Trump moves to begin deep-sea mining despite environmental and legal concerns
25 Apr 2025 22:01:14 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/trump-moves-to-begin-deep-sea-mining-despite-environmental-and-legal-concerns/
author: Rebecca Kessler
dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb
content:encoded: U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 24 to expedite the process of exploring and mining for valuable minerals found on the deep ocean seafloor, in both U.S. and international waters. It’s a highly controversial move that critics say imperils an important but poorly understood ecosystem and flouts international rules on deep-sea mining. Miners are mainly after potato-size nodules lying at the bottom of the ocean 4,000–5,500 meters (12,000–18,000 feet) deep. They contain minerals, including nickel, cobalt and magnesium, used in batteries and various other industrial applications. Trump’s tariffs will likely raise the costs of mineral imports, particularly from China, a leading exporter. In a post on X, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “Today’s @POTUS executive order makes it clear: the United States – not China – will lead the world in responsibly unlocking seabed mineral resources and securing critical mineral supply chains with our partners and allies.” However, the move is likely to anger many allies. Mining companies have been eager to work in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ), in the central Pacific Ocean. Nodules there are estimated to contain more nickel, cobalt and magnesium than all terrestrial sources combined. However, miners have been held at bay by the U.N.- affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA), as its 169 member states (plus the EU) slowly draft rules to govern seabed mining. The U.S. isn’t an ISA member, and the Trump administration says it can use the 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act to grant mineral…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 24 to expedite the process of exploring and mining for valuable minerals found on the deep ocean seafloor, in both U.S. and international waters. It’s a highly controversial move that critics say imperils an important but poorly understood ecosystem and flouts international rules on deep-sea […]authors:
Discovery of critically endangered bat in Rwanda leads to conservation talks
25 Apr 2025 16:17:36 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/discovery-of-critically-endangered-bat-in-rwanda-leads-to-conservation-talks/
author: Christophe Assogba
dc:creator: Aimable Twahirwa
content:encoded: KIGALI, Rwanda ― Following the recent rediscovery of the critically endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli) at Nyungwe National Park in southwestern Rwanda, researchers are calling for actions and policies aimed at their conservation. Scientists say that this is the first sighting and documentation of the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus webalaiin the park and Rwanda’s first observation of the Damara woolly bat (Kerivoula argentata) since it was last observed in 1981. According to Paul Webala, a senior lecturer in wildlife biology at the department of forestry and wildlife management at Kenya’s Maasai Mara University, scientists consider bats the second-most diverse group of mammals after rodents. In countries like Rwanda, he says, where most of the natural forests and savannah habitats have been lost, altered or degraded, bats may comprise “at least 40% of the overall mammal diversity.” According to a 2022 study that Webala co-authored, insectivorous bats in Rwanda provide critical ecosystem services and also act as pest controllers in agricultural areas. Health concerns, and habitat loss “In Rwanda, one of the [bat] species of concern, although not threatened according to the IUCN Red List, is the Egyptian fruit bat [Rousettus aegyptiacus] because it has been identified by health officials as a natural reservoir host for the Marburg virus disease,” Webala says. In February this year, Rwandan health officials decided to construct a wall in a mining site located in Nyamirambo a suburb of the capital city Kigali separating a working area from the bats’ habitat. “This barrier is intended to reduce…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Bats are one of the most diverse orders of mammals and represent an important component of ecological balance. They may make up a large portion of the mammal diversity — including in countries like Rwanda where much of the natural forest and savannah habitats have been lost, changed or degraded.
- Researchers recently discovered two rare bat species in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, and the IUCN lists 54 species of bats as occurring in the country.
- Research shows that killing bats to control zoonotic diseases can make things worse.
- Several studies show that bats are important predators of insects and are, therefore, a natural asset for agrarian productivity, suppressing pest populations.
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Whales and dolphins at risk as report reveals ecological decline in Gulf of California
25 Apr 2025 16:12:16 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/whales-and-dolphins-at-risk-as-report-reveals-ecological-decline-in-gulf-of-california/
author: Morgan Erickson-Davis
dc:creator: Astrid Arellano
content:encoded: Lorayne Meltzer has lived along the Gulf of California for 30 years. As an ecologist and director of a binational field station, she’s supported many scientists in their research into this biodiverse region of northwestern Mexico. Over time, she’s observed changes in the region’s ecosystems and species firsthand. Most of these changes, she said, haven’t been positive. “I’ve noticed concerning changes,” Meltzer told Mongabay Latam. “Even on recreational trips to the islands, these changes were visible. So, we had the idea of getting in touch with researchers with long-term databases on various taxa, from the smallest animal in the world to the largest whale, to see if this decline is general or only among certain species.” The result was a new collaborative report produced by Meltzer’s field station, the Kino Bay Center at Prescott College, and the binational organization Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers (N-Gen). The report brings together decades of scientific research showing an alarming decline in populations of species at the top of the food chain throughout this Mexican sea. Among the groups in decline, according to the report’s findings, are seabirds, whales, flying squid, crabs, starfish and fish. “Unfortunately, their health is declining on average,” Meltzer said. “Some groups, such as sea turtles, seem to be recovering, and at the plankton level, the ecosystem is quite healthy. However, it’s very normal for megafauna to be the most impacted within ecosystems, which are animals that take longer to reproduce.” A fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) off the coast of…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - The recent “Assessment of the Ecological Health of the Gulf of California” report shows a decline in several populations of animals throughout the narrow sea flanked by the Mexican mainland and Baja California.
- The report was compiled by the Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers (N-Gen) in the U.S. in collaboration with Prescott College’s Kino Bay Center field station in Mexico, and draws on long-term monitoring studies.
- Many of the assessed groups, such as seabirds, whales, giant squid, crabs, starfish and fish, are in decline.
- Basic primary productivity, which nurtures species diversity and abundance in the Gulf of California, remains stable.
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‘It has been worth it’: The local women saving Yucatán’s mangroves
25 Apr 2025 16:00:59 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/it-has-been-worth-it-the-local-women-saving-yucatans-mangroves/
author: Morgan Erickson-Davis
dc:creator: Astrid Arellano
content:encoded: The women of Chelem, a fishing community on the northern coast of the Mexican state of Yucatán, hadn’t planned to work in mangrove restoration. At first, it was simply an opportunity to make money to support their families, so they signed up for the project. It was 2010, and the initiative, led by the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTA) at the National Polytechnic Institute, aimed to restore a mangrove forest that had been devastated by the construction of a port in the late 1960s. The group has since come to be known as Las Chelemeras (“the women of Chelem”), who have learned to restore and defend mangroves and who, 15 years later, continue to do so. Keila Vázquez, coordinator of Las Chelemeras, remembers this place, known as the Yucalpetén bend, as barren. “It was caused by dredging for a nearby port,” Vázquez says. “All the gravel from the port was dumped there: the topography changed, the salinity increased and the water stopped flowing.” That’s where Las Chelemeras came in. The 14 women in the group, ranging in age from 30 to 85, learned about the different mangrove tree species of the area and what they needed to survive and grow, Vázquez says. “Despite being from the coast, we didn’t know why the mangroves were important,” Vázquez says. “For example, they protect against cyclones and act as nurseries for commercial marine species such as prawns. Now we understand how much they benefit us.” She adds, “We know that each…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Mangrove forests provide important ecosystem services, from acting as nurseries for fish to buffering coasts from storms.
- Mangroves along the northern coast of the Mexican state of Yucatán have been impacted by deforestation and highway and port development.
- A group of women called Las Chelemeras has for the past 15 years worked to restore the region’s mangrove forests and ecosystem function.
- Their restoration tasks involve opening and maintaining channels so that water can infiltrate and drain with the tides, and planting mangrove tree seedlings.
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Indigenous delegates at the U.N. raise alarm for isolated peoples in the Amazon
25 Apr 2025 15:52:22 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-delegates-at-the-u-n-raise-alarm-on-voluntary-isolated-peoples/
author: Latoya Abulu
dc:creator: Aimee Gabay
content:encoded: This story is published through the Indigenous News Alliance. At the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues — the world’s largest convening of Indigenous peoples — Indigenous leaders from South America are taking the chance to spotlight threats facing isolated peoples (also known as uncontacted people). Deforestation is closing in on some communities in the Amazon and many lack official recognition of records of their existence, say representatives at the 10-day gathering in the U.N. headquarters in New York City. They are holding multiple events in the city, including launching a book with strategies to recognize their presence and sharing solutions to protect the lands they depend on. “There needs to be greater respect, protection and land demarcation for these peoples,” said Bushe Matis, general coordinator of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Vale do Javari (UNIVAJA). “It’s important for us Indigenous peoples who came to New York to raise our voices for them.” The rights of isolated Indigenous peoples are guaranteed in international legislation and some national laws, such as the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO Convention 169). However, these are at times violated by states, companies, and invaders searching for land. In some cases, they are unprotected because states, including Venezuela and Paraguay, don’t recognize them. Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact, also known as PIACI, are threatened by the exploitation of natural resources, drug trafficking, illegal logging, and mining in…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Indigenous delegates at the 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues called attention to the threats faced by Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact, or PIACI.
- Isolated peoples are affected by the exploitation of natural resources in their territories, drug trafficking, logging, and other illegal economies.
- Indigenous peoples and organizations at the forum urged states to adopt a territorial corridors initiative and to implement policies, standards and cross-border mechanisms to secure their territories and rights.
- There are 188 records of isolated Indigenous peoples in South America, however national governments officially recognize 60.
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Beyond the Safari
25 Apr 2025 11:35:07 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2025/04/beyond-the-safari/
author: Alejandroprescottcornejo
dc:creator:
content:encoded: The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa, as protected areas become battlegrounds over history, human rights, and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss. Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins, and trying to forge a path forward for the 21st century.This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa, as protected areas become battlegrounds over history, human rights, and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss. Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins, and trying to forge a path forward […]authors:
UN report recommends ‘deep change’ theory to address global crises
25 Apr 2025 11:17:43 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/un-report-recommends-deep-change-theory-to-address-global-crises/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Kristine Sabillo
content:encoded: Major changes in outlook and societal structures are needed to address the global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, a recent United Nations report says. Its 2025 “Interconnected Disaster Risks” report identifies five “deep changes” that need to happen. These are premised on the “Theory of Deep Change” (ToDC), a problem-solving approach that digs deeper to reveal the problem’s underlying root causes, the structures facilitating it, and the assumptions giving rise to and sustaining such systems. The authors liken human society to a tree: the fruits are only as good as the tree’s branches, trunk and roots. One example the authors cite is of solar geoengineering, or ways to physically reduce sunlight from reaching Earth in order to slow global warming. “Solar geoengineering is an example of a unilateral decision being made in one part of the world that would have far-reaching consequences for others. Worse still, solar geoengineering is a superficial fix to a known problem, climate change, to avoid committing to the real solution: phasing out fossil fuels,” the authors write. The report suggests five broad changes for a sustainable world: 1. Rethinking waste and shifting to a circular economy that prioritizes durability, repair and reuse. The authors cite the example of the town of Kamikatsu in Japan, where the recycling rate is 80% compared to the national rate of 20%. “Community members separate waste into 45 categories, some for composting, recycling, reuse or repair,” the report says. The town also hosts zero-waste services such as…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Major changes in outlook and societal structures are needed to address the global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, a recent United Nations report says. Its 2025 “Interconnected Disaster Risks” report identifies five “deep changes” that need to happen. These are premised on the “Theory of Deep Change” (ToDC), a problem-solving approach that […]authors:
Fishing cats misunderstood, misidentified in Nepal’s Kapilvastu
25 Apr 2025 06:27:33 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/fishing-cats-misunderstood-misidentified-in-nepals-kapilvastu/
author: Abhaya Raj Joshi
dc:creator: Mukesh Pokhrel
content:encoded: KAPILVASTU, Nepal — At his fish pond near his home in Krishnanagar Municipality in western Nepal’s Kapilvastu, Imtehaj Khan closely watches a large TV screen mounted on a wall. For outsiders, it would seem that the 58-year-old enjoys watching sports such as football or cricket on the big screen. But for the resident of Krishnanagar, located around 415 kilometers (258 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, near the border with India, that is hardly so. “The TV screen shows live footage from different sections of my pond,” about 0.7 hectares (1.7 acres), Khan told Mongabay recently. “I am always on the lookout for animals such as fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) that prey on fish,” Khan said. With its habitat now confined to small pockets in and around protected areas in the southern plains, such as Koshi Tappu, Chitwan, and Bardiya, the cat often comes into conflict with fishery owners, as these areas overlap with major aquaculture zones. This, researchers say, stokes suspicion, spawns myths and triggers surveillance imperiling an already vulnerable species. In Nepal’s Kapilvastu, farmers set up private surveillance systems to monitor their commercial fish farms. Image by Mukesh Pokhrel for Mongabay. “Some time back, I saw some dead fish in my pond,” Khan said, adding that he suspected a common leopard may have attacked and killed the fish. That prompted him to take up the drastic measure of placing the whole pond under surveillance. According to IUCN, the global conservation authority, fishing cats survive in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Fishing cats in Nepal are often misunderstood and mistaken for leopards or blamed for fish losses, leading to retaliation and conflict with fish farmers.
- Surveillance measures like CCTV and myths have fueled fear and misinformation, despite little evidence showing fishing cats as major threats to aquaculture.
- A conservation initiative called “fish banks” tried to reduce conflict by compensating farmers with fish instead of money but had mixed results and eventually lost funding.
- Experts emphasize the need for science-based conservation, better population data and public education to protect fishing cats and promote coexistence in human-altered landscapes.
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‘Snow-white’ monkeys of Sri Lanka draw in tourists
25 Apr 2025 04:27:44 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/snow-white-monkeys-of-sri-lanka-draw-in-tourists/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Mongabay.com
content:encoded: For a small village near the Sinharaja Forest Reserve in Sri Lanka, “snow-white monkeys” have become a major tourist attraction, reports contributor Malaka Rodrigo for Mongabay. These white monkeys are a color variant of the endangered purple-faced langur (Semnopithecus vetulus), also known as the purple-faced leaf monkey, found only in Sri Lanka. Purple-faced langurs typically have black coats and purplish-black faces with white sideburns, but some individuals around the village of Lankagama near the Sinharaja forest have completely or partially white coats. The white color is a case of leucism rather than albinism, Rodrigo reports. In albino animals, a mutation in a gene prevents the individual from producing melanin, a pigment that mainly produces brown and black colors. Albinism doesn’t affect other pigments like carotenoids (or red-orange pigments). Leucism, on the other hand, involves a partial loss of all pigments. There are four subspecies of purple-faced langur in Sri Lanka: southern (S. v. vetulus) northern (S. v. philbricki), western (S. v. nestor) and mountain (S. v. monticola). White langurs have mostly been reported from populations of the southern subspecies, Madura de Silva, president of the NGO Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle (WCSG), told Rodrigo. The presence of white monkeys in the Sinharaja forest isn’t new knowledge. Reports about them go back centuries: local folklore talks about ghostly white monkeys in the forest, considered omens of both good and ill fortune, and community elders recount sightings of pale-colored langurs, Rodrigo writes. In a 2011 survey, WCSG formally documented 30 such “snow-white…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
For a small village near the Sinharaja Forest Reserve in Sri Lanka, “snow-white monkeys” have become a major tourist attraction, reports contributor Malaka Rodrigo for Mongabay. These white monkeys are a color variant of the endangered purple-faced langur (Semnopithecus vetulus), also known as the purple-faced leaf monkey, found only in Sri Lanka. Purple-faced langurs typically […]authors:
An interview with orangutan conservationist and advocate Gary Shapiro
25 Apr 2025 02:00:56 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/an-interview-with-orangutan-conservationist-and-advocate-gary-shapiro/
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. Orangutans, with their expressive eyes and human-like behaviors, have long fascinated us. Few people, however, have delved as deeply into their world as Gary L. Shapiro. His five-decade career began with a groundbreaking study in primate communication, where he taught a juvenile orangutan an artificial symbolic language — an early step in exploring the cognitive abilities of these great apes. In the late 1970s, Shapiro took his research to Indonesian Borneo, where he lived among ex-captive orangutans and conducted the first study of sign language with apes in their natural habitat. His work, especially with a female orangutan named Princess, revealed the emotional depth and communication skills of these creatures. Princess learned more than 30 signs, using them to express her desires and observations — demonstrating not only intelligence but a profound emotional bond between humans and orangutans. But Shapiro’s work extended beyond communication. His time in Borneo opened his eyes to the plight of orangutans, whose rainforest homes were being destroyed by logging and palm oil plantations. This realization transformed him into a committed advocate for their conservation, co-founding organizations to protect orangutans and their habitats. Central to Shapiro’s advocacy is the concept of “orangutan personhood.” He argues that these highly intelligent and emotionally complex beings deserve recognition of their basic rights, such as life and liberty. Although legal recognition remains limited, he views progress on this front, like a 2015 Argentine…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. Orangutans, with their expressive eyes and human-like behaviors, have long fascinated us. Few people, however, have delved as deeply into their world as Gary L. Shapiro. His five-decade career began with a groundbreaking study in primate communication, where […]authors:
Paying to prevent deforestation is positive, not ‘nothing’ (commentary)
24 Apr 2025 23:01:41 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/paying-to-prevent-deforestation-is-positive-not-nothing-commentary/
author: Erik Hoffner
dc:creator: Jessica Ausinheiler
content:encoded: During my 2023-24 IIE Rodman C. Rockefeller Centennial Fellowship research in eastern Panama, I walked through my neighbor Johnson’s land (not his real name), discussing the 18 hectares (44 acres) of steeply inclined secondary forest he has left on his property. As we wandered along the forest’s edge, he turned to me and asked, “How much will you pay me not to cut this forest down?” His words stopped me in my tracks. Over the past five years of living and working in eastern Panama, I have met dozens of individuals and groups of landholders who value biodiversity and recognize the importance of preserving intact rainforest. At the same time, my overriding observation is that most of my neighbors, pressured by economic demands and following local tradition, place a higher value on land clearing for farming and cattle ranching. Cutting down trees is called “limpieza” or “cleaning up.” The use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides is referred to as “medicina,” or medicine. Fear of the forest, with its snakes and jaguars, and a preference for open, manicured landscapes further reinforce this tendency. The prevailing perception is, ‘There is enough forest here.’ Indeed, our communities abut the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena bioregion, a vast chain of forests stretching from eastern Panama to Peru, that is among the most biodiverse regions in the world. On a clear day, you can see the forest of our Indigenous Guna neighbors as far as the eye can see, down to the shores of the Caribbean. Forest in the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Should the world pay people to refrain from their destroying forests, a new commentary asks?
- There is something inherently uncomfortable about paying someone to do ‘nothing’ like not cut down their rainforest, but in reality, the value of these places’ ecosystem services and climate regulation is not much different from dividends shareholders earn by owning stocks.
- “By compensating landholders for the services their forests provide, we recognize their true value and offer a pragmatic response to deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change,” the author argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
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EV supply chain & transport need redesign, Mongabay podcast shows
24 Apr 2025 18:58:22 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/ev-supply-chain-transport-need-redesign-mongabay-podcast-shows/
author: Kristine Sabillo
dc:creator: Mongabay.com
content:encoded: Reducing transportation’s carbon footprint is not as easy as replacing internal combustion engine (ICE) cars with electric vehicles (EVs). Producing EVs and disposing their components have environmental and human rights impacts, which also need to be carefully considered and mitigated, Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo found in an episode of Mongabay Explores podcast in November. In this first episode of a podcast series on the circular economy, DiGirolamo talks to Jessika Richter, an associate senior lecturer at Lund University in Sweden who researches circular economy-related policies and technologies. “With electric vehicles or EVs, we see also particular issues in terms of some of the materials that are used for the batteries or for other parts of the vehicle that are not necessarily used for the ICE vehicles,” Richter tells DiGirolamo. She adds that the impacts of mining materials to make EV batteries, in particular, are becoming clearer as more research emerges on their supply chain. Lithium, for example, is mined in salt marsh ecosystems of places like Chile, while mining cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been shown to pollute the environment and local communities; Mongabay has reported on both issues. DiGirolamo says more than half of all transition minerals, or minerals needed for the development of clean energy technologies like EVs, occur on lands governed by Indigenous communities. “Protecting their rights, which are often ignored, is a key concern,” he says. While in a circular economy it’s ideal to source materials from recycling, there are not a lot…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Reducing transportation’s carbon footprint is not as easy as replacing internal combustion engine (ICE) cars with electric vehicles (EVs). Producing EVs and disposing their components have environmental and human rights impacts, which also need to be carefully considered and mitigated, Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo found in an episode of Mongabay Explores podcast in November. In this […]authors:
AmeriCorps budget slashed, raising concerns for community service and public lands
24 Apr 2025 17:47:30 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/americorps-budget-slashed-raising-concerns-for-community-service-and-public-lands/
author: Bobbybascomb
dc:creator: Mongabay.com
content:encoded: Every year, the U.S. National Civilian Community Corps, better known as AmeriCorps NCCC, organizes teams of volunteers to help communities across the U.S. with environmental work, including habitat restoration, emergency response and wildfire mitigation. It’s also the latest federal agency on the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) chopping block. Most of the staff have been placed on leave and volunteers abruptly sent home. AmeriCorps was created in 1993 to engage Americans in community service. A diverse group of nearly 200,000 members and volunteers are placed across all 50 states annually. More than 2,000 volunteers are young people, aged 18-26. In exchange for 10 months of service, participants receive housing and a stipend of roughly $4,000, and become eligible for an education award of up to $7,400. Former volunteer Maria Wilkinson said in a commentary for the New Hampshire Bulletin that the cuts to AmeriCorps remove “a path of purpose, growth, and opportunity for thousands of young Americans. Cutting AmeriCorps NCCC isn’t a budgetary win. It’s a national loss.” The 2025 budget for AmeriCorps was $1.3 billion. A 2022 study found that for every federal dollar spent, AmeriCorps volunteers generate as much as $34 in value. Their work can include helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in a subgroup called FEMA Corps. They’re trained to support disaster recovery following increasingly common extreme weather events, such as Hurricane Helene that devastated the U.S. Southeast. DOGE has already fired more than 200 FEMA employees. Volunteers also commonly work in the national parks.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Every year, the U.S. National Civilian Community Corps, better known as AmeriCorps NCCC, organizes teams of volunteers to help communities across the U.S. with environmental work, including habitat restoration, emergency response and wildfire mitigation. It’s also the latest federal agency on the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) chopping block. Most of the staff have been […]authors:
Global warming hits hardest for those who can’t escape it
24 Apr 2025 17:11:55 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/global-warming-hits-hardest-for-those-who-cant-escape-it/
author: Jeremy Hance
dc:creator: John Cannon
content:encoded: In July 2024, a heat wave swept through the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. The surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 7.5 million people, is known for its mild weather. Only about half of the area’s homes have air-conditioning, according to 2023 census data, compared with more than 90% across the country. So when coastal areas hit 32° Celsius (90° Fahrenheit) and inland communities breach 43°C (110°F), as they did in mid-2024, it tends to catch people off guard, especially those with few options to escape the high temperatures. But according to a new study, identifying the people most likely to be harmed by climate change, as well as the forces that trap them in places of high impact, poses real problems for countries, humanitarian groups and researchers. The research used “a very participatory approach” known as a world café, said Andrew Kruczkiewicz, one of the study’s co-authors and a lecturer at Columbia University. Experts held rotating discussions with groups of their colleagues at a set of tables in a room, discussing vulnerability and mobility in the face of climate change, while keeping notes on what materialized from their conversations. Fourteen of the researchers then assembled the collected ideas into a paper published March 16 in the journal Nature Communications. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicate that surging temperatures in equatorial Africa, where many of the world’s hottest refugee camps are, result from climate change. Image courtesy of Climate Central. In the team’s discussions,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - The world’s most vulnerable people, including refugees, migrants and the poor, increasingly face threats related to climate change.
- Many lack the ability to move away from impacts like heat, flooding and landslides.
- A new study reveals a lack of data showing the causes of this involuntary immobility.
- Experts say governments and organizations can invest in low-cost interventions aimed at reducing suffering.
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Indigenous nations fought for a new national monument. Will it survive Trump?
24 Apr 2025 16:45:03 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-nations-fought-for-a-new-national-monument-will-it-survive-trump/
author: Latoya Abulu
dc:creator: Maya L. Kapoor
content:encoded: In northeastern California, the Upper Pit River undulates through evergreen forests, wet meadows and rugged mountains. It’s part of the snow-fed headwaters of the Sacramento River, the largest river in the state. The Sacramento flows some 611 kilometers (380 miles) to the San Francisco Bay, supporting diverse and unique ecosystems and carrying water to cities and agricultural communities along the way. According to Brandy McDaniels, citizen of the Ajumawi–Atsugewi Nation (Pit River Nation) and an elected cultural representative of the Madesi Band, the river’s headwaters are so clean that people drink them untreated, an important aspect of the Indigenous nation’s cultural practices for millennia. “It’s a pure water source where we drink the water without filtration. We do this in a ceremonial way. We do it in a subsistence way,” McDaniels said. The region is the center of her nation’s creation story. “It’s a really special, unique, interesting, beautiful area that we’ve been using and utilizing since the beginning time, since time immemorial,” she said. “We are the land, and one cannot exist without the other.” Medicine Lake, cradled by the still-active Medicine Lake Volcano in Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, is culturally significant to many Indigenous nations. Image courtesy of Protect Sáttítla. In January, after decades of activism, the Pit River Nation finally saw part of the watershed protected from extractive uses as the newly designated Sáttítla Highlands National Monument. It’s one of the few, but growing, examples of protected areas created in the U.S. in collaboration with Indigenous nations.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - After decades of activism by the Ajumawi–Atsugewi Nation (Pit River Nation) to protect its ancestral homelands from extractive industries, vandalism and looting, President Joe Biden created Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in northern California in 2025.
- Sáttítla’s management plan supports co-stewardship by Indigenous nations with connections to the landscape.
- The Trump administration has sown confusion over Sáttítla’s fate by releasing and then deleting documents and proclamations online that said the monument would be rescinded.
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Pope Francis’ uncompromising defense of nature may be his greatest legacy
24 Apr 2025 15:59:57 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/pope-francis-uncompromising-defense-of-nature-may-be-his-greatest-legacy/
author: Glenn Scherer
dc:creator: Justin Catanoso
content:encoded: Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, was as much a tireless advocate for nature as he was the poor and marginalized the world over. While his death leaves a vacuum of moral environmental leadership within the globe’s largest religion, the words of Francis still echo through tropical rainforests and grasslands, across rivers and oceans. The pope, who died April 21 in Rome at age 88, never attended a United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. But in this astute observation in Laudato Si’, the pioneering Catholic teaching document released in the summer of 2015 in defense of the natural world, Francis eloquently voices the biennial meeting’s defining spirit: “It is not enough … to think of different species merely as potential ‘resources’ to be exploited, while overlooking the fact that they have value in themselves. Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost forever,” Francis wrote with both biological accuracy and spiritual authority. “The great majority become extinct for reasons related to human activity. Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.” When it was released, the uncompromising message of Laudato Si’ reverberated round the world and it is reflected throughout the preamble of the historic Paris Agreement on climate change of 2015. Its essence also reverberates in the 2022…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - The world has never before seen a pope like Francis, who died this week at the Vatican in Rome. He spoke with uncompromising conviction for all of nature, the poor, Indigenous and traditional peoples, and for all those who lack a voice in the halls of corporate and political power.
- His spiritual writings on climate change are unprecedented. From 2015 onward, he spoke out in official papal documents in defense of all living beings — recognizing the importance of preserving the complex web of life, melding science and faith, and urging humanity to embrace an iron-willed resolve to conserve “our common home.”
- His lofty words directly inspired the preamble of the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and helped launch conservation advocacy alliances between people of all faiths. But Francis met with great opposition and was often minimized or ignored by many in the Catholic Church, by the business community and global leaders.
- Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso has reported on the pope’s progress as conservationist and humanist over the last decade. Here he offers a sampling of the pontiff’s words urgently imploring all of us, but especially consumers, the business community and world leaders, to live into our sacred duty as Earth stewards.
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Report accuses Starbucks of tax avoidance through ‘ethical’ Swiss subsidiary
24 Apr 2025 15:54:13 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-accuses-starbucks-of-tax-avoidance-through-ethical-swiss-subsidiary/
author: Daniel
dc:creator: Alex Shaw
content:encoded: Starbucks has defended its little-known Swiss subsidiary handling its ethical coffee sourcing after a critical report accused it of “major global tax avoidance.” The report, released by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR), accuses the Lausanne-based Starbucks Coffee Trading Company, or SCTC, of helping the café giant move about $1.3 billion in profits over the last decade away from jurisdictions with higher tax rates. It prompted local nonprofits to stage a protest outside the subsidiary’s headquarters, denouncing the legal mechanism as unethical and particularly unfair to the Global South. “Switzerland is a global commodity trading center and one of the world’s most abused tax havens,” CICTAR said. “Multinational corporate profits artificially shifted to Switzerland significantly reduce government funds needed to pay for essential public services around the world. With Starbucks, this includes the US, by far its largest market.” In a statement issued to Mongabay on April 17, Starbucks said the report failed to accurately reflect its business model. “Starbucks is in full compliance with tax laws around the world, with an effective global tax rate of over 24% in 2024,” a spokesperson said. “Starbucks Coffee Trading Company (SCTC) plays an essential role in ensuring we have access to high-quality coffee to meet our global demand, sourcing coffee from over 30 countries, and operating 10 farmer support centers in coffee farming communities around the world. “Switzerland has been a global hub for coffee trading for decades and SCTC is based there to help us access the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - A report accuses Starbucks of shifting $1.3 billion in profits over the past decade to its Swiss subsidiary to avoid higher taxes in other countries.
- The little-known outfit in Lausanne sources unroasted beans — about 3% of the global coffee trade — and handles the café giant’s ethical sourcing program.
- Critics say the scheme is unethical and deprives countries of tax revenue, while Starbucks insists it complies with all laws and defends its “essential” subsidiary.
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The wisdom of the elders: Why the oldest animals matter
24 Apr 2025 10:33:44 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/the-wisdom-of-the-elders-why-the-oldest-animals-matter/
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. In the twilight of their lives, the world’s oldest creatures carry the weight of wisdom, experience, and resilience. Yet, these elders — fish that spawn in abundance, coral that shelters marine life, or elephants that guide their herds — are vanishing. The causes are disturbingly familiar: overfishing, habitat destruction, trophy hunting, and climate change. A new review led by researchers at Charles Darwin University in Australia lays bare the ecological void left behind when these venerable beings are lost, reports Shreya Dasgupta. Older animals, the study finds, stabilize populations, enhance reproduction, and transmit essential survival knowledge across generations. Their loss ripples through ecosystems, destabilizing social structures and threatening biodiversity. Consider the oldest fish mothers, whose eggs thrive in optimal habitats, or the matriarch elephants that lead herds to water during droughts. These contributions are irreplaceable within a human lifetime, making the decline of elder animals a tragedy not just for wildlife but for the planet. It’s not too late; the course of history can still be changed. The study calls for a shift in conservation priorities: Protecting old-growth coral, enacting no-take fishing zones, and embedding the value of age into global assessments like the IUCN Red List. Such measures could safeguard not only these remarkable creatures but the ecosystems that depend on them. Humanity has long exploited age for profit — harvesting the biggest, oldest, and wisest. But perhaps now, with science as…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. In the twilight of their lives, the world’s oldest creatures carry the weight of wisdom, experience, and resilience. Yet, these elders — fish that spawn in abundance, coral that shelters marine life, or elephants that guide their herds […]authors:
Remembering Pope Francis and his visit to typhoon-hit Philippines
24 Apr 2025 08:34:49 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/remembering-pope-francis-and-his-visit-to-typhoon-hit-philippines/
author: Bobbybascomb
dc:creator: Kristine Sabillo
content:encoded: Pope Francis was well known for his environmental activism. Time called him the “Climate Pope” for his prominent role in the global climate movement. He consistently talked about the consequences of human action on the planet and described the destruction of the environment as a “structural sin,” calling on people to act with urgency. As I reflect on the Pope’s passing, I remember being drenched in rain while waiting to see him in Manila, alongside a crowd of more than 6 million people for what would be the largest papal mass ever held. The record-breaking number was not surprising: the Philippines has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, and at the time, Filipinos had a lot to pray for. When Pope Francis visited in January 2015, Filipinos were still reeling from back-to-back typhoons in 2014 and a slew of tragedies in 2013, including a devastating earthquake, a deadly armed conflict, and Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people and left more than 1,000 missing. In 2013, I covered the impact of Haiyan on the Eastern Visayas region for a local news organization. Along the eastern coast, our news team saw flattened villages and destroyed coconut plantations. When we arrived in Tacloban City, where Haiyan hit the hardest, we were stunned by the overpowering smell of death and a city that appeared to have been bombed and turned into a war zone. Hearing the stories of Haiyan survivors eventually led me to climate reporting. And it…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Pope Francis was well known for his environmental activism. Time called him the “Climate Pope” for his prominent role in the global climate movement. He consistently talked about the consequences of human action on the planet and described the destruction of the environment as a “structural sin,” calling on people to act with urgency. As […]authors:
In West Africa, hooded vultures vanish as abattoirs modernize
24 Apr 2025 06:49:06 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/in-west-africa-hooded-vultures-vanish-as-abattoirs-modernize/
author: Terna Gyuse
dc:creator: Ryan Truscott
content:encoded: Critically endangered hooded vultures in Nigeria that once fed on the carcasses of wild animals are now largely dependent on scraps discarded by people. But changes in the way waste is disposed of at slaughterhouses has left them desperately short of food, researchers say. In the 1970s, hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus) were among at least seven different vulture species that soared across Nigerian skies, according to historical records; now only they and palm-nut vultures (Gypohierax angolensis) persist, and numbers of both are dropping drastically. Food scarcity is playing a significant role in driving this decline, says ornithologist Michael Manja Williams, a Ph.D. candidate at Nigeria’s Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University. In the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, vultures could find carcasses in the wild to feed on, he says. But overhunting of wild mammals depleted that vital food source, leaving the birds increasingly reliant on humans. A hooded vulture in The Gambia: Across West Africa, hooded and palm-nut vultures have a long association with human communities’ waste. Changes in abattoir practices are now depriving these species of a vital source of food. Image by Pete Richman via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) “In the early ’80s and ’90s, abattoirs were the central places that you could find [hooded] vultures,” Williams says, while noting that the birds face fierce competition at these sites from feral dogs and people. “The vultures fear the dogs; they won’t come where there are canines. So, you see the vultures hovering around.” The implications for the vultures are stark.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - For centuries, hooded vultures in West Africa have lived in close association with people in towns and cities.
- The vultures’ dependence on scraps thrown out has grown in line with the overhunting of large-bodied mammals in the wild.
- But changes in the way these scraps are disposed of at slaughterhouses in many districts appears to be impacting the vultures.
- The birds now face fierce competition from feral dogs, and from people who harvest slaughterhouse waste to feed their livestock.
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In Borneo village, Indigenous Dayaks leave farming amid stricter fire rules
24 Apr 2025 03:59:23 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/in-borneo-village-indigenous-dayaks-leave-farming-amid-stricter-fire-rules/
author: Philip Jacobson
dc:creator: Rendy Tisna
content:encoded: MANTANGAI, Indonesia — The last time Remie recalled a good harvest season here in Central Kalimantan province was in 2018, when 20-liter bags of rice seed were piled against the walls. “The house was full back then,” Remie told Mongabay Indonesia. “We packed almost 100 bags of seeds in here.” Today it is increasingly difficult for Indigenous Dayak farmers like Remie to procure seeds around Mantangai subdistrict, near the banks of the Kapuas River. The price for a 20-l (5.3-gallon) sack of rice seed has bulged to around 300,000 rupiah ($18). Instead of growing food for his family, Remie now earns a small cash wage from rummaging around the landscape collecting galam, a durable wood from the cajuput tree (Melaleuca cajuputi) used in basic construction. The 46-year-old says the blame lies mainly with an environmental and public health policy introduced a decade ago by then-President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi. Between May and October in 2015, an unrelenting dry season fueled by the El Niño climate pattern led to fires on 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) of peatlands and mineral soils. One study estimated that the resulting air pollution blanketing Borneo and Sumatra Islands would lead to 100,000 premature deaths. In the embers of that 2015 Southeast Asia wildfire crisis, Jokowi drew up Presidential Instruction No. 11 to harden existing rules against the burning of biomass. The policy ignited a police crackdown against smallholder farmers starting fires to clear forests for planting. However, a large number of farmers were also detained…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Rice growers from an Indigenous Dayak community in Central Kalimantan province say stricter rules enacted to prevent wildfires have contributed to a decline in the number of farmers growing rice, potentially elevating risks of food insecurity among rural communities on Indonesian Borneo.
- Remie, a 46-year-old from Mantangai subdistrict, said higher input costs have also worsened the business case for growing rice. Many Dayak farmers have migrated in search of alternative work, local officials said.
- “We don’t burn the forest,” the kepala adat, the customary law authority, in Mantangai Hulu village told Mongabay Indonesia.
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New research finds substantial peat deposits in Colombia’s conflicted Amazon
23 Apr 2025 19:48:33 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon/
author: Glenn Scherer
dc:creator: Erik Iverson
content:encoded: In the heart of the Colombian Amazon, the towering mountains of the Serranía del Chiribiquete harbor secrets including South America’s oldest rock art. The remote site was off-limits and poorly known for decades, as Chiribiquete National Park was also a stronghold for the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Now, in the wake of a shaky peace process that has provided greater security and access to some regions, the park is revealing another secret: In the shadow of the mountains lie some of the densest peat deposits in South America. Peat is the accumulation of partially decayed organic matter in wetlands, compressed by time into dense soils that store more carbon per hectare than any other type of landscape. When left undisturbed, peatlands grow slowly every year, locking away carbon in low-oxygen water that prevents full decomposition. But when people drain and dry peatlands for agriculture, they can become “carbon bombs,” rapidly releasing massive amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The burning of huge peat areas in Indonesia in recent years has covered the country in smoke and made it one of the world’s worst carbon emitters from land use change. A new study, published in Environmental Research Letters, reveals that peatlands in Colombia — poorly known before now — are widespread and carbon-dense, making the country the site of South America’s largest known reserves, after Peru. Carried out with painstaking ground-truthing amid a fluctuating security situation, the study highlights the need to understand and conserve these…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - A new study of Colombia’s lowland forests and savannas finds that the nation may have extensive peatlands — organic wetland soils formed over thousands of years — holding as much as 70 years’ worth of Colombia’s carbon emissions. Protecting them from agricultural development is essential to preventing greenhouse gas releases.
- Researchers made peatland estimates by taking sediment cores in 100 wetlands, quantifying peat content, then building a model to predict locales for other peat-forming wetlands using satellite imaging. Peat was found in unexpected ecosystems, such as nutrient-poor white-sand forests, widespread in northern South America.
- Sampling in many locations was only possible due to the ongoing but fragile peace process between the Colombian government and armed rebel groups. In some places, security has already deteriorated and further sampling is unsafe, making this study’s scientific estimate a unique snapshot for now.
- Most Colombian peatlands are remote, but deforestation is intensifying along the base of the Andes, putting some wetlands at risk. Colombia’s existing REDD+ projects have been controversial, but opportunities may exist to combine payments for ecosystem services with peacebuilding if governance and security can be improved.
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How a remote diner in India is fueling a culinary and ecological revival
23 Apr 2025 19:34:20 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/video/2025/04/how-a-remote-diner-in-india-is-fueling-a-culinary-and-ecological-revival/
author: Samanthalee
dc:creator: Barasha Das
content:encoded: CHUNG VALLEY, India — Tucked away in the remote Chug Valley of Northeast India, Damu’s Heritage Dine is quietly leading a food revolution. Run by a group of Monpa women in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, this humble diner is bringing ancient mountain flavors back to life, one traditional dish at a time. On the menu are traditional Monpa recipes like millet momos and buckwheat thukpa, made from locally grown grains and wild forest ingredients. By sourcing ingredients from local farmers and the surrounding forests, the diner is encouraging a revival of sustainable farming practices and the preservation of forests. For generations, the Monpa community relied on resilient crops like millet, maize, and barley, as well as seasonal forest produce. The arrival of government food rations and urban migration led to a decline in traditional diets and farming. Now, these women are working to reverse that trend, inspiring farmers to grow climate-resilient grains once again, while preserving a culture rooted in the land. This video was produced by the Mongabay India team; find more environmental stories from India on their YouTube channel. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! Banner image: Rinchin Jomba. Chef, Damu’s Kitchen. Image ©Surajit Sharma. Youth leaders revive Indigenous seafood harvesting heritageThis article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
CHUNG VALLEY, India — Tucked away in the remote Chug Valley of Northeast India, Damu’s Heritage Dine is quietly leading a food revolution. Run by a group of Monpa women in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, this humble diner is bringing ancient mountain flavors back to life, one traditional dish at a time. […]authors:
Armed groups and junta profit as toxic mines devour southern Myanmar
23 Apr 2025 18:45:59 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/armed-groups-and-junta-profit-as-toxic-mines-devour-southern-myanmar/
author: Isabel Esterman
dc:creator: Dawei Watch
content:encoded: In July 2024, Maung Tu, 40, a manager at a mining company, purchased a betel nut farm of 2.4 hectares, or 6 acres, near the southern tip of Myanmar for nearly seven times the market price, paying approximately 200 million kyat (about $50,000 at the unofficial exchange rate). He has little interest in the cash crop, despite the long-held cultural tradition of chewing betel nuts in the country. Instead, his focus is on extracting lead from the land. “If the price of lead is good, the land price is good. They are directly proportional. If I am confident about the land’s potential, I will pay whatever price they ask,” Maung Tu said. This is because while mining lead is more dangerous, the profit margin is staggeringly high compared to farming. Once mined, the raw materials are transported to Thailand, where the lead is cleaned and processed, and then on to China, which has long imported lead ore from Myanmar. Globally, the vast majority of lead consumption is for use in the production of lead-acid batteries, but local sellers said they don’t know who the eventual Chinese buyers are or what the lead is used for — but said armed groups in Myanmar and Thai traders are involved. In the past, exporters had to contend with both community protests and a complex licensing process. Since the February 2021 coup, though, these obstacles have disappeared. This has led to a mining boom in Tanintharyi, Myanmar’s southernmost region. Since the coup, orchards, farmland…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Since Myanmar’s 2021 coup, lead mining in the country’s southern Tanintharyi region has exploded, with the number of mining sites more than doubling as lawlessness enables rapid expansion.
- The environmental impact has been severe, with polluted rivers, dying crops, and communities losing access to clean water.
- Armed groups and junta officials profit from the boom by collecting bribes and taxes, turning mining into a revenue source across all control zones.
- Environmentalists warn that without immediate action and sustainable planning, the region’s ecosystems and natural resources may be permanently lost.
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Global agarwood trade heavily dependent on wild, threatened trees: Study
23 Apr 2025 16:42:18 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/global-agarwood-trade-heavily-dependent-on-wild-threatened-trees-study/
author: Isabel Esterman
dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro
content:encoded: Agarwood, a fragrant resinous wood commonly referred to as oud, is a prized constituent in incense, perfumes, medicines and ornaments and remains in high demand across East Asia and the Middle East–North Africa region. A new study has found that, despite international protections, the multibillion-dollar trade relies heavily on wild-harvested endangered tree species — some not even covered by CITES, the global wildlife trade convention. The paper, published in March this year in Global Ecology and Conservation by researchers from the Hong Kong-based Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, analyzed data from CITES and customs records between 2010 and 2020. They found that about 70% of the global agarwood trade relies on two species that are threatened under the global wildlife conservation authority IUCN: the critically endangered Aquilaria malaccensis and the vulnerable Aquilaria filaria. Despite their threatened status, the study found, nearly 97% of A. filaria and 57% of A. malaccensis came from the wild between 2010 and 2020. “It’s quite clearly not sustainable,” agarwood trade expert Ian Thompson, who is not part of the study, told Mongabay on a phone call. “Until they get good data on enforcement and populations, the trees are going to continue to decline.” Undocumented trade, overlooked markets The study highlighted discrepancies between CITES and customs data. “Significant trade volumes from Indonesia to Africa remain undocumented in CITES records, undermining conservation efforts,” study co-author Huarong Zhang told Mongabay by email. Millions of kilograms of agarwood exported to at least 10 African countries showed up in customs…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - The global agarwood trade heavily depends on wild-harvested endangered tree species, despite international regulations for protection, with significant volumes going undocumented in official trade records, a new study reveals.
- About 70% of the trade depend on Aquilaria filaria and Aquilaria malaccensis, both threatened species, sourced from the wild, raising major sustainability concerns. Meanwhile, there are some tree species that are not even covered by CITES, the global wildlife trade convention.
- Due to discrepancies between CITES and customs data, along with weak enforcement and outdated regulations, researchers suggest the illegal trade is far larger than reported.
- Researchers urge stronger monitoring, updated data, expanded species protection, and a shift to cultivated sources. They also call on consumers and wealthy importers to support conservation and governments to promote sustainable practices.
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Indian trawlers leave Sri Lankan small-scale fishers a ravaged, bereft sea
23 Apr 2025 15:42:45 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indian-trawlers-leave-sri-lankan-small-scale-fishers-a-ravaged-bereft-sea/
author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti
dc:creator: Malaka Rodrigo
content:encoded: COLOMBO — The Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar have long served as rich fishing grounds, providing bountiful harvests to Sri Lanka’s northern coastal communities. However, fishing activity in this region was severely restricted during the 27-year-long civil war, which was largely concentrated in the north. When the war ended in 2009, local fishing communities were hopeful of resuming their traditional livelihoods and rebuilding their lives. But that hope was short-lived. After the restrictions were lifted, hundreds of mechanized trawlers from the neighboring Indian state of Tamil Nadu started encroaching into Sri Lankan waters, depleting fish stocks via bottom trawling. Trawling is a highly destructive fishing practice that scrapes the seabed, capturing everything in its path. Tamil Nadu bottom trawlers head toward Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary to fish illegally. Image courtesy of the Sri Lanka Navy. Depleting fish stock “As the fish stocks have declined significantly, we now need to put in at least five times more effort to catch the same quantity of fish,” says Mohammed Aalam, a fisherman from Mannar in northern Sri Lanka and the secretary of the northern province fishermen’s union. “Fishing families are facing severe difficulties because of this,” Aalam told Mongabay. Bottom trawling involves dragging a heavy, cone-shaped net with fine mesh across the ocean floor. The trawlers, which are boats built for low-speed, high-powered hauling, indiscriminately sweep up everything in their path on the seabed. According to independent fisheries consultant Steve Creech, as much as 50 % of a trawl catch comprises…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Bottom trawlers from India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu have been encroaching Sri Lanka’s northern waters for years, carrying out destructive fishing practices that have caused serious depletion of fish stocks and damaged marine habitats.
- Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s local small-scale fishers continue to struggle due to reduced catches, destruction of their fishing nets and financial loss while being forced to fish in limited nearshore areas or abandon fishing temporarily to avoid conflict with the trawlers.
- In this political bone of contention, Tamil Nadu has been demanding reclamation of Katchatheevu — an uninhabited island between India and Sri Lanka — to gain unrestricted fishing rights, and the past bilateral promises to phase out bottom trawling have gone unfulfilled.
- Sri Lanka banned bottom trawling in 2017 and now needs to take specific actions to prevent illegal bottom trawling in its northern waters to avoid the risk of fisheries there from collapsing.
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DRC’s Kinshasa could see deadly rain and floods every 2 years: Study
23 Apr 2025 15:04:34 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/drcs-kinshasa-could-see-deadly-rain-and-floods-every-2-years-study/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Kristine Sabillo
content:encoded: In early April, extreme rainfall and flooding in and around Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killed at least 33 people. Such catastrophic rainfall events are predicted to hit Kinshasa every two years in today’s warming climate, according to a new rapid study by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a network of international climate scientists analyzing extreme weather events. The study attributes the April floods to a domino effect of “unusually heavy rains” in March that raised levels of the N’Djili River and its tributaries running through Kinshasa. On April 5-6, the riverbanks burst, submerging major roads and buildings. The findings highlight the precarious situation of Kinshasa residents, now at about 18 million, who mostly live in dense informal housing in areas especially vulnerable to floods and landslides as the city is built next to the Congo River. In 2022, more than 100 people died after a similar major downpour. By examining observational data from local weather stations, meteorological offices and satellites, the researchers found that the deadly rainfall in 2025 isn’t rare. Similar periods of heavy rainfall are expected to occur roughly every second year in today’s climate, which has warmed by 1.3° Celsius (2.3° Fahrenheit) over the preindustrial average due to the burning of fossil fuels. The researchers couldn’t say to what extent climate change influenced the April rains, given that their climate models didn’t give consistent trends. However, some of their data suggest a “notable rise in heavy rainfall for both Kinshasa and the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
In early April, extreme rainfall and flooding in and around Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killed at least 33 people. Such catastrophic rainfall events are predicted to hit Kinshasa every two years in today’s warming climate, according to a new rapid study by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a network of […]authors:
Indonesia defies global coal retreat with captive plant boom
23 Apr 2025 13:33:42 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesia-defies-global-coal-retreat-with-captive-plant-boom/
author: Hans Nicholas Jong
dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong
content:encoded: JAKARTA — As much of the world shutters coal power plants and shelves new proposals, Indonesia is bucking the trend — adding the third-highest volume of coal capacity globally in 2024, driven largely by the need to power a growing fleet of metal smelters. This places Indonesia among a shrinking group of nations still expanding their coal use, according to a new report by U.S.-based nonprofit Global Energy Monitor (GEM). The annual “Boom and Bust Coal” report found that global coal-fired power plant capacity growth reached its lowest point in 20 years last year, increasing by just 44 gigawatts, compared to an annual average of 72 GW between 2004 and 2024. Yet Indonesia added 1.9 GW of coal capacity in 2024, the third most in the world, behind China and India. Some 80% of this new capacity came from so-called captive coal plants, built specifically to serve industrial estates processing nickel, cobalt and aluminum for the booming electric vehicle market. Indonesia is the only country in Southeast Asia that proposed new coal plants in 2024, according to the report. This unchecked coal expansion pushes Indonesia to “the brink of failing its energy transition,” said Zakki Amali, a research manager at Indonesian NGO Trend Asia. Indonesia’s metals-processing focus, which the government calls “downstreaming,” has turbocharged the expansion of captive coal plants. Since 2019, captive coal capacity has tripled from 5.5 GW to 16.6 GW, and the fleet now comprises 130 plants of at least 30 megawatts each, with 21 more in…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Indonesia added 1.9 gigawatts of new coal capacity in 2024, the third-highest globally, mainly to power metal smelters supporting the electric vehicle industry — despite global efforts to phase out coal.
- Captive coal plants built for industry have tripled in capacity since 2019, exploiting a loophole in Indonesia’s coal moratorium and undermining its climate pledges under the Paris Agreement and Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).
- Indonesia now has the fifth-largest coal fleet in the world and plans to expand by another 26.7 GW by 2030, with serious concerns about economic viability, environmental damage, and public health in regions like Sulawesi and North Maluku.
- Government-backed alternatives like biomass cofiring and carbon capture are criticized as costly and ineffective, while experts urge Indonesia to shift meaningfully toward renewables to align with global energy and climate trends.
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Nepal announces its snow leopard population after first-of-its-kind assessment
23 Apr 2025 12:40:45 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/nepal-announces-its-snow-leopard-population-after-first-of-its-kind-assessment/
author: Abhaya Raj Joshi
dc:creator: Abhaya Raj Joshi
content:encoded: KATHMANDU — Following decades of speculation, skepticism and lack of consensus, Nepal’s government has announced the country’s first-ever consolidated national estimate of snow leopards (Panther uncia): 397 individuals. The figure, which translates to 1.56 individuals per 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles), was reported by an expert committee following months of work which involved aggregating results from multiple studies carried out in different parts of the country adopting different methods across various periods of time. “This national estimate is a historic step in Nepal’s conservation journey,” said Ramchandra Kandel, director-general at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC). It not only provides us with a clearer picture of snow leopard populations but also informs future conservation strategies,” he added. A snow leopard photographed in Nepal. Image courtesy of WWF. This estimate and its report are the Himalayan country’s contribution to the Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards (PAWS), an initiative launched under the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) in 2019 to support the 12 range countries to produce a robust estimate of the cat’s population status. The result, based on data on snow leopard distribution and population density collected between 2015 and 2024, also has global implications. “Although Nepal has the second smallest snow leopard habitat of only around 2% of the global land area considered suitable for snow leopards, it is home to nearly 10%, the fourth largest population,” said Ghana Shyam Gurung, Nepal representative of WWF. Unlike tigers (Panthera tigris), the other…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Nepal has released its first consolidated national estimate of snow leopards, placing the population at 397 individuals, after synthesizing multiple studies conducted between 2015 and 2024.
- Despite covering just 2% of global snow leopard habitat, Nepal hosts nearly 10% of the global population, making it the fourth largest population of the species.
- The estimate contributes to the Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards (PAWS), a global initiative aiming for standardized and robust population assessments across all 12 snow leopard range countries.
- While the estimate is a milestone, it’s based on just 43% of Nepal’s potential snow leopard habitat, with key areas like Dhorpatan and Api-Nampa still under-surveyed.
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Pangolins help biodiversity recover after fires
23 Apr 2025 09:14:15 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/pangolins-help-biodiversity-recover-after-fires/
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. A forest may burn to the ground, but beneath the ashes, a pangolin is already rebuilding. Pangolins are best known for their misfortune. As the world’s most trafficked mammal, their numbers have been decimated by poaching for scales and meat. But a recent study underscores what’s at stake beyond the species itself: pangolins play a vital role in ecological recovery, particularly in landscapes ravaged by fire, reports Spoorthy Raman. Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla), researchers have found, act as ecosystem engineers. Their burrowing activity, previously recognized for aerating soil and providing shelter for other wildlife, also accelerates biodiversity recovery in burned forests. The study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, observed that pangolin burrows in fire-damaged forests of southern China provided refuge for surviving animals and created conditions that encouraged plant regrowth. Scientists monitored pangolin burrow sites across two years, comparing them with control sites absent of burrows. The results were striking. Vegetation was more diverse and abundant at burrow sites, with 58 plant species recorded, compared to 47 at control sites. Animal life was similarly richer, with burrow sites hosting nearly 1,000 individuals across 35 species, including birds, small mammals and reptiles. The burrows’ stable temperature and humidity proved particularly valuable, providing shelter for species left exposed by the fires. The findings bolster the case that pangolins contribute to ecosystem resilience, particularly in the face of climate-driven wildfires. Yet, despite their ecological importance,…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. A forest may burn to the ground, but beneath the ashes, a pangolin is already rebuilding. Pangolins are best known for their misfortune. As the world’s most trafficked mammal, their numbers have been decimated by poaching for scales […]authors:
Indonesia court hands down ‘heaviest sentence’ yet for tiger poacher in Sumatra
23 Apr 2025 08:58:41 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/indonesia-court-hands-down-heaviest-sentence-yet-for-tiger-poacher-in-sumatra/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Ayat S. Karokaro
content:encoded: A court in Indonesia has sentenced a man to five years in prison for the killing of a critically endangered Sumatran tiger in September last year in North Sumatra province. “As far as I know, it’s the heaviest sentence ever imposed for crimes involving protected wildlife in Indonesia,” Iding Achmad Haidir, chair of the Sumatran Tiger Forum, told Mongabay Indonesia. Judges at the Mandailing Natal District Court also fined the accused, Aman Faisal Tambunan, 200 million rupiah (almost $12,000). Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) are the most endangered subspecies of tiger in the world, with an estimated 400-600 individuals remaining across the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Aman stood accused of subjecting a young female tiger to a slow death, court documents showed. According to the documents, on Sept. 9, Aman discovered a female tiger, around 18 months old, ensnared in one of the many traps he had set in a forest around Hutarimbaru SM village in Kotanopan subdistrict. He then attached a second snare, assaulted the animal and recorded photos and videos of the tigress before leaving her in the forest. She was found dead in the forest two days later. A postmortem revealed sepsis and organ damage, as well as myiasis in an open wound on the front leg caused by the wire snare. Aman claimed that the snares he had set were meant to catch wild boars. However, prosecutors proved that Aman had targeted animals with high commercial value. “As long as the demand for body parts…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
A court in Indonesia has sentenced a man to five years in prison for the killing of a critically endangered Sumatran tiger in September last year in North Sumatra province. “As far as I know, it’s the heaviest sentence ever imposed for crimes involving protected wildlife in Indonesia,” Iding Achmad Haidir, chair of the Sumatran […]authors:
Ongoing global coral bleaching event affects 84% of world’s reefs
23 Apr 2025 08:52:27 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/ongoing-global-coral-bleaching-event-affects-84-of-worlds-reefs/
author: Bobbybascomb
dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury
content:encoded: Coral reefs around the world have been subjected to unprecedented heat stress since early 2023. A new report finds heat-related coral bleaching has damaged corals in more than 80 countries, making it the most extensive bleaching event ever recorded, with no clear end in sight. Between January 2023 and April 2025, heat stress impacted 84% of coral reefs worldwide, from the Mesoamerican Reef in the Caribbean to so-called supercorals in the Red Sea, an area previously believed to be resilient to damage caused by extreme temperatures. “The fact that this most recent, global-scale coral bleaching event is still ongoing takes the world’s reefs into unchartered waters,” Britta Schaffelke, coordinator of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, said in a statement. Scientists officially confirmed the bleaching event in April 2024, making it the fourth such global event since 1998. It comes on the heels of the third global bleaching event that ended just six years earlier, in 2017, impacting 68% of coral reefs. The short recovery time between events makes it difficult for corals to adequately rebuild. Coral bleaching happens when water temperatures become too warm and corals expel the colorful algae that live inside them, leaving reefs a ghostly white. Thousands of fish and other marine species are left without a safe habitat. These vibrant ecosystems support roughly a quarter of all marine life at some point in their life cycle. “Bleaching is always eerie — as if a silent snowfall has descended on the reef — there is usually…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Coral reefs around the world have been subjected to unprecedented heat stress since early 2023. A new report finds heat-related coral bleaching has damaged corals in more than 80 countries, making it the most extensive bleaching event ever recorded, with no clear end in sight. Between January 2023 and April 2025, heat stress impacted 84% […]authors:
Loss of great white sharks triggers domino effect down food chain, study shows
23 Apr 2025 07:23:02 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/loss-of-great-white-sharks-triggers-domino-effect-down-food-chain-study-shows/
author: Malavikavyawahare
dc:creator: Victoria Schneider
content:encoded: CAPE TOWN — South Africa’s False Bay was once known as a global hotspot for great white sharks. But within the span of a few years, between 2015 and 2019, this apex predator vanished from the area, leading to profound ecological changes, according to a new study. The study suggests that the disappearance of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) from the bay on South Africa’s southwestern Atlantic tip triggered a trophic cascade in the local marine ecosystem — a domino effect that rippled down the food chain. Scientists speak of the phenomenon of a trophic cascade when the change in prevalence of a top predator leads to changes across all levels of the food chain below them. With the loss of the sharks, populations of their prey species like Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) and sevengill sharks (Notorynchus cepedianus) in the study area increased, while the number of small fish and smaller sharks that sevengills prey upon declined. The changes also coincided with shifts in the behavior of animals that live in the orbit of great whites. Study lead author Neil Hammerschlag, a marine ecologist and CEO of the Canada-based Shark Research Foundation, analyzed data from a long-term monitoring program that tracked white shark presence around False Bay’s Seal Island between 2000 and 2020. He and other scientists documented a stable great white population until 2015, followed by a sharp decline that led to their complete disappearance from the bay by mid-2018. Data show that within three and…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - A new study shows how the disappearance of an apex predator, the great white shark, from South Africa’s False Bay triggered changes throughout the food chain.
- With the loss of the top predator in the area, populations of its prey species, such as fur seals and sevengill sharks, increased; the latter’s prey, meanwhile, small fish and smaller benthic sharks, declined.
- The changes also coincided with shifts in the behavior of animals that live in the orbit of great whites.
- Over a 20-year period, the authors observed a significant drop in numbers of great white sharks beyond the study area, raising concern that the overall population of the protected species might be in decline.
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Data discrepancies suggest Laos monkey smuggling persists, despite trade ban
23 Apr 2025 03:26:18 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/data-discrepancies-suggest-laos-monkey-smuggling-persists-despite-trade-ban/
author: Isabel Esterman
dc:creator: Gerald Flynn
content:encoded: BANGKOK — A new report published on Feb. 18 detailed widespread discrepancies in data provided from Southeast Asia’s long-tailed macaque breeding farms, highlighting how monkey trafficking is able to slip through the regulatory cracks put in place by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Although the report was published anonymously by Sandy River Research, the data it draws from are referenced and largely available to the public across disparate sources. Mongabay has not been able to independently verify the identity of the authors, and Sandy River Research’s website states it will not be commenting further on the report. The report’s findings paint a bleak picture for endangered long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) that appear to be poached from the wild across the Mekong region before being laundered into breeding farms across Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. From here, the monkeys are kept in often grim conditions before being exported to biomedical research laboratories, primarily in Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea. These laboratories purchase macaques at scale, often for tens of thousands of dollars per head, while poachers across Southeast Asia scrape together a living plucking the monkeys from the wild. All of this, the biomedical research industry says, is necessary to develop life-saving drugs, despite existing and in-development alternatives such biosimulations, computational models, diagnostic imaging and organ-on-a-chip technology — artificial systems that function in the same way as human tissue or organs. Over the past two decades, multiple institutions have called into…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - A new report highlights widespread monkey laundering in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, where wild-caught long-tailed macaques are illegally funneled into breeding farms before being exported for biomedical research as captive-bred animals.
- Despite growing concerns over the ethics and effectiveness of animal testing, the biomedical industry continues to rely on macaques, fueling a multibillion-dollar trade, with some shipments worth millions of dollars.
- Thailand has emerged as a hotspot for poaching, with poachers capturing monkeys in urban areas before smuggling them across the Mekong River into Laos and Cambodia, often using concealed transport methods.
- Laos has significantly increased its estimate of wild macaques to justify legalizing their capture, raising concerns of official complicity in laundering monkeys for the biomedical industry, despite international skepticism over the accuracy of the data.
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Church pressure spurs scrutiny of Indonesian geothermal projects
23 Apr 2025 02:43:58 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/church-pressure-spurs-scrutiny-of-indonesian-geothermal-projects/
author: Philip Jacobson
dc:creator: Ebed de Rosary
content:encoded: ENDE, Indonesia — The governor of one Indonesia’s poorest provinces said it would pause development of new geothermal energy projects on the island of Flores, following an intervention by the Catholic Church. On April 4, East Nusa Tenggara Governor Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena said his administration would review all ongoing geothermal exploration on Flores Island, home to more than a third of the province’s population of 5.6 million. His statement came shortly after he met with Archbishop Paulus Budi Kleden, who leads the Achrdiocese of Ende, representing the Catholic dioceses from Bali to Flores. From March 10-13, six bishops under the archdiocese issued a Lenten pastoral letter, a missive written ahead of the 40-day period leading up to Easter. “We firmly reject the development of the Flores and Lembata geothermal projects,” the letter said. “We believe that these projects will damage the existing natural ecosystem.” The letter was signed by Archbishop Paulus, in addition to five bishops in his archdiocese. “These exploitative choices clash with the main direction of development which is to make this region a leading tourism, agriculture, plantation, livestock and marine area,” the letter said. Dead heat Indonesia spans 17,000 islands that straddle the Indian and Pacific islands and form part of the Ring of Fire, where 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur. Consequently, Indonesia holds the world’s largest potential for geothermal energy, which harnesses steam from the Earth’s crust to power a turbine, generating energy with close to zero greenhouse gas emissions. Exploring these geothermal sites…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - In early April, the governor of Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province said his administration would review all geothermal development on Flores Island.
- The statement followed a campaign by the Catholic Church, led by the Archdiocese of Ende, which advocated for local residents concerned about environmental damage.
- Indonesia has the world’s largest potential for geothermal energy, and use of the technology has grown in recent years as the country seeks to expand renewables to meet its international climate commitments.
- The Vatican assumed a leadership role on climate change under the late Pope Francis, who died over Easter at the age of 88.
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Indigenous women in Peru lead wildcat conservation initiative
22 Apr 2025 21:19:49 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/indigenous-women-in-peru-lead-wildcat-conservation-initiative/
author: Rhett Butler
dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler
content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The queuña forests in Peru, once covering vast stretches of the mountains, have dwindled to a mere fraction of their former glory, leaving behind a landscape where biodiversity and water security hang in the balance. This ecological collapse has triggered an unforeseen consequence: wild animals, displaced by deforestation, are edging closer to Indigenous communities, sparking conflict between people and predators reports Mongabay contributor James Hall. The puma, the Peruvian desert cat and the Andean cat have found themselves at odds with humans as they encroach on these shrinking habitats. It’s not the cats themselves that are the root of the problem, as biologist Cindy Hurtado notes, but the loss of their prey. As vizcachas and deer vanish, domestic livestock become the next best meal. The impact on local livelihoods has been significant, particularly for the women of the Quechua village Licapa. In this community, where men often leave to find work in the cities, women remain behind, caring for children and shepherding small flocks of alpacas, chickens and guinea pigs. The loss of these animals to wildcats is not just a matter of inconvenience; it is a direct threat to the family’s income. “We thought [the wildcats] were bad animals,” recalls Alicia Ccaico. The traditional response was predictable: The fewer wildcats, the better. Yet, in Licapa, this entrenched view has begun to shift, thanks to a project driven by Indigenous women, led by…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The queuña forests in Peru, once covering vast stretches of the mountains, have dwindled to a mere fraction of their former glory, leaving behind a landscape where biodiversity and water security hang in the balance. This ecological collapse […]authors:
Mexican government looks to correct Tren Maya environmental damages
22 Apr 2025 18:29:38 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/mexican-government-looks-to-correct-tren-maya-environmental-damages/
author: Alexandrapopescu
dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin
content:encoded: MEXICO CITY — Officials have acknowledged the environmental damage caused by Tren Maya, and say they’re exploring ways to restore cenotes and rainforests disrupted by the railway’s construction through the Yucatán peninsula. During a press event earlier this month, Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena said the government was looking at correcting some of the damage done by the train like deforestation of protected areas and breaking through cave walls. “The restoration required for a project like Tren Maya is so comprehensive that reforestation is essential,” Bárcena said during the meeting. “The communities themselves can be the ones to help us restore the forest ecosystem, instead of hiring the consortiums involved in Tren Maya — companies that come, plant a tree, and it dies the next day.” The multi-million-dollar train project stretching 1,554 kilometers (966 miles) across five states became a national controversy when it relocated local communities, drove pillars through sensitive cave ecosystems and cut into the protected rainforest of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve — often without permits. The project caused an estimated 6,659 hectares (16,455 acres) of forest loss, one research group found. Now that construction is largely finished, officials with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) reportedly want to remove fencing along the tracks, which prevents wildlife crossings. They also want to ban the construction of additional roads that would connect the train with harder-to-reach tourism activities in rainforests. Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena. Photo courtesy of Semarnat. Roadbuilding could increase deforestation and invite further tourism development in an…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena said the government is considering ways to correct some of the damage done by Tren Maya to cenotes and rainforests in the Yucatán peninsula.
- Officials want to remove fencing along the tracks, create new protected areas and ban the construction of additional roads connecting the train with harder-to-reach tourism activities in rainforests.
- At the same time, the government plans to expand the Tren Maya route and build several other trains across the country that could threaten protected areas.
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Cyclone Tam brings widespread flooding to New Zealand for days
22 Apr 2025 13:05:00 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/cyclone-tam-brings-widespread-flooding-to-new-zealand-for-days/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Kristine Sabillo
content:encoded: New Zealand experienced heavy flooding and damage due to Cyclone Tam last week through this weekend. What started out as a tropical low hovering over the South Pacific Ocean nation of Vanuatu was upgraded to Cyclone Tam on April 14 by the Fiji meteorological service, media reported. The cyclone then moved southeast toward New Zealand, bringing winds of 100 kilometers per hour (60 miles per hour) to northern parts of the country, including to the city of Auckland. Northland, the northernmost region of New Zealand, saw some 3,500 homes lose power by April 15 as the cyclone downed trees and power lines. One yacht reportedly sank. Strong winds also left the cruise ship Royal Princess stuck at the Port of Auckland for a few days. The cyclone’s impact peaked on April 17, with more than 8,700 homes affected in Northland. Cellphone towers were damaged and multiple flights and ferry services were suspended. The Coromandel Peninsula was isolated for a night after a major highway was flooded, and at least one person had to be rescued after being stuck in a car amid rising waters, local media reported. By April 18, New Zealand’s MetService said “the worst is over for the northern regions” and reported that Northland experienced winds of up to 160 km/h (100 mph). By then, some places like the Pinnacles, Golden Cross and Glenbervie had been hit with more than 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rain. However, even as the cyclone was expected to further weaken, heavy rain…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
New Zealand experienced heavy flooding and damage due to Cyclone Tam last week through this weekend. What started out as a tropical low hovering over the South Pacific Ocean nation of Vanuatu was upgraded to Cyclone Tam on April 14 by the Fiji meteorological service, media reported. The cyclone then moved southeast toward New Zealand, […]authors:
Three moon bears rescued in first closure of Laos bile farm
22 Apr 2025 10:59:03 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/three-moon-bears-rescued-in-first-closure-of-laos-bile-farm/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Kristine Sabillo
content:encoded: The government of Laos has for the first time shut down a farm where live bears were harvested for their bile, after convincing the farm’s owner to voluntarily hand over three bears. The rescued Asian black bears (Ursus thibetanus), two males and one female, are now being quarantined at the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, operated by Australia-based NGO Free the Bears, which participated in the rescue. “This is an important milestone for both Free the Bears and our government partners, showing that it is possible to close a bear bile farm and signalling that Laos is increasing its capacity and commitment to take on those who are illegally exploiting wildlife for profit,” Rod Mabin, Free the Bears communications director, told Mongabay by email. Bile farms, found across Southeast Asia, usually hold Asian black and sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) in cages. Bile is extracted from their gall bladders using a syringe, for use in Asian traditional medicine as a supposed treatment for liver and kidney disease. Mabin said that while the active compound Ursodeoxycholic acid found in bear bile is scientifically proven to address liver or bile duct diseases, it can easily be synthesized in a laboratory. “There is no legitimate reason to extract bile from bears or keep bears in bile farms.” It’s also illegal to hunt, possess or trade bears and their body parts in Laos under a 2007 wildlife law, but Mabin said a loophole exempts bile farms established before the law’s enactment. Moreover, bile farms can only…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
The government of Laos has for the first time shut down a farm where live bears were harvested for their bile, after convincing the farm’s owner to voluntarily hand over three bears. The rescued Asian black bears (Ursus thibetanus), two males and one female, are now being quarantined at the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, operated […]authors:
Amazon illegal miners bypass enforcement by smuggling gold into Venezuela
22 Apr 2025 10:32:40 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/amazon-illegal-miners-bypass-enforcement-by-smuggling-gold-into-venezuela/
author: Alexandre de Santi
dc:creator: Fernanda Wenzel
content:encoded: In 2023, Brazil’s Federal Police spotted an unusual movement in the small airport of Santarém, in Pará state: Seemingly humble Venezuelans buying expensive last-minute tickets and always paying for extra luggage. In October, agents decided to go for it and arrested a Venezuelan man trying to board with 21 kilograms (46 pounds) of gold hidden in thermos bottles. Two months later, another atypical situation caught the authority’s attention: a man carrying 47 kg (103.6 lbs) of gold suffered an attempted robbery in Manaus. His plan, frustrated by the attack, was to ship the cargo in a private jet. After a judge authorized the Federal Police to access the phones and financial information of suspects, agents found these two episodes were connected and part of a much larger scheme to send illegal gold from the Brazilian Amazon to Venezuela and, possibly, Guiana. Such a scheme was a novelty to the investigators and a sign that illegal gold traders were becoming sophisticated amid the growing siege of Brazilian authorities. After four years under the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-22), whose policies and rhetoric boosted illegal mining, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came to power in 2023, attacking the illegality on two fronts. On one front, agents resumed raids on the ground. On the other, new administrative measures made it harder to trade illegal gold. “We can see very clearly that the sector has been restructured,” Raoni Rajão, a researcher at the Minas Gerais Federal University (UFMG), told Mongabay. “What our…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Criminal groups are operating to smuggle illegal gold from the Brazilian Amazon into Venezuela, where the metal is laundered and exported overseas.
- Illegal gold traders adopted this new strategy after Brazil’s administration increased control over the metal’s commerce.
- Mongabay followed the steps of Adriano Aguiar de Castro, who, according to authorities, jumped from one gold laundering scheme to another and now is also involved with gold smuggling into Venezuela.
- The need to cross national borders brings gold trading groups closer to organized crime and poses new challenges to authorities.
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Earth Day: The wonder of iconic satellite images
22 Apr 2025 08:35:53 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/earth-day-the-wonder-of-iconic-satellite-images/
author: Hayat Indriyatno
dc:creator: Shreya Dasgupta
content:encoded: There’s something about viewing Earth from space — the shift in perspective has for decades moved us emotionally, scientifically, and philosophically. The iconic Earthrise image of our planet rising above the lunar horizon, taken in 1968 by astronauts aboard the Apollo 8 mission, is widely credited with fueling the environmental movement that led to the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. The 1972 Blue Marble image, taken by astronauts in the Apollo 17 spacecraft, gave us another unique perspective of our planet, and its frailty, in its entirety. Earthrise, taken on Dec. 24, 1968. Image by NASA/Bill Anders via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain) The Blue Marble, taken on Dec. 7, 1972. Image by NASA/Apollo 17 crew via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). Today, the bird’s-eye view of an image from space isn’t unfamiliar; whether navigating to a new restaurant or tracking the approaching path of a storm, it’s become commonplace to rely on these pictures. Satellite images have also become a critical, powerful way of visualizing near-real-time changes to our planet’s natural areas and monitor threats like illegal logging and mining. These images guide a lot of Mongabay’s reporting. At their core, satellite images continue to inspire and move us. On Earth Day this year, we present ten satellite images taken by the Earth imaging company Planet Labs, which owns and operates a network of hundreds of small satellites orbiting our planet. These images were captured during Planet Labs’ routine scan of the globe. Mt. Taranaki, New Zealand, captured…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
There’s something about viewing Earth from space — the shift in perspective has for decades moved us emotionally, scientifically, and philosophically. The iconic Earthrise image of our planet rising above the lunar horizon, taken in 1968 by astronauts aboard the Apollo 8 mission, is widely credited with fueling the environmental movement that led to the […]authors:
With deep-sea mining plans in limbo, Norwegian companies fold or dig in
22 Apr 2025 08:34:23 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/with-deep-sea-mining-plans-in-limbo-norwegian-companies-fold-or-dig-in/
author: Rebecca Kessler
dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts
content:encoded: This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a fellow. BERGEN, Norway — It’s been nearly five months since the Norwegian government paused its controversial plans to launch deep-sea mining in Arctic waters. This proposed industry aims to generate supplies of critical minerals, but critics say the cost to the marine environment could be devastating. Some Norwegian deep-sea mining companies have faced significant financial struggles due to the delay, with one going bankrupt and another slashing costs. Yet other firms, and the government itself, remain optimistic, insisting the industry’s future is still secure. Anette Broch, the young CEO of the Bergen-based deep-sea mining startup Adepth Minerals, is in the latter camp. She told Mongabay the delay isn’t ideal, but that she’s not overly concerned. “I’m not worried about the future of deep-sea mining,” Broch said during an interview at Bergen University’s natural history museum. “This is a lengthy process, but I believe our government will initiate the process.” Broch, whose friendly demeanor makes her one of the more approachable figures in the Norwegian deep-sea mining industry, said Adepth will use the time leading up to the licensing round, tentatively planned for 2026, to focus on data analysis and the development of new seabed mining technologies. She said the company is also using this time to raise public awareness about its work, which she says is gaining broader support due to global events such as the Russian war in Ukraine and a growing…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Norway’s plans to mine seabed minerals in Arctic waters remain in limbo after the first licensing round was delayed in December 2024. However, the government maintains that progress will resume soon, with a licensing round tentatively set for 2026.
- Some deep-sea mining companies have faced significant financial struggles due to the delay, with one company going bankrupt and another slashing costs; yet, other firms remain optimistic, insisting the industry’s future is still secure.
- Experts warn that considerable knowledge gaps must be addressed before deep-sea mining can proceed, particularly regarding environmental impacts.
- In Norway, the industry also continues to face heavy opposition from environmental groups, the fishing sector, and several political parties.
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New EU plastic pellet rules greeted with caution
22 Apr 2025 06:44:04 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-eu-plastic-pellet-rules-greeted-with-caution/
author: Daniel
dc:creator: Alex Shaw
content:encoded: A coalition of leading European environmental groups has cautiously welcomed a “landmark” agreement by lawmakers in Brussels on new rules aimed at curbing a major source of microplastic pollution in the world’s oceans. The provisional deal, reached last week between the European Council and the European Parliament, introduces binding EU-wide legislation on handling plastic pellets or “nurdles,” pea-sized granules used to make plastic products. The regulation covers the entire supply chain, from production to shipping, and is expected to take effect two years after it is formally adopted. The Rethink Plastic alliance, which includes Greenpeace, the Environmental Investigation Agency and ClientEarth, called the deal a “meaningful first step” in a joint statement, but warned that loopholes and delays would weaken its impact. “This agreement represents a tremendous show of EU leadership in the global fight against microplastic pollution,” said Amy Youngman, legal and policy specialist at the EIA. “Now is the time to back bold words with bold action and ensure this law is delivered in practice.” As much as 184,000 metric tons of pellets pollute the environment across Europe each year, equivalent to up to 7,300 truckloads. Just last month, a shipping collision off the English coast spilled thousands of pellets, contaminating beaches and conservation areas. Once in the ocean, the granules linger for decades, leaching toxins and harming marine life. The new rules say companies and transporters must focus on stopping such accidents. And if a spill happens, they must follow clear steps to clean it up. Each…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - The EU has agreed binding rules to reduce plastic pellet pollution, aiming to tackle up to 184,000 metric tons of annual leakage into the environment.
- Provisional measures will require companies to prevent spills, implement risk management, and report losses — but reliance on self-reporting may limit accountability, environmental groups argue.
- Campaigners have welcomed the deal but criticized loopholes, delays for maritime transport, and lighter rules for small businesses, warning these could undermine the regulation’s impact.
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Critically endangered Sumatran elephant found dead near Leuser; cause uncertain
22 Apr 2025 05:19:26 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/critically-endangered-sumatran-elephant-found-dead-near-leuser-cause-uncertain/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Ayat S. Karokaro
content:encoded: LANGKAT, Indonesia — A critically endangered Sumatran elephant was found dead April 4 on the border of the Gunung Leuser National Park in Sumatra’s Langkat district, officials said. The elephant was male, around 10 years old, and weighed no more than 2 tons. Officials said they believe the individual had been dead for several days before being reported. Regional state conservation lead Amenson Girsang said a preliminary assessment by veterinarians found wounds on the elephant’s body, but the cause of death was inconclusive. Toxicology tests were underway to assess if poisoning was the cause of death, officials said. “We’re still waiting for the lab results, which will come back within 30 days after they received the samples,” said Subhan, the director of the Gunung Leuser National Park office in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. The protected Leuser Ecosystem spans almost 8,000 square kilometers (3,088 square miles) in the north of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island and is the only place on Earth where Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus), orangutans (genus Pongo), rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and tigers (Panthera tigris sondaica) coexist in the wild. All four are critically endangered, according to the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Subhan said a team of officials and conservationists arrived at the scene on April 5, the day after a plantation worker had discovered the deceased elephant. Several local people told Mongabay Indonesia that the elephant had died within a plantation concession operated by PT Raya Padang Langkat, but the company denied the claim. PT Rapala, as…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
LANGKAT, Indonesia — A critically endangered Sumatran elephant was found dead April 4 on the border of the Gunung Leuser National Park in Sumatra’s Langkat district, officials said. The elephant was male, around 10 years old, and weighed no more than 2 tons. Officials said they believe the individual had been dead for several days […]authors:
In the shadow of Angel Falls: How Auyán-Tepuí sparked my reverence for nature
22 Apr 2025 04:52:48 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/in-the-shadow-of-angel-falls-how-auyan-tepui-sparked-my-reverence-for-nature/
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. It’s difficult to describe the feeling of standing beneath Auyán-Tepuí, that towering table mountain in southern Venezuela, except to say that something in me changed. In the mid-1990s, I visited Auyán-Tepuí, part of Canaima National Park, drawn by the allure of Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall on Earth. But nothing prepared me for the sheer presence of the landscape. The tepui rose from the rainforest like a stone citadel from another world, its flat summit often veiled in cloud, as if the sky itself had settled upon it. From its rim, most of the water drifted down in impossible cascades, dissolving into mist before ever touching the ground. Orchids and bromeliads clung to lichen-laden limbs of miniature trees that grew on beds of colorful spongy moss. Carnivorous pitcher plants pooled rain and trapped the forest’s tiniest lives. The air was thick with the breath of the jungle, fragrant and wild. There were animals I couldn’t name. Colors I had never seen. Textures unfamiliar to my hands. The forest was not a backdrop — it was the drama, the memory, the dream you didn’t know you’d had until you stepped into it. Rounding a bend, I’d catch a glimpse of sunlight threading the fog, touching down on a patch of color so briefly it felt imagined. There was nothing to say. Just the stillness that comes when beauty strikes something deep and wordless. Auyán-Tepuí…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. It’s difficult to describe the feeling of standing beneath Auyán-Tepuí, that towering table mountain in southern Venezuela, except to say that something in me changed. In the mid-1990s, I visited Auyán-Tepuí, part of Canaima National Park, drawn by […]authors:
Earth Day check-in: Planetary boundaries in peril
22 Apr 2025 00:01:21 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/earth-day-check-in-planetary-boundaries-in-peril/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb
content:encoded: Scientists have identified nine planetary boundaries that help regulate a livable planet. Human activities have pushed six of those nine critical Earth systems beyond safe limits, threatening the stability of life as we know it. Mongabay has consistently reported on all nine systems: Climate change, largely driven by fossil fuel emissions, is causing sea level rise, extreme weather events and wildfires. Ecosystems and wildlife are struggling to adapt to a quickly warming world as the planetary boundary for climate change has passed the threshold of safety. Biosphere integrity of ecosystems and biodiversity no longer exists as we’ve known it. Biodiversity in the Arctic and tropical ecosystems are particularly vulnerable, and populations of birds, mammals and amphibians are in sharp decline. Freshwater systems have been so damaged that roughly a quarter of all freshwater species listed on the IUCN Red List are threatened with extinction. Disruption to the water cycle and the lack of aquatic oxygen are endangering human health and freshwater ecosystems. Biogeochemical flow changes, including shifts in phosphate and nitrogen cycles, are causing an environmental crisis. Synthetic fertilizers produce excess nitrogen, for example, that can run off into water bodies and kill aquatic life. Land-use change for agriculture and urban development has degraded 15 million square kilometers (5.8 million square miles) of land globally, an area nearly the size of Russia. This surpassed planetary boundary directly impacts seven others. Novel entities, most notably plastic, have also passed the safe threshold and are impacting other planetary boundaries. Most plastic…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Scientists have identified nine planetary boundaries that help regulate a livable planet. Human activities have pushed six of those nine critical Earth systems beyond safe limits, threatening the stability of life as we know it. Mongabay has consistently reported on all nine systems: Climate change, largely driven by fossil fuel emissions, is causing sea level […]authors:
Sweeping cuts and deregulation imperil U.S. fisheries, experts warn
21 Apr 2025 22:07:03 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/sweeping-cuts-and-deregulation-imperil-u-s-fisheries-experts-warn/
author: Rebecca Kessler
dc:creator: Edward Carver
content:encoded: This is Part 1 of a two-part series on fisheries management and ocean governance under the second Trump administration, which took office Jan. 20. Part 1 looks at the potential impacts that cuts and deregulation at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) could have on U.S. fisheries. Part 2 will look at the effects that changes at NOAA and in the U.S. government more broadly could have on international fisheries management and oceans governance. The United States has long had one of the best systems of fisheries management in the world, supporting 2.3 million jobs and a relatively high number of healthy fish populations. Many experts attribute this to the management support, research and conservation work done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and complemented by a set of eight regional, multistakeholder councils that devise management plans. And so while NOAA is perhaps better known to the general public for its weather forecasting work, it’s also one of the premier fisheries management agencies in the world. NOAA employees conduct stock surveys, set catch quotas, supervise hatcheries, observe vessel activity, enforce fisheries regulations, and open and close fishing seasons, in addition to conducting fundamental oceanic research. Yet the agency’s ability to provide these services now faces multiple threats as the U.S. executive branch begins to implement a program of budget cuts, staff cuts, facility closures and deregulation. Many experts and former NOAA employees told Mongabay that the Trump administration’s moves have been poorly planned and will be…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - The United States has long had one of the best systems of fisheries management in the world, supporting 2.3 million jobs and a relatively high number of healthy fish populations.
- The Trump administration is enacting sharp cuts to the budget, staff and facilities of the agency that manages U.S. fisheries, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and on April 17 ordered widespread deregulation of fisheries.
- The administration says the changes are necessary to reduce government waste and fraud, save taxpayer money, create jobs and enhance profitability, but experts and former NOAA employees told Mongabay these moves have been poorly planned and will be “devastating” for U.S. fisheries.
- The staff cuts, regulatory changes and facilities downsizing are not easy for the public to track, raising questions about the transparency of the Trump administration’s moves.
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The 2025 U.N. Forum on Indigenous Issues starts today with hopes and concerns on the agenda
21 Apr 2025 19:29:13 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/the-2025-un-forum-on-indigenous-issues-starts-today/
author: Latoya Abulu
dc:creator: Anita Hofschneider
content:encoded: This story is published through the Indigenous News Alliance. Last Thursday, Hanieh Moghani, a legal scholar from Iran, was scheduled to attend a private meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York City with more than a dozen Indigenous experts from around the world. But Moghani was more than 5,000 miles away in Iran, waiting for her visa to arrive. “It is very, very stressful,” she said. Moghani is one of 16 core members of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, the highest-ranking body within the U.N. system that deals directly with Indigenous peoples’ concerns, and was appointed to the position in 2023 by the United Nations. She has not received any explanation for why her visa is delayed. It wouldn’t be the first time — it’s not easy to get a visa from Iran to the United States, and she experienced a similar delay two years ago – but she is among a number of people hoping to attend the UNPFII who have encountered visa delays or denials this year, according to interviews with Indigenous advocacy organizations and forum attendees. Their difficulties entering the U.S. come as the Trump administration seeks to tighten border controls and increase deportations, including targeting pro-Palestine activists. The UNPFII is the largest convening of Indigenous peoples globally where advocates will talk about issues ranging from climate disasters to the effects of critical mineral mining in Indigenous communities. Moghani still holds out hope that she might receive her visa, and said the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - The 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the largest convening of Indigenous peoples globally, began on April 21st, 2025.
- Indigenous peoples come from around the world to discuss a range of issues affecting their rights and the environment, including deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, the preservation of traditional knowledge, mining and sustainable development.
- A number of people hoping to attend the global forum have encountered visa delays or denials this year, prompting concerns less people will be able to address issues in their countries.
- The State Department and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency did not respond to questions by the time of publication but some researchers suspect Trump’s crackdown on immigration is playing a role.
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15 years after the BP oil spill disaster, how is the Gulf of Mexico faring?
21 Apr 2025 18:24:46 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/15-years-after-the-bp-oil-spill-disaster-how-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-faring/
author: Lizkimbrough
dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough
content:encoded: PLAQUEMINES PARISH, U.S. — Down past New Orleans lies Plaquemines parish, a narrow sliver of land at the tip of Louisiana that reaches southward like a finger pointing into the Gulf of Mexico. Past barbecue joints, a naval base, Baptist churches, white egrets, blue herons, and signs advertising items FOR SALE (live shrimp, empty lots and crawfish), Captain Kindra Arnesen lives with her husband and dog in a tidy brick house that smells like eucalyptus potpourri and home cooking. “There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than be out on the water fishing, especially offshore. I like to get high up on the boat and look out over the water as far as I can see,” Arnesen told Mongabay while stirring a pot of beans. She has worked small commercial fishing boats out in the gulf for decades. “The only thing I love more is my grandbaby.” “Before the spill, you could ride out there and everywhere you rode there were bait balls of bonita, blue runners, thread herrings, spinners jumping through them. Everywhere you went it was just a sight,” Arnesen recounted, referring to plentiful schools of small fish and spinner dolphins in the open ocean. “After the spill you could ride a hundred miles and not see a bait ball … It slowly died.” Fireboat crews work to extinguish the burning wreckage of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil platform. The disaster was one of the worst ecological catastrophes in history. Image courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard. April 20,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - The Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20, 2010, was the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, releasing an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over nearly three months.
- Fifteen years later, the gulf ecosystem shows a complicated picture of both resilience and lingering damage, with some species, like brown pelicans, recovering, while others, like humans, dolphins and deep-sea corals, continue to struggle with long-term health impacts.
- The disaster prompted an unprecedented legal settlement directing billions toward restoration projects, though experts debate whether these funds have been used effectively for ecosystem-scale recovery.
- Climate change remains the “800-pound gorilla in the room,” threatening the gulf’s future resilience, one expert said, with others warning that continued pressure from fossil fuel development, agricultural runoff and other threats could push the system beyond its capacity to recover.
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Meet the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
21 Apr 2025 16:56:35 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/meet-the-2025-goldman-environmental-prize-winners/
author: Erik Hoffner
dc:creator: Mongabay.com
content:encoded: Seven environmental activists from around the world will be awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize on April 21. Known as the “Green Nobel Prize,” the Goldman Prize honors activists from the six inhabited continental regions. This year’s winners include a scientist and educator who fought illegal trafficking of Italian household waste to Tunisia; an electrical engineer who campaigned to protect a region in the Gobi Desert from mining for copper and other minerals; a social worker and an ecologist from Albania who together campaigned to protect the Vjosa River from hydroelectric dam construction; an activist who pressured a polluting plastics company in New England to shut down; a former civil engineer who campaigned to protect a marine protected area in the Canary Islands from port construction; and an activist who won legal personhood for Peru’s Marañón River in a landmark court case. “It’s been a tough year for both people and the planet,” Jennifer Goldman Wallis, vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, said in a press release. “There’s so much that worries us, stresses us, outrages us, and keeps us divided. However, for me, these environmental leaders and teachers — and the global environmental community that supports them — are the antidote.” The winners will be honored at a ceremony in San Francisco on April 21, at 5:30 p.m. local time, hosted by Rue Mapp, founder of environmental education nonprofit Outdoor Afro, and musical guest Rueda con Ritmo featuring Son Chévere. The event will be livestreamed on the Goldman Prize YouTube channel. The…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Each year, the Goldman Environmental Prize honors grassroots activists from each of the six inhabited continental regions.
- The 2025 prize winners are Semia Gharbi from Tunisia, Batmunkh Luvsandash from Mongolia, Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika from Albania, Carlos Mallo Molina from the Canary Islands, Laurene Allen from the United States and Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari from Peru.
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Critically endangered right whales spotted in the Bahamas for first time
21 Apr 2025 15:51:13 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/critically-endangered-right-whales-spotted-in-the-bahamas-for-first-time/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury
content:encoded: Two North Atlantic right whales, among the most at-risk marine mammals, were spotted swimming in the Bahamas on April 15, marking the first time the species has been seen in the nation’s waters. “That moment for me was breathtaking, and I couldn’t fully gather myself. I thought it was fake at first,” Isaac Ellis, a captain at Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Center who spotted the whales with a group he was taking on a dolphin-watching tour, said in a statement. “Once in a lifetime moment for sure.” During this time of the year, critically endangered North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are typically found nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) to the north, off the coast of Boston in the northeastern U.S. However, scientists at the New England Aquarium in Boston confirmed the identities of the whales in the videos taken by Ellis’s group through a photo database, identifying them as adult females they’ve named Koala and Curlew. Both individuals had been spotted outside of their normal range in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year. “It is fairly unusual for right whales to be seen in the Gulf of Mexico, and there are no recorded sightings of right whales in The Bahamas,” Philip Hamilton, a senior scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center, said in a statement. “What inspired them to make this journey will likely remain a mystery.” Hamilton added that it’s also unusual for two North Atlantic right whales to stick together unless they’re mother and calf, which Koala…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Two North Atlantic right whales, among the most at-risk marine mammals, were spotted swimming in the Bahamas on April 15, marking the first time the species has been seen in the nation’s waters. “That moment for me was breathtaking, and I couldn’t fully gather myself. I thought it was fake at first,” Isaac Ellis, a […]authors:
Mangroves mount a fragile green revival in Iraq’s toxic south
21 Apr 2025 15:26:02 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/mangroves-mount-a-fragile-green-revival-in-iraqs-toxic-south/
author: Jeremy Hance
dc:creator: Robert Bociaga
content:encoded: BASRA, Iraq — The air in Basra carries a strange weight: part saline mist from the nearby Persian Gulf and part acrid smoke from the towering oil refineries that loom over the southern horizon. Cracked riverbanks crumble into brackish water, where mangrove saplings now sprout in orderly rows. Their pale green leaves flutter under the weight of the sun, as if unsure whether they belong in this parched, toxic place. Here, in one of Iraq’s most ecologically stressed regions, an unlikely green force is beginning to take root: mangroves (Avicennia marina). These hardy, salt-tolerant trees are being planted across tidal flats and riverbanks in a bold effort to slow coastal erosion, filter pollutants, and fight climate change. But the stakes stretch far beyond Basra’s shoreline: the health of Iraq’s southern marshlands, including the fragile Mesopotamian Marshes, may depend on the survival of these coastal trees. “This project is about defending a disappearing ecosystem,” says Ayman Abdul Latif Al-Rubaye, head of the mangrove planting unit at the University of Basrah’s Marine Science Centre. “Mangroves are our frontline against salinity, pollution and coastal collapse.” Covering 400 hectares (990 acres), the mangrove nursery in Khor Al-Zubair includes acclimation basins, seed pools, and a dedicated management facility. Supported by the U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP) and local academic institutions, it’s capable of producing up to a million seedlings annually, with ambitions to restore 15,000 hectares (about 37,000 acres) of degraded coastline and marsh-connected estuaries. But the project isn’t racing against just climate change —…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Sea-level rise and upstream damming have worsened saltwater intrusion in the Shatt al-Arab River, pushing brine deep into Iraq’s interior and threatening agriculture, fishing and marshland ecosystems.
- A mangrove-planting project has been launched as a nature-based solution to combat coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion and pollution — threats that not only endanger Basra’s coastline but also the freshwater marshlands farther inland.
- Despite scientific backing and community support, the project faces significant obstacles like untreated sewage and industrial waste, while limited government support further hampers the project’s long-term viability and impact.
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Why captive elephants formed a circle during the San Diego earthquake
21 Apr 2025 14:44:59 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/why-captive-elephants-formed-a-circle-during-the-san-diego-earthquake/
author: Shreya Dasgupta
dc:creator: Kristine Sabillo
content:encoded: When a 5.2-magnitude earthquake shook the U.S. city of San Diego on April 14, a video showing five African elephants huddling together in the middle of their enclosure at San Diego Zoo Safari Park made headlines. It showed three older female elephants, Ndlula, Umngani and Khosi, moving quickly to protect 7-year-old calves Zuli and Mkhaya. “When an elephant senses danger, the herds’ instinct is to protect their youngest and the herd as a whole, so adult elephants join together and circle the calves, facing outward to confront any potential predators,” Mindy Albright, curator of mammals at San Diego Zoo Safari Park, told Mongabay by email. Albright said that, interestingly, male calf Zuli joined the adults in the outer circle while female calf Mkhaya remained inside the circle. “Khosi, who is 18, can be seen reaching her trunk over to touch Zuli — as if, from a human perspective, to check on him. Zuli’s role in the herd will change over time as he grows into an adult bull elephant,” Albright said. In about four minutes after the earthquake, the herd resumed foraging. During an aftershock, they formed a circle again, but dispersed more quickly this time, possibly learning the rumbles weren’t a threat, Albright said. Elephant biologist Joyce Poole, scientific director of conservation NGO ElephantVoices, told Mongabay by email the circling behavior is scientifically called “bunching,” where elephants cluster together in a tight defensive circle facing outward. “In this position they are best able to face a threat — with…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
When a 5.2-magnitude earthquake shook the U.S. city of San Diego on April 14, a video showing five African elephants huddling together in the middle of their enclosure at San Diego Zoo Safari Park made headlines. It showed three older female elephants, Ndlula, Umngani and Khosi, moving quickly to protect 7-year-old calves Zuli and Mkhaya. […]authors:
Indonesia strengthens forest monitoring with new tool to meet EU deforestation law
21 Apr 2025 11:21:18 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesia-strengthens-forest-monitoring-with-new-tool-to-meet-eu-deforestation-law/
author: Hans Nicholas Jong
dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong
content:encoded: JAKARTA — Indonesia’s efforts to ensure its commodity exports are free of deforestation are ramping up as the European Union Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, nears enforcement. One of the biggest challenges in meeting EUDR standards is traceability. To meet the regulation’s strict requirements, Indonesia is stepping up efforts to provide verifiable, real-time data that prove the legality and sustainability of commodities like palm oil, timber, and other forest-risk products. A new forest monitoring platform, Ground Truthed.id (GTID), aims to support this by documenting violations at the source — such as illegal oil palm plantations in forest zones, timber sourced from unlicensed concessions, and land conflicts — to complement satellite monitoring. This will make it easier to track where supply chain irregularities begin, especially in remote or hard-to access areas, said Denny Bhatara, a senior campaigner at Kaoem Telapak, the environmental NGO behind GTID. “Many incidents occur that we might not be aware of due to distance or a lack of reporting mechanisms,” he said. “Through GTID, we gather all field-based documentation and compile it into a unified system.” What sets GTID apart, Denny said, is its focus on collecting real-time, verifiable geolocation-based evidence of environmental crimes from the ground up, unlike other platforms like Global Forest Watch (GFW), which start with satellite imagery before ground verification. This bottom-up method ensures the data reflect real-world conditions rather than just remote-sensing estimates, he said. This allows authorities to confirm whether deforestation is unlawful and, crucially, to act before irreversible environmental damage occurs,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Indonesia is stepping up traceability efforts to comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which bans imports of deforestation-linked commodities like palm oil, timber and coffee starting in December 2025.
- A new platform, Ground Truthed.id (GTID), combines field-based evidence and geolocation data to detect and document environmental violations in real time, offering a bottom-up alternative to satellite-reliant systems.
- GTID emphasizes collaboration with Indigenous peoples, civil society and law enforcement, using a verification process to turn grassroots reports into legally actionable cases.
- The platform is expected to complement a government-run traceability dashboard by acting as an independent watchdog, helping prevent illegally sourced or conflict-ridden products from entering international supply chains.
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Ecologists are spending less time in the field. That could be a problem.
21 Apr 2025 09:02:49 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/ecologists-are-spending-less-time-in-the-field-that-could-be-a-problem/
author: Rhett Butler
dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler
content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. There was a time when an ecologist’s education was not complete without the mud of a marsh on their boots or the scent of damp earth after a rainforest downpour. Increasingly, however, the discipline is moving indoors. A paper published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution by Masashi Soga and Kevin J. Gaston highlights a disconcerting trend: the decline of fieldwork in ecological research and education. The concept of the “extinction of experience” has been used to describe the dwindling human connection with nature, often applied to the general public. But ecologists themselves are not immune. Across universities and research institutions, field-based studies are in retreat, giving way to remote-sensing technologies, laboratory analysis, and large-scale data synthesis. The consequences of this shift, while not yet fully understood, could be far-reaching. The decline is driven by a confluence of factors. Financial constraints and time pressures increasingly deter lengthy field excursions, particularly for researchers juggling academic careers with family responsibilities. Institutions, particularly those in urban settings, struggle to provide students with access to wild environments. Meanwhile, concerns over carbon footprints discourage long-distance field campaigns. The rise of sophisticated ecological monitoring tools — unmanned aerial vehicles, camera traps, and environmental DNA sampling — further reduces the perceived necessity of direct observation. These shifts are not without their advantages. Remote monitoring technologies allow for noninvasive, large-scale data collection, often at a fraction of the cost and effort…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. There was a time when an ecologist’s education was not complete without the mud of a marsh on their boots or the scent of damp earth after a rainforest downpour. Increasingly, however, the discipline is moving indoors. A […]authors:
Agroforestry can reduce deforestation, but supportive policies matter, study finds
21 Apr 2025 08:00:25 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/agroforestry-can-reduce-deforestation-but-supportive-policies-matter-study-finds/
author: Isabel Esterman
dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan
content:encoded: Intensifying heat waves, extreme floods and forest fires have devastated parts of Southeast Asia in recent years, spurring experts and authorities to look for holistic solutions. Agroforestry, the practice of growing crops alongside useful trees and shrubs, is increasingly touted as one such solution that simultaneously addresses the biodiversity and climate crises while enhancing farmer livelihoods and meeting societal needs for food, timber and other key products. Now, a new study published in Nature Sustainability suggests the benefits of this more climate-friendly and sustainable farming method might extend even further. The findings reveal agroforestry has helped reduce deforestation across Southeast Asia by an estimated 250,319 hectares (618,552 acres) per year between 2015 and 2023, preventing between 43.3 million and 74.4 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. “These diverse [agroforestry] systems can provide alternative sources of income [for farmers] — fuelwood, timber, fruits, and other products — reducing the economic pressure to clear more forests,” study lead author Steve Hoong Chen Teo, a researcher at the National University of Singapore, told Mongabay. Teo and his colleagues found that areas of Southeast Asia with agroforestry typically lost less forest than similar areas without it, resulting in a net reduction in deforestation across landscapes where agroforestry is practiced. The team suggest this is primarily due to the relative efficiency and profitability of agroforestry reducing farmers’ need to encroach into surrounding forests. “While benefits vary by region, overall we found that agroforestry can help conserve forest remnants in [agricultural] landscapes,” Teo said, adding…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Agroforestry is recognized as a way to boost local biodiversity, improve soils and diversify farming incomes. New research suggests it may also benefit nearby forests by reducing pressure to clear them.
- The study found agroforestry has helped reduce deforestation across Southeast Asia by an estimated 250,319 hectares (618,552 acres) per year between 2015 and 2023, lowering emissions and underscoring its potential as a natural climate solution.
- However, the findings also indicate agroforestry worsened deforestation in many parts of the region, highlighting a nuanced bigger picture that experts say must be heeded.
- Local social, economic and ecological factors are pivotal in determining whether agroforestry’s impacts on nearby forests will be positive or negative, the authors say, and will depend on the prevalence of supportive policies.
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Report alleges criminality in Cambodian, Vietnamese monkey trade
21 Apr 2025 02:13:52 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/
author: Isabel Esterman
dc:creator: Gerald Flynn
content:encoded: BANGKOK — Many long-tailed macaques imported into the United States from Southeast Asia were likely poached from the wild and then sold as captive-bred to medical research institutions, a recent report alleges. The 137-page report by Sandy River Research details “biologically impossible” birth rates at monkey-breeding facilities across Southeast Asia. It highlights contradictory claims made by these facilities about their capacities and uses calculations based on publicly available data regarding the export of monkeys, suggesting that wild monkeys are being caught, laundered at scale through the Mekong region’s breeding facilities, and then sold as captive-bred monkeys, mostly to U.S.-based researchers. The report goes on to note how regulatory failures and a lack of due diligence has ensured that poachers, smugglers, breeding facilities and the biomedical research industry have found ways to profit at the expense of endangered long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The public health risks of wild-caught monkeys being shipped around the world not only heighten the risk of zoonotic diseases spreading, but also jeopardize the scientific integrity of any research based on the study of wild monkeys, the report added. The “unabated” poaching of long-tailed macaques across Southeast Asia has seen populations plummet, with multiple studies pointing to the demand created by the biomedical research industry as a key driver in the species’ decline in some Southeast Asian countries. Inspections at Brussels Airport found long-tailed macaques exported from Vietnam. Image supplied by Animal Rights BE. The report doesn’t list an author and Sandy River Research states on its website that…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - A new report is the latest to bolster long-standing allegations that many long-tailed macaques imported into the U.S. for biomedical research were illegally caught from the wild and falsely labeled as captive-bred, with suspiciously high birth rates at breeding facilities in Southeast Asia.
- Cambodia became a major supplier of monkeys for research after China stopped exports in 2020, but investigations found indications of large-scale monkey-laundering operations, leading to legal cases, failed prosecutions, and a 64% drop in exports by 2023. Despite concerns, global wildlife trade regulator CITES did not ban the trade.
- Vietnam’s reported monkey exports also show discrepancies, with new “satellite breeding facilities” appearing without proper documentation, raising concerns that wild monkeys are also being trafficked into breeding farms.
- A tuberculosis outbreak linked to Vietnamese monkey exports highlights the public health risks, while U.S. company Charles River Laboratories faces scrutiny over its alleged role in the illegal monkey trade, seeming to benefit from political ties to evade accountability.
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Vital Mekong fish corridors tracked for first time, but funding cuts threaten future research
18 Apr 2025 20:30:28 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/vital-mekong-fish-corridors-tracked-for-first-time-but-funding-cuts-threaten-future-research/
author: Isabel Esterman
dc:creator: Anton L. Delgado
content:encoded: The first-ever acoustic telemetry network in the Mekong River has tracked key migration corridors critical to the survival of fish in Cambodia and Laos. To conduct the study, researchers caught fish from a dozen species and implanted them with small electric transmitters before releasing them back into the river. A network of receivers allowed the researchers to follow the migration movements of 81 of these tagged fish during both the dry and wet seasons. The findings, published in a recent study, provide empirical data reinforcing local ecological knowledge that underlines the importance of a free-flowing Mekong. With dozens of dams built, planned and proposed across the basin, researchers say the exact data points detailing the Mekong’s massive fish migration underline the risks of cutting off these vital migratory corridors with hydropower. “I hope this information gives pause to developers or governments working on those dams,” study lead author Jackman Eschenroeder, from U.S.-based environmental consultancy FISHBIO, told Mongabay. “We’re trying to build a road map for where these fish are going with our acoustic telemetry network but it gives us just a glimpse into what these fish are doing.” Researchers perform a maintenance check on an acoustic receiver in the Mekong River. Image courtesy of FISHBIO. This study is the first attempt to use acoustic telemetry at this scale in the Mekong Basin. Eschenroeder referred to the study as a “pilot effort” that highlights “the need to do more studies like this to improve the resolution of our knowledge.” But continued…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - By implanting fish with small electronic transmitters, researchers were able to track key migration corridors in the Mekong River.
- The findings underscore the threat that dozens of planned dams along the Mekong will cut off these vital migratory paths.
- The study, which the lead author describes as a “pilot effort,” was funded by USAID; the funding gap caused by the U.S. foreign aid freeze leaves the future of such research in question.
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Armed groups, cattle ranchers drove 35% rise in Colombia’s deforestation in 2024
18 Apr 2025 16:30:40 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/armed-groups-cattle-ranchers-drove-35-rise-in-colombias-deforestation-in-2024/
author: Morgan Erickson-Davis
dc:creator: Antonio José Paz Cardona
content:encoded: The prediction came true: deforestation in Colombia increased in 2024 after two years of decline, just as the environment ministry had warned since April last year. The ministry announced that Colombia lost 1,070 square kilometers (413 square miles) of forest in 2024, a 35% increase from 2023, when deforestation hit 793 km2 (306 mi2). Former environment minister Susana Muhamad, who left office on March 3, said the increase was highly influenced by the restructured peace negotiations between the government and armed rebel groups in Colombia’s northern Amazonian region. “What we’ve seen in 2024 is an increase in medium-sized deforestation patches involving operations paid for with vast sums, which have to do with organized crime and not the actions of rural farmers,” Muhamad said. She added that conservation agreements have been signed by nearly all households in rural areas in the Amazon. Environment ministry data reveal that the Amazon is the region most affected by forest loss in Colombia, accounting for 63.6% of total deforestation in 2024, and home to 22 of 28 deforestation hotspots that year. One the worst-hit of these hotspots, in Solano municipality in the department of Caquetá, is also the site of an active conflict between authorities and former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Four other critical hotspots are in the Llanos del Yari Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve (in Guaviare department), Cuemaní in Cartagena del Chairá (Caquetá), and Sierra de la Macarena and Tinigua national parks in Meta department. “We’ve seen deforestation…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description: - Colombia lost 1,070 km² (413 mi²) of forest in 2024, according to data from the country’s environment ministry, representing a 35% increase from 2023.
- Illegal agriculture is thought to be the main driver behind this increase, with cattle ranching spreading inside national parks.
- The environment ministry notes that despite the increase in deforestation last year, the 2024 figure is still one of the lowest in the past 23 years.
- However, experts fear that the increase will continue in 2025 and that armed groups will continue to strengthen their hold over the Colombian Amazon, hindering the progress of conservation strategies with communities.
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Locals, researchers race to save unique biodiversity of PNG’s Torricellis
18 Apr 2025 16:26:24 +0000
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/04/locals-researchers-race-to-save-unique-biodiversity-of-pngs-torricellis/
author: Kristine Sabillo
dc:creator: Mongabay.com
content:encoded: Torricelli Mountains, a tiny mountain range in northern Papua New Guinea, is estimated to host roughly 4% of the world’s known species, many found nowhere else on Earth, Mongabay’s John Cannon reported in March. “I mean, for 0.003% of the world’s land area — it’s a ‘wow’ factor for me,” Jim Thomas, CEO of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA), told Cannon. “I’m so lucky to be working here.” Tim Flannery of the Australian Museum in Sydney told Mongabay that PNG’s Torricelli Mountains and its immensely rich biodiversity emerged as a result of slow geological processes. “It was only that slow development of understanding of the geological history of [the Torricelli Mountains] that we started to make sense of this exceptional richness that we were discovering up there,” Flannery told Mongabay. Flannery himself has described four species of tree kangaroos while surveying the island of New Guinea. Three of them coexist on the Torricelli Mountains. But before Thomas and his wife Jean started TCA in 2003, two of those species, the tenkile (Dendrolagus scottae) and the weimang (D. pulcherrimus), had been hunted to near extinction. Cannon writes that experts like Flannery and Jane Goodall credit the TCA for bringing education, health services and economic opportunities to the communities in the Torricellis, while reducing hunting through an agreed-upon hunting moratorium. Although both the tenkile and weimang are still listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, TCA’s surveys show the marsupials’ populations are growing. However, the unique landscape is facing increasing…This article was originally published on Mongabay
description:
Torricelli Mountains, a tiny mountain range in northern Papua New Guinea, is estimated to host roughly 4% of the world’s known species, many found nowhere else on Earth, Mongabay’s John Cannon reported in March. “I mean, for 0.003% of the world’s land area — it’s a ‘wow’ factor for me,” Jim Thomas, CEO of the […]authors: