|
Three tracks to rescue 1.5°C: fossil exit, forest protection, and nature’s carbon (commentary) 08 Nov 2025 17:56:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/three-tracks-to-rescue-1-5c-fossil-exit-forest-protection-and-natures-carbon/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Ilona Szabó de Carvalho content:encoded: The planet just crossed a grim milestone: last year’s global temperature averaged more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, shredding our margin for error under the Paris Agreement. That doesn’t doom the goal forever, but it leaves little room for delay. Clinging to energy decarbonization alone won’t pull us back. If negotiators at COP30 in Belém want any chance of lowering temperatures below 1.5°C again, they must run three tracks at once: accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuels, lock in a time-bound roadmap to zero deforestation, and scale carbon capture from nature, especially forests, mangroves, seagrasses, and other “blue carbon” systems. Think of Earth as a pressure cooker already running hot. Turning down one burner—the fossil-fuel flame—helps, but steam is still blasting out through land-use emissions and the loss of natural carbon sinks. The gauge is rising because we keep punching holes in the lid and letting safety valves clog. Unless we vent that pressure while cutting the flame, the whole system risks catastrophic failure. To keep 1.5°C within reach, we need to start with the obvious: fossil emissions drive the crisis. COP30 should harden and accelerate what recent summits only began—including phasing down unabated coal, phasing out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies, and tripling renewable power by 2030. This isn’t a vibes-based transition. Countries need near-term, sector-specific targets embedded in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), with credible finance packages to enable grids, storage, transmission, and clean industry. These packages also translate into jobs, lights, and energy security—visible results that build public trust.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, co-founder and president of the Igarapé Institute and of the Green Bridge Facility, argues that keeping global warming below 1.5 °C requires action on three simultaneous fronts: phasing out fossil fuels, ending deforestation, and scaling up natural carbon capture in forests and oceans. - She contends that energy decarbonization alone is insufficient; protecting and restoring ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and mangroves is essential for both emissions reduction and resilience, and must be backed by transparent finance and accountability. - With COP30 approaching in Belém, her piece calls for an integrated, finance-backed plan that ties together clean-energy expansion, a time-bound zero-deforestation roadmap, and rigorous safeguards for community-led nature-based solutions. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Why Sweden’s forest policy matters to the world (commentary) 07 Nov 2025 23:04:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-swedens-forest-policy-matters-to-the-world-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Emil Siekkinen content:encoded: The deep, dark forests of northern Europe supplied people with wood, timber and food for millennia. They gave rise to myths, legends and fairy tales, and offered refuge to the persecuted. Over time, though, the forests themselves became subjugated, forced to submit to the will of humankind as forestry turned into a mighty machinery. Sweden is one of the world’s largest exporters of forest-based products: paper, timber, cardboard and biofuels travel across the globe, ending up in your packaging, your books, in your homes. Decisions made in Sweden about how forests are managed ripple outward far beyond the kingdom’s borders. That is why the Swedish government’s recent forestry inquiry should matter not just to those living in Sweden, but to anyone concerned about the global climate crisis. The inquiry’s central message is clear: increase forest growth, harvest more biomass, and thereby contribute to the green transition. This might sound promising. More trees mean more carbon absorbed, more wood products to replace unsustainable products. But the plan overlooks the most important part of the forest: the soil. Sweden’s oldest boreal forests are carpeted with berries and lichens, which reindeer rely on for winter forage. Photo courtesy of Staffan Widstrand. Most of the carbon in a forest is not in the trees we see, but locked into the ground, in roots, humus, fungi, microbes, and the intricate networks of life below. When forestry is intensified — through shorter rotation times, clear-cutting, heavy machines compacting the earth, and the removal of branches and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Sweden is one of the world’s largest exporters of forest-based products: paper, timber, cardboard and biofuels travel across the globe, ending up in your packaging, your books, in your home. - A recent government proposal encourages fertilization with nitrogen to speed up tree growth, which may work in the short term but eventually fails and is leached into waterways, altering ecosystems and being released back into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. - “If a country with some of the world’s largest intact boreal forests chooses to double down on short-term extraction, it will not only undermine the EU’s climate goals — it will send a dangerous signal to other forest nations, from Canada to Brazil, that soil and biodiversity can be sacrificed in the name of so-called green growth,” a new op-ed argues. - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Cautious optimism greets new global forest fund at COP30 07 Nov 2025 21:25:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/cautious-optimism-greets-new-global-forest-fund-at-cop30/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: At the COP30 Leaders’ Summit in Belém, host country Brazil formally introduced the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). It’s an endowment-style mechanism designed to pay countries and forest stewards to keep tropical forests standing. TFFF has drawn goodwill and cautious optimism from leaders and NGOs. TFFF has received more than $5.5 billion in initial pledges; architects of the plan hope to secure $125 billion total from sovereign and institutional investors, the money will be invested in the bond market as a permanent tropical forest conservation fund. Investors will be repaid first, and remaining funds will be divided among qualifying forest countries and communities. Unlike past project-based schemes, the TFFF is designed to generate predictable, long-term payouts to reward countries and front-line communities for the verified conservation of standing forests and forest restoration. TIFF is being hailed as a potential breakthrough for climate and biodiversity finance. Led by Brazil with the World Bank confirmed as interim host, the facility aims to address a long-standing market failure that largely places value on products extracted from forests and not benefits derived from the ecosystem services forests provide. “Today marked a turning point for tropical forest finance,” said Brian O’Donnell, director of the Campaign for Nature, in a statement. “The leadership of tropical forest nations is inspiring.” Indeed, 20% of TFFF payments must go to Indigenous and local communities, historically the best guardians of tropical forests. Juan Carlos Jintiach, executive secretary of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, an alliance representing Indigenous peoples and local communities from 24 tropical forest countries, said in a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: At the COP30 Leaders’ Summit in Belém, host country Brazil formally introduced the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). It’s an endowment-style mechanism designed to pay countries and forest stewards to keep tropical forests standing. TFFF has drawn goodwill and cautious optimism from leaders and NGOs. TFFF has received more than $5.5 billion in initial pledges; architects of […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
After 6 years, trial in Indigenous forest guardian killing pushed to 2026 07 Nov 2025 16:37:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/after-6-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-pushed-to-2026/ author: Karla Mendes dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: Six years after the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in the Brazilian Amazon, the trial of the two suspects charged in the crimes still will not take place this year, triggering outrage among the Guajajara people and Indigenous rights advocates. “I am concerned because this trial never happened. … The criminals who killed my son were never convicted, they were never arrested,” Paulo Guajajara’s father, José Maria Paulino Guajajara, told Mongabay by phone. He said he is very frustrated because the trial should have happened a long time ago. “This year will pass again. Then next year will; they keep fooling me — are these authorities just fooling us?” On Nov. 1, 2019, Paulo Guajajara and Laércio Guajajara were attacked in an alleged ambush by illegal loggers in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory, in northeastern Maranhão state. A long-awaited anthropological report of the collective damages to the Indigenous community as a result of the crimes was concluded and attached to the court case in August. But the trial is very likely to only happen in early 2026, “given that there is not enough time for it to be held by the end of this year,” the advisory staff to the judge in the case told Mongabay in an emailed statement. “Until now, I never believed that the trial of the defendants would happen. With each passing day, I become more disappointed with Brazilian laws, especially with crimes against the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The trial of the two suspects charged in the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in the Brazilian Amazon in 2019 was pushed to 2026, triggering outrage among the Guajajara people and Indigenous rights advocates. - The trial over the crimes will be a legal landmark as the first Indigenous cases to go before a federal jury in Maranhão; usually, killings are considered crimes against individuals and are tried by a state jury, but these crimes were escalated to the federal level because prosecutors made the case that they represented an aggression against the entire Guajajara community and Indigenous culture. - A long-awaited anthropological report on the collective damages to the Indigenous community as a result of the crimes was concluded and attached to the court case in August, but the trial is very likely to only happen in early 2026, “given that there is not enough time for it to be held by the end of this year,” the judge’s advisory staff in the case said. - Paulo’s father, José Maria Paulino Guajajara, said he is “really angry” at white people for killing his son for no reason — and inside the Arariboia territory, where their entrance is forbidden. “We Indians are dying, and the white man won’t stop killing us.” authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Early-career journalists join the next wave of environmental reporting (commentary) 07 Nov 2025 15:55:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/early-career-journalists-join-the-next-wave-of-environmental-reporting-commentary/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Shradha Triveni content:encoded: In this series, Our Letters to the Future, the sixth cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows share their views on environmental journalism, conservation and the future for their generation, amid multiple planetary crises. Each commentary is a personal reflection, based on individual fellows’ experiences in their home communities and the insights gained through the past six months of the fellowship. The series spans the Global South — Malaysia, India, Colombia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo — showcasing a broad diversity of ideas and the common ground these young environmental journalists share as they embark on their careers. English poet Thomas Gray famously wrote, “where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise.” He wasn’t particularly speaking of journalists or of Earth’s precarious future. I believe that ignorance is the enemy of journalism, it is no bliss, but the very thing we are meant to expose. Perhaps ignorance is an ally of politics and the greatest of all blisses for capitalists. As I write this, Delhi gasps for breath. How can one ignore that? Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities in the world’s most populous nation, and a mirror to our collective neglect. This is just an isolated example. There’s more to the story of global environmental crises. But the question I’m most often asked by friends and family isn’t, “What will you do about it?” but “Why do you care?” . People do yoga early morning at the Lodhi garden as…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Journalism as a practice is on the cusp of a major shift; engagement with traditional media such as TV, print and news websites continues to fall, while dependence on social media, video and online platforms is rising. - This is happening amid shrinking press freedoms worldwide and the growing climate crisis, which, unlike with the previous generation of reporters, is the lived reality of young journalists today who confront climate change directly, rather than as a potential hazard in some distant future. - To navigate these shifts and to rebuild public trust in news media, we need training programs tailored to equip local reporters with skills in new forms of storytelling and the tools needed to cover the systemic crises taking place across the Global South. - This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Asian golden cat range expands, but declines continue amid rising threats 07 Nov 2025 15:45:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/asian-golden-cat-range-expands-but-declines-continue-amid-rising-threats/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: A single camera trap image of an Asian golden cat, photographed in Nepal’s Jajarkot district, has expanded this felid species’ range westward by nearly 400 kilometers (248 miles). Out of nearly 60,000 camera trap images snapped in 2024 in the district, this elusive cat showed itself just once. It’s likely, says Badri Baral, program coordinator with Nature Conservation Initiative Nepal, that more Asian golden cats could be found between Jajarkot and the Gaurishankar Conservation Area, an area until recently believed to mark the felid’s farthest westward distribution. This positive news about the elusive wildcat, which dwells in forests across South and Southeast Asia, comes at nearly the same time as bad news, as its IUCN status went from near threatened to vulnerable. A single camera trap image of an Asian golden cat from Jajarkot, has extended its range by nearly 400 kilometers westward in Nepal. Image courtesy of Badri Baral/NCI-Nepal. Researchers say the Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) was likely once abundant across its range. That’s not the case today, with numbers thinned and populations lost due to an excess of threats including deforestation, snaring, and retaliatory killings. Those risks, along with more accurate occurrence and population data featured in IUCN’s 2023 species assessment, are behind the revised threat status. The shift to vulnerable “represents a genuine concern,” says Thomas Gray, Tiger Landscape and Recovery Lead with the WWF Tigers Alive Initiative, who was part of the assessment team. The new IUCN listing also highlights the challenges of assigning a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) is a medium-sized cat species that was once abundant across Asia, ranging from India to China. Today its population is undergoing a significant decline. - That’s resulted in it now being declared a threatened species as its habitat is lost or fragmented, and indiscriminate snaring removes it from forests, particularly in Southeast Asia. - Targeted research, conservation and funding are rare for this species, resulting in significant knowledge gaps about its basic ecology and threats. That uncertainty is causing some conservationists to say it could warrant endangered status. - It’s hoped that increasing threat levels imperiling the Asian golden cat will spur donor funding, giving researchers the tools to shine a light on the needs of this lesser-known felid. Nepal has so far led the way in conservation efforts. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Study finds deforestation fuels West Africa’s water crisis 07 Nov 2025 15:02:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/study-finds-deforestation-fuels-west-africas-water-crisis/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: A new study warns that deforestation across Ghana, Niger and Nigeria is intensifying West Africa’s water crisis, threatening the health and livelihoods of more than 122 million people. Drawing on 12 years of satellite data from 2013-2025, the joint report by WaterAid and Tree Aid finds a direct correlation between forest loss and the decline of both the quality and quantity of freshwater. For every 1,000 hectares of forest cleared in Niger and Nigeria, 9.25 hectares of surface water disappear, leaving communities more exposed to disease, food insecurity and dehydration. In Niger 99.5% of freshwater is already of poor quality and at risk of being unsafe to drink directly, according to the report. Deforestation is making that dire situation worse, as forests would effectively filter sediments and pollution. “Trees and water are the essence of life in West Africa’s forest communities and around the world. Trees draw water into the earth, enrich soil for farmers, and shield land from floods. But as forests fall, water is vanishing at a ruthless rate,” Abdul-Nashiru Mohammed, WaterAid’s regional director for West Africa, said in a statement. In the same statement, Ghanaian scientists Justine Kojo and Thomas Burns Botchwey, who contributed to the study, said their data reveal a “dangerous new reality” in which deforestation and climate change reinforce one another. “What looks like more water on the surface is often a sign of flooding, runoff, and pollution beneath,” they noted, citing surveys showing that 93% of Ghanaians fear for their future because of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A new study warns that deforestation across Ghana, Niger and Nigeria is intensifying West Africa’s water crisis, threatening the health and livelihoods of more than 122 million people. Drawing on 12 years of satellite data from 2013-2025, the joint report by WaterAid and Tree Aid finds a direct correlation between forest loss and the decline […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
COP30 tropical forest fund may drive debt and deforestation, groups warn 07 Nov 2025 11:57:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/cop30-tropical-forest-fund-may-drive-debt-and-deforestation-groups-warn/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: A new global fund meant to reward tropical countries for protecting forests could instead drive deforestation and deepen debt in the developing world, civil society groups warn. The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), launched Nov. 6 in Belém, Brazil, ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, aims to raise $125 billion and promises to pay countries up to $4 per hectare ($1.62 per acre) of standing forest each year. More than $5.5 billion has been pledged so far, and the plan is officially supported by more than 50 nations, including countries making up the Amazon, Congo and Borneo basins. The fund mandates that at least 20% of the payments to each country must be allocated to Indigenous and local communities. But more than 50 Indigenous and other civil society organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean argue the TFFF will make developing countries absorb the risks for the investments, while generous returns are guaranteed for investors and financial intermediaries. The TFFF seeks to raise its initial $125 billion capital from wealthy countries and institutional and private investors. It aims to invest this in a diversified portfolio, mostly consisting of high-interest bonds issued by emerging markets and developing economies. Any profits generated are distributed first to private investors, then the sponsor countries. What remains is transferred to tropical forest countries that meet the deforestation criteria. If the fund performs poorly financially, the price per hectare is reduced, even if environmental goals are met. “In other words, it is ultimately the taxpayers…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A new global fund meant to reward tropical countries for protecting forests could instead drive deforestation and deepen debt in the developing world, civil society groups warn. The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), launched Nov. 6 in Belém, Brazil, ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, aims to raise $125 billion and promises to pay […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
New pledge, old problems as Indonesia’s latest Indigenous forest promise draws skepticism 07 Nov 2025 11:46:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/new-pledge-old-problems-as-indonesias-latest-indigenous-forest-promise-draws-skepticism/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: BELÉM, Brazil — Indonesia has pledged to recognize the rights of Indigenous and customary communities to 1.4 million hectares, about 3.5 million acres, of forests by 2029. It’s a move the government says will help curb deforestation and protect Indigenous rights. Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni made the announcement Nov. 4 at the United for Wildlife Global Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where it was welcomed as a sign of progress. But back home, activists have panned it as yet another promise that will go unfulfilled by a government that continues to displace Indigenous peoples through its development projects. “Indigenous peoples are the true guardians of Indonesia’s tropical forests — the front line in protecting a sustainable and just planet,” Raja Juli wrote on his X account, adding that recognizing Indigenous rights can cut deforestation by 30-50%. If achieved, the plan would quadruple the area of officially recognized customary forests in Indonesia, home to the world’s third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest (after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo). Yet Indigenous groups say the government has made similar pledges before, none of which have materialized. Instead, they say, land grabs for extractive and infrastructure projects — many of them backed by the state — persist, as do policies that make legal recognition difficult. “The Indonesian government always has big ambitions on climate and deforestation, but its policies are contradictory,” said Muhammad Arman, policy and human rights director at the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), the country’s main Indigenous…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia has pledged to recognize 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of Indigenous and customary forests by 2029, a move the government says will curb deforestation and advance Indigenous rights. - Advocates call the pledge another empty promise, citing years of stalled reforms, including a long-delayed Indigenous Rights Bill and a slow, bureaucratic process that has recognized less than 2% of mapped customary forests. - Rights groups say state-backed development continues to drive land grabs and forest loss, with a quarter of Indigenous territories overlapping extractive concessions and widespread conflicts linked to the government’s strategic national projects (PSN). - Critics urge the government to enact legal reforms and recognize Indigenous land beyond the 1.4-million-hectare target, warning that without real action, the pledge will be symbolic rather than transformative. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Brazil launches fund tying forest cash to steep deforestation penalties 07 Nov 2025 11:29:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/brazil-launches-fund-tying-forest-cash-to-steep-deforestation-penalties/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Brazil officially launched a new financial market fund, called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, or TFFF, at a Nov. 6 event ahead of the COP30 climate summit it will host in Belém. Countries with significant amounts of tropical forest cover can receive up to $4 per hectare ($1.62 per acre) of standing forest per year under the fund’s rules. But with penalties of up to $800 per hectare ($324 per acre) of deforestation, payments shrink fast, meaning even small increases in deforestation can amount to hundreds of millions lost. “Forests are worth more standing than cut down. They should interact with the GDP of our nations,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said at the event. “The ecosystem services they provide to humanity must be compensated, as should the people who work to protect them.” Tropical forest countries must allocate 20% of payments to Indigenous and local communities, but it’s up to governments to decide how; it may not even be in the form of direct cash payments. Every hectare of forest cleared can have a big impact on how much a country gets paid. If deforestation rates are low (less than 0.3%), each hectare deforested faces a discount of $400, or the equivalent of 100 hectares if the price per hectare falls below $4. For higher deforestation rates (0.3-0.5%), each hectare cleared is discounted at the value of 200 hectares. Forests degraded by fire are counted as 35 hectares lost. In 2021, the Brazilian Amazon’s worst deforestation year…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Brazil officially launched a new financial market fund, called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, or TFFF, at a Nov. 6 event ahead of the COP30 climate summit it will host in Belém. Countries with significant amounts of tropical forest cover can receive up to $4 per hectare ($1.62 per acre) of standing forest per year […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Europe’s under-pressure bats face ‘astonishing’ threat: Ambush by rats 07 Nov 2025 11:02:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/europes-under-pressure-bats-face-astonishing-threat-ambush-by-rats/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shreya Dasgupta content:encoded: Researchers have captured video of an unexpected predator at two bat hibernation sites in northern Germany: invasive brown rats that lie in wait to intercept the bats mid-flight. Invasive rodents are known predators of native animals on islands, including bats. However, this is likely the first time invasive brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) have been recorded feasting on bats in urban hibernation sites of continental Europe, the researchers say in a recent study. “Because bats in Central Europe are increasingly threatened by human activities such as urbanization, light pollution, and road construction, it is becoming harder for them to reach their winter hibernation sites,” Florian Gloza-Rausch, study co-author and bat researcher at the Museum of Natural History Berlin, told Mongabay by email. “If an additional stress factor — predation by invasive species — is added, populations may weaken and decline further.” The brown rat, believed to be native to parts of Asia, colonized Central Europe in the 18th century and has since become pervasive in the region’s cities and towns. In northern Germany, the researchers observed rats preying on native bats at two sites: Segeberger Kalkberg, a cave in the town of Bad Segeberg, and Lüneburger Kalkberg, a rocky hill with crevices in the city of Lüneburg. Both sites are winter roosts for thousands of bats, including Daubenton’s bat (Myotis daubentonii), Natterer’s bat (Myotis nattereri) and the rarer Bechstein’s bat (Myotis bechsteinii) and pond bat (Myotis dasycneme), Gloza-Rausch said. At Segeberg, the team installed infrared video cameras at the cave entrance…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Researchers have captured video of an unexpected predator at two bat hibernation sites in northern Germany: invasive brown rats that lie in wait to intercept the bats mid-flight. Invasive rodents are known predators of native animals on islands, including bats. However, this is likely the first time invasive brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) have been recorded […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Across the Amazon, impunity among politicians remains chronic 07 Nov 2025 09:56:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/across-the-amazon-impunity-among-politicians-remains-chronic/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Timothy J. Killeen content:encoded: Brazil and the Andean Republics all have constitutional provisions establishing special protocols for the prosecution of elected officials. These supposedly were conceived to ensure public servants are held accountable for misdeeds, while protecting them from frivolous or politically motivated prosecution. This special status, however, has created a two-tiered justice system that protects politicians from the consequences of their malfeasance, because their trials are usually delayed until charges are dismissed on technicalities, because of the statute of limitations, or because they have been acquitted by magistrates corrupted by the political process. The most notorious is Brazil’s ‘Foro Privilegiado’, which stipulates that only the Tribunal Supremo Federal (TSF) has the authority to preside over a criminal trial for the president, vice president, members of Congress and other high-level appointed officials, while governors, judges and other elected officials enjoy similar, if less conspicuous, forms of legal shelter. These constitutional provisions apply to more than 22,000 authorities, a staggering number that separates their potential prosecution from the criminal justice system that applies to everybody else. The judicial authorities that played major roles in the Lava Jato bribery scandal. Top (left to right): Sergio Moro (Juiz de 13ª Vara Criminal Federal de Curitiba), who presided over the investigation and trials of leading businessmen; Deltan Dallagnol (Procurador da República), who led the Operação Lava Jato investigation and the team that prosecuted most of the private citizens; and Rodrigo Janot (Procurador-General da República), who initiated legal action targeting elected officials and cabinet ministers protected by Foro Privilegiado.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Special protocols for the prosecution of elected officials are used to protect them from trivial or politically motivated proceedings, but they can help them avoid accountability for illegal actions. - Often, their trials are delayed until the charges are dismissed due to technicalities, to the statute of limitations, or because they have been acquitted by politically influenced judges. - This type of constitutional impunity has been common in Brazil, Bolivia, and Venezuela, from the Lava Jato case to Hugo Chavez’s legal warfare on his political opponents. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Indigenous delegates prepare for COP30 with focus on justice, land and finance 07 Nov 2025 00:51:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indigenous-delegates-prepare-for-cop30-with-focus-on-justice-land-and-finance/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Sonam Lama Hyolmo content:encoded: As the Brazilian city of Belém prepares for this year’s U.N. climate conference, COP30, Indigenous leaders worldwide say they’re getting ready to have their demands addressed. Dubbed the “nature COP” by some delegates, the 2025 conference is set to see the largest participation of Indigenous leaders in the climate conference’s history, with more than 3,000 Indigenous people registered. The conference will run from Nov. 10-21 in Belém, a city known as the “gateway” to the Amazon Rainforest. Mongabay spoke to Indigenous leaders from Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Pacific to find out what they want from COP30. “Upholding Indigenous peoples’ rights is only possible by placing them at the center of discussions, negotiations, and decision-making,” said Dinaman Tuxá, executive coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), one of the country’s main Indigenous advocacy groups. “We aim to demand Indigenous land demarcation and direct financing as climate mitigation tools for combating global warming.” At the COP30 World Leaders Summit on November 6, in the lead up to the conference, dozens of countries made major commitments to advance land rights and finance to Indigenous peoples, local and Afro-descendant communities, including recognizing 160 million hectares (395 million acres) of land and pledging $1.8 billion. Indigenous delegates also plan to tackle a range of other issues, including climate adaptation, a just energy transition, carbon markets, loss and damage funding, and the protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights as the world eyes their forests for climate solutions. Clouds above the rainforests in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The 2025 U.N. climate conference, COP30, will run from Nov. 10-21 in Belém, Brazil, and is expected to host the largest participation of Indigenous peoples in the conference series’ history, with more than 3,000 Indigenous delegates registered. - Mongabay spoke with some of the delegates from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific about their expectations for the conference and their objectives. - They’re calling for recognition of Indigenous lands as a climate solution, a just energy transition, protection for forest defenders, and financial pledges that ensure at least 20% of forest conservation funds be directed to Indigenous and local communities. - COP30 is expected to launch initiatives such as the Belém Action Mechanism for a just transition and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility. In the lead up to the conference, governments and donors also announced major commitments to recognize customary lands and provide funding support land rights. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
UNESCO biosphere listing raises hope, questions for Malaysia’s Kinabatangan floodplain 06 Nov 2025 21:57:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/unesco-biosphere-listing-raises-hope-questions-for-malaysias-kinabatangan-floodplain/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro content:encoded: Malaysia’s Kinabatangan floodplain, home to orangutans, pygmy elephants and proboscis monkeys, has officially joined UNESCO’s global network of biosphere reserves, protected areas of high biological and cultural diversity. Covering 413,866 hectares (1.02 million acres) of forests, wetlands, and villages in eastern Sabah, the newly declared Kinabatangan Biosphere Reserve (KBR) connects the Heart of Borneo, a transboundary rainforest conservation area, with the Lower Kinabatangan–Segama Wetlands. The latter is itself a Ramsar site, or a wetland of global importance, and connects to the new reserve’s diverse wetland ecosystem, together forming one of Southeast Asia’s last remaining lowland forest corridors that ensures ecological connectivity between inland forests and the coast. UNESCO made the announcement on Sept. 27, following the 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in China.Under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, the site joins more than 700 biosphere reserves worldwide intended as “living laboratories” where biodiversity protection coexists with sustainable livelihoods. The designation followed years of consultation among government agencies, researchers and local communities, led by the Sabah Biodiversity Centre (SaBC) and endorsed by the Malaysian National Commission for UNESCO (MNCU). Officials say they hope it will strengthen coordination between conservation, agriculture and tourism actors in one of Malaysia’s most intensively used landscapes. But while the UNESCO listing brings international prestige, Kinabatangan’s past and present reveal a landscape heavily fragmented by plantations and uneven land governance. Conservationists warn that unless long-standing structural issues are addressed, the new status may fall short of its promise. An isolated fragment of forest sites…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - UNESCO has declared the floodplain around Malaysian Borneo’s Kinabatangan River a biosphere reserve, linking the Heart of Borneo to the Lower Kinabatangan–Segama Wetlands. - Conservationists warn that the landscape remains heavily fragmented by oil palm plantations and faces persistent threats from pollution and weak land governance. - They argue that lasting change will require land reform, corporate accountability and stronger coordination between Sabah’s forestry and wildlife authorities. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Expedition charts Cook Islands seafloor, amid scrutiny over mining motives 06 Nov 2025 20:46:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/expedition-charts-cook-islands-seafloor-amid-scrutiny-over-mining-motives/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts content:encoded: Thousands of meters below the ocean’s surface, a camera attached to a remotely operated vehicle captured a ghostly white creature gliding above a plain of polymetallic nodules — mineral-rich rocks that resemble blackened potatoes. The animal’s orchid-shaped fins undulated as it cruised through the water, while its spindly tentacles trailed behind. This otherworldly creature was a bigfin squid (genus Magnapinna), an organism that scientists have spotted fewer than two dozen times, and one that has never been physically captured. Adam Soule, a geologist and oceanographer who directs the U.S.-based Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, the organization leading the expedition on a vessel known as the E/V Nautilus, said the bigfin squid sighting generated a rush of excitement. (The Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute and its U.S.-based partner organization, the Ocean Exploration Trust, are operating via a 10-year grant worth $200 million from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA). “One of the cool things about the Nautilus is that there’s a lot of people following online, watching in real time and sending in comments,” Soule told Mongabay. “And they were amazed. They were really excited, as was everyone on the ship.” The footage of the bigfin squid was filmed at a depth of more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Cook Islands, a small Pacific island nation located between American Samoa and French Polynesia. The entire Cook Islands EEZ, which spans 1.9 million square kilometers (about 734,000 square miles), also operates as…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Between Oct. 1 and 21, a U.S government-funded vessel, the E/V Nautilus, conducted an expedition in the Cook Islands’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), following an agreement between the U.S. and the Cook Islands to “advance scientific research and the responsible development of seabed mineral resources.” - During the 21-day expedition, the E/V Nautilus mapped more than 14,000 square kilometers (5,400 square miles) of the Cook Islands’ seafloor while also documenting deep-sea biodiversity. - Environmental activists protested the expedition, arguing it would help accelerate deep-sea mining in the Cook Islands. The crew of the E/V Nautilus, however, rejects the accusation. - The Cook Islands government has issued three deep-sea mining exploration licenses, which will expire in 2027. One company operating in the Cook Islands has said it hopes to apply for an exploitation license in 2027. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Researchers define the importance of the ‘circular seabird economy’ 06 Nov 2025 20:17:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/researchers-define-the-importance-of-the-circular-seabird-economy/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: In a review article published in Nature, researchers have introduced a new term to describe the importance of seabirds across land and marine ecosystems: the circular seabird economy. Although seabirds spend most of their lives at sea, they return to land to breed, often forming colonies of thousands of individuals. This influx of birds, bringing their guano, or droppings, feathers and eggshells to land constitutes a transfer of ocean-derived nutrients, including phosphorous, carbon, nitrogen and calcium. “By eating at sea, and then pooping at breeding colonies, seabirds are estimated to transfer as much nitrogen and phosphorus from sea to land as all commercial fisheries combined,” Nick Holmes, study co-author and associate director for oceans at the NGO The Nature Conservancy, told Mongabay by email. This surge in nutrients on land feeds soil and helps “shape plant communities, which in turn support diverse insect, bird, and reptile populations,” David Will, study co-author and senior director of impact and innovation at U.S.-based nonprofit Island Conservation, told Mongabay by email. “In Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, seabirds contribute over 80% of available nutrients to land and sea ecosystems, making them the primary drivers of productivity in some of the planet’s harshest environments,” Will added. “When new islands emerge from the sea, they are empty until seabirds show up with seeds and nutrients and jump start life and keep it going.” The flow of nutrients doesn’t just go from ocean to land. Studies show that a significant amount washes back the other way, fueling marine food webs as well. Compared to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In a review article published in Nature, researchers have introduced a new term to describe the importance of seabirds across land and marine ecosystems: the circular seabird economy. Although seabirds spend most of their lives at sea, they return to land to breed, often forming colonies of thousands of individuals. This influx of birds, bringing […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Leaders of world’s biggest polluters skip UN climate summit 06 Nov 2025 20:06:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/leaders-of-worlds-biggest-polluters-skip-un-climate-summit/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: BELEM, Brazil (AP) — World leaders gathering in a coastal city in the Brazilian Amazon for the U.N.‘s annual climate summit hope it’s a rare opportunity to turn previous commitments into practical steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, preserve rainforests and make good on pledges to finance clean energy. But the heads of the world’s three biggest polluters — China, the United States and India — are notably absent from the preliminary leaders’ gathering that kicked off Thursday. Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warned in a speech that the window to act is rapidly closing. Some Latin American leaders and activists called out Trump for failing to act on climate change. By Isabel Debre and Mauricio Savarese, Associated Press Banner image: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addresses a plenary session of the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit in Belem, Brazil, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)This article was originally published on Mongabay description: BELEM, Brazil (AP) — World leaders gathering in a coastal city in the Brazilian Amazon for the U.N.‘s annual climate summit hope it’s a rare opportunity to turn previous commitments into practical steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, preserve rainforests and make good on pledges to finance clean energy. But the heads of the world’s […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Healthy rivers, healthy people: A Brazil project links human & ecosystem well-being 06 Nov 2025 18:44:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/healthy-rivers-healthy-people-a-brazil-project-links-human-ecosystem-well-being/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Fernanda Biasoli content:encoded: Some 30 years ago, Apolo Heringer, a Brazilian public health doctor, was participating in a night fishing trip with residents of the community Raiz, in southeastern Brazil. That night, the fish were being caught with harpoons, and to ensure visibility, the fishers used a spotlight that illuminated the entire river. When the light first reflected what was underwater, Heringer saw what would define the next chapters of his career as a doctor: There were thousands of fish. “It was as if it were a joy to see all those fish in the clean river,” he tells Mongabay in a video call. “That’s what health is.” In addition to being a doctor, Heringer is also a writer and a professor. He taught at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) School of Medicine for 33 years and, during his time at the university, conceived the Manuelzão Project, rooted in his realizations about fish and rivers — and health. Officially founded in 1997 as a university extension project of the UFMG medical course, today Manuelzão is an ongoing, multi- and interdisciplinary project, with the participation of students, professors and researchers from different fields such as biology, geography and communication. The project bases its actions on the concept of collective health and understands that, just as there are no fish without rivers, there is no human health without healthy ecosystems. “Collective health is ecology. It is the balance of ecosystems. So health is a product of an ecosystem. Medical care is not health.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A night fishing trip 30 years ago showed Brazilian public health doctor Apolo Heringer the meaning of health: a clean river full of fish — a notion that inspired the Manuelzão Project to restore the Velhas River Basin in southeastern Brazil. - The basin includes Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region (BHMR), capital of Minas Gerais, the third-largest metropolitan region in Brazil and home to approximately 5.7 million people in 34 cities; here, the combination of high population density, inadequate urban planning and lack of infrastructure has damaged the rivers that cross the region. - After sewage treatment plants began operating in the area, fish started returning to the waters; the dorado (Salminus franciscanus) was chosen as an indicator of good water quality since it needs a lot of oxygen to survive and polluted waters have low oxygen levels. - Connections between the river, its health and people’s understanding are crucial to the Manuelzão Project and its goals for collective health. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
The uncertain future of DRC’s traditional medicine, a heritage to save (commentary) 06 Nov 2025 18:24:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/the-uncertain-future-of-drcs-traditional-medicine-a-heritage-to-save-commentary/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Blaise Kasereka Makuta content:encoded: In this series, Our Letters to the Future, the sixth cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows share their views on environmental journalism, conservation and the future for their generation, amid multiple planetary crises. Each commentary is a personal reflection, based on individual fellows’ experiences in their home communities and the insights gained through the past six months of the fellowship. The series spans the Global South — Malaysia, India, Colombia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo — showcasing a broad diversity of ideas and the common ground these young environmental journalists share as they embark on their careers. Congolese traditional medicine is disappearing. Not due to a lack of usefulness, but due to a lack of space in an increasingly standardized medical world. Faced with the rise of modern medicine, supported by institutions and universities, ancestral knowledge is being forgotten and sometimes even scorned. Yet, in rural areas where hospitals are scarce and medicines expensive, it is traditional healers who provide care, relief and support. How can it be explained that this medicine, rooted in local realities, is now relegated to the background? This is an issue I know from experience, in my family and community. In the Tembo tribe of South Kivu, to which I belong, traditional medicine relies on a deep understanding of plants, natural cycles and community rites. I had a friend in the village who caught chickenpox. He was taken to a traditional healer, who treated him with a wash…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Congolese traditional medicine, rooted in cultural heritage, is disappearing due to the dominance of modern medicine; in rural areas, traditional healers remain essential, yet their knowledge is largely undocumented and often undervalued. - Conflicts, climate change and loss of biodiversity further threaten medicinal plants and cultural transmission. - There is an urgent need to recognize, protect and preserve this heritage through ethnobotany and inclusive health policies. - This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
No, Bill Gates, we don’t have to choose between people & planet (commentary) 06 Nov 2025 16:12:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/no-bill-gates-we-dont-have-to-choose-between-people-planet-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Mary Robinson content:encoded: Bill Gates has long been a leading voice in the global response to human health and climate change. His climate investments and advocacy have helped drive innovation, expand access to clean energy and push climate action higher on the world’s agenda. However, his recent essay, “Three Tough Truths About Climate,” marks a dangerous shift that could undermine that contribution. Gates writes with admirable nuance, and his proposed shift to focus finance on outcomes that reduce human suffering, rather than emissions reduction, projects a tone of reason and compassion. However, I read his reflections with concern and believe that his framing risks reinforcing three misconceptions that could slow, rather than accelerate, progress at a critical moment for the planet and its most vulnerable populations. First, the suggestion that the world must choose between financing development and financing climate action falsely presents a zero-sum situation. By suggesting that we must prioritize one over the other, Gates assumes that we live in a world where our current scarcity of development and climate resources is fixed for all time. While cuts to overseas development budgets in countries like the United States, France, Germany and the U.K. have decreased resources at the moment, there are numerous strategies to reverse that trend that we must seek to advance. This should begin with public pressure for governments to restore and enhance their aid budgets. Countries should also follow through on their collective commitment to remove the more than $1 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies and the $500…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new essay by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, “Three Tough Truths About Climate,” marks a dangerous shift that could undermine his notable contributions to solving the climate crisis, the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, argues in a new op-ed. - His suggestion that the world must choose between financing development or climate action falsely presents a zero-sum situation, she says, adding that Gates must publicly set the record straight before this idea is further used as a justification for backsliding on climate action. - “The great challenge of our time is to build a future where every person can thrive on a healthy planet. That means rejecting the idea that we must choose between human progress and environmental protection,” Robinson writes. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Kenya court upholds cancellation of 1,050 MW coal plant license 06 Nov 2025 15:18:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/kenya-court-upholds-cancellation-of-1050-mw-coal-plant-license/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Lynet Otieno content:encoded: Kenya’s Environment and Land Court has upheld a 2019 ruling that revoked the environmental license for the proposed 1,050-megawatt Lamu coal-fired power plant, effectively halting the controversial project. Justice Francis Njoroge dismissed an appeal from the Amu Power Company, finding the project’s environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) was inadequate and public participation deficient. The decision caps years of litigation and local resistance to the plant slated for Kenya’s Lamu archipelago. The group of islands are home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site with mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs that underpin fisheries and tourism. Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) issued Amu Power the original license for the plant in 2016. It immediately met opposition from Save Lamu, a coalition of some 40 civil society groups, and the deCOALonize campaign, a regional movement opposed to coal development. They argued that the ESIA overlooked risks to health and biodiversity and failed to adequately consult the public. In 2019, the National Environmental Tribunal (NET) voided the license, citing poor disclosure and inadequate outreach to potentially impacted communities. NET declared that, “public participation is the oxygen that gives life to an ESIA report.” Amu Power quickly appealed the NET decision. Omar Elmawi, a deCOALonize campaign lawyer and board member, told Mongabay the recent court decision to uphold the NET ruling “marks the end of an almost decade-long struggle. The people of Lamu stood firm against the coal giant Amu Power, and NEMA, who sought to impose a coal plant on this ecologically…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Kenya’s Environment and Land Court has upheld a 2019 ruling that revoked the environmental license for the proposed 1,050-megawatt Lamu coal-fired power plant, effectively halting the controversial project. Justice Francis Njoroge dismissed an appeal from the Amu Power Company, finding the project’s environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) was inadequate and public participation deficient. The […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Vietnam’s protected areas fall short of safeguarding most bats, study finds 06 Nov 2025 14:51:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/vietnams-protected-areas-fall-short-of-safeguarding-most-bats-study-finds/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: Furry, feisty, and often on the wing, bats are tricky to observe, let alone to protect. Some species hibernate deep in caves or tree cavities for months at a time; many migrate long distances in search of food, shelter and potential mates. Their diversity of lifestyles often makes it difficult to include all bats within conservation plans. Designing and locating protected areas with bats in mind is a particular challenge. Numerous studies have found the small winged mammals are frequently overlooked in conservation areas across many biodiverse parts of the world, such as Africa, Brazil, and now, Vietnam. Only about 6% of the land where bats are found in Vietnam is included within its existing protected area network, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE. Nearly one-third of all bat species known from Asia are found across Vietnam’s remaining tropical forests, mountain valleys and cavernous limestone karst formations, where they face a slew of threats, with many species in decline. The study, by a team of biologists from Vietnam, Hungary and Taiwan, used spatial distribution models to analyze to what extent Vietnam’s protected areas encompass the range of 81 species of bats, including insect eaters, fruit eaters, and eight globally threatened species. They found the range of 78 species falls largely outside of the country’s protected areas, with threatened species particularly poorly represented. Le Quang Tuan, a biologist at National Taiwan Normal University and lead author of the study, told Mongabay that overlooking bats in conservation planning in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Bats play crucial roles in biodiverse ecosystems the world over, yet they’re often overlooked in conservation planning. - New research from Vietnam indicates the existing network of protected areas fails to adequately safeguard the small flying mammals, risking continued population declines. - The study identifies priority areas where Vietnam’s efforts to expand its protected area network would most benefit bats in the central highlands, the western central coast and the northwest regions. - Experts say a lot could be achieved for bats in Southeast Asia by ending the illegal wildlife trade, particularly the “frivolous” international ornamental bat trade. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
In Honduras, local communities miss out on benefits of large-scale renewables 06 Nov 2025 14:19:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-honduras-local-communities-miss-out-on-benefits-of-large-scale-renewables/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Mie Hoejris Dahl content:encoded: CHOLUTECA, Honduras — Under the slogan “Without human rights, there is no energy sovereignty,” more than 100 community members and activists gathered in mid-July at the Casa Real Hotel in Choluteca, a city in southern Honduras near the Nicaraguan border. At the event, participants — a mix of nonprofit leaders and community members — questioned the fairness of large-scale renewable energy projects in their territories, claiming the projects leave them without water and forests, and exposed to extreme heat. Yet reliable data on the impacts of renewable energy projects in southern Honduras remain scarce. In Honduras, where fossil fuels account for about 38% of the electricity supply, and where the World Bank estimates that about 1.4 million people lack access to electricity, experts told Mongabay that there’s an urgent need for an energy transition. That need will grow as the climate warms and national energy demand rises by a projected 39% from 2025 to 2035. Yet, community members in southern Honduras say large renewable energy projects come at the expense of the environment and of their well-being. They blame solar, wind and hydroelectric projects for deforestation, droughts and floods, and describe unbearable temperatures near solar farms. Some who have opposed the large-scale renewable energy projects have been threatened, displaced or even killed. Families living adjacent to solar projects in Choluteca report still lacking access to electricity. Many say they don’t feel the benefits of the energy transition; they either pay high prices for power or remain without, while the jobs…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - About 1.4 million Hondurans still lack access to electricity, energy demand is increasing and climate change is intensifying, while the country continues to rely on fossil fuels. Yet, in southern Honduras, large-scale renewable energy projects have sparked sharp criticism from local communities. - Community members complain of unbearable heat, water scarcity and deforestation. They say they feel the impacts of large renewable energy projects, but not the benefits, noting that they still lack access to the electricity grid and face some of the highest electricity prices in the region. - Community leaders who resist renewable energy projects report being threatened. Experts, activists and community members say better protection for community leaders is urgently needed. - Despite Honduras’s need for an energy transition, the government and companies involved in these projects have failed to secure community support. Instead, locals call for a “just transition” that ensures affordable energy. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Women can help rebuild our relationship with lions: Voices from the land (commentary) 06 Nov 2025 03:31:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/women-can-help-rebuild-our-relationship-with-lions-voices-from-the-land-commentary/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Mama SimbaVictoria Wanjohi content:encoded: This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections on urgent issues shaping our time — environmental destruction, our relationship with nature, and systemic injustice. We write from the heart of our communities, where the impacts of these urgent crises are deeply felt, but also where solutions are rooted. Through this series, we speak from our territories, and ensure our truths are part of the global conversation. We, the Mama Simba (“Mothers of Lions” in Kiswahili) from Samburu, Kenya, have come a long way since we first approached the organization Ewaso Lions to become actively involved in its conservation work. Since 2007, Ewaso Lions has been working to support human-lion coexistence in a region of northern Kenya, today home to nearly 60 lions. When they were approached by us women from the Samburu community in 2013, it was a sign that a shift was about to happen — we wanted to be decision-makers in conservation efforts that concern us. However, with every new initiative comes a new challenge. Would we be accepted as decision makers? The program, Mama Simba, was built on the premise that if women, historically excluded from conservation decisions despite bearing its greatest burdens, were encouraged to lead conservation efforts, we could transform our community’s relationship with lions from conflict to coexistence. It acknowledged that lasting change requires shifting power, not just perceptions. This sounds good…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The inclusion of women in Africa’s lion conservation efforts is essential to not only to protect the species, but to do so sustainably with the buy-in of nearby communities — which at times can have a tense and challenging relationship with the predatory species, say members of the Mama Simba, a program within Ewaso Lions made up of Samburu women in Kenya. - The women say they remember how, when they were young, wildlife was in abundance, that their parents and grandparents lived alongside wildlife in harmony and that lions held a powerful place in their culture, identity and daily lives. - “Everything changes when women are not asked to sit on the sidelines but invited to lead,” they say in this opinion piece. - This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Karen community fighting corn and coal for clean air in northern Thailand 06 Nov 2025 02:10:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Gerald Flynn content:encoded: MAE CHAM/OMKOI, Thailand — Rain lashed down in the northern Thai village of Nong Krating as Sawattiphon Wongkasettakon described the worsening air pollution that sweeps in through the mountains here each year. “It didn’t used to be so bad, but in the last three years it’s become impossible to ignore,” Sawattiphon, a former deputy chief of the village, told Mongabay on the porch of his home in August. “The sky gets dark, it’s uncomfortable when we breathe. It blows in from the maize farms.” Farmers in the region straddling northern Thailand, Myanmar’s Shan state and Laos grow maize to supply Thailand’s booming animal feed industry. Every year before the planting season, they set controlled fires to clear their fields of crop stubble left over from the harvest. The result: surging air pollution that sends the region’s towns and cities shooting up the rankings of the world’s most polluted places every February-April, when the burning peaks. To fix the problem, Thai leaders have tried everything from threatening to cut farmer subsidies and restricting where they can plant maize, to promoting alternative livelihoods and introducing microbial sprays for stubble decomposition. But nothing seems to break the cycle of seasonal haze, which still reaches levels more than 14 times higher than what’s considered safe by the World Health Organization. In Omkoi district, which encompasses Nong Krating village in Chiang Mai province, local officials decided years ago that enough was enough. In 2017, fearing the loss of the forests in which residents forage for herbs…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Northern Thailand is trapped in a cycle of air pollution driven by maize cultivation for the animal feed industry, with field burning each year choking the region in hazardous haze. - Government crackdowns and “zero-burn” policies have failed because impoverished farmers see no viable alternative to burning amid falling yields and mounting debt. - Deforestation, soil erosion and flooding linked to maize farming have devastated ecosystems and rural livelihoods across Chiang Mai province. - Even as some communities ban maize cultivation to fight haze, new coal projects threaten to undo their gains, revealing Thailand’s conflicting approach to environmental governance. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Armored worms and death-ball sponges among array of life newly documented from the deep sea 05 Nov 2025 23:03:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/armored-worms-and-death-ball-sponges-among-array-of-life-newly-documented-from-the-deep-sea/ author: Lizkimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: In the darkness of the deep ocean, where pressure crushes and light fails, an expedition has found an astonishing array of life, including a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge (from the genus Chondrocladia) covered in tiny prey-catching hooks; “zombie worms” (genus Osedax) lacking mouths but harboring symbiotic bacteria that digest whale bones; armored scale worms of iridescent colors (genus Eulagisca); and rare mollusks adapted to the volcanic seafloor. The footage, recorded in March 2025, confirms 30 previously unknown deep-sea species from one of the planet’s most inaccessible regions in the South Atlantic Ocean. Researchers found new sea stars spanning multiple families (Brisingidae, Benthopectinidae and Paxillosidae), novel crustaceans, and candidate species such as black corals and a potential sea pen genus still under expert review. New iridescent scale worm found by the ROV SuBastian at 2859 metres at the South Trench dive site, northwest of Zavodovski Island. Photo courtesy of Jialing Cai/The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census/Schmidt Ocean Institute © 2025 New In-situ sea pen found by the ROV SuBastian at 805 metres at the Mystery Ridge dive site. />Photo courtesy of The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census/Schmidt Ocean Institute © 2025 “The Southern Ocean remains profoundly under-sampled. To date, we have only assessed under 30% of the samples collected from this expedition, so confirming 30 new species already shows how much biodiversity is still undocumented,” Michelle Taylor, head of science at The Nippon Foundation–Nekton Ocean Census, said in a statement. Researchers also glimpsed one of Earth’s most mysterious giants deep below. For the first time,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A deep-sea expedition has recorded 30 previously unknown species from one of the planet’s most inaccessible regions, at depths of up to 700 meters, or 2,300 feet, in the Southern Ocean. - The astonishing array of deep-sea life included a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge, unknown sea stars spanning multiple families, and new crustaceans. - Researchers gathered nearly 2,000 specimens representing 14 major animal groups while documenting new hydrothermal vents, vibrant coral gardens, and evidence of explosive undersea volcanism. - Scientists estimate up to 2 million marine species exist, yet only 240,000 have been formally identified, meaning roughly 10% of ocean life has been cataloged. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Journalism is failing to report on environmental leaders’ fights (commentary) 05 Nov 2025 18:46:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/journalism-is-failing-to-report-on-environmental-leaders-fights-commentary/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Manuel Fonseca content:encoded: In this series, Our Letters to the Future, the sixth cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows share their views on environmental journalism, conservation and the future for their generation, amid multiple planetary crises. Each commentary is a personal reflection, based on individual fellows’ experiences in their home communities and the insights gained through the past six months of the fellowship. The series spans the Global South — Malaysia, India, Colombia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo — showcasing a broad diversity of ideas and the common ground these young environmental journalists share as they embark on their careers. Protecting the jungle “justifies all the struggles. … what’s the value of your life if you have nothing to die for?” Ángela Maldonado, Whitley Award winner and director of the NGO Fundación Entropika, said to me once during an interview. Her answer got tattooed in my mind and soul. For years, I have met all sorts of activists, environmentalists and social leaders, and I always wondered if they felt the same way as Maldonado about protecting their territories and values. It is not something you usually ask, but I wish I had. What are the stories of the people who oppose the destruction of their water sources, land, forests and homes, to the point that their lives are being taken away from them? In countries of Latin America such as Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, the number of assassinations and disappearances of environmentalists is out of control.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Environmental leaders in Latin America are facing out-of-control violence and deaths, with little accountability. - Journalism is failing environmental leaders by focusing on statistics instead of their stories. - Journalists must immerse themselves in the field, along with environmental leaders, to expose their fights and struggles. - This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Congo Basin communities bear the costs of industrial expansion 05 Nov 2025 18:35:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/congo-basin-communities-bear-the-costs-of-industrial-expansion/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: Governments and investors are seeking minerals, timber and oil in the Congo Basin to fuel the global economy and the green transition. However, communities that have lived in the world’s second-largest rainforest for generations are paying the highest price for extraction, according to a new report published ahead of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil. COP30 is expected to address, among other issues, the management and financing of tropical rainforests, which are vital for climate stability. The new report, released by the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) and Earth Insight, details how extractive industries are converging on Indigenous and local community lands across the world’s major tropical forests. In the Congo Basin, the planet’s largest forest carbon sink, 38% of community forests are threatened by oil and gas blocks, 42% by mining and 6% with logging, according to the report. These overlapping pressures are degrading fragile ecosystems and threatening Indigenous livelihoods. In the TRIDOM landscape spanning Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of Congo, more than half of community forests overlap with logging concessions, the report notes. Across western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), oil licenses threaten to encroach on 99% of community forests, including the Cuvette Centrale peatlands, home to 30 billion tons of stored carbon, vital to global climate stability. Industrial exploitation tells only part of the story; livelihoods are also impacted. “Our peoples have protected these forests for generations … yet our rights remain fragile,” Joseph Itongwa of the Network of Indigenous and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Governments and investors are seeking minerals, timber and oil in the Congo Basin to fuel the global economy and the green transition. However, communities that have lived in the world’s second-largest rainforest for generations are paying the highest price for extraction, according to a new report published ahead of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Interpol announces a new global fight against illegal deforestation 05 Nov 2025 17:20:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/interpol-announces-a-new-global-fight-against-illegal-deforestation/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Interpol and partners launched a global law enforcement effort Wednesday aimed at dismantling criminal networks behind illegal logging, timber trafficking and gold mining, which drive large-scale deforestation and generate billions in illicit profits each year. The effort announced ahead of the U.N. COP30 climate summit in Brazil will focus mainly on tropical forests in Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Peru. “Criminals are making billions by looting the planet’s forests,” Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza said in a statement. “The only way to stop them is through determined law enforcement action and strong international cooperation.” This latest phase of the Law Enforcement Assistance Program to Reduce Tropical Deforestation was announced in Rio de Janeiro during the United for Wildlife Global Summit. It is led by Interpol, the international police organization that helps national authorities coordinate and share intelligence, together with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. It is funded by Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative. The announcement follows a major crackdown in the Amazon Basin last week, when Brazilian police, supported by Interpol, destroyed more than 270 illegal mining dredges operating on the Madeira River. Authorities said the raids dealt a significant blow to criminal groups linked to gold-smuggling networks that span Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said illegal deforestation “weakens the rule of law and finances organized crime,” adding that the joint initiative seeks to ensure offenders are held accountable while supporting justice systems and local communities. Launched in 2018, LEAP…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Interpol and partners launched a global law enforcement effort Wednesday aimed at dismantling criminal networks behind illegal logging, timber trafficking and gold mining, which drive large-scale deforestation and generate billions in illicit profits each year. The effort announced ahead of the U.N. COP30 climate summit in Brazil will focus mainly on tropical forests […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Climate finance must reach Indigenous communities at COP30 & beyond (commentary) 05 Nov 2025 17:19:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/climate-finance-must-reach-indigenous-communities-at-cop30-beyond-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Suzanne Pelletier and Victor Gil content:encoded: As the COP30 climate summit in the Amazon draws near, pressure is mounting to get funding directly into the hands of Indigenous and local community organizations who are the frontline defenders of the world’s rainforests. Donors are waking up to the powerful truth that funding Indigenous and local communities is one of the highest-impact investments we can make for forest protection and climate action. This momentum is encouraging. Still, the numbers tell a stark story. Indigenous and local communities protect 36% of the world’s intact tropical forests, yet receive less than 1% of international climate finance. This contradiction threatens global climate goals and leaves the most effective forest guardians without the resources they need. Behind this funding gap lie systemic barriers: rigid eligibility rules, donor requirements designed for large institutions, and administrative hurdles that shut out grassroots organizations. For decades, many intermediary organizations tried to bridge these gaps. Still, in practice, some evolved into permanent gatekeepers, unintentionally absorbing resources that could have more directly supported the organizations and communities they aimed to serve. Indigenous conservationist Juan Julio Durand is one of the founding members of Junglekeepers, which has protected 50,000 acres of the Peruvian Amazon. Photo courtesy of Mohsin Kazmi. But intermediary organizations don’t always have to be gatekeepers. Our experience at Rainforest Foundation US and its Indigenous partners shows that when structured thoughtfully, intermediary organizations can clear the way rather than complicate it. They can break the funding bottlenecks while deliberately shifting power and, over time, help Indigenous organizations…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indigenous and local communities protect 36% of the world’s intact tropical forests, yet receive less than 1% of international climate finance — a contradiction that threatens global climate goals and leaves the most effective forest guardians without the resources they need. - As the COP30 climate summit in the Amazon draws near, pressure is mounting to get funding directly into the hands of Indigenous and local community organizations who are the frontline defenders of the world’s rainforests. - “As billions of dollars in climate finance will be discussed or even decided upon at COP30 in Brazil, the priority must be to get resources directly to Indigenous and local communities who have safeguarded forests for generations,” a new op-ed argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Witch Hunt: Virulent fungal disease attacks South America’s cassava crop 05 Nov 2025 16:20:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Gloria Dickie content:encoded: As smallholder farmers in French Guiana walked their fields in 2023, they noted a disturbing pattern. Their healthy cassava plants, once green and thriving, had begun to turn yellow. Leaves wilted, stalks withered, and small shoots looking like broomsticks sprouted from the plants. When they dug up their harvest, instead of unearthing large foot-long bunches of cassava, they found only stunted roots. The farmers reported the crisis to agricultural authorities, desperate to find a cure for their threatened crop. When international scientists arrived in 2024 to investigate the blight, they recognized their foe immediately. The witch had arrived in Latin America. Witches’ broom disease is a fungal pathogen, Ceratobasidium theobromae, that has been wreaking havoc on cassava crops in Southeast Asia for more than a decade, crippling yields and fueling economic hardship across that region. Plant scientists had hoped to contain the fungal pathogen to Asia. But since its arrival in South America in 2023, the disease — which attacks the plant’s vascular system — has spread into at least three Amazonian nations: It arrived first in French Guiana, is likely in Suriname, and is now sweeping through cassava production regions in the neighboring northern Brazilian state of Amapá, where it has decimated entire fields, and is also present in Pará state. Cooking cassava in Brazil. Cassava, also known as manioc and yuca, and for its tapioca flour, is native to South America, and an excellent source of carbohydrates. Image by Dennis G. Jarvis via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Witches’ Broom, a devastating fungal disease, has spread for the first time from Southeast Asia to Latin America, arriving in French Guiana in 2023 and has now infiltrated northern Brazil. - Cassava is a vital crop for food security in South America and Africa, and a critical cash crop in Southeast Asia, where the fungal disease is spreading rapidly. More than 500 million people worldwide rely on cassava for their dietary needs. - The pathogen has already caused massive cassava losses in Southeast Asia, with infection rates in some fields near 90%, and now it threatens food security in Latin America. Climate change is helping the fungus thrive and spread, as wetter conditions create an ideal environment for infection. - Brazil has launched emergency measures, including funding research and farmer training, but scientists warn that without swift containment, cassava production across the tropics could face severe declines. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Brazil can protect its forests while growing its economy, says Arapyaú’s Renata Piazzon 05 Nov 2025 15:51:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-can-protect-its-forests-while-growing-its-economy-says-arapyaus-renata-piazzon/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Brazil’s climate conversation has a habit of returning to the same question: how can a country that depends so much on its natural riches also protect them? Renata Piazzon, who leads the São Paulo–based Instituto Arapyaú, naturally straddles that line. A lawyer by training, she has become one of Brazil’s clearest voices for aligning conservation with development, arguing that the health of the forest and the well-being of those who live in it are inseparable. Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler Her path into climate work began early. Piazzon grew up watching her father travel to remote Amazonian communities as part of an NGO that worked with Indigenous peoples. She wanted to go along, but he refused—so she set out to make her own way there. After studying environmental law, she shifted from litigation to sustainability, a move she traces to a single moment: watching Christiana Figueres steer the Paris Agreement talks at COP21. “I thought, that’s what I want to do with my life,” she recalls. At Arapyaú, founded 17 years ago by Brazilian entrepreneur Guilherme Leal, Piazzon oversees programs on climate, forests, and the bio-economy. The foundation was one of the first in Brazil to make climate its core mission, back when, she jokes, “the entire field could fit in a van.” Since then, a small circle of business leaders has grown into a network of perhaps a dozen or more philanthropists who see sustainability not as ideology but as good strategy. She works to draw them…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Renata Piazzon, CEO of the Instituto Arapyaú, is one of Brazil’s leading voices for aligning conservation with economic development, arguing that protecting forests and improving livelihoods must go hand in hand. - Under her leadership, Arapyaú has helped catalyze initiatives like MapBiomas and the Forest People Connection, which link data, finance, and connectivity to reduce deforestation and strengthen Amazonian communities. - As Brazil prepares to host COP30, Piazzon envisions the country shifting from negotiation to implementation—demonstrating global leadership through regenerative agriculture, forest restoration, and a low-carbon economy. - Piazzon spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in November 2025. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Climate change threatens unique ‘Samburu Special 5’ wildlife in arid East Africa 05 Nov 2025 15:40:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/climate-change-threatens-unique-samburu-special-5-wildlife-in-arid-east-africa/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: In the dry regions of East Africa lives a group of animals unlike any others. Known as the Samburu Special Five to safari operators in Kenya, they are the dry-adapted reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata), Grévy’s zebra (Equus grevyi), beisa oryx (Oryx beisa), gerenuk (Litocranius walleri) and Somali ostrich (Struthio molybdophanes). But they are increasingly imperiled by climate change. Their group nickname is derived from the famous Big Five — the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhinoceros — considered the most difficult to hunt by early trophy hunters. But the Special Five are so-called because they are unique species of animals found elsewhere. “They have some distinct features that are ways of adapting to the environment that they live in,” says Samuel Mutahi, a regional specialist and senior program officer for wildlife crimes, in charge of the East African region for International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). This region of the Horn of Africa is hot and dry, except during two short rainy seasons. These harsh conditions have driven the remarkable adaptations of the Special Five. “These animals are restricted to a geographical area — northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia — and they only exist in that place,” Mutahi says. But they have evolved remarkable adaptations to survive this harsh, dry region. Reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata). Image courtesy of J.Retton. Of the Grévy’s zebra, Mutahi says, “The white stripes are more distinctive than the black ones to reflect the heat. It allows them to regulate their body temperature and not…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The “Samburu Special Five” — the reticulated giraffe, Grévy’s zebra, beisa oryx, gerenuk and Somali ostrich — exist only in northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia, where they have evolved unique traits to survive extreme aridity. - But droughts in the Horn of Africa, linked to climate change, now occur twice as often as two decades ago, destroying vegetation and heightening competition for scarce resources between wildlife and livestock. - Pastoralist herders increasingly drive wildlife away from water and grazing areas, disrupting the traditional balance that once linked nomadic life and biodiversity. - Armed groups in Somalia and Ethiopia, including Al-Shabaab and the Oromo Liberation Army, also target wildlife, adding a security dimension to conservation challenges. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Scientists call for stronger action to save Indonesia’s vanishing seagrass meadows 05 Nov 2025 14:24:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/seagrass-meadows-marine-conservation-indonesia-blue-carbon/ author: Basten Gokkon dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: SANUR, Indonesia — Indonesia’s seagrass ecosystems are crucial for climate action, biodiversity and coastal livelihoods, yet remain a largely neglected asset, marine scientists and conservation experts said at a recent meeting. Participants at the Indonesian Seagrass Symposium, which ran from Oct. 29-30 on the island of Bali, called for stronger collaboration and data-driven policies to secure the future of these ecosystems in Indonesia’s environmental agenda. They said scientific data gaps, weak institutional capacity and low public awareness were key barriers to stronger protection and policy integration. “I see seagrass as a kind of forgotten ecosystem,” Victor Nikijuluw, senior ocean program adviser at the foundation Konservasi Indonesia (KI), the national affiliate of Conservation International and host of the symposium, told reporters. “We barely pay attention to it, even though its ecological, biological and ecosystem service roles are strategically important.” In Indonesia, Victor added, “this is the ecosystem most often sacrificed, that’s why I call it the forgotten ecosystem, one that most people don’t even know about.” Seagrass meadows are a crucial habitat for dugongs. Image courtesy of Tutus Wijanarko/WWF-Indonesia. Seagrasses, distinct from seaweeds, are flowering plants that thrive beneath shallow coastal waters and form vital nurseries for juvenile fish and shelter for marine life such as crabs, prawns and sea cucumbers. Together with mangroves and coral reefs, these meadows help trap carbon, filter land-based runoff, and buffer shorelines from erosion. Across the world, more than 70 seagrass species blanket roughly 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of ocean floor, an expanse…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Marine experts at the Indonesian Seagrass Symposium in Bali warned that seagrass ecosystems — vital for carbon storage, biodiversity and coastal protection — remain largely overlooked in national policy and conservation efforts. - Seagrass coverage in Indonesia has fallen from around 30,000 km2 in 1994 to about 8,000 km2 today, with losses driven by pollution, mining, coastal development and sedimentation that reduces water clarity and habitat quality. - Indonesia holds some of the world’s most extensive remaining seagrass meadows, estimated to store more than 30 million metric tons of CO2, making their protection crucial for both national and global climate goals. - Scientists and conservation leaders urged stronger data collection, funding and institutional capacity to support restoration, monitoring and community participation, positioning Indonesia as a potential leader in seagrass conservation. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Wildlife charities a third of the way to buying key UK nature refuge 05 Nov 2025 13:16:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/wildlife-charities-a-third-of-the-way-to-buying-key-uk-nature-refuge/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: A conservation alliance in the U.K. has raised nearly one-third of the 30 million pounds ($39 million) it needs to buy land in northeastern England to turn into a refuge for wildlife and local communities. The land, known as the Rothbury Estate, is roughly the size of the Greek capital of Athens, at 3,839 hectares (9,486 acres), and is located next to a national park. Wildlife Trusts, a network of U.K. conservation charities, says the land’s management would help protect local species such as red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris), pine martens (Martes martes), curlews (Numenius arquata) and skylarks (Alauda arvensis). The group says it will reintroduce European bison (Bison bonasus) and beavers (Castor fiber). The area could also serve has a habitat for golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), recently spotted in northern England for the first time in several decades. “The Wildlife Trusts have launched an appeal to buy this very special place,” renowned naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough said in a video shared by the charity. “They will work with local farmers to care for the area and breathe new life into it with the communities who live and work at Rothbury.” Rothbury Estate was put up for sale in 2023 by a 35-year-old English aristocrat, Max Percy, who grew up in the castle used as Hogwarts for the Harry Potter movies. In October 2024, Wildlife Trusts, in partnership with Northumberland Wildlife Trust, purchased the first part of the estate, known as Simonside Hills, made up of open expanses of moorland…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A conservation alliance in the U.K. has raised nearly one-third of the 30 million pounds ($39 million) it needs to buy land in northeastern England to turn into a refuge for wildlife and local communities. The land, known as the Rothbury Estate, is roughly the size of the Greek capital of Athens, at 3,839 hectares […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Ethanol plant spills harmful wastewater into Philippine marine reserve 05 Nov 2025 07:20:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/ethanol-plant-spills-harmful-wastewater-into-philippine-marine-reserve/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: A chemical spill from an ethanol distillery has put one of the Philippines’ largest marine protected areas at risk. A wall retaining the wastewater pond of an ethanol distillery plant collapsed on Oct. 24, causing about 255,000 cubic meters (67 million gallons) of wastewater to flow into Bais Bay in the central Philippines, according to the Bais City government. The plant is owned by Philippine food and beverage conglomerate Universal Robina Corporation (URC). Bais Bay is part of the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape (TSPS), a narrow body of water between the islands of Negros and Cebu. The strait is home to about 14 species of whales and dolphins, including the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) and short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus). The strait also supports diverse habitats, including mangrove forests and coral reefs, and is an important fishing ground and tourist attraction. “[T]he beauty, bounty, and ecological integrity of Tañon Strait is under active threat of being adversely impacted by this negligent act,” marine conservation nonprofit Oceana said in a statement. “The spill can affect the nutrient cycling and food web stability of the protected area, and cause long-lasting damage to its benthic habitats, coral reefs, and seagrass beds, impacting fish and invertebrate populations.” According to authorities, preliminary assessments suggest there was “visible discoloration across North Bais Bay, posing significant risks to marine biodiversity, fisheries, and local livelihoods,” the Manilla Bulletin reported. Satellite images of the chemical spill in Bais Bay. Images courtesy of Sentinel-2L2A. Following the spill, Bais City’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A chemical spill from an ethanol distillery has put one of the Philippines’ largest marine protected areas at risk. A wall retaining the wastewater pond of an ethanol distillery plant collapsed on Oct. 24, causing about 255,000 cubic meters (67 million gallons) of wastewater to flow into Bais Bay in the central Philippines, according to […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Investing in the next generation of environmental journalists (commentary) 04 Nov 2025 23:40:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/investing-in-the-next-generation-of-environmental-journalists-commentary/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The global environmental crisis is also a crisis of information. The destruction of forests, reefs, and rivers proceeds faster than our ability to explain it. Yet in many countries, the people best placed to tell these stories lack the means, mentorship, or editorial backing to do so. For emerging journalists—and for those shifting from other beats into environmental reporting—the gap between curiosity and capability can be decisive. Bridging it is not charity; it is strategy. When newsrooms shrink, environmental coverage is often the first to go. Science desks are absorbed, travel budgets vanish, and reporters who once covered courts or crime are suddenly asked to decipher climate policy. Many bring deep investigative instincts, but not the technical literacy to interpret satellite data, read environmental and social impact assessments, or distinguish credible science from spin. Without support, their reporting risks being shallow or silenced. With it, they can become powerful chroniclers of how environmental change reshapes lives and economies. This is where structured opportunities—paid fellowships, editorial mentorship, and global professional networks—matter. Programs such as Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship, which has supported about 40 early-career journalists since 2022, show how targeted investment can transform both journalism and environmental governance. The idea is simple: pair local knowledge and experience with professional guidance, and the result is sharper, more trusted storytelling. Mongabay Latam’s program for Indigenous communicators in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The first cohort included two Shuar reporters and one Kichwa reporter. Fellows from Indonesia to Nigeria have uncovered illegal mining,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The accelerating loss of forests, reefs, and rivers is also a failure of information: those closest to the crises often lack the training, mentorship, or editorial support to tell their stories effectively. Structured programs like fellowships bridge that gap, turning local knowledge into credible reporting, argues Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in this commentary. - Targeted investment in emerging journalists builds both professional capacity and public accountability. Fellows have exposed corruption, documented ecological recovery, and influenced policy, showing how informed reporting can strengthen environmental governance and democratic institutions. - Empowering local reporters shifts the narrative from victimhood to agency and from crisis to possibility. When journalists are equipped to investigate, explain, and inspire, they help societies make informed choices about the planet’s future—and ensure that stories of loss can also become stories of renewal. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
‘A big no’: Opposition grows to proposed mine in Malawi’s newest UNESCO site 04 Nov 2025 23:08:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-big-no-opposition-grows-to-proposed-mine-in-malawis-newest-unesco-site/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Ruth Kamnitzer content:encoded: A controversial proposed mining project in Malawi’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site is raising opposition from traditional chiefs and conservationists. Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi is a renowned biodiversity hotspot, a vital source of freshwater, and is of huge spiritual significance to the communities that live on and around it. In June, the mountain was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Malawi’s third. Mulanje conservationists say they fear that proposed mining projects on the mountain’s high-altitude plateau would threaten the mountain’s ecological integrity, jeopardize tourism development and undo hard-won gains in sustainable development. A sacred mountain rich in endemic species Mount Mulanje is a massive inselberg in southern Malawi, its forested slopes rising steeply to a broad plateau with 13 peaks, reaching an altitude of 3,002 meters (9,849 feet) at its highest point. Nine perennial rivers drain from the upper slopes, and the mountain is home to more than 70 endemic species, including the critically endangered Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei), Malawi’s national tree. The critically endangered Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei), also called the Mulanje cypress, is found only on Mount Mulanje between 1,830 and 2,550 meters (6,004 to 8,366 feet). It is threatened by logging and human-caused wildfires. Image by Amanita Phalloides via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). More than a million people live in the surrounding districts of Mulanje and Phalombe, and rely on the mountain and its forests for clean water, firewood, edible forest products, protection from storms, income from tourism, and more. The mountain is considered sacred…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Malawi’s Mount Mulanje is a biodiversity hotspot, a sacred cultural site, and provides critical resources for the more than 1 million people who live in the surrounding districts. - In July, Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. - In August, senior traditional chiefs held a press conference affirming their support for the UNESCO listing. - Local leaders and conservationists fear proposed mining projects would threaten the mountain’s natural heritage, and negatively impact tourism and jeopardize gains in sustainable development. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Report identifies ten emerging tech solutions to enhance planetary health 04 Nov 2025 21:41:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/report-identifies-ten-emerging-tech-solutions-to-enhance-planetary-health/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Julian Reingold content:encoded: In a world deluged by dire environmental news and seemingly short on scalable solutions, a recent report spotlights ten breakthrough technological innovations that could accelerate global efforts to tackle climate change, restore ecosystems, build long-term resilience, and improve planetary health. This inaugural report was researched and published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and open science publisher Frontiers. “From breakthroughs in clean energy and resource efficiency, to innovations in materials, agriculture and ecosystem restoration, these solutions have the potential to address and mitigate key drivers of planetary boundary transgressions,” said Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and chairman of the Frontiers Planet Prize’s Jury of 100. Of course, no single technology can solve the complex environmental challenges humanity faces, Rockström noted, but a suite of emerging technologies offers new ways of transforming economies within Earth’s safe operating space. Three tech solutions highlighted here in this article include: timely and specific Earth observation (conducted via AI data synthesis), automated food waste upcycling (turning scraps into valued resources), and green concrete (transforming global construction). The other seven tech solutions found in the report are precision fermentation (to create animal-free proteins), green ammonia production (for decarbonizing synthetic fertilizer manufacture), methane capture and utilization (converting a potent greenhouse gas into a valuable resource), next-gen bi-direction charging (making stored battery power more flexible), modular geothermal energy (scaling up renewable heat and electricity), regeneration desalination (to recover lost resources and deliver clean water), and soil health technology convergence (restoring soil health…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent report underlines ten emerging technologies offering potential to accelerate climate action, restore ecosystems, and drive sustainable innovation within safe planetary boundaries. These technologies include AI-supported Earth observation, automated food waste upcycling, green concrete, and more. - Innovative AI improvements in Earth observations (EO) can better identify and track human-caused environmental impacts and offer improved early warning alerts for planetary boundary overshoot. Such systems use AI-powered analytics to synthesize satellite, drone and ground-based data for near real-time results. - Artificial intelligence and automation can also work in tandem to manage citywide food waste programs, assuring that food scraps are diverted from landfills or incineration, decreasing carbon emissions and reducing waste. - Another tech solution is green concrete which could not only reduce emissions from traditional cement production, but when incorporated into infrastructure construction, can offer a permanent storage place for captured CO2. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Antarctic conservation summit closes with stalemate on MPAs & krill fishing rules 04 Nov 2025 19:58:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/antarctic-conservation-summit-closes-with-stalemate-on-mpas-krill-fishing-rules/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Francesco De Augustinis content:encoded: The annual meeting of the international body responsible for conservation of the marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean concluded on Friday with no progress on two contentious issues before it: the creation of new marine protected areas and the strengthening of regulations governing krill (Euphausia superba) fishing. The 44th meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was held in Hobart, Australia, Oct. 20-31. “We’re extremely worried and extremely disappointed,” Maximiliano Bello, an ocean policy consultant who attended the meeting as an adviser for the U.K.-based NGO Blue Marine Foundation, told Mongabay minutes after the closure. “The ‘conservation’ word is fading out of the convention now and more and more we see this sort of proposals and push to continue increasing the impact in the fishing, particularly of krill,” Bello said. The meeting “did not advance measures to improve the spatial distribution of krill catches or establish protection zones,” Javier Arata, executive officer of the industry body Association of Responsible Krill harvesting companies (ARK), told Mongabay in an email. According to Arata, ARK members will continue to avoid fishing in voluntary restricted zones it introduced in 2019, “safeguarding over 74,000 km² [more than 28,500 square miles] of key penguin foraging habitat.” He said he is hopeful that “2026 will be a year of meaningful advancement.” King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) in Antarctica. Image by Rhett A. Butler. This year’s annual meeting of CCAMLR’s 27 members — 26 countries plus the European Union — was particularly tense,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The annual meeting of the international body responsible for the conservation of Southern Ocean marine ecosystems concluded Friday with no progress on two contentious issues before it: the creation of new marine protected areas and the strengthening of regulations governing the fishery for krill (Euphausia superba), a species on which numerous iconic species of Antarctic wildlife depend. - This year’s annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was particularly tense, due to a clash between two occasionally overlapping groups of countries: on one side, those working to establish new marine protected areas (MPAs), and on the other, those more focused on increasing krill fishing. - CCAMLR has considered proposals to establish three large MPAs annually for years but has failed to pass them under its consensus-based decision-making process. This year was the same, due to vetoes of MPA proposals by Russia and China. - The combination of a lack of will to reinstate previously agreed regulations governing the krill fishery and a new push to drastically increase the krill harvest suggests a change in direction at CCAMLR toward more permissive fishing. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Rhett Butler reflects on recent accolades, and Jane Goodall’s legacy of hope 04 Nov 2025 19:51:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/11/rhett-butler-reflects-on-recent-accolades-and-jane-goodalls-legacy-of-hope/ author: Hayat Indriyatno dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Hello listeners. This week on the Mongabay Newscast, we ask that you take a few minutes to fill out a brief survey to let us know what you think of our audio reporting, which you can do here. Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler was recently awarded the Henry Shaw Medal by the Missouri Botanical Garden and named to the 2025 Forbes Sustainability Leaders list alongside conservation greats such as David Attenborough. The credit for this success belongs to Mongabay, Butler says on this week’s podcast. “ While my name is on the award, it’s for Mongabay. All that Mongabay achieves is not necessarily me. I’m the figurehead,” Butler says of receiving the Henry Shaw Medal. In this interview, Butler stresses the importance of Mongabay’s impact-driven model, which measures success in terms of impact rather than clicks or pageviews, all of which is possible through an independent newsroom. “ Independence is absolutely critical because if you’re not independently verifying the work you’re doing, then you’re just communicating someone’s agenda. And I think that’s really critical.” Butler also shares his thoughts and reflections on the passing of his longtime friend, and conservation icon, Jane Goodall, through whom he learned to see the value in hope and optimism. “ The biggest thing I took away from my relationship with Jane … is the importance of hope,” he says. “She was truly a messenger for hope.” You can read Butler’s obituary for Jane Goodall here. Find the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Hello listeners. This week on the Mongabay Newscast, we ask that you take a few minutes to fill out a brief survey to let us know what you think of our audio reporting, which you can do here. Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler was recently awarded the Henry Shaw Medal by the Missouri Botanical […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Youth, hope & the role of environmental journalism in building a better future (commentary) 04 Nov 2025 17:49:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/youth-hope-the-role-of-environmental-journalism-in-building-a-better-future-commentary/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Fernanda Biasoli content:encoded: In this series, Our Letters to the Future, the sixth cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows share their views on environmental journalism, conservation and the future for their generation, amid multiple planetary crises. Each commentary is a personal reflection, based on individual fellows’ experiences in their home communities and the insights gained through the past six months of the fellowship. The series spans the Global South — Malaysia, India, Colombia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo — showcasing a broad diversity of ideas and the common ground these young environmental journalists share as they embark on their careers. Perhaps it is something inherent to youth, but I am not yet ready to throw in the towel. I admit it: I want the real possibility of dreaming, imagining and building another future for those who will come after me. I want to learn to flow like rivers and put down roots like forests. To live in community like bees and rest in solitude like bears. I want to keep alive the narratives of connection with nature and respect for all other beings that inhabit this planet. But I can’t do it alone. That’s why I’m so happy when I have the opportunity to share ideas with others who also live on this planet. In September, I participated for the first time in an event as a speaker, holding the microphone in one hand and a glass of water in the other. With the help of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In September, Y. Eva Tan Fellow Fernanda Biasoli was invited to speak during Journalism Week at São Paulo State University (UNESP); here, she shares some of the messages she conveyed about environmental journalism, youth and hope as the planet faces crisis. - “Think, for example, of a river basin,” she writes. “Each spring, stream, creek and river comes together to form a large territory that allows life to flourish. For me, environmental journalism can be seen as one of these streams: a fundamental part of a large democratic ecosystem.” - Now, more than ever, Biasoli says, the world must unite to inspire and create new ideas — and to keep alive the connection with nature and respect for all beings that inhabit this planet. - This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
These banks fund oil & gas in the Amazon amid climate crisis: Report 04 Nov 2025 16:34:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/these-banks-fund-oil-gas-in-the-amazon-amid-climate-crisis-report/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Constance Malleret content:encoded: Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, a sprawling industrial facility has been carved out of the rainforest. This is the Camisea Gas Complex, a natural gas mega-field operated by a consortium of oil companies led by Argentina’s Pluspetrol. The complex now supplies 70% of Peru’s liquefied petroleum gas, primarily used for cooking. But the project has left behind a trail of socioenvironmental rights violations, from threats to the survival of isolated Indigenous people to failure to provide energy access to the communities closest to the complex — and on the frontlines of the multiple gas leaks that have contaminated the forest in the 20 years since production began. In September, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, deemed Pluspetrol responsible for environmental damage and Indigenous rights violations in the Peruvian Amazon. A plethora of banks help fund the Camisea Gas Complex. According to nonprofit Stand.earth, Pluspetrol’s local subsidiary and fellow consortium members Repsol and Hunt Oil Peru have received $3.1 billion in financing since 2016. At least 16 banks — including Citibank, JPMorganChase, Itaú Unibanco and HSBC — have provided funding in the last year. These numbers are part of a new report, “Banks vs. The Amazon,” which uncovers how global financial institutions continue to direct resources toward oil and gas extraction in Amazonia, contributing to the destruction of the rainforest and the rise of carbon emissions that contribute to higher global temperatures — despite some banks having adopted policies to end this. Between January 2024 and June 2025, direct…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Since 2016, banks have provided $15 billion in direct financing for oil and gas extraction in the Amazon, according to a Stand.earth analysis of transactions from 330 banks. - Between January 2024 and June 2025, direct financing added up to $2 billion, with more than 80% benefiting just six oil and gas companies. - Some banks have scaled back this type of financing, mostly due to the adoption of Amazon exclusion policies, but none have stopped completely. - The continued financing of oil and gas extraction in the Amazon comes amid a wider rollback of banks’ sustainability pledges and an increase in fossil fuel financing globally. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Brazil charges 31 people in major carbon credit fraud investigation 04 Nov 2025 15:46:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/brazil-charges-31-people-in-major-carbon-credit-fraud-investigation/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted 31 suspects for fraud and land-grabbing in a massive criminal carbon credit scheme in the Brazilian Amazon, according to Brazilian national media outlet Folha de S.Paulo. It is the largest known criminal operation involving carbon credit fraud to date in the nation. The police probe, called Operation Greenwashing, was launched following an investigation by Mongabay reporter Fernanda Wenzel published in May 2024 about two REDD+ carbon credit projects that appeared to be linked to illegal timber laundering. The Netherlands-based Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA) analyzed the REDD+ projects, called Unitor and Fortaleza Ituxi, at Mongabay’s request, finding a mismatch between their declared volume of logged timber and the logged volume estimated through satellite images, suggesting possible timber laundering. The police investigation confirmed that two REDD+ project areas were generating carbon credits at the same time they were being used to launder timber taken from other illegally deforested areas. Both projects, which cover more than 140,000 hectares (around 350,000 acres), are located in the municipality of Lábrea in the south of Amazonas state. The area has been identified as one of the newest and most aggressive deforestation frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon. Brazil police found that the Unitor and Fortaleza Ituxi REDD+ projects were being used to launder illegal timber while selling carbon credits. Map by Andrés Alegría/Mongabay. The Federal Police told Folha that three interconnected groups were involved. One group was led by Ricardo Stoppe Júnior, known as Brazil’s largest individual seller of carbon credits.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted 31 suspects for fraud and land-grabbing in a massive criminal carbon credit scheme in the Brazilian Amazon, according to Brazilian national media outlet Folha de S.Paulo. It is the largest known criminal operation involving carbon credit fraud to date in the nation. The police probe, called Operation Greenwashing, was launched […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Suriname’s plan to capitalize on carbon: Q&A with President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons 04 Nov 2025 15:22:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/surinames-plan-to-capitalize-on-carbon-qa-with-president-jennifer-geerlings-simons/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: PARAMARIBO, Suriname — With the U.N. Climate Change Conference coming up next week, Suriname finds itself at the center of a global debate about how to reduce carbon emissions and prevent deforestation. COP30 will see nearly 200 countries converge on the city of Belém in the Brazilian Amazon, with multiple climate policy solutions on the agenda. Neighboring Suriname, despite its small size and influence, will have a uniquely large voice at the event. The South American country has managed to keep 93% of its national forest cover and boasts net-negative carbon emissions, meaning it absorbs more CO₂ than it emits — a rare feat achieved by only two other countries: Panama and Bhutan. As a member of multiple international coalitions, including the G-Zero Forum, Suriname has used its conservation success to lead calls for Indigenous rights, biodiversity protections, and financial compensation for smaller countries that have already met emissions targets. President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, who took office in July, has been especially vocal about pinning down the frameworks for international carbon markets, which would allow nations to buy and sell credits earned from emissions reductions. The Paris Agreement establishes frameworks for doing this, but Geerlings-Simons says countries still aren’t seeing the money that they should. Carbon-emitting countries need to be held accountable, she says, and countries conserving their forests must see real compensation. During Climate Week in New York in September, her government pledged to formally conserve 90% of Suriname’s rainforest — more than 150,000 square kilometers (58,000 square miles) —…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Suriname’s first female president, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, sat down with Mongabay to discuss her goals for the U.N. Climate Change Conference taking place next week in neighboring Brazil. - She’s been a vocal proponent of climate financing for countries meeting their emission targets and conserving the rainforest. - At the same time, Geerlings-Simons is grappling with Suriname’s deep-seated mining industry, which often skirts regulations and destroys natural ecosystems with mercury and cyanide. - Geerlings-Simons said she recognizes the importance of extractive industries for funding the country’s infrastructure, law enforcement and the agencies that provide environmental oversight. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
India’s Ganga River drying at unprecedented levels 04 Nov 2025 14:23:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/indias-ganga-river-drying-at-unprecedented-levels/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: The Ganga River, which sustains the lives of at least 600 million people, is facing its worst dry spell and lowest streamflow in 1,300 years, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay India’s Simrin Sirur. Researchers extrapolated the Ganga’s water levels going back to the year 700 C.E. using a combination of paleoclimatic and historical data and hydrological modeling. They found that between 1991 and 2020, the river basin experienced a higher frequency of dry years compared to all other studied 30-year periods in the past. The reconstruction of river levels highlighted other known periods of drought in India, including during the Bengal famine from 1769-1771, and major famines from the 14th century that caused widespread crop failures and human deaths. However, in 1991, the river’s streamflow suddenly declined by 620 cubic meters per second (about 21,900 cubic feet per second) — a new low compared to previous years. Between 1991 and 2020, the river experienced four droughts lasting at least three years. Historically, such long-term droughts were spaced 70 to 200 years apart, the authors noted. This unusual drying is driven partly by decreasing monsoon precipitation over the river basin. While past droughts due to reduced monsoon rains could be explained by natural climate variations in sea surface temperatures in the Indo-Pacific Oceans, climate change likely plays a role today, the researchers added. One hypothesis for the current decline “is that the land-ocean contrast has weakened because of global warming, which has in turn weakened the monsoon and reduced…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The Ganga River, which sustains the lives of at least 600 million people, is facing its worst dry spell and lowest streamflow in 1,300 years, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay India’s Simrin Sirur. Researchers extrapolated the Ganga’s water levels going back to the year 700 C.E. using a combination of paleoclimatic and historical […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Indonesia pledges energy transition — but the country’s new NDC says otherwise 04 Nov 2025 13:45:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indonesia-pledges-energy-transition-but-the-countrys-new-ndc-says-otherwise/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has made bold pledges to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to phase out coal within 15 years, raising hopes that one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters might finally embark on a genuine energy transition — pivotal if the world is to have any chance of limiting warming to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit). Yet Indonesia’s newly submitted climate plan tells a different story. Under the Paris Agreement, countries must submit nationally determined contributions (NDCs), updated every five years, outlining their emission-reduction goals and adaptation measures. Indonesia’s latest submission, the second nationally determined contribution (SNDC), suggests that deep climate action is still seen as incompatible with rapid economic growth, according to critics. As a result, the SNDC contains emission-reduction targets that are widely seen as insufficient to meet the 1.5°C goal. The document updates Indonesia’s targets for 2031-35 and replaces the earlier “enhanced NDC” of 2022. Unlike the 2022 document that used a business-as-usual baseline, the new SNDC uses 2019 as its reference year. Officials say this shift improves transparency; environmental analysts say it masks ambition, since absolute emissions continue to rise until at least 2030 and only decline modestly by 2035, reflecting a government model that, according to analysts, still assumes deep emissions cuts will slow economic growth. Under the SNDC’s high-growth scenario (8% annual economic growth), Indonesia’s emissions are projected to be roughly 30% higher in 2035 than 2019 levels. In contrast, a 1.5°C-compatible pathway would require a 21% reduction…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia’s newly submitted second nationally determined contribution (SNDC), in accordance with the Paris Agreement, contains emission-reduction targets widely seen as insufficient to meet the goal of limiting warming to 1.5° Celsius. - This contrasts with President Prabowo Subianto’s pledges to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to phase out coal within 15 years, raising hopes that Indonesia could embark on a genuine energy transition. - Under the SNDC’s high-growth scenario of 8% annual economic growth, Indonesia’s emissions are projected to be roughly 30% higher in 2035 than in 2019; in contrast, a 1.5°C-compatible pathway would require a 21% reduction. - Critics say this suggests deep climate action is still seen as incompatible with rapid economic growth. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Indigenous communities protect Colombia’s uncontacted peoples 04 Nov 2025 13:43:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/indigenous-communities-protect-colombias-uncontacted-peoples/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than a decade, two Indigenous communities deep in Colombia’s Amazon have been safeguarding those who wish to remain unseen, reports contributor Pilar Puentes for Mongabay. The residents of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and the neighboring Manacaro community have built an extraordinary system of surveillance and stewardship to protect uncontacted peoples such as the Yuri and Passé — tribes that continue to live in voluntary isolation. Their vigilance, combining ancestral wisdom and digital tools, led the government in October 2024 to formally recognize the existence of two such groups, ending a century of speculation. The decision owed much to the patient accumulation of evidence: faint footprints, scattered seeds, traces of fire. The Indigenous monitors’ efforts filled the void left by the state, which has been largely absent from this conflict-ridden region. Armed groups, illegal miners, missionaries and traffickers now press upon the boundaries of lands that had once been untouched. In the face of danger, women from Manacaro have stepped into roles long reserved for men, steering canoes along the rivers, collecting data and recording threats. Their work, supported by the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) and local associations, now spans thousands of hectares. Using GPS, georeferencing programs and tablets, they track wildlife and human incursions, and their findings feed into national policymaking through Colombia’s Commission for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation. The communities’ maps are more than technical records.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than a decade, two Indigenous communities deep in Colombia’s Amazon have been safeguarding those who wish to remain unseen, reports contributor Pilar Puentes for Mongabay. The residents of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and the neighboring […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
New arrangements should preserve Nairobi’s much-loved Karura Forest 04 Nov 2025 10:42:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/new-arrangements-should-preserve-nairobis-much-loved-karura-forest/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Dann Okoth content:encoded: NAIROBI — The Karura Forest covers about 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) just north of the Kenyan capital. Thousands of locals visit the forest every month, to escape Nairobi’s noisy streets and unwind beneath Karura’s green canopy. This oasis of calm has been jointly managed by a local citizens’ organization, Friends of Karura Forest, and the Kenya Forest Service since 2010. When KFS announced in August that this arrangement was set to be changed, there was an uproar. The government has since reversed the decision, and the forest service and FKF will now continue jointly managing the forest. Over the past 15 years, the partnership has restored indigenous plant cover in Karura and provided a green lung for Nairobi. Karura’s indigenous plant species have been restored, including the stately African onionwood (Cassipourea malosana), with its dense canopy of glossy, dark green leaves; forest ironplum (Drypetes gerrardii), whose fruit is eaten by birds and small mammals; and wild jasmine (Schrebera alata), a favorite of pollinators. The forest has also become a haven for wildlife including jackals, bush pigs and three antelope species, Harvey’s duiker (Cephalophus harveyi), suni (Neotragus moschatus), and bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus). Walking paths have been established among the tall closed-canopy forests. Karanja Njoroge, a board member and former chair of Friends of Karura Forest, says each month, some 75,000 visitors pay a gate fee of 10-100 shillings (up to about $0.75) to enter and enjoy the forest. Karura Forest, Nairobi, Kenya. Image by Queen Asali via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Kenya, an uproar briefly followed the August announcement that the beloved Karura Forest north of Nairobi would no longer be jointly managed by local citizens’ group Friends of Karura Forest and the Kenya Forest Service; the decision has since been reversed. - The 15-year partnership has restored several indigenous plant species to the Karura Forest, which is also a haven for wildlife such as jackals, bush pigs and small antelopes. - Previously, the area was threatened by land-grabbers and illegal logging; today, the initiative employs more than 35 staff, who work on forest restoration, security and infrastructure maintenance while some 300 local community members supply thousands of tree seedlings each month for reforestation. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Thai agri giant CPF sues activist over claims linking it to invasive fish outbreak 04 Nov 2025 08:43:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/thai-agri-giant-cpf-sues-activist-over-claims-linking-it-to-invasive-fish-outbreak/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: The secretary-general of a Thai agricultural watchdog is facing a lawsuit that observers say is part of corporate efforts to silence citizens who are calling for greater accountability over the outbreak of an invasive species of fish wreaking havoc in Thailand’s waterways. Witoon Lianchamroon of the BIOTHAI Foundation, a Thailand-based food sovereignty NGO, appeared at Nonthaburi Provincial Court Oct. 22 for the first hearing of a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF). The firm, a subsidiary of Thailand’s largest agricultural conglomerate, CP Group, alleges he spread false and misleading information linking it to the outbreak of blackchin tilapia (Sarotherodon melanotheron), a highly invasive species of fish. The case stems from a public conference hosted by the BIOTHAI Foundation in July 2024, when Witoon alleged during a presentation that the invasive fish outbreak was linked to an aquaculture facility operated by CPF in Samut Songkhram province. At the event, Witoon also urged the firm to take responsibility for losses to farmers’ livelihoods and the outbreak’s escalating ecological harms. Blackchin tilapia, a species native to brackish coastal habitats in West Africa, breeds rapidly year-round, can survive in both freshwater and saltwater, and has an omnivorous diet. As such, it has outcompeted both native and commercially farmed species, harming aquaculture businesses in at least 19 provinces where it has already spread. CPF came under scrutiny over the matter because it obtained a permit from the Department of Fisheries to import the species in 2010, shortly before the first detections…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The head of a Thai NGO focused on agricultural monitoring and food sovereignty is being sued by agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) for alleging the firm is linked to the outbreak of an invasive fish species in Thailand’s waterways. - The lawsuit has been slammed as a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) and a tactic to divert attention away from containing the outbreak and identifying the source and parties responsible. - The blackchin tilapia has spread to at least 19 provinces, where it outcompetes wild and commercially viable aquatic species, disturbing ecosystems and devastating farmers’ livelihoods. - The case comes as Thailand awaits public hearing of new anti-SLAPP regulations aimed at curbing judicial harassment. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Brazil dismantles hundreds of illegal dredges in major Amazon mining crackdown 03 Nov 2025 21:35:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/brazil-dismantles-hundreds-of-illegal-dredges-in-major-amazon-mining-crackdown/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Brazilian police backed by Interpol have destroyed hundreds of dredges used in illegal gold mining along the Madeira River, in one of the biggest coordinated crackdowns yet on criminal networks operating across the Amazon Basin. The international police agency said officers dismantled 277 floating mining rafts worth an estimated $6.8 million. When factoring in lost gold, equipment and environmental damage, officials estimated the total financial blow to organized crime groups at about $193 million. The Madeira River, one of the Amazon’s largest tributaries, flows from the Andes through Bolivia into northern Brazil before joining the main Amazon River — an area long plagued by illegal mining and environmental crime. The raids were led by Brazil’s Federal Police Amazon and Environment Protection Division, a special unit focused on combating environmental crimes, with support from a new regional coordination center linking law enforcement agencies from several Amazon countries. More than 100 officers used satellite data to map 400 square kilometers (155 square miles) of forest and river areas scarred by mining, Interpol said Monday. Interpol — the international organization that helps police in nearly 200 countries share intelligence and coordinate operations — said the crackdown builds on a series of recent cross-border missions in Latin America targeting illegal gold mining, logging and wildlife trafficking. Such crimes are among the biggest drivers of deforestation and river contamination in the Amazon, and often fund broader organized crime networks. The operation comes just weeks before world leaders gather in the northern Brazilian city…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Brazilian police backed by Interpol have destroyed hundreds of dredges used in illegal gold mining along the Madeira River, in one of the biggest coordinated crackdowns yet on criminal networks operating across the Amazon Basin. The international police agency said officers dismantled 277 floating mining rafts worth an estimated $6.8 million. […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Critical minerals drive legalization of mining on Amazon Indigenous lands 03 Nov 2025 17:56:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/critical-minerals-drive-legalization-of-mining-on-amazon-indigenous-lands/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Lucas Berti content:encoded: The Brazilian Constitution bans illegal mining on Indigenous lands under any circumstances. But the high demand for minerals, especially gold, drove miners to invade Indigenous lands anyway. Since 2018, the area of gold mines in the Amazon has doubled (1,217% since 1985), while the metal’s value has nearly tripled, reaching an all-time record high. Since 2023, the federal government has conducted a crackdown on illegal miners, dealing significant blows to criminal operations in Indigenous lands. In the Yanomami Indigenous Territory (Brazil’s largest), operations resulted in more than 500 million reais ($93 million) in losses for illegal miners until mid-October, largely reducing the area affected by the activity, authorities say. In the Sararé and Munduruku lands, authorities have destroyed hundreds of camps, excavators and bunkers that serve to hide equipment and weapons linked to local crime syndicates. These actions are a direct response to the humanitarian and environmental crisis fueled by illegal mining. Criminals skyrocketed deforestation and mercury contamination in rivers and fueled violence in Indigenous communities, as the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has warned in one of its 2025 reports. Illegal Mining in the Munduruku Indigenous Land in the Amazon. Image by Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace. However, while the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva moves in one direction, the Brazilian Congress goes another. Controversial bills that aim to legalize mining and other large-scale economic activities within Indigenous lands — such as PL 1331/2022 and PL 6050/2023 — are currently in discussion (and advancing), raising concerns…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Brazilian lawmakers are advancing controversial bills to legalize mining on Indigenous lands, where hundreds of mining bids have already been filed, as the nation positions itself as a key supplier for the energy transition. - The proposed expansion of mining would intensify deforestation and mercury pollution, bringing violence to Indigenous communities and threatening the Amazon, reports show. - The move raises concerns among Indigenous organizations and experts, who warn that the bills are unconstitutional and may be taken without properly consulting traditional communities. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
As Ghana ships first ‘gold standard’ timber to EU, questions about FLEGT’s future remain (commentary) 03 Nov 2025 17:17:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-ghana-ships-first-gold-standard-timber-to-eu-questions-about-flegts-future-remain-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Fred Pearce content:encoded: Ghana has become the first African country to win fast-lane access to European Union markets for its timber. A trading license negotiated with the European Commission over 16 years means all logging in the West African country is now recognized as being untainted by illegality, and is carried out with the consent of nearby forest communities, who are compensated in cash or in kind. Armed with the license, traders can sell Ghanaian timber into Europe without further checks on its legality, a landmark that will be recognized by a gathering of Ghanaian and European politicians, timber industry officials and others on Nov. 4 in Brussels. The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) license — among a series of measures introduced by the EU more than 20 years ago to tackle the root causes of illegal logging — has widespread support from industry and civil society in Ghana, as do the national rules on forestry and timber tracking and trading that underpin it. Richard Nsenkyire, managing director of Samartex Timber and Plywood, one of Ghana’s leading timber exporters, says the license marks “the beginning of a new era in compliant international trade” for Ghana, which “will guarantee access to the EU market.” Yet there are fears that Ghana’s FLEGT license, the first in Africa and only the second in the world (after Indonesia), could also turn out to be the last — a victim, in part, of a political climate in which the EU appears to be retreating from many…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Ghana is the first country in Africa to be awarded a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) license, which is seen as the “gold standard” in the sustainable timber trade. - The fate of many of Africa’s surviving forests could depend on its success, highlighted by an official meeting in Brussels this week that will mark the first shipment of timber from Ghana to the EU under the program — but a new op-ed wonders if it will it be the last. - “If Ghana’s FLEGT license turns out to be the last, it would snatch defeat from the jaws of a famous victory. But there is also hope that Ghana’s groundbreaking system of timber traceability could help spur similar systems in other countries,” the author argues. - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Chaos on Cambodia’s Coast 03 Nov 2025 16:28:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2025/11/chaos-on-cambodias-coast/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Along Cambodia’s rapidly transforming coastline, illegal trawling, elite-backed development, and weak enforcement are driving marine ecosystems and fishing communities to the brink. This 2024 series investigates the institutional breakdown behind the country’s marine crisis, from ineffective patrols in protected areas to billion-dollar land deals displacing small-scale fishers. It examines the competing interests reshaping Cambodia’s coast, and what’s left at stake for conservation and coastal livelihoods.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Along Cambodia’s rapidly transforming coastline, illegal trawling, elite-backed development, and weak enforcement are driving marine ecosystems and fishing communities to the brink. This 2024 series investigates the institutional breakdown behind the country’s marine crisis, from ineffective patrols in protected areas to billion-dollar land deals displacing small-scale fishers. It examines the competing interests reshaping Cambodia’s coast, […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Despite new land title, Bolivia’s Indigenous Tacana II still face invaders 03 Nov 2025 16:03:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/despite-new-land-title-bolivias-indigenous-tacana-ii-still-face-invaders/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: After more than 20 years of legal battle, the Tacana II Indigenous people in Bolivia have finally obtained a legal title to their ancestral land, which is a transit zone for uncontacted Indigenous people. While this recognition grants them full legal ownership, Indigenous leaders and researchers told Mongabay security protections aren’t guaranteed due to state political insecurity, the lack of enforcement of environmental regulations and invasions by illegal actors. “In reality, the title is a legal security of collective ownership of those families that form part of this territory,” Roland Mejía, the president of the Tacana II Río Madre de Dios Indigenous Communities Center (CITRMD), told Mongabay over WhatsApp voice messages. “But the title alone will not defend [the territory]; it must be defended by the actions of the community leaders so that the collective right to this territory is respected.” The 272,379-hectare (673,000-acre) territory is located north of Madidi National Park and west of the Bajo Madidi Municipal Conservation and Management Area in Abel Iturralde province of the department of La Paz. The land serves as a biological corridor, connecting protected areas critical to the survival of more than 50 vulnerable plant and animal species, including the near-threatened jaguar (Panthera onca). It is also home to four Tacana II communities: Puerto Pérez, Las Mercedes, Toromonas and El Tigre. The Puerto Perez Tacana II community, located in the north of La Paz, Bolivia, in the municipality of Ixiamas and in the Madre de Dios River basin. Photo by Indyra Lafuente/Conservación…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - After a process lasting more than two decades, the Bolivian government has granted the Indigenous Tacana II people a formal title to their ancestral territory, encompassing more than 272,000 hectares of land. - While this recognition grants them full ownership and legal security, leaders and researchers say it is not enough to protect them from the country’s political insecurity, the lack of enforcement of environmental regulations and invasions by illegal actors. - The Tacana people have reported land encroachments and the illegal opening of roads, which impact the transit zone for uncontacted Indigenous peoples. - ● Experts on Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) told Mongabay that the title may provide a territorial barrier for the isolated people, but specific territorial protection measures are still required to guarantee their full protection. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Beyond deforestation: redesigning how we protect and value tropical forests (analysis) 03 Nov 2025 15:57:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/beyond-deforestation-redesigning-how-we-protect-and-value-tropical-forests-analysis/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, it seemed worth looking today’s trajectories a little further forward and imagine where they might lead. Part 1 looked at possible fates of tropical forests. The first act of the forest crisis was destruction. The second, if there is to be one, must be design—deliberate, structural, and sustained. The world already knows what is burning; what it hasn’t decided is whether it truly wants to stop it. Last year’s fires tore through more than three million hectares of tropical primary forest, most of it in South America. Drought and El Niño played their part, but so did the same chronic weaknesses: fragmented governance, cheap credit for land clearance, and a market that rewards destruction faster than it rewards restraint. The causes are structural, which means the solutions will have to be as well. Power to those who already protect More than a third of the world’s intact forests lie on Indigenous and community lands. Where rights are recognized, deforestation typically drops. The logic is simple. People with secure tenure have reason to manage land for the long term. Yet only a fraction of community lands in the tropics have legal title. Recognition processes crawl through bureaucracy, while investors and speculators tend to advance quickly. A first-order intervention, therefore, is legal rather than technical: accelerating the transfer of rights. That means repairing broken land registries: mapping who actually owns what and granting legal title to the communities already…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Following his earlier essay tracing possible futures for the world’s forests, Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler turns from diagnosis to design—asking what concrete interventions could still avert collapse. This piece explores how governance, finance, and stewardship might evolve in a second act for tropical forests. - The essay argues that lasting protection depends structural reform: securing Indigenous land rights, treating governance as infrastructure, and creating steady finance that outlasts election cycles and aid projects. - Butler also examines overlooked levers—from restoring degraded lands and valuing forests’ local cooling effects to rethinking “bioeconomies” and building regional cooperation across borders. Each points toward a shift from reactive conservation to deliberate, sustained design. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
At COP30, Africa can lead the way to a sustainable future — but will it? (commentary) 03 Nov 2025 15:36:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/at-cop30-africa-can-lead-the-way-to-a-sustainable-future-but-will-it-commentary/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Samuel Ogunsona content:encoded: In this series, Our Letters to the Future, the sixth cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows share their views on environmental journalism, conservation and the future for their generation, amid multiple planetary crises. Each commentary is a personal reflection, based on individual fellows’ experiences in their home communities and the insights gained through the past six months of the fellowship. The series spans the Global South — Malaysia, India, Colombia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo — showcasing a broad diversity of ideas and the common ground these young environmental journalists share as they embark on their careers. When the rivers rise and the skies grow dark, Africa’s resilience will light the way to a sustainable future. Africa, the continent that contributes the least to climate change, is paradoxically among the most vulnerable to its devastating impacts. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and increased frequency of extreme weather events are all taking a toll on the continent’s economy, infrastructure and human settlements. Yet, in the face of this existential threat, Africa has the potential to lead the way to a sustainable future. As the world grapples with climate change, the recent submissions of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by countries ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil, have brought to the forefront critical gaps in global climate action. What are NDCs and why do they matter? The NDCs are countries’ commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change. They are…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - With its growing focus on sustainable development and climate action, Africa has the potential to lead the way toward a more sustainable future, as seen in Nigeria’s recent submission of its third nationally determined contribution (NDC 3.0). - COP30 this month in Belém, Brazil, should prioritize climate finance, which Africa needs to mobilize resources for the continent’s climate action. - Africa requires support to build resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change, and COP30 is a crucial platform to address these needs, building a more sustainable future for all. - This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
One man’s mission to rewild a dying lake 03 Nov 2025 11:40:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/one-mans-mission-to-rewild-a-dying-lake/ 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. From a hillside overlooking Lake Toba, the vast volcanic basin at the heart of Sumatra, Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang looks down on what he calls both a blessing and a warning, reports Sri Wahyuni for Mongabay. Once the first district leader of Samosir, Wilmar has spent his retirement rewilding parts of this landscape sacred to the Batak people. “If we don’t pay attention to this, Lake Toba will be just a memory,” he says. That memory is fading fast. Pollution, logging and unchecked plantations have clouded the waters of what was once among Indonesia’s purest lakes. “The forest is being cut down, both legally and illegally — biodiversity is being burned,” Wilmar says. “Rainwater is just running off; it carries ash, trash and pesticides into the lake.” Research published in 2024 confirmed nitrogen levels above national safety thresholds, threatening fish and water quality. The deterioration stings for those who remember when people would ask travelers to bring back a flask of Toba’s crystal water. “Now? Just cooking rice with it will smell,” Wilmar says. He has watched the district lose nearly a quarter of its old-growth forest since 2002. Yet he persists, planting trees, urging families to blend fruit and forest crops, and teaching children to see trees, birds and soil as kin. “I believe forests will be sustainable if people feel they are part of their lives,” he adds. His modest crusade has…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. From a hillside overlooking Lake Toba, the vast volcanic basin at the heart of Sumatra, Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang looks down on what he calls both a blessing and a warning, reports Sri Wahyuni for Mongabay. Once the first […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
What might lie ahead for tropical forests (analysis) 02 Nov 2025 18:49:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/the-forests-future-tense-what-might-lie-ahead-for-the-tropics-commentary/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, it seemed worth attempting a thought experiment: to trace today’s trajectories a little further forward and imagine where they might lead. What follows are a series of scenarios—some improbable, others already taking shape. Part II In 2024, the tropics lost 6.7 million hectares of primary rainforest—an area the size of Panama, and nearly twice that of the year before. Fires were the main culprit for the first time on record. In Brazil, drought turned controlled burns into infernos; in Bolivia, policy incentives fanned the flames. Even the Congo, long a refuge, began to fray. Some say it might represent an inflection point. The data suggest less a turning point than problems long in motion and now gathering speed. The story, told in hectares and gigatons, is deceptively familiar: forest loss accelerates, restoration lags, and the 2030 pledge to halt deforestation recedes into fantasy. Yet behind the numbers, less visible forces are taking shape. The next phase of the forest crisis could be driven not only by chainsaws or cattle, but by feedback loops—ecological, economic, and technological—that we may not be well prepared to confront. Some are already visible; others may lie just beyond the horizon. Rainforest in Vietnam. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler. The vanishing state Across the western Amazon, authority is slipping away. In Peru’s Madre de Dios, dredges hum along black-water rivers where the police no longer patrol. In Colombia’s Caquetá, armed groups extort miners…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler offers a thought experiment—tracing today’s trajectories a little further forward to imagine where they might lead. What follows are scenarios, some improbable, others already taking shape. - The essay envisions a world where deforestation gives way to disorder: weakened governance, runaway fires, and ecological feedback loops eroding forests from within even without the swing of an axe. It explores how technology and biology—AI-driven agriculture, gene-edited trees, and microbial interventions—could either accelerate destruction or redefine restoration, depending on who controls them. - Across these imagined futures, one pattern recurs: forests thinning, recovering, and thinning again, as human ambition, migration, and climate instability test whether nature will be given the time and space to heal. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Nigeria passes tough new wildlife law; enforcement doubts remain 31 Oct 2025 21:16:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/10/nigeria-passes-tough-new-wildlife-law-enforcement-doubts-remain/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Valentine Benjamin content:encoded: The Nigerian Parliament recently passed sweeping legislation to protect endangered wildlife from illegal trafficking. Once the president signs it into law, offenders could face fines of up to 12 million naira ($8,300) and up to 10 years in prison for trafficking elephant ivory, pangolin scales, and other products from threatened species. The bill, hailed as one of the toughest legal deterrents to wildlife crime in West Africa, is a big step forward for conservation policies, but experts warn that without strong enforcement capacity, it risks becoming little more than a paper victory. Recently passed by the Nigerian Senate on Oct. 28, the Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Bill 2024 aligns Nigeria more closely with international conservation agreements, including CITES. “This new bill addresses long-existing gaps in our legal framework,” Terseer Ugbor, the bill’s sponsor and deputy chairman of the House Committee on Environment, said in a call with Mongabay. “The old law was riddled with ambiguities. It failed to specify whether its provisions applied only to international wildlife trade or also to domestic transactions.” The new legislation expands the list of protected species, toughens deterrent penalties and empowers the courts to freeze assets tied to wildlife crimes. It also grants government agencies the power to close interagency enforcement and prosecution gaps that traffickers have abused for decades. Nigeria is an established global hub for wildlife trafficking; in April 2025, more than 3.7 metric tons of pangolin scales, representing more than 1,900 animals, were seized in Lagos. Estimates suggest that between 2010 and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The Nigerian Parliament recently passed sweeping legislation to protect endangered wildlife from illegal trafficking. Once the president signs it into law, offenders could face fines of up to 12 million naira ($8,300) and up to 10 years in prison for trafficking elephant ivory, pangolin scales, and other products from threatened species. The bill, hailed as […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |