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PNG’s New Ireland coastal waters causing fish deaths, human sickness 20 Mar 2026 23:58:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/pngs-new-ireland-coastal-waters-causing-fish-deaths-human-sickness/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: John Cannon content:encoded: For several months, the waters around New Ireland province in Papua New Guinea have been causing illness, skin irritation and the death of sea life, according to communities living along the east coast of the island. In December 2025, residents say they began noticing that fish and other marine life were turning up dead along the shoreline, according to a coalition that is organizing a relief effort. John Aini, the founder of the Indigenous marine conservation organization Ailan Awareness, who is from New Ireland province, said the flesh of these fish was discolored, the eyes of some had popped out of their sockets and others had visible damage to their brains. New Ireland sits along the northeastern fringes of Papua New Guinea between the Bismarck Sea to the west and the expanse of the Pacific Ocean to the east. The crisis threatens “multiple” communities whose cultures are deeply entwined with the ocean environment, according to a statement from the coalition, and some 750 people have experienced symptoms including burns, respiratory problems and gastrointestinal sickness. Tidal movements also threaten to infiltrate and foul freshwater creeks that are critical sources of drinking water. And yet, the origins of the crisis are a mystery. A map showing the locations of the most affected communities in New Ireland. Image courtesy of Ailan Awareness. “Families can no longer rely on the ocean for food,” Martha Piwas, a community leader from the east coast of New Ireland, said in the statement. “Mothers cannot feed their children…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Communities on the east coast of Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland province report that contact with the seawater there has made people sick since December 2025; residents have also reported spikes in the number of dead fish and other marine life along the shoreline. - A group of local and international NGOs has responded, providing help with sampling to determine the cause and raising money for the affected villages. - New Ireland’s coastal communities depend on the sea for food, but government officials have warned against eating fish until the cause of the problems has been identified. - Government ministries have been aware of the situation for at least two months, and while leaders say that tissue, water and soil samples have been collected, no results have been released yet. authors: | ||
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Captive-bred Panamanian golden frogs released to the wild 20 Mar 2026 23:18:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/captive-bred-panamanian-golden-frogs-released-to-the-wild/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Since 2009, no one has seen a Panamanian golden frog in the wild. These bright yellow frogs disappeared completely when an amphibian fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, swept through Panama reaching El Valle de Anton, the last stronghold of golden frogs. Researchers at the Smithsonian Institution predicted these declines based on the pattern of disease spread, but to get ahead of the disease, a coalition of organizations built the the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project (PARC) with a mission to safeguard golden frogs (Atelopus zeteki) and other amphibians most at risk of extinction. After successfully breeding them in captivity, the project has begun releasing frogs to understand the science of rewilding these imperiled animals. “We provide care for some of the most endangered amphibians in Panama, and now we are entering a new phase of our work to study the science of rewilding,” said Roberto Ibañez director of PARC. The golden frog is endemic to Panama and was found only near fast-running streams flowing from the mountainous region of central Panama. Chytridiomycosis, the deadly fungus that infects a frog’s skin leading to death, can swim through water and hitch a ride on other wildlife, even on people’s shoes. The disease is still present in many other areas of Panama, so the release trial presents an opportunity to understand how frogs transition from human care to the wild. Researchers released 100 golden frogs in soft-release pens, known as mesocosms, and came back to monitor them post-release. The frogs initially spent 12 weeks…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Since 2009, no one has seen a Panamanian golden frog in the wild. These bright yellow frogs disappeared completely when an amphibian fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, swept through Panama reaching El Valle de Anton, the last stronghold of golden frogs. Researchers at the Smithsonian Institution predicted these declines based on the pattern of disease spread, but […] authors: | ||
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Vatican launches campaign to encourage divestment from mining industries 20 Mar 2026 21:22:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/vatican-launches-campaign-to-encourage-divestment-from-mining-industries/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: ROME (AP) — The Vatican on Friday launched a campaign to encourage divestment from mining industries, saying the Catholic Church should invest its money in ways that are consistent with its ecological teachings. The effort, which also involves other Christian organizations, takes as its inspiration Pope Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical “Praised Be.” The document, and the ecological movement it inspired, railed against the multinational corporations that pillage Earth’s natural resources, often at the expense of poor and Indigenous peoples. The initiative is the brainchild of an existing ecumenical network of Catholic and other Christian denominations, the Churches and Mining Network, that is active in particular in Latin America. The campaign aims to encourage local churches to review their investment strategies and divest where needed, and to share information especially with Indigenous groups about the types of extraction occurring on their lands. Yolanda Flores, a leader of the Aymara peoples in Peru, teared up at a Vatican news conference describing how Indigenous mothers are left to fear they are poisoning their children because their drinking water has been polluted by extraction runoff. “The big question is: Who finances this? Who provides the money to poison us?” she said. Guatemalan Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini recalled that when he was bishop of San Marcos, the Guatemalan government allowed a Canadian mining firm to explore, and then extract silver and gold from the land. While the project provided short-term employment to the local population, the ultimate winners were the shareholders, he said. “Was it a legal activity? Yes. Was…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: ROME (AP) — The Vatican on Friday launched a campaign to encourage divestment from mining industries, saying the Catholic Church should invest its money in ways that are consistent with its ecological teachings. The effort, which also involves other Christian organizations, takes as its inspiration Pope Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical “Praised Be.” The document, and the ecological movement it […] authors: | ||
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Proboscis monkey found in Thailand adds to evidence of cross-border illegal trade 20 Mar 2026 19:58:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proboscis-monkey-found-in-thailand-adds-to-evidence-of-cross-border-illegal-trade/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Ana Norman Bermúdez content:encoded: RATCHABURI, Thailand — On Jan. 6, residents of Samut Sakhon province, central Thailand, found an injured monkey near a railway track. Pot-bellied with reddish-brown fur and a prominent, upturned nose, it was unlike other monkeys typically seen in the area. After calling a wildlife hotline, they took the animal to a nearby clinic. “That’s when they realized that this was a foreign monkey,” says Kanpicha Han-Asa, a veterinarian with Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) at the Ban Pong wildlife rescue center, where the monkey was later transferred for rehabilitation. The rescued proboscis monkey at Thailand’s Ban Pong wildlife rescue center, where it is recovering from its injuries. Image by Ana Norman Bermúdez for Mongabay. Proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus), also known as long-nosed monkeys for their distinctive large noses, are an endangered species endemic to Borneo. The wildlife center in Ban Pong regularly receives animals intercepted from the illegal trade, including nonnative species, but this is the first proboscis monkey the team has handled. “We haven’t seen or heard about cases involving this species before,” says Krishnapong Oncharoen, head of the wildlife protection unit at the center. After receiving the monkey, officers checked for any permits linked to the species. Proboscis monkeys are listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning international trade is banned, except for very specific noncommercial purposes, such as conservation breeding or research. “If you want to bring them into the country, you must have…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In January, an injured proboscis monkey was found near a railway track in Thailand’s Samut Sakhon province and brought to a nearby clinic. - Proboscis monkeys are an endangered species endemic to Borneo, and international trade is banned except for research or conservation purposes — no permits that would allow such trade exist for the species in Thailand. - Historically, trafficking for pets or zoos has not been a major threat to proboscis monkeys because it is very difficult to keep them alive in captivity, but recent research has found an uptick in live trade of the species. - The monkey is currently recovering from its injuries at a government-run rehabilitation center, and while he will never be able to live in the wild again, officers there say he may be transferred back to his native range once his health is stable. authors: | ||
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Deep-sea mining rules face delays despite urgent push 20 Mar 2026 19:28:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/deep-sea-mining-rules-face-delays-despite-urgent-push/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts content:encoded: Commercial deep-sea mining hasn’t yet begun, but it soon could — with the potential to reshape vast stretches of the ocean as companies move to extract minerals from the seafloor. However, this nascent industry lacks a set of international rules to govern it, and a recent meeting of the regulatory body charged with drafting one has adjourned with big gaps remaining. Leticia Carvalho, Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN-associated deep-sea mining regulator, has stressed the importance of completing the rules to govern seabed exploitation — known as the mining code — by the end of this year. Completing this task has become a critical test for the ISA since the U.S., which is not a member state of the ISA, fast-tracked deep-sea mining plans with apparent disregard for international law. Completing the mining code would ultimately make the U.S. “a less attractive option for companies” by making any moves to mine outside of ISA regulations “highly problematic,” Carvalho said at a press briefing in response to a question from Mongabay. “I continue to be very confident and trust that this year there will be great progress … of the mining code that will take the International Seabed Authority from the era of exploration to the era of exploitation of mineral resources in the deep sea,” Carvalho said. However, the meeting closed on Mar. 19 without a clear timeline for finishing the mining code. Pradeep Singh of Lisbon-based ocean conservation non-profit Oceano Azul, who attended the ISA meeting…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Commercial deep-sea mining hasn’t yet begun, but it soon could — with the potential to reshape vast stretches of the ocean as companies move to extract minerals from the seafloor. However, this nascent industry lacks a set of international rules to govern it, and a recent meeting of the regulatory body charged with drafting one […] authors: | ||
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Many Indigenous peoples in Asia feel excluded from nat’l biodiversity planning: Report 20 Mar 2026 19:12:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/many-indigenous-peoples-in-asia-feel-excluded-from-natl-biodiversity-planning-report/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Sonam Lama Hyolmo content:encoded: A report and policy brief by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) found that Indigenous peoples in Asia think they are having little sway on their nation’s biodiversity goals — despite the global U.N. biodiversity agreement calling on countries to ensure their full and effective participation in decision-making. The report gathered 85 survey responses from 15 countries and 59 Indigenous organizations across Asia, documenting the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in the national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAP) revision processes across these countries. The report focused on Asia, where nearly two-thirds of the world’s Indigenous peoples are located, though many governments do not recognize this status. It found participation, implementation and policy gaps in the countries’ national biodiversity plans. Survey respondents said they had limited influence over outcomes, as Indigenous peoples were not treated as equal partners. However, the report also found that Indigenous peoples increasingly participated in the NBSAP revision processes compared with a previous global biodiversity agreement for the 2011-20 period. When they did participate, roughly 60% reported that participation was not meaningful, and 49% of respondents engaged in the NBSAP processes said they did not know whether their inputs were reflected in the final documents. A small minority of people (9%) received NBSAP update information directly from the government. Indigenous sources told Mongabay they sometimes felt “tokenized” as part of the process. “Indigenous peoples were marginalized in terms of power-sharing as final decisions on what goes into the NBSAP were made by the concerned government ministries and officials,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Many Indigenous peoples in Asia say they have little sway on their nation’s biodiversity goals, despite calls in the global U.N. biodiversity agreement for their full and effective participation in decision-making, according to recent reports. - The research found 13% of survey respondents participated in state-led consultations with Indigenous peoples while almost 60% reported that participation was not meaningful. - However, the research also found that Indigenous peoples increasingly participated in the NBSAP revision processes compared with a previous global biodiversity agreement for the 2011-20 period. - Some Indigenous sources said they felt like their participation was tokenistic and recommend the creation of an Indigenous-led version of the national biodiversity targets to help influence policy. authors: | ||
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World Rewilding Day: Hope for species and ecosystems 20 Mar 2026 18:37:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/world-rewilding-day-hope-for-species-and-ecosystems/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: World Rewilding Day on March 20 celebrates human efforts to rewild and restore degraded areas. Rewilding can focus on a single species, a city park, or even an entire island, and Mongabay has reported on such efforts from around the word. Rewilding in France’s Dauphiné Alps France’s largest rewilding project is underway in the Dauphiné Alps, in the south of the country. In the 18th century, much of the region was cleared for agriculture. But with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, many people abandoned farms and moved to cities. Left undisturbed, native trees and wildlife slowly began coming back. “It allows us to build on what’s been done already,” Olivier Raynaud, director of Rewilding France and leader of the Dauphiné Alps project, told Mongabay. “We’re not starting from scratch.” Four species of vultures have already been reintroduced, following successful breeding in captivity. They’re crucial for ridding the area of disease-spreading carrion and have become a tourist attraction. Next, the project plans to bring back large herbivores, including Polish konik ponies and Scottish Galloway cattle, which are expected to spread seeds that will eventually grow into a forest. Project leaders also hope to bring back the locally endangered Eurasian lynx and eventually wolves — though the wolf plan has so far faced pushback from locals who see the predators as a threat to livestock. Rewilding the world’s largest volcanic lake Lake Toba, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, is the largest volcanic lake in the world and historically home to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: World Rewilding Day on March 20 celebrates human efforts to rewild and restore degraded areas. Rewilding can focus on a single species, a city park, or even an entire island, and Mongabay has reported on such efforts from around the word. Rewilding in France’s Dauphiné Alps France’s largest rewilding project is underway in the Dauphiné […] authors: | ||
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Deadly Indonesia landfill collapse a ‘serious warning’ of systemic failure 20 Mar 2026 16:05:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/deadly-indonesia-landfill-collapse-a-serious-warning-of-systemic-failure/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: A 50-meter (164-foot) mountain of waste at Indonesia’s Bantargebang landfill, the country’s largest, recently collapsed following days of extreme rainfall that destabilized the massive, saturated pile. The tragedy resulted in seven confirmed deaths. The head of Jakarta’s search and rescue office, Desiana Kartika Bahari, said the victims included two garbage truck drivers, three scavengers and two food stall sellers who had been working or resting near the landfill at the time of the collapse. Six people managed to escape the disaster. As of March 10, Bahari confirmed that no additional missing people had been reported by families. Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq characterized the tragedy as the “tip of the iceberg” of Jakarta’s failed waste management. After inspecting the site, he emphasized that the disaster was a serious warning to the provincial government to immediately end open dumping, the practice of illegally piling waste without proper containment. “This incident should not have happened if waste management had been carried out in accordance with regulations,” Nurofiq told Antara, a state news agency in Indonesia. According to the ministry, the site currently holds 80 million tons of waste, which far exceeds its safe capacity. Nurofiq noted that a 2009 law states that negligence resulting in death carries a prison sentence of 5-10 years and fines of up to 10 billion rupiah (US$590,000). The ministry has since initiated a formal investigation into alleged negligence from the site management. Local residents also voiced their frustration. Putri Yorika, who lives 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A mountain of waste at Indonesia’s largest landfill recently collapsed following days of extreme rainfall that destabilized the massive pile. The tragedy resulted in seven confirmed deaths. authors: | ||
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Shipping’s biofuel gamble could deepen Africa’s land squeeze and food insecurity (commentary) 20 Mar 2026 15:10:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/shippings-biofuel-gamble-could-deepen-africas-land-squeeze-and-food-insecurity-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Million BelaySusan Chomba content:encoded: Africa’s future prosperity depends on how fast we can reduce emissions, especially from large polluting sectors like shipping. But using crops as fuel to cut emissions risks causing more harm than good. As countries gather at the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in April to lay down the rules for future clean energy to power shipping, African governments must ensure that crop-based biofuels are not part of the solution. If that does happen, Africa might once again find itself paying the price for a transition from which it may not benefit. Shipping, as with other heavily polluting sectors, must decarbonize. But not all climate solutions are equal. The expansion of biofuels, often portrayed as ‘green’ in international shipping dialogues, could intensify pressures on land and food systems that are already stretched to the limit. As our work has shown, competition for land has reached a breaking point across Africa. Since 2000, hundreds of large-scale land deals have been recorded for industrial farming, carbon credits, mining, and biofuels. What is often presented as ‘unused’ or ‘marginal’ land is, in reality, the basis of livelihoods for small-scale farmers and Indigenous communities who are being displaced or stripped of control over their territories, which drives land inequality, rural poverty, and food insecurity. Biofuels for shipping risks accelerating this trajectory. Farmers at Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo. Image by Axel Fassio/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Shipping consumes roughly 300 million tons of fuel each year, and is responsible for 3% of global…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Using crops as fuel to cut emissions from the shipping sector could cause more harm than good, the authors of a new op-ed argue. - Next month, leaders will gather at the UN’s International Maritime Organization meeting to lay down the rules for decarbonizing shipping, and African governments must ensure that crop-based biofuels are not a part of the solution, they say. - “African states should demand that food-based biofuels are excluded from shipping’s decarbonization targets, and insist on robust sustainability criteria to prevent the conversion of forests, peatlands, and other high-biodiversity or community-managed areas into fuel plantations,” the authors say. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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California condors nesting in Pacific Northwest for first time in a century, on Yurok territory 20 Mar 2026 13:05:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/california-condors-nesting-in-pacific-northwest-for-first-time-in-a-century-on-yurok-territory/ author: Lizkimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: A pair of California condors reintroduced to the Pacific Northwest by the Yurok Tribe appears to have established the species’ first nest in the region in more than 100 years, program officials announced in early March. Based on shifts in behavior and satellite flight data, biologists with the Northern California Condor Restoration Program (NCCRP) determined that the female condor, known by her Yurok name Ney-gem’ Ne-chween-kah (“She carries our prayers”), likely laid an egg inside a hollow in an old-growth redwood tree along Redwood Creek drainage in early February. Her mate, called Hlow Hoo-let (“At last I fly”), has been sharing incubation duties. Both birds are roughly 6 years and 10 months old, right at the cusp of sexual maturity for the species, which typically begins breeding between the ages of 6 and 7. “This is a huge moment for our Northern California flock,” said Chris West, the NCCRP program manager and Yurok Wildlife Department senior biologist. “It is important to remember that these are wild birds. We trap them occasionally for health monitoring, but if they nest, and how successful they are, is totally up to them, with as little interference from us as possible.” The nest site is too remote for direct visual confirmation, so staff are relying on wing-mounted transmitters and field observations to monitor the pair’s progress. The program is exploring the use of drones to get a look at the nest. The egg, if present, would take 55-58 days to hatch, with both parents taking…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A pair of California condors reintroduced by the Yurok Tribe to Northern California appear to be incubating the first egg in the Pacific Northwest in more than a century, nesting in a remote old-growth redwood. - The birds, both nearly 7 years old and among the first cohort released in 2022, are being monitored via satellite transmitters; direct confirmation of the egg is not yet possible. - The discovery is a milestone for a species whose global population dropped to 22 individuals in 1982 and has since recovered to 607 — though threats still including lead poisoning and avian influenza persist. - The Northern California Condor Restoration Program, a partnership between the Yurok Tribe and Redwood National and State Parks, plans to continue annual releases for at least 20 years, with the goal of establishing a self-sustaining Pacific Northwest flock. authors: | ||
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Jakarta port authorities seize 3 tons of pangolin scales in Cambodia-bound container 20 Mar 2026 07:58:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/jakarta-port-authorities-seize-3-tons-of-pangolin-scales-in-cambodia-bound-container/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Anggita Raissa content:encoded: JAKARTA — Customs inspectors at the Indonesian capital’s main port uncovered more than 3 metric tons of pangolin scales in a shipping container bound for Cambodia in late February, in one of the largest seizures of the critically endangered mammal in years. “We are committed to tightening export controls and taking firm action against any violations that threaten wildlife sustainability and harm the state,” Adhang Noegroho Adhi, the head of the Customs and Excise office at Tanjung Priok Port, said in a statement announcing the investigation in March. Pangolins are the only mammals covered head to toe in scales. This armor offers protection in the wild, but makes pangolins easy prey in a global wildlife trade worth up to $23 billion annually. The mammal’s scales, which are made from the same protein as human hair and nails, are prized by traditional healers in China and parts of Southeast Asia, despite the scales possessing no scientifically proven medicinal benefits. Adhang Noegroho Adhi, head of Tanjung Priok customs and excise office, at a press conference in March. Image by Tanjung Priok Customs Public Relations. On Feb. 18, officials became suspicious of a 20-foot shipping container after reviewing documentation provided by the exporter, PT TSR. According to the consignment document, the container held only sea cucumbers and instant noodles. However, a scan of the container showed three separate storage areas, raising suspicions of unreported goods inside. Officials then began an inspection of the crate. Inside, they found 99 boxes containing dried pangolin scales,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A spot inspection of a 20-foot container by customs authorities at Indonesia’s largest port in late February uncovered more than $10 million in pangolin scales. - There are eight species of the herbivorous pangolin, all categorized as threatened due to habitat loss and poaching, which is largely to supply raw material for Chinese traditional medicine, despite the total absence of any scientific proof of medicinal benefit. - Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Indonesia’s premier forestry faculty, estimate that every kilogram of pangolin scales requires the death of up to five pangolins. - Separately, a police officer convicted last year over a scheme to trade 1.2 metric tons of pangolin scales stolen from a police evidence room had his nine-year sentence reduced to seven on appeal. authors: | ||
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Should potentially harmful chemicals be appraised by class, not one at a time? 19 Mar 2026 20:16:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/should-potentially-harmful-chemicals-be-appraised-by-class-not-one-at-a-time/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Look around your home. A food wrapper, a shampoo bottle, a couch cushion and many other items very likely contain synthetic chemicals that were never tested for long-term safety before reaching store shelves. In most countries, chemicals are assumed safe until proven harmful, and companies don’t have to demonstrate their products are safe before selling them. Instead, the responsibility falls on regulators to prove the harmfulness after chemicals are already in widespread use, a process that is expensive and slow. In many cases, regulators spend years building a case against one harmful chemical, only for manufacturers to then swap it for a structurally similar substitute that starts the process over. This pattern has a name: “regrettable substitution,” or the “toxic treadmill,” a cycle in which one harmful chemical is replaced by a structurally similar one that turns out to be equally problematic, requiring years of new research to prove. For example, when bisphenol A (BPAs), a synthetic compound used to make plastic, was found to interact with the human endocrine system, product manufacturers began to remove it from their products and replace it with BPS, a similar set of compounds that have also been linked to endocrine and estrogen disruption. PFAS (forever chemicals) have been found in the bodies of North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) thousands of miles from any factory. They are also found in human bodies. Image by Vsevolod Rudyi via iNaturalist. CC BY 4.0. “As a consumer we think, these people are taking care of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Everyday household items very likely contain synthetic chemicals that were never tested for long-term safety. And even when one chemical is proven harmful, manufacturers often quickly replace it with a similar substitute that in time is often found to be equally dangerous, a cycle scientists call “regrettable substitution” or the “toxic treadmill.” - In response, some scientists and health advocates are pushing for a “Six Classes” framework that evaluates entire groups of chemicals, or chemically related subgroups, together, flagging them for scrutiny before harm is documented rather than after. - The framework targets six broad categories of chemicals that share many common traits: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), flame retardants, phthalates and bisphenols, antimicrobials, certain solvents, and certain metals. - The chemical industry argues that grouping diverse chemicals oversimplifies the science and isn’t a workable system, but proponents say the framework is not meant to result in blanket bans but to create a more effective screening tool that better protects consumers. authors: | ||
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Juliette Chapalain on building networks and nurturing talent to tell Africa’s environmental stories 19 Mar 2026 19:11:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/juliette-chapalain-on-building-networks-and-nurturing-talent-to-tell-africas-environmental-stories/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo content:encoded: In 2023, Mongabay expanded its coverage of environmental news in Africa by launching a new bureau, Mongabay Africa, to address news for the continent multilingually, beginning with French and English. This expansion identified a need for multimedia journalists with real-world experience on the continent in its main languages in priority areas. Having carved out a journalism career spanning more than a decade with a focus on African economic, social and environmental issues, which included stints in Côte d’Ivoire and Togo, for Juliette Chapalain, the opportunity to join Mongabay as fellowship and multimedia editor made perfect sense. Throughout her years, she gained versatile experience as a reporter, writer, videojournalist, producer, and director with notable French-language media outlets such as TV5 Monde, Arte, France 2, TF1, Mediapart and Libération, and later at BBC News in London. Now, Chapalain splits her time between leading the Africa bureau’s multimedia team and guiding environmental journalists through the French-language fellowship program. “What I love about my work is that it’s editorial, creative, and also very entrepreneurial at the same time,” she says. Chapalain (top row, second left) with the third cohort, “Plumes vertes de l’espoir,” of the African French-language fellowship program, during an online workshop in 2025. Image courtesy of Juliette Chapalain. Through the fellowship, Chapalain also works to build a global network of highly skilled journalists focused on finding impactful stories. She has learned several lessons that she transmits to the fellows under her care: “Build and expand a trustful network of solid and diverse…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Juliette Chapalain is Mongabay Africa’s multimedia and fellowship editor, leading the bureau’s video, podcast and fellowship initiatives. - She has more than a decade of experience across French and international media, including TV5 Monde, Arte and BBC News. - Through Mongabay’s fellowship program, she mentors and trains African environmental journalists, helping build a diverse network of storytellers driving impact across the continent. - This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom. authors: | ||
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New mapping data show where oil blocks threaten Venezuela’s protected areas 19 Mar 2026 18:42:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/new-mapping-data-show-where-oil-blocks-threaten-venezuelas-protected-areas/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: Since the U.S. ousted Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this year, officials in Caracas have been looking for ways to increase oil production, including by attracting foreign private investment. In February, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited facilities operated by Chevron and met with interim government officials, describing plans to unlock “Venezuela’s enormous potential.” New supply contracts are routing Venezuelan crude to U.S. refineries while a new reform law is supposed to attract foreign oil companies with lower taxes and other incentives. Increased production could have an adverse environmental impact as activity ramps up, many conservation groups say. In Venezuela, oil blocks overlap with protected areas, and leaks have been a problem for decades. “From an environmental point of view, an immediate reactivation without investment in infrastructure is almost a sure formula for environmental damage from spills,” Eduardo Klein, a marine ecology professor at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, told Mongabay. New mapping analysis by Mongabay reveals the extent of the potential threat to the country’s numerous ecosystems, including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, coral reefs and Amazon rainforest, among others. The map was made with data from the World Database of Protected Areas and oil block maps from ProVita, an environmental nonprofit. It shows that Venezuela has 538,883 square kilometers (208,064 square miles) of protected areas and 177,843 km2 (68,666 mi2) of oil blocks, some of them already in production and others in the pre-exploration or exploration phases. An estimated 70,785 km2 (27,330 mi2) — or around 13% — of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - New mapping analysis by Mongabay reveals the potential threat from oil extraction to numerous ecosystems in Venezuela, including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, coral reefs and Amazon rainforest, among others. - Venezuela has 538,883 km2 (208,064 mi2) of protected areas and 177,843 km2 (68,666 mi2) of oil blocks, some of them already in production and others in the pre-exploration or exploration phases. - An estimated 70,785 km2 (27,330 mi2)— or around 13% — of those oil blocks overlap with protected areas. - If oil production ramps up to the 60-year historical average by 2036 — around 2.5 million barrels — the country would extract around 70 billion barrels and release an estimated 33.1 gigatons of CO2 by 2100, according to Climate Interactive’s calculator for fossil fuel extraction from biomass-rich areas. authors: | ||
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Contested Amazon dam called to review water flow as river ecosystem fails 19 Mar 2026 17:45:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/contested-amazon-dam-called-to-review-water-flow-as-river-ecosystem-fails/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: André Schröder content:encoded: After 10 years of operation, the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in Pará state has yet to resolve its most severe local impact: the reduction in water flow in the Volta Grande do Xingu. The 130-kilometer (81-mile) bend on the river in the Brazilian Amazon is rich in biodiversity and vital to Indigenous peoples and riverine communities. Belo Monte is the largest hydropower plant in the Amazon and the second-largest in Brazil. Since construction plans began, local and Indigenous communities have been warning that the plant could disrupt the Xingu ecosystem and livelihoods. Ensuring sufficient river flow was a nonnegotiable condition of the project’s environmental licensing, but Belo Monte’s operator has invoked Brazil’s energy security to avoid reviewing the volume of water diverted from the Xingu River. Technical reports by the federal environmental agency, IBAMA, alongside independent monitoring by researchers, have confirmed early warnings and pointed to grave and irreparable impacts across the Volta Grande (Big Bend) as Belo Monte began operating in 2016. Subnormal water levels have dried flooded forests and ironstone formations, disrupting reproduction and causing physical deformities and massive mortality among fish and turtle species, many of which are endemic to the region and critically endangered. “The Xingu is a highly unique river,” Lúcia Rapp Py-Daniel, a biologist and researcher at the National Institute for Amazonian Research, told Mongabay by phone. “Several species of fauna and flora have adapted to the rapids flowing over an almost continuous bed of rock that exists only there. We are seeing a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A federal court and Brazil’s environmental agency ordered the Belo Monte hydropower plant to revise the Xingu River’s water-sharing plan, a decade after its debut, but a legal stay blocks enforcement of the ruling. - The plant’s water flow has been subject to several complaints, as low water levels in the Volta Grande do Xingu have dried flooded forests and rock habitats, disrupting fish and turtle reproduction and threatening endemic species. - “Increasing the amount of water is the only solution to restore this ecosystem,” says Josiel Juruna, coordinator of an Indigenous-led monitoring program documenting the impacts. authors: | ||
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Investigation links DRC air pollution concerns to major copper-cobalt plant 19 Mar 2026 16:37:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/investigation-links-drc-air-pollution-concerns-to-major-copper-cobalt-plant/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: In 2024, the mother of a 6-month-old baby described to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) what happened to her son after one of Africa’s largest copper and cobalt processing complexes was built just a few hundred meters from their home. “One evening, he started vomiting blood. He vomited more than three times, and then he died. That’s when I realized his death was caused by air pollution. I am not alone in this situation.” The mother and her child lived in Manomapia, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The facility that allegedly sickened her child is owned by Tenke Fungurume Mining (TFM), a Congolese subsidiary of the Chinese company CMOC. The mine is set to provide 100,000 metric tons of copper to the United States. The processing facility, roughly the size of 500 football fields, according to the EIA, is known as the “30K plant” because it can process 30,000 tons of mixed copper-cobalt ore per day. Both copper and cobalt are key components in lithium-ion batteries, used in electric vehicles, computers and smartphones. “From the moment 30K began operating in 2023, people in Manomapia began complaining about really serious health issues, including vomiting and coughing up blood, life-threatening respiratory infections and maternal health complications,” Luke Allen, Africa program campaigner for EIA, told Mongabay in a phone call. Allen spent three years investigating the issue, conducting air quality monitoring and reviewing from a nearby clinic, later analyzed by an independent expert. “We found that levels of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In 2024, the mother of a 6-month-old baby described to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) what happened to her son after one of Africa’s largest copper and cobalt processing complexes was built just a few hundred meters from their home. “One evening, he started vomiting blood. He vomited more than three times, and then he […] authors: | ||
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Eight arrested as Europe cracks down on lucrative eel smuggling syndicates 19 Mar 2026 14:41:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/eight-arrested-as-europe-cracks-down-on-lucrative-eel-smuggling-syndicates/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: Authorities in France and Spain have arrested six French nationals and two Spaniards who were allegedly part of a transnational syndicate that were trafficking critically endangered European eels. The suspects are accused of smuggling more than 7 million eels worth 600,000 euros ($693,000) over two years. The joint investigation began a year ago. In March 2025, the public prosecutor’s office in Bayonne, a city in southwestern France bordering Spain, opened a judicial investigation into suspected smuggling of juvenile European eels — known as glass eels at this stage of their development — from the Adour River Basin and the Bay of Biscay. Authorities uncovered an international trafficking ring operated by a collector from the Landes region, according to the prosecutor’s office. He worked for a French fish wholesaler, authorities say, and was laundering glass eels that were caught illegally amid those caught legally, circumventing rules in place to trace the origins of the fish. Over the past two years, officials believe he poached and trafficked more than two tons of glass eels to his employer and, clandestinely, to a Spanish wholesaler. On March 12, 2026, each of the alleged smugglers arrested in France was charged with participating in a criminal activity, unauthorized possession, transport and export of animal products, and forgery. They’ve also been banned from engaging in any fishing activities, and one individual was required to pay bail of 100,000 euros ($115,500). European eels (Anguilla anguilla) are coveted as a delicacy in East Asian cuisine. They’re caught in their…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Authorities in France and Spain have arrested eight suspects tied to a cross-border syndicate, accused of trafficking critically endangered European eels. - Investigators say more than 7 million juvenile glass eels, worth nearly 600,000 euros (690,000 dollars), were smuggled over two years’ time. - The arrests follow a year-long joint probe by investigators from the two countries into illegal fishing and laundering of eel catches. - The case highlights the scale of an illicit trade that persists despite bans and trade protections for the species. authors: | ||
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Indonesia court orders release of withheld impact studies on new capital 19 Mar 2026 11:16:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesia-court-orders-release-of-withheld-impact-studies-on-new-capital/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Niken D. Sitoningrum content:encoded: EAST KALIMANTAN, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to release environmental impact assessments for two projects at the country’s new capital city, handing civil society groups a rare transparency victory. The case brought by the East Kalimantan provincial chapter of the Mining Advocacy Network, a civil society organization known as Jatam, was formally read out at Indonesia’s Information Commissioner, the KIP, in early March. “It’s a victory for the people in general, I think, especially those directly affected by the construction of the [new capital] infrastructure project in East Kalimantan,” said Muh. Jamil, the head of Jatam’s legal team on the case. An environmental impact assessment is a legal requirement to assess the immediate and cumulative environmental impacts of a project. It also formally identifies measures required to prevent undue harm to an ecosystem. The decision requires the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing to publish these environmental documents concerning the Sepaku Semoi Dam and Sepaku River intake, two utility water projects campaigners blamed for displacing Indigenous Balik families at Indonesia’s largest-ever construction site. The Balik community in Penajam Paser district numbers around 1,000 people and speaks a different language to the broader Dayak Indigenous groups living in East Kalimantan province. The Sepaku River intake comprises transmission pipes running 16 kilometers (10 miles) to Nusantara, the new capital city, with a supply capacity of 3,000 liters per second (nearly 800 gallons per second). The government calls the Sepaku Semoi Dam “a crucial supplier of water” for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia mining industry watchdog Jatam has won a case at the country’s Supreme Court requiring the government to disclose environmental impact assessments pertaining to two utility water projects at the country’s new capital city site. - In 2019, then-president Joko Widodo announced he would move the capital of the world’s fourth-most-populous country from Jakarta to Nusantara, a new site surrounded by forests and Indigenous communities on the east coast of Borneo. - At issue are the Sepaku Semoi Dam and Sepaku River intake, two infrastructure projects at Nusantara that have impacted local Indigenous populations, Jatam said. - The NGO called the ruling a victory for transparency, but criticized efforts to withhold documents and pointed to a 2008 law as well as Indonesia’s Constitution requiring public access to information. authors: | ||
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An ‘ethereal’ new-to-science poison dart frog from the Amazon: Photo of the week 19 Mar 2026 11:00:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/an-ethereal-new-to-science-poison-dart-frog-from-the-amazon-photo-of-the-week/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Scientists in Brazil described a new-to-science species of poison dart frog last year. It was first found among the leaves of wild banana plants on a research expedition to the Juruá River Basin in the western Amazon in 2023. The frog, around the length of a paperclip (14–17 millimeters, or 0.5-0.7 inches), is reddish-brown and blue on top, bright blue with black spots underneath, and has copper-colored legs. It was named Ranitomeya aetherea, in reference to the word “ethereal.” “We attribute this name to one’s feeling of enchantment and delicacy when encountering these frogs, as if they were from outside this world,” the study’s authors wrote in the species’ description. The species has only been found at one site, where it lays its eggs in the small pools of water that collect inside plant leaves. This remote habitat is largely intact, with no immediate threats from deforestation or wildfires, creating a shield of protection from human-led activities. This is in stark contrast to most other amphibian species, 40% of which are threatened with extinction. However, researchers stressed that biopiracy — the illegal collection and trade of rare species — and climate change are still threats. The frog’s exact toxicity is unknown, but the whole Ranitomeya family is known to be poisonous, with toxins on their skin and bright colors to alert would-be predators. “We know it’s poisonous to those that try to prey on it,” lead author Alexander Mônico, a researcher at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), told Mongabay.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Scientists in Brazil described a new-to-science species of poison dart frog last year. It was first found among the leaves of wild banana plants on a research expedition to the Juruá River Basin in the western Amazon in 2023. The frog, around the length of a paperclip (14–17 millimeters, or 0.5-0.7 inches), is reddish-brown and blue […] authors: | ||
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How foreign investor lawsuits stymie environmental protection 19 Mar 2026 10:59:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/how-foreign-investor-lawsuits-stymie-environmental-protection/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: New data by the Transnational Institute reveal how an increase in lawsuits by foreign investors is undermining government efforts to protect natural resources and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. Countries in the region are facing a total of $36.6 billion in lawsuits from corporations, all through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) claims, which often constrain governments’ ability to implement reforms due to fear of costly punishments. The data identified 419 ISDS claims against countries in the region filed as of mid-October 2025, with Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Ecuador shouldering the highest costs. Together, they face almost two-thirds of all lawsuits, with 257 claims. Between 2014 and 2024, 212 lawsuits were registered across the region, a 133% increase from previous decades. “We are talking about close to 40 billion dollars LAC [Latin American and Caribbean] states have been ordered to pay already, and there are many cases we don’t know the amount they were asked to pay, so the number is actually higher,” Bettina Müller, an associate researcher at the Transnational Institute and author of the report, told Mongabay over email. “Imagine what could have been done with 40 billion dollars in the region and specifically in the countries which have been ordered to pay the most, like Venezuela and Argentina.” ISDS is a mechanism in international trade agreements that allows foreign investors to sue states before international tribunals when they think that national laws, regulations, legal decisions or other public measures violate their treaty protections. The mechanism…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - New data reveal that lawsuits filed by corporations against Latin American and Caribbean countries are increasing, undermining government efforts to implement policies that could benefit the energy transition, human rights and the environment. - Between 2014 and 2024, 212 lawsuits were registered, a 133% increase from previous decades. - Across 419 known cases filed by mid-October 2025, countries in the region are facing a total of $36.6 billion in lawsuits from corporations, with 23% of claims coming from the mining, oil and gas sector, making it the second-most sued region globally by foreign investors. authors: | ||
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World Frog Day: New species described amid threats to amphibian survival 19 Mar 2026 10:47:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/world-frog-day-new-species-described-amid-threats-to-amphibian-survival/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: March 20 is World Frog Day. Frogs and toads have inhabited Earth for hundreds of millions of years, but 40% of amphibians species are now at risk of extinction, according to the latest conservation assessments. Every year, roughly 150 new amphibian species are described. But many are immediately listed as threatened or endangered due to habitat loss, disease and climate change. “Some species may not even get named before they go extinct,” biologist Zeeshan Mirza told Mongabay in December 2025. Over the last year, Mongabay’s reporters have covered pressing threats facing frogs in all corners of the world. Here are a few. Rare galaxy frogs threatened by photo tourism in India Seven rare galaxy frogs (Melanobatrachus indicus) disappeared from southern India’s Western Ghats rainforest after a small group allegedly spent four hours handling and photographing the animals, an anonymous informant reported. Researchers studying galaxy frogs, named for their resemblance to a night sky, found overturned logs and trampled vegetation at the site where the frogs had lived among rotting wood and stones. “These beautiful yet rare frogs are unlike anything else on our tiny corner of the universe,” K.P. Rajkumar, a Zoological Society of London fellow, told Mongabay reporter Liz Kimbrough. “This sad event is a stark warning for the consequences of unregulated photography.” Endangered mountain yellow-legged frog reintroduced again in California Conservationists released 350 endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs (Rana muscosa) into Bluff Lake in Southern California earlier this year. The species was once highly abundant in the region, but…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: March 20 is World Frog Day. Frogs and toads have inhabited Earth for hundreds of millions of years, but 40% of amphibians species are now at risk of extinction, according to the latest conservation assessments. Every year, roughly 150 new amphibian species are described. But many are immediately listed as threatened or endangered due to […] authors: | ||
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Facebook shuts Indonesia groups after Mongabay and Bellingcat report illegal wildlife trade 19 Mar 2026 09:48:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/facebook-shuts-indonesia-groups-after-mongabay-and-bellingcat-report-illegal-wildlife-trade/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Achmad Rizki MuazamFoeke Postma content:encoded: This story was produced in collaboration with Bellingcat. Read their version here, and Mongabay-Indonesia’s version here. JAKARTA — A new report by Mongabay and independent journalism organization Bellingcat has uncovered several Facebook groups selling protected species in Indonesia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. In a Facebook group whose Indonesian name translates to “West Bogor Animal Selling and Trading Forum,” reporters last year found a member of that group advertising a rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) for sale. In Indonesia, all hornbill species are protected by law. In comments below the post advertising the caged bird, one member warns: “Careful not to get caught.” “That’s the risk,” replied the seller. Another advertisement featured two infant Javan silvery gibbons (Hylobates moloch), fewer than 2,500 mature individuals of which are left in the wild. This species is also protected by law. The West Bogor Animal Selling and Trading Forum group on Facebook added more than 200 advertisements in just one week. Eighteen of them were for threatened species. In total, reporters uncovered a total of nine Facebook groups selling animals like these threatened apes and hornbills. Three of the groups have been active for more than five years. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, states that trade of animals on its platforms is prohibited. Among thousands of adverts posted in the nine groups were a handful of animal photos with the same poster in frame, giving away the location as Station Sato, a quiet pet store in Cibinong, a southern suburb of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Facebook parent company Meta has closed nine groups on the social network after reporters from Mongabay and Bellingcat found evidence of illegal wildlife trade being conducted openly on the platform in Indonesia. - In one Facebook group, reporters last year found an advertisement for a rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), a protected species. - “Bad actors constantly evolve their tactics to avoid enforcement, which is why we partner with groups like the World Wildlife Fund and invest in tools and technology to detect and remove violating content,” Meta said in a statement. authors: | ||
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Indonesia plan to rezone elephant reserve for carbon trading and tourism sparks backlash 19 Mar 2026 06:38:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesia-plan-to-rezone-elephant-reserve-for-carbon-trading-and-tourism-sparks-backlash/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Environmental experts and activists have slammed plans for carbon and tourism projects in an Indonesian park that’s home to critically endangered tigers, rhinos and elephants. The government has framed the proposed rezoning of half of the core area of Way Kambas National Park for carbon trading and luxury tourism as a way to raise money for ecosystem restoration. But critics contend it could actually harm wildlife in one of Sumatra’s most important remaining habitats. “If the reason for reducing the core zone is to increase the utilization zone for business, that’s not appropriate,” Indonesian ecologist Wishnu Sukmantoro, a member of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay. He added that such a move could undermine Indonesia’s credibility in international conservation forums. Announced last year, the proposed rezoning would more than halve the park’s strictly protected core area from 59,935 to 27,661 hectares (148,103 to 68,352 acres), while expanding its utilization zone nearly tenfold from 3,934 to 32,091 hectares (9,721 to 79,299 acres), according to a Ministry of Forestry document seen by Mongabay. The core zone, now a largely continuous block, would be split into three separate sections. Maps of the proposed rezoning of the Way Kambas National Park. The changes would affect areas including Wako, Way Kanan and Sekapuk, which conservationists say still support key wildlife and functional habitat, even as some parts of the park have been degraded by decades of illegal logging. The Wako–Way Kanan landscape also forms…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia plans to rezone large parts of Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra for carbon trading and luxury tourism to raise conservation funds. - Critics warn the move could fragment core habitat and harm critically endangered species like Sumatran elephants, tigers and rhinos. - Experts say carbon projects and reforestation could reduce elephant food sources and worsen human-wildlife conflict. - Concerns are mounting over transparency, governance and whether revenues will truly support conservation and local communities. authors: | ||
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Hat Yai’s floods are a warning for cities built against nature (analysis) 19 Mar 2026 05:39:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/hat-yais-floods-are-a-warning-for-cities-built-against-nature-analysis/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Pakamas ThinphangaRichard Friend content:encoded: Every year, Chinese New Year festivals in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai attract tourists, mostly from neighboring Malaysia, generating a significant proportion of annual income for a city dependent on tourism. But not this year. Three months after the November 2025 flood disaster, the new year is being celebrated with continuing cleaning, scrubbing mud from people’s homes and shops, and clearing away piles of water-damaged vehicles, furniture and rotting rubbish. More than 40% of hotels, shops and restaurants remain shut. Some might not reopen at all. It’s not just about cleaning up and reviving the city with festivals, but convincing businesses and the private sector to stay in the largest economic hub in southern Thailand. The business sector is still reeling from the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns. Somporn Siriporananon, a former vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of Songkhla province, where Hat Yai is located, said he’s extremely anxious about the slow recovery. “The business sector doesn’t have the confidence to invest in recovery or new ventures,” he said. “The risk of another large flood is too high and there is a general feeling it might not be worth it. This is especially the case for the SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises].” Such apprehension is understandable. In the last 40 years, Hat Yai has experienced four major flood disasters, each more costly and deadlier than the last. The 1988 disaster caused losses of 4 billion baht, or about $158 million at the exchange rate back then. The 2000 and 2010…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Hat Yai’s economy is still struggling to recover from the devastating November 2025 floods, raising fears that repeated disasters could drive businesses and investment away from the southern Thai tourism hub. - Flood risk is rising due to urban expansion, altered drainage, upstream land-use change and increasingly intense rainfall linked to climate change. - Decades of costly engineering fixes have failed to keep pace, and without major land-use reforms and nature-based solutions, the city risks locking itself into a cycle of worsening floods. - This post is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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From endangered to invasive: Rare ocelot spotted on Mexico’s Cozumel Island 18 Mar 2026 22:08:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/from-endangered-to-invasive-rare-ocelot-spotted-on-mexicos-cozumel-island/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: In 2016, when biologists in Mexico reviewed their photo traps from Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, they were surprised to see an ocelot, a wildcat considered endangered in the country. But curiosity soon turned to alarm: ocelots are effective predators of endemic species on the island, which have no experience or natural defense against the medium-sized wildcat. Luis-Bernardo Vázquez heads a research team at the Urban Ecology Lab, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur-SLCL. He’s been studying the wildlife of Cozumel for years using tools ranging from camera traps to transects and road surveys. “Before 2016 we never detected any ocelot in the island,” he said. “Because we had many years of sampling before that with no records, we think the species was not present on the island before that time.” Ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) are declining across much of their range, from the U.S. state of Texas all the way to Uruguay. They’re listed as an endangered species in the United States but, ironically, as an unwanted threat on Cozumel. The presence of an ocelot as an invasive predator on Cozumel Island could be a threat to endemic wildlife like the Cozumel white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus cozumelae), Cozumel harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys spectabilis), Cozumel rice rat (Oryzomys couesi cozumelae), dwarf peccary (Dicotyles tajacu nanus) and Cozumel curassow (Crax rubra griscomi). “A species can be endangered in one place and ecologically damaging in another, and that requires communities to decide what future they want for their island,” David Will of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In 2016, when biologists in Mexico reviewed their photo traps from Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, they were surprised to see an ocelot, a wildcat considered endangered in the country. But curiosity soon turned to alarm: ocelots are effective predators of endemic species on the island, which have no experience or natural defense […] authors: | ||
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Brazil protects huge coastal area with endangered dolphins and megafauna fossils 18 Mar 2026 18:11:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/brazil-protects-huge-coastal-area-with-endangered-dolphins-and-megafauna-fossils/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Brazil’s federal government created a huge conservation area on March 6 to protect a critical biodiversity hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean. The newly created Albardão marine park and coastal environmental protected area are home to at least 25 endangered species and Pleistocene epoch megafauna fossils. The new national park is off the coast of Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, and spans more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres), making it the country’s largest marine park and third-largest marine protected area. A buffer zone spanning an additional 614,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) was also included in the government decree. “The Albardão region brings together ecosystems that are fundamental for Brazil’s biodiversity,” the federal government wrote in a statement. “The site is considered strategic for the life cycle of several threatened species.” The government decree creates some exemptions for sustainable ecotourism, scientific research and artisanal fishing in the marine and coastal protected areas. The Albardão Marine Park is home to endangered Lahille’s bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus gephyreus), of which just 500 individuals are alive today, and franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei), listed as critically endangered in Brazil and vulnerable worldwide. Another 23 species of endangered sharks and rays also inhabit the region, including endangered angelshark species, which a 2025 Mongabay investigation revealed was being served in local school lunches. Also in the area are the critically endangered bowmouth guitarfish (Rhina ancylostomus). An adjacent coastal protected area was also created, spanning nearly 56,000 hectares (138,000 acres). It includes dune fields and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Brazil’s federal government created a huge conservation area on March 6 to protect a critical biodiversity hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean. The newly created Albardão marine park and coastal environmental protected area are home to at least 25 endangered species and Pleistocene epoch megafauna fossils. The new national park is off the coast of Brazil’s […] authors: | ||
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Rwanda advances nuclear ambitions after positive IAEA assessment 18 Mar 2026 18:10:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/rwanda-advances-nuclear-ambitions-after-positive-iaea-assessment/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: In early March, while attending the Nuclear Energy Summit, Rwandan President Paul Kagame reaffirmed his ambition to develop civilian nuclear reactors in Rwanda. “Nuclear energy is not too complex or risky for developing countries,” he said during the meeting. “It will diversify our energy mix while providing the stability required for industrial growth and long-term transformation.” Currently, Rwanda’s energy supply is largely dominated by hydropower and thermal energy. In 2020, just half of the population had access to electricity; by 2030 the country aims to reach 100% electricity access. The East African country is banking on nuclear power to supply 60-70% of its electricity mix. The recent summit took place just one day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded a trip to Kigali to assess Rwanda’s readiness for nuclear energy. The IAEA inspected 19 points considered essential for launching a civilian nuclear program, including the legal framework, radioactive waste management and safety. After a weeklong evaluation, the IAEA concluded that Rwanda is making strong progress toward establishing its nuclear program. “Strong government support and the effective coordination of the preparatory work helped Rwanda make significant progress towards deciding on a nuclear power programme,” Mehmet Ceyhan, technical lead of the IAEA nuclear infrastructure development section and team leader for the mission, said in a press release. “The level of preparation and involvement from all participating organizations and teams during the mission reflected a deep commitment to the programme.” According to the IAEA, Rwanda is currently identifying candidate sites for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In early March, while attending the Nuclear Energy Summit, Rwandan President Paul Kagame reaffirmed his ambition to develop civilian nuclear reactors in Rwanda. “Nuclear energy is not too complex or risky for developing countries,” he said during the meeting. “It will diversify our energy mix while providing the stability required for industrial growth and long-term […] authors: | ||
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Paul Ehrlich, ‘Population Bomb’ ecologist, dies at 93 18 Mar 2026 17:54:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/paul-ehrlich-population-bomb-ecologist-dies-at-93/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The modern environmental movement acquired many of its arguments from scientists who studied forests, oceans and the atmosphere. Few supplied it with a warning as stark, or as controversial, as that delivered by Paul Ehrlich. A population biologist trained on insects, he became one of the most recognizable public intellectuals of the environmental age. His predictions of famine and ecological strain in The Population Bomb helped shape debate about limits to growth in the late 20th century. They also made him a lightning rod. Ehrlich, who died March 13 at 93, spent most of his professional life at Stanford University. His formal training was in entomology and population biology. As a young researcher, he studied butterflies with the meticulous patience of a field naturalist, cataloging how species dispersed across landscapes and how small populations survived. Those studies, often conducted with his wife and collaborator, Anne Ehrlich, helped illuminate ideas about population structure, extinction risk and habitat fragmentation. They were technical contributions, widely respected within ecology. Public fame arrived by a different route. In 1968, Ehrlich published The Population Bomb, a short, urgent book that argued that rapid human population growth threatened to outstrip the planet’s capacity to provide food and resources. Its opening pages were deliberately blunt. Ehrlich wrote that “the battle to feed all of humanity is over,” predicting that hundreds of millions might die in famines during the following decades. The book appeared at a moment when global population growth rates were historically high and food shortages had…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford ecologist whose research on butterflies and population dynamics helped shape modern ecology, became one of the most prominent scientific voices in the early environmental movement. He died March 13 at age 93. - His 1968 book, The Population Bomb, argued that rapid human population growth threatened to outstrip the planet’s capacity to provide food and resources, influencing public debate while also drawing sustained criticism. - Ehrlich’s forecasts of widespread famine proved too stark as agricultural productivity rose, and a widely publicized wager with economist Julian Simon over commodity prices ended in Ehrlich’s loss. - Despite the controversies, his scientific work on extinction risk, habitat fragmentation and biodiversity decline helped frame how ecologists think about the pressures human societies place on the living world. authors: | ||
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A bonobo named Kanzi could play pretend, challenging ideas about animal imaginations 18 Mar 2026 15:37:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-bonobo-named-kanzi-could-play-pretend-challenging-ideas-about-animal-imaginations/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Imagine you’re at a tea party with a bonobo. What kind of tea are you serving? Are there cakes? What is the bonobo wearing? Is the ability to imagine things unique to humans? According to new evidence from Johns Hopkins University, it is not. A study published in the journal Science in February found that a bonobo named Kanzi could identify and track pretend objects across a series of controlled experiments. This is the first time imagination has been demonstrated in a nonhuman animal under scientific conditions. The findings suggest that the cognitive machinery underlying imagination may date back 6 to 9 million years to the common ancestor shared by humans and other great apes. “It really is game-changing that their mental lives go beyond the here and now,” said co-author Christopher Krupenye, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins, in a press release. “Imagination has long been seen as a critical element of what it is to be human but the idea that it may not be exclusive to our species is really transformative.” Kanzi, a 43-year-old bonobo living in captivity at Ape Initiative taught scientists about the bonobo mind. Photo courtesy of Ape Initiative. Kanzi, a 43-year-old bonobo who lived at Ape Initiative, a nonprofit research center in Des Moines, Iowa, had been raised in a captivity and trained to communicate using more than 300 lexigrams (symbols linked to words). He could also respond to spoken English prompts. In the first…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo, identified and tracked pretend objects across tea party-like experiments, marking the first controlled demonstration of imagination in a nonhuman animal - In three experiments, Kanzi repeatedly pointed to the correct location of imaginary juice and grapes, and chose real juice over pretend juice, showing that he understood the difference between real and imaginary objects. - This study suggests that the cognitive capacity for imagination may date back 6 to 9 million years to the common ancestor of humans and great apes, though some researchers question whether simpler explanations could account for Kanzi’s responses. - Kanzi died in March 2025 at age 44, but researchers hope to explore whether other apes, including those without extensive human language training, share this capacity. authors: | ||
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Nepal’s rural women at increasing risk of human-wildlife conflict 18 Mar 2026 15:16:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Tulsi Rauniyar content:encoded: BARDIYA, Nepal — On the morning of Feb. 6, the road leading to the Bardiya District Administration Office in western Nepal was filled with people moving as one. Dust rose from their footsteps. Voices layered over each other, murmurs turned into chants and anger hardened into demands that echoed off the building’s walls. Dozens pushed through the main gate, some carrying hastily painted banners, others empty-handed but resolute. Their three demands: fair compensation for families, death to leopards that attacked villagers and protection for people who should have been there all along. As Nepal celebrates major conservation gains, rural women in forest-edge communities like Bardiya are increasingly exposed to human–wildlife conflict because migration-driven labor shifts and daily subsistence work push them into the same forest corridors where wildlife movement and deadly encounters are most likely. The previous day, in the span of a few hours, a man and a woman had been killed by leopards, one while cutting grass in the community forest, the other while working in her own field. Women in the buffer zone in Bardiya head home after collecting grass. Image by Tulsi Rauniyar for Mongabay. A winter of fatal encounters The protest marked the breaking point of a winter shaped by repeated wildlife attacks — a pattern many residents trace to December 2025, in Madhuwan, a settlement along the outer edge of Bardiya National Park, home to 125 of Nepal’s 355 tigers. Weeks before the protest reached Bardiya’s administrative offices, mornings in Madhuwan began much the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Women in forest-edge communities around Bardiya National Park are increasingly exposed to human-wildlife conflict, as daily subsistence work brings them into forests where encounters with tigers and other wildlife occur. - Labor migration has shifted agricultural and household responsibilities onto women, pushing many to collect fodder, firewood and other forest resources in high-risk areas. - Most fatal wildlife encounters occur during routine livelihood activities, such as cutting grass or grazing livestock in forests and buffer zones where people and wildlife share space. - Nepal’s widely celebrated tiger conservation success is unfolding alongside growing risks for rural communities, particularly women who depend on forests for daily survival; meanwhile, women remain largely absent from the institutions that shape conservation policy. authors: | ||
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Dams, drains and other artificial habitats could buy time for threatened mussels: Study 18 Mar 2026 00:54:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/dams-drains-and-other-artificial-habitats-could-buy-time-for-threatened-mussels-study/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Megan Strauss content:encoded: Described as the “liver of rivers” for their water filtering capabilities, freshwater mussels are facing an extinction crisis. These slow-growing, long-lived bivalves are one of the most threatened groups of animals on the planet. Now researchers in Australia have found that artificial water bodies could provide a lifeline for some species. Freshwater mussels live in the sediment of streams, rivers and lakes, where they filter water, absorb heavy metals, sequester carbon, and serve as a food source for other animals. But humans have severely modified their habitats with structures including dams, weirs and drains. The research team wanted to find out if artificial habitats can sustain healthy populations of Carter’s freshwater mussel (Westralunio carteri), a species endemic to southwestern Australia and considered vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN Red List. The research, published in Pacific Conservation Biology, was motivated by substantial declines in W. carteri over the last 50 years, largely a result of saltwater intrusion and drying habitats. Lead author Jake Daviot of Murdoch University said in a press release that “without proactive and novel approaches to conservation, more populations are going to be lost in the face of human development exacerbated by climate change.” The researchers surveyed mussels in 12 sites between 2020 and 2024, including six natural habitats and six artificial habitats, such as farm dams and drainage canals. They recorded the size and number of mussels, how spread out they were, and local habitat conditions. Most of the artificial sites surveyed had a similar density of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Described as the “liver of rivers” for their water filtering capabilities, freshwater mussels are facing an extinction crisis. These slow-growing, long-lived bivalves are one of the most threatened groups of animals on the planet. Now researchers in Australia have found that artificial water bodies could provide a lifeline for some species. Freshwater mussels live in […] authors: | ||
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By protecting tigers ‘we save so much more,’ says Debbie Banks 17 Mar 2026 21:33:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/03/by-protecting-tigers-we-save-so-much-more-says-debbie-banks/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Tiger populations have risen in some countries, such as Bhutan, Nepal and India, but the global population of the big cat species remains critically endangered, says Debbie Banks, campaign lead for tigers and wildlife crime at the Environmental Investigation Agency. The global tiger population was recorded at roughly 5,574 in 2022, with the species having disappeared from roughly 95% of its historical range. Banks joins Mongabay’s podcast this week to detail the status of Panthera tigris, the successes and failures of the first Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP), what the second iteration (2.0) seeks to do differently, and what she thinks range countries need to focus on. “This story is very much a mixed bag of localized successes and elsewhere just stagnation … and a lack of political and financial investment to bring tigers back from the brink in some places.” In places such as Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, tigers are in a “crisis,” she describes, due to a variety of factors including persistent wildlife trafficking and a lack of political will to combat it through law enforcement and demand-reduction campaigns. “In a country like Laos … it’s been a political choice not to pursue the kinds of investigations that are required to disrupt this trade.” Making good on the commitments of GTRP 2.0, Banks says, would also benefit nations seeking to fulfill their environmental protection commitments under the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed upon by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). That’s because tigers are what’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Tiger populations have risen in some countries, such as Bhutan, Nepal and India, but the global population of the big cat species remains critically endangered, says Debbie Banks, campaign lead for tigers and wildlife crime at the Environmental Investigation Agency. The global tiger population was recorded at roughly 5,574 in 2022, with the species having […] authors: | ||
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Two marsupials thought extinct for 6,000 years found alive in Indonesian Papua 17 Mar 2026 19:27:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/two-marsupials-thought-extinct-for-6000-years-found-alive-in-indonesian-papua/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: Two species of marsupials thought to have been extinct for the past 6,000 years have been found very much alive on the island of New Guinea. The two Lazarus species, named after a biblical figure who was said to have risen from the dead, were recently described from rainforests in the Bird’s Head Peninsula on the Indonesian half of New Guinea (the island’s eastern half is part of Papua New Guinea). Before now, scientists only knew of the pygmy long-fingered possum (Dactylonax kambuayai) and the ring-tailed glider (Tous ayamaruensis) from fossil records. The newly rediscovered species were described in two scientific papers by a team of researchers and Indigenous residents of the Bird’s Head Peninsula. Conservationists took a photo of the long-fingered possum in 2023, revealing a palm-sized striped animal with one finger on its front paw twice as long as the others. The glider is a tree-dwelling possum with large eyes, about the size of a squirrel. It has a prehensile tale and a membrane that allows it to glide through the forest. Tim Flannery is a biologist with the Australian Museum Research Institute and part of the team that described the new marsupials. In an email to Mongabay, he said both were uncommon in the fossil record, “suggesting that even 6,000 years ago they were rare. So, when I saw that first picture of Tous, it felt like I had travelled back in time.” Tous is the local name for the ring-tailed glider. Although new to science, both…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Two species of marsupials thought to have been extinct for the past 6,000 years have been found very much alive on the island of New Guinea. The two Lazarus species, named after a biblical figure who was said to have risen from the dead, were recently described from rainforests in the Bird’s Head Peninsula on […] authors: | ||
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Flagship conservation platforms SMART and EarthRanger join forces in new tech partnership 17 Mar 2026 18:51:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/flagship-conservation-platforms-smart-and-earthranger-join-forces-in-new-tech-partnership/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: For years, conservation groups have relied on two leading technologies to help manage protected areas: EarthRanger, a platform for wildlife monitoring and real-time field reporting, and SMART, a conservation management software useful for logging patrol data and ranger activity. But some organizations have struggled to decide between them and even end up using both, forcing them to juggle data between two separate dashboards. Now the two platforms are merging into a single product, known as SERCA, with the goal of simplifying wildlife monitoring, patrol management and conservation data analysis. “It’s an enormous opportunity to deliver incredible tools across the entire world for conservationists,” EarthRanger director Jes Lefcourt told Mongabay. SMART was created in 2011 through a partnership between nine conservation groups looking for a more efficient way of collecting and analyzing field data in protected areas. Since its creation, the software has expanded into mobile, desktop and cloud-based components that allow organizations to record field data such as wildlife encounters, illegal activity and ranger responses during patrols. Today, the platform is used across 1,200 sites in more than 100 countries. A SMART training session in Spain. Imagine courtesy of the SMART Partnership. In Zambia, the nonprofit Zambian Carnivore Programme uses SMART to collect carnivore and herbivore data in protected areas such as South Luangwa National Park and Liuwa Plain National Park, where large carnivores face threats from habitat loss and snaring. Ecologists record group composition, hunting behavior, reproduction and interspecies dynamics of hyenas, African wild dogs, lions, leopards and cheetahs.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The two largest conservation technology platforms, SMART and EarthRanger, are merging into a single product known as SERCA. - SMART and EarthRanger have overlapping functions yet are different enough that many organizations need to adopt both. Managing data across two platforms has created logistical challenges that ultimately led to the idea of merging the software. - SERCA will combine EarthRanger’s user-friendly interface and real-time visualization with SMART’s data collection and analysis capabilities. - The project is a collaboration between WCS, WWF, Re:wild, Panthera, North Carolina Zoo, Wildlife Protection Solutions, the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Zoological Society of London and EarthRanger, developed by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. authors: | ||
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Beyond the screen: DCEFF 17 Mar 2026 18:00:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/03/beyond-the-screen-dceff/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Documentary films have the power to shape how we understand nature. They offer a deeper look into the planet’s challenges, bringing people together through shared experiences and inspiring action. As a media partner for the 2026 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF), Mongabay is featuring exclusive insights into some of this year’s standout documentaries. From Indigenous land defenders in the Amazon and the glowing mysteries of deep-sea bioluminescence, to updates on youth activists jailed for standing up for Cambodia’s environment, these films explore the frontlines of conservation and environmental justice. Through these stories, Mongabay examines the research, storytelling and courage that bring these issues to life. DCEFF runs from March 19-28 in Washington, D.C.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Documentary films have the power to shape how we understand nature. They offer a deeper look into the planet’s challenges, bringing people together through shared experiences and inspiring action. As a media partner for the 2026 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF), Mongabay is featuring exclusive insights into some of this year’s standout […] authors: | ||
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In Brazil, regenerative farming advances, but deforestation still pressures ecosystems 17 Mar 2026 16:58:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Mie Hoejris Dahl content:encoded: SINOP, Brazil — In Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, the country’s agricultural heartland, vast stretches of lush Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna give way to seemingly endless fields of soy. Located in a transition zone where the Amazon and Cerrado meet the Pantanal wetlands, about 90% of the state’s area was once covered in native vegetation. But from the 1970s onward, agricultural innovation and public policies — including subsidies that encouraged farmers to settle and clear land in Mato Grosso — allowed the agricultural frontier to advance rapidly, turning Mato Grosso into one of Brazil’s main farming powerhouses. The Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covers about 60% of Brazil. The Cerrado, one of the world’s most expansive savannas, spans some 2 million square kilometers (772,000 square miles) of tropical grasslands, trees and watersheds that regulate rainfall patterns and temperatures. About a fifth of the Brazilian Amazon has been deforested since monitoring began in 1985, and nearly half of the native vegetation of the Cerrado biome has been cleared for cattle and soy. Some of Mato Grosso’s former vast soy fields and cattle pasture have been left degraded — eroded grasslands that function neither as forest nor productive farmland. At a Biancon Group farm in Mato Grosso’s Itaúba municipality, Ivan Biancon, co-owner of the family-owned agribusiness group, scoops soil into his hands and lets it fall. The soil, he says, is now healthy enough to grow cotton, corn and soy beans. When he and his brother, Igor, first arrived, “these were…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Agribusiness accounts for roughly a fifth of Brazil’s economy and about 40% of exports. While it is a major economic engine, it is also responsible for over 90% of deforestation and about a quarter of national emissions, with cattle ranching and soy production the main drivers of deforestation. - Agricultural innovation transformed states like Mato Grosso from non-arable land into global farming hubs. Now, agribusinesses and researchers in Brazil are exploring whether similar innovation can boost regenerative farming to restore degraded pasturelands and reduce further deforestation caused by agriculture. - REVERTE, one of Brazil’s largest agricultural regeneration projects, led by Swiss pesticide producer Syngenta, aims to restore 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of degraded pastureland by 2030. Over the next decade, Brazil aims to restore 40 million hectares (100 million acres) of degraded land. - Restoring degraded pasturelands will not be enough to halt deforestation for agriculture in the Cerrado and Amazon, experts warn. They say that without robust land-use governance, enforcement of forest protections and binding private-sector commitments, productivity gains risk fueling further expansion rather than reducing pressure on Brazil’s ecosystems. authors: | ||
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War exacerbates long-standing irrigation crisis for Sudan farmers 17 Mar 2026 16:18:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/war-exacerbates-long-standing-irrigation-crisis-for-sudan-farmers/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Albashir Dahab content:encoded: In happier times, Mohamed Ahmed grows sorghum, lentils and beans on three feddans of land in Gezira state. But for more than a year, no irrigation water has reached the 1.2 hectares (3 acres) he cultivates in the Managil section of Sudan’s vast Gezira irrigation scheme. He spends his time clearing weeds, repairing field boundaries and preparing the soil in case water returns. The canals have been dry since May 2024. “I waited for the water as I always did,” the 38-year-old tells Mongabay by phone, “but nothing came. Two full seasons were lost. I even considered leaving farming and searching for work abroad.” Ahmed is one of as many as 4,000 farmers in the Managil section who face ruin. The Gezira Scheme spans nearly 890,000 hectares (2.2 million acres), pumping water from the Nile to farmers through a network of canals fed by the century-old Sennar Dam. According to irrigation engineer Abdullah Al-Haj, until 2005, the project’s administrators regulated water levels and flow and coordinated maintenance of the of the main pumps and canals. View of the Gezira Irrigation Scheme from space. Image by NASA Johnson via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0). However, in 2005, operation of the irrigation scheme was partially privatized. New legislation — and a 2014 amendment — emphasized administrative and financial independence, granting farmers freedom to choose which crops to grow and requiring them to establish water user associations. Legally, the associations have the authority to manage and maintain sections of the Gezira Scheme, but in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Sudan’s Gezira irrigation scheme spans nearly 890,000 hectares (2.2 million acres), pumping water from the Nile to farmers through a network of canals fed by the Sennar Dam. - Twenty years ago, the government moved to privatize and decentralize operation and maintenance of this and other irrigation infrastructure. - The loss of resources and experienced state employees has seen the system of pumps and canals deteriorate, leaving tens of thousands of farmers to improvize solutions. - Wealthier farmers have installed pumps — increasingly turning to solar-powered ones — but with civil war making fuel and spare parts unaffordable, many small-scale farmers have been unable to grow food. authors: | ||
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Amazon waterway noise threatens unique social life of giant river turtles 17 Mar 2026 15:27:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/amazon-waterway-noise-threatens-unique-social-life-of-giant-river-turtles/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Fernanda Wenzel content:encoded: It’s just a sweet, squeaky sound, like that of a rubber duck. For scientists, however, it could have various meanings, ranging from “Time to spawn!” to “Come on, little ones!” to “Time to migrate!” Researchers studying the Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis expansa), South America’s largest turtle, found that hatchlings begin communicating even before birth, probably to agree on the best time to break out of the eggs and burrow up from the sand to the beach. “The Amazon turtle is one of the most social species of turtles in the world,” Camila Rudge Ferrara, the researcher who first proved the turtle’s communication skills, told Mongabay. “They migrate in groups, lay eggs in groups, and hatch in groups,” added the coordinator of the Chelonian Conservation Program in the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society in Brazil (WCS Brasil). Soon, however, the chatter of Amazon river turtles in the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon, may be disrupted by the noise of dredgers, ferries and boats circulating in the river: An ambitious waterway is being planned to ship minerals and grains to the port in the city of Santarém, in Brazil’s Pará state. “The frequency of the sound, dredging and boats may interfere with the turtles’ communication,” Ferrara told Mongabay, but noted that scientists haven’t yet been able to establish this as fact. “The high-frequency underwater noise will disrupt the migration of these animals.” The latest conservation assessment for the species is expected to declare it endangered on the IUCN Red List,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A planned shipping waterway on the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon, may disrupt the sophisticated social communication systems used by the Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis expansa), a species likely to be endangered. - Underwater noise from barges risks drowning out the vocalizations used by adult females to guide their young during collective migration in the species’ second-most important nesting area, scientists say. - The waterway is a central piece of Brazil’s new push to ease the transport of soybean and corn for export. authors: | ||
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Toucans reintroduced 50 years ago disperse seeds of endangered trees in Brazil 17 Mar 2026 15:01:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/toucans-reintroduced-50-years-ago-disperse-seeds-of-endangered-trees-in-brazil/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: More than 50 years ago, the ariel toucan was reintroduced to Tijuca National Park, the world’s largest urban forest, located in Rio de Janeiro in southeastern Brazil. Now, a new study finds that the bird, which became locally extinct in the 1960s, has almost entirely settled back into its original role in the ecosystem, serving as a critical species for forest restoration. Researchers tracked ariel toucans (Ramphastos ariel) through the Tijuca forest for a full year, logging every plant species it consumed compared with a list of 101 native plant species the bird had historically interacted with. The research team often walked more than 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) a day through the forest observing the toucans’ dietary habits. They found that the bird, recognized for its colorful feathers and signature black beak, had interactions with at least 76% of the plants historically on the menu for ariel toucans. “They are such sociable and intelligent beings. The way they are able to handle fruits: Sometimes it has a hard capsule on the outside, and they hold it with their little feet and open it with their beaks,” lead author Flávia Zagury, an urban ecology researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told Mongabay by phone. “They have an incredible ability to access these resources.” They were observed feeding on the fruits and seeds of plants that few other animals can crack open, potentially making them key dispersers for endangered trees, including the jussara palm (Euterpe edulis) and the bicuíba-branca…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: More than 50 years ago, the ariel toucan was reintroduced to Tijuca National Park, the world’s largest urban forest, located in Rio de Janeiro in southeastern Brazil. Now, a new study finds that the bird, which became locally extinct in the 1960s, has almost entirely settled back into its original role in the ecosystem, serving […] authors: | ||
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At dusk in Kenya’s caves, scientists study the hidden lives of bats 17 Mar 2026 14:44:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/at-dusk-in-kenyas-caves-scientists-race-to-understand-the-hidden-lives-of-bats/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Sharon Muzaki content:encoded: As the afternoon fades at the Three Sisters Caves in Kenya’s Kwale county, David Wechuli’s team begins setting up nearly invisible nets along the hillsides in the coastal forest. “When dusk arrives, bats begin pouring out of the caves,” Wechuli says. “Some fly straight into the nets. We quickly remove them, carefully untangling each bat before taking morphometric measurements such as body size, weight and wing length.” The captured bats are carefully placed in small cotton bags, allowing them to breathe while preventing escape over the next two or three hours. The research team from Bat Conservation International (BCI) will work into the night, measuring each animal, determining their sex, and taking tissue samples to check for the presence of disease, before photographing each one and releasing it back into the night. Earlier in the afternoon, the team will have inspected the site, moving carefully through the dark cave filled with thousands of bats clinging to the cave’s roof and rock walls. “Some caves are deep tunnels, more than 100 meters [330 feet] long,” Wechuli tells Mongabay in a phone interview. “Others have bats roosting very high. You have to know the cave before you even start capturing anything.” Wechuli and other researchers are working to better understand how bats live, the role these flying mammals play in ecosystems, and how human activities are reshaping their habitats. His research and conservation work is focused on the coastal caves in the Shimoni region of Kwale county, as well as in volcanic…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - David Wechuli and other researchers are studying bats living in cave systems in Kenya, to better understand how they interact with their environment and how human activities affect bat habitat. - Research shows that many bat species are highly sensitive to disturbances, sometimes abandoning their roosts, with damaging consequences. - Wechuli works for Bat Conservation International, which has helped communities develop guidelines to protect caves hosting bat colonies from disturbance. authors: | ||
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A decade after the death of Berta Cáceres, we can no longer tolerate threats to environmental activists (commentary) 17 Mar 2026 14:43:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-decade-after-the-death-of-berta-caceres-we-can-no-longer-tolerate-threats-to-environmental-activists-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Michael Sutton content:encoded: Environmental activist Berta Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 for successfully halting the Agua Zarca project, a massive hydropower development along the Gualcarque River in her native Honduras. On March 3, 2016, 10 years ago this month, gunmen hired by executives of the company building the dam assassinated her for her activism. Since then, Berta has become a global symbol of courage and sacrifice in the face of greed and violence. Her legacy is powerful, but her martyrdom for simply protecting her community is unacceptable. In January, an independent group of experts appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released a comprehensive report on the assassination. They found that Berta’s murder was the result of a coordinated criminal operation to defeat opposition to the Agua Zarca project. Worse, international development funds intended for the hydroelectric project were diverted to the purchase of Indigenous land, surveillance, armed incursions, and Berta’s murder. Berta’s assassination is not an isolated case. Many environmental defenders’ stories resemble David vs. Goliath, as they frequently tangle with powerful, well-funded industries and governments — and the webs of corruption that sometimes link them. According to Global Witness, 2,253 environmental activists have been killed worldwide since 2012, and many more have been victimized. In September 2025, Global Witness reported that at least 146 land and environmental defenders were killed or disappeared in 2024, with a plurality in Latin America. According to the World Economic Forum, at least 175 park rangers were killed in the line of duty across 41 countries in the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On the 10th anniversary of the murder of environmental activist Berta Cáceres, the director of the Goldman Environmental Prize argues in a new op-ed that the era of impunity for such crimes is over and that the capacity to defend such people is steadily increasing. - A 2015 winner of the award for her work defending her Indigenous community against a hydroelectric development in Honduras, Cáceres was killed by gunmen hired by executives of the dam-building company. - Her legacy has since made her a legend, with her likeness now adorning a banknote in her nation, and her story inspiring a wave of philanthropy aimed at protecting nature’s defenders. - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Kenya’s renewed oil push faces a tainted legacy 17 Mar 2026 14:33:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/kenyas-renewed-oil-push-faces-a-tainted-legacy/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Christopher Clark content:encoded: KAPESE, Kenya — At first glance, there is little to suggest that Kapese, a dusty settlement of traditional manyattas and free-roaming livestock scattered across the parched landscape of northern Kenya’s Turkana region, is the epicenter of the country’s oil ambitions. Beyond a couple of boreholes and a small primary school bearing the logo of Tullow Oil, the Anglo-Irish company that first discovered significant crude deposits here near the town of Lokichar in 2010, little of the development once promised to residents has materialized. Since Tullow halted operations in 2020 after more than a decade of setbacks and spiraling debt, much of the extractive infrastructure that punctuated the surrounding scrubland has also been dismantled. Locals have stripped gates and fencing from the well pads for scrap metal. Heavy plastic liners, once used to store drilling waste, now stretch across the roofs of many nearby manyattas. Yet, as one approaches the Twiga oil well, where several waste pits sit in long rows like burial sites behind a chain-link fence topped with coils of razor wire, a faint, acrid smell of petroleum still hangs in the air. “That smell — you used to be able to smell it from 500 meters away,” said Enock Paule, a local community leader from Kapese, squinting into the harsh midday sun. “You couldn’t even go near this fence.” He recalled bringing a team of Kenyan journalists here some years ago, and several of them vomiting from the stench. Today, Paule and other residents point to these pits as…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nairobi-based Gulf Energy is reviving a dormant project to extract oil from northwestern Kenya, five years after the previous operator, Tullow Oil, abandoned the field. - Residents of Turkana county say Tullow’s exploration activities damaged the environment; a 2022 study found heavy contamination in eight of 11 groundwater samples collected near oil well pads in the Lokichar Basin, and people have reported health problems. - Seventy-three residents have filed a case against Tullow and the county and national government to press for land rehabilitation and prevent further harm. - Locals say they will hold Gulf Energy and regulatory authorities to account as efforts to develop the oil field resume. authors: | ||
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Planters stranded amid degraded forests as Bangladesh agarwood scheme falters 17 Mar 2026 14:11:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/planters-stranded-by-degraded-forests-as-bangladesh-agarwood-scheme-falters/ author: Abusiddique dc:creator: Ashraful Haque content:encoded: Standing precariously on the slope of a tree-covered hill in Kaptai National Park in southeast Bangladesh, Mohammad Musa was clearing bushes with a machete. Our eyes widened in shock when he ran the machete over a couple of 2.4-meter-tall (8-foot-tall), healthy young fig plants that stuck their heads out of the bushes. “These will attract mama,” he murmured. “See what this garden has become with all this nonsense.” Local Bengalis call elephants mama (maternal uncle) out of fear and respect, just like people living around the Sundarbans call tigers mama. The native wildlife-supporting fig plants are ‘nonsense’ to Musa because they grew on the edge of his agarwood (Aquilaria spp.) plantation, or garden as he calls it, planted on a 2-hectare (5-acre) piece of land in the national park in Kaptai upazila (sub-district) in Rangamati Hill district. Between 1998 and 2011, the Bangladesh Forest Department undertook two projects to create a total of 4,822 hectares (11,915 acres) of agarwood monoculture plantations in five divisions of the Forest Department. In the second project, from 2007 to 2011, 443 hectares (1,095 acres) of agarwood plantation was established in Kaptai National Park, according to official data gathered from the Management Planning Unit of the Forest Department. Musa is one of the local beneficiaries who cleared the forest patches and created the monoculture to earn revenue. The plantations are established under a participatory social forestry approach involving beneficiaries from local communities who plant and manage approved tree species on degraded forests and public lands…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Between 1999 to 2011, the Bangladesh Forest Department created 4,822 hectares (11,915 acres) of agarwood plantations across the country with local beneficiaries carrying out the clearing of forest land and planting and maintenance of the plantations. - Agarwood trees take 6-8 years to mature. However, even the older trees from these plantations have not been auctioned since plantation. - Agarwood and attar (agar perfume) exports from Bangladesh have seen unsteady profits over the last few years. - Now, there are too many agar plantations in the country while the size of the local perfume industry remains small, and planters wait for buyers. authors: | ||
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Accidental discovery reveals new climate threat to emperor penguins 17 Mar 2026 05:42:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/accidental-discovery-reveals-new-climate-threat-to-emperor-penguins/ author: Abhishyantkidangoor dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: The plight of the emperor penguin might be more dire than previously thought. For the first time, scientists have used satellite data to discover new locations in Antarctica where the birds go to shed and replace their feathers every year, an event known as molting. However, they also found that these molting sites might have melted from under the penguins, potentially causing fatalities. Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), native to Antarctica, are the biggest of the penguin species. Since they heavily rely on sea ice for their survival, global warming is one of the major threats to their existence. A 2021 study estimated that the birds could lose 98% of their colonies and become “quasi-extinct” by the end of the century if sea ice continues to decline at projected rates. Every year, around late January, emperor penguins move to stable sea ice attached to a coastline to molt. It’s a life stage that scientists dub “catastrophic molting” because, unlike other animals, penguins shed all their feathers at once. Molting, however, is a vulnerable life stage. For one, the process of shedding and growing new plumage consumes a lot of energy. Over the four to five weeks of molting, the birds also lose 40-50% of their body weight. “Because the penguin is not waterproof during that period, they can’t go out into the sea to forage and hunt,” Peter Fretwell, senior geographic and remote-sensing scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, who discovered the new molting sites, told Mongabay in a video interview.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Scientists have discovered new sites in Antarctica where emperor penguins gather for their annual molt, a vulnerable life stage when they shed and replace all their feathers. - Through satellite data, they also discovered that many of these sea ice sites might have melted from under the penguins. - The discovery suggests that the threats posed by global warming to emperor penguins might be more dire than previously thought. authors: | ||
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The hidden cost of fisheries subsidies 17 Mar 2026 01:33:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-hidden-cost-of-fisheries-subsidies/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In public finance, some costs are politely kept off the books. The ocean has long been one of them. Governments often speak of “blue growth” and “sustainable use,” yet many policies still treat marine ecosystems as a kind of free input: available, resilient, and cheap to replace. The result is ecological decline. It is also a fiscal problem. States end up assuming risks they would not tolerate on land. Fishing provides a clear example. For decades, a large share of industrial effort has been propped up by public money. One influential analysis of high-seas fishing found that governments subsidized high-seas fleets by about $4.2 billion in 2014—more than the estimated net economic benefit of that fishing—and that without subsidies, as much as 54% of the high-seas fishing grounds currently exploited would have been unprofitable at the prices and costs prevailing at the time. The high-seas fishing fleet. High-seas vessels by flag state and gear type, as detected by GFW in 2016. Figure from Sala et al (2018) That framing is useful: some “profitable” activity may depend as much on government support and permissive accounting as on market demand. The subsidy patterns are not subtle. A summary of research on “harmful” subsidies lists the top ten providers in 2018, led by China at $5.9 billion and followed by Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States. It also notes that these subsidizers spent more than $5.3 billion on fishing activity in the waters of 116 other nations, effectively shifting fishing pressure into…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Governments provide roughly $35 billion a year in fisheries subsidies, much of it supporting fleets that can operate beyond what fish stocks alone would sustain. - Research suggests many high-seas fisheries would be unprofitable without public support, raising questions about whether some “productive” fishing activity exists largely because of subsidies. - Recent efforts such as the WTO fisheries subsidies agreement aim to curb support tied to illegal fishing and depleted stocks while improving transparency around how governments finance their fleets. - Treating oceans as assets on the public balance sheet—from reforming subsidies to investing in monitoring and coastal ecosystems—could help governments reduce long-term fiscal risks while supporting healthier fisheries. authors: | ||
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The Dutch Nitrogen Crisis 16 Mar 2026 21:48:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/03/the-dutch-nitrogen-crisis/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: What happens when biodiversity conservation and food systems collide? As the top meat exporter in the European Union, the Netherlands has become a case study in the ecological limits of industrial farming. When courts forced action to protect fragile ecosystems, it set off mass farmer protests, political upheaval, and a tug-of-war between regulation, technology and entrenched interests. Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo traces how nitrogen pollution from industrial livestock pushed Dutch ecosystems to the brink and sparked one of Europe’s most disruptive environmental policy battles. From courtroom rulings to grassroots revolt, we explore the science, power struggles and economic pressures behind the crisis — and what it predicts about the coming battles over our food systems. This article was originally published on Mongabay description: What happens when biodiversity conservation and food systems collide? As the top meat exporter in the European Union, the Netherlands has become a case study in the ecological limits of industrial farming. When courts forced action to protect fragile ecosystems, it set off mass farmer protests, political upheaval, and a tug-of-war between regulation, technology and […] authors: | ||
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Pharmaceutical companies move away from horseshoe crab biomedical testing 16 Mar 2026 21:24:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/pharmaceutical-companies-move-away-from-horseshoe-crab-biomedical-testing/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: Horseshoe crabs were crawling along the shallow sandy bottoms of Earth’s oceans 200 million years before the first dinosaurs came on the scene. But some populations have declined dramatically with the rise of humans, raising concerns they may be headed toward extinction. One of the biggest drivers of their population collapse is their unsustainable harvest for their blood to be used in pharmaceuticals. Now, two major pharmaceutical companies, Amgen Inc. and Abbott Laboratories, have publicly announced they will shift toward synthetic blood instead. The copper-based blood of horseshoe crabs contains an extract called limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) that can help detect bacterial endotoxin contamination in vaccines, injectable drugs and many other pharmaceutical products. To maintain the safety of those drugs, thousands of horseshoe crabs are captured from the wild annually for their blood. The animals, which are more closely related to spiders than to crabs, are returned to the sea after their blood has been drawn, but many don’t survive the ordeal. Coastal development and habitat degradation are also taking a toll. Synthetic replacements for LAL were developed in 2016, but not widely adopted by pharmaceutical companies — until now. Amgen and Abbott Laboratories announced in February 2026 that they’re transitioning away from horseshoe crab blood for biomedical testing. Kendyl Van Dyck is a biodiversity associate with As You Sow, a nonprofit that promotes corporate responsibility. She told Mongabay in an email that the pharmaceutical industry was slow to move away from harvesting horseshoe crabs, “because endotoxin testing is highly…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Horseshoe crabs were crawling along the shallow sandy bottoms of Earth’s oceans 200 million years before the first dinosaurs came on the scene. But some populations have declined dramatically with the rise of humans, raising concerns they may be headed toward extinction. One of the biggest drivers of their population collapse is their unsustainable harvest […] authors: | ||
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Glyphosate found in South African baby cereal; watchdog group calls for ban 16 Mar 2026 17:30:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/glyphosate-found-in-south-african-baby-cereal-watchdog-group-calls-for-ban/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: In February, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) released a report documenting concentrations of glyphosate in wheat and maize that exceeded default maximum residue limits. ACB also found traces of the herbicide in bread and baby cereal. “Finding glyphosate in baby cereal was very disturbing. Babies are the most vulnerable. It shouldn’t be there. We know that glyphosate is an endocrine disruptor, so if young babies are being fed this every day, that is highly problematic. It can affect their physical health and development,” Zakiyya Ismail, research coordinator at ACB, said in a phone call with Mongabay. Following its discovery, ACB formally requested that South Africa’s agriculture ministry deregister and ban glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs). So far, the request has not been acted upon. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup and other widely used herbicides, is South Africa’s most-used herbicide and is commonly applied to Roundup Ready genetically modified crops. “Glyphosate is not approved for use on wheat here in South Africa, yet we found it in wheat flour and in baby cereals made from wheat. Why?” Ismail asked before adding that ACB is looking for answers. Mongabay contacted both Bayer and South Africa’s Department of Agriculture for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. Glyphosate works by blocking a plant’s ability to produce certain amino acids, which prevents them from growing. However, glyphosate can also enter the human body through food, contact with contaminated surfaces or inhalation. Research has linked GBHs to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In February, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) released a report documenting concentrations of glyphosate in wheat and maize that exceeded default maximum residue limits. ACB also found traces of the herbicide in bread and baby cereal. “Finding glyphosate in baby cereal was very disturbing. Babies are the most vulnerable. It shouldn’t be there. We […] authors: | ||
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Cambodia’s Supreme Court denies release of five imprisoned environmental activists 16 Mar 2026 17:04:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cambodias-supreme-court-denies-release-of-five-imprisoned-environmental-activists/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: John Cannon content:encoded: Five environmental activists in Cambodia will remain in prison, where they have been for more than 622 days, after the country’s Supreme Court decided not to allow them to go free as they appeal their convictions. On July 2, 2024, Ly Chandaravuth, Phuon Keoraksmey, Long Kunthea and Thun Ratha were sentenced to six years each in prison for plotting against the government. Yim Leanghy received a sentence of eight years, along with a fine of 10 million riel (about $2,500), for plotting against the government and insulting Cambodia’s king. The five activists are members of Mother Nature Cambodia, a group that has campaigned against logging, dams and the mining of coastal sand for export. Five other members of the group also received sentences in absentia in 2024. Mongabay chronicled the lead-up to their trial in the film The Clearing, as well as their acceptance of the Right Livelihood Award “for their fearless and engaging activism to preserve Cambodia’s natural environment in the context of a highly restricted democratic space.” Chandaravuth, Keoraksmey, Kunthea, Ratha and Leanghy have appealed their sentences, which stem from charges related to their environmental activism. All five had also previously been jailed on the same charges before being released on bail in 2021. Ly Chandaravuth leaves the Supreme Court on Feb. 23, 2026, after his trial on an application for release. Image courtesy of LICADHO. Phuon Keoraksmey before she was taken to prison on July 2, 2024. Image courtesy of Mother Nature Cambodia. The original date for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Five environmental activists from the group Mother Nature Cambodia remain in prison after a Supreme Court judge declined on March 2 to release them pending their appeal against a conviction for subversion. - The activists, who were profiled in the Mongabay-produced film “The Clearing,” have been in prison since July 2, 2024 — more than 600 days — when they were sentenced to six to eight years in prison and ordered to pay fines for plotting against the government and insulting the king. - Mother Nature activists have campaigned against logging, destructive dams and sand mining in Cambodia — activism they and others say is their right to carry out. - Currently, sources say no date is set for the activists’ appeal; human rights groups contend its repeated postponement constitutes a violation of their fundamental right to a trial without undue delay. authors: | ||
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How a community defended its ancestral forest from logging 16 Mar 2026 15:45:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/how-a-community-defended-its-ancestral-forest-from-logging/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: To the cartographers of the modern conservation world, the forests of northeastern Gabon can appear almost empty. Satellite images show a deep green canopy stretching across the Congo Basin. Global datasets classify large tracts as “intact forest landscapes”, areas supposedly free of industrial disturbance and largely untouched by people. On paper, such forests look pristine. The reality, as residents of the village of Massaha know well, is more complicated. In recent years the community has been fighting to protect a stretch of rainforest south of their village from industrial logging. The forest, known locally as Ibola Dja Bana Ba Massaha—“the reserve of all Massaha’s children”—lies within a concession once allocated to a logging company. For generations the people of Massaha have hunted, fished and farmed there. Sacred lakes and ritual sites lie beneath the canopy. The remains of ancestral villages dot the forest floor. Yet none of this appeared on the maps that guided official decisions. The gap between these two views of the forest is the subject of a recent study examining Massaha’s campaign to document its territory. The researchers compared global conservation maps and colonial-era cartography with a detailed map created by the community itself. The result reveals something striking: the forest that appears empty in official datasets is, in fact, layered with history and meaning. Image courtesy of Ivindo FM. Massaha’s map emerged from an unusually collaborative process. Using participatory geographic tools, villagers gathered to project satellite images of their territory onto a wall. Elders identified…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In northeastern Gabon, the community of Massaha used participatory mapping to document ancestral villages, sacred sites and traditional land use inside a rainforest slated for industrial logging. - Their biocultural map revealed a long history of occupation that colonial records and modern conservation maps had largely overlooked. - The evidence helped the community argue for protection of their forest, prompting government intervention that halted logging and opened discussions about formal conservation. - The case highlights how local knowledge and community-led mapping can complement global conservation data and reshape how forests are understood and protected. authors: | ||
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An ancient fishing tradition in Indonesia could help build a more sustainable fishery 16 Mar 2026 15:06:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/an-ancient-fishing-tradition-in-indonesia-could-help-build-a-more-sustainable-fishery/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: In the remote coastal areas of eastern Indonesia, a centuries-old tradition is providing a contemporary blueprint for sustainable development. The practice, known as Sasi Laut, imposes temporary fishing closures of six to 12 months to allow sedentary marine species such as sea cucumbers and shellfish to replenish. A new study published in Marine Policy reveals that these traditional marine management systems near the islands of Maluku and Papua mirror Indonesia’s Blue Economy Roadmap 2023, a national plan to boost the maritime sector’s GDP contribution to while maintaining healthy oceans. Sasi is more than just a conservation tool, according to study author Arnoldus Ananta of James Cook University in Australia; it’s a powerful governance system. “Decisions about when to close fishing areas, which species to protect, and when and how to harvest are made collectively by the community through customary institutions,” Ananta told Mongabay. “This collective control creates a structural barrier against the risks of privatization and industrialization associated with Blue Growth.” “Blue Growth” refers to the industrial and commercial expansion of the maritime economy, which often prioritizes large-scale development. Remote communities frequently face the greatest risk from such development, the study notes. But Ananta said a practice like Sasi leaves “no open access windows for exploitation” when outside commercial actors, like large fishing companies or tourism investors, seek access to marine resources. Instead, they encounter a community with recognized control rights over closure periods and harvest events. Co-author Reniel Cabral cautions that such temporary closures are not enough to stop…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In the remote coastal areas of eastern Indonesia, a centuries-old tradition is providing a contemporary blueprint for sustainable development. The practice, known as Sasi Laut, imposes temporary fishing closures of six to 12 months to allow sedentary marine species such as sea cucumbers and shellfish to replenish. A new study published in Marine Policy reveals […] authors: | ||
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Brazil is both the world’s environmental treasure and its most exposed victim (commentary) 16 Mar 2026 12:22:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/brazil-is-both-the-worlds-environmental-treasure-and-its-most-exposed-victim-commentary/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Igor OliveiraRobert Muggah content:encoded: In May 2024, floodwaters submerged much of Porto Alegre. Brazil’s fourth-largest city lost bridges, hospitals, and months of economic output. Hundreds died. The images briefly commanded global attention. Then the news cycle moved on. What it left behind was something more consequential than headlines: a preview of what Brazil’s climate future looks like, playing out in real time. Porto Alegre was not a freak event. It was a signal, and the signal is getting louder. Few large economies are more directly exposed to climate and nature breakdown than Brazil. It is not merely a country at risk from a changing climate. It is a country whose entire economic model, social contract, and physical geography depend on the stability of natural systems that are now destabilizing faster than its institutions can adapt. The Central Market is flooded after heavy rain in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Thursday, May 9, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Andre Penner A nation uniquely exposed Brazil has already warmed by roughly 1 to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. On higher trajectories, parts of the Amazon and the Cerrado savanna could exceed 3 degrees by the 2040s, a threshold at which compounding effects on water, agriculture, and human health become extremely difficult to manage. A systematic review of more than 20,000 Brazilian climate projections found severe risks across all six biomes – Amazônia, the Cerrado, the Caatinga, Mata Atlântica, the Pampas, and the Pantanal. The paradox is that Brazil is simultaneously one of the world’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Brazil is one of the countries most exposed to climate breakdown and the one with the most power to slow it. Its failure to act on either front is becoming an economic and political emergency, argue Robert Muggah and Igor Oliveira of the Igarapé Institute. - Brazil’s major biomes—the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal—function as an interconnected system that regulates rainfall, water supplies, and agricultural productivity across the country. Degrading one part of that system destabilizes the others, creating cascading economic and environmental risks. - Despite mounting evidence of climate vulnerability—from floods and droughts to energy and food price shocks—Brazil’s political and economic institutions have yet to integrate climate risk into national planning at the scale required, leaving the country increasingly exposed to systemic disruption. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Climate-resilient housing models slow to gain ground in disaster-prone Bangladesh 16 Mar 2026 06:06:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/climate-resilient-housing-models-slow-to-gain-ground-in-disaster-prone-bangladesh/ author: Abusiddique dc:creator: Sadiqur Rahman content:encoded: Bangladesh’s low-lying terrain combined with the crisscrossed river network, which is cause for recurring floods, tidal surges and river erosion, and frequent cyclones make it vulnerable to climate change-related devastations. Between 2008 and 2024, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) recorded 123 disaster events that triggered huge displacement, including about 11.3 million people who experienced pre-emptive evacuations during cyclones. IDMC assessed that many such movements, however, only last for a short period of time, but every year disasters still leave tens of thousands of people without hope of returning to their homes immediately after. In such a context, safe housing is a survival need instead of merely an infrastructural demand. However, the concept of safe or sustainable housing for the disaster victims still remains a donor-funded matter, as the use of climate-and-disaster-resilient construction plans and materials are not popular in Bangladesh. “Sustainable and safe housing is the first line of defense in disaster risk reduction,” says Mohammad Abu Sadeque, executive director of Centre for Housing and Building Research (HBRC), a private sector research hub focused on creating sustainable, affordable, and climate-resilient housing solutions. Sadeque has observed that conventional housing, especially in Bangladesh’s rural and low-income areas, often lacks structural safety and durability against cyclones and tidal surges, riverbank erosion, flooding, flash floods, salinity intrusion, earthquakes and heat stress. According to the government’s disaster-related statistics of 2021, more than half of the country’s households are non-concrete. Living in fragile tin-roofed or mud-walled structures, millions of families are exposed to the mounting…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In one of the world’s most climate sensitive deltas, disasters are on the rise. The need for resilient housing has become a significant concern for Bangladesh. - Amid various challenges, architectural models to promote sustainable construction materials are emerging. - Experts recommend separate zonal building codes for specific climatic event-prone areas. authors: | ||
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Are government subsidies undermining conservation efforts in Australia? 16 Mar 2026 00:43:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/are-government-subsidies-undermining-conservation-efforts-in-australia/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Australia has long struggled to reconcile its environmental ambitions with the structure of its economy. The country is both a global biodiversity stronghold and a major exporter of resources, agricultural commodities, and energy. A new study led by Paul Elton of the Australian National University suggests that this tension is embedded not only in land use but in fiscal policy. Public spending, the authors argue, continues to favor activities that degrade ecosystems at a scale far exceeding efforts to conserve them. The paper, Biodiversity-harmful subsidies in Australia, offers the first systematic estimate of “biodiversity-harmful subsidies” at the federal level. Using a framework developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the researchers examined direct payments and tax concessions in the 2022–23 budget. They identified A$26.3 billion in subsidies judged by experts to cause at least moderate harm to biodiversity. That amounts to about 1.1% of Australia’s GDP and, by their calculation, far exceeds current federal spending on conservation. The idea of a harmful subsidy is broader than it may sound. Governments rarely pay explicitly to destroy habitats. Instead, they lower costs for activities that transform landscapes or intensify resource extraction. Subsidies can underprice energy, encourage land clearing, sustain fishing effort that would otherwise be uneconomic, or make transport cheaper in ways that expand infrastructure footprints. According to the study, the largest share of damaging support flows to fossil fuel production and consumption, followed by transport infrastructure and support for sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and forestry. Biodiversity-harmful subsidies by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new analysis finds Australia spends tens of billions of dollars each year on subsidies that likely harm biodiversity — far more than it allocates to conservation. - Most of the identified support flows to fossil fuels, transport infrastructure, and resource-intensive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, shaping land and sea use in ways that degrade ecosystems. - These incentives can lower the cost of activities that drive habitat loss, overexploitation, and climate pressures, potentially undermining environmental policies intended to protect species and landscapes. - Reforming harmful subsidies is now a global commitment under the Kunming-Montreal framework, but doing so will require balancing ecological goals with economic realities for affected industries and communities. authors: | ||
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The toughest toad in town 15 Mar 2026 08:09:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/the-toughest-toad-in-town/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Julia Lima content:encoded: Meet our story hero: the admirable red-belly toad. A tiny amphibian found nowhere else on Earth but a small forest patch in southern Brazil. Listed as a critically endangered species, it is capable of amazing things. In 2014, it stopped the construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have destroyed its home. In 2024, catastrophic floods swept through the habitat this little survivor depends on. Did it make it through? Make sure to watch the full video. In search of the tiny toad that stopped a damThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: Meet our story hero: the admirable red-belly toad. A tiny amphibian found nowhere else on Earth but a small forest patch in southern Brazil. Listed as a critically endangered species, it is capable of amazing things. In 2014, it stopped the construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have destroyed its home. In 2024, catastrophic […] authors: | ||
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In search of the tiny toad that stopped a dam 14 Mar 2026 07:58:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/03/in-search-of-the-tiny-toad-that-stopped-a-dam/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Felipe RosaJulia LimaThamys Trindade content:encoded: Arvoreznha, Brazil — Meet the admirable red-belly toad — a tiny amphibian found nowhere else on Earth but a small forest patch in southern Brazil. Don’t let its size fool you. In 2014, it made history by halting the construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have wiped out its only home. With just over 1,000 individuals left in the wild, the species is listed as critically endangered. In addition to climate change, the little toad suffers from the advance of agriculture and the threat of wildlife trafficking. But this tiny hero doesn’t shy away from a challenge. In 2024, catastrophic floods swept through southern Brazil, submerging entire landscapes — including the fragile habitat this little survivor depends on. Did it make it through? Or was this finally too much? Michelle Abadie, a researcher who has been studying the species for more than 15 years, went to the field to find out. Mongabay joined her on this mission to discover why even the smallest creatures can have an outsized impact. Curious to see what happens next? Press play. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! Banner image: Collage of a red-bellied toad and a bridge broken by flood. Small hippo, big dreams: Can Moo Deng, the viral pygmy hippo, save her species? This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Arvoreznha, Brazil — Meet the admirable red-belly toad — a tiny amphibian found nowhere else on Earth but a small forest patch in southern Brazil. Don’t let its size fool you. In 2014, it made history by halting the construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have wiped out its only home. With just over […] authors: | ||
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Mass pilot whale stranding in Indonesia raises questions about ocean health 14 Mar 2026 07:28:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/mass-pilot-whale-stranding-in-indonesia-raises-questions-about-ocean-health/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Villagers in central Indonesia rescued 34 short-finned pilot whales following a mass stranding on March 9, but despite their overnight efforts were unable to save 21 others. Mongabay Indonesia’s Ebed De Rosary reports that residents first discovered the pod in the shallow waters off Deranitan village, in East Nusa Tenggara province, at approximately 3:30 p.m. local time. Local police coordinated with the local naval garrison and representatives from the fisheries ministry to launch a joint rescue operation. Working past midnight, teams of officials, security personnel and residents using boats managed to guide 34 of the whales back out into deeper waters. Of the 21 whales that perished, authorities identified The largest was a male measuring 5.1 meters (16.7 feet). The species, Globicephala macrorhynchus, is not considered threatened on the IUCN Red List. Imam Fauzi, head of the marine conservation area agency in Kupang, the provincial capital, said necropsies were conducted immediately to determine the cause of death. While the fisheries ministry is investigating the incident, local environmental NGOs like Walhi NTT are urging the government to expand the scope into a “thorough scientific investigation” to identify the root ecological triggers. Christofel Oktavianus Nobel Pale, head of the aquatic resources management program at Nusa Nipa University, said the region’s unique topography, characterized by shallow waters, narrow bays and steep gradients, can disrupt the sensitive echolocation systems pilot whales use to navigate. “Pilot whales have high social cohesion; when one individual, perhaps sick or disoriented, enters shallow water, the rest follow even…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Villagers in central Indonesia rescued 34 short-finned pilot whales following a mass stranding on March 9, but despite their overnight efforts were unable to save 21 others. Mongabay Indonesia’s Ebed De Rosary reports that residents first discovered the pod in the shallow waters off Deranitan village, in East Nusa Tenggara province, at approximately 3:30 p.m. […] authors: | ||
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Indigenous knowledge confirms what scientists observe: Large birds are disappearing 13 Mar 2026 23:21:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/indigenous-knowledge-confirms-what-scientists-observe-large-birds-are-disappearing/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Many Indigenous peoples and local communities live in close contact with nature and learn to identify the wildlife around them from an early age. New research published in the International Journal of Conservation draws on that knowledge to better understand a scientifically documented trend: large bird populations are shrinking. Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, an ethnobotanist with the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and lead author of the study, first noticed that trend as a graduate student doing field work in the Tsimane’ Indigenous community in the Bolivian Amazon. “Many elders told me that the large birds they had grown up seeing in the forest had become much rarer. Species that were once common in their childhood were now difficult to encounter,” Fernández-Llamazares told Mongabay in an email. He cited similar accounts from Indigenous peoples and local communities in other parts of the world and from very different ecosystems. Large birds from their youth were disappearing, while smaller species seemed to be on the rise — a pattern scientists were also finding. “What had not been explored before was whether these global patterns were also reflected in the long-term ecological memories of people who interact with birds on a daily basis,” he said. So, researchers surveyed 1,434 people across three continents and 10 sites as part of a broader Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts (LICCI) project, an international research initiative to understand how Indigenous and local communities observe the changing climate in their territories. Respondents were asked to name three birds that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Many Indigenous peoples and local communities live in close contact with nature and learn to identify the wildlife around them from an early age. New research published in the International Journal of Conservation draws on that knowledge to better understand a scientifically documented trend: large bird populations are shrinking. Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, an ethnobotanist with the […] authors: | ||
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A fish a day: More than 300 freshwater species described in 2025 13 Mar 2026 21:07:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/a-fish-a-day-more-than-300-freshwater-species-described-in-2025/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: Taxonomists described 309 new species of freshwater fish in 2025, according to a report released by SHOAL, the IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG) and the California Academy of Sciences (CAS). With nearly one new description each day of the year, the tally is the highest since 2017, and the third-highest since 1758, when scientists began keeping records. The new fish species come from five continents and a diversity of habitats, including limestone caves, peat swamps, wetlands and rivers. Most are endemic and some are already at risk of extinction. Asia topped the list with 165 newly described fish species, followed by South America with 91, Africa with 30, North America with 20, and Europe with three. “If there’s one thing this report shows, it’s that our planet’s rivers and wetlands are still full of surprises,” Michael Edmondstone from SHOAL told Mongabay in an email. “We hope this report sparks curiosity about freshwater life.” Some of the intriguing new species include two cave-dwelling fish in China — Yang’s plateau loach (Triplophysa yangi) and the Sichuan mountain cave loach (Claea scet) — both of which are adapted to permanent darkness. Museum specimens stored in Germany revealed two new species from East Africa. From the Democratic Republic of Congo, scientists described four new killifish (Nothobranchius spp.) species. They live in wetlands where the fish hatch, grow and reproduce in rain puddles all within a few weeks. When the water dries up, drought-resistant embryos stay buried in mud, waiting for the next rains…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Taxonomists described 309 new species of freshwater fish in 2025, according to a report released by SHOAL, the IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG) and the California Academy of Sciences (CAS). With nearly one new description each day of the year, the tally is the highest since 2017, and the third-highest since 1758, when scientists […] authors: | ||
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Costa Rica’s head start may mask tougher EUDR road ahead 13 Mar 2026 17:49:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/costa-ricas-head-start-may-mask-tougher-eudr-road-ahead/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Claudia Geib content:encoded: Costa Rica’s famous coffee industry says it’s nearly ready for EUDR. The upcoming European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires that all coffee shipped into the EU not come from recently deforested land, prompting Costa Rica to develop a pilot program with its largest coffee cooperative. The initial program provided tools and training to help growers, processors, roasters and exporters comply with the new rules. Over the past year, this pilot has expanded, giving these resources to all coffee producers nationally — and bringing Costa Rica closer to being one of the first nations to certify an entire sector as EUDR-ready. Costa Rica’s success serves as an important case study for the coffee industry, both in how others might prepare for the new rules, and why they may struggle in comparison. “I think we’ve seen a lot of discourse that says it’s basically impossible to comply with this law, and pilots like [Costa Rica’s] showcase that this is a wrong narrative,” said Janina Grabs, associate professor of sustainability research at the University of Basel in Switzerland, who studies agricultural commodities. “But they also showcase the alternative narrative, which is more truthful, which is that it’s going to be harder for some to comply than others.” Coffee is one of seven commodities covered by the EUDR; the others are cattle, cocoa, palm oil, rubber, soy and timber. While coffee’s impact is fractional compared to the massive deforestation undergone for cattle, palm oil and soy, the World Resources Institute estimates that between 2001…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), passed in 2023, will require that traders in several agricultural commodities, including coffee, prove that their products don’t contribute to deforestation. - To prepare, Costa Rica developed a pilot program with the country’s largest coffee growers’ cooperative, and started shipping deforestation-free coffee to Europe in March 2024. - Costa Rica has since provided the tools developed for this pilot to the entire coffee sector, with the aim of all coffee shipped from the country being certified deforestation-free. - However, Costa Rica’s long-standing sustainability standards gave it a head start on meeting the new regulations, experts say, warning that other countries with lower standards and fewer resources may find it difficult to quickly emulate its success. authors: | ||
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