS costs too much to be commercially viable, underperforms at capturing carbon, and serves as a diversion from actually reducing emissions.
New maps reveal Earth’s largest land mammal migration
Researchers have released new maps documenting the “Great Nile Migration,” the Earth’s largest-known land mammal migration across South Sudan and Ethiopia. The maps chart the seasonal movements of two antelope species, the white-eared kob (Kobus kob leucotis) and the tiang (Damaliscus lunatus tiang). Every year, around 5 million white-eared kob and 400,000 tiang migrate across […]
Critically endangered chameleon discovered outside its known habitat in Madagascar
- In April, researchers found individuals of a critically endangered chameleon species in southwestern Madagascar.
- Furcifer belalandaensis had not previously been recorded outside of a tiny area threatened by deforestation for charcoal and agriculture, and by the development of a major mining project.
- Researchers working to improve knowledge of the Belalanda chameleon’s distribution were excited to find three of the rare reptile five kilometers (three miles) away, in the PK32-Ranobe protected area.
- But Ranobe’s forests are also under pressure; captive breeding and revising the protected area’s management plan are among of the conservation measures being considered to ensure the species’ survival.
Brazil set to blast 35 km river rock formation for new Amazon shipping route
- The Brazilian environmental agency, IBAMA, approved a license to blast a natural rock barrier on the Tocantins River in Pará state to enable boats to pass during the dry season, as part of wider efforts to build a massive waterway for commodities.
- Federal prosecutors requested the suspension of the license due to missing studies and other issues.
- A federal court stated that the proposed blasting will have a limited and controlled impact, asserting there are no Indigenous, Quilombola (Afro-Brazilian) or riverine communities living in that section of the Tocantins River — a claim that advocates say is inaccurate.
- Rock removal will impact endangered fish, Amazon turtles and the Araguaia river dolphin, which is found only in this region and feeds on fish that spawn in Pedral do Lourenço.
After terror attacks, Mozambique nature reserve faces ‘new reality’
- On April 29, ISIS-affiliated insurgent fighters attacked a conservation outpost inside Niassa Special Reserve in northern Mozambique.
- The attack claimed the lives of two rangers working with the Niassa Carnivore Project, and another two remain missing.
- Mozambican officials said last week there were “clear indications” that the fighters had left the reserve.
What does it take to expose 67 illegal airstrips in the Amazon? A year of reporting — and the trust of local communities
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. At the close of SF Climate Week, María Isabel Torres, program director of Mongabay Latam, shared how local journalism is driving environmental change across Latin America. Speaking as a Peruvian journalist based in Lima, María Isabel detailed investigations […]
Ahead of hosting COP30, Brazil is set to weaken environmental licensing
- A new bill may dismantle Brazil’s environmental license framework, easing the way for infrastructure projects such as oil exploration on the Amazon coast and paving the BR-319 road, in one of the rainforest’s most preserved areas.
- The new rules, considered unconstitutional by experts, would benefit around 80% of the ventures with a self-licensing process that exempts environmental impact studies and mitigation measures.
- More than 1,800 Indigenous lands and Quilombola territories not fully demarcated would be ignored in the licensing process.
- The bill is still pending approval by the Chamber of Deputies, but experts say they believe the measure will be challenged in the Brazilian Supreme Court.
After years of silence, Indonesia moves to assess its iconic wildlife
- Indonesia, home to critically endangered orangutans, elephants, tigers and rhinos, has gone nearly two decades without official updates on the populations of some key species.
- Under the previous forestry minister, population surveys and conservation plans were shelved or retracted, and relationships with conservation organizations were often tense.
- Under new leadership, the ministry has signaled that initiating wildlife surveys and publishing population and habitat viability analyses (PHVAs) are key priorities, and surveys of several key species are already underway.
- While welcoming pro-science statements from environment authorities, conservationists caution that data remain alarmingly deficient for many species, and that updating surveys is time-consuming and expensive — a particular concern given recent cuts to the ministry’s budget.
Amazon illegal gold mines drive sex trafficking in the Brazil-Guyana border
- Poverty and poor border controls have allowed young women to be trafficked into the sex trade catering to illegal gold miners in Brazil’s border areas with countries like Guyana and Venezuela.
- Research by the Federal University of Roraima identified 309 people who were victims of human trafficking between 2022 and 2024.
- In the Guyanese border town of Lethem, young women, mostly from Venezuela but also from Brazil, are trafficked into bars from across the border in Brazil, seemingly without restriction.
- Organized crime networks associated with illegal mining use elaborate recruiting tactics and exploit the vulnerability of victims, who often don’t recognize themselves as trafficked or are afraid to speak out.
Indonesia convicts trafficking accomplice in a Javan rhino poaching scandal
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court has sentenced Liem Hoo Kwan Willy to one year in prison for facilitating communication in the illegal trade of Javan rhino horns, overturning his earlier acquittal despite evidence linking him to the transactions.
- The ruling is part of a broader crackdown following the 2024 exposure of organized poaching in Ujung Kulon National Park, where police linked up to 26 rhino deaths to coordinated criminal networks involving local and international actors.
- Conservation groups have raised concerns over flawed population data, with evidence suggesting rhino killings began as early as 2018 and continued despite official reports of stable numbers, while key suspects and evidence remain unaccounted for.
- Meanwhile, the recent identification of three new Javan rhino calves offers hope, credited to strict park protections and improved monitoring, even as experts warn that ongoing poaching threatens the species with extinction.
How Costa Rica’s ranchers contribute to jaguar and puma conservation
Ranches in Costa Rica occasionally overlap with jaguar and puma hunting areas, creating conflict that can sometimes be unavoidable. But with the help of conservationists, ranchers are now able to prevent both cattle and predator deaths, Mongabay contributor Darío Chinchilla reported for Mongabay Latam. In communities like Lomas Azules, when a jaguar (Panthera onca) or […]
In Nepal, confrontation looms over controversial cable car project as court lifts stay order
- Nepal’s Supreme Court recently discontinued its interim order that had earlier halted the construction of a cable car project opposed by Indigenous Limbu communities over its potential cultural and environmental impacts.
- Community members against the private project say in addition to undermining their rights, the project is based on a flawed environmental impact review.
- While lawyers say the final judgment in the case will determine the fate of the project, the developer says it plans to resume construction work.
‘Satellites for Biodiversity’ upgrades with new projects and launches insight hub
The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF) recently announced the winners of their “Satellites for Biodiversity” grant, which now uses higher-resolution satellite imagery to aid conservation efforts. They also launched an Ecosystem Insight Hub, which comprehensively documents the processes and findings of their grantees. The latest batch of six “Satellites for Biodiversity” awardees […]
Meet Pedro Porras, the priest who first rediscovered Amazon ancient cities
- A Catholic priest, Pedro Porras, was the first to research and document the Amazon rainforest’s Upano Valley culture dating back 2,500 years.
- He did archaeological research all across Ecuador, often facing extremely difficult situations.
- In January 2024, a Science article on the Upano Valley culture triggered a surge of media publications around the world, falsely claiming “a lost city” had been found, ignoring Porras’ discoveries.
- In 1964, Porras was appointed professor of archaeology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE), where he established a center for archaeological research.
Indigenous Bajo suffer child deaths & toxic sludge amid green energy push
- Nickel mining on Kabaena Island has caused severe environmental degradation, threatening the health, livelihoods and cultural identity of the Indigenous Bajo people and resulting in child deaths due to toxic sludge.
- Investigations by environmental groups revealed dangerous heavy metal contamination, deforestation and violations of environmental laws, linking the mining operations to politically exposed persons and global electric vehicle supply chains.
- Indonesia’s Environment Ministry has acknowledged the crisis, pledged enforcement and is developing restoration plans but has so far avoided criminal charges.
- Local activists and experts call for a moratorium on mining permits and stronger law enforcement, stressing that temporary fixes and economic gains must not come at the cost of human lives and ecological collapse.
Environmental defenders targeted in 3 out of 4 human rights attacks: Report
More than 6,400 attacks against human rights defenders were reported between 2015 to 2024, according to a new report from nonprofit Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC). “That’s close to two attacks every day over the past 10 years against defenders who are raising concerns about business-related risks and harms,” said Christen Dobson, co-head […]
On Amazon destruction, will Brazil President Lula’s ‘disinformation space’ be penetrated? (commentary)
- Brazil’s President Lula apparently lives in a “disinformation space” surrounded by ministers promoting projects that destroy the Amazon Rainforest and lock in petroleum extraction for decades to come, a new opinion piece argues.
- Among these projects are the BR-319 highway and its associated side roads; the distribution of government land to known deforesters; and opening new oilfields at the mouth of the Amazon River.
- Lula’s support for these proposals is leading Brazil to a climate catastrophe that would devastate the country, the author writes, and the two key ministers who should be the ones to explain to the president the consequences of these projects are apparently not penetrating Lula’s disinformation space.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Wildlife crime crackdown in jeopardy worldwide after US funding cuts
- In 2019, Malawi dismantled the Chinese-led Lin-Zhang wildlife trafficking syndicate, a major win in its fight against the illegal wildlife trade, thanks in part to funding from the U.S. government.
- The Trump administration’s recent slashing of international development funds, however, threatens these gains, leaving frontline enforcers and conservation programs without critical support.
- NGOs across Africa and Southeast Asia, running initiatives from sniffer rat programs to antipoaching patrols, tell Mongabay they’re struggling to fill the funding gap.
- Experts warn that without urgent alternative, and sustainable, sources of funding, heavily trafficked species like elephants, rhinos and tigers could face accelerated declines.
Brazil bets on macaúba palm to make renewable diesel and aviation biofuel
- Macaúba, a palm tree found across the Americas, is tipped as a new biofuel feedstock to decarbonize transport and aviation. The macaúba palm produces an oil when highly refined that can be made into renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
- Bolstered by hype and billions of dollars of investment, companies are planning to plant hundreds of thousands of hectares on reportedly degraded land across Brazil. Firms are also investing in major refining facilities. This macaúba gold rush was triggered by major financial incentives from the Brazilian government.
- Macaúba’s potential green attributes are similar to jatropha, a once promising biofuel feedstock that bombed a decade ago. Macaúba is widespread but currently undomesticated. Whether macaúba plantations can achieve the yield and scale needed to help satisfy the world’s sustainable energy needs remains unknown.
- Industry proponents state that it can be produced sustainably with no land-use change or deforestation. But other analysts say that very much depends on how the coming boom, in Brazil and elsewhere, pans out.
Why biological diversity should be at the heart of conservation
For the last several decades, global biodiversity has been in crisis. Yet, as we celebrate International Day for Biodiversity on May 22, which commemorates the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a global treaty, we offer some recent Mongabay stories highlighting lessons from undoing past harms and conserving biodiversity for our planet’s future. What […]
Chile draws road map for peace in Mapuche land conflict, but concerns remain
- A special commission in Chile delivered a historic final report to President Gabriel Boric this month, listing 21 policy recommendations to address land disputes and Indigenous rights in the regions of Biobío, Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos.
- Since the late 1990s, some Mapuche activists have attacked logging trucks and construction projects while calling for the creation of an autonomous Indigenous state.
- At the same time, the Chilean government has militarized Mapuche areas and used antiterrorism laws to target activists.
- The commission’s recommendations range from the creation of new public agencies to recognizing collective Indigenous rights in the constitution. But the policies may take years for the government to implement or never come to fruition at all, critics say.
Brazil & China move ahead on 3,000-km railway crossing the Amazon
Plans to build a railway that would slice South America from east to west, crossing part of the Amazon Rainforest, are advancing with Chinese funding, according to a recent announcement by the Brazilian government. Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, along with ministers and Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, met in Beijing on […]
In New Guinea, megadiverse lowland forests are most at risk of deforestation
- Located at the edge of the western Pacific Ocean, New Guinea is a vast island where the biota of Asia and Australasia meet, making it a melting pot of unique plants and animals that occur nowhere else on the planet.
- Development pressure is ramping up across the island, however, opening up landscapes to new roads, industrial logging and agricultural conglomerates pushing biofuel agendas.
- New Guinea’s low-elevation forests, which represent some of the world’s last vestiges of ancient lowland tropical rainforest, are particularly imperiled, according to a new study.
- To avert tragedy, the authors urge policymakers to improve land-use planning systems, focus on retaining intact forest landscapes, and strengthen the rights of the people who live among them.
Brazil rewilds urban forest with vaccinated brown howler monkeys
Following a deadly yellow fever outbreak in 2016, brown howler monkeys are slowly making a recovery through targeted vaccination and reintroduction efforts in one of the world’s largest urban forests. The recovery is detailed in a Mongabay video by Kashfi Halford and a report by Bernardo Araujo. Brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba) are endemic to […]
F&B packaging fuels growing plastic waste crisis in Indian Himalayas: Report
Nonrecyclable food and beverage packaging dominates the trash littering the Indian Himalayas, according to a recent report. Since 2018, regional alliances Zero Waste Himalaya and Integrated Mountain Initiative have organized an annual campaign during the last week of May called The Himalayan Cleanup. Volunteers from schools and civil society organizations clean up sites across the […]
German supermarket palm oil linked to Indigenous rights abuses in Guatemala
- Since 2019, human rights groups have filed numerous complaints against German supermarket chain Edeka and palm oil supplier NaturAceites, alleging the companies failed to respond to concerns from Indigenous communities in the municipality in El Estor, Guatemala, about land grabs, worker mistreatment, and water pollution.
- When residents complained, law enforcement allegedly used force to quiet protests — including firing tear gas into crowds that included women, children and elderly people.
- Last year, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil terminated certification for three of NaturAceites’ palm oil mills.
Countries failing to stop illegal bird killings despite 2030 commitment: Report
Most countries that pledged to reduce the number of birds being illegally killed along an important migratory route in Europe and the Mediterranean region are failing to do so, a new report shows. For the report, conservation organizations BirdLife International and EuroNatur tracked the progress of 46 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, […]
Republic of Congo’s gold mining boom undermines conservation efforts
The Republic of Congo has one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world, but “uncontrolled gold mining” in recent years could harm the country’s biodiversity, especially in the Sangha region, Mongabay’s Elodie Toto reported in a video published in February. Sangha, located in the country’s north, on the border with Cameroon and the Central […]
The world needs a new UN protocol to fight environmental crime (commentary)
- As environmental crime goes global and awareness of its massive scope rises, finding agreement between governments on which illegal trades to target, and how, is not simple and leads to a piecemeal approach, a new op-ed argues.
- The case for international law enforcement cooperation is growing stronger, though, with the U.N. recently launching an intergovernmental process to explore new protocols targeting environmental crime under its existing convention against transnational organized crime, UNTOC.
- “A dedicated UNTOC protocol won’t solve everything, but it would mark a critical step toward harmonizing laws, closing enforcement gaps, and raising the cost for environmental offenders,” the author writes.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Kenyan soil carbon project suspended for a second time
The carbon credit certifier Verra has placed the Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Project under review for a second time, it confirmed to Mongabay in an emailed statement. Until the review is completed, the project will not be permitted to sell any credits it generates through its model of managing livestock grazing routes. The decision is […]
Brazil antideforestation operation blacklists more than 500 farms in the Amazon
The Brazilian government blocked 545 rural properties in the Amazonian state of Pará from selling crops and livestock both domestically and internationally, citing illegal deforestation, according to a May 6 announcement by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The announcement marks one of Brazil’s largest uses of remote sensing to sanction agriculture activity associated […]
Malaysian timber company accused of abuse & rights violations: Report
A new Human Rights Watch report alleges abuse and human rights violations in an Indigenous community in Malaysia’s Sarawak state. The report finds Malaysian timber company Zedtee Sdn Bhd (Zedtee) destroyed culturally valuable forests without the consent of Indigenous people, who are facing an eviction notice from their land. The HRW report says the Sarawak […]
Community-led system boosts fisheries in a corner of fast-depleting Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi’s fish stocks are declining, but one community stands apart: around Mbenje Island, a traditional fisheries management plan has ensured thriving fish populations for generations, Mongabay contributor Charles Mpaka reports. Landlocked Malawi is highly dependent on the lake, which supplies 90% of the country’s fish catch; more than 1.6 million people rely directly or […]
Rectifying the damage: environmental fines in the Brazilian Amazon
- Companies and individuals committing environmental crimes will often be requested to pay fines, but critics say that the amounts imposed by authorities often do not reflect the extent of the damage done.
- Many environmental fines remain unpaid or are contested in the courts until the statute of limitations is reached.
- The current administration in Brazil has reversed a decree by the former Bolsonaro regime which pardoned more than 180,000 cases involving environmental fines.
Flawed energy road map may block Indonesia’s coal exit, critics warn
- Indonesia’s first energy transition road map has been criticized for prioritizing financial considerations over emissions cuts, potentially stalling efforts to retire its coal fleet in favor of renewables.
- The road map’s scoring method gives excessive weight to funding availability and economic impact, while undervaluing emissions, effectively blocking the early retirement of many high-emission plants, critics say.
- The road map also lacks a binding retirement timeline and a specific list of coal plants targeted for closure, despite a pledge to phase out coal by 2040, delaying peak emissions in the power sector until 2037 — seven years later than international guidelines.
- Critics warn that the roadmap’s reliance on “false solutions” like carbon capture and cofiring with alternative fuels could prolong coal’s lifespan, while failing to address key social and economic impacts needed for a fair transition away from coal.
EU’s legislative body accepts weakening of wolf protection
The European Parliament has voted in favor of the European Commission’s proposal to weaken wolf protection, citing increased conflicts with people and livestock in some regions. The draft law, which requires approval by the EU Council, will make it easier to hunt wolves. While hunting and landowners’ associations applauded the decision, environmental groups expressed dismay. […]
Why WHO’s pandemic prevention draft agreement takes a nature-centric, One Health approach (commentary)
- When the World Health Assembly meets next week in Geneva, it will debate a draft agreement on pandemic prevention that hinges on multilateralism and collaboration across borders and disciplines.
- The World Health Organization’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body recently reached consensus on the draft with member states, endorsing the reality that human contact with live wildlife must be regulated or curbed, as part of prevention of pathogen spillovers.
- “Moving forward, we must invest in the systems that will prevent future pandemics and not just respond to them. This means funding integrated surveillance networks, fostering global inter-agency collaboration, and protecting the world’s remaining wild places,” the authors of a new op-ed write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Lack of funds, cattle ranchers challenge Brazil’s sustainable farmers
In 2005, the Brazilian government created PDS Brasília, a sustainable settlement in the state of Pará. The settlement was designed to encourage 500 families to practice small-scale family farming, while also collectively using a standing forest to harvest its fruits and nuts, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in March. The 19,800-hectare (49,000-acre) settlement was created following the […]
Study offers new tool to compare environmental impacts of crops
In a recently published study, researchers offer a new tool to compare how different crops affect the environment in different regions. Named PLANTdex, the tool assesses the environmental impact of a crop by considering five key indicators — greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater biodiversity loss, marine biodiversity loss, land biodiversity loss, and water resource depletion — […]
Angling for answers, this saltwater fishing group boosts research for better conservation
- Though anglers aren’t generally thought of as environmentalists, many people who fish are conservation minded, whether because it’s an outdoor pursuit, or because they wish to ensure future harvests.
- Whatever their reasons, there aren’t many groups that help anglers advocate for sustainable fishing regulations based on solid science, nor ones that also work to generate new data that helps them argue for better conservation.
- “Until we came along, there was no voice for those saltwater anglers who cared about conservation, but didn’t have enough time to put into it to really understand it,” says American Saltwater Guides Association vice president Tony Friedrich.
- His team not only helps its members articulate the need for conservation and regulation, they actively participate in developing data that helps managers set better limits, through projects like their GotOne App.
Singapore study says roadside flowers can improve urban butterfly biodiversity
Narrow strips of flowering plants along road edges can support high butterfly diversity, a recent study from Singapore has found. In late 2023, researchers surveyed 101 road verges — strips of green planted along the side of roads — across the tropical city-state of Singapore, recording 56 species of butterflies feeding on nectar from 96 […]
Attacks on Cambodian environmental journalist continue to pile up
- Cambodian environmental journalist Ouk Mao was attacked by a group of men, apparently including a former police officer, while documenting illegal logging in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, following a pattern of escalating harassment and threats.
- Mao has faced numerous legal challenges, including defamation and incitement charges, that he claims are retaliation for exposing environmental crimes, with local officials allegedly trying to silence his work.
- Cambodia’s crackdown on critical journalism has intensified, with Mao’s case reflecting a broader decline in press freedom, as highlighted by the country’s plummeting rank in the 2025 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedoms Index.
- Advocacy groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association warn that the lack of accountability for attacks on journalists has created a dangerous environment for those reporting on illegal logging and other sensitive issues.
European body proposes mass killing of cormorants to protect fish stocks
A regional fishery body is seeking to reduce cormorant numbers across Europe through “coordinated” culling, citing the aquatic birds’ reported impacts on fisheries and aquaculture. The European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC), a body under the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the U.N., published its draft plan on April 25. The proposal […]
At the U.N., mining groups tout protections for Indigenous peoples
- At the U.N., international mining organizations committed to consulting with Indigenous people.
- The reality on the ground looks different in the U.S., say Indigenous activists. Projects like Oak Flat in Arizona are continuing to move ahead over Indigenous objections.
- Mining industry groups have released voluntary rules for getting consent from Indigenous people — with stronger requirements than the U.S. has. Legal experts say it could goad governments into action.
There’s something fishy about ‘blue economy’ proposals for sustainable marine management (commentary)
- Proposals for developing a “blue economy” emerged in the 2010s as a vision for sustainable ocean development, as communities across the world grappled with challenges of declining ocean health, economic crises and stalling development outcomes.
- Central to their appeal is a promise to transform human interactions with the ocean, promoting a shift toward ecological health, improved livelihoods and job creation, but too often these proposals have been driven by large nations and interests, rather than small coastal nations whose prosperity is most heavily linked with marine ecosystems.
- The author of this commentary warns that this sustainable ocean vision may be operating as a tool for pacifying demands for sustainable and equitable ocean relations, rather than as one that advances them.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Ground-level ozone wreaks havoc on warming planet
Ozone as a layer several kilometers up in the atmosphere protects living beings, including humans, from ultraviolet rays. But its accumulation at ground level can be very dangerous, Mongabay contributor Sean Mowbray explains in an article published in April. Ground-level, or tropospheric, ozone forms when methane, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds react […]
Viral standoff at Philippines’ Mt. Pinatubo exposes decades of Indigenous exclusion
- On April 18, Indigenous Aeta protesters blockaded the trail to the Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo, a popular tourist attraction in an area recognized as Aeta ancestral land.
- Aeta leaders say their communities have been deprived of their rightful share of tourism revenues.
- While businesses and tours catering to travelers have flourished and the local government collects fees, Indigenous locals are engaged as freelance guides for less than minimum wage.
Dredging and pollution threaten fishing in the Niger River
- Some fishers in Bamako, Mali’s capital, are raising concerns about dredging of the Niger River in search of gold.
- They say the combination of dredging and increasing plastic pollution is causing fish stocks to decline.
- Damage to the river’s ecosystems is taking a toll on their livelihoods, with some forced to give up fishing for the more lucrative, but environmentally destructive, activity of river sand mining.
Report shows policy gaps in safeguarding the carbon rights of forest communities
- An absence of government legal and policy reforms is impacting the rights of Indigenous, Afro-descendant peoples and local communities associated with carbon programs in 33 countries, according to a recent report.
- More than half of the reviewed countries don’t have carbon trading regulations, and nearly half have no legal provision to recognize the communities’ right to free, prior and informed consent, the report found.
- It emphasizes safeguarding carbon rights to ensure the communities’ consent and rights over decision-making as countries prepare to comply with the Paris Agreement’s market mechanism for trading high-quality carbon credits.
- Although the voluntary carbon market is faring comparatively better in ensuring these rights, researchers say there still remains much to do in terms of addressing grievances and making sure people stay informed.
Scientists warn of S. Korea airport project’s impact on migratory bird habitat
Scientists have raised the alarm about biodiversity loss if construction of an airport near South Korea’s west coast begins as proposed this year. In an open letter published in the journal Science, they highlight the loss of migrating birds from the Sura area, the last remaining tidal flat within the once-thriving Saemangeum estuary, where saltwater […]
Protected parks in peril as Republic of Congo ramps up oil drilling
- The Republic of Congo plans to nearly double its oil production over the next three years, including drilling in protected areas like Conkouati-Douli National Park, sparking outrage from environmental activists and civil society groups.
- This expansion directly contradicts the country’s climate commitments made at the 2023 U.N. climate conference and its stated goals of preserving biodiversity.
- Major international oil companies — including TotalEnergies, Perenco, and Chinese firms — are supporting this fossil fuel push despite past pollution scandals and a lack of public environmental impact assessments.
- Critics also warn of systemic corruption and resource mismanagement, questioning whether the projected revenues will benefit the public as fuel shortages and extreme climate impacts continue to hit the country.
Hand-raised chicks boost Guatemala’s critically endangered macaws
Scarlet macaw chicks that may have otherwise died in the wild are getting a second chance at life through a hand-rearing program managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Guatemala. The scarlet macaw’s (Ara macao) conservation status is classified as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List, primarily because of its broad geographic […]
Cable car project in Nepal under fire for flawed environmental review
- Nepal’s Pathibhara cable car project faces increased backlash after its environmental assessment was found to omit key species and understate its forest impact, bypassing the need for a full environmental impact assessment.
- The project, in a sacred site for Indigenous Yakthung (Limbu) communities, threatens biodiversity and spiritual heritage, with critics alleging more than 40,000 trees may have been cut, far exceeding the figures stated in the assessment report.
- Protests over the development have turned violent, and Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered a halt to construction pending a review of alleged regulatory violations and community exclusion.
- While developers and some local officials argue the project boosts tourism and access, conservationists and many Indigenous residents continue to call for its cancellation and a full ecological audit.
Amazon people brace for a drier future along the endangered Madeira River
- The Madeira River, the largest tributary of the Amazon, has been losing water flow over the last 20 years while facing severe droughts.
- The water drop is worrying the local population, whose livelihoods depend on balanced water bodies for small-scale agriculture, wild fruit extractives, fishing and transportation.
- The Madeira is particularly vulnerable to hydrological extremes and reached its lowest level ever recorded in September 2024.
- The Amazon has been warming since the 1980s, suffering 15 extreme droughts so far.
Mother Nature Cambodia activists denied bail by Supreme Court
- Cambodia’s Supreme Court has denied bail to five environmental activists from the NGO Mother Nature Cambodia, all of whom are appealing their convictions after spending more than nine months behind bars.
- The activists had already served prison sentences but were released on bail in November 2021 on the condition that they stopped their environmental work; the charges against them were never dropped and the Cambodian government arrested them again in 2024.
- The activists have won praise globally, with the group receiving the Right Livelihood award in 2023; the five are being held in separate prisons across Cambodia, hundreds of kilometers from their homes and families, which rights advocates say is needlessly cruel.
International Leopard Day celebrates the resilient, yet often-overlooked, big cat
Shy, solitary leopards might lose out to tigers and lions in the game of charisma, but the rosette-patterned big cats are incredibly adaptable — they can survive in the densest of cities just as easily as in forests, grasslands and high mountains. While highly adaptable, leopards (Panthera pardus), listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red […]
Gold rush moves closer to Amazon’s second-tallest tree
Illegal gold miners are now operating very close to the second-tallest tree in the Amazon Rainforest, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in April. Six giant trees, including a red angelim (Dinizia excelsa) that stands 85 meters (279 feet) tall, are found inside the Iratapuru River Sustainable Development Reserve in Brazil’s Amapá state. Despite the area’s protected status, […]
Rwanda’s Olivier Nsengimana inspires protection for gray crowned cranes in East Africa
- Ten years ago, the gray crowned crane (Balearica regulorum), faced with habitat loss and capture for illegal trade, was quietly slipping toward local extirpation in Rwanda.
- The Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA), led by veterinarian Olivier Nsengimana, has been at the forefront of a campaign to end the keeping of cranes as pets, rehabilitating many captive birds and releasing them into the wild.
- The association is also enlisting community members to strengthen protection of the cranes’ wetland habitat from encroachment and damage — a strategy that it is extending to neighboring countries via partnerships with other NGOs.
- For these efforts, Nsengimana has been awarded the 2025 Whitley Gold Award, making him a two-time winner after he first received the award in 2018.
How to conserve species in a much hotter world
By 2075, we will be living on a planet that is much hotter, possibly 3-5° Celsius (5.4-9° Fahrenheit) hotter than the preindustrial average. But how can humanity help nature improve its climate resilience in the years to come? Mongabay’s Jeremy Hance found some answers after interviewing several conservationists. “In 50 years, it’s entirely possible that […]
‘We belong to one ocean’: Indigenous leaders push for seat at the table of high seas biodiversity treaty
- Members of Indigenous peoples and coastal communities convened at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to call for their inclusion in the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), also known as the High Seas Treaty.
- These are the first-ever calls by Indigenous and coastal communities as members attending the forum prepare for the entry into force of the BBNJ agreement.
- Their participation could include involvement in governance, environmental management, and best-practice strategies based on traditional ecological knowledge and values.
- The BBNJ agreement will enter into force once at least 60 countries ratify it. So far, 113 countries have signed the agreement, while 19 have ratified the treaty.
England’s flooded farmlands offer habitat, carbon storage & storm protection
When aging infrastructure failed to protect coastal farmland in southwest England from sea level rise, conservationists chose to embrace the flooding and created a new wetland reserve. Mongabay’s Leo Plunkett and Sandy Watt report in a recent Mongabay video that the newly created marsh has brought a host of benefits to the region. The Steart […]
Southeast Asia’s fisheries thrive despite decades of overfishing warnings: Study
- Overfishing in Southeast Asia’s coastal waters is a long-standing concern, but recent research suggests a more optimistic outlook, with 43% of marine stocks classified as underfished — 3.6 times higher than the global average.
- The study, covering stocks across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, highlights the region’s relatively abundant fisheries, particularly among pelagic species, 63% of which are underfished.
- Southeast Asia’s fisheries production surged by 7.1 million metric tons from 1993 to 2022, the largest increase globally, with Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar as major contributors.
- The research underscores the importance of small-scale artisanal fisheries that use nonselective methods to target multiple species, and co-management frameworks to maintain production and sustainability.
How did Finland lead the pursuit of a circular economy? Mongabay podcast explores
As the first nation to develop a circular economy road map in 2016, Finland has had a head start in trying to develop an economy that’s based on reusing and regenerating materials and products. A lot can be learned from Finland’s experience so far, including challenges and gaps, Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo found in an episode of […]
UN report recommends ‘deep change’ theory to address global crises
Major changes in outlook and societal structures are needed to address the global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, a recent United Nations report says. Its 2025 “Interconnected Disaster Risks” report identifies five “deep changes” that need to happen. These are premised on the “Theory of Deep Change” (ToDC), a problem-solving approach that […]
Global warming hits hardest for those who can’t escape it
- The world’s most vulnerable people, including refugees, migrants and the poor, increasingly face threats related to climate change.
- Many lack the ability to move away from impacts like heat, flooding and landslides.
- A new study reveals a lack of data showing the causes of this involuntary immobility.
- Experts say governments and organizations can invest in low-cost interventions aimed at reducing suffering.
Pope Francis’ uncompromising defense of nature may be his greatest legacy
- The world has never before seen a pope like Francis, who died this week at the Vatican in Rome. He spoke with uncompromising conviction for all of nature, the poor, Indigenous and traditional peoples, and for all those who lack a voice in the halls of corporate and political power.
- His spiritual writings on climate change are unprecedented. From 2015 onward, he spoke out in official papal documents in defense of all living beings — recognizing the importance of preserving the complex web of life, melding science and faith, and urging humanity to embrace an iron-willed resolve to conserve “our common home.”
- His lofty words directly inspired the preamble of the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and helped launch conservation advocacy alliances between people of all faiths. But Francis met with great opposition and was often minimized or ignored by many in the Catholic Church, by the business community and global leaders.
- Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso has reported on the pope’s progress as conservationist and humanist over the last decade. Here he offers a sampling of the pontiff’s words urgently imploring all of us, but especially consumers, the business community and world leaders, to live into our sacred duty as Earth stewards.
Armed groups and junta profit as toxic mines devour southern Myanmar
- Since Myanmar’s 2021 coup, lead mining in the country’s southern Tanintharyi region has exploded, with the number of mining sites more than doubling as lawlessness enables rapid expansion.
- The environmental impact has been severe, with polluted rivers, dying crops, and communities losing access to clean water.
- Armed groups and junta officials profit from the boom by collecting bribes and taxes, turning mining into a revenue source across all control zones.
- Environmentalists warn that without immediate action and sustainable planning, the region’s ecosystems and natural resources may be permanently lost.
Indian trawlers leave Sri Lankan small-scale fishers a ravaged, bereft sea
- Bottom trawlers from India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu have been encroaching Sri Lanka’s northern waters for years, carrying out destructive fishing practices that have caused serious depletion of fish stocks and damaged marine habitats.
- Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s local small-scale fishers continue to struggle due to reduced catches, destruction of their fishing nets and financial loss while being forced to fish in limited nearshore areas or abandon fishing temporarily to avoid conflict with the trawlers.
- In this political bone of contention, Tamil Nadu has been demanding reclamation of Katchatheevu — an uninhabited island between India and Sri Lanka — to gain unrestricted fishing rights, and the past bilateral promises to phase out bottom trawling have gone unfulfilled.
- Sri Lanka banned bottom trawling in 2017 and now needs to take specific actions to prevent illegal bottom trawling in its northern waters to avoid the risk of fisheries there from collapsing.
Building environmental laws across Amazon countries
- Some of the first environmental laws passed in Pan Amazon countries established national protected area systems and the entities that would manage them.
- Environmental Impact Assessments have played an increasingly important role in governments’ approving development projects, especially with regard to respecting Indigenous communities’ rights.
- In line with their Paris Agreement commitments, countries in the Amazon Basin still need to develop legislation that regulates carbon markets and offsets.
Amazon illegal miners bypass enforcement by smuggling gold into Venezuela
- Criminal groups are operating to smuggle illegal gold from the Brazilian Amazon into Venezuela, where the metal is laundered and exported overseas.
- Illegal gold traders adopted this new strategy after Brazil’s administration increased control over the metal’s commerce.
- Mongabay followed the steps of Adriano Aguiar de Castro, who, according to authorities, jumped from one gold laundering scheme to another and now is also involved with gold smuggling into Venezuela.
- The need to cross national borders brings gold trading groups closer to organized crime and poses new challenges to authorities.
With deep-sea mining plans in limbo, Norwegian companies fold or dig in
- Norway’s plans to mine seabed minerals in Arctic waters remain in limbo after the first licensing round was delayed in December 2024. However, the government maintains that progress will resume soon, with a licensing round tentatively set for 2026.
- Some deep-sea mining companies have faced significant financial struggles due to the delay, with one company going bankrupt and another slashing costs; yet, other firms remain optimistic, insisting the industry’s future is still secure.
- Experts warn that considerable knowledge gaps must be addressed before deep-sea mining can proceed, particularly regarding environmental impacts.
- In Norway, the industry also continues to face heavy opposition from environmental groups, the fishing sector, and several political parties.
New EU plastic pellet rules greeted with caution
- The EU has agreed binding rules to reduce plastic pellet pollution, aiming to tackle up to 184,000 metric tons of annual leakage into the environment.
- Provisional measures will require companies to prevent spills, implement risk management, and report losses — but reliance on self-reporting may limit accountability, environmental groups argue.
- Campaigners have welcomed the deal but criticized loopholes, delays for maritime transport, and lighter rules for small businesses, warning these could undermine the regulation’s impact.
Locals, researchers race to save unique biodiversity of PNG’s Torricellis
Torricelli Mountains, a tiny mountain range in northern Papua New Guinea, is estimated to host roughly 4% of the world’s known species, many found nowhere else on Earth, Mongabay’s John Cannon reported in March. “I mean, for 0.003% of the world’s land area — it’s a ‘wow’ factor for me,” Jim Thomas, CEO of the […]
‘Trophies’ shared on social media reveal scale of mass bird slaughter in Lebanon
- Millions of migratory birds fly over Lebanon, which is on the African-Eurasian flyway, where hunters indiscriminately shoot them, often illegally, despite some of the species being threatened and/or protected.
- A first-of-its-kind study uses social media photos and posts to assess the level of illegal hunting in Lebanon, where studies show an estimated 2.5 million birds are killed each year.
- The study found that 94% of the hunted bird species, identified by assessing more than 1,800 photographs, were legally protected, and the poachers posed with their hunt in nearly half of these photos without fear of consequences for their illegal acts.
- Conservationists blame weak law enforcement and small penalties for poachers’ blatant disregard for regulations, and point to the growing trend of using social media to garner likes and views as a driving reason behind the carnage.
Kenya arrests 4 suspected ant traffickers, seize 5,300 harvester ants
In two separate but related incidents, Kenyan authorities have arrested four suspects for illegally possessing and attempting to smuggle some 5,300 ants valued at about 1.2 million Kenyan shillings ($9,250), destined for the exotic pet trade. The ants, which included the giant harvester ants (Messor cephalotes), were being trafficked to Asia and Europe. In the […]
2 Mongabay podcasts shortlisted for 2025 Publisher Podcast Awards
Podcasts from Mongabay and Mongabay India have been shortlisted in two categories of the 2025 Publisher Podcast Awards. Media Voices, the weekly publication behind the award, announced the shortlist for the Publisher Podcast Awards last week. Episodes from Mongabay Explores, hosted by Mike DiGirolamo, and Mongabay India’s Wild Frequencies were both shortlisted in the “Best […]
Sheinbaum’s energy agenda under fire as Mexican activists slam LNG megaproject
- A controversial project bringing U.S. liquefied natural gas through the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the Gulf of California continues to face strong resistance from environmental activists.
- Critics of the Saguaro energy project say the pipeline, associated infrastructure and increased industrialization will harm the biodiversity of the gulf, which hosts 85% of Mexico’s marine mammal species and one-third of the world’s dolphin and whale species.
- Energy analysts say the pipeline will increase Mexico’s dependence on U.S. fossil fuels and further delay energy transition goals, despite President Claudia Sheinbaum’s electoral promises to boost investments in clean energy.
- Environmentalists say they’re worried about the project’s greenhouse gas emissions, with methane being especially problematic due to its high global warming potential.
Fishing rights, and wrongs, cast small-scale South African fishers adrift
- A community of mixed-race families has lived and fished in South Africa’s Langebaan Lagoon since the 1800s.
- Starting with the former apartheid government in the 1970s, a series of conservation-oriented decisions ostensibly aimed at protecting fish stocks have slowly squeezed the number of these fishers allowed to operate in the lagoon.
- The government now says fish stocks have collapsed and it has reduced the number of small-scale fishers operating in the lagoon even further, while allowing recreational fishing to continue unimpeded. For their part, the fishers deny the stocks have collapsed, and blame declining catches on industrial developments.
- One expert likened the three-decade-long exclusion of the Langebaan net fishers to a case of fortress conservation, in which local people are squeezed out of nature and denied access to resources they’ve long used in order to preserve them for elites.
As big money wavers, Southeast Asia’s green startups fight to stay powered
- Southeast Asia’s clean-energy startups like Vietnam’s SmartSolar and Indonesia’s Swap Energi are expanding but face growing challenges due to waning government support and shifting global investment trends.
- U.S. and regional funding cuts, along with economic uncertainty and geopolitical shifts, are making it harder for renewable startups to secure long-term financing and scale their operations.
- Despite these headwinds, founders say local demand remains strong, and backing from European development agencies is helping maintain momentum — though the path to profitability is getting narrower.
Illegal gold mining creeps within a kilometer of Amazon’s second-tallest tree
- Prosecutors in Brazil’s Amapá state have warned of an illegal gold mine operating just 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from second-highest known tree in the Brazilian Amazon — an 85-meter (279-foot) red angelim.
- Illegal gold miners have been moving into Amapá in the wake of federal raids on mining hotspots in other parts of the Brazilian Amazon, including the Yanomami and Munduruku Indigenous territories.
- A surge in the gold price has fueled the miners’ destructive potential and their capacity to open new areas in highly isolated places.
‘Heart of Borneo’ dams raze Indigenous forests for Indonesia green energy drive
- A joint venture between Indonesia and state-owned Malaysia companies is constructing a network of dams in the Bulungan and Malinau districts of North Kalimantan, a sparsely populated Bornean province bordering the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
- The dams will generate 9,000 megawatts to power industry in the under-construction Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia in Bulungan district, a site the government hopes will be a global hub of solar panel and battery manufacture.
- One community of around 28 families has already been relocated as dam contractors prepare to submerge more villages and tunneling continues.
Mongabay investigation spurs Brazil crackdown on illegal cattle in Amazon’s Arariboia territory
- An ongoing Brazilian government operation launched in February has removed between 1,000 and 2,000 illegal head of cattle from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Amazon Rainforest.
- In June 2024, Mongabay published the results of a yearlong investigation, revealing that large portions of the Arariboia territory have been taken over for commercial cattle ranching, in violation of the Constitution; the project received funding and editorial support from the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network.
- “Your report is very similar to what we’re actually finding in the field. It showed an accurate reality and this helped us a lot in practical terms,” Marcos Kaingang, national secretary for Indigenous territorial rights at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, told Mongabay in a video interview.
- The investigation also revealed details that authorities said they hadn’t been aware of, including the illegal shifting of the territory’s border markers, Kaingang said: “We brought it up as an important point in our discussions and we verified that the [markers] had in fact been changed.”
Nature protection is part of fundamental law in Amazon countries
- The constitutions of Pan Amazon countries contain at least one article on the state’s obligation to protect the environment.
- Brazil’s 1988 Constitution was the first in the Pan Amazon to include access to a healthy environment as a basic human right.
- Ecuador constitutionally recognizes the rights of nature or of Mother Earth (Pachamama).
Heat wave scorches parts of India with record temperatures
Several cities across India saw temperatures top 40° Celsius, or 104° Fahrenheit, this past week, with some areas exceeding 46°C (114.8°F). Delhi experienced a heat wave for three consecutive days, recording its warmest April night in three years, with temperatures 5-6°C (9-10.8°F) above normal for the period. Many areas in the country’s northwest remain on […]
In Panama, Indigenous Guna prepare for climate exodus from a second island home
- The island of Uggubseni, located in Panama’s Guna Yala provincial-level Indigenous region, spent the month of February participating in region-wide celebrations to mark the centenary of a revolution in which the Indigenous Guna expelled repressive Panamanian authorities and established their autonomy in the region.
- Though the intervening century has left the Guna’s fierce independence undimmed, new existential threats now face Uggubseni: Accelerating sea level rise due to human-caused climate change and overpopulation.
- A consensus now exists among Uggubseni residents that moving inland is necessary; but it remains unclear whether the government will be able to deliver the necessary funding and support.
- Although 63 communities nationwide are at risk of sinking due to climate change, there’s only one other model for climate relocation: In June 2024 the Panamanian government relocated around 300 families from Gardi Sugdub, another island in Guna Yala, to a new community on the mainland where problems remain rife.
Nepal farmers regret planting government-hyped eucalyptus
In the late 1970s, Nepal launched a reforestation project to restore its massively deforested lands in the southeastern Terai landscape. However, the main tree of choice, eucalyptus, after showing initial signs of success has now proven detrimental to the region’s soil moisture and fertility, Mongabay contributor Mukesh Pokhrel reported in February. To prepare for the […]
For scandal-ridden carbon credit industry, Amazon restoration offers redemption
- As REDD projects around the world face setbacks, restoration projects in the Amazon are flourishing as a means of reviving market confidence in forest-based carbon credits.
- In Brazil, the golden goose for restoration, this business model has attracted companies from the mining and beef industries, banks, startups, and big tech.
- Federal and state governments are granting public lands to restoration companies to recover degraded areas.
- Restoration projects require substantial investments and long-term commitment, face challenges such as increasingly severe fire seasons, and deal with uncertainty over the future of the carbon market.
122 companies responsible for a third of present day sea-level rise: Study
What’s new: Almost half of global average temperature rise and a third of sea-level rise can be attributed to the “carbon majors,” the world’s 122 largest fossil fuel and cement producers, a recent paper shows. What the study says: Research from U.S.-based science advocacy NGO Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) used climate-carbon cycle models, and […]
How tires leave a long trail of destruction
Tires play an essential role in modern society, but have enormous negative environmental impacts. Mongabay recently reported on how the world’s top tire manufacturers are unable to prove that the supply chain of their rubber products is deforestation-free. A look back at an episode of Mongabay’s video series “Consumed,” published in January 2024, shows how […]
Funding freeze threatens global reforestation and restoration efforts
- The sudden halt in U.S. foreign aid has left reforestation and forest restoration projects around the world scrambling for alternative resources, jeopardizing years of progress.
- Without consistent funding, ongoing projects face the threat of scaling back or shutting down entirely, potentially impacting, in the long-term, both the environment and the communities that rely on these initiatives for their livelihoods.
- According to Mongabay’s research, the funding freeze has affected the operations of many nature-based projects worldwide, particularly in biodiversity hotspots and some of the world’s poorest regions.
- Despite the challenges, affected organizations are working tirelessly to diversify their funding sources and fill the gaps left by the U.S. government, including launching online campaigns to request donations and calling the international community to step up.
Brazil is speeding-up forest fire prevention to avoid dangerous tipping points in the Amazon (commentary)
- In this commentary, Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabo of the Igarapé Institute examine Brazil’s escalating forest fire crisis, highlighting a record 237,000 fires in 2024 that devastated over 30 million hectares of vegetation—most of it in the Amazon—and triggered a national environmental emergency.
- Muggah and Szabo underscore the alarming interplay between human-driven deforestation, climate change, and increasingly severe El Niño and La Niña events, warning that parts of the Amazon may tip into savanna if trends continue.
- While Brazil is pursuing a range of responses—including new technologies, indigenous fire brigades, and international cooperation—Muggah and Szabo stress the need for systemic solutions backed by smart policy, inclusive governance, and innovative financing to truly curb the crisis.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Palm oil company uses armed forces, tear gas against protesting villagers in Cameroon
- Cameroonian villagers protesting on March 25 against plantation company Socapalm’s replanting of oil palm trees on disputed land were dispersed with tear gas by local law enforcement.
- Socapalm rejects the villagers’ claim that the company was supposed to return this land following an amendment to its lease, explaining that this part of the plantation is not leased.
- Gendarmes escorted Socapalm workers despite a local official’s previous statement that replanting required an agreement with villagers.
- Socfin, Socapalm’s parent company, has been accused of land grabbing and human rights abuses, with investigators confirming many community grievances at its Cameroon plantations.
After outcry, Brazil Supreme Court nixes proposal for mining on Indigenous lands
- Brazil’s Supreme Court backed down and withdrew its proposal to open up Indigenous territories to mining and economic activities from a controversial bill that critics say violates the Constitution.
- On the same day, the Federal Attorney General’s Office presented a draft presidential decree also excluding mining activities on Indigenous territories but allowing tourism and other activities led by Indigenous communities.
- Both drafts would keep contentious articles regarding compensation for non-Indigenous settlers, which could make the land demarcation process unfeasible, critics say.
- The proposals are the outcome of a yearslong legal battle centered in the highly controversial time frame thesis, aiming to nullify any Indigenous land demarcation claims to areas that weren’t physically occupied before the 1988 Constitution.
Despite improvements, governance in the Pan Amazon falls short
- Despite major progress in the last 50 years, nations in the Pan Amazon are still struggling to forge positive social and economic change and tackle corruption, which has negative impacts on the environment.
- While countries in the Pan Amazon are working to slash deforestation and protect biodiversity, the fragmentation and degradation of the region’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems continues.
- Many NGOs in the region support Amazon conservation and research, but their fragmented efforts cannot replace the work of government agencies.
Nepali farmers switch crops to reduce human-elephant conflict
A village on Nepal’s border with India has found a way to reduce conflicts with wild Asian elephants in recent years: By switching their crops from rice and maize, which elephants love to eat, to tea and lemon, the farmers of Bahundangi are now seeing fewer elephants devouring their harvest, Mongabay contributor Deepak Adhikari reported […]
Maltese Falcon Poachers: European hunters endanger Egypt’s birds
- A 15-month-long investigation has exposed the cracks in international conservation efforts around the hunting of Maltese falcons and other species in Egypt.
- Millions of euros have flowed from EU conservation funds to protect these species, only for them to be gunned down by Europeans in Egypt.
- With exclusive accounts from conservationists and hunting trip organizers, alongside public records of raids and arrests, this investigation highlights the urgent need for international cooperation to uphold global conservation commitments.
Innovators battling wildfires with AI, drones & fungi get $50k grants to scale up
To address the devastating effects of wildfires in Western North America, the nonprofit Conservation X Labs (CXL) and its partners have awarded $50,000 each to 12 shortlisted teams seeking to scale up novel technologies and processes to lower wildlife risk and increase ecosystem and community resilience. CXL announced the 12 finalists of its first Fire […]
Wildfires in South Korea kill at least 30 people
At least 30 people were killed and more than 48,000 hectares, or 119,000 acres, of land was burned in fires that raged over the last week of March in South Korea, media reported. According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, the fires started on March 21 and were accompanied by strong winds and dry weather. Local authorities […]
Bangladesh continues promotion of biodegradable bags amid battle against polythene
- Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban plastic bags in 2002. However, due to weak law enforcement, the country still sees a high usage of plastic.
- Approximately 24 kilograms (53 pounds) of plastic per capita are discarded yearly in the capital city, Dhaka, alone.
- Alternatives to plastic bags have been created using cassava, potato starch, cloth and jute, but they are more expensive than polythene.
- The high cost of these reusable bags is hindering the adoption of everyday eco-friendly alternatives.
Key transit province in DRC bans gray parrot capture and trade
African gray parrots, one of the world’s most trafficked birds, can no longer be captured or traded across the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Tshopo province, a key transit route for traffickers, according to a recent decree passed by the provincial government. Known for their intelligence and ability to mimic human speech, gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus) […]
Brazil plans new Amazon routes linking the Pacific & China’s New Silk Road
- New roads and riverways integrating the Brazilian Amazon and ports on the Pacific coast of South America are expected to be announced in 2025, reducing shipment costs to supply China.
- Brazil’s plans to build ports and roads to help move grains, beef and iron ore from the rainforest echo a development vision that dates back to the military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Environmentalists warn the new routes boost deforestation and encourage land-grabbers and ranchers to keep exploring the Amazon as a commodity hub.
Australia’s environment minister sued for failure to act on threatened species
Australian conservation NGO The Wilderness Society has launched a court case against the country’s environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, alleging her failure to put in place formal recovery plans for a number of threatened species. The public interest legal organization Environmental Justice Australia recently announced that its lawyers are representing The Wilderness Society in the federal […]
Madagascar highway pushes on through controversy
- More than a hundred Malagasy civil society organizations have called on the government to halt construction of a major highway after thousands of farmers were affected by unusual flooding linked to the project.
- They are calling for compensation for affected communities and inclusive consultations before the project continues.
- The highway, intended to link the capital Antananrivo to the port of Toamasina, has also been criticized for threatening ecologically important forests and a significant heritage site.
Belize’s natural heritage deserves even stronger conservation strategies (commentary)
- “Belize has made significant progress in protecting its natural heritage, yet growing environmental and economic pressures demand stronger, long-term conservation strategies,” a new op-ed says.
- The country’s National Protected Areas System draft plan lays important groundwork, but additional policy measures, sustainable funding and community-driven governance will be necessary to secure its forests, wildlife and marine ecosystems for future generations, the writer argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Panama conducts large illegal fishing bust in protected Pacific waters
- Panamanian authorities seized six longliner vessels on Jan. 20 for fishing illegally in protected waters. They also opened an investigation into an additional 10 vessels that surveillance data showed had apparently been fishing in the area but left by the time authorities arrived.
- The seizures took place in the Cordillera de Coiba, a marine protected area that’s part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor, which connects several MPAs in four countries. It was the largest illegal fishing bust in the history of Panama’s MPAs.
- The vessels, whose activity is still under investigation, were Panamanian-flagged, meaning they were registered in the country, but the identity and nationality of the owners isn’t clear.
- The surveillance work in the case was done in part through Skylight, an AI-powered fisheries intelligence platform, and was supported by a group of fisheries monitoring nonprofits.
The untold environmental toll of the DRC’s conflict
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay’s founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo isn’t just killing people — it’s tearing down forests, silencing activists, and fueling an illicit trade worth millions of dollars. The resurgence of the M23 rebel group in the eastern […]
Netherlands’ largest forest biomass plant canceled, forest advocates elated
- Vattenfall, the Netherlands’ third-largest energy producer, has announced it is abandoning plans to build the country’s largest wood pellet burning power plant.
- Forest advocates, who launched a campaign to derail Vattenfall’s plans in 2019, declared victory. They note that burning wood pellets to make energy produces more carbon emissions per unit of energy than coal, despite industry claims that the technology is carbon neutral.
- Increasing scientific evidence shows that burning forest biomass for energy is a false climate solution that increases deforestation and biodiversity loss, while releasing significant carbon emissions at the smokestack — worsening climate change.
- In a recent pivot, EU officials now seem more willing to admit the error of past carbon neutrality claims for wood pellet burning power plants, though they now say those emissions can be eliminated by installing Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BCCS) at the facilities — an untested, unready technology, scientists say.
Are your tires deforestation-free? Even their makers can’t tell, report finds
Only one out of the world’s 12 major tire manufacturers have shown evidence their supply chain is deforestation-free, a recent assessment has found. The report, released March 26 by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), assessed 30 natural rubber companies, including 12 that manufacture tires, to see what portion of their supply chain is independently […]
Colombia creates landmark territory to protect uncontacted Indigenous groups
- Colombia has created a first-of-its-kind territory meant to protect a group of Indigenous people living between the Caquetá and Putumayo Rivers in the Amazon Rainforest.
- The 2.7-million-acre (1,092,849-hectare) territory is the first in the country specifically designed for people living in isolation.
- The Yuri-Passé people have faced increasing pressure from illegal mining and organized crime groups, forcing neighboring Indigenous communities to reach out to the government on their behalf.
How bobcats protect us from diseases, Mongabay podcast explores
“Bobcats are disease defenders,” Zara McDonald, founder of the U.S.-based conservation nonprofit Felidae Conservation Fund, tells host Mike DiGirolamo on Mongabay’s weekly podcast Newscast in February. Today, bobcats (Lynx rufus) are North America’s most common small wildcat. But this wasn’t always the case: At the start of the 20th century, the bobcat population was close to […]
New allegations of abuse against oil palm giant Socfin in Cameroon
- For several years, coastal communities in Edéa, Cameroon, have been campaigning for the return of land they say Socapalm, a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Socfin, illegally seized from them.
- Now a series of reports published by environmental consultancy the Earthworm Foundation in February have substantiated new allegations land grabbing and of sexual harassment on Socapalm’s oil palm plantations.
- The Socfin group requested Earthworm’s investigations of its subsidiaries’ operations in Cameroon and elsewhere; following the release of the latest findings, the group has announced the launch of quarterly action plans aimed at addressing the rights violations.
- Financial institutions that have backed Socfin declined to say how they will in their turn respond to findings that show that guidelines for ethical investment have not been effective across Socfin’s operations in West and Central Africa, as well as Asia.
Uncontacted Ayoreo could face health risks as Gran Chaco shrinks, experts warn
- The International Working Group for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI) visited northern Paraguay to better understand the threats against the Indigenous Ayoreo communities living in isolation.
- The Ayoreo live semi-nomadically between the Paraguayan and Bolivian Gran Chaco, where they’re threatened by deforestation from the expanding agricultural frontier.
- GTI-PIACI called on the Paraguayan government and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to develop more thorough measures to protect the groups and stop deforestation.
Baby sightings spark hope for critically endangered gibbons in Vietnam
A community conservation team saw not one but two baby Cao-vit gibbons, one of the world’s rarest apes, in the remote forests of northern Vietnam in 2024, the NGO Fauna & Flora announced this month. The first infant sighting was in February 2024 and the second in November, in two separate troops. “It is very […]
An arachnid in your orchid? Ornamental plant trade risks spreading invasive species
What’s new: Your recently imported ornamental tree might have a stowaway spider or lizard hidden in its branches, a recent study warns. What’s more, these accidentally transported wildlife can turn into invasive pests in their new environment, researchers say. What the study says: The increasing popularity of imported ornamental plants has resulted in a multibillion-dollar […]
World Water Day: 3 stories of resistance and restoration from around the globe
More than 2 billion people around the world live without access to safe drinkable water, as rivers, groundwater, lakes and glaciers face continued threats of pollution and overexploitation due to urbanization, environmental destruction, and climate change. This World Water Day, Mongabay looks back at some of its coverage from 2024 on how local communities are […]
Conservationists, fishing industry find balance on protecting African penguins
Conservation NGOs and commercial sardine and anchovy fisheries in South Africa have reached an out-of-court settlement agreeing to extents of fishing closures around six key African penguin breeding colonies. The agreement, endorsed by the environment minister, was made a court order on March 18. The boundaries of the new fishing closures achieve “the sweet spot […]
With Europe’s forests, we can’t manage what we can’t measure (commentary)
- A group of European policymakers are currently trying to derail a law that would harmonize data used to monitor the European Union’s forests.
- The Forest Monitoring Law (FML) was proposed by the European Commission in November 2023, but conservative and far-right members of the European Parliament recently moved to scrap it.
- “We cannot manage what we cannot measure. By ensuring cost efficiency, enhancing competitiveness, transformation to a true bio-economy and responding to the growing demand for forest information, the law positions Europe as a leader in forestry data and management. Let us seize this opportunity,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Housing affordability through sustainability? Mongabay podcast explores
Countries all over the world face huge deficits in affordable housing today. But pursuing a circular economy, or the practice of making a good’s life cycle less resource-intensive, can pave the way for less expensive and longer-lasting houses, Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo found in an episode of the Mongabay Explores podcast published last December. In the episode, DiGirolamo talks […]
Colombia’s top oil company concealed environmental damages: Investigation
- A newly released investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency and Earthworks into the workings of Colombia’s largest company, oil and gas giant Ecopetrol, reveals a pattern of environmental negligence and corporate misconduct.
- The investigation relies on the Iguana Papers, a collection of leaked documents and databases that show more than 600 instances of major environmental damages caused by Ecopetrol between 2010 and 2016. The company concealed about a fifth of these cases from the authorities, according to the report.
- The investigation also reveals that Ecopetrol maintained a database to map and monitor 1,200 individuals in areas where the company operates. Mongabay talked to environmental defenders who have felt threatened by Ecopetrol.
- Despite these findings, Colombian authorities have not responded to complaints about Ecopetrol, which continues to operate unhindered.
Ecuador must improve conditions for uncontacted Indigenous communities, human rights court rules
- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that Ecuador violated numerous rights of the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous peoples and failed to protect them from violent attacks.
- The nomadic Tagaeri and Taromenane rely on hunting and gathering in the Amazon Rainforest, but the area has also been an attractive location for oil development and logging.
- The court ruled that Ecuador must expand protection zones where the uncontacted Indigenous communities live and improve monitoring of threats in those areas.
‘Unprecedented’ Supreme Court bill threatens Indigenous rights in Brazil
- Presented in February by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, a draft bill violates Indigenous people’s constitutional rights by stripping their veto power against impactful activities on their ancestral lands and adding further obstacles to an already long land demarcation process.
- Critics say the Supreme Federal Court’s act is “unprecedented” in Brazil’s history by an institution that’s entitled to protect Indigenous and minorities’ rights — as dictated by the Constitution.
- The move comes months after the same court decided those Indigenous rights couldn’t be stripped by a legislative bill, with the support of Mendes.
- Critics say the bill “brings together the main threats to Indigenous peoples” and “directly contradicts the Brazilian Constitution, the decisions of the Supreme Court itself and international human rights law.”
New dams call into question Cambodia’s commitment to REDD+ projects
- Three new irrigation dams have been approved in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains, overlapping with two carbon credit projects
- The new developments join five hydropower projects that are already eating into these same forests.
- Communities in the affected area have described the onslaught of dam projects, from which they say they haven’t benefited, as “a war against the forest.”
- Experts say the approval throws into question the Cambodian government’s commitment to carbon credits as a viable climate tool.
Australia faces inflation, agriculture losses after Cyclone Alfred
The Australian government has warned of impacts to the country’s economy in the wake of Cyclone Alfred that caused massive losses to infrastructure, agriculture and the dairy industries when it struck in late February. The horticultural industry was among the worst hit, with strong winds toppling and damaging hundreds of orchard trees, and floodwaters inundating […]
EUDR compliance costs to be minimal, report finds — but industry disagrees
- A recent report from the Dutch NGO Profundo suggests that complying with the EUDR, the regulation designed to root out deforestation in the supply chains of products entering the European Union, will add little cost to companies’ bottom lines.
- Researchers from Profundo used available customs data for 12 small, medium and large companies that import one or more of the seven commodities regulated by the EUDR.
- On average, it will cost companies about 0.1% of their annual revenues, though the cost will likely be higher for smaller companies, according to the report. The impact on the prices consumers pay will be even smaller.
- Industry sources told Mongabay that the report’s methodology was “flawed,” however, and said the authors did not take into account the full suite of accommodations companies must make.
The rough road to sustainable farming in an Amazon deforestation hotspot
- Far from international forums and economical centers, locals in one of the Amazon deforestation hotspots seek alternatives to agribusiness and gold mines.
- Mongabay went to Pará state’s southwest and found examples of people struggling to keep sustainable initiatives in a region dominated by soy, cattle, gold and logging.
- Despite the bioeconomy buzz, people working on the ground say they miss support from banks and public administrations.
A Cameroon stadium spurs one community’s fight over ancestral lands
- On the outskirts of Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, members of the local Yanda community say the construction of a large multisports complex has left them without their traditional forest lands, where their ancestors were buried.
- The forest previously provided Yanda families with trees, plants and animals for their food and medicine.
- The land, they say, was razed for the construction of the Paul Biya Omnisports Complex, which hosted the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations; today, the stadium stands empty.
- The Yanda community is asking the government for compensation, but the people have no formal titles to their ancestral lands — a common problem for traditional communities in similar situations seeking land rights or compensation for their eviction.
Critically endangered parakeets get a new home on New Zealand island
Conservation authorities and groups, along with Māori people, recently established a new population of the critically endangered kākāriki karaka, or orange-fronted parakeet, on a New Zealand island. Thirty-four kākāriki karaka (Cyanoramphus malherbi), raised in captivity, were released on the predator-free Pukenui, or Anchor Island, in the Fiordland National Park. The parakeet was once common across […]
Deadly Botswana rains made more likely by climate change, rapid urbanization
Unusually heavy rainfall struck southern Botswana and eastern South Africa from Feb. 16-20, flooding cities and killing at least 31 people. In Botswana, the government said nearly 5,500 people were affected, and more than 2,000 people evacuated. A new rapid study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a team of international climate scientists analyzing extreme […]
Indigenous schools ensure next generations protect Borneo’s ‘omen birds’
In the rainforests of West Kalimantan, in Indonesian Borneo, the Indigenous Dayak Iban listen to what they call “omen birds,” or birds they say sing messages from spirits, Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo reported in November 2024. These omen birds include species such as the white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabarincus), scarlet-rumped trogon (Harpactes duvaucelii) and Diard’s trogon […]
Solar farm expansion in India brings concerns of reckless herbicide use
As solar farms proliferate across the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, communities and experts are raising concerns about the indiscriminate use of glyphosate-based herbicides to clear vegetation around the solar panels, reports contributor Gowthami Subramaniam for Mongabay India. “We fear these chemicals will seep into our water. The effects may not be visible now, […]
A tale of two cities: What drove 2024’s Valencia and Porto Alegre floods?
- In 2024, catastrophic floods occurred in the cities of Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Valencia, Spain. These two record floods number among the thousands of extreme weather events that saw records for temperature, drought and deluge shattered across the globe. Such horrors have only continued in 2025, with the cataclysmic wildfires in Los Angeles.
- Scientists have clearly pegged these disasters to carbon emissions and intensifying climate change. But a closer look at Porto Alegre and Valencia shows that other causes contributed to the floods and droughts there, and elsewhere on the planet — problems requiring nuanced but Earth-wide changes in how people live and society develops.
- Researchers especially point to the drastic destabilization of the world’s water cycle, which is increasingly bringing far too little precipitation to many regions for far too long, only to suddenly switch to too much rain all at once — sometimes a year’s worth in a single day, as happened in Valencia when 445.5 mm (17.5 inches) fell in 24 hours.
- The problem isn’t only CO2 emissions, but also local deforestation and hardened urban infrastructure that promote flooding. But what may be seriously underestimated is how large-scale destruction of forest, marshland and other vegetation is dangerously altering rainfall patterns, a theory proposed decades ago by a little-known Spanish scientist.
Forest management ambitions in Brazilian Amazon aim to make up for lost time
- In 2006, Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s government passed the Public Forest Management Law, implementing a forest concession scheme designed to regulate and legalize logging activities in Brazil’s forest — in particular, the Amazon.
- Forest management consists of removing a small number of trees whose species are valued in the market. After that, the area can only be explored again in 30 to 40 years, following its regeneration cycle.
- Behind on its concessions targets, the current government wants to almost quadruple the current area of federal concessions by 2026.
- Even though it is different from deforestation, timber management has never been seen as a way to conserve the forest by traditional peoples.
Asian elephants fall victim to poor development policies in Bangladesh
- Around 270 Asian elephants live in Bangladesh, where they are regionally critically endangered. Conflict between humans and elephants has been a significant cause for death in both humans and elephants.
- Unplanned infrastructure development in elephant habitats in the country’s southeastern zone and transboundary border fencing in the northeast are the two critical factors behind such conflicts.
- Experts suggest that the government take suitable measures, such as involving local communities in the elephant conservation process to protect resident elephant and implementing the protocol signed with neighboring India for managing conflicts with non-resident elephants.
Tragedy haunts community on shore of Sumatra’s largest solar farm
- A joint venture between Indonesia’s state-owned electricity utility PLN and Saudi developer ACWA Power says it remains on track to build Sumatra’s largest floating solar power array on Lake Singkarak by 2027.
- The renewable energy project’s managers face a difficult task on the ground getting local community members on board with the project, given lingering memories of a flash flood 25 years earlier linked to a hydroelectric plant.
- Local fishers told Mongabay Indonesia they also fear the installation of solar panels on the lake’s surface will impact the stocks of the fish they rely on as their primary source of income.
- Indonesia has set ambitious renewable energy goals to meet its international climate change commitments, but several energy transition projects are creating new land conflicts and cases of displacement across the world’s fourth most populous country.
Will Brazil’s President Lula wake up to the climate crisis? (commentary)
- The global climate system is even nearer than we thought to a tipping point where global warming escapes from human control. Emissions from both fossil fuel combustion and the loss and degradation of forests must be drastically reduced, beginning immediately.
- Brazil would be one of the greatest victims if global warming escapes from control, but, excepting the Ministry of Environment and Climate change, virtually the entire Brazilian government is promoting projects that will increase emissions for decades to come.
- Brazil’s President Lula so far shows no signs of waking up to the climate crisis, to its implications for Brazil, and to the climatic consequences of his current policies.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Flash floods, blackouts and a ‘sharknado’ as Cyclone Alfred lashes Australia
Heavy rainfall and flooding damaged homes and vehicles in Australia, with locals even reporting shark sightings in inland canals. Cyclone Alfred formed over the Coral Sea on Feb. 22, NASA Earth Observatory reported. It intensified for a week offshore causing heavy rainfall along the coast even before making landfall in Australia on March 8. The […]
The environmental toll of the M23 conflict in eastern DRC (Analysis)
- The escalating armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had significant — and overlooked — environmental impacts. The rate of tree cover loss in Kahuzi-Biega and Virunga National Parks has sharply increased since the conflict reignited in late 2021.
- Armed groups, both state and non-state, have profited by taxing the illegal charcoal and timber trade coming from inside these protected areas.
- Yet the impacts are complex: the broader geopolitical context also provides incentives for the M23 group to support conservation efforts in order to project themselves as providers of good governance in the region.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Rich nations fuel global biodiversity loss at ‘disproportionate’ scale, study finds
High-income nations are wiping out wildlife far beyond their own borders by outsourcing their production of food and timber, according to a new study that shows their demand for these commodities fuels 15 times more habitat destruction overseas than at home. Researchers found that wealthy nations account for 13% of global forest habitat loss outside […]
Indonesia families evicted for Jakarta PIK2 project flooded at relocation site
- The peak of the rainy season in Indonesia has caused damage across much of the archipelago, with major landslides in forested uplands.
- On the north coast of Jakarta’s greater metropolitan area, families displaced by an upscale property development were relocated to a site that later flooded.
- A landslide in January killed 26 people in one village in Central Java province, while a married couple were swept away last week in a flash flood in a nearby community.
- Research predicts annual rainfall could increase 10% in volume by 2050 in Indonesia, while incidents of extreme rain could become more frequent.
What have we learned from 15 years of REDD+ policy research? (analysis)
- The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation program (REDD+) is supposed to provide participating countries, jurisdictions and communities in the Global South with incentives to protect their forests.
- This analysis draws on more than a decade of comparative research and identifies a broad array of actors involved in REDD+, with large power differences between them. The authors argue that the power imbalances among these groups are obstructing progress toward shifting away from “business-as-usual” deforestation in the tropics.
- The ambition for sustainable forest “transformation” is at risk of being co-opted by those who stand to benefit from maintaining the status quo, and the authors say it is therefore important for the research community to keep asking what proposed reforms and changes may represent, and whom they serve.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Forest biomass growth to soar through 2030, impacting tropical forests
- The forest biomass industry — cutting forests to make wood pellets to be burned in power plants — will continue booming through 2030, says a new report. By then, pellets made in the U.S., Canada, EU and Russia could top 31 million metric tons annually, with those made in tropical nations surging to over 11 million tons yearly.
- The U.K. and EU are forecast to go on burning huge amounts of pellets (more than 18 million metric tons each year by 2030). But Asia will burn even more (27 million tons), with Japan and South Korea expanding use, as Taiwan enters the market.
- Scientists warn that forest biomass burning is unsustainable and produces more CO2 emissions than coal per unit of energy generated. Pellet-making is contributing to deforestation and biodiversity loss in North America, and will increasingly do so in tropical nations, including Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia.
- Forest advocates continue campaigning against biomass for energy, achieving some hard-won victories. Enviva, the world’s largest biomass producer, went bankrupt in 2024, while South Korea and Japan have taken first steps to reduce subsidies for wood pellets. But the U.K. continues offering millions in subsidies to biomass power plants.
Facing possible eviction, North Sumatra farmers contest palm oil giant
JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian palm oil company suspended evictions of several hundred farmers from the northern Sumatra subdistrict of Aek Kuo following an eleventh-hour court reprieve. On Feb. 20, a local court issued an eviction order authorizing PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (SMART) to establish an oil palm plantation on 83.5 […]
‘Without us, no scrutiny’: Indonesia’s independent media count cost of US funding cuts
- U.S. funding cuts abruptly ended reporting initiatives on environmental issues in Indonesia, affecting independent journalism outlets like Remotivi, New Naratif and Project Multatuli.
- The loss of nearly $270 million in global journalism support leaves independent media scrambling to cover environmental and human rights issues.
- Shrinking newsroom budgets and government restrictions have already weakened investigative journalism in Indonesia, now worsened by the U.S. aid cuts.
- Facing uncertainty, media groups are pushing to diversify revenue streams and reduce reliance on foreign grants to sustain independent reporting.
Researchers track Florida’s crocodiles to increase acceptance amid urbanization
Researchers in Florida, U.S., have attached satellite transmitter tags on 15 crocodiles to learn more about their movement patterns in urbanized areas. Through the multi-year study, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), aims to better understand the behavior of American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) to help minimize human-wildlife conflict. Native to south Florida and […]
COP16 biodiversity summit in Rome OKs finance pathway; big obstacles loom
- When the COP16 U.N. biodiversity summit ended without a final agreement in October 2024 in Cali, Colombia, negotiators agreed to meet in Rome, Italy, in February. There, the parties mapped a sweeping permanent plan on how to raise $200 billion annually by 2030 to reverse global species extinctions and conserve life on Earth.
- In Rome, the parties approved mechanisms for raising, tracking and reporting on that huge sum, with funding potentially coming from nations, philanthropies, banks and even corporations. The Achilles’ heel of this agreement is that no funding commitment made by any party now or in the future is legally binding.
- Even as participants celebrated this funding strategy breakthrough, two major powers dealt blows to finance targets. The U.S. under President Donald Trump abandoned USAID conservation financial commitments abroad, while the U.K. announced a shift in priorities away from climate and biodiversity foreign aid to military spending.
- The final Rome agreement also reduced the likelihood that trillions of dollars paid out by the world’s nations in “perverse subsidies” to industries that do the greatest harm to life on Earth would be redirected in a timely way to global biodiversity goals.
From Kenya to Madagascar, massive effort aims to put seagrasses on the map
In 2019, scientists set out to map the extent of seagrass in Seychelles, an island nation off the eastern coast of Africa. There, they hit upon a startling number: More than 90% of the country’s “blue carbon,” or the carbon stored in marine ecosystems, is contained within seagrass meadows. Under the Large-scale Seagrass Mapping and […]
Sweden to kill 87 Eurasian lynx despite complaints to EU Commission
Sweden has issued licenses to hunters to kill 87 Eurasian lynx between March 1 and Apr. 15. Conservation organizations say the annual hunts of the medium-sized wildcat violate environmental legislation of the European Union, of which Sweden is a part. The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is categorized as vulnerable on Sweden’s red list, but the […]
New Zealand blocks tighter trawling rules at South Pacific fisheries meeting
- The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), a multilateral body that regulates fishing in the vast waters of the South Pacific Ocean, held its annual meeting Feb. 17-21 in Santiago, Chile.
- At the meeting, Aotearoa New Zealand blocked an effort to implement a rule that would reduce bottom trawling, a fishing practice that disrupts the seabed, in areas occupied by vulnerable marine ecosystems.
- Conservationists lambasted New Zealand’s move, while a New Zealand official defended the country’s approach.
- In other meeting news, the parties raised the fishing quota for jack mackerel above scientifically advised limits and, at the same time, moved forward toward adopting a harvest strategy for the stock that could prevent such abrupt quota hikes in the future.
India’s fisherwomen getting left behind by blue economy policies
Women make up nearly half of India’s marine fisheries workforce, yet policies to strengthen the country’s blue economy are leaving women behind, reports contributor Priyamvada Kowshik for Mongabay India. India’s draft blue economy policy framework aims to significantly boost the contribution of marine resources to the country’s GDP, and at the same time improve the […]
Yanomami youth turn to drones to watch their Amazon territory
- In the Yanomami Indigenous Land, the largest in Brazil, leaders believe in their youths’ skills to maintain their ancestors’ legacy and safeguard the future of a sprawling territory covering almost the size of Portugal.
- Located in the Brazilian Amazon between the states of Roraima and Amazonas, the Indigenous territory faced a severe humanitarian and environmental crisis with the invasion of around 20,000 illegal miners in search of gold and cassiterite.
- Trained youths can now act as multipliers of drone monitoring and watch the land against new invasions.
In remote Philippine villages, micro-hydro alternatives power Indigenous homes
- Around 3.6 million households in the Philippines are not connected to the national power grid. In the country’s mountainous north, some villages have overcome this challenge by building and maintaining small-scale hydroelectric generators.
- These micro-hydro systems have small environmental footprints and have allowed electricity to reach villages before road networks do, thanks to communal efforts to haul equipment through the mountains on foot or on horseback.
- This region has a long history of conflict over planned mega hydroelectric dams, and an NGO that helps communities build and maintain micro-hydro systems says they are working in an environment of increasingly hostile scrutiny from the military.
EU parliament calls for end to Rwanda mineral pact over DRC conflict links
- Members of the European Parliament have voted for the European Union to suspend its memorandum of understanding with Rwanda on mineral purchases.
- According to U.N. experts, Rwanda is mixing its own minerals with those from the M23-controlled region of Rubaya in its larger neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- European parliamentarians have criticized the EU for failing to take adequate measures to address the crisis in the DRC.
- Environmentalists say China and other countries importing minerals like coltan should follow the EU legislators’ example and that the DRC must tackle corruption and strengthen its governance of the mining sector.
African NGOs appeal judgement in controversial oil pipeline case
Four NGOs recently appealed to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) to have their concerns about a contentious oil pipeline heard on merit. The landmark case, filed four years ago, had previously been dismissed on technical grounds. The four East African NGOs — the Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT) and the […]
The U.S. terminated its 30×30 conservation plan but this also presents an opportunity (commentary)
- “We should be proud of the progress that was made over the last years, but conservation priorities have always evolved [to] save the whales, save the rainforest, to today’s focus on climate change and area targets,” and the recent U.S. withdrawal from the global 30×30 conservation initiative won’t change that, a new op-ed argues.
- The U.S.’s 30×30 goal was central to President Biden’s America the Beautiful for All initiative and mobilized federal funding, new protections, and an all-of-government approach to conservation.
- “We should not accept these rollbacks as permanent defeat,” the authors say, but rather as “an opportunity to make our efforts sharper and more effective.” The loss of 30×30 should not be seen as a rejection of conservation values, but as a call to reimagine a conservation strategy that works for more people in more places.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Guinea greenlights gold mine in habitat of critically endangered chimpanzees
The government of Guinea has issued an environmental compliance certificate to an Australian company to go ahead with its plan to mine gold within an area that’s home to critically endangered western chimpanzees. In January, Guinea’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development accepted the environmental and social impact assessment that Predictive Discovery had commissioned […]
Endemic fish wiped out in Brazilian Amazon hydroelectric dam area, study finds
- The construction of the Balbina hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon led to the loss of seven endemic fish species in the Uatumã River, researchers have found.
- The hydroelectric dam has transformed the Uatumã River’s fast-flowing habitats into static environments, making them unsuitable for certain fish species.
- Researchers call for the investigation of unaffected tributaries, such as the Jatapu River, as possible refuges for the missing species and future conservation efforts.
- The study underscores the broader threat of hydropower dams and other environmental stressors, like industrial fishing and climate change, to Amazonian fish populations.
Baja California tourism poses mounting challenges for conservation, critics say
- Baja California Sur attracts more foreign tourism investment than any other state in Mexico, but the rapid development also poses threats to protected areas, marine habitats and the traditional customs of small communities.
- Numerous hotel projects underway this year could level sand dunes and encroach on protected areas, overwhelming many environmental activists who aren’t sure how to combat the rapid development.
- Some critics question the eco-tourism model that has been applied to coastal fishing villages, many of which regret trading in their customs for tourist businesses.
Deforestation and airstrip close to isolated teen’s Indigenous land in Brazil Amazon
On the evening of Feb. 12, a teenager from an isolated Indigenous group voluntarily made contact with people in a fishing village in the western Brazilian Amazon, according to Brazil’s Indigenous agency, Funai. He returned to his land on Feb. 15. The young man is likely part of an isolated Indigenous group in the Mamoriá […]
An investment fund that pays out for nature? Mongabay podcast explains the TFFF
The Brazilian government in 2023 announced a novel funding mechanism to incentivize forest preservation: the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). In an episode of Mongabay’s weekly podcast Newscast, host Mike DiGirolamo explored what experts think about the TFFF, what it can do, and what it can’t. Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso, who has written previously […]
Political nepotism and elected clans in the Brazilian Amazon
- The endemic corruption that infests governmental institutions makes political nepotism particularly dangerous. Most political clans operate within local and regional jurisdictions where influential families control important economic entities, media outlets and political parties.
- In Brazil, the most notable example of political nepotism is the clan presided over by Jader Fontenelle Barbalho. His populist rhetoric and skills as a tactician led to his election as governor in 1983, followed by an appointment in 1988 as minister for agricultural development.
- family-based political machines operate in all states of the Legal Amazon and, with few notable exceptions, support conventional development paradigms.
UN biodiversity decision 16/2 is ‘unencumbered by economic thinking’ (analysis)
- This analysis by Joseph Henry Vogel at the Department of Economics, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, was written in the wake of Decision 16/2 of the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which would govern corporate payment for use of genetic information that has been sequenced from the natural world (DSI).
- It explains how “bounded openness over natural information” is the most efficient and equitable way to ensure access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and for the sharing of resulting economic benefits of DSI with local and Indigenous communities.
- The author, who also served as advisor to the Ecuadorian delegation at CBD COP2 and COP9, argues that 16/2 is “unencumbered by economic thinking” but hopes that an ‘additional modality’ proposed to modify it will be vetted in preparation for COP17, which is scheduled for 2026 in Armenia.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Taranaki Maunga, New Zealand mountain, declared a ‘legal person’
New Zealand has formally granted a mountain legal personhood for the first time, recognizing not only its importance to Māori tribes but also paving the way for its future environmental protection. The law, passed in January, notes that the mountain, located in Taranaki on New Zealand’s North Island, will be called by its Māori name […]
As the rainforest gets drier, Amazon Indigenous groups thirst for clean water
- The 2024 extreme and historical drought that hit the Amazon exposed a chronic problem: access to drinking water and sanitation in Indigenous lands, where only a third of households have proper water supply systems.
- In some Amazon rivers in Brazil, cases of diseases related to inadequate basic sanitation, such as malaria and acute diarrhea, have been increasing amid climate change and population growth.
- Indigenous organizations have been demanding the implementation of adapted infrastructures in the villages, such as water tanks, wells, cesspools and septic tanks.
- The Brazilian federal government already has resources and plans to begin addressing these issues.
Australian bushfires leave wildlife facing increased predator risk, decades of recovery
Simultaneous wildfires since December 2024 have left Grampians, Little Desert and the Great Otway National Parks in Australia devastated. Scientists say it will take decades for plants and wildlife to recover. Michael Clarke, emeritus professor of zoology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, told Mongabay by email the area burnt in Little Desert alone is […]
108 federal protected areas in Mexico remain without actual management plans
- A Mongabay analysis has found that almost half of Mexico’s 232 federally protected areas — 108 of them — do not have management plans.
- Among those without plans are protected areas that were decreed more than 50 years ago even though, by law, the environmental ministry has one year to publish plans after a decree is issued.
- Some National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) officials and researchers told Mongabay the backlog is due to funding issues, unrealistic timelines and a fault in the country’s application of international conservation policy.
- Without protected area management plans, park managers, conservationists and communities have no clear roadmap to guide them, and areas can remain vulnerable to threats and overexploitation.
Wave of arrests as Madagascar shuts down tortoise trafficking network
- A crackdown on the illegal trade in Malagasy tortoises has led to a series of recent arrests.
- Following the arrest of a Tanzanian national with 800 tortoises in December 2024, officials said a major investigation had uncovered a major international trafficking network that led to the arrests of more than 20 people in Madagascar and Tanzania.
- Wildlife trade monitoring watchdog TRAFFIC says more than 30,000 trafficked radiated tortoises were seized between 2000 and 2021; the critically endangered Malagasy tortoises are in demand internationally.
Small-scale fishers’ role in feeding the planet goes overlooked: Study
- A new study found that small-scale fishing accounts for at least 40% of catch worldwide and provides employment for 60 million people, more than a third of whom are women.
- Small-scale fishing could provide a significant proportion of the micronutrient intake for the 2.3 billion people on Earth who live near coastlines or inland bodies of water, the study found.
- More than 60% of small-scale fishing catch in the studied countries came from places where small-scale fishers had no formal rights to participate in management and decision-making processes.
- “We wanted to have a paper that provided key findings at the global level for each of these dimensions, so that it will be clear for governments that small-scale fishing cannot continue to be overlooked in terms of policymaking,” one of the study authors told Mongabay.
Ecology vs. development in Karachi: Interview with photographer Salman Baloch
- Malir, the largest district in Karachi, has long been home to Indigenous Sindhi and Baloch tribes that lived for centuries as communal agrarian societies, dependent on the environment; now, rapid urbanization and development projects threaten the land, water and wildlife.
- Wildlife photographer, activist and writer Salman Baloch has fought against development projects such as the 39-kilometer (24-mile) Malir Expressway and Bahria Town, a 19,000-hectare (46,000-acre) gated suburb of Karachi, both of which pose dire consequences for the region’s wildlife.
- Baloch is also photographically documenting hundreds of bird species that have historically lived in the area.
- Baloch recently spoke to Mongabay about his activism, photography, fears and hopes for the future of Karachi’s wildlife and ecosystems.
‘I’m Still Here’ Eunice Paiva’s pivotal role in Brazil’s Indigenous & environmental rights
- The critically acclaimed film ‘I’m Still Here’ focuses on the personal and political history of Eunice Paiva but offers glimpses of her Indigenous rights work as a lawyer — a rarity in Brazil’s 1980s.
- Paiva is a famed lawyer who went into the field in her 40s after the kidnapping and killing of her husband by Brazil’s military dictatorship.
- Eunice Paiva’s role was critical to the acknowledgement of Indigenous rights in the Constitution of 1988 and the demarcation of Yanomami land in the Amazon Rainforest.
- Mongabay speaks to sources who were close to Eunice Paiva, including a family friend, Indigenous leaders and lawyers, to document her impact on Indigenous rights and the environmental movement in Brazil’s history.
Unchecked illegal trawling pushes Indonesia’s small-scale fishers to the brink
- Small-scale fishers in Indonesia face declining catches as illegal trawlers deplete fish stocks in near-shore waters, violating exclusion zone regulations.
- Trawling, a destructive fishing method banned in certain areas, is widely practiced due to weak law enforcement, with local authorities citing budget constraints for lack of patrols.
- The impact on traditional fishers has been severe, with daily catches and incomes plummeting, leading to economic hardship, job changes and social issues, such as increased poverty and divorce rates.
- Fishers and advocacy groups are calling for stricter enforcement of fishing laws and government action to protect small-scale fishers’ rights and livelihoods.
Mining dredges return to Amazon River’s main tributary, months after crackdown
- Five months after a major operation by federal forces, illegal mining dredges are back on the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon.
- The return of the floating structures shows the resilience of illegal gold mining in the Amazon, which destroys the riverbeds and contaminates the water with mercury.
- As the federal administration closes miners’ siege of Indigenous territories, the illegal miners are migrating to less-monitored areas, experts says.
‘Helicopter tourism’ in the Himalayas affecting Sherpas, wildlife
A surge in “helicopter tourism” at Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Mount Everest, is adversely affecting the local community and wildlife, reports Mongabay contributor Shashwat Pant. Helicopters have previously only been used for medical emergencies or high-profile visitors at Sagarmatha. But with choppers now regularly transporting tourists to Sagarmatha’s base camp, their noise plagues the […]
Rhino poachers imprisoned in back-to-back South Africa sentencing
A South African court in January sentenced four poachers to several years in prison for two separate crimes committed in Kruger National Park (KNP). The Skukuza Regional Court, which in the past has boasted a near-100% conviction rate and under whose jurisdiction KNP falls, held two South African citizens, Sam Khosa and Solly Selahle, and […]
Indigenous protests in Brazil topple law seen as threat to rural schools
After 23 days of protests, Indigenous groups and teachers in the Brazilian state of Pará have successfully pressured Governor Helder Barbalho to revoke a controversial education law that favored online learning in remote communities and slashed benefits for teachers. The protests erupted in the state capital Belém, host city of the next U.N. climate summit, […]
Vietnam and China partner on wildlife-friendly traditional medicine practices
Vietnam and China, the two largest markets for traditional medicine (TM) that uses wild plants and animals, announced a new partnership in January to adopt practices that protect wildlife while preserving the countries’ cultural heritage. The first-of-its-kind agreement involved leading TM associations from Vietnam and China — the Vietnam Oriental Traditional Medicine Association (VOTMA) and […]
EU legislators urge IMF to protect Madagascar forests against road projects
Thirty-five members of the European Parliament are calling on the International Monetary Fund to renegotiate its funding to Madagascar that could support two highway projects expected to cut across the nation’s vital forests. The IMF in June 2024 announced $321 million to Madagascar through its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). It aims to aid the […]
Handcrafted woodwork helps save an Amazonian reserve, one tree at a time
- A community in the Brazilian Amazon is transforming fallen trunks and dead trees into everyday items and art pieces.
- Household utensils, furniture, miniature trees and jewelry made with forest seeds are some items being produced by women and youth in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve.
- The woodshop sits in a region where rubber tappers have fought for environmental and labor rights for ago, and which still faces deforestation pressure.
Vietnam faces scrutiny for not sharing enough data on rhino horn trade
Vietnam, a major hub for rhino horn trafficking, is in the spotlight at an international meeting this week for not adequately combating the illegal trade of the iconic animal. The annual meeting of the Standing Committee of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, is being held in Geneva from Feb. 3-8. As a source country, […]
Better government policies could help as migratory birds lose habitat in Bangladesh
- Recent studies indicate a steady decline in the number of migratory water birds in Bangladesh over the last few years.
- Researchers said the key threats to migratory birds include habitat loss, cattle grazing in bird habitats, domestic duck farming and conservation mismanagement.
- They underscore the need for a coordinated effort among livestock, agriculture and environment ministries.
Indian villages seek to protect ecosystem by opting out of state’s development push
Residents of two villages in the Indian state of Goa have petitioned the environment ministry for their villages to be recognized as “eco-sensitive areas.” The residents want their villages’ natural resources to be protected from large-scale infrastructure projects and tourism development, reports Mongabay India’s Simrin Sirur. The villages of Loliem and Poingunin are located in […]
Military-backed conservation ‘without firing a single shot’: Interview with Nepal’s Babu Krishna Karki
- In 1973, Nepal’s government established Chitwan National Park, to fight pervasive poaching and habitat degradation, and deployed the military Nepal Army to protect threatened species such as rhinos and tigers.
- The role of the force, which still guards the national parks, remains controversial: proponents credit it with saving wildlife, while critics say it militarized conservation and sidelined Indigenous communities.
- The Maoist conflict from 1996-2006 severely impacted national parks across the country, leading to increased poaching and habitat destruction. But post-conflict initiatives strengthened protection measures, including advanced surveillance and community involvement, says Babu Krishna Karki, a retired general who headed the military’s conservation operations.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Karki emphasizes that the military’s role in national parks is temporary, as it envisages a future where local communities take over conservation efforts.
Amazon states lead rebellion on environmental enforcement
- Brazilian Amazon states are leading an offensive against environmental regulations in the Amazon and beyond.
- The movement gained momentum in October when Brazil’s granary, Mato Grosso state, approved a bill undermining a voluntary agreement to protect the Amazon from soy expansion.
- Before Mato Grosso, other Amazon states like Acre and Rondônia had already approved bills reducing protected areas and weakening the fight against illegal mining.
- With its economy highly reliant on agribusiness, Mato Grosso is considered a successful model for other parts of the Amazon.
No justice in sight for World Bank project-affected communities in Liberia
- With one year delay, the International Finance Corporation has submitted its response to an investigation of human rights violations at a rubber project in Liberia to the World Bank’s board.
- While the case was pending, Socfin, the parent company of Salala Rubber Corporation, sold the plantation, creating uncertainty over its commitment to taking responsibility for failures identified by the IFC’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman.
- Affected communities and civil society in Liberia say the IFC has watered down recommendations from its ombudsman and fear the change of ownership will prevent accountability.
Nigerian president’s bid to resume oil drilling in Ogoniland a ‘betrayal,’ groups say
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and key members of his administration met with select members of the Ogoni community from the Niger Delta on Jan. 21 to discuss restarting oil drilling in the region, after health and environmental concerns brought the activity to a halt for more than two decades. However, more than 20 civil society […]
As the gold rush surges in Nicaragua, Indigenous communities pay the price
- Nicaragua has experienced a boom in gold mining over the last few years, with concessions covering millions of hectares of land — often near protected areas and on Indigenous territory.
- The government doesn’t require environmental impact studies and pushes through consultations with local communities as quickly as one day, allowing mining projects to move forward at an unprecedented pace.
- Mining companies from China, Canada, the U.K. and Colombia often find loopholes that allow them to avoid international sanctions, according to one study.
Kenyan court orders two community wildlife conservancies shut down
A Kenyan court dealt a blow to the conservation group Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) when a three-judge panel ruled that two of its community conservancy affiliates were set up illegally. The decision, issued by the Environment and Land Court of Isiolo county in northern Kenya, ordered the conservancies to shut down their operations effective immediately. […]
Collective action, civil disobedience and blockades in the Amazon
- Rebellion by Indigenous people and centuries-long resistance to domination by European and Creole elites inspired more frequent protests against inequality and working conditions across the Amazon Basin.
- Non-violent resistance tactics in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and less in Colombia – which included blocking highways, disrupting commerce and threatening the survival of governments – were pioneered by campesino organizations protesting the unequal distribution of land.
- In Brazil, unequal land distribution is the main feature of an inequitable economic system that has driven tens of thousands of landless peasants to invade the properties of absent landholders.
In Honduras, communities race to establish reserve as La Mosquitia forest disappears
- Several Indigenous communities in Honduras are trying to set up the Warunta Indigenous Anthropological Reserve, which will allow them to continue traditional hunting and fishing practices while co-managing the forest with the government.
- The reserve will cover 65,369 hectares (161,530 acres) in the department of Gracias a Dios, near the border with Nicaragua.
- Global Forest Watch data show that around 13% of the area’s forest was cleared between 2002 and 2023.
- The reserve has already gone through the consultation process with residents, but needs to complete technical studies by the government, which could take the rest of the year.
How conservation NGOs can put human rights principles into practice (commentary)
- While human rights principles have advanced, there is insufficient clarity or political will in some quarters of the conservation sector to translate them into practice.
- Two human rights practitioners argue that, by focusing on creating tangible improvements in the lives of those who live around protected areas and to support Indigenous or local-led models of conservation, the conservation sector can take a principled course to respect and protect human rights over a long term where governments fail to uphold them. It is the role of such large conservation organizations to help realize the interconnectedness of human rights and conservation, they say.
- The authors elaborate on several areas this can apply, including shifting mindsets and changing organizational culture and leveraging institutional capabilities.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Mineral exploitation overshadows green diplomacy in Congo’s Sangha region
- The Republic of Congo’s minister of mines has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits in the Sangha region, despite the area being officially designated for a REDD+ project.
- Sangha’s REDD+ program aims to reduce deforestation and degradation and is fundamentally incompatible with gold mining, which has caused widespread destruction of forests and pollution of water bodies in Congo and elsewhere.
- The head of the country’s REDD+ program argues that the mining industry drives national development.
- Some of the mining permits have been issued to individuals with ties to the government as well as to controversial figures.
Underwater citizen science reveals the specter of ghost fishing in Thailand
- Teams of scientists and hobbyist scuba divers have assessed the extent of discarded fishing gear on Thailand’s marine wildlife, finding it poses a pervasive threat to a huge range of species.
- Discarded or “ghost” fishing gear comprises 10% of all marine plastic debris in the ocean, persisting for decades and passively catching and killing species from sea snails to whale sharks.
- Thailand is famed for its recreational diving, and efforts are underway to retrieve ghost gear from the ocean and rescue animals found entangled, as well as to work with fishers to help them recycle their old equipment.
- Experts say preventing gear from entering the ocean in the first place is paramount; solutions must extend beyond cleanup and recycling efforts to encompass policy reform, economic incentives, and improved infrastructure.
African nations commit to electricity for 300 million people by 2030
The heads of 30 African nations have endorsed a plan to provide “reliable, affordable and sustainable” electricity to 300 million people across the continent over the next five years. The leaders signed the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration at the “Mission 300” energy summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this week. The mission was […]
Yanomami sees success two years into Amazon miner evictions, but fears remain
- Brazil’s federal government celebrated a decrease in deaths and the decline in gold mining two years after agents started to evict invaders on the Yanomami Indigenous territory in the Amazon.
- The Yanomami report that rivers are cleaner, and people are finally healthy enough to work in fields and resume rituals.
- Once estimated as 20,000 in the territory, hundreds of illegal miners still remain and may expand business at the slightest sign of the security forces withdrawing.
DRC orders environmental, operational audits of oil company Perenco
The Democratic Republic of Congo has commissioned year-long audits of French-British multinational Perenco to assess “the reality” of its oil production and environmental impacts. The DRC’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons has appointed U.K.-based Alex Stewart International (ASI) to examine the technical and operational aspects of Perenco’s oil production activities, including a review of the company’s declared […]
Introducing wildlife crime to Nepal’s law enforcement: Interview with Prasanna Yonzon
- Nepal is both a source and transit hub for wildlife crime targeting iconic species like tigers, rhinos and pangolins. Conservationist Prasanna Yonzon has led efforts for over two decades through an NGO to train law enforcement, gather intelligence and build networks for combating wildlife crime.
- The NGO, Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN), played a pivotal role in establishing a dedicated wildlife crime unit under Nepal Police. It collaborates with various law enforcement agencies, providing intelligence, capacity building and resources to curb illegal wildlife trade.
- Over time, WCN’s training programs have evolved to focus on practical skills, intelligence sharing and tools like visual aids, helping officers retain critical information and adapt their approach to combat wildlife trafficking effectively.
- WCN’s efforts have helped officials apprehend big perpetrators. However, Yonzon and his team faced personal risks, including threats, underscoring the dangers of addressing transnational wildlife crime.
EUDR divides Brazil’s environmental and agribusiness authorities
- The Brazilian authorities in charge of environmental protection and agribusiness have taken opposing positions on the EUDR, the European Union’s new antideforestation regulation.
- Once it comes into effect in December 2025, the EUDR will require that products imported into the EU containing one of seven key commodities aren’t sourced from areas that were deforested after December 2020.
- These products include soy, cattle, rubber, coffee and timber, of which Brazil is a major global producer and exporter.
- While the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has criticized the EUDR and pushed for its implementation to be postponed, the federal environmental agency, IBAMA, has welcomed the regulation as an important instrument to help tackle deforestation and an opportunity for agribusiness to become more transparent and sustainable.
Rhino horn trafficker jailed in legal first on financial charges in S. Africa
A South African court has sentenced a Democratic Republic of Congo national named Francis Kipampa to 18 years’ imprisonment for his involvement in money laundering linked to illegal rhino trade. “It is the first time an individual has been successfully prosecuted for their role in the illegal wildlife trade linked to serious financial offenses,” the […]
Pilot-turned-climate activist Todd Smith finds other ways to fly
Todd Smith says he fell in love with planes after watching an air show at age 5. “And I just thought, well, they look like they’re having fun, and that’s what I want to do,” he tells host Rachel Donald on an episode of the Mongabay Newscast, a weekly podcast by Mongabay. Smith says he […]
Investors wary of Indonesia’s big climate promises amid record of flip-flopping
- Energy industry insiders and experts say they’re skeptical about Indonesia’s lofty climate goals, the latest of which, as announced by the country’s president at last year’s G20 summit, is to shutter all coal-fired power plants over the next 15 years.
- President Prabowo Subianto also pledged to develop 75 gigawatts of cleaner forms of energy during the same period — more than five times the country’s current renewable generation.
- On the solar front, rooftop solar startup Xurya Daya Indonesia points out that ever-changing regulations now ban sales of excess power to the grid, putting off investors looking to set up shop in the country.
- And in EVs, an ambitious program to subsidize the conversion of 50,000 gasoline-powered motorcycles to electric in 2024 saw just 1,500 make the transition.
Vietnam grapples with ‘alarming popularity’ of online illegal wildlife trade
- Illegal wildlife trade in threatened and protected species and their parts is occurring in plain sight online in Vietnam, according to a recent assessment by monitoring watchdog TRAFFIC.
- Items openly advertised for sale online in the country included products made from rhinos, tigers, elephants, pangolins and multiple other species protected by international and national wildlife laws, the study found.
- The rise of the online wildlife trade is a menace globally: The enhanced anonymity, ease of online transactions and range of evasive tactics deployed by online traffickers typically hampers investigation and prosecution efforts.
- The authors call on social media and e-commerce platforms to help curb the trade by improving their practices and collaborating closely with authorities to clamp down on illegal traders.
‘We’re getting back on track’: Interview with IBAMA head Rodrigo Agostinho
- Rodrigo Agostinho, head of IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, for two years now, spoke with Mongabay about the progress of his agency and the challenges it faces in protecting the country’s biomes after four years of regression under former president Jair Bolsonaro.
- Agostinho revealed plans to strengthen the agency and try to reach the 2030 zero-deforestation goal before the deadline, with investments in cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence: “IBAMA went four years without using satellite images for embargoes. We’ve taken that up again with full force”.
- Agostinho also detailed IBAMA’s restructuring plans, with the opening of offices in the Amazon and support from financial authorities to cut off funding for embargoed areas: “We embargo them due to deforestation, and then that person can’t get agricultural financing anymore.”
Mexico misses one-year deadline to submit new protected areas’ management plans
- Exactly one year ago, Mexico announced 20 new protected areas covering roughly 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) across the country.
- According to Mexican law, the environment ministry has one year to publish a protected area’s management plan after a decree is issued, but Mongabay found that none of the 20 protected areas have management plans yet.
- Scientists, conservationists and communities have been pushing for these plans to be published, concerned that the absence of a roadmap means these areas are still vulnerable to threats and overexploitation.
- Some National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) officials and researchers told Mongabay the delay was due to a change in Mexico’s leadership, funding concerns, a historic backlog and other issues.
Five-month-old male gorilla, victim of illegal wildlife trade, seized in Istanbul
On Dec. 22, 2024, Turkish customs officers conducting a random search of a plane’s cargo hold found a surprise stowaway inside a small wooden crate with holes: a malnourished baby gorilla dressed in a soiled T-shirt. The Turkish Airlines flight was headed from Nigeria to Thailand and was transiting via Istanbul, authorities told local media. […]
As Gálapagos ecotourism booms, top naturalist guide urges sustainability
- Galápagos National Park and the marine reserve protecting the islands’ surrounding waters welcome 300,000 visitors a year and support sustainable fisheries and tourism jobs for about 30,000 residents.
- The Ecuadorian government restricts the number of visitors accessing each island or dive site daily, and requires each tourist or group to hire a guide to accompany them, ensuring that maximum ecological information is shared and that park rules aimed at protecting the unique flora and fauna are followed.
- Many hundreds of Galápagos residents work year-round in this capacity, like veteran guide Marco Andres Vizcaino Garcia, who Mongabay interviewed about the challenges and opportunities he sees for ecotourism, conservation and research across these iconic islands he calls home.
Brazil’s ‘innovative’ reforestation agenda discussed in Davos (commentary)
- At the World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos this week, a coalition of leaders from across Brazilian sectors will discuss the integrated, pre-competitive agenda needed to scale forest restoration.
- Forest restoration is a key part of successful climate action, providing carbon removal, biodiversity protection and sustainable economic growth, but it requires immediate investment and action, the authors of a new op-ed write.
- Brazil’s coordinated approach across business, finance, and conservation sectors has resulted in approximately $528 million in restoration investments in the past 18 months, setting a global example for impactful forest restoration and climate action.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Probe details the playbook of one of Amazon’s top land grabbers
- Professional land grabbers operating in the Brazilian Amazon have sophisticated strategies to steal and deforest public lands and get away with it.
- According to the Federal Police, Bruno Heller is one of Amazon’s largest deforesters and relied on legal and technical advice, including a fake contract, bribing police officers, and near-real-time monitoring of deforestation work through satellite imagery, investigators said.
- Low penalties and hurdles faced by federal bodies in seizing back stolen lands from criminals have spurred the land-grabbing industry in Brazil.
Plans for bauxite mine in Suriname reignite Indigenous land rights debate
- A bauxite mine run by Chinese corporation Chinalco could begin operating next year, endangering a 280,000-hectare (about 692,000 acres) area of western Suriname inhabited by Indigenous communities.
- The mine will require refurbishing and expanding infrastructure for a harbor and railroad built in the 1970s, and gives the company “priority right” to use the Corantijn river for dredging.
- Indigenous groups said they weren’t properly consulted about the project and that the government is unfairly labeling their territory as public domain.
Mining in a forest conservation site clouds Republic of Congo’s carbon credit scheme
- The Republic of Congo set up a REDD+ program in the Sangha and Likouala regions, aiming to reduce deforestation and store carbon from 2020 through to 2024.
- However, in the Sangha region alone, the country’s mining minister has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits since the project began.
- Scientists reviewing images of these mining activities condemn the “reckless” destruction of biodiversity.
- The government says the program stored more than 1.5 million metric tons of carbon in 2020, for which it expects to be paid more than $8 million from the World Bank.
World’s record heat is worsening air pollution and health in Global South
- 2024 was the hottest year on record, producing intense, long-lasting heat waves. Climate change-intensified extreme events last year included the formation of vast heat domes — areas of high pressure that stalled and persisted above continental land masses in Asia, Africa, South and North America, and Europe.
- Heat domes intensify unhealthy air pollution from vehicles, industry, wildfires and dust storms. When a heat wave gripped New Delhi, India, last summer, temperatures soared, resulting in unhealthy concentrations of ground-level ozone — pollutants especially unhealthy for outdoor workers.
- When climate change-driven heat, drought and record wildfires occurred in the Brazilian Amazon last year, the fires produced massive amounts of wood smoke containing dangerous levels of toxic particulates that cause respiratory disease. Indigenous people living in remote areas had little defense against the smoke.
- Intense heat also impacted Nigeria in 2024, where major dust storms and rising temperatures created conditions that helped increased cases of meningitis — a sometimes deadly disease, especially in poor areas. Escalating climate change is expected to exacerbate pollution and worsen public health in the future.
For Ugandan farmers, good fences make good neighbors — of elephants
- In protected areas across Africa, human-wildlife conflicts are a growing problem, with nearly three-quarters of governments saying they’re a “major or serious concern.”
- At Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, crop-raiding by elephants and livestock predation can destroy the incomes of farmers and pastoralists.
- One solution that’s being implemented is electric fences, which are popular with farmers outside the park’s boundaries.
- But the fences aren’t popular in other communities, which see them as symbolic of their historic exclusion from the park.
How tortoise conservationist Hery Razafimamonjiraibe manages risks to antipoaching teams
- Environmental defenders in Madagascar have faced a spate of threats and attacks in recent years, overshadowing their work to protect biodiversity and human rights.
- Against this backdrop, tortoise conservationist Hery Razafimamonjiraibe spoke with Mongabay about how his team manages threats working in often isolated conditions in the south of the country.
- Antipoaching work is risky, he says, but this can be managed through close collaboration and cohesion between communities, NGOs and law enforcement agencies.
‘Nightmare’ fire threatens iconic Madagascar national park
A mighty blaze in Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park is menacing the home of the world’s rarest lemur species. Disastrous dry conditions have turned the biodiversity haven into a tinderbox. The park, one of the country’s leading tourist destinations, is a 10-hour drive from Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, and is also home to the prestigious Centre ValBio […]
It’s time for a U.N. ‘universal declaration on nature’ (commentary)
- Nature needs an equivalent to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a new op-ed argues.
- The ‘rights of nature’ is an allied approach, but nature needs something with more and broader teeth, that can elicit a moral and political consensus on the need for nature conservation.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Near-extinct Siberian crane is recovering thanks to habitat protection
Over the past decade, the population of the critically endangered Siberian crane has increased by nearly 50%, according to the International Crane Foundation. The foundation said the boost in the snowy-white Siberian crane’s (Leucogeranus leucogeranus) numbers is the result of efforts to secure the migratory bird’s stopover sites along its eastern flyway, or migratory route, […]
After a searing Amazon fire season, experts warn of more in 2025
- South America recorded the highest number of fire outbreaks in 14 years in 2024, with Brazil at the epicenter of the crisis.
- In the Amazon, fire outbreaks grew out of control even amid a sharp reduction in deforestation rates, indicating deforesters are relying on fire as a new technique to clear land.
- Experts are urging more investment in fire prevention since the rainforest may face another intense fire season in 2025.
India’s latest forest cover report hints at countrywide degradation
The latest forest survey report from India suggests a slight increase in the country’s forest and tree cover in recent years. But experts say the net marginal gain masks considerable declines across many biodiversity-rich forests and mangroves as well as in overall forest quality, reports Mongabay India’s Kundan Pandey. The report, published by the Forest […]
We need a North Pole Marine Reserve to secure a healthy future for Arctic waters (commentary)
- In 2024, the cod fishing moratorium on Newfoundland’s Grand Banks was lifted, 32 years after a historically significant ecological collapse of the fish’s population was caused by overfishing.
- The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement signed in 2019 provides an example of how to address the threat from such overfishing by using the precautionary principle, international collaboration and science led evaluations of fish stocks.
- The future health of Arctic marine ecosystems can be secured by establishing a North Pole Marine Reserve, a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
How the U.S. got no old growth forest protections from the Biden Administration (commentary)
- President Biden’s executive order in 2022 directed the U.S. Forest Service to conduct an inventory of mature and old-growth forests on federal lands for “conservation purposes,” but it did nothing to move the needle on old forest protections.
- The national old-growth amendment (NOGA) failed for a variety of reasons, and as a new, anti-conservation administration looms in Washington, not a single acre of old forests was protected by it.
- “I have experienced two Reagan terms, three Bush terms, and a Trump term where conservation groups united in throwing sand in the gears of bad forest policies. And I have lived through two Obama terms and a Biden term where conservation groups could not agree on a unified strategy that has now contributed to the deja vu of having to defend forests all over again, with nothing gained. We must all now unite, put aside our differences, and get ready for the fight of our lives,” an old growth forest expert and conservationist argues in a new op-ed.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Amazon communities reap the smallest share of bioeconomy profits
- Recently praised by environmentalists, governments and companies as a solution for rainforest conservation, bioeconomy has been practiced for centuries by Amazon’s traditional communities.
- Despite their key role in generating income from the standing forest, these communities continue to reap the smallest share of the profits, according to a new book.
- Traditional people need more financing, better access to energy and improved roads to get their products into the market.
Sweden’s wolf hunt starts, aims to halve population
Sweden has started its 2025 wolf hunt, with an aim to kill 30 wolves between Jan. 2 and Feb. 15. By the end of Jan. 2, hunters had shot 10 wolves (Canis lupus), according to Sweden Herald. Most recent estimates put wolf numbers in Sweden at roughly 375 by late 2023, a decline of nearly […]
New evidence spells massive trouble for world’s sharks, rays and chimaeras
- A third of the world’s sharks, rays and chimaeras are threatened with extinction, and their numbers have dwindled since 1970, finds a new IUCN report and a study.
- Overfishing is the biggest threat to these marine fish, halving their populations in five decades, followed by the international trade in shark parts, habitat degradation and pollution.
- Scientists call for immediate actions to prevent extinction, regulate trade and manage shark fisheries to promote sustainability.
The Amazon in 2025: Challenges and hopes as the rainforest takes center stage
- The Amazon Rainforest, where next year’s COP30 climate summit will be hosted, is reeling from two consecutive years of severe drought, with major rivers at record lows, leading to water shortages and transportation disruptions for local communities.
- While deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon plunged during that period, the rainforest remains under threat from land grabbing, illegal gold mining, diminishing rainfall, and outbreaks of fire, many of them ignited by criminals.
- The world’s greatest tropical rainforest has also drawn the interest of carbon traders, but evidence of fraud within some carbon credit projects unearthed by Mongabay highlights the need for greater transparency and accountability in the carbon market.
- Amid all these threats, reforestation and restoration projects led by Indigenous communities and conservation organizations offer hope for a sustainable future for the Amazon.
In DRC bid to grow more food, smallholders are overshadowed by industrial farming
- More than 25 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo suffer food insecurity, largely due to insecurity and inadequate infrastructure.
- South Ubangi province is mostly free of the armed conflict prevalent in the eastern part of the country, but nearly three-quarters of its residents face high levels of food insecurity.
- Agriculture is the livelihood for 80% of people in the province and the government is exploring ways to reinforce their production.
- For the most part, this means incentivizing massive agro-industrial plantations, even at the expense of overlooking smallholder farmers, but some experts say this won’t guarantee improved food security.
Tortoise protection culture prompts efforts to curb trafficking in Madagascar
- Community-led antitrafficking networks are proving pivotal in helping authorities intercept poachers targeting critically endangered and endemic tortoises in southern Madagascar’s fast-disappearing spiny forests.
- Illegal hunting, both for their meat and to supply the pet trade, has decimated the species’ population in recent decades.
- Indigenous people living in the range of the imperiled species are motivated to protect them due to long-standing traditional beliefs that value and respect the tortoises.
- But local efforts can’t solve everything; experts urge more action at national and international levels to step up law enforcement, combat systemic corruption, and crack down on the transnational criminal networks orchestrating the trade.
IPBES report highlights Indigenous & local knowledge as key to ‘transformative change’
- On Dec. 16, IPBES, the U.N.’s biodiversity policy panel, released a report on transformative change to address the biodiversity crisis, which centers the role of Indigenous and local knowledge and rights.
- The report identifies the three underlying causes of biodiversity loss and concludes with four principles to guide the change, five strategies to advance the change, six broad approaches, and five challenges this change faces.
- Many Indigenous and local traditional knowledge systems can offer insights into fostering human-nature interconnection and provide cost-effective strategies in conserving high-value areas for nature when they’re included in conservation strategies.
- With only six years left to achieve the 2030 global biodiversity goals, nature conservation faces many challenges, but the authors say they believe transformative change is still possible.
Feeds: news | india | latam | brasil | indonesia