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Statewide survey aims to put California’s fungi on the conservation map 20 Dec 2025 13:08:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/statewide-survey-aims-to-put-californias-fungi-on-the-conservation-map/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Getting to The Cedars, an ecological preserve in California’s Sonoma county, is a slog. Multiple rivers and creeks must be crossed, and it can be tough going on an often storm-destroyed road. But it’s home to a rich diversity of species found nowhere else on Earth that are uniquely adapted to serpentine soil, composed of decomposed rock and rich in heavy metals. If you’re a fungi collector, it’s well worth the trip. Over the past two years, a dedicated team of mycologists — specialists in the study of fungi — and experienced mushroom collectors have combed California’s forests, rivers and mountains in often remote locations such as this, searching for and collecting fungi. Those making the arduous journey out to The Cedars have identified more than 100 new species, 25 of which are only known from the area. They snapped photos, which were then uploaded with all pertinent data to iNaturalist, a citizen scientist biodiversity database. Collections have been sent to labs where scientists extracted DNA for sequencing. Dried specimens are stored for safe keeping at California State University, East Bay, and the University of California, Los Angeles. This is part of an expansive effort to map the state’s fungal diversity, which has yielded thousands of specimens and is the first of its kind in North America, says Harte Singer, who heads genetic research at the California Fungal Diversity Survey (CA FUNDIS). The CA FUNDIS team collected thousands of fungi species from across California. Many of those collected are undescribed.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A state-funded survey has sampled and collected fungi species from across California, identifying hundreds of new-to-science species. - It’s part of a statewide effort to protect biodiversity, which has yielded thousands of specimens and is the first of its kind in North America. - Fungi are often neglected compared to the attention given to plants and animals, yet they play an important role in maintaining ecological health by supporting plant growth and storing carbon. - Understanding fungi’s role in nature has implications for conservation and for forest restoration as wildfires grow larger and more frequent. Other researchers in California are working on putting fungi to use cleaning up polluted areas. authors: | ||
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A flood of logs post-Cyclone Senyar leaves Padang fishers out of work 20 Dec 2025 05:07:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-flood-of-logs-post-cyclone-senyar-leaves-padang-fishers-out-of-work/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Jaka Hendra Baittri content:encoded: PADANG, Indonesia — At low tide along Padang’s coastline, fishing boats sit idle, not because of rough seas, but because the water is clogged with timber. In late November, flash floods from Cyclone Senyar swept through parts of Sumatra, killing residents and damaging roads and homes. Days later, their aftermath surfaced offshore. Logs carried from upstream forests poured out of river mouths and spread along the coast here in Padang, the capital of Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, blocking access to the sea and cutting off the livelihoods of hundreds of fishers. The mass of floating wood has made it impossible for fishers to pass, with some intact logs measuring up to 90 centimeters (35 inches or nearly 3 feet) in diameter. “For the past two days, the logs have been piling up. If we try to go out, the boats could be damaged,” Syafri Juni, a fisher from Patenggangan Beach in Padang, told Mongabay on Dec. 10. Residents look on at piles of logs from the flash floods at Patenggangan Beach, Padang, on Nov. 28. Image by Jaka Hendra Baittri/Mongabay-Indonesia. The formation of a hurricane in the Malacca Strait was an extremely rare occurrence, scientists say, and a devastating one — the storm killed more than 1,000 people across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. On the island of Sumatra, torrential rains hit a landscape whose capacity to soak up rainfall has been compromised by decades of rainforest clearance. Syafri had not gone to sea for the past week because…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Flash floods in late November swept timber and mud from upstream forests into coastal waters around Padang, blocking access to the sea and cutting off the livelihoods of hundreds of fishers. - Fishers say massive floating logs have damaged boats and halted daily incomes, forcing many families to rely on credit to meet basic needs. - Marine scientists warn that suspended sediment and decaying timber threaten coastal ecosystems by blocking sunlight, disrupting food chains and degrading water quality. - Environmental groups link the disaster to illegal logging and weak forest governance upstream, calling for stronger law enforcement, national disaster status and urgent government action. authors: | ||
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Kenyan wildlife census reveals conservation wins and losses 19 Dec 2025 22:47:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/kenyan-wildlife-census-reveals-conservation-wins-and-losses/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Lynet Otieno content:encoded: Kenya’s 2025 National Wildlife Census report has revealed a complex trend in wildlife: Populations of some iconic animal species are steadily growing, while other populations are declining or remain stagnant. At the launch of the report, compiled by the Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI), Kenya’s President William Ruto described the findings as “a mosaic of wins and urgent conservation emergencies.” The Dec. 11 launch brought together more than a dozen stakeholders in research and conservation. In the report’s recommendation the authors said the findings should shape policy for parks and community conservancies, by integrating “the national wildlife corridor mapping initiative and wildlife census data into national and county spatial and land use plans.” At the launch of the report the CEO of WRTI, Patrick Omondi said, “We also recommend acceleration of enactment and implementation of the Wildlife Conservation Bill (2025) and complementary amendments on the Wildlife Act, 2023.” The report highlighted a 4% increase in the populations of elephants as well as black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) and white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum), since the last census in 2021. The report estimates that Kenya is home to more than 40,000 elephants in the wild and just over 2,100 rhinos. Giraffe (Giraffa) species saw a 5.4% increase in their populations; at least 43,000 individuals were counted. Authorities attribute the growth to decades of efforts to end poaching in the parks, targeted translocation of the mammals, stricter law enforcement, community-led conservation and ecological connectivity. However, the census also revealed the vulnerability of some…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Kenya’s 2025 National Wildlife Census report has revealed a complex trend in wildlife: Populations of some iconic animal species are steadily growing, while other populations are declining or remain stagnant. At the launch of the report, compiled by the Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI), Kenya’s President William Ruto described the findings as “a mosaic […] authors: | ||
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Rethinking how we talk about conservation—and why it matters 19 Dec 2025 21:56:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rethinking-how-we-talk-about-conservation-and-why-it-matters/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For a movement so often framed by loss—and confronting a particularly difficult moment—conservation is relearning how to talk about itself. This shift may signal something deeper than messaging: a recalibration of what persuades people to care, to fund, and to act, especially as the world edges toward 2030 amid ecological strain, political volatility, and thinning public trust. A few months ago, I put out an invitation to the conservation sector: share how you are navigating this moment, which many have described as a period of crisis. That invitation resurfaced recently when Crystal DiMiceli referenced it during a fireside chat with me at the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders’ 20th anniversary event in Washington, D.C. DiMiceli asked what lessons are emerging so far. One of the most consistent responses has centered on communication: “Less crisis, more agency.” Not because the crisis has abated, but because alarm on its own no longer mobilizes as reliably as it once did. If anything, it exhausts. Years of grim headlines have revealed an uncomfortable truth: when people are offered only catastrophe, many disengage. They stop reading, stop caring, and, in some cases, stop believing that anything meaningful can still be done. What seems to be gaining ground instead is a focus on success—often partial, sometimes fragile, but demonstrable. Not triumphalism, but optimism grounded in evidence. Conservation framed as something people actively do, rather than something that merely happens to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Feedback from across the conservation sector suggests a shift in how the movement talks about itself—from crisis-heavy messaging toward agency and evidence—because constant alarm fatigues audiences while stories of progress keep them engaged. - Respondents to date have emphasized that scalable, durable conservation efforts share core traits: genuine local leadership, transparency about what works (and what doesn’t), visible community benefits, and diversified funding that strengthens resilience. - Practitioners highlighted the importance of aligning human well-being with environmental outcomes, with models like Health in Harmony showing how rights, livelihoods, and conservation can reinforce one another when communities define their own priorities. - This piece builds on a conversation Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler had last week at the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL) conference in Washington, D.C. authors: | ||
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Protected areas in Africa are vital but local perceptions vary (commentary) 19 Dec 2025 16:49:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/protected-areas-in-africa-are-vital-but-local-perceptions-vary-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Diane DetoeufHeidi KretserJessica L’RoeMichelle Wieland content:encoded: Protected areas (PAs) are cornerstones of global biodiversity conservation strategy, yet their social impacts remain contentious. The prevailing narrative often pits global benefits, like biodiversity protection and carbon sequestration, against local costs like restricted access to land and resources, particularly in lower-income nations. This antagonistic framing — the interests of local people vs. the interests of other people elsewhere (or of other species entirely) — can lead to polarized politics with respect to PAs. There are valid reasons for concern, as increasing recognition of the problematic historical legacy of many protected areas created on the African continent rooted in colonial alienation, as well as ongoing human rights concerns in several PA systems, make it clear that PAs can cause harm. Many conservation organizations now recognize that it is critically important that efforts to protect land simultaneously protect the rights and interests of people living there, especially those of Indigenous and local communities. Yet, if we want to protect local interests, we must first understand them. We don’t know as much as we need to about the ways that protected areas can, and do, serve the interests of the people living near them. Harm is often more evident than benefits, particularly in the case of acute episodes of violence or evictions, so much has been described about how protected areas can cause harm. The village of Bapukeli at the entrance of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo. Indigenous hunter-gatherers divide their time between villages like this and camps deep in the forest. Image by Thomas Nicolon for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Protected areas are cornerstones of global biodiversity conservation strategy, yet their social impacts remain contentious. - A recent study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in collaboration with Middlebury College examined perceptions of these areas among thousands of local residents living near five forested regions of Central Africa and Madagascar. - “Conservation practice needs to take seriously how the people living near protected areas perceive those areas, and what benefits and harms they associate with them, in their full unevenness and complexity,” the authors of a new op-ed say. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Researchers find concerning gaps in global maps used for EUDR compliance 19 Dec 2025 14:57:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/researchers-find-concerning-gaps-in-global-maps-used-for-eudr-compliance/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: John Cannon content:encoded: A recent scientific review of forest maps used to ensure compliance with the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-free products, known as the EUDR, suggests that most may over- or underestimate forest areas, which could lead to inaccurate assessments of deforestation risk. The authors write that those inconsistencies point to the need for EU companies to be discerning about which maps they use to ensure they comply with the regulation. The requirements will go into effect for most companies on Dec. 30, 2026, after a second postponement in as many years by the European Parliament. Only two of the 21 data sets in the assessment met all of the indicators used to assess risk used by the EUDR. The regulation will apply to seven commodities — cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and timber — as well as the products they’re used to make. Companies and government agencies are planning to use maps of satellite and other remote-sensing data to determine whether products entering EU countries are linked to deforestation after Dec. 31, 2020, the regulation’s cutoff date. Importing companies and the EU countries’ government agencies tasked with screening imported goods for compliance will compare georeferenced plots for a commodity with historical maps of forest and tree cover to determine whether it was produced at the expense of recently cleared forest. But many such maps exist, and the EUDR doesn’t specify the use of any one map. That means that a company using one map to verify compliance might come…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Most companies importing certain products into the EU must comply with the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR), which will go into application on Dec. 30, 2026. - Satellite and other remote-sensing maps can guide both companies trying to comply with the regulation and government agencies verifying levels of deforestation risk attached to imports. - But a recent review paper suggests that most of the available maps struggle to meet all of the requirements of the EUDR and could over- or underestimate the risk of deforestation for certain products. - A key issue is the maps’ ability to differentiate forest from systems that look similar, such as agroforestry, commonly practiced by smallholder farmers producing cocoa, coffee and rubber. authors: | ||
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Zombie urchins & the Blob: California sea otters face new threats & ecosystem shifts 19 Dec 2025 14:31:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/zombie-urchins-and-the-blob-california-sea-otters-face-new-threats-and-ecosystem-shifts/ author: Nandithachandraprakash dc:creator: Christine Heinrichs content:encoded: The sea otter pup was tiny, probably less than 2 weeks old, alone in Morro Bay on an October morning earlier this year. A kayaker scooped it out of the water after listening to it endlessly crying for its mother. It was in growing danger, starting to float out toward the mouth of the bay. Back onshore, the rescuer wrapped the pup in a cloth, nestled it in a box and called the Marine Mammal Center to report it. A 10-person rescue team arrived, led by Shayla Zink, the center’s operations coordinator. They hoped to reunite this young pup with its mother: Raising a southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) pup is a long, difficult process. The team quickly unwrapped the pup, as otter pups are at risk of over-heating. Morro Bay is cold, generally 15-18°C (59-64°F), so the team brought ice along in case they needed to cool the animal down. “We kept a close eye on its temperature,” Zink said. “Pups may not have good thermoregulation. We could have dunked it to cool it down.” They put the pup in an animal carrier and boarded a Harbor Patrol boat to begin their search. Along the way, Zink recorded the pup’s cries and then played the audio through a Bluetooth speaker. If its mother was nearby, she’d come looking for her baby. “The vocalization between each mother and pup is unique,” Zink said. But the tape was also a way to let the baby rest. Orphaned or abandoned pups…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Southern sea otters living along California’s coast are struggling in warmer seas, with new threats and changing food sources. They, like the other two sea otter subspecies, are classified as endangered. - Human disturbance, especially in Monterey Bay, is limiting the otters’ ability to forage, impacting mother and pup survival. Meanwhile, sharks are expanding their range as waters warm, with increasing attacks on otters. - Following a mass die-off of the purple sea urchin’s predators — sunflower and ochre sea stars — the urchins decimated kelp forests, which are important sea otter habitat. Mussels then proliferated, replacing urchins in the otter’s diet, and invasive green crabs are now also on the menu. - Otter numbers seem to be dropping, but a definitive census has not been conducted since 2019. A new population estimate based on data and statistical modeling is due to be released soon. authors: | ||
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Fishing cats need hotspot-based conservation in Bangladesh, research shows 19 Dec 2025 14:05:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/fishing-cats-need-hotspot-based-conservation-in-bangladesh-research-shows/ author: Abusiddique dc:creator: Sadiqur Rahman content:encoded: Wildlife researchers have confirmed the presence of endangered fishing cats in 158 subdistricts that cover about 32% of Bangladesh’s territory. At first glance, this may seem like charming news. But a grim situation was uncovered by researchers who analyzed more than 360 media reports published between 2005 and 2021. Their study, published in June, estimates that 31% of the analyzed media reports conveyed news of the death of 160 fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus), most of which were chased and trapped by fish and duck farmers and their associates. The study, characterizing negative interactions between humans and fishing cats, finds that about 47% of the cases demonstrated a kill-on-sight reaction. Calling fishing cats “true ambassadors of the wetlands of South and Southeast Asia,” the study’s corresponding author, Muntasir Akash, tells Mongabay, “In Bangladesh, the situation is dire. Our study results show that around one-third of Bangladesh has breeding fishing cat populations, and more than 95% of these regions are outside protected areas. Bangladesh’s fishing cats are experiencing the same colonial-era purge of big cats.” A camera trap image og a fishing cat in Chuadanga. Image courtesy of Muntasir Akash and Bakhtiar Hamid. The researchers counted at least 395 adult fishing cats and 170 kittens involved in recorded conflicts. Of them, 117 were released back into the wild, while 34 were sent to zoos or rescue centers more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the sites of conflict. However, those released individuals might face recurring experiences as human settlements rapidly expand into…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Fishing cats in Bangladesh are facing near-extinction as they struggle to adapt to living alongside humans in Bangladesh. - Wildlife experts recommend hotspot-based, short-term conservation strategies to immediately halt killings of the small carnivores. - They also urge long-term solutions, as the interim measures are insufficient. authors: | ||
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Drug gangs in Ecuador and Peru also involved in shark fin trafficking: Report 19 Dec 2025 14:02:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/drug-gangs-in-ecuador-and-peru-also-involved-in-shark-fin-trafficking-report/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Narcotrafficking gangs operating out of Manabí, a coastal province of Ecuador, are also involved in trafficking shark fins alongside their drug operations, according to a recent investigation by Ecuadorian news agency Código Vidrio. Evidence from wiretaps, surveillance and raids seen by Código Vidrio reporters suggests that gangs are capturing and finning sharks and transporting the fins as a secondary income stream alongside cocaine and fuel. According to Código Vidrio, Ecuadorian police say that shark fin shipments pass through the Galápagos Islands, where fins are preserved and stored, en route to Asia. Carlos Ortega, the head of Ecuador’s antinarcotics police, told Código Vidrio that authorities seized two fishing vessels in 2024 and 2025 near the Galápagos carrying a combined 27 metric tons of shark fins. In both cases, the crews were on the same route that criminal groups use to deliver cocaine to Central America and the U.S., Ortega said. Shark fishing is illegal in Ecuador, but a 2007 law allows for the sale of sharks caught as bycatch. This loophole has since made Ecuador a top exporter of shark fins, despite the ban on targeted fishing. Código Vidrio’s findings follow an October 2025 Mongabay Latam investigation that revealed that Los Choneros and Los Lobos, two drug gangs, had teamed up with sea pirates to expand into fishing. Artisanal fishers in Ecuador and Peru told Mongabay the gangs had seized control of ports and forced fishers to pay them part of their earnings. Other fishers are pushed into the high-risk activity…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Narcotrafficking gangs operating out of Manabí, a coastal province of Ecuador, are also involved in trafficking shark fins alongside their drug operations, according to a recent investigation by Ecuadorian news agency Código Vidrio. Evidence from wiretaps, surveillance and raids seen by Código Vidrio reporters suggests that gangs are capturing and finning sharks and transporting the […] authors: | ||
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Pulp giant RGE admits possible deforestation breach in Bornean wildlife habitat 19 Dec 2025 13:54:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/pulp-giant-rge-admits-possible-deforestation-breach-in-bornean-wildlife-habitat/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — One of the world’s biggest pulp and paper companies has acknowledged to Mongabay a potential breach of its no-deforestation commitment in its supply chain, raising questions about the company’s attempt to regain sustainability certification under the Forest Stewardship Council. A new report by U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) alleges that Singapore-based pulp and paper giant Royal Golden Eagle’s (RGE) supply chain is linked to deforestation in Indonesia, despite the group having adopted a no-deforestation policy in 2015. RGE, owned by Indonesia’s billionaire Tanoto family, is one of the world’s largest producers of wood pulp and the various products made from it, including paper, tissue, packaging, and viscose rayon. According to the report, RGE’s pulp and paper unit in China, Asia Symbol, sourced wood from two pulpwood plantations in Indonesian Borneo where 5,565 hectares (13,751 acres) of natural forest were cleared between 2020 and 2024. The analysis draws on satellite data, field investigations, and customs and wood supply records compiled by supply chain transparency platform Trase in its latest update on Indonesia’s pulp sector. The forest clearance occurred in the watershed of the Mahakam River, which contains some of the largest remaining tracts of intact rainforest in Indonesia and supports populations of critically endangered and iconic species, including the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), Mahakam population of the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), and the Bornean population of the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). Previously thought to be extinct in the wild on Borneo, Sumatran rhinos were detected in the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new report links forestry giant Royal Golden Eagle’s pulp supply chain to the clearance of 5,565 hectares (13,751 acres) of natural forest in Indonesian Borneo between 2020 and 2024, despite the company’s no-deforestation pledge. RGE says the clearing was likely non-compliant. - The deforestation occurred in the Mahakam River watershed, one of Indonesia’s last intact rainforest regions and habitat for critically endangered species including Bornean orangutans, Irrawaddy dolphins and Sumatran rhinos. - Timber from two Bornean concessions flowed through a single wood chip mill to RGE’s Asia Symbol pulp plant in China. The mill had already been linked to earlier deforestation breaches. - The case may undermine RGE’s effort to regain certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and has also renewed scrutiny of banks financing the group, with campaigners urging suspensions until deforestation across its supply chain stops. authors: | ||
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EU votes to delay EUDR antideforestation law for second year in a row 19 Dec 2025 11:30:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/eu-votes-to-delay-eudr-antideforestation-law-for-second-year-in-a-row/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: The European Parliament voted on Dec. 17 to delay a key antideforestation regulation that was adopted in 2023 and originally supposed to be implemented at the end of 2024. The implementation was delayed a year to December 2025, and now the EU has voted to delay it yet again by another year. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires producers of seven of the key commodities that drive tropical deforestation — beef, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and timber — to prove that their products are not sourced from land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. That requirement includes submitting geolocalized data. But in September, the European Commission cited concerns that its IT system wasn’t ready yet to meet that demand, as a reason for proposing a delay to implementation. “This is the latest chapter in a farce that’s lasted more than two years, ever since the EUDR was passed with a huge democratic mandate,” Nicole Polsterer, sustainable consumption and production campaigner with the forests and rights nonprofit Fern, wrote Mongabay by email. “[This] decision puts forests on the chopping block and rule-abiding European businesses at a competitive disadvantage.” The amendment confirms a blanket one-year delay, but small operators will have an additional six months after that, until June 30, 2027, to comply. The decision also introduces the opportunity for additional changes until April 2026 to “assess the law’s impact and administrative burden.” European lawmakers voted 405 to 242 in favor of the change; eight abstained. Polsterer criticized the decision to assess the law before it’s even been enacted, saying…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The European Parliament voted on Dec. 17 to delay a key antideforestation regulation that was adopted in 2023 and originally supposed to be implemented at the end of 2024. The implementation was delayed a year to December 2025, and now the EU has voted to delay it yet again by another year. The European Union […] authors: | ||
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Tanzania’s tree-climbing hyraxes have adapted to life without trees 19 Dec 2025 10:51:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/tanzanias-tree-climbing-hyraxes-have-adapted-to-life-without-trees/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: Despite their name, tree hyraxes — small, furry, nocturnal African mammals — don’t always live in trees. In Tanzania’s Pare mountains, near the border with Kenya, they’ve adapted to life on steep rocky outcrops as forests disappeared over the centuries, a recent study has found. Eastern tree hyraxes (Dendrohyrax validus) are known to inhabit the Eastern Arc mountains, which stretch from southern Kenya across eastern Tanzania, and the Zanzibar archipelago. They prefer old-growth evergreen forests, sheltering from the heat inside the cavities of large trees. But after centuries of agriculture, mining and logging, the Eastern Arc’s Pare mountains retain less than 3% of their original forest cover. Hanna Rosti, a conservation biologist from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues observed hyraxes and recorded more than 700 hours of their calls at 18 sites across the Pare massif. Across all sites, the researchers heard tree hyraxes calling mostly from rocky outcrops and saw them seeking shelter in rock crevices. A tree hyrax on a rock in the Pare Mountains. Image courtesy of Hanna Rosti. The team also found that the songs of Pare hyraxes, including a distinctive “strangled thwack,” resemble those of eastern tree hyraxes on Mount Kilimanjaro and in Kenya’s Taita Hills. However, Pare hyrax calls differ markedly from populations elsewhere in Tanzania traditionally classified as the same species, including those on Zanzibar and other parts of the Eastern Arc. This suggests the eastern tree hyrax populations in places like Pare and Kilimanjaro may represent a different taxonomic unit,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Despite their name, tree hyraxes — small, furry, nocturnal African mammals — don’t always live in trees. In Tanzania’s Pare mountains, near the border with Kenya, they’ve adapted to life on steep rocky outcrops as forests disappeared over the centuries, a recent study has found. Eastern tree hyraxes (Dendrohyrax validus) are known to inhabit the […] authors: | ||
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All new roads lead to increased deforestation in Ecuador’s Indigenous territory 19 Dec 2025 09:40:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/all-new-roads-lead-to-increased-deforestation-in-ecuadors-indigenous-territory/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Ana Cristina Alvarado content:encoded: Between March and May 2025, at least eight children from the Achuar Indigenous community died of leptospirosis in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon. The disease is preventable with access to safe drinking water and timely treatment. But these two conditions are absent in Taisha, one of the poorest five cantons in Ecuador and the one with lowest coverage of basic services. Months earlier, provincial and canton authorities built access roads to Taisha, promising to address this neglect. But these projects — implemented without the full consent of the Achuar, environmental control strategies and, in some cases, technical criteria or permits — had fatal consequences. Two Achuar people were murdered. Illegal loggers used the roads and took advantage of the lack of control on the part of authorities to reach Achuar territory. The demand for timber quickly found supply in a canton where almost eight out of 10 people live in poverty or extreme poverty, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC). Taisha also makes up a large part of Achuar territory, which is home to “one of the best-preserved and most biodiverse forests in Ecuador,” according to a recent report by the organization Amazon Conservation’s Andean Amazon Monitoring Program (MAAP). Several Achuar sold the illegal loggers timber from the cedro (Cedrelo odorata) and chuncho (Cedrelinga cateniformis) tree species from their land, says Waakiach Kuja, president of the Achuar Nation of Ecuador (NAE), who gave an interview to Mongabay Latam after coordinating the transfer of a sick community member…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Between 2022 and 2025 at least 62 kilometers (39 miles) of roads were opened in Achuar territory in southern Ecuador, several without environmental permits or technical studies. - Global Forest Watch documented the loss of thousands of hectares of primary forest. Community monitoring found that a lack of control on the part of the authorities has facilitated illegal logging. - The arrival of illegal loggers led to confrontations between communities, which resulted in two murders of Indigenous people. - The area is one of the poorest in the country with few basic services: Some communities complain about the lack of roads, but others are concerned about their social and environmental impacts. authors: | ||
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How Southern African farmers & elephants can both adapt to coexist 19 Dec 2025 06:41:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/how-southern-african-farmers-elephants-can-both-adapt-to-coexist/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: Elephants are considered a sacred totem by many in northwestern Zimbabwe, but they also frequently raid villagers’ crops near harvest time, says Agripa Ngorima, who has studied attitudes toward conservation in Simangani. During his fieldwork, he presented residents with two scenarios: one in which elephants provided benefits — such as meat, skins for ornaments or safari-industry jobs — and another in which people only incurred costs, including crop losses, fence damage or injury. Their responses diverged sharply: 88% said they would support elephant culls or translocations if they received no benefits, compared with just 20% if elephants supported their livelihoods, and 92% were unwilling to engage in conservation due to lack of financial gain from elephants. “Any cultural willingness to coexist with elephants is conditional and will be withdrawn if livelihoods are threatened,” Ngorima says. Elephants roam freely from Hwange National Park into bordering communal farming lands. IFAW’s EarthRanger project has tracked the movement of collared elephants, with some ranging more than 200 kms from the protected area and traversing communal land along the way. Image courtesy of Tyson Mayr / IFAW. Learning to live with elephants Since his fieldwork in Simangani in 2018, the government and NGOs have introduced outreach programs, teaching villagers about elephant behavior and promoting the cultivation of red-hot chile peppers — plants the animals can’t abide. Yet the most effective deterrent, physical fencing around fields, remains out of reach for most, leaving the majority of households unprotected. “This implementation gap means the current costs of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Southern Africa, people live alongside elephants, but not always peacefully. - The growing reports of human-elephant conflict have triggered calls for elephant culls in some countries, like Zimbabwe. - But conservation groups are working hard to promote coexistence, using technology that can warn farmers about approaching elephants or link farmers to more lucrative markets to offset the cost of living with one of Africa’s most charismatic mammals. - In all of this, adaptation is the key: Farmers are adapting the way they farm, while elephants are learning to move at night and stick to specific routes through populated areas to avoid conflict. authors: | ||
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Tsunami veteran rescue elephants mobilized for Indonesia cyclone disaster relief 19 Dec 2025 04:56:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tsunami-veteran-rescue-elephants-mobilized-for-indonesia-cyclone-disaster-relief/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Junaidi Hanafiah content:encoded: PIDIE JAYA, Indonesia — A group of specialist Sumatran elephants have joined recovery operations in Aceh following the catastrophic landfall of Cyclone Senyar in late November — two decades after the veteran responders supported rescuers after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. “They’re guided by mahouts who know very well the characteristics of the elephants,” said Ujang Wisnu Barata, head of the Aceh conservation agency, the BKSDA. Rescuers in Indonesia’s westernmost region seconded the experienced squad of four to clear heavy debris in the coastal district of Pidie Jaya in semiautonomous Aceh, as recovery operations continued for a third week across much of the north and west of Sumatra Island. Many affected villages remain cut off due to extensive debris and landslides. Cyclone Senyar arrived over northern Sumatra in the early hours of Nov. 26 with 3-hour precipitation accumulation exceeding 130 millimeters (5 inches), meteorology data showed, which is more rain in three hours than the U.K. usually receives through its wettest month of the year. The number of people killed here in Pidie Jaya district stood at 29 on Dec. 18, with the total death toll rising to 1,059 people across three provinces (Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra) amid the worst disaster to hit Indonesia in years. Male elephants Abu, Ajis and Midok, working together with Noni, a female Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), received the assignment in Pidie Jaya district from their base at the Saree Elephant Training Center, which is located in nearby Aceh Besar district. A…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The number of people killed by flash floods after Cyclone Senyar made landfall over Sumatra on Nov. 26 increased to 1,059 on Dec. 18. In Pidie Jaya district, on the north coast of the semi-autonomous region of Aceh, officials assigned a team of four rescue elephants, veterans of the recovery operation after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people in Aceh. - The Aceh conservation agency said the elephants were uniquely able to help remove fields of logs carried down valleys by the worst flash floods to hit the region in years, with the scale of debris fields impassable to heavy machinery. - “They are trained and experienced elephants,” the head of Aceh’s conservation agency told Mongabay, while emphasizing that officials went to great lengths to ensure the Sumatran animals’ welfare. - At least one Sumatran elephant was presumed killed in flash floods caused by Cyclone Senyar, after residents in a village neighboring the rescue elephants’ workplace discovered the animal’s body Nov. 29. authors: | ||
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Tech alone won’t stop poaching, but it’s changing how rangers work 19 Dec 2025 00:06:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tech-alone-wont-stop-poaching-but-its-changing-how-rangers-work/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Daniella Garcia Almeida content:encoded: As anti-poaching techniques have improved over the years, poachers have increasingly used technology to evade detection by patrols and park rangers. Now, conservationists are rising to the challenge of the resulting technological arms race with innovations of their own. Over the past few years, researchers and conservationists have worked to develop new technology to detect and track poaching, including mobile apps, sensors, and AI. In an effort to determine which devices, strategies, and technologies are most effective, researchers assessed a suite of new developments that have been deployed or hold promise, in a recent study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. “There’s all these tools out there to try and push back against something that is increasingly well financed, increasingly organized and difficult to combat,” said study co-author Drew Cronin, a conservation biologist at the North Carolina Zoo. Leopard sitting in a tree on the Mara North Conservancy in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Photo Credit: Maria Meinen. The researchers found that mobile devices and apps are especially cost-effective for documenting poaching and for mapping the location of wildlife. Many useful apps have been developed, including WildScan, which contains a library of photos and descriptions of protected species that can help law enforcement and transport workers identify illegal wildlife trafficking. Acoustic sensors are already frequently deployed to non-invasively detect and monitor the presence of animals. This technology has gotten better and less expensive in recent years, making it an effective way to monitor vast areas for sounds like gunshots and chainsaws…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - New conservation technologies are being developed and deployed worldwide to counter increasingly sophisticated poachers. - A new alliance between two of the biggest open-source conservation technology platforms combines real-time data collection and long-term data analysis, with proven success. - Free, open-source tools can help remove barriers to adoption of conservation technology, particularly in the Global South. authors: | ||
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The value of journalism in the AI era 18 Dec 2025 23:25:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-value-of-journalism-in-the-ai-era/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The arrival of generative artificial intelligence has unsettled journalism in familiar ways. Traffic models look fragile. Copyright is contested. The marginal cost of producing words has collapsed. It is tempting to conclude that news is becoming less valuable just as machines become more fluent. So far for Mongabay, the opposite is happening. AI systems are adept at rearranging existing information. They summarize, paraphrase, and answer questions at speed. What they cannot do is observe the world directly, make accountable judgments, or create new facts. Those limits are not incidental. They are built in. And they place journalism in a more central position than before. This has become clearer to me in an unexpected way. At Mongabay, a nonprofit newsroom focused on environmental reporting, we chose not to block generative AI systems from accessing our work. Many publishers have done the opposite, citing copyright concerns, energy use, or fear of disintermediation. Those concerns are understandable, especially for commercial outlets whose business models rely on restricting access. But as a nonprofit focused on impact, our calculus is different. We already allow other outlets to republish our reporting as part of our impact strategy. If AI tools were going to answer questions about forests, fisheries, conservation, or biodiversity, it seemed better that those answers be informed by reported journalism than by thinner sources. I assumed this would reduce traffic. If people could get what they needed from an AI interface, why would they click through? That is not what happened. According to our…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Generative AI has disrupted journalism, but Mongabay is seeing increased engagement, with chatbot users clicking through and spending more time on reported stories. - AI cannot observe, verify, or make accountable judgments, making journalism’s core functions—provenance, verification, and editorial judgment—more valuable in an era flooded with low-quality AI content. - As quick visual cues for detecting synthetic material fade, audiences increasingly rely on trusted institutions, transparent sourcing, and original reporting to understand what is real. - This piece is a reflection by Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler on how AI is reshaping news consumption and reinforcing the importance of journalism. authors: | ||
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Congo’s communities are creating a 1-million-hectare biodiversity corridor 18 Dec 2025 21:46:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/congos-communities-are-creating-a-1-million-hectare-biodiversity-corridor/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: Dominique Bikaba’s family was once displaced from vibrant rainforests in the Congo Basin to make way for a sweeping national park. Today, a conservationist who also champions the protection of endangered gorillas in these forests, Bikaba is embarking on a journey to conserve this ecosystem — in a way he says is more just. His organization has begun securing lands for communities and wildlife to create a 1-million-hectare (2.5-million-acre) corridor that spans the space between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite the ongoing conflict between the DRC government and the M23 armed group in the east that has slowed down the project, the corridor is more than halfway toward its goal. “The corridor is about conserving a block of forest between the two protected areas, allowing species to move safely from one place to another,” Bikaba says. “It’s for restoring these landscapes and wildlife in the region, but also to promote the livelihoods of these communities. For that, there’s a process to legally secure these lands by the Congolese government through community forestry concessions.” Two people collecting geographic coordinates for the community forestry land Asu’u in the Basile Chiefdom in March 2020. Image courtesy of Strong Roots. The initiative has been well received by local authorities, who say it could connect the two sites not only geographically, but also in terms of biodiversity. “Species will be able to migrate from one point to another, and this connection will also enable the connection…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The NGO Strong Roots Congo is securing lands for communities and wildlife to create a 1-million-hectare (2.5-million-acre) corridor that spans the space between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. - The effort requires multiple communities to register their customary lands as community forestry concessions under an environmental management plan, which, piece by piece, form the sweeping corridor. - To date, Strong Roots has secured 23 community forest concessions in the area, covering nearly 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land. - The corridor aims to rectify a historical wrong in the creation of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, which displaced many families, by engaging communities in conservation. Advocates say the project has had a positive impact so far despite challenges, but persistent armed conflict in the eastern DRC is slowing progress. authors: | ||
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Photo tourism threatens rare galaxy frog population in India’s Western Ghats 18 Dec 2025 20:41:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photo-tourism-threatens-rare-galaxy-frog-population-in-indias-western-ghats/ author: Lizkimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Seven threatened galaxy frogs (Melanobatrachus indicus) are gone from a research site in India’s Western Ghats after photographers seeking images of the rare, star-patterned amphibians destroyed their delicate forest floor habitat, according to a study published in Herpetology Notes. Researchers found the seven tiny frogs beneath rotting logs at the site in March 2020. Upon returning in August 2021, the team discovered that the 25 logs had been overturned, the surrounding vegetation was trampled, and all seven frogs were gone. An anonymous informant reported that multiple photographer groups had visited the site between June 2020 and April 2021. According to the informant’s account, photographers turned over logs to find the frogs, used high-intensity flash photography and handled multiple individuals without gloves — practices that can cause dehydration, stress and disease transmission. Groups of 4-6 photographers would each photograph the same individuals, with sessions lasting approximately four hours. The informant reported that two small frogs died during photography sessions, though researchers could not verify this claim. The galaxy frog measures just 2-3.5 centimeters (0.8-1.4 inches, about the size of a small coin) and lives only in the southern Western Ghats, where it nestles under logs and stones on the forest floor at elevations above 900 meters (2,953 feet). Galaxy frogs in the Western Ghats, India have been damaged by photographers who mishandle the frogs and their habitat. Photo by K.P. Rajkumar / ZSL “Named after their stunning resemblance to images of space, these beautiful yet rare frogs are unlike anything else…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A population of rare galaxy frogs disappeared from India’s Western Ghats after photographers overturned logs, trampled vegetation and handled animals improperly, a new study reports. - Researchers suggest managing photography tourism with measures such as restricting animal capture and handling, limiting the use of high-intensity lights, avoiding habitat disturbance, training licensed guides in ethical practices and imposing penalties for violations. - The Western Ghats, an ancient mountain range running parallel to India’s western coast, harbors exceptional biodiversity found nowhere else on Earth. - Galaxy frogs are the only member of their genus on the evolutionary tree of life, making them one of the world’s most unique threatened species. authors: | ||
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As storms surge & the sea rises, Belgium builds dunes for protection 18 Dec 2025 19:57:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/as-storms-surge-the-sea-rises-belgium-builds-dunes-for-protection/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts content:encoded: OSTEND, Belgium — In late October, Storm Benjamin blew across Belgium and other parts of Western Europe, bringing strong winds and rain that knocked down trees and damaged homes. Powerful waves pummeled Belgium’s shoreline, eroding some parts. Jagged, cliff-like formations appeared on certain beaches. Eventually, contractors reshaped the sand to prevent further erosion and to keep the public safe. Yet some stretches of the Belgian coast fared far better. Among these was a 750-meter (2,460-foot) strip of beach in Raversijde, a neighborhood in the coastal city of Ostend, where a series of constructed dunes stand seaward of a promenade that doubles as a dike. I drove to Raversijde on a rainy afternoon in late November to visit these dunes, which are part of a “dune-by-dike” system. The dunes and dike are meant to work in tandem to create a double buffer between the sea and the coastline: The dunes form a soft barrier that dissipates wave energy, while the preexisting dikes play back-up as a hard barrier, should the dunes succumb to a storm. This particular site is a project of a Flemish government initiative called Living Labs. Nieuwpoort, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, October 25th, 2025, rough waves crashing onto shoreline under heavy storm clouds. Image courtesy of Bjorn B/stock.adobe.com After parking along the sand-swept road, I crossed the tram tracks that run along the coast to reach the promenade. There, I met Toon Verwaest, a coastal engineer at the governmental agency Flanders Hydraulics Research, who helps coordinate the Raversijde dune-by-dike project.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Belgium is trialing “dune-by-dike” systems as a nature-based defense against storm surges and sea-level rise, using engineered sand dunes in front of existing dikes to create a double buffer along vulnerable stretches of coast. - There are four dune-by-dike pilot sites in Belgium, including a 750-meter site in Raversijde, a neighborhood in the coastal city of Ostend, which Mongabay visited in late November. - The Raversijde dune-by-dike project was established in 2021 with grids of vegetation that collected sand as the wind blew, helping build up the dunes. - While experts said they believe dune-by-dike systems could protect large portions of the Belgian coast, they said building and maintaining the dunes relies on dredging sand from the sea to replenish adjacent beaches. authors: | ||
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When abandoned conservation projects are counted as progress, what are we protecting? (commentary) 18 Dec 2025 18:38:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/when-abandoned-conservation-projects-are-counted-as-progress-what-are-we-protecting-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Ajay Sawant content:encoded: COP30 has come and gone, leaving behind a familiar mix of new commitments and renewed political promises. But amid the declarations of progress, one issue that received almost backhanded attention is the quiet abandonment of conservation projects after their high-profile launches. New research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution by a team co-led by Matthew Clark at the University of Sydney’s Thriving Oceans Research Hub shows just how widespread the problem is. Across nine major community-based conservation programs studied in Africa, roughly one-third of participating groups stopped carrying out their conservation responsibilities because implementation simply fell apart. Clark warns that this figure is likely an underestimate, representing only a sliver of a much larger and largely undocumented global pattern. The scale of this problem is staggering. Between 1892 and 2018, governments around the world collectively undermined legal protections for conservation areas through 3,749 documented events, known as Protected Area Downgrading, Downsizing and Degazettement (PADDD), affecting approximately 2 million square kilometers (more than 772,000 square miles) across 73 countries. To put this in a perspective, the total area stripped of protections is equivalent to the size of Greenland. Nearly two-thirds of these rollbacks were directly linked to industrial-scale resource extraction, including mining, oil exploration, and large infrastructure projects. But besides the formal and informal withdrawals, one thing that has remained consistent is the existence of these efforts as being “ongoing” if only on paper. Conservationists in the field must often make quick decisions, and reflecting on those decisions later can increase…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - An issue that receives little attention from conservationists and funders is the quiet abandonment of conservation projects after their high-profile launches. - New evidence suggests that over one-third of conservation initiatives are abandoned within a few years of launch; if these eventual failures are not reported, they tend to be assumed to remain active. - “Conservation must be reframed as a long-term commitment. Until the community confronts the uncomfortable truth that starting new projects holds no value unless existing ones are sustained, billions of dollars will continue to be spent on initiatives that provide the illusion of progress while nature continues its decline,” a new op-ed argues. - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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New study splits giraffe experts on future wild captures for zoos 18 Dec 2025 15:05:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-study-splits-giraffe-experts-on-future-wild-captures-for-zoos/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Shradha Triveni content:encoded: In the vast savanna grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa towers the giraffe, draped in mosaics of brown and tan patches. Long regarded as a single species, this iconic African megafauna was recently reclassified by the global wildlife conservation authority IUCN into four distinct species: the northern (Giraffa camelopardalis), reticulated (G. reticulata), Masai (G. tippelskirchi) and southern giraffe (G. giraffa). The tallest living land animal, giraffes wander the open grasslands of Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and other African nations, as well as appearing in zoos around the world. But their genetic distinctness is largely limited to the wild, as many giraffes held in zoos are now known to be hybrids. Given the new discovery that giraffes aren’t one species but four, the scientific community remains split on how to proceed with conservation, especially in zoos. Hybrid giraffes and conservation A new study argues that excessive hybridization of captive giraffes in North American zoos diminishes their conservation value. The researchers analyzed the genetics of 52 such giraffes and then compared their genes to 63 wild giraffes in Africa. The results found that most giraffes in North America were of mixed ancestry, primarily between northern and reticulated giraffes. Only a few giraffes retained their species’ unmixed genetics. Alfred L. Roca, professor at the Animal Sciences Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and lead author of the study, said decades of interbreeding of giraffes in North American zoos has eroded their value as an insurance population. The study shows that offspring of genetically distant…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Hybridization of captive giraffes in North American zoos may impact conservation, given the recent scientific consensus that giraffes are four distinct species, not a single species as previously thought. - The study recommends international collaboration in future breeding programs, in which giraffes would be captured from the wild in Africa and moved to North American zoos to essentially start a captive-breeding program of genetically pure individuals. - But giraffe conservationists say the study’s recommendations would be detrimental to wild conservation, arguing that capturing giraffes for zoos would deplete wild populations. authors: | ||
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Marine heat waves and raw sewage combine to put human health at risk 18 Dec 2025 14:26:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/marine-heat-waves-and-raw-sewage-combine-to-put-human-health-at-risk/ author: Nandithachandraprakash dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Earlier this year, a spate of deaths in Florida caused by Vibrio vulnificus, known as the flesh-eating bacteria, made headlines. Infections of this kind are troublingly on the rise as ocean temperatures surge higher and marine heat waves increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Experts are especially concerned that marine heat waves, when combined with an influx of pollution in coastal areas — especially untreated sewage and synthetic agricultural fertilizers — could be fueling the growth of harmful pathogens, including V. vulnificus. There are at least 12 species of Vibrio harmful to people, including V. cholerae, which causes cholera, a disease infecting 1.3-4 million people annually and killing 21,000-143,000. Humanity is significantly worsening cholera outbreaks by creating ideal conditions for V. cholerae growth and spread, via increased global temperatures, extreme weather (both floods and droughts) and contaminated water sources. It’s important to note that all these bacterial species occur naturally in marine environments. V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus are two other pathogenic species of major concern today, while another, V. alginolyticus, is less well-known but also on the rise. Human activity, particularly climate change, is creating conditions for their growth and spread to new waters. Flooding in Florida caused by Hurricane Ian’s storm surge in 2022. In the week following that storm, 38 cases and 11 deaths were reported due to Vibrio vulnificus, the largest outbreak in U.S. history. Climate change made Hurricane Ian at least 10% worse than it would have historically been. The aftermath of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Climate change is fueling an increasing number of marine heat waves across the globe. - When this intensifying heat is coupled with pollution — especially sewage, nitrogen fertilizer agricultural runoff, wildfire soot and possibly plastics — waterborne bacterial pathogens can multiply, raising human health concerns. - These connections are exemplified in the escalating spread of Vibrio, a group of naturally occurring bacteria whose numbers are multiplying and undergoing global distribution shifts due to complex relationships between marine heat waves and pollution. - Vibrio infections can range in severity but can result in sickness and death. One notorious Vibrio species is known as the flesh-eating bacteria; another causes cholera. authors: | ||
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In Brazil, a new label gives more visibility to deforestation-free beef 18 Dec 2025 14:22:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-brazil-a-new-label-gives-more-visibility-to-deforestation-free-beef/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Constance Malleret content:encoded: Amid growing pressure for beef supply chains to be deforestation-free, a new certification system in Brazil will allow meatpackers, importers and retailers to guarantee that the meat cuts they sell are not associated with deforestation. Down the line, this could also help companies become compliant with the European Union’s regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). The voluntary Beef on Track (BoT) label, launched by the Institute of Forest and Agricultural Management and Certification (Imaflora) in October and due to come into effect in 2026, is the first certification of its kind to guarantee deforestation-free beef. It will do so by building on existing monitoring, reporting and verification protocols adopted by the meat industry, rather than by designing new systems. “We’re not reinventing the wheel; we’re giving visibility to processes that already exist,” said Marina Guyot, Imaflora’s executive manager for climate, land use and public policy. Imaflora was involved in creating two initiatives that encourage best practices in the beef industry through monitoring, reporting and verification in recent years: the Beef on Track program (Boi na Linha in Portuguese) for beef produced in the Amazon, set up in 2019, and the Cerrado Protocol, launched in 2024. Companies that are already 95% compliant with these protocols are automatically eligible for BoT’s lowest certification level. Imaflora plans to develop similar frameworks for other Brazilian biomes in the future. The BoT certification will also rely on criteria from the Working Group of Indirect Suppliers (GTFI in Portuguese), a cross-sector body working to uproot deforestation from…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new certification for deforestation-free beef in Brazil, the first of its kind, aims to bring more transparency to existing protocols for monitoring deforestation in meat supply chains. - The Beef-on-Track (BoT) label has four tiers of certification to guarantee that certified beef meets certain socioenvironmental requirements. - The label was created to meet demands from China, but it could also help with EUDR compliance, as its highest tier meets EUDR requirements for a deforestation-free supply chain. - Brazil’s meat industry has not yet embraced the BoT certification, but companies are expected to get on board, as demand for BoT-certified beef grows among exporters, retailers and other actors. authors: | ||
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Tapanuli orangutan, devastated by cyclone, now faces habitat loss under zoning plans 18 Dec 2025 13:50:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tapanuli-orangutan-devastated-by-cyclone-now-faces-habitat-loss-under-zoning-plans/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Achmad Rizki MuazamHans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Reeling from a cyclone that may have erased a chunk of its population, the Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape population, now faces the prospect of losing more of its already constricted habitat. Just weeks before a rare tropical storm in the Malacca Strait unleashed torrential rains and mudslides that wiped out part of the Batang Toru forest in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, local authorities proposed a zoning overhaul that would make it easier to weaken environmental scrutiny for development projects in the region. At a meeting on Oct. 22 in Medan, the North Sumatra provincial capital, they called for scaling back the area zoned as “strategic” by nearly a third, from 240,985 to 163,402 hectares (595,487 to 403,775 acres). The “provincial strategic area” designation in the context of natural ecosystems means that zoning in the area must prioritize ecological functions, assess land-use decisions at the landscape scale, and subject applications for activities such as mining and plantations to extra scrutiny. Removing that designation weakens the legal basis for rejecting projects that pose environmental risks. Panut Hadisiswoyo, founder of the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC), who attended the Medan meeting, said the plan would devastate the western sector of Batang Toru that’s home to the highest density of Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis). “If Batang Toru is excluded, the landscape would lose legal recognition as a critical ecosystem,” he told Mongabay. “The western block — the largest block [of orangutan habitat] — would no longer be part of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A proposed zoning overhaul in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province could strip legal protections from nearly a third of the Batang Toru ecosystem, threatening the last remaining habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. - The proposal came just before a powerful cyclone triggered floods and landslides that may have killed or displaced dozens of Tapanuli orangutans and severely damaged thousands of hectares of forest. - The changes would weaken scrutiny of mining and plantation projects, including a planned expansion of a nearby gold mine, by removing the area’s “provincial strategic” designation. - Conservationists say rolling back protections now would be a “nail in the coffin” for the species, calling for emergency protections and expanded conservation measures to prevent population collapse. authors: | ||
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Kenyan woman hugs tree for 72 hours in protest against loss of beloved trees 18 Dec 2025 12:18:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/kenyan-woman-hugs-tree-for-72-hours-in-protest-against-loss-of-beloved-trees/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Lynet Otieno content:encoded: A 22-year-old woman is the subject of celebration after she hugged a tree continuously for 72 hours amid fluctuating temperatures and rainfall on the foot of Mount Kenya. Truphena Muthoni’s endurance embrace beat her own 48-hour endurance earlier this year. On Friday, the Guinness World Records recognized her 48-hour feat, a day after she surpassed it in the attempt that lasted 72 hours. “The longest marathon hugging a tree is 48 hours and was achieved by Truphena Muthoni (Kenya) in Nairobi, Kenya, from 31 January to 2 February 2025,” read the announcement by the Guinness World Records. Muthoni celebrated this recognition. “It’s finally home. My 48 hours for the longest marathon hugging a tree have been recorded. Thank you God. Thank you Kenyans for your support. Now waiting for the 72 hours of non-stop tree hugging to be recorded,” Muthoni announced on Facebook. In her latest feat, Muthoni remained steadfast, with her arms wrapped around the mature Roystonea regia (royal palm) tree, that stood close to the local Nyeri county government offices, until she could hug no more. The public, government officials, police officers and medical personnel surrounded and cheered her throughout the exercise. Truphena Muthoni, who hugged a tree for 72 hours in Kenya’s Nyeri County, on the foot of Mount Kenya. The challenge ended on December 11, 2025. Photo: Mutahi Kahiga X For Muthoni, the 72-hour “silent protest” was meant to specifically hold authorities and a complacent public to account for irresponsible tree cutting, forest land use change…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A Kenyan woman, Truphena Muthoni, beat her own world record, hugging a tree continuously for 72 hours at the foot of Mount Kenya. - Her “silent protest” was meant to hold authorities and a complacent public to account for irresponsible tree cutting, forest land use change and inadequate protection of water catchment areas. - Muthoni represents an emerging younger generation of environmentalists coming up with more engaging ways to shift conservation from an abstract to a real-time issue. authors: | ||
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Tiny Caribbean island brings hope for critically endangered iguana 18 Dec 2025 11:12:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/tiny-caribbean-island-brings-hope-for-critically-endangered-iguana/ author: Hayat Indriyatno dc:creator: Shreya Dasgupta content:encoded: Over the past decade, Prickly Pear East, a small, privately owned island in the Caribbean, has become a beacon of hope for a critically endangered lizard. The islet, near the main island of Anguilla, a British territory, is one of just five locations where the lesser Antillean iguana (Iguana delicatissima) is breeding and thriving, protected from invasive iguanas and human disturbances, conservationists say. The latest surveys, from July, show the species’ population on Prickly Pear East has grown to more than 300 adults and adolescents — up from just 23 individuals that were moved there from Anguilla starting in 2016. “This is a wonderful reward after having invested several years of work to plan this reintroduction, engage with their local communities, eradicate the non-native rats, and survey and protect the precious iguana population,” Jenny Daltry, Caribbean alliance director of the NGOs Fauna & Flora and Re:wild, which are supporting the NGO Anguilla National Trust in the iguana’s conservation, told Mongabay by email. The lesser Antillean iguana was once widespread across the Caribbean, but habitat destruction, hunting, and the introduction of invasive species, including the common green iguana (I. iguana), led to its extinction across several islands. It was also on the verge of being wiped out from Anguilla mainland. So, between 2016 and 2021, conservationists translocated Anguilla’s remaining 23 individuals to the uninhabited Prickly Pear East. The islet had a suitable habitat for the native iguana; it also lacked invasive iguanas, and conservationists had eradicated all invasive brown rats by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Over the past decade, Prickly Pear East, a small, privately owned island in the Caribbean, has become a beacon of hope for a critically endangered lizard. The islet, near the main island of Anguilla, a British territory, is one of just five locations where the lesser Antillean iguana (Iguana delicatissima) is breeding and thriving, protected […] authors: | ||
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‘Neither appropriate nor fair’: Ecuador ordered to pay oil giant Chevron $220m 18 Dec 2025 09:38:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/neither-appropriate-nor-fair-ecuador-ordered-to-pay-oil-giant-chevron-220m/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Indigenous and rural communities in Ecuador’s Amazon have condemned an international arbitration ruling that ordered Ecuador to pay more than $220 million to U.S. oil giant Chevron. The sum is to compensate the company for alleged denial of justice in a trial that found Chevron, operating through its predecessor Texaco, guilty of widespread environmental damage in northeastern Ecuador. The Union for People Affected by Texaco’s Oil Operations (UDAPT), which represents six Indigenous nations and 80 communities, said the decision forces the Ecuadorian public to compensate a company after it caused one of the worst environmental disasters in the region’s history. “It is neither appropriate nor fair. Chevron came to Ecuador, took more than $30 billion from the oil it extracted, polluted the Amazon, caused the extinction of peoples and the deaths of hundreds of people from cancer,” the organization wrote in a statement. “The affected communities took the company to court and won, yet now the entire country has to pay.” In 1993, residents in the Lago Agrio oil basin sued Texaco, later acquired by Chevron, for environmental damage caused during its operations from 1964-1992. Ecuadorian courts found the company had opted for a substandard oil waste disposal system, which dumped more than 16 billion gallons (61 billion liters) of toxic water in at least 880 unlined open pits across the Amazon Rainforest. These pools contaminated groundwater, soil and rivers that local communities depended on for drinking, fishing, bathing and more, the rulings said. Oil spills and gas flaring were…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Indigenous and rural communities in Ecuador’s Amazon have condemned an international arbitration ruling that ordered Ecuador to pay more than $220 million to U.S. oil giant Chevron. The sum is to compensate the company for alleged denial of justice in a trial that found Chevron, operating through its predecessor Texaco, guilty of widespread environmental damage […] authors: | ||
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The lab-in-a-backpack busting illegal shark fins: Interview with Diego Cardeñosa 18 Dec 2025 03:38:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-lab-in-a-backpack-busting-illegal-shark-fins-interview-with-diego-cardenosa/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Philip Jacobson content:encoded: Diego Cardeñosa always knew he wanted to study sharks. But when he started his Ph.D., he had to make a choice: tagging sharks in the field — the “fun,” typically more-sought-after path — or studying their DNA in a lab. “I went for maybe not the most attractive in the sense of field trips, because it was getting stuck in a little tiny stinky lab in Hong Kong full of dried fins,” he told Mongabay. “But I knew what the science we were doing was going to produce.” His efforts paid off. After years of research, Cardeñosa pioneered a forensic tool that can quickly and cheaply detect if a dried shark fin comes from a protected species. Like a rapid COVID-19 test, the device has helped inspectors in Hong Kong, the world’s largest shark fin trade hub, crack down on an illegal trade that has helped pushed many shark species — there are more than 500 — to the brink of extinction. The tool empowers inspectors who previously had to wave through suspicious shipments because they didn’t have enough time to wait for a DNA lab test. “It solves that very key early-detection step that until now was difficult,” Cardeñosa said. Now he’s rolling it out in other countries, from Brazil, Peru and Ecuador, to the U.S., Sri Lanka and Tanzania, with, he hopes, more to come. Data produced by Cardeñosa’s shark fin identification kit has also informed measures to list dozens of shark species under the protection of CITES,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Diego Cardeñosa chose lab-based DNA research over fieldwork during his Ph.D. on sharks, betting it could deliver greater conservation impact despite being less glamorous. - He developed a portable, rapid DNA test — like the kits used during the COVID-19 pandemic — that allows inspectors to identify shark species from fins on the spot, solving a key bottleneck that let illegal shipments slip through. - The tool has evolved from identifying a handful of protected species to distinguishing among more than 80 sharks and rays in a single test. - Now deployed across multiple countries, the relatively low-cost kit is expanding through grant support, with plans to adapt the technology to other trafficked wildlife beyond sharks. authors: | ||
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Costa Rica’s ‘shocking’ wildlife crisis: Nation must move to prevent animal electrocution (commentary) 17 Dec 2025 21:03:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/costa-ricas-shocking-wildlife-crisis-nation-must-move-to-prevent-animal-electrocution-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Elena Kukovica content:encoded: Costa Rica is world-renowned for its commitment to preserving biodiversity and wildlife. The country’s fervor to protect its ecosystems recently earned it the Earthshot Prize for Protecting and Restoring Nature, a significant international recognition for environmental protection. However, even a country as environmentally conscious as Costa Rica apparently cannot steer clear of the ongoing spread of urbanization and deforestation that threatens local wildlife. As forests and jungles give way to new homes and roads, animals are forced to adapt to their new surroundings and human neighbors. A vast and deadly obstacle in this process is electrical wires and transformers, which cause fatal wildlife electrocutions. This deadly problem is primarily caused by the fact that most of Costa Rica’s electrical infrastructure is installed aerially using conductive materials that lack insulation (e.g., aluminum conductors without protection). Combined with the high voltages carried by these wires, this creates a highly hazardous situation, putting any living being at risk of electrocution when coming into contact. As animals face intrusions into their natural habitats and need to move, they begin using electrical wires like they typically use tree branches, particularly when crossing roads. Combining constant contact with high-voltage power lines, it is therefore not difficult to believe that electrocution is one of the biggest causes of wildlife deaths in Costa Rica. In particular, 6,262 reported cases of wildlife electrocution happened just between June 2022 and June 2023, with the most affected species among mammals being squirrels, foxes, monkeys, kinkajous and sloths. A howler monkey traverses…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Costa Rica is renowned for its comprehensive laws that safeguard forest cover and wildlife, protecting its status as a biodiversity hotspot that attracts millions of tourists every year. - Yet wildlife rescue centers persistently point out that the level of care that authorities have promised has not yet been fully realized on multiple issues, including the issue of increasing electrocution deaths of sloths, kinkajous, monkeys and other animals traversing exposed electricity transmission lines after their forests have been cut. - Many of these NGOs recently came together to form a coalition to bring awareness to the fact that most of the nation’s electrical infrastructure is installed aerially and without insulation, laying deadly traps for all arboreal animals. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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A rare right whale spotted off Ireland resurfaces near Boston 17 Dec 2025 19:40:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/a-rare-right-whale-spotted-off-ireland-resurfaces-near-boston/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: In a rare sighting, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, first photographed in 2024 off the coast of Ireland, was recently reidentified near Boston, U.S., on Nov. 19. This is the first time a North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) was initially documented in Irish waters; before that, it was unknown to scientists. The whale then crossed the Atlantic Ocean and was confirmed through a photographic match, some 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) away near Boston. “Encounters like this highlight both their [right whales’] resilience and the importance of international cooperation to support their recovery,” Daniel Palacios, director of the right whale ecology program at the nonprofit Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), said in a statement. Researchers don’t quite know what prompted the whale’s transatlantic journey. “It’s hard to say if they’re looking for food or they’re just exploring,” Amy Warren, a scientific program officer with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, told Mongabay in a video call. Her group helps match photographic identifications for right whales and maintains a catalog of them. Today, an estimated 384 North Atlantic right whales remain, nearly all inhabiting the western North Atlantic. This population historically migrated along the east coast of the U.S. and Canada. But over the last decade, warming temperatures have pushed the whales farther north, into cooler Canadian waters. Scientists believe there was once a subpopulation of these whales in the eastern Atlantic until whaling extirpated them from European waters. Though the recently spotted whale is the first…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In a rare sighting, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, first photographed in 2024 off the coast of Ireland, was recently reidentified near Boston, U.S., on Nov. 19. This is the first time a North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) was initially documented in Irish waters; before that, it was unknown to scientists. The […] authors: | ||
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Earth’s freshwater fish face harsh new climate challenges, researchers warn 17 Dec 2025 17:08:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/earths-freshwater-fish-face-harsh-new-climate-challenges-researchers-warn/ author: Nandithachandraprakash dc:creator: Stefan Lovgren content:encoded: Southeast Asia’s Mekong River is one of the world’s most diverse and productive freshwater ecosystems, home to more than 1,000 fish species, including both the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) and giant barb (Catlocarpio siamensis). Many of these species migrate long distances and depend on the timing and extent of the annual flood pulse that expands habitat and triggers spawning. But that seasonal rhythm is shifting as monsoon seasons become increasingly erratic — the result of climate change, with upriver dams adding to the water level fluctuation problem. There have been years in which Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, the region’s major nursery ground, has failed to expand as it did in the past, reducing habitat for migratory fish. These changes in annual rainfall are unfolding on top of multiple stressors, including dam building, pollution and overfishing — altering habitats and driving species declines. Escalating climate change is adding a new layer of instability to the Mekong system. But how such pressures combine remains poorly understood. Floating villages along Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake rise and fall with the annual flood pulse that drives the Mekong region’s fisheries. When the monsoon is weak and the lake fails to expand to its usual size, fish habitat shrinks and local catches drop — conditions felt immediately by communities whose lives are tied to the lake’s seasonal rhythms. Image courtesy of Chhut Chheana/Wonders of the Mekong. “Climate change is a great unknown,” says Zeb Hogan, a biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Climate change is rapidly altering freshwater ecosystems — raising temperatures, altering flood pulses and oxygen levels — and driving complex, region-specific changes in how fish grow, migrate and survive. - Long-term U.S. data show sharp declines in cold-water fish as streams and lakes warm, while warm-water species gain only slightly. Some cold-adapted species are now disappearing as deep waters cease being a cold refuge. - From Africa to the Arctic, impacts are emerging, including stronger lake stratification, declining fisheries and rivers turning orange as thawing permafrost releases toxic metals. Declining freshwater fisheries increasingly put food security at risk, especially affecting diets and health in traditional and Indigenous communities. - Scientists say management and conservation techniques rooted in past conditions no longer work. New approaches must anticipate shifting baselines as climate change rapidly accelerates. authors: | ||
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Orangutans rescued from the wildlife trade undergo intensive re-training to return to the wild 17 Dec 2025 13:41:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/video/2025/12/orangutans-rescued-from-the-wildlife-trade-undergo-intensive-re-training-to-return-to-the-wild/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Izzy SasadaSam Lee content:encoded: NORTH SUMATRA, Indonesia — Welcome to jungle school, where orphaned orangutans are learning the basics for survival that they will need for life in the wild. At the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) in North Sumatra, vets and biologists are rehabilitating orangutans who have been confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade. Once they have mastered the basics of climbing, building nests and finding food, the aim is that they will one day be returned to the wild. The Sumatran orangutan was once found throughout the island of Sumatra’s lowland forests. But due to decades of habitat loss, poaching and conflict killings they have experienced an estimated population decline of over 80% in the last 75 years. Sanctuaries in Sumatra like OIC are working on the frontlines of conservation, to give these rescued orangutans a second chance at life. 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 featuring Izzy Sasada, Mongabay contributor, with an orangutan. Natural bridges to reconnect the last Javan gibbonsThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: NORTH SUMATRA, Indonesia — Welcome to jungle school, where orphaned orangutans are learning the basics for survival that they will need for life in the wild. At the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) in North Sumatra, vets and biologists are rehabilitating orangutans who have been confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade. Once they have mastered the […] authors: | ||
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Mining controversies: The hidden toll of green energy 17 Dec 2025 12:41:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mining-controversies-the-hidden-toll-of-green-energy/ author: Christophe Assogba dc:creator: Valisoa Rasolofomboahangy content:encoded: A study published in Nature Reviews Biodiversity in September describes the extensive environmental toll of mining for minerals needed for a transition to green energy. The direct, site-level impacts are well known — deforestation, soil degradation, contamination of water bodies — with impacts on nearby settlements and wildlife habitat. “A truly just energy transition must align climate action with conservation and social equity,” Aurora Torres, an ecologist at the University of Alicante in Spain and co-author of the study, told Mongabay. Projections indicate that demand for energy transition minerals is expected to increase sixfold between 2020 and 2040. However, a 2023 analysis suggests that expanded mining to meet this demand would still require less mining overall than the current fossil fuel-based system. Analysis by the study’s lead author, Bora Aska, a researcher at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, found that production of construction materials has a significantly higher impact than the direct extraction of transition minerals themselves. As an illustration, concrete requires the mining of large quantities of raw materials such as sand, gravel and limestone. Still, the extraction of resources for low-carbon development without causing harm presents a challenge. “If the transition is not managed properly, there could be significant consequences for biodiversity and local communities,” Andy Symington, a specialist in business and human rights for accounting giant KPMG Australia, told Mongabay. “A lot of mineral stores have already been depleted, so the ones we have left are often in remote areas, often on Indigenous territories or…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Recent research shows that mining for minerals needed in the green energy transition takes an extensive toll on forests, soils, water, wildlife habitat and communities. - Projections indicate that demand for energy transition minerals is expected to increase sixfold between 2020 and 2040; the rush to approve mining licenses in response to the growing demand only heightens the potential risks of conflict and social injustice. - An analysis finds that the production of construction materials, such as concrete, has a significantly higher impact than the direct extraction of transition minerals themselves. authors: | ||
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Rio Doce communities still live with toxic water, 10 years after Mariana disaster 17 Dec 2025 12:17:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rio-doce-communities-still-live-with-toxic-water-10-years-after-mariana-disaster/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Ramana Rech content:encoded: LINHARES, Espírito Santo, Brazil — A yellow mark stains the blue water tank sitting in the front yard of Lucimar Dias dos Santos Silva’s home. The same color, at times more intense, sometimes comes out of the faucets inside the house, or the neighbors’ water well. Lucimar, known as Preta to her friends, was born and raised in Povoação, a district of the municipality of Linhares in Brazil’s state of Espírito Santo. Her village is called Brejo Grande. For as long as she can remember, Preta has lived with flooding in Brejo Grande, when water covers the road, invades homes and isolates the people who live here. But after the burst Fundão tailings dam in Mariana, Minas Gerais, in 2015, water problems have taken on a new meaning, shattering her life and those of the people living in the quilombos along the mouth of the Rio Doce. Located 37 kilometers (23 miles) from the Linhares urban area, Brejo Grande can only be accessed by dirt road. It lies on the northern side of the mouth of the Rio Doce and is bordered by 24 lakes. The last official census made by the the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) counted a total population of 3,274 in Povoação, 1,800 of whom are Quilombolas — descendants of escaped enslaved people who established the communities in the colonial period — according to a report by the Povoação Traditional Quilombola Community. The landscape in Brejo Grande is one of vast fields dotted by small…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Ever since the Fundão tailings dam burst in 2015, people living in the traditional communities of Degredo and Povoação — which are quilombos, or traditional communities founded by escaped enslaved people during the colonial period — have been living with contaminated water, lost income and fishing limitations. - The communities are reporting health problems, an inability to grow crops and psychological impacts related to the mud from mining tailings that contaminated the mouth of the Rio Doce. - A new reparations agreement has been made but a definitive solution for water supply and environmental recuperation remains uncertain. authors: | ||
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Rapid urbanization, habitat loss are forcing the snakes out in Dhaka 17 Dec 2025 07:52:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rapid-urbanization-habitat-loss-are-forcing-the-snakes-out-in-dhaka/ author: Abusiddique dc:creator: Shakera Tasnim content:encoded: On Nov. 1, in a residential area of Bangladesh’s bustling capital city, Dhaka, the NGO Bangladesh Animal Welfare Association rescued two adult Padma Gokhra snakes (monocled cobra, Naja kaouthia) along with seven snakelets and 17 eggs. In October, the NGO had rescued a Khoiya Gokhra snake (spectacled cobra, Naja naja) from a garden in the city’s Uttara residential area. Meanwhile, according to media reports, the government and private agencies have rescued 351 snakes from various densely populated areas from January to Nov. 1 this year, mostly from Dhaka and its surrounding areas. Consequently, the city’s residents have expressed worry and anxiety over the news of so many snakes being rescued from residential areas recently. According to a recent study, 89 snake species are found in Bangladesh. Of them, 30% are venomous. The study also mentioned that most snakes in Bangladesh are found in forests, wetlands and open areas, including rural homestead gardens, except for an insignificant number that inhabit urban areas. Experts that Mongabay spoke with said they fear that excessive unplanned urbanization is playing a major role in exposing snakes to humans, as the species is losing its habitat due to reduced waterbodies and the loss of shrubs, among other reasons. Bangladesh Animal Welfare Association rescued two adult monocled cobras along with seven snakelets and 17 eggs in November. Image courtesy of Bangladesh Animal Welfare Association. Destruction of habitats Md Sohel Rana, a herpetologist at Bangladesh Forest Department’s Wildlife Centre, Gazipur, told Mongabay, “Reduced waterbodies, deforestation, industrialization, urbanization and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The government and private agencies in Bangladesh have rescued at least 351 snakes from various densely populated areas in and around Dhaka city this year. Of the rescued snakes, 319 were venomous. - A study shows that Bangladesh is home to 89 snake species. Though many of these are non-venomous, a fear of snakebites is widespread among the common people. - Experts say that excessive and unplanned urbanization is playing a major role in exposing snakes to humans, as the species is losing its habitat due to reduced wetlands and open lands, among other reasons. authors: | ||
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Women scatter seeds, restore forests in Guinea, the ‘water tower of West Africa’ 16 Dec 2025 23:29:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/women-sow-seeds-restore-forests-in-guinea-the-water-tower-of-west-africa/ author: Lizkimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: For Mariame Condé, the seed-collecting work came at a critical time. In January 2022, she was pregnant and nearly out of food. Her husband had left their village to search for gold in Siguiri, a mining area, and their harvest was almost gone, she told Mongabay in a WhatsApp message. That year, Condé collected 20,000 Carapa procera tree seeds from around her hometown in Kofilakoro, Guinea. “The project paid me 1,000,000 GNF [about $115] which was a relief,” she said. “I used the money from arboRise to buy food and clothes for my son.” Since 2021, the arboRise Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit, along with a local partner Guinea Local Development and Environment (GUIDRE), has reforested nearly 4,400 hectares (about 10,900 acres) across 43 villages in Guinea — an area about one-fourth the size of Washington, D.C. Women of Sokourala refill their bowls with mixed tree seeds before sowing. Image courtesy of GUIDRE After the harvest by each seed-collecting family, all tree species are mixed to be allocated for direct sowing onto the landscape. Image courtesy of GUIDRE In each village, arboRise hires local women to collect seeds from 40 native tree species. Each woman gathers around 28,000 seeds as part of a massive effort to revive forests in Guinea’s Kérouané prefecture, the region that holds the source of two major tributaries to the Niger River, which winds its way 4,180 kilometers (2,600 miles) through West Africa. The mixed seeds are scattered onto plots rather than directly planted or grown in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Guinea has seen nearly 4,400 hectares (about 10,900 acres) of reforestation across 43 villages since 2021 under a project led by Switzerland-based arboRise Foundation, which employs hundreds of women to collect native tree seeds and using low-cost direct seeding techniques. - The project shifts power dynamics by having women monitor the tree growth that determines men’s pay, challenging traditional patriarchal structures. - Participants earn $115 monthly — 81% above Guinea’s minimum wage — providing crucial income during preharvest food shortages and enabling families to build assets like livestock. - The initiative aims for long-term sustainability through carbon credits, with community-led cooperatives (majority women) deciding how revenues are distributed based on local traditions rather than external mandates. authors: | ||
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In Peru, community-led camera trapping boosts conservation and ecotourism 16 Dec 2025 20:55:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-peru-community-led-camera-trapping-boosts-conservation-and-ecotourism/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Astrid Arellano content:encoded: The Tingana Conservation Concession sits in the center of a unique wetland in the Alto Mayo Basin, the highest swamp in Peru with Amazonian characteristics. In its flooded forest, native moriche palms (Mauritia flexuosa, known in Peru as aguaje) and renaco trees (Ficus trigona) resist the pressure of rice crops, which are expanding around the protected area. An association of local families has been working to transform and protect the reserve’s habitat. In 2023, they began using camera traps to monitor its biodiversity “The cameras are our eyes in the forest,” says Julio César Tello, head of research at the Association for the Conservation of Alto Mayo Aguajales and Renacales (Adecaram), the community organization that has managed the area since 2004. “They are eyes that warn us and give us information.” Adecaram members install camera traps to monitor biodiversity in the Tingana Conservation Concession. Image courtesy of Macoy Zapata. Adecaram, in collaboration with Conservation International Peru, has installed eight camera traps so far, which have recorded the presence of 66 species over the past two years. These include wildcats like the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) and margay (Leopardus wiedii), neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis), capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and razor-billed curassow (Mitu tuberosum), a bird once was thought locally extinct. Dino Cabrera, the Adecaram project director, told Mongabay Latam the images have broadened scientific knowledge of the area, as well as raised awareness among local communities and tourists about the importance of preserving and protecting the habitat. “Within the many activities we carry…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Community members in Alto Mayo, Peru, are protecting 4,000 hectares (nearly 10,000 acres) of unique wetland forest by combining sustainable ecotourism, scientific research and participatory management of the territory. - In the Tingana Conservation Concession, visitors explore the flooded forests by canoe and learn about sustainable agriculture and local species, while contributing revenue to the community’s economy. - Since 2023, community members have installed eight camera traps to monitor biodiversity and strengthen surveillance against encroachers. - The cameras have captured species like jaguarundis, margays, neotropical otters and razor-billed curassows, providing valuable scientific information that has been integrated into local environmental education programs. authors: | ||
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Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore & seabirds 16 Dec 2025 19:56:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/pacific-fisheries-summit-gives-a-boost-to-albacore-seabirds/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: Much of the world’s albacore tuna catch, which usually ends up in a can, comes from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where fishery managers just passed a new set of conservation rules. The parties to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), a multilateral body that sets fishing rules for an area that covers nearly 20% of the planet, adopted a harvest strategy for South Pacific albacore at their annual meeting, held Dec. 1-5 in Manila, the Philippines. Harvest strategies set near-automatic scientifically advised catch limits or other control measures in response to fluctuating fish stock levels; they’re considered a best practice in fisheries management because they reduce commercial or political influence. South Pacific albacore is one of two albacore (Thunnus alalunga) stocks in the WCPFC; the other is North Pacific albacore, which isn’t fished as much. “This is a great move for the WCPFC,” Dave Gershman, a senior officer for international fisheries at The Pew Charitable Trusts, a U.S.-based think tank, told Mongabay after attending the meeting. “This is a critical step to ensure the sustainability and stability of the top Pacific albacore fisheries.” Gershman noted that the harvest strategy was a “long time in the making” and had been “discussed for many, many years.” The parties discussed, but didn’t adopt, new rules on transshipment, or the ship-to-ship transfer of fish and other goods at sea, a practice that’s been linked to illegal and unsustainable fishing and other illicit activity. Glen Joseph, director of the fishing ministry of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), a multilateral body that sets fishing rules for an area that covers nearly 20% of the planet, held its annual meeting Dec. 1-5 in Manila, the Philippines. - The parties adopted a harvest strategy for South Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) that will set near-automatic catch limits based on scientific advice, considered a best practice in fisheries management. Conservationists celebrated the move. - The parties also adopted a measure that aims to keep seabirds from drowning on industrial fishing lines. - They didn’t adopt any new rules on the ship-to-ship transfer of fish and other goods at sea, a practice known as transshipment that’s been linked to illegal fishing and other illicit activity. authors: | ||
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New study points to private land as key to Atlantic Forest recovery 16 Dec 2025 18:08:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-study-points-to-private-land-as-key-to-atlantic-forest-recovery/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Sibélia Zanon content:encoded: Restoration in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest is finding success on private lands, according to a newly published study. Researchers evaluated the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact, a collaborative initiative launched in 2009 to accelerate reforestation, and found a 20% increase in vegetation cover on studied private lands from 2000-2018 compared to areas without intervention. The pact works across 17 Brazilian states and brings together governments, NGOs, companies and landowners to identify priority areas for restoration, support implementation, and monitor environmental, social and economic outcomes. The end goal is to restore 15 million hectares (37 million acres) of forest by 2050. “Landowners report that after starting restoration planting, springs returned, streams filled, and the land cooled,” says biologist Ludmila Pugliese de Siqueira, co-author of the new study and director of the landscape and forest restoration program at Conservation International Brazil. “For them, the result is very tangible — something that directly affects their daily lives.” The study examined 158,000 hectares (about 390,000 acres) of land, half of it restored and the rest unrestored. In all, they found a net increase in vegetation cover of 4,600 hectares (about 11,400 acres) in the form of restored forest, an area roughly 80% the size of Manhattan or 13.5 times the size of Central Park. Still, restoring forest on privately owned land in the Atlantic Forest remains a major challenge. About 75% of the biome is private property, and nearly 90% of its original vegetation, around 110 million hectares (272 million acres), has been lost to agriculture,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study shows that restored private lands in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest achieved up to 20% more forest cover than unrestored neighboring private lands. - With 75% of the Atlantic Forest in private hands and a 6.2-million-hectare (15.3-million-acre) deficit of native vegetation, according to the law, private landowners are key to recovery. - Over the past decade, forest gains and losses in the Atlantic Forest have essentially stagnated; but last year, half of all deforestation hit mature forests over 40 years old, threatening biodiversity and carbon stocks. authors: | ||
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Philippines’ newest marine protected area ‘sets inspiring example’ (commentary) 16 Dec 2025 17:19:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/philippines-newest-marine-protected-area-sets-inspiring-example-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Antha WilliamsLoren Legarda content:encoded: Climate change is pushing coral reefs to the brink. A new scientific report warns that the world has already crossed its first climate tipping point, and reefs could face long-term decline unless global warming slows dramatically. But despair is not the only option. In the Philippines, new marine protections prove that communities and governments can act with urgency, creating pockets of resilience that give reefs — and the people who depend on them — a fighting chance. Nestled in the heart of the Coral Triangle, one of the most biodiverse marine regions on the planet, Panaon Island is a jewel of the Philippines’ natural heritage. Its vibrant coral reefs teem with life, forming a seascape where marine species thrive in dazzling color and size. With coral cover reaching 60% — three times the national average — these reefs provide vital habitat for marine life, from whale sharks and sea turtles to the endangered Philippine duck. Seagrass meadows and mangrove forests further enhance the island’s ecological value, while protecting the coastline from storm surges and serving as nurseries for fish stocks that sustain local communities. The reefs of the Coral Triangle are immensely rich. Image by Jeff Britnell / Coral Reef Image Bank. Despite its biodiversity, Panaon Island faces growing threats. A 21-day expedition by global ocean conservation organization Oceana revealed alarming evidence of illegal and destructive fishing, plastic pollution suffocating corals and wildlife, and infestations of crown-of-thorns starfish, an invasive species that can decimate reefs. Combined with the escalating impacts…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nestled in the heart of the Coral Triangle, one of the most biodiverse marine regions on the planet, Panaon Island is a jewel of the Philippines’ natural heritage. - Despite its biodiversity, Panaon Island faces growing threats, so a broad coalition of community leaders, environmental advocates and government agencies have rallied to designate the waters surrounding it as a new marine protected area (MPA). - But safeguarding marine habitats requires more than designations and new maps. “Marine protected areas need proper funding, active monitoring and strong enforcement to prevent illegal activities from undermining conservation,” a new op-ed says. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Hope for tigers grows as Thailand safeguards a key link in their habitat 16 Dec 2025 16:14:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/hope-for-tigers-grows-as-thailand-safeguards-a-key-link-in-their-habitat/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Gloria Dickie content:encoded: KANCHANABURI, Thailand — Following the path of the tiger isn’t easy. Yet the three rangers, clad in camouflage, move lithely through the steep bamboo thicket, tracking the muddy hoofprints of a sambar deer. Out of the snagging vines, they emerge on a forested ridgeline overlooking a landscape that swells and shrinks in watercolor hues of indigo. A breeze rustles the stone oak trees as the sound of grasshoppers pierces the silence. It’s easy to imagine the tiger slinking confidently across this terrain, the master of its Thai kingdom. Another 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) down the ridge, the rangers stop in a small clearing. Members of Panthera, a wildcat conservation NGO, pull out a toolkit to check two camera traps. It was here, in early 2024, that a camera picked up a female Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) moving through this protected corridor known as Si Sawat. She had never been detected in any other protected area. Maybe, they say, the tiger will have returned in the past three months. But the camera’s memory card reveals only smaller species: a leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) and an Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii), as well as a porcupine (Hystrix brachyura) and a pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonina). Still, the team is in good spirits. Hopefully, they say, the tiger has taken up residency to the south, in Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary. After all, this swath of forest is too small to support a large tiger population — maybe four, at best. Yet as a corridor,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Tiger conservation in Thailand is a rare success story, bucking the trend of regional declines of the Indochinese subspecies across Southeast Asia. - Thailand’s Western Forest Complex is at the core of the country’s success, with its tiger population growing from about 40 in 2007 to more than 140 today. - Conservation nonprofits are working to protect a network of corridors that will help usher younger tigers into the southern part of the complex, chiefly through the Si Sawat Corridor, a designated non-hunting area. - Scientists have recently discovered tigers reproducing in the southern WEFCOM for the first time. authors: | ||
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Brazilian government serves shark to infants, prisoners and more: How Mongabay broke the story 16 Dec 2025 15:00:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/12/millions-of-brazilians-unknowingly-eat-toxic-endangered-shark-how-mongabay-broke-the-story/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Mongabay senior editor Philip Jacobson joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss a two-part investigation published this year in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center about how state governments in Brazil have been procuring shark meat — which is high in mercury and arsenic — served to potentially millions of schoolchildren and thousands of public institutions. With Mongabay’s Karla Mendes and Pulitzer’s Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, Jacobson spent a year digging into public databases of government shark meat orders, called tenders. “It’s quite widespread,” Jacobson says. “We found shark meat tenders in 10 states and shark meat being served or being procured for more than 500 municipalities.” Government nutritionists were also found to be recommending shark meat for school lunches because it has no bones, and even when one school official raised concerns about heavy metal contamination in the meat, her concerns were not heeded. Critics’ concerns extend beyond vulnerable populations like schoolkids, too, since shark is also on the menus of public institutions like homeless shelters, maternity wards and elder care centers. But since the investigation was released one lawmaker has called for a parliamentary hearing to discuss the findings. Jacobson, who has appeared on the podcast before to discuss his work on the award-winning investigation of the giant Tanah Merah palm oil project in New Guinea, explains why he finds meaning in boosting public knowledge of major environmental and public health issues that would otherwise fly under the radar. “I don’t feel totally powerless. I can drag some hidden phenomenon out…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Mongabay senior editor Philip Jacobson joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss a two-part investigation published this year in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center about how state governments in Brazil have been procuring shark meat — which is high in mercury and arsenic — served to potentially millions of schoolchildren and thousands of public institutions. With Mongabay’s […] authors: | ||
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West and Central Africa tackle coastal erosion 16 Dec 2025 12:22:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/west-and-central-africa-tackle-coastal-erosion/ author: Christophe Assogba dc:creator: Adrienne EngonoCarolle AhodekonCharles KolouChristophe AssogbaRoland KlohiRosie Pioth content:encoded: Across many parts of Africa’s Atlantic coastline, the sea is advancing several metres inland each year, destroying homes, infrastructure, farmland and heritage sites. Many coastal communities have already been erased from the map. Several factors combine to explain the threatening loss of land along the West and Central African coast. The effects of global climate change, with rising sea levels and warmer waters causing more extreme weather, are multiplied by large and small infrastructure projects that have disrupted coastal ecosystems’ natural resilience to the power of ocean waves and currents. The Ivorian village of Lahou-Kpanda, standing on a peninsula in a lagoon fed by the Bandama River, has become a dramatic symbol of coastal erosion along Cote d’Ivoire’s 570 kilometers (355 miles) of coastline. Powerful waves, exacerbated by rising sea levels linked to climate change, are undermining the coastline, causing it to erode by more than 2 meters (6.5 feet) per year. “Our village used to stretch over 2 kilometers [1.2 miles]. Today, it’s only 200 m [650 ft] wide,” reports Emmanuel Idi, a young local guide in his 20s. The construction of the Kossou Dam in the 1970s altered the flow of the Bandama River and disrupted the natural balance that protected the coast, exacerbating erosion. Several notable colonial-era buildings here, including the district office, the hospital and the prison, have already disappeared. Only the church, built in 1933, with its stone walls and orange-tiled roof, still stands firm against the waves’ onslaught. The most harrowing aspect is the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Coastal erosion along the coastline of West and Central Africa has been attributed to both natural causes and to human causes, including infrastructure development. - With support from international finance agencies, governments cross the region have favored intensive engineering solutions to attempt to protect eroding shorelines. - Environmentalists say nature-based interventions such as restoring mangrove forests that can stabilize soil and protect marine biodiversity. authors: | ||
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Tanzanian community-led innovation wins global award for boosting conservation 16 Dec 2025 11:08:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tanzanian-community-led-innovation-wins-global-award-for-boosting-conservation/ author: Lemaemortimer dc:creator: Joyce Bazira content:encoded: Pastoralists in rural Tanzania have been recognized globally for applying a blend of local knowledge and new technology in efforts to restore degraded land and provide pasture. The community-led project dubbed Sustainable Rangelands Initiative, developed by African People & Wildlife (APW), won in the NatureTech Stewards category at the inaugural IUCN Tech4Nature Awards, held during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi last October. The Sustainable Rangelands Initiative (SRI) has been implemented in Northern and Central Tanzania, in Simanjiro, Babati, Longido, Same, Monduli, Ngorogoro, and Mwanga districts. APW’s Director of Community Conservation and Environment Neovitus Sianga says this was because the areas are crucial for livestock and wildlife activities. Under this initiative by APW and the local community, local grazing committees and trained community grassland monitors use mobile phones to collect information about water sources, vegetation cover, grass growth rates, soil health and invasive species. Nasma Mustafa, a Rangeland Monitor from Engaluka Village, describes the key steps: “We use a measuring tape, a rope and a phone. The rope is stretched over 100 meters on the ground, at the same level with a measuring tape with five marks. We then observe which of the five marks touches vegetation and which ones touch bare ground. The information collected is transferred to a form through phones. This is repeated until a targeted area is covered. The collected data is transmitted to the community grazing committee for further steps.” The data is channeled to central village level technology centers and used to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - An initiative that enables village leaders to make informed decisions that balance livestock production, wildlife conservation, and ecosystem health has been recognized globally. - The Sustainable Rangelands Initiative (SRI) is being implemented in Northern and Central Tanzania, in Simanjiro, Babati, Longido, Same, Monduli, Ngorogoro, and Mwanga districts, which are crucial for livestock and wildlife activities. - Through the initiative, local grazing committees and trained community grassland monitors use digital tools such as mobile phones to collect information about sources of water, vegetation cover, grass growth rates and soil health, as well as invasive species. - The data collected is channeled to central village level technology centers and used to guide grazing plans based on evident trends. Since many villages experience network challenges, the system is designed to enable users collect data when offline and upload it once the network is available. authors: | ||
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A Thin Green Line: The 2,000-strong ranger force of African Parks 16 Dec 2025 09:47:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-thin-green-line-the-2000-strong-ranger-force-of-african-parks/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Ashoka Mukpo content:encoded: This is the sixth story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. BWEYEYE, Rwanda — Josephine Irandwanahafi sits in a small, musty provisions shop off the main road in Bweyeye, a border town that marks the entrance from southern Rwanda into Burundi. Plantains and onions are stacked high in boxes next to her. She’s just gotten off work but is still wearing the olive-green uniform of her employer, the South Africa-based NGO African Parks. Irandwanahafi is an eco-guard, one of about 100 hired from the towns and villages around Nyungwe National Park, a 1,019-square-kilometer (393-square-mile) protected forest that’s been managed by African Parks since 2020. Irandwanahafi and her colleagues are ambassadors to the communities that surround the park, and serve as African Parks’ first line of defense. Their job is to patrol the outer ring of eucalyptus plantations that serve as a buffer zone around Nyungwe, warn their neighbors to stay out of the park, and when needed, to pass on intelligence about rule-breakers. Josephine Irandwanahafi, an eco-guard at Nyungwe National Park. Photo by Ashoka Mukpo/Mongabay. At 50,000 Rwandan francs per month, about $35, it doesn’t pay as well as her old job — cooking food for poachers at bush camps inside the forest and selling what they caught in local markets. But it’s safer. She isn’t risking jail time anymore. “I used to earn a lot better previously in trading wild meat compared to now,” she says, “but the risks of being caught and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda is policed by 93 armed rangers and around 100 community eco-rangers. - Both are employed by African Parks, a South Africa-based NGO that commands 2,119 rangers in total across the 24 protected areas in 13 countries it manages — the largest standing ranger force in Africa. - In some of these protected areas, African Parks rangers have been accused of human rights abuses or been caught in the crossfire of violent conflicts. - This year, the group announced it would convene a panel of African legal experts to review its human rights record and design a grievance process for victims of abuse. authors: | ||
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Navigating the complex world of reforestation efforts 16 Dec 2025 06:54:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/navigating-the-complex-world-of-reforestation-efforts/ 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. Reforestation has become a feel-good global rallying cry. From corporations touting “net zero” targets to philanthropies seeking visible impact, planting trees has become shorthand for planetary repair. Yet behind the glossy photos of saplings and smiling farmers lies a question few can answer with confidence: Which organizations are actually doing it well? Karen D. Holl, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has spent decades studying forest recovery. “I would give talks, and people would ask, ‘Who should I donate my money to?’” she told Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough. “There was really no standardized way to answer that question.” To fill that gap, Holl and postdoctoral researcher Spencer Schubert surveyed and analyzed more than 125 intermediary reforestation groups, the entities that funnel most global funding to local tree-planting projects, Kimbrough reported last month. Their year-long study now forms the backbone of Mongabay’s Global Reforestation Organization Directory. Rather than ranking or endorsing projects, the directory presents standardized information on each group’s transparency and adherence to scientific best practices. Users can compare organizations based on four criteria: permanence, ecological soundness, social benefit, and financial disclosure. The researchers verified whether monitoring protocols, tree survival data and financial reports were publicly available, though much of the data relies on self-reporting. The result is not a verdict, but a map of a sprawling, opaque sector. Many organizations claim to restore forests; fewer disclose evidence…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. Reforestation has become a feel-good global rallying cry. From corporations touting “net zero” targets to philanthropies seeking visible impact, planting trees has become shorthand for planetary repair. Yet behind the glossy photos of saplings and smiling farmers lies […] authors: | ||
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South Africa considers site near African penguin colony for third nuclear power plant 16 Dec 2025 06:29:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/south-africa-considers-site-near-african-penguin-colony-for-third-nuclear-power-plant/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shreya Dasgupta content:encoded: South African state electricity company Eskom is reevaluating two sites to host the country’s third nuclear power plant, having previously dismissed both for an earlier facility. The two potential sites are Thyspunt, on the Eastern Cape coast, and Bantamsklip, near Dyer Island in the Western Cape, home to a significant, but declining colony of critically endangered African penguins (Spheniscus demersus). “Bantamsklip is a globally unique coastal environment with extremely high ecological value, and the risks from infrastructure of this scale remain unacceptable,” Wilfred Chivell, founder of the nonprofit Dyer Island Conservation Trust, told Mongabay by email. South Africa’s first nuclear power plant, the 1,860-megawatt Koeberg facility, has been running since 1984 and supplies roughly 4% of the country’s electricity. Discussions for a second nuclear plant began in the mid-2000s, identifying Thyspunt, Bantamsklip and Duynefontein, near Koeberg, as potential locations. After years of legal challenges over coastal ecology, seismic risks, and heritage impacts concerns, in August 2025 Duynefontein was upheld as the site for the 4,000-MW second plant. Eskom has now initiated an environment impact assessment for its third nuclear facility, with a capacity of 5,200 MW. An Eskom spokesperson told Mongabay by email that the EIA is for Thyspunt, with Bantamsklip being evaluated as an alternative site, “in line with EIA regulations that require consideration of alternatives.” “This will be a new EIA application and lessons learnt from the previous application will be taken into account by the specialists,” they said. South African news agency GroundUp reported that during the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: South African state electricity company Eskom is reevaluating two sites to host the country’s third nuclear power plant, having previously dismissed both for an earlier facility. The two potential sites are Thyspunt, on the Eastern Cape coast, and Bantamsklip, near Dyer Island in the Western Cape, home to a significant, but declining colony of critically […] authors: | ||
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Indonesia’s 1st Javan rhino translocation ends in death, in conservation setback 16 Dec 2025 05:27:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/indonesias-1st-javan-rhino-translocation-ends-in-death-in-conservation-setback/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: Conservation officials have announced the death the first Javan rhino ever translocated as part of Indonesia’s conservation program, marking a setback for efforts to protect the critically endangered species. The Ujung Kulon National Park Authority confirmed on Nov. 27 that the male rhino, named Musofa, died at the Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area (JRSCA) despite intensive veterinary care. Musofa was captured Nov. 3, after entering a pit trap in the Gardu Buruk area of Ujung Kulon National Park as part of a planned genetic-management initiative. After weather and safety assessments, he was moved Nov. 5 to the JRSCA using a military transport vehicle in an operation supported by the Indonesian National Armed Forces and conservation partners. He initially arrived in stable condition and showed early signs of adaptation. However, Musofa’s condition deteriorated Nov. 7, prompting emergency treatment by veterinary teams, and he perished later that afternoon. “All procedures were carried out in accordance with international conservation standards, including simulations, ethical reviews and logistical and security preparedness,” Ardi Andono, head of the park authority, said in a statement. The Javan rhino Musofa in a pit trap on Nov. 3 before translocation. Image courtesy of the Ujung Kulon National Park Authority. Musofa arrived at the Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area (JRSCA). Image courtesy of the Ujung Kulon National Park Authority. A necropsy report dated Nov. 8 found that chronic internal illnesses were the underlying cause of death, with experts at IPB University concluding the rhino had long been weakened by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia’s first effort to translocate a Javan rhino ended in loss when Musofa died days after his move to a protected facility in Ujung Kulon National Park. - Officials said a necropsy found long-standing health problems linked to severe parasitic infection, though questions remain about the sudden decline linked to the relocation. - Conservationists say the setback should not stop efforts to save the species, which faces serious risks from low numbers and limited genetic diversity. authors: | ||
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‘Internet of Animals,’ a unified wildlife tracker, set to resume after hiatus 16 Dec 2025 02:45:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/internet-of-animals-a-unified-wildlife-tracker-set-to-resume-after-hiatus/ author: Abhishyantkidangoor dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: A global system dubbed the “internet of animals,” which tracks wildlife via satellite, is one step closer to becoming a reality. Project ICARUS, an initiative that taps into advances in wireless sensor technology, has resumed operations after a three-year hiatus. In late November, a satellite carrying an ICARUS receiver was launched into space. Short for International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space, ICARUS aims to create a global network that tracks individual animals fitted with sensors. “It’s a global collaboration of scientists trying to understand animal movements and the information from animals,” Martin Wikelski, director at the Germany-based Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, who envisioned and leads the project, told Mongabay in a video interview in 2024. The project hinges on tiny, lightweight trackers that scientists around the world have deployed on a wide range of species, from large mammals and sea turtles, to diminutive bats and migratory birds. The trackers measure crucial data including GPS-based location, acceleration, temperature, humidity, pressure and altitude, enabling scientists to track the movements, migrations and behaviors of these animals. Migrating bats Image ©Peter J. Hudson. Tracking tags have been around for years. However, what makes ICARUS stand out is the ability to bring together the tracking of myriad species from around the world under one project. This allows scientists to also observe how animals are interacting with one another and with their environments, giving them access to nuanced and incredibly specific data for wildlife conservation and biodiversity protection purposes. “This is really grasping…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A global project that tracks wildlife via satellites has resumed operations after a hiatus of three years. - Project ICARUS, which aims to create the “internet of animals,” capitalizes on advances in wireless tracking technology to monitor individual animals. - The trackers record data that will help scientists track the movements, migrations and behaviors of animals in different parts of the world. - The system also enables scientists and conservationists to understand how animals are interacting with one another and with their respective ecosystems. authors: | ||
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Seafloor survey in Cambodia finds simple anti-trawling blocks help seagrass recover 15 Dec 2025 22:42:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/seafloor-survey-in-cambodia-finds-simple-anti-trawling-blocks-help-seagrass-recover/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro content:encoded: A recent study provides the first detailed map of Cambodia’s coastal seafloor habitats and finds that simple, low-cost anti-trawling structures are helping seagrass meadows recover and support small-scale fishers in the Kep Marine Fisheries Management Area in the Gulf of Thailand. The study was published in Frontiers in Marine Science by researchers from Marine Conservation Cambodia, an organization that co-manages the Kep MFMA in partnership with Cambodian authorities and local fishing communities. To map the region’s seafloor, the team surveyed 62,146 hectares (153,566 acres) across four areas: Kep MFMA, Outer Kep, Kampot, and Koh Seh. Divers visited hundreds of points spaced every 250 meters (820 feet) to document seagrasses, corals, shellfish beds, sediment type, and depth. In shallow waters, they used aerial photos to observe areas that boats couldn’t reach. The data were then analyzed using computer models to understand how depth and sediment influence habitat presence. They found that seagrass cover in Kampot province declined by 39% between 2013 and 2023 — the first time this loss has been clearly measured. They described “destructive fishing” as the most immediate driver of habitat loss in Cambodia, alongside chronic pressures like warming seas and turbidity from coastal development (two large-scale ports and a special economic zone are under construction). The study said the decline in seagrass highlights “the urgent need for scalable restoration and enforcement strategies.” The livelihoods of many Kep residents hinges on the preservation of marine resources, which have been depleted due to overfishing and large-scale coastal development projects.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent study provides the first large-scale map of Cambodia’s coastal habitats and reports early seagrass recovery near anti-trawling structures in the Kep Marine Fisheries Management Area. - Surveys across 62,146 hectares (153,566 acres) show a 39% loss of seagrass cover in Kampot province over the past decade. - The study doesn’t examine potential impacts from the planned $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal, which is set to meet the sea about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) away from the Kep Marine Fisheries Management Area. authors: | ||
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From Kalimantan’s haze to Jakarta’s grit: A journalist’s journey 15 Dec 2025 22:23:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/from-kalimantans-haze-to-jakartas-grit-a-journalists-journey/ 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. Indonesia’s environmental challenges can feel overwhelming when taken as a whole. A country said to contain more than 17,000 islands, it holds the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest and a resource economy that has reshaped much of that landscape. For many Indonesians, modern development is experienced not in graphs but in the air around them: childhoods spent under yellowed skies, peat smoke drifting into classrooms, the sweet-acrid smell that clings to shirts long after the fires burn out. Others recognize the shifting environment in subtler ways, like the ground growing wetter where it once stayed firm or the metallic tang in Jakarta’s air on days when pollution monitors flash red. For Sapariah “Arie” Saturi, Mongabay Indonesia’s managing editor, these are not distant impressions. They are the texture of her early life along the Kapuas River in West Kalimantan, a region defined by peatlands, forests and the heavy footprint of timber, palm oil and mining interests. Dry seasons in the 1990s often brought fires and a haze so thick it dulled both sound and color. Eyes burned after minutes outdoors; masks were uncommon. Children adapted because they had no choice. Arie now lives in Jakarta, where the problems are different but equally immediate. The capital sinks a little more each year, traffic strains patience, and even a brief gust through an open window can leave a chemical scent lingering in the curtains. On weekends, she…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. Indonesia’s environmental challenges can feel overwhelming when taken as a whole. A country said to contain more than 17,000 islands, it holds the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest and a resource economy that has reshaped much of that landscape. […] authors: | ||
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Noisy traffic is making Galápagos’ yellow warblers angry 15 Dec 2025 21:20:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/noisy-traffic-is-making-galapagos-yellow-warblers-angry/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: A recent study found that birds that live closer to roads display more aggression than birds of the same species that live farther away from noisy vehicles, Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman reported. Researchers looked at the behavioral differences of male Galápagos yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia aureola) on two islands of the Galápagos, an Ecuadorian archipelago in the Pacific Ocean known for its rich biodiversity. Within known territories of 38 male yellow warblers on the islands, the researchers played prerecorded songs of an intruding warbler on a speaker. To some recordings, they had added traffic noises, while the others only had warbler calls. Male yellow warblers tend to shoo away other males that wander into their territory with songs. On both islands, the researchers found the same pattern in response: Male birds that lived closer to the roads were more aggressive when the speaker played recordings of an intruding bird’s song with added traffic noise than those that lived far away from roads. The birds living closer to roads circled the speaker in closer proximity, rather than simply singing — behavior associated with aggression and higher risk of physical conflict. The birds also increased the lower-pitched noises in their song, presumably to be heard over the traffic noise, while those living far from the roads sang in higher pitches. “Many species may adjust their behaviors and be able to live near noise, but the most sensitive species are likely not able to change their behaviors or deal with the stress of daily…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A recent study found that birds that live closer to roads display more aggression than birds of the same species that live farther away from noisy vehicles, Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman reported. Researchers looked at the behavioral differences of male Galápagos yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia aureola) on two islands of the Galápagos, an Ecuadorian archipelago in […] authors: | ||
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South Sudanese community fights to save land from relentless flooding worsened by climate change 15 Dec 2025 18:10:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/south-sudanese-community-fights-to-save-land-from-relentless-flooding-worsened-by-climate-change/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: AKUAK, South Sudan (AP) — Flooding worsened by climate change is forcing a community in South Sudan to work constantly to keep water from encroaching on their land. The Akuak community of about 2,000 people has been layering plants and mud to build islands for generations in this swampy area along the Nile River, according to their chief. Increased flooding driven by climate change in recent years has made the islands harder to maintain. Community members spend hours each day dredging up material by hand to keep water from encroaching. South Sudan is experiencing catastrophic flooding for the sixth year in a row. It’s considered one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: AKUAK, South Sudan (AP) — Flooding worsened by climate change is forcing a community in South Sudan to work constantly to keep water from encroaching on their land. The Akuak community of about 2,000 people has been layering plants and mud to build islands for generations in this swampy area along the Nile River, according […] authors: | ||
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A deal signals a new chapter for Chagossians, and one of the world’s largest marine no-fishing zones 15 Dec 2025 17:42:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-deal-signals-a-new-chapter-for-chagossians-and-one-of-the-worlds-largest-marine-no-fishing-zones/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Malavika Vyawahare content:encoded: POINTE AUX SABLES, Mauritius — The mood was equal parts celebratory and somber among the 300-odd Chagossians who came together at a community center in Pointe aux Sables, Mauritius, in June. An agreement signed in May, now awaiting ratification in the U.K., transfers sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago from the U.K., which currently controls it, to Mauritius. About six decades ago , the U.K. expelled the inhabitants of Chagos to make way for a U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean. Their exile, long a source of bitterness and pain, could soon be over. That June morning, Chagossians young and old milled around in the compound of the Marie Lisette Talate Chagossian Community Centre to embrace, to exchange news, to partake in the festive feel. They had come for the annual general meeting of the Chagos Refugees Group (CRG) to hear about the deal struck between the U.K. and Mauritius, and to register with the CRG in preparation for a potential return to their ancestral archipelago. Olivier Bancoult speaking at the June meeting of the Chagos Refugees Group in Port Louis, Mauritius. Image by Gonzalo Parraguez Fanny for Mongabay. At the center of the morning’s proceedings, which took place outdoors in the community center’s expansive back compound, was Olivier Bancoult, who heads the Mauritius-based CRG. “My mom was my inspiration,” Bancoult, 61 , told Mongabay. “She would have been 100 years old [this year].” Rita Élysée Bancoult, CRG’s co-founder, was born on the Chagossian island of Peros Banhos. She died…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - An agreement signed this year transfers sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago from the U.K. to Mauritius. This vast expanse in the middle of the Indian Ocean is home to exceptional marine biodiversity whose protection might soon fall to Chagossians and Mauritius. - The U.K. expelled around 2,000 Chagossians in the late 1960s and early 1970s to make way for a U.S. military base. - The U.K. also unilaterally established a marine protected area there in 2010, in part to keep Chagossians from returning to the islands. The MPA, the largest no-fishing zone in the world, along with the zealously guarded military base, have allowed the marine space to flourish with limited human imprints. - Under the deal, which now awaits ratification by the U.K. parliament, Chagossians can return to the archipelago, except the largest island of Diego Garcia, which will continue to host the military base and remain under U.K.-U.S. control for at least the next 99 years. authors: | ||
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Collapses of Amazon riverbanks threaten communities and shipping routes 15 Dec 2025 17:29:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/collapses-of-amazon-riverbanks-threaten-communities-and-shipping-routes/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: André Schröder content:encoded: On the afternoon of Oct. 7, 2024, a section of banks along the Solimões River abruptly collapsed at the port of Manacapuru in Brazil’s Amazonas state. The resulting crater was the size of two soccer fields and as deep as 20 meters (65 feet). The collapse killed two people and shut down the port, a regional hub for moving goods and passengers about 160 kilometers (100 miles) upstream from the state capital, Manaus. Investigations later identified an erosion process known as terras caídas — literally “fallen lands” — a natural phenomenon observed along fast-flowing rivers across the Amazon Basin. During the dry season, when water levels drop sharply, riverbanks become tall, exposed walls, particularly vulnerable at river bends, where the waters can more easily dig their base and destabilize the terrain. At Manacapuru, however, human interventions on the riverbank contributed to the collapse. A report by Brazil’s federal geological agency, SGB, obtained by Mongabay shows that the river port was built directly on a bend of the Solimões (the name used in Brazil for the upper stretch of the Amazon River). The document states that walls and embankments further weakened the riverbank, which could no longer support its own weight amid the river’s low water level. “We need to be more careful when choosing where to build ports along Amazonian rivers,” Elton Andretta, a geoscience researcher at SGB, told Mongabay by phone. “Brazil already has satellite imagery and other technologies to monitor Amazonian rivers and identify risks. More conscious use…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Extreme droughts, human interventions and growing boat traffic are contributing to riverbank collapses that endanger riverside communities in the Brazilian Amazon. - Four public river ports in Amazonas state have been damaged by riverbank collapses in the past decade, prompting concerns about the safety of Amazon port infrastructure. - Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry is investigating alleged failures to prevent collapses at regional ports that connect riverside communities and provide access to essential services. authors: | ||
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Green labeler PEFC under fire for certifying Indonesian firm clearing orangutan habitat 15 Dec 2025 17:04:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/green-labeler-pefc-under-fire-for-certifying-indonesian-firm-clearing-orangutan-habitat/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — A major global forestry certification body is under scrutiny for endorsing one of Indonesia’s largest recent deforesters, raising concerns that consumers may be misled about the origins of the wood products they buy. In November, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) approved the certification of Indonesian timber firm PT Industrial Forest Plantation (IFP). The label allows the company to market its pulpwood as “sustainable,” even though investigative group Earthsight says IFP has in recent years become Indonesia’s second-largest deforester. Between 2016 and 2022, IFP cleared nearly 22,000 hectares (about 54,000 acres) of natural forest in central Borneo, an area roughly the size of Amsterdam, to establish its plantations. Since 2022, the company has cleared more forest each year than almost any other operator in Indonesia’s industrial plantation sector. The concession lies in a landscape recognized as a key stronghold for critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), with roughly half the licensed area estimated to be orangutan habitat. IFP has refuted Earthsight’s findings, saying all clearing and planting was carried out under work plans approved by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. It also said it stopped logging natural forest at the end of 2023. But analysis by Indonesian NGO Auriga Nusantara shows deforestation continued well into 2024, with more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of forest loss recorded in the concession. That made IFP the fourth-largest deforester among plantation permit holders that year. PEFC told Earthsight it found no clear evidence of procedural error in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Sustainable forestry certifier PEFC is under fire for its endorsement of Indonesian plantation firm IFP despite it being a major recent deforester, with tens of thousands of hectares cleared in orangutan habitat and ongoing forest loss documented into 2024. - Earthsight and other NGOs say the certification exploits loopholes, including PEFC’s “partial certification” model that lets companies exclude recently cleared areas while still selling certified timber. - Deforestation-linked timber may have entered global supply chains, with mills processing IFP-linked wood exporting large volumes to the EU ahead of the bloc’s new deforestation regulation. - Critics say PEFC’s weak safeguards and Indonesia’s IFCC certification system enable greenwashing, and call for IFP’s certification to be revoked and rules tightened to bar any company or corporate group involved in post-2010 forest clearing. authors: | ||
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New technologies offer hope in fight to save the world’s imperiled rosewoods 15 Dec 2025 16:14:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-technologies-offer-hope-in-fight-to-save-the-worlds-imperiled-rosewoods/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Katarina Zimmer content:encoded: News about the poaching and smuggling of threatened species often centers on products like tiger bone, rhino horn or pangolin scales. But much of the world’s illegally sourced wildlife products are actually trees — in particular, 33 hardwood species in the Dalbergia genus, better known as rosewood. Rosewood can sell for tens of thousands of dollars per cubic meter and has the highest overall trafficking value of any wildlife product in the world: Between 2014 and 2018, rosewood accounted for 32% of the monetary value of illegally traded wildlife products seized by law enforcement. But a recent paper in the journal Biological Conservation finds that new technologies could save the world’s rosewoods from being little more than plunder. Demand for the richly colored, aromatic and durable timber continues to grow in China, where rosewood furniture has long been a symbol of status and luxury. International regulations have failed to stop the rampant harvesting of the tropical trees, whose value only grows with their increasing rarity. Two Southeast Asian species — Siamese (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) and Burmese rosewood (D. oliveri) — are now critically endangered, driving rosewood traders to other rainforests in Africa and South America. This appetite threatens the very existence of the unique trees as well as their important ecological roles, such as enriching soil with nitrogen, reducing soil erosion, and providing habitat for wildlife. But technologies exist that could help stop the trees’ plight, according to the paper by a team of scientists at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden’s Center…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Rosewood accounts for nearly a third of the value of illegal wildlife trade seizures worldwide, and illegal harvesting of the trees has continued in spite of efforts to regulate its trade and harvest. - Researchers say that new and existing technologies such as AI-equipped drones could help detect the illegal logging of rosewood trees inside inaccessible and remote forests, allowing forest officials to intervene in real time. - AI could also help predict the risk of future rosewood logging activities, helping forest officials focus their monitoring efforts. - In addition, the nonprofit TRAFFIC is currently testing AI-based image recognition tools for species identification, while other scientists are working on techniques that identify rosewood species based on DNA samples. authors: | ||
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Artisanal fishers in Liberia question benefits of new tracking devices from government 15 Dec 2025 14:24:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/artisanal-fishers-in-liberia-question-benefits-of-new-tracking-devices-from-government/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Edward Blamo content:encoded: MONROVIA — In Liberia, a country where small-scale fishers number in the tens of thousands, fishers go missing at sea every year. Some, like a crew of four rescued 54 nautical miles (100 kilometers) off the coast in 2020, are fortunate. The Liberia Artisanal Fishermen Association (LAFA), an advocacy group, has, over the years, petitioned the government to improve the safety of these fishers, most of whom use traditional dugout canoes. Some of the boats have outboard motors. But until recently, almost none had a way to broadcast their location. Earlier this year, the campaign received a boost when the Liberian government procured 400 automatic identification system (AIS) transponders from South Africa. The solar-powered devices were distributed to artisanal fishermen in the counties of Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Margibi and Montserrado. AIS devices transmit a vessel’s position and its speed via radio signals. These can be picked up by other vessels and also by receivers located on land. The system was developed to aid navigation at sea. But in recent years, AIS has also been used to map fishing effort and activity. It’s deployed mostly by larger vessels (longer than 24 meters, or 79 feet), and less so by smaller boats used by artisanal fishers. While officials and some fishermen consider the initiative in Liberia a step in the right direction, many of the fishers whom Mongabay spoke to in Grand Cape Mount and Margibi said they’re hesitant to install the devices. Their primary complaint is that the AIS…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Liberian government earlier this year distributed 400 automatic identification system (AIS) transponders to small-scale fishers in the counties of Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Margibi and Montserrado. - The devices transmit a vessel’s position and speed via radio signals, and Liberian authorities say they hope it will help in speeding up responses to vessels that are in distress. - However, many small-scale fishers appear reluctant to adopt the new device, with some saying they would prefer GPS-equipped devices that let them track their own location. - The Liberia Artisanal Fishermen Association (LAFA), an advocacy group, blames the low adoption rate on the inadequate involvement of fishers during the design and rollout of the project. authors: | ||
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In the Amazon, lack of transparency and corruption undermine the environment 15 Dec 2025 11:00:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-the-amazon-lack-of-transparency-and-corruption-undermine-the-environment/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Timothy J. Killeen content:encoded: Brazil’s Ministério Público Federal has demonstrated how an ambitious corps of prosecutors can foster compliance with environmental laws. After charges are filed and indictments served, however, the forum for law enforcement shifts to the courtroom, which in the jurisdictions of the Pan Amazon usually translates into inaction and impunity. Failure to enforce environmental law in the courts is part of a larger problem of political corruption and judicial dysfunction. Just as illegal loggers and land grabbers rarely see the inside of a jail, individuals guilty of bribery, embezzlement and money laundering also largely escape punishment. Success in fighting environmental crime depends on a society’s ability to isolate its judicial system from political corruption. Fighting corruption in the judicial system and enforcing environmental laws go hand in hand. Corruption takes many forms, but in the overwhelming number of acts of political corruption that infect government, it is usually a crime of commission, where the guilty parties proactively offer or solicit bribes or kickbacks, or engage in money laundering. This type of malfeasance occurs within the judicial system, but there is a more insidious form of corruption that contaminates the criminal justice system. The failure to act when its officers are legally obligated to do so is a crime of omission; sometimes referred to as ‘wilful blindness’, it describes the behavior of prosecutors who abuse their ‘power of discretion’ to bring charges – or not. For judges, it might be their ability to delay a case until the statute of limitations terminates…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Corruption among judicial authorities has been chronically undermining law enforcement across countries in the Amazon. - Omission, also known as “wilful blindness,” is what has allowed the application of discretionary power that allows charges not to be brought despite existing evidence. - As a result of these procedural flaws, environmental offenses often go unpunished. Thus, those who appropriate land, engage in illegal deforestation, or steal timber are rarely prosecuted. authors: | ||
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