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European Commission linked leather to deforestation, then ignored it 28 May 2026 01:00:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/european-commission-linked-leather-to-deforestation-then-ignored-it/ author: Andy Lehren dc:creator: Elisângela MendonçaEmmanuelle Picaud content:encoded: The clock is ticking in Brussels. By June 1, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive body, is set to receive feedback on its proposal to remove leather, hides and skins from the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Officials, however, are trying to push this amendment even after the commission’s own research confirmed that cattle hides also drive forest loss, a Mongabay analysis shows. According to the commission’s Staff Working Document, research designed to support proposed regulations, leather can be associated with up to 390 square kilometers (149 square miles) of deforestation per year. That area is roughly twice the size of the city of Pisa in the heart of Italy’s leather production and trade. This means that bovine hides could account for up to 17% of the total 2,280 km2 (880 mi2) deforestation risk linked to all commodities covered by the new regulation. Although the evidence is part of the documentation, the commission decided to ignore it and balance out “quantitative and qualitative considerations,” it said in the document. The commission’s Staff Working Document was published May 4, alongside a delegated act, as part of a proposed simplification package Brussels is putting forward ahead of the EUDR being enacted at the end of the year. After the public consultation, the commission could formally adopt the draft delegated act. Then the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union generally have two months to object. If they don’t, the changes will automatically be enacted. In its working documentation, the commission argues…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - According to the European Commission’s own research, leather could account for up to 17% of the deforestation footprint tied to European Union Deforestation Regulation-covered imports. This is roughly 390 square kilometers (149 square miles) of forest lost a year, an area twice the size of the Italian city of Pisa. - Despite the evidence, Brussels moved earlier this month to drop bovine hides from the scope of the EUDR. The commission says it considered “qualitative considerations” in its decision. - The move comes after intense lobbying by the leather industry. The main groups representing the sector held at least 22 meetings with European lawmakers since 2021, according to lobbying records, with more than a third occurring in the past year as the regulation neared implementation. - Environmental campaigners argue that removing leather would create a loophole: beef remains covered, but leather — a high-value product in the same supply chain — could still enter EU markets without the same traceability obligations. authors: | ||
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Loopholes undermine palm oil industry’s antideforestation pledges 27 May 2026 21:51:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/loopholes-undermine-palm-oil-industrys-antideforestation-pledges/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — More than a decade after the palm oil industry embraced a pledge to not deforest, clear tropical peatlands, or use exploitative practices, policies to that end now cover most of the global palm oil trade, as major traders, refiners and consumer brands have pledged to keep deforestation-linked palm oil out of their supply chains. However, deforestation linked to palm oil continues, particularly in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of the commodity. Satellite analysis by forest-mapping initiative TheTreeMap shows 31,073 hectares (76,783 acres) of forest were cleared for palm oil in Indonesia in 2025, slightly higher than the 30,956 hectares (76,494 acres) recorded in 2024 — highlighting persistent gaps in how the industry enforces its zero-deforestation pledges. In some cases, palm oil from newly cleared land still enters supply chains that companies describe as deforestation-free. “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policies aim to eliminate three major sources of harm in palm oil production: clearing natural forests, developing plantations on carbon-rich peatlands, and exploiting workers or local communities. By 2020, these commitments covered roughly 83% of palm oil refinery capacity in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s main producing region. In recent years, companies have also built systems to enforce these pledges. Many now publish grievance mechanisms where violations can be reported, while third-party monitoring groups use satellite imagery to track forest loss and flag suspicious activity. Large-scale corporate deforestation in Indonesia has fallen compared to the mid-2010s, when some plantation companies were clearing vast areas of rainforest. Deforestation for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - More than a decade after the palm oil industry adopted “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) commitments, new satellite data show forest clearing for palm oil in Indonesia persists, with more than 31,000 hectares (nearly 77,000 acres) lost in 2025. - Campaigners say deforestation increasingly slips through structural gaps in the system, including incomplete traceability, fragmented smallholder supply chains, and loopholes that allow companies linked to forest clearing to continue selling into supposedly deforestation-free markets. - Investigators cite cases in Indonesia, the top producer of the commodity, as examples of how palm fruit from deforestation-linked plantations can still enter global supply chains through third-party mills and opaque ownership structures. - Analysts warn these unresolved weaknesses could create major problems for compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will require firms to prove commodities sold in the EU are not linked to recent deforestation. authors: | ||
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A ‘symphony’ of wildlife suggests carbon financing is working in Sierra Leone 27 May 2026 20:36:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-symphony-of-wildlife-suggests-carbon-financing-is-working-in-sierra-leone/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Claudia Geib content:encoded: One of the first things H.S. Sathya Chandra Sagar noticed in Gola Rainforest National Park was its profusion of sound. Standing amid the tallest trees he’d ever seen, Sagar could hear the calls of countless birds, the hoot of primates, and in the distance, drumming: chimpanzees, beating fists and sticks on tree roots to check in with faraway friends. The din was a chorus of good news. Sagar, a conservation biologist, had traveled to the Sierra Leone national park as part of his Ph.D. research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the U.S. to try and figure out if economic measures aimed at conserving carbon in the Gola Rainforest also helped protect its animal biodiversity. In a study published in Conservation Science and Practice, Sagar and his co-authors find that its noisy soundscape suggests that it does. “We see that if it’s done well, carbon financing initiatives do have the capability to protect both biodiversity, beyond just habitat, and carbon markets,” Sagar says. Gola Rainforest National Park is one of the largest remaining portions of the Upper Guinean Tropical Rainforest, which once covered some 700,000 square kilometers (about 270,000 square miles) of West Africa. After a century of mining and logging, and a devastating civil war in the 1990s, Sierra Leone protected 700 km2 (270 mi2) of this forest that remained within its borders in 2010. In 2012, Sierra Leone established the Gola REDD+ project, a framework created through the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+)…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A study conducted in Sierra Leone’s Gola Rainforest National Park found that the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) financing program, set up to ensure that forests sequester carbon, also confers some benefits to the park’s animal biodiversity. - Compared to a neighboring protected area without REDD+ funding and a bordering community-owned agroforestry area, the national park had higher soundscape saturation, a proxy for biodiversity. However, the authors also found that the agroforestry area had a higher diversity of insects than the two other study areas. - The study emphasizes that carbon financing programs can provide benefits outside of storing carbon, but experts also highlight that it shows that on-the-ground monitoring can be cheaply, effectively added to programs like REDD+ to help better conserve forests as whole ecosystems. authors: | ||
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US prepares to auction leases for seabed mining blocks in federal waters 27 May 2026 20:29:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/us-prepares-to-auction-leases-for-seabed-mining-blocks-in-federal-waters/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts content:encoded: This is part 1 of a two-part series examining the U.S.’s efforts to begin deep-sea mining in federal waters. Part 1 explores the process behind proposed lease sales in U.S. federal waters and reactions to those plans. Part 2, to be published soon, will examine the regulations that would govern the industry. The U.S. agency responsible for overseeing deep-sea mining in federal waters is preparing to auction off seabed blocks within months — a step that could kick-start commercial-scale deep-sea mining and make the U.S. one of the first countries to allow it. Deep-sea mining has not yet begun anywhere in the world. Opponents say it could cause widespread and irreversible damage to the marine environment if it begins, while supporters say it could provide an important source of critical minerals. In a budgetary document released in April 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) indicated it intends to hold at least three offshore lease sales during the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. The lease sales will take place through competitive auctions, providing a pathway for winning companies to gain exclusive rights to explore and exploit minerals in designated tracts of seabed. The first sale is slated for the federal waters of American Samoa in August 2026; a second in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in November 2026; and a third in Alaska in 2027. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the U.S. agency currently responsible for the development of offshore energy…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The U.S. government is preparing to conduct lease sales to auction off blocks of the seabed for deep-sea mining in federal waters of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Alaska. - If the lease sales proceed, they would mark a major step toward commercial-scale deep-sea mining, making the U.S. one of the first players in the industry. - While many oppose these plans to start mining the deep sea and say the government’s timeline is rushed, others are more supportive. - A spokesperson for the U.S. agency managing the sales, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, told Mongabay it is pursuing this process in a responsible manner. authors: | ||
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Brazil to invest $75 million in highway through Amazon and unveils environmental protection plan 27 May 2026 20:16:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/brazil-to-invest-75-million-in-highway-through-amazon-and-unveils-environmental-protection-plan/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government has announced a $75 million investment in the BR-319 highway, a move environmentalists fear could speed up Amazon deforestation. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claims it will be the most environmentally advanced road in the world. The highway, linking Amazonas and Rondonia, remains mostly unpaved since its 1976 inauguration. The government also unveiled an environmental protection plan that includes monitoring and conservation units. Critics argue the project lacks necessary safeguards and could worsen deforestation. The Amazon plays a crucial role in regulating the global climate. By Gabriela Sá Pessoa, Associated Press Banner image: A man walks down an unpaved stretch of highway BR-319 in the Brazilian Amazon between the cities of Manaus and Porto Velho on Aug. 10, 2018. Image by Fabiano Maisonnave, Associated PressThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government has announced a $75 million investment in the BR-319 highway, a move environmentalists fear could speed up Amazon deforestation. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claims it will be the most environmentally advanced road in the world. The highway, linking Amazonas and Rondonia, remains mostly unpaved since its 1976 […] authors: | ||
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Nepal’s infrastructure risks wildlife habitats beyond protected areas, study warns 27 May 2026 13:25:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/nepals-infrastructure-risks-wildlife-habitats-beyond-protected-areas-study-warns/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Deepak Adhikari content:encoded: KATHMANDU — As Nepal expands highways, railways and power lines across the country, a new nationwide study warns the infrastructure boom is cutting through habitats and movement routes used by threatened species. The mapping study, published by WWF Nepal, identifies 515 “biodiversity important areas” (BIAs) and finds extensive overlap between those landscapes and the sites of existing or planned infrastructure projects. A total of 6,529 kilometers (4,057 miles) of roads and 4,862 km (3,021 mi) of power lines already pass through these areas. Nearly a quarter of Nepal’s proposed railway network could also cut across them once completed. The findings sharpen a growing policy dilemma for Nepal: how to build the transportation and power networks needed for economic growth without fragmenting the forests, wetlands and rivers that wildlife depend on, especially outside the country’s protected areas. The BIAs identified in the report fall under 11 categories, including key biodiversity areas, important bird areas, Ramsar wetlands, forest conservation areas, and ecological corridors. Together, they form habitats and ecological zones that allow wildlife to move, breed and survive. Jhamak Bahadur Karki, a former chief warden at Chitwan National Park and faculty member at the Kathmandu Forestry College, who wasn’t involved in the study, said its significance lies in the fact that it highlights biodiversity important areas outside of Nepal’s national parks and wildlife reserves. “The study is eye-opening,” Karki said. “It clearly shows why Nepal needs to pay attention to biodiversity important areas that lie outside protected areas.” Distribution of all infrastructure…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A WWF Nepal mapping study has identified 515 “biodiversity important areas” across Nepal, many of which overlap with existing or planned road, railway and power line projects. - Conservationists warn that Nepal’s infrastructure boom could fragment wildlife habitats and movement corridors, especially in wetlands, river valleys and mid-hill forests outside protected areas. - Experts say Nepal doesn’t need to halt development, but must integrate wildlife safeguards early, including route changes, underpasses, overpasses, canopy bridges, and bird-safe power-line designs. authors: | ||
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Ebola outbreak draws attention to longstanding virus spillover risks in western Uganda 27 May 2026 06:37:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Malavika VyawahareSharon Muzaki content:encoded: KAMPALA — In the hills and trading centers of western Uganda, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities are racing to limit the spread of Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a rare species of Ebola for which there is currently no vaccine or cure. The number of suspected cases in the DRC is fast approaching 1,000, with Uganda reporting seven cases, as of May 25. The first cluster of cases of the ongoing outbreak was detected in early May in Ituri province in the DRC, which shares a border with Uganda. The close community and economic ties between people residing on both sides of the border has complicated efforts to contain the outbreak, with Uganda taking measures to stem the flow of people. The Ebola virus driving the current outbreak is named for Uganda’s Bundibugyo district, where it was first detected almost two decades ago. (International health bodies including the World Health Organization have since moved away from naming disease-causing pathogens after places, citing stigmatization.) Most Ebola outbreaks to date have been caused by the Zaire ebolavirus, which also drove the 2014-2016 epidemic centered on West Africa. The Bundibugyo ebolavirus has been linked to two outbreaks in the past. The second outbreak emerged in the DRC in 2012 remained limited to the country, before subsiding later that year. This time may be different, since cases have emerged in Uganda, and the risk of regional spread is high. On May 23, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) identified 10 other…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In western Uganda, especially in districts bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, human-bat interactions are frequent and can increase viral spillover risk, experts say. - The Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a genetically distinct Ebola strain first identified in Uganda’s Bundibugyo district in 2007-2008, is driving the current outbreak. - Experts warn that current Ebola vaccines and treatments, largely developed for the Zaire strain of ebolavirus, may offer limited protection against the Bundibugyo strain, underscoring major preparedness gaps. - Field research highlights how humans may be exposed to these viruses including through hunting and consumption of bats in some communities, raising concerns about potential transmission of zoonotic pathogens. authors: | ||
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Reintroduced platypus population ‘tracking well’ in Australia’s oldest national park 27 May 2026 03:51:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/reintroduced-platypus-population-tracking-well-in-australias-oldest-national-park/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Megan Strauss content:encoded: Platypuses reintroduced to Australia’s oldest national park are breeding and appear to be on a good population trajectory with 20 known individuals now, scientists say. For more than 50 years, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal, had been absent from Royal National Park, a protected area located just south of Sydney in the Australian state of New South Wales. A reintroduction program was initiated in 2023, led by Gilad Bino from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a co-founder of the Platypus Conservation Initiative. “It is a privilege to be part of bringing platypuses back to a part of their former range where they had been missing for generations,” Bino said in a statement. In 2023, researchers first introduced a founding group of 10 platypuses to the Hacking River that flows through the national park. A second group of three animals followed in 2025. Each animal was fitted with a transmitter to allow scientists to monitor their survival, movements, and breeding. In May 2026, researchers introduced four more platypuses sourced from healthy populations: two males they named Absinthe and Duckie, and two females they named Dawn and Hydra. At the same time, the researchers carried out extensive surveys and found 20 known individuals. More individuals could be present that were missed. Researchers Gilad Bino and Tahneal Hawke during a platypus survey in Royal National Park. Image courtesy of Gilad Bino/Platypus Conservation Initiative. Visitors are also reporting platypus sightings in the park, especially around the river. “That public connection…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Platypuses reintroduced to Australia’s oldest national park are breeding and appear to be on a good population trajectory with 20 known individuals now, scientists say. For more than 50 years, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal, had been absent from Royal National Park, a protected area located just south of Sydney in the […] authors: | ||
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Luxury yacht maker Sunseeker pleads guilty to violating a US environmental law 27 May 2026 03:46:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/luxury-yacht-maker-sunseeker-pleads-guilty-to-violating-a-us-environmental-law/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Luxury yacht manufacturer Sunseeker has pleaded guilty to violating a U.S. environmental law by using illegally sourced teak from Myanmar on two of its yachts imported into the U.S. The U.K.-based Sunseeker International Limited, which describes itself as “the world’s leading brand for luxury motor yachts,” along with its U.S. subsidiary pleaded guilty on May 13, 2026, to violating the U.S. Lacey Act. The regulation prohibits trade in wildlife and plant products, including timber, that have been sourced in violation of domestic or foreign laws. Sunseeker had not responded to Mongabay’s request for comment at the time of publishing. As part of a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Sunseeker agreed to pay a $200,000 fine and implement a compliance plan. The U.S. DOJ said in a news release that illegally sourced timber was identified in components of two yachts priced at approximately $2.98 million and $1.07 million, respectively. The company is scheduled for sentencing in the U.S. on Aug. 20, 2026. Sunseeker, which manufactures its yachts in the U.K., previously pled guilty to violating the U.K. Timber Regulation in a U.K. court in 2024. The company was accused of using illegally obtained teak in its yachts. It was fined 358,759.64 pounds (about $454,300) for 11 specific timber exports, according to previous Mongabay reporting. U.S. authorities noted the teak imported into the country originated from the same illegal imports prosecuted in the U.K. While highly prized in the luxury yacht industry, much of the teak from Myanmar,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Luxury yacht manufacturer Sunseeker has pleaded guilty to violating a U.S. environmental law by using illegally sourced teak from Myanmar on two of its yachts imported into the U.S. The U.K.-based Sunseeker International Limited, which describes itself as “the world’s leading brand for luxury motor yachts,” along with its U.S. subsidiary pleaded guilty on May […] authors: | ||
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Building bridges for human-wildlife coexistence: Interview with Yap Jo Leen 27 May 2026 00:54:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/building-bridges-for-human-wildlife-coexistence-interview-with-yap-jo-leen/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Isabelle LeongPhilip Jacobson content:encoded: TANJUNG BUNGAH, Malaysia — When Yap Jo Leen was tracking dusky langurs in the forests of Penang for her master’s degree in 2016, she watched a langur they called Towkay Soh — Hokkien for “lady boss” — get hit by a car while trying to cross a busy coastal road. Dazed, the langur managed to get back on its feet and retreat into a tree while Yap and her colleagues blocked traffic. As Towkay Soh recuperated over the next few days, the langur group’s empathy for each other was on full display, Yap says. “Female individuals, they would approach her and groom her and even try to make her feel better,” Yap says. “I always believe that the primates, humans and monkeys, we all share a similarity, which is connection.” Two dusky langurs called “Kim” (left) and “Sunny” (right) named by the Langur Project Penang at a playground near a residential area in the Tanjung Bungah area of George Town on Malaysia’s Penang Island. For Malaysia’s endangered dusky langurs, recognizable by the characteristic white “eye masks” that stand out against their black fur, survival increasingly depends on manmade crossings across urban landscapes and the work of “citizen scientists”. Image by Mohd Rasfan / AFP. Other langurs weren’t so lucky. From 2016 to 2018, Yap recorded eight langur roadkill deaths in the same area. So, in 2019, Yap and her collaborators built an artificial canopy bridge over the road, made from old fire hoses. Since then, they’ve recorded zero langur roadkill…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Conservationist Yap Jo Leen launched the Langur Project Penang after witnessing dusky langurs, an endangered monkey she was studying for her Ph.D. research, getting struck by vehicles on Malaysia’s Penang Island. - Since 2019, her group has built three canopy bridges made from repurposed fire hoses to help langurs and other tree-dwelling wildlife safely cross busy roads, with no recorded langur roadkill deaths at the first bridge site since its installation. - The project combines wildlife conservation with citizen science and environmental education, training volunteers to track langur movements, collect ecological and social data, and work with local communities to reduce human-wildlife conflict. - Yap says the long-term goal is not simply to build more wildlife bridges, but to foster a broader culture of coexistence and community stewardship for urban wildlife across Malaysia. authors: | ||
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Australia is failing to meet its environment targets, argues ecologist 26 May 2026 20:52:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/05/australia-is-failing-to-meet-its-environment-targets-argues-ecologist/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Australia is one of 17 “megadiverse” countries that account for 70% of Earth’s biodiversity. However, Australia is unique in having the highest mammalian extinction rate in the world. That makes conservation on the island continent, where most of the wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth, all the more urgent. Conservation and environmental scientists have come out against the Australian federal government’s claim that it’s “on track” to meet most of its targets under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed upon at the U.N. biodiversity summit in 2022. This week on the Mongabay Newscast, Euan Ritchie, a professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at Australia’s Deakin University, and a councilor with the Biodiversity Council, an academic alliance in the country, argues why conservationists say the Australian government is failing its commitments. “The short answer, unfortunately, is that Australia is doing terribly in terms of honoring its international obligations to meet those targets in the agreement. If we look at the number of threatened species in Australia, it’s more than 2,200 now, and that list continues to increase,” Ritchie says. Despite being a relatively wealthy nation by gross domestic product per capita, Australia funds conservation at a diminutive scale compared to other industrialized countries. The latest annual budget allocates 0.06% of federal spending to nature. Ritchie and some 60 fellow experts suggest that it would only take about 1% of the federal budget to save most threatened species and restore soils and rivers. In 2024, the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Australia is one of 17 “megadiverse” countries that account for 70% of Earth’s biodiversity. However, Australia is unique in having the highest mammalian extinction rate in the world. That makes conservation on the island continent, where most of the wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth, all the more urgent. Conservation and environmental scientists have […] authors: | ||
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Tracking Lucero: Scientists follow a rare Eastern Pacific leatherback sea turtle 26 May 2026 20:33:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/tracking-lucero-scientists-follow-a-rare-eastern-pacific-leatherback-sea-turtle/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Fewer than 1,000 leatherback sea turtles remain in the Eastern Pacific, nesting along the coastline that runs from Mexico to Ecuador. Scientists have previously fitted tracking devices to leatherbacks on other beaches across Latin America and from bycatch near Ecuador. However, they recently tagged the first nesting leatherback in Ecuador, the southern limit of the species’ nesting range. Scientists named the turtle Lucero, “morning star” in Spanish, and estimated her age at 25-40 years. They plan to gather data on her migration and feeding patterns, which should help inform conservation policies for the critically endangered subpopulation. (Globally, the species, Dermochelys coriacea, is listed as vulnerable.) Researchers from Ecuador-based Fundacion Reina Laud were at sea when they first spotted Lucero heading toward a remote stretch of beach to nest. They alerted Callie Veelenturf, a marine conservation biologist and founder of the U.S.-based Leatherback Project. The team didn’t know where Lucero would emerge, so they stationed people the length of the beach with radios to watch out for her, according to Veelenturf. “It was really quite an adventure because we just spent multiple nights out on the beach waiting for her,” she told Mongabay in a video call. When sea turtles lay eggs, they enter a trance-like state in which they don’t seem to notice activity around them, Veelenturf said. That’s when the team attached a satellite tag to the top of Lucero’s shell. Now, each time she surfaces to breathe, the tag pings a satellite and transmits information about her movements. Leatherbacks…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Fewer than 1,000 leatherback sea turtles remain in the Eastern Pacific, nesting along the coastline that runs from Mexico to Ecuador. Scientists have previously fitted tracking devices to leatherbacks on other beaches across Latin America and from bycatch near Ecuador. However, they recently tagged the first nesting leatherback in Ecuador, the southern limit of the […] authors: | ||
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Peru’s Quellaveco mine tied to water scarcity, contamination, investigation finds 26 May 2026 18:13:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/perus-quellaveco-mine-tied-to-water-scarcity-contamination-investigation-finds/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: A copper mine in southern Peru that took decades to complete environmental assessments has been contaminating local watersheds with harmful metals, critics say. In its first few years of operation, the mine has allegedly endangered wildlife, threatened the local economy, and created health concerns in communities. Developers of the Quellaveco mine in Peru’s Moquegua department spent more than 20 years conducting and revising environmental assessments to responsibly extract copper and molybdenum, a metal used in industrial alloys. But after the mine started operating in 2022, the impacts from pollution, erosion and other issues became difficult to ignore, residents say. “[The project] has exhibited the tensions that are typical of large-scale mining in the Andean south: disputes over water in fragile basins, distrust in environmental evaluation and enforcement procedures, promises of employment and local development that are difficult to verify,” said a recent investigation by several advocacy groups, including Red Muqui, a collective of 32 NGOs in Peru. The mine is operated by Anglo American Quellaveco S.A., a subsidiary of British mining company Anglo American. The company received its first environmental impact assessment approval for the project in 2000, but then spent another two decades revising it and finishing technical permitting and negotiations with local communities. The Quellaveco mine. Image courtesy of Red Muqui. More than half of Moquegua department is covered by mining concessions, some of them causing contamination and water scarcity. Residents around the Quellaveco mine said they wanted to avoid the problems that had emerged from earlier large-scale…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Pollution and water scarcity from the Quellaveco mine in Peru’s Moquegua department have killed wildlife, hurt the local economy, and created health problems in communities, according to a new investigation by several advocacy groups. - The mine is operated by Anglo American Quellaveco S.A., a subsidiary of British mining company Anglo American, and is expected to produce around 300,000 tons of copper on average until the end of the decade. - Studies have found high levels of metals, arsenic and mercury in human testing and water assessments. The company maintains the readings don’t exceed the standards for drinking and vegetable irrigation. authors: | ||
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Kenyan agency responds to protests rejecting proposed nuclear power plant near Lake Victoria 26 May 2026 18:04:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/kenyan-agency-responds-to-protests-rejecting-proposed-nuclear-power-plant-near-lake-victoria/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Lynet Otieno content:encoded: About a year ago, Kenya announced plans for its first nuclear power plant to be built in Siaya County, on the shores of Lake Victoria. However, following local protests, Kenya’s state-run Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) announced plans to conduct “a robust, transparent, and multi-layered educational campaign” to address concerns. The facility would produce roughly 2,000 megawatts of energy and cost roughly KSh500 billion ($3.85 billion) to build. “As the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency, we hear and respect the voices of the residents of Siaya. Public participation is not a mere procedural formality. It is a constitutional right,” the agency said in a statement shared on social media. The agency said the project wouldn’t proceed “without the broad informed consent of the community.” The statement came two days after protests from residents living near the proposed nuclear power project. They voiced concerns about potential nuclear contamination and ecological risks to Africa’s largest fresh-water lake. Many locals depend on the lake for food and their livelihoods. Kenya’s President William Ruto has previously assured the public that the flagship energy project will be safe. Power Shift Africa (PSA), a Pan-African think tank focused on climate change, has condemned the proposed shift toward nuclear energy, saying it risks diverting attention and resources from Kenya’s readily available renewable energy solutions, which are cleaner and safer. In a statement sent to Mongabay, PSA Director Mohamed Adow said a nuclear facility can take more than a decade to become operational. “For comparison, the 55MW…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: About a year ago, Kenya announced plans for its first nuclear power plant to be built in Siaya County, on the shores of Lake Victoria. However, following local protests, Kenya’s state-run Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) announced plans to conduct “a robust, transparent, and multi-layered educational campaign” to address concerns. The facility would produce […] authors: | ||
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Parts of Europe swelter in record May heat as deaths at amateur sports events spur warnings 26 May 2026 17:47:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/parts-of-europe-swelter-in-record-may-heat-as-deaths-at-amateur-sports-events-spur-warnings/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: PARIS (AP) — Europe is baking under unseasonal heat that is shattering temperature records, including in the United Kingdom on Monday, and prompting government warnings after deaths were reported at amateur sports events in France. The French sports minister, Marina Ferrari, posted condolences to the loved ones of a runner who died Sunday in a Paris race. Le Parisien newspaper reported that the 53-year-old man suffered a heart attack during the run in the capital’s 20th arrondissement, and that firefighters were unable to revive him. It wasn’t yet known if the cause of the runner’s death was heat-related, but Ferrari suggested a possible link. Temperatures in Paris went as high as 32 C ( 90 F) in the afternoon. “The events that occurred today (Sunday) during running races are a reminder that practicing sports in extreme heat requires absolute vigilance,” Ferrari said in an X post. “My thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the runner who died in Paris, as well as with the people who were treated by emergency services.” In the southeastern city of Lyon, local media Actu Lyon on Monday reported the death of a woman who suffered heat stroke there during another sports competition, also on Sunday. The national weather service, Meteo France, said temperatures are breaking records for the month of May, soaring past 30 C (86 F) in many parts of the country and forecast to last into the week. The United Kingdom broke its record Monday for the hottest temperature…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: PARIS (AP) — Europe is baking under unseasonal heat that is shattering temperature records, including in the United Kingdom on Monday, and prompting government warnings after deaths were reported at amateur sports events in France. The French sports minister, Marina Ferrari, posted condolences to the loved ones of a runner who died Sunday in a […] authors: | ||
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Indonesia seizes mercury shipment bound for illegal mines in the Philippines 26 May 2026 16:23:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/indonesia-seizes-mercury-shipment-bound-for-illegal-mines-in-the-philippines/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Anggita Raissa content:encoded: JAKARTA — Authorities at Indonesia’s largest port seized hundreds of kilograms of the toxic heavy metal mercury in late April. The bust reflects the vast scale of illegal mining underway in forests across much of Southeast Asia amid record-high gold prices. “This mercury was to be shipped to the Philippines using manipulated customs documents, so that the cargo appeared to be textiles, clothing and carpets,” Victor Dean Mackbon, special investigations lead with the Jakarta Police, told Mongabay Indonesia. Police and customs officials said the 760 bottles of mercury were packed in cardboard and concealed within 145 rolls of carpet. Investigators allege the mercury was procured in Indonesia for a buyer in Davao, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Mercury is widely used to separate gold from crushed ore by miners in the illegal sector. But the heavy metal is also a potent neurotoxin linked to developmental disorders in children, as well as severe cognitive, neurological and physical impairment in adults. The seized mercury bottles displayed by authorities in Jakarta at a press conference. Image courtesy of Jakarta Police. Authorities have questioned nine people over the Jakarta seizure, and charged two — the alleged supplier and alleged exporter — with violations of trade and mining laws, for which they could face up to four years in jail. Victor said the suspected trafficking route may have been used to ship mercury to the Philippines since 2021. Davao, the alleged destination of the mercury consignment, is the political stronghold of the Duterte…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Inspectors at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port found hundreds of individual containers of mercury hidden in carpets in a shipment bound for the Philippines in late April. - Mercury is used in the so-called artisanal and small-scale mining sector to separate gold particles from ores recovered at illegal mines. However, the heavy metal is a severe neurotoxin that causes developmental disorders in children as well as devastating cognitive and physical impairments in adults. - Pollution from mining has contaminated rivers, crops and fisheries, with studies linking exposure to serious health risks and reporting suggesting increased incidences of malaria transmission. - Experts say the all-time high price of gold reached this year is driving more people to illegal mining sites, undermining international efforts to restrict the use and trade of mercury. authors: | ||
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White rhinos are back in Uganda 26 May 2026 15:16:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/white-rhinos-are-back-in-uganda/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Juan Maza content:encoded: Uganda was home to around 300 Northern white rhinos, but after years of intense poaching, the population disappeared, with the last wild rhino killed in 1983. But now, they are back. In 2005, a breeding program for rhinos was established at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, and authorities are now reintroducing them to Kidepo Valley National Park in the north of the country. Conservationists believe that this will not only create a stronghold for rhinos, but their presence will also support the local economy through tourism and conservation-related activities.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Uganda was home to around 300 Northern white rhinos, but after years of intense poaching, the population disappeared, with the last wild rhino killed in 1983. But now, they are back. In 2005, a breeding program for rhinos was established at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, and authorities are now reintroducing them to Kidepo Valley National Park […] authors: | ||
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Iceland must protect wild salmon and reject new aquaculture legislation (commentary) 26 May 2026 14:56:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/iceland-must-protect-wild-salmon-and-reject-new-aquaculture-legislation-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Yvon Chouinard content:encoded: In a little more than 50 years, the population of wild North Atlantic salmon has plummeted by 75%. Today, it is estimated that fewer than 60,000 exist in and around Iceland. Unless we do something soon, we may be condemning what Icelandic environmentalist and wild fish advocate Orri Vigfússon has called the “king of fish” to extinction. Warmer waters caused by climate change already pose a potential mortal threat to wild salmon (Salmo salar). If Iceland’s legislature passes the latest draft of its aquaculture bill and opens the country to more salmon farms, the fish will be headed toward disappearance even faster. I’ve visited Iceland regularly since 1960 and have personally seen the decline of wild salmon in the rivers. Expanding open net-pen fish farming in Iceland would compound an already critical problem and open the country to disaster, both for wild fish and the environment. It is no secret that these farms are ecological scourges, even when they function as designed. But when they fail, the effects are catastrophic. A wild Atlantic salmon returning to its home river. Image via IRD Duhallow/Raptor LIFE. If you’ve never seen an open net-pen salmon farm before, picture an array of massive floating cylindrical cages that run 30-50 meters (about 100-160 feet) down from the surface of the water. There may be 16 pens on a farm, each holding 100,000 salmon or more. Feeding such huge numbers of carnivorous fish takes millions of pounds of food made with fishmeal and oil sourced from…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Aquaculture and other factors like climate change pose a potentially mortal threat to wild Atlantic salmon, so a new bill in the Icelandic parliament should be rejected, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard argues in a new op-ed. - More than 65% of Icelanders polled agree with him in opposing open-net salmon farming, which the bill would allow to expand despite the fact that it employs a small fraction of those working in the tourism sector, and which relies heavily on the nation’s natural beauty and healthy wildlife populations. - “Icelandic ministers can listen to reason and citizens and set an example of responsibility, rather than giving in to the worldwide aquaculture industry,” Chouinard writes. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Amid efforts to save Australia’s southern cassowaries, their numbers remain unknown 26 May 2026 12:46:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amid-efforts-to-save-australias-southern-cassowaries-their-numbers-remain-unknown/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Cooper Williams content:encoded: With a striking blue neck, jet black plumage and bright red drooping wattles, the southern cassowary cuts an imposing figure in the dense tropical rainforests of Far North Queensland, Australia. Standing up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall and armed with razor-sharp claws, it is often labeled as the world’s most dangerous bird. In reality, it’s a shy, gentle and solitary animal rarely seen by people. While it’s listed as endangered under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) populations have always been difficult to track. “They occupy very rugged and remote terrain. So, to be able to find scats, get sightings through camera traps or collect DNA is very challenging,” said Wren McLean, a cassowary researcher and member of the Cassowary Recovery Team. Estimates have changed dramatically since the turn of the 21st century, growing from fewer than 1,500 birds in the early 2000s to around 4,400 in the most recent national survey, which was conducted between 2012 and 2014. Led by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, that survey recommended that population monitoring become a “central component” of the species’ management and should be carried out more frequently. More than a decade later, that hasn’t happened. A camera trap image of an adult female cassowary roaming the Apudthama National Park in the Cape York Peninsula. Image courtesy of Wren McLean, Ipima Ikaya Aboriginal Corporation and Cape York NRM. The Cassowary Recovery Team has produced a new conservation plan for the species, set to be…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The southern cassowary, a rare and elusive rainforest bird that lives along Queensland’s northern coast, once faced extinction. Now, its numbers are stable, but scientists still lack an up-to-date estimate of how many remain. - Shrinking habitat was a key factor in the bird’s decline, but designation of the northeast coast “Wet Tropics” as a World Heritage Site protected both the ecosystem and the cassowaries that live there. - As an important seed disperser, this bird helps sustain this rainforest’s plants and trees, but its slow breeding and need for large, connected habitats make it vulnerable. - Growing threats from road collisions and intensifying cyclones, heat waves and other climate impacts are putting renewed pressure on this bird and increasing urgency for better monitoring and conservation. authors: | ||
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Nepal’s rhododendron tourism sparks unchecked liquor trade concerns 26 May 2026 08:59:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/nepals-rhododendron-tourism-sparks-unchecked-liquor-trade-concerns/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Mukesh Pokhrel content:encoded: TINJURE-MILKE-JALJALE, Nepal — Every April, Nima Sherpa’s family used to picnic in a rhododendron (lali guras in Nepali) forest about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from her home at Basantapur Bazaar in Tehrathum in the Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) region, which stretched across the eastern districts of Tehrathum, Taplejung and Sankhuwasabha. It has been five years since her family has done so as they no longer have the time. Instead of enjoying their time in the forest, they said, they are busy running their hotel in Basantapur Bazaar, which sees a big surge in tourism for only a few weeks. This is when the hillsides get covered in crimson, pink and white blooms of at least 26 species of rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.), the national flower. All family members get busy welcoming guests with smiles and souvenirs. This year alone, local officials estimate that around 500,000 visitors entered the TMJ area between April 1-15. One of the “souvenirs” growing in popularity among visitors is the flower-based alcohol, bottled in reused containers with handwritten labels and openly displayed in shops across. But authorities remain unaware of where the flowers are harvested, whether extraction levels are sustainable, and of the safety of the unlabeled products. Rhododendron trees in Tinjure. Image by Nirmal Dulal via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). A trade hiding in plain ssight In April this year, Mongabay found bottles of rhododendron liquor displayed openly in shops catering to tourists in Basantapur Bazaar and nearby Gufa Pokhari, in Chainpur municipality, Sankhuwasabha district. Several shopkeepers…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay found unlicensed rhododendron liquor being sold openly in tourist shops across eastern Nepal’s Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) region, which is home to at least 26 rhododendron species, with no official labeling, no health testing and no tracking of sources. - Nepal’s conservation laws prohibit commercial harvesting of rhododendrons from community forests without approval, but legal ambiguity over privately cultivated flowers has left officials uncertain about how to enforce existing rules. - Some rhododendron species contain grayanotoxins that can be toxic, even fatal in rare cases. Yet none of the bottles being sold in the TMJ region have been tested for safety, according to local officials and vendors. - Local residents say the practice emerged roughly three years ago alongside a post-pandemic tourism rebound; some producers say it gives them extra income. authors: | ||
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Asia’s overlooked leopard cat 26 May 2026 08:28:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/asias-overlooked-leopard-cat/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Asia’s mainland leopard cat is easy to overlook. It’s small, nocturnal, and often mistaken for a domestic cat or a leopard cub. On paper, it appears secure. The species ranges from India to the Russian Far East, and is listed as “least concern” on the IUCN Red List. It may be one of the world’s most abundant wildcats. That status is reassuring, though only to a point. The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) is a generalist, able to live in forests, plantations, and other human-shaped landscapes. This adaptability has helped it persist where more specialized animals have declined. It also makes the species easy to misread. A wildcat can be widespread and still poorly understood, reports contributor Annelise Giseburt for Mongabay. Much of the uncertainty lies in the gap between maps depicting the cat’s global range and field data. Country-level population figures are often thin or missing. Researchers rely on small local studies and extrapolation. In some places, the cat may be doing well. In others, it faces habitat loss, hunting, road deaths, and genetic isolation. Local declines can disappear inside a global assessment that looks stable across a large range. The pattern is familiar in conservation. Big cats draw funding, monitoring technology like camera traps, and political attention. Smaller cats, even common ones, receive far less. That leaves the leopard cat in a strange position: present across much of Asia, yet still scientifically…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Asia’s mainland leopard cat is easy to overlook. It’s small, nocturnal, and often mistaken for a domestic cat or a leopard cub. On paper, it appears secure. The species ranges from India to the Russian Far East, and […] authors: | ||
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Polar bears off the ice: Photo of the week 26 May 2026 07:36:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/polar-bears-off-the-ice-photo-of-the-week/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: A polar bear, captured above, sits on a grassy expanse on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukotka district of far-eastern Russia. Several bears made themselves at home in the empty buildings of a Soviet-era research station, abandoned by humans in 1992. Photographer Vadim Makhorov took photos using a drone operated from an expedition vessel about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away from the bears in September 2025. “At first, [the bears] showed a lot of curiosity and even tried to catch [the drone],” Makhorov told Mongabay by email. “Eventually, though, they lost interest and simply went back to their daily routines: resting on porches and inside the abandoned houses, basking in the sun, while some wandered around exploring the surrounding area.” Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are listed as vulnerable on Red List maintained by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Current estimates place the worldwide population between 22,000 and 31,000 individuals, split into 20 subpopulations. According to the most recent report by the IUCN’s Polar Bear Specialist Group, the loss of Arctic sea ice due to human-driven climate change is the most serious threat to polar bears throughout their range in the Arctic. Since 1979, the extent of Arctic sea ice has shrunk by 12.2% each decade, according to NASA. Polar bears typically depend on ice shelves for hunting. When that ice thins out in late summer and early autumn, the bears search for alternative places to survive, Makhorov said. He said he presumes that by late autumn, the bears leave…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A polar bear, captured above, sits on a grassy expanse on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukotka district of far-eastern Russia. Several bears made themselves at home in the empty buildings of a Soviet-era research station, abandoned by humans in 1992. Photographer Vadim Makhorov took photos using a drone operated from an expedition vessel about 1 […] authors: | ||
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Brazil has protected much of the Amazon. It now has to pay for it. 26 May 2026 00:35:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/brazil-has-protected-much-of-the-amazon-it-now-has-to-pay-for-it/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon, one of the most basic questions is not where the boundary lies. It is whether anyone has the money to manage what sits inside it. A reserve may exist in law. It may appear on maps, in international pledges, and in official counts of how much of Brazil is under protection. On the ground, though, management depends on less visible things: staff, fuel, boats, radios, boundary markers, fire brigades, monitoring, community work, and the ability to respond when illegal miners, loggers, poachers, or land-grabbers arrive. A protected area without these things is still protected, but only in a narrow administrative sense. A gap measured in money A new paper in Environmental Conservation puts numbers to this gap. The study, by Helenilza Ferreira Albuquerque Cunha and colleagues, examined funding deficits in 300 federal protected areas in Brazil between 2014 and 2023. Together, those areas cover nearly 750,000 square kilometers, representing most of the protected areas managed by ICMBio, Brazil’s federal biodiversity agency. The researchers compared actual spending with evidence-based estimates of the minimum cost of managing each site. In 2023, 72% of the protected areas they studied were underfunded. The combined shortfall was equivalent to about $958 million in purchasing-power terms. The gap was largest in the Amazon. According to the paper, Amazonian protected areas had an average funding deficit of 79.2% in 2023. In practical terms, they received about one-fifth of what they needed. In the Atlantic Forest, the average deficit was 27.6%.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Brazil has built one of the world’s most important protected-area systems, but a new study finds that most federal protected areas remain underfunded, with the largest shortfalls in the Amazon. - The funding gap reflects more than the size of Brazil’s conservation estate: remote Amazon reserves are costly to manage, politically less visible, and often receive far less support than protected areas near cities and institutions. - Underfunding has practical consequences, limiting staff, patrols, fire response, monitoring, community engagement, and the ability of protected areas to prevent deforestation and other threats. - Tourism, ARPA, the Amazon Fund, and rising federal environmental budgets can help, but Brazil needs stable, transparent, long-term financing that matches the recurring cost of turning legal protection into management. authors: | ||
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Countries push new protections for the Amazon’s iconic migratory catfish 25 May 2026 13:11:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/countries-push-new-protections-for-the-amazons-iconic-migratory-catfish/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Gustavo Faleiros content:encoded: The background was right for the announcement of the bad news. Fish swam in a wall-sized tank that framed a table of scientists and environmentalists in the auditorium of the Pantanal Biopark, the world’s largest freshwater public aquarium, in the Brazilian city of Campo Grande. They’d gathered for the launch of a report on the state of the world’s freshwater migratory fish. The event opened with a dire statement from a top official from Brazil’s environment ministry: “The numbers are chilling,” said Rita Mesquita, the ministry’s secretary of biodiversity. Mesquita was there to address the 15th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Convention on Migratory Species (CMS COP15), a treaty adopted in 1979 that focuses on conservation of migratory animals and their habitats. Currently, 132 nations and the European Union are signatories. The meeting, which took place in Campo Grande, the capital of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, from March 23-29, also drew experts and civil society representatives from across the globe. This was the first time in more than a decade that experts analyzed data on global ichthyofauna: fish life. The last assessment, conducted in 2011, examined the status of 3,000 species. The new round was far more comprehensive, covering 15,000 species. Of these, 349 are migratory, almost all of them threatened. The CMS report recommended that 325 of those species be added to the convention’s appendices. Migratory species threatened with extinction are listed on Appendix I, giving strong protections, while species that need international…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Around the world, migratory freshwater fish are in peril from activities including overfishing and, more recently, dams blocking their migratory routes. - The most threatened species include two large Amazonian catfish, and an inaugural conservation plan will be implemented by the five countries where they range. - Connected river habitat is crucial for the gilded catfish and Laulao catfish: They undertake some of the longest known river migrations in the world, traveling up to 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) over their lifetimes. - The main challenge in saving these migratory catfish and many other aquatic species is maintaining connectivity among rivers, which in the Amazon are increasingly being affected by dams and shipping. authors: | ||
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Carbon cowboys and unpaid pledges: Ex-Gabon environment minister Lee White on conservation in Africa 25 May 2026 10:22:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/carbon-cowboys-and-unpaid-pledges-ex-gabon-environment-minister-lee-white-on-conservation-in-africa/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: On May 11 and 12, 2026, the Africa Forward Summit took place in Nairobi, with several heads of state from across the continent and beyond attending. Thousands of political, economic and civil society actors also gathered in the Kenyan capital to discuss potential investments, particularly in the fields of energy transition and international financial assistance. Lee White, Gabon’s former minister of water, forests, marine and environment, was in Nairobi on the sidelines of the summit to discuss carbon markets and Africa’s development. Originally from the United Kingdom, White is a naturalized Gabonese citizen. A scientist and zoology Ph.D., he took over the reins of Gabon’s National Parks Agency (ANPN) in 2009, and 10 years later was appointed environment minister under the controversial presidency of Ali Bongo Ondimba. Following the 2023 coup d’état that ousted Bongo from power, White left Gabon and his ministerial position, but did not leave Central Africa behind. During the COP30 U.N. climate summit in Belém, Brazil, he served as a special envoy for the Congo Basin. Mongabay spoke to White over video call about the challenges facing the Congo Basin and the paths African countries should take to address them. The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Mongabay: During the Africa Forward Summit, France announced that it would sign agreements with several African countries generating up to 23 billion euros ($26.7 billion) in investments. These investments will target climate and energy transition sectors, among others. What do you think about this? Lee…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In an interview with Mongabay, the former Gabon environment minister Lee White makes the case that the Congo Basin should be treated as “critical national infrastructure” to be protected for Africa’s future water and climate security. - He also defends nuclear energy as a “necessary evil” to generate the energy that Africa needs while avoiding catastrophic climate and water crises across the continent. - White says weak governance, not mining itself, is the main driver of environmental destruction linked to mineral extraction. - He criticizes the current carbon finance system, saying developed countries failed to honor their pledges to pay developing ones like Gabon for protecting their forests. authors: | ||
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China solar exports hit all-time record in March as Africa, Asia demand jumps 25 May 2026 10:03:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/china-solar-exports-hit-all-time-record-in-march-as-africa-asia-demand-jumps/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: China exported a record volume of solar components in March 2026, comprising photovoltaic panels, cells and wafers, according to data from the Chinese customs authority analyzed by U.K.-based energy think tank Ember. The 68 gigawatts in solar capacity was a 49% increase from the previous export record, set in August 2025. Experts at Ember attributed the recent surge in demand to rising fossil fuel prices due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and China ending tax rebates for clean technology from April 1, which resulted in a 9% cost hike on solar panels from the country. “The volumes exported are absolutely gigantic,” Euan Graham, senior analyst at Ember, told Climate Home News. “We will see over the coming months how much of that was linked to the tax rebate and how much of that is additional demand.” Graph by Andrés Alegría/Mongabay. The solar exports of 68 GW were double the amount exported the previous month, and equivalent to Spain’s entire solar energy capacity. In March 2026, 50 countries set all-time records for Chinese solar imports. African nations were among the countries whose demand for solar components surged. Nigeria’s demand in March 2026 was 519% higher than in February 2026, a total of 1.2 GW. Ethiopia imported 1.1 GW, up 391% from February. Map by Andrés Alegría/Mongabay. Several African nations have been rapidly expanding their solar energy capacity over recent years, as the continent hosts around 60% of the world’s best solar potential. The Central African Republic already generates more than…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: China exported a record volume of solar components in March 2026, comprising photovoltaic panels, cells and wafers, according to data from the Chinese customs authority analyzed by U.K.-based energy think tank Ember. The 68 gigawatts in solar capacity was a 49% increase from the previous export record, set in August 2025. Experts at Ember attributed […] authors: | ||
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In India’s Nagaland, communities turn to Indigenous law to protect pangolins 25 May 2026 09:48:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/in-indias-nagaland-communities-turn-to-indigenous-law-to-protect-pangolins/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: To protect pangolins in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, conservationists are turning to community-driven customary laws, reports contributor Kasturi Das for Mongabay India. In February this year, the United Sangtam Likhum Pumji (USLP), the apex tribal body of the Sangtam Naga community, passed a resolution banning pangolin hunting in 42 villages in Nagaland’s Kiphire district. Village councils are responsible for enforcement, and customary courts will handle violations. Pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammals, are protected under national laws in India, which prohibits hunting. However, enforcement is challenging in states like Nagaland, where land and resource management is largely governed by local customary laws. Monesh Tomar, assistant manager at the conservation group Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), told Mongabay India that many communities there aren’t fully aware of the national laws. Moreover, officials and community members frequently belong to the same social networks, making enforcement difficult, he said. Traditionally, pangolin hunting in parts of Nagaland was driven by cultural beliefs. “Our forefathers would say that if a pangolin enters a house, it was considered a bad omen or curse,” L. Kipitong Sangtam, 61, a Kiphire resident and member of the USLP, told Mongabay India. “In the past, if someone encountered a pangolin, they would try to catch and kill it, sometimes by digging it out of its burrow.” Now, hunting is mostly for local demand for meat and scales to make ornaments, according to Mukesh Thakur, wildlife forensic expert with the Zoological Survey of India. Pangolin scales are also targeted…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: To protect pangolins in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, conservationists are turning to community-driven customary laws, reports contributor Kasturi Das for Mongabay India. In February this year, the United Sangtam Likhum Pumji (USLP), the apex tribal body of the Sangtam Naga community, passed a resolution banning pangolin hunting in 42 villages in Nagaland’s Kiphire […] authors: | ||
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Great Koala National Park tests whether protected forests can stay connected 25 May 2026 05:27:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/great-koala-national-park-tests-whether-protected-forests-can-stay-connected/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The case for Australia’s new Great Koala National Park rests on a practical point: koalas need more than scattered trees. They need connected habitat that can support populations over time. The national park, planned for the state of New South Wales, is meant to link fragmented eucalyptus forests along the east coast, giving koalas a better chance to disperse, feed, and breed. It would also protect habitat used by dozens of other threatened native species, reports contributor Johan Augustin for Mongabay. The park comes at a difficult time for one of Australia’s best-known animals. Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) have declined as forests have been cleared, divided by roads and development, and exposed to hotter, more severe fires. In some places, the question is no longer only how much forest remains. It is whether the remaining forest still functions as habitat. That makes connectivity more than a planning concept. A patch of forest can look useful on a map while being too isolated to sustain a local population. Corridors between forest remnants allow animals to move as food, shelter and climate conditions change. For koalas, which depend on particular eucalypt species, that movement can help determine whether a local population persists. The park will also test what protection means in practice. Conservationists have welcomed the proposal, while warning that logging pressure, development, land-use loopholes, and weak enforcement could limit its effect. A park declared on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The case for Australia’s new Great Koala National Park rests on a practical point: koalas need more than scattered trees. They need connected habitat that can support populations over time. The national park, planned for the state of […] authors: | ||
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The most underfunded climate opportunities may be at sea 25 May 2026 00:45:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-most-underfunded-climate-opportunities-may-be-at-sea/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Ocean philanthropy remains a small field. Funding directed specifically toward ocean-climate solutions is smaller still. At last week’s “Sea Change” panel on ocean-climate solutions in Asia, convened as part of the Philanthropy Asia Summit, the discussion kept returning to this mismatch: the ocean is central to the climate transition, yet ocean-climate philanthropy remains a rounding error in global giving. Ocean-climate philanthropy’s funding gap The numbers are stark: Less than 1.5% of global philanthropic giving goes to climate mitigation. About 0.25% goes to ocean issues. At the intersection of the two, the figure is roughly 0.05%. That is a narrow base of support for work that touches power generation, shipping, food systems, coastal protection, marine biodiversity, and the future of many island and coastal economies. The ocean has long been treated by funders primarily as a conservation concern. Grants have supported marine protected areas, fisheries management, coastal livelihoods, scientific research, and habitat protection. Much of that work remains essential. It has helped create institutions, protect places, and improve the management of fisheries and reefs. Climate change is now the force most likely to overwhelm many of those gains. Warming, acidification, rising seas, stronger storms, and shifting fish stocks are changing the conditions under which ocean conservation operates. Foundation Funding for Ocean-Climate (2015–2024). Foundation ocean-climate funding shown here is inclusive of all mitigation and sequestration-focused funding, including cross-cutting policy work. Funding to blue carbon is included in this chart as a sequestration strategy. Labels represent 2024 funding amounts. Graphic from “Funding Trends…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - At the Philanthropy Asia Summit’s “Sea Change” panel on ocean-climate solutions in Asia, speakers highlighted a mismatch between the ocean’s importance to the climate transition and the tiny share of philanthropic funding directed to ocean-climate work. - Ocean philanthropy has long focused on conservation, fisheries, and coastal livelihoods, but climate change is now threatening many of those gains while also making the ocean central to mitigation through offshore wind, cleaner shipping, blue carbon, and coastal resilience. - Philanthropy cannot finance offshore wind farms or the decarbonization of global shipping, but it can play a catalytic role by funding policy design, marine spatial planning, community engagement, technical research, coordination, and local capacity. - Some of the strongest opportunities for funders lie in Asia, where offshore wind, ports, shipbuilding, shipping routes, and coastal communities converge, and where early philanthropic support can help make large-scale transitions faster, more inclusive, and more credible. authors: | ||
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Will my president save the Amazon? (commentary) 24 May 2026 23:50:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/will-my-president-save-the-amazon-commentary/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Enrique Ortiz content:encoded: In the coming months, voters in Brazil, Peru, and Colombia will elect new presidents. Together, these three countries contain roughly 82% of the Amazon rainforest, making their elections consequential far beyond national borders. The future of the world’s largest tropical forest — and, by extension, global climate stability — will depend in large measure on the choices their citizens make at the ballot box. More than 35 million people living in the Amazon region of these countries also depend directly on those outcomes. Brazil, home to about 62% of the Amazon, offers a stark example of how presidential policies can shape the fate of the forest. The country has experienced dramatic swings in deforestation over the past two decades. While commodity prices, global markets, climate conditions, and geopolitics all play a role, government policy has often been the decisive factor. In 2004, for example, Brazil lost more than 10 million acres of Amazon forest. By 2012, stronger environmental measures had gradually reduced that loss to less than one-sixth of that level. Those efforts relied not only on stricter enforcement, but also on cooperation with agricultural and business sectors long associated with deforestation. More recent data suggest Brazil’s renewed environmental policies have again reduced forest loss by more than 30% from the previous year. Annual deforestation in the Legal Amazon (Amazonia) from 1988-2025, according to a preliminary estimate from Brazil’s national space research institute, INPE. Annual primary forest loss in the Colombian Amazon from 2002 to 2025 (hectares). Data from the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Voters in Brazil, Peru, and Colombia will soon choose presidents whose policies could shape the future of roughly 82% of the Amazon rainforest. - Environmental issues have been largely absent from recent presidential debates, even as droughts, floods, deforestation, illegal mining, and organized crime increasingly threaten public well-being and national economies. - Protecting the Amazon should be treated as an economic, social, and public health priority, argues Peruvian American ecologist Enrique Ortiz, because the forest helps sustain water supplies, food production, energy systems, and climate stability across South America. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Mike Salisbury, wildlife filmmaker who made plants behave like characters, has died, aged 84 23 May 2026 23:28:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/mike-salisbury-wildlife-filmmaker-who-made-plants-behave-like-characters-has-died-aged-84/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: To Mike Salisbury, patience was not a virtue so much as a working method. Lions did not hunt on cue. Plants did not move at a human pace. Polar bears did not respect production schedules, or much else. The task was to wait, improvise, and find a way to show television audiences that the natural world was stranger, livelier and more intricate than they had thought. Salisbury, who died on May 13th aged 84, spent more than four decades turning that patience into television. His route into that work was suitably unpolished, according to an obituary in The Guardian. He did not go to university. He worked as a mechanic with Voluntary Service Overseas in Africa, where he developed his interest in photography. Back in Britain, he pressed the BBC for a chance until Horizon gave him a brief research opening. He worked first on Parkinson, then on science documentaries, before moving to Bristol and the BBC’s Natural History Unit. There he found the place where persistence, practicality, and curiosity could become a career. His breakthrough came with Life on Earth, David Attenborough’s 1979 account of evolution. Salisbury helped produce some of its most memorable sequences, including a lion hunt that had defeated him once before. He went back and got it. That became part of his reputation: not bluster, but refusal to be beaten by weather, animals, equipment or logistics. In 1985 he made Kingdom of the Ice Bear, filmed in Arctic conditions that tested both people and kit.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mike Salisbury helped shape modern wildlife television through landmark BBC series including Life on Earth, The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds, The Life of Mammals and Life in the Undergrowth. - His work depended on patience, persistence and technical ingenuity, whether filming lions, polar bears, plants or insects. - He helped make plants and other overlooked forms of life compelling on screen, using time-lapse and other techniques to reveal behavior most viewers had never noticed. - Colleagues remembered him not only for his determination and talent, but also for his warmth, humor, generosity and mentorship of younger filmmakers. authors: | ||
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West Asia conflict brings Norwegian marine research vessel back to Sri Lanka 23 May 2026 16:53:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/west-asia-conflict-brings-norwegian-marine-research-vessel-back-to-sri-lanka/ author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti dc:creator: Malaka Rodrigo content:encoded: COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s marine research efforts have benefited in a rare instance where geopolitical unrest owing to the ongoing conflict in West Asia created an unexpected scientific opportunity. A United Nations-flagged Norwegian research vessel Fridtjof Nansen was redirected to Sri Lankan waters after security concerns forced the cancellation of a planned survey in Oman, giving the country a second chance to conduct a long-awaited study of its marine ecosystems and fishery resources. The Norwegian research vessel was originally scheduled to carry out a marine survey in the Sri Lankan waters last year as part of its planned scientific program. However, delays in granting national approvals meant the expedition could not proceed as intended. The vessel canceled the Sri Lanka leg of the voyage scheduled for 2025, an important opportunity lost in marine research efforts. The Nansen Program is a long-running international marine research initiative led by the Food and Agriculture Organization FAO) of the United Nations in partnership with Norway. Established in 1975, it operates through the research vessel Dr Fridtjof Nansen, named after Norwegian explorer, scientist and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his extraordinary humanitarian work during the First World War. This longheaded eagle ray (Aetobatus flagellum) was caught by a sampling net. Image courtesy of Cruising with Dr. Fridtjof Nansen Facebook group. The Nansen missions survey marine ecosystems in developing countries to support sustainable fisheries management combining oceanographic research, fisheries stock assessment, and ecosystem monitoring while building scientific capacity in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The West Asia conflict unexpectedly redirected Norway’s state-of-the-arts Fridtjof Nansen research vessel to Sri Lanka after a planned survey in Oman was disrupted. - The month-long expedition surveyed Sri Lanka’s marine ecosystems, fish stocks biodiversity and ocean conditions using advanced acoustic and oceanographic methods. - Scientists documented around 800 species, including about 125 that may be new records from Sri Lankan waters, along with a few species that could be new to science, pending further detailed analysis of the collected specimens. - The survey revived a previously cancelled mission due to approval delays and offered Sri Lankan researchers some rare hands-on training aboard the United Nations-flagged research vessel. authors: | ||
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Why are people buying pet ants? 23 May 2026 05:39:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/05/why-are-people-buying-pet-ants/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: Move over cats and dogs. There’s a new hot favorite pet in town: ants. More and more people are raising pet ants around the world. They are small, low-maintenance and display complex behaviors that fascinate humans. But this fascination is leading to a bigger issue: an underground global trade of ants. Wild ants are now popping up in places where they are not supposed to. This trade could have serious environmental and financial repercussions, and is also making pet ants very expensive. In the latest episode of Mongabay Explains, we look at why people are obsessed with pet ants and why these insects are costing a fortune. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! Banner image: Collage, Giant African Harvester Ant. Lab-made jaguar: Is cloning a solution to extinction?This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Move over cats and dogs. There’s a new hot favorite pet in town: ants. More and more people are raising pet ants around the world. They are small, low-maintenance and display complex behaviors that fascinate humans. But this fascination is leading to a bigger issue: an underground global trade of ants. Wild ants are now […] authors: | ||
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Rhino-poaching suspect, repeatedly freed on bail, shot dead in South Africa 23 May 2026 02:29:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rhino-poaching-suspect-repeatedly-freed-on-bail-shot-dead-in-south-africa/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: A former South African police officer who became a notorious alleged rhino-poaching kingpin has been killed by unknown gunmen, police announced. Joseph “Big Joe” Nyalungu was shot dead at his office in the town of Mkhuhlu, near Kruger National Park, at around 2:30 p.m. on May 16, according to authorities. It was the second attempt on his life in eight days. He survived the first attack despite being reportedly shot in the shoulder, stomach and thigh. Nyalungu, 62, faced multiple charges related to rhino poaching and trafficking, kidnapping and murder, as well as money laundering and unlawful possession of firearms and explosives. He was arrested at least five times between 2010 and 2024, though he was never convicted of any crimes during that time. His latest arrest came in October 2024, when police found explosives in his offices. At the time of his death, he was reportedly out on bail of 20,000 rand (about $1,140 at the exchange rate at the time), with investigations into his alleged illegal activities ongoing. Police said they haven’t identified the gunmen and are still investigating the motive behind the killing. Nyalungu was declared dead at the scene. Conservationists say the only way to save rhinos from is by creating stronger deterrents through tougher sentences for poaching and trafficking. Image by Thomas D. Mangelsen. ‘Too kind of a death’ Nyalungu was accused of poaching rhinos in the Greater Kruger Area, said Jamie Joseph, director of the South African NGO Saving the Wild. Joseph has tracked…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Alleged rhino-poaching kingpin Joseph “Big Joe” Nyalungu was shot dead by unknown assailants on May 16 near South Africa’s Kruger National Park, following a failed attempt on his life eight days earlier. - Nyalungu, a former police officer, faced more than 40 counts of rhino horn trafficking from 2016-2019 alone, and was allegedly responsible for killing thousands of rhinos in South Africa’s Greater Kruger Area. - He had been arrested multiple times, dating back to at least 2011, and faced charges related to murder, kidnapping, money laundering and unlawful possession of firearms and explosives used in poaching — though he was never convicted and was released on bail each time. - Conservationists say the country’s justice system failed to effectively prosecute him and call for reforms in the country’s laws to save the remaining rhinos from poaching. authors: | ||
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Kenyan communities protest planned nuclear plant near Lake Victoria 22 May 2026 21:47:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/kenyan-communities-protest-planned-nuclear-plant-near-lake-victoria/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: On May 21, residents of Sakwa, in southeastern Kenya, gathered to protest the government’s plan to install a nuclear power plant near their homes, along Lake Victoria. Sakwa, in Siaya County, is home to the Luo tribe and lies along the shores of Africa’s largest freshwater lake, which Kenya shares with Uganda and Tanzania. In late March 2026 during the International Conference on Nuclear Energy, Kenyan President William Ruto announced the construction of a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in the area. There is currently no information about the plan available on the national Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) website. However, Ruto said construction would begin next year, and the plant is expected to start producing electricity by 2034. “No country in the world has ever achieved its development ambitions without adequate and reliable energy,” Ruto said. He also stressed nuclear energy is considered by the United Nations to be a low-carbon source of energy and integral to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. “The integration of nuclear energy into our national grid therefore represents a strategic transition towards securing a stable long-term solution for Kenya’s rising electricity demand,” he said. In his speech, Ruto said he had already consulted residents of Siaya County and suggested that local communities supported the project. However, the recent protest indicates the reality on the ground is quite different. Additionally, a petition against the project launched in April gathered more than 400 signatures before being submitted to NuPEA and the county governor. Mongabay reviewed…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: On May 21, residents of Sakwa, in southeastern Kenya, gathered to protest the government’s plan to install a nuclear power plant near their homes, along Lake Victoria. Sakwa, in Siaya County, is home to the Luo tribe and lies along the shores of Africa’s largest freshwater lake, which Kenya shares with Uganda and Tanzania. In […] authors: | ||
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‘Corporate capture’ of critical minerals risks repeating DRC’s extractive past, warns indigenous leader 22 May 2026 20:46:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/corporate-capture-of-critical-minerals-risks-repeating-drcs-extractive-past-warns-indigenous-leader/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: The global rush for minerals needed for the green energy transition risks repeating the same old extractive patterns that have long left communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo bearing the costs while others reap the benefits, a lawmaker from the country warns. Robert Agenong’a, a civil society leader and also politician from the Ituri Province, spoke to Mongabay at a major international cobalt meeting in Madrid earlier this month. He criticized what he described as the growing “corporate capture” of the country’s critical minerals sector. He said discussions at the May 13-15 conference — hosted by the U.K.-based Cobalt Institute and sponsored by mining giants Glencore, IXM and CMOC Group Limited, among others — focused heavily on securing cobalt supplies for electric vehicles and clean energy markets, while giving far less attention to the environmental and social fallout in mining areas. Robert Agenong’a, an Indigenous politician and civil society leader from Ituri Province in northeastern DRC. Photo courtesy of Robert Agenong’a. Previous Mongabay reporting has highlighted the severe impacts of mining on local communities, particularly on the health and well-being of women and youth. “The concern is that everyone is interested in getting Congolese cobalt to the world market because it is of very high quality,” Agenong’a said. “But nobody pays attention to the environmental harms, the social impacts, and the communities’ grievances.” A miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023. Image by Electronics Watch via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). The DRC produces roughly 70% of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - From May 13-15, the Cobalt Institute, a London-based organization, hosted a conference in Madrid to discuss the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of the cobalt industry. - Cobalt has emerged as a critical mineral in the global transition to green energy: widely used in electric vehicles, smartphones and battery technologies, about 70% of the world’s cobalt is produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo. - Robert Agenong’a, an Indigenous politician and civil society leader from Ituri Province in northeastern DRC, near the border with Uganda, attended the Madrid conference to better understand how multinational corporations are positioning themselves within the country’s rapidly expanding critical minerals sector. He criticized the conference as an example of “corporate capture,” where the business interests of the mining sector dominate. - “The concern is that everyone is interested in getting Congolese cobalt to the world market because it is of very high quality,” he said. “But nobody pays attention to the environmental harms, the social impacts, and the communities’ grievances.” authors: | ||
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Givaldo Santos, Kaiowá and Guarani leader, was killed on May 1st, aged 40 22 May 2026 19:46:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/givaldo-santos-kaiowa-and-guarani-leader-was-killed-on-may-1st-aged-40/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The MS-289 runs through the Taquaperi Reserve in southern Mato Grosso do Sul, between Coronel Sapucaia and Amambai. For the Kaiowá and Guarani, it is both a road and a reminder of the land disputes that have shaped life there for generations. It passes through territory where thousands of indigenous people live crowded into a reserve established nearly a century ago, while many of their traditional lands remain outside its boundaries. Violence has long accompanied these disputes. Over the past two decades, Kaiowá and Guarani communities have endured killings, threats, evictions, and recurring confrontations linked to efforts to reclaim ancestral territories. The conflicts have stretched across generations of leaders, officials, ranchers and judges. One of those leaders was Givaldo Santos. On the evening of May 1st, he was waiting for his brother near a bus stop inside the Taquaperi Reserve, between Coronel Sapucaia and Amambai. According to witnesses, two armed men arrived on a motorcycle and opened fire. He was hit several times and died before help could reach him. He was 40 years old. He left behind a wife and five children. Santos served as vice-chief of the Kaiowá and Guarani community in Taquaperi. Those who knew him struggled to explain the attack. Residents said he had no known personal enemies and had not reported receiving threats. The circumstances of the killing led many in the community to suspect it was an execution. Investigations remain ongoing. His responsibilities included representing families before authorities, helping organize community responses to disputes…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Givaldo Santos, vice-chief of the Kaiowá and Guarani community in Taquaperi, was shot dead on May 1st inside the Taquaperi Reserve. - His killing came amid longstanding land disputes, overcrowding in the reserve, and recent police operations linked to contested territory. - Santos had reportedly been seeking accountability after a collision on the same highway killed two Indigenous people, including a 12-year-old boy. - He leaves behind a wife, five children, and a community still seeking answers about his death. authors: | ||
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World Turtle Day: Important conservation wins amid turtle extinction crisis 22 May 2026 15:59:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/world-turtle-day-important-conservation-wins-amid-turtle-extinction-crisis/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: World Turtle Day is celebrated every May 23 to raise awareness about the threats faced by turtles and tortoises. Turtles, tortoises and terrapins, which together make up the order Testudines, have evolved over millions of years, dating back to the Triassic period. However, recent reports show that more than half of the world’s 359 turtle and tortoise species now face extinction. They have outlived dinosaurs and survived multiple ice ages, but they can’t evolve quickly enough to keep up with human pressures, including climate change, researchers have concluded. The IUCN has logged a total of 68 turtle, terrapin and tortoise species that are critically endangered. One of the most endangered, the Burmese roofed turtle (Batagur trivittata), is estimated to have just 10 mature individuals left in the wild. However, this past year was not all bad news. Floreana giant tortoises (Chelonoidis niger niger), were once believed extinct after disappearing from Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands roughly 180 years ago. In February, they returned to Floreana Island thanks to a long-running breeding program using tortoises from another island that still carried Floreana tortoise DNA. In addition, green turtles (Chelonia mydas), whose range is global, were moved from the endangered list to least concern after its population increased by around 28% since the 1970s. In Mexico, a massive turtle trafficking bust in November 2025 put more than 2,300 live, wild-caught freshwater turtles back on the path to living freely. The month-long police operation was launched after 55 critically endangered Vallarta mud turtles (Kinosternon vogti), the world’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: World Turtle Day is celebrated every May 23 to raise awareness about the threats faced by turtles and tortoises. Turtles, tortoises and terrapins, which together make up the order Testudines, have evolved over millions of years, dating back to the Triassic period. However, recent reports show that more than half of the world’s 359 turtle […] authors: | ||
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In Kyrgyzstan, a climate-ready corridor gives snow leopards and herders room to roam 22 May 2026 15:19:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-kyrgyzstan-a-climate-ready-corridor-gives-snow-leopards-and-herders-room-to-roam/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Snow leopards haunt the rocky ridgelines of Central Asia, vanishing into terrain so rugged that researchers rarely catch more than a brief glimpse on camera traps. Locals call them “ghosts of the mountains.” Their elusive nature, paired with the remote landscapes the cats inhabit, make them notoriously difficult to count. An estimated 3,500 to 7,500 snow leopards (Panthera uncia) remain across 12 countries. The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, lists the species as vulnerable to extinction. Kyrgyzstan, where the snow leopard is a national symbol, is thought to be home to around 300. Now, a stretch of high-altitude terrain in central Kyrgyzstan has been stitched into an ecological corridor linking several of the country’s protected areas. The Ak Ilbirs corridor covers roughly 800,000 hectares (nearly 2 million acres) of pastureland, forest and other ecosystems across 14 rural municipalities. Ak ilbirs translates to “white leopard” in Kyrgyz. A snow leopard (Panthera uncia) caught on camera trap by Ilbirs Foundation. Set up in 2025, it’s the first corridor in the region designed with the future climate in mind, project officials say. People still live, herd and work inside it, and the rules are built around them as much as around the wildlife. “Projects like this are good for hope, because you can see changes at the policy level and changes in people’s mindsets on the ground,” Maarten Hofman, associate program management officer at the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), told Mongabay in a video call. “You can see people from many backgrounds…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A stretch of high-altitude terrain in central Kyrgyzstan has been officially designated as the Ak Ilbirs ecological corridor, connecting protected areas to give snow leopards and other wildlife room to move as climate change alters their habitat. - Unlike typical protected areas, the corridor allows herding, forestry and other land uses to continue under a monitoring system that tracks compliance with grazing rules and other requirements. - Designed using climate models projected through 2070, the corridor captures more than 60% of suitable habitat for snow leopards, argali sheep, Asiatic ibex and gray wolves. - To ease pressure on pastures, local NGOs are training herders in alternative livelihoods, such as beekeeping and fruit and vegetable cultivation, while volunteer rangers monitor wildlife and watch for illegal activity. authors: | ||
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Nepal prepares to hand over mega zoo project to conservation body 22 May 2026 14:47:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/nepal-prepares-to-hand-over-mega-zoo-project-to-conservation-body/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Rajendra Pokherel content:encoded: KATHMANDU — Nepali officials are preparing to hand over the government’s ambitious new zoo to the country’s leading wildlife conservation body. Whether that body is up to the task is up for debate. Discussions around the proposed zoo in Suryabinayak municipality in central Nepal, which would span 259 hectares (640 acres) of community-managed forests on the outskirts of Kathmandu, began in 2015. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in June 2016, attended by the then prime minister, K.P. Sharma Oli. After that, only limited preparatory work such as fencing and planning documents moved forward. The reason: lack of funds. Constructing and bringing it into operation is estimated to cost around 10 billion Nepali rupees($65.8 million). But the government has been allocating only around 15 million Nepali rupees ($98,700) a year towards it, mainly to pay for the staff’s salaries. A one-horned rhinoceros at the Central Zoo in Kathmandu. Image courtesy of NTNC. After the formation of the new government in March 2026, the then Ministry of Forests and Environment (now Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Environment) assigned a committee to look for ways to start work on the new zoo. The committee recently recommended that the project be handed over to the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), a semi-governmental body that already oversees the management of Nepal’s Central Zoo, in Kathmandu. “The committee analyzed what would happen if the government ran it versus handing it to NTNC,” said Maheshwar Dhakal, joint secretary at Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Environment who…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nepal plans to hand over a zoo project that has been under discussion for nearly a decade to the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), a semi-governmental body that runs the country’s only operating zoo. - The government has been setting aside roughly 15 million Nepali rupees($98,700) a year for a project estimated to cost 10 billion Nepali rupees($65.8 million), leaving it effectively frozen since its groundbreaking in 2016. - The NTNC points to nearly three decades of zoo management experience, international partnerships and fundraising capacity as evidence it is the right fit for the job. - Critics, however, point to financial struggles at its existing zoo, a politically controversial leadership appointment, and the death of an endangered red panda as reasons for concern. authors: | ||
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Indian Ocean tuna regulator eases yellowfin fishing curbs amid sustainability concerns 22 May 2026 14:12:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/indian-ocean-tuna-regulator-eases-yellowfin-fishing-curbs-amid-sustainability-concerns/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Malavika Vyawahare content:encoded: An annual meeting of the regulatory body overseeing the tuna fishery across the Indian Ocean has agreed to update the rules governing one of the region’s most iconic species: yellowfin tuna. The easing of fishing curbs can be traced to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission’s (IOTC) scientific body finding that Thunnus albacares stocks aren’t overfished, nor are they currently experiencing overfishing in the Indian Ocean. The body first made the determination in 2024, but the finding underwent an internal review process before being accepted by the commission at its recent meeting in the Maldives. The meeting held in May was attended by delegates from coastal nations in Asia, Africa and Oceania, as well as distant-water fishing powers like Japan and the European Union. Now, that scientific advice has translated into a reframing of the management rules, provoking sharply divided reactions. Conservationists are urging caution, citing the long history of yellowfin overfishing and the difficulties in monitoring and curbing overexploitation. Industry representatives, meanwhile, hailed the decision, saying it secures access to one of the region’s most lucrative tuna fisheries. At the meeting in the Maldives, parties agreed on a total allowable catch (TAC) and quotas for contracting members for the period from 2027-2028. In doing so, the IOTC became the first tuna regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) to implement catch allocation systems for all three tropical tuna species under its management: yellowfin, skipjack and bigeye. The IOTC adopted its first yellowfin rebuilding plan in 2016, on the back of scientific evidence…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - During its annual meeting this month, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) reframed management measures for yellowfin tuna following a determination that the species’ stock health has improved. - Industry representatives welcomed the decision, but conservationists are urging caution, citing the long history of yellowfin overfishing and the difficulties in monitoring and curbing overexploitation. - The IOTC also moved on regulating the swordfish fishery in the Indian Ocean by determining enforceable catch limits for members. - Manta and devil rays are especially at risk in tuna fisheries; the IOTC adopted guidelines for their handling and release to reduce bycatch mortality. authors: | ||
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Above an Australian highway, a bridge reconnects wilderness for quolls, koalas and other animals 22 May 2026 12:08:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/above-an-australian-highway-a-bridge-reconnects-wilderness-for-quolls-koalas-and-other-animals/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Starre Vartan content:encoded: SYDNEY, Australia. At dusk on the edge of the bush in Australia’s Heathcote National Park, a spotted-tailed quoll lowers its tawny head to the ground, pink nose twitching. The dense forest, the scent of damp earth and eucalyptus leaf litter gives way, abruptly, to heat and a chemical tang. Ahead: open space. Noise. Light. A car zooms past, loud and fast. It doesn’t slow down. None of the vehicles do. It’s unlikely any driver going 110 kilometers per hour (68 miles per hour) would notice the brown, cat-sized quoll, camouflaged with white spots that beautifully blend into its native bush home. Forty thousand vehicles a day move along this stretch of the M1 Princes Motorway — four lanes of fast-moving traffic that slice between Heathcote National Park on one side and Royal National Park on the other. This is the primary route from Sydney to industrial centers in the southern part of the state of New South Wales, and there’s heavy truck traffic. The quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) waits at the highway’s edge for a break that doesn’t come. Headlights streak. Engines roar. The air pulses with pressure and speed. Crossing here isn’t just dangerous — it’s nearly impossible. The highway might as well be a canyon. And yet, on the other side of the road lies something essential: new territory that includes more of the bird eggs and the rabbits that quolls eat, and mates with more varied DNA, both essential for long-term survival. For decades, quolls, wallabies, deer, koalas…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new wildlife overpass that spans a major highway south of Sydney is reconnecting habitat between Heathcote National Park and Royal National Park, helping animals safely cross one of Australia’s busiest road corridors. - The retrofitted bridge includes features for a wide range of species, from rope crossings for gliding marsupials to vegetated pathways for ground-dwelling animals such as wombats, echidnas and amphibians. - Ecologists say reconnecting fragmented habitat is increasingly important as roads, urban expansion, extreme weather events and climate-driven bushfires isolate wildlife populations and reduce genetic diversity. - Research from Australia and elsewhere shows that wildlife crossings can significantly reduce animal deaths and help species move, forage and breed, but only when these structures are carefully designed around animals’ behavior and habitat needs. authors: | ||
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AI listens for endangered orcas to help reduce underwater noise exposure 22 May 2026 11:33:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/ai-listens-for-endangered-orcas-to-help-reduce-underwater-noise-exposure/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Artificial intelligence is listening to orca calls in real time and helping to reduce their exposure to underwater noise. The effort is focused on an endangered orca subspecies in the Salish Sea, off the coasts of the northwestern U.S. and western Canada, reports Mongabay writer Abhishyant Kidangoor. The southern resident orcas (Orcinus orca ater), made up of just three pods, are one of the world’s most endangered marine mammal populations. There are an estimated 76 individuals remaining in the wild, as of December 2025. Vessel traffic and underwater noise are active threats to their survival because orcas use clicks and echolocation to hunt and locate their pod in the ocean. Constant noise from vessels makes it more difficult for them to communicate and navigate. Noise from a typical modern ship can raise underwater sound levels by 12 to 17 decibels, at frequencies lower than natural ambient noises, which can be extremely disruptive for orcas. The decibel scale isn’t linear; a 10-dB increase means the sound intensity is 10 times stronger. Sound also travels faster and farther underwater than in air. Research shows that the odds of orcas catching prey decreases by 12.5% for every additional decibel of maximum noise. The AI-powered tool, OrcaHello, was developed during a 2019 hackathon event, and tracks the orcas’ movements by detecting their calls through underwater audio livestream. The team behind OrcaHello then trained a machine-learning model to recognize the calls of the specific orca subspecies so they can detect when the pods approach the port or…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Artificial intelligence is listening to orca calls in real time and helping to reduce their exposure to underwater noise. The effort is focused on an endangered orca subspecies in the Salish Sea, off the coasts of the northwestern U.S. and western Canada, reports Mongabay writer Abhishyant Kidangoor. The southern resident orcas (Orcinus orca ater), made […] authors: | ||
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‘Same dangerous project’: Fury after Indonesia revives disputed mine 22 May 2026 06:04:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Indonesia’s environment ministry has issued a new approval for a controversial zinc and lead mine in an earthquake-prone region of Sumatra Island, less than a year after a Supreme Court ruling forced it to rescind its earlier approval. Critics of the project have slammed the U-turn, pointing out that nothing has fundamentally changed in that time. The new approval was issued for an environmental impact assessment that updates the previous assessment produced by PT Dairi Prima Mineral (DPM) for the mine in Dairi district, North Sumatra province. That earlier impact assessment, known as an Amdal in Indonesian, was faulted by nearby residents and experts for a plan to hold mining waste sludge behind a dam — a recipe for disaster, they contended, in a highly earth-quake prone region. The updated Amdal does away with the proposed permanent tailings dam, and instead proposes mixing the mining waste with cement and water and injecting it into mined-out voids underground, a process known as cemented paste backfill. But residents who successfully petitioned Indonesia’s highest court to void the earlier Amdal say the new one changes nothing in terms of minimizing the risk that the mine and its waste will pose to nearby communities. “I am disgusted,” said 65-year-old Rainim Purba from Pandiangan village in Dairi. “DPM is only hiding the same dangerous project in slightly different packaging.” She said the Supreme Court ruling from 2024 was meant to ensure the mine didn’t get environmental approval. “So is the [environment] ministry not…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia’s environment ministry has reapproved a controversial zinc and lead mine in North Sumatra, less than a year after the Supreme Court forced it to revoke the project’s earlier environmental approval over disaster-risk concerns. - The revised environmental assessment replaces a proposed tailings dam with a plan to bury mining waste underground, but critics and independent experts say the mining company cannot realistically bury all of its waste and will still require a dangerous aboveground storage facility. - Residents, activists and legal advocates argue the new approval is legally flawed because it relies on a framework already annulled by the Supreme Court, and say the company failed to conduct meaningful public consultation or provide key documents to affected communities. - Communities opposing the mine say previous company activities have already caused environmental damage, flooding and water disruptions, and vow to continue fighting a project they fear could threaten lives and farmland in the earthquake-prone region. authors: | ||
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What drives the trafficking of gibbons? Conservationists shed light on demand 22 May 2026 05:48:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/what-drives-the-trafficking-of-gibbons-conservationists-shed-light-on-demand/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: As gibbon seizures reached a record high in 2025, conservationists warn that dismantling the illegal trade requires a deep understanding of the diverse motivations driving consumer demand, contributor Ana Norman Bermúdez reports for Mongabay. In 2025, authorities confiscated 336 gibbons between January and August alone, representing approximately 20% of all recorded seizures since 2016, according to an analysis by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. Experts say that because motivations for buying a gibbon vary widely across different buyer communities, solutions must be tailored accordingly. “Primates have always fascinated people,” said Elizabeth John of TRAFFIC, adding that gibbons are particularly appealing “because of their uniqueness and rarity.” While Indonesia and Vietnam have historically dominated the gibbon trade, India and Malaysia have emerged as key countries in the illegal chain in recent years. In Malaysia, demand is often driven by a misplaced “love” for animals. Mariani “Bam” Ramli, founder of the Gibbon Conservation Society, said most owners acquire gibbons through informal networks or online, usually to keep as pets, and surrender their animals voluntarily. “Most of them say they love animals, or they want their children to have an animal to play with,” Ramli said. The market in India has two kinds of demand: local trade in rural areas and wealthy urban buyers willing to buy gibbons for social standing. Florian Magne, director of the HURO Foundation, said that gibbons are often perceived as “prestigious pets, attracting attention and conferring social status.” Magne also points to a growing demand from private zoos and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: As gibbon seizures reached a record high in 2025, conservationists warn that dismantling the illegal trade requires a deep understanding of the diverse motivations driving consumer demand, contributor Ana Norman Bermúdez reports for Mongabay. In 2025, authorities confiscated 336 gibbons between January and August alone, representing approximately 20% of all recorded seizures since 2016, according […] authors: | ||
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Slow lorises struggle to survive in the wild after captivity 22 May 2026 05:38:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-in-the-wild-after-captivity/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: The wild can be a “death trap” for rescued slow lorises, one of the world’s most trafficked primates, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. Researchers followed the fate of nine confiscated Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) released into Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh. Six months later, only two individuals were surviving; several died within days or weeks of release. Slow lorises are the world’s only venomous primates and highly territorial animals. The findings highlight the lethal nature of their territorial conflict in the wild: Researchers recovered four bodies bearing marks of venomous bite wounds on their heads, faces and digits, indicating they perished in fights, most likely with wild residents. “It’s assumed that returning confiscated or rescued animals to the wild is always a positive conservation story,” said study co-author Anna Nekaris, a professor of ecology, conservation and the environment at Anglia Ruskin University, U.K. “But for animals such as the Bengal slow loris, this is not always the best course of action.” The two survivors established larger home ranges than those that died, the study found, suggesting that success for released slow lorises depended on moving away from established territories of other lorises. Longer stays in captivity also negatively impacted survival in the wild. “For this reason, release should take place as soon as an animal meets strict health and behavioral criteria, rather than extending captivity unnecessarily,” said Richard Moore, senior adviser at the conservation organization IAR Indonesia Foundation, which has been rehabilitating and releasing Javan…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The wild can be a “death trap” for rescued slow lorises, one of the world’s most trafficked primates, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. Researchers followed the fate of nine confiscated Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) released into Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh. Six months later, only two individuals were surviving; several […] authors: | ||
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Gunmen kill two rangers in latest deadly attack in DRC’s Virunga National Park 22 May 2026 03:55:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/gunmen-kill-two-rangers-in-latest-deadly-attack-in-drcs-virunga-national-park/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: Gunmen have killed two rangers in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest deadly attack in a region roiled by militia violence. Park sources said a heavily armed group opened fire on a control post at Kamuhororo, on the southern shore of Lake Edward inside Virunga, early on May 21. Kasereka Valyathire Baraka, 35, and Munguakonkwa Mihigo Jacques, 34, the rangers on duty at the time, were both killed, according to national park officials. The killings underscore the extreme risks facing conservation personnel in the eastern DRC. Instability here stems from overlapping conflicts between rebel groups including M23, Mai-Mai and scores of militias. Virunga has recorded more ranger deaths than any other protected area in the DRC, making it one of the world’s most dangerous conservation posts. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and biodiversity hotspot, home to two species of great apes: eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Park officials said they haven’t yet identified the attackers. The provincial office of the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN), the government agency that manages the DRC’s national parks, described the attack as “odious and unacceptable.” “We call for a thorough and urgent investigation to bring the perpetrators and their sponsors to justice,” Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park, said in a statement obtained by Mongabay. More than 200 rangers have been killed in Virunga National Park in the last century. Rangers are often outnumbered by armed groups in the region. There’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Gunmen have killed two rangers in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest deadly attack in a region roiled by militia violence. Park sources said a heavily armed group opened fire on a control post at Kamuhororo, on the southern shore of Lake Edward inside Virunga, early on May 21. Kasereka […] authors: | ||
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Three Thai nationals suspected of smuggling Galápagos iguanas arrested in Ecuador 21 May 2026 23:39:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/three-thai-nationals-suspected-of-smuggling-galapagos-iguanas-arrested-in-ecuador/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: The Ecuadorian National Police arrested three Thai nationals on May 19, 2026, at the José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil on suspicion of wildlife trafficking. They seized 12 marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), endemic to the Galápagos. The reptiles were found stuffed in handbags with their legs tightly bound. One was dead and those that survived had numbness in their limbs, the Ministry of Environment and Energy said in a social media post. The reptiles are now under specialized care. All four species of endemic Galápagos iguanas, including marine iguanas, are protected under Ecuadorian laws and have the highest level of protections under CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty. Both protections prohibit removing the iguanas from the wild or selling them. “The illegal extraction and trade of Galápagos species poses a threat to one of Ecuador’s and the world’s most important natural heritage sites,” the Ministry of Environment and Energy said in a press release. It added the government is monitoring and coordinating efforts to “prevent and punish wildlife crimes.” The operation was carried out by the national police, in coordination with the Environmental Authority, the Galápagos National Park Directorate and the Governing Council of the Galápagos Special Regime. Further investigations are ongoing. In the last week, four separate cases of marine iguanas, discarded on sidewalks in Guayaquil, were also reported, indicating trafficking. That brings the total to 16 suspected smuggled iguanas in about a week. Sandra Altherr, a co-founder of German NGO Pro Wildlife who has been…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The Ecuadorian National Police arrested three Thai nationals on May 19, 2026, at the José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil on suspicion of wildlife trafficking. They seized 12 marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), endemic to the Galápagos. The reptiles were found stuffed in handbags with their legs tightly bound. One was dead and those […] authors: | ||
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Ebola outbreak reaches major cities in DR Congo, Uganda amid fears of regional spread 21 May 2026 20:51:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-reaches-major-cities-in-dr-congo-uganda-amid-fears-of-regional-spread/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: The Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was officially confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 15. Less than a week later, the death toll is rising with at least 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths linked to the disease, as well as 51 laboratory-confirmed cases, WHO has reported. The confirmed figures differ from the suspected cases because samples must be analyzed in Kinshasa, around 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) by plane from the outbreak area in Ituri province, before cases can be officially confirmed. In addition, the initial symptoms of the virus are very similar to those of malaria, a disease that is widespread in the region. “We expect those numbers to keep increasing given the amount of time the virus was circulating before the outbreak was detected,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva. “I have decided that urgent action is needed to prevent further deaths and to mobilize an effective international response.” He also noted the scale of the outbreak could in fact be “much larger” than current estimates, as the epidemic likely began “a couple of months ago.” Faced with the growing number of cases and its international spread, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, 2026. The disease, which emerged in rural Ituri province in eastern DRC, now appears to have spread to major cities including Kinshasa and Kampala, the capital of Uganda, as well as Goma,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was officially confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 15. Less than a week later, the death toll is rising with at least 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths linked to the disease, as well as 51 […] authors: | ||
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Wild animal consumption on the rise in Central Africa, study finds 21 May 2026 19:16:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/wild-animal-consumption-on-the-rise-in-central-africa-study-finds/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: A new study has shed light on the scale of wild meat consumption across Central Africa. According to research led by CIFOR-ICRAF, a roughly 50% increase in the amount of wild meat being consumed is driven largely by growing demand from rapidly expanding urban populations. Published in the journal Nature, the study analyzed data from more than 12,000 households across 252 locations in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo between 2000 and 2022. Meat from wild animals continues to serve as a primary source of food for millions of people in the region, particularly traditional hunter-gatherers. According to the study, population growth in Central Africa — from 25 million to 140 million people — has sharply increased demand for both food and income, placing additional pressure on wildlife populations. The study determined 31% of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians in the region are currently at risk of extinction. Researchers found annual wild meat consumption rose from about 730,000 tons in 2000 to 1.1 million tons in 2022. “Wild meat is a fundamental component of diets of rural populations, accounting for 20% of the recommended daily protein intake,” the study noted. The report concluded that ensuring the availability of wild meat in rural areas will require reducing its consumption in large urban centers. The study was co-authored by several researchers affiliated with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In a press statement obtained by Mongabay, Germain Mavah of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A new study has shed light on the scale of wild meat consumption across Central Africa. According to research led by CIFOR-ICRAF, a roughly 50% increase in the amount of wild meat being consumed is driven largely by growing demand from rapidly expanding urban populations. Published in the journal Nature, the study analyzed data from […] authors: | ||
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Nine killed at illegal mine in latest Sumatra landslide tragedy as gold surge continues 21 May 2026 18:22:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/nine-killed-at-illegal-mine-in-latest-sumatra-landslide-tragedy-as-gold-surge-continues/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Novia Harlina content:encoded: PADANG, Indonesia — Nine people were killed on May 14 in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province after heavy rain triggered the collapse of a 30-meter (100-foot) cliff at an illegal gold mine. “Three people survived, while nine others who were buried have been recovered deceased,” said Susmelawati Rosya, a spokesperson for the West Sumatra province police. Local officials said miners had ignored repeated warnings to stop work amid sustained torrential rain, and that the high international price of gold continued to draw people into the risky work. “They were reminded, but they continued with their activities,” said Zainal, the head of Guguk village, an ethnic Minangkabau village where the disaster occurred. On May 13, floodwaters swept away dozens of pontoons used by illegal gold miners near the confluence of three rivers, the Batang Sinamar, Batang Ombilin and Batang Kuantan. A day later, the heavy rain culminated in the fatal landslip at the mining site in Guguk village. Authorities say illegal mining on the rivers has become widespread in recent years. The local karst landscape is around 350 million years old and is being proposed as a global geopark to UNESCO, the United Nations’ science and cultural agency. A row of pontoons used by miners in the proposed Silokek geopark before they were washed away by heavy rain in May, 2026. Image by Novia Harlina/Mongabay Indonesia. Illegal gold mining accidents have repeatedly turned deadly in West Sumatra — and other areas of Sumatra — over the past decade, including landslides and tunnel…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A mining accident in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province buried 12 miners on May 14, nine of whom were killed, following a period of heavy rain. - The disaster is the latest fatal accident at an unpermitted mining site in the interior of Sumatra in recent years, with officials and civil society analysts saying the sustained high price of gold, which at the time of writing was threefold higher than six years ago, is drawing more people to illegal mines. - Walhi, Indonesia’s largest environmental NGO, said at least 48 people were killed in West Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s 38 provinces, in the last 15 years. - The green group said the true number could be much higher owing to the remote nature of the illegal industry. authors: | ||
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Amazon resilient to fire, but diversity loss still a threat, study finds 21 May 2026 15:38:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amazon-resilient-to-fire-but-diversity-loss-still-a-threat-study-finds/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Suzana Camargo content:encoded: In 2024, the Brazilian Amazon faced one of the worst fire seasons in its history: 15.6 million hectares (38.5 million acres) were burned, an area the size of Portugal, of which 43% consisted of forest vegetation. According to data from MapBiomas, a collaborative network mapping land use in Brazil, the area destroyed by flames was 117% higher than the historical average. Now, a group of scientists has found a surprising capacity for forest regeneration after fires, although biodiversity loss persisted. The results were presented in a two-decade study in the southeastern Amazon that attempts to predict the risks the world’s greatest rainforest faces as deforestation, reduced precipitation and long-term droughts become more frequent. “Our study brings a message of hope,” said lead author Leandro Maracahipes, a researcher at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) in Brazil and at Yale University in the U.S. “It demonstrates that a highly degraded forest can recover even after many disturbances.” Maracahipes emphasized, however, that this regeneration gives rise to a new type of forest. “It is a new ecosystem. Although it can recover, this forest is much poorer, with a greater number of generalist species, much more vulnerable to new disturbances,” he told Mongabay. Aerial photography of the Amazon Rainforest. Image courtesy of Leandro Maracahipes. Study authors and members of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) during field research. Image courtesy of Rafael Oliveira. A greater impact on forest edges The experiment began in 2004, during a peak of deforestation in the Amazon, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A two-decade study conducted in the southeastern Brazilian Amazon found that while degraded forests show high ecological resilience and no sign of transitioning to savanna, species diversity at forest edges halved. - Repeated disturbances are replacing fire-resistant specialist trees with fast-growing, generalist species, which have repercussions for the biome’s biodiversity. - Although researchers say the forest’s response is a sign of hope, they warn that the new ecosystems that emerge from that forest recovery process can be vulnerable to new climate disturbances. authors: | ||
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Mangroves are ‘powerful and undervalued’ for curbing nitrogen pollution, study finds 21 May 2026 14:53:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/mangroves-are-powerful-and-undervalued-for-curbing-nitrogen-pollution-study-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Mangrove forests could help sequester more than five million metric tons of nitrogen pollution from coastal ecosystems across the Earth if they are restored and protected, a recent study found. Nitrogen pollution typically comes from synthetic fertilizers largely used in agriculture or from human waste seeping into water sources. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for life, but in excess it fuels algal blooms, leaving water murky and with a foul smell. In the worst cases, the death of the algal blooms can starve ecosystems of oxygen, leaving large dead zones that can kill fish and other aquatic life. Researchers analyzed data on nitrogen removal by mangroves across the world and estimated mangroves currently sequester around 870,000 metric tons of nitrogen every year. The study found that if mangroves are protected and restored, this number could increase to more than 5 million metric tons a year. This ecosystem service mangroves provide is worth over $8 billion annually, the researchers estimated. “Mangrove forests represent a powerful and undervalued natural mitigation solution for nitrogen pollution,” study co-authors Ziyan Wang and Benoit Thibodeau wrote. Wang and Thibodeau argued nitrogen removal should be treated similarly to carbon storage and suggested creating a market for blue nitrogen credits to help finance the climate solution. They estimated nitrogen credits would be priced at around $10,000 per metric ton, based on previous projects. The total value of a nitrogen removal market would far exceed that of carbon storage in mangrove ecosystems, according to the study. In lakes and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Mangrove forests could help sequester more than five million metric tons of nitrogen pollution from coastal ecosystems across the Earth if they are restored and protected, a recent study found. Nitrogen pollution typically comes from synthetic fertilizers largely used in agriculture or from human waste seeping into water sources. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for […] authors: | ||
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Artisanal mines in Brazil a front for gold laundering, investigation shows 21 May 2026 14:45:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/artisanal-mines-in-brazil-a-front-for-gold-laundering-investigation-shows/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Nearly half of permitted small-scale gold mines in a corner of the Brazilian Amazon are likely fronts for laundering gold mined elsewhere, including protected areas and Indigenous territories, a new investigation suggests. Between 2022 and 2026, 263 of the 540 licensed artisanal mining operations in the Tapajós River Basin, or 49%, reported gold sales not commensurate with the actual mining activity. Satellite imagery analyzed by investigative outlet InfoAmazonia revealed that most of the mining activity in the Tapajós region was happening outside the permitted mining sites, including inside protected areas and Indigenous territories. Roughly 70% of activity was happening within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius of the permitted sites, which suggests illegal mining operations may be using the cover of these permits to launder illegal gold into the formal market. The findings are consistent with reports of mercury contamination in the region, which has harmed Indigenous and riverine communities who depend on the rivers for water, food and transportation. Mercury is common in both legal and illegal gold mining operations, despite a prohibition on its use. The investigation also found permits intended for small-scale, low-impact gold mining were being used by larger, industrial-scale operations. The mining permits were originally designed to be a simplified authorization for individual miners, but are increasingly used for industrial mining that uses heavy equipment, dredging and illegal mercury. For the investigation, InfoAmazonia helped develop a platform called VEIO, or Verification and Investigation of Gold Origin. It cross-references mining and deforestation data with mineral production taxes and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Nearly half of permitted small-scale gold mines in a corner of the Brazilian Amazon are likely fronts for laundering gold mined elsewhere, including protected areas and Indigenous territories, a new investigation suggests. Between 2022 and 2026, 263 of the 540 licensed artisanal mining operations in the Tapajós River Basin, or 49%, reported gold sales not […] authors: | ||
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Norlan Pagal, fisherman and guardian of Tañon Strait, died on May 14th, aged 56 21 May 2026 12:40:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/shot-for-defending-the-sea-norlan-pagal-kept-watching-from-shore/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The sea off San Remigio could look gentle from shore. White sand, clear water, and boats moving slowly across Tañon Strait. For many families in Barangay Anapog, in northern Cebu, it was also the pantry and workplace. Fish and shellfish were food, income, and a future to pass on. By the early 2000s, that future was shrinking. Catches had fallen. Commercial boats entered waters reserved for small fishers. Dynamite and compressors damaged the reefs and frightened those who tried to stop them. The rules were known, but enforcement was weak, meaning that despite the sea’s protected status, it was still being stripped. Norlan Pagal had been a fisherman since 1979. He left school after Grade 4, but he learned fishery law closely and remembered what the sea had once provided. In 2002, when the decline became impossible to ignore, he joined the bantay dagat, the volunteer sea patrol that guards coastal waters in the Philippines. Three years later he became chair of the Anapog Fishermen Association. For more than a decade he helped watch over the Anapog Marine Protected Area and the wider Tañon Strait Protected Seascape. The work was direct and dangerous. He and other volunteers went out in small boats, sometimes paddling to confront fishers using illegal gear. They patrolled, reported violations, organized clean-ups, and helped restore mangroves. Sometimes they succeeded: commercial vessels were caught, sanctuaries defended, and rules enforced in a place where they had often been ignored. At other times the answer was violence. Norlan Pagal.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Norlan Pagal spent more than a decade defending the waters of Tañon Strait from illegal fishing. - He survived dynamite, beatings and a 2015 ambush that left him paralyzed from the waist down. - From his wheelchair, he continued watching the sea with binoculars and reporting violations to patrols. - His work helped inspire other fishers to protect their waters and earned him recognition as an Ocean Hero. authors: | ||
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More than 1,000 uncharted coral reefs mapped in vast, understudied northern Australia 21 May 2026 10:45:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/more-than-1000-uncharted-coral-reefs-mapped-in-vast-understudied-northern-australia/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Megan Strauss content:encoded: Scientists have layered hundreds of satellite images to reveal more than 1,000 previously uncharted coral reefs in the turbid waters of northern Australia. The number is comparable to the Great Barrier Reef, though many reefs are smaller in size, researchers say. The reefs of northern Australia, while probably known to locals, had previously largely remained under surveyed. Project leader Eric Lawrey from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) wondered why, as he explored satellite imagery of the coastline and noticed shapes that looked like reefs. The possible reefs were located in deep, turbid and sediment-rich waters, making them hard to discern in a single image. “If you look at any one satellite image, the water just looks like turquoise paint and you can’t really see reefs,” Lawrey said in a media release. So Lawrey had the idea to layer 200 satellite images of each area, taken at different times. In this composite image, “all the swirly patterns of the moving water move around and average out while the reefs are constant,” he said. Using this new composite imagery technique, the team from AIMS in partnership with the University of Queensland (UQ) mapped the reefs from Houtman Abrolhos in Western Australia all the way through to western Cape York in Queensland. The resulting work defined the location of more than 3,600 coral reefs and 2,900 rocky reefs, or reefs formed by geological processes. These reefs likely support an array of marine life. The newly mapped reefs of northern and northwestern…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Scientists have layered hundreds of satellite images to reveal more than 1,000 previously uncharted coral reefs in the turbid waters of northern Australia. The number is comparable to the Great Barrier Reef, though many reefs are smaller in size, researchers say. The reefs of northern Australia, while probably known to locals, had previously largely remained […] authors: | ||
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Bangladesh’s energy crunch highlights the promise — and limits — of solar 21 May 2026 10:22:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/bangladeshs-energy-crunch-highlights-the-promise-and-limits-of-solar/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Md Jahidul Islam content:encoded: As Bangladesh grapples with fuel shortages, power plant outages and rising energy import costs, the country’s small but growing solar sector is helping cushion the grid against widespread blackouts. According to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), 16 of the 136 power plants and electricity import sources are solar facilities. At least 52 power plants are currently fully shut down because of gas and coal shortages. Despite having installed electricity generation capacity far exceeding peak demand, Bangladesh has recently struggled in recent months to generate enough power to meet its needs. Fuel supply constraints, maintenance shutdowns and technical faults have forced many gas- and coal-fired plants to operate below capacity, leading to periodic load-shedding, or blackouts, across the country. While fossil fuel-dependent plants have been hampered by supply shortages, solar plants continue generating during daylight hours and remain largely insulated from global fuel price volatility. A BPDB report published May 10 showed that Bangladesh generated and imported a combined 312,620 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity on May 9. Of that total, solar contributed 5,377 MWh, compared to 127,700 MWh from gas and 105,400 MWh from coal. Although solar still accounts for only a small share of the national energy mix, experts say its importance becomes more apparent during crises when fossil fuel-dependent plants can’t operate at full capacity. The same BPDB report showed that Bangladesh faced a generation shortfall of 3,868 megawatts due to gas constraints and an additional 1,668 MW due to plant shutdowns and maintenance. Several major gas-fired plants were operating below capacity because of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - As Bangladesh struggles with gas shortages, fuel import costs and power plant outages, solar power plants have continued generating electricity during daylight hours, helping reduce pressure on the national grid. - Although renewables account for only a small share of Bangladesh’s electricity mix, solar plays a particularly important role in the northern Rangpur region, where it provides most daytime electricity generation. - Major gas-fired plants, including the 1,200-MW Ghorashal facility near Dhaka, have been shut down because of fuel shortages, highlighting Bangladesh’s dependence on imported fossil fuels. - Experts say Bangladesh could reduce its exposure to volatile global fuel markets by expanding solar energy, though challenges including land availability, policy support and slow implementation continue to limit growth. authors: | ||
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In flood-prone Bangladesh, tiny homes are built to move with the river 21 May 2026 08:28:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/in-flood-prone-bangladesh-tiny-homes-are-built-to-move-with-the-river/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In the northeast of Bangladesh, residents living along the Jamuna River face a relentless cycle of environmental upheaval. Every rainy season, severe flooding routinely invades homes and wipes out crops, turning daily life into a struggle for survival. For families in these areas of low-lying sand beds, locally known as char areas, land is affordable but highly vulnerable. Rebuilding after each monsoon has historically been an exhausting requirement. However, Mongabay’s Lucia Torres reports in a recent video that an innovative architectural design is helping to ease the struggle. Khandoker Mohammad Bulbul, a newly married farmer who recently moved to the region, explains the economic reality of living in such a high-risk area. “I can buy seven or eight times more land here because the land price is very low in char areas,” he tells Mongabay. However, the trade-off for that affordability is constant danger: during floods, Bulbul says, “water enters our house. Sometimes it comes up to our waist.” To break this cycle, architects from Dhaka are collaborating with rural communities to build Khudi Bari, or tiny houses, designed to withstand climate extremes. These simple, flood-resistant structures are engineered to respond to the region’s shifting topography and the constant threat of river erosion. The Khudi Bari concept offers two distinct advantages for river-basin communities. First, the dwellings are elevated off the ground, protecting families and food supplies during high water. Second, because the flooding rivers constantly change the topography of the area, the houses are designed to be easily relocated…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In the northeast of Bangladesh, residents living along the Jamuna River face a relentless cycle of environmental upheaval. Every rainy season, severe flooding routinely invades homes and wipes out crops, turning daily life into a struggle for survival. For families in these areas of low-lying sand beds, locally known as char areas, land is affordable […] authors: | ||
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New survey methods uncover new insights into Madagascar’s biodiversity 21 May 2026 08:15:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-survey-methods-uncover-new-insights-into-madagascars-biodiversity/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Mino Rakotovao content:encoded: Conservation biologist Dimby Raharinjanahary spent years walking through Madagascar’s forests, counting some of the island’s most visible species, such as lemurs and birds. Raharinjanahary was head of monitoring and research for the country’s national parks service from 2012 to 2018, when monitoring still relied largely on tracking a handful of species as indicators of forest condition and ecosystem health. “Conservation is based on a few target species. If you don’t see them, you say the forest is degraded,” he tells Mongabay. “But the opposite can also be true: you find them, and the forest is still degraded.” Raharinjanahary, now director of monitoring at the Madagascar Biodiversity Center, is part of a global initiative called LIFEPLAN that is working to improve this. LIFEPLAN expands biodiversity monitoring beyond a few target species to include a much wider range of organisms, including hyper-diverse and still poorly known groups such as arthropods and fungi. Setting up a Malaise trap for insects. Image courtesy of Dimby Raharinjanahary. Building a global picture of biodiversity Across 83 sites worldwide, researchers affiliated with LIFEPLAN simultaneously tracked arthropods, fungi, mammals and birds. Their work built on an earlier effort, the Insect Biome Atlas, which mapped insect biomass in Sweden and Madagascar between 2019 and 2020, before expanding into a broader global program covering multiple groups of organisms. The expanded program is using identical methods, repeated year-round and across continents to compare biodiversity consistently across sites and, in turn, explore how changes in climate or human pressure may shape future…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - LIFEPLAN tracks arthropods, fungi, mammals and birds simultaneously using identical methods repeated year-round across continents, generating one of the largest standardized biodiversity data sets ever assembled. - A forthcoming study found that geographic distance is a key driver of endemism in Madagascar’s arthropods. - Entomologists use LIFEPLAN data to identify new priority areas for insect conservation that are not represented in the current protected area network. - Researchers say they hope LIFEPLAN methods can support long-term biodiversity monitoring in Madagascar’s protected areas in collaboration with different partners. authors: | ||
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Climate change triples chance of deadly 2026 South Asia pre-monsoon heatwave: Report 21 May 2026 06:55:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/climate-change-triples-chance-of-deadly-2026-south-asia-pre-monsoon-heatwave-report/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: From mid-April through May 2026, India and Pakistan were gripped by a heatwave that saw daily maximum temperatures soar above 46° Celsius (114.8° Fahrenheit) in numerous cities. This ongoing period of intense heat has resulted in at least 10 reported deaths in Karachi, Pakistan and 6 reported cases of deaths from heat stroke in India, as of April 27. A “super-rapid” study released by scientists from the World Weather Attribution indicates that such high temperature conditions in April are becoming more frequent, now occurring once every five years in the region. The researchers also found human-induced climate change made the 15-day heatwave period from April 15-29 approximately three times more likely than it would have been in a pre-industrial climate. The same heat “event would have been about 1°C (1.8°F) cooler in a pre-industrial climate.” “What used to be rare heat in South Asia is now a regular reality,” Mariam Zachariah, a research associate in extreme weather and climate change at Imperial College London, said in a statement. She noted the pre-monsoon period in the region is becoming both longer and hotter, forcing hundreds of millions to face extreme heat for a greater portion of the year. The sweltering conditions triggered record-high electricity demand across India and induced agricultural drought affecting over 1 million square kilometers (386,102 square miles), threatening the food security and livelihoods of millions dependent on farming. The heat also coincided with major election periods and census operations, exposing millions of voters and officials to dangerous conditions.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: From mid-April through May 2026, India and Pakistan were gripped by a heatwave that saw daily maximum temperatures soar above 46° Celsius (114.8° Fahrenheit) in numerous cities. This ongoing period of intense heat has resulted in at least 10 reported deaths in Karachi, Pakistan and 6 reported cases of deaths from heat stroke in India, […] authors: | ||
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