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Nepal pushes for hydropower in protected areas through legal grey area 20 Aug 2026 05:16:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nepal-pushes-for-hydropower-in-protected-areas-through-legal-grey-area/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Rudra Pangeni content:encoded: KATHMANDU – Nepal’s government has allowed several private hydropower producers to develop projects inside protected areas and the buffer zones surrounding them, contravening a Supreme Court order, a Mongabay investigation reveals. In January 2025, the Supreme Court declared that a 2024 amendment to a key conservation law opening up protected areas to commercial projects was “invalid” as it was against the constitutionally defined state policy of environment-friendly development and the principle of intergenerational equity. As the court is yet to publish the full text of the verdict, the government has interpreted the law and issued permits for development, the investigation aided by a right to information request finds. “To issue permits [for hydropower projects] inside protected areas is a misinterpretation of the court verdict,” said senior lawyer Prakash Mani Sharma Bhusal, one of the petitioners who took the government to court on July 28, 2024, over its decision to open protected areas to infrastructure such as hydropower plants and hotels. Kaligandaki hydropower dam in Nepal. Image by Krish Dulal via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). The court’s 2025 verdict came in response to a petition filed by lawyers led by Dil Raj Khanal, who argued that the 2024 amendment to the parks and conservation act, which came into effect on July 8, 2024, violated Article 30 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to a clean and healthy environment, and contradicted Nepal’s obligations under international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Yet the Supreme Court has still not…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nepal’s government is allowing hydropower development inside protected areas, despite a January 2025 Supreme Court ruling that invalidates the legal provision for this activity. - With the court’s full verdict still unpublished, the government has interpreted the ruling and continued to issue land-use and environmental permits. - Mongabay’s investigation finds that 10 private hydropower projects, totaling more than 360 MW, have received permits since January 2026, affecting about 85 hectares across the Annapurna, Gaurishankar and Kanchanjunga protected areas, and the buffer zones of Makalu Barun and Langtang national parks. - Officials say they are relying on 2023 guidelines and cabinet decisions covering projects licensed before July 2024, while the country’s wildlife department has continued approving feasibility studies, environmental assessments and transmission lines in protected-area buffer zones. authors: | ||
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Sloth bears help shape India’s dry forests as unlikely seed dispersers 20 Aug 2026 03:11:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/sloth-bears-help-shape-indias-dry-forests-as-unlikely-seed-dispersers/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Sloth bears play a critical role in structuring India’s dry deciduous forests by dispersing viable seeds and influencing plant regeneration, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India. “Dry deciduous forests’ plant compositions are a function of sloth bear presence, movement, and dietary habits,” study co-author K.S. Gopi Sundar, an independent scientist, told Mongabay India. For the study, the researchers surveyed the mountainous south-central Aravalli range in the western state of Rajasthan between November 2021 and July 2022. They analyzed 180 droppings or scats of sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) and discovered that the bears’ diet shifted from plant-dominated in the winter to animal-dominated in the summer. In winter, ants appeared in more than 80% of the scats, whereas termites dominated summer samples. Among fruits, donkey berry (Grewia flavescens) was the most critical food source in both seasons, while Ziziphus nummularia was favored in winter and the golden shower tree (Cassia fistula) in summer. “The strong shift in diet was of great surprise,” said study co-author Utkarsh Prajapati, a senior project associate at the Wildlife Institute of India. “Previous studies on sloth bears in semi-arid regions have shown that they consume a lot of fruits during the summer.” Study co-author Vijay Kumar Koli with the Department of Zoology at Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, said this seasonal change “showed that bears were highly adaptable, switching to foods that were more available.” To test whether bears help in seed dispersal, the researchers monitored the germination of eight plant species most important in the bears’…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Sloth bears play a critical role in structuring India’s dry deciduous forests by dispersing viable seeds and influencing plant regeneration, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India. “Dry deciduous forests’ plant compositions are a function of sloth bear presence, movement, and dietary habits,” study co-author K.S. Gopi Sundar, an independent scientist, told Mongabay India. For […] authors: | ||
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Why every endangered species needs a champion: a conversation with conservationist Bill Konstant 20 Aug 2026 00:09:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/why-every-endangered-species-needs-a-champion-a-conversation-with-conservationist-bill-konstant/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Russell Mittermeier has a running joke about Bill Konstant. The two have worked together, off and on, for more than four decades, and Mittermeier writes in the foreword to Wrestles With Wolves that Konstant seems to have a tolerance of roughly five years working directly for him before departing for another organization. Konstant has an explanation for that pattern. He has never been much interested in becoming a “company man.” Instead, he has compared his role to that of a catalyst in a chemical reaction — something that helps raise the energy of the system but need not remain once the reaction is underway. There have been plenty of reactions. Bill Konstant in the UAE. Photo by Jean-Christophe Vie Konstant has worked for the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International, built conservation programs at zoos, and helped direct grants to field biologists working on threatened species. Much of his career has centered on primates, although the animals in his 2023 memoir range from golden frogs and rhinos to wolves, elephants and a squirrel his family raised when he was young. The route into professional conservation was less orderly than the résumé makes it look. At Cornell University, Konstant became an undergraduate teaching assistant for ornithologist Tom Cade, founder of the Peregrine Fund, whose work helped restore peregrine falcons after DDT contributed to steep population declines. Later, at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Konstant took a job caring for and training chimpanzees. Jane Goodall had helped spark…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Wildlife conservationist Bill Konstant has spent more than four decades helping build species-conservation programs, connect field biologists with funding, and support threatened wildlife around the world. - Konstant argues that successful conservation often depends on strong local leadership, committed species champions, diverse teams and relatively small, strategically targeted grants that can launch or sustain field projects. - He sees the growth of career biologists and conservation organizations in primate range countries as one of the field’s most encouraging changes, even as habitat loss and wildlife population declines remain persistent problems. - Konstant spoke with Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler in August 2026 about his career, his memoir Wrestles With Wolves, and what decades of species conservation have taught him about how conservation succeeds. authors: | ||
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Dolphin mother and calf observed using shells to catch fish in Australia 19 Aug 2026 23:16:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/dolphin-mother-and-calf-observed-using-shells-to-catch-fish-in-australia/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: A small population of dolphins in Shark Bay in Western Australia have a documented history of using an unusual tool to help them catch fish: Large, empty snail shells. For the first time, scientists have now observed the same behavior in a different dolphin population on Australia’s east coast. Researchers even filmed a baby dolphin and its mother using a shell to capture fish, suggesting the baby may have learned the skill from its mother — this hadn’t been observed before now, they write in a recent study. “The second I saw it [on the east coast], I was like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, this is huge,” study lead author Alexis Levengood, a lecturer of animal ecology at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, told Mongabay in a video call. In a behavior called “shelling,” bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) can chase fish into large empty sea snail shells, stick their beak inside to trap the fish, and then raise the shell to the water’s surface where the fish slides out into the dolphin’s mouth. “It essentially gives them a competitive edge over other dolphins that aren’t using this type of tool use because it makes it easier for them to catch harder-to-catch fish,” Levengood said. The behavior was first described in 2011 when researchers found roughly 2% of dolphins in Shark Bay demonstrated the skill. It was believed to be a localized behavior until Levengood confirmed three dolphins in Great Sandy Marine Park, Queensland, using the same…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A small population of dolphins in Shark Bay in Western Australia have a documented history of using an unusual tool to help them catch fish: Large, empty snail shells. For the first time, scientists have now observed the same behavior in a different dolphin population on Australia’s east coast. Researchers even filmed a baby dolphin […] authors: | ||
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Orangutan Day: Here’s where the three critically endangered species stand 19 Aug 2026 20:30:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/orangutan-day-heres-where-the-three-critically-endangered-species-stand/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Aug. 19 is World Orangutan Day, a day to honor the three species of Southeast Asian great apes, all of which are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN, the global conservation authority. Orangutans were classified into two species: The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) found in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), endemic to its namesake island. But in 2017, scientists described the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) as a third, distinct species, also found in northern Sumatra. Here are the major orangutan developments over the past year: Whirlwind year for Tapanuli orangutans In September 2025, researchers confirmed a previously unknown Tapanuli population in a peat swamp forest in the Lumut Maju village forest in North Sumatra. Scientists previously believed the species, estimated at 716 wild individuals, lived only in Batang Toru, about 32 kilometers (20 miles) east of the new population. A Tapanuli orangutan. Image © Bert Harris via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). Two months later, Cyclone Senyar triggered tens of thousands of landslides in Batang Toru and killed an estimated 58 Tapanuli orangutans. Habitat destruction for small-scale agriculture and logging accounts for around 70% of direct forest loss. Large-scale industrial projects, including the Batang Toru hydropower plant and the Martabe gold mine, are also encroaching into the orangutans’ range. Newborn Sumatran orangutan’s mother saved from trafficking In July 2026, a formerly trafficked Sumatran orangutan named Bulan gave birth in the wild seven years after being reintroduced. Her infant was the 10th confirmed birth from reintroduced orangutans…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Aug. 19 is World Orangutan Day, a day to honor the three species of Southeast Asian great apes, all of which are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN, the global conservation authority. Orangutans were classified into two species: The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) found in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), […] authors: | ||
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Egypt’s deserts show why ecological knowledge matters in conservation (commentary) 19 Aug 2026 15:13:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/egypts-deserts-show-why-ecological-knowledge-matters-in-conservation-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Marwan Mahmoud Kamal Hamdoun content:encoded: Egypt’s deserts are often introduced to the world as empty: Wide horizons, silence, heat, sand and stone. In tourism brochures they become dramatic scenery. In archaeological writing they can appear as corridors around monuments. In some conservation documents they are fragile spaces that need technical management from outside. But these descriptions miss something essential. Deserts are not empty. They are living landscapes, ecological archives and knowledge systems. For local desert communities, the landscape is not a blank background. It is read through water, plants, tracks, grazing routes, winds, seasonal movement, stories, risks and memories. A valley, a spring, a coastal plain or a mountain pass can hold information about how people and non-human life have adapted to scarcity. This kind of local ecological knowledge is not a decorative addition to conservation. It can help researchers and managers understand how landscapes are used, remembered and explained. In Egypt, this point matters urgently. The country is known globally for its ancient monuments, but its protected areas and biosphere reserves also contain another kind of heritage: Fossil valleys, desert plants, coral-linked coastal systems, migration routes, geological formations and human knowledge shaped by arid environments. If these landscapes are treated only as scenery, or as scientific sites separated from people, conservation loses part of its evidence base and much of its public meaning. At Wadi Al-Hitan in Fayoum, Egypt, visitors often arrive to see fossil whales, but the wider landscape tells a larger story: Ancient seas, changing climates, desert erosion and the long history…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Egypt is famous for ancient ruins but its protected areas and biosphere reserves contain another kind of heritage: Fossil valleys, desert plants, coral-linked coastal systems, migration routes, geological formations and human knowledge shaped by arid environments. - Desert expanses are not empty — or merely open spaces between archaeological monuments — but rather are places full of life, and this point matters urgently, a new op-ed argues. - “If conservation is to work in these landscapes, it must listen more carefully. It must see local ecological knowledge not as anecdote, and interpretation not as decoration, but as tools for making protection more grounded, more understandable and more just,” the author writes. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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New Zealand opens marine reserves with groundbreaking Māori co-management model 19 Aug 2026 14:48:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-zealand-opens-marine-reserves-with-groundbreaking-maori-co-management-model/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: DUNEDIN, Aotearoa New Zealand — At a U.N. meeting in 2015, Aotearoa New Zealand’s then Prime Minister John Key made a major announcement that drew praise from international conservation groups: His administration would turn a swath of waters far larger than the country’s land mass into a marine protected area (MPA). The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, planned for New Zealand’s northern waters, would have been one of the largest fully no-take MPAs in the world, but the sanctuary violated Māori fishing rights enshrined decades earlier. Key’s government had done relatively little to consult with Māori groups about the proposal, many of whom resisted the plan, calling for more recognition of their authority and their role in ocean governance. The sanctuary plan fell through. Yet, even as Key’s top-down exercise drew criticism, a more bottom-up approach to marine governance was underway in the country’s far southeast. There, Māori leaders helped develop a network of small MPAs, five of which became official on July 1, 2026, after more than a decade of grassroots and governmental work. A key aim is to protect seabed habitats, offshore canyons, rocky reefs, tidal lagoons and kelp forests. The network, called Te Au Roa o Te Rakihouia, is co-managed by the regional Māori tribe Kāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu in standard Māori), and the Department of Conservation. The reserves are the first in the country to be co-managed by Indigenous people and the government using shared decision-making and a joint marine ranger team. The network name refers to the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Five new marine protected areas (MPAs) came into effect in Aotearoa New Zealand in July after more than a decade of grassroots and governmental work — and a sixth is expected to open in the near future. - The MPAs are no-take marine reserves, areas where all extractive activities are banned, co-managed by the regional Māori tribe Kāi Tahu and the Department of Conservation. - The reserves are the first in the country to be co-managed by Indigenous people and the government through shared decision-making and a joint ranger team. - The reserves are the first part of a planned network, called Te Au Roa o Te Rakihouia, which is expected to have not only the reserves but also other types of protected areas that have less strict protections. authors: | ||
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Philippine Supreme Court rules monitoring commercial fishing vessels is unconstitutional 19 Aug 2026 14:33:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/philippine-supreme-court-rules-monitoring-commercial-fishing-vessels-is-unconstitutional/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro content:encoded: The Philippine Supreme Court has struck down a regulation requiring commercial fishing vessels to continuously transmit their locations and submit electronic catch reports, a decision small-scale fishers say could make it harder to protect coastal grounds already strained by overfishing and competition from larger operators. The high court upheld a lower-court decision that invalidated Fisheries Administrative Order No. 266 (FAO 266), which required all Philippine-flagged commercial fishing vessels to install tracking systems and electronically report catches and other operational information. The court issued its decision on Jan. 21, 2026, and announced it publicly on Aug. 3, 2026. The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) filed a motion for reconsideration of the court’s decision on Aug. 14. Without continuous tracking, fishers say authorities may struggle to detect commercial vessels entering municipal waters — the coastal zone generally extending 15 kilometers (9 miles) from shore and reserved primarily for small-scale local fishers. “If some vessels could still enter municipal waters even when monitoring devices were installed, it could become even worse now that the Supreme Court has declared the requirement unconstitutional,” Pablo Rosales, president of Pangisda Pilipinas, a national fisherfolk alliance, told Mongabay by phone. Some fishers and scientists also raised concerns that greater commercial fishing pressure could further reduce the number of fish available to coastal communities. A skipjack purse seine fishery operation underway on the deck of a Philippine fish carrier/supply boat. Image © Alex Hofford / Greenpeace. Tracking commercial fishing FAO 266 formed part of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Philippine Supreme Court struck down a regulation requiring commercial fishing vessels to continuously transmit their locations and submit electronic catch reports. - The requirement was partially implemented before being suspended in 2022 during a court challenge, with devices installed on about 52% of targeted vessels. - Small-scale fishers and scientists warn reduced oversight could increase commercial incursions into coastal waters where many fish stocks are already overexploited. - Following the high court’s decision, the country’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources filed a motion for reconsideration, a procedural remedy that allows a party to ask the Supreme Court to review its ruling before it becomes final. authors: | ||
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Cougars cut deadly vehicle-deer collisions in the U.S. by up to 76%, study shows 19 Aug 2026 13:06:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cougars-cut-deadly-vehicle-deer-collisions-in-the-u-s-by-up-to-76-study-shows/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Starre Vartan content:encoded: If you’re a black-tailed deer on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington, you’re always surrounded by friends and family. You are free-range, with abundant food to forage in familiar woods and meadows. But you’re also vigilant because you’re a prey species and your ideal habitat is also home to your top predators: Cascade mountain wolves (Canis lupus fuscus), cougars (Puma concolor) and black bears (Ursus americanus). Avoiding the animals that will hunt you and your fawns is an integral part of how you move across the landscape. Cougars, padding on giant, soundless paws, are to be especially feared, as you are their favorite meal. As such, cougars directly impact where you go to find food, water and rest, and when you do it, according to a new study in the journal Current Biology. The study reinforces the idea that the presence of cougars, also known as pumas, mountain lions and some 40 other names in English, alters how their prey uses the landscape. In doing so, they keep humans safer by pushing the region’s black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) away from roads and potential collisions with vehicles. Nationwide, there are 1.6-2.1 million accidents involving deer every year in the U.S., killing 200-440 people and costing about $10 billion a year, according to data cited in a 2025 study. The cats aren’t patrolling the highways and chasing deer away from traffic, of course. “The deer know where they’re most likely to be at risk of an encounter with a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - When cougars are present in a landscape, roads are safer, according to a new study. - In area where the cats were highly active, the expected number of deer-vehicle collisions fell by 76% over five years, with the probability of a collision falling by 67%. - Researchers found that fear changes deer behavior: Rather than simply reducing deer numbers by eating them, pumas appear to create a “landscape of fear” that pushes deer away from developed areas and shifts their active hours from nighttime into daylight. - Large carnivores, including cougars, keep fast-reproducing prey species in check, while also reducing dangerous and costly wildlife collisions — another reason why coexistence with them is important, experts say. authors: | ||
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Brazil marks borders for isolated Indigenous group in the Amazon after decades 19 Aug 2026 11:44:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/brazil-marks-borders-for-isolated-indigenous-group-in-the-amazon-after-decades/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Agents of Brazil’s Indigenous agency, FUNAI, spent 60 days in June and July 2026 physically marking the borders of the Rio Pardo Kawahiva Indigenous Territory. The 411,000-hectare (1 million-acre) area in the Amazon biome of Mato Grosso state is home to the Kawahiva, an isolated Indigenous group. The government agency confirmed the presence of the Indigenous group in 1999 and began demarcating its territory in 2001. “The uncontacted Kawahiva have been under threat in their own forest home for decades, while simply trying to exercise their right to live as they choose without contact,” Caroline Pearce, director of the UK-based NGO Survival International, said in a statement. Still image of a Kawahiva individual taken by federal agents in August 2013. Image courtesy of FUNAI. The territory has been invaded by land-grabbers and loggers, causing deforestation. Historically, the Kawahiva territory was intermittently protected via temporary land protection orders, which faced opposition from logging companies. To officially demarcate the territory, FUNAI agents opened a path around the land and installed roughly 140 signs at strategic locations, FUNAI agents told Mongabay. “Here in our region, all owners of plots of land do this,” Jair Candor, coordinator of the FUNAI unit that safeguards the Kawahiva, told Mongabay in an audio message. “The limits of land are marked by opening a path around that territory, whether it belongs to the white man or to an Indigenous person.” The last of more than 100 signs was placed on July 3, 2026. Image courtesy of Kenedy…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Agents of Brazil’s Indigenous agency, FUNAI, spent 60 days in June and July 2026 physically marking the borders of the Rio Pardo Kawahiva Indigenous Territory. The 411,000-hectare (1 million-acre) area in the Amazon biome of Mato Grosso state is home to the Kawahiva, an isolated Indigenous group. The government agency confirmed the presence of the […] authors: | ||
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New leadership initiative carries on legacy of late Indonesian environmental activist 19 Aug 2026 10:26:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-leadership-initiative-carries-on-legacy-of-late-indonesian-environmental-activist/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — It had been 648 days since Nur Hidayati, an Indonesian environmental activist fondly known as Yaya or Mbak Yaya, died of cancer. Rukka Sombolinggi, secretary-general of Indonesia’s largest Indigenous organization, AMAN, had counted every one of those days. “ It makes me sad,” she said at the launch of the Yaya Leadership Initiative in Jakarta on Aug. 14, which would have been Yaya’s 53th birthday. But seeing the initiative launched in Yaya’s name gave Rukka another way to think about the loss. “Although she has gone, there are legacies, ideas and actions she left behind that we can still benefit from,” she said. The initiative, known as the YLI, brings together environmental, Indigenous, agrarian, fisher, human rights, and other movements to develop a new generation of community leaders — particularly from the ranks of women, young people, Indigenous peoples, and grassroots changemakers. Facilitated by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the country’s biggest green NGO, alongside organizations including the Indigenous alliance AMAN, the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA), and the Indonesian Union of Traditional Fisherfolk (KNTI), the YLI aims to build the capacity, networks, and support systems of people working for social and environmental justice. The initiative is built around four principles that Yaya championed throughout her career: solidarity, equality, environmentalism, and diversity. But its proponents say the YLI is more than just an effort to preserve the memory of one of Indonesia’s most prominent environmental leaders. They say it’s an attempt to carry forward a particular…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Yaya Leadership Initiative, launched in memory of late Indonesian environmental leader Nur Hidayati, aims to develop a new generation of community leaders, particularly women, young people, Indigenous peoples, and grassroots activists. - The initiative builds on Yaya’s leadership approach, which emphasized sharing power, supporting women and young activists, and connecting environmental, Indigenous, agrarian, and human rights movements. - Organizers say the initiative is especially important as Indonesian environmental defenders face rising threats, while social movements struggle with fragmentation, polarization, and a lack of leadership succession. - The YLI has begun supporting emerging leaders through fellowships and aims to build networks that help activists remain in their movements, work across causes, and nurture the next generation of leaders. authors: | ||
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Spotted by AI: seahorses and shark fins 19 Aug 2026 10:13:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/spotted-by-ai-seahorses-and-shark-fins/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: While elephant ivory, rhino horns and pangolin scales get a lot of attention when it comes to illegal wildlife trade, marine wildlife are widely targeted as well. A new AI-driven tool detects marine wildlife in luggages and bags at airports. The tool can detect sea cucumbers, sea horses and shark fins, with more species to be added to the tool. While human inspection is still needed to verify the findings, the researchers hope the tool will serve as a second set of eyes to keep track of the trade. Watch this video to learn more.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: While elephant ivory, rhino horns and pangolin scales get a lot of attention when it comes to illegal wildlife trade, marine wildlife are widely targeted as well. A new AI-driven tool detects marine wildlife in luggages and bags at airports. The tool can detect sea cucumbers, sea horses and shark fins, with more species to […] authors: | ||
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Why carbon markets alone won’t save Southeast Asia’s concessions forests 19 Aug 2026 05:25:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/why-carbon-markets-alone-wont-save-southeast-asias-concessions-forests/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: New research suggests a “massive and untapped” opportunity for conservation within commercial concessions in Southeast Asia, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. Using satellite data, researchers identified roughly 42 million hectares (104 million acres) of intact forest still standing inside logging, timber, rubber and oil palm concessions across Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. The study suggests that clearing these forests — an area larger than the whole of Malaysia — could release 1.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 30 years. Incentivizing concession holders to protect these forests instead of converting them for commodity production presents a big opportunity for conservation, the study says. “A substantial portion of Southeast Asia’s remaining forest lies within concession landscapes,” study lead author Annabel Lim, a Ph.D. student at the National University of Singapore, said in an interview with Mongabay. “Meeting climate and biodiversity goals will, therefore, require engaging the concession owners as potential conservation partners”. However, the study notes that relying strictly on carbon markets to incentivize concession holders to choose conservation is economically unviable at current carbon prices. Currently, carbon credits issued for avoided deforestation in Southeast Asia, trade at just $5 to $12 per metric ton, according to the World Bank’s 2026 State and Trends of Carbon Pricing report. To make conservation financially competitive with agricultural or logging, the researchers calculated that carbon prices would need to reach between $33 and $1,677 per metric ton of carbon dioxide. Yiwen Zeng, a conservation scientist at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and senior…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: New research suggests a “massive and untapped” opportunity for conservation within commercial concessions in Southeast Asia, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. Using satellite data, researchers identified roughly 42 million hectares (104 million acres) of intact forest still standing inside logging, timber, rubber and oil palm concessions across Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. The study suggests that […] authors: | ||
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Tapirs, bats and nests: How plastic infiltrates Amazonian wildlife 18 Aug 2026 21:12:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tapirs-bats-and-nests-how-plastic-infiltrates-amazonian-wildlife/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Tiago da Mota e Silva content:encoded: This is the third and final article in a special series on microplastics in the Amazon. Read the first story here and the second story here. MANAUS, Brazil — Traveling by boat up the Negro River from Amazonas state capital Manaus, it takes eight to nine hours to cover the 100 kilometers (62 miles) to Anavilhanas National Park. This protected area preserves one of the world’s largest freshwater archipelagos, comprising more than 400 islands and 60 lakes. They include Prato Lake, which is about 3.5 kilometers (about 2 miles) long and 1.5 kilometers (nearly 1 mile) wide. Yet, even here, in a protected area far from urban pressures, microplastics were found in the digestive tracts of fish. A recent study found an average concentration of 0.25 particles per liter of microplastics in the waters of Prato Lake. The particles were also present in the fish analyzed, regardless of their feeding habits, averaging 3.3 particles per individual. In total, about eight out of every 10 fish contained microplastics, despite living in a preserved area far from urban centers. “As a result of the entire connectivity dynamic that exists between aquatic environments in the Amazon, plastic is found even in the most remote places,” said co-author of the study Adalberto Val, a biologist from the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA). Plastic’s likely journey begins long before it reaches the lake. Most of the particles found in the fish consisted of filaments of polyamide, also known as nylon, alongside fragments of materials…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Studies have found microplastics in various species of Amazonian wildlife, including fish, tapirs, crabs and bats, even within protected areas far from major urban centers. - Contamination spreads through multiple routes, traveling from small forest streams known as igarapés to the mouth of the Amazon River, where birds are building “blue nests” out of plastic debris. - Although the toxic effects on animals remain poorly understood, data show that microplastics cross between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, potentially impacting the entire food chain. authors: | ||
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‘Remembering Wildlife’ shines a spotlight on the species we risk losing forever 18 Aug 2026 20:05:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/remembering-wildlife-shines-a-spotlight-on-the-species-we-risk-losing-forever/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: British wildlife photographer Margot Raggett says she created the book Remembering Elephants after she heard David Attenborough say, “The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?” Her effort was to provoke this question in others and to give the proceeds from its sale to conservation organizations. In a sense, the book went viral and generated a following, prompting Raggett to continue the book series and her nonprofit, Remembering Wildlife. “Sometimes people get upset with me and say ‘They’re still around,’ but I want people to stop and think,” Raggett says. In this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, she discusses her journey into photography, the intention behind memorializing still-living species, and details of her 11th book, Remembering Giraffes, which will be published Oct. 12. Raggett has gathered work from some of the world’s most renowned wildlife photographers. To date, Remembering Wildlife has raised more than $1.6 million for 85 conservation organizations in 35 countries. Publishing the first book was not without its challenges. Not knowing as many photographers at the time, Raggett had to actively solicit photographers for their work. Just as she closed out the Kickstarter campaign to fund the book, Raggett was diagnosed with breast cancer, a moment that she says anchored her to the work. “During the next three months of my treatment … during my radiotherapy, I would work on the elephant book in the morning and then go and have…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: British wildlife photographer Margot Raggett says she created the book Remembering Elephants after she heard David Attenborough say, “The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?” Her effort was to provoke this question in others and to give the […] authors: | ||
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Elders, conservationists race to record fading sacred ties to Philippines’ endemic birds 18 Aug 2026 19:55:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/elders-conservationists-race-to-record-fading-sacred-ties-to-philippines-endemic-birds/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro content:encoded: PUERTO GALERA, Philippines — The forest settles into a gentle rhythm as the trail climbs into the Iraya Mangyan ancestral domain in Puerto Galera town, on the Philippines’ Mindoro Island. Only birdsong breaks the silence as towering trees sway overhead. A clear stream tumbles across the trail over smooth rocks. Ahead walks 43-year-old Lenito Pampilo. Every few steps, he stops — not because the climb is difficult, but because the forest is speaking, he says. He points to an unseen bird in the canopy. Another answers from farther uphill. For him, each call carries meaning. “Our elders taught us these birds,” he tells Mongabay. Pampilo, an Iraya community leader and ecotrail guide, has spent much of his life in these mountains. His knowledge goes beyond recognizing species. “Some birds signal changing weather, warn of danger or carry messages between the living and spirit worlds,” he says. “Trees, streams and ridges also hold stories passed from one generation to the next.” For the Iraya, the forest is a largely unwritten living archive. Lenito Pampilo, an Iraya community leader and ecotrail guide, has spent much of his life in the mountains located in the Iraya Mangyan ancestral lands. Image by Keith Anthony Fabro. For the Iraya, the forest is a largely unwritten living archive. Image courtesy of Center for Conservation Innovations PH Inc. As elders age and fewer young people learn beside them, the Center for Conservation Innovations Philippines (CCIPH) is helping Iraya knowledge holders document wildlife, medicinal plants and culturally important places…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Iraya Mangyan ancestral forestland supports hundreds of plant and animal species, including many that are rare, threatened or found only on the Philippines’ Mindoro Island. - Culturally important birds include the Mindoro racket-tail (Prioniturus mindorensis), Mindoro boobook (Ninox mindorensis) and Mindoro scops owl (Otus mindorensis), whose calls and behaviors guide weather preparation, farming decisions and spiritual practices. - Iraya knowledge also links medicinal plants, wildlife and healing, showing how customary beliefs can regulate harvesting, discourage disturbance and protect forest habitats. - Community-led documentation will help carry this knowledge into ancestral-domain planning, ecotrail interpretation and broader conservation of Mindoro’s endemic wildlife. authors: | ||
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On the Great Barrier Reef, management by Traditional Owners is growing 18 Aug 2026 18:35:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-the-great-barrier-reef-management-by-traditional-owners-is-growing/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Cat Williams content:encoded: PERTH, Australia — “There’s this beautiful underwater garden out there,” says Mercy Singleton, referring to the vast network of colorful corals that make up the Great Barrier Reef off eastern Australia’s Queensland coast. “We’d like to see it safe and recovering.” Singleton is Yirrganydji and director of Research and Engagement Services at Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation. Her people are one of 18 Traditional Owner groups helping steward the Great Barrier Reef, for them their Sea Country — with Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreements (TUMRAs) in hand. These community-based plans for joint management of the Reef are part of a suite of conservation efforts at the iconic World Heritage Site that include Traditional Owners in management. While there are still gaps in the full inclusion of Indigenous communities in the stewardship of their traditional waters, big strides are being made, say Indigenous governance organizations and scientists. A recent decision by the World Heritage Committee has taken notice. “The last 30 years have seen massive changes in how the Great Barrier Reef is managed, particularly for Traditional Owners,” says Allan Dale, professor of tropical regional development at James Cook University. “There’s been this great increase in the governing capability and the ability of those Traditional Owner groups to achieve their aspirations,” he tells Mongabay. “There’s been a real huge growth in the sort of capability of land and sea reservations and there’s an increasing number of rangers and leaders and planners and workers in that space.” Dr. Mercy Singleton, director of Research…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Joint management of the Great Barrier Reef is changing, with Traditional Owners playing an increasing role in the conservation of one of the seven natural wonders of the world. - Despite climate change continuing to threaten the health of the Reef, the World Heritage Committee has again decided not to put the Great Barrier Reef on its “in danger” list, and has cited increased levels of Traditional Owner management in its decision. - Traditional use and management agreements currently cover 43% of the Great Barrier Reef’s coastline and the government has announced new funding and measures to further include Indigenous management. - There are still gaps in the full inclusion of Indigenous communities in the stewardship of their traditional waters, say Indigenous governance organizations, though strides are being made. authors: | ||
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A looming rock collapse threatens a Swiss village as thawing permafrost destabilizes the Alps 18 Aug 2026 17:12:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/a-looming-rock-collapse-threatens-a-swiss-village-as-thawing-permafrost-destabilizes-the-alps/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: KANDERSTEG, Switzerland (AP) — An unstable mountain rock formation looming above the Swiss village of Kandersteg threatens a landslide that could rival the disaster that destroyed nearby Blatten last year, a collapse scientists linked to thawing permafrost and glacier dynamics. The 1,300 residents of Kandersteg, in Switzerland’s Bern canton, live amid a quintessential Alpine landscape of sharp peaks, white glaciers, steep green valleys and the distant sound of cowbells. But a catastrophe looms over the quiet village: a mountainside rock formation called Spitze Stei, part of a mountain landscape increasingly affected by thawing permafrost, threatens to collapse into the valley in a massive landslide. “You are aware that it’s happening, but not afraid,” said Brigitte Jüni, an inhabitant of Kandersteg. She said authorities took all the precautions they could. “But then it’s nature. It’s nature and you never know,” Jüni added. As glaciers and permafrost — the frozen soil sediment and rock that acts like a glue holding mountains together — melt due to higher temperatures caused by climate change, the threat of landslides is rising in the Swiss Alps. In May 2025, a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier thundered down the mountainside in the nearby Loetschental valley, sending plumes of dust skyward and coating with mud nearly all of Blatten, which had been evacuated earlier as a precaution. Markus Stoffel, professor for climate change and natural risks at the University of Geneva, said climate change leads to the melting of both glaciers and permafrost. “In the mountains…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: KANDERSTEG, Switzerland (AP) — An unstable mountain rock formation looming above the Swiss village of Kandersteg threatens a landslide that could rival the disaster that destroyed nearby Blatten last year, a collapse scientists linked to thawing permafrost and glacier dynamics. The 1,300 residents of Kandersteg, in Switzerland’s Bern canton, live amid a quintessential Alpine landscape of sharp […] authors: | ||
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Indigenous food sovereignty is one of the most overlooked conservation strategies (commentary) 18 Aug 2026 16:21:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-food-sovereignty-is-one-of-the-most-overlooked-conservation-strategies-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Brijlal ChaudhariGemma Sethsmith content:encoded: As governments and conservation organizations search for solutions to the interconnected crises of biodiversity loss, climate change and food insecurity, they are overlooking one of the most effective approaches already working on the ground: Indigenous food sovereignty. Around the world, Indigenous communities manage or hold tenure rights to roughly a quarter of Earth’s land surface, which contains 37% of remaining natural lands worldwide and a third of the planet’s intact forest landscapes. They conserve seeds, maintain diverse farming landscapes, protect forests and rivers and fisheries, and pass ecological knowledge from one generation to the next. Yet these systems are rarely recognized as central to conservation policy, despite their proven contributions to both biodiversity and community resilience. This needs to change. Food sovereignty leader Richard Rojo in his Vanuatu taro garden. Image courtesy of Monica Kidd. The global food system is becoming increasingly uniform. Just three crops — wheat, rice, and maize — provide more than half of the world’s plant-derived calories. Driven by profit, industrial agriculture has transformed vast landscapes into monocultures, contributing to habitat loss, declining soil health, water pollution and the erosion of crop diversity. At the same time, communities everywhere are becoming more vulnerable to climate shocks, market instability and diet-related disease. In contrast, Indigenous food systems are often built on diversity, reciprocity with the land and the way many Indigenous communities perceive wealth. For one of our communities, for example, the Tharu of Nepal, wealth is found in mutual aid, collective reciprocity, and the sacred relations…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Conservation cannot succeed if it separates biodiversity from the Indigenous people who have helped sustain it for generations, a new op-ed argues. - Indigenous food systems are an important facet of this biological stewardship, and these demonstrate that ecological stewardship, cultural continuity and human well-being are deeply interconnected. - “Indigenous food sovereignty is not simply about preserving the past but, rather, it is a living practice and a proven practical pathway toward a more diverse, resilient and sustainable future the world needs,” the authors write. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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On an Indonesian island, an ancient ritual evolves to protect an endangered cockatoo 18 Aug 2026 14:10:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/ author: Hayat Indriyatno dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: An Indigenous community on Indonesia’s Seram Island is preserving a centuries-old coming-of-age ritual while helping protect the endangered salmon-crested cockatoo, a new study has found. The study, published in July in the Journal of Ethnobiology, documents how the Huaulu people adapted the sacred Cidaku initiation ceremony in collaboration with conservationists and government authorities. The ritual marks young men’s transition to adulthood and traditionally involved wearing the distinctive crest feathers of the salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis), a bird found nowhere else on Earth. The Huaulu, one of Seram’s oldest Indigenous communities, regard Seram’s forests as a living realm inhabited by powerful spirits, shaping their approach to conservation. “The use of cockatoo feathers is specifically embedded within this cultural system and is very different from hunting birds for commercial purposes,” study lead author Dwi Agustina, a researcher at Indonesia’s Gadjah Mada University and program coordinator at the Indonesia’s Cockatoo Conservation Association (KKI), told Mongabay in an email. An endangered salmon-crested cockatoo on Seram Island, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Balázs Tisza/Wildlife Messengers. The Cidaku ritual once had ties to head-taking, but after colonial authorities and Christian missionaries suppressed the practice in the early 20th century, the Huaulu adapted the ceremony around hunting wild animals. The salmon-crested cockatoo became one traditional target, with its crest feathers used in the ceremonial puheliam headdress: the white feathers as a symbol of sacred life, peace and community, and the peach-tinged feathers signifying great strength and courage. Over the decades, however, the species has become endangered, largely due…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study has found that the Huaulu Indigenous community on Indonesia’s Seram Island is adapting a centuries-old coming-of-age ritual to help protect the endangered salmon-crested cockatoo. - Researchers say that rather than hunting the birds for their feathers, used in the Cidaku ceremony, the Huaulu have agreed to use naturally shed feathers, collected from rehabilitation centers, rescue facilities and zoos. - The findings suggest that conservation efforts may be more effective when they work with Indigenous cultural traditions and local knowledge rather than relying solely on imposing restrictions from outside. - However, an independent expert warns that this still leaves the much larger threats to the species — wildlife trafficking and habitat loss — unaddressed, and that the approach is a bespoke solution that won’t work with other threatened species. authors: | ||
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As an industry and a cooking ingredient, seaweed is gaining ground in Brazil 18 Aug 2026 12:26:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-an-industry-and-a-cooking-ingredient-seaweed-is-gaining-ground-in-brazil/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Letícia Klein content:encoded: Aparecida Rosa Ayres often says she has known seaweed since she was in her mother’s womb, thanks to the stories she used to tell her. As a child, her mother used seaweed as doll hair while playing on the beach. Today, the 47-year-old Caiçara woman has given it a new meaning: It is the star ingredient at Rancho Ayres, her restaurant on Paraty’s São Gonçalo Beach. While the seaweed of her mother’s childhood was native to Ilha Grande Bay, the variety Aparecida uses for cooking is Kappaphycus alvarezii, a macroalgae of Philippine origin that she first found in 2013. Eight years later, she took a course offered by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the Paraty municipal government on the potential of seaweed farming for the regional bioeconomy. That course inspired Algas na Mesa Paraty, an initiative that combines what Aparecida calls “seaweed gastronomy” with historical revival at the São Gonçalo and São Gonçalinho beaches. “We are the daughters of the waters; we were born in the maritório [marine territory], so the use of seaweed comes as a form of resistance and permanence to preserve the territory,” Aparecida says. She descends from one of the traditional Caiçara families (traditional population from south/southeast Brazil) displaced from their homes by the beach during the construction of the Rio-Santos federal road (BR-101) between 1969 and 1975. However, the Caiçara continued to use the beaches for work and leisure. There, families built ranchos — facilities that support mariculture, community-based tourism and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Paraty, Brazil, a Caiçara family has transformed seaweed cultivation into gastronomy, educational tourism and a source of income. The venture is driven by strong female participation and a deep connection to their territory. - Originally introduced in Brazil to supply the carrageenan industry, the macroalgae Kappaphycus alvarezii is also being used as a biofertilizer and increasingly as a food item.. - Its farming also supports ecological balance. It produces oxygen, absorbs carbon and helps improve water quality by filtering out excess nutrients. - Experts say the expansion of seaweed farming in Brazil faces bottlenecks in credit, marketing, technology and regulation. New research networks and public policies are attempting to organize the sector as part of the country’s growing bioeconomy. authors: | ||
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Indonesia leads global tally of abuses linked to Chinese transition-mineral investments 18 Aug 2026 10:59:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-leads-global-tally-of-abuses-linked-to-chinese-transition-mineral-investments/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Indonesia recorded more allegations of human rights and environmental abuses linked to Chinese investments in transition minerals than any other country between 2023 and 2025, a new report says. It identifies the vast majority of problems with the country’s rapidly expanding nickel industry. The report by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRC) documented 323 publicly reported allegations across 24 countries during the three-year period, plus three confidential cases involving attacks on human rights defenders. That brings the total to 326 allegations for 2023-2025. The number of recorded allegations has also risen each year, from 51 in 2021 to 148 in 2025, bringing the five-year total to 434. That increase doesn’t necessarily mean the number of abuses themselves have tripled, as changes in reporting, monitoring, and the database can affect the figures. Still, the rising trend comes as investment in the minerals used in electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable energy technologies expands rapidly, raising risks for workers, Indigenous peoples, local communities, and the environment. The report also documented 18 attacks against human rights defenders across all 24 countries between 2023 and 2025, including cases involving judicial harassment, violence, and intimidation. Indonesia Of the 323 allegations analyzed in detail, 96 were in Indonesia, the highest of any country. The Democratic Republic of Congo was second with 52, followed by Myanmar with 36, Serbia with 32, and Zimbabwe with 20. Ninety of the 96 Indonesian allegations involved nickel. Of those, 71 concerned nickel processing, 17 nickel extraction, and two…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia recorded 96 allegations of human rights and environmental abuses linked to Chinese investments in transition minerals from 2023 to 2025, the most of any country, with 90 involving nickel, according to a new report. - Water, soil, and air pollution were among the main environmental concerns, while Indonesian nickel processors accounted for 57% of work-related deaths and 68% of injury allegations documented globally. - The report also documented allegations involving Indigenous rights violations, intimidation of environmental defenders, and failures to obtain free, prior, and informed consent around nickel projects in Indonesia. - The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, which compiled the report, says Chinese companies need stronger human rights and environmental due diligence, as gaps between corporate commitments and practices could create growing risks for workers, communities, and supply chains. authors: | ||
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Mobile queen conch hatcheries strive to help the species, engage Caribbean communities 18 Aug 2026 09:54:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mobile-queen-conch-hatcheries-strive-to-help-the-species-engage-caribbean-communities/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: André Habet content:encoded: Queen conch were once so abundant that fishers in many parts of the Caribbean could wade into knee-deep waters and gather armfuls of the pink, whorled shells. Today, however, the giant marine snails are in decline across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, while some populations have already collapsed. Growing demand for queen conch (Aliger gigas) meat and shells has led to overharvesting; habitat degradation, pollution and warming waters add further threats. Despite a 1992 CITES Appendix II listing to regulate their international trade, seasonal restrictions and bans by several Caribbean countries to address overfishing and juvenile harvesting, and a 2024 designation as a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, few queen conch survive to adulthood compared to historical baselines. In a bid to slow the species’ decline by helping more conch reach reproductive age, scientists are deploying an innovative set of solar-powered mobile hatcheries to shelter them through their vulnerable early life stages. The Queen Conch Lab (QCL), affiliated with Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in the U.S., partners with local conservation organizations to deploy the hatcheries. The aim is not just to build nurseries that will nurture and protect developing conch, but to create community learning spaces where students and other visitors can gain knowledge about the species’ life cycle and participate in restoration efforts, according to Megan Davis, director of the QCL and a research professor at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. A researcher holds a juvenile queen conch. Image by Jennifer Doerr, NOAA…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - International demand for queen conch meat and shells has led to severe overharvesting, while habitat degradation, pollution and warming waters add further threats. - In a bid to slow the decline of the queen conch, researchers are partnering with local conservation organizations across the Caribbean to establish a network of mobile hatcheries aimed at protecting the giant marine snail through its vulnerable early life stages. - The goal is not only to nurture developing conch, but to create community spaces where local people can learn about the queen conch life cycle and participate in restoration efforts. - However, some researchers have doubts about whether aquaculture alone can restore wild conch fisheries. authors: | ||
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Despite energy crisis, Bangladesh’s factories are slow to adopt solar power: Study 18 Aug 2026 07:37:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/despite-energy-crisis-bangladeshs-factories-are-slow-to-adopt-solar-power-study/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Md Asaduz Zaman content:encoded: Bangladesh’s energy system is facing intense pressure from the country’s ongoing fuel crisis and rising electricity bills. Yet thousands of garment factories’ rooftops that could be fitted with solar panels remain largely unused. Renewable energy such as solar could be a potential solution to the escalating crisis, but has been overlooked for many years despite Bangladesh having sufficient amounts of sunshine. Rather, the country relies almost entirely on grid electricity, which is mostly generated from imported fossil fuels. More than two-thirds or 69% of factories have still not adopted renewable energy technologies (RET), according to a recent study funded by the International Growth Centre (IGC). “Only 31% of factories have adopted RET (predominantly rooftop solar), with very low average capacity,” the study says. “Half of all solar installations do not even contribute to production processes.” This analysis is based on a survey of 661 factories in the cities of Gazipur and Savar, located close to the capital Dhaka, conducted by Atonu Rabbani of Dhaka University and a BRAC University research team and completed in October 2025. Bangladesh’s garment sector has more than 3,320 active factories. Of these, more than are located in Savar and Gazipur. The study focuses on these two industrial hubs using the Mapped in Bangladesh (MiB) database and samples more than 650 factories out of 1,937 in the two cities. A separate study conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) finds that solar adoption is mostly seen in large and environmentally certified factories (LEED-certified). Large factories…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Less than one-third or 31% of the garment factories in Bangladesh have adopted renewable energy technologies, including rooftop solar, despite the sector having significant potential. - A study shows that financing is still a barrier owing to the upfront costs, limited working capital and procedural red tape from the lenders. - Industry insiders also believe that limited space and a lack of knowledge among owners slow the adoption of sustainable options. - According to an estimate, the garment and textile sector could install up to 2,800 MWp of rooftop solar capacity with an investment of about 126.7 billion Bangladeshi Taka ($1.03 billion). authors: | ||
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Land crisis and ‘green revolution’ practices trap millions of Malawi’s farmers 18 Aug 2026 07:30:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/land-crisis-and-green-revolution-practices-trap-millions-of-malawis-farmers/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Charles Mpaka content:encoded: GOLIATI, Malawi — All that’s left to eat in Tapiwa Ligomeka’s one-room home is stored in a small plastic basin in one corner. Two days earlier, her husband came home with 2 kilos of maize meal, about 5 pounds — all he could afford to buy after a day hustling for casual work carrying traders’ goods at a nearby market, here in southern Malawi’s Thyolo district. On the day Mongabay visits her home, Ligomeka has just returned to her thatched-roof house in the village of Goliati, clutching a bundle of dry maize and pigeon pea stalks to make a fire later, her 8-month-old baby strapped to her back. It’s coming up to noon on a Sunday; her husband is still out watering his tomato crop near the river. “I’ll wait for him,” says Ligomeka, 18, dropping her bundle by the cold fireplace on the verandah. “This flour cannot make enough nsima for us to eat separately.” Nsima is the Chewa term for Malawi’s staple dish, a stiff porridge made from maize flour and usually eaten with vegetables, legumes, and, for those who can afford it, meat or fish. “It also means there won’t be anything for us to eat this evening,” Ligomeka says, measuring the flour with scoops of her right hand. “Sometimes, that goes on for two days.” She says the couple harvested 178 kg (392 lb) of maize from their small farm in March. They couldn’t afford fertilizer for their plot, which measures less than half an acre,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Malawi’s maize harvest has barely grown in two decades even as its population has surged, leaving millions vulnerable to food shortages each year. - Small farmers struggle to produce enough food on tiny plots because of high fertilizer costs, degraded soils, erratic rains, and unreliable access to government subsidies. - Many farmers sell much of their maize to pay for basic necessities, then depend on risky vegetable crops or scarce seasonal jobs to buy food during the lean months. - After two decades of maize-focused agricultural policy, experts and farmers say Malawi needs stronger support for diverse, resilient farming and rural livelihoods rather than simply producing more maize. authors: | ||
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‘Cocoa fever’ in Liberia’s Grand Gedeh is wiping out native forests 18 Aug 2026 07:17:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/cocoa-fever-in-liberias-grand-gedeh-is-wiping-out-native-forests/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Until 2020, 99% of Liberia’s Grand Gedeh county was covered by natural forests. Since then, cacao farms have rapidly encroached on those forests, reports Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo. Grand Gedeh in southeastern Liberia borders Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest exporter of cacao beans. Much of Côte d’Ivoire’s forests have been cleared for cacao and many of its cacao plantations are now ageing and nutrient poor. That’s prompted cacao workers from Côte d’Ivoire to turn their attention to Liberia, where landowners have offered them their land in exchange for a share in cocoa earnings. Data from Global Forest Watch show that in 2025, Grand Gedeh lost more forest than any other Liberian county in a single year since 2002. “In Côte d’Ivoire there are no forests, that’s why I came to Liberia,” said Mohammed, a cacao farm worker near the town of Zleh in Grand Gedeh’s Gbarzon district. Around Zleh, roughly 82% of the community’s 6,900 hectares (17,000 acres) of customary forest land have been given over to cacao, Zleh’s town chief said. Yei Neagor, in charge of the regional headquarters of Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh’s capital, told Mongabay that Gbarzon has seen the worst forest loss in the county. “I will be honest to tell you that about 70% of the forest there is gone,” she said. Forests in southeastern Liberia are communally owned, and laws regulate how private individuals can lease them for commercial agriculture. In practice, those laws aren’t being followed, said Ashai Wulu Gaye, chair…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Until 2020, 99% of Liberia’s Grand Gedeh county was covered by natural forests. Since then, cacao farms have rapidly encroached on those forests, reports Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo. Grand Gedeh in southeastern Liberia borders Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest exporter of cacao beans. Much of Côte d’Ivoire’s forests have been cleared for cacao and many of its cacao […] authors: | ||
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Nepal’s newest national parks drive tiger recovery, but emerging concerns threaten progress 18 Aug 2026 06:42:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/nepals-newest-national-parks-drive-tiger-recovery-but-emerging-concerns-threaten-progress/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In the last four years, Nepal’s wild tiger population has experienced a historic increase. In 2022, the tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population was numbered at 355 individuals. Now, it has reached an estimated 429 individuals — nearly a four-fold jump from 16 years ago, reports Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi. Bed Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, said that the department’s latest tiger monitoring survey results “reflect the positive outcomes of ongoing efforts in the field of tiger conservation in Nepal, such as habitat conservation and management, poaching control, conservation of prey species, and biological corridor conservation.” However, a closer look at the latest numbers reveals an uneven recovery. Growth is concentrated almost entirely within the country’s newest national parks, Banke, Parsa and Shuklaphanta, while Bardiya, the country’s second-oldest park, experienced a population decline. Shant Raj Jnawali, a researcher and conservationist, said the uneven growth of tiger numbers across Nepal’s parks is due to water availability, spread of weed species and improved connectivity with potential habitats in India, rather than administrative or management changes. “We have seen some areas of Bardiya, especially the banks of the Geruwa River, and Chitwan (west) are facing droughts due to changing river course,” Jnawali said. This dry spell, he added, may be pushing tigers toward parks with better water infrastructure, such as Banke and Parsa, where officials have heavily invested in artificial ponds. Additionally, older parks are suffering from invasive weeds such as bitter vine (Mikania micrantha) and common…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In the last four years, Nepal’s wild tiger population has experienced a historic increase. In 2022, the tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population was numbered at 355 individuals. Now, it has reached an estimated 429 individuals — nearly a four-fold jump from 16 years ago, reports Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi. Bed Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson for the […] authors: | ||
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Texas activist’s claims of Indigenous ancestry face scrutiny 17 Aug 2026 20:21:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/texas-activists-claims-of-indigenous-ancestry-face-scrutiny/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: A recent investigation from Grist, a U.S.-based nonprofit media organization, raises questions about environmental activist Juan Mancias’ Indigenous claim to the land he works to protect in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2017, Mancias traveled to France and helped pressure French banks to withdraw support for oil and gas projects that he said threatened ancestral Indigenous lands and a rare coastal ecosystem. Since that success, the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe, which Mancias is the chairman of, has received recognition in the United Nations and financing for environmental work. The Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe isn’t currently recognized by U.S. federal or state governments; Indigenous groups seeking recognition, as Mancias has, must establish a substantially continuous tribal existence as an autonomous entity. Experts believed “Carrizo” or “Comecrudo” people disappeared from the area after violence, disease or assimilation dramatically reduced their populations. For years, Mancias has said that his grandfather and dozens of tribal families fled their Rio Grande homeland in the 1940s and moved north to the Texas panhandle where they blended in with Mexican farm workers. According to Mancias, they kept their culture alive, secretly speaking their native language and sharing oral histories. Mancias says he lives by two guiding principles from his grandparents. His grandmother told him, “Know your people, know who you are,” while his grandfather told him, “Go get our land back,” according to news reports. However, Grist found inconsistencies in Mancias’ account that raise questions about the accuracy of his family history. For example, he has repeatedly cited an alleged…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A recent investigation from Grist, a U.S.-based nonprofit media organization, raises questions about environmental activist Juan Mancias’ Indigenous claim to the land he works to protect in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2017, Mancias traveled to France and helped pressure French banks to withdraw support for oil and gas projects that he said threatened […] authors: | ||
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Lake Powell hits record low, threatening key water and electricity supply for millions 17 Aug 2026 19:41:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/lake-powell-hits-record-low-threatening-key-water-and-electricity-supply-for-millions/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: The water level at Lake Powell, the United States’ second-largest reservoir, has fallen to a record low, heightening concerns about the ongoing crisis in the Colorado River system. The alarming milestone at Lake Powell, reached Saturday, comes about a week after the river’s other major reservoir, Lake Mead, also hit a historic low. Plummeting water levels pose a major threat to the Colorado River Basin, which is a key resource for wildlife, hydropower and more than 40 million people in seven U.S. states. The historic lows come as the federal government and states that rely on the river — California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado — struggle to reach agreement on a long-term management plan for the dwindling resource. Persistent overuse combined with a record-dry winter and rising temperatures have been depleting both Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Lake Powell’s elevation dropped to 3,519.91 feet (1072.9 meters) above sea level on Saturday, dropping just slightly below a previous record set in April 2023, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The lake is more than 20 feet (6.10 meters) lower than it was at the start of the year, USBR data shows. The reservoir is now about 30 feet (9.1 meters) away from the point at which turbines would stop producing hydroelectric power. Federal officials warned in April that a “major intervention” would be necessary to avoid reaching that threshold by the end of this year. USBR in July proposed a 10-year plan that includes major potential water cuts for Arizona, California and Nevada.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The water level at Lake Powell, the United States’ second-largest reservoir, has fallen to a record low, heightening concerns about the ongoing crisis in the Colorado River system. The alarming milestone at Lake Powell, reached Saturday, comes about a week after the river’s other major reservoir, Lake Mead, also hit a historic low. Plummeting water levels […] authors: | ||
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Fatal barge crashes fuel fear over Madeira River waterway expansion in Brazil 17 Aug 2026 19:21:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/fatal-barge-crashes-fuel-fear-over-madeira-river-waterway-expansion-in-brazil/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: CALAMA AND PARAÍSO GRANDE, Brazil — A mother and her three kids died after a barge loaded with soybeans collided with a floating structure and completely destroyed their stilt house on Jan. 17, 2025, in the Urumatuba riverine community along the Madeira River, in the Brazilian Amazon. Four months later, another freight vessel hit three mining barges anchored in the neighboring Nova Catarina riverine community, in the Manicoré municipality, in Amazonas state. The owner of one of the mining barges was the husband of the woman and father of the three kids who died in the January accident, according to a local news outlet. Mongabay was reporting in riverine communities in the region of the city of Humaitá, 190 kilometers (118 miles) southeast and downstream from Manicoré, when the second accident happened. All those interviewed on that day and the following days said they were terrified by the event — and knew someone who suffered losses or even died in collisions involving grain barges in the Madeira River. “We are very worried here in our community about these vessels,” smallholder Maria Delci Barros de Morais, 59, told Mongabay on the balcony of her house in the riverine community of Paraíso Grande, located 30 minutes by fast boat from Humaitá. “They’ve already run over someone we know.” The barge smashed the boat used by the family as a home, she recalled. “Thank God no one died.” According to Morais, the risk increases during the Madeira River’s high-water season, between December and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Brazil is planning to dredge the Madeira River to boost grain exports despite recent fatal barge collisions and poor dialogue with local communities. - In addition to accidents, expanded traffic and dredging pose risks of erosion, water pollution, harm to aquatic species and fishing. - As national elections approach, communities worry that politicians will prioritize agribusiness over the safety of those who rely on the river to access doctors, schools, work, trade and daily routines. authors: | ||
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Concerns grow over ‘green’ biomass power in Japan after spate of accidents 17 Aug 2026 15:45:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/concerns-grow-over-green-biomass-power-in-japan-after-spate-of-accidents/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Nithin Coca content:encoded: For the past decade, Japan has been expanding the use of woody biomass for power generation to replace or be mixed and burned with coal. The country is now the second-largest wood pellet consumer in the world after the U.K. But there are concerns that burning wood pellets or palm kernel shells to generate electricity might not be safe. In the past few years, there have been at least 14 fires, explosions and accidents at biomass power plants across Japan. These incidents, combined with rising prices, pollution concerns and growing opposition are leading some to question the future of Japan’s large-scale biomass plants, an estimated 34 of which produce 3.5 gigawatts of power. For many living near the plants or pushing Japan to decarbonize, this would be welcome as accident and pollution concerns grow. “Explosions at biomass power plants in Japan have been occurring too frequently, and despite this, regulations are being applied leniently,” An Nakane, a campaigner with Friends of the Earth Japan, told Mongabay. “The government should urge operators to formulate business plans that take into account the safety of nearby residents.” Tanks storing palm kernel shells and wood pellets at a biomass power plant in Japan’s Okinawa. Image by Annelise Giseburt for Mongabay. Why Japan has so many accidents Japan expanded the use woody biomass as an alternative to coal by including it alongside solar and wind in its clean energy feed-in-tariff program. This move came despite concerns that wood pellet production often rests on the destruction…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In the past few years, there have been at least 14 fires, explosions and accidents at biomass power plants across Japan. - Accidents, rising prices and pollution concerns have led local residents and campaigners to question the future of the country’s large biomass plants. - Japan had expanded the use woody biomass as an alternative to coal, but operators are facing rising costs and no longer benefit from a government-backed fixed tariff to support the industry. authors: | ||
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Increasingly rare: Jaguarundi moves up a notch on the endangered species list 17 Aug 2026 13:40:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/increasingly-rare-jaguarundi-moves-up-a-notch-on-the-endangered-species-list/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Distinct for their rather uncat-like appearance, jaguarundis have long flown under the research and conservation radar. However, its latest uplisting to near threatened on the IUCN Red List could change that. These small cats — weighing up to around 7 kilograms (15 pounds) — roam savannah and forest landscapes across a massive range stretching from Mexico through Central America and all the way to southern Brazil and Argentina. Tadeu de Oliveira, co-chair of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, who led the latest review, said the assessment had to battle against the perception that jaguarundis are common and, thus, not threatened. That’s partly because, as a diurnal species, they roam and hunt in open spaces during the day, making them more visible than many other feline species, he said. They also inhabit degraded, less-than-pristine landscapes. “If you have a forest and that becomes savannah-like, it will mimic the ideal habitat for the species,” de Oliveira said. “It’s not [the jaguarundi’s] favorable habitat, but it will allow it to be there.” As this cat moves through open spaces, it is more frequently seen than other feline species that live in dense forest. Jaguarundis are sometimes known as the “otter cat” due to their distinctive, uncat-like appearance. They’re unique for their wide range of vocalizations, including “chirping” like a bird. Image by Wild Cats Brazil-Americas Conservation Program/Gatos do Mato. “It’s easier to be seen and because of that, people perceived it as common,” de Oliveira said. “But when you quantify it data-wise, it…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The jaguarundi needs more attention, researchers say. This small cat, ranging from Mexico to Argentina, was recently recategorized from least concern to near threatened on the IUCN Red List. - Despite the species’ large territory, monitoring data suggests it’s rare, now among the least abundant felids across its range. Conservationists also warn some populations are in decline due to human-wildlife conflict, dangerous roadways, attacks by dogs and infectious disease. - With relatively little field study or funding for research, there are huge gaps in researchers’ understanding of this cat, but conservationists hope this change in conservation status will spark greater attention. authors: | ||
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Only a few hundred Timor green pigeons may remain. There is still time to save them 17 Aug 2026 11:10:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/only-a-few-hundred-timor-green-pigeons-may-remain-there-is-still-time-to-save-them/ 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. On April 20, on the south coast of Timor-Leste, Jafet Potenzo Lopes saw three green pigeons. He had not seen the species for years. The birds were Timor green pigeons, and the site, in Manatuto municipality, had no previous record of them. With the species nearing extinction, finding three birds in a new place was encouraging. The latest estimates suggest how few remain. A study published this year in Oryx, drawing on more than 1,400 days of field surveys between 2002 and 2025, estimates the global population at 100-500 birds across eight sites. The true number may be near the lower end of that range. Only Nino Konis Santana National Park in eastern Timor-Leste is thought to hold more than 50 birds. The researchers recommend changing the status of the Timor green pigeon (Treron psittaceus) on the IUCN Red List from endangered to critically endangered, reports contributor Timothy Mihocik for Mongabay. In Indonesia, where many older records came from West Timor and nearby islands, the pigeon may already be functionally extinct. Most of the remaining birds are in Timor-Leste, where hunting continues even in protected areas. Timor green pigeons gather at fruiting trees and are unusually vulnerable: After one bird is shot, others may stay in the canopy. Forest conversion has also reduced their habitat. More than 80% of known records come from protected areas, yet researchers say those areas lack the funding…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. On April 20, on the south coast of Timor-Leste, Jafet Potenzo Lopes saw three green pigeons. He had not seen the species for years. The birds were Timor green pigeons, and the site, in Manatuto municipality, had no […] authors: | ||
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Safeguarding passageways is the next step for India’s growing tiger populations 17 Aug 2026 09:52:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/safeguarding-passageways-is-the-next-step-for-indias-growing-tiger-populations/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: As Bengal tiger numbers rebound in India and increasingly disperse into human-dominated areas, conservationists are urging the government to prioritize protecting ecological corridors that connect vital habitats and tiger populations. But they also warn that corridors shouldn’t become sticking plasters for compromised core habitats, reports contributor Nirmal Ghosh for Mongabay. India is home to roughly 75% of the world’s wild tigers. The national population has more than doubled from an estimated 1,827 in 1972 to an estimated 3,682 in the 2022 census. However, this conservation success has created new challenges. Experts estimate that 35% of India’s wild tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) now live outside protected areas. Young tigers leave their mothers to establish large home ranges, which for males can cover up to 200 square kilometers (77 square miles). In doing so, tigers frequently navigate a highly fragmented matrix of roads, railways and urban sprawl. Without safe pathways, isolated tiger populations risk inbreeding and local extinction. In response to rapid infrastructure development, India has constructed more wildlife underpasses and overpasses than any other Asian country, according to Bilal Habib, a scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), a government-run research center. This includes the world’s 10 largest wildlife mitigation structures built since 2017, such as a 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) underpass beneath a newly opened expressway connecting New Delhi to the city of Dehradun. “I don’t think anywhere in the world, any developing country has spent as much money as we have on mitigation, exclusively for wildlife conservation,” Habib told Mongabay. At the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: As Bengal tiger numbers rebound in India and increasingly disperse into human-dominated areas, conservationists are urging the government to prioritize protecting ecological corridors that connect vital habitats and tiger populations. But they also warn that corridors shouldn’t become sticking plasters for compromised core habitats, reports contributor Nirmal Ghosh for Mongabay. India is home to roughly […] authors: | ||
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Aceh’s community fishers struggle to preserve tradition amid blooms of plastic pollution 17 Aug 2026 08:48:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/acehs-community-fishers-struggle-to-preserve-tradition-amid-blooms-of-plastic-pollution/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Nurul Hasanah content:encoded: BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Seven fishers moved in concert along the shore of Gampong Jawa Beach in Banda Aceh, Indonesia’s westernmost city, hauling in a blue net nearly half a mile long from the Indian Ocean. “Forward … Keep it going … Now, move back!” instructed Surya Abid, the panglima laot, or “sea commander,” of the Gampong Jawa community. The practice known as tarek pukat is a form of community fishing dating to the Aceh Sultanate, which ruled here from the 15th century until defeat to the Dutch colonial navy in 1903. Its rules are overseen by the panglima laot, an Indigenous Acehnese institution that governed fishing through customary law long before the existence of the modern Indonesian state. Toward the end of 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake under nearby Simeleue Island triggered the infamous Indian Ocean tsunami — a disaster that, in Gampong Jawa, wiped out more than 90% of the population. Memorials in and around Banda Aceh are built 30 meters (100 feet) high to honor those lost and remind future generations of the wave height that left 167,540 people dead or missing in Indonesia alone. Today, only a small number of fishers still work together handling these vast nets to catch fish, following unwritten customary rules to protect threatened marine species including sea turtles and their eggs. In Gampong Jawa, those rules are overseen by Surya, the local panglima laot. Efendi, an assistant to the panglima laot (customary fishery lead), mends a torn fishing net. Image by Nurul…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Coastal communities in Indonesia’s Aceh province have practiced community fish trawling since the time of the Aceh Sultanate, but the tradition today exists in only a handful of communities across the semiautonomous province. - The customary panglima laot, a customary fishery lead, at one beach in the Aceh capital Banda Aceh, told Mongabay Indonesia that the customary rules included environmental protections such as requirements not to take threatened species. - However, this traditional fishing practice is under threat due to the increasing burden of plastic and other household waste accumulating in nearshore waters and along beaches. - For many, the time and cost required to patch holes in giant fishing nets can make the cost of doing business unviable, leading some fishers to abandon the tradition for jobs elsewhere. authors: | ||
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Logging and the slow disappearance of Australia’s large old trees (commentary) 17 Aug 2026 00:43:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/logging-and-the-slow-disappearance-of-australias-large-old-trees-commentary/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: David Lindenmayer content:encoded: Large old trees are among the most important structures in native forests, in Australia and around the world. They store disproportionately large amounts of carbon relative to small, young trees, and they provide the nesting and denning hollows that hundreds of animal species depend on. A single large old tree can take two or three centuries to grow. There is a persistent claim that logging does little or no lasting harm to these trees. It is worth examining what the evidence actually shows. I have studied populations of thousands of large old trees for more than four decades and published that work in the international peer-reviewed literature. I have also written a series of global reviews on large old trees and co-edited an international book on the subject – so the issue of logging effects on large old trees can be examined from data rather than assertion. Our long-term research has shown quite clearly that logged and regenerated forests have far fewer large old trees than places that have not been logged. There are several reasons for this – some obvious and some not so obvious. First, most trees are removed in a logging operation. Second, trees that are retained in logged areas are very exposed to increased windspeeds – the previous tree cover is not there to slow air movement. Third, the debris left on the forest floor after logging is burnt in a fire lit deliberately to help regenerate the forest. These are very high severity fires which…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Large old trees store substantial amounts of carbon and provide essential nesting and denning hollows for hundreds of Australian animal species. - Logging removes these trees directly and increases the risk that surviving trees will be damaged by wind and regeneration burns. - In this commentary, David Lindenmayer of the Australian National University argues that protecting large old trees is essential because they take centuries to replace. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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South Africa’s top court blocks Shell oil exploration off country’s Wild Coast 17 Aug 2026 00:00:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/south-africas-top-court-blocks-shell-oil-exploration-off-countrys-wild-coast/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: In a landmark judgment on Aug. 14, South Africa’s Constitutional Court set aside exploration rights held by oil giant Shell and Impact Africa, a South African oil and gas company. The ruling prevents the companies from exploring for fossil fuels off South Africa’s Wild Coast. The case was brought by Wild Coast communities and environmental organizations after Shell announced plans in 2021 to conduct a 3D seismic survey off the country’s Eastern Cape province coastline. They argued that authorities had failed to meaningfully consult affected communities or consider harms to their spiritual and cultural rights and livelihoods. Authorities also failed to consider the potential harm to marine life and climate change, the plaintiffs argued. In the judgement, Justice Jody Kollapen wrote the majority opinion and said consulting communities isn’t just a procedural requirement, but “a process which affirms human dignity by affording a seat at the table to those whose lives are impacted by decisions.” Acknowledging the “cornerstone role that dispossession played in the apartheid regime,” the court noted that South Africa’s natural resources are highly contested and that the case is embedded in “well-documented struggles by coastal communities to protect their land, marine resources and ways of life in the face of extractive activities.” The judges also considered last year’s International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on countries’ obligations in the context of climate change: “Decisions must be taken within a framework of heightened diligence, informed by scientific knowledge, international commitments and the foreseeable impacts of emissions on present…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In a landmark judgment on Aug. 14, South Africa’s Constitutional Court set aside exploration rights held by oil giant Shell and Impact Africa, a South African oil and gas company. The ruling prevents the companies from exploring for fossil fuels off South Africa’s Wild Coast. The case was brought by Wild Coast communities and environmental […] authors: | ||
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Is this the world’s loneliest tree? 16 Aug 2026 20:05:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/is-this-the-worlds-loneliest-tree/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Sam Lee content:encoded: The last known wild individual of Dendroseris neriifolia hangs off the side of a steep cliff on a remote island. To try to prevent its total extinction in the wild, conservationists recently went to great lengths—and heights—to collect seeds from the tree. They have begun trials to cultivate them with the help of the Millennium Seed Bank @kewgardens.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The last known wild individual of Dendroseris neriifolia hangs off the side of a steep cliff on a remote island. To try to prevent its total extinction in the wild, conservationists recently went to great lengths—and heights—to collect seeds from the tree. They have begun trials to cultivate them with the help of the Millennium […] authors: | ||
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Steve Smit, South Africa’s “Monkey Man,” has died 15 Aug 2026 21:18:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/steve-smit-south-africas-monkey-man-has-died/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In 2015 Steve Smit badly injured his right eye while trying to round up rescued chickens in his garden in Westville, near Durban. A branch struck him and almost cost him his sight. Doctors told him to rest. Within weeks he had gone on more than 20 wildlife rescues, wearing an eye patch. For three decades Smit climbed trees, crossed roofs, crawled under buildings, and entered gardens to retrieve vervet monkeys that had been shot, shocked on power lines, hit by cars, bitten by dogs, or caught in wire. Around KwaZulu-Natal he became known simply as the “Monkey Man.” He died on August 12th after a battle with cancer. He was 70. Before rescuing monkeys became his full-time occupation, Smit spent roughly 25 years in South Africa’s intelligence services. He had first joined the police after objecting to military conscription, and later moved through the Bureau of State Security and National Intelligence Service. In an oral-history interview in 2007, he recalled being troubled by the conduct and culture of some of the institutions in which he worked. His involvement with animals began while he was still in government service. In 1985 he founded FALCON, the Front for Animal Liberation and Conservation of Nature, described as South Africa’s first animal-rights organization. It later became Justice for Animals. Smit campaigned against vivisection, recreational hunting, circuses, wildlife trade, and other uses of animals that he regarded as exploitation. His position often put him at odds with conservationists. Smit was concerned not only with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Steve Smit, known in KwaZulu-Natal as the “Monkey Man,” spent three decades rescuing and rehabilitating vervet monkeys and other urban wildlife. - Before becoming a full-time rescuer, he spent roughly 25 years in South Africa’s intelligence services and helped build the country’s early animal-rights movement. - Through FALCON, Justice for Animals, and later Monkey Helpline, he challenged elephant culling, wildlife trade, vivisection, and other practices he believed sacrificed individual animals. - Smit, who died on August 12 at 70, became known for an uncompromising defense of animals that many people regarded as common, troublesome, or expendable. authors: | ||
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John Salehe helped shape Tanzania’s community conservation movement 15 Aug 2026 15:40:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/john-salehe-helped-shape-tanzanias-community-conservation-movement/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For wildlife moving between Lake Manyara and Tarangire, a line on a map was never enough. Elephants, wildebeest, and other animals crossed land used by pastoralists and farmers, where roads, cultivation, and settlements were expanding. Keeping such routes open meant persuading people who lived there that wildlife had a place in their future. It meant dealing with livestock killed by predators, arguments over revenue, and the tedious business of local institutions. John Gospel Yonazi Salehe, who died on June 19th aged 71, spent much of his working life on such problems. A Tanzanian forester by training, he worked for the government, FAO, UNDP, WWF, and, eventually, the African Wildlife Foundation, where he became Tanzania country director. His career stretched for more than four decades and across forests, wildlife areas, and development projects in East Africa. Salehe’s conservation was practical and strongly social. In the Maasai Steppe he worked to protect wildlife corridors and strengthen community-run Wildlife Management Areas. He wanted the benefits from conservation to reach households, and supported measures such as predator-proof livestock enclosures and compensation for losses to wildlife. Communities were not an audience for conservation after the important decisions had been made. They were part of how it was supposed to work. The same thinking shaped his work on forests. In central Tanzania, where charcoal production and farming put pressure on woodland, he argued that restrictions had to be accompanied by viable livelihoods. Higher agricultural productivity, land-use planning, and secure tenure could reduce pressure on forests, he…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: For wildlife moving between Lake Manyara and Tarangire, a line on a map was never enough. Elephants, wildebeest, and other animals crossed land used by pastoralists and farmers, where roads, cultivation, and settlements were expanding. Keeping such routes open meant persuading people who lived there that wildlife had a place in their future. It meant […] authors: | ||
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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: Christina NoriegaJulia LimaMonica Wise Robles 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 Ayers 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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