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Sickles, sarees and smoke: Women on the frontlines of Uttarakhand forest fires 08 Sep 2026 20:50:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Swati Thapa content:encoded: In the village forests of Uttarakhand, in the Himalayan region of northern India, a tree can be charred at its base while maintaining a green canopy at its peak. The distinct separation between burnt and unburnt wood is a physical marker of how high the flames reached. For the local women who rely on these woods for survival, the aftermath of wildfire means their daily chores take twice as long, forcing them deeper into the forest just to gather basic fodder and firewood when those closer to home are unusable. Uttarakhand is the most fire-prone state in the Indian Western Himalayas, with increased fire incidence in the region coinciding with high-altitude warming that exceeds the global rate. Beyond individual fire events, the fire season itself is expanding. While the season usually lasts for about 12 weeks starting in mid-March, Uttarakhand now experiences winter fires, an alarming shift from what was previously snow season, hinting at a deeper ecosystem-level impact. This trend has only escalated, with the state recording a sharp spike in forest fire activity during the first four months of 2026. This period is not just witnessed but experienced through each of the human senses. Trails of grey smoke engulf the bright blue sky. Along with the fog-like situation, the air carries soot, sometimes covering the roofs of houses with snow-like ash. “We are all coughing our lungs out; during that time, our eyes are bloodshot, irritated by all the smoke, and it’s hard to breathe in the thick…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Uttarakhand is the most fire-prone state in the Indian Western Himalayas, where wildfire seasons are expanding — and women are taking the lead on fighting fires in their communities. - Traditional gender roles assigning household and caregiving work to women is a reason why women are first responders to fire. - In addition, many men have left rural villages in Uttarakhand to search for opportunities elsewhere; women often stay behind for agriculture and feel obliged to protect their land and animals. - Despite a lack of formal employment, equipment and support for their firefighting work, Uttarakhand women successfully work to stop fires at their source, protecting their villages from hazard. authors: | ||
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Indigenous peoples near Congo parks propose diverse solutions for the future of conservation 08 Sep 2026 20:50:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-peoples-near-congo-parks-propose-diverse-solutions-for-the-future-of-conservation/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Blaise Kasereka MakutaLatoya Abulu content:encoded: GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — High above the lush forests of protected areas in the Congo Basin in eastern Congo, the calls of endemic birds and monkeys echo through the trees. Beneath the canopy, the Maiko, Salonga, Kahuzi-Biega, and Virunga National Parks sprawl across millions of hectares. For millennia, long before these protected areas were established, Indigenous peoples lived in, roamed and shaped these lands, only to be expelled during the 20th century. “We lived in harmony with the forest,” says Julien Basimika, a young Mutwa man, one of the Indigenous Twa people in Congo. “We protected everything that needed protecting, because our lives depended on it. If we had started destroying the forest, we would have suffered the consequences.” Today, many descendants of those who were displaced live in extreme poverty owing to lack of land, armed conflicts and discrimination. Discussions on how to better involve these communities in conservation fuel passionate debates among protected area managers, environmentalists, lawyers and human rights advocates: Should they return to their ancestral lands or not? Should they be part of environmental projects? If so, which ones? How can we mitigate armed conflicts and the involvement of Indigenous peoples in illegal logging, which complicate the situation? Among the communities living near these four national parks, views vary on how to address these issues. Meanwhile, policymakers are discussing how best to involve communities in the Belém Call to Action, announced in November 2025, which aims to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay spoke with Indigenous people and members of local communities living near four national parks in the Congo Basin, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to gather their testimonies and learn about the solutions they envision for reconciling forest conservation with the rights of nearby communities. - Many Indigenous peoples wish to return to their ancestral lands from which they were displaced when the national parks were established; though some still prefer that authorities continue to lead conservation efforts. - Others, however, believe they should remain outside the parks, while calling for better living conditions and greater access to resources and economic opportunities to prevent environmental destruction. - Initiatives such as community forest concessions, local employment and ecotourism programs seek to reconcile conservation, land rights and the needs of communities, but their implementation continues to face tensions and significant challenges. authors: | ||
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A health crisis for Peru’s recently contacted people brings planetary health to the fore 08 Sep 2026 20:02:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/09/a-health-crisis-for-perus-recently-contacted-people-brings-planetary-health-to-the-fore/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay joins the Newscast this week to discuss her reporting trip to the Peruvian Amazon, where she spoke with the Indigenous Matsés community. She made the trip initially to examine environmental threats to Matsés territory. Instead, she found them suffering from an epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B, which they have been asking the Peruvian government to help address. “The story itself was a surprise … every question directed to them about environmental changes would immediately become an issue about health,” Gabay says. The Matsés people have long experienced conflict with outsiders such as rubber tappers encroaching into their territory. So in 1969, in the hope of finding help to ease the conflict, they chose to initiate contact with the outside world, reaching out to evangelical missionaries, Gabay says. But making contact also exposed them to diseases they’d never encountered before, and since then they’ve suffered from a barrage of epidemics. “They don’t have the immunological defenses to be able to fight these diseases that maybe, for us, we are constantly exposed to,” she says. The current epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B they face is being exacerbated by climate change, drought, and state neglect. Prolonged dry weather allows for favorable conditions for malaria-bearing mosquitoes to breed, and at the same time cuts off the river transit that the Matsés depend on for access to health care. Community members have travelled to the nearest major city to plead with the Peruvian government, but they say they’re…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay joins the Newscast this week to discuss her reporting trip to the Peruvian Amazon, where she spoke with the Indigenous Matsés community. She made the trip initially to examine environmental threats to Matsés territory. Instead, she found them suffering from an epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B, which they have […] authors: | ||
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Singkil peat swamp: The embattled orangutan capital of the world 08 Sep 2026 19:04:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singkil-peat-swamp-the-embattled-orangutan-capital-of-the-world/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Mongabay content:encoded: Deep within Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, one of the most important peat swamp forests left on Earth is being cleared, drained, and burned. The Singkil peat swamp is the largest of three remaining coastal peat swamp forests on Sumatra’s west coast, alongside Kluet and Tripa. Together, these extraordinary peatlands form what’s been called “the orangutan capital of the world,” supporting some of the highest densities of Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) ever recorded. But Singkil is being destroyed. A worker inside the Singkil peat swamp, a legally protected wildlife reserve and crucial orangutan habitat, July 2026. Image by Global Conservation. The Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve is nationally protected under Indonesian law. Clearing forest and establishing oil palm plantations inside the reserve is illegal. Yet forest is being cleared and burned, peat is being drained, and canals are being dug into the swamp, lowering water tables and transforming ancient forests into land for agriculture and oil palm. Satellite investigations have documented extensive illegal clearing and plantation expansion inside the reserve. And Indonesia’s fire season has now begun. Fires are lit and illegal clearing is taking place in the Singkil peat swamp, Leuser Ecosystem. Image by Global Conservation. An orangutan seen in the Leuser Ecosystem, the last place on earth where tigers, orangutans, elephants and rhinos still coexist. Image by Global Conservation. For peatlands, fire can be devastating. Once drained, peat dries out and becomes highly flammable. Fires can smolder deep underground for weeks or even months, continuing to burn beneath the surface and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Singkil peat swamp, part of Sumatra’s Leuser ecosystem, is a critical habitat for Sumatran orangutans. - Although legally protected, the Singkil peat swamp is being cleared and drained for oil palm and other crops. - Drained and deforested peat swamps are highly flammable, and Indonesia’s fire season is beginning. - This photo essay highlights the beauty and diversity of Singkil, as well as documenting some of the many threats facing the ecosystem. authors: | ||
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Riverside families in the Amazon change meals as mercury poisons staple fish 08 Sep 2026 18:59:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: LAGO DO PURUZINHO/KARIPUNA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY/CALAMA, Brazil — The Lake Puruzinho community sits on a clear, fish-rich lake in the Brazilian Amazon, an area that, at first glance, resembles paradise. Just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Humaitá in Amazonas state, the community is soundtracked by two contrasting noises: the song of birds like the crested oropendola as it flies in search of fruit, and the thunderous engines of vessels plying the Madeira River. For decades, the approximately 170 residents of the riverside community ate fish from the lake, but that changed when they learned about mercury — and discovered that large quantities of the heavy metal were being dumped into the Madeira by illegal gold mining. The river, which feeds Lake Puruzinho and is a tributary of the Amazon, receives an estimated 10-50 metric tons of mercury from dredges used in gold mining. “There was a lot of mercury in our hair [because] of the fish, the tucunaré, which we eat a lot,” says Maria Rogelina Soares da Silva dos Santos, a fisher and homemaker, at the door of her house, located on the shore of Lake Puruzinho. “It was a huge scare.” She’s referring to studies by researchers at the Federal University of Rondônia (UNIR), in which she has participated for 26 years. The research examines how mercury contamination affects fish and, ultimately, human health, focusing on pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children in communities along the Madeira River. The studies revealed, in recent years, the presence…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A database built by Mongabay Latam, based on the analysis of scientific studies that gathered more than 7,000 samples from humans and 5,900 from fish, identified the areas most affected by mercury contamination in the Madeira River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon. - Mongabay Latam investigated the impact of mercury contamination on the health of the most affected communities: Lake Puruzinho in the state of Amazonas, and the riverside community of Calama and the Karipuna Indigenous Territory, in Rondônia state. - Studies show that mercury concentrations among residents of Lake Puruzinho are among the highest recorded in the Madeira River Basin and well above what the World Health Organization considers safe, prompting residents to change their eating habits. - High levels of mercury in Amazonian communities are related to fish consumption, their main source of protein; the accumulation of mercury in humans can cause serious health damage, such as motor and neurological problems, researchers say. authors: | ||
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In Peru, mercury leaves a toxic footprint on those who depend on a river 08 Sep 2026 18:51:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-peru-mercury-leaves-a-toxic-footprint-on-those-who-depend-on-a-river/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Elizabeth Salazar Vega content:encoded: MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — “Bayolet, my little daughter, had some tests when she was five years old,” says Gladys Ordoñez, a mother from the Shintuya Indigenous community, located on the banks of the Madre de Dios River, in the Peruvian Amazon. “She had already fainted twice at school, and we didn’t know why … That’s where they found mercury.” Ordoñez still remembers the group of “outsiders” who arrived a decade ago to take blood and hair samples. Weeks later, they returned to warn that the fish the community was consuming — its main source of food — could be contaminated. “We said no, that it couldn’t be,” says María Santos, another mother from the community. “We don’t mine for gold here. There is no mining here”. But its source was not in the village: Upstream, illegal gold mining was pouring mercury into the rivers that flow through the Madre de Dios region. Fish came into contact with the heavy metal and traveled downstream before reaching the plates of dozens of local families. Eleven years later, the problem persists. Little Bayolet is now 16 years old. In her fourth year of secondary school, she says she still finds it difficult to concentrate when taking lessons. According to Bayolet, her greatest wish is to finish school so she can take nursing classes. She remembers feeling constant fatigue in the classroom, along with tiredness and weakness. After her diagnosis of mercury exposure, she says she only received treatment for anemia. Bayolet was…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay reviewed nearly three decades of scientific research on the impact of heavy metals and traveled to several Amazonian communities to track the course of mercury contamination. - Previous studies reviewed found that one-third of the children evaluated in the Amarakaeri Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon grew up with mercury levels in their hair that exceed the limit established by the World Health Organization (WHO). - The pollution does not remain within mining enclaves: Mercury travels through the river and reaches Indigenous peoples who are unrelated to the mining practice, while pregnant women and newborns show exposure to mercury and lead, with impacts on infant development and birth weight. - Meanwhile, the state budget for caring for those affected is minimal, and Peru lacks laboratories to measure methylmercury levels — the most toxic form of this metal, associated with fish consumption. authors: | ||
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Indigenous territories maintain Amazon forest just as well as protected areas, study finds 08 Sep 2026 18:45:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/indigenous-territories-maintain-amazon-forest-just-as-well-as-protected-areas-study-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: A new study has found that in Ecuador’s Amazon, Indigenous territories without formal conservation contracts maintained forest conditions just as well as formal protected areas. Ecuador has three different approaches to forest governance: Forests protected by government institutions, forests managed by local communities under formal conservation agreements and Indigenous territories without formal conservation agreements. To find out the state of forests under these different policies, researchers used satellite data to examine three metrics: Long-term changes in vegetation greenness as an indication of degradation or improvement in forest cover; abrupt changes in forest condition due to more acute disturbances like human settlements, roads and agricultural fields; and how forest productivity responded to the 2015-2016 El Niño drought — a climate phenomenon that causes extreme changes in rainfall and temperature patterns. They found that community-protected forests performed best overall in some measures, particularly resilience after drought. These forests were under formal contracts such as a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program, which provides communities with financial incentives to refrain from any commercial activity that disturbs the natural forest. However, Indigenous territories without similar formal conservation agreements and who can use natural resources for subsistence and cultural preservation also had forest condition patterns comparable to the other governance regimes. In fact, they had the greatest proportion of areas showing positive long-term trends in vegetation greenness. “From a practical perspective, our results suggest that conservation is not only about drawing lines on a map,” lead author Fernando Troya, currently based in Ecuador, who conducted…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A new study has found that in Ecuador’s Amazon, Indigenous territories without formal conservation contracts maintained forest conditions just as well as formal protected areas. Ecuador has three different approaches to forest governance: Forests protected by government institutions, forests managed by local communities under formal conservation agreements and Indigenous territories without formal conservation agreements. To […] authors: | ||
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Mercury threatens over 160 communities in Bolivia’s Beni River basin 08 Sep 2026 18:44:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Iván Paredes Tamayo content:encoded: BENI, Bolivia — Gilberto Vaca Muiba fears that the mercury in his body will end his life. Yet, the fear does not change his routine. He takes his old fishing rod, walks toward the river, and waits patiently for the meal of the day. He is on his knees on one of the shores of the Beni River, in the Bolivian Amazon, waiting for a fish to bite — so he can take the food home. It is a July afternoon in the Bolivian community of Puerto Yumani, and he has just caught a small surubí. The local fish is likely contaminated with mercury, but he brings it to his table nonetheless. Puerto Yumani is one of the five Indigenous communities Mongabay visited along a 41-kilometer (25.48 miles) stretch of the Beni River. The other four are Carmen Soledad and Puerto Motor, in the municipality of Rurrenabaque (in the Beni department), and Eyiyoquibo and Buena Vista, in the municipality of San Buenaventura (north of La Paz department). All these territories, belonging to the Tacana, Leco, and Ese Ejja Indigenous peoples, are exposed to mercury contamination arising in the river. Because of that, the Beni River is perceived in two ways: As a source of subsistence for the communities but also as the center of all their ills. “We eat fish every day; it is our common diet because buying meat or chicken is too expensive for us. In the rivers, we have our food, but this very food is contaminated.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay found that 39 communities in Bolivia are suffering from mercury poisoning and that 125 more face a similar risk. - The findings were part of a scientific and geographic analysis covering 42 investigations published over 27 years. Seven were conducted in Bolivia. - The Indigenous and riverside communities affected consume fish daily. Mongabay’s database showed that the protein is contaminated with mercury in at least 17 communities. - Mongabay reached five Indigenous communities located on the banks of the Beni River (northern Bolivia). In some of them, such as Santa Rosita, mercury levels are nine times higher than the limit permitted by the World Health Organization. authors: | ||
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New analysis maps mercury threat to 951 Amazon communities in three countries 08 Sep 2026 18:34:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/09/new-analysis-maps-mercury-threat-to-951-amazon-communities-in-three-countries/ author: Mariaisabel dc:creator: Alexa VélezDaniela Quintero DíazVanessa Romo content:encoded: For the first time, Mongabay Latam analyzed 39 scientific studies published between 1997 and 2024 that confirm that 249 Indigenous and riverside communities in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil have been exposed to mercury contamination. Nearly all of them exceed the limits considered safe by the World Health Organization. The stories reported by three journalistic teams in the field reveal the impact on schools, breastfeeding mothers and numerous Indigenous communities. Mongabay Latam followed the trail of mercury along 2,763 kilometers of three Amazonian rivers: the Madre de Dios (Peru), Beni (Bolivia) and Madeira (Brazil). The analysis by Mongabay Latam reveals that another 702 communities located less than two kilometers from the rivers analyzed are at risk and could be living the same situation, but remain uncertain because no assessments have been carried out. “I had some tests done on my little daughter Bayolet when she was 5 years old. She had already fainted twice at school and we didn’t know why,” says Gladys Ordoñez, a resident of the Indigenous community of Shintuya, in the Peruvian Amazon. A few kilometers beyond Shintuya, navigating the Madeira River, lies the Karipuna territory in Brazil. There, Adriano Karipuna, the community leader, tells a similar story. “[The children] are born with problems, with heart condition … There are young people and teenagers who already have trouble breathing.” The same scenario is repeated in the Bolivian Amazon. “We are tired of asking for medical assistance,” says Limberth Miquere, the corregidor (local Indigenous community leader) of the community…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: For the first time, Mongabay Latam analyzed 39 scientific studies published between 1997 and 2024 that confirm that 249 Indigenous and riverside communities in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil have been exposed to mercury contamination. Nearly all of them exceed the limits considered safe by the World Health Organization. The stories reported by three journalistic teams […] authors: | ||
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Carbon credit financing emerges as Africa’s biggest bet for expanding clean cooking 08 Sep 2026 17:19:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/carbon-credit-financing-emerges-as-africas-biggest-bet-for-expanding-clean-cooking/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Carbon credit financing is helping to drive Africa’s clean cooking transition by making cleaner stoves affordable for millions of low-income households. As governments introduce new policies, securing $900 million in fresh financing commitments, companies such as Kenya’s BURN are using carbon credits to subsidize electric and efficient biomass cookstoves across the continent. As such devices replace charcoal stoves and open fires, supporters say the approach could accelerate access to clean cooking, help to reduce deforestation and cut hazardous household air pollution. Still, its long-term success depends on sustained demand for high-integrity carbon credits. By Allan Olingo, Associated Press Banner image: Mary Kavutha prepares breakfast using a fuel-efficient cookstove made by BURN in Kiambu, Kenya, on July 31, 2026. Image courtesy of Allan Olingo, Associated Press.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Carbon credit financing is helping to drive Africa’s clean cooking transition by making cleaner stoves affordable for millions of low-income households. As governments introduce new policies, securing $900 million in fresh financing commitments, companies such as Kenya’s BURN are using carbon credits to subsidize electric and efficient biomass cookstoves across the […] authors: | ||
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New-to-science Amazon frog stands out for its slow ‘lazy’ song 08 Sep 2026 15:53:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-to-science-amazon-frog-stands-out-for-its-slow-lazy-song/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Scientists recently described a new species of a tiny brown frog found in the Amazonian floodplain forests of Ecuador and northwestern Brazil. It looks nearly identical to related species but its slow, widely spaced out call sets it apart, researchers note in a study. “I’ve had to get into arguments because people said the frog I study is ugly,” lead author Marianna Borburema, who studied the species as an undergraduate student at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and is now a researcher at the University of São Paulo, told Mongabay by phone. “I find it absurd. The frog I study is beautiful! It is super cute.” “Super cute” specimen of the newly described Adenomera varcena species. Images courtesy of Marianna Borburema. Despite dazzling the study’s lead author, the evolution of the frog, named Adenomera varcena, hasn’t been one focused on appearances. Biologists call this a “cryptic species”, a species whose external traits can be very similar to related species. It is roughly 22 to 24 millimeters (0.9 inches) long and has brown skin and dark blotchy patterns. “Because of natural selection, the pressure isn’t on the frog’s appearance, it’s on the call,” said Borburema, who spent three weeks analyzing the frogs’ sounds. “We understand that evolution happens faster in their call because the song is what interests the female.” Related species typically call frequently, some up to 70 notes a minute. However, the songs of A. varcenas include just one to five notes a minute, the slowest rate documented…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Scientists recently described a new species of a tiny brown frog found in the Amazonian floodplain forests of Ecuador and northwestern Brazil. It looks nearly identical to related species but its slow, widely spaced out call sets it apart, researchers note in a study. “I’ve had to get into arguments because people said the frog […] authors: | ||
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Why is Amazonian wildlife turning up at a Bangkok market? 08 Sep 2026 14:03:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-amazonian-wildlife-turning-up-at-a-bangkok-market/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Gloria Dickie content:encoded: BANGKOK, Thailand — In the narrow alleys of Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market, the world’s wildlife is for sale. Ensnared in jungles, fished out of rivers and plucked from wetlands across the globe, hundreds of exotic species are packed onto transcontinental flights only to end up on display in what experts say ranks as one of the largest wildlife markets on Earth. Here, alongside Thai milk tea vendors and mango sticky rice stalls, visitors need only veer a few steps from the tourist path to end up in the market’s “Pets” zone — an arguably liberal use of the term. This section of the market hosts a menagerie of domestic and wild animals alike, often crammed into cages with little water and no respite from temperatures that soar beyond 32° Celsius (90° Fahrenheit). From Africa, there are spurred tortoises, fennec foxes, gray parrots, serval cats, and ball pythons. Giant bush babies retail for 48,000 baht (about $1,450), with signs advertising the nocturnal African primates as “newly arrived.” Miniscule meerkats dressed in tutus, sometimes presented in petting zoo sandboxes, are among the most plentiful animals at Chatuchak. Masked palm civets, sugar gliders, squirrels, rainbow lorikeets, and eclectus parrots are on offer from Asia and Oceania. As are baby raccoons, prairie dogs, iguanas, goats, cats, baby pigs, among others. Much of the planet is represented in this market; meerkats, like the one pictured here, hail from Southern Africa and are dressed up to be sold as an adorable pet. Image by Gloria Dickie. To…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The sheer numbers and vast array of Latin American wildlife species offered for sale in one of Southeast Asia’s largest wildlife markets, in Thailand, has been steadily rising over the past two years, observers say, alongside animals from across the globe. - The trend points to a broader shift in the global wildlife trade, with more species coming out of the imperiled Amazon and many of them sold as pets. - Trafficked animals are often laundered from other South American countries through Peru, where regulations make it easier to export species abroad. - Many of these species are threatened, plucked from the wild, and then face abhorrent conditions during the journey from the Amazon to Asia, raising further animal welfare concerns; many perish during transit. authors: | ||
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‘Plastic pollution hotspots’ spawn a public health crisis across Latin America 08 Sep 2026 13:33:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/plastic-pollution-hotspots-spawn-a-public-health-crisis-across-latin-america/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Mark Hillsdon content:encoded: Since China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018, plastic pollution has been having a growing impact on the people and ecosystems of Latin America. As the region imports an increasing amount of the world’s used and discarded plastic, new research shows that waste infrastructure in many countries is already buckling under the strain of dealing with domestic trash. As a result, much of the imported plastic is leaking out into the environment, with experts and the U.N. warning of major consequences for human health. A study published in April found that seven countries in the region — the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay — have become plastic pollution hotspots, or PPHs, where high imports of low-quality plastics meet high rates of mismanaged waste. Global plastic waste generation reached 353 million metric tons in 2019 alone, of which 72% ended up being landfilled or dumped and just 9% was recycled, according to an OECD report. Much of the world’s plastic waste was previously destined for China, but in 2018 the country banned those imports. While Malaysia and Thailand took up much of the slack, Latin America also started importing more plastic waste, although the region has historically been an importer of difficult-to-recycle plastics. “Certain countries in Latin America have started importing more waste but they haven’t actually got the capacity to deal with [it],” Veronica Herrera, lead author of April study and an associate professor at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Since 2018, when China banned the import of plastic waste, many countries in Latin America have been struggling to manage a huge increase in the amount of plastic waste imported into the region, some of them becoming “plastic pollution hotspots,” according to a recent study. - Overstretched waste management infrastructure and a glut of hard-to-recycle plastics mean that thousands of tons of plastic are leaking out into the environment every day, experts say, with major health implications for communities already facing poor sanitary conditions. - With talks for a global plastics treaty set to resume next year, campaigners say only a reduction in plastic production can solve the problem but warn against the influence of the powerful petrochemical lobby. authors: | ||
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‘Birds know no borders’: Interview with BirdLife Africa’s Alex Ngari 08 Sep 2026 07:36:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/birds-know-no-borders-interview-with-birdlife-africas-alex-ngari/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Wilson Odhiambo content:encoded: Every year, twice a year, millions of birds belonging to hundreds of species fly between breeding grounds in Europe and Asia and their non-breeding habitats in Africa. Scientists have surprisingly sparse knowledge of exactly where many species actually go — or what risks and obstacles the migrating birds encounter along the way. Populations of the vulnerable curlew sandpiper, which breeds in in Siberia, for example, appear everywhere from South Asia to East and Southern Africa during the northern hemisphere winter. “One important fact that we all need to understand is that migratory birds do not belong to any one country, but are a shared global heritage, and their survival requires a borderless safety net,” says Alex Ngari, who manages the migratory birds and flyways program for BirdLife Africa. “These birds know no borders, which means that the conservation methods that we develop must be aware of that fact, and every country has a responsibility to protect them.” Until recently, what monitoring there was relied on ringing — but piecing together birds’ year-long itinerary depends on where someone encounters a ringed bird, on that person knowing what the band on its leg means, and details of the encounter reaching some coordinating authority. As lighter and more reliable electronic tags that can be fitted to birds to record and broadcast their locations have become available, researchers have started to gather more detailed information about migratory pathways. This type of tracking is still relatively expensive, however, especially for tags small enough for small-bodied…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - “[M]igratory birds do not belong to any one country, but are a shared global heritage, and their survival requires a borderless safety net,” says Alex Ngari, migratory birds and flyways programme manager for BirdLife Africa. - Gaps in scientific knowledge regarding migratory birds’ pathways affect conservation efforts, Ngari explains. - These gaps also prevent us from predicting the safety of bird populations in relation to climate change, he adds in a Q&A with Mongabay ahead of the Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. authors: | ||
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Protect this tree. Save Africa’s rainforests. 08 Sep 2026 06:06:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/protect-this-tree-save-africas-rainforests/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: The Rainforester content:encoded: Ogbono is one of Africa’s most iconic plants, and its seed is one of African cuisine’s iconic ingredients. Providing both food and shelter for a great many species; this canopy tree is integral to many of the continent’s rainforests! In this 4-part series on NTFPs (non-timber forest products) with The Rainforester and Mongabay, we explore the ways that harvesting sustainably from our forests can keep them alive!This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Ogbono is one of Africa’s most iconic plants, and its seed is one of African cuisine’s iconic ingredients. Providing both food and shelter for a great many species; this canopy tree is integral to many of the continent’s rainforests! In this 4-part series on NTFPs (non-timber forest products) with The Rainforester and Mongabay, we explore […] authors: | ||
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In Panama’s Darién, Indigenous communities test a new way to fund conservation 07 Sep 2026 15:10:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-panamas-darien-indigenous-communities-test-a-new-way-to-fund-conservation/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: María Paula Rubiano A. content:encoded: When Elsa Quiroz saw the spotted body of a jaguar appear on her son’s computer screen, she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I’d only seen them in books,” she said. In late 2025, a camera captured the animal crossing a semi-abandoned path in Puerto Lara, a an Indigenous Wounaan village north of Panama’s Darien forest, close to the Pan-American Highway, an area known for its rich biodiversity. The community was aware of how many birds lived around them, but not of the jaguars. Samuel Cheucarama, Quiroz’s son, reviews each photo taken by the two cameras installed in Puerto Lara every two weeks. He was as astonished as his mom when he first saw the extent of the biodiversity concealed within Puerto Lara’s forest, which covers an area less than twice the size of New York City’s Central Park. He reels off the list: agoutis, spotted rabbits, turkeys, margays, white-headed monkeys, among others, all found within this wilderness of just 600 hectares, or less than 1,500 acres. Cheucarama’s work is a small part of a wider project promoting nature-based economic alternatives in four communities managing a combined 18,000 hectares (about 44,500 acres) of tropical forest in eastern Panama. Although the Panamanian government has made efforts to reduce deforestation in Darién National Park, deforestation from illegal logging and agricultural expansion has increasingly been putting communities under pressure, with little to no support from local and national authorities. As a result, communities have been exploring alternatives to make their conservation efforts economically viable. In…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - With illegal logging and agricultural expansion closing in on their lands, four Indigenous Wounaan and Emberá-Wounaan villages in Panama’s Darién forest started a biodiversity monitoring project to document their forests’ conservation status. - Their biodiversity monitoring project recorded more than 200 species across 18,000 hectares (44,500 acres) of threatened forest. - They’re now using the data as a baseline for joining the biodiversity credits market — a nascent arm of the nature finance industry that’s being touted as a way to help pay for conservation. - Although biodiversity credit advocates say this market has learned from the mistakes of the carbon credit markets, observers say it’s still too soon to evaluate if it will deliver on its promises. authors: | ||
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Guinea’s Iron Frontier 07 Sep 2026 09:00:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/09/guineas-iron-frontier/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: content:encoded: What does it take to turn one of the world’s richest iron deposits into a global export hub? Eastern Guinea has become a focal point in the global race for high-grade iron ore. Mongabay has traced the rapid expansion of two of Guinea’s largest iron ore projects in the Simandou range and the Nimba Mountains, as mines, railways and ports move from plan to reality. Our coverage examines what this shift means for communities, waterways and farmland, alongside the risks it poses to chimpanzees, rare bats, and a World Heritage landscape under growing pressure.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: What does it take to turn one of the world’s richest iron deposits into a global export hub? Eastern Guinea has become a focal point in the global race for high-grade iron ore. Mongabay has traced the rapid expansion of two of Guinea’s largest iron ore projects in the Simandou range and the Nimba Mountains, […] authors: | ||
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What conservation rumors reveal about climate projects in the Congo Basin (commentary) 07 Sep 2026 07:00:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/what-conservation-rumors-reveal-about-climate-projects-in-the-congo-basin-commentary/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Andre MalekaniEric AbanatiFergus O’Leary SimpsonKristof TitecaPapy Bambu content:encoded: In 2020, a strange rumor began circulating in villages around the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Tshopo province. A newly constructed scientific tower, people said, was extracting oxygen from the surrounding rainforest and sending it to Europe, where it was being sold for profit. Not long after, an initiative to plant acacia trees around the reserve was incorporated into the rumor: the trees, some people claimed, were being planted to produce more oxygen for the tower to extract. Then, during an unusually hot spell in May 2024, another version spread rapidly through social media in Kisangani, the provincial capital. This time, the tower was accused of causing the extreme heat by removing oxygen from the atmosphere. When that rumor spread in 2024, the DRC’s then environment minister, Ève Bazaiba, publicly attributed such claims to “ignorance” and “superstitions.” She posted a video on social media to demonstrate that the tower, CongoFlux, does not extract oxygen: it measures exchanges of greenhouse gases between the rainforest and the atmosphere, helping scientists understand the Congo Basin’s role in global climate regulation. But correcting the science only gets us so far. Rumors can also tell us something about the people who spread them — and their relationship with conservation. While conducting research in Yangambi, recently published in Environmental Sociology, we learned that the rumors are ways for people to contest conservation, but also to make claims about who should benefit from it. At the same time, they are shaped by a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Conservation rumors should not be dismissed as misinformation: they influence people’s attitudes toward conservation and how they respond to it, a group of researchers argues in a new op-ed. - In the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, rumors about a scientific tower became a vehicle for both resistance and demands to benefit from conservation. - These reactions are rooted in a longer history of dispossession and extraction, but also in memories of the jobs and services once associated with conservation, the authors write. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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New nocturnal snake from New Guinea named after Slash of Guns N’ Roses 07 Sep 2026 06:35:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-nocturnal-snake-from-new-guinea-named-after-slash-of-guns-n-roses/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Scientists have identified a new-to-science, reddish-brown snake from specimens found in the forests of Papua New Guinea and named it after Slash, the lead guitarist of the rock band Guns N’ Roses. Slash’s groundsnake (Lielaphis slashi) is the twentieth species to be confirmed within the genus Lielaphis, a group of groundsnakes found primarily on the island of New Guinea – which is split between Papua New Guinea in the east and Indonesia in the west, the researchers reported in a recent study. The snake’s name honors the musician Saul Hudson, professionally known as “Slash”, of Guns N’ Roses, for his lifelong promotion and advocacy of snakes, zoos, and museums, the authors write. “As a long-time herpephile, I am extremely honored and humbled to have Lielaphis slashi from New Guinea named after me,” Slash said in a press release. “It is really exciting, I never would have imagined this moment would arrive.” Slash’s groundsnake has a reddish-brown, unpatterned back and an unmarked white or cream underside. Study co-author Christopher Austin, professor of natural science and curator of amphibians and reptiles at Louisiana State University in the U.S., first found the snake in July 2006 in a largely undisturbed secondary forest in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. “Snakes in general are pretty hard to find, and these nocturnal snakes are especially challenging to find,” Austin told Mongabay by email. “Given that there are several venomous snake species in New Guinea, one needs to be especially careful finding these snakes at night.” Austin…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Scientists have identified a new-to-science, reddish-brown snake from specimens found in the forests of Papua New Guinea and named it after Slash, the lead guitarist of the rock band Guns N’ Roses. Slash’s groundsnake (Lielaphis slashi) is the twentieth species to be confirmed within the genus Lielaphis, a group of groundsnakes found primarily on the […] authors: | ||
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World Heritage status for South Sudan parks will be a boon for the birds 07 Sep 2026 06:09:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/world-heritage-status-for-south-sudan-parks-will-be-a-boon-for-the-birds/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: The onset of the rains in South Sudan around April each year is accompanied by a remarkable avian spectacle. “There are so many storks that they kind of look like flies in the sky,” said Megan Claase, a conservation manager with African Parks, the organization that manages the Boma and Badingilo national parks in partnership with the South Sudanese government. The vast flocks congregating in the skies above Boma and Badingilo include African openbills (Anastomus lamelligerus), Abdim’s storks (Ciconia abdimii), and other birds moving across Africa in sync with the changing seasons. “I think it’s a very productive system after the first rains,” Claase told Mongabay, citing as an example the large blooms of winged alates that emerge from termite holes and are eaten by a wide variety of birds, including the storks. “It’s just such a haven for migratory species.” Wetlands at Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape, South Sudan. Image © Marcus Westberg. As the rains persist and much of the landscape becomes waterlogged, an abundance of invertebrate food is produced, Claase said. That includes snails and other mollusks eaten by the openbills, named for the curious gap in their bills that help them to grip their slippery prey. The Boma and Badingilo parks and surrounding areas are all part of a massive interconnected ecosystem of wetlands, swamps, woodlands, and grassy plains, which Claase said lies at the heart of Africa’s largest intact savanna system. This landscape, around the size of North Korea, is home to an estimated 6 million antelopes,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - South Sudan’s Boma and Badingilo national parks are best known for the massive herds of antelope that migrate across them each year. - But the landscape is also a key habitat for birds — resident species like shoebills, and those that migrate between southern and northern parts of Africa. - In July, the parks and surrounding areas were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which conservationists hope will attract support to conserve the region’s rich biodiversity. authors: | ||
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Bhutan’s pursuit of happiness takes root on its farms 07 Sep 2026 05:49:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/bhutans-pursuit-of-happiness-takes-root-on-its-farms/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Guided by its national philosophy of Gross National Happiness, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan aims to achieve food self-sufficiency by 2029 under its 13th five-year plan. However, the rugged, landlocked nation faces challenges in the form of steep terrain and logistical bottlenecks, chef and restaurateur Bleu Tshering Dorji told host Mike DiGirolamo on a recent episode of the Mongabay Newscast. “We are a mountainous landlocked country, and only a small percentage of our land is, I think, actually suitable for agriculture,” Dorji said. Bhutan’s five-year plan seeks to dramatically boost domestic production of key commodities while supporting smallholder farmers. Agriculture employs more than 40% of Bhutan’s 800,000 citizens, but arable land is extremely limited, and remote farms struggle with unpaved roads and a lack of cold storage. Dorji said the biggest challenge for farmers is getting their produce from farm to market due to the rugged terrain. “Every extra hour in transit affects quality and freshness.” Labor is also increasingly scarce as young people leave agriculture. “We need our young Bhutanese people to be able to see farming as not a last resort, but as a profession that you could be proud of,” Dorji said. To counter these issues, the government is investing approximately $180 million under the plan, with $139 million targeting smallholder farmers, the majority of whom in Bhutan are women, according to the five-year plan. Sonam Wangchuk, an executive specialist at Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, told DiGirolamo on the newscast that under the current five-year…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Guided by its national philosophy of Gross National Happiness, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan aims to achieve food self-sufficiency by 2029 under its 13th five-year plan. However, the rugged, landlocked nation faces challenges in the form of steep terrain and logistical bottlenecks, chef and restaurateur Bleu Tshering Dorji told host Mike DiGirolamo on a recent […] authors: | ||
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Indigenous knowledge helps reveal the ties between reefs and mangroves 06 Sep 2026 07:00:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-helps-reveal-the-ties-between-reefs-and-mangroves/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Anthony Ham content:encoded: In a recent scientific article in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management, alongside the list of scientist-authors were the Bardi Jawi and Oorany Rangers and the Bardi Jawi Traditional Owners. For the past decade, Bardi Jawi rangers and traditional owners have been working with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to study and protect their mangrove and reef ecosystems, as well as their traditional Indigenous fishing grounds. The Bardi Jawi, according to Phillip “Bibido” McCarthy, are a “Saltwater People” whose traditional diet revolves around healthy oceans. Their land, located in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, is of “red earth, blue ocean, and green mangroves,” Bibido, the 59-year-old coordinator of the Bardi Jawi men’s ranger program, tells Mongabay. Bardi Jawi Country forms part of the 95,000-hectare (235,000-acre) Bardi Jawi Indigenous Protected Area (declared in 2013 and administered by the Bardi Jawi) and the 204,000-hectare (504,000-acre) Bardi Jawi Gaarra Marine Park (established in 2022, with a zoning scheme that came into force in July 2026). Among the most important findings in the study was the interconnectedness between reef and mangrove ecosystems for sustaining fisheries — an aspect long recognized in Bardi Jawi traditional ecological knowledge. The overall project and its findings also guided the design of both the IPA and marine park. Cape Leveque on the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia. Image by Marty Southwell via Unsplash. Goldlined rabbitfish (Siganus lineatus). Image by © Kristin Anderson via iNaturalist. CC BY-NC 4.0. Much scientific work in recent years has focused on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A scientific collaboration between Australian scientists and First Nations Bardi Jawi rangers and elders has highlighted how fish species rely on the connectivity of reef and mangrove ecosystems. - The study found that culturally important fish species, which form part of traditional fishery practices in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, migrated between the two ecosystems more than other species. - The collaboration enabled Western scientists to draw on millennia of traditional ecological knowledge in carrying out the study and interpreting its findings. - While most of the findings were already part of traditional ecological knowledge, rangers say they learned how certain species may not be able to survive if either reefs or mangroves were threatened by climate change and environmental impacts. authors: | ||
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Why are they killing this beautiful fish? 05 Sep 2026 07:11:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/why-are-they-killing-this-beautiful-fish/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Sandy Watt content:encoded: Lionfish are beautiful, venomous and devastating Caribbean reefs. In Honduras, divers are fighting back with homemade spears, hunting competitions and by putting lionfish on restaurant menus. Watch the full film to meet the community fighting back against one of the Caribbean’s most destructive invasive species.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Lionfish are beautiful, venomous and devastating Caribbean reefs. In Honduras, divers are fighting back with homemade spears, hunting competitions and by putting lionfish on restaurant menus. Watch the full film to meet the community fighting back against one of the Caribbean’s most destructive invasive species. authors: | ||
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Urban water quality pose challenges to low-income communities in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital 05 Sep 2026 06:49:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/urban-water-quality-pose-challenges-to-low-income-communities-in-sri-lankas-commercial-capital/ author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti dc:creator: Kamanthi Wickramasinghe content:encoded: COLOMBO — As part of his morning routine, Nalin Kaluwitharana from “Ranjan Wijerathnapura,” a low-income settlement in the heart of Colombo, waters his home garden before setting off to work. Like many others in his neighborhood, he works as a three-wheeler driver. “We obtain pipe-borne water provided by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB). In the wake of drought conditions, NWSDB has requested people to use water sparingly. But we need water for our daily needs and have no alternatives but to rely on tap water,” he told Mongabay. Despite increasing utility tariffs, he continues to water the plants to keep them green and his surroundings alive. Kaluwitharana and a majority of houses in this settlement do not have water storage facilities and are dependent on the state utility to obtain water directly from the water line. The routine water cuts and maintenance work disrupt the regular water supply, inconveniencing them. Linda Arulanantham is from the same neighborhood. “Immediately after a water cut, the water turns muddy. We use a water filter to make sure that the water we drink is clean,” she said. But every household doesn’t have a water filter system, and water safety in urban low-income settlements is often neglected. Community water supply schemes In Sri Lanka, community water supply schemes were established around the 1990s to provide safe drinking water to rural communities. Ananda Vijitha Kumara Mapa, director general at the Department of National Community Water Supply (DNCWS) told Mongabay that community water supply…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Most urban poor living in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, rely on pipe-borne water for their daily needs. - Many fresh water sources have become contaminated over a period of 20-25 years due to human interventions and environmental factors. - As extreme heat impacts the island, water scarcity may force city people to use alternative or less protected water sources, researchers say. - Studies indicate that other water sources, such as wells and community water schemes, are more likely to show bacteriological non-compliance. authors: | ||
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Comparing green space for urban cooling, study 04 Sep 2026 23:23:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/comparing-green-space-for-urban-cooling-study/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Cities can become dangerously hot during extreme heat events, making it increasingly important for urban planners to find ways to reduce temperatures and protect people from heat exposure. Woodlands, grasslands, lakes and rivers can create significantly cooler microclimates, offering one potential way to reduce urban heat, a new study finds. The study focused on Guildford, a town in southeast England with a variety of green-blue infrastructure (GBI) types. GBI are land and water-based features integrated with each other and the built environment to provide mutually beneficial services, including wildlife corridors, flood mitigation and cooling. In Guildford, researchers collected data from six sites — a woodland, grassland, lakeside, vegetated green wall, small pocket park and riverside — and compared how effective they are in cooling the areas around them. They compared each site with a built-up location. The team established sensors at each site and recorded temperatures at one-minute intervals, from June 2023 till the end of August 2025. These sensors recorded temperatures through both normal climatic conditions and several extreme heat events. The researchers also used satellite data over the same timeline to get a more robust picture of the conditions in each location. The team found that all six GBI sites were cooler by 1.81-2.49° Celsius (3.26-4.48° Fahrenheit) than their built-up comparison site. The cooling was more pronounced during extreme heat events. The woodland site was upward of 6°C (almost 11°F) cooler than the built environment on the hottest days. The riverside and pocket park were cooler by 3.5°C…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Cities can become dangerously hot during extreme heat events, making it increasingly important for urban planners to find ways to reduce temperatures and protect people from heat exposure. Woodlands, grasslands, lakes and rivers can create significantly cooler microclimates, offering one potential way to reduce urban heat, a new study finds. The study focused on Guildford, […] authors: | ||
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Tanzania’s first official wildlife corridor links savanna elephants to rainforest 04 Sep 2026 19:42:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tanzanias-first-official-wildlife-corridor-links-savanna-elephants-to-rainforest/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: African savanna elephants in southern Tanzania have an unusual habit: They climb mountains. Up to 1,000 of the pachyderms spend part of their time in the Udzungwa Mountains, clambering up and down steep slopes that are clad in lush, closed-canopy rainforest. “They go everywhere,” said Trevor Jones, director of strategy and development at the Southern Tanzania Elephant Program (STEP), a conservation group. “They can negotiate really quite surprisingly steep gradients that you wouldn’t expect, even to the point [of] occasionally, in the rainy season, sliding down on their bums when a particular slope is too steep.” But some also migrate from the mountains to more typical savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) habitat that lies to the east, across the Kilombero Valley, in Nyerere National Park. A satellite image of the corridor traversing the Kilombero Valley, from the Magombera Forest Reserve in the east to the Udzungwa Mountains in the west. Darker green dots inside the corridor are signs of maturing forest trees planted since 2023. Image courtesy Reforest Africa/Google Earth Researchers like Jones have been trying to understand why these herds have historically used such different parts of the landscape. “It’s a very adaptive population that’s using that mosaic of habitats and resources, from montane forest to lowland forest, and then miombo woodland and open bush in Nyerere,” Jones told Mongabay. “I’m sure some of [the habitats] are crucial for different time periods or different circumstances; in drought, for example, they might have to move to the [mountains] where there would…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - African savanna elephants are using a narrow strip of land across the densely populated Kilombero Valley in southern Tanzania to migrate. - It’s Tanzania’s first officially designated wildlife corridor, linking Nyerere National Park’s open savanna woodlands with the high-altitude rainforests of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park. - Local landowners have designated parts of their farms for the corridor and co-manage it with the government. - Experts note that vigilance is needed to prevent some planned development, which could negatively impact the corridor. authors: | ||
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Brazil’s Senate passes rare earth minerals regulation, paving the way for boosted exploration 04 Sep 2026 16:59:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/brazils-senate-passes-rare-earth-minerals-regulation-paving-the-way-for-boosted-exploration/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Senate has approved a bill to regulate the exploration of critical minerals, including rare earths, marking a step toward exploiting its vast reserves. The bill approved Thursday now awaits President Lula’s signature. It establishes a legal framework and offers tax incentives for domestic processing. Brazil holds the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earth elements, used in products like smartphones and electric vehicles. While China dominates the global supply chain, Brazil aims to position itself as an alternative. The bill also creates a fund to support mining projects and encourages mineral processing within the country. By Eleonore Hughes, Associated Press Banner image: A mine operated by Serra Verde Mining digs for rare earth elements including neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium, which are essential for the production of permanent magnets, in Minacu, Goias state, Brazil, July 28, 2025. Image courtesy of Eraldo Peres, Associated Press This article was originally published on Mongabay description: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Senate has approved a bill to regulate the exploration of critical minerals, including rare earths, marking a step toward exploiting its vast reserves. The bill approved Thursday now awaits President Lula’s signature. It establishes a legal framework and offers tax incentives for domestic processing. Brazil holds the world’s second-largest […] authors: | ||
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Marine conservation collides with mining in Indonesia’s biodiversity-rich Moramo Bay 04 Sep 2026 16:48:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/marine-conservation-collides-with-mining-in-indonesias-biodiversity-rich-moramo-bay/ author: Basten Gokkon dc:creator: La Ode Risman Hermawan content:encoded: SOUTH KONAWE, Indonesia — A marine protected area in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi province is home to a critically depleted population of humphead wrasse. The species presence helped the area gain its protected status, but mining permits overlap parts of the conservation zone and line its coast. A 2024 government survey, published the following year, found just 22 humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) across 10 sampling stations — an average density of 1.17 fish per hectare — in the Moramo Bay local marine protected area (LMPA) in Southeast Sulawesi’s South Konawe district. It recorded no fish at three sites where the species was still observed in 2018. Officials and researchers say the bay’s coral reefs face mounting pressure from sedimentation, pollution, vessel activity and other threats, but no study has established a direct link between mining and the wrasse’s decline. “In a polluted area … this fish will definitely disappear,” Sasanti Retno Suharti, a coral reef fish ecology researcher who has been researching humphead wrasse since 2006, told Mongabay Indonesia in August. “It will move far away into deeper waters.” “If it is no longer there, eventually the crown-of-thorns starfish will take over and feed on the corals,” she added. “The ecosystem will be damaged.” The presence of humphead wrasse was one reason Southeast Sulawesi first proposed Moramo Bay as a LMPA in 2011. The proposed area expanded to 21,786 hectares (53,834 acres) in 2016 from 10,371 hectares (25,627 acres) in 2014. In 2021, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries designated…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Pressure on a protected marine area in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi province is growing as conservation efforts intersect with mining activity. - Moramo Bay is part of the Coral Triangle, one of the world’s richest marine biodiversity regions, and provides habitat for humphead wrasse and other protected species. - Researchers and officials say the health of its coral reefs and marine life is increasingly under scrutiny as development expands around the conservation area. authors: | ||
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As Indonesia’s wildfires rage, haze spreads farther across Southeast Asia 04 Sep 2026 12:26:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/as-indonesias-wildfires-rage-haze-spreads-farther-across-southeast-asia/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Yenni Kwok content:encoded: Haze from wildfires in Indonesia has spread even farther this week, reaching beyond Malaysia and Brunei to Singapore and the Philippines. On Sept. 4, Singaporean residents woke to a smoggy sky as air quality reached unhealthy levels. By late afternoon, the city had the third-worst air quality globally, according to IQAir. Earlier this week, Philippine authorities declared air quality in parts of Luzon island, including Manila’s metropolitan areas, Visayas island group and Mindanao island as “acutely unhealthy”, blaming it on the transboundary haze from Indonesia. In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, which has been hit by transboundary haze for weeks, the capital Kuching has topped the rankings as the world’s most polluted city since early this week. Authorities declared a state of emergency in Serawak’s Serian district on Sept. 4. Malaysia’s health ministry warned in late August that cases of asthma rose by 259% and those of upper respiratory tract infections increased by 124% in a week. Oil-rich Brunei has also been experiencing hazy conditions since mid-August. Wildfires across Indonesia show no signs of abating amid a “super” El Niño, which brings extremely dry conditions. As of Sept. 3, Firewatch, a satellite monitoring platform, had detected more than 444,200 fire hotspots, which indicate potential fire sites, across the archipelago. This is 4.5 times the number detected on July 27. Indonesian officials said the fires were deliberately caused, either by individuals or corporations. A Kompas newspaper report found that wildfires are detected on the same sites year after year, with 50%…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Haze from wildfires in Indonesia has spread even farther this week, reaching beyond Malaysia and Brunei to Singapore and the Philippines. On Sept. 4, Singaporean residents woke to a smoggy sky as air quality reached unhealthy levels. By late afternoon, the city had the third-worst air quality globally, according to IQAir. Earlier this week, Philippine […] authors: | ||
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Illegal gold mining continues in Indonesia’s Aceh despite government crackdown pledge 04 Sep 2026 11:15:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-gold-mining-continues-in-indonesias-aceh-despite-government-crackdown-pledge/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Junaidi Hanafiah content:encoded: NAGAN RAYA, Indonesia – Two weeks after government and law enforcement leaders vowed to crack down on illegal gold mining in the semiautonomous Indonesian province of Aceh, local communities on the ground say excavators are still at work in the forest interior. “Excavators continue to access the verges of the rivers. Similarly, fuel and supplies keep being sent to this mining site,” Amran, a community leader from Seunagan in Nagan Raya district, told Mongabay Indonesia. Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, is Indonesia’s westernmost region and home to crucial high-conservation-value tropical forests and peatlands, including the Leuser Ecosystem, a stronghold for Sumatran elephants, orangutans, rhinos, sun bears, and tigers. Yet these habitats remain under pressure from lucrative extractive industries. In late July, top government, security, and law-enforcement officials in Aceh convened to order all illegal gold mining in the region to be halted by Aug. 17, Indonesia’s independence anniversary. However, sources on the ground around some of Aceh’s known illegal mining locations told Mongabay Indonesia that many of these operations continued working as normal as of late August. “Diesel is always out of stock at gas stations because it’s being used by the heavy equipment digging for gold by the riverbanks and on the mountainside,” said Razali, who lives in Fajar in South Aceh district. At a mining site in Pidie district, people reported still seeing the tarpaulin shelters used by miners. “If it’s just an announcement, it won’t have any effect,” Hamdani, a resident of Tangse in Pidie district,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Residents in different districts across the Indonesian province of Aceh say gold mining activity in the interior of forest areas continues despite the province’s leaders agreeing a crackdown on illegal mining. - Fuel shortages have been reported at local gas stations, which some attribute to demand from excavators working to unearth gold ore from inside forest areas. - In August, Mongabay reported that gold miners had encroached in to a crucial reintroduction forest in Aceh for critically endangered Sumatran orangutans rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. - Environmental advocacy group Walhi says there are more than 1,000 units of heavy equipment working at more than 450 illegal mining operations in Aceh, while a former provincial official said the government is aware of mining in around half of Aceh’s districts. authors: | ||
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South Korea’s ‘sea women’ seek justice after marine habitat devastated by harbor work 04 Sep 2026 10:30:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-koreas-sea-women-seek-justice-after-marine-habitat-devastated-by-harbor-work/ author: Yenni Kwok dc:creator: Andrew Jeong content:encoded: GUMAN-RI, South Korea — This fishing village, on the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula, is filled with scars. Every summer, typhoons rumble in from the Pacific Ocean to snap trees and flip fishing boats. Huge ships, including a 4,000-ton cargo vessel in 2005, have sunk or run aground on the rocky coast, sullying marine food sources. In the 1950-1953 Korean War, dozens of villagers were massacred. Time and time again, however, the resilient residents of Guman-ri have figured out a way to soldier on. But their latest setback has stupefied them. In 2021, South Korean construction giant Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co. began work to expand and repair the breakwaters at the local harbor. Since then, the surrounding marine habitat has slowly withered away. By early 2025, the lush seabed had become a graveyard for dead marine plants and animals. Guman-ri, a fishing village on the eastern coast of South Korea, on Aug. 16, 2026. Image by Andrew Jeong for Mongabay. Gone are the glimmering abalones, chunky sea snails, and translucent green seaweed that once populated the waters around the cape, despite its designation as a protected marine area. In their place is white, dusty cement debris, which the villagers have blamed on the construction of the breakwaters. The habitat’s demise is itself an environmental tragedy. But it has brought an emotional and financial death knell to the village’s nearly two dozen haenyeo, the “sea women,” who dive to harvest a variety of shellfish and marine plants without oxygen…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A community of hanyeo, South Korea’s free-diving women fishers, accuse a harbor project in their village of devastating the local marine habitat they’ve depended on for decades for their livelihoods. - The women are demanding compensation from construction giant Ssangyong, taking their fight to Seoul after the loss of their traditional fishing grounds. - While they are not ruling out a lawsuit against the company or the government, they face a costly, years-long legal battle requiring scientific evidence linking the construction activity to the habitat’s destruction. - With many of the haenyeo now in their 70s and 80s, time is not on their side and some say a settlement on offer from the company amounts to little — slightly more than enough to cover the costs of their protest trip to Seoul. authors: | ||
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Study analyzes danger of parasites to Bengal tigers in South Asia 04 Sep 2026 09:15:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/study-analyzes-danger-of-parasites-to-bengal-tigers-in-south-asia/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Sadiqur Rahman content:encoded: A typical roundworm measures roughly 2.7% of the average length of a Bengal tiger or weighs just three-millionths of one percent of the largest of the world’s big cats. Though these parasites do not pose a major threat to Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris), researchers across South Asia, the cat’s native range, warn that parasitic infections can act as silent killers, particularly when the big cats are weakened by poor nutrition, injury or other diseases. South Asia is home to roughly 4,367 Bengal tigers: 3,682 in India, 429 in Nepal, 131 in Bhutan and 125 in Bangladesh, according to the latest estimates. The IUCN lists the Bengal tiger as an endangered species, although it is classified as critically endangered in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi researchers, analyzing fecal samples collected from wildlife across the Sundarbans mangrove forest, detected the highest parasite infection rate in Bengal tigers. A study published by the Bangladesh Forest Department in July makes recommendations to address the issue. Sultan Ahmed, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Sylhet Agricultural University and one of the authors of the study, told Mongabay, “The most important recommendation is to keep the mangrove forest away from human interference.” Assigned by the Forest Department, the researchers collected fecal samples in two phases in 2024 and 2025. According to their analysis, the highest parasite infection rate, 85.3%, was detected in Bengal tigers, followed by 84.9% in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), 73.6% in deer and 66.7% in wild pigs. In molecular analysis, roundworms (including…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Researchers analyzing parasite infections of Bengal tigers and their prey population in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh have raised concerns about the critically endangered species’ conservation. - Researchers in South Asia warn that parasitic infections can act as silent killers to stressed tigers and cubs. - Human settlements near habitat elevate the risk of parasite transmission between wild and domestic animals, the research suggests. - Experts recommend reducing human-wildlife contact and adopting integrated and long-term wildlife disease prevention. authors: | ||
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Genetic road map offers hope for threatened Visayan spotted deer 04 Sep 2026 05:25:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/genetic-road-map-offers-hope-for-threatened-visayan-spotted-deer/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Scientists have sequenced the first-ever draft genome of the Philippines’ highly threatened Visayan spotted deer. The genome could guide efforts to save it from extinction, reports contributor Pippo Carmona for Mongabay. The Visayan spotted deer (Rusa alfredi) was once found across six islands in the central Philippines. But deforestation and hunting decimated its population, prompting the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, to list it as endangered in 1988. By 2019, Philippine authorities had classified the species as nationally critically endangered. The last count from 2016 recorded only about 700 mature individuals, now only found on the islands of Negros and Panay. To understand the genetic health of the species, researchers from Silliman University and the Philippine Genome Center Visayas collaborated to map its DNA. They used a tissue sample from Abraham, a captive Visayan spotted deer that was raised and died at Silliman University’s Center for Tropical Conservation Studies (CENTROP). The sequenced genome contains 2.5 billion DNA letters and 24,531 genes. It’s the first genome that’s been sequenced for any of the Philippines’ endangered mammals. The researchers found Abraham’s heterozygosity score, a measure of genetic differences, was just 0.17, far below the 0.3 score typical of healthy, genetically diverse wild populations. The low score indicates his parents were genetically closely related. “Since Abraham is from a captive population, we expected to get a low heterozygosity result,” said Albert Noblezada, who runs the bioinformatics pipeline at the Philippine Genome Center Visayas. Noblezada added that decades of isolation have allowed inbreeding…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Scientists have sequenced the first-ever draft genome of the Philippines’ highly threatened Visayan spotted deer. The genome could guide efforts to save it from extinction, reports contributor Pippo Carmona for Mongabay. The Visayan spotted deer (Rusa alfredi) was once found across six islands in the central Philippines. But deforestation and hunting decimated its population, prompting […] authors: | ||
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Ebola outbreak underscores food insecurity crisis in DRC 03 Sep 2026 20:20:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ebola-outbreak-underscores-food-insecurity-crisis-in-drc/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Dan Yessa content:encoded: The recent Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus has reportedly claimed more than 3,000 lives, and more than twice as many reported cases, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, analysts warn that roughly 26 million people across the region are experiencing a food insecurity crisis, a compounding factor that increases both the spread and lethality of the virus. “Hunger and disease are old companions,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a statement referring to the outbreak. “People weakened by hunger are far more vulnerable to infections.” Ebola weakens the immune system, making it more difficult for the body to fight the disease and recover once infected. Healthy food can both support an immune system response and improve conditions for medications to work properly, thus accelerating recovery, Grace Kwakezime Mongame, emergency nutritionist at the World Food Programme in DRC, told Mongabay in a call. A lack of reliable food can force people out of their homes where they potentially spread or contract the disease from others in the community. “Since the disease is transmitted through contact, moving around risks creating new layers of infection; the aim is to keep people within a single environment, Kwakezime said. WFP also provides food to patients’ families, especially dependent children, so the sick can rest and recover instead of leaving isolation to care for their dependents. The need for food can also…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The recent Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus has reportedly claimed more than 3,000 lives, and more than twice as many reported cases, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, analysts warn that roughly 26 million people across […] authors: | ||
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Key tree species boost Amazon forest restoration, new study shows 03 Sep 2026 18:55:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/key-tree-species-boost-amazon-forest-restoration-new-study-shows/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Fernanda Wenzel content:encoded: A few tree species are key to restoring biodiversity and carbon storage in deforested areas of the Brazilian Amazon, suggests an article published in June in Global Change Biology. Researchers examined 102 plots under natural regeneration in four municipalities in Pará state — Bragantina, Marabá, Paragominas and Santarém — and concluded that a range of 15 to 25 species accounted for nearly half of the trees present and half of the plots’ carbon stocks. Among these species are the embaúba (Cecropia palmata), the tatapiririca (Tapirira guianensis), the ingá-vermelho (Inga alba), and the araticum-bravo (Annona exsucca). This relatively short list of hyperdominant species could “guide assisted restoration and enrichment strategies” in the Amazon, the researchers said, and help Brazil meet the goal of restoring 12 million hectares (30 million acres) of forests by 2030, an area roughly the size of North Korea. “These areas are already restoring [ecological] services and biodiversity,” Fernando Elias, a researcher in Pará’s Emílio Goeldi Museum and the coordinator of the study, told Mongabay. “That is why it is so important to understand how these forests behave.” According to Elias, the Brazilian Amazon has more than 140,000 square kilometers (around 57,000 square miles) of regrowing forests in areas previously deforested, known as secondary forests. In many cases, these lands have been abandoned after being used for cattle ranching. Most of it has the potential to recover naturally, without the need to plant a single seed. Close monitoring, however, is necessary to control fires, cattle ranching and land…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A study in Global Change Biology shows that just 15 to 25 tree species make up nearly half of the trees and carbon stocks in regrowing Amazon forests. - While pioneer species grow quickly, experts warn that forests need a robust succession of stronger trees to avoid ecological decline over time. - Understanding these forest dynamics may help Brazil meet its international pledge to restore 12 million hectares (30 million acres) of forest by 2030. authors: | ||
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Cherokee youth win legal rights for waterway in first all-female U.S. effort 03 Sep 2026 18:26:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/cherokee-girls-win-legal-rights-for-waterway-in-first-all-female-u-s-effort/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Before the proceedings began, the young women carried Longperson into the room with them, water gathered from the mountain headwaters and held in traditional pottery. The chamber filled beyond capacity, supporters spilling into the lobby. When the vote came, the council passed the resolution unanimously. The crowd and the council rose in standing ovation. On Jan. 8, 2026, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Tribal Council convened in Cherokee, in what is today the U.S. state of North Carolina, to consider a resolution brought forward by the NAIWA Daughters, the youth arm of the North American Indian Women’s Association, made up of a group of Indigenous girls between the ages of 10 and 17. The resolution recognizes the inherent legal rights of the Longperson, or vwi Ganvhida, the interconnected waterway system whose headwaters rise in the Great Smoky Mountains and travel more than 1,270 kilometers (790 miles), branching through multiple states before its “feet,” as the Cherokee describe it, reach the Gulf of Mexico. To the Tribe, Longperson (formerly Long Man) is a living entity of great cultural and spiritual significance. Zailiana Blythe, from NAIWA Daughters, speaks to the Council at the podium. Image from EBCI Tribal Council live-stream recording. “The room was heavy with the presence of Ancestors and community alike,” said Jasmine Smith, NAIWA Daughters chair and co-founder, describing the moment in a keynote speech at the Bioneers Conference in Berkeley, California. She delivered her speech wearing the moccasins of her Ancestor Ruth Littlejohn. “That day crystallized…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On Jan. 8, 2026, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the inherent legal rights of the Longperson (Ganvhidv Asgaya), an interconnected waterway system whose headwaters rise in the Great Smoky Mountains and end in the sea. - The resolution was brought forward by the NAIWA Daughters, a group of Indigenous girls aged 10 to 17, making it the first all-female-led rights-of-nature effort in the U.S., and only the second such youth-led resolution passed by a Tribal nation. - The effort followed 18 months of grassroots organizing and built on the foundations of the rights-of-nature movement, which holds that ecosystems and natural entities should have legal standing to exist and flourish. - The Longperson resolution grants the waterway five inherent rights and has already spurred related action, including a separate tribal resolution to raise funds for removing the Ela Dam. authors: | ||
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A ‘lost’ Philippine pigeon reappears after 20 years — but its forest is disappearing 03 Sep 2026 17:28:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-lost-philippine-pigeon-reappears-after-20-years-but-its-forest-is-disappearing/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro content:encoded: A camera trap on the Philippine island of Mindoro has photographed one of the country’s rarest birds, confirming that the critically endangered Mindoro bleeding-heart pigeon still survives in the wild. Captured in August in the Puerto Galera rainforest, the image is the first confirmed photograph of the species Gallicolumba platenae in two decades, according to the nonprofit organization Center for Conservation Innovation Ph Inc. (CCIPH). “For an extremely rare and secretive species, a single image can carry enormous weight,” CCIPH researchers wrote in a Sept. 3 announcement. “It confirms that the bird continues to survive within the landscape.” Juan Carlos Gonzalez, an ornithologist and curator for birds at the Museum of Natural History at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, independently confirmed that the image shows a Mindoro bleeding-heart. “This record not only proves that this very rare species continues to persist in these steep rainforests, but solidifies the importance of Puerto Galera as a UNESCO biosphere reserve and an important sanctuary for this critically endangered species,” Gonzalez told Mongabay by email. Mindoro Bleeding-heart captured via camera trap. Image courtesy of CCIPH. Alex Berryman, who oversees species conservation assessments for Asia at the NGO BirdLife International, also separately confirmed the identification. “There is no doubt that this refers to a Mindoro bleeding-heart,” Berryman told Mongabay by email. Berryman said the orange-red spot on the bird’s otherwise white chest, together with the iridescent green plumage on its head and neck, make it readily identifiable. Gonzalez also pointed to its blue-green…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Philippine conservation nonprofit CCIPH and Indigenous Iraya Mangyan forest patrollers documented a Mindoro bleeding-heart pigeon, providing the first confirmed image of the critically endangered species in two decades. - Two independent ornithologists confirmed the identification based on the bird’s orange-red breast marking, iridescent green plumage, and other distinctive features. - The image was recorded at an elevation above 900 meters (about 3,000 feet), higher than the species’ typical lowland range of 400-88 m (1,300-2,600 ft). - Experts called for expanded camera-trap surveys, a comprehensive population. assessment, stronger habitat protection, and measures to address logging, poaching and accidental trapping. authors: | ||
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Trading food for medicine and crossing the river by zip line are part of life in Nepal flood zone 03 Sep 2026 16:59:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/trading-food-for-medicine-and-crossing-the-river-by-zip-line-are-part-of-life-in-nepal-flood-zone/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Some survivors sheltering in relief camps after deadly floods in Nepal struggled Thursday to obtain essential medicines and cash, even as authorities provided food and other basic supplies to thousands of displaced people. The shortages are adding to the hardships of those living in temporary shelters after having lost homes and belongings. Suresh Kumar Karanjit, who has been staying at a relief center in Devighat, a town in one of the worst-affected areas in Nuwakot district, lost his younger brother in the floods last week. He said the camp did not have the exact medicine prescribed for his heart condition. Karanjit only managed to get the cash he needed to buy his regular medicine after selling a carton of noodles he received as relief for 400 rupees ($2.60). “We have been living here for a week. The relief materials are being provided, which is good. But there is a lack of medicine,” he said. Nepal’s disaster chief, Dharam Raj Uprety, said health centers staffed by doctors and stocked with medicine have been set up at each shelter. Uprety said authorities were also focusing on hygiene and sanitation to reduce the risk of disease. The Aug. 26 floods that were likely caused by a glacier collapse devastated towns and valleys in Nepal, destroying homes, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure. At least 1,252 people were killed and more than 4,200 remain missing, according to the country’s disaster management agency. China as of late Wednesday said 21 people were killed and 541 were missing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Some survivors sheltering in relief camps after deadly floods in Nepal struggled Thursday to obtain essential medicines and cash, even as authorities provided food and other basic supplies to thousands of displaced people. The shortages are adding to the hardships of those living in temporary shelters after having lost homes and belongings. Suresh […] authors: | ||
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South Africa’s new gold rush: Big promises, closed books in new carbon frontier 03 Sep 2026 16:10:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-africas-new-gold-rush-big-promises-closed-books-in-new-carbon-frontier/ author: John Cannon dc:creator: Leonie Joubert content:encoded: This is the third article in Mongabay’s three-part investigation of spekboom-led ecosystem restoration in South Africa. This is part of an award-winning collaboration between independent science writer Leonie Joubert, the Stellenbosch University School for Climate Studies, and the Henry Nxumalo Foundation which supports investigative journalism in Africa. Read parts one and two. GQEBERHA, South Africa — Browsed. Heavily browsed. Knackered. This farm camp is well on the knackered side of the degradation scale, threadbare after decades of heavy livestock pressure. But the single shrub at Nick Hamp-Adam’s feet may help change that. It just needs a second chance. This young spekboom plant (Portulacaria afra) is more stocky shrub than rooted cutting. It’s had more time than usual in the nursery to bulk up ahead of being released into the wild. But for the moment, it’s stricken on its side, roots exposed. Hamp-Adams, general manager for Return to Thicket, one of the smaller restoration projects in this nook of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, is about to set things right. He sinks to his knees, finds a hand-sized stone and begins reopening the original planting hole. “Kudu, most likely …” His breath is metered by his efforts with the digging tool. “… came through …” Strike. “… grabbed it …” Strike. “… probably wasn’t planted deep enough.” Strike. He’s gentle when he rights the plant, taking care as he tamps the soil around its roots. Tough plants, generally. Don’t need much coddling. Except during planting. Treat them like babies during planting.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The drought-adapted succulent spekboom (Portulacaria afra) has long been trumpeted as the crown prince of South Africa’s nature-based carbon sink solutions. - The World Bank ensured its coronation with a $120 million outcome-based bond, structured and named in its honor. - According to Amazon, the tech giant’s commitment to buy carbon credits from the first developer to draw on the bond gave other financiers the confidence to back the industrial-scale project. Does this make the tech giant the power behind the throne of an emerging nature-based carbon credit sector? - Mongabay’s investigation uncovers a sector dominated by international corporations whose investment promises are hard to scrutinize, in a cautionary tale of what happens when projects fail. authors: | ||
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On renewable energy, it’s time to debunk the ‘transition minerals’ narrative (commentary) 03 Sep 2026 15:18:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/on-renewable-energy-its-time-to-debunk-the-transition-minerals-narrative-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Shaan Sood content:encoded: There is an insidious lie that has taken root in the energy transition narrative pushed by the world’s most powerful financial, political, and environmental institutions: we need to massively scale up “critical mineral” mining to secure a green future. The World Bank claims that production of key minerals will need to increase by 500% by 2050 for the energy transition. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 250 new mines are needed to meet emissions targets (80 new copper mines, 70 new lithium mines, 70 new nickel mines, and 30 new cobalt mines). WWF says we need to dramatically increase the supply chain for a wide range of materials, including “transition minerals” as they’re also sometimes called. We are told that mineral extraction’s countless environmental harms — the streams contaminated by toxic runoff, the razed forests, the degraded air quality, the dying wildlife — are the necessary costs of the transition to renewable energy. Lithium pools in Salinas Grandes, Argentina. Image by Pedro J Pacheco via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED) But as we at the Oakland Institute show in a new report, “transition minerals” are misnamed. The vast majority are used in industries that are either unrelated — or in direct opposition — to the clean energy transition. This trend shows no signs of changing: artificial intelligence and heightened military spending are, in fact, increasing the demand for these minerals in industries driving ecological destruction. Scaling up mining as recommended by international organizations would…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The world needs to move from fossil fuels to renewable ones, but the narrative pushed by powerful financial, political, and environmental institutions — that it’s necessary to massively scale up mining of “transition” or “critical” minerals to achieve this — is false, a new op-ed argues. - Not only do these minerals’ extraction cause countless environmental and community harms, the numbers cited about how they are used — and the number of new mines needed — don’t add up, a recent report has shown. - “The vast majority [of critical minerals] are used in industries that are either unrelated — or in direct opposition — to the clean energy transition,” the author writes. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Planned Bolivia-Brazil highway threatens Chiquitania dry forest 03 Sep 2026 15:08:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-bolivia-brazil-highway-threatens-chiquitania-dry-forest/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Iván Paredes Tamayo content:encoded: On July 31, politicians and agribusiness leaders from Bolivia and Brazil gathered in the eastern Bolivian city of San Ignacio de Velasco. There, Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed an agreement to begin technical studies for a highway connecting San Ignacio de Velasco to Marfil, a point on the border with Brazil. A second section of the road will extend into Brazil toward the municipality of Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade. Experts told Mongabay the project will cause severe environmental damage, driving deforestation and land-use change to make way for soy fields and cattle ranches on the Bolivian side. San Ignacio de Velasco lies in the heart of the Bolivian Chiquitania, a region of vast tropical dry forests. The municipality has 67,103 inhabitants, according to the 2024 census. On July 31, its small airfield briefly became an international airport as some 15 private planes landed there. Except for the Bolivian presidential plane, every aircraft belonged to Brazilian businesspeople and politicians. Among them was Eraí Maggi, known in Brazil as the “soy king.” Planes from Brazil arrive in San Ignacio de Velasco for the signing of the highway agreement. Image courtesy of the Bolivian government. San Ignacio de Velasco, which holds 3.4 million hectares (8.4 million acres) of Chiquitano forest, or 6.2% of Bolivia’s total forest cover, has become the country’s epicenter of deforestation, according to reporting by Nómadas magazine in 2025. The Institute for Socio-Economic Research (IISEC) at the Bolivian Catholic University (UCB) found that between 2017 and 2023, agricultural expansion…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed an agreement to begin technical studies for a highway connecting the municipality of San Ignacio de Velasco in the Chiquitania region with the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. - Brazilian businesspeople looking to buy land in the Chiquitano forest for cattle ranching and soy farming are driving the project. - Brazilian businessman Eraí Maggi, known as the “soy king,” is a central figure behind this agricultural expansion into Bolivia. - Experts warn the road will accelerate deforestation in the Chiquitania, the largest tropical dry forest in the Americas, in a country that already ranks second globally in tropical forest loss. authors: | ||
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Repeal of U.S. Roadless Rule could threaten drinking water for 25 million people 03 Sep 2026 13:57:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/repeal-of-u-s-roadless-rule-could-threaten-drinking-water-for-25-million-people/ author: Liz Kimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: The drinking water for about 25 million Americans starts in the backcountry of the national forests, on land where roads are few by design. A rule the Trump administration proposed last week could open that land to roads and logging. On Aug. 18, the U.S. Department of Agriculture filed a proposed rule to fully rescind the U.S. Forest Service’s 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which bars new road construction and commercial logging on about 45 million acres (18 million hectares) of national forest. It was published in the Federal Register on Aug. 20, opening a 30-day public comment period that closes at midnight on Sept. 21. The proposed rule has drawn widespread criticism among wildland firefighters, environmental organizations, lawmakers and scientists. Much of the debate has centered on logging and fire. But researchers say some of the largest costs run downstream, into the taps of people’s homes. Wilder Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area ,Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. Photo courtesy of Zack Porter / Standing Trees. Forests work as natural filters. They intercept rain, slow runoff, and trap sediment before water reaches streams, rivers and reservoirs. Roads and logging can undo that work, casting off sediment that utility companies must clean and driving up treatment costs. A 2024 study in Forests found that forest roads contribute up to 90 percent of sediment loads in streams and are “seriously disrupting the safety and stability of watersheds.” A study published in July in PLOS Water estimated that about 25 million Americans draw…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On Aug. 18, the Trump administration proposed fully rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, which bars new road construction and commercial logging on about 45 million acres of national forest, opening a public comment period that closes Sept. 21. - A study published in July in PLOS Water found that about 25 million Americans draw drinking water from watersheds fed by roadless areas, where roads and logging raise erosion and turbidity and drive up treatment costs. - USDA says the repeal will reduce wildfire risk, but research shows most U.S. wildfires are started by people and ignition density is roughly four times higher near roads than in roadless country. - Roadless areas cover just 2% of the land in the lower 48 states yet provide habitat for 57% of the country’s vulnerable terrestrial species, and USDA’s own summary acknowledges that most Tribes it consulted oppose the repeal. authors: | ||
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From seizure to sentence: Weak prosecution leaves tigers vulnerable to trafficking in Southeast Asia: Report 03 Sep 2026 13:13:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/from-seizure-to-sentence-weak-prosecution-leaves-tigers-vulnerable-to-trafficking-in-southeast-asia-report/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: When tiger poachers and traffickers are apprehended in Southeast Asia, they frequently get away without consequences: Fewer than half of arrests and seizures in the cat’s Southeast Asian range countries are backed up by penalties or convictions, according to a recently published report by Canadian conservation think tank the GuArdean Centre for Conservation Research, wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC, and WWF International. This means there’s little deterrent for a lucrative illegal industry that’s driving tigers toward extinction, experts say. Black market trade in their skins, bones, teeth and other body parts is an extremely lucrative business; most are headed to China, the top consumer. Researchers assessed publicly available records related to 259 tiger-related seizures in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos between 2019 and 2024 — seven of the 10 countries where wild tigers still survive. Heather Sohl, the tiger trade lead at WWF and a co-author of the report, noted that these cases represent just a fraction of the trade, “only those which were intercepted and reported.” That level of wildlife crime could have a “massive impact” on wild tiger populations, she said. Based on their findings, the study’s authors are calling for a raft of measures to strengthen sentencing in an effort to fight the international criminal organizations that mastermind tiger trade and other wildlife crime in the region. A young Bengal tiger walks along a path through elephant grass in India’s Kaziranga National Park. Image by Steve Winter/Big Cat Voices. Little deterrent for tiger poachers and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Prosecution of tiger crime — trafficking and sales of tiger skins, bones, and other body parts — is poor in Southeast Asia, according to a recent report. - Fewer than half of arrests were prosecuted: Of 259 cases examined, only 110 resulted in fines or jail sentences, with outcomes varying widely between countries. - The authors propose concrete actions to strengthen enforcement to deter tiger poaching and trafficking: improving domestic and international coordination, better training for law enforcement, and intelligence-driven investigations. authors: | ||
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Development banks are backing problematic mineral projects, report finds 03 Sep 2026 13:10:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/development-banks-are-backing-problematic-mineral-projects-report-finds/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: “Development bank-backed transition minerals projects are frequently associated with significant environmental, social, and human rights risks.” This is the conclusion of the latest report by the International Accountability Project (IAP), an international advocacy organization. IAP analyzed 77 projects globally, approved between 2023 and 2025. The analysis resulted in the Transition Minerals Finance Tracker, an interactive online database documenting transition minerals projects. It reveals that more than half of the projects analyzed, and nearly three-quarters of African projects, show evidence of actual, probable or potential harm to local communities. “There are many companies that are multinational mining corporations who have a very bad track record in terms of human rights, yet they do get loans from the development banks,” Vaishnavi Varadarajan, program coordinator at IAP, told Mongabay in a phone interview. “It is raising the question of the due diligence that is being done by the banks beforehand.” Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, a growing number of countries are investing in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power as well as electric vehicles to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. Such technologies require components made from minerals and rare earth elements that are often found in the Global South and shipped to the Global North for value-added processing, Varadarajan said. “[I]t is kind of reinforcing a colonial way of extraction.” The report denounces an unfair transition, in which countries financing extraction reap most of the economic benefits, while countries where raw materials are located face water depletion and contamination,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: “Development bank-backed transition minerals projects are frequently associated with significant environmental, social, and human rights risks.” This is the conclusion of the latest report by the International Accountability Project (IAP), an international advocacy organization. IAP analyzed 77 projects globally, approved between 2023 and 2025. The analysis resulted in the Transition Minerals Finance Tracker, an interactive […] authors: | ||
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Mexico-Brazil oil deal raises concern for ecosystems and energy transition 03 Sep 2026 10:02:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mexico-brazil-oil-deal-raises-concern-for-ecosystems-and-energy-transition/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Daniel Shailer content:encoded: Environmental organizations have raised concerns that a recent partnership between the state petrochemical companies of Brazil and Mexico will commit both nations to decades of fossil fuel production, increase the risk of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, and displace coastal communities with industrial expansion. On June 23, Brazil’s Petrobras and Mexico’s Pemex announced a two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlining their collaboration. The document itself was not published, but in a short press release, the companies describe cooperating to “increase production in deepwater” and “mature fields … in the Gulf of Mexico”. The agreement also refers to ancillary fossil fuel products such as fertilizers, biofuels and carbon capture, according to the release. Mexico extracts the majority of its fossil fuels from the southern Gulf of Mexico, but has seen production declining in recent decades. Although the partnership is aimed to increase the country’s energy sovereignty, energy researchers and environmentalists say questions remain about the terms of the deal and its repercussions. “This is an effort from the Mexican administration to increase oil barrels, but at what cost,” Renata Terrazas, vice president, Mexico, of marine environmental group Oceana, said to Mongabay over video call. “Right now we’re just guessing. There’s no transparency about what this actually means, and that’s one of the things that we fear the most.” The partnership comes after Pemex suffered two major safety incidents this spring. In February, an exploratory natural gas well near Las Choapas, Veracruz, exploded and continued to release smoke and gas…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - This June, Pemex and Petrobras, the state fossil fuel companies of Mexico and Brazil respectively, announced a two-year partnership to jointly explore mature and deepwater oilfields in the Gulf of Mexico. - Details of the exact arrangement have not been released, despite both companies being state-run and campaigners’ calls for greater transparency, but subsequent reports suggest that exploration could focus on the Bay of Campeche, near the Gulf’s largest marine protected area and several vulnerable reef habitats. - Both companies have downplayed the significance of the deal as a preliminary step, but environmental campaigners said it risks tying both nations to decades of fossil fuel emissions and pollution. - Supporters hope the partnership will help staunch a recent run of safety incidents at Mexican petrochemical sites. authors: | ||
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Andean condors: From fear to coexistence 03 Sep 2026 09:24:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/andean-condors-from-fear-to-coexistence/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Julia Lima content:encoded: In a remote Colombian village where Andean condors were once feared and routinely poisoned, Doris Torres grew up seeing the birds as a threat to her sheep. But as she learned about the importance of the species, Vultur gryphus, she turned into an unlikely conservationist now leading a grassroots effort that has helped bring condors back from the brink of extinction. With the help of the Parque Jaime Duque Foundation, community action transformed a long-standing conflict into a relationship of coexistence, turning former enemies into protectors and creating a rare safe haven for one of the country’s most threatened birds of prey. Watch the full video to find out how. This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In a remote Colombian village where Andean condors were once feared and routinely poisoned, Doris Torres grew up seeing the birds as a threat to her sheep. But as she learned about the importance of the species, Vultur gryphus, she turned into an unlikely conservationist now leading a grassroots effort that has helped bring condors […] authors: | ||
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During Nepal floods, decentralized, community-based warning saved lives 03 Sep 2026 08:16:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/during-nepal-floods-decentralized-community-based-warning-saved-lives/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Abhaya Raj Joshi content:encoded: KATHMANDU — At 9:10 a.m. on Aug. 26, head teacher Rajendra Dawadi received frantic phone calls about a flood heading downstream toward Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School. He ordered his roughly 900 students to run for higher ground. Ten minutes later, the flood hit the evacuated school. When flood waters receded, the whole compound was buried under debris, with only a fragment of the school’s roofline left showing. There were two “systems” that warned people about the impending danger that day: one built by the state relying on sensors and SMS messages, the other relying on community-based ties. Only the second worked reliably, and in the case of Dawadi and many other survivors, it even arrived first. But not everyone was as lucky. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), as of Sept. 3, a total of 1,252 people have died, with 4,216 more missing and roughly 1.6 million people affected across five districts in Nepal. Headteacher Rajendra Dawadi of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School, talks to relatives on his mobile phone in Trishuli Valley in Nepal. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) Communication researcher Bhuwan KC observed that while one-half of the corridor (upstream) had no information at all, the other had information, but that information couldn’t convey urgency and scale. In areas nearest to the border, on both the Nepal and China sides, everything happened in just seven minutes. The sensors were knocked out immediately. But farther down, in Trishuli Bazaar, Betrawati and toward Muglin and Devghat, people…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - During Nepal’s Aug. 26, 2026 floods, which have killed 987 people and left 3,916 missing, informal, community-based warnings saved lives while Nepal’s official SMS alert system failed, arriving late, in Nepali only, and without actionable, location-specific guidance. - While Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology can forecast and issue warnings, it has no legal authority to order evacuations, and no law requires a forecast to automatically trigger one. This means decisions rest on individual heads. - A 2022 study found the same failure after a 2021 rainfall disaster that killed 120 people and called for binding SOPs linking forecasts to action. The recommendation remains unimplemented. - Fixes already exist: cell broadcast technology (studied by GSMA/ITU, about $1.75-$3 million, reaches a zone in about 10 seconds in multiple languages) and community-based East networks both offer potential models, but neither has been scaled up or funded. authors: | ||
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Vietnam seizes 1.2 tons of ivory, plus big cat bones, hidden in timber shipment 03 Sep 2026 08:06:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/vietnam-seizes-1-2-tons-of-ivory-plus-big-cat-bones-hidden-in-timber-shipment/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Authorities in Vietnam have intercepted more than a ton of elephant ivory along with big-cat bones in a shipment from the Republic of Congo. Gia Lai provincial authorities announced that the haul of 1,193 kilograms (2,630 pounds) of ivory and 79.3 kg (175 lb) of bones was uncovered at Quy Nhon Port in early August. It’s the first seizure of this scale at the regional port, according to local media. The shipment contained 165 wooden crates declared as African sawn timber, which arrived in July under the name of the Thanh Cong Trading Services and Translation Joint Stock Company, according to Gia Lai provincial police. Investigators used specialized scanning equipment to discover hidden compartments inside 12 timber crates that were hollowed out, local media reported. Traffickers had packed the ivory and bones in wax in those compartments and sealed them with wood to make the packages appear ordinary and bypass inspections. The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology subsequently tested the ivory and bones and confirmed they came respectively from elephants and big cats. Chris Shepherd, who campaigns against wildlife trafficking with the U.S.-based Center for Biological Diversity, told Mongabay by email that the massive seizure is a reminder of the persistent demand driving the illegal wildlife trade market. “For me, the red flag is that this is still continuing in Southeast Asia, as it has for decades, regardless of raised levels of awareness among governments and enforcement agencies, significant investment to build capacity to tackle the illegal trade, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Authorities in Vietnam have intercepted more than a ton of elephant ivory along with big-cat bones in a shipment from the Republic of Congo. Gia Lai provincial authorities announced that the haul of 1,193 kilograms (2,630 pounds) of ivory and 79.3 kg (175 lb) of bones was uncovered at Quy Nhon Port in early August. […] authors: | ||
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West Africa’s plan to save its vultures struggles to take flight 03 Sep 2026 07:58:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/west-africas-plan-to-save-its-vultures-struggles-to-take-flight/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Togo’s vulture population is in crisis. Amid intense persecution for belief-based use and ongoing loss of habitat, surveys between 2021 and 2025 tracked a sharp decline in the numbers of critically endangered hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus) around abattoirs — counting only a few hundred in total across the country. Palm-nut vultures (Gypohierax angolensis) are known from only one protected area, and white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) are now presumed to be locally extinct, with the last bird in the country seen in 2019. “We’re now in a situation where it’s much harder to find vultures,” Nico Arcilla, president of the International Bird Conservation Partnership (IBCP), said in an interview. “But if you go to the markets you’ll see them, and you know people are finding them.” In neighboring Benin, a major hub for the trade and use of vulture parts, unpublished market data collected by Abiola Chaffra, a research associate with the IBCP, counted 883 vultures for sale in nine markets surveyed in 2023. Surveys conducted between 2025 and 2026 found 535 for sale in 24 markets. “The fact that vultures continue to be sold, including in southern Benin where their numbers have declined sharply or they have even disappeared from the wild, shows that there is still significant pressure on these species,” Chaffra said. Following the surveys in Togo, the IBCP conducted awareness campaigns around slaughterhouses and worked with local authorities and site managers to protect vultures in 2024 and 2025. “During our awareness-raising activities, many people were unaware of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Launched two years ago, the West African Vulture Conservation Action Plan (WAVCAP) aimed to protect the region’s dwindling vulture populations. But progress to implement it is lacking, say experts. - Vultures are under severe threat in the region due to poisoning for belief-based use, persecution, and habitat destruction. Other raptors and bird species are under severe pressure due to this trade as well. - Experts point to a lack of coordination, limited funding, and low priority for vulture conservation as ongoing challenges, amid an ever-growing trade in their parts that’s also impacting Central African countries. - Urgent action is needed to avoid complete extirpation of vultures in countries like Benin and Nigeria, say experts, adding they hope that a coordination meeting in November will address these issues. authors: | ||
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Women farmers in Sumatra find a gentler way to keep elephants at bay 03 Sep 2026 05:31:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/women-farmers-in-sumatra-find-a-gentler-way-to-keep-elephants-at-bay/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: On the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, in the buffer zone of a national park, a women-led farming group has come up with a solution to reduce encounters with elephants. Deforestation and oil palm encroachment have stripped Tesso Nilo National Park of more than three-quarters of its old-growth forest. This has forced the park’s roughly 150 Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) into frequent, costly clashes with local communities, report Mongabay Indonesia contributor Suryadi and Mongabay’s Yenni Kwok. To prevent elephants from coming too close, some villagers elsewhere in Indonesia resort to setting out poison bait or putting up electric fences. However, in the village of Lubuk Kembang Bunga in Tesso Nilo’s buffer zone, the Batang Nilo Women’s Forest Farmer Group, known as Perbani, has championed an alternative for protecting their crops: dense fences made of citrus trees, a natural repellent for elephants. “Before we had the citrus trees, elephants always ate our oil palm fruits,” Ernita, a 33-year-old farmer and Perbani member, told . “Praise be to God, since we planted the citrus trees, the elephants haven’t eaten our oil palm fruits.” To foster peaceful coexistence, the group elsewhere plants elephant-friendly fruit trees like jackfruit, its cousin cempedak, and stink beans, known in Indonesian as petai. Yuliantony, the executive director of the Tesso Nilo National Park Foundation (YTNTN), the community-based organization that proposed the citrus initiative, said women are often overlooked in conservation efforts, although they frequently have in-depth knowledge of local ecology. “That is why it is important to involve…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: On the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, in the buffer zone of a national park, a women-led farming group has come up with a solution to reduce encounters with elephants. Deforestation and oil palm encroachment have stripped Tesso Nilo National Park of more than three-quarters of its old-growth forest. This has forced the park’s roughly 150 […] authors: | ||
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Beetle larvae trick bees into feeding and sheltering them by smelling like flowers, study finds 03 Sep 2026 05:08:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/beetle-larvae-trick-bees-into-feeding-and-sheltering-them-by-smelling-like-flowers-study-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: European Black oil beetle larva lures unsuspecting bees by manufacturing smells that mimic floral scents, new research suggests. The larva then hitches a ride on the bee to its burrow, where it eats the bee’s eggs and pollen, and develops into an adult beetle. This is the first known instance of an animal hijacking the smell of a flower to lure another animal to parasitize it, the study’s authors say. Larvae of the European black oil beetle (Meloe proscarabaeus) are orange and gather on the tips of plants to attract bee hosts, which they then parasitize. The research team hypothesized that the larvae emit some kind of chemical to attract the bees. Using chemical analysis, the researchers found that the beetles emit compounds called floral monoterpenoids, the same chemicals that produce the scent of flowers in many plant species. The researchers prepared a synthetic mix of the compounds in the lab and found that bee species in the wild were attracted to them, supporting the hypothesis that the beetle’s larvae imitate flowers to lure bee hosts. Ryan Alam, the study’s lead author from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany, told Mongabay by email that the team hasn’t identified a specific flower with a scent that matches the floral chemical profile the larvae emit. However, he added that the compounds are known components of the scent of willow flowers, which makes the plants an intriguing candidate. “Determining the precise floral source (if any!), and understanding how closely the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: European Black oil beetle larva lures unsuspecting bees by manufacturing smells that mimic floral scents, new research suggests. The larva then hitches a ride on the bee to its burrow, where it eats the bee’s eggs and pollen, and develops into an adult beetle. This is the first known instance of an animal hijacking the […] authors: | ||
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Michael Painter put Indigenous land rights at the center of conservation 02 Sep 2026 22:12:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/michael-painter-put-indigenous-land-rights-at-the-center-of-conservation/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In the Bolivian Chaco, the Isoceño Guaraní did not need conservationists to tell them that their land was under pressure. Agricultural settlement was pushing into the region, and their organization, the Capitanía de Alto y Bajo Izozog (CABI), had its own territorial aims. What outsiders could provide was scientific expertise, legal support, money, and access to institutions that could help turn those claims into recognized rights. Working with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), CABI developed the proposal for Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park, which Bolivia created in 1995. At 3.4 million hectares, it was enormous even by the standards of South American protected areas. CABI became its co-administrator. The partnership also helped develop a mechanism for securing Indigenous land under Bolivia’s agrarian reform law. It was used to title 273,000 hectares for the Ayoreode and 560,000 hectares for the Isoceño Guaraní, as well as land for 43 Chiquitano communities. WCS says the process helped establish precedents for Indigenous land titling elsewhere in Bolivia. Michael Painter arrived at WCS in 1997 to direct the Kaa-Iya project. For an ecological anthropologist, its implications were hard to miss. Conservation did not have to mean setting land aside and then persuading the people living around it to cooperate. Indigenous organizations could be conservation partners in their own right, with territorial goals, political interests, and knowledge of their own. A useful role for an organization such as WCS was sometimes to strengthen their ability to deal with governments, companies, donors, and conservationists themselves. Painter,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Michael Painter, an ecological anthropologist who joined the Wildlife Conservation Society in 1997, spent much of his career working at the intersection of conservation, Indigenous land rights, and rural development. - In Bolivia, he helped strengthen partnerships with Indigenous organizations in the Gran Chaco and Greater Madidi, including efforts that supported the titling and management of large Indigenous territories. - Painter later worked within WCS to advance a human-rights-based approach to conservation, including safeguards for research involving people and stronger recognition of Indigenous rights and governance. - Painter died on February 11, 2026. authors: | ||
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Indigenous ‘turtle women’ help vulnerable reptiles recover in Ecuadorian Amazon 02 Sep 2026 20:07:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/indigenous-turtle-women-help-vulnerable-reptiles-recover-in-ecuadorian-amazon/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: On the banks of the Aguarico River in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a group of Indigenous Siekopai women are combining traditional knowledge and modern technology to help a threatened native turtle recover. Their efforts center around charapa turtles (Podocnemis unifilis), also known as the yellow-spotted Amazon River turtle, Mongabay Latam’s Astrid Arellano reported. The animal’s populations have declined due to hunting adult turtles, harvesting eggs from nests and pollution from garbage, oil and gasoline. “Sometimes we see plastic, garbage bags,” Janeth Piaguaje, a Siekopai community leader of the project, told Mongabay Latam. “We also see dead animals floating down the river. We can’t control all of that, but we do make a significant effort to clean the beaches where we work.” Boat traffic is also eroding riverbanks, and climate change has caused water levels to rise, flooding the flats where turtles make their nests. Charapa turtles are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, the global conservation authority. To help the turtles recover, a group of seven Siekopai women, who call themselves Tari Nomiowa’i, or “turtle women,” patrol the riverbanks looking for turtle tracks and nests. When they find nests, the women carefully collect the eggs, a skill Piaguaje said she learned from her father. “He taught me how to handle the eggs, how to see on what dates and in what months the turtles lay their nests,” she said. The women document the date, time, location and number of eggs in each nest using the Epicollect5 app, a field data collection tool. Then they take the eggs…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: On the banks of the Aguarico River in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a group of Indigenous Siekopai women are combining traditional knowledge and modern technology to help a threatened native turtle recover. Their efforts center around charapa turtles (Podocnemis unifilis), also known as the yellow-spotted Amazon River turtle, Mongabay Latam’s Astrid Arellano reported. The animal’s populations […] authors: | ||
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Invaders storm Indigenous Amazon land, threatening isolated people 02 Sep 2026 17:05:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/invaders-storm-indigenous-amazon-land-threatening-isolated-people/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee GabayElisângela Mendonça content:encoded: Nearly 200 people have invaded the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land in Brazil’s Pará state since mid‑August, smashing through the Indigenous Affairs Agency (Funai)’s gates, tearing down warning signs and setting up camps inside a territory reserved for uncontacted Indigenous peoples. The surge followed the creation of the Bacajaí Environmental Protection Area (APA Bacajaí) under a new state law that completely overlaps the federally protected Indigenous land, creating legal confusion that authorities say has been weaponized by land‑grabbers to justify occupation for cattle ranching and other agricultural activities. Federal prosecutors and the Public Defender’s Office have warned of an imminent risk of violent confrontation and possible genocide against the isolated Igarapé Ipiaçava people. Since 2011, a series of temporary land-use restriction orders, which prohibit unauthorized individuals from entering Ituna/Itatá, protected the vulnerable population. Brazil’s Indigenous Affairs Agency, Funai, renewed the precautionary measure in 2025. The first reported invasions occurred a day after Pará published the new state law in the Official Gazette on August 12, 2026, announcing the creation of the APA Bacajaí in the municipalities of Altamira and Senador José Porfírio. The APA covers about 142,400 hectares (351,880 acres) of land in the Brazilian Amazon, which overlaps “100% with the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land”. The bill, which was introduced in June by Pará state representative (state deputy) Francisco Torres de Paula Filho, also known as Torrinho Torres, was unanimously approved and made law one month later. “What was on August 13th limited to indications of opening access routes and destruction of territorial…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - About 200 people have invaded the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land in Brazil’s Pará state since August 13, breaking through Brazil’s Indigenous Affairs Agency (Funai) gates, removing signs and establishing camps. - The invasion followed the creation of the Bacajaí Environmental Protection Area that completely overlaps with the federally protected Indigenous Land — creating legal confusion which authorities say has been exploited by individuals who wish to occupy the area. - Federal authorities have warned of an imminent risk of confrontation and potentially genocide against Indigenous people living in voluntary isolation and have called for the urgent deployment of the National Force and Federal Police. - On August 26, a federal court ordered the Union and Funai to send teams from the Public Security Force within 48 hours to contain the invasion but the deadline has passed and the teams have not yet arrived. authors: | ||
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Nepal’s flood disaster puts its hydropower-first strategy, exports to the test 02 Sep 2026 16:12:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-disaster-puts-its-hydropower-first-strategy-exports-to-the-test/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Rudra Pangeni content:encoded: KATHMANDU — Nepal’s long-held policy of harnessing hydroelectricity and using it for economic growth has met new challenges: potential catastrophic floods in the snow-fed rivers amid rising global temperatures. The Aug. 26 floods that originated on the Nepal-China border, and which knocked out around 10% of installed power from the national grid, has prompted a debate on whether Nepal should rethink its overall strategy or just adopt better-engineered plants. Amid this, the flood could jeopardize the country’s clean energy targets and push it to adopt more solar power. Immediate impacts The flashflood crippled a combined installed generation capacity of 281 megawatts, including a solar power plant, and damaged four other under-construction projects, totaling a capacity of 700 MW. One of the oldest hydroelectric plants, the 14.1-MW Devighat Hydroelectric Plant, commissioned 42 years ago, was wiped out. Further downstream, the flood badly damaged a 25-MW solar power plant, according to data compiled by Mongabay from official sources. Similarly, with a hub of a transmission line washed away on the Trishuli River’s banks, another 150 MW of power from different power plants is cut off from the national grid system. Transmission lines, including a substation on the Trishuli riverbank, were also destroyed. While officials are assessing the damage, estimates put losses at hundreds of billions of Nepali rupees, according to media reports. They say they can’t yet provide timelines for when the affected projects will resume generation. Around 983 engineers and workers are feared trapped inside the tunnels or power houses and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - ● The Aug. 26 flash floods on the Nepal-China border wiped out or badly damaged 281 megawatts of installed capacity and damaged 388 MW under construction in Nepal, with losses estimated to be hundreds of billions of Nepali rupees. With transmission lines on the Trishuli riverbank washed away, another 150 MW of power is cut off from the national grid. - Surface-built powerhouses, dams and desanders near the riverbed suffered the worst damage, while underground powerhouses held up well, pointing to project locations, longer access tunnels, and early-warning systems as key resilience factors, though these upgrades could raise project costs by 10-12%. - Some experts argue the flood should prompt Nepal to prioritize domestic consumption over its export-driven hydropower strategy, citing both physical disaster risk and falling electricity prices in neighboring India. - The disaster threatens Nepal’s newly achieved net-exporter status (18.75 billion rupees, or $142 million in Financial Year 2025) heading into winter’s low-flow season, and is accelerating calls to scale up solar power. authors: | ||
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Philippines fast-tracks critical minerals, raising Indigenous, environmental concerns 02 Sep 2026 16:01:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/philippines-fast-tracks-critical-minerals-raising-indigenous-environmental-concerns/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro content:encoded: The Philippines is moving to accelerate critical-mineral development across millions of hectares of land, raising concerns that expanded mining and faster permitting could put pressure on forests, ancestral domains, and Indigenous communities’ ability to give or withhold consent. In an executive order signed on Aug. 18, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. established a national framework for developing the country’s critical-minerals industry. The order identifies at least 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of prospective areas that could host mineral resources, and calls for policies that promote downstream processing, investment, and “responsible and sustainable mining practices.” Executive Order No. 122 directs the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through its Mines and Geosciences Bureau, to implement a national exploration and mineral reservation program. It also orders mining applications streamlined through a virtual one-stop shop that will allow national and local permits and clearances to be processed simultaneously rather than sequentially. The Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), an environmental and Indigenous rights legal group, says the policy could expose a much larger area to mineral exploration and development. The 9-million-hectare figure represents about 30% of the country’s land area, and is more than 11 times the 813,575 hectares (2.01 million acres) currently covered by approved mining projects, according to the LRC. EO 122, however, describes the 9 million hectares as prospective areas with potential mineral resources, rather than as approved mining projects. Rogelio Andrada II, a forestry professor and director of the Institute of Renewable Natural Resources at the University…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Philippines’ new critical-minerals policy targets at least 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of prospective mineral areas, more than 11 times the land currently covered by approved mining projects, according to an environmental legal group. - Environmental and Indigenous rights advocates warn that expanded mineral development could increase pressure on forests and ancestral domains. - Critics say that by rolling out the simultaneous processing of mining permits and clearances, the new policy could undermine meaningful free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) if Indigenous communities are pushed to make decisions without adequate time and information. - The mining industry has welcomed faster and more predictable permitting, while advocates are calling for stronger community participation and safeguards for Indigenous rights and ecosystem health before large-scale critical-mineral development proceeds. authors: | ||
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Global warming will exceed limit, UN says in a report that maps path to get back below danger zone 02 Sep 2026 15:54:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/global-warming-will-exceed-limit-un-says-in-a-report-that-maps-path-to-get-back-below-danger-zone/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: In a strategic retreat, the United Nations concedes that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst impacts of global warming. A report released Wednesday by the United Nations Environment Programme reveals that the planet will soon exceed the temperature threshold set by the 2015 Paris climate accord. Instead of giving up, scientists and U.N. officials recommend limiting excessive warming and then bringing temperatures back down. It’s called overshoot. This involves slashing fossil fuel use and finding ways to remove carbon dioxide from the air. In the meantime, the world will face decades of increased disasters, rising seas and extinctions. By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press Banner image: Firefighters watch as a wildfire called the Plaskett Fire burns towards Highway 1 on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in Big Sur, Calif. Image courtesy of Ethan Swope, Associated Press. This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In a strategic retreat, the United Nations concedes that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst impacts of global warming. A report released Wednesday by the United Nations Environment Programme reveals that the planet will soon exceed the temperature threshold set by the 2015 Paris climate accord. Instead of giving up, […] authors: | ||
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Drought is deepening a health crisis among Peru’s recently contacted Indigenous Matsés 02 Sep 2026 15:50:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/drought-is-deepening-a-health-crisis-among-perus-recently-contacted-indigenous-matses/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: REQUENA, Peru — Until a century ago, few Matsés had ever been in contact with a white person before. The Indigenous people lived in a remote area of the Amazon Rainforest, along the border of Peru and Brazil, in seminomadic forest settlements between the Javari, Yaquerana and Gálvez rivers. There, wild meat was abundant — and they could hide from outsiders and rival groups. Roberto Necca Tumi Unan had just returned from a swim in the river when Mongabay arrived at his rectangular wooden stilt house for an interview. He’s one of the community’s last surviving elders, born before first voluntary contact with the outside world in the 1960s. Necca recalled how, on a few rare occasions, while cutting hunting trails through the dense jungle undergrowth alongside older men from his family, they would hear the alien sounds of outsiders. The men would quickly vanish into the undergrowth, covering themselves with damp leaves so the outsiders wouldn’t find them. “That had been a great fear for us because confrontation between mestizos and the Matsés before contact was dangerous,” he said. The Matsés, tired of conflict and displacement, said they chose to make contact with missionaries from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), an evangelical nonprofit, in 1969. While this initial contact brought some peace, it also marked the beginning of a decades-long struggle against deadly diseases. By 1981, the Matsés population, who had settled in Yaquerana district, in Peru’s Loreto department, was plagued by severe epidemics of influenza and pneumonia.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Since initiating contact with the outside world in 1969, the Matsés Indigenous people of the northeastern Peruvian Amazon have faced a barrage of epidemics. - During a recent visit to the Matsés reserve, Mongabay found a population still suffering from outbreaks of deadly malaria and hepatitis B, exacerbated by state neglect and environmental threats like drought. - Matsés leaders, anthropologists, and health experts warn that exposure could be fatal for isolated groups neighboring Matsés land, as well as those in nearby reserves across the wider Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor. - Drought and an intensifying El Niño could further compound these health pressures by disrupting rainfall patterns, creating conditions that allow malaria-bearing mosquitoes to proliferate and affecting river transport for medical care. authors: | ||
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Rapid wetland loss and ‘real estate boom’ increasing flood risk in Lagos 02 Sep 2026 12:52:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/rapid-wetland-loss-and-real-estate-boom-increasing-flood-risk-in-lagos/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Kingsley Charles content:encoded: In July, following relentless bursts of rainfall, flash floods covered pockets of Lagos, disrupting commerce and traffic in Nigeria’s commercial capital. Experts have found that the city now faces increased flood risk due to human-induced climate change. Other recent studies have identified another common factor exacerbating flooding risk in Lagos: rapid urbanization. In a study published in June, for example, a team of researchers examined satellite images of Lekki, a densely populated Lagos district, from 2015 to 2025. Their analysis showed that vegetation cover in the neighborhood had decreased by 13% in the last 10 years, while water bodies had reduced by 6%. Meanwhile, within the same timeline, settlements had risen by 10% on natural land cover, which was “causing an increase in flooding events in the area,” the authors concluded. The study is the latest in a series of investigations linking worsening flooding across Nigeria’s coastal cities to eroding wetlands. A study published in February found that between 1984 and 2023, areas with buildings and infrastructure in Lagos expanded by 38%. Meanwhile, forest cover had declined by 32% and water bodies reduced by 11%, “reducing the natural flood buffering capacity of Lagos Megacity,” the authors wrote. With the persisting loss of vegetation and wetlands, the authors predicted, more than 60% of Lagos’ urban areas will be affected by extreme flooding by 2050. Mark Ofua, the West Africa representative for Wild Africa, a conservation nonprofit, said that a real estate boom was to blame for the increasing ecological loss.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In July, following relentless bursts of rainfall, flash floods covered pockets of Lagos, disrupting commerce and traffic in Nigeria’s commercial capital. Experts have found that the city now faces increased flood risk due to human-induced climate change. Other recent studies have identified another common factor exacerbating flooding risk in Lagos: rapid urbanization. In a study […] authors: | ||
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Damselfish-assisted repair of wounded corals surprises scientists 02 Sep 2026 12:36:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/damselfish-assisted-repair-of-wounded-corals-surprises-scientists/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Shradha Triveni content:encoded: Corals share a close bond with the fish dwelling among them and the algae living within them. According to a new study, that relationship could be even stronger than previously known, with fish aiding coral tissue repair and damage recovery, particularly in higher-stress environments. The study, published on July 8 in Biology Letters, concluded that the yellowtail dascyllus (Dascyllus flavicaudus), a type of damselfish, helps heal injuries on Pocillopora spp., a genus of stony coral largely found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. “Surprisingly, we found that the bigger the wound, the faster the recovery,” said Hayden Vega, lead author of the study and a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, in the U.S. Previous research has shown that coral-dwelling fish aid in the cleaning of coral wounds and help corals tolerate warming oceans. But the new evidence of wound healing via tissue repair suggests that interactions between these organisms could be more beneficial than previously thought, especially under stressful conditions. Yellowtail dascyllus (Dascyllus flavicaudus) damselfish swim around coral in French Polynesia. Image © mndiminuco via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). “These positive interactions between species under stress end up creating a network of resilience in ecosystems,” Vega told Mongabay during a Zoom call. Vega thinks this sort of supportive relationship could extend beyond yellowtail dascyllus and coral. He hopes the findings will prompt researchers to look more deeply at mutualistic benefits shared between other marine species, particularly in warming oceans, with research results then applied to conservation management plans. This is…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study finds that a coral-associated damselfish may help hasten the healing of wounded corals. - The research showed a 55% faster recovery rate from larger coral wounds in the presence of damselfish, and a 38% faster rate of healing for smaller wounds. - Algae living within wounded corals exhibited decreased photosynthetic efficiency, an energy source vital to coral healing, when damselfish were absent. - Scientists say the findings could inform conservation management plans, focusing more attention on preserving fish habitats to better protect corals. authors: | ||
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