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Offshore fossil fuel exploration jeopardizes Brazil’s climate leadership, study says 18 Nov 2025 22:39:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/offshore-fossil-fuel-exploration-jeopardizes-brazils-climate-leadership-study-says/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Lucas Berti content:encoded: This November, as Brazil opened the curtains to host the UN Climate Conference (COP30), in its Pará state capital, Belém, the troubles orbiting the country’s environmental agenda were featured in a new report by U.S.-based conservation technology nonprofit SkyTruth, which is dedicated to satellite-based environmental monitoring. In the run-up to the climate summit, the study revealed the growing impact offshore oil and gas structures pose to Brazil’s vulnerable areas, especially in biodiverse marine regions such as the mouth of the Amazon River. At a time when global eyes turned to the Amazonian city, leading to increasing interest in the environmental solutions Brazil seeks to offer, the investigation questioned the host nation’s role as a climate leader. As one of its main arguments, the report jumped into the dilemmas of an economic model that remains highly dependent on something that Brazilian President Lula’s administration has been promising to replace: Fossil fuels. The investigation maps oil spill-driven pollution and highlights a rapid growth in both the traffic of oil industry vessels and the level of methane emissions — released through leaks during extraction. The numbers come in the wake of the expansion of the energy sector itself, which is growing in the opposite direction of the search for less polluting energy sources. According to SkyTruth, “between 2014 and 2024, Brazil’s oil production increased by more than 49% and natural gas production increased by over 78%.” The study points to contradictions in the Brazilian government’s climate rhetoric: In October, as Lula himself declared,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Ahead of the UN Climate Summit (COP30) in Brazil, a report by environment-monitoring organization SkyTruth mapped the environmental impact of the advance of offshore exploration for fossil fuels in Brazil, criticizing the country’s unfulfilled energy transition promises. - The study detected 179 probable oil slicks on the Brazilian coast since 2017, as the oil and gas sectors boomed. Analyses showed that traffic from fossil-industry vessels grew 81% between 2012 and 2023, while methane burning skyrocketed — releasing into the atmosphere the equivalent of carbon dioxide emitted by 6.9 million vehicles annually. - According to the investigation, Brazil still embraces environmentally controversial initiatives, such as oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River. This agenda brings risks to rich marine ecosystems and Indigenous and traditional communities, moving the country further away from its climate and conservation goals. authors: | ||
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Brazil releases draft text and letter to accelerate COP30 climate negotiations 18 Nov 2025 22:29:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/brazil-releases-draft-text-and-letter-to-accelerate-cop30-climate-negotiations/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Brazil is ramping up efforts at the U.N. climate conference with a direct letter to nations and a draft text released Tuesday. The letter, sent late Monday, comes during the final week of the first climate summit in the Amazon rainforest. COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago released a proposal with 21 options for negotiators on four key issues. These include improving climate plans, distributing $300 billion in climate aid, addressing trade barriers, and enhancing transparency. The documents urge leaders to finalize many aspects by Wednesday, ahead of the conference’s scheduled end on Friday. By Melina Walling, Seth Borenstein and Anton L. Delgado Associated Press Banner image: A sign at the site of the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, on November 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)”This article was originally published on Mongabay description: BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Brazil is ramping up efforts at the U.N. climate conference with a direct letter to nations and a draft text released Tuesday. The letter, sent late Monday, comes during the final week of the first climate summit in the Amazon rainforest. COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago released a proposal with […] authors: | ||
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Pioneering primatologist in Madagascar shares decades of conservation wisdom 18 Nov 2025 21:10:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/11/pioneering-primatologist-in-madagascar-shares-decades-of-conservation-wisdom/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Patricia Wright, a pioneering primatologist who established the Centre ValBio research station in Madagascar, began her work there in 1986. As the person who first described the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) to Western science, her contributions led to the creation of Ranomafana National Park, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss her conservation breakthroughs and the challenges the island faces during political instability and widespread poverty. “Poverty is the enemy of conservation here in Madagascar,” Wright says. Solutions are challenging in an island nation where roughly 80% of its people are impacted by poverty, as well as deforestation, fires and political violence. To address these issues, Wright says investing in reforestation, education and health care is a way forward, but these steps must go hand in hand with conservation efforts. “I think both health and education are very important, and I started out at the very beginning, incorporating those into our conservation programs, but it has to be connected to the fact that [people] have forests,” she says. Wright has participated in the making of numerous documentaries over the years, including Island of Lemurs: Madagascar, narrated by Morgan Freeman, and recently Ivohiboro: The Lost Forest and Surviving Alone: The Tale of Simone. In this conversation, she describes key findings from the latter two films, including how Ivohiboro, a montane tropical forest surrounded by desert, was unknown to Western science until Wright set foot there in 2016. Films like these are a crucial part…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Patricia Wright, a pioneering primatologist who established the Centre ValBio research station in Madagascar, began her work there in 1986. As the person who first described the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) to Western science, her contributions led to the creation of Ranomafana National Park, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She joins the Mongabay […] authors: | ||
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Scientists slam Canada-US proposal to lower trade protections for peregrine falcons 18 Nov 2025 18:59:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: The crow-sized, slate-blue-backed peregrine falcon, with its bright yellow feet, soars across the skies from Greenland’s Arctic tundra to the steppe plains of Patagonia in South America. Falco peregrinus is one of the most widespread birds on the planet, with 19 subspecies that call coasts, mountains, deserts and river valleys home. These eye-catching raptors are best known for their hunting skills. They can dive at lightning speeds of 320 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour) — more than three times as fast as a cheetah, the swiftest land animal — to scoop their prey. Falconers prize peregrine falcons and have traded them for centuries, sometimes stealing eggs and young chicks from clifftop nests to breed them in captivity and train them. But it wasn’t falconry, an ancient sport where raptors are trained to hunt specific prey, that caused their near-extinction. It was pesticides: After World War II, chemicals like DDT, aldrin and others became ubiquitous, used in neighborhoods, backyards and on crop fields to kill mosquitoes and agricultural pests. That proved deadly to peregrine falcons. The pesticides poisoned their prey and bioaccumulated in their bodies, impairing their ability to reproduce. The eggs that females were thinner and more fragile, leached of calcium by DDT, and would break in the nests before the chicks could hatch. Peregrine falcon populations crashed across North America and Europe. They completely disappeared from the eastern U.S. and were on the brink of extinction in the West. Then, in 1962, U.S. biologist Rachel Carson published…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Peregrine falcons, the world’s fastest and most widespread raptors, recovered spectacularly after pesticides that nearly drove them to extinction were banned and captive-bred birds were rewilded, making the effort a remarkable conservation success story. - Although the species is no longer endangered, international commercial trade in this bird, coveted by falconers, is banned for wild-caught specimens and highly regulated for captive-bred ones. Canada and the U.S. propose loosening those restrictions, a proposal that will be voted on at the upcoming meeting of CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty. - Some raptor scientists have concerns. The Caanada-U.S. downlisting proposal includes population estimates of just a few subspecies; many others are understudied. Some populations have declined in recent years and illegal trade continues. - Until there are safeguards against unsustainable trade and accurate assessments for all subspecies, conservationists say lowering protections could undo the efforts that have brought this bird back from the brink. authors: | ||
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Trade in marine fish for aquariums includes threatened species, lacks oversight: Study 18 Nov 2025 17:10:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/trade-in-marine-fish-for-aquariums-includes-threatened-species-lacks-oversight-study/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: The United States is the main market for “ornamental” marine fish, those that end up as pets in aquariums. Now, a new study of U.S.-based online retailers has found that nearly 90% of traded species are sourced exclusively from the wild, including a number of threatened species, and that the trade is poorly tracked. The study, published in October in the journal Conservation Biology, raises concerns about the ecological impact of the trade on marine ecosystems, including around coral reefs, in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, where the fish are caught. “We urgently need stronger traceability and regulatory oversight to ensure that aquarium fish are sourced responsibly,” Bing Lin, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney, Australia, and lead author of the study, said in a press release. Lin undertook the study as a Ph.D. student at Princeton University, U.S. “Consumers have no reliable way of knowing whether the fish they buy were sustainably harvested.” A clownfish, possibly Amphiprion ocellaris, around the island of Bali in Indonesia. Image courtesy of Bing Lin. Bing Lin, who led a study on the marine aquarium trade as a Ph.D. student at Princeton University. Image courtesy of Bing Lin & Helen Yan. The study doesn’t deal with the trade in freshwater aquarium species, which have different supply chains and market dynamics, and are mainly bred in captivity. Nor does it look at the trade in sharks, invertebrates or corals — the focus is marine finfish. More than 1,700 marine finfish…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study of major U.S.-based online retailers of marine fish bound for aquariums found that nearly 90% of traded species are sourced exclusively from the wild, including a number of threatened species, and that the trade is poorly tracked. - The study raises concerns about the ecological impact of the trade on marine ecosystems, including around coral reefs, in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, where the fish are caught. - Experts called for more work to develop sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in coastal communities in the Global South, and for building consumer awareness and establishing eco-certification schemes. authors: | ||
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From waffle gardens to terraces, Indigenous groups revive farming heritage in America’s deserts 18 Nov 2025 16:15:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Justin Catanoso content:encoded: In 1985, with two young daughters and little money, Roxanne Swentzell, a Native American sculptor and ceramic artist, returned from her studies in Portland, in the U.S. state of Oregon, to her Santa Clara Pueblo community in New Mexico state. Her art was years away from producing real income, so she took to the land to sustain herself and her girls. “I had this dry patch in the high desert, nothing but a driveway really,” recalls Swentzell, who was just 23 at the time. “I started making it into a homesite, a farm I could cultivate to feed my family. And in time, a little forest.” To grow corn and squash, onions and garlic, beans, berries and amaranth grains, Swentzell tapped into the ancient, dry-farming traditions of her people in the southwestern U.S., where sunshine is as abundant as rain is scarce. These proven, age-old farming techniques — applicable to many other parched, arid regions affected by climate change — have deep and expanding roots among Hopi and Navajo tribes in Arizona while experiencing a resurgence among the Pueblos (Indigenous tribes) of New Mexico through groups such as the Traditional Native American Farmers Association (TNAFA) and the Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture initiative. During Native American Heritage Month in November, Mongabay spoke with the leaders of these groups about their traditional farming techniques and how they can be replicated in increasingly dry regions around the world. In Santa Fe, saving traditional seeds native to the Southwestern US high desert, such as these…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Native American farmers in the southwestern United States have long deployed weather-adaptive techniques to grow crops such as corn and beans in high-desert environments only occasionally visited by rain. - In recent years, a variety of tribal groups have arisen to train the next generation of Native American farmers as a means of promoting cultural identity and improving self-sufficiency, health and well-being while using farming strategies that have worked for centuries on arid lands. - The techniques range from hillside terracing and “waffle” gardening, to water conservation and leveraging microclimates on a piece of land. - During Native American Heritage Month in November, Mongabay spoke with the leaders of these groups about their traditional farming techniques and how they can be replicated in increasingly dry regions around the world. authors: | ||
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Construction of TotalEnergies pipeline cuts through coral reefs in Mozambique 18 Nov 2025 15:20:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/construction-of-totalenergies-pipeline-cuts-through-coral-reefs-in-mozambique/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: Over the past year, a dredger operated by Dutch company Van Oord cut through a coral reef off the coast of northern Mozambique, part of the construction of French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies’ troubled liquefied natural gas project in Cabo Delgado. Data scientists analyzing satellite imagery and vessel data have found that a massive chunk of coral has been dredged out of the ecologically sensitive reef. The 32 islands of the Quirimbas Archipelago extend from the mouth of the Rovuma River, on the Mozambique-Tanzania border, to Pemba Bay in the south. The archipelago is home to a high number of endemic and threatened species, including coelacanths (Latimeria chalumnae), dugongs (Dugong dugon) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). Its coastal and littoral zone have estuaries and mangrove forests. “Of all the tropical oceans, the Indian Ocean by the Mozambique Channel is the ocean with the highest surface temperature increase, so corals are under stress,” said Daniel Ribeiro from the environmental justice organization Justiça Ambiental (JA!). “The ability to recover after damage is much lower because of these factors.” There are four major gas projects in the Rovuma Basin, including ENI’s Coral North floating liquefied natural gas project, which is the only one currently operational. TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG project was suspended in 2021, following an attack on facilities by insurgents. TotalEnergies and Exxon stopped work on their gas projects while regional troops joined the Mozambican army in battling the insurgents. In October 2025, the French company announced…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A Dutch company dredged through a highly sensitive coral area for TotalEnergies’ liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, satellite imagery and vessel traffic data confirm. - The French oil and gas company declared force majeure after insurgents attacked the facility in 2021, but some work on the project continued. - Environmental groups warn that the environmental impact assessments for TotalEnergies’ project and three others in the same waters are inadequate. authors: | ||
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Study maps whale shark stranding hotspots in Indonesia, highlights conservation needs 18 Nov 2025 14:55:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/whale-shark-stranding-indonesia-marine-endangered-species/ author: Basten Gokkon dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: A new study has mapped whale shark stranding hotspots in Indonesian waters over the past decade and linked their occurrence to oceanographic dynamics, providing a scientific basis for targeted, preventative conservation strategies. In the study published in October, marine researchers from Indonesia and New Zealand identified locations with significant reports of stranded whale sharks (Rhicodon typus) across Indonesia between 2011 and 2023. They said long-term stranding records can fill key data gaps for migratory species, such whale sharks, and their analysis also revealed population demographics, trends and oceanographically driven stranding hotspots. “Findings from this study show that stranding incidents exhibit clear spatial and temporal patterns, with specific hotspots and seasons when cases increase,” lead author Mochamad Iqbal Herwata, a species conservation senior manager at Konservasi Indonesia (KI), the local affiliate of Conservation International, told Mongabay in an email interview. A juvenile whale shark migrating out of Saleh Bay, off Indonesia’s Sumbawa Island, toward wider waters. Image courtesy of Abdi Hasan/Konservasi Indonesia. The researchers documented whale shark strandings across Indonesia’s diverse marine habitats, where monsoon-driven oceanographic processes create productive feeding grounds. They compiled 115 verified events from news-based sources using strict inclusion criteria. They analyzed spatial and temporal patterns with statistical tests and hotspot mapping, finding that strandings were often associated with high chlorophyll-A (indicating phytoplankton abundance), high waves, and low sea surface temperatures during the southeast monsoon and transitional seasons. The scientists found that the studied whale shark stranding events across Indonesia revealed clear regional concentrations, with West Java and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study has identified whale shark stranding hotspots in Indonesia and linked them to seasonal ocean conditions, offering scientists a clearer picture of when and where risks are highest. - The researchers found that most strandings involved juveniles and often occurred during upwelling seasons; they highlighted that human pressures such as fishing gear, ship traffic and pollution may further increase the danger. - The study calls for stronger rescue networks, better community training, and international cooperation to improve survival rates and protect these migratory animals across the region. authors: | ||
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Indonesia labeled ‘Fossil of the Day’ for echoing industry talking points at COP30 18 Nov 2025 12:54:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indonesia-labeled-fossil-of-the-day-for-echoing-industry-talking-points-at-cop30/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: BELÉM, Brazil — For the Indonesian delegation at COP30, the summit was meant to be a showcase for its climate diplomacy and growing carbon market ambitions. Instead, it was publicly called out for the first time in the history of the U.N. climate talks, receiving the “Fossil of the Day” award on Nov. 15 for allegedly allowing fossil fuel lobbyists to shape its official negotiating stance. The award, handed out daily by the Climate Action Network (CAN) International, a coalition of more than 1,900 civil society groups, accused Indonesia of echoing talking points from industry groups during negotiations on Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, the U.N.’s new carbon market mechanism. Observers said this raises questions about Indonesia’s credibility, its role among developing countries, and the integrity of the carbon credits it hopes to sell internationally. Indonesia’s delegates to COP30 include at least 46 individuals from fossil fuel companies, according to a database compiled by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition. This makes Indonesia among the developing countries with the largest number of fossil industry delegates. These include officials from the state-owned oil and gas company, coal and mining conglomerates, fertilizer producers dependent on gas, and heavy-industry firms — a cross-section of industry that critics say resembles a coordinated national fossil fuel bloc rather than a handful of incidental observers. Greenpeace Indonesia country director Leonard Simanjuntak said this reflects long-standing political realities. “The presence of 46 fossil fuel industry lobbyists as part of Indonesia’s delegation lays bare the government’s alignment…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia has been publicly rebuked at COP30 with a “Fossil of the Day” award after civil society groups accused its delegation of echoing fossil fuel and carbon industry lobbyists during negotiations on Article 6.4, the U.N.’s new carbon market mechanism. - Observers say Indonesia’s position closely mirrors the talking points in an industry-backed letter calling for weaker safeguards under Article 6.4 — a move critics warn could undermine the integrity of global carbon markets and benefit groups with financial stakes in nature-based carbon projects. - Indonesia denies being influenced by lobbyists, even though at least 46 representatives from fossil fuel and heavy-industry companies are accredited under its delegation — raising broader concerns about corporate access to negotiations amid a COP already flooded with a record proportion of fossil fuel lobbyists. - Experts warn Indonesia’s push to loosen Article 6.4 rules risks weakening international oversight, aligning the mechanism with the far less transparent Article 6.2, and potentially undermining both Indonesia’s climate credibility and the robustness of the Paris Agreement’s carbon market safeguards. authors: | ||
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Scientists & nuns unite to save Mexico’s rare achoque salamanders 18 Nov 2025 12:14:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/scientists-nuns-unite-to-save-mexicos-rare-achoque-salamanders/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: For the last 20 years, Dominican nuns in a Mexican monastery have cared for the largest known captive population of the critically endangered achoque salamander. Now scientists from Chester Zoo in the U.K. are collaborating with the sisters and Mexican conservationists to test a microchipping method that they hope will help them monitor the species’ dwindling wild population, reports Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough. Fewer than 150 adult achoque salamanders (Ambystoma dumerilii) are thought to remain in the wild, all of them in Lake Pátzcuaro in Mexico’s central Michoacán state. Adding urgency to the situation, the lake is shrinking in size and growing increasingly polluted with sewage, fertilizer runoff and sediment from deforestation, Kimbrough reports. In the 1980s, when Lake Pátzcuaro’s wild salamander population declined drastically, the Dominican sisters at the Monastery of Our Lady of Health began raising achoques in captivity at their monastery. They traditionally used achoques to produce a cough syrup, which became the convent’s main source of income. Over the years, the nuns worked out how to get the salamanders to breed successfully in captivity, and how to raise their babies. Today, the breeding facility includes two rooms filled with tanks housing hundreds of salamanders at a time. The Chester Zoo scientists wanted to use captive achoques to test a new tagging method — small, rice grain-sized microchips — before deploying them on wild individuals. If the microchipping was successful, the team planned to use the technique to tag wild achoques to ID and monitor them via a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: For the last 20 years, Dominican nuns in a Mexican monastery have cared for the largest known captive population of the critically endangered achoque salamander. Now scientists from Chester Zoo in the U.K. are collaborating with the sisters and Mexican conservationists to test a microchipping method that they hope will help them monitor the species’ […] authors: | ||
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In Mexico, world’s smallest turtle faces big threats from trafficking, habitat loss 18 Nov 2025 11:00:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-mexico-worlds-smallest-turtle-faces-big-threats-from-trafficking-habitat-loss/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Sandra Weiss content:encoded: It sounds like a scene out of the Ocean’s series of heist movies. Only this one didn’t happen in Las Vegas, but at a Mexican university campus surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. And it wasn’t about taking on a casino, but stealing valuable turtles. Armando Escobedo Galván, a biologist at Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUC) in Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, says he’s still startled about how the thieves tricked him last December. “Two people arrived at my office,” he recounts, “wearing uniforms of the environmental prosecutor’s office,” a federal agency known as PROFEPA. They said they were there for an inspection of his turtle program, asked for his permits, and cited corresponding laws. Everything during the two-hour procedure seemed completely normal. Then they asked to see the laboratory where the turtles were kept for scientific research: a climate-controlled container, secured with a padlock. That’s when the problems began. The officials criticized the way the turtles were being kept and complained about missing permits. Escobedo Galván says he started feeling stressed. They threatened to punish him, he says, so he was relieved when they offered instead to take 40 of the 100 turtles into their “protection” while he sorted out the necessary paperwork. “We’ll bring them back when everything is in order,” Escobedo Galván recalls them telling him. “That was a psychological masterpiece,” he says. “They put me under pressure and then offered a solution.” Measuring only 10 centimeters (4 inches) in length, the Vallarta mud turtle is…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Vallarta mud turtle, the world’s smallest turtle, lives only in temporary lagoons in the Mexican city of Puerto Vallarta, which poses a huge challenge for its conservation. - By the time scientists had determined they were a distinct species, just 1,000 turtles remained; since then, their number has dropped to 300. - A key driver of this decline is the illegal pet trade, with an estimated 200 turtles smuggled to China this year alone, according to experts. - Even though the turtle is listed as critically endangered, Mexican authorities have been slow to implement measures to protect it or its habitat, which is being lost to tourism developments. authors: | ||
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Colombia bans all new oil and mining projects in its Amazon 18 Nov 2025 08:38:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/colombia-bans-all-new-oil-and-mining-projects-in-its-amazon/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Colombia will no longer approve new oil or large-scale mining projects in its Amazon biome, which covers 42% of the nation’s territory, according to a Nov. 13 statement by its environment ministry. Acting Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres said the entire Colombian Amazon will be made a reserve for renewable natural resources. She made the announcement at a meeting of ministers with the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, during COP30, the U.N. climate summit taking place in Belém, Brazil. “This declaration is an ethical and scientific commitment. It seeks to prevent forest degradation, river contamination and biodiversity loss that threatens the continent’s climate balance,” Vélez said. She also called on other Amazonian nations to adopt similar protections, highlighting that Colombia controls just 7% of the Amazon biome. Across the Amazon, 871 oil and gas blocks cover an area roughly twice the size of France; 68% of the blocks are still in the study or bidding phases. “We do this not only as an act of environmental sovereignty, but as a fraternal call to the other countries that share the Amazon biome, because the Amazon does not know borders and its care requires us to move forward together,” Vélez added. Brazil, which controls nearly 60% of the Amazon, has moved in the opposite direction over the past year, despite successfully cracking down on deforestation. The nation auctioned off several oil blocks near Indigenous lands and approved drilling for an offshore site at the mouth of the Amazon River. Peru is courting foreign…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Colombia will no longer approve new oil or large-scale mining projects in its Amazon biome, which covers 42% of the nation’s territory, according to a Nov. 13 statement by its environment ministry. Acting Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres said the entire Colombian Amazon will be made a reserve for renewable natural resources. She made the […] authors: | ||
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Plans to dispose of mining waste in Norway’s Arctic Ocean worries Sámi fishers, herders 18 Nov 2025 02:29:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/plans-to-dispose-of-mining-waste-in-norways-arctic-ocean-worries-sami-fishers-herders/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: The Norwegian government has granted permission for the construction and operation of the Nussir copper mine in Hammerfest, a municipality on the northwestern coast of the island of Kvaløya, in Norway. The company plans to pipe between 1 million and 2 million metric tons of mining waste, or tailings, annually to the bottom of Repparfjord, a nationally protected salmon fjord in the Norwegian Arctic that Indigenous Sámi fishers depend on for their livelihoods. The Nussir mining project is owned by Canadian company Blue Moon Metals. The Norwegian Environmental Agency issued Nussir ASA, the project’s previous owner, its environmental license after it confirmed the company’s plan to securely place the tailings at the bottom of the sea. However, this has faced strong opposition from some Sámi Indigenous people and environmental activists, who say they fear the mine and marine waste deposit will destroy vital marine habitats for species such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and disrupt traditional breeding and migration areas for reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Blue Moon Metals plans to dispose of its Nussir copper mine tailings at the bottom of the Repparfjord, a national salmon fjord in Finnmark in Norway. Photo by: Lone Bjørkmann “The biggest social impact is the feeling that no place is safe, that local culture and the environment can only survive until someone finds a commercially viable project,” Frode Elias Lindal, a Green Party local representative for the Alta municipality council and Finnmark county council, who is part Sámi and part Norwegian, told Mongabay via email.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mining company Blue Moon Metals plans to dispose of its mining waste in Repparfjord, a nationally protected salmon fjord in the Norwegian Arctic that Indigenous Sámi fishers rely on. - When operational, the Nussir ASA copper mine will deposit between 1 million and 2 million metric tons of tailings at the bottom of the fjord annually, according to the company’s permit. - The Norwegian Environment Agency told Mongabay that the company plans to place its mining waste into the fjord in a controlled manner to limit the dispersal of harmful residues. - Some Sámi residents, whose livelihoods depend on fishing and reindeer herding, told Mongabay they fear the tailings and mine will destroy vital marine habitats for salmon and disrupt traditional reindeer breeding and migration areas. authors: | ||
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Top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin’s COP30 reflections on Amazon conservation (analysis) 17 Nov 2025 21:45:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/top-ethnobotanist-mark-plotkins-cop30-reflections-on-amazon-conservation-analysis/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Mark J. Plotkin content:encoded: Having studied the healing plants and peoples of tropical South America for well over four decades, I am often asked, “What is the conservation status of the Amazon Rainforest? Is the glass half-full or half-empty?” My reply never changes. “By definition, any glass that is half-full is half-empty!” When I first traveled to the Amazon in the 1970s, the world was a different place. Most people thought of the rainforest, if they thought of it at all, as a green hell to be avoided at all costs. Soon thereafter, public perception of tropical rainforests shifted dramatically, driven by the emerging modern environmental movement. Tropical forest and river in Suriname. Image courtesy of Mark J. Plotkin. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 and Earth Day in 1970 were milestones in generating global awareness and concern over deforestation, pesticides, pollution and species extinction, particularly in the industrialized world. However, Western scientists like Tom Lovejoy, Richard Schultes and E.O. Wilson — as well as Brazilian scientists like Marcio Ayres, Paulo Nogueiro-Neto and Paulo Vanzolini — presented a compelling case that the biological richness and fragility of tropical forests merited at least as much attention as ecosystems in the temperate regions. These scientists reframed the global image of Amazonia from “green hell” to “treasure trove of biodiversity.” The media also played a positive role. The vast scale of burning and clearing — turning a green wonderland into a red desert through major development projects like ill-planned dams or road building — shocked and horrified…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The global battle to mitigate climate change cannot be won in the Amazon, but it can certainly be lost there, writes top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin in a new analysis for Mongabay. Though he’s well-known for investigating traditional uses of plants in the region, he’s also a keen observer of and advocate for Indigenous communities and conservation there. - Compared to the 1970s, he writes, the Amazon enjoys far greater formal protection, understanding and attention, while advances in technology and ethnobotany have revealed new insights into tropical biodiversity, and Indigenous communities — long the guardians and stewards of this ecosystem — are increasingly recognized as central partners in conservation, and their shamans employ hallucinogens like biological scalpels to diagnose, treat and sometimes cure ailments, a technology that is increasingly and ever more widely appreciated. - “The challenge now is to ensure that the forces of protection outpace the forces of destruction, which, of course, is one of the ultimate goals of the COP30 meeting in Belém,” he writes. - This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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A slowdown, not salvation: what new extinction data reveal about the state of life on Earth 17 Nov 2025 21:21:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For decades, biologists have warned that humanity is precipitating a sixth mass extinction. By some estimates, species are vanishing at up to a thousand times the natural background rate. Yet a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests the picture is more complicated. Extinctions, it finds, may have peaked a century ago—and declined since. Kristen Saban and John Wiens of the University of Arizona examined 912 documented extinctions among plants and animals over the past 500 years. Their analysis, covering nearly two million assessed species, shows that losses rose steeply through the 1800s and early 1900s before slowing. Extinction rates for vertebrates, arthropods, and plants have generally decreased over the past century. The trend runs counter to the popular narrative of an accelerating biodiversity collapse. The number of extinctions are shown for each century since 1500. From Saban and Wiens (2025) Extinctions over time. The number of extinctions are shown for each decade since 1800 (b). For each time period, Saban and Wiens give the number of species that were inferred to have gone extinct in that time period, based primarily on the dates when each species was last seen. From Saban and Wiens (2025) That finding, however, offers little comfort. The apparent lull in recorded extinctions may reflect where and how humans look, not a reprieve for nature. Most known extinctions occurred on islands, where invasive rats, pigs, and goats devastated native fauna and flora. Today’s drivers—deforestation, pollution, and climate change—are concentrated on continents, where declines…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Extinction rates appear to have slowed since their peak in the early 1900s, suggesting not a reprieve for nature but a shift in how and where losses occur. Much of the damage was concentrated on islands, where invasive species drove many native plants and animals to extinction. - The study challenges the assumption that past extinction patterns predict future ones, highlighting major data gaps—especially for invertebrates—and warning that today’s threats stem mainly from habitat loss and climate change on continents. - Conservation efforts have shown that targeted actions, such as invasive species removal and habitat restoration, can be highly effective, though success remains uneven and far smaller than the scale of global biodiversity loss. - Even as outright extinctions slow, ecosystems continue to unravel through declining abundance, lost ecological knowledge, and homogenization of species—signs that life’s diversity is eroding in subtler but equally serious ways. authors: | ||
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Ethiopia set to be named host of 2027 UN climate talks 17 Nov 2025 20:07:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/ethiopia-set-to-be-named-host-of-2027-un-climate-talks/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, is expected to be officially announced on Nov. 18 as the host city of the 2027 U.N. climate conference, or COP32. Backed by the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change, the expected decision would mark the international climate summit’s return to the African continent after COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022. “As host of the next COP, Ethiopia now has a vital platform to amplify African voices and priorities, particularly around adaptation finance, renewable energy access, and climate justice,” Mohamed Adow, director of the think tank Power Shift Africa, said in an official statement from the group. “It could also spotlight Africa’s capacity for innovation and its determination to move from vulnerability to strength in the face of global climate disruption.” The annual COPs bring together the member states to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to negotiate global climate goals and commitments. Each year, the host country rotates among the U.N.’s five regional groups: Western Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Each regional group proposes a host country, the COP considers the proposals and accepts one of the offers, then the UNFCCC Secretariat must undertake a fact-finding mission to ensure the proposed host is suitable. Despite the stated rotation, Africa has hosted less than its share of global climate conferences. Since the first COP in 1995, the event has been held on the continent just five times, including twice in Marrakech, Morocco (COP7 and COP22).…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, is expected to be officially announced on Nov. 18 as the host city of the 2027 U.N. climate conference, or COP32. Backed by the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change, the expected decision would mark the international climate summit’s return to the African continent after COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, […] authors: | ||
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Pakistan declares its third marine protected area, but has a long way to go 17 Nov 2025 18:24:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/pakistan-declares-its-third-marine-protected-area-but-has-a-long-way-to-go/ author: Nandithachandraprakash dc:creator: Ayaz Khan content:encoded: KARACHI — On Sept. 2, the government of Balochistan province in Pakistan declared the country’s third marine protected area, around Miani Hor Lagoon on the country’s central coast. The biodiversity-rich lagoon hosts a lush mangrove forest, numerous bird species and threatened marine mammals. With the declaration of the Miani Hor Marine Protected Area (MPA), Pakistan takes another step toward achieving Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework, to protect 30% of its land and sea by 2030, also known as the 30×30 initiative. It’s a very small step, however: With the addition of the not-quite 43-square-kilometer (16.5-square-mile) Miani Hor MPA, Pakistan’s total protected marine area measures 542 km2 (209 mi2), or just 0.23% of the 240,000 km2 (92,660 mi2) of marine and coastal area under the country’s jurisdiction. Pakistan trails its neighbors, Bangladesh at 8% and even India at 0.3%, although none of these countries’ MPAs are considered well protected. And it appears on track to miss the 30×30 target, just like it missed the old Aichi Target 11, which aimed to protect 10% of land and sea by 2020. In line with the country’s track record, enacting management plans for its MPAs also lags. For instance, it took Pakistan eight years to come up with the management plan for its first MPA, declared in 2017 around Astola Island; the second, the Churna Island MPA declared in September 2024, still has no management plan in sight. Nevertheless, conservationists welcomed the new MPA. “The declaration of Miani Hor as Pakistan’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In September, Pakistan declared its third marine protected area, around Miani Hor Lagoon on the country’s central coast. - The biodiversity-rich lagoon hosts a lush mangrove forest, numerous bird species and threatened marine mammals. - Conservationists welcomed the new marine protected area as a baby step toward meeting the country’s so-called 30×30 commitment to protect 30% of its land and sea by 2030. However, the new addition puts Pakistan’s total protected marine area at just 0.23% of its marine and coastal jurisdiction. - The scope of protections for the new protected area remains to be determined. Local people expressed concern that restrictions could upend the livelihoods of the local community, which depends on the lagoon and mangroves and already lacks basic necessities. authors: | ||
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France’s largest rewilding project takes root in the Dauphiné Alps 17 Nov 2025 15:52:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/frances-largest-rewilding-project-takes-root-in-the-dauphine-alps/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Marlowe Starling content:encoded: In the foothills of the western Alps in southeastern France, horned alpine ibex roam the limestone cliffs of a smaller mountain range known as the Dauphiné Alps, a region once home to thriving populations of wild horses, bison, roe deer, gray wolves, Eurasian lynx, and four species of vultures. In June of this year, the nonprofit Rewilding Europe announced the landscape as its 11th restoration site, making it France’s largest rewilding project. The term “rewilding” emerged in the 1990s, but it’s only in the past decade that the approach has grown in popularity worldwide. Generally, rewilding is a restoration method that prioritizes conserving or reintroducing historically present species, including those wiped out locally, to boost overall biodiversity. For Rewilding Europe, this approach allows nature to flourish in a way that will make ecosystems more resilient to climate change. It also means creating economic opportunities for the people who live in these ecosystems. “A fixed approach to nature doesn’t really work anymore,” Fabien Quétier, head of landscapes for Rewilding Europe, told Mongabay. He said rewilding is about restoring core ecosystem functions by encouraging the establishment of herbivores to maintain the forests, scavengers to mitigate disease from carcasses, and aquatic mammals like otters and beavers to maintain rivers. The project is currently focusing on ungulates such as wild horses and cattle, historical predators such as wolves and lynx, and vultures. One of the reasons Rewilding Europe selected the French Alps for rewilding is that the region already had a head start. In…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The nonprofit Rewilding Europe announced its 11th project this summer in the Dauphiné Alps, a forested mountain range in southeastern France where wild horses, bison and lynx thrived more than 200 years ago. - Rewilding is a restoration concept that works towards wildlife comeback to a landscape with minimal other human intervention. - The project is focused on fostering an environment where wild horses, alpine ibex, roe deer, vultures, Eurasian lynx and wolves can build healthy populations. - The biggest challenges include working with private landowners and convincing locals that predators, such as wolves, can be beneficial. authors: | ||
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Are Belize’s fisheries policies delivering? 17 Nov 2025 11:21:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/belizes-blue-bond-a-reef-reality-check/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Belize has built an enviable brand as a small country taking on a big problem: how to keep the sea alive while sustaining the people who depend on it. The story sells well. A 2021 debt-for-nature “blue bond” reduced public debt and guaranteed conservation funding for two decades. Targets for 30% ocean protection are law. Donors and the press have applauded. Yet, on the water, the question lingers: are the reefs and fish showing it? The achievements are real. The blue bond converted Belize’s “Superbond” into a conservation-backed loan that cut debt by 12% of GDP and directed roughly $180 million toward marine protection. Monitoring pilots are underway, linking results-based finance to measurable ecological and social outcomes. Lighthouse Reef, one of the country’s crown jewels, gained new legal protection. These are serious gains. But they coexist with troubling signals. The regional “report card” for the Mesoamerican Reef, released in 2024, inched upward thanks to herbivorous fish rebounds, yet the overall grade remained “Poor.” Independent assessments show that conch and lobster, Belize’s export mainstays, are under stress. The Sea Around Us project estimates most stocks are fished beyond sustainable levels. Groupers and snappers have declined by about 60% in regional monitoring, echoing fishers’ accounts that large individuals have become scarce. A 2025 peer-reviewed study found Nassau grouper at Glover’s Reef nearly gone despite two decades of closures and bans, and warned of “impending extirpation.”…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Belize has built an enviable brand as a small country taking on a big problem: how to keep the sea alive while sustaining the people who depend on it. The story sells well. A 2021 debt-for-nature “blue bond” […] authors: | ||
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South Africa to lift fracking moratorium in Karoo Basin, despite concerns 17 Nov 2025 11:11:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/south-africa-to-lift-fracking-moratorium-in-karoo-basin-despite-concerns/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: South Africa plans to lift a 13-year moratorium on shale gas exploration in the ecologically sensitive Karoo Basin, despite serious environmental and climate concerns raised by advocacy groups. In 2011, the government imposed a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo, a semidesert region spanning more than 400,000 square kilometers (154,000 square miles) across northern South Africa and home to about 1 million people. The ban was put in place to develop a regulatory framework for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a controversial extraction method that involves drilling deep into the earth and injecting a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to fracture shale rock and release trapped natural gas. Research suggests that fracking operations negatively impact human health, consume large volumes of water, contaminate groundwater, and degrade soil and air quality. In July this year, Gwede Mantashe, the petroleum minister, announced the government is making “concerted efforts” to lift the moratorium in the Karoo Basin. He added that environmental baseline studies are underway. On Nov. 7, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) released its draft environmental regulations for onshore oil and gas extraction and fracking, which covers shale gas extraction. The draft is currently open for a 30-day public consultation period. “Once those regulations are gazetted, I lift the moratorium,” Mantashe told Reuters in October. The move could pave the way for several companies, including Shell, to resume previously submitted applications for exploration. “Lifting the moratorium prioritizes short-term economic gains over long-term environmental and socioeconomic well-being,”…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: South Africa plans to lift a 13-year moratorium on shale gas exploration in the ecologically sensitive Karoo Basin, despite serious environmental and climate concerns raised by advocacy groups. In 2011, the government imposed a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo, a semidesert region spanning more than 400,000 square kilometers (154,000 square miles) across northern […] authors: | ||
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As fires flare in Brazil’s Cerrado, heat-resistant seeds offer restoration lifeline 17 Nov 2025 10:21:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-fires-flare-in-brazils-cerrado-heat-resistant-seeds-offer-restoration-lifeline/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Simone Machado content:encoded: Fire-resistant seeds offer promise, at a low cost, for restoring areas devastated by burning in Brazil’s Cerrado savanna, a project by biologist Giovana Cavenaghi Guimarães shows. Guimarães, a doctoral candidate at São Paulo State University (UNESP), focused on five species of Cerrado-native seeds, including jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril), amendoim-bravo (Pterogyne nitens), mulungu (Erythrina mulungu) and canafístula (Peltophorum dubium). All are naturally adapted to extreme heat. According to Guimarães, these plants can survive in adverse conditions such as the high temperatures caused by wildfires, which makes their seeds ideal for environmental recovery after such events. The species also have a greater germination capacity: on average, 99% of seeds develop into trees. “The idea of the study is to understand these species’ physical dormancy, which allows them to survive in conditions of high temperature and fire,” Guimarães told Mongabay. “When these seeds are in the soil, even if the fire destroys those that have already germinated, they resist the high temperatures and germinate, even after the fire.” Physical dormancy is a natural process in some species, which prevents seed germination until conditions are right. It’s considered a survival mechanism. In the case of the plants studied by Guimarães, exposure to high temperatures can break this physical dormancy by causing cracks in the husk, or integument, thus allowing water to enter and germination to occur. Fire in a Cerrado area in Brazil’s Federal District. Image courtesy of Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil. A solution to a growing problem According to Guimarães, planting seeds of these native…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Research from Brazil shows that tree species adapted to extreme heat may be key to reforesting areas affected by fires. - The ongoing research focuses on plants native to the Cerrado savanna, a biome where fire is a natural mechanism for vegetation regeneration and seeds can germinate after the land is burned. - The findings have practical implications for the Cerrado, which is the most burning-prone biome in Brazil, with the risk of fire exacerbated by agriculture. - Proponents say restoration strategies that include heat-resistant species can minimize the impacts and prepare the restoration site for other species to take root. authors: | ||
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Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley, who helped Indonesian communities restore their reefs, has died 16 Nov 2025 12:51:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/gayatri-reksodihardjo-lilley-who-helped-indonesian-communities-restore-their-reefs-has-died/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In the shallows off northern Bali, where the reefs flicker with life and the sea carries the rhythm of work and prayer, a quiet revolution took root. Women who once had few choices began tending tanks of clownfish and Banggai cardinalfish, learning the art of aquaculture. Fishers in nearby villages abandoned cyanide and explosives, watching their catches recover. Coral fragments, anchored to man-made structures, began to grow again. The transformation seemed to come from the sea itself, but it began with a woman who believed that to save reefs one must first listen to the people who depend on them. She had started, as many conservationists do, beneath the waves. Trained in marine biology, she dived across the archipelago, recording the decline of once-vivid ecosystems. But over time, she realized that the reefs would not heal through data alone. “Managing those resources means managing people,” she once said. So she turned from counting fish to understanding fishers, from studying ecosystems to shaping livelihoods. Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley was a reformer who worked without fanfare. In 2008 she co-founded the LINI Foundation, a small nonprofit that would become a lifeline for Indonesia’s coastal communities. Her projects reached from Bali to Sulawesi and the Banda Islands, linking conservation with dignity. She trained teachers to teach the sea, coaxed policymakers toward collaborative management, and built a center where women could “learn and earn.” When local fishers asked for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In the shallows off northern Bali, where the reefs flicker with life and the sea carries the rhythm of work and prayer, a quiet revolution took root. Women who once had few choices began tending tanks of clownfish […] authors: | ||
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Saalumarada Thimmakka, mother of trees, has died, aged 114 15 Nov 2025 06:27:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/saalumarada-thimmakka-mother-of-trees-has-died-aged-114/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Along a dusty road between Hulikal and Kudur in southern India, banyan trees rise like sentinels. Their thick roots grasp the earth, their canopies stretch wide, casting deep shade over the red soil. Travelers who pass beneath them find little reason to wonder how they came to be, or who first pressed a sapling into the ground more than seventy years ago. Yet that green corridor—nearly four hundred trees strong—was the life’s work of a woman who owned almost nothing and asked for even less. She was born around 1911, in a village so small it barely warranted a name on a map. There was no school; she worked as a laborer in a quarry. She married young, to a man who stammered and shared her steady resilience. They were childless, a fact that in rural Karnataka brought more than sorrow—it brought shame. One day, she later recalled, the couple decided to plant trees instead, “and tend to them like we would our children.” So they did. In the dry season, they carried pails of water for miles to nurture their banyans. They fenced them from grazing cattle, shaded them from heat. In time, their “children” took root. Her name was Saalumarada Thimmakka—the epithet “Saalumarada,” meaning “row of trees,” bestowed by neighbors once her work transformed the landscape. Long after her husband died, she continued to walk the roadside she had greened, touching…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Along a dusty road between Hulikal and Kudur in southern India, banyan trees rise like sentinels. Their thick roots grasp the earth, their canopies stretch wide, casting deep shade over the red soil. Travelers who pass beneath them […] authors: | ||
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UK court finds mining giant liable for decade-old dam disaster in Brazil 15 Nov 2025 03:27:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/uk-court-finds-mining-giant-liable-for-decade-old-dam-disaster-in-brazil/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: A U.K. judge has found that the Australian multinational mining company BHP is liable for a 2015 dam collapse in southeastern Brazil. The incident killed 19 people and unleashed at least 40 million cubic meters (1.4 billion cubic feet) of toxic mine tailings onto downstream towns and waterways for 675 kilometers (419 miles). In a Nov. 14 ruling, U.K. High Court judge Finola O’Farrell found that negligence, carelessness or lack of skill led to the collapse of the Fundão tailings dam. Located in the city of Mariana in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, the dam failure is considered one of the largest environmental disasters in Brazilian history. “The risk of collapse of the dam was foreseeable,” O’Farrell wrote in her 222-page ruling. “It is inconceivable that a decision would have been taken to continue raising the height of the dam in those circumstances and the collapse could have been averted.” More than 610,000 people, along with 32 Brazilian municipalities and around 1,400 businesses were represented in the court case against BHP, making it the largest environmental class action lawsuit in U.K. history. BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the company that operated the tailings dam; the other half is owned by state-owned Brazilian mining company Vale. “The judge’s decision shows what we have been saying for the last 10 years: It was not an accident, and BHP must take responsibility for its actions,” said Gelvana Rodrigues, a local resident whose 7-year-old son, Thiago, was killed in the mudslide. Her statement was shared…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A U.K. judge has found that the Australian multinational mining company BHP is liable for a 2015 dam collapse in southeastern Brazil. The incident killed 19 people and unleashed at least 40 million cubic meters (1.4 billion cubic feet) of toxic mine tailings onto downstream towns and waterways for 675 kilometers (419 miles). In […] authors: | ||
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Mongabay Fellows share their ‘Letters to the Future’ 14 Nov 2025 22:43:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/mongabay-fellows-share-their-letters-to-the-future/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Karen Coates content:encoded: This is a short commentary by Mongabay fellowship editor Karen Coates. Uncertainty and hope — these sentiments prevail in a series of commentaries published by the latest cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as they conclude their program and forge new paths into environmental journalism. Uncertainty centers on the future of our planet, the journalists who cover it and the people who defend it. Hope resides in youth and the power of truth in storytelling. It’s the hope part that I especially want to highlight. For the past six months, enterprising early-career journalists from Brazil, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo convened in a virtual program. Despite never meeting in person, this group gelled. They formed new bonds, united in their passion for Planet Earth. They shared thoughts and fears that resonated across continents. And they emerged with a deep sense of responsibility to work for a better future. That is my hope; the inspiration that feeds my soul. Between May and October, each fellow worked through intensive trainings, field and desk reporting and the rigors of Mongabay’s editing processes. Each produced a range of reports on conservation, climate and biodiversity in their regions. You can read them all on our website. Click on their bylines for their archives. To capture their parting thoughts, the fellows have published commentaries, which are collected in a series titled Our Letters to the Future: Fernanda Biasoli (Brazil) writes about finding hope in the young generations that will…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Uncertainty and hope — these sentiments prevail in a series of commentaries published by the latest cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as they conclude their program and forge new paths into environmental journalism. Uncertainty centers on the future of our planet, the journalists who cover it and the people who defend it. […] authors: | ||
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AI data center revolution sucks up world’s energy, water, materials 14 Nov 2025 18:49:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ai-data-center-revolution-sucks-up-worlds-energy-water-materials/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Gerry McGovernSue Branford content:encoded: In 2024, the state of Querétaro in north-central Mexico suffered its worst drought in a century, impacting crops and communities. Seventeen of the state’s 18 municipalities were affected, putting drinking water access at risk for thousands of families, according to CONAGUA, Mexico’s National Water Commission. With freshwater already diminished due to worsening climate change, Querétaro residents now fear a more calamitous future, with the announcement that 32 new data centers — the physical facilities needed to satisfy humanity’s insatiable desire for Internet-sourced data — planned for the state. Most recently, on Sept. 25, U.S. tech firm CloudHQ announced plans to spend $4.8 billion building Mexico’s biggest ever “hyperscale” data center campus in Querétaro, most likely for cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) computing. It appears likely the state will emerge as Mexico’s data center capital, with a strong emphasis on AI capabilities. The Querétaro growth spurt has angered some local activists, who argue authorities have their priorities wrong, elevating the needs of transnational corporate tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon, above those of local communities. “Water is what’s needed for the people, not for these industries,” campaigner Teresa Roldán says. Environmentalist Teresa Roldán Soria (left), is aiding local residents in an area known as Los Sabinos in the municipality of Pedro Escobedo in Querétaro state, Mexico. Here she joins with local people to defend a spring and age-old ahuehuete (Taxodium mucronatum) trees against development. The ahuehute, also known as the Montezuma cypress, is Mexico’s national tree. Image courtesy of Teresa Roldán…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Data centers are springing up across tropical Latin America, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Africa. But these facilities are often unlike those of the recent past. Today’s advanced data centers are built to provide artificial intelligence (AI) computing capacity by Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon. - As large AI data centers proliferate, they are competing for water, energy and materials with already stressed tropical communities. National governments frequently welcome Big Tech and AI, offering tax breaks and other incentives to build AI complexes, while often not taking community needs into consideration. - Aware that fossil fuels and renewables by themselves likely can’t handle the astronomical energy demands posed by AI mega-data centers, Internet companies are reactivating the once moribund nuclear industry, despite intractable problems with radioactive waste disposal. - Voices in the Global South say that AI computing (whose producers remain principally in the Global North) is evolving as a new form of extractive colonialism. Some Indigenous people say it is time to question limitless technological innovation with its heavy environmental and social costs. authors: | ||
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Researchers find evidence of elephant poaching in remote Bangladesh forest 14 Nov 2025 17:46:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/researchers-find-evidence-of-elephant-poaching-in-remote-bangladesh-forest/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Communities living around a remote, mountainous forest in southeastern Bangladesh, close to Myanmar, have reported cross-border incidents of elephant poaching for years but there was no confirmed evidence. A new study has now documented the first known physical signs of elephant poaching in the forest. The Sangu-Matamuhuri Reserve Forest in southeastern Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar’s Rakhine state, is rich in biodiversity and a critical habitat for a variety of wildlife, including Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), golden jackal (Canis aureus) and the endangered Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). “The Sangu–Matamuhuri landscape is a uniquely important region. Elephants were once common here, but over time their population declined,” Sourav Chakma, lead author of the study, told Mongabay in an email. The surviving elephants retreated to the sparsely populated border with Myanmar where hunting pressure was lower, Chakma said. “Contradictorily, however, the remoteness of the region and its scattered settlements also facilitate access to hunting from both sides of the border, much of which goes unreported and poses a significant threat,” he added. Bangladesh’s Sangu-Matamuhuri forest has been the apparent site of recent elephant poaching. Map by Andrés Alegría/Mongabay. A team of four visited the reserve forest from April 23-25 and found signs of elephant activity including elephant footprints, dung and evidence of foraging. They estimate elephants had been in the area 2-4 months earlier, which tracks with local reports that elephants use the region during the local dry season, from November to March, the authors write. The team also found evidence of poaching:…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Communities living around a remote, mountainous forest in southeastern Bangladesh, close to Myanmar, have reported cross-border incidents of elephant poaching for years but there was no confirmed evidence. A new study has now documented the first known physical signs of elephant poaching in the forest. The Sangu-Matamuhuri Reserve Forest in southeastern Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar’s Rakhine […] authors: | ||
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Climate leaders warn of ‘overshoot’ into warming danger zone 14 Nov 2025 17:28:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/climate-leaders-warn-of-overshoot-into-warming-danger-zone/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: BELEM, Brazil (AP) — After years of pushing the world to limit Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, climate leaders are starting to acknowledge that the target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement will almost surely be breached. But they’re not conceding defeat. They are hopeful that temperatures can eventually be brought back below that limit in a concept called “overshoot.” United Nations officials and scientists emphasize the importance of this goal. They warn of irreversible changes if the limit is breached permanently, including threats to coral reefs and ice sheets. The world is on track for significant warming, but efforts to reduce emissions and develop carbon removal technologies offer hope for the future. By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press Banner image: Indigenous peoples Samuel Pinedo, from left, Cline Jorge Chauca Lopez and Teresita Irene Antazu Lopez speak on fires and droughts in the Amazon at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)This article was originally published on Mongabay description: BELEM, Brazil (AP) — After years of pushing the world to limit Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, climate leaders are starting to acknowledge that the target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement will almost surely be breached. But they’re not conceding defeat. They are hopeful that temperatures can eventually be brought back below that […] authors: | ||
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Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking 14 Nov 2025 17:25:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: In undercover raids carried out in late September, Mexican authorities discovered 2,339 wild-caught turtles crammed into bins in five locations in Jalisco and Baja California states. Along with the live reptiles, they found a massive stash of other illegal wildlife products that are coveted as delicacies in East Asia: 1,569 kilograms (3,459 pounds) of sea cucumbers, 1,188 kg (2,619 lbs) of shark fins, and 39 kg (86 lbs) of totoaba swim bladders. The seized goods were valued at 134 million pesos ($7.3 million). They were destined for the U.S. and East Asia, according to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. Authorities arrested three people and charged them with running an organized wildlife trafficking network through an unnamed Guadalajara-based company. The seizure — the largest since 2020, when authorities nabbed 15,000 turtles in Mexico City, also destined for China — highlights the scale of this illicit activity. It was the result of a 10-month-long operation, launched after 55 critically endangered Vallarta mud turtles (Kinosternon vogti) were stolen from a university lab in the city of Puerto Vallarta in January 2025. But this operation had a notable difference, said Taggert Butterfield, the scientific director at the turtle conservation nonprofit Estudiantes Conservando la Naturaleza (Students Conserving Nature) in Mexico. “This is the first major bust where the government used intelligence [gathering] and collaboration with other agencies to make a significant confiscation.” One of the more than 900 Tabasco mud turtle (Kinosternon acutum) seized by authorities. These turtles are a local delicacy in Mexico, despite being…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A sting by Mexican authorities in September uncovered more than 2,300 live, wild-caught freshwater turtles and other valuable wildlife products. Three men were arrested and charged with wildlife crimes. - Vallarta mud turtles, the world’s smallest and the most imperiled in the Western Hemisphere, were among the eight species seized by authorities. All are in high demand as pets, and were headed for the U.S. and Asia. - Smuggled under horrific conditions, nearly half of the turtles seized in this raid died; the rest are being cared for at Guadalajara Zoo. - This operation highlights rampant turtle smuggling in Mexico, home to the second-most turtle species on the planet. Conservationists urge officials to tighten law enforcement and intelligence gathering to combat trafficking that threatens the survival of the country’s wildlife. authors: | ||
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Reindeer numbers may fall by more than half by 2100 as Arctic warms: Study 14 Nov 2025 14:22:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/reindeer-numbers-may-fall-by-more-than-half-by-2100-as-arctic-warms-study/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Global reindeer populations could fall by more than half by 2100 due to the impacts of climate change, including the shrinking of their habitats, according to a recent study, Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo reports. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), known in North America as caribou, live only in frozen tundra and boreal forests near the Arctic, and are estimated at 2.4 million individuals today. Following a 40% decline in their numbers over three generations, the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, listed the species as vulnerable in 2016. The new study says the global reindeer population could drop by a further 58% by 2100 in a business-as-usual, high-emissions climate scenario, with the species’ range shrinking by an estimated 46%. In July 2025, several reindeer deaths were reported during a heat wave in Norway, Sweden and Finland that broke several temperature records. Locals also spotted reindeer in local towns, searching for water and refuge from the heat and insects. Researchers found that human-induced climate change made the heat wave at least 10 times more likely and 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) hotter. In Finland, the Indigenous Sámi people, the only recognized Indigenous people in the European Union, told Hyolmo that the heat wave was made worse by logging of old-growth forests and NATO military expansion in the northern part of the nation. The grazing lands for their semidomesticated reindeer herds are shrinking. “When forests are logged, the tree-hanging lichen, the primary winter food of reindeer, is lost,” Osmo Seurujärvi, a Sámi herder in Inari,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Global reindeer populations could fall by more than half by 2100 due to the impacts of climate change, including the shrinking of their habitats, according to a recent study, Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo reports. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), known in North America as caribou, live only in frozen tundra and boreal forests near the Arctic, and […] authors: | ||
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As Indonesia turns COP30 into carbon market showcase, critics warn of ‘hot air’ 14 Nov 2025 13:34:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-indonesia-turns-cop30-into-carbon-market-showcase-critics-warn-of-hot-air/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: BELÉM, Brazil — As governments debate how to mobilize trillions of dollars in climate finance, Indonesia is using the COP30 climate summit in Brazil to aggressively promote its carbon market — a system that experts say remains dogged by weak rules, questionable integrity, and uncertain climate benefits. Inside the packed Indonesian pavilion in Belém, carbon trading dominates the agenda. On Nov. 10, Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq opened the pavilion by instructing his delegation to push hard for Article 6, the Paris Agreement mechanism that enables countries to trade carbon credits. “Whenever you enter negotiation rooms, don’t forget to convey our mission. We are serious in pushing for the implementation of Article 6,” he told officials. Indonesia, he added, should return home “with commitment [from other parties to buy] carbon credit that’s quite high [from that of other countries].” Beginning Nov. 11, the government launched a daily “Sellers Meet Buyers” session, where Indonesian state-owned companies and private project developers pitch credits to international investors. Hanif invited foreign companies to join Indonesia’s bid to “lead the global carbon market.” The commercial momentum continued on Nov. 13, when Indonesia and Norway signed a nonbinding expression of intent that could allow Norway to buy credits generated from Indonesia’s grid-connected renewable energy projects under Article 6.2. The revenue, Indonesia says, will fund floating solar installations. The government’s ambitions are enormous. It claims 13.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in potential carbon credits. If accurate, this would make Indonesia one of the biggest…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia is using the COP30 climate summit to aggressively market its carbon credits, launching daily “Sellers Meet Buyers” sessions and seeking international commitments 6 despite unresolved integrity issues in its carbon market. - Experts warn Indonesia’s credits risk being “hot air,” since its climate targets are rated “critically insufficient,” meaning many claimed reductions may not be real, additional or permanent — especially in forest-based projects. - Forest and land-use credits, Indonesia’s biggest selling point, are among the riskiest, with high risks of overcrediting, leakage and nonpermanence; ongoing fires and deforestation further undermine credibility. - Environmental groups say the carbon push distracts Indonesia from securing real climate finance, enabling wealthy nations to offset rather than cut emissions, while leaving Indonesia vulnerable to climate impacts and dependent on a fragile market. authors: | ||
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Sloth selfies are feeding a booming wildlife trafficking trade 14 Nov 2025 13:15:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sloth-selfies-are-feeding-a-booming-wildlife-trafficking-trade/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Fernanda Wenzel content:encoded: It’s not easy to find a sloth in the middle of the forest. They spend most of their time in the tree canopy and are masters of camouflage, thanks to their slow movements and the algae attached to their fur, which makes them blend in with the color of the leaves. Once identified high up, however, these animals become easy prey. Hunters cut down the tree, and within seconds, the animal is on the ground. In their eagerness to defend their young, mothers often are killed by the hunters. The young animals have their claws and sometimes even their fingertips cut off before becoming tourist attractions or exotic “pets.” The exploitation of sloths by the tourism industry has intensified in recent decades, perhaps due to their peaceful appearance and the impression that they are always smiling, which has earned them the nickname Miss Congeniality of the Amazon. Many travelers crossing South American countries want to take photos next to them, and some even decide to take a baby sloth home, fueling a wildlife trade that’s as lucrative as it’s cruel. “That ‘smile’ hides immense suffering,” says biologist Neil D’Cruze, strategic research leader at Canopy, an international environmental advocacy organization. “These animals undergo extreme stress when they are handled, confined or exposed to noisy crowds. They are not physiologically suited for this type of treatment,” says the researcher, who conducted studies in South America on the exploitation of these animals. Few babies resist such stress. In the case of smaller young…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The apparent docility and friendliness of “smiling” sloths have made them tourist darlings, but have also put a target on their backs. - The rise in trafficking of these animals led the governments of Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama to propose stricter rules for the international trade of two sloth species; the goal is to prevent them from becoming threatened with extinction. - Cruel practices used by traders condemn most animals to death, with sloth babies separated from their mothers and subjected to unbearable levels of stress. - In the Brazilian Amazon, tourism companies encourage customers to take photos with sloths, and the government fears the smuggling of animals to neighboring countries. authors: | ||
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Newly described ‘lucifer’ bee found visiting critically endangered plant in Australia 14 Nov 2025 11:17:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/newly-described-lucifer-bee-found-visiting-critically-endangered-plant-in-australia/ author: Hayat Indriyatno dc:creator: Shreya Dasgupta content:encoded: In 2019, researcher Kit Prendergast was surveying the insects visiting an incredibly rare plant in the Bremer Ranges of Western Australia when a bee grabbed her attention. Prendergast and her colleague dug deeper and found that the native bee, now named Megachile lucifer, is a new-to-science species, according to a recent study. The species name refers to the female’s large, devil-like horns. “The female had these incredible little horns on her face,” Prendergast, the study’s lead author from Curtin University, Australia, said in a statement. “When writing up the new species description I was watching the Netflix show Lucifer at the time, and the name just fit perfectly. I am also a huge fan of the Netflix character Lucifer so it was a no-brainer.” Prendergast collected specimens from among bees that were visiting flowers of both the critically endangered plant Marianthus aquilonaris and the more common wandoo mallee (Eucalyptus livida). Both plants are found only in Western Australia state. She compared the specimens with similar bees in museum collections and didn’t find a match. A DNA barcoding test also didn’t turn up a match with any known species in existing bee genetic databases, confirming the species was new to science. One of the collected specimens turned out to be a male M. lucifer. Unlike the female, it didn’t have any horns. “This is the opposite of the situation in much of the animal kingdom, where the males are more likely to be armoured,” Prendergast writes in The Conversation. The description…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In 2019, researcher Kit Prendergast was surveying the insects visiting an incredibly rare plant in the Bremer Ranges of Western Australia when a bee grabbed her attention. Prendergast and her colleague dug deeper and found that the native bee, now named Megachile lucifer, is a new-to-science species, according to a recent study. The species name […] authors: | ||
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From rock music to rainforests: Akhyari Hananto’s unlikely path to impact 14 Nov 2025 05:24:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/from-rock-music-to-rainforests-akhyari-hanantos-unlikely-path-to-impact/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Before dawn breaks over Surabaya, Indonesia’s “City of Heroes,” Akhyari Hananto is already at work. After morning prayers, he opens Google Analytics to watch the night’s reading patterns unfold — what stories drew attention, which headlines resonated, and where curiosity faded. “That information often determines how I’ll prioritize my work for the rest of the day,” he says in an interview. By sunrise, he has already drafted ideas to reenergize audiences across the archipelago. As multimedia manager for Mongabay Indonesia, Hananto operates at the crossroads of creativity, data and strategy. His role blends production, design and analytics. On any given day, he might be editing videos, managing social media channels or translating data insights into editorial tactics. “Everything I do connects to one central mission,” he says, “ensuring that Mongabay’s environmental journalism reaches, engages and resonates with audiences across Indonesia.” That mission carries urgency in a nation of 280 million people whose forests, peatlands and coral reefs are among the most biodiverse, and most threatened, on Earth. For Hananto, who joined Mongabay in 2014, the work is deeply personal. “As an Indonesian, it’s impossible not to care,” he says. “These issues are unfolding right here, on our own islands.” His path to journalism was unconventional. A university student in Yogyakarta during the grunge era, he fronted a Pearl Jam-inspired rock band before entering banking, then humanitarian work after a devastating 2006 earthquake. Later,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Before dawn breaks over Surabaya, Indonesia’s “City of Heroes,” Akhyari Hananto is already at work. After morning prayers, he opens Google Analytics to watch the night’s reading patterns unfold — what stories drew attention, which headlines resonated, and […] authors: | ||
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Small grants are key to a successful next generation of conservationists (commentary) 14 Nov 2025 02:00:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/small-grants-are-key-to-a-successful-next-generation-of-conservationists-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Paul Barnes content:encoded: In a meeting room in a head office in London, a handful of early-career conservationists from around the world sat in a circle on the floor to share their challenges of working in conservation. The conversation was sobering. From affording everyday bills, juggling multiple unsecured jobs and dealing with burnout to harassment in the field, threats by extractive industries and abduction by narcotic gangs, the breadth of burdens on these young emerging leaders was astonishing. After three more similar workshops hosted by the project I lead — the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) EDGE of Existence program — and fast-forward a year, my inbox holds 1,700 applications for our annual fellowship call, a bewildering demand for perhaps 10 places and all for roles that encounter the burdens described in the workshops. This kind of demand is not unusual; I’ve heard similar ratios for other fellowships and small grant schemes. In the same month, numerous blows to funding pipelines for organizations, both large and small, worldwide, have surfaced. Now, like many others, we find ourselves facing a sharp juxtaposition: an overwhelming demand from talented, dedicated teams working on urgent conservation projects that are ready for implementation, contrasted with decreasing, fragile and unpredictable upstream funding. Many young conservationists like Lucero Vaca, shown here conducting a jaguar study, have struggled to make a career in the sector, yet as she told Mongabay in 2017, “If we stop underestimating people based on their age and [help] young conservationists [carry] out their innovative ideas, we…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Large numbers of early-career conservationists and fledgling organizations are poised to implement solutions to the biodiversity crisis, but the prevailing funding logic isn’t adapting fast enough to support them. - Small grants can make a huge difference in this moment, as they are fast, flexible and comprehensible to people on the ground doing local conservation work, especially when unhinged from onerous restrictions and reporting requirements. - “We must support the next generation of conservation leaders to ensure they have viable career paths that do not come at the expense of burnout,” a new op-ed argues. “Small grants must step forward, not as charity, but as infrastructure for resilience.” - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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‘Green’ energy transition leaves a dirty trail in the Philippines’ nickel belt 14 Nov 2025 00:04:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/green-energy-transition-leaves-a-dirty-trail-in-the-philippines-nickel-belt/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Bong S. Sarmiento content:encoded: MINDANAO, Philippines — Communities living near mining operations in the southern Philippines’ Caraga region are feeling the toll of the global energy transition, with nickel mining driving deforestation and pollution, according to a recent report. Climate Rights International (CRI), the U.S.-based NGO behind the report, highlighted harms to the environment, local livelihoods and public health linked to nickel mines. People have also been killed or harassed for speaking out against nickel mining projects in the area, the report said. The Philippines has consistently been ranked as one of the deadliest countries for land defenders. Caraga, on the island of Mindanao, is touted as the “mining capital of the Philippines,” with 26 operating metallic mines, 23 of them nickel — a key element in batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage technologies. “Harms to local communities and the environment are being driven by the individual and cumulative activities of nickel mining projects,” CRI said. The region’s nickel production is concentrated in the provinces of Dinagat Islands, which has 10 active mines, and Surigao del Sur, with six active mines. These mines cover 24,221 hectares (59,851 acres) in the Dinagat Islands and 17,614 hectares (43,525 acres) in Surigao del Sur. Because these mines operate in close proximity to each other, CRI says it’s difficult to attribute the negative impacts experienced by frontline communities to specific companies. But according to the group’s interviews with 57 residents and workers, San Roque Metals Inc. (SRMI), Oriental Vision Mining Philippines Corporation (OVMPC) and Libjo Mining Corporation…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nickel mining in the southern Philippines is damaging the environment and health and livelihoods of local communities, according to a recent report from U.S.-based NGO Climate Rights International. - The report looked at the Caraga region on the island of Mindanao, where 23 active nickel mines currently operate. - Residents interviewed for the report cited siltation of rivers, farms and coastal areas as damage caused by nickel mines, as well as dust pollution during the dry season. They also listed human rights violations against people opposed to the mines. - The vast majority of nickel mined in the region is exported to China. authors: | ||
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Cacao rush fuels conflict and deforestation in southeastern Liberia 13 Nov 2025 23:56:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/cacao-rush-fuels-conflict-and-deforestation-in-southeastern-liberia/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Soaring cacao prices over the last three years are fueling deforestation and conflict in Grand Gedeh county of Liberia, in West Africa, Mongabay staff writer Ashoka Mukpo reported. Satellite imagery by Global Forest Watch indicates that forest loss in and around Grand Gedeh, which borders the neighboring nation of Côte d’Ivoire in southeastern Liberia, has spiked dramatically since the beginning of 2025. The price of cacao rose from $2.30 per kilogram ($1.04 per pound) in 2022 to $7 ($3.18 per pound) in October 2025. That’s a drop in price from the early 2025 peak price of $10.73 per kilo ($4.88 per pound). The dramatic spike in value has fueled a migration of cacao workers from Côte d’Ivoire into Liberia. Nearly 50,000 rural workers have moved to Grand Gedeh, many with experience in the cacao industry. These migrants now make up more than 20% of the county’s population, which was around 217,000 in 2022. “Some of our friends who came to Liberia earlier called us and we saw messages on our phones,” one migrant worker from Cote d’Ivoire told Mukpo. “They told us that the forest is open in Grand Gedeh, so that’s how we started coming to Liberia.” Community leaders and local elites are reportedly offering these migrant workers 20-300 hectares (50-740 acres) of land to set up cacao plantations. Landowners keep 60% of the proceeds from cacao, while the workers take 40%. “The situation is alarming. They are really destroying the forest on a massive scale,” Yei Neagor, an…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Soaring cacao prices over the last three years are fueling deforestation and conflict in Grand Gedeh county of Liberia, in West Africa, Mongabay staff writer Ashoka Mukpo reported. Satellite imagery by Global Forest Watch indicates that forest loss in and around Grand Gedeh, which borders the neighboring nation of Côte d’Ivoire in southeastern Liberia, has […] authors: | ||
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Rare parrots return to Atlantic Forest fragment after decades of silence 13 Nov 2025 22:07:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/rare-parrots-return-to-atlantic-forest-fragment-after-decades-of-silence/ author: Lizkimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Twenty brilliantly colored red-browed amazons took flight over a reserve holding one of the few remaining intact swaths of Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The green-and-red parrots had been missing from Alagoas state for generations. In January 2025, the birds returned home. Researchers say releasing the red-browed amazons (Amazona rhodocorytha) will help the species rebound and restore a dying ecosystem. Only 3% of the Atlantic Forest remains in Alagoas, according to Luiz Fábio Silveira, deputy director of the University of São Paulo’s Museum of Zoology, making it one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. The Atlantic Forest fragments in Alagoas are failing because the animals that spread seeds have disappeared. According to Silveira, without these creatures, trees that depend on animals to spread their seeds are dying and being replaced by trees whose seeds travel on the wind. The release into a thousand-hectare forest reserve in Coruripe, outside of the state capital, Maceió, is part of the Project for the Evaluation, Recovery and Conservation of Endangered Birds (ARCA), which Silveira leads. Red-browed amazons (Amazona rhodocorytha) before their release in to the Atlantic Forest fragment in Alagoas. Photo courtesy of Luiz Fábio Silveira. “It’s not just the animals, but their sounds that are returning to the forest,” Silveira told Mongabay, describing videos sent by community monitors showing flocks of red-browed amazons flying through the reserve. Resembling large lovebirds, red-browed amazons were once common enough to be among the first birds recorded when the first Europeans made landfall in what is today…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Twenty red-browed amazons were released in January 2025 in a forest reserve in Alagoas, Brazil, where only four wild individuals remained after the species was driven to near-extinction by illegal trade and deforestation. - The ARCA project aims to restore ecological processes in the Atlantic Rainforest, which today covers just 3% of its historical range in Alagoas — the result, in part, of the loss of seed-dispersing animals. - The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Alagoas shifted from reactive to preventive environmental protection in 2017, facilitating partnerships between scientists and private land owners to create a network of private reserves covering more than 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres). - Between 2010 and 2020, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest lost an area the size of Washington, D.C., in mature trees each year, despite federal protection laws. authors: | ||
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Strategic ignorance, climate change and Amazonia (commentary) 13 Nov 2025 20:51:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/strategic-ignorance-climate-change-and-amazonia-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Philip M. Fearnside content:encoded: We all know that “ignorance of the law is no excuse,” but in daily life, ignorance of the consequences of one’s actions is, indeed, an excuse that shields us from our own discomfort or from condemnation by others, even for the most serious of offenses. One is reminded of Jesus Christ on the cross asking the Lord to forgive the Roman soldiers who were in the act of killing him, “for they know not what they do.” When it comes to climate change and Amazonia, denial and claimed ignorance are commonplace. If global warming escapes from human control with the crossing of a tipping point within the global climate system, Amazonia (and Brazil as a whole) would be devastated. Not only would the Amazon Rainforest and its vital environmental services be lost, but much of the region’s human population would perish during unprecedented heat waves (see here, here, here, here and here). Tipping points in the global climate and for maintaining the Amazon Rainforest are interconnected. If the Amazon collapses, the resulting release of greenhouse gases would push the global climate past its tipping point, and if global warming escapes from control due to continued burning of fossil fuels, the Amazon would soon succumb. One would therefore expect Brazil’s leaders to be laser-focused on preventing these tipping points from being passed. But instead, with the exception of the efforts of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) to control illegal deforestation (note: only that which is illegal), essentially all…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - With the support of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, essentially all of Brazil’s government outside of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is promoting actions that push us toward tipping points, both for the Amazon Rainforest and the global climate. - Crossing any of these tipping points would result in global warming escaping from human control, with devastating consequences for Brazil that include mass mortalities. - The question of whether Brazil’s leaders understand the consequences of their actions is relevant to how they will be judged by history, but the climatic consequences follow automatically, regardless of how these actions may be judged, a new op-ed argues. - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Ecuador freezes bank accounts of Indigenous leaders, land defenders 13 Nov 2025 18:29:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ecuador-freezes-bank-accounts-of-indigenous-leaders-land-defenders/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Kimberley Brown content:encoded: Since September 2025, dozens of Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have reportedly been unable to access their funds, after a state institution blocked their bank accounts. Judges have recently ordered the government to lift the freeze on a few accounts, but most remain in place. The bank account freezes come at a time of protests, rising social tensions, and President Daniel Noboa’s repeated warnings against organizations he says seek to topple the government. Just weeks before, the National Assembly passed a new law, advertised as a tool against organized crime, that monitors and regulates the finances of NGOs, nonprofits, foundations and social movements operating in the country. Sources say their accounts were frozen without warning or explanation. While some account freezes have been lifted, many have remained in place for over six weeks. Indigenous leaders say this has created a hazard for their assemblies, environmental efforts and other social organizing. The Ministry of Interior denied Mongabay’s various requests for comment, stating via WhatsApp that “this topic is with the UAFE [Financial and Economic Analysis Unit, the body in charge of investigating suspected money laundering cases].” Neither the UAFE, Ecuador’s superintendency of banks, nor the attorney general’s office responded to requests for an interview. Protest in Ecuador, September 24, 2025. Image by to La Raiz / Lanceros Digitales. The national Indigenous federation CONAIE was the first to denounce bank account freezes on Sept. 19, the day after they announced a national strike to protest President…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Dozens of bank accounts that belong to Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have been reportedly frozen for weeks, by order of the state. - Sources told Mongabay their accounts froze suddenly without warning or explanation. Some have gone over six weeks, unable to access their funds, saying it has drastically affected their mobility. - The freezes come at a time of social protests and rising tensions in the country, and ahead of a controversial referendum in November that will ask citizens if they want to re-write the country’s constitution. - The freeze on some bank accounts have been lifted with help from lawyers. However, dozens remain in place. authors: | ||
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What’s at stake for the environment in Chile’s upcoming election? 13 Nov 2025 18:12:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-chiles-upcoming-election/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: Chileans will go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote for a new president, 23 Senate seats, and all 155 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies. The elections could be a deciding factor in how the country addresses a number of ongoing environmental issues, including the renewable energy transition, constitutional rights for Indigenous groups, and the development of its mining sector, most notably energy transition minerals like copper and lithium. Chile has protected more than 20% of its land mass and more than 40% of its waters, and last year passed legislation with a special focus on peatlands, a major carbon sink. But it’s still short of meeting its 30×30 targets, part of the Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of land and water by 2030. The country is also dealing with land disputes in southern regions like Araucanía and Biobío, where Indigenous Mapuche groups often reject logging, agribusiness and an ineffective land titling process for ancestral territory. Earlier this year, the Presidential Commission for Peace and Understanding delivered a final report with recommended solutions to the land disputes, but implementation will be up to the next president. The world’s top copper producer and second largest of lithium, Chile is also a major player in the global energy transition. In recent years, numerous mining operations have been accused of abusing freshwater sources and endangering vulnerable species, raising questions about whether the country needs tighter oversight. The current president, Gabriel Boric, the millennial progressive who promised systemic change when elected in 2021,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Chileans will go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote for a new president, 23 Senate seats and all 155 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies. - The elections could be a deciding factor in how the country addresses a number of ongoing environmental issues. - Candidates range from the left-wing Jeannette Jara to conservatives José Antonio Kast, Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei. - Whoever wins will have to address the clean energy transition, ongoing land disputes with Indigenous groups, and a controversial mining sector that has clashed with local communities. authors: | ||
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Sea anemones and hermit crabs form a mutualistic relationship in Japan 13 Nov 2025 17:05:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/sea-anemones-and-hermit-crabs-form-a-mutualistic-relationship-in-japan/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Japanese researchers have described a new species of sea anemone that appears to share a mutually beneficial relationship with hermit crabs. The pale pink sea anemones, now named Paracalliactis tsukisome, were found attached to the shells of hermit crabs (Oncopagurus monstrosus). The researchers described the anemone based on 36 specimens that fishing trawlers collected between 2017 and 2024 from various locations off the coast of Japan at depths between 192 and 470 meters (630 and 1,542 feet). The anemones, the team observed, were all attached to the tops of hermit crab shells and spatially oriented in the same direction. “3D CT imaging revealed a consistent, unidirectional attachment pattern near the shell’s opening, suggesting a basic sense of orientation,” Akihiro Yoshikawa, the study’s lead author from Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science, told Mongabay by email. The anemone’s asymmetry and sense of orientation were unusual because sea anemones, like starfish, usually display radial symmetry, meaning a line drawn through their middle can divide the animals into halves many different ways, like slicing a pie. Radial symmetry allows anemones to interact with their environment from all directions equally. P. tsukisome “can form asymmetric, snail-shaped structures—a phenomenon extremely rare in evolutionary terms,” Yoshikawa said. “This finding offers valuable insight into how simple animals perceive spatial orientation and could provide a model for studying early forms of body asymmetry.” The team’s analysis found that anemones feed partly on the waste of their host, hermit crabs, and on surrounding organic particles. So, the hermit crabs…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Japanese researchers have described a new species of sea anemone that appears to share a mutually beneficial relationship with hermit crabs. The pale pink sea anemones, now named Paracalliactis tsukisome, were found attached to the shells of hermit crabs (Oncopagurus monstrosus). The researchers described the anemone based on 36 specimens that fishing trawlers collected between […] authors: | ||
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Global Energy Outlook sees promise in Africa’s power transition — funds permitting 13 Nov 2025 16:31:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/global-energy-outlook-sees-promise-in-africas-power-transition-funds-permitting/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: The World Energy Outlook 2025, released Nov. 12 by the International Energy Agency (IEA), portrays an African continent where energy demand is surging, but access and investment continue to lag. According to the IEA, Africa’s population is expanding at twice the rate of the global average — and with it, energy demand is expected to increase by more than 50% by 2040 under current policies. Yet 600 million Africans still live without electricity, and millions more face chronic outages. Africa’s energy growth is accelerating, but access remains highly unequal, the report notes. Average electricity use per person on the continent is roughly one-sixth of the global average, despite rising urban and industrial needs. The IEA warns that this imbalance risks locking communities and businesses into cycles of energy poverty unless policy reforms close the gap between energy generation and affordability. The IEA credits Africa with expanding solar and wind capacity at its fastest rate ever; the continent’s renewable sector is one of the most dynamic globally. Solar power is expected to supply nearly 40% of new electricity capacity over the next decade, the report finds. North Africa, Kenya and Namibia are cited as emerging clean energy hubs. Still, fossil fuels remain the backbone of the region’s energy mix. The challenge, the IEA says, is ensuring that renewable energy advances are not undermined by continued fossil expansion. The IEA devotes a section of the report to Africa’s potential in critical mineral supply chains. Countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo hold…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The World Energy Outlook 2025, released Nov. 12 by the International Energy Agency (IEA), portrays an African continent where energy demand is surging, but access and investment continue to lag. According to the IEA, Africa’s population is expanding at twice the rate of the global average — and with it, energy demand is expected to […] authors: | ||
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Zanzibar’s ‘solar mamas’ are trained as technicians to help light up communities 13 Nov 2025 16:16:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/zanzibars-solar-mamas-are-trained-as-technicians-to-help-light-up-communities/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) — Around half of Zanzibar’s population of 2 million people live unconnected from the electricity grid. But one program is training local women as solar power technicians to help light up Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago. The Barefoot College International program is helping communities move on from smoky kerosene lamps. The lamps can cause health issues including eye irritation, lung damage and serious burns. The program is expanding to other parts of Africa but it faces challenges from cuts to foreign aid. And there has been some resistance in communities where a woman’s place has long been in the home. By Jack Denton, Associated Press Banner image: “Solar Mama” technicians walk on the campus of Barefoot College International in Kinyasini, Unguja, Zanzibar, July 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jack Denton)This article was originally published on Mongabay description: ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) — Around half of Zanzibar’s population of 2 million people live unconnected from the electricity grid. But one program is training local women as solar power technicians to help light up Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago. The Barefoot College International program is helping communities move on from smoky kerosene lamps. The lamps can cause […] authors: | ||
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On the frontline of the Amazon land war 13 Nov 2025 15:14:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/video/2025/11/on-the-frontline-of-the-amazon-land-conflict/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Fernanda WenzelFernando MartinhoJulia Lima content:encoded: TERRA NOSSA, Brazil — In 2024, Mongabay investigative reporter Fernanda Wenzel traveled to one of the most dangerous spots in the Brazilian Amazon — a region where a silent land war is destroying the forest and costing lives. Her goal: to understand why three groups are locked in conflict here — land grabbers, settlers, and landless families — and how this battle pushes deforestation ever deeper into the rainforest. Fernanda met a group of landless people camping in an area already designated as a land reform settlement — land that, on paper, belongs to settlers who were legally allocated those plots. So why weren’t the settlers living there? Because a third group, land grabbers, had taken it over. They illegally fenced off huge portions of the settlement, blocked the rightful settlers from entering, and even hired armed security to patrol the area and intimidate the landless families now occupying the plot. “It’s a region where land is controlled by violence,” says land conflict expert Maurício Torres, who was also in the region accompanying Fernanda. “Whoever gets a piece of land is not the one who has it registered at the land registry office; it’s whoever is strongest and manages to expel the weakest.” This is the root of Brazil’s land dispute crisis: a tiny elite controls large territories, while the majority of small farmers have little or no land. To escape the conflict, those small farmers push deeper into the forest, clearing new areas and driving deforestation. In 2024, Brazil…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: TERRA NOSSA, Brazil — In 2024, Mongabay investigative reporter Fernanda Wenzel traveled to one of the most dangerous spots in the Brazilian Amazon — a region where a silent land war is destroying the forest and costing lives. Her goal: to understand why three groups are locked in conflict here — land grabbers, settlers, and […] authors: | ||
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Letters to the Future 13 Nov 2025 15:11:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2025/11/letters-to-the-future/ author: Lemaemortimer dc:creator: content:encoded: In this series, Letters to the Future, the 2025 cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows share their views on environmental journalism, conservation and the future for their generation, amid multiple planetary crises. Each commentary is a personal reflection, based on individual fellows’ experiences in their home communities and the insights gained through the past six months of the fellowship. The series spans the Global South — Malaysia, India, Colombia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo — showcasing a broad diversity of ideas and the common ground these young environmental journalists share as they embark on their careers.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In this series, Letters to the Future, the 2025 cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows share their views on environmental journalism, conservation and the future for their generation, amid multiple planetary crises. Each commentary is a personal reflection, based on individual fellows’ experiences in their home communities and the insights gained through […] authors: | ||
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The secret to building a global newsroom? Lead with impact, says Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Nov 2025 15:01:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/the-secret-to-building-a-global-newsroom-lead-with-impact-says-mongabay-founder-rhett-ayers-butler/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo content:encoded: “We only get so much time on this planet, and I want to make the most of it.” That sense of urgency has driven Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler since his teens, when he visited a rainforest in Borneo. Later on, he learned that what had once been a teeming ecosystem full of the sounds of orangutans and hornbills had been completely destroyed. This experience marked a turning point that led him to establish Mongabay in 1999. “I wanted to help people see the connection between their own lives and what was happening in faraway forests, and to do it through credible information rather than advocacy,” he says. Butler envisioned Mongabay as more than a news outlet, but as a tool for protecting nature. “The idea was to make knowledge accessible and free, and to show that credible reporting could be a form of conservation in itself,” he says. In 2025, Butler received two honors for his work at Mongabay. First, a place on the Forbes Sustainability Leaders list – which honors 50 global leaders working to combat the climate crisis, alongside figures such as naturalist David Attenborough, Brazilian environment minister Marina Silva and Kenyan climate leader Wanjira Mathai. And second, the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Henry Shaw Medal, one of the oldest and most prestigious awards to recognize significant contributions to botanical research, horticulture and conservation. Missouri Botanical Garden Board of Trustees chair Michael Stern, left, and president and director Dr. Lúcia G. Lohmann, right, presenting Butler with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler launched Mongabay in 1999 with the idea to “to make knowledge accessible and free, and to show that credible reporting could be a form of conservation in itself.” - In this interview with Butler, he shares how he sees receiving notable awards in 2025, including being named a Forbes Sustainability Leader and receiving the Henry Shaw Medal, as reflections of team rather than individual merit. - For Butler, impact is Mongabay’s true metric of success, as it can make a difference in “how people think, decide, and act.” - Butler says the next 25 years of Mongabay will focus on strengthening impact and empowering the next generations of leaders in environmental journalism. authors: | ||
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TotalEnergies moves to restart Mozambique LNG project despite security, eco concerns 13 Nov 2025 14:23:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/totalenergies-moves-to-restart-mozambique-lng-project-despite-security-eco-concerns/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: Four years after suspending operations at a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique’s Afungi Peninsula following insurgent attacks in the nearby village of Palma, French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies and its partners have decided to lift their force majeure, local media reported. The company communicated the decision to the Mozambican government on Oct. 24. It also requested some amendments to the project plan, including a 10-year extension on its production license. TotalEnergies’ resumption of work on the LNG plant still awaits government approval of its proposed timeline and budget. Still, activity around the planned LNG site has been ramping up over the past year, said Daniel Ribeiro of the Mozambican environmental organization Justiça Ambiental, in a phone interview with Mongabay. He estimated that around 1,000 people — including subcontractors, private firms and TotalEnergies staff — are already working in the area. Observers and civil society organizations say the security situation remains precarious at the site. They also warn that major issues persist, including environmental impacts, unresolved land compensation for resettled communities, and the exposure of nearby villages to heightened security risks. “Total has gone to a closed enclave setup where they want to increase the security of their project area, the Afungi site, in which they have a lot of security. But that model will expose the communities to the insurgents more,” Ribeiro said. He added that TotalEnergies receives security support from the Mozambican army as well as forces from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda. Ribeiro…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Four years after suspending operations at a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique’s Afungi Peninsula following insurgent attacks in the nearby village of Palma, French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies and its partners have decided to lift their force majeure, local media reported. The company communicated the decision to the Mozambican government on Oct. 24. […] authors: | ||
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Photos: Drones help First Nations track down cold-water havens for salmon amid warming 13 Nov 2025 12:31:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/photos-with-drones-first-nations-track-down-cold-water-havens-for-salmon-amid-warming/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Boris R. Thebia content:encoded: GASPÉSIE, Canada — In Quebec’s Gaspésie region, Indigenous river guardians say they are in a race against climate change to protect the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The Mi’gmaq Wolastoqey Indigenous Fisheries Management Association (MWIFMA), serving the Gesgapegiag, Gespeg and Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nations, has launched a drone-mapping program to locate cool-water refuges in river systems before they disappear as temperatures rise. Using thermal-infrared cameras, the team surveys entire river lengths, generating color-coded temperature maps that reveal cold pockets critical to salmon survival. Stephen Jerome, elder of the Mi’kmaq of the eastern Canada region posing by the very river spot he was raised on as a child. Image by Boris R. Thebia. Stephen Jerome, an elder of the Mi’kmaq community living in Gesgapegiag, says he has witnessed firsthand the cumulative toll on salmon populations that have sustained his people for thousands of years. Overfishing has depleted once-abundant stocks in the region, while climate change delivers a double threat: Warming temperatures push Atlantic salmon beyond their ideal thermal tolerance. “Recent droughts have left cold, deep refuge pools shrinking or disappearing entirely,” he says. Salmon typically prefer temperatures of 12-17° Celsius (53.6-62.6° Fahrenheit) with heat stress beginning around 20°C (68°F) and lethal exposure at 25-28°C (77-82°F). According to a study, many Quebec rivers are climbing 0.7-0.9°C (about 1.3-1.6°F) per decade, and current models estimate river water temperatures in eastern Canada will climb by 3.2°C (5.8°F) by the end of the 21st century under high greenhouse gas scenarios. Samuel and Miguel assembling and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indigenous fisheries association and river guardians, representing several Mi’kmaq nations in eastern Canada, have launched a drone-based thermal-mapping campaign to locate and protect cold-water refuges vital for threatened Atlantic salmon. - Warming temperatures are pushing the Atlantic salmon beyond their ideal thermal tolerance, compounding existing pressures on the species, such as overfishing. - Warming waters and declining river flows during droughts are impacting both the fisheries and the cultural lifeblood of Mi’kmaq society. - Indigenous river guardians hope the project will pre-emptively shield cool-water habitats before key spawning and migration corridors become unviable. authors: | ||
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‘Clean energy is just one driver of mining’: Cleodie Rickard on critical minerals 13 Nov 2025 08:13:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/when-critical-minerals-arent-interview-with-cleodie-rickard/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: For Cleodie Rickard, the policy and campaigns manager at Global Justice Now, the term “critical” minerals, commonly used to describe the metals vital for the green energy transition, can be misleading. A new Global Justice Now report, authored by Rickard, reveals that nearly one in five minerals labeled “critical” by the U.K. aren’t essential for the green energy transition. In fact, more than half of the 33 minerals have little to no role in the transition, with five prioritized for aerospace and weapons instead. What makes a mineral “critical,” Rickard says, depends largely on each country’s strategic and geopolitical objectives, not just its role in clean energy. She says multinational mining companies and governments can often use the green energy transition as a pretext to ramp up mining projects, even though a lot of the minerals are intended for other purposes, such as the military sector and AI infrastructure. Countries also have differing definitions of which minerals are considered “critical” or “strategic.” “The term ‘critical minerals’ is often used to secure political and economic support for resource exploration,” Filipe Gabriel Mura, a Mura Indigenous leader from Brazil, tells Mongabay via WhatsApp. “But the problem is that [the term] groups together different minerals with very different purposes. Not all of them are essential to the energy transition, and many serve the defense or agribusiness industries.” Gabriel says this is the case in the Mura Lago dos Soares community in the Amazonas state, where a potassium project, a mineral classified as essential…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new Global Justice Now report has found that nearly one-fifth of minerals labeled “critical” by the U.K. aren’t actually essential for the green energy transition, but are instead needed for the aerospace and weapons industries. - Mongabay interviewed Cleodie Rickard, the policy and campaigns manager at Global Justice Now, who says the group’s findings also show the U.K. can pursue its energy transition without increasing mineral mining — if it does so in a certain way. - Rickard says states and multinational mining companies often use the green energy transition as a pretext to ramp up critical mineral projects even though many of the minerals listed as “critical” aren’t necessary for the energy transition. - In this interview, she says the need to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is undeniable, but exactly what materials should be prioritized, how much of them and what specific industries they serve have not been given enough attention. authors: | ||
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Protecting Vietnam’s vast caves may have sparked a wildlife comeback 13 Nov 2025 03:23:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/protecting-vietnams-vast-caves-may-have-sparked-a-wildlife-comeback/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Joshua Zukas content:encoded: Thirty-five years ago, a Vietnamese hunter stumbled across the biggest cave on the planet — then promptly lost it. Hồ Khanh was deep in the 400-million-year-old karst limestone landscape that straddles central Vietnam and Laos. Beneath Hồ’s feet lay wet cave systems that spanned hundreds of kilometers, but his focus was on the tangled jungle above. Here he hunted slow lorises, which he hawked as pets, and pangolins, whose scales are used in traditional medicine (and which perhaps helped spread COVID-19 from bats to humans). What he prized most, however, was agarwood, a rare, valuable and fragrant heartwood that could be carved into ornaments or burned as incense. When a sudden storm broke, Hồ slipped into a cave for cover. The hammering rain blurred the world into noise, yet it couldn’t drown out the blustering chambers from the cave’s dark depths. When the skies cleared, Hồ resumed his hunt. With time, the memory of this small crack in the mountain dimmed, and Hồ returned to his primary income source: looting the jungle. “Back then, we barely saw any wildlife,” recalls Howard Limbert, who began exploring the wilderness’s caves with his wife, Deb, in the 1990s. After several expeditions with the British Caving Association (BCA) in what became Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in 2001, the Limberts were convinced that the region concealed vast, unknown caves. In 2007, when they heard Hồ’s story of a narrow opening that led to howling chambers, their curiosity was piqued. The three struck up a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in Vietnam is billed as a successful example of sustainable tourism, with efforts to conserve the area’s unique caves and wildlife. - The park’s management has implemented measures to limit tourism’s impact, such as restricting visitor numbers and offering guided tours, which has helped curb illegal hunting and logging. - Local communities have benefited from tourism, with many former hunters and loggers now working as guides and porters, and wildlife populations are showing signs of recovery. - The success of conservation efforts in the park has led to plans to expand protection to the Laotian side of the border, creating a transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site. authors: | ||
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At her memorial, a call to carry Jane Goodall’s hope forward 12 Nov 2025 23:59:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/at-her-memorial-a-call-to-carry-jane-goodalls-hope-forward/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Today the nave of Washington National Cathedral was filled for Jane Goodall’s celebration of life, drawing scientists, activists, diplomats, and children alike. The service opened not in mourning but in gratitude. “This cathedral is a house of prayer for all people,” said Dean Randy Hollerith. “Jane was one of the world’s most remarkable human beings.” Few could disagree. Procession at the conclusion of Jane Goodall’s service in Washington D.C. on November 12, 2025. Photo by the Washington National Cathedral. Goodall’s life spanned ninety-one years and an era of transformation in how humans see the natural world. The girl who once hid in a henhouse to watch eggs being laid became the scientist who revealed that chimpanzees use tools and express emotions long thought uniquely human. Yet the tributes this morning were less about what she discovered than how she lived: her patience, her wit, and her unrelenting belief that hope was not a sentiment but a discipline. Anna Rathman speaking at Jane Goodall’s celebration of life in Washington D.C. on November 12, 2025. Photo by the Washington National Cathedral. The quiet force Anna Rathman, executive director of the Jane Goodall Institute USA, described a woman who led with restraint rather than volume, whose strength lay in conviction rather than command. “Jane was never the loudest in the room,” Rathman said. “But her powerful message spoke volumes.” Jane Goodall. Photo by Vincent Calmel Goodall, she reminded the audience, saw her institute as an ecosystem: a network of people working toward balance…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Jane Goodall’s memorial at Washington National Cathedral brought together scientists, diplomats, activists, and children for a service rooted in gratitude rather than grief, reflecting a life that reshaped how the world understands the natural world. - Speakers described her quiet authority and her belief that conservation depended on relationships, resilience, and collective purpose, with Anna Rathman urging the audience to continue the work Jane had begun. - Francis Collins and Leonardo DiCaprio offered personal reflections on her blend of scientific rigor, moral clarity, humor, and hope, recalling how she moved through the world with curiosity and purpose, insisting that every individual could make a meaningful difference. - Her grandson Merlin van Lawick spoke of the wonder she carried through her life and promised to continue her mission, underscoring a service that closed not with finality but with an invitation to carry her light forward and to show, through action, that hope endures. authors: | ||
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West Africa’s oceans get $68 million lifeline amid fisheries decline 12 Nov 2025 21:36:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/west-africas-oceans-get-68-million-lifeline-amid-fisheries-decline/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: A coalition of international organizations has launched the West Africa Sustainable Ocean Programme to tackle the region’s deepening fisheries decline. Led by the IUCN (the global wildlife conservation authority), Expertise France and the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), the WASOP initiative aims to curb illegal fishing, restore marine ecosystems, and promote a sustainable blue economy. More than half of the fish stocks in West Africa are being unsustainably exploited according to the FAO. The problem lies in both domestic and international overfishing. The depletion of fish stocks is threatening livelihoods across the region; roughly 15% of the GDP of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) depends on fishing and aquaculture. “There is … a lack of planning and regulation throughout the region, and this project aims to address those needs,” Komlan Messie, regional executive director of the Forum of Civil Society Organizations of West Africa (FOSCAO), which helped create WASOP, told Mongabay by phone. The European Union is funding the program with 59 million euros ($68 million) over five years. The plan will cover 13 coastal countries in West Africa: Benin, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. For Bassirou Diarra, ocean campaigner with the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), the program’s launch is a promising start. “It’s an interesting project, but now we have to see how it will be implemented. Regarding illegal fishing, our resources are transboundary, so the approach has to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A coalition of international organizations has launched the West Africa Sustainable Ocean Programme to tackle the region’s deepening fisheries decline. Led by the IUCN (the global wildlife conservation authority), Expertise France and the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), the WASOP initiative aims to curb illegal fishing, restore marine ecosystems, and […] authors: | ||
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‘Africa can become a green leader’: Interview with Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa 12 Nov 2025 18:18:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/africa-can-become-a-green-leader-interview-with-mohamed-adow-of-power-shift-africa/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: For many parts of Africa, 2025 has been marked by extreme climate events. Between the deadly floods that struck the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, and the severe drought that gripped Chad, countries across the continent are being hit hard by the effects of climate change. Many have also suffered the consequences of a major political shift: the return to power of Donald Trump in the United States, followed by a significant decrease in funding for health programs and efforts to adapt to climate change. Oil has once again found favor with the world’s leading economic power, which Trump has, for the second time in as many terms, pulled out from the Paris Agreement — under which countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, in part by embracing renewable energy sources. Then on Nov. 10, the COP30 U.N. climate summit opened in Belém, Brazil. Among the many delegates from Africa attending the gathering in the Amazon is Mohamed Adow, the founder and director of Power Shift Africa. This Kenya-based think tank was established in 2018 to mobilize climate action across Africa and promote climate and energy policies that aim for zero-carbon economies. Adow is also a member of the consortium Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025 (ACT2025), which brings together experts and leaders from climate-vulnerable countries, working to drive greater climate ambition on the international stage. Adow spoke with Mongabay about his expectations from the summit from the perspective of the energy transition, and in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Although Africa contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it suffers the worst consequences of climate change and still receives only around 2% of global renewable energy investments. - Mohamed Adow from the think tank Power Shift Africa tells Mongabay that delegates at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, must deliver a “just transition framework” that prioritizes African needs, expands access to clean energy, and strengthens green industrialization across the continent. - Adow says he envisions an Africa that harnesses its transition minerals and renewable potential for its own prosperity — leading the global energy transition instead of powering other countries’ economies. - In 2025, African countries experienced escalating climate disasters, including deadly floods and severe droughts, while facing cuts in U.S. aid funding. authors: | ||
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Donors renew $1.8 billion pledge for Indigenous land rights 12 Nov 2025 18:07:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/donors-renew-1-8-billion-pledge-for-indigenous-land-rights/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: The governments of four countries, along with several philanthropies and donors, have renewed a $1.8 billion pledge over the next five years to help recognize, manage and protect Indigenous and other traditional community land. The Forest and Land Tenure Pledge, first made in Glasgow at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference, provided $1.86 billion in funding from 2021-2024, with one year of the pledge remaining. About 7.6% of the funding in 2024 went directly to Indigenous peoples and local community organizations, rather than through intermediaries. In the renewed pledge, which will run from 2026-2030, donors committed to increase the share of direct funding toward these communities. “Despite threats to their lives and rights to their territories, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant communities lead much of the global effort to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to halt and reverse biodiversity loss,” the signatories wrote in the new pledge, announced in Belém, Brazil, ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, also known as COP30, on Nov. 6. “We will continue efforts to increase the share of direct, long-term, and flexible financing, ensuring communities have genuine decision-making power and influence over how funds are used,” they added. Each donor reports its spending independently to the Forest and Land Tenure Funders Group, which oversees the pledge. The group then publishes aggregate data of the details; a breakdown of donation amounts by funders or recipients isn’t made publicly available. Dozens of donors are listed among the signatories, but the group’s latest report…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The governments of four countries, along with several philanthropies and donors, have renewed a $1.8 billion pledge over the next five years to help recognize, manage and protect Indigenous and other traditional community land. The Forest and Land Tenure Pledge, first made in Glasgow at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference, provided $1.86 billion in […] authors: | ||
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Governments commit to recognizing 160 million hectares of Indigenous land 12 Nov 2025 17:58:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/governments-commit-to-recognizing-160-million-hectares-of-indigenous-land/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: The governments of nine tropical countries recently made a joint pledge to recognize 160 million hectares, or 395 million acres, of Indigenous and other traditional lands by 2030, according to a Nov. 7 announcement at the World Leaders Summit, an event hosted ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil. The Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment (ILTC) marks the first time countries have come together to expand recognition for land tenure for Indigenous and other traditional land stewards. So far, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Fiji, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have signed the commitment. A breakdown of specific commitments by country has not yet been made publicly available but is expected to be announced on Nov. 17, according to the ILTC press office. Sonia Guajajara, Brazil’s minister of Indigenous peoples, said in a press release that at least 59 million hectares (146 million acres), more than one-third of the pledge’s total commitment, would come from Brazil, the conference’s host country. According to a 2023 report by the global advocacy group Rights and Resources Initiative, more than 1.3 billion hectares (3.2 billion acres) of land is protected by Indigenous, Afro-descendant and other traditional communities, but only 11% is formally recognized as theirs in the 73 countries analyzed. The announcement of the ILTC was made on the same day that Norway, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands and 35 philanthropies and donors renewed a pledge to donate $1.8 billion over five years toward land tenure. Over the last four years, the Forest…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The governments of nine tropical countries recently made a joint pledge to recognize 160 million hectares, or 395 million acres, of Indigenous and other traditional lands by 2030, according to a Nov. 7 announcement at the World Leaders Summit, an event hosted ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil. The Intergovernmental Land Tenure […] authors: | ||
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Taiwan evacuates 8,300 and shuts schools before tropical storm brushes island 12 Nov 2025 16:09:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/taiwan-evacuates-8300-and-shuts-schools-before-tropical-storm-brushes-island/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan evacuated more than 8,300 people from coastal and mountainous areas and closed schools before a tropical storm brushes the southern part of the island later Wednesday. Fung-wong had super typhoon strength when it battered the Philippines on Sunday, causing flooding, landslides, power outages and at least 27 deaths. Still holding tropical storm strength Wednesday morning, it was expected to continue losing wind speed and size as it approached Taiwan. Heavy rains and flooding injured at least 51 people as of Wednesday morning, according to the National Fire Agency. Authorities evacuated 8,326 people, the majority from the eastern Hualien County, where a typhoon in September left 18 dead. An overflowing creek flooded a village in Hualien on Tuesday. Images carried by local media showed a car being swept away by floodwater. Schools and offices were closed in central and southern parts of Taiwan including the coastal cities of Kaohsiung, Taichung and Tainan as well as Pingtung, Chiayi and Miaoli counties. The capital, Taipei, in the island’s north, operated as usual. As of Wednesday morning, Fung-wong was about 140 kilometers (87 miles) southwest of Taiwan in the South China Sea, moving northeast at 16 kph (10 mph). It was expected to make landfall during the afternoon or evening and graze the southern part of the island before exiting from its southeastern side. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 65 kph (40 mph) and higher gusts. Authorities warned residents around the island to avoid going to the beach, where waves were…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan evacuated more than 8,300 people from coastal and mountainous areas and closed schools before a tropical storm brushes the southern part of the island later Wednesday. Fung-wong had super typhoon strength when it battered the Philippines on Sunday, causing flooding, landslides, power outages and at least 27 deaths. Still holding tropical storm […] authors: | ||
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Peru Indigenous patrols see success & struggles in combating illegal miners 12 Nov 2025 15:20:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/peru-indigenous-patrols-see-success-struggles-in-combating-illegal-miners/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: For several years, illegal gold mining, loggers and other invaders have impacted the territory of the Indigenous Wampís people (or Huambisa) of the northern Peruvian Amazon. To combat these threats amid a lack of state support, the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW) formed the territorial monitoring group Charip. The group’s formation in February 2024 led to quick results. Within two months, Charip arrested three Peruvian police officers for their involvement in illegal gold mining near the Wampís community of Villa Gonzalo, on the banks of the Santiago River. A high-level commission from the Peruvian government visited the Wampís Nation a few days later and promised to eradicate illegal mining in the area. However, sources told Mongabay the state has still not fulfilled its commitments. Peru’s Ministry of Culture and the country’s Amazonas and Loreto regional governments did not respond to Mongabay’s requests for comment by the time of publication. Neither did the Sixth Jungle Brigade, the unit of the Peruvian Army responsible for conducting land, river and air patrols, especially in border areas and the Amazon, to prevent the entry of foreign personnel and support environmental conservation. In 2024, the Charip group also confiscated and destroyed at least seven mega-dredges along the Santiago River, according to a report by the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), a U.K.-based advocacy group that has supported Charip with fuel and food. When the group was formed, it had about 60 personnel to fight against illegal miners, the Charip president René Santiago Ti,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In 2024, the Wampís Indigenous nation formed the territorial monitoring group Charip to combat the expansion of illegal gold mining, loggers and other invaders in their territory in the Peruvian Amazon. - Charip combines traditional knowledge with monitoring technology but lacks the financial resources to expand its control posts and cover more ground. - Members of the group are unpaid, which has led to a decline in the number of available guards. authors: | ||
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Soy giants quietly prepare for EU deforestation law; impacts still uncertain 12 Nov 2025 13:19:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/soy-giants-quietly-prepare-for-eu-deforestation-law-impacts-still-uncertain/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Marina Martinez content:encoded: As the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) approaches its implementation, companies involved in supply chains for soy and other commodities reaching the EU market will soon have to prove that their products do not come from areas deforested after 2020 and that their operations comply with local environmental and human rights laws. This will be particularly challenging for the soy sector, as soybean production has long been a major driver of deforestation, especially in South America. Initially scheduled to take effect in December 2024, the EUDR was postponed for a year, with the European Commission recently proposing an additional grace period to give companies more time to prepare. To find out how ready the soy sector is, Mongabay reached out to five of the world’s largest traders: ADM, AMAGGI, Bunge, Cargill and COFCO International. Responses ranged from “no comment” to no reply. Despite the silence, experts from trade associations and NGOs say big soy traders are already operationally prepared to meet EUDR requirements. “The information we have, which they [traders and soy sector associations] usually share with us, is that they are 100% prepared,” Tiago Reis, conservation specialist at WWF-Brazil, told Mongabay in a voice message. “Some even questioned the proposal to extend the [EUDR] deadline, because they had already invested … so they would be ready to comply.” Patchwork of legal forest reserves, pasture and soy farms in the Brazilian Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Data from Global Canopy’s Forest 500 report show that in 2024, nearly half…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - With the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) nearing implementation, Mongabay reached out to five of the world’s largest traders to find out how ready the soy sector is. Responses ranged from “no comment” to no reply. - Despite the silence, experts from trade associations and NGOs say that big soy traders are already operationally prepared to meet EUDR requirements. - Certification bodies and verification networks, such as ProTerra and VISEC, appear to be playing a key role in helping the soy sector get ready for the EUDR. - Although experts express optimism about the regulation’s potential positive impacts, they underscore its limitations, particularly the exclusion of non-forest ecosystems, and call for continued vigilance in its implementation and corporate commitments. authors: | ||
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Iguanas on Mexico’s Clarion Island likely native, not introduced by people: Study 12 Nov 2025 12:48:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/iguanas-on-mexicos-clarion-island-likely-native-not-introduced-by-people-study/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Researchers have long speculated that humans introduced spiny-tailed iguanas to Mexico’s remote Clarion Island about 50 years ago. However, a recent study suggests the Clarion iguanas are likely native to the island, arriving long before human colonization of the Americas. Clarion Island is the westernmost and oldest of a small group of islands in Mexico’s Revillagigedo Archipelago. Despite its remoteness, the island is home to endemic wildlife, including two snake species and a lizard species, and at least three species or subspecies of birds. In the 1970s, the Mexican military brought some nonnative animals to Clarion, including pigs, sheep and rabbits, which transformed the island’s native flora. Along with the domestic animals, biologists speculated the military also introduced a population of spiny-tailed iguanas (Ctenosaura pectinata) sometime between the 1970s and 1990s. Wildlife records from earlier expeditions to Clarion hadn’t mentioned the lizards. When Daniel Mulcahy from the Museum of Natural History in Berlin and first author of the new study visited the island in 2013 and 2023 to study snakes, he began to suspect the Clarion iguanas were different from those on the mainland. Genetic analysis confirmed his suspicion. The team found the island iguanas diverged from their mainland relatives roughly 425,000 years ago. According to some recent estimates, humans arrived in North America much later, roughly 23,000 years ago. The researchers hypothesize that spiny-tailed iguanas likely arrived on Clarion from the Mexican mainland, a distance of about 1,100 kilometers (700 miles), by floating on vegetation mats across the Pacific. Once…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Researchers have long speculated that humans introduced spiny-tailed iguanas to Mexico’s remote Clarion Island about 50 years ago. However, a recent study suggests the Clarion iguanas are likely native to the island, arriving long before human colonization of the Americas. Clarion Island is the westernmost and oldest of a small group of islands in Mexico’s […] authors: | ||
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