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The king of the Andes: How a village learned to coexist with condors 15 Aug 2026 07:40:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/08/the-king-of-the-andes-how-a-village-learned-to-coexist-with-condors/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Julia Lima content:encoded: PÁRAMO EL ALMORZADERO, Colombia — Doris Torres is a sheepherder who grew up seeing Andean condors as enemies. In this remote village high in the Colombian Andes, the birds were blamed for livestock losses and often killed through poisoning or shooting — persecution that helped push their population to the brink. But as Torres learned more about the condor and its importance to the Andean ecosystem, her relationship with the species began to change. She became an unlikely conservationist and is now at the heart of a grassroots effort helping bring condors back to these mountains. Working with Fernando Castro, from the Parque Jaime Duque Foundation, Torres and other villagers have transformed a long-standing conflict into a model of coexistence. Former enemies of the condor have become its protectors, creating a rare safe haven for one of Colombia’s most threatened birds of prey. Today, condors are once again soaring over the páramo. And the community is preparing for the next step: welcoming young condors bred in captivity by Castro and his team in Bogotá. Using artificial incubation and condor-shaped hand puppets to raise the chicks without accustoming them to humans, the team hopes to release at least three juveniles into the wild by the end of 2027. 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…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: PÁRAMO EL ALMORZADERO, Colombia — Doris Torres is a sheepherder who grew up seeing Andean condors as enemies. In this remote village high in the Colombian Andes, the birds were blamed for livestock losses and often killed through poisoning or shooting — persecution that helped push their population to the brink. But as Torres learned […] authors: | ||
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Global marine protected areas fail to safeguard most sharks and rays: Study 14 Aug 2026 16:41:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-marine-protected-areas-fail-to-safeguard-most-sharks-and-rays-study/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Madeline Shaw content:encoded: In 2022, 196 countries agreed to the ambitious conservation goal of “30×30”: setting aside 30% of the planet’s coastal and marine areas for conservation by 2030 as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Now, halfway to 2030, only about 10% of the ocean is covered by protected areas, leaving many countries far short of meeting this biodiversity goal by the end of the decade. Even within these existing reserves, new research shows significant gaps for one of the most threatened marine groups: sharks and rays. A study published in Conservation Letters in July finds that most species of sharks and rays have less than 10% of their ranges covered by any marine protected area (MPA), with significant shortfalls for threatened and critically endangered species. The analysis also reveals major gaps in reporting on the extent of fishing and harvesting restrictions in these preserves, also known as “take-status”, which is important for assessing meaningful protection for these animals. “Simply increasing the amount of protected ocean doesn’t necessarily mean we’re actually protecting those threatened species,” Amanda Arnold, a marine biodiversity researcher at Simon Fraser University in Canada and the lead author of the study, told Mongabay. “It’s not covering the breadth of biodiversity.” Sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus), a critically endangered species according to the IUCN. Image mattdowse via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). Research suggests that to offer measurable conservation benefits, marine preserves should cover at least a tenth of a species’ range, with 20-40% coverage maximizing conservation gains. Yet few…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Marine protected areas (MPAs) cover less than 10% of the ranges of most species of sharks and rays, with significant shortfalls for threatened and critically endangered species, a new study finds. - The analysis also reveals major gaps in reporting on the extent of fishing and harvesting re-strictions in these preserves. - The study’s authors recommend including biodiversity targets as part of the 30×30 framework and encourage policymakers to consider aligning MPAs with important shark and ray areas to maximize conservation and biodiversity benefits. - However, some researchers disagree that blanket MPAs would meaningfully benefit shark and ray conservation. authors: | ||
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Among the sacred hills of Colombia’s Guainía 14 Aug 2026 15:03:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/08/among-the-sacred-hills-of-colombias-guainia/ author: Nandithachandraprakash dc:creator: Rhett A. Butler content:encoded: I had been struck by photographs of the Cerros de Mavicure rising above the forest and the Inírida River in eastern Colombia. The dark rock, exposed against an almost unbroken expanse of green, seemed unlike anywhere else I had visited in the Amazon. Last month, ahead of Mongabay Latam’s PUMA FEST in Bogotá, I finally had the chance to visit. I traveled with Daniela Quintero Díaz, Mongabay Latam’s investigations editor, and Oilber Díaz, a member of the Puinave people who guided us through the region. The three main hills, Mavicure, Mono and Pajarito, are outcrops of the Guiana Shield. They span two Indigenous territories. Mavicure, the hill visitors climb, lies within El Venado, while Mono and Pajarito are within El Remanso. Each territory has a nearby community of the same name. The hills are regarded as sacred by Indigenous peoples in the region. In Puinave tradition, they are connected to stories of creation, animals, family, and the rules governing relations between people and the natural world. Cerros de Mavicure. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Dreyk, a member of the Cubeo people from the Venado community, led us up Mavicure. The trail crossed steep granite, with forest growing in narrow seams and pockets of soil. From higher ground, the scale of the landscape became clearer. The hills rose abruptly from the canopy, while the Inírida curved around them. We reached a viewpoint in time for a beautiful sunset. On the descent after dark, frogs and geckos appeared along the trail. Cerros…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: I had been struck by photographs of the Cerros de Mavicure rising above the forest and the Inírida River in eastern Colombia. The dark rock, exposed against an almost unbroken expanse of green, seemed unlike anywhere else I had visited in the Amazon. Last month, ahead of Mongabay Latam’s PUMA FEST in Bogotá, I finally […] authors: | ||
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Caught on camera: Sand cats may have a ‘sizable population’ in Qatar 14 Aug 2026 14:33:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/caught-on-camera-sand-cats-may-have-a-sizable-population-in-qatar/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Alex Megerle content:encoded: Muhammad Ali Nawaz didn’t expect to see so many cats. Nawaz, a wildlife ecologist at Qatar University, had set out to survey Qatar for the sand cat, a tiny, seldom-studied felid that lives in deserts across Southwest and Central Asia, northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Though there were anecdotal reports of the species in Qatar — some cats photographed, some not — there were no systematic records. So, Nawaz and his collaborators set out an array of cameras and waited. “When I collected the cameras, it was a big surprise,” he told Mongabay on a video call. Between 2022 and 2025, the cameras photographed sand cats (Felis margarita) more than 100 times, all in Qatar’s Al-Ureiq Reserve — a protected area of roughly 55 square kilometers (21 square miles). Though it’s unclear how many individual cats triggered cameras, these images provide solid evidence of the species’ range and information on its habitat preferences, data that was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science. “This is a remarkable kind of a discovery and gives hope for the terrestrial wildlife in the country,” Nawaz said. Photographs captured during this study provide solid evidence of the species’ range and information on its habitat preferences. Image courtesy of Muhammad Ali Nawaz. A resilient desert-dweller Sand cats are perfectly suited for their desert homes. These diminutive felids’ sand-colored fur provides stellar camouflage. Dense fur on their paws insulates against hot sand. Their keen hearing can detect prey underground. They eat small mammals,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The tiny, seldom-studied sand cat is the only feline adapted to survive in harsh deserts: It lives across Southwest and Central Asia, northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. - Because of its large geographic range, this cat isn’t classified as threatened by the IUCN, but data is difficult to come by. Some scientists want to uplist the species to near-threatened status. - The sand cat is difficult to see, day or night. After scattered anecdotal reports, scientists used camera traps to document the first systematic record of the sand cat in Qatar. Their findings offer valuable glimpses into this elusive species’ distribution and preferred habitat. authors: | ||
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New studies portray Amazon as surprisingly resilient, but tipping point looms 14 Aug 2026 14:31:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-studies-portray-amazon-as-surprisingly-resilient-but-tipping-point-looms/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Amanda Magnani content:encoded: For decades, scientists have been trying to answer a key question: What would the Amazon rainforest look like if deforestation, climate change and fires continue? And, a follow-up question: When would that transformation happen? While several researchers have made progress on the answers over the years, a series of studies in 2026 sheds new light on the prognoses. The three reports published earlier this year examine the health of the rainforest from different angles. In April, a study published in Nature shows the Amazon heals faster than expected, but takes longer to fully recover its biodiversity after extreme events. A PNAS study, based on research conducted over two decades and also published in April, finds that the forest is more resilient to fires than anticipated and shows no sign of transitioning to savanna — a different outcome than has long been suspected. However, the researchers warn that the new ecosystems emerging from the forest recovery process are more vulnerable to future climate disturbances. In May, another paper published in Nature examines the impacts of deforestation, notably the increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts, finding that this increase could push the biome to a tipping point by 2040. Emergent rainforest tree in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler for Mongabay. But according to Luciana Gatti, senior researcher at Brazil’s space agency (INPE), climate in the Amazon has already changed sufficiently that typical rainforest trees no longer find the necessary conditions for survival: abundant water and mild temperatures.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Three 2026 studies reveal that the Amazon can regrow quickly, but deforestation and warming could trigger a system-wide tipping point in the next 15 years. - Research also shows that repeated wildfires are replacing fire-resistant specialist trees with generalist species, halving biodiversity at forest edges despite a closing canopy. - According to research, extreme conditions have increased tree mortality due to hydraulic failure, which is key to understanding the forest’s shrinking carbon sinks. - Ending deforestation is necessary and achievable, but must be combined with global actions to curb climate change, say experts. authors: | ||
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How women farmers are helping elephants and forests in a Sumatran national park 14 Aug 2026 14:22:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: SuryadiYenni Kwok content:encoded: LUBUK KEMBANG BUNGA, Indonesia — Tesso Nilo National Park, located on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, often makes headlines due to human-wildlife conflict — a byproduct of illegal encroachment and deforestation by oil palm plantations. However, there is a ray of hope, thanks to female farmers who live in a buffer zone of the national park. In the village of Lubuk Kembang Bunga, in the buffer zone next to the park, women are leading an initiative to plant fruit trees that both serve a conservation purpose and provide extra income. To prevent elephants from destroying their fruit plantations, the villagers plant citrus trees, which repel the pachyderms. Elsewhere, they also plant fruits beloved by these large animals, such as jackfruit, its cousin cempedak, and stink beans, known in Indonesian as petai. Ernita, a 33-year-old farmer, said she can now breathe easy after planting citrus trees on the perimeter of her oil palm farm. “Before we had the citrus trees, elephants always ate our oil palm fruits,” she told Mongabay Indonesia. “We had to replant the trees four or five times … Praise be to God, since we planted the citrus trees, the elephants haven’t eaten our oil palm fruits.” Ernita’s farm lies just outside Tesso Nilo, so she can grow various crops, including oil palm. But other parts of Lubuk Kembang Bunga village fall within the park’s borders, where, technically at least, oil palm cultivation isn’t permitted. Ernita, a farmer and member of Perbani, grows citrus trees on the perimeter…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Tesso Nilo National Park on the Indonesian island of Sumatra is notorious for human-wildlife conflicts, but women farmers living in its buffer zone are working to protect the park. - Members of the Batang Nilo Women’s Forest Farmer Group, known as Perbani, plant citrus trees, which elephants avoid, around their farms, while also growing fruits that the animals can feed on. - Perbani also empowers its more than 30 members through monthly gender equality classes, covering skills such as leadership and public speaking, as well as a savings-and-loans scheme. - In 2024, the forestry ministry granted the women’s group Wanawiyata Widyakarya status, awarded to community organizations that successfully run conservation and forestry-related enterprises and provide training to residents. authors: | ||
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Sand mining plans spark opposition from fishers in Indonesia’s Riau Islands 14 Aug 2026 13:37:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/sand-mining-plans-spark-opposition-from-fishers-in-indonesias-riau-islands/ author: Yenni Kwok dc:creator: Basten GokkonYogi Eka Sahputra content:encoded: NUMBING ISLAND, Indonesia — The waters off Numbing Island, part of the Riau archipelago between Sumatra and Singapore, are among Indonesia’s richest fishing grounds. Local fisher Edy says the abundant fish stocks have enabled him to support his family and pay for his children’s university education. He typically earns between 1 million and 2 million rupiah ($55-$110) per fishing trip and makes four trips a month. However, Edy says he fears a proposed sand-mining project will threaten his and other fishers’ livelihoods. He said dredging would make the water more turbid, driving fish away from their traditional habitats and forcing fishers to sail farther out to sea to find them. “That is why I am afraid of this mining project. It will damage the sea. We have experienced this before, when marine sand mining took place near Batam,” he said, referring to one of the largest of the Riau islands, located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Numbing. “Our waters also became cloudy.” Numbing Island in Indonesia’s Riau Islands province. Image by Yogi Eka Sahputra/Mongabay Indonesia. A wave of opposition to the planned sea-sand mining in the waters around Riau Islands province has emerged among not only fishers from Numbing and surrounding areas, but also Indonesian lawmakers. Local authorities paint the project off Numbing, which is part of the Riau Islands’ Bintan district, as necessary to dredge marine sediment to facilitate large ship traffic. This would make it exempt from Indonesian law that prohibits sand mining in coastal areas and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Plans to mine marine sand off Indonesia’s Numbing Island have sparked opposition from fishers, environmental groups, and some lawmakers who warn of damage to fishing grounds and marine tourism. - Although the government describes the project as marine sediment management and no company has begun operations, the proposal has divided local communities over the promised compensation. - Critics warn the dredging could increase water turbidity, damage coral reefs, alter coastal currents, and weaken natural coastal defenses. - The dispute has also raised legal and geopolitical concerns, with researchers arguing the Riau Islands’ strategic location makes the environmental risks a national security matter. authors: | ||
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How AI helps gather remote biodiversity data: Interview with Microsoft’s Juan Lavista Ferres 14 Aug 2026 13:06:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-ai-helps-gather-remote-biodiversity-data-interview-with-microsofts-juan-lavista-ferres/ author: Abhishyantkidangoor dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: At a meeting with conservationists a couple of years back, Juan Lavista Ferres had a eureka moment. As the director of Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, Lavista Ferres has extensively worked on projects that use artificial intelligence technology to process and analyze biodiversity data. At that particular meeting, however, he realized that a glaring gap persisted. “It takes a huge amount of effort to collect data,” Lavista Ferres, who is also Microsoft’s chief data scientist, told Mongabay in a video interview. “We never realized how bad it was until we worked closely with them [the conservationists] to see the whole workflow.” On returning to his lab, Lavista Ferres put together a team to find a solution. The result was Project SPARROW. Short for solar-powered acoustic and remote recording observation watch, SPARROW combines edge computing and AI to monitor biodiversity in real time and continuously. Powered by solar energy, the tool has been developed to function autonomously in remote forests to gather and process visual and audio data. “The whole idea of SPARROW is to make it trivial for conservationists to be able to collect data,” Lavista Ferres said. SPARROW has been deployed in 11 countries across five continents and has demonstrated that it can function continuously without human intervention for more than a year. Deployments in remote forests come with their own set of challenges, however, as devices are difficult to access. Amazon Conservation Association’s Los Amigos biological station. Courtesy of ACA. “Our most important challenge is to make sure…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - An AI-powered tool is helping keep an eye on the world’s most remote forests. - Named SPARROW, the biodiversity monitoring tool continuously gathers and analyzes images and audio from forests over a long time period without human intervention. - Developed by Microsoft, it aims to make data gathering and analysis from remote forests easier for scientists and conservationists. - SPARROW has been deployed in five continents and, according to Microsoft, tests on location show it can function for more than a year without interruption. authors: | ||
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‘To speak of agroecology is to speak of farmers’ autonomy’: Interview with Olga Muthambe 14 Aug 2026 12:34:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/to-speak-of-agroecology-is-to-speak-of-farmers-autonomy-interview-with-olga-muthambe/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Far Vubil content:encoded: In Mozambique, southeast Africa, more than 1,600 women participate in agroecological practice programs across the provinces of Maputo and Gaza (both in the south), Tete (central region) and Cabo Delgado (far north). These initiatives are led by Hikone Moçambique, a civil society association founded in 2013 that seeks to empower rural women. The organization’s work focuses primarily on Mozambican women facing social vulnerability. The displacement of local populations, with resulting impacts on livelihoods, along with expropriation and concentration of land and resources, are some of the most common adverse effects associated with extractive industries that often amount to appropriation of nature through labor exploitation. According to Hikone Moçambique, extractive industries also undermine food sovereignty and exacerbate inequalities, disproportionately affecting women, who lose their income-generating alternatives. Hikone was co-founded by Mozambican social activist and current executive director Olga Muthambe. A feminist, community development practitioner, self-taught educator and mother of seven, she has over 30 years of experience with rural communities. In the 1990s, Muthambe worked with women and youth rehabilitation projects following the civil war in Mozambique (1977-1992), where she led initiatives to ensure food security. Decades later, in 2021, in the midst of another armed conflict in Cabo Delgado, the NGO expanded its work to support women affected by violence and forced displacement, which impacted around one million people in that province alone. Throughout its history, the organization has worked with more than 5,000 women across various activities, including training, community gatherings and seminars throughout Mozambique. In 2025, Muthambe also…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In an interview with Mongabay, Mozambican social activist Olga Muthambe advocates agroecology as a response to the challenges confronting rural women affected by extractive industries and armed conflict. - Muthambe is a co-founder of NGO Hikone Moçambique, a civil society organization that has been active in the African nation for over a decade. Since its inception, the organization has connected more than 5,000 women to socioeconomic training initiatives. - According to Muthambe — who currently serves as the NGO’s executive director — agroecology enables women to produce pesticide-free food for both family consumption and trade, thereby improving food security and generating income. authors: | ||
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Infrastructure and land use behind devastating India monsoon floods 14 Aug 2026 11:25:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/infrastructure-and-land-use-behind-devastating-india-monsoon-floods/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Widespread flooding in northeastern India that affected more than 500,000 people and claimed at least 99 lives between June and August 2026 was primarily driven by human factors like rapid urbanization, deforestation, and destruction of wetlands, new research says. It also points to structural failures rather than climate change. The findings were published by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers who analyze the influence of climate change in extreme weather events. Floods hit India’s Assam state nearly every monsoon as the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries overflow, often submerging the surrounding landscapes. “We decided to focus on the upper Assam, both because of the significant socio-economic and environmental damage reported in the region, and the sheer collective damage of catastrophic floods in the region year on year,” research co-author Arpita Mondal, from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), said at a press briefing. The scientists analyzed historical weather records and climate models to determine the likelihood of the extreme rainfall that occurred over a three-day period (June 26-29), as well over a 30-day period (June 20 to July 19). They found the heavy rainfall observed in 2026 wasn’t exceptional, recurring every one to two years. The team also found no clear link to human-induced rise in global temperatures. “When we combine the observational results with the climate models, we again found no detectable climate change signal in either type of events,” co-author Mariam Zachariah, from Imperial College London, said at the briefing. Instead, the study…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Widespread flooding in northeastern India that affected more than 500,000 people and claimed at least 99 lives between June and August 2026 was primarily driven by human factors like rapid urbanization, deforestation, and destruction of wetlands, new research says. It also points to structural failures rather than climate change. The findings were published by World […] authors: | ||
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100 species on the brink get a $200m conservation lifeline 14 Aug 2026 08:55:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/100-species-on-the-brink-get-a-200m-conservation-lifeline/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Recovery projects for 100 critically endangered and extinct-in-the-wild species across the world are set to receive new funding under a conservation initiative announced Aug. 4. Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund, both U.S.-based environmental organizations, created the Phoenix Species Project and committed $100 million each, for a total of $200 million, to the project. The project’s steering committee said each species will likely receive between $500,000 and $1 million for the duration of the five-year project. Among the 100 species are Mexico’s Charco Azul pupfish (Cyprinodon veronicae), which went extinct in the wild in 1997 after its habitat dried up completely due to a devastating drought. Another is Madagascar’s golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli), a critically endangered lemur whose population has declined by roughly 80% amid rampant deforestation. With new funding, local NGOs will work to reconnect the fragmented forests that the lemurs need to survive. A male Charco Azul pupfish. Image courtesy of Barbara Nicca. “We’ve protected the golden-crowned sifaka for years on a budget that would never match what this species deserves, but letting it go extinct was never an option,” Tiana Andriamanana, executive director of Association Fanamby, the Malagasy NGO leading conservation efforts for the lemur, said in a statement. All 100 species, located across 30 countries, have already been chosen, but funding amounts for each have not yet been finalized. They will be determined on a rolling basis as proposals are submitted, the Phoenix Species Project’s steering committee told Mongabay by email. The sifaka and the pupfish…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Recovery projects for 100 critically endangered and extinct-in-the-wild species across the world are set to receive new funding under a conservation initiative announced Aug. 4. Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund, both U.S.-based environmental organizations, created the Phoenix Species Project and committed $100 million each, for a total of $200 million, to the project. The […] authors: | ||
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Rescued from traffickers, reintroduced orangutan becomes mother in the wild 14 Aug 2026 07:15:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescued-from-traffickers-reintroduced-orangutan-becomes-mother-in-the-wild/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Ayat S. Karokaro content:encoded: Seven years after being returned to the forests of northern Sumatra from a rehabilitation facility, a female orangutan rescued from traffickers has been found nurturing a baby in the wild, giving new encouragement that reintroduced apes can establish breeding populations. “From victim of illegal wildlife trafficking to a mother in the wild, Bulan’s journey demonstrates the long-term value of orangutan rehabilitation and reintroduction,” said M. Yakob Ishadamy, conservation lead at the Lestari Ecosystem Foundation, an organization that manages the Jantho reservation in partnership with Indonesia’s forestry ministry. Fieldworkers confirmed the birth of the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) on May 22 this year after seeing Bulan moving across the forest canopy cradling a male infant believed to be about a month old. Indonesia’s forestry minister named the baby Badar, a Malay word with Arabic origin meaning “full moon.” The mother’s name, Bulan, also means “moon” in Indonesian. “This birth is proof that through consistent habitat protection, we can restore populations of endangered endemic species,” Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antony said in a statement. “Hopefully, Badar can thrive in the wild and bring a new glimmer of hope for the sustainability of our invaluable forest ecosystem.” Diana is a female orangutan who is expected to begin her new, independent life at the Jantho Nature Reserve alongside 103 other orangutans. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay Indonesia. Indonesia established the Jantho Orangutan Release Area within the Jantho Nature Reserve in Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra, in 2011. It serves as a reintroduction…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Fieldworkers at the Jantho orangutan release forest in Aceh, Indonesia’s westernmost region, have recorded the 10th birth by orangutans successfully released back into the wild from a charity-run rehabilitation center. - Indonesia’s forestry minister named the baby Badar, which means a full moon, and highlighted the need for consistent protection of orangutan habitats in Borneo and Sumatra islands, which are home to Indonesia’s three species of orangutan. - However, a new study on Sumatran orangutan populations published in the September issue of “Global Ecology and Conservation” concluded that surviving populations likely declined by nearly 20% between 2011 and 2023. authors: | ||
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South Africa school uses cattle dung to generate biogas for cooking meals 14 Aug 2026 02:45:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/south-africa-school-uses-cattle-dung-to-generate-biogas-for-cooking-meals/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bernard Chiguvare content:encoded: Women preparing meals for more than 1,000 students at Tiyani Secondary School in South Africa’s Limpopo province no longer rely only on firewood. Instead, much of the cooking is powered by biogas generated from cattle dung collected from Tiyani village. This community-led project could reduce pressure on forests while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, experts say. The pilot project was established in 2022 with support from the University of Venda. Every weekday, four community volunteers from Tiyani use an ox-drawn cart to collect cattle dung from nearby households. The manure is then mixed with water and fed into a biogas converter digester, an airtight, oxygen-free container where microbes convert it into methane-rich biogas. The gas is then piped directly to the school kitchen, where it powers the cooking of breakfast and lunch for the school’s 1,054 learners. When there isn’t enough cow dung, the school still supplements with firewood. “We never imagined that something we regarded as waste could become a source of energy,” Fosta Chavalala, the community project manager of the biogas project, told Mongabay in an interview. “In future, we hope to expand the project” to rely more on gas than firewood. In a March 2025 article published in the industry magazine ReSource, David Tinarwo, head of the Biogas Research team at the University of Venda, said the project was designed to reduce dependence on firewood while making productive use of livestock waste. “The demand for firewood was placing pressure on local trees, and the way trees were being…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Women preparing meals for more than 1,000 students at Tiyani Secondary School in South Africa’s Limpopo province no longer rely only on firewood. Instead, much of the cooking is powered by biogas generated from cattle dung collected from Tiyani village. This community-led project could reduce pressure on forests while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, experts say. […] authors: | ||
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More people, farms, and drought could mean more elephant conflict in Southern Africa 14 Aug 2026 02:43:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/more-people-farms-and-drought-could-mean-more-elephant-conflict-in-southern-africa/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: A growing human population, expanding croplands, and drier conditions driven by climate change within protected areas could significantly intensify human-elephant conflict in Southern Africa, a recent study finds. Southern Africa is home to almost 300,000 African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), with many populations rebounding after decades of poaching. The region is also seeing rapidly expanding farms and human populations, leading to instances of crop raiding by elephants. To understand what drives the problem in the region, they used data on crop raiding recorded within 38 community-managed communal conservancies in Namibia from 2004 to 2020, and used statistical methods and machine-learning models to assess the drivers across the broader region, including northern Botswana, Angola, and Zambia. Their analysis showed that human population growth and expansion of farms, settlements and other built-up areas led to higher rates of crop raiding. Conflict was also higher during the wet season, from November to April. Moreover, drier conditions within protected areas were associated with higher human-elephant conflict in nearby conservancies during the wet season, suggesting that poorer habitat conditions within the protected areas may be pushing the animals out, increasing the potential for conflict, the authors say. The researchers also found that projected changes in land use, human population, and climate change would expand the area at risk of crop raiding in Southern Africa by 2085. Evan Patrick, the study’s lead author, told Mongabay by email that local land use and development patterns are the clearest signals driving increases in conflict. “That means the projected…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A growing human population, expanding croplands, and drier conditions driven by climate change within protected areas could significantly intensify human-elephant conflict in Southern Africa, a recent study finds. Southern Africa is home to almost 300,000 African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), with many populations rebounding after decades of poaching. The region is also seeing rapidly expanding […] authors: | ||
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From one deer’s DNA, a road map emerges to save an endangered Philippine species 14 Aug 2026 02:18:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/from-one-deers-dna-a-road-map-emerges-to-save-an-endangered-philippine-species/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Pippo Carmona content:encoded: The net fell with a dull thud. Abraham thrashed once, twice, then went still. A metal notcher clicked against the soft cartilage of his ear, snipping a tiny piece of tissue into ethanol. An antiseptic spray then hissed over the wound, sealing it from infection. Abraham is a Visayan spotted deer (Rusa alfredi), who was born, raised and ultimately died at Silliman University’s Center for Tropical Conservation Studies (CENTROP) in the Philippines. Named for the unique constellation of pale spots running across their flanks, the Visayan spotted deer once roamed across six islands in the central Philippines. Deforestation for agricultural expansion and hunting wiped them from four, leading them to be listed in 1988 as endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Now, only the islands of Panay and Negros remain as their refuge. The last count, from 2016, put the wild population at 700 mature individuals. By 2019, Philippine authorities had escalated the national listing to critically endangered. A decade on, with deforestation and hunting persisting throughout the deer’s refuge, conservationists find it hard to say whether that number has held, or slipped further. A few hundred more spotted deer live in captivity, cared for in facilities scattered across the two islands. Before their numbers dwindle even further, researchers from both Panay and Negros have sprung into action to restore deer population. Their first move: unlocking the deer’s genetic secrets. Using the sample taken from Abraham, researchers from Silliman University, in Negros, and the Philippine Genome Center…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Scientists in the Philippines have produced a draft genome of the Visayan spotted deer, an endangered mammal endemic to the island nation. - The draft genome, the first of its kind for any of the Philippines’ endangered mammals, has already revealed information that can be used for conservation planning, including confirmation that captive populations are dangerously inbred. - While the captive population shows low genetic diversity overall, researchers are working to identify individuals that still carry unique variants, and to shape captive breeding programs around genetic findings. - Efforts in the lab are paired with efforts to confirm the locations of wild populations, plan future release sites for captive-bred animals, and build community support for conservation. authors: | ||
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UK firefighters out in force to tackle fires on hottest day of the year 13 Aug 2026 22:35:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/uk-firefighters-out-in-force-to-tackle-fires-on-hottest-day-of-the-year/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: LONDON (AP) — Firefighters are tackling multiple fires in central England on a day that the U.K. recorded its hottest day of the year as an intense stretch of hot weather continued to grip Europe. Thursday’s fire outbreak across the West Midlands, which saw several houses burned to the ground, have been “one of the most significant” incidents the region’s fire service has ever dealt with, chief fire officer Simon Tuhill said. A child and three firefighters were taken to hospital following the wildfire in Stourbridge. The fires, the cause of which remains to be determined and which could take days to put out, came on a day the mercury struck 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in west London. By Pan Pylas and Angela Charlton, Associated Press Banner image: A dog runs over dried grass in front of Tower Bridge during the fifth heatwave of the year in London, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. Image courtesy of Kirsty Wigglesworth via Associated PressThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: LONDON (AP) — Firefighters are tackling multiple fires in central England on a day that the U.K. recorded its hottest day of the year as an intense stretch of hot weather continued to grip Europe. Thursday’s fire outbreak across the West Midlands, which saw several houses burned to the ground, have been “one of the […] authors: | ||
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Big Bear Valley’s beloved bald eagle Jackie is dead 13 Aug 2026 21:49:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/big-bear-valleys-beloved-bald-eagle-jackie-is-dead/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: Jackie, a beloved bald eagle who called California’s Big Bear Valley in the U.S. home for all her life, has died. She was 14 years old. She was found on the ground, fighting with two young eagles on July 18 and was taken to the Ojai Raptor Center, where she was being treated for severe anemia and dehydration. The center announced< that she died in the evening hours of Aug. 9, 2026, despite intensive veterinary care and a blood transfusion. Jackie had additional health challenges after she was admitted, including a large blood clot in her wing and kidney, according to the center. Jackie and her mate Shadow gained worldwide attention through the Friends of Big Bear Valley’s live camera feed. The camera, set up in 2015 when another bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) pair used the nest, streamed the happenings at Jackie and Shadow’s 145-meter- (476-foot-) high abode, sitting atop a Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi). Since 2018, when this bonded pair began breeding, the public as they mated, laid eggs, hatched them and fed the chicks until they fledged. The pair successfully raised seven chicks but lost a few over the years. A dedicated Facebook page with 1.3 million followers, run by volunteers, regularly posted highlights about the goings on in the nest, entertaining and educating the public about bald eagles and their behavior. People virtually cheered as each chick reached a milestone and wept when they didn’t survive. Jackie at the Ojai Raptor Center, where she was being treated…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A popular bald eagle from California’s Big Bear Valley, watched by millions around the world through a livestream nest camera, has died. - Jackie, as the bird was known, was admitted to the Ojai Raptor Center after rescuers found her grounded and fighting with two juvenile bald eagles in the Big Bear Valley. - Dehydrated and anemic when she was found, Jackie developed blood clots in her wing and kidney, leading to her declining health and eventual death despite three weeks of intensive veterinary care. - Jackie’s and her mate Shadow’s popularity spurred a $10 million donation for a land trust to purchase parts of their habitat slated for a luxury housing development. authors: | ||
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Timor green pigeon nears extinction after decades of inaction, study warns 13 Aug 2026 16:31:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/timor-green-pigeon-nears-extinction-after-decades-of-inaction-study-warns/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Timothy Mihocik content:encoded: On April 20, Jafet Potenzo Lopes was surveying the south coast of Manatuto municipality, in Timor-Leste, when he recorded something he had not seen in years: three Timor green pigeons, alive, in a location where the species had never been documented before. Lopes is one of Timor-Leste’s few field ecologists. He was born and raised in the village of Com, inside Nino Konis Santana National Park — the last place on Earth where a viable population of this species, Treron psittaceus, still survives. He has spent more than a decade walking through forests, coastal habitats and mountains across the country, documenting what remains. “Rediscovering the Timor green pigeon was one of the most emotional moments of my life,” he says. “I was almost crying when I saw them in the wild. In my heart and mind, I kept saying, ‘Yes, yes, they still exist.’” Researchers estimate that only 100-500 Timor green pigeons remain globally, and believe the true number is probably toward the lower end of that range. “Seeing them alive gave me hope,” Lopes says. But despite decades of concern for the endangered bird, the species still lacks a dedicated recovery program, regular population monitoring and sustained conservation investment. T. psittaceus inhabits the lowland forests of Timor, a Southeast Asian island divided between Timor-Leste and the Indonesian region of West Timor. Less than 10% of the island’s original forest cover remains. A recent survey of the species published in the journal Oryx, the most comprehensive ever conducted, compiled more…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study warns the Timor green pigeon is on the brink of extinction after decades of neglect, despite being listed as endangered since 2000. - Researchers estimate just 100-500 birds remain, with Timor-Leste now the species’ last viable stronghold after it has all but disappeared from Indonesia. - Scientists say hunting has been the biggest driver of the bird’s collapse, while the absence of a recovery program, regular monitoring and sustained funding have allowed its decline to continue. - Conservationists argue the species can still be saved, but only through urgent action that combines stronger enforcement with community-led protection rooted in Timorese customary conservation. authors: | ||
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A mine polluted a Zambian river in 2025: Residents continue to live with the impacts 13 Aug 2026 16:13:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-mine-polluted-a-zambian-river-in-2025-residents-continue-to-live-with-the-impacts/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: One and a half years after the collapse of a large tailings dam in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province, the environmental and human impacts of the toxic spill continue to affect residents, civil society members have told Mongabay. The dam, which is used to store mining waste and is owned by Chinese copper company Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, failed on Feb. 18, 2025, in the town of Chambishi in north-central Zambia. It released millions of liters of acidic mining waste into waterways connected to the Kafue River. Stretching 1,576 kilometers (979 miles), the Kafue is the longest river lying entirely within Zambia and a lifeline for millions of people in the country. A study by researchers at Zambia’s Copperbelt University published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances in May 2026 is the first independent scientific assessment of the ecological impacts of the incident. The researchers found severely compromised water quality, high concentrations of heavy metals in water, fish, sediments and pastures, and evidence that toxic substances had entered the food chain. The larger Kafue River system provides water to around half of Zambia’s population. It feeds into the Zambezi River and sustains biodiverse wetland ecosystems including the Lukanga Swamp and the Kafue Flats. For the study, the scientists collected water samples from five sites in the affected area and one in the unaffected area as a control in the days following the accident. Their analysis of the samples showed that heavy metal concentrations, including of copper, iron, zinc, lead and arsenic, exceeded…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent study on the ecological impacts of a tailings dam failure in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province in 2025 finds that highly toxic substances such as arsenic, lead and zinc were released into the Kafue River system. - As a result of the spill at Sino-Metals Leach Zambia’s mine, millions of liters of acidic mining waste were released into waterways connected to the river. - The assessment links the incident to the death of wildlife and the contamination of soils and water sources in the region. - Sino-Metals Leach Zambia says it has initiated cleanup measures, but communities still reside on contaminated land, according to civil society organizations. authors: | ||
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Land rights and mangroves entwine in a Brazilian quilombo’s resistance 13 Aug 2026 15:29:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/land-rights-and-mangroves-entwine-in-a-brazilian-quilombos-resistance/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Carolina de Marchi content:encoded: BREJÃO DOS NEGROS, Brazil — It’s hard to tell where one ends and the other starts. Here on Brazil’s Atlantic coast, where the São Francisco River meets the sea, waves ripple across the crystal-clear water. In the vast blue expanse, the green of islands and islets blends with fertile lands covered in Atlantic Forest remnants, white dunes, small docks, marginal lagoons, and mangroves — a biological heritage that serves as a nursery for countless marine species. But this beauty has not always belonged to those who lived there. Remnants of cotton plantations and more than 20 mills tell of an era before the so-called Golden Law of 1888 abolished slavery in Brazil. This region once held the largest number of enslaved people in the lower catchment area of the São Francisco River. Because of its dense native forests, it was also an ideal refuge for those who managed to escape, which earned it the name Refúgio dos Negros. Even after abolition, the people who lived off artisanal fishing and farming here enjoyed little real freedom. The land where they had lived on and worked for generations was claimed by local landowners who, with or without legal titles, exercised uncontested dominance. According to residents of the Brejão dos Negros Quilombola Territory — a group of traditional communities, or quilombos, founded by formerly enslaved Afro-Brazilians — fences and cattle grids went up everywhere, making them feel like prisoners in their own land. “It was like this: if you harvested a field of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Officially recognized as a collection of quilombos, or traditional Afro Brazilian communities, by the government in 2023, Brejão dos Negros is still awaiting the land titles it has been demanding for 20 years. - The federal land reform agency has demarcated more than 8,000 hectares (19,800 acres) of the territory, but the communities have been authorized to use less than a tenth of this area. - This delay has left them vulnerable to land disputes; the encroachment of shrimp farms into mangrove areas, which harms fishing and shellfish gathering; and increased salinization of the São Francisco River, which affects their crops and hinders their access to potable water. - Seeking new income sources, the community members are turning to pesticide-free farming; one of the communities has become the largest producer of agroecological rice in Sergipe state. authors: | ||
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Indonesia’s wildfire season surges as haze spreads into Malaysia 13 Aug 2026 14:23:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias-wildfire-season-surges-as-haze-spreads-into-malaysia/ author: Yenni Kwok dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Haze from fires in Indonesian Borneo has drifted across the border into the Malaysian portion of the island, pushing air pollution there to “very unhealthy levels” and causing school closures. On Aug. 12, Sarawak’s Tebedu district, near the Indonesia-Malaysia border, recorded an air pollution index (API) exceeding 200, considered “very unhealthy,” prompting the government to close six schools and shift classes online. IQAir, a Swiss-based air quality technology company, ranked Kuching, the capital of Malaysia’s Sarawak state, as the most polluted major city in the world on Aug. 11. Air quality map of Southeast Asia on Aug. 11, 2026. Image courtesy of IQAir. According to Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS), 11 areas in Sarawak recorded unhealthy API readings on Aug. 11, up from eight on Aug. 9. The worsening air quality in Sarawak comes as fires intensify in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, which neighbors the Malaysian state. The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), which monitors and assesses wildfires and transboundary haze in the Southeast Asia region, observed smoke drifting from West Kalimantan into western Sarawak across several days in July. A map from the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) showing haze coverage and wind direction in the southern ASEAN region on Aug. 11, 2026. Image courtesy of ASMC. As haze blanketed parts of West Kalimantan, authorities in the provincial capital, Pontianak, have suspended schools indefinitely and shifted classes online. Fires also affected parts of Sumatra. Haze from the western Indonesian island has historically drifted north to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Fires in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province have sent haze across the border into Malaysia, where worsening air pollution has forced six schools in Sarawak state to switch to online classes. - Indonesia is entering the peak of its fire season, with West Kalimantan accounting for more than half of the nearly 49,000 hectares (121,000 acres) burned across six priority provinces as of Aug. 9. - The fires are also threatening biodiversity, including orangutan habitat and rehabilitation efforts in West Kalimantan, while a separate blaze has forced the closure of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on the island of Java. - Authorities have deployed tens of thousands of personnel and dozens of aircraft to fight the fires, but environmental groups say funding cuts and the intensifying El Niño are raising concerns about Indonesia’s preparedness. authors: | ||
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Carbon accounting differences can halve a company’s reported footprint, study finds 13 Aug 2026 14:06:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/carbon-accounting-differences-can-halve-a-companys-reported-footprint-study-finds/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Companies can, in theory, appear to cut the carbon footprint of their supply chains in half simply by changing how they calculate emissions, according to a new paper. Researchers found that differences in accepted accounting methods can change how companies crunch their climate numbers and make it difficult to distinguish real emissions cuts from differences in calculations. “It is actually possible … in the current framework that a company can either look like a climate pioneer or a climate laggard just depending on which numbers they pick,” lead author Ramana Gudipudi, a guest lecturer at the European School of Management and Technology in Germany, told Mongabay by phone. “If I am a company, all I need to do is to hire a good mathematician and say like, ‘Hey, this is how much I want to show my progress.’” The analysis, published as a peer-reviewed perspective in the journal Nature Sustainability, looked at 401 European companies and found that 62.5% of their year-to-year variation in supply chain emissions could not be explained by changes to the business, industry, or emission intensity. By contrast, accounting for the companies’ direct emissions only varied by a bit more than 5%. Gudipudi said companies often publicize a final number, without sharing how they arrived at that figure. The lack of transparency, paired with an array of possible baselines and calculations, means that real action on reducing emissions is obscured. “We really don’t know whether there is any genuine decarbonization or not,” he said. “There are companies…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Companies can, in theory, appear to cut the carbon footprint of their supply chains in half simply by changing how they calculate emissions, according to a new paper. Researchers found that differences in accepted accounting methods can change how companies crunch their climate numbers and make it difficult to distinguish real emissions cuts from differences […] authors: | ||
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Bat virus fragments turn up in fertilizer sold in Thai markets, study finds 13 Aug 2026 10:08:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/bat-virus-fragments-turn-up-in-fertilizer-sold-in-thai-markets-study-finds/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Researchers have found the first genetic evidence of bat-borne viruses within commercially sold bat guano fertilizer in Thailand. However, the viral strains the team detected are not known to infect humans. Moreover, since the researchers only identified fragments of viral RNA and did not isolate live, intact viruses, they could not confirm if the genetic material poses an active threat to human health, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. But the findings suggest that viral genetic material from bat populations can persist far beyond caves and survive within publicly available retail products, the study says. “The most surprising thing was that these viruses don’t just stay in the caves,” senior author Thachawech Kimprasit, a medical microbiologist at Mahidol University in Bangkok, told Mongabay. “Their material can be found in commercial end products.” The discovery raises concerns over a general lack of biosecurity protocols to protect harvesters, agricultural workers, and retail handlers, Thachawech added. Bat guano or droppings are harvested from caves and widely used as agricultural fertilizer around the world. Researchers screened 41 samples of commercially available bat guano fertilizer commonly sold in Thai markets. They found two samples that tested positive for Alphacoronaviruses, a genus of coronaviruses, and one sample that tested positive for Betacoronaviruses, the genus that includes the Sarbecovirus subgenus, from which the pathogen responsible for COVID-19 originates. The researchers identified the croslet horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus coelophyllus), a cave-dwelling insectivorous species common across mainland Southeast Asia, as the most likely natural host of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Researchers have found the first genetic evidence of bat-borne viruses within commercially sold bat guano fertilizer in Thailand. However, the viral strains the team detected are not known to infect humans. Moreover, since the researchers only identified fragments of viral RNA and did not isolate live, intact viruses, they could not confirm if the genetic […] authors: | ||
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Siraya gain recognition as Taiwan’s 17th official Indigenous group 13 Aug 2026 09:10:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/siraya-gain-recognition-as-taiwans-17th-official-indigenous-group/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Yenni Kwok content:encoded: In a significant milestone, the Siraya people of Taiwan have won legal recognition from the government as the island’s 17th officially designated Indigenous group. In late July, the Siraya were the first Indigenous people from Taiwan’s lowland plains, or Pingpu, to gain official status under the Pingpu Indigenous Peoples Status Act. The law, passed in October 2025, offers pathways to redress their erasure as Indigenous peoples. The designation also encapsulates the Siraya’s decades-long fight for legal recognition after centuries of forced assimilation by various colonial powers. “I’ve officially announced in a Cabinet meeting that the Siraya are a legally recognized Indigenous group in Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai said on July 30 to cheers from Siraya community members. Wan Cheng-hsiung, activist and founder of the Tainan Siraya Cultural Association, shouted in Siraya, “We’ve finally come home!” President Lai Ching-te, who backed the Siraya’s fight for cultural and legal recognition during his previous tenures as mayor of the city of Tainan and later as vice president, welcomed the news. “This is a historic moment for the Siraya people and an important milestone in the pursuit of historical and transitional justice for Indigenous peoples,” he wrote on Facebook on Aug. 1, Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Jolan Hsieh, an Indigenous studies scholar at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, who’s also known by her Siraya name, Bavaragh Dagalomai, said the impact of the recognition “could be profound, but recognition itself is only the beginning.” “I see official recognition primarily as a process of restoring…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On July 30, the Siraya became the first Indigenous group from Taiwan’s lowland plains, or Pingpu, to gain official status under the Pingpu Indigenous Peoples Identity Act, which offers pathways to redress the erasure of their Indigenous identities. - The designation also encapsulates the Siraya’s decades-long fight for legal recognition after centuries of forced assimilation by various colonial powers. - The Siraya, a traditionally matrilineal people residing mainly in the southern city of Tainan and its surroundings, are considered to be the largest of the Pingpu Indigenous groups. - Seen to be “well assimilated” with the Han Chinese population, the Pingpu communities have been largely denied not only official Indigenous status but also legal protections, resources, and other benefits. authors: | ||
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How a Brazilian Indigenous ethnobotanist & elders recorded their people’s medicinal knowledge 13 Aug 2026 07:00:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-the-first-published-indigenous-ethnobotanist-elders-recorded-their-peoples-medicinal-knowledge/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: CARAMURU/PARAGUASSU INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — Looking at the landscape of dry and cleared mountains around her house, Marta Xavier de Oliveira remembered when it was a forest. “When we got sick, that’s where we got our medicine from,” Oliveira, known as Dona Marta, 87, told Mongabay. An Indigenous elder of the Kariri-Sapuyá people, she stands amid her ancestral land in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state and her vegetable garden where she’s kept several medicinal plants going. Beside her is an embaúba tree (Cecropia pachystachya), used to treat diabetes and prostate issues, in the backyard of her house in the village of Caramuru. “It was all over there. They knocked everything down. Everything was cleared and they destroyed the forest.” Some native species, including embaúba, were planted here 44 years ago. Others, however, disappeared from the territory over the past decades, when outsiders invaded the area and cleared the forests for cattle pastures, Dona Marta said. She cited a specific plant: puaia, used to treat snake bites, plague — an illness elders said includes fever, headaches, and leaves the body all twisted — and various other diseases. “It was there in the woods,” she said, pointing to the cleared mountains. “It’s gone.” On Dec. 27, 2025, Dona Marta passed away. Her knowledge, however, is alive today in a study published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethomedicine, which cited her. The paper is authored by Indigenous ethnobotanist Hemerson Dantas dos Santos Pataxó HãHãHãi and Eliana Rodrigues, a professor and coordinator of ethnobotanical…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In an unprecedented participatory ethnobotany approach, Hemerson Dantas dos Santos Pataxó HãHãHãi, a Brazilian Indigenous ethnobotanist, documented alongside his people their traditional medicinal practices: cataloging 175 medicinal plants, many of which had their use reaffirmed in scientific literature. - Mongabay visited Hemerson and spoke with several Indigenous elders who survived violent land conflicts about their medicinal knowledge and their efforts to protect it in the Caramuru/Paraguassu Indigenous Territory, a land illegally occupied by cattle farmers for decades in Brazil’s Bahia state. - Samples of plants collected by Hemerson are being kept at an internationally registered herbarium, and he’s finalizing a book in the hope of keeping the knowledge of the species and ancestral healing practices alive for his people’s future generations. - The work carried out with his people was essential to make “immortal” the knowledge of the elders, Hemerson said, describing them as “living libraries” and “Guardians of Memories.” authors: | ||
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Myanmar junta pushes to restart Myitsone Dam project 13 Aug 2026 05:31:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/myanmar-junta-pushes-to-restart-myitsone-dam-project/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Esther J content:encoded: Since June, Myanmar’s military government has increased its efforts to restart a massive, controversial hydropower project backed by China that has remained suspended for 15 years. The Myitsone Dam project, launched in 2009 and estimated to cost $3.6 billion then, was to be built along the Mali River, the N’mai River, and their confluence at Myitsone, where the Ayeyarwady River begins. Planned in Kachin state in an earthquake-prone area in northern Myanmar, the project is owned by Upstream Ayeyarwady Confluence Basin Hydropower Company, which is jointly owned by China’s Power Investment Corporation, Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power and Asia World Company. The dam was designed to be 1,310 meters (4,298 feet) long and 139.6 meters (458 feet) high. In 2011, then-President Thein Sein suspended the project after widespread public opposition due to its environmental and social impacts. However, at a June 30 press conference in Naypyidaw, the junta’s spokesperson, Khaing Khaing Soe, stated that the Myitsone project would be resumed to generate electricity for Myanmar. The chief minister of Kachin state, Khet Htein Nan, also promoted the project during a public meeting in the state on June 23, offering incentives about electricity and adding that the dam will be built to withstand earthquakes and there will be no need to worry about flooding. He further said that if construction begins this year, the project could be completed within 8.5 years. These statements follow junta leader-turned-President Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to China in early June. The head of the junta’s Myitsone…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Since June, Myanmar’s military government has increased its efforts to restart a massive, controversial hydropower project backed by China that has remained suspended for 15 years. The Myitsone Dam project, launched in 2009 and estimated to cost $3.6 billion then, was to be built along the Mali River, the N’mai River, and their confluence at […] authors: | ||
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Six African countries now support precautionary pause on deep-seabed mining 13 Aug 2026 05:18:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/six-african-countries-now-support-precautionary-pause-on-deep-seabed-mining/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: Three more African countries have joined calls for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining until the environmental, social and economic impacts of such mining are better understood. This brings the number of African countries supporting a moratorium to six. Mauritius, Mozambique and the Republic of the Congo announced support for the precautionary pause during the annual meeting of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaica, in July, joining Malawi, Kenya and Madagascar. The government of Mauritius said in its statement during the ISA meeting that “the sustainable development of Mauritius is inextricably dependent on a healthy and resilient ocean.” Mauritius officials stressed that decisions regarding deep-seabed mining must be made based on “best available scientific evidence and by the precautionary approach, as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.” Malawi was the first African country to support a precautionary pause in May 2026. Kenya and Madagascar followed in June. “The basis for all of these countries, while taking into account their individual contexts, is the lack of sufficient science and the governance gaps that persist,” David Willima from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), a group of more than 140 NGOs and organizations, told Mongabay via email. The six African nations are among 46 countries globally that support a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-seabed mining. The ocean floor in the deep sea has small, hard rocks called polymetallic nodules that contain minerals like nickel, cobalt and manganese. Countries and companies want to mine…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Three more African countries have joined calls for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining until the environmental, social and economic impacts of such mining are better understood. This brings the number of African countries supporting a moratorium to six. Mauritius, Mozambique and the Republic of the Congo announced support for the precautionary pause during the […] authors: | ||
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Nepal enlists AI to help fight against crop-raiding macaques 13 Aug 2026 05:00:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/nepal-enlists-ai-to-help-fight-against-crop-raiding-macaques/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In a village in central Nepal, growing conflict between farmers and rhesus macaques has prompted researchers to test artificial intelligence-based systems that can swiftly detect and deter the monkeys, reports contributor Praveen Kumar Yadav for Mongabay. A 2026 study that followed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in one central Nepal region, found that nearly half of their diet consists of cultivated crops. In villages like Birta Deurali, also in central Nepal, farmers take turns guarding fields every two hours, Yadav reported. To alleviate this burden, researchers in the country are developing AI-driven solutions. Progress Jung Thapa, a researcher at Madan Bhandari University of Science and Technology, has developed a system built on cameras and lightweight computing devices trained on more than 4,000 annotated images. It detects monkeys and interprets their behavior, such as whether the monkeys are moving, feeding, or being vigilant, with an 88% accuracy across 28 field trials. “If a monkey is still watching, the farmer has time,” Thapa said. “If it is already feeding, the response has to be immediate. A machine can detect. But a human decides.” Once a threat is identified, the system sends an alert straight to the farmer’s phone. Meanwhile, Santosh Giri, an assistant professor at Tribhuvan University, is developing a prototype that pairs AI detection with an ultrasonic deterrent to repel monkeys. The deterrent system is, however, yet to be tested in working farm environments. Both Thapa and Giri acknowledged that translating these technologies to field conditions is challenging. Poor visibility from rain…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In a village in central Nepal, growing conflict between farmers and rhesus macaques has prompted researchers to test artificial intelligence-based systems that can swiftly detect and deter the monkeys, reports contributor Praveen Kumar Yadav for Mongabay. A 2026 study that followed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in one central Nepal region, found that nearly half of […] authors: | ||
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Indigenous groups renew legal challenge to Indonesian conservation law 13 Aug 2026 01:20:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-groups-renew-legal-challenge-to-indonesian-conservation-law/ author: Yenni Kwok dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indigenous groups in Indonesia have made a legal challenge to parts of a new conservation law. The groups say it could allow the government to designate their ancestral lands as conservation areas without their consent and threaten their land rights. The Coalition for Equitable Conservation, which comprises the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), civil society groups and representatives of Indigenous and local communities, filed the lawsuit on July 8, 2026. The case seeks to overturn provisions of Indonesia’s 2024 conservation law that the groups say threaten the rights of communities living on ancestral lands, community-managed areas, coastal regions, small islands and conservation zones. The new petition follows the Constitutional Court’s rejection of a separate procedural challenge to the law in July 2025, prompting the coalition to pursue a substantive review of the disputed articles. During a hearing on Aug. 6, 2026, the Constitutional Court was due to hear arguments from the government and the House of Representatives (DPR), which drafted the 2024 law. However, Chief Justice Suhartoyo postponed the hearing until Aug. 24 after both the government and the parliament said they were not ready to present their positions. Indigenous peoples and local communities from the Coalition for Equitable Conservation file a judicial review of the 2024 conservation law at the Indonesian Constitutional Court in Jakarta on July 8, 2026. Image courtesy of AMAN. The petitioners expressed their disappointment with the delay. “The government and the DPR’s failure to present their statements before the Constitutional…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indigenous groups in Indonesia are petitioning the country’s Constitutional Court to invalidate parts of a 2024 conservation law, arguing it could allow the government to designate ancestral lands as conservation areas without communities’ consent and threaten their customary land rights. - The court case comes a year after the court denied a judicial review of the law’s legislative process, despite dissent from two justices. - The latest legal challenge focuses on provisions allowing the creation of “preservation areas”, which the groups say could restrict communities’ access to their lands and undermine traditional forms of conservation. authors: | ||
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Urban heat islands have solutions; many tropical cities can’t afford them 13 Aug 2026 00:34:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/urban-heat-islands-have-solutions-many-tropical-cities-cant-afford-them/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Adam Litchkofski content:encoded: Urban heat islands pose a growing global health threat. But in tropical cities, the peril is surging. Already burdened by hot-humid equatorial weather, global warming, intense poverty, rapid urbanization, and a lack of cooling infrastructure, tropical city officials now face a powerful 2026-2027 El Niño that could put millions of vulnerable urban dwellers at risk. Heat islands form because artificial surfaces, like roads and rooftops, trap heat by day and release it by night, never giving highly-urbanized spaces time to cool. When climate change-induced heat domes stall over cities, temperatures can soar for weeks into the triple digits. Every “city has a rhythm, it has a metabolism,” Matthias Roth, a National University of Singapore researcher, told Mongabay in a video interview. “The metabolism of each city — especially how incoming solar energy is divided between heating surfaces, warming the air, evaporating water, and being stored in the ground and buildings — influences how much energy heats up buildings, surfaces, and air. The prevalence of concrete and asphalt and the absence of vegetation creates a heat island.” But not all tropical urban heat islands (UHIs) are created equally, with the severity of their heat burdens dependent on innovative city planning and the financial clout to keep pace with global warming. In wealthy Singapore (which has devoted high levels of funding to curb UHI effects), air temperatures can still swell; compact high-rise building complexes there can see outdoor temperatures 4.3° Celsius (7.9° Fahrenheit) above rural areas. But in poorer cities, like Lagos,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In tropical cities, urban heat islands (UHIs) exacerbate an already challenging hot-humid heat burden for residents. UHIs are formed by urban artificial surfaces like concrete and asphalt that retain heat by day and slowly release it at night, never giving cities a chance to cool. - Natural and infrastructure solutions can be implemented to combat the UHI effect and cool cities. These include creating shade by planting trees or extending roofs; inducing wind to blow down urban streets; constructing green roofs and walls; painting roofs light colors; and changing social practices to avoid midday heat. - But sufficient funding is needed to implement many of these changes. Wealthy cities, like Singapore, have an advantage over cities with less funding. Many tropical mega-cities, including Lagos, Mumbai, Manila, Jakarta and São Paulo, are working to reduce UHI effects, but struggle to afford full implementation. - The 2026-2027 El Niño is now growing in strength and expected to bring record temperatures to the tropics. These extreme temperatures, combined with UHI effects and urban poverty, could prove deadly for vulnerable residents, which include the poor, young, old, those with disabilities, and those working outdoors. authors: | ||
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Brazil Supreme Court upholds laws that led to downfall of Amazon soy moratorium 12 Aug 2026 23:00:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/brazil-supreme-court-upholds-laws-that-led-to-downfall-of-amazon-soy-moratorium/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court has upheld state laws denying tax incentives to farmers who adhered to the country’s soy moratorium. The court also affirmed the constitutionality of the voluntary agreement. For nearly 20 years, the pact barred the purchase of soy grown on deforested Amazon land. Major grain traders withdrew from the moratorium in January after top soy-producing states revoked tax benefits for participating companies. Brazil is the world’s largest soybean producer, accounting for about 40% of global output. The Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries said the ruling ends years of legal uncertainty but is unlikely to revive the pact. By Gabriela Sá Pessoa, Associated Press Banner image: Patchwork of legal forest reserves, pasture, and soy farms in the Brazilian Amazon in Mato Grosso. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court has upheld state laws denying tax incentives to farmers who adhered to the country’s soy moratorium. The court also affirmed the constitutionality of the voluntary agreement. For nearly 20 years, the pact barred the purchase of soy grown on deforested Amazon land. Major grain traders withdrew from […] authors: | ||
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Decades after religions shaped China’s Tianmushan, authorities tackle protecting reserve 12 Aug 2026 16:11:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/decades-after-religions-shaped-chinas-tianmushan-authorities-tackle-protecting-reserve/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Keith Anthony FabroLatoya Abulu content:encoded: HANGZHOU, China — On a misty morning in Zhejiang province, the peaks of Tianmu Mountain rise like sentinels above the forest canopy, their slopes wrapped in shifting veils of cloud. For centuries, monks and many villagers revered every tree and stream as sacred, a belief that researchers say has guided protection long before the word “conservation” entered common use. “This place is special not only because of its nature,” Lu Senhong, head of the publicity and education division at the Tianmu National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, told Mongabay. “It is also because people here have long believed that every tree, flower, and bird carries a spirit. That respect has kept the mountain alive.” For more than a millennium, a mix of Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions guided protection of plants and wildlife in this lush reserve, which recently extended twelvefold to create a 54,700-hectare (135,170-acre) Tianmushan–Qingliangfeng UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve — the first such expansion in China. In the past, temples that dotted the land imposed strict punishments on anyone caught cutting trees or damaging parts of the old-growth forest — fines in rice or silver, or even expulsion from the monastery. The same rules bound monks themselves to strict conduct, ensuring they upheld the forest’s sanctity. Today, it is state regulations that provide the legal framework for protection and, along with a management plan developed with local communities, that try to tackle challenges the rich ecosystem faces and negotiate a sustainable development model following earlier community land use conflicts.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - For more than a millennium, Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions in China have shaped conservation practices at Tianmu mountain, with beliefs in the sacred connection between humans and nature influencing how communities protect its forests, wildlife and ecosystems. - Today, state regulations provide the legal framework for the protection of the expanded Tianmushan–Qingliangfeng UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and establish a management plan developed with local communities to tackle challenges the rich ecosystem faces and negotiate sustainable development following past land conflicts. Authorities and a study show efforts have increased plant productivity. - Authorities say religious values continue to influence conservation efforts, as monks, residents and officials work on education, ecotourism and monitoring programs to preserve the mountain’s biodiversity. - Despite progress, the reserve faces ongoing challenges including climate change and tree disease. authors: | ||
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Delays, biosecurity failures worsened flu outbreak at Nepal zoo, probe finds 12 Aug 2026 11:57:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/delays-biosecurity-failures-worsened-flu-outbreak-at-nepal-zoo-probe-finds/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Deepak Adhikari content:encoded: KATHMANDU — Delayed reporting, poor communication and weak biosecurity allowed bird flu to spread through Nepal’s Central Zoo in June and July killing or prompting the culling of at least 65 birds and animals, according to an internal inquiry report obtained by Mongabay. The investigation by the nonprofit National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), the autonomous body that manages the zoo and frequently partners with the government, found that officials failed to act adequately on a warning about avian influenza among crows (Corvus splendens) in Kathmandu. The facility also remained open for five days after a rapid test indicated the virus was present. “The investigation found serious negligence and weaknesses at the management level,” according to the report, a copy of which was provided to Mongabay following a right to information application. The inquiry was led by Rachana Shah, the NTNC’s spokesperson and programs manager, raising questions about a conflict of interest. Shah rejected concerns about a potential conflict of interest, saying the goal was to identify institutional failures and draw lessons from the outbreak. “We treated it as an opportunity to draw lessons from the incident, rather than as a formal investigation into the bird flu outbreak at the zoo,” she told Mongabay. “If a similar incident occurs in the future, we will bring in an external expert.” According to the report, bird flu killed 27 birds and 14 mammals between June 12 and July 2, 2026. Authorities also culled 21 birds on suspicion of bird flu to contain…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The bird flu outbreak at Nepal’s only zoo killed or led to the culling of at least 63 animals, including birds, wild cats, civets, two leopards, a jackal and a bear, an inquiry has found. - The inquiry’s report says contaminated feed and water in open bird enclosures, along with failures in animal-food handling, likely helped the virus spread. - The zoo remained open for five days after a rapid test indicated bird flu, despite receiving an earlier warning about infections among crows in Kathmandu. - Less than two weeks after reopening following the bird flu outbreak, the zoo recorded another disease outbreak that killed three wild boars from African swine fever. authors: | ||
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On fragile Sumatran peatland, a farmer fights to bring back lost mangroves 12 Aug 2026 11:44:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-fragile-sumatran-peatland-a-farmer-fights-to-bring-back-lost-mangroves/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Suryadi content:encoded: SUNGAI APIT, Indonesia — Harisyah was still knee-deep in peat as the light faded over the mouth of Indonesia’s Siak River. The 53-year-old palm oil and pineapple grower had been cutting back weeds since morning, clearing the riverbank on the north coast of Sumatra island before driving wooden stakes into the peat at 1.5-meter (5-feet) intervals. “We’re going to use this location as a nursery for the new seedlings,” Harisyah told Mongabay Indonesia. “This new generation will grow up close to mangroves, and they can learn more about them through playing and activities.” Harisyah and others who live in Tanjung Kuras, a coastal village in Siak district, say the weather has become increasingly erratic in recent years. Researchers, meanwhile, have documented a rapidly retreating coastline as the area’s peat soils continue to subside. Residents also contend with frequent tidal flooding, which many blame on the loss of the mangrove forests that once fortified the shoreline. Last Ramadan, the Islamic holy month observed by millions in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, strong winds lifted off the dome from the village mosque. “It’s because there’s no mangrove forest as a buffer to block the wind,” Harisyah said. “It’s been turned into an oil palm plantation — so the wind from the sea blows straight onto land.” Harisyah plants a marker stake at the mangrove planting site. Image by Suryadi/Mongabay Indonesia. World’s largest mangroves Indonesia’s more than 17,000 islands contain the world’s largest mangrove forest estate, covering about 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A palm oil grower in an Indonesian village on Sumatra island, around 100 miles west of Singapore, has spent 15 years studying the role of mangroves in coastal ecosystems and pushing local action to restore coastal forests. - Research shows this area of Sumatra’s northern coastline, which is separated from the Strait of Malacca by a narrow channel and the island of Bengkalis, is experiencing coastal abrasion of more than 6 meters per year, due primarily to mangrove loss. - Indonesia pledged to restore around 600,000 hectares in five years by 2024, which researchers say was likely the world’s most ambitious reforestation initiative on record. However, only a small share of the planned planted area was successfully seeded. authors: | ||
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A plastic eater in Bangkok’s canals 12 Aug 2026 11:28:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/a-plastic-eater-in-bangkoks-canals/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Sandy Watt content:encoded: This solar-powered barge collects plastic from Bangkok’s canals before it can wash into the ocean. It’s an innovative solution to a growing problem, but cleaning up plastic is only part of the answer. Reducing plastic use and improving waste management remain the biggest challengesThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: This solar-powered barge collects plastic from Bangkok’s canals before it can wash into the ocean. It’s an innovative solution to a growing problem, but cleaning up plastic is only part of the answer. Reducing plastic use and improving waste management remain the biggest challenges authors: | ||
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As DRC confronts largest Ebola outbreak, health agencies revise strategy 12 Aug 2026 11:11:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-drc-confronts-largest-ebola-outbreak-health-agencies-revise-strategy/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Mongabay.org content:encoded: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recorded more than 4,300 Ebola cases with more than 2,000 deaths as of Aug. 9, making this the country’s largest outbreak, to date. In the last major Ebola outbreak, the country reported around 3,500 confirmed and probable cases over two years (2018-20). However, this time, the number was surpassed in just 12 weeks from the time the outbreak was officially declared on May 15 of this year, making it the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record. “The scale of these epidemic reveals, for the first time, the gravity of the situation and forces us to rethink our response strategies in order to provide a more effective and better-coordinated response,” Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said during an online press briefing on Aug. 6. In May, the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in Ituri province, which borders Uganda. Kaseya said the official figures provide only a partial picture of the epidemic’s true scale in the eastern DRC. In remote villages and rural areas, which are among the hardest hit, many cases may go undetected by surveillance systems due to difficult access and operational constraints. Health workers transporting an Ebola patient to a treatment center. Image by Moses Sawasawa/Associated Press. The World Health Organization and the Africa CDC had previously estimated that the DRC needed $1.4 billion to tackle the crisis in a comprehensive manner, including for humanitarian response, and that available funding was well below that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Central African country is facing its largest and also the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record. - Health agencies are seeking to revise their strategy to tackle the public health crisis but focusing on response at the village level in the affected provinces of the DRC. - Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC underscored the need to bring the outbreak response to the village level, saying that a community-centered approach helps build trust between local populations and health teams while strengthening participatory surveillance. - One of the reasons this outbreak has turned out to be more difficult to contain is because a rare strain of the Ebola virus, Bundibugyo ebolavirus, is driving the cases. authors: | ||
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Bolsonaro’s easing of gun control fueled illegal hunting, study indicates 12 Aug 2026 10:17:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bolsonaros-easing-of-gun-control-fueled-illegal-hunting-study-indicates/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Adele Santelli content:encoded: “I want everyone armed!” Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s statement during a cabinet meeting in May 2020 signaled the fulfillment of a presidential campaign promise he made in 2018. During that meeting, he demanded that his ministers sign a decree raising the limit on civilian ammunition purchases. Throughout his campaign and his term, Bolsonaro aggressively promoted and implemented a progun agenda with a direct impact on illegal wildlife hunting, data show. “I want everyone armed!” Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s statement during a cabinet meeting in May 2020 signaled the fulfillment of a presidential campaign promise he made in 2018. During that meeting, he demanded that his ministers sign a decree raising the limit on civilian ammunition purchases. Throughout his campaign and his term, Bolsonaro aggressively promoted and implemented a progun agenda with a direct impact on illegal wildlife hunting, data show. According to 2023 data compiled by nonprofit institutes Igarapé and Sou da Paz, the number of guns in private collections held by Brazilian civilians and military personnel nearly doubled to 3 million between 2019 and 2022 — that is, during the Bolsonaro administration. In 2018, that figure stood at just over 1.3 million, with nearly half belonging to the military. Policy enacted under Bolsonaro significantly eased access to firearms, particularly for a group known in Brazil as CACs — an acronym for hunters, sport shooters and collectors. According to the survey, CACs purchased 59,000 weapons in 2018. By 2022, that figure stood at 430,000. Over the same period,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study points to the easing of gun restrictions during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro as a primary driver of illegal wildlife hunting in Brazil. - By mapping social media posts, researchers documented more than 4,000 animals killed from 157 native species across the country, coinciding with a surge in gun purchases by sport hunters. - The primary hotspots are concentrated in the Amazon’s Arc of Deforestation, where forest loss, environmental degradation, gun availability and agricultural expansion compound pressure on wildlife. - Researchers are calling for stricter firearm controls, stronger law enforcement and coordinated conservation policies to curb an environmental impact they describe as silent and widespread. authors: | ||
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Illegal mining threatens Ghana’s first marine protected area 12 Aug 2026 09:41:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/illegal-mining-threatens-ghanas-first-marine-protected-area/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Mabel Adorkor Annang content:encoded: Ghana’s land ministry is failing to act against illegal gold mining in the Greater Cape Three Points Forest Reserve, say conservationists. Their call comes as pollution threatens vulnerable and endangered species in both the protected forest and the adjacent waters of a newly declared marine protected area. Mining activity is causing toxic chemicals, including mercury, arsenic and cyanide, to wash into streams in the reserve and then into the sea via the Nyan River, said Stephen Kankam, deputy director of Hεn Mpoano, a Ghanaian NGO that works with communities, government and businesses to strengthen management of coastal and marine ecosystems. “The destruction is phenomenal,” he told Mongabay in a phone interview. “I mean, you cannot just imagine the kind of destruction that is ongoing. There is clearing of large swaths of the forest areas that have paved the way for digging, for excavation, and all sorts of operations within the forest.” He said the inshore waters have turned brown, as tons of polluted sediment flow into the ocean: “All the ecosystems that we are considering as fish habitats, like the mangrove ecosystems, the bottom or the rocky shores — all those areas where the fish stay within the near-shore environment are affected.” Aerial view of Cape Three Points, Ghana. Image courtesy of Environmental Justice Foundation. The Cape Three Points Marine Protected Area was formally inaugurated in April 2026. Its 700 square kilometers (270 square miles) are intended to be a safe zone which serves as a nursery for small pelagic…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Illegal gold mining in Ghana’s Greater Cape Three Points Forest Reserve threatens vulnerable and endangered species in the protected forest, say conservationists. - Sediment and toxic chemicals from the mining also threaten the adjacent waters of a newly declared marine protected area just offshore. - Conservation NGOs want the government to act against illegal miners, including establishing permanent camps in the forest to protect a wider area. authors: | ||
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Nickel expansion puts Indonesia’s biodiversity goals under pressure, study finds 12 Aug 2026 09:20:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Indonesia’s nickel boom is colliding with its efforts to protect biodiversity and reduce emissions from forests and other land uses. A new study warns that meeting growing global nickel demand could increasingly put some of the world’s most important ecosystems at risk. A study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution focuses on the trade-offs between meeting future nickel demand and protecting areas important for biodiversity and carbon storage. The researchers found that 44% to 49% of projected nickel demand between 2025 and 2050 could be met by mines located in the world’s top 10% of terrestrial areas for biodiversity and carbon conservation. “Nickel is in everything from steel in infrastructure to the pots and pans in our kitchens, and demand is surging for clean energy especially to make batteries for electric vehicles,” said lead author Jayden Hyman of the University of Queensland’s School of the Environment in a press release. “But the decisions being made now about where to source nickel could lock in impacts for decades in some of Earth’s most biodiverse and carbon-rich ecosystems.” The findings pose a particular challenge for Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer and the source of more than half of global supply. The researchers project that Indonesia could account for as much as 74% of global nickel production by 2040 as demand continues to grow. The country is also committed to expanding biodiversity conservation. Indonesia’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (IBSAP) 2025-2045 is aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia holds the world’s largest nickel reserves and has rapidly expanded production, which a new study says has grown roughly tenfold over the past decade. - Nickel mining can fragment wildlife habitat as mines, roads and associated infrastructure expand, threatening biodiversity in areas of global conservation importance. - Researchers say protecting the most important biodiversity and carbon areas could substantially reduce environmental risks, but doing so could also constrain nickel supply. - Even with greater adoption of low- or no-nickel battery chemistries, total nickel demand could continue to grow because the metal is also used extensively in stainless steel, renewable-energy infrastructure and other applications, the study notes. authors: | ||
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Cacao plantations in Liberia encroach into proposed Kwa national park 12 Aug 2026 08:29:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/cacao-plantations-in-liberia-encroach-into-proposed-kwa-national-park/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: A cocoa boom in southeast Liberia is wiping out native forests and encroaching into a proposed national park. The would-be Kwa National Park, a dense tropical rainforest, is home to chimpanzees, forest elephants, pygmy hippos and pangolins. Kwa is partly located in Grand Gedeh county, one of the most densely forested regions in southeast Liberia. Commercial agriculture is banned across the 1,720 square-kilometer (664 square-mile) area set aside for the national park, reports Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo. Yet, during patrols, forest rangers from Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and community eco-guards, such as George Bowey with the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, have discovered illegal cocoa plantations inside the park’s boundaries. Much of the forest around Kwa has already been cleared for cacao by people who live nearby. “At the end of 2023, we started seeing cocoa going closer to the park, but to enter the park it was last year,” Bowey said. Mukpo accompanied Bowey through the dense canopy of Kwa to reach a massive 100-hectare (250-acre) cacao plantation full of leafless, rotting trees and waist-high cacao saplings. On their way back to a ranger camp, Mukpo and Bowey passed other cacao plantations within Kwa, all showing signs of burns on trees. Cacao can be grown in one of two ways: Saplings can be intercropped with other tree species to form a diverse ecosystem; or gasoline can be poured at the base of trees and their roots set on fire, effectively killing trees to make way for cacao. It’s the second method…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A cocoa boom in southeast Liberia is wiping out native forests and encroaching into a proposed national park. The would-be Kwa National Park, a dense tropical rainforest, is home to chimpanzees, forest elephants, pygmy hippos and pangolins. Kwa is partly located in Grand Gedeh county, one of the most densely forested regions in southeast Liberia. […] authors: | ||
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World Elephant Day: How these giants are adapting to a changing world 12 Aug 2026 05:58:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/world-elephant-day-how-these-giants-are-adapting-to-a-changing-world/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: August 12 is World Elephant Day. To celebrate, Mongabay looks back at recent stories about how the future success of these mammals depends on healthy, connected habitats. Asian elephants adjust what they eat A recent study from Malaysia showed that Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are adapting to rapidly changing landscapes by diversifying their diets — a sign of resilience, but also a warning about the pressures reshaping their habitats. In a heavily logged forested landscape, elephants ate a wide variety of available plants. These findings suggest that beyond formal reserve boundaries, when disturbances make it hard for the mammals to find their preferred plants, they can meet their nutritional requirements by including a broader selection of plants, the researchers say. Meanwhile, elephants within a landscape dominated by oil palm plantations mostly ate the cultivated oil palm crops. This could expose them to conflict. “Our findings highlight that elephants are highly adaptable feeders, but this flexibility often brings them into human-dominated landscapes, increasing the risk of conflict,” Mohammad Saiful Mansor, study lead author from the National University of Malaysia, told Mongabay’s David Brown. A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests Throughout most of Central Africa, it’s difficult to spot herds of forest elephants all at once. They move through dense rainforest, remaining elusive, their lives obscured by thick vegetation and distance. For tourists and even researchers, direct encounters are largely a matter of chance. But Dzanga Bai is different, Mongabay’s David Akana reported. Often called the “village of elephants,” this mineral-rich clearing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: August 12 is World Elephant Day. To celebrate, Mongabay looks back at recent stories about how the future success of these mammals depends on healthy, connected habitats. Asian elephants adjust what they eat A recent study from Malaysia showed that Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are adapting to rapidly changing landscapes by diversifying their diets — a […] authors: | ||
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In India, sacred groves serve as vital nurseries for future forests 12 Aug 2026 05:42:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/in-india-sacred-groves-serve-as-vital-nurseries-for-future-forests/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In India’s Western Ghats, sacred groves – small, community-protected forest patches dedicated to local deities – are far more effective at regenerating native tree species than surrounding village lands, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough. For the study, a research team from the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) mapped and measured 82 giant, old-growth trees across 20 species in the village of Vanzole in the northern Western Ghats, the mountain chain that runs alongside India’s west coast. The researchers defined giant trees as those that measure more than 1 meter (3.3 feet). The researchers found that sacred groves held nearly twice the giant-tree species of nearby village areas, with 12 of the measured species growing exclusively within the groves. For example, while fruit trees including mango (Mangifera indica) and jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) were dominant in the villages, trees such as baheda (Terminalia bellirica), a medicinal plant, were common in the groves. “Settlements are curated orchards, while sacred groves are ecological time capsules,” study co-author Kevin Matteson, associate director of Project Dragonfly at Miami University, told Mongabay. Giant trees act as “ecological catcher’s mitts,” providing the massive branches and hollows needed by large, fruit-eating birds such as hornbills, Matteson said. As these birds feed, they disperse large seeds across the landscape. Seeds dropped in the less-disturbed ground of the sacred groves are more likely to grow into trees themselves compared to those dropped in village grounds, the study found. For instance, saplings of the strychnine tree (Strychnos nux-vomica), the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In India’s Western Ghats, sacred groves – small, community-protected forest patches dedicated to local deities – are far more effective at regenerating native tree species than surrounding village lands, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough. For the study, a research team from the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) mapped and measured 82 […] authors: | ||
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On ivory, follow the trafficking networks and not the headlines (commentary) 11 Aug 2026 22:47:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-ivory-follow-the-trafficking-networks-and-not-the-headlines-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Mary Rice content:encoded: In early March 2026, acting on intelligence shared by my organization, the Environmental Investigation Agency UK, Zambian authorities seized a consignment of more than 500 kg (over 1,100 pounds) of ivory and arrested a suspect with long-standing links to regional ivory trafficking operations. One of the suspects involved in the case was convicted in 2019 for possession of more than 200 kg (almost 441 lbs) of ivory and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2020. He was released after a matter of months and has continued trading ivory ever since. So, Zambia, which has been exploited by criminal networks operating with relative impunity since at least 2002, is under the spotlight once again. Of particular concern is the involvement of Congolese criminal groups, which continue to operate across Zambia and the wider region, sourcing and moving wildlife products including elephant ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales and big cats along complex transnational routes toward Asia, with Vietnam often serving as a key transit hub to other destinations. Exploiting the lack of political will, weak enforcement, corrupt officials and marginalized communities to facilitate their trade, these networks have been orchestrating poaching expeditions into neighboring countries, using Zambian intermediaries to supply their illicit trade chains. This recent interception in Zambia — alongside two other large-scale seizures made in Tanzania and Botswana in April and May respectively — brings the minimum total of ivory seized globally since 2023 to approximately 29 tons, nearly 64,000 pounds. That’s the equivalent of at least 4,000…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - An emerging narrative is that elephant poaching has declined, yet evidence shows that the illegal trade in ivory persists, and that the involvement of organized crime in it keeps growing. - Despite big and news-making seizures of illegal ivory recently, criminal networks continue operating, and southern Africa appears to be back at the illegal global trade’s center. - “The current narrative that the situation is under control should not be accepted without question,” a new op-ed for World Elephant Day 2026 argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Cambodia’s banned sand trade with Singapore appears to be back 11 Aug 2026 22:18:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Andy Ball content:encoded: Authorities in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province say they’ve approved a sand mining operation exporting to Singapore, despite an export ban imposed by national authorities a decade ago after large-scale dredging was found to be damaging riverine and coastal ecosystems. The dredging is occurring in an area of the Trapeang Rung River that falls within the boundaries of Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary and Botum Sakor National Park. Khlem Yonviseth, director of the Koh Kong provincial mining department, told Mongabay that the 2017 sand export ban had been lifted, and that his office had given a permit to the dredging operation and approved the exports. Yonviseth did not respond to a request to provide documentation of the ban being lifted. Mongabay was unable to locate any official announcement regarding the ban, and the relevant national agencies did not respond to requests for comment. Yonsiveth’s comments come after activist group Mother Nature Cambodia exposed the dredging operation in a video published July 14. In a subsequent video, published Aug. 8, the group tracked multiple cargo ships heading from Koh Kong Krao, Cambodia’s largest island, to Singapore’s Tuas Port. “How many more tons of Cambodian sand will be lost?” asks Lisa Mean, an activist with Mother Nature Cambodia, in the latest video. Analysis by Mongabay confirms that four of the ships identified by the group traveled to the Tuas Port, where a state-backed land reclamation project is currently underway. Mongabay has also found that the company Yonviseth said had been given a dredging license, Catalyst…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Cambodia appears to have resumed exporting sand to Singapore, despite a 2017 national ban, with Koh Kong provincial authorities saying a new dredging operation has been licensed. - Mongabay traced at least four bulk carriers from Koh Kong to Singapore’s Tuas Port, where the site of a massive land reclamation project. - The dredging is taking place within protected area boundaries and could affect riverbanks, fisheries and wildlife, as well as a major downstream mangrove forest. - Environmental activists say they hope to draw attention to the renewed sand trade, but Cambodia’s shrinking civic space and restrictions on civil society groups have made standing up to environmental violations increasingly difficult. authors: | ||
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Forest fires likely to continue to burn twice as much without ‘serious action’ on climate change 11 Aug 2026 21:11:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/forest-fires-likely-to-continue-to-burn-twice-as-much-without-serious-action-on-climate-change/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Elizabeth Goldman is a co-director of Global Nature Watch, previously known as Global Forest Watch, a database measuring forest loss that’s frequently cited in Mongabay reporting. She joins this week’s podcast to detail GNW’s updated 25-year analysis of global forest fire trends. The picture is stark: Forest fires burn twice as much forest today as they did 20 years ago, and historic fire seasons are the “new normal,” she says. “Catastrophic, large-scale fires are becoming more of a normal. The last three years are the worst three years in the record-keeping in our data set,” Goldman says. “Fires now burn twice as much forest as they did earlier in the time series from our data.” 2025, considered a drop from 2024, still saw 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of forest, an area roughly the size of Guatemala, burn. Rhett Butler, founder and CEO of Mongabay, published an analysis of the dip in 2025, cautioning readers against reading too much into what appeared to be a reprieve. He noted that large-scale commodity agriculture and climate change, the causes of this forest loss, remain. Goldman agrees. In the absence of “serious action” internationally to combat it, and commodity-driven agriculture that continues contributing to these fires, Goldman says there are things governments can do to mitigate their risk locally. “There are ways to sustainably manage a forest, like through thinning and prescribed burns, fire breaks, those sorts of things that don’t involve clear-cutting an entire forest, but leave the tree standing, leave the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Elizabeth Goldman is a co-director of Global Nature Watch, previously known as Global Forest Watch, a database measuring forest loss that’s frequently cited in Mongabay reporting. She joins this week’s podcast to detail GNW’s updated 25-year analysis of global forest fire trends. The picture is stark: Forest fires burn twice as much forest today as […] authors: | ||
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Key Amazon cases reach Brazil’s Supreme Court following Lula’s defeats in Congress 11 Aug 2026 21:07:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/key-amazon-cases-reach-brazils-supreme-court-following-lulas-defeats-in-congress/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court is set to decide cases that could reshape protections for the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous communities. These cases involve Indigenous land rights, environmental safeguards, and infrastructure projects. Congress approved measures that environmentalists say violate constitutional rights, but President Lula vetoed some. Lawmakers overrode these objections, sending disputes to the Supreme Court. Environmental advocates see the court as a defense against weakening protections. Despite reducing deforestation, Lula’s administration struggles against a conservative Congress aligned with agribusiness. The Supreme Court’s decisions could significantly impact Brazil’s environmental and Indigenous policies. By Gabriela Sá Pessoa, Associated Press Banner image: A section of the Amazon rainforest stands next to soy fields in Belterra, Para state, Brazil, on Nov. 30, 2019. Image courtesy of Leo Correa, via Associated PressThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court is set to decide cases that could reshape protections for the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous communities. These cases involve Indigenous land rights, environmental safeguards, and infrastructure projects. Congress approved measures that environmentalists say violate constitutional rights, but President Lula vetoed some. Lawmakers overrode these objections, sending disputes to […] authors: | ||
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Meet the Indigenous women restoring Kenya’s Mau Forest — and reshaping gender roles 11 Aug 2026 19:41:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/meet-the-indigenous-women-restoring-kenyas-mau-forest-and-reshaping-gender-roles/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Juliet Akoth Ojwang content:encoded: Before dawn breaks over Eor Ewaso, a village in southwestern Kenya, Judy Mukut is already awake. By 6:30 a.m., she has fetched water, milked the family’s cattle, prepared breakfast, cleaned the house and seen her children off to school. Only then does she leave home for a resource center run by the Paran Indigenous women’s organization, where another day’s conservation work begins. For Mukut, conservation of the Mau Forest is squeezed into the few hours left after fulfilling the responsibilities expected of her as a Maasai wife and mother. Yet it is this balancing act that reflects a quieter transformation taking place across one of Kenya’s most important forest ecosystems. As Indigenous women restore degraded sections of the Mau Forest, they are also earning independent incomes, participating in household decisions and reviving traditional ecological knowledge that once sustained their communities for generations before going dormant. Founded in 2005, the Paran Women Group has grown into a network of 64 registered Indigenous women’s groups, mostly drawn from Maasai and Ogiek communities in Narok county, as well as communities in West Pokot and Samburu counties. Through community-managed tree nurseries, kitchen gardens, village savings groups, beekeeping and landscape restoration, the organization has linked environmental conservation with women’s empowerment. To coordinate its expanding network, Paran established seven community resource centers. Rather than functioning as offices, the centers serve as demonstration sites where women raise seedlings, receive technical training and exchange traditional knowledge. “The work has taught us how to organize ourselves,” Mukut said. “Even…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Kenya, a network of Indigenous women’s groups is restoring degraded areas of the Mau Forest while also providing the women with incomes and decision-making power. - The Paran Women Group includes Maasai, Ogiek and other Indigenous community members learning to manage enterprises such as tree nurseries, kitchen gardens, savings groups, beekeeping and landscape restoration. - Research shows that restoration programs designed to transform unequal gender roles give women more prominence in the household and improve conservation outcomes. - Paran members say they previously relied on their husbands for everything, but they now have income of their own as well as a larger say in family decisions. authors: | ||
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Iceland to deport antiwhaling protest ship’s crew after they interfered with whale hunt 11 Aug 2026 18:39:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/iceland-to-deport-antiwhaling-protest-ships-crew-after-they-interfered-with-whale-hunt/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Alex Megerle content:encoded: Authorities in Iceland detained the M/V Bandero, an antiwhaling protest ship, on July 30 and held the boat in port in Reykjavík with its 21-person crew detained on board, according to Manolya Adan, an environmental biologist who was among the crew. She spoke to Mongabay on Aug. 4 from the ship and communicated further via text message over the next few days. The vessel is operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, a “direct action” ocean conservation nonprofit that operates globally (but maintains a P.O. box in New York City). It flies the Panamanian flag. According to the foundation, the M/V Bandero had been at sea for more than a month monitoring whaling activities by Hvalur hf., the country’s last whaling company, which is owned by Kristján Loftsson. The ship had purportedly been required to report its position hourly to the Icelandic Coast Guard, broadcast AIS and were under constant surveillance, monitored by plane and drones. The vessel entered into Iceland’s 12-nautical-mile national waters on July 30 after the crew identified that the Hvalur 9, one of the country’s last whaling ships, was leaving harbor. The Hvalur 9 returned to port without hunting as the M/V Bandero approached. The Coast Guard then deployed a helicopter and pursued the M/V Bandero with patrol vessels, eventually boarding the ship with armed forces. Adan said the vessel was boarded just before midnight on July 30 in Iceland’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), an area that extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the country’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Authorities in Iceland have detained an antiwhaling protest vessel and its crew after it interfered with a hunt by Hvalur hf., the country’s last whaling company. - The M/V Bandero, operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, and its 21 crew members were being held in Reykjavík; authorities have ordered the crew’s deportation, with five Americans deported on August 6. - Iceland is one of the few countries in the world that still commercially hunts whales, with a quota this year of 150 fin whales; in 2023, Hvalur hf. killed 24 fin whales, and the year before, 148. As of Aug 7, at least 35 fin whales have been killed, according to the foundation. - The fin whale is one of the world’s largest animals and is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with about 100,000 mature individuals remaining worldwide. authors: | ||
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As Singapore culls ‘nuisance’ birds, rapid urbanization continues to fuel an avian boom 11 Aug 2026 16:39:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-singapore-culls-nuisance-birds-rapid-urbanization-continues-to-fuel-an-avian-boom/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Robin Hicks content:encoded: SINGAPORE — On a Friday afternoon in July, a pest control officer patrols the grounds of Sungei Tengah Lodge, Singapore’s largest dormitory for migrant construction workers, picking up birds in various stages of distress. Some are twitching, others are wobbling, as if drunk. The officer tosses the birds, which he had poisoned with baited scraps a few hours earlier, into a garbage bag. Most of them are still alive. The bagged birds will later be gassed using carbon dioxide, a culling method for “pest” birds the authorities say is “humane” — a claim contested by animal welfare groups. Though culling may immediately trim the local population, ecologists question the long-term effectiveness of efforts to reduce urban birds, arguing that Singapore’s rapid urbanization creates favorable conditions for them to thrive, as forests are lost to high-rise buildings. Birds considered pests in the tropical metropolis are the common pigeon (Columba livia), Javan myna (Acridotheres javanicus) and house crows (Corvus splendens), which are not protected under the Wildlife Act and routinely culled in response to complaints from the public. Known as “nuisance” birds, they’re framed as invasive species that are noisy and a threat to public health and local biodiversity by competing with and, in the case of crows, preying on native birds. Crows, in particular, have found themselves in the crosshairs of late. The government resumed a program to shoot crows in March after a six-year hiatus, as complaints about attacks on people have surged. A crow poisoned by a pest control…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A campaign to shoot crows has resumed in Singapore in response to a surge in public complaints about attacks, with authorities saying “pest” birds pose a public health risk and outcompete native species. - Ecologists argue Singapore’s crow problem is human-made, with poor waste management and illegal feeding fueling a population boom. - They criticize culling as ineffective over the long term and say it risks normalizing lethal wildlife control while undermining Singapore’s “City in Nature” vision. - Nature groups say ongoing and planned forest clearance for public housing could lead to further increases in urban bird populations, as more favorable habitats are created, leading to “endless culling” to control bird populations. authors: | ||
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Forest Restoration Solutions 11 Aug 2026 14:51:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/forest-restoration-solutions/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: content:encoded: Tree growing has become one of the most widely promoted responses to climate change and ecosystem degradation, with governments, companies and nonprofits pledging to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of forests worldwide. But restoring ecosystems is far more complex than putting seedlings in the ground. This Special examines what it takes to rebuild forest ecosystems in ways that benefit climate, wildlife and people. Join Mongabay journalists as they dig into the science, practices, policies and institutions shaping global restoration efforts to unearth how tree-planting pledges are measured, how restoration projects affect biodiversity and livelihoods, and why some initiatives succeed while others fall short.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Tree growing has become one of the most widely promoted responses to climate change and ecosystem degradation, with governments, companies and nonprofits pledging to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of forests worldwide. But restoring ecosystems is far more complex than putting seedlings in the ground. This Special examines what it takes to rebuild forest […] authors: | ||
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Brazil’s wildcats face multiple diseases due to habitat fragmentation 11 Aug 2026 14:00:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-wild-cats-face-multiple-diseases-due-to-habitat-fragmentation/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Lucas Berti content:encoded: Every day, millions of Brazilians recall how rich the country’s feline biodiversity is when they reach into their wallets: Since entering circulation in 2010, the ‘50 real’ notes have carried a printed drawing of a jaguar (Panthera onca), the largest feline in the Americas. In Brazil, one can even trace the animal that inspired the design of the popular banknotes: It is the jaguar called “Gabi,” a 2002-born female that lived in the old Rio de Janeiro Zoo (today Rio’s BioParque). The “model” Gabi died in 2022, but she remains alive in the imagination of Brazilian consumers in every day-to-day cash transaction. Despite the tribute, alongside species such as the puma (Puma concolor), the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), and the jaguarundí (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) or gato-mourisco, as it is known in Brazil, the jaguar faces a common crisis among Brazilian species: Its existence is threatened by problems ranging from illegal wildlife trafficking to the accelerated degradation of its habitats across different biomes. Also, there is a silent emergency that places these wild felines in a threatening environmental context: Diseases that affect domestic animals. “There is a risk for all feline species. Especially for our native species and for those that are endangered,” said Flavia Tirelli, a doctor in zoology and coordinator of the Geoffroy’s Cat Working Group, an international network fighting for the conservation of Leopardus geoffroyi and other wild felines. According to the specialist, who also acts as a researcher at the Laboratory of Evolution, Systematics, and Ecology of Birds and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Throughout Brazil, the contact between domestic cats and wild felines has been exposing threatened, biologically vulnerable feral species to diseases, which can reduce their populations. - According to experts, habitat fragmentation is a common denominator of this crisis, from the Amazon to the Pampa, where felines are forced to leave the boundaries of their native areas and approach sites modified by human action. - From the imposing jaguar to one of the smallest and rarest, the pampas cat, no Brazilian feline escapes the risks of contracting fungi, bacteria, parasites, and known viral diseases, such as feline leukemia and others. - Studies and veterinarians warn that mass vaccination of domestic animals and the preservation of natural areas are key pieces to address this problem. authors: | ||
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What conservation looks like from the outside: A conversation with Adam Falk after his first year as CEO of WCS 11 Aug 2026 13:22:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/what-conservation-looks-like-from-the-outside/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Soon after becoming president and chief executive of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Adam Falk visited the giraffe keeper at the Bronx Zoo. What struck Falk was the source of the keeper’s commitment. If a giraffe needed help in the middle of the night, he said, the keeper would come in because of his bond with the animal. Falk recognized something familiar. Before joining WCS, he had been a theoretical physicist, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, president of Williams College, and president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Academics often pursue highly specialized work that matters deeply to them. A university leader has to support those individual efforts while helping the institution work toward shared goals. Falk found much the same challenge at WCS: leading people whose motivation is rooted in the work itself. Adam Falk with Joe Nappi, a Senior Keeper in the Mammal Department, and a Giraffe at the Bronx Zoo. Photo courtesy of WCS. He took over WCS in July 2025 without professional experience in zoology or conservation. That was unusual for the head of an institution founded in 1895, which now operates four zoos and an aquarium in New York alongside conservation programs in more than 50 countries. His first year gave him an outsider’s view of a field with its own history and assumptions. One of his early observations was that conservation work involves people as much as animals. Public campaigns often focus on wildlife, especially large and familiar species. Field programs depend on relationships…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In July 2026, WCS president and CEO Adam Falk spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler about his first year leading the organization. - Falk said conservation depends as much on relationships with Indigenous peoples, local communities, governments, and funders as it does on protecting wildlife. - He supports “30 by 30,” but argues that where areas are protected, how they are managed, and their ecological integrity matter as much as acreage. - Falk also discussed the collapse in U.S. government funding for WCS, the need for long-term philanthropy, and closer cooperation among conservation organizations. authors: | ||
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New ropeways aim to save wildlife in Bangladesh’s fragmented habitats 11 Aug 2026 12:27:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-ropeways-aim-to-save-wildlife-in-bangladeshs-fragmented-habitats/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Sadiqur Rahman content:encoded: As Bangladesh is rapidly being urbanized, more and more forests are getting fragmented, resulting in the construction of more roads, which means more wildlife are being killed in collisions with vehicles. To address these wildlife deaths, the Forest Department’s Tangail Divisional Office has recently facilitated a low-cost solution. At a total cost of 625,000 takas (around $5,000), ropeway bridges have been installed in northern Bangladesh at five locations along an 8-kilometer (5-mile) stretch of the Mymensingh-Tangail Highway N401, which slices through the reserved forest of Madhupur National Park, where heavy-duty vehicles regularly collide with wildlife, especially primates. “These ropeways are expected to protect rhesus macaques, capped langurs, Indian civets and small carnivores like fishing cats from roadkill,” Tangail divisional forest officer Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain told Mongabay. According to a 2018 study, the 8,436-hectare (20,845-acre) Madhupur National Park, the largest deciduous forest of Bangladesh, supports 151 wildlife species belonging to 23 orders and 62 families. According to available data that the Forest Department has from local sources, rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are most frequently killed in road accidents during the day. However, none of the roadkill in Madhupur can be documented, because the forest dependent Indigenous community here consumes the carcasses soon after an accident, said Md. Mossarrof Hosain, a deputy ranger at the Madhupur National Park. Naser said that the nylon-rope bridges are expected to provide safe aerial corridors for arboreal animals, both nocturnal and diurnal. Each is 30 meters (100 feet) long and almost 1-meter (3-feet) wide and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Forest Department of Bangladesh has recently installed five ropeway bridges at a fragmented national park, with plans to replicate the idea in other vulnerable reserved forests. - Pioneering conservationists have seen both successes and failures in previous ropeway-based projects. - Researchers appreciate the Forest Department’s move but recommend well-assessed site selection, incorporation of modern equipment for sharper surveillance and community engagement. authors: | ||
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What makes chimpanzee conservation last? Lessons from Sierra Leone 11 Aug 2026 10:03:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/what-makes-chimpanzee-conservation-last-lessons-from-sierra-leone/ 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. For more than three decades, Willie Tucker has helped care for Sierra Leone’s western chimpanzees and watched the pressures on them change, reports contributor Patricia Sia Ngevao for Mongabay. Tucker, widely known as “Pa Willie,” helped establish Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in 1995. Since then, the sanctuary has rescued and cared for hundreds of chimpanzees, many confiscated from the illegal pet trade. It now houses more than 120 critically endangered western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), indicating that trafficking remains a serious problem. Tacugama’s work also shows why wildlife protection cannot be separated from local livelihoods. The sanctuary supports nearby communities through livestock, seed, and other livelihood programs intended to reduce dependence on hunting and forest resources. Families with more dependable sources of food and income may have less need to exploit wildlife habitat. Such programs can also give communities a direct stake in conservation and make restrictions on forest use more workable. Public recognition has helped as well. In 2019, Sierra Leone designated the western chimpanzee as its national animal. Tucker says the decision increased awareness of the species and encouraged greater respect for it. National symbols do not protect habitat by themselves, but they can support education, enforcement, and political attention. Tacugama’s experience offers several practical lessons for conservation organizations. Rescue centers can do more than rehabilitate individual animals. They can train local staff, document wildlife crime, assist law enforcement, educate visitors, and…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. For more than three decades, Willie Tucker has helped care for Sierra Leone’s western chimpanzees and watched the pressures on them change, reports contributor Patricia Sia Ngevao for Mongabay. Tucker, widely known as “Pa Willie,” helped establish Tacugama […] authors: | ||
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Wildfire ravages Indonesia’s Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park 11 Aug 2026 07:31:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/wildfire-ravages-indonesias-bromo-tengger-semeru-national-park/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: A massive wildfire within a national park in Indonesia has forced a total closure of one of the country’s best-known tourist destinations. Some 899 hectares (2,222 acres) of savanna and forest within Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) in East Java province have been destroyed by fire as of the morning of Aug. 11, the provincial disaster management agency told Mongabay. The fire, which broke out on Aug. 3 in the park’s eastern entrance, is suspected to be human-caused, TNBTS chief Rudijanta Tjahja Nugraha told local media. TNBTS spokesperson Endrip Wahyutama confirmed the blaze originated along a path used as a shortcut by local residents that bypasses the park’s official tourist roads. “The source is … not a tourist location, and not a public road either,” Endrip said as quoted by Detik.com. The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Agency, which manages the protected area, has ordered it closed until further notice. Daryono Perwira Sakti, a disaster mitigation educator who previously oversaw the earthquake and tsunami directorate at the BMKG, Indonesia’s weather agency, posted on social media that it’s crucial the park be closed because vegetation on loose volcanic soil there is highly vulnerable to severe fires, which could trigger more disaster. “The extreme heat from this fire not only destroys vegetation cover and natural seed reserves (seed bank), but also triggers the formation of a water-repellent soil layer,” Daryono wrote. He said this water-repellent soil layer eliminates water absorption into the soil, elevating risks of massive gully erosion and landslides…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A massive wildfire within a national park in Indonesia has forced a total closure of one of the country’s best-known tourist destinations. Some 899 hectares (2,222 acres) of savanna and forest within Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) in East Java province have been destroyed by fire as of the morning of Aug. 11, the […] authors: | ||
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Uzbekistan’s houbara releases serve hunting, not conservation, expert says 11 Aug 2026 05:31:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/uzbekistans-houbara-releases-serve-hunting-not-conservation-expert-says/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: There’s no conservation motive or benefit behind the Uzbekistan government’s recent releases of more than 2,000 captive-bred Asian houbara bustards across its desert regions, according to an expert on the threatened species. The government has touted the releases over the past three months as a wildlife restoration effort, but Nigel Collar, a conservation biologist at BirdLife International, suggested the birds are meant to serve as quarry for hunting parties. “In reality both areas [where they were released] are hunting concessions for Gulf State falconers and these are birds being put out in the wild simply to provide ‘sport,’” Collar, who also co-chairs the Bustard Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay by email. “[T]here is no conservation strategy related to these releases, because they are not intended for conservation except in the sense that they can absorb some of the hunting pressure on wild populations,” he added. Neither Falcon Hunting Solutions LLC nor Uzbekistan’s National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, both involved in the releases, had responded to Mongabay’s requests for comment by the time this story was published. The Asian houbara (Chlamydotis macqueenii) is listed as vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN’s Red List. It migrates between Central and South Asia and the Middle East, and is hunted intensively across this range. Uzbekistan released nearly 900 of the birds in the Aral Sea region of Karakalpakstan in May this year, followed by some 670 birds in June, according to statements from the National…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: There’s no conservation motive or benefit behind the Uzbekistan government’s recent releases of more than 2,000 captive-bred Asian houbara bustards across its desert regions, according to an expert on the threatened species. The government has touted the releases over the past three months as a wildlife restoration effort, but Nigel Collar, a conservation biologist at […] authors: | ||
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Gabon ends fisheries partnership agreement with EU 10 Aug 2026 11:09:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/gabon-ends-fisheries-partnership-agreement-with-eu/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: Gabon has ended its 19-year fisheries partnership with the European Union, which allowed EU industrial vessels to target tuna in Gabonese waters in exchange for payment, arguing the agreement no longer serves the country’s economic interests. The decision follows a June 2025 Council of Ministers meeting at which the government announced it would seek to renegotiate the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA), before formally ending it on June 29, 2026. In a statement last year, the Gabonese government said the massive exploitation of fishery resources wasn’t commensurate with the returns Gabon should receive in exchange. In a speech in January, government spokesperson Charles Edgard Mombo, said the move to cancel the agreement “reflects Gabon’s firm commitment to strengthening its sovereignty over its fishery resources and promoting a renewed, balanced, sustainable, and mutually beneficial cooperation framework.” The SPFA between the EU and Gabon was established in 2007 and implemented through three protocols lasting between three and six years. The latest protocol covering 2021–2026 allowed up to 27 EU purse seiners, commercial fishing boats that use large, vertical nets; six pole-and-line tuna vessels and four exploratory crustacean trawlers to fish in Gabonese waters. An independent evaluation commissioned by the European Commission found the EU paid Gabon an average of €2.6 million ($3 million) annually between 2021 and 2024 in exchange for access to 32,000 tons of tuna. However, it also found that Gabon captured just 23% of the total economic value generated; nearly half accrued to other countries because EU vessels made…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Gabon has ended its 19-year fisheries partnership with the European Union, which allowed EU industrial vessels to target tuna in Gabonese waters in exchange for payment, arguing the agreement no longer serves the country’s economic interests. The decision follows a June 2025 Council of Ministers meeting at which the government announced it would seek to […] authors: | ||
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Can a photo save orangutans? 10 Aug 2026 11:02:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/can-a-photo-save-orangutans-2/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Juan Maza content:encoded: In Indonesian Borneo, conservation organization KehatiKu is testing a new approach: paying local people to photograph wildlife and upload the sightings through an app. In just one year, the project has collected around 175,000 records. Participants can earn about $6 for a photo of an orangutan, while smaller payments are offered for more common species. Thanks to the initiative, local communities are already working to prevent illegal hunting in their areas. Why this new approach? In the last 20 years, more than $1 billion has been spent on orangutan conservation, yet around 100,000 orangutans have been lost. However, according to KehatiKu this new conservation approach is showing concrete successes at a small fraction of the cost of traditional conservation efforts. Some experts advise caution. Paul Ferraro, professor of human behavior and public policy at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., argues it requires a constant flow of funding, which could create problems in the future. It may be effective for initial engagement, he says, but could prove difficult to sustain in the long term.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In Indonesian Borneo, conservation organization KehatiKu is testing a new approach: paying local people to photograph wildlife and upload the sightings through an app. In just one year, the project has collected around 175,000 records. Participants can earn about $6 for a photo of an orangutan, while smaller payments are offered for more common species. […] authors: | ||
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Kazakhstan releases first tiger into the wild in 70 years 10 Aug 2026 10:54:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kazakhstan-releases-first-tiger-into-the-wild-in-70-years/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Yenni Kwok content:encoded: Kazakhstan has released its first tiger into the wild more than seven decades since the last confirmed sighting of the big cat in the country. On July 31, 2026, an adult female Amur tiger called Umit, which means “hope” in Kazakh, leapt from her cage on the back of a pickup truck, as she was released into the wilderness of the 450,000-hectare (1.1 million-acre) Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve in southeastern Kazakhstan. According to a statement issued by the Kazakhstan government on Aug. 3, Umit is fitted with a satellite tracking collar to monitor her movements and behavior in real time. “Today we are truly witnessing a historic event,” said Kazakh Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Yerlan Nyssanbayev in the statement. “For the first time in over 70 years since tigers were wiped out in Kazakhstan, a tiger has been reintroduced to its historic range.” The area of the Ile-Balkhash Reserve where Umit was released was once inhabited by the extinct Caspian (Turian) tiger. Its last confirmed sighting in Kazakhstan was recorded in 1948. Umit is an Amur tiger, a population of the mainland Asian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) native to the Russian Far East and northeastern China. The Amur and Caspian tigers were once recognized as two distinct tiger subspecies, but the IUCN recognized both as Panthera tigris tigris in 2017. Preparations for returning tigers to Kazakhstan have taken more than a decade, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources said. The reserve was established in 2018 to create the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Kazakhstan has released its first tiger into the wild more than seven decades since the last confirmed sighting of the big cat in the country. On July 31, 2026, an adult female Amur tiger called Umit, which means “hope” in Kazakh, leapt from her cage on the back of a pickup truck, as she was […] authors: | ||
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In Amazon rivers, fish breathe and ingest plastics 10 Aug 2026 10:36:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-amazon-rivers-fish-breathe-and-ingest-plastics/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Tiago da Mota e Silva content:encoded: This is the second story in a special three-part series on microplastics in the Amazon. Read the first part here. MANAUS, Brazil — In Amazonian waters, the pirarucu lives between two worlds. In the oxygen-depleted waters typical of floodplain lakes, this giant fish rises to the surface to breathe air. Over an evolutionary history spanning at least 100 million years, it developed a modified swim bladder that functions as a primitive lung. This rare adaptation has allowed it to thrive in environments that are too harsh for other fish species. Today, however, the very adaptation that ensures its survival makes it vulnerable to a new threat: Microplastic pollution. “Amazonian environment is already highly challenging,” said Adalberto Val, a biologist and head of the National Institute of Science and Technology for Adaptations of Aquatic Biota of the Amazon (INCT-Adapta). “Here we have high temperatures, low oxygen levels in the water … Organisms already respond to these challenges as they learned during the evolutionary process. Then we start adding new challenges, like plastic.” When breathing becomes a risk Pirarucus (Arapaima gigas) cannot survive for more than 10 minutes without surfacing for air. They rely on an air-breathing organ connected to their modified swim bladder, a necessity that puts them in direct contact with microplastics floating at the surface. Drawing on established knowledge about the species, Val and researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada published an article outlining the dangers of this exposure. When microplastics enter the pirarucu’s air-breathing organ,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Following proof of the presence of microplastics in Amazonian rivers, streams and lakes, researchers are investigating how these particles affect fish health and physiology. - A study highlights the risks associated with microplastics in the air-breathing organs of the pirarucu, a giant fish that must rise to the surface to breathe. - Studies conducted with Amazonian fish show microplastics in their gills and digestive tracts, and experiments with the tamoatá point to increased stress and weight loss. - Scientists warn of risks to human health in a region where fish is a dietary staple; in Brazil’s Amazonas state, average annual consumption is 14 kilos per person, five times the national average. authors: | ||
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