News
Pacific islands launch plan for world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve (13 Jun 2025 09:39:12 +0000)
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 […]
As climate change worsens global locust crisis, researchers offer solutions
(13 Jun 2025 06:43:04 +0000)
Locust outbreaks, which cause considerable crop losses, affect a quarter of the world’s population today. In a recent paper, scientists predict the situation will worsen with climate change, and they suggest a way forward by integrating local communities’ knowledge. Locusts are species of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae, which, under certain environmental conditions, can […]
Rescuers in South Africa search for the missing after floods leave at least 49 dead (13 Jun 2025 04:20:52 +0000)
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Rescue teams began a third day searching for missing people Thursday after floods devastated parts of South Africa’s rural Eastern Cape province and left at least 49 dead. Authorities said they expected the death toll to rise. The missing included four high school students who were swept away when […]
Oregon wildfire prompts evacuations and closes interstate in Columbia River Gorge (13 Jun 2025 04:19:32 +0000)
THE DALLES, Ore. (AP) — A wildfire in Oregon prompted officials to issue evacuation orders for hundreds of homes and to close nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) of an interstate in the Columbia River Gorge on Wednesday. Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the state’s Emergency Conflagration Act for the Rowena Fire, allowing the state fire marshal […]
‘It’s our garden’: PNG villages fight to prevent mine waste dumping in the sea (13 Jun 2025 02:37:54 +0000)
- Communities in Papua New Guinea filed a lawsuit asking for a review of an environmental permit awarded in 2020 to companies for the Wafi-Golpu copper and gold mine. But a decision from the country’s Supreme Court had been delayed several times, before happening on June 12, even as other officials have signaled the government’s apparent support for the project.
- The villages are located near the outflow of a proposed pipeline that would carry mining waste, or tailings, from the mine and into the Huon Gulf.
- The companies say the method, known as deep-sea tailings placement (DSTP), would release the waste deep in the water column, below the layer of ocean most important for the fish and other sea life on which many of the Huon Gulf’s people rely.
- But community members are concerned this sediment and the potentially toxic chemicals it carries could foul the gulf — risks they say they were not adequately informed of.
It’s time to pay the true value of tropical forest conservation (commentary) (12 Jun 2025 22:31:22 +0000)
- 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.
Mongabay India wins best science podcast at Publisher Podcast Awards (12 Jun 2025 21:33:58 +0000)
Mongabay India’s 2024 podcast miniseries “Wild Frequencies” bagged the “Best Science and Medical” category at the Publisher Podcast Awards ceremony in London on June 11. The podcast is a three-episode series that tells stories of how researchers in India use the science of bioacoustics, or animal sounds, to better understand the lives of wildlife, such […]
French Polynesia creates world’s largest marine protected area (12 Jun 2025 20:14:39 +0000)
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 […]
Coral reefs and seagrass get new protections off Tanzania’s Pemba Island (12 Jun 2025 19:43:26 +0000)
Tanzania will establish two new marine protected areas off the eastern coast of Pemba Island in the semiautonomous region of Zanzibar, the fisheries minister for Zanzibar announced at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, on June 10. Zanzibar’s minister for blue economy and fisheries, Shaaban Ali Othman, said at the conference that the […]
Climate futures: What’s ahead for our world beyond 1.5°C of warming? (12 Jun 2025 16:24:28 +0000)
- 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.
Snow leopards frequently cross Nepal, India, China borders, study finds (12 Jun 2025 16:06:31 +0000)
- Snow leopards in the Kangchenjunga region regularly cross the borders of Nepal, India, and China in search of suitable habitat, ignoring human-drawn boundaries.
- Their home ranges are significantly larger than previously thought, with some individuals spending up to a third of their time in neighboring countries.
- Experts emphasize the need for cross-border conservation, standardized monitoring, and ecological corridors to ensure healthy snow leopard populations.
Top tools to protect rainforests | Against All Odds (12 Jun 2025 15:59:48 +0000)
Crystal Davis, Global Program Director at the World Resources Institute, highlights positive strides in rainforest conservation worldwide. From successful protection efforts in Brazil and Colombia to the critical role of Indigenous communities in safeguarding rainforests, we explore how technology, like Global Forest Watch, and strong political leadership are helping to combat deforestation. While acknowledging the […]
Bangladesh aims to revive five critically endangered plants (12 Jun 2025 10:33:36 +0000)
- Bangladesh is attempting to conserve and nurture five critically endangered flora species to ensure their healthy population in nature. Currently, these plants are present only in some specific places in the country.
- The species are the bulborox, small-bulb orchid, dwarf date palm, chaulmoogra and bashpata, which are identified as critically endangered in the latest Plant Red List of Bangladesh.
- The Bangladesh Forest Department has taken the initiative to increase the plants’ numbers by cultivating them in the National Botanical Garden and the National Herbarium before planting them in suitable habitats.
Golden eagle spotted in England for first time in more than a decade (12 Jun 2025 09:20:02 +0000)
A golden eagle has been spotted in northern England for the first time since 2015, indicating the birds may soon be expanding their range south from Scotland into England, where they’re currently considered locally extinct. Conservationists and scientists working in a remote area of rural Northumberland, an English county that borders Scotland, reported seeing the […]
“The Birds,” Revisited (cartoon) (12 Jun 2025 04:18:37 +0000)
A new study using citizen science data via eBird — an app used by birdwatchers to record sightings — has found that declines in bird populations in North America are the steepest where the respective species have historically been most abundant.
Record-breaking heat wave due to climate change hits Iceland & Greenland: Scientists (11 Jun 2025 20:48:04 +0000)
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 […]
Mongabay investigation of sketchy forest finance schemes wins honorable mention (11 Jun 2025 19:00:30 +0000)
Mongabay contributor Glòria Pallarès earned an honorable mention in the 2025 Trace Prize for Investigative Reporting, announced May 28, for her investigation into how Indigenous communities in Peru, Bolivia and Panama were misled into handing over their rights to millions of hectares of forest. The January 2024 investigation, “False claims of U.N. backing see Indigenous […]
Global ocean acidification has passed safe planetary boundary threshold: Study (11 Jun 2025 18:38:04 +0000)
A new assessment finds that the world’s oceans crossed the safe threshold for acidification in 2020, breaching a key planetary boundary and posing serious threats to marine life. Ocean acidification is caused when excess atmospheric carbon dioxide, resulting from human activities like burning fossil fuels, dissolves in seawater, forming carbonic acid that increases the water’s […]
Climate futures: World leaders’ failure to act is pushing Earth past 1.5°C (11 Jun 2025 18:07:49 +0000)
- 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 (11 Jun 2025 16:17:01 +0000)
- 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.
‘Breathe … that’s nature within you’: Interview with Indigenous activist Taily Terena (11 Jun 2025 16:13:37 +0000)
- Taily Terena is a young Indigenous activist from Brazil of the Xané (Terena) ethnicity whose work centers on human rights, gender issues, youth and environmental protection.
- In 2025, Taily was the first-ever Brazilian Indigenous person to receive the Global Citizen Prize, a recognition for activists around the world.
- In this Mongabay interview, she speaks about the role of Indigenous women in protecting territories, the importance of ancestry and youth and her expectations for COP30 in Brazil this year.
- Taily emphasizes the importance of humanity reconnecting with and recognizing itself as part of nature.
‘Madness’: World leaders call for deep-sea mining moratorium at UN ocean summit (11 Jun 2025 15:59:43 +0000)
- 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.
Jaguar recovery unites Brazil and Argentina in conservation effort (11 Jun 2025 12:00:42 +0000)
- Once on the brink of local extinction, jaguar numbers across the Brazil-Argentina Iguaçu-Iguazú border have more than doubled since 2010 thanks to coordinated conservation efforts.
- The cross-border collaboration between groups in both countries has been crucial to restoring jaguar populations across the Atlantic Forest Green Corridor.
- Women-led economic initiatives and formal institutional support, like “Jaguar Friendly” certification for the local airport, are strengthening human-wildlife connections.
- The long-term survival of jaguars in Iguaçu-Iguazú, a population considered critically endangered, depends on political will and habitat connectivity, as the big cats remain isolated from other jaguar groups.
Death of tagged white shark on bather protection gear in South Africa sparks debate (11 Jun 2025 11:33:03 +0000)
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) […]
World Bank to finance controversial DRC hydropower project, concerns remain (11 Jun 2025 11:17:46 +0000)
The World Bank recently approved an initial $250 million in financing for the controversial Inga 3 mega dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a move that worries civil society organizations. Inga 3 has long been planned as part of the Grand Inga hydropower project, a series of dams at Inga Falls on the […]
New study dismisses Amazon River runoff as primary cause of sargassum blooms (11 Jun 2025 07:00:09 +0000)
- 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) (11 Jun 2025 00:01:38 +0000)
- 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.
Resilient forests are key to ecological, economic and social resilience, report finds (10 Jun 2025 23:37:22 +0000)
- Human society depends economically and socially on resilient forests, a new report from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations demonstrates.
- As a result, pushing forests toward collapse threatens human well-being globally, not just in communities in or near forests.
- The report authors recommend approaches for improving forest resilience, including more inclusive governance and remedying power imbalances.
- They also advocate managing for resilience in ways that include social and ecological concerns, not just the extraction of commercial and monetary value from forests.
Indonesian women sustain seaweed traditions in a changing climate (10 Jun 2025 22:29:53 +0000)
- The women of Indonesia’s Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan islands have harvested seaweed for generations.
- Climate change and tourism development now threaten seaweed cultivators’ centuries-old practices.
- In the face of these changes, seaweed cultivators are working with tourism operators and coral-conservation groups to preserve, and adapt, their traditional practices.
‘Mining companies will lie to your face’: Carlos Zorrilla on 30 years of fighting for Intag Valley (10 Jun 2025 20:05:20 +0000)
Carlos Zorrilla has been living in an Ecuadorian cloud forest since the 1970s, and his last 30 years there have been spent fighting mining companies seeking to extract its large copper deposits. He and his community have successfully fought proposals by multiple firms in one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, but sometimes […]
With offerings in 4 languages, Mongabay’s podcasts expand global reach (10 Jun 2025 19:01:18 +0000)
Mongabay now produces podcasts in four languages: Indonesian, English, Spanish and, the latest addition, French. “Producing podcasts in multiple languages is part of our nonprofit news outlet’s strategy to reach people where they are, in the mediums they prefer, and in the language that they use,” Rhett Ayers Butler, founder and CEO of Mongabay, said in […]
Seventy southern white rhinos arrive at their new home in Rwanda from South Africa (10 Jun 2025 16:27:48 +0000)
- Conservation NGO African Parks has successfully transferred 70 southern white rhinos from South Africa to Rwanda’s Akagera National Park.
- The rhinos are the first international translocations under African Parks’ Rhino Rewild initiative, which will disperse more than 2,000 rhinos from a captive-breeding operation that the NGO purchased in 2023.
- African Parks previously moved a herd of 30 rhinos to Akagera in 2021, and says Rwanda will provide a safe, viable home for more — with the potential for future expansion of the white rhino population from there into East and Central Africa.
Real-world return on climate adaption investments wildly underestimated, report finds (10 Jun 2025 16:14:27 +0000)
- Since 2015’s Paris climate agreement, poor, climate-vulnerable nations have made a case for wealthy, industrialized nations (responsible for most climate change) to pay hundreds of billions for climate adaption and resilience. But while making big promises, actual funding by wealthy nations has repeatedly fallen far short of what’s needed.
- One possible reason: The real-world value of adaption and resilience projects has long been grossly underestimated due to incomplete data. A new study uses a novel methodology to put a comprehensive dollar value on such projects. It found that every $1 invested yields $10.50 in environmental and social benefits over a decade.
- Known as the “triple dividend of resilience,” this new methodology counts not only avoided climate change damages, but also economic gains (such as improved infrastructure and job creation) as well as broader environmental enhancements (improved public health and biodiversity protections, for example).
- It’s hoped this new analysis will offer policymakers and NGOs leverage at November’s COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, as they try to convince wealthy nations and financial institutions to unlock the many billions needed by vulnerable nations in adaption and resilience funding to weather escalating climate change impacts.
Uniting plantations to save Bornean elephants: Interview with Farina Othman (10 Jun 2025 14:34:58 +0000)
- Conservationist Farina Othman, a 2025 Whitley Award winner, has been working with endangered Bornean elephants in Sabah, Malaysia, since 2006.
- Since the 1970s, logging, oil palm plantations and roads have reduced and fragmented elephant habitats, increasing contact between the animals and humans; retaliatory killings arising from human-elephant conflict are now among the major threats to the species’ survival.
- Equipped with knowledge of the Bornean elephant’s behavior, Othman works with local communities and oil palm plantations to promote coexistence with the elephants.
- In a recent interview with Mongabay, Othman dives deep into the human-elephant conflicts in the Lower Kinabatangan area, explaining why and how she attempts to change communities’ perceptions of elephants and reconnect elephant habitats.
Shiloh Schulte, conservationist who helped the American Oystercatcher recover, died in a helicopter crash on June 4th, aged 46 (10 Jun 2025 14:17:46 +0000)
There are those whose lives accumulate significance slowly, the way sediment builds into shoreline. And then there are those whose devotion etches meaning into every year. Shiloh Schulte, a biologist who spent his life chasing birds across hemispheres, belonged to the latter group. He died in the North Slope of Alaska when the helicopter he […]
Penguin poop helps form clouds over Antarctica, potentially cooling it (10 Jun 2025 13:18:50 +0000)
In Antarctica, penguin poop, or guano, can cover the ground for miles, especially around penguin colonies with thousands of individuals. In fact, large, brown guano stains on Antarctica’s white ice have even helped scientists discover new penguin colonies from space. A recent study now finds that the massive amounts of guano play a critical role: […]
Making nature a healing place: Interview with Colombia’s Enilda Jiménez (10 Jun 2025 13:04:22 +0000)
- For 22 years, Enilda Jiménez and her siblings were forced off their land in Colombia after their father was assassinated by armed men in a region that has seen a devastating string of killings, kidnappings and land dispossession.
- When the family returned, they decided to turn their land into a private nature reserve that mixes a model of nonintrusive cattle farming with ecotourism that offers visitors the experiences of hiking in the jungle, watching wildlife, kayaking through flooded forests and learning to live in peace with nature.
- Jiménez spoke to Mongabay about her family’s history and how it has shaped their relationship with the land today.
As tree planting gathers pace in Bangkok, urban green spaces still under threat (10 Jun 2025 11:26:01 +0000)
- Bangkok lags behind global urban green space standards, sparking large-scale tree-planting initiatives across the city.
- Recent research warns that despite these efforts, the city continues to rapidly lose tree cover from its existing green spaces.
- The researchers urge city planners to focus on preserving existing green spaces and mature trees, while also ensuring big-budget tree-planting initiatives prioritize the ecosystem value and long-term survival of their plantings.
- Making such improvements will help the city address issues around access to green space, urban food security and climate resilience, the authors say.
High-profile wildlife trafficking case tests Malawi’s conservation commitment (10 Jun 2025 11:23:51 +0000)
- In 2021, Malawian authorities arrested and sentenced Chinese national Lin Yunhua, a key figure in an international wildlife trafficking syndicate, to 14 years in prison for possession of pangolin scales, rhino horns and ivory.
- Recently unearthed documents reveal that, since then, there have been attempts to secure a pardon and allegations of bribery and corruption, but that Malawi’s justice system has resisted efforts to undermine the sentence.
- Lin now faces additional charges for attempting to bribe a judge and a prison official, with the case referred to the high court due to its complexity and public significance.
- Conservationists and government officials cite Lin’s prosecution as evidence of Malawi’s strengthened commitment to fighting high-level wildlife crime and corruption, though challenges remain.
Indonesia halts most nickel mining in Raja Ampat, but allows one controversial permit (10 Jun 2025 11:17:19 +0000)
- Indonesia has revoked four out of five nickel mining permits in Raja Ampat after public pressure and findings of environmental damage in the ecologically sensitive archipelago, home to some of the world’s richest marine biodiversity.
- However, the government retained the permit for PT Gag Nikel, citing its location outside a UNESCO-designated geopark, lack of visible pollution, ongoing land rehabilitation, and the high economic value of its nickel deposits.
- Environmental groups have criticized the decision, pointing to legal bans on mining on small islands and warning of threats to marine life such as manta rays and coral reefs from barge traffic and industrial activity.
- The case reflects broader concerns about Indonesia’s nickel rush, with nearly 200 mining concessions on small islands nationwide, raising alarms over environmental destruction and the prioritization of industry over legal and ecological safeguards.
Rare earth rush in Myanmar blamed for toxic river spillover into Thailand (09 Jun 2025 23:09:04 +0000)
- Water tests from the Kok and Sai rivers near Thailand’s border with Myanmar have revealed elevated arsenic levels, leading Thai officials to warn citizens to avoid contact with river water.
- The pollution is widely believed to be linked to unregulated mining in Myanmar’s Shan state.
- Extraction of gold in Shan State has surged in the years since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar; more recently, mounting evidence suggests rare earth mining is also expanding across the state.
- Elevated arsenic levels have also been found at testing points in the Mekong, which is fed by both the Kok and Sai rivers.
Gelada monkey vocalizations offer insight into human evolution: Study (09 Jun 2025 22:59:08 +0000)
With their bright red, hairless chests and grass-grazing lifestyle, gelada monkeys are quite unusual. They are the only primate, other than humans, to primarily live on land instead of in trees, and a new study shows they are also able to detect emotional and social cues through vocal exchanges. “Geladas are special because they live […]
In Yaoundé, fecal sludge flows through ‘Caca Junction’ streets (09 Jun 2025 21:39:13 +0000)
- In Yaoundé, fecal sludge contaminates neighborhoods where locals say the combination of insufficient sanitation and the costs of septic tank service lead to dumping in the streets.
- The city has just one fecal sludge treatment plant that receives up to double its capacity every day.
- City residents pinch their noses at the smells, while water contamination poses disease risks to local residents.
- Similar situations occur in other African cities that lack sanitation facilities capable of handling the needs of growing urban populations.
Pushback grows against nickel mining in Indonesian marine paradise of Raja Ampat (09 Jun 2025 16:57:23 +0000)
- The Indonesian government has suspended nickel mining in the Raja Ampat archipelago following public outcry and investigations that revealed environmental violations, including illegal mining on small islands and deforestation by several companies.
- Raja Ampat, one of the world’s most biodiverse marine regions, is threatened by sedimentation, pollution and habitat destruction linked to mining, endangering coral reefs, mangroves and Indigenous communities.
- Despite government claims that operations on one of the islands, Gag, are environmentally compliant, critics say inspections are superficial and driven by political and economic agendas, ignoring broader regional damage.
- Environmental groups warn mining could resume quietly once the outrage fades, and urge the government to establish no-go zones to protect Raja Ampat, challenging rhetoric that frames local resistance as foreign interference.
When our oceans can’t breathe, a sea change is needed (commentary) (09 Jun 2025 15:52:40 +0000)
- “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.
The Yurok tribe have reclaimed Blue Creek, 138 years after it was taken from them (09 Jun 2025 15:52:32 +0000)
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The Yurok tribe of northern California has achieved what once seemed impossible: reclaiming the 19,000-hectare (47,000-acre) watershed of Blue Creek, a cold-water artery vital to salmon survival and tribal identity. This marks the largest land-back conservation deal in California […]
One-two punch for mangroves as seas rise and cyclones intensify (09 Jun 2025 15:03:52 +0000)
- More than half of mangroves worldwide may face high or severe risk by 2100 due to increased tropical cyclones and sea level rise, with experts predicting Southeast Asia to be hardest hit under all emissions scenarios.
- A new risk index combines multiple climate stressors — cyclones and sea level rise — with ecosystem service value, providing a novel, globally scalable tool for risk assessment and conservation planning.
- Mangrove loss has major human and economic costs, jeopardizing flood protection worth $65 billion annually and threatening 775 million people dependent on coastal ecosystems.
- Urgent, dynamic conservation and emissions cuts are essential; restoring degraded areas, enabling inland migration, and reducing emissions could significantly reduce risk and buy adaptation time.
EU appetite for EVs drives new wave of deforestation in tropical forests (09 Jun 2025 14:24:36 +0000)
- 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.
Mentawai’s primates are vanishing. One hunter is trying to save them. (09 Jun 2025 13:27:26 +0000)
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In the jungles of Siberut Island, the cries of the bilou once echoed freely. Now, they’re harder to hear. Siberut is the largest of the Mentawai Islands, an archipelago off western Sumatra, Indonesia, where a battle is unfolding […]
Riding toward a greener future: E-bikes transform food delivery in South Africa (09 Jun 2025 12:33:28 +0000)
- Home deliveries in South Africa have surged in recent years, with delivery of food and groceries overwhelmingly done using motorcycles.
- One company, Green Riders, has seized a slice of this market for
electric bicycles, highlighting some of the obstacles facing cyclists on Cape Town’s streets.
- The South African city’s planning includes efforts to shift commuters from using cars or buses — primarily to reduce traffic congestion — with limited success.
- The presence of several hundred couriers on e-bikes is highlighting issues including inadequate road infrastructure as well as safety for cyclists who must often travel 20 kilometers or more from their homes to reach economic opportunities.
M Marika, custodian of Yolŋu land and culture, died on June 4th, aged 64 (09 Jun 2025 12:08:36 +0000)
In the Yolŋu worldview, land and people are not separate things. They are interwoven—spirit, soil, and songline one and the same. Few embodied that unity more steadily than M Marika, a senior elder of the Rirratjiŋu clan, who died this month in north-east Arnhem Land. He was 64. For more than three decades, Marika stood […]
The curse of river dolphin ‘love perfumes’ (cartoon) (09 Jun 2025 06:59:38 +0000)
Already imperiled by habitat loss, climate change and the recent incidences of droughts in the Amazon, the endangered Amazon River Dolphins have yet another curse cast upon them- the myth that the perfume made from their oil, known locally as pusanga, works as an aphrodisiac. Sold both in local markets and online, this trade threatens an […]
New population of rare douc langurs found in Vietnam’s highland forests (09 Jun 2025 03:00:51 +0000)
- Conservationists surveying upland forests in central Vietnam have located a new subpopulation of critically endangered gray-shanked douc langurs.
- Fewer than 2,400 individuals are thought to remain in the wild, mostly in Vietnam, where more than half live outside of formally protected areas.
- Forest loss and hunting pressure have driven the species to the brink of extinction, spurring stakeholders to develop an action plan for the species in 2022.
- Experts say the new discovery underscores the need for conservation measures that go beyond traditional area-based approaches to encompass habitat restoration, community-based programs and habitat corridors.
On remote Indonesia karst outpost, Indigenous farmers fear the silence of the yams (09 Jun 2025 00:11:44 +0000)
- The Banggai archipelago is a remote landscape of around 97% limestone karst east of Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island.
- Extractive concessions on 39 locations on Peleng island, the largest island in the Banggai Islands district, may soon cut into the karst bedrock to mine the ancient limestone for cement, glass and other industrial applications.
- Indigenous villagers on Peleng Island say they worry the development could catalyze unprecedented local environmental damage, impairing the cultivation of unique yam varieties grown only here.
UN scientists propose ‘minerals trust’ to power green energy, protect communities (07 Jun 2025 14:09:39 +0000)
Rapidly scaling up renewable energy to limit future warming requires a sharp increase in the supply of critical minerals like cobalt, nickel and lithium for technologies including solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicles. Yet sourcing these minerals often comes at a steep cost for both the environment and local communities. Now, a coalition of […]
In Nepal, northernmost sighting of Eurasian otter raises hope, concerns (07 Jun 2025 00:42:43 +0000)
- The northernmost Eurasian otter sighting in Nepal was recorded in the Karnali River, raising hopes for the species’ range expansion. But as the animal was found dead in a fishing net, conservationists highlight challenges to the species’ conservation.
- Researchers emphasize the rarity of such sightings in high-altitude, remote areas like Humla, where otters had been considered cryptic or absent for decades.
- The discovery builds on a series of recent sightings across Nepal, including in urbanized Kathmandu Valley, suggesting a wider distribution than previously known.
- Threats to otters include overfishing, poaching, hydropower projects, sand mining and net entanglement, all of which imperil not just the Eurasian otter but also Nepal’s two other otter species.
Revived hydropower project to bring forced displacement, Peru communities warn (06 Jun 2025 21:41:57 +0000)
- 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.
Environmental crimes are often hidden by ‘flying money’ laundering schemes (commentary) (06 Jun 2025 20:35:09 +0000)
- An ancient credit system developed in China that relied on trust to help traders sidestep authorities and taxes is now being used to conceal illegal trafficking and increasingly environmental crimes, too.
- These “flying money” schemes are on the radar of law enforcement agencies, but coordination and implementation of plans to combat them are slow to develop.
- “Law enforcement, nations, conservation groups need more data sharing, more staff embeds, more eyes on the ground — even in China,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
How trafficking & misconceptions threaten Nigeria’s wildlife: Q&A with Dr. Mark Ofua (06 Jun 2025 17:17:26 +0000)
- Veterinarian and wildlife conservationist Dr. Mark Ofua discusses his journey in Nigeria, highlighting efforts to protect species and combat wildlife trafficking.
- He notes societal misconceptions and lack of education as some of the major challenges in addressing wildlife conservation issues among the general public in Nigeria.
- The conservationist shares his experiences on rescue missions, including a particularly challenging encounter with sea turtle traffickers who had him fearing for his life.
- Ofua, who hosts a popular children’s TV show about animals, emphasizes the importance of educating children about wildlife conservation and the role of media in promoting awareness about local wildlife.
Bumble Bee asks court to dismiss lawsuit alleging forced labor in tuna supply chain (06 Jun 2025 16:26:41 +0000)
- In March, four Indonesian men filed a landmark lawsuit in the U.S. against canned tuna giant Bumble Bee Foods, accusing the company of profiting from abuse and exploitation aboard Chinese-owned vessels supplying its tuna.
- The plaintiffs described brutal conditions while working on vessels that allegedly supplied albacore tuna directly to Bumble Bee, including physical violence, inadequate food, lack of medical care and withheld wages.
- Despite claims of traceability and sustainability, Bumble Bee and its parent company, Taiwan-based FCF, have been linked to a network of vessels implicated in labor abuses. Critics argue the company failed to act on repeated warnings from rights groups and resisted regulatory changes.
- On June 2, Bumble Bee filed papers requesting the federal court handling the case dismiss it on legal grounds. The next step will be for a judge to decide whether to dismiss it or let it proceed.
Strategic planning for development in the Pan Amazon (06 Jun 2025 15:49:56 +0000)
- The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was conceived to broaden Environmental Impacts Assessments and consider long-term, indirect and cumulative impacts, as well as alternative development scenarios.
- In the early 2000s, these SEAs generated a great deal of interest and were applied to several high-profile projects in the Amazon.
- Beyond looking at impacts, they evaluated impacts on forests, the expansion of secondary roads, potential real estate speculation, agriculture and deforestation and how they would affect biodiversity and livelihoods.
Australia to see more intense rains as climate change worsens, analysis shows (06 Jun 2025 15:40:33 +0000)
Scientists have warned that extreme rains could become more common in eastern Australia, following heavy downpours from May 19-23 that caused widespread flooding, claimed five lives and left some 50,000 people stranded. The warning is based on a recent rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global research network that examines the role of […]
Heavy rains inundate northeast India (06 Jun 2025 13:19:21 +0000)
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 […]
Climate change and shrinking Arctic sea ice threaten bowhead whales (06 Jun 2025 12:53:32 +0000)
Bowhead whales are endemic to the icy waters of the Arctic and prefer living in shallow waters near sea ice, filtering krill and tiny crustaceans called copepods for food. However, the Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth, and a recent study estimates that if this continues, then by 2100 the whales […]
Eucalyptus boom in Brazil’s Cerrado dries up springs, forces out smallholders (06 Jun 2025 09:26:53 +0000)
A eucalyptus boom in Brazil’s biodiverse Cerrado savanna is drying up land and water springs, making subsistence farming more difficult, local authorities and farmers tell Mongabay. Adilso Cruz, a 46-year-old rancher from the Alecrim settlement in Mato Grosso do Sul state, said the water shortages began around 2013, coinciding with the growth of eucalyptus plantations […]
World Oceans Day: Scientists find new clues about frontiers of ocean life (06 Jun 2025 08:45:59 +0000)
In 2008, the United Nations recognized June 8 as World Oceans Day to spotlight the rising vulnerabilities facing the oceans that cover more than 70% of Earth’s surface. Seventeen years later, average ocean temperatures have never been higher. Heat stress has hit 84% of the world’s coral reefs. In places as far as Antarctica, whales […]
Unnoticed oil & gas threat looms for Indigenous people near Amazon blocks (06 Jun 2025 07:00:15 +0000)
- While oil prospects in the Amazon north shore attract international attention, the offer of exploration blocks around Indigenous territories goes unnoticed in Mato Grosso state.
- Brazil will auction 21 blocks in the Parecis Basin, an area with dense Indigenous activity, yet none of these communities have been consulted, as leaders struggle to handle existing threats such as ranchers and miners.
- Impacts on Indigenous territories include the influx of workers and machinery during research and the risk of toxic gas emissions and water pollution if projects move forward.
- The rainforest is the most promising frontier for the oil industry, with one-fifth of the world’s newly discovered reserves from 2022-24.
The reaches, limits and (alleged) biases of feasibility studies and environmental licenses (06 Jun 2025 05:55:18 +0000)
- In the last 20 years, EIA has become a factor already incorporated into the strategic planning of countries, where the potential trade-offs arising from environmental and social impacts are of great importance.
- This is how public consultations arise, allowing civil society to have a voice in the appearance of private or public investment. In all the systems of Panamazonia, the principle is the same: the possibility of canceling a project if its negative impacts are unacceptable.
- For Killeen, one of the most obvious conflicts of interest occurs when the construction contract gives the mining company itself responsibility for conducting both the feasibility study and the environmental assessment.
- Likewise, multilateral financial organizations require high-quality environmental studies, but their credit advisors are evaluated by the number of projects managed, not by their ability to reject high-risk projects.
Researchers race to understand disease killing Caribbean corals at unprecedented rates (06 Jun 2025 01:35:13 +0000)
- Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is a novel coral disease that first emerged in Florida in 2014, and has now spread to 33 countries and territories in the Caribbean, including along the Mesoamerican Reef.
- SCTLD affects an unprecedented number of species (more than 30 species of reef-building corals), spreads quickly, and has a very high mortality rate.
- Researchers are still trying to figure out exactly what causes the disease.
- Researchers are also trying to understand how the coral microbiome is involved in or responds to SCTLD infection, and developing probiotics that they hope will offer an alternative treatment to antibiotics, with fieldwork in Belize, Colombia and elsewhere.
Four new snake species discovered in Papua New Guinea (05 Jun 2025 23:38:53 +0000)
Herpetology has long navigated through tangled terrain in Papua New Guinea, where species mislabeling and sparse sampling have clouded scientific understanding. But a recent revision has brought rare clarity—and four unexpected discoveries, reports Akhyari Hananto for Mongabay-Indonesia. In April 2025, Fred Kraus of the University of Michigan published a study in Zootaxa identifying four new […]
Why Brazil should abandon its plans for oil and gas in Amazonia (commentary) (05 Jun 2025 21:59:08 +0000)
- 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.
Latin American banks still slow to protect the environment, report finds (05 Jun 2025 20:23:27 +0000)
- Across Latin America, banks have failed to integrate sustainability regulations into lending, bond issuance and financial advisory services, according to a WWF sustainable finance assessment.
- WWF examined the policies of 22 banks across Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, and found that the countries’ financial sectors had largely failed to implement protections against nature-related risks, such as deforestation and biodiversity loss.
- Only six of the 22 banks have policies that acknowledge the “societal and economic risks” associated with environmental degradation, and just two of them have made net-zero carbon emission commitments for their lending portfolios.
New method can detect nearly every coral genus in Japan from water samples (05 Jun 2025 15:46:43 +0000)
- Environmental DNA (eDNA) coral research involves analyzing water samples to identify corals based on the DNA that they secrete into the water, largely via their mucus.
- eDNA research on corals can help scientists understand the changes wrought by global warming and marine pollution by providing coral identification data faster and in some cases more accurately than visual surveys by scientists.
- A team of marine scientists based in Japan, an archipelagic nation with a high level of coral biodiversity, has used an eDNA method to develop a system that can detect nearly all of the country’s 85 reef-building coral genera; no other research group in the world has achieved the same level of detection accuracy and coverage for corals using eDNA.
- They released their findings in a study published on May 22.
Methods to recognize the Amazon’s isolated peoples: Interview with Antenor Vaz (05 Jun 2025 14:55:25 +0000)
- Mongabay interviewed Antenor Vaz, an international expert on recognition methodologies and protection policies for Indigenous peoples in isolation and initial contact (PIACI), about the importance of confirming and recognizing the existence of isolated peoples.
- Vaz is a regional adviser for GTI-PIACI, an international working group committed to the protection, defense and promotion of the rights of PIACI, which recently launched a report to help governments, Indigenous organizations and NGOs prove the existence of Indigenous peoples living in isolation.
- In this interview, Vaz highlights strategies states can use to confirm and recognize the existence of isolated peoples while maintaining the no-contact principle.
Climate strikes the Amazon, undermining protection efforts (05 Jun 2025 14:53:56 +0000)
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 (05 Jun 2025 12:15:32 +0000)
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, […]
Clouded leopard seen preying on Bengal slow loris in rare photograph (05 Jun 2025 11:08:23 +0000)
In December 2024, a camera trap installed in Dehing Patkai National Park in northeast India’s Assam state captured a rare scene: a clouded leopard with a Bengal slow loris in its mouth. Both species are extremely elusive, so the photograph is rare confirmation that the medium-sized wildcat preys on the small, endangered primate, reports contributor […]
In a big win, Yurok Nation reclaims vital creek and watershed to restore major salmon run (05 Jun 2025 10:00:44 +0000)
- Four dams are now down on the Upper Klamath River in northern California in the largest river restoration project in U.S. history. But a rarely mentioned cold-water creek is essential to restoring health to what was once the third-largest salmon run on the West Coast of North America.
- Blue Creek is located just 25 km (16 mi) from the mouth of the Lower Klamath at the Pacific Ocean. Critically, it’s the first cold-water refuge for migrating salmon that enables the fish to cool down, survive, and move farther upriver to spawn. The dams and logging have damaged this important watershed for decades.
- The Yurok, California’s largest Indigenous tribe, lost ownership of Blue Creek to westward U.S. expansion in the late 1800s. In 2002, a timber company, negotiating with the Yurok, agreed to sell back the 19,000-hectare (47,100-acre) watershed to the tribe.
- It took Western Rivers Conservancy, an Oregon-based NGO, nearly two decades to raise the $60 million needed to buy the watershed. In a historic transition, Blue Creek returns this spring to the Yurok for conservation in its entirety. The tribe considers the watershed a sacred place.
Study shows Vietnam’s ethnic communities’ grapple with hydropower plant impacts (05 Jun 2025 08:17:05 +0000)
- A recently published study based on fieldwork in northwest Vietnam shows how even small hydropower projects can have a large impact on communities.
- With an increase in small hydropower projects, residents of Bien La commune report loss of farmlands, fishing, local jobs and culture, as well as insufficient compensation.
- While these impacts force the villagers to migrate to other districts in search of jobs, the community women try to revive their culture of traditional textiles and indigo dyeing to preserve their way of life.
Pay-to-release program reduces shark deaths, but backfires in some cases (05 Jun 2025 08:15:35 +0000)
- A pay-to-release program for threatened sharks and rays significantly reduced bycatch in Indonesia, with 71% of wedgefish and 4% of hammerheads released alive; but it also led some fishers to intentionally catch these species to claim incentives.
- Unequal payments across regions (ranging from $1 to $135 per fish) and the absence of national protective laws have complicated conservation efforts in key fishing areas like East Lombok and Aceh Jaya.
- A rigorous randomized controlled trial revealed unintended consequences: wedgefish mortality dropped by just 25%, while hammerhead mortality rose by 44% due to incentive-driven targeting.
- Local NGO KUL, which runs the program, has revised it to limit payouts and promote gear swaps, aiming to better align conservation outcomes with fisher livelihoods in the world’s top shark- and ray-catching nation.
Villagers in Sumatra bring ancient forest flavors back to the table (05 Jun 2025 08:13:52 +0000)
- Women living around the 7th-century Muaro Jambi temple complex in Sumatra, Indonesia, have revived ancient ingredients and cooking techniques to serve one-of-a-kind meals to visitors.
- Their dishes are inspired by the plants and animals depicted on the bas-reliefs of another ancient Buddhist site: Borobudur in Java.
- The ancient menu has proved popular both among visitors and locals, who are rediscovering their agrobiodiverse heritage.
- The women have nurtured an ancient food forest and garden in Muaro Jambi to conserve the diverse wild plants and varieties in their menus.
Indonesia new capital yet to spark electricity for low-income neighbors on Borneo (05 Jun 2025 02:41:10 +0000)
- In a district that holds Indonesia’s biggest coal reserves and sits near the new national capital, the country’s largest construction site, a large share of households in Paser district remain without an electricity connection.
- Data published by Indonesia’s statistics agency showed 10% of Paser district had yet to receive a connection to the grid.
- Households without electricity told Mongabay Indonesia that the lack of basic infrastructure provided by the state restricted economy activity and cultivated security fears at night.
Is rising CO2 really bad for the world’s drylands? Mongabay podcast probes (04 Jun 2025 23:12:46 +0000)
Increased carbon dioxide emissions since industrialization have accelerated climate change, and its widespread negative impacts have been reported worldwide. But the rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are also making some parts of our planet greener in what’s called the CO2 fertilization effect. Some politicians claim this effect means more atmospheric CO2 is doing […]
Indigenous forest stewards watch over one of the world’s rarest raptors (04 Jun 2025 15:28:37 +0000)
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 (04 Jun 2025 15:22:04 +0000)
- 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.
Fungi are our climate allies | Against All Odds (04 Jun 2025 14:43:14 +0000)
In recent years, we’re learning more about how fungi work, what they can do, and how they can help mitigate the climate crisis. They play a crucial role in balancing ecosystems, and keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. Innovative researchers are also investigating ways fungi can replace plastic, keep toxins out of our soils, and […]
Signs of hope as elephant seals rebound from avian flu in remote Chilean fjord (04 Jun 2025 14:35:45 +0000)
- An outbreak of avian flu in 2023 hammered a colony of southern elephant seals in Chile’s Tierra del Fuego region, leading to a 50% decline in its population.
- But over the 2024-2025 breeding season, the colony’s population recovered, with 33 pups being born.
- An alliance between the Chilean branch of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the regional environmental department has been monitoring this particular colony for years, braving the remoteness and extreme weather at the southern tip of the Americas.
- Experts posit that the site, Jackson Bay, may serve as a natural refuge from the avian flu because it’s geographically isolated as a fjord.
A new report lists the world’s 25 most endangered primates. Most people have never heard of them. (04 Jun 2025 12:25:59 +0000)
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. A new report, “Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates,” catalogs the species closest to the brink. Compiled by more than 100 scientists and conservationists, it’s a stark warning: without urgent action, some of our closest […]
Researchers identify 22 key areas for protecting struggling giant otters (04 Jun 2025 09:20:57 +0000)
- The giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is an endangered species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- A recently published report authored by more than 50 researchers from 12 South American countries identifies and prioritizes 22 areas for giant otter conservation.
- The main threats to giant otters include habitat destruction, overfishing and pollution of water sources by agricultural and extractive industries.
- The results of the report will be shared with the 12 governments of the countries that encompass the species’ historical distribution.
Samoa’s new marine spatial plan protects 30% of the country’s ocean (04 Jun 2025 03:50:21 +0000)
- The Samoan government announced June 3 that it has enacted a law establishing a marine spatial plan to sustainably manage 100% of its ocean by 2030.
- The country has also created nine new marine protected areas that cover 30% of its ocean.
- Fishing is prohibited in the new protected areas, which include a migration route for humpback whales.
- The plan became law on May 1.
Mining company returns to haunt Thailand’s Karen communities as resistance mounts (04 Jun 2025 02:18:55 +0000)
- A long-dormant fluorite mine is being reopened in northern Thailand, but the ethnically Karen communities that live in Mae Hong Son province’s Mae La Noi district are staunchly resisting the return of the mining company.
- Universal Mining, a Thai company, aimed to reopen its fluorite mine in 2021 following an injection of Chinese investments, but so far has failed to secure the environmental impact assessment needed to recommence mining operations in Mae La Noi.
- Experts warn that Universal Mining may be able to find a way around the environmental regulations as the Thai government has earmarked parts of Mae La Noi for extraction in its national mining strategy.
- According to rights advocates, the conflict brewing between the mining company and the Karen communities is a reflection of limited rights Thailand gives its Indigenous People.
Female bonobos wield power through unity: Study (03 Jun 2025 21:36:46 +0000)
Male bonobos are larger and stronger than females, so researchers have found it puzzling that the female apes enjoy high status in bonobo society. After analyzing three decades of behavioral data, researchers recently shared a study that pinpoints their source of power: female alliances and coalitions. “Only [among] bonobos, females form coalitions to gain power […]
Kim Stanley Robinson on how his novel ‘Ministry for the Future’ holds lessons for the present (03 Jun 2025 21:28:30 +0000)
Roughly five years since Kim Stanley Robinson’s groundbreaking climate fiction novel, The Ministry for the Future, hit shelves and The New York Times bestseller list, there’s little he says he’d change about the book, were it to be published again, he tells Mongabay’s podcast. The utopian novel set in a not-so-distant future depicts how humans […]
Peril and persistence define the path of Africa’s conservationists (03 Jun 2025 21:13:35 +0000)
- Local conservationists across Africa face threats, isolation and underfunding, as illustrated by Nigerian conservationist Itakwu Innocent, who survived an assassination attempt and has endured years of violence and ostracism for protecting wildlife and opposing poaching in his community.
- Women and young scientists in particular face systemic barriers in conservation, including gender bias and limited access to funding and recognition, despite taking leadership roles and driving grassroots initiatives in places like Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.
- Funding disparities and broken promises by international NGOs have undermined trust in conservation efforts, making it harder for local scientists like Owan Kenneth to gain community support without financial incentives.
- Despite these challenges, recognition and success stories are emerging, with initiatives like fellowships and community-led reforms helping figures such as Adekambi Cole, Bashiru Koroma and Asuquo Nsa Ani make tangible conservation gains and inspire others.
New maps reveal Earth’s largest land mammal migration (03 Jun 2025 19:29:34 +0000)
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 […]
World Bank uses climate crisis as cover for land-grabbing, Oakland Institute says (03 Jun 2025 14:46:06 +0000)
The World Bank promotes expansion of private land ownership and title to improve efficient land use and recently announced billions of dollars to support these policies, claiming it will also facilitate carbon projects including offsets and afforestation. But analysis by the Oakland Institute (OI) argues those investments overwhelmingly benefit big business at the expense of […]
The Tropical Forest Forever Facility needs more local and Indigenous focus (commentary) (03 Jun 2025 13:33:45 +0000)
- The new Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) aims to fund forest conservation by paying nations an annual fee of $4 for every hectare of forest they maintain.
- The fund’s launch is expected to be a major focal point of the COP30 climate summit in November, and the TFFF secretariat is currently negotiating many of its fine details, which are expected to be released at the end of June. A new briefing prepared by 40+ environmental, human rights and Indigenous organizations lays out their concerns about the TFFF’s equity issues, and describes how they should be tackled.
- “About 20% of the funds are expected to be allocated to Indigenous and local communities. This is a step in the right direction, but for the TFFF’s funding to reach its intended recipients, it must go directly to them, to the largest extent possible, rather than as in the current proposal, with payments being in the hands of national governments,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Green groups oppose Qatari luxury resort near pristine world heritage site (03 Jun 2025 13:20:41 +0000)
- Construction has begun on a Qatari-backed project to build 37 luxury villas on Assomption Island, the gateway to Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Seychelles that is home to one of the last remaining populations of giant tortoises.
- The resort threatens the entire cluster of islands and atolls (Aldabra, Assomption, Cosmoledo and Astove — known collectively as the Aldabra Group), according to activists, who cite the risk of invasive species.
- Activists say the project’s environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) was rushed, does not meet global standards, and is marred by conflicts of interest.
- An official at the Seychellois government-owned enterprise responsible for developments on islands like Assomption and Aldabra, which aims to turn the island into a “vibrant revenue-generating asset,” said the resort will increase activities on the islands and possibly attract more Seychellois to these remote islands.
Police in Indonesia’s Halmahera Island charge 11 farmers in latest nickel flashpoint (03 Jun 2025 10:30:13 +0000)
- Officers with North Maluku province police arrested 27 people from the coastal village of Maba Sangaji in late May, and later charged 11 of the detained men with weapons and public order offenses.
- A lawyer for the 11 facing prosecution said the bladed instruments seized from them were farming tools, and did not reflect any criminal intent in demonstrating against a mining company.
- The villagers accuse nickel-mining company PT Position of quarrying their customary forest, causing damage to local crops and pollution of a river flowing through the area.
- Maba Sangaji is around 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Weda Bay Industrial Estate, a vast minerals processing site established in 2018 by China mining conglomerates Huayou, Tsingshan and Zhenshi.
EUDR risk classifications omit governance & enforcement failures, critics say (03 Jun 2025 09:18:18 +0000)
- Critics say the EU’s anti-deforestation law, the EUDR, uses a risk classification system that overlooks critical issues like governance, corruption and law enforcement capacity, missing systemic failures and enforcement gaps — the very conditions that enable illegal deforestation to flourish.
- A Forest Trends analysis warns that this approach may lead to misclassification of countries with weak enforcement and high illegality as “low risk.”
- These shortcomings in the benchmarking system have triggered growing unease among countries affected by the EUDR, including some that say their deforestation risk has been misrepresented.
- Set to take effect at the end of this year, the EUDR will ban imports of seven forest-linked commodities — soy, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, timber, rubber and beef — unless they can be proven to be deforestation-free and legally produced.
Cargo ship carrying ‘hazardous material’ capsizes off India coast (03 Jun 2025 08:50:12 +0000)
On the morning of May 25, a Liberian-flagged cargo ship, MSC ELSA 3, carrying roughly 640 declared containers, sank off the coast of Kerala state in southern India. Indian authorities rescued all 24 crew on board, but most of the containers remain untraced and their contents unknown, raising environmental concerns, reports contributor Navya PK for […]
Critically endangered chameleon discovered outside its known habitat in Madagascar (03 Jun 2025 07:15:48 +0000)
- 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 (02 Jun 2025 18:59:23 +0000)
- 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.
Marine artificial upwelling, problematic climate solution slow to advance (02 Jun 2025 16:10:26 +0000)
- Artificial upwelling is a form of geoengineering that aims to use pipes and pumps to channel cool, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean to the surface. In doing so, it could fertilize surface waters, prompting the growth of plankton, which can then absorb and store large amounts of atmospheric carbon.
- Long considered a potential marine carbon dioxide removal (CDR) method, artificial upwelling has more recently been coupled with seaweed farming to potentially soak up even more atmospheric CO2.
- But technological challenges have plagued open-water upwelling experiments, while environmentalists worry that large-scale use could ultimately prove ineffective and ecologically harmful.
- Experts state that though upwelling could prove a viable solution to improve fisheries and protect coral reefs from marine heat waves, more research is needed. Considering the rapid current pace of climate change, it’s debatable as to whether implementation at scale could come in time to stave off dangerous warming.
After terror attacks, Mozambique nature reserve faces ‘new reality’ (02 Jun 2025 15:21:13 +0000)
- 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 (02 Jun 2025 12:55:19 +0000)
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. At the close of SF Climate Week, María Isabel Torres, program director of Mongabay Latam, shared how local journalism is driving environmental change across Latin America. Speaking as a Peruvian journalist based in Lima, María Isabel detailed investigations […]
A fragile win as Indonesia cancels high-risk mine permit after court ruling (02 Jun 2025 09:45:28 +0000)
- Indonesia’s environment ministry has finally revoked a permit for a controversial zinc-and-lead mine in earthquake-prone Dairi district, following a Supreme Court ruling and years of community protests over safety and environmental risks.
- The court last August found the mine’s planned tailings dam posed unacceptable dangers due to high seismic activity, landslide risk, and unstable terrain; experts called the location one of the worst possible sites for such a project.
- The revocation sets a legal precedent by confirming that environmental approvals under Indonesia’s deregulation law can be challenged in court, strengthening public access to environmental justice.
- Despite the ruling, concerns persist that developer PT Dairi Prima Mineral may seek a new permit, as similar cases have seen revoked projects revived; activists urge the government and China, a key investor, to respect the court decision.
Ecological crisis in Brazil’s Pantanal fuels human-jaguar conflict (02 Jun 2025 09:35:58 +0000)
- The recent death of a man by a jaguar in Brazil’s Pantanal wetland has drawn public attention to the challenges of local coexistence between humans and the largest felines in the Americas.
- People are not typical prey for jaguars, but more frequent fires and natural prey scarcity have driven the big cats to encroach on ranches and farms, where domestic animals make for easy pickings — but also where confrontation with humans can erupt.
- Pantanal communities complain about the lack of security to which they are exposed, arguing that protection of jaguars by environmental agencies should also include balanced coexistence with the human population.
World Peatland Day: Protecting a crucial carbon sink (02 Jun 2025 04:30:23 +0000)
Peatlands are one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks. These naturally waterlogged boggy swamps can hold thousands of years’ worth of compressed, partially decomposed vegetation matter — despite covering just 3-4% of Earth’s land surface, they’re thought to store more carbon per area than the world’s forests combined. In honor of World Peatland Day on […]
Derek Pomeroy, a leading figure in Ugandan ornithology died on May 29th, aged 90 (31 May 2025 19:00:35 +0000)
If Derek Pomeroy said to meet him at 7am, you were expected to be there by exactly 7am—not a minute later. Punctuality was not just a preference; it was a principle. Whether in a zoology lab, a birdwatching field station, or over tea at Makerere University, order and discipline mattered. Behind that exacting standard, however, […]
After 15 years, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court blocks road upgrade in national park (31 May 2025 14:51:51 +0000)
- In a landmark judgment, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court recently ended a 15-year legal battle over plans to upgrade a road through Wilpattu National Park, making conservationists heave a sigh of relief.
- The court ruling follows an election pledge by Anura Kumara Dissanayake during the presidential race to reopen the road, which drew sharp criticism from environmentalists.
- The proposed road would have reduced travel time but fragmented critical habitats besides increasing the threat of roadkill due to speeding vehicles.
- The ruling highlights the judiciary’s crucial role in upholding environmental protections, especially when political leaders push development agendas that threaten ecologically sensitive areas.
Valmik Thapar, India’s tiger man, died on May 31st, aged 73 (31 May 2025 14:27:54 +0000)
- Valmik Thapar, who died at 73, was a fierce and lifelong advocate for India’s wild tigers, dedicating five decades to their protection.
- He combined impassioned storytelling with field observation, helping reveal previously unknown aspects of tiger behavior and ecology in Ranthambhore.
- Thapar was a vocal critic of India’s forest bureaucracy, arguing that real conservation required political will, public pressure, and protected spaces free from human interference.
- Despite setbacks, his efforts contributed to a rebound in India’s tiger population, securing a lasting legacy for both the species and the man who championed it.
From local planting to national plan, Belize bets on mangrove recovery (30 May 2025 21:49:14 +0000)
- Mangroves in Belize protect coastlines, are nursery grounds for fish, and store vast amounts of carbon.
- In 2021, the government of Belize committed to restoring 4,000 hectares (nearly 10,000 acres) of mangroves, and protecting an additional 12,000 hectares (nearly 30,000 acres) within a decade, as part of its emissions reduction target under the Paris climate agreement.
- To support this restoration target, WWF Mesoamerica is developing a national mangrove restoration action plan.
- Restoration initiatives are already underway in areas like Gales Point, Placencia Caye and elsewhere.
Study identifies US regions that benefit birds, people & climate the most (30 May 2025 19:01:02 +0000)
A new study identifies key regions across the U.S. where investments can deliver triple benefits for people, the climate and birds. These conservation sweet spots support significant numbers of more than half of U.S. bird species, including 75% of forest birds. “We wanted to think about how places that we might focus our conservation attention […]
Dom Phillips’ posthumous book centers on collaborative work for saving the Amazon (30 May 2025 17:02:18 +0000)
- On June 5, 2022, British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were brutally killed in the Javari Valley region, in the Brazilian Amazon; Phillips was investigating illegal fishing in the region for his book.
- Three years later, the book How to save the Amazon — A journalist’s fatal quest for answers, by Phillips with contributors, will be launched beginning May 31 in the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil, accompanied by dedicated events in the three countries.
- “Emotionally, it has several meanings for me. Firstly, because it’s like realizing Dom’s death, because he was still writing, he was still alive,” Phillips’ widow Alessandra Sampaio tells Mongabay.
- Anthropologist Beatriz Matos, Pereira’s widow, says the book is also intertwined with Pereira’s work and also with everyone who works to defend the Amazon and the Indigenous peoples. “It’s very important that this work is not interrupted. It’s very important that the stories he was telling are told.”
US pioneers restoration of deep water corals damaged by country’s worst oil spill (30 May 2025 16:25:56 +0000)
- Scientists are conducting a pioneering large-scale deep-sea coral restoration in the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which damaged 1,994 square kilometers (770 square miles) of seafloor habitat.
- Underwater robots and Navy divers using specialized gear to work at depths up to 100 meters (328 feet) plant coral fragments on the ocean floor, while labs in Texas, South Carolina and Florida grow corals in tanks for future transplantation.
- The novel eight-year, multi-million-dollar project has achieved milestones including high deepwater coral survival rates at sea and the first successful spawning of deep-sea corals in captivity, which produced more than 1,000 baby corals.
- The restoration faces ongoing threats from climate change, commercial fishing, agricultural runoff and potential future oil spills, with nearly 1,000 spills occurring in U.S. waters in 2021 and 2022 alone.
Only a tiny % of the deep seafloor has ever been visually observed: Study (30 May 2025 16:24:11 +0000)
- Just 0.001% of the deep seafloor has ever been captured by photo or video images, a new study finds.
- That which has been captured is “biased” and potentially unrepresentative: 65% of observations have been in the waters of the United States, Japan or New Zealand, according to the study.
- Experts told Mongabay that policymakers at a wide range of international institutions should bear the study’s findings in mind, including those governing high seas fisheries, deep-sea mining, and the use of marine carbon dioxide sequestration systems.
UK signs deal handing over Chagos to Mauritius, but tensions remain (30 May 2025 15:06:52 +0000)
The U.K. recognized the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius’ claim to the Chagos Archipelago in an agreement signed May 22. While Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam praised the deal, it elicited mixed reactions from many Chagossians, the islands’ original inhabitants. Starting in 1968, they were displaced from the chain of islands by British colonial rulers to […]
With areca leaves and rice bran, Bangladesh replaces single-use plastic tableware (30 May 2025 14:35:56 +0000)
- With Bangladesh’s growing economy and city dwellers’ purchasing capacity, the tendency to gather for parties and serve food has also increased in the country.
- With concerns for environmental protections, many of them are choosing biodegradable tableware instead of single-use plastic.
- A few local entrepreneurs are now producing tableware like plates and straws from biodegradable and locally available materials like areca leaves for plates and rice bran and jute for straws.
- However, entrepreneurs are struggling with production costs and are looking forward to the policy support that industries producing environment-friendly products usually receive in Bangladesh.
USAID cut curbs hopes at Ethiopia’s largest community conservation area (30 May 2025 10:50:12 +0000)
- A sudden USAID funding cut has stalled conservation efforts in Ethiopia’s Tama Community Conservation Area (TCCA), a 197,000-hectare (486,000-acre) corridor home to elephants, giraffes and other threatened species.
- The project, launched in 2022 with $8.5 million in USAID support, had helped reduce illegal hunting, create local jobs and improve community-led biodiversity management.
- The suspension, announced in January this year, has triggered community members to lose hope and return to illegal hunting and deforestation, while fueling land-grab rumors that undermine Indigenous land rights.
- Conservationists and Indigenous leaders say the crisis reveals the risks of overreliance on foreign aid and that, without urgent support, hard-won ecological and social gains could be lost.
Mining companies use legal loopholes to move forward without environmental licensing off the Brazilian coast (30 May 2025 08:11:00 +0000)
- Applications for deep-sea mining permits in Brazil have soared in recent years: of the 950 requests filed since 1967, nearly half were submitted between 2020 and 2024.
- Demand for key minerals used in the clean energy transition, as well as geopolitical uncertainties, are driving the race to the seabed.
- Loopholes in Brazilian legislation are allowing mining companies to work without environmental licensing, a situation made worse by the lack of specific rules for deep-sea mining.
- Researchers warn that the lack of environmental impact studies could have widespread impacts on marine ecosystems, especially on coral reef biodiversity.
Hero rats among the global anti-poaching efforts affected by U.S. funding cuts (29 May 2025 21:44:41 +0000)
A sudden freeze on U.S. conservation funding is sending shockwaves through efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade, a multibillion-dollar industry pushing iconic species toward extinction, through Africa and Southeast Asia, a recent Mongabay article reports. In Malawi, where authorities recently took down a major Chinese-led trafficking ring with U.S.-backed intelligence and training, momentum is […]
Ahead of hosting COP30, Brazil is set to weaken environmental licensing (29 May 2025 19:59:50 +0000)
- 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 (29 May 2025 16:40:32 +0000)
- 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.
Guinea-Bissau’s grassroots efforts offer a blueprint for global mangrove restoration (commentary) (29 May 2025 16:02:19 +0000)
- Guinea-Bissau’s mangroves have declined by nearly a third over the past 80 years, but the country still has the largest mangrove area as a proportion of its total area in the world.
- A grassroots revolution is underway, spearheaded by national organizations, international partners and local communities to restore the country’s mangrove landscapes.
- Called Ecological Mangrove Restoration, this method focuses on optimizing conditions for the mangroves to restore naturally, as well as collaborating with communities to ensure sustainability and resilience by fostering ownership of the project while leveraging local knowledge and resources.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Manage people more and bears less, say Indigenous elders in world’s ‘polar bear capital’ (29 May 2025 12:41:49 +0000)
- Indigenous residents of Churchill in Canada’s Manitoba province have coexisted with polar bears for thousands of years, emphasizing respect for the animals and staying out of their way.
- The province-run Polar Bear Alert Program also aims to keep the community safe from overly curious or dangerous bears, but some of its practices have been called into question by locals.
- Churchill’s tourism industry drives the local economy and is also the source of most problematic human-bear interactions.
- As climate change causes bears to spend more time on land, Churchill leaders are working with local and regional stakeholders to improve human-polar bear coexistence.
Fighting back against Guinea-Bissau’s illegal chimpanzee trade (29 May 2025 07:26:24 +0000)
- Guinea-Bissau is home to around 5% of critically endangered western chimpanzees, who face numerous threats including habitat loss, disease and illegal trade.
- A recent study found numerous chimps held in private residences and hotels, often taken from the wild as infants and held in poor conditions.
- The study’s authors recommend revising laws and penalties regulating hunting or keeping chimpanzees captive, training for officials responsible for enforcement, and a public awareness campaign about the dangers of keeping wild animals.
Amazon illegal gold mines drive sex trafficking in the Brazil-Guyana border (29 May 2025 07:00:04 +0000)
- 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.
US funding shortfall halts Nepal’s rhino census, sparks debate over methods (29 May 2025 00:28:49 +0000)
- Nepal canceled its 2025 rhino census citing a funding shortfall following the Trump Administration’s pullout of USAID funding.
- The traditional census method, which uses elephant-mounted teams to sweep dense forests, is labor-intensive, costly, dangerous and outdated, wildlife experts say.
- Field researchers recount encounters with wild elephants and tigers during past censuses, calling for safer, non-invasive methods like genetic analysis and camera traps.
- While some officials defend the value of the elaborate census, others argue Nepal must modernize its approach to better protect its rhinos and the personnel involved in the census.
Rigorous, not righteous: How Gopi Warrier helped build Mongabay India’s newsroom (28 May 2025 22:08:14 +0000)
- S. Gopikrishna Warrier, editorial director of Mongabay-India, has spent the past seven years shaping a newsroom known for clarity, credibility, and a calm approach to environmental reporting.
- With nearly four decades of experience, Warrier helped bring biodiversity and climate issues into India’s mainstream discourse through rigorous journalism—not advocacy.
- Under his leadership, Mongabay-India has published thousands of impactful stories in English and Hindi, influencing public debate and policy on issues ranging from forestry to environmental politics.
- In May 2025, Warrier reflected on his journey, editorial philosophy, and vision for the future in a conversation with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in Kerala, India.
Indigenous lands & protected areas are barely offsetting emissions from damage in the rest of the Amazon (28 May 2025 20:55:26 +0000)
The Amazon is often described as one of the planet’s most effective carbon regulation systems. Yet recent data suggest its ability to absorb carbon is increasingly concentrated in specific places. Between 2013 and 2022, nearly all of the forest’s net carbon uptake came not from the biome as a whole, but from the half of […]
A new mall for the village: How carbon credit dollars affect Indigenous Guyanese (28 May 2025 16:52:22 +0000)
- Indigenous communities in Guyana, such as the Kapohn people, have received funds from carbon credit sales negotiated by the government, but many criticize the lack of consultation, rushed implementation, and projects that have not met local needs.
- Although Indigenous lands contribute to the Guyanese carbon credit program, many remain without full legal recognition or protection, and leaders argue that their autonomy and traditional rights are being undermined in favor of state-managed initiatives.
- Amid growing concerns over land rights, mining concessions and transparency, Indigenous voices are calling for meaningful participation, cultural respect, and development plans rooted in their own priorities and knowledge systems.
Conservation tech without Indigenous knowledge and local context has limits (commentary) (28 May 2025 15:26:09 +0000)
- Local and Indigenous communities can now track deforestation, monitor biodiversity and respond to threats on their territories quickly with tools like drones, GPS apps and satellite imagery.
- These are powerful tools, but must not be introduced as standalone solutions, disconnected from the local knowledge of those who have stewarded ecosystems for generations.
- “When introduced with care, technology can help communities act faster, plan better and advocate more effectively, but only when it reflects local realities, and only when it supports — not supplants — cultural wisdom,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
To collect native seeds, Ugandan botanists are climbing forest giants (28 May 2025 15:10:54 +0000)
- To access the best seeds for the propagation of native species, botanists often need to safely and sustainably collect from a variety of mother trees.
- In Uganda, Sebastian Walaita at the Tooro Botanic Gardens has been honing his skills and training botanists in high tree climbing for more than 25 years.
- These skills allow the botanists to collect seeds from even the tallest trees, in a way that captures genetic diversity.
- In October 2024, Walaita and a fellow Ugandan held a training in high tree climbing and seed collection in Côte d’Ivoire.
Tabby’s likely ancestor & Earth’s most widespread wildcat is an enigma (28 May 2025 15:06:34 +0000)
- The Afro-Asiatic wildcat (Felis lybica) is the world’s most widely distributed small wildcat, but it’s also one of the least studied. The cat’s conservation status is listed as “of least concern” by the IUCN. But due to a lack of data, population trends are unknown, and the species, or subspecies, could vanish before humanity realizes it.
- One of the only long-term studies on the cat’s behavior and population genetics occurred in South Africa’s Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. It sheds light on a species that is vital to the ecosystems it inhabits and possesses remarkable adaptability.
- At some point, thousands of years ago, F. lybica was domesticated, making it the ancestor of the common house cat (F. catus), which, in evolutionary terms, has become one of the most successful mammal species on Earth.
- Inbreeding with domestic cats has become a serious threat to Afro-Asiatic wildcat conservation. Wildcat experts urge pet owners to spay their house cats. Feral cats should also be spayed, especially in areas bordering preserves where F. lybica lives. Education about this small wildcat could also help with its conservation.
US firm KoBold Metals buys stake in contested Manono Lithium Project, DRC (28 May 2025 13:47:55 +0000)
KoBold Metals, a U.S.-based mining exploration company, has announced a deal to buy Australian AVZ Minerals Ltd.’s stake in a contested lithium project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Extensive deposits of key minerals mean the DRC is likely a key player in the transition to green energy. Roughly three years ago, a lithium deposit […]
New map highlights complex web of marine migrations (28 May 2025 11:28:58 +0000)
- Scientists have launched a new database on marine migratory patterns to address gaps in the knowledge of policymakers and conservationists.
- The Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) database pulled data from 1,300 existing studies in the scientific literature to describe the migratory patterns of 109 mammal, bird and fish species.
- The database highlights the interconnected nature of marine migrations, and underscores the need for cross-border collaboration in conservation efforts.
Deforestation and fires persist in Indonesia’s pulpwood and biomass plantations (28 May 2025 08:36:03 +0000)
- NGOs in Indonesia have documented widespread environmental and social violations across 33 industrial tree plantations since 2023, including deforestation, peatland destruction, fires, and land conflicts with Indigenous communities.
- Major corporations APP and APRIL, despite sustainability pledges, were linked to illegal deforestation, peatland drainage, and failure to follow proper consent procedures, potentially violating both Indonesian laws and international standards.
- Key case studies include endangered rainforest clearance in West Sumatra’s Mentawai Islands, unauthorized forest clearance in Riau, peatland burning in South Sumatra, and land disputes in West Kalimantan.
- The NGOs are urging stronger law enforcement and reforms, warning that current violations undermine Indonesia’s climate goals and could threaten market access under the EU Deforestation Regulation.
Tuna fishing devices drift through a third of oceans, harming corals, coasts: Study (28 May 2025 07:03:53 +0000)
- Drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs) are floating rafts with underwater netting used by fishing vessels to attract tuna.
- A recent study estimated that between 2007 and 2021, 1.41 million dFADs drifted through 37% of the world’s oceans, stranding in 104 maritime jurisdictions and often polluting sensitive marine habitats.
- Strandings were most frequent in the Indian and Pacific oceans, with the Seychelles, Somalia and French Polynesia accounting for 43% of cases; ecosystem damage and cleanup costs fall on local communities.
Indonesia convicts trafficking accomplice in a Javan rhino poaching scandal (28 May 2025 05:25:31 +0000)
- 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.
In Pakistan, desert irrigation plans spark protests & fears among Sindh farmers (28 May 2025 03:00:39 +0000)
- In Pakistan, thousands of protesters have fought against the Cholistan Canal Project, which would divert water from the Indus River to irrigate millions of hectares of desert for corporate farming.
- Opponents say the project would threaten local desert species and leave small-scale farmers and fishers in Sindh province without the water they need; this comes on top of an existing water shortage in the region.
- Water has been one of the region’s most contentious issues, dating back decades and causing a rift between Sindh province and the Federation of Pakistan; now, the future of Pakistan’s water is even more uncertain since India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which governs shared waters between the two countries.
How Costa Rica’s ranchers contribute to jaguar and puma conservation (28 May 2025 03:00:24 +0000)
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 […]
Mongabay journalist Karla Mendes profiled in new book on climate leaders (27 May 2025 20:55:16 +0000)
Mongabay reporter Karla Mendes has been featured as one of 36 global climate leaders in a new book launched in the U.S. on May 27. What Will Your Legacy Be?: Conversations With Global Game Changers About the Climate Crisis by author Sangeeta Waldron includes a chapter on Mendes’s investigative work and career trajectory. The chapter […]
Young Rwandans support bird conservation through mobile app recordings (27 May 2025 18:35:01 +0000)
A young tour guide and his group of student mentees are helping monitor bird species in Rwanda with the help of a mobile app, Mongabay contributor Mariam Kone reported. Joseph Desiré Dufitumukiza, who enjoys bird-watching, felt moved to take action after he read about the decline of native bird species in Rwanda, including the Maccoa […]
Future of Mexican communal land in limbo as mining company overstays agreement (27 May 2025 14:38:10 +0000)
- Canadian mining company Equinox Gold has failed to implement a closure process after its land use and social-cooperation agreement with the Carrizalillo ejido in Mexico’s Guerrero state ended on March 31.
- It instead announced the indefinite suspension of its Los Filos mine, which the country’s agrarian attorney and legal experts say is not permitted in Mexico.
- Prior to the termination date, representatives of the ejido told Mongabay the company carried out a smear campaign to pressure them into signing a renegotiation proposal which they rejected because of its unfair conditions.
- Meanwhile, members of the ejido who rely on rent payments from the company to survive, have not received any compensation from the company and cannot return to their agrarian way of life because the mine occupies most of their land and the few available areas are contaminated.
In Nepal, confrontation looms over controversial cable car project as court lifts stay order (27 May 2025 10:58:14 +0000)
- 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.
Silvery lining for Java’s endangered gibbon as Rahayu Oktaviani wins Whitley prize (27 May 2025 03:11:33 +0000)
- Indonesian conservationist Rahayu Oktaviani, known for her work with Java’s silvery gibbon, received this year’s Whitley Award for achievements in grassroots conservation.
- The 50,000 British pound ($67,000) prize will be used to expand her foundation’s work carried out local communities near Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park in West Java province.
- Halimun-Salak is where up to half of the 4,000-4,500 silvery gibbons estimated to exist in the wild remain.
- Indonesia is home to nine species of gibbon, but only one of those species lives on Java, the world’s most-populous island.
Urban forests in Niger’s schoolyards serve climate resilience and education (26 May 2025 13:46:55 +0000)
- Trees growing school yards in Niger’s two largest cities are helping to cool classrooms and illustrate the value of urban forests.
- A study of green spaces across 60 schools in Niamey and Maradi two cities found that trees in schools help mitigate extreme heat, a source of food and income, and enhance learning.
- School yards represent a form of protected area within cities, and the study’s author encourages municipal and educational authorities to integrate urban forestry into planning for school infrastructure.
‘Satellites for Biodiversity’ upgrades with new projects and launches insight hub (26 May 2025 13:06:09 +0000)
The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF) recently announced the winners of their “Satellites for Biodiversity” grant, which now uses higher-resolution satellite imagery to aid conservation efforts. They also launched an Ecosystem Insight Hub, which comprehensively documents the processes and findings of their grantees. The latest batch of six “Satellites for Biodiversity” awardees […]
Community conservancies in Kyrgyzstan see conservation success against illegal hunting (26 May 2025 11:08:15 +0000)
- Vast terrains in northern Kyrgyzstan that host numerous flora and fauna — many of them endemic to the country — were a hub for illegal hunting and poaching of the species.
- Community-based conservancies established by local NGOs are helping species make an effective comeback, conservationists say.
- Records of roe deer increased from 33 in 2013 to more than 250 in 2020 in an area of 20,000 hectares (49,421 acres) protected by Shumkar-Tor.
- As the community-led conservation shows progress with increased species populations, conservancies are scaling up their monitoring efforts by introducing digital tools for patrolling and installing camera traps in isolated areas.
Coral reef research dominated by rich countries, plagued with inequities: Study (26 May 2025 07:30:48 +0000)
- A new study finds that coral reef researchers come mainly from institutions in high-income countries, and that the contributions of researchers from tropical, lower-income nations aren’t adequately recognized.
- “Parachute” research that leaves out local input is common, and when more local researchers are included, they report that it’s often done in a tokenistic way, the study finds.
- The lead authors say the same communities that face the most direct impacts from the demise of coral reefs are left out of the scientific study of reefs.
Sri Lanka’s golden jackals reveal importance of urban wetlands for wildlife (26 May 2025 07:19:01 +0000)
- Recent sightings of golden jackals (Canis aureus naria) in Sri Lanka’s capital city underscore the significance of urban wetlands as sanctuaries for wildlife amid rapid urbanization.
- The jackals in Sri Lanka belong to a distinct subspecies, Canis aureus naria, have recorded a sharp population decline due to multiple reasons ranging from habitat loss to roadkills and diseases transmitted by stray dogs.
- In the global context, golden jackals are expanding their range into Northern Europe, driven by many factors including climate and landscape changes.
- With growing global conservation interest, initiatives like World Jackal Day, observed on April 19, aim to raise awareness and foster scientific collaboration for the species’ protection.
Brazil advances with plan to drill oil at the mouth of the Amazon River (26 May 2025 07:08:59 +0000)
Brazil’s environmental agency, IBAMA, approved a key step that could soon allow Petrobras, the nation’s state oil company, to begin offshore oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River. In a May 19 decision, the agency greenlit a concept for an emergency response plan by Petrobras (PBR) to protect marine animals in case of […]
Meet Pedro Porras, the priest who first rediscovered Amazon ancient cities (26 May 2025 07:00:54 +0000)
- 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.
DNA probe links Japan’s otter-themed cafes to poaching hotspots in Thailand (26 May 2025 04:00:56 +0000)
- Asian small-clawed otters have long been taken from their wild habitats in Southeast Asia to supply the opaque and often illegal pet trade.
- Booming demand for captive otters, stoked by social media and TV shows, looks set to worsen amid an emerging trend for exotic animals cafes.
- A new genetic study links otters found in exotic animal cafes in Japan with wild populations in well-known poaching hotspots in southern Thailand.
- The new DNA evidence of a wildlife trade route between Thailand and Japan backs up calls from experts for stricter monitoring of wildlife exports from Thailand, as well as strengthened law enforcement and education in known poaching hotspots.
Central Java villages take fast fashion to the cleaners at Indonesia’s Supreme Court (26 May 2025 00:56:33 +0000)
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court recently confirmed the bankruptcy of the country’s largest textile group, Sritex, which made garments for global fast fashion retailers like H&M.
- The court also awarded damages to 185 people in Central Java province who had filed a class action suit against a Sritex subsidiary over toxic gas leaks and river pollution.
- More than 10,000 Sritex workers lost their jobs as the heavily indebted firm collapsed, but local residents say the environment has showed signs of recovery since the subsidiary stopped producing synthetic fibers near Java’s longest river, the Bengawan Solo.
Photographer Sebastião Salgado (1944-2025) planted a forest and grew a global movement (25 May 2025 03:31:56 +0000)
- Sebastião Salgado, the renowned Brazilian photographer, passed away at 81, leaving behind a legacy of powerful black-and-white images that highlighted the dignity of labor and the fragility of nature.
- His work spanned global photojournalism, social commentary, and environmental advocacy, with early acclaim for documenting human suffering and later a focus on environmental issues, particularly through his reforestation project, Instituto Terra.
- Salgado’s Amazônia project captured the beauty of the rainforest and Indigenous tribes, offering a rare, hopeful portrayal of the Amazon amidst rising environmental threats.
- Despite his fame, Salgado remained humble, seeing his photography not just as art but as a call to action, aiming to inspire change and environmental justice, with his legacy continuing to inspire long after his passing.
Radheshyam Bishnoi, protector of India’s wildlife, died on May 24, 2025, aged 28 (24 May 2025 18:28:08 +0000)
Radheshyam Bishnoi was born with a calling to save wildlife. From a young age, he was driven by a deep sense of responsibility to protect the fragile ecosystems around him, shaped by the strong environmental values of the Bishnoi community. Hailing from Dholiya village in Rajasthan’s arid Thar Desert, Bishnoi grew up immersed in a […]
Indigenous Bajo suffer child deaths & toxic sludge amid green energy push (24 May 2025 04:45:23 +0000)
- 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.
Scientists rediscover a Mexican rabbit they hadn’t seen in 120 years (23 May 2025 19:51:23 +0000)
- Lost to science for more than a century, the Omiltemi cottontail rabbit has been confirmed by scientists to be alive and hopping in southern Mexico.
- The species was rediscovered via interviews with local communities and footage from camera traps intended to photograph jaguars.
- Sierra Madre del Sur in the state of Guerrero is the only place in the world where the Omiltemi cottontail is known to exist.
- Satellite data show continued forest loss within its known range, while hunting for food by local communities remains another threat to the species.
What’s at stake for the environment in Suriname’s upcoming elections? (23 May 2025 18:22:51 +0000)
- Voters in Suriname this weekend will elect all 51 members of the National Assembly, who will then choose the president, usually the leader of a majority party or coalition.
- Incumbent President Chandrikapersad Santokhi is a likely candidate, but critics say he’s prioritized agribusiness and mining over conserving the country’s vast Amazon Rainforest or land rights for Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities.
- Other candidates include Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk and former National Assembly chair Jennifer Geerlings-Simons.
The blobby little sea squirt that stowed away across the Pacific to California (23 May 2025 18:01:29 +0000)
- In 2023, scientists found a nonnative species of marine invertebrate in a private marina near Los Angeles, California.
- The arrival of this new member of California’s marine fauna highlights the massive, largely uncontrolled movement of marine species via ships that travel the world.
- Concerned about potential ecological and economic impacts, the state of California has tried to curb the movement of nonnative marine species through regulations of large ships and commercial ports, but the regulations don’t apply to smaller vessels.
- Beginning in 2025, California will have to comply with less-stringent federal biofouling and ballast water regulations.
Environmental defenders targeted in 3 out of 4 human rights attacks: Report (23 May 2025 16:34:22 +0000)
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 […]
A street-smart hawk uses a pedestrian signal to hunt in the city (23 May 2025 15:39:39 +0000)
In a recent paper, a researcher noted a bird’s surprising urban adaptation: A young Cooper’s hawk used a pedestrian crossing signal to help it hunt more successfully in a busy neighborhood. Vladimir Dinets, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, U.S., and study author, noticed the Cooper’s hawk’s (Accipiter cooperii) behavior while taking his daughter […]
Bangladesh protects sacred forests to strengthen biodiversity conservation (23 May 2025 11:32:10 +0000)
- Bangladesh is making a list of sacred forests, aged trees and other socially important flora in a bid to strengthen forest conservation.
- The need for conservation of these fragmented forest patches has been neglected for a long time despite being mentioned in the country’s 2012 Wildlife (Conservation and Protection) Law. However, the issue is now finally being looked into.
- Conservationists welcome the initiative and say they believe that the new measures will help protect the biodiversity and ecology that had been set aside in the past.
Community-based biofuels offer ‘sensible’ alternative to palm oil for Indonesia, analysis shows (23 May 2025 10:11:48 +0000)
- Indonesia’s current biofuel strategy relies heavily on expanding oil palm plantations to meet its B40 and upcoming B50 biodiesel mandates, which could cause up to $4.72 billion in environmental and social damage.
- A proposed alternative scenario by the NGO Madani Berkelanjutan calls for boosting yields from existing plantations and promoting community-based biofuel production using diverse feedstocks like used cooking oil and non-palm crops.
- This alternative model avoids deforestation and social conflict, supports rural economies, and could generate a higher net economic benefit of $37.1 billion, compared to $31.36 billion under the business-as-usual scenario.
- Researchers warn the country is nearing its ecological cap for oil palm plantations, urging a shift to intensification and diversification to prevent irreversible environmental harm.
EU anti-deforestation law could overlook big violators, NGO warns (23 May 2025 07:11:44 +0000)
The European Union’s landmark anti-deforestation law could fail to deliver on its environmental promises if enforcement authorities disproportionately focus on small importers while missing less obvious violations from major commodity firms, according to a new analysis by U.K.-based investigative nonprofit, Earthsight. The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which comes into force Dec. 30, 2025, aims to […]
Impacts of development come under higher scrutiny in the Pan Amazon (22 May 2025 18:00:54 +0000)
- Environmental impact assessments for development projects in Amazon countries have evolved from highly biased, centralized procedures to more rigorous processes that aim to avoid conflicts of interest.
- EIAs have also become increasingly focused on the social impacts of development and on how to mitigate them or compensate affected communities.
- Large-scale development projects are generally reviewed by national-level entities while less controversial initiatives can be attributed to regional governments.
In Panama, an Indigenous-led project rewrites the rules of reforestation (22 May 2025 15:50:48 +0000)
- Scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are collaborating with local communities in the Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca, a protected Indigenous territory, to foster a ground-up reforestation strategy using native trees and carbon payments.
- The project involves about 30 plots totaling 100 hectares (247 acres) of land, giving participants full ownership of their trees.
- The approach is based on carbon-sequestration data and other scientific metrics collected from Smithsonian’s Agua Salud research site in Colón.
- The work also leans on economic analyses to ensure that reforestation projects can become reliable and sustainable livelihood strategies for Panama’s rural communities.
Climate change now threatens thousands of species on Earth (22 May 2025 15:48:04 +0000)
- A new analysis of more than 70,000 wild animal species reveals that climate change now threatens thousands of to the planet’s wildlife, along with overexploitation and habitat degradation.
- The study found that nearly 5% of the assessed species are threatened by climate change, with ocean invertebrates being particularly vulnerable to climate change-related threats, such as extreme temperatures, floods, droughts, storms and ocean acidification.
- The study warns that some animal populations, both on land and at sea, have already begun to collapse due to climate change-related events, and it’s now necessary to monitor mass die-offs to understand the impacts of climate change and predict future impacts.
Without vultures, carcasses are slow to rot and disease-carrying flies abound (22 May 2025 15:46:16 +0000)
- Researchers in Costa Rica found that pig carcasses decomposed twice as fast when vultures had access to them compared to carcasses where vultures were excluded.
- The absence of vultures led to a doubling of fly populations at carcass sites, which could affect human health, since these flies can carry diseases like botulism and anthrax, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- Unlike temperate regions with diverse scavenger communities, the neotropical forest system showed vultures as the primary vertebrate decomposers, with few other animals eating carcasses.
- The study highlights a major research gap since neotropical vultures are represented in only 7% of existing vulture literature, despite facing similar conservation threats as Old World vultures, like habitat loss, poisoning and power line collisions.
On Amazon destruction, will Brazil President Lula’s ‘disinformation space’ be penetrated? (commentary) (22 May 2025 14:02:20 +0000)
- 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.
Report links meat giant JBS to massive destruction of jaguar habitat (22 May 2025 12:46:21 +0000)
- Agricultural expansion in Brazil’s Pará and Mato Grosso states has destroyed 27 million hectares (67 million acres) of jaguar habitat — an area the size of the U.K. — with 5 million hectares (12 million acres) cleared between 2014 and 2023, most of it illegally.
- A report by Global Witness links some of this deforestation to indirect suppliers of JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, which has failed to fully uphold its pledge to eliminate illegal deforestation from its supply chain by 2025.
- The report highlights weak enforcement of environmental laws and recent attempts by local governments to reverse antideforestation policies, as agribusiness continues to wield major political and economic power.
- With Brazil hosting the COP30 climate summit later this year, campaigners are urging governments and corporations to fulfill deforestation pledges, improve supply chain traceability, and address agriculture’s growing role in greenhouse gas emissions.
Harpy eagle confirmed in Mexico for first time in over a decade (22 May 2025 08:44:13 +0000)
Sightings of a young harpy eagle in southern Mexico’s Lacandon Jungle in 2023 have now been verified, marking the first time in more than a decade that one of South America’s largest birds of prey has been spotted in the country, contributor Astrid Arellano reported for Mongabay Latam. Photos and video of the bird were […]
Indigenous rights advocates petition to overturn Indonesian conservation law (22 May 2025 07:18:49 +0000)
- In Indonesia, where state-designated conservation areas often overlap with customary territories, Indigenous peoples have faced prosecution and imprisonment for living in and managing their ancestral lands as they always have.
- Many hoped a new 2024 conservation law would recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples to manage their lands; instead, the law continues to sideline communities and potentially criminalizes their traditional practices, despite scientific evidence that Indigenous peoples are among the most effective stewards of nature.
- Indigenous rights proponents say the new law was passed without meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples, and several groups have filed a judicial review petition with the Constitutional Court, seeking to overturn the new law.
West Sulawesi erupts in protest over sand mining for Indonesia’s new capital (22 May 2025 03:30:14 +0000)
- Hundreds of protesters, including Indigenous and coastal youth from Karossa, Pasangkayu and Kalukku, rallied on May 5 at the West Sulawesi governor’s office to demand the closure of PT Alam Sumber Rezeki’s sand mining operations, citing environmental harm, permit irregularities and lack of community consent.
- Tensions flared after Governor Suhardi Duka dismissed anti-mining resistance as “thuggery,” triggering public outrage and a clash with security forces during the protest, where demonstrators were met with water cannons and no official response.
- The mining, tied to supplying materials for Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, has fueled a wider grassroots resistance across West Sulawesi, with activists condemning the criminalization of local opposition and calling for meaningful community involvement in environmental decision-making.
Wildlife crime crackdown in jeopardy worldwide after US funding cuts (22 May 2025 01:51:15 +0000)
- 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.
Tropical forest loss hit new heights in 2024; fire a major driver in Latin America (21 May 2025 22:02:04 +0000)
- A new dataset and analysis released by World Resources Institute finds global tropical forest loss jumped to a record high in 2024, with 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) worldwide.
- In total, the area of forest lost in 2024 is nearly the size of Panama.
- For the first time, fire, not agriculture, was the primary driver of primary tropical forest loss, with Latin America badly hit.
- Non-fire related tropical forest loss also increased, by 14%.
Brazil bets on macaúba palm to make renewable diesel and aviation biofuel (21 May 2025 17:23:06 +0000)
- 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 (21 May 2025 17:05:37 +0000)
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 (21 May 2025 16:38:14 +0000)
- 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.
Extreme heat, violent storms: How Rio de Janeiro is facing its new climate reality (21 May 2025 14:40:14 +0000)
- Extreme weather in Rio de Janeiro is getting worse: recent years have brought record-breaking heat and rainfall to Brazil’s second-largest city, intensifying the risk of floods and landslides, particularly in vulnerable urban areas.
- Experts warn of “climate gentrification,” where urban development and inequality amplify disaster risk; more than 20% of Rio’s homes are in high-risk areas, many in precariously built communities on hill slopes or low-lying flood zones.
- Disaster prevention measures exist but fall short; while sirens provide some early warnings, experts stress the need for comprehensive urban reform, nature-based solutions like the “sponge city” design, and greater community involvement to truly mitigate risks.
Inside the human-bear conflict in northern India (21 May 2025 13:22:45 +0000)
INDIAN-CONTROLLED KASHMIR — Since the year 2000, the wildlife department in the Indian-administered part of the Kashmir region has recorded more than 2,300 bear attacks on humans, some of them deadly. The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is native to the region, but its increasing incursions into farms, orchards and residential areas has left many […]
Brazil & China move ahead on 3,000-km railway crossing the Amazon (21 May 2025 10:04:54 +0000)
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 (21 May 2025 08:43:29 +0000)
- 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.
Capuchin monkeys on Panama island seen stealing howler monkey babies (21 May 2025 08:09:41 +0000)
On a remote Panamanian island, researchers have observed for the very first time young male capuchin monkeys stealing howler monkey babies, according to a new study. Since 2017, researchers have used camera traps to study Panamanian white-faced capuchins (Cebus imitator) on Jicarón Island in Coiba National Park, where the monkeys use stone tools to crack […]
India sets construction waste recycling targets with new rules (21 May 2025 08:04:47 +0000)
India’s environment ministry has announced new rules to improve waste management in the construction and demolition industry. The 2025 rules, set to take effect starting April 1, 2026, will place greater responsibility on waste producers and introduce mandatory recycling targets, reports contributor Akshay Deshmane for Mongabay India. As India rapidly builds infrastructure, the waste from […]
Delay in land reform fuels new wave of settlers and violence in the Amazon (21 May 2025 07:00:38 +0000)
- Grassroots organizations are settling new areas in the Brazilian Amazon amid disappointment that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been slow to jump-start the stalled land reform agenda.
- According to the federal land agency, Incra, about 145,000 people are inhabiting camps all over Brazil, waiting for a plot of land.
- In one of the Amazon’s deadliest regions, a group fighting for land was besieged by a dozen armed men hired by ranchers; even in established settlements, harassment by land grabbers and lack of government support drive settlers out of their plots.
- The stalling of the land reform agenda pushes Amazonian people further into the forest, driving the cycle of deforestation, or else to the outskirts of cities, where many struggle to make a living.
How Mongabay India took root: Interview with Sandhya Sekar (21 May 2025 00:12:40 +0000)
- Mongabay India, a news service covering issues at the intersection of people and nature in India, was launched after an individual pledged startup funding following a conversation with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in 2017.
- Trained as an ecologist, Sandhya Sekar transitioned into journalism to explore the full breadth of environmental science, eventually becoming the founding program director of Mongabay India.
- Since the bureau’s 2018 launch, Sekar has played a central role in shaping its strategy, operations, and collaborations, building a lean, impactful newsroom producing thousands of stories across India. Known for her behind-the-scenes leadership and systems thinking, Sekar championed the launch of Mongabay-Hindi to expand access and has helped make the organization more inclusive and approachable.
- Sekar talked about her journey and more during a May 2025 conversation with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in Kerala, India.
Heavy rainfall in Vietnam & China causes flash floods, landslides (20 May 2025 23:37:11 +0000)
Several people have died following landslides in northern Vietnam caused by heavy rainfall and flash floods over the weekend, media reported. A local government official was quoted saying that an explosion-like noise was first heard on May 19 from the top of a mountain in rural Ba Bể district in Bắc Kạn, a province north […]
Study finds fast traffic noise is infuriating Galápagos warblers (20 May 2025 20:22:25 +0000)
- A noisier world makes it challenging for birds, which primarily rely on sound to communicate, and many are forced to change their behavior to cope with their clamorous environment.
- A recent study looked at how traffic noise impacts communication in male Galápagos yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia aureola), a common resident bird on the islands, and found that traffic noise increases aggression in birds living closer to roads.
- With traffic increasing in the biodiversity-rich Galápagos, conservationists worry about the impact of noise on birds, especially the yellow warblers, which are also the most common roadkill.
Deforestation in REDD-protected Congo rainforests is ‘beyond words’ (20 May 2025 19:33:54 +0000)
The Republic of Congo had been protecting about half of its dense rainforests via the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) framework. In exchange, the country is supposed to receive payments from the World Bank. But Mongabay Africa staff writer Elodie Toto’s recent investigation revealed the nation has also granted nearly 80 gold […]
As Indonesia phases out coal, what happens to people & environments left behind? (20 May 2025 15:54:29 +0000)
- An analysis by the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) finds that the country’s energy transition plans do not address the remaining impacts of coal plants such as pollution, degraded ecosystems and lost livelihoods.
- This raises a critical question about what happens to the communities and environments left behind as the country plans to retire its coal-fired power plants to tackle climate change.
- In Cirebon, West Java province, fishers and farmers had to change professions when their land was used for a coal plant; now, some want to return to their former work, but their lands and sea are polluted and degraded from years of coal plant operations, and traditional livelihoods are no longer viable.
- ICEL program deputy director Grita Anindarini said Indonesia could benefit from drawing examples from other countries or jurisdictions whose transitions are designed to remedy harm, with land redistribution, economic diversification and Indigenous rights being central to their plans.
Brazil rewilds urban forest with vaccinated brown howler monkeys (20 May 2025 14:33:01 +0000)
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 […]
An alternative approach to bridge Indigenous knowledge and Western science for conservation (commentary) (20 May 2025 14:24:01 +0000)
- The idea of integrating Indigenous and Western knowledge systems is often well-intentioned, but ultimately misguided, write the authors of a new commentary who were part of a project for WCS Canada and the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation in the Yukon.
- Their new study offers an alternative approach, in which these knowledge systems can exist independently and simultaneously, without seeking to control or validate one another.
- “It is our hope that this work sparks a greater conversation about land-use planning across Canada, in pursuit of a world where wildlife and people can thrive in healthy and valued lands and seas,” the authors write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Crisis hits community-led conservation group in northern Kenya (20 May 2025 12:12:11 +0000)
- Since its founding in 2004, the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) has attracted both admiration and criticism for its model of encouraging communities to register wildlife conservancies across northern Kenya.
- Earlier this year, a court ruled that two of its member conservancies had been set up illegally, and that same month it lost a major donor with the end of USAID funding.
- Now, a carbon credit project it manages has been suspended, and the organization’s founder, who was pushed out by its board last year, says he thinks it’s “dead.”
From chickens to cassava, Brazil’s Munduruku seek alternatives to mining (20 May 2025 12:10:26 +0000)
- The Brazilian government has expelled illegal miners from two Munduruku territories in Pará state, but alliances with some Indigenous groups may facilitate their return, local leaders warn.
- According to Munduruku leaders, the absence of income sources and public services makes illegal mining increasingly attractive to young Indigenous people.
- The federal government promised to offer economic alternatives to the communities, but for now, they count just on a few projects like chicken breeding and cassava flour production, Indigenous people say.
- Some leaders see carbon credits as a viable economic alternative, while others denounce unfair contracts and violations of their autonomy.
New forest loss data beef up Amazon deforestation case against Casino Group (20 May 2025 08:51:18 +0000)
- A new report by Brazilian nonprofit Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) states that Casino Group’s beef supply chain could be linked to up to 526,459 hectares (about 1.3 million acres) of deforestation in Brazil between 2018 and 2023.
- The data are being used in a $64.1 million lawsuit filed in 2021 by environmental and Indigenous groups that accuse the French retailer of contributing to illegal deforestation.
- Among the plaintiffs are Indigenous communities from the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau territory in the Brazilian Amazon that have faced decades of land invasions by illegal cattle ranchers.
F&B packaging fuels growing plastic waste crisis in Indian Himalayas: Report (20 May 2025 08:41:38 +0000)
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 […]
‘Absolutely ecstatic’: Scientists confirm survival of rare South African gecko (20 May 2025 08:19:15 +0000)
Researchers have confirmed the presence of a rare gecko species atop an isolated South African mountain, accessible only by helicopter, more than 30 years after it was last seen. The Blyde rondawels flat gecko (Afroedura rondavelica), with its distinct golden eyes and dark-banded tail with a purplish sheen, was previously known only from two male […]
Soldiers raid village as tensions flare over DRC’s Kamoa mine expansion (20 May 2025 07:55:47 +0000)
- In late April, security forces fired live ammunition to disperse protesters near a mine in the DRC province of Lualaba.
- The protesters were demanding compensation from the mine’s owner, Kamoa, as part of a stalled resettlement process.
- The company says the delay is because the number of people claiming to have been displaced by its operations has ballooned.
German supermarket palm oil linked to Indigenous rights abuses in Guatemala (19 May 2025 20:59:39 +0000)
- Since 2019, human rights groups have filed numerous complaints against German supermarket chain Edeka and palm oil supplier NaturAceites, alleging the companies failed to respond to concerns from Indigenous communities in the municipality in El Estor, Guatemala, about land grabs, worker mistreatment, and water pollution.
- When residents complained, law enforcement allegedly used force to quiet protests — including firing tear gas into crowds that included women, children and elderly people.
- Last year, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil terminated certification for three of NaturAceites’ palm oil mills.
Protection is only the beginning: Creating connection through Belize’s Maya Forest Corridor (19 May 2025 17:30:00 +0000)
- In central Belize, the Maya Forest Corridor, a narrow section of forested land, is key for wildlife movements across Belize, conservationists say.
- A land acquisition by the Maya Forest Corridor Trust in 2021 was a major step forward in protecting the corridor.
- Members of the Trust are now working on ways to secure and bolster the ecological integrity of the land, but face threats like roads, fire and even a national sporting event.
Venomous snakes, freshwater fish among legally traded species most likely to become invasive in US (19 May 2025 16:24:50 +0000)
- The U.S., the largest importer of wildlife products in the world, brings in nearly 10,000 species of plants and animals into the country legally, some of which have a high potential to become invasive species.
- A recent study assessed these imported species and identified 32 as having the highest risk for becoming invasive, posing threats to local ecosystems and to human health.
- These include venomous reptiles like puff adders and spitting cobras, and freshwater fish; similar species that have already established themselves as invasives have wrought havoc on native wildlife and caused widespread economic harm.
- The researchers say their findings can help authorities regulate the imports of such high-risk species and add them to watchlists to prevent them from becoming invasives.
Scat-sampling DNA tool shows potential in African carnivore conservation (19 May 2025 14:34:41 +0000)
Researchers have developed a noninvasive DNA tool to help monitor hard-to-trace African carnivores, including caracals and leopards, making it potentially useful in the conservation of elusive and increasingly threatened species. “Carnivores are really difficult to study/observe in the wild, and even if a fecal sample is found, it is often difficult to determine which species […]
Concrete sprawl in Buddha’s birthplace in Nepal threatens sarus cranes (19 May 2025 11:40:40 +0000)
- Sarus cranes, once abundant in Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, are rapidly declining due to unplanned urbanization, wetland loss and habitat degradation, with local elders recalling their disappearance from areas that were once full of ponds and farmland.
- A recent survey found that 59% of respondents believe the crane’s range has shrunk, citing habitat loss (44%), hunting (19%) and wetland degradation (16%) as key threats to the bird.
- Lumbini province hosts Nepal’s largest population of sarus cranes, but only four pairs remain within the 200-hectare (500-acre) Lumbini gardens that constitute a popular pilgrimage site and have seen a surge in the built-up area
How extreme droughts could redefine the future of Amazonian fish (19 May 2025 10:58:49 +0000)
- The most severe Amazon drought on record, in 2023, followed by a new high in 2024, triggered multiple threats to Amazonian fish biodiversity, such as warming waters, loss of habitat, limited reproduction, and compromised growth.
- Fish are the main source of protein and other nutrients for those who live in the region; species most threatened by droughts include several that are important to local fisheries.
- Stronger droughts are already projected in the region in a scenario where global warming reaches 1.5°C (2.7°F); if it exceeds 2°C (3.6°F), the risk of prolonged, severe and frequent droughts increases significantly, with impacts on food security and Amazonian biodiversity.
- Short-term policies can be adapted to this new reality, such as adjustment of closed seasons, when fishing of certain species is banned; in the medium term, it’s crucial to invest in modernizing the monitoring of fish stocks, experts say.
Cambodian environmental journalist Ouk Mao arrested (16 May 2025 17:40:48 +0000)
- Cambodian journalist Ouk Mao was arrested May 16 by plainclothes military officers, according to his wife and colleagues.
- Mao had previously faced legal charges and physical attacks as a result of his environmental reporting.
- It is not yet clear what charges, in any, Mao currently faces. As of 10:30 p.m., Mao’s wife said he remained in temporary detention at the Stung Treng provincial prison.
Bolivia expels members of fake nation Kailasa over Indigenous land lease scandal (16 May 2025 17:11:39 +0000)
- A Hindu religious sect tried to enter Ecuador, Paraguay and Bolivia by lying to authorities and Indigenous leaders.
- The self-proclaimed nation, the United States of Kailasa, operates from different parts of the world and offered high sums of money to Indigenous leaders in exchange for lands to exploit or conserve for carbon credit projects, say legal experts.
- One contract was a lease for 1,000 years, to be renewed perpetually, allowing the self-proclaimed nation to exploit the natural resources in the leased territory.
- Authorities announced the beginning of an investigation into land trafficking and criminal organization against the people involved in the contracts of the perpetual leasing of Bolivian land in favor of the self-proclaimed nation of Kailasa.
In Nepal, centuries-old Buddhist incense tradition faces overharvesting, climate threats (16 May 2025 16:12:54 +0000)
- Lighting sang, a traditional incense made from juniper and other local plants, is a sacred daily ritual among Buddhist communities in Nepal’s Trans-Himalayan regions like Manang, symbolizing purification and peace.
- Though classified as “least concern” globally by the IUCN, black juniper faces pressure due to habitat fragmentation, overharvesting for incense and increasing commercial demand.
- Climate change, especially prolonged winter droughts and delayed snowfall, is impairing the regeneration of juniper shrubs, making them more vulnerable despite their natural resilience in harsh alpine conditions.
Scientists underestimate frequency of South Atlantic heating events: Study (16 May 2025 15:29:32 +0000)
A new study finds that scientists have likely underestimated heat stress on coral reefs in the South Atlantic Ocean, further raising concerns for coral bleaching amid climate change. The study notes that while the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific have well-established long-term ocean temperature and coral monitoring programs, the South Atlantic Ocean has lagged behind, causing gaps […]
Countries failing to stop illegal bird killings despite 2030 commitment: Report (16 May 2025 14:45:56 +0000)
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, […]
Study unveils mystery of monkey yodeling — and why humans can’t compete (16 May 2025 14:11:36 +0000)
- Researchers found that New World monkeys can produce extreme yodeling-like sounds by rapidly switching between their vocal folds (for low tones) and specialized vocal membranes (for high tones), achieving frequency jumps up to 12 times greater than humans can manage.
- Scientists conducted their research at Bolivia’s La Senda Verde animal refuge, using recordings and electroglottographs on live monkeys.
- Humans lost these vocal membranes during evolution, trading vocal gymnastics for more stable speech that’s easier to understand.
- The complex vocalizations likely help monkeys manage social relationships and grab attention in the rainforest.
Republic of Congo’s gold mining boom undermines conservation efforts (16 May 2025 13:31:16 +0000)
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 […]
Vortex predator: Study reveals the fluid dynamics of flamingo feeding (16 May 2025 10:50:15 +0000)
Flamingos, often pictured standing still with their heads submerged in water, make for a pretty picture. But peep underwater, and you’ll find the tall, elegant pink birds bobbing their heads, chattering their beaks, and creating mini tornados to efficiently guide microscopic prey into their mouths, according to a new study. “Think of spiders, which produce […]
China drops pangolin formulas from approved TCM list, but concerns remain (16 May 2025 10:14:24 +0000)
- China has updated its pharmacopeia, its list of approved traditional and Western drugs, to remove traditional formulas with pangolin scales, offering hope for pangolin conservation — but also leaving some concerns about continued production.
- The new edition, effective Oct. 1, 2025, removes both raw pangolin scales and all formulas known to contain them, marking a significant step forward in conservation efforts, though conservationists caution that a few untracked formulas may still remain.
- The change reflects both international pressure, such as a 2022 resolution by the global wildlife trade convention, and growing internal advocacy within the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) community for more sustainable practices.
- Despite the positive development, conservationists remain cautious, as changes to the pharmacopeia don’t amount to a full market ban, and China’s domestic market for pangolin scales is still open under an annual 1-metric-ton quota, allowing continued production.
Radio tags help reveal the secret lives of tiger salamanders (16 May 2025 09:22:21 +0000)
- Scientists are using radio telemetry to map out the home range and habitats of tiger salamanders in the Hamptons in New York.
- Tiger salamanders spend most of their time in burrows underground; they emerge during breeding season and lay eggs in seasonal pools.
- Studying their movements and how far they move from the pools is challenging because of their underground lifestyle.
- With the help of radio transmitters, scientists have found that the salamanders move greater distances than previously thought; they were also found to burrow under fields.
Endangered Species Day: Three animals on the path to recovery (16 May 2025 08:59:50 +0000)
Every third Friday of May is Endangered Species Day. More than 900 known species are already extinct to date, while at least 28,500 others are listed as endangered or critically endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. As the world’s natural biomes get chipped away by aggressive resource extraction, mammals, fungi, corals and […]
Indigenous conservationists lead the fight to save Mentawai’s endangered primates (15 May 2025 21:18:12 +0000)
- Five of the six nonhuman primate species found in the Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands have traditionally been hunted; traditional beliefs forbid killing the sixth, Kloss’s gibbon, or bilou.
- With widespread deforestation and the erosion of traditional practices that governed hunting behavior, all of the islands’ primates are now endangered or critically endangered.
- Malinggai Uma Tradisional Mentawai, a grassroots, Indigenous-led organization, is working with communities to protect primates within the framework of Indigenous Mentawai customs.
New study maps the fishmeal factories that supply the world’s fish farms (15 May 2025 21:05:00 +0000)
- In April, scientists published the first-ever open-source map of fishmeal and fish oil factories around the world.
- The scientists found 506 factories across some 60 countries, and in most cases were able to identify the companies that own them.
- Fishmeal and fish oil production is controversial because it can incentivize the overexploitation of ocean ecosystems, depleting marine food webs, and negatively impact coastal communities that rely on fish for nutrition and livelihoods.
- In addition to location data, the scientists collected data on the types of fish many of the factories use and whether the raw material they process is fish byproduct or whole fish, which critics view as more problematic.
World’s oldest ant fossil found in Brazil, dating back 113 million years (15 May 2025 20:57:17 +0000)
A “remarkably well-preserved” fossil discovered in Brazil, dating back 113 million years, is now the oldest ant to have ever been found by scientists, a new study has revealed. The ancient fossil was found preserved in a limestone and “represents the earliest undisputed ant known to science,” the authors write in the study. The limestone, […]
In India, folklore is a tool that helps women save the greater adjutant stork (15 May 2025 17:38:32 +0000)
- In Northeastern India’s Assam, women have joined forces to save the resident greater adjutant stork (Leptoptilos dubius), known locally as the hargila, which was long considered a “dirty, smelly bird” that villagers would attack.
- The women, who call themselves the Hargila Army, incorporate the birds into their songs, prayers and weavings in order to help protect the species and spark appreciation for them.
- Since starting these efforts, the IUCN has reclassified the greater adjutant from endangered to near threatened, as the birds’ population numbers have risen.
- A new paper explores the effectiveness of incorporating the hargila into local folklore as a conservation strategy.
Profit imbalance in palm oil industry risks environmental compliance, report says (15 May 2025 15:35:02 +0000)
- A new report calls on palm oil-buying firms to take serious steps to address systemic imbalances in the distribution of profits across the supply chain.
- Smallholder farmers produce nearly one-third of raw palm oil globally, yet they receive a disproportionately small share of industry profits compared to large corporations, the report says.
- Small-scale producers are often locked out of high-value markets due to a lack of technical capacity and financial capital to meet increasingly hefty due diligence requirements driven by consumer demand for less environmentally destructive goods.
- The authors urge industry buyers to adjust their purchasing policies to be more inclusive of smallholder farmers, helping to create an industry that is more socially responsible and less environmentally destructive.
Brazil’s offshore wind farms could sacrifice small-scale fishing in Ceará (15 May 2025 15:02:02 +0000)
- In Brazil, the expansion of coastal wind energy has already disrupted traditional communities’ way of life; now, the concern is that these impacts will be repeated at sea, after a bill regulating offshore wind energy was signed into law in January.
- In the state of Ceará, 26 projects overlap with small fishing zones used by hundreds of traditional communities, including maroon, Indigenous, fisher and extractivist groups that have had a direct relationship with the sea for generations.
- The northeast region seeks to expand offshore wind energy, as it is vital to the production of green hydrogen aimed for European markets.
The world needs a new UN protocol to fight environmental crime (commentary) (15 May 2025 14:31:18 +0000)
- 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 (15 May 2025 12:44:46 +0000)
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 (15 May 2025 11:56:36 +0000)
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 […]
Antibiotic pollution widespread in world’s rivers, study finds (15 May 2025 09:36:34 +0000)
Nearly a third of all antibiotics that people consume end up in the world’s rivers, a new study finds. This could potentially harm aquatic life and impact human health by promoting drug resistance, researchers say. Antibiotics, critical for treating various bacterial infections, are widely consumed by people, livestock and aquaculture fish, but the drugs are […]
Malagasy wildlife champion wins top global conservation award (15 May 2025 09:04:12 +0000)
Malagasy scientist Lily-Arison René de Roland has been announced as the winner of this year’s Indianapolis Prize, which recognizes “extraordinary contributions to conservation efforts.” In its announcement, Indianapolis Zoo, which presents the award, highlighted René de Roland’s scientific and conservation work that has led to the discovery of several species and the establishment of four […]
Invasive whiteflies pose a new threat to Bangladesh’s cash crops (15 May 2025 08:14:06 +0000)
- The invasion of sap-sucking whiteflies in Bangladesh’s agricultural farms, especially in those of coconuts, bananas and guavas, has become a serious concern among farmers as it can cause widespread damage.
- Farmers first noticed these insects in 2019 on coconut plants, and observed they affected the growth of the plants and yields. Research shows whiteflies have already made 61 types of plants as their hosts in Bangladesh.
- Though the researchers have yet to confirm how they entered the country, they suggest it could be via imported high-yielding coconut plants in 2014 and 2015.
- Researchers suggest deploying a parasitoid wasp, Encarsia guadeloupae, which is considered to tackle the invasion of the whitefly.
Sumatran tiger protection needs more patrols, tougher penalties, study finds (15 May 2025 04:37:21 +0000)
- A new study on Sumatran tiger conservation in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park underscores that poaching remains the top threat, despite extensive patrols and antitrafficking efforts over the past decade.
- Researchers found that while patrols removed hundreds of snares and law enforcement increasingly pursued criminal charges, poaching rates remained high and tiger populations continued to decline in some areas.
- Despite stricter conservation laws and improved prosecution rates, the financial rewards of poaching still outweigh the penalties, limiting the deterrent effect on poachers and traffickers.
- The study recommends increasing patrols in high-risk areas, improving community engagement in law enforcement, and providing alternative livelihoods to reduce the economic lure of poaching.
Borneo project hopes to prove that forests and oil palms can coexist (15 May 2025 00:50:33 +0000)
- Monoculture palm oil production has come at the cost of rainforest habitat, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia.
- Researchers are conducting experimental trials in Malaysian Borneo to see if native trees can be planted in oil palm plantations without significantly reducing palm oil yields.
- While still in the initial stages, the experiment is so far showing there are no detrimental effects to oil palm growth.
- In fact, interplanting with native forest trees may benefit oil palm, with the researchers finding oil palm trees had more leaf growth in agroforestry plots than in monoculture ones.
Malaysian timber company accused of abuse & rights violations: Report (14 May 2025 20:27:30 +0000)
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 […]
How manatees won over an entire village (14 May 2025 15:07:53 +0000)
BARRA DO MAMANGUAPE — Brazil. It’s hard to imagine today, but manatees were once hunted and eaten. These gentle sea mammals were considered a delicacy in Brazil, with their meat consumed by local fishermen and their skin and oil exported to Europe during colonial times. This exploitation pushed the species to the brink of extinction. […]
13 years after deadly attack, an okapi returns to Epulu in DRC reserve (14 May 2025 15:03:48 +0000)
- Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with the Okapi Conservation Project, has announced the return of an okapi to the reserve’s Epulu area after more than a decade.
- In 2012, an armed group of poachers killed seven people and 14 okapis at Epulu, and while the security situation in the area has improved since then, threats persist.
- The protected area is threatened by armed gangs, poachers and illegal gold mining, all of which endanger the species’ natural habitat.
- Experts say this instability has contributed to the continued decline of the okapi population, with an estimated 5,000 of these “African unicorns” left in the wildlife reserve.
Community-led system boosts fisheries in a corner of fast-depleting Lake Malawi (14 May 2025 14:36:52 +0000)
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 […]
New research sheds light on Canada lynx-snowshoe hare cycle, human impacts (14 May 2025 14:34:06 +0000)
- It’s long been known that snowshoe hare numbers in North American forests rise and fall dramatically in a predictable 10-year cycle. A year or two later, Canada lynx populations follow the same pattern.
- After decades of research, the dominant view is that the hare cycle is largely driven by predation, though there are still many mysteries to uncover.
- New research is shedding light on the lynx’s hunting behaviors and the asynchronicity of population cycles from region to region.
- Researchers are also looking at how human causes, including forestry practices, climate change and escalating wildfires, may be impacting lynx-hare cycles.
Rectifying the damage: environmental fines in the Brazilian Amazon (14 May 2025 10:50:35 +0000)
- 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 (14 May 2025 10:28:20 +0000)
- 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.
Even in intact Amazon forests, climate change affects bird populations: Study (14 May 2025 08:36:22 +0000)
- A recent study analyzed the behavior of birds that feed on insects in parts of the Amazon that have not yet been altered by human activity. Of the 29 species studied, 24 have gone through a reduction in population.
- The results point to climate change as the cause: Less rainfall and more severe droughts seem to be affecting the number of insects there, resulting in less food for the birds, which seem to be reacting by reproducing less in order to save energy.
- According to the study, an increase of just 1° C (1.8° F) in average dry season temperature in the Amazon would result in a 63% drop in the bird community’s average survival rate.
Cape vulture conservation offers hope, but challenges remain (14 May 2025 07:26:55 +0000)
- The Cape vulture, Southern Africa’s only endemic vulture species, has shown positive signs of recovery in some parts of its range, with the overall population stabilizing.
- In 2021, the species’ conservations status improved from endangered to vulnerable, making the Cape vulture a rare success story for vulture conservation in Africa, say conservationists.
- Despite this success many challenges remain in protecting this species and other vultures due to threats such as poisoning, energy infrastructure and, increasingly, “belief-based use.”
- The recovery of the Cape vulture provides a positive example for vulture conservation, but replicating this success with other species is riddled with challenges, say experts.
EU’s legislative body accepts weakening of wolf protection (14 May 2025 05:11:46 +0000)
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. […]
Indonesian pangolin trafficking prosecution reveals police involvement — and impunity (14 May 2025 02:54:27 +0000)
- Late last year, Indonesian investigators arrested four men for allegedly attempting to traffic nearly 1.2 metric tons of scales from critically endangered pangolins.
- Prosecutors in Asahan district, North Sumatra province, allege that the mastermind of the scheme was a police officer who removed the pangolin scales from a police warehouse used to store evidence and seized goods.
- But while the three other men arrested in the case — two soldiers and a civilian — are facing court-martial and trial, respectively, for their roles in the case, the police officer has so far avoided any charges and has even been promoted.
- Wildlife trade observers say the case highlights the apparent impunity of law enforcement officials involved in wildlife trafficking in Indonesia, a major hub for the illegal pangolin trade.
How a road engineer became an ocean activist & won the world’s top environmental prize (13 May 2025 21:16:38 +0000)
Carlos Mallo Molina has been awarded the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize for protecting the marine biodiversity of Tenerife, the most populated of the Canary Islands. On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Molina explains what led him to quit his job as a civil engineer on a road project impacting the Teno-Rasca marine protected area (MPA) […]
Why WHO’s pandemic prevention draft agreement takes a nature-centric, One Health approach (commentary) (13 May 2025 17:56:46 +0000)
- 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.
Traditional bug oil finds modern value through new research in the Amazon (13 May 2025 17:46:10 +0000)
- Oil made from beetle larvae is used as a traditional remedy in Brazil’s Marajó Archipelago, and is gaining scientific recognition for its medicinal and economic potential.
- Researchers are analyzing the bug oil’s bioactive properties, aiming to validate its safety and expand its promising applications in medicine, cosmetics and biotechnology.
- Growing demand for bug oil and other rainforest-derived products offers economic opportunities for local communities but also raises concerns about potential resource overexploitation, which experts say requires further impact studies.
- Scientific innovation is exploring more efficient extraction methods while preserving traditional knowledge and supporting sustainable bioeconomy development.
The Great Whale Conveyor Belt (cartoon) (13 May 2025 16:01:32 +0000)
While migrating between their feeding and mating grounds, baleen whales transport massive amounts of nutrients across latitudes. This phenomenon is termed “The Great Whale Conveyor Belt”, prompting scientists to argue that whale conservation can help improve the resilience of global marine ecosystems.
African Parks acknowledges abuse by park staff in Congo, but withholds full report (13 May 2025 14:42:35 +0000)
In early 2024, African Parks, the South Africa-based NGO managing Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo, commissioned U.K.-based law firm Omnia Strategy LLP to investigate allegations of human rights abuses committed by the park’s rangers against local Indigenous people. The investigation is now complete, and AP has acknowledged that human rights abuses occurred, […]
Traffickers slither through loopholes with wild-caught African snakes and lizards (13 May 2025 12:09:18 +0000)
- South Africa’s native reptiles and amphibians, including threatened species, are being illegally captured and exported for the global pet trade.
- A recent study found that eight of the 10 most-exported reptiles from South Africa are native species, most of which are not protected by CITES, the global wildlife trade convention.
- Conservationists suspect some breeders falsely claim wild-caught reptiles, such as giant girdled lizards, are captive-bred to bypass trade restrictions.
- Legal loopholes at both the national and international levels allow non-CITES-listed species to be traded with little oversight.
Lack of funds, cattle ranchers challenge Brazil’s sustainable farmers (13 May 2025 11:02:03 +0000)
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 (13 May 2025 10:43:49 +0000)
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 — […]
Cruise ships and intensified tourism in Mexico threaten whale shark habitat (13 May 2025 08:47:50 +0000)
- In Baja California Sur, Mexico, a private tourism company, Aquamayan Adventures, and the port administration have reached an agreement that allows mega cruise ships to enter Bahía de La Paz. Environmental organizations are urging the government to cancel the agreement.
- The agreement allows at least 150,000 annual visitors, a figure four times that of cruise passengers received in 2023 and equivalent to 60% of the resident population of the city of La Paz, the state’s capital.
- In addition, the company intends to build a large tourism and commercial complex that could have serious environmental, social and economic impacts on the city and surrounding area, according to organizations concerned about the project.
- Bahía de La Paz is a critical location for marine species like the whale shark, which was affected by the presence of a high number of mega cruise ships in 2020, and which could now be the victim of collisions with vessels arriving to port.
Angling for answers, this saltwater fishing group boosts research for better conservation (12 May 2025 19:09:42 +0000)
- 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.
Down on the ranch with Mafia Island’s free-range sea cucumbers (12 May 2025 18:31:14 +0000)
- Sea cucumbers are prized as a delicacy in East Asia and used in some forms of traditional medicine.
- Because of the high demand for them, their populations have fallen off a cliff in Tanzania and elsewhere, landing many species on the IUCN’s red list.
- After banning exports from mainland Tanzania in 2003, the government has recently begun to encourage sea cucumber farming and ranching.
‘We can’t talk solutions without understanding complexities: Kari Guajajara on Brazil’s Amazon (12 May 2025 16:39:56 +0000)
- Mongabay interviewed Kari Guajajara, a lawyer and the first Indigenous person to obtain a law degree in Brazil’s state of Maranhão, to hear her take on some of the latest and biggest events affecting Indigenous communities and forests Brazilian Amazon.
- These events include a government operation to evict illegal miners from a Munduruku territory, threats to the lives of Indigenous land defenders, the influence of the agribusiness lobby, and President Lula’s drop in popularity.
- Kari Guajajara and other Indigenous delegates came to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City to spotlight issues they face in their country.
- Kari Guajajara is a lawyer at Amazonia Alerta and a legal advisor for COIAB, a Brazilian Amazon Indigenous network.
Singapore study says roadside flowers can improve urban butterfly biodiversity (12 May 2025 15:24:18 +0000)
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 […]
A rare jaguar rewilding story highlights obstacles to the big cat’s conservation in Brazil (12 May 2025 14:36:07 +0000)
- The successful reintroduction of a young male jaguar into the Amazon Rainforest last year, following his rescue from wildfires, has highlighted the persistent threats to the species across its range.
- While there have been other successful jaguar reintroductions in Brazil, especially in the Pantanal wetlands, the species faces challenges in all Brazilian biomes—from wildfires and vehicle strikes, to retaliatory killings and poaching for body parts coveted in the Asian market.
- Jaguar reintroduction programs also face challenges, including governmental bureaucracy and the high costs involved from rescue to release, which can run as high as $180,000 per animal.
As renewable diesel surges, sustainability claims are deeply questioned (12 May 2025 14:02:05 +0000)
- Renewable diesel (RD), dubbed HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) by producers, is hailed by its supporters as a climate-friendly alternative to carbon-intensive fossil diesel. RD is a complex biofuel often made in retooled oil refineries from feedstocks including waste cooking oils, but also problematic animal fats and soy and palm oil.
- Renewable diesel substitutes easily for fossil diesel, so is touted as a climate-friendly transition fuel. Its use, mostly in vehicles, grew slowly in the past. Now, thanks largely to government-offered green subsidies, production is surging as firms widely expand uses to marine shipping, power plants, heating oil, and data center backup fuel.
- But critics are skeptical about industry claims of RD life-cycle greenhouse gas emission cuts of up to 95% over fossil fuel-derived diesel. They warn RD carbon releases will surge if renewable diesel sourcing is scaled up, triggering tropical deforestation as producers convert forests to energy crops, such as oil palm and soy.
- As the renewable diesel industry expands beyond Europe and the U.S., analysts warn it will be a false climate solution unworkable at scale, so production and use should be constrained. Independent monitoring is also needed to track feedstock supply chains to assure crops don’t have high carbon intensities or cause deforestation.
Attacks on Cambodian environmental journalist continue to pile up (12 May 2025 06:30:55 +0000)
- 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.
A migrating flycatcher returning to the same Sri Lankan garden sparks interest in birders (11 May 2025 04:35:56 +0000)
- An Asian paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) with distinctive markings on its head that has returned to the same home garden in Colombo for four consecutive migratory seasons has sparked interest among bird enthusiasts in Sri Lanka.
- Many birds, especially migratory species, possess a remarkable ability to return to the same location year after year, sometimes to the exact tree or nest, which is a behavior known as site tenacity or site fidelity.
- World Migratory Bird Day is traditionally observed on the first Saturdays of May and October, aligning with bird migrations in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively.
- A online bird observation platform, eBird, is gaining popularity in Sri Lanka with over 4,000 birders listed with the platform, strengthening the role of citizen science in tracking bird movements.
Hawaiʻi’s bone collector caterpillar wears spider’s victims to survive (09 May 2025 21:28:35 +0000)
Researchers in Hawaiʻi have described an unusual species of carnivorous caterpillar that scavenges in spiderwebs while wearing cast-off bits of the spider’s prey. Nicknamed the “bone collector,” the caterpillar belongs to the genus Hyposmocoma, commonly known as “fancy case” caterpillars because they make variously ornamented protective cases to live in. Endemic to Hawaiʻi, they decorate […]
World Bank launches historic framework addressing harms from development projects (09 May 2025 18:59:11 +0000)
The World Bank has released the first-ever framework to address environmental and social harms caused by projects the bank financed through its private sector branches, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC). “This is historic. It’s the first actual directive mandate for the IFC that says when one of the projects they finance causes harm, they […]
European body proposes mass killing of cormorants to protect fish stocks (09 May 2025 17:08:31 +0000)
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 (09 May 2025 15:15:40 +0000)
- 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) (09 May 2025 15:13:03 +0000)
- 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.
Report urges stricter mining standards to manage climate and social impacts (09 May 2025 13:30:30 +0000)
- A new report from the Mining Observatory finds that key mining states in Brazil are highly exposed to climate risks, water insecurity and environmental degradation.
- Mining for transition minerals can in some cases exacerbate the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and local communities in the states of Pará, Minas Gerais, Goiás and Bahia.
- Researchers told Mongabay that without better socioenvironmental safeguards, the expansion of transition minerals mining represents a “major” threat to these communities’ way of life and the preservation of ecosystems.
- The report urged governments and companies to implement stronger policy frameworks, climate adaptation strategies, robust oversight and better mechanisms to involve rights-holders in key decisions.
Chimpanzees filmed sharing alcoholic fruits for the first time (09 May 2025 10:06:32 +0000)
Researchers have for the first time filmed wild chimpanzees feasting on alcoholic fruits together. It’s the “first evidence for ethanolic food sharing and feeding by wild nonhuman great apes,” they say in a new study. The research team, led by scientists at the University of Exeter, U.K., captured the footage on camera traps they set […]
Mass South Africa vulture poisoning kills 123; 83 others rescued (09 May 2025 09:42:07 +0000)
In South Africa’s Kruger National Park, a mass poisoning attack this week has left 123 threatened vultures dead and another 83 recovering with the aid of a veterinary team. On the morning of May 6, a team consisting of the South African National Parks (SANParks) rangers and staff from the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) found […]
Ground-level ozone wreaks havoc on warming planet (09 May 2025 08:57:49 +0000)
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 […]
In Côte d’Ivoire a changing climate hits farmers and markets alike (09 May 2025 08:32:02 +0000)
- Towns across Côte d’Ivoire are facing shortages of staple foods like plantain and tomatoes, due to erratic weather.
- Prolonged drought and heavy rains have affected growers in towns like Soubré, who are struggling to maintain sufficient production to supply local markets.
- An expert says adapting to the new climate reality is key, and proposes training farmers in new agricultural techniques and improving natural resource management.
Science lays out framework to assess climate liability of fossil fuel majors (09 May 2025 06:12:14 +0000)
- In recent decades a growing number of lawsuits have been launched by states, cities and other government entities to hold fossil fuel companies financially liable for the climate harm caused by the greenhouse gas emissions their products produce.
- But those efforts often come up against challenging legal arguments made by the companies saying that their actions and emissions cannot be scientifically linked to specific climate change-driven extreme weather events.
- Now, fast-advancing attribution science is offering answers to those legal arguments. A new study has created a framework that connects the emissions over time of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies — BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Saudi Aramco and Gazprom — to rising temperatures and specific heat-related climate disasters.
- Researchers say that, in time, this framework for assigning attribution and financial damages could be extended to specific fossil fuel companies and a range of climate change-intensified extreme events such as hurricanes, flooding, sea-level rise and wildfires. The framework has yet to be tested in court.
Viral standoff at Philippines’ Mt. Pinatubo exposes decades of Indigenous exclusion (09 May 2025 05:10:03 +0000)
- 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.
Global prize longlists Mongabay feature on Maxakali reforestation in Brazil (08 May 2025 21:50:15 +0000)
A Mongabay feature on Indigenous-led reforestation efforts in southeastern Brazil’s Atlantic Forest has been longlisted for the environmental reporting category of the 2025 One World Media Awards, a leading journalism prize. Mongabay senior editor Xavier Bartaburu reported the story from Maxakali Indigenous land in Minas Gerais state, where the Maxakali, who also refer to themselves […]
More than one in 10 Americans lives in a sinking city, study finds (08 May 2025 19:47:34 +0000)
The 28 most populous cities in the United States are all at least partly sinking. That’s according to a new study from the Columbia University Climate School. Researchers used U.S. census data from 2020 to pinpoint the country’s most populous cities, which, combined, are home to roughly 39 million people or 12% of the U.S. […]
What does bioeconomy truly mean? Indigenous groups seek answer to dodge capitalist traps (08 May 2025 19:34:12 +0000)
- For the first time, the G20 group of the world’s biggest economies has reached a multilateral agreement on principles to develop the bioeconomy, but conflicting concepts pose obstacles for traditional communities and can lead to investments in predatory practices.
- Across the Pan-Amazon region, communities who developed the bioeconomy concept centuries ago and practice it today still have a hard time accessing its benefits.
- Experts argue that the success of the bioeconomy will depend on national and local policy decisions.
Our responsibility for cetacean conservation grows with proof of their intelligence (commentary) (08 May 2025 17:38:32 +0000)
- In the search for other intelligent life in our galaxy, we must look to the oceans before we turn to the stars, states the writer of a new commentary.
- In recent years, cetacean researchers have shown that whales, dolphins and porpoises live socially complex lives that require elaborate communication systems, and possibly even language.
- “If people can understand what they have in common with an animal that is seemingly so alien on the surface, it would allow for a greater extension of empathy,” and therefore greater conservation efforts, the writer argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
World’s top seafood firms lobby against ocean conservation measures: Report (08 May 2025 17:27:36 +0000)
- The world’s most influential seafood companies and industry associations mostly lobby against environmental protections, a report by the U.K.-based NGO InfluenceMap found.
- The report assesses the biodiversity-related lobbying efforts of a list of the 30 most influential seafood companies in the world and 12 of the main industry associations they’re members of.
- The vast majority of the companies and industry associations engage in lobbying that’s misaligned with international biodiversity goals agreed to in a 2022 treaty.
- Industry associations told Mongabay that they support science-based policy and that the report is flawed.
Top 25 most threatened primates highlighted in new report urging action (08 May 2025 16:00:17 +0000)
- The latest list of the 25 most endangered primates includes nine from Asia, six from the Americas, six from the African mainland, and four from Madagascar.
- Madagascar is home to 112 known lemur species, nearly all of which face the threat of extinction or what they report calls “collective endangerment,” where entire taxonomical groups are at risk of dying out.
- Several primates feature on the list for the first time, including the Sahafary sportive lemur, red-bellied monkey, northern pygmy slow loris, Myanmar snub-nosed monkey, Central American squirrel monkey, and Bornean banded langur.
- The report is also designed to spur conservation efforts for the listed species, as happened in the case of Brazil’s pied tamarin, a species for which the Brazilian government created a strict reserve in 2024.
Dredging and pollution threaten fishing in the Niger River (08 May 2025 15:03:52 +0000)
- 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.
Warming climate is already too hot to handle for 2% of amphibians, study shows (08 May 2025 14:45:15 +0000)
- Researchers found 2% of amphibian species are already experiencing temperatures beyond their physiological limits, potentially increasing to 7.5% with continued climate warming.
- The study revealed an unexpected pattern where tropical species in the Southern Hemisphere face greater heat risk, while in the Northern Hemisphere, species at higher latitudes are more vulnerable.
- Habitat plays a crucial role in vulnerability, with aquatic species facing the lowest risk, tree-dwelling species at moderate risk, and ground-dwelling species experiencing the highest risk of overheating.
- Conservation efforts should focus on maintaining water bodies and shaded areas, as these serve as critical thermal refuges that can help amphibians survive extreme heat events.