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The Bougainville community in Panguna wants justice for mining’s ‘toxic legacy’ 16 Jun 2026 21:35:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/06/the-bougainville-community-in-panguna-wants-justice-for-minings-toxic-legacy/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Theonila Roka Matbob grew up next to what was — at the time — the world’s largest open-pit mine in Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, operated by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. This mine wrought environmental and social devastation on the community of Panguna for decades. And many of these impacts carry on today, says Roka Matbob, who is an Indigenous Nasioi woman and politician. With the help of Jubilee Australia and the Human Rights Law Centre, Roka Matbob was able to file a legal complaint with Australia’s National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct. As a result, Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bougainville government to remediate the impacts of this mine. For this legal achievement, Roka Matbob was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize. However, she is skeptical that remediation for these impacts will occur. She joins the podcast this week to tell the Bougainville story and what she wants people to understand about mining’s impacts on the autonomous region and her community. “ The Bougainville story is a result of Australia’s political decision through Papua New Guinea government now implemented on Bougainville and leaving behind a toxic legacy that is already been kind of fenced out, not to have a forum to talk about,” she says. “So my intention is for us to start telling this story.” Late last year, the Bougainville government signed another memorandum of understanding with an Indian metals company, Loyd’s Metals, to redevelop the Panguna mine. Roka Matbob says…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Theonila Roka Matbob grew up next to what was — at the time — the world’s largest open-pit mine in Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, operated by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. This mine wrought environmental and social devastation on the community of Panguna for decades. And many of these impacts carry […] authors: | ||
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Rain along the Gulf Coast could become the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season 16 Jun 2026 21:27:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/rain-along-the-gulf-coast-could-become-the-first-named-storm-of-the-atlantic-hurricane-season/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: MIAMI (AP) — A cluster of storms along the Gulf Coast could become the first named tropical storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center said. The storms threatened to bring heavy downpours that could lead to dangerous floods across southern states including Texas and Louisiana. The system was centered Tuesday afternoon about 55 miles (85 kilometers) south-southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas, according to a hurricane center advisory. National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said meteorologists are expecting the system to strengthen, possibly into a tropical storm by early Wednesday. But coastal areas could experience tropical storm conditions this week, even if the system doesn’t officially get a name, Brennan said. “The main hazard with these types of systems is largely the flooding from the heavy rainfall,” Brennan said. “And we could see potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding across the Texas coast eastward into central Mississippi through Thursday. Prolonged rainfall may extend the flood threat into the weekend.” Tornadoes were possible from the upper Texas coast across southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, forecasters said. The storm’s maximum sustained winds were around 30 mph (45 kph) Tuesday, just shy of the 39 mph (63 kph) needed to be named a tropical storm. The system had a 70% chance of forming into a tropical cyclone over the next two days, the hurricane center said. Houston, where a World Cup match between Portugal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is scheduled for Wednesday, has been under a flood warning since…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: MIAMI (AP) — A cluster of storms along the Gulf Coast could become the first named tropical storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center said. The storms threatened to bring heavy downpours that could lead to dangerous floods across southern states including Texas and Louisiana. The system was centered Tuesday afternoon about […] authors: | ||
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Lawsuit demands accountability for Cerro de Pasco mining pollution in Peru 16 Jun 2026 21:14:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/lawsuit-demands-accountability-for-cerro-de-pasco-mining-pollution-in-peru/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: A mine that has been operating for decades in the Peruvian Andes continues to contaminate the soil, water and air for thousands of people living nearby, according to a lawsuit filed last month. The contamination has displaced farming and livestock, the lawsuit said, while causing cognitive issues in children, among other public health concerns. Companies working at the Cerro de Pasco mine, located in Peru’s central highlands, need to be held responsible for the pollution and public health issues that have affected more than 100,000 people, according to Cerro de Pasco Mayor Julio Rupay Malpartida and public prosecutor Darwin Alejandro Ramón Yalico, who filed the injunction petition on behalf of the municipality. “[The] environmental contamination is on such a scale that it’s present in every corner of the city,” the lawsuit said, “a consequence of the accumulation of heavy metals and toxic substances.” The area has been home to mining activity since at least the 16th century, when the Spanish discovered silver deposits during colonization. More recently, the private company Volcan Compañía Minera took over the mines in 2000 and has overseen underground and open pit operations to extract silver, copper, zinc and lead, among other metals. The lawsuit also lists Volcan subsidiaries Óxidos de Pasco, Empresa Administradora Cerro and Empresa Minera Paragsha as defendants. The Cerro de Pasco mine from above. Image courtesy of SkyTruth/Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Some of the operation is located in the center of the city, with a population of more than 74,000. As a result, particulate…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Cerro de Pasco mine in Peru’s central highlands has caused years of environmental and public health issues due to heavy metal pollution, a new lawsuit says. The mine contains silver, copper, zinc and lead, among other metals. - The mayor and public prosecutor for the municipality of Cerro de Pasco want operators to admit responsibility for the pollution and revise their mining practices. They also want the companies to conduct health studies and pay for medical treatment for residents. - Although Cerro de Pasco has been repeatedly recognized as an extremely contaminated zone that gravely affects vulnerable populations, measures so far have not improved outcomes for local communities and the environment. authors: | ||
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‘Thinking how traffickers think’: Study uses AI to detect marine wildlife smuggling 16 Jun 2026 17:53:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/thinking-how-traffickers-think-study-uses-ai-to-detect-marine-wildlife-smuggling/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Daniel Shailer content:encoded: On Sunday, April 26, Argentine officials stopped an unusual shipment arriving at an airport near Buenos Aires. Inside, they found so many dead and dying fish, octopuses and crabs that a national rescue center had to install 10 new emergency tanks to support the survivors. It was the third time in a year authorities had seized an illegal shipment of sea life at the same airport, the Associated Press reported. Marine wildlife trafficking is a growing global business, driven by demand for ornamental fish, luxury foods and traditional medicines. Much of that trade is routed through airplane luggage or airmail, where the vast majority of animals, dead or alive, go undetected. The combined use of artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D X-ray machines could change that, according to an international team of researchers. Training an algorithm on samples of seahorses, shark fins and sea cucumbers, the scientists achieved successful detection rates between 86% and 96%, according to a research paper published last week. “As it stands, our methods of detecting something that shouldn’t be in our bags on the front line is reliant on human inspection and biosecurity dogs,” Vanessa Pirotta, a marine biologist at Macquarie University in Australia and the paper’s lead author, told Mongabay. “AI could be used to complement that. It’s not a silver bullet, but an assistant and a tool.” Image from the study showing (from top to bottom) shark fin, seahorse and sea cucumber samples next to a security X-ray of each item. Image courtesy of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Researchers have developed what they say is the first AI algorithm dedicated to detecting trafficked dead marine wildlife from 3D X-ray images. - The system was most effective at finding species with idiosyncratic shapes, like shark fins and seahorses, but also detected sea cucumbers with 86% accuracy. - Interpol seized more marine specimens than reptiles, birds and primates combined in 2025, but experts say the illicit trade remains underrecognized compared to tracking of terrestrial animals and their parts. - The effectiveness of the new approach may be limited by access to 3D X-ray machines in airports and mail pathways, and when officials try to distinguish between species in the same genus. authors: | ||
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How a popular spaghetti dish is threatening Italy’s marine ecosystem 16 Jun 2026 17:47:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Manuela Callari content:encoded: NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended on the seafloor. “It was midnight. Here they were again,” Simeone told Mongabay. The poachers had come a few nights before to scout the area. Then a second time. This time, Simeone was waiting for them. He rushed to alert the Coast Guard. The poachers operated with ruthless efficiency, using a dangerous illegal method known as the hookah system. A compressor on a small boat pumps air through a hose to a diver, allowing them to stay underwater for hours and systematically strip the seabed. Every 20 minutes, the diver resurfaced to hand over a net full of purple sea urchins (Paracentrotus lividus), grab an empty net and then dive back down. When the authorities moved in, the two men on the boat began dumping hundreds of sea urchins and their gear into the sea, as the diver quickly resurfaced. The three men were old acquaintances of Simeone’s. “They are repeat offenders. It’s not the first time we’ve caught them,” Simeone said. Illegally harvested sea urchins seized in July 2024. Image courtesy of Maurizio Simeone. During a previous bust a year earlier, the vessel was apprehended with a staggering haul: 976 sea urchins pulled from…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In the waters off Naples, Italy, a single 75-minute raid by poachers can net nearly 1,000 sea urchins, an in-demand ingredient in a dish popular with tourists. A haul like that can deal a significant blow to the local urchin population. - In a healthy marine ecosystem, fish like sea bream feed on urchins, keeping populations in check. When poachers decimate sea urchin colonies, commercial fish move elsewhere to find food, threatening legal fishers’ livelihoods. - Experts say Italy’s marine protected areas are particularly vulnerable. Although they have criminal penalties to deter poachers, the surrounding waters have been completely stripped bare of urchins, making them attractive targets. - Now, scientists are collecting data from law enforcement operations to raise awareness and drive regulatory changes. authors: | ||
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Teeming with turtles: Cabo Verde island sees 80-fold increase in nesting loggerheads 16 Jun 2026 16:36:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/teeming-with-turtles-cabo-verde-island-sees-80-fold-increase-in-nesting-loggerheads/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: By André Habet content:encoded: In 2018, night patrol teams on Boa Vista, the third-largest island in the Cabo Verde archipelago, started noticing a change along the beaches: The loggerhead turtles were arriving in significantly larger numbers than usual. In previous years, each team, comprised of staff and volunteers from local conservation NGO Cabo Verde Natura 2000 (CVN2), encountered between five and 10 female turtles (Caretta caretta) a night. But now, the teams were each recording between 20 and 30 females a night. By 2021, that number had grown to between 30 and 40. A recent study published in Biological Conservation confirms the upward trend: An 80-fold increase in the population of loggerheads nesting at three of Boa Vista’s beaches over 27 years, from 1998 to 2024. The authors of this first long-term study of Cabo Verde’s nesting loggerheads ascribe the remarkable trend to decades-long conservation efforts at the local and national level. Loggerheads, which primarily inhabit temperate and subtropical regions of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, are long-lived, slow-maturing migratory animals. With a lifespan of 80 years or more, female loggerheads take decades to reach sexual maturity. The global loggerhead population has declined by 47% over the past three generations, according to the last IUCN Red List assessment, where it remains listed as a globally ‘vulnerable’ species. The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, largely attributes this decline to anthropogenic pressures such as habitat loss, marine pollution, bycatch, poaching and multiple climate change-driven impacts. Loggerhead turtle eggs. Image by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study finds an 80-fold increase in the population of loggerhead turtles nesting at three beaches in Boa Vista, Cabo Verde’s third-largest island, over 27 years. - Globally, the loggerhead population has decreased by 47% over the past three generations, a decline largely attributed to anthropogenic pressures such as habitat loss, marine pollution, fishing bycatch, poaching and multiple climate change-driven impacts. - The authors of this first-of-its-kind study of Cabo Verde’s nesting loggerheads attribute the remarkable local recovery to decades-long conservation efforts. authors: | ||
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In Rio Indio, farmers fight Panama Canal reservoir project — and displacement 16 Jun 2026 15:20:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Monica Pelliccia content:encoded: LIMÓN DE CHAGRES, Panama — In Panama’s Rio Indio Basin, a $1.5 billion reservoir project aims to meet water demand for the next 50 years. But the project would displace dozens of farming communities, sparking widespread opposition to the reservoir’s construction. “We will give our lives to save Rio Indio! I came from Limón de Chagres, the first community that could be flooded to make space for the dam,” shouts Maricel Sanchéz at the microphone from a stage during a May 1 march in Panama City. “Today, I’m so proud to see how united we are in our resistance.” Sanchéz, 25, is the spokesperson for the Rio Indio farmers’ assembly, which is part of Coordinadora Campesina por la Vida (Peasant Coordinator for Life), a grassroots social and community organization of farmers, Indigenous communities and civic groups in Panama. During the march, she spoke out about their mobilization against the Río Indio reservoir: a $1.5 billion project by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Panama’s government agency responsible for managing the canal. Rio Indio is a 98-kilometer (about 61-mile) river in central Panama, flowing through the Costa Abajo area (home to 231 farming communities) to the Caribbean Sea. Here, the ACP plans to create a reservoir to provide water to nearby Gatun Lake (the northern entrance of the Panama Canal in the Atlantic Ocean) to meet water demand for the next 50 years for human consumption and for canal operations, especially during droughts. The construction is expected to begin in 2027 and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) plans to create a reservoir in the Rio Indio Basin, a 98-kilometer river in central Panama where 231 farming communities live. The project would cover about 11,370 acres and displace 38 farming communities, totaling about 2,000 residents. - Opposition to the Rio Indio Project among farmer communities is growing strong through street protests, legal action and the enlistment of experts to analyze its social and legal impacts. - Communities support the expansion of an existing reservoir fed by the Bayano River that would not require relocating people, but ACP tells Mongabay that the Bayano option has been long studied and that Río Indio provides more technical and energy advantages. - The Rio Indio Project would not only relocate residents but would disrupt ecosystems and endemic species and could increase the spread of vector-transmitted diseases, experts warn. authors: | ||
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Beyond wildlife trade: Endangered pangolins are losing habitat in Pakistan 16 Jun 2026 13:22:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/beyond-wildlife-trade-endangered-pangolins-are-losing-habitat-in-pakistan/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Emma Smith content:encoded: Tariq Mahmood was alarmed when he found 19 sacks tucked away in a railway tunnel in the Chakwal district of northern Pakistan. Their contents were extremely disturbing: 45 rotting pangolin carcasses, all devoid of their distinct, orange-and-light-brown scales. That was in 2012. “It was very difficult to see these innocent, dead bodies,” said Mahmood, a wildlife biologist at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University in Pakistan, who began studying pangolins in 2009. Finding so many slain Indian pangolins (Manis crassicaudata) alerted Mahmood to a dark truth. Poachers were paying local citizens to capture them, so the overlapping scales that cover their bodies — the pangolin’s first line of defense — could be sold into the illegal wildlife trade. “It was terrible to know that.” At the time, global conservationists were realizing that demand for pangolin was driving trade, mostly to China. “We first saw the emergence of this intercontinental trafficking around 2010, and it’s continued to take place since then,” said Dan Challender, a pangolin expert at the University of Oxford who has studied international wildlife trade for 15 years. This shy, toothless, nocturnal animal has become the world’s most-trafficked mammal. When Asia’s four species were nearly poached to extinction, traders turned to the four African species and their numbers soon plummeted. All pangolins are on the IUCN Red list: Four of them, including the Indian pangolin, are endangered, and three hang on the brink, critically endangered. Pangolin scales command substantial prices on the black market. The demand is…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The endangered Indian pangolin, long targeted by poachers for illegal trade of its scales and meat, has declined by 80% in Pakistan. - Now poaching is compounded by disappearing habitat, rising human population and encroaching infrastructure in six districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a mountainous region in northwestern Pakistan that has been important habitat, according to new research. - To mitigate this, the region’s wildlife department created four protected pangolin protection zones in Pakistan. authors: | ||
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Climate-fueled landslides killed an estimated 58 Tapanuli orangutans, study finds 16 Jun 2026 06:52:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-fueled-landslides-killed-an-estimated-58-tapanuli-orangutans-study-finds/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Climate change has become a direct threat to the survival of the world’s rarest great ape, according to scientists, after landslides triggered by an unusually intense storm killed an estimated 58 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) in Indonesia’s Batang Toru ecosystem. The estimate comes from a new study published in Current Biology, whose authors say the findings may represent one of the first examples of climate change immediately threatening the survival of an entire species. The researchers found that landslides triggered by extreme rainfall associated with Cyclone Senyar in November 2025 likely killed about 7% of the estimated global population of Tapanuli orangutans, which number fewer than 800 individuals and are concentrated in the Batang Toru landscape in North Sumatra. After analyzing satellite imagery, the researchers identified more than 50,000 individual landslide scars and estimated that about 8,300 hectares (20,500 acres) of forest in the western block of Batang Toru were affected by the disaster. The western block is considered the species’ most important stronghold, hosting more than 500 orangutans and one of the three known population clusters within the Batang Toru landscape. The researchers believe most orangutans caught in the landslides died rather than being displaced because of the violence and speed of the event. While the landslides were relatively shallow, they moved extremely rapidly and transformed into channelized debris flows. With little or no warning, orangutans and other wildlife likely had little chance of escaping and may have been buried, drowned or fatally injured by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The study found that landslides triggered by extreme rainfall in November 2025 likely killed about 7% of the estimated global population of Tapanuli orangutans. - Researchers warned that without swift intervention, the species could face increasingly frequent climate-driven disasters in the future. - The study only quantified direct mortality from landslides and did not account for deaths caused by canopy collapse outside mapped landslide areas, starvation, injuries or longer-term ecological consequences. - In a statement to Mongabay, the forest ministry said it “appreciates and is taking into consideration” scientific studies on the Tapanuli orangutan, including research estimating the impacts of floods and landslides on the species. authors: | ||
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‘Lost’ parrot rediscovered on remote Indonesian peak 16 Jun 2026 04:37:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lost-parrot-rediscovered-on-remote-indonesian-peak/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Following a grueling 14-day trek, a team of mountaineers and conservationists has photographed the elusive blue-fronted lorikeet in the highlands of eastern Indonesia’s Buru Island. This is only the second photographed record of the parrot in more than 100 years, according to bird conservation groups. The blue-fronted lorikeet (Charmosynopsis toxopei) is a small species found only in the island of Buru. The bird, which has a lime-green plumage, an orange beak and a pointed tail, was first identified from seven museum specimens collected in the 1920s. The avian species went undetected despite surveys conducted in the lowland and mid-elevation forests they’re described from, until it was photographed in 2014 by Craig Robson during a birding tour, according to the Search for Lost Birds project, a global partnership between the NGOs American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Re:wild and BirdLife International. In April 2026, Indonesian mountaineering group Kanal Buru, which included researchers from ABC, Birdtour Asia and Yayasan Planet Indonesia, led an expedition in Buru. They scaled the limestone terrain of Mount Kapalatmada in the west of the island to reach a 2,700-meter (8,900-foot) summit cloud forest and successfully photographed the parrot. The team also captured its high-pitched calls for the first time. “We noticed two small birds fly into a nearby tree so I picked up my binoculars to see what one of them was,” John C. Mittermeier, director of the Search for Lost Birds at ABC and part of the expedition, said in a statement by the ABC. “I short-circuited with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Following a grueling 14-day trek, a team of mountaineers and conservationists has photographed the elusive blue-fronted lorikeet in the highlands of eastern Indonesia’s Buru Island. This is only the second photographed record of the parrot in more than 100 years, according to bird conservation groups. The blue-fronted lorikeet (Charmosynopsis toxopei) is a small species found […] authors: | ||
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Himalayan rivers shifting course as climate warming thaws the ‘Water Tower of Asia’ 16 Jun 2026 04:04:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/himalayan-rivers-shifting-course-as-climate-warming-thaws-the-water-tower-of-asia/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Rivers are known to naturally meander, change courses, braid and branch. But as rising temperatures melt glaciers and thaw frozen ground, the courses of Himalayan rivers are shifting and changing shape much more rapidly than before, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The rising instability of the rivers could pose a risk to water security and critical infrastructure, researchers say. The Himalayas, often referred to as the “Water Tower of Asia”, provide vital water resources for nearly 2 billion people downstream. But according to the study, in the upper high Himalayan region, where several important river basins originate, temperatures have risen nearly twice as fast as the global average in the past four decades. The researchers studied three upper high Himalayan river drainage basins: Yarlung Tsangpo, Indus and Ganges. The sources of these rivers occur at elevations of nearly 5,000 meters (16,404 feet), where there is extensive glacier, ice cover and permafrost. Meltwater from these glaciers and permafrost, which is sensitive to climate warming, forms the rivers’ primary water supply. To find out how climate change is shifting and reshaping these upper high Himalayan river basins, the researchers analyzed 40 years of satellite imagery. In particular, they measured 1,079 river bends, covering roughly 1,582 kilometers (983 miles), from 1980 to 2020. Since valleys can confine and influence river movements, the researchers chose unconfined bends or meanders that flowed freely through the landscape for their analysis. Their analysis found that the rivers’ courses were shifting sideways faster…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Rivers are known to naturally meander, change courses, braid and branch. But as rising temperatures melt glaciers and thaw frozen ground, the courses of Himalayan rivers are shifting and changing shape much more rapidly than before, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The rising instability of the rivers could pose a […] authors: | ||
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In Bangladesh, scientists learn what happens after rescued pangolins return to the wild 16 Jun 2026 02:00:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-bangladesh-scientists-learn-what-happens-after-rescued-pangolins-return-to-the-wild/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: In a forest reserve in northeastern Bangladesh, two Chinese pangolins rescued from trafficking have been given a second chance at life in the wild. As poaching pushes the critically endangered species toward extinction, the releases aim to do more than boost flagging local populations. With the help of tiny radio transmitters, scientists are tracking each individual to learn about their survival, movements and behavior. Equipped with an armor-plated body, elongated snout and sticky tongue the length of their body, Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) are beautifully adapted to a life spent grubbing out ant and termite nests and resting in burrows dug into the forest floor. However, like all eight of the world’s known pangolin species, Chinese pangolins are among the most trafficked mammals on Earth. They’re plucked from forests across their range to feed an illegal trade driven by demand in China and Vietnam for pangolin meat, and scales and other body parts used in traditional medicines. While no global population counts exist, the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, classifies the species as critically endangered, due to the combined threats of poaching, habitat loss and deforestation. High poaching rates in China in the late 20th century caused local extinctions, displacing hunting pressure to other parts of the species’ range, which spans from northern India and Nepal, through Bangladesh and northern parts of Southeast Asia to southern China and Taiwan. Yet very little is known about the species in many countries, including Bangladesh, says Shahriar Caesar Rahman, co-founder and CEO…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Chinese pangolins are one of the most trafficked mammals on Earth. - In Bangladesh, scientists are tracking rescued and released individuals to learn about their ecology, behavior and habitat requirements. - Using radio trackers, camera traps and burrow surveys, researchers found these elusive animals stay surprisingly close to home, and readily integrate with wild populations, even sharing burrows with other species. - With very little known about the species, every new insight could help conservation teams better protect them across their range in Asia. authors: | ||
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Peter Klopfer, the scientist whose civil-rights case helped bring lemurs to Duke 16 Jun 2026 00:04:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/peter-klopfer-the-scientist-whose-civil-rights-case-helped-bring-lemurs-to-duke/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In the American South of the late 1950s, segregation was part of the daily architecture. Airports had separate facilities. Restaurants barred Black customers or served them apart. Schools, buses, waiting rooms, and lunch counters carried the same instructions. The system depended on law, custom, and the expectation that most white people would accommodate it. Resistance often began with small acts that carried real costs. A professor might drive arrested students back to campus. A family might refuse to send its children to segregated schools. A group of faculty members might walk toward a restaurant door together and be met in the parking lot by men who intended to stop them. The work required patience, and it also required a willingness to be arrested, disliked, and misunderstood. Peter Klopfer, who died on June 5th at 95, spent nearly seven decades at Duke University as a zoologist, teacher, and builder of institutions. He helped develop behavioral ecology, studied mother-offspring bonding, and co-founded the Duke Lemur Center, which became the world’s largest collection of lemurs outside Madagascar. He was also the named plaintiff in a Supreme Court case that extended the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial to state courts. The civil-rights defendant and the lemur scientist were the same man, formed by the same habits of attention and conscience. He was born in Berlin in 1930 and raised in a German immigrant family in the United States. He attended Friends schools and later studied at UCLA and Yale. At UCLA he…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Peter Klopfer, a Duke zoologist and co-founder of the Duke Lemur Center, died on June 5th at 95. - A Quaker pacifist and civil-rights activist, he refused the Korean War draft, supported student protesters in North Carolina, and was arrested during a 1963 integration protest. - His Supreme Court case, Klopfer v. North Carolina, extended the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial to state courts. - The legal-defense fund created after his arrest helped connect him with John Buettner-Janusch, leading to the arrival of lemurs at Duke and the creation of what became the Duke Lemur Center. authors: | ||
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Global map of Earth’s mycorrhizal fungal networks could help protect them 15 Jun 2026 21:58:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/global-map-of-earths-mycorrhizal-fungal-networks-could-help-protect-them/ author: Jamie Forsythe dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Fungi are living below your feet. Roughly 110 quadrillion kilometers of living fungal threads are woven through the world’s soils. Stretched end-to-end they would cover a distance nearly a billion times that from Earth to the sun. Now, scientists have mapped where those networks are, how dense they are, and what threatens them. Last year, researchers published global analyses in Nature about the diversity patterns of underground mycorrhizal fungal communities along with the Underground Atlas to help decision makers visualize where to prioritize conservation. Now, they ask the question: How much fungal infrastructure exists, and where? A new study published in Science by researchers with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and collaborators produced the first global maps of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal network density and biomass. “There could be up to 10 meters (32 feet) of mycorrhizal network in just a teaspoon of soil,” lead author Justin Stewart of SPUN said in a press statement. Nearly all land plants live in partnership with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi exchange water and nutrients for carbon made from sunlight. These underground networks act as a living circulatory system for the planet, and the new study found they move an estimated 4 billion tons of CO2 equivalent into soils annually, roughly 11% of global human-related emissions. To build the density maps, the team drew on data from more than 16,000 soil cores collected across nine biomes referenced in 322 published studies. They developed machine-learning models to predict network density…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Fungi are living below your feet. Roughly 110 quadrillion kilometers of living fungal threads are woven through the world’s soils. Stretched end-to-end they would cover a distance nearly a billion times that from Earth to the sun. Now, scientists have mapped where those networks are, how dense they are, and what threatens them. Last year, […] authors: | ||
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Australian authorities seize 100,000 live cockroaches in crackdown on exotic insect trade 15 Jun 2026 19:11:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: On June 5, Australian authorities announced that they confiscated more than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches from an unnamed commercial breeder in Bathurst, a town in New South Wales (NSW), about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Sydney. It was the largest bust of illegal invertebrates ever made in the country. The insects were estimated to be worth about AU$200,000 (about $140,000 at current exchange rates). They included dubia cockroaches (Blaptica dubia), endemic to South America, and Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) found only in the island nation of Madagascar. They were bred to be sold as food for pet reptiles, authorities said. Hissing cockroaches are also sought after as pets since they don’t have wings and can’t fly away. No one has been charged with a crime, according to a statement by an environment agency spokesperson. Australia has strict biosecurity laws, permitting live import of only certain animal species; controls are needed to effectively protect crops, plants and native wildlife. The legally-imported list excludes exotic insects like cockroaches that can become invasive or spread diseases “We’re seeing illegal breeding and trading of exotic cockroaches, and we’re putting pet businesses and pet owners on notice,” a spokesperson from the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, the agency responsible for environmental protection, said in a press release. “If you are found to possess, breed or trade exotic cockroaches such as dubia cockroaches and Madagascar hissing cockroaches, they will be seized and you could face penalties under federal law.” Officials…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Australian authorities seized more than 100,000 exotic cockroaches from a breeder in New South Wales. - The confiscated insects include Madagascar hissing cockroaches, endemic to the island country of Madagascar, and dubia roaches, which are popular both as reptile food and collected as pets. - Importing exotic insects is illegal in Australia, as they can become invasive or carry disease, and they cannot be legally kept, bred or sold. - The seizure highlights the unregulated but growing trade in invertebrates across the world, especially as food for increasingly popular reptile pets. authors: | ||
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Lawmakers fight to stop the Trump administration’s dismantling of a $386M ocean observatory project 15 Jun 2026 19:08:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lawmakers-fight-to-stop-the-trump-administrations-dismantling-of-a-386m-ocean-observatory-project/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: SEATTLE (AP) — Lawmakers are demanding the National Science Foundation stop dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $386 million ocean monitoring network being wound down under President Donald Trump’s administration. House Democrats on two committees call the action illegal. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley says he’s drafting legislation to freeze the removal of instruments until a full scientific review is completed. The National Science Foundation directed the removal of most of the system’s instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027. Monday’s pushback against the Republican administration’s actions comes as scientists are set to remove instruments from the Pacific and as an El Niño event is predicted to arrive this summer. By Annika Hammerschlag, Associated Press Banner image: In this 2021 image provided by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, workers walk near buoys used to gather data at Pioneer New England shelf off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Image courtesy of Véronique LaCapra/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via Associated Press. This article was originally published on Mongabay description: SEATTLE (AP) — Lawmakers are demanding the National Science Foundation stop dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $386 million ocean monitoring network being wound down under President Donald Trump’s administration. House Democrats on two committees call the action illegal. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley says he’s drafting legislation to freeze the removal of instruments until a […] authors: | ||
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We must prevent the next pandemic, not build perfect conditions for it (commentary) 15 Jun 2026 18:54:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/we-must-prevent-the-next-pandemic-not-build-perfect-conditions-for-it-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Chris Walzer content:encoded: In recent weeks, two outbreaks captured international attention: a hantavirus cluster linked to a cruise ship and an escalating outbreak of Bundibugyo ebolavirus in Central and Eastern Africa. How the world reacted to these outbreaks tells us more about inequity than about epidemiology. The Andes hantavirus outbreak aboard a luxury cruise ship generated extensive evacuation footage and widespread public anxiety. The numbers involved were small, and public health authorities clearly emphasized that the broader risk was very low. Meanwhile, the Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak, involving a rapidly increasing number of cases and deaths, spreading across fragile border regions, and unfolding without an approved vaccine, or therapeutics, still struggles to command comparable global urgency despite its coverage in the news. This disparity reflects an uncomfortable and common truth: some outbreaks become global emergencies only when wealthy travelers, tourists, or Western borders appear threatened. Others remain regional tragedies, normalized by poverty, and neglect. However, both outbreaks point to the same deeper reality. These events are not isolated biological accidents, but predictable consequences of the ecological, economic, and political systems we have built. In partnership with local governments across Central Africa, WCS set up an early warning system for Ebola, working with traditional hunters, forest communities, and rangers to raise awareness and promote best practices in zoonotic risk reduction, and to monitor wildlife health through sampling and a carcass monitoring, as in this case where a worker surveys a gorilla. Image courtesy of A. Ondzie / WCS. Global health has largely focused…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - How the world reacted to the recent disease outbreaks tells us more about inequity than about epidemiology, a new op-ed argues. - Beside the lopsided coverage of affected populations, both outbreaks point to the fact that these events are not isolated biological accidents, but predictable consequences of the ecological, economic, and political systems we have built. - “The first signal of the next outbreak will not come from a high-tech laboratory or a global summit. It will most likely come from a ranger deep in a protected forest, a community health worker in a remote village, or a hunter reporting a dead chimpanzee along a forest trail. The question is whether the world is willing to invest in listening before the crisis reaches everyone else,” the author writes. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Growing appetite for açaí is damaging bird diversity in the Amazon 15 Jun 2026 17:15:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/growing-appetite-for-acai-is-damaging-bird-diversity-in-the-amazon/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Suzana Camargo content:encoded: “Ah-sigh-ee.” Perhaps you don’t yet know the correct pronunciation of this Amazonian fruit, but chances are high that you’ve already seen its name – açaí – on some menu, especially in cafes and small shops specializing in healthy eating, sold mainly as the primary ingredient in bowls, smoothies, ice creams or juices. In Brazil, about 95% of the production of this small, round and very dark-purple fruit is concentrated in the Amazonian state of Pará. It’s a staple of the local diet, where it’s consumed, blended, with fish, cassava flour and other Amazonian ingredients. But because of its nutritional benefits, being rich in antioxidants and fibers, and having high energy value, açaí’s fame as a “superfood” quickly reached other Brazilian regions and, eventually, other countries. But the increase in fruit production to meet both national and international demand is reducing bird diversity in the floodplain forests of the Amazon. According to a study recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, areas with a higher density of açaí palm trees show a 28% decline in the number of bird species. “Our goal was to understand the consequences of the expansion of açaí cultivation and its various forms of management on birds, with a primary focus on frugivores, those that feed on fruits,” study co-author Raphael de Vasconcelos Nunes, a biologist at the Federal University of Pará, told Mongabay. According to Nunes, floodplain forests are already among the most impacted forest environments in the Amazon. They’re located on riverbanks and undergo constant…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A newly published study has found a 28% decline in bird species richness in Amazonian areas with high densities of açaí palms. - Farmers are clearing away native trees and understory vegetation to plant more açaí palms as demand soars, in the process destroying vital habitats for both fruit- and insect-eating birds. - While açaí is marketed as a sustainable “superfood,” exports from Brazil’s Pará state have surged by 885% in a decade, raising concerns about predatory monoculture. authors: | ||
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Plastic food packaging blankets the world’s coastlines, study finds 15 Jun 2026 16:12:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/plastic-food-packaging-blankets-the-worlds-coastlines-study-finds/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Ashley Yeong content:encoded: Food packaging ranks among the top plastic pollutants littering the world’s coastlines, a new study confirms. The study, published May 20 in the journal One Earth, analyzed data from 112 nations, including 5,300 shoreline litter surveys, to produce the first global index of macroplastic pollution by usage type. Based on 355 peer-reviewed studies, it found that food and beverage plastics were the most common litter type for 93% of the countries surveyed. Within that category, food packaging, caps and lids, and plastic bottles were the most consistently found items, appearing as the top three across more than half of surveyed countries. This included the world’s five most populous countries: China, India, the United States, Indonesia and Pakistan. Plastic bags and cigarettes followed as the next most prevalent categories. The study’s lead author, Max Richard Kelly of the University of Plymouth in the U.K, said he was not surprised by the volume of food and beverage plastics on beaches but was struck by similarities in the surveyed countries. “Seeing the exact pattern replicated across the vast majority of nations was a stark reminder of the true scale of crisis we are facing,” he told Mongabay in an email. Single-use plastic sachets sold in a village in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Image by Ashley Yeong for Mongabay. Putting a lid on plastic pollution The study comes during an uncertain time for global plastics governance. The United Nations global plastics treaty talks have stalled repeatedly over whether the agreement should focus more on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study analyzed thousands of shoreline litter surveys and other data from more than 100 countries to produce the first global index of macroplastic pollution by type. - The study found food and beverage plastics were the most common litter type for 93% of countries surveyed, followed by plastic bags and cigarettes; the pattern was consistent across countries, regardless of waste management infrastructure. - Plastic pollution harms marine life and disrupts ecological services provided by coastal ecosystems like mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass. - Researchers call for reducing production, warning that waste management alone will not solve the global plastic pollution problem. authors: | ||
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The Future of Suriname’s Rainforests 15 Jun 2026 15:04:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/06/the-future-of-surinames-rainforests/ author: Lemae Mortimer dc:creator: content:encoded: Suriname remains an outlier in the Amazon Basin: more than 90% of the country is still covered by rainforest, making it one of the few nations in the world that remains a net carbon sink. But a wave of development proposals — from large-scale agriculture and Mennonite farming settlements, to mining projects and new carbon market initiatives — have raised questions about how the country will manage its natural wealth. Mongabay journalist Maxwell Radwin examines how these plans could reshape Suriname’s forests by documenting debates over land use plans, and the efforts of Indigenous and Maroon communities to defend their ancestral territories amid long-standing disputes over land rights.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Suriname remains an outlier in the Amazon Basin: more than 90% of the country is still covered by rainforest, making it one of the few nations in the world that remains a net carbon sink. But a wave of development proposals — from large-scale agriculture and Mennonite farming settlements, to mining projects and new carbon […] authors: | ||
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How courtrooms are deciding the fate of whales 15 Jun 2026 13:46:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-courtrooms-are-deciding-the-fate-of-whales/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Izzy Sasada content:encoded: Legal courtrooms are becoming a new battleground in the fight to save whales. In New Zealand, the proposed Tohorā Oranga Bill could recognize whales as legal persons — building on Pacific Indigenous efforts like He Whakaputanga Moana. This push to obtain legal rights for whales is part of the fast-growing ‘Rights of Nature’ movement. But at the same time, weakened protections under the Endangered Species Act threaten the last 51 Rice whales in the Gulf of Mexico. Join Conservation Entangled host Izzy Sasada as she explores how courtrooms are becoming a new frontier in deciding the fate of whales.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Legal courtrooms are becoming a new battleground in the fight to save whales. In New Zealand, the proposed Tohorā Oranga Bill could recognize whales as legal persons — building on Pacific Indigenous efforts like He Whakaputanga Moana. This push to obtain legal rights for whales is part of the fast-growing ‘Rights of Nature’ movement. But […] authors: | ||
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Australia establishes the first Sea Country Indigenous Protected Area 15 Jun 2026 11:26:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/australia-establishes-the-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For the Karajarri people of Kimberley in northwestern Australia, the coastline, reefs, wetlands, beaches and desert-edge country form one estate, held through law, memory, work and obligation. That relationship now has new recognition, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. In March, the Karajarri dedicated Karajarri Jurarr Ngurra, Australia’s first Sea Country Indigenous Protected Area. It covers 237,489 hectares (nearly 587,000 acres) of marine and coastal ecosystems, including part of Malumpurr, the Karajarri name for Eighty Mile Beach. The area is rich in life. Flatback turtles (Natator depressus) nest along the shore of Malumpurr. Migratory birds use the wetlands. Sawfish swim through nearby waters. These species are often recorded through science, surveys and management plans. The Karajarri know them through long presence, close observation and responsibility passed across generations. The new protected area builds on three decades of legal and political work. The Karajarri first secured recognition of their land claims. They then established a land-based Indigenous Protected Area and developed a ranger program. Sea Country protection is the next step. It gives formal weight to an existing relationship. Jesse Ala’i, formerly the Land and Sea Country manager for the Karajarri Traditional Lands Association, put it simply: “In order to have healthy Country, you need healthy people.” The reverse is also true. “Healthy people need healthy Country,” he added. Australia’s Indigenous Protected Areas now account for more than half of the country’s progress toward protecting 30%…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For the Karajarri people of Kimberley in northwestern Australia, the coastline, reefs, wetlands, beaches and desert-edge country form one estate, held through law, memory, work and obligation. That relationship now has new recognition, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. In […] authors: | ||
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The quest to reconnect imperiled rainforest in West Africa 15 Jun 2026 10:22:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/the-quest-to-reconnect-imperiled-rainforest-in-west-africa/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: NIGRE, Côte d’Ivoire — The village of Nigré in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire sits — like much of this part of West Africa — in a landscape of rice and cassava fields, oil palm plantations and stands of rubber trees that have replaced the forests that once clothed the landscape. Chief Djahi Bertin and his attendants offer a traditional welcome to a group of scientists, conservationists and park rangers in an open-sided building in the chief’s yard. The guests are served slices of radish-red kola nut, together with a teaspoon of ginger-colored spices, and a choice of wine, beer, spirits or soda. Bertin takes a glass of wine, half full, and empties it on the concrete floor. The splash resembles the palm of a hand, fingers splayed out. Both the palm and the digits form a unified whole, he says. “We are of one mind.” Chief Djahi Bertin, left, and his advisors meet with conservationists and scientists at his residence in the village of Nigré to discuss the creation of an ecological corridor linking the nearby Taï National Park, with Grebo National Park just 4 kilometers away in neighboring Liberia. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. The village is not far from the western edge of Taï Forest. At 5,000 square kilometers (1,930 square miles), it’s the largest intact remnant of Upper Guinean rainforest, which once stretched east from Liberia, across Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, to Togo. During a two-day road trip from the commercial hub of Abidjan to Taï, Mongabay…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Conservationists working with the official national parks agency in Côte d’Ivoire are planning to create an ecological corridor linking Taï National Park with Grebo National Park in neighboring Liberia. - The corridor has support from the Ivorian village of Nigré, where residents will grow native trees alongside their crops to facilitate animal movements. - Animals that will likely benefit include the bongo; like other antelopes in Taï, they are believed to play a key role in helping to disperse seeds to ensure forest regeneration. - Stitching together the surviving parts of West Africa’s Upper Guinean rainforest could help ensure this ecosystem and its inhabitants thrive. authors: | ||
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The bats that pollinate for tequila: Photo of the week 15 Jun 2026 08:25:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-bats-that-pollinate-for-tequila-photo-of-the-week/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: A Mexican long-tongued bat, featured above, flies into the blooms of an agave plant, a feeding and pollination technique used to reach nectar. The bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) have unusually long tongues to access nectar while their impact spreads pollen grains everywhere to pollinate nearby agave. Peter Hudson, a professor of biology at Penn State University, U.S., photographed the moment in 2019 in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert near the U.S.-Mexico border. The region is a biodiversity hotspot, home to native species including trogons and antelope jackrabbits (Lepus alleni). “These bats just go, like little kids on a sugar rush,” Hudson told Mongabay by phone. “They’re taking in so much of this rich sugar stuff that they’re flying about doing happy laps, as it were, in the sky.” The bats’ long tongues can extend nearly 8 centimeters (3 inches) from their body and are covered in hair-like protusions, papillae, that help it drink nectar from flowers. They primarily feed on agave nectar, cactus flowers, soft fruits and the occasional insect. Hudson used a movement trigger and flash to snap the moment. “It all happens so fast,” he said. “You have to get the bat as it’s coming into the plant and see if you can capture it as it hits the plant.” The agave plant is used to make tequila and mezcal, Mexico’s national spirit. As demand for export has increased, the country has experienced a more than 700% surge in mezcal production in the past decade. The jump in demand for Mexican…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A Mexican long-tongued bat, featured above, flies into the blooms of an agave plant, a feeding and pollination technique used to reach nectar. The bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) have unusually long tongues to access nectar while their impact spreads pollen grains everywhere to pollinate nearby agave. Peter Hudson, a professor of biology at Penn State University, […] authors: | ||
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Destructive ‘wrong stories’ drive environmental exploitation, Indigenous scholar says 15 Jun 2026 04:42:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/destructive-wrong-stories-drive-environmental-exploitation-indigenous-scholar-says/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: A new book from Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta of Australia explores how human narratives dictate how modern society governs itself and, crucially, how it exploits or protects the natural world. “It’s a terrible thing to … misrepresent things, make false claims, bear false witness in a way that is bending story, the story that everybody follows,” Yunkaporta told Mongabay’s newscast host Mike DiGirolamo. Yunkaporta is a Deakin University senior research fellow and member of the Apalech clan (Wik) whose traditional lands are located in far north Queensland, Australia. His book, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking, argues that identifying and correcting “wrong stories” is key to stopping environmental exploitation. A wrong story, according to Yunkaporta, is one that acts as a deceptive “curse” by presenting an illusion as if it were real to justify the exploitation of nature and community well-being through narratives that have no connection to the land. To illustrate the “wrong story” of modern resource exploitation, Yunkaporta told Mongabay the Aboriginal folk tale of Tidalik, a giant frog who hoarded all the world’s water for himself. Yunkaporta compares Tidalik to Wall Street firms and billionaires who gamble on water futures and “park their cash” in housing, exacerbating the affordability crisis while stopping the natural flow of resources. In the legend, the animal kingdom does not “eat” Tidalik; instead, an eel makes him laugh by tying himself in knots, forcing the frog to “vomit all the water back into the land.” “A lot of people…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A new book from Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta of Australia explores how human narratives dictate how modern society governs itself and, crucially, how it exploits or protects the natural world. “It’s a terrible thing to … misrepresent things, make false claims, bear false witness in a way that is bending story, the story that everybody […] authors: | ||
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In Thailand, EUDR pressure on small-scale rubber farmers prompts private-sector assistance 15 Jun 2026 02:02:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: KRABI, Thailand — Beneath a humid canopy of rubber trees, Sathit Phromraksa pauses to inspect a coagulated ball of rubber in a palm-sized bowl fastened to a trunk. Last night, he and his wife worked their way through the plantation, carefully carving a line in the bark of each tree to stimulate the flow of milky latex. With a total 500 trees to tap in their 1.6-hectare (4-acre) plantation, their work took them from midnight to 3:30 a.m. “I inherited this rubber farm from my father,” says 59-year-old Sathit, a lifelong resident of Namgaan subdistrict in Thailand’s Krabi province. “Back then, my family used a lot of chemicals to control weeds and pests, but now, we follow organic practices.” Sathit is one of roughly 1.7 million smallholders who produce 90% of Thailand’s natural rubber supply across millions of individual plantations, most of them no bigger than his. For many, staying profitable is a constant challenge amid fluctuating market prices, crop diseases and climate change. Now, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is poised to add to the pressures facing small-scale producers like Sathit. Under the law, set to take effect in January 2027, only suppliers who can prove their land wasn’t cleared after Dec. 31, 2020, will be allowed to continue selling rubber to EU markets. As the world’s leading natural rubber producer, the economic implications for Thailand are significant. While the bulk of its exports go to China and Malaysia, the value of Thai rubber entering the EU increased by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Small-scale farmers who underpin Thailand’s lucrative natural rubber industry are under pressure to prepare for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), due to take effect at the end of the year. - From geolocation data to legal documentation, smallholders will have to provide evidence their products are deforestation-free if they want to continue supplying European markets. - With the industry dependent on smallholder production, private intermediary firms are stepping in to help farmers comply through bespoke tech-based traceability platforms. - Experts say while the EUDR’s focus on reducing deforestation risks is significant, effective implementation will depend on collaboration across the supply chain and meaningful investment in small-scale producers. authors: | ||
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Tony Parkes, the banker who replanted a rainforest 14 Jun 2026 15:30:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/tony-parkes-the-banker-who-replanted-a-rainforest/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: On the far north coast of New South Wales, the old rainforest had mostly disappeared. The Big Scrub once covered about 75,000 hectares of rich basalt country, a lowland subtropical forest of figs, vines, palms and fruit doves. By the time modern conservationists took stock of it, little more than one percent remained, divided among small patches on farms, roadsides and reserves. Weeds pressed in from the edges. Cattle and clearing had done the rest. What remained needed legal protection, science, money, landholders, seedlings and years of follow-through. It also needed someone who could make committees matter. Rainforest restoration can sound gentle, a matter of saplings and goodwill. In the Big Scrub it required persistence of a less decorative kind. Private landholders had to be brought in. Government agencies had to be pressed. Botanists, bush regenerators, nursery owners, donors and volunteers had to keep working together after the first enthusiasm had passed. The work was local, technical and repetitive. It suited Tony Parkes. Tony Parkes. Photo by Kim Honan / ABC North Coast He came to it late. Born in Hobart, he grew up close to bush and estuary. Later came science, business management and investment banking. He retired at 56 after a successful career in Sydney, and might have chosen a comfortable retirement. Instead he and his wife Rowena bought land in the Northern Rivers, learned the history of the Big Scrub and began planting rainforest on their own property. A private restoration project became a second public life.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Tony Parkes left a successful career in investment banking and devoted three decades to restoring the Big Scrub, the once-vast subtropical rainforest of northern New South Wales. - After moving to the Northern Rivers, he and his wife Rowena planted tens of thousands of trees on their own land, turning private restoration into a public cause. - As co-founder and longtime president of Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy, he helped unite landholders, scientists, bush regenerators, donors and volunteers around a disciplined model of rainforest recovery. - His work helped protect remnants, plant millions of trees, strengthen restoration science and make the recovery of the Big Scrub part of the region’s civic life. authors: | ||
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Amazon deforestation alerts fall to lowest 12-month level since 2014, show Brazilian data 14 Jun 2026 00:11:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/amazon-deforestation-alerts-fall-to-lowest-12-month-level-since-2014-show-brazilian-data/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Satellite alerts suggest deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is continuing to fall, putting the country on pace for one of its lowest forest-clearing years in more than a decade. The decline comes as climate scientists warn that a likely strong El Niño could still bring a difficult fire season, even if clear-cutting remains low. New data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, or INPE, show that its DETER alert system detected 370 square kilometers (143 square miles) of deforestation in the Amazon in May. That was down from 960 square kilometers in May 2025, a decline of about 61%. Data from INPE’s DETER and Imazon’s SAD detection systems showing deforestation in the Legal Amazon (“Amazonia”) from Aug 1 to May 31 since 2008. Image by Mongabay Data from INPE’s DETER and Imazon’s SAD detection systems showing deforestation in the Legal Amazon (“Amazonia”). Image by Mongabay May is an important month in the Amazon deforestation calendar. It often marks the transition toward the drier season, when forest clearing and burning tend to increase across parts of the southern and eastern Amazon. Monthly satellite figures can vary because of cloud cover, timing and the way alerts are processed, but the latest data extend a longer downward trend. Over the past 12 months, DETER registered 3,182 square kilometers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. That compares with 4,633 square kilometers during the same period a year earlier. The total is the lowest for any 12-month period in the DETER record dating…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - INPE’s DETER alert system detected 370 square kilometers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in May, down from 960 square kilometers in May 2025. - Over the past 12 months, DETER registered 3,182 square kilometers of deforestation, the lowest total for any 12-month period in the system’s record dating back to July 2014. - Independent monitoring by Imazon shows a similar downward trend, reinforcing evidence that forest clearing has continued to decline. - Scientists warn that a likely strong El Niño could still increase drought, fire and forest degradation risks, even if clear-cutting remains low. authors: | ||
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Robert Ricklefs, ecologist who helped generations understand nature, has died at 83 13 Jun 2026 00:42:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/robert-ricklefs-ecologist-who-helped-generations-understand-nature-has-died-at-83/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: At the mouth of the Carmel River, a teacher set up a spotting scope and let a boy look through it. The birds were the first thing he saw. The habit of looking came next. He saw that the world could be understood, though not quickly, and that its order did not reveal itself to those in a hurry. Later he would say he never recovered from that experience. The remark was light, but also true. A childhood near Monterey, with woods behind the house and the Pacific within walking distance, gave him the subject of his life. Robert “Bob” Ricklefs, who died on June 7th, a day after his 83rd birthday, spent that life asking how living things came to be where they are, and why they lived as they did. He became one of the most influential ecologists of his generation: an ornithologist, biogeographer, theorist, teacher, author and member of the National Academy of Sciences. His textbooks, Ecology and The Economy of Nature, shaped how thousands of students first encountered the field. Their authority came from clarity. He could take a tangled subject and find a usable path through it. Birds were his beginning. As a boy he joined weekend outings with the local Audubon Society and gained the status, modest but real, of a child with a serious interest. At Stanford he briefly followed the spirit of the space age into engineering, then returned to biology. At the University of Pennsylvania he entered the circle of Robert…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Robert “Bob” Ricklefs, who died on June 7th, a day after his 83rd birthday, helped shape modern ecology through his work on birds, island biogeography, life histories, and biodiversity. - His textbooks, Ecology and The Economy of Nature, introduced generations of students to the field with uncommon clarity and breadth. - He believed that careful observation and field experience remained essential to science, even as ecology became more model-driven and publication-focused. - Colleagues and students remembered him as exacting, generous, independent-minded, and gentle in manner while firm in judgment. authors: | ||
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Researchers find dramatic restoration on land and sea after island rat removal 13 Jun 2026 00:28:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/researchers-find-dramatic-restoration-on-land-and-sea-after-island-rat-removal/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: When invasive rats are removed from islands, the ecological benefits can ripple across both land and sea more quickly than scientists expected, according to recent research. Scientists have long assumed that meaningful recovery after the predators are eradicated would take decades. However, researchers with the U.S.-based NGO Island Conservation conducted a rat-removal experiment on Ulong Island in Palau, which provides the first experimental evidence that ecosystems can rebound far more quickly than previously expected. Until recently, rats, which are typically nocturnal, were so abundant on Ulong Island that they were regularly seen during the day. They were a nuisance to campers and deadly for wildlife. As opportunistic omnivores, rats readily prey upon seabird eggs and chicks, devastating nesting colonies on tropical islands. As a result, there were “very few nesting seabirds that we would find,” Coral Wolf, the conservation science program manager at Island Conservation, told Mongabay in a video call. To measure the effects of rat eradication, Wolf designed an experiment in which all the rats were removed from Ulong, while the rats on nearby Ngeruktabel Island remained, serving as a control site. Before the eradication, researchers collected baseline biodiversity data. On land, they recorded bird calls and took soil samples. In the surrounding water, they measured indicators like fish biomass and coral cover. One year after rats were removed, the team repeated the survey and found a dramatic improvement in the biodiversity. Freed from rat predation, seabird activity on the island surged. Detections of bridled tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) calls rose by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: When invasive rats are removed from islands, the ecological benefits can ripple across both land and sea more quickly than scientists expected, according to recent research. Scientists have long assumed that meaningful recovery after the predators are eradicated would take decades. However, researchers with the U.S.-based NGO Island Conservation conducted a rat-removal experiment on Ulong Island […] authors: | ||
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Bornean ferret badger only lives in Borneo. Could it be a conservation symbol? 12 Jun 2026 20:57:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/bornean-ferret-badger-only-lives-in-borneo-could-it-be-a-conservation-symbol/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: The Bornean ferret badger is a small carnivore with the slinky body of a ferret and a face mask like a badger. A new study confirms that it lives only in the mountains of Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. Ferret badgers are nocturnal carnivores, widespread across Southeast Asia, but the Bornean ferret badger (Melogale everetti) lives only in a narrow mountain range on the island of Borneo. A group of researchers from the Bornean Carnivore Programme, part of the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Sabah Forestry Department, and Sabah Parks set out to understand the Bornean ferret-badger’s distribution within Sabah. Between 2021 and 2024, the research team set up 188 camera-trap stations across Sabah’s western highlands and recorded the badgers more than 400 times, discovering a new population in the process. The new population in the Nuluhon-Trusmadi Forest Reserve of Malaysian Borneo, expanded the known range of the species, but photo-traps and habitat modeling showed that Bornean ferret badgers are only found within the greater Sabah’s Kinabalu-Crocker-Trusmadi mountain landscape. “I grew up in Tambunan and had never seen or even heard of the Bornean ferret badger,” said Mohammad Aliyuddin bin Jaini, field manager of the Bornean Carnivore Programme in a press release. “I decided to place some camera traps around my family’s farm simply to see what wildlife might be there, and I was amazed when a Bornean ferret badger appeared in the photographs. To discover that an Endangered species found only in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The Bornean ferret badger is a small carnivore with the slinky body of a ferret and a face mask like a badger. A new study confirms that it lives only in the mountains of Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. Ferret badgers are nocturnal carnivores, widespread across Southeast Asia, but the Bornean […] authors: | ||
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Mozambique completes first white rhino breeding population in decades 12 Jun 2026 20:44:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/mozambique-completes-first-white-rhino-breeding-population-in-decades/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: On June 6, nine female white rhinos arrived in Mozambique’s Zinave National Park following a two-day translocation. Their arrival marks the culmination of nearly 10 years of rhino reintroduction efforts in the park, aimed at rebuilding a viable breeding population of the mammals in Zinave after decades of local extinction. The white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) were transferred from the Manketti Game Reserve in South Africa and join another 30 white rhinos and 22 black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) introduced to Zinave since 2022. “[The translocation] went fantastically well,” Antony Alexander, a regional manager for the conservation nonprofit Peace Parks Foundation, which manages Zinave and organized the translocation, told Mongabay by phone. “I’m sure they’re happy to be in the wild again.” Zinave, which covers around 4,090 square kilometers (1,580 square miles) in the southern province of Inhambane, has previously been called a “silent park” after decades of civil war wiped out much of its wildlife. “You could almost sense the very low levels of life with insects and birds and smells and sounds,” said Alexander, describing Zinave before wildlife restoration efforts began. “That’s changed dramatically over the last 10 years.” Among the species reintroduced since 2016 are the critically endangered black rhino and Selous’ zebra (Equus quagga selousi), as well as the endangered African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), vulnerable leopard (Panthera pardus) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). The rhinos help maintain Zinave’s ecosystem as they are bulk grazers, eating a high volume of grass. This helps prevent fire risk, as overgrown…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: On June 6, nine female white rhinos arrived in Mozambique’s Zinave National Park following a two-day translocation. Their arrival marks the culmination of nearly 10 years of rhino reintroduction efforts in the park, aimed at rebuilding a viable breeding population of the mammals in Zinave after decades of local extinction. The white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) […] authors: | ||
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‘Flamingo Revolution’ aims to stop Kushner-backed resort on protected Albanian delta 12 Jun 2026 19:54:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/flamingo-revolution-aims-to-stop-kushner-backed-resort-on-protected-albanian-delta/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Stefan Lovgren content:encoded: VJOSA-NARTA, Albania — In late April, heavy machinery began moving into the Pishë Poro-Narta protected landscape on Albania’s Adriatic coast without permits or public notice. Bulldozers and excavators felled coastal pine trees, flattened sand dunes, and cut new roads through previously untouched habitat. Then, barbed wire fences went up along the shoreline. The incursion was the realization of a luxury resort development backed by Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The development plans of Kushner’s Affinity Partners, a private equity fund, stretch from the uninhabited Sazan Island into the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape, the delta region of Albania’s Vjosa River that includes Pishë Poro-Narta. Roughly twice the size of Paris, the Vjosa-Narta area shelters flamingos, Dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus crispus), loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) and more than 70 endangered species, among them the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus). Neither Affinity Partners nor the office of the prime minister of Albania responded to Mongabay’s requests for comment. Aerial drone video of demonstrators gathering at Dalan Beach on June 6 for a rally near the site of the original resort-construction site. Footage by Stefan Lovgren for Mongabay. When protesters arrived at the site, security guards confronted them. Video of a demonstrator being dragged across the dunes on May 30 near the village of Zvërnec went viral. Soon demonstrations erupted in Tirana, the Albanian capital, in what has since been dubbed the Flamingo Revolution. The protests have grown larger every day, with tens of thousands demanding accountability for corruption, an end to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In April, Albanian authorities allowed bulldozers to tear through the protected Vjosa-Narta delta — home to flamingos, loggerhead sea turtles and the endangered Mediterranean monk seal — without permits or environmental review, sparking mass protests that have shaken the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama. - The construction is linked to a luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, targeting one of the last intact river-delta wildernesses in the Mediterranean, where only 4% of deltas remain undisturbed. - As Albania’s anti-corruption authority investigates and the EU warns the development could jeopardize the country’s 2030 membership bid, conservationists say the crisis exposes a pattern of broken promises around the celebrated Vjosa Wild River National Park. authors: | ||
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Pilot whales can’t hear each other over ship noise in Strait of Gibraltar, study finds 12 Jun 2026 18:26:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/pilot-whales-cant-hear-each-other-over-ship-noise-in-strait-of-gibraltar-study-finds/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: The rumble of ship traffic is drowning out the calls of long-finned pilot whales and potentially other marine species in the Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow strip of water between Morocco and Spain that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers who investigated this looked at near and long-distance communication between long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), which are actually a species of large dolphin. They found the mammals were able to increase the volume of their calls used for short distances, but long-distance calling was more challenging, according to their recently published study. The dolphins may not be able to overpower noise pollution in the Strait of Gibraltar when calling pod mates far away, raising concerns that they could become lost and isolated from the group, the researchers said. Roughly 60,000 ships pass through the Strait of Gibraltar each year. “If they cannot communicate with one another, they may need to stay much closer together, or all that communication may become ineffective,” study co-author Renaud de Stephanis, director at the Spain-based organization CIRCE (Conservación, Información y Estudio sobre Cetáceos), told Mongabay by phone. Researchers focused the study on a small resident population of roughly 250 pilot whales in the strait. The team attached suction-cup recorders to the backs of 23 individuals. Later, they categorized more than 1,400 calls into four different categories. They found that pilot whales were able to adjust to the noise pollution for two types of calls, the high-frequency and short-pulsed calls, by simply raising…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The rumble of ship traffic is drowning out the calls of long-finned pilot whales and potentially other marine species in the Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow strip of water between Morocco and Spain that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers who investigated this looked at near and long-distance communication between long-finned pilot […] authors: | ||
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Malawi officials seek to drop bribery case against illegal wildlife trafficking convict 12 Jun 2026 15:24:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/malawi-officials-seek-to-drop-bribery-case-against-illegal-wildlife-trafficking-convict/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Charles Mpaka content:encoded: Government officials in Malawi have applied to withdraw bribery charges against wildlife trafficking convict Lin Yunhua, which would pave the way for his release from prison. In July 2025, a presidential pardon set Lin, a Chinese national, free from a 14-year jail sentence he’d received in 2021 connected to illegally trading in wildlife parts such as ivory, rhino horn and pangolin scales. Malawian authorities had arrested Lin, his wife and 13 members of his transnational wildlife crime syndicate in 2019. While pardoned, Lin remained in prison on charges of bribing a prison official and a judge to influence his sentencing; offenses he allegedly committed while on trial for the wildlife crimes. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Fostino Maele, has now instructed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which brought the bribery charges against Lin, to drop those charges. Maele was previously Lin’s lawyer. Environmental and anti-corruption activists demanded that he recuse himself from the case due to a conflict of interest. But Maele did not. At the time of publishing, Maele had not responded to questions from Mongabay about reasons for dropping the bribery charges and concerns of conflict of interest. “We have a serious contradiction here,” environmentalist Charles Mkoka told Mongabay in a phone interview. “We sit in one room and plan what to do to send a strong message to wildlife traffickers that we will not tolerate their crimes. In another room, some offices are scrapping off cases of those that are engaging in wildlife trafficking. This is regrettable.”…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Government officials in Malawi have applied to withdraw bribery charges against wildlife trafficking convict Lin Yunhua, which would pave the way for his release from prison. In July 2025, a presidential pardon set Lin, a Chinese national, free from a 14-year jail sentence he’d received in 2021 connected to illegally trading in wildlife parts such […] authors: | ||
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Global ocean faces ‘deepening crisis,’ but governance is improving: UN report 12 Jun 2026 15:20:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-ocean-faces-deepening-crisis-but-governance-is-improving-un-report/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts content:encoded: From pollution to overfishing to the escalating effects of climate change, human activities are placing mounting pressure on the world ocean, fueling what U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres describes as a “deepening crisis.” Those warnings are detailed in the third U.N. World Ocean Assessment, released June 8 and authored by approximately 600 experts from 86 countries. Covering the period between 2021 and 2025, the report echoes concerns raised in the U.N.’s earlier World Ocean Assessments, published in 2015 and 2021, which describe a global ocean under immense strain due to human-driven pressures. The authors point toward progress in ocean governance through a review of 57 global treaties related to ocean protection, including the recently ratified high seas treaty, known more formally as the marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement. However, they caution that existing frameworks generally remain “fragmented” and cannot fully address the scale of the challenges facing the ocean. Even so, the authors argue that it is imperative to continue strengthening conservation efforts, regulations and international cooperation to mitigate the damaging impacts of human activities and preserve marine ecosystems. Some 52.1 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the ocean each year, impacting more than 4,000 marine species, including seabirds. Image by NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). “The imperative for a healthy and resilient ocean has never been more urgent,” Rafael González-Quirós, director of the Oceanographic Centre of Gijón, Spain, who played a key role in coordinating the report, said in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On June 8, the U.N. released its third World Ocean Assessment, a comprehensive report on the state of the global ocean between 2021 and 2025, compiled by around 600 experts from 86 countries. - The report highlights a deepening crisis for the global ocean, as human pressures, including pollution, overfishing and climate change, strain marine ecosystems already under extreme pressure. - It notes that ocean governance is improving, and that models that incorporate Indigenous, traditional owner and local community knowledge are likely to achieve better outcomes. - However, it also warns that ocean governance remains “fragmented” and insufficient to address the scale of the challenges facing the world’s oceans. authors: | ||
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To improve its floundering fisheries, Kenya boosts data collection on artisanal fleet 12 Jun 2026 14:46:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/to-improve-its-floundering-fisheries-kenya-boosts-data-collection-on-artisanal-fleet/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Anthony Langat content:encoded: MTWAPA, Kenya — On a mid-morning in March, Mohamed Mwazigona, 58, had just landed a measly catch on the town beach in Mtwapa on Kenya’s north coast. His crew was preparing the boat for a second trip into the sea with hopes of better luck. As traders started trickling in to buy fish, Mwazigona sat on a broken upturned boat staring at the horizon beyond the sea. His morning trip had netted only 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of fish. He worried that his catches had decreased a lot in recent years. “The number of fishermen has gone up; we have become too many,” he said. That’s the reason he left his village of Shariani, 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the north, to base his fishing in Mtwapa, which he felt had fewer fishers and better access to markets. In Kenya, local beach management units (BMUs), like the Mtwapa BMU that Mwazigona belongs to, have a legal mandate to support collection of fisheries data for submission to the government: mainly the type of fish its members catch and the weight. These data are meant to inform government decision-making about small-scale fisheries so it can help reverse the competition for dwindling fish stocks that Mwazigona and his colleagues are experiencing. They are also meant to help fishers themselves make decisions on where and when to fish. However, the BMUs’ small-scale fisheries data have been inaccurate and inaccessible to stakeholders. To address this problem and improve the sustainability of Kenya’s small-scale fisheries, WorldFish,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Kenya, fishers are experiencing increased competition for dwindling catches. A lack of data is stymying their decision-making about where and when to fish as well as the governments’ decision-making about how to manage fishing in the country, experts say. - A new project aims to improve the collection of fisheries data, harmonize them and make them accessible to fishers and the government alike. - It involves beefed-up data collection methods, the installation of trackers on fishing vessels and a centralized database and digital platform. - The initiative is modeled around a program in Timor-Leste that began in 2016 and now serves as the country’s national fisheries monitoring system. authors: | ||
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As human Ebola cases climb in DRC, critically endangered gorillas are at risk 12 Jun 2026 13:30:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/as-human-ebola-cases-climb-in-drc-critically-endangered-gorillas-are-at-risk/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Kayleigh Long content:encoded: As human cases continue to climb in the latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, concern is growing for the gorilla population, which have been devastated by the virus during previous outbreaks. On May 15, the Congolese Health Ministry announced a new outbreak of the lethal virus, which has struck the country at least 17 times over the past half-century; the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 676 Ebola cases in the eastern DRC and 136 deaths as of June 10 — and continue to rise. In neighboring Uganda, 19 cases and two deaths have been reported, with no new cases in the last days. So far, the outbreak seems to be largely contained within the region. The Bundibugyo virus is the culprit, one of five Ebola viruses within the family Filoviridae that spark illness in people. It has no approved treatment or vaccine. As cases mount, virologists — as well as ecologists and primatologists — are warily monitoring its spread. First discovered in humans in 1976 along the Ebola River (where it got its name), Ebola is highly contagious, and this virus can also sicken and kill gorillas and other non-human primates. While some symptoms are flu-like — fever, vomiting and diarrhea — the disease can progress to a gruesome, often-fatal hemorrhagic fever, causing both internal and external bleeding. Previous outbreaks have exacted vast human death…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Gorillas are vulnerable to communicable diseases that infect humans and other non-human primates, including the Ebola virus. - A new Ebola outbreak was announced in the Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-May, but so far, there have been no reported cases of gorilla infection. Previous outbreaks have devastated western lowland gorillas. - Armed conflict hampers both conservation and efforts to monitor both Grauer’s and mountain gorilla populations in DRC. They also impair the public health response, which has also been seriously impacted by cuts in U.S. funding under the Trump administration. - Gorillas are highly social animals, which facilitates spread of infectious disease. Infants and females are disproportionately affected, which has serious consequences for recovery of devastated populations. authors: | ||
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East African Crude Oil Pipeline threatens wetlands, wildlife corridors: Report 12 Jun 2026 10:55:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/east-african-crude-oil-pipeline-threatens-wetlands-wildlife-corridors-report/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which stretches from oil fields in Uganda’s Lake Albert region to Tanzania’s port town of Tanga, is once again under scrutiny after a new report mapped out the biodiversity areas and wildlife habitats it runs through or passes by. Drawing data from maps and economic value estimates, the report by U.S.-based NGO Earth Insight shows that the 1,443-kilometer (990-mile) pipeline is close to areas that are important for livelihoods and water security for millions of people and serve as migration corridors for animals. The report concludes that the construction of the pipeline has already disturbed communities and the environment and that oil transportation will bring further long-term risks. EACOP is a joint project involving TotalEnergies (62% stake), the governments of Uganda (15%) and Tanzania (15%), and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC, 8%). EACOP will carry oil extracted from two oilfields in the Lake Albert region: Kingfisher, owned by CNOOC, and Tilenga, owned by TotalEnergies. According to Earth Insight, the project is nearing completion. Oil transportation through the pipeline is expected to start as early as October 2026. Construction of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Uganda. Image courtesy of Thomas Lewton. “It crosses right through endangered species ranges, the most important and critical one being the black rhino habitat range,” Earth Insight’s Katie Boston, the study’s main researcher, told Mongabay on the phone. She added that the pipeline could cause habitat fragmentation in the Kibale/Bukoora River Crossing area, where…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - As the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline nears completion in Uganda and Tanzania, a new report highlights the environmental risks associated with the project. - The pipeline runs close to and through sensitive ecosystems and wildlife corridors and could have adverse effects on humans and the environment. - The pipeline’s risks are compounded by new oil and gas developments across the African Great Lakes region. authors: | ||
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Amazon deforestation declines as Brazil reduces forest loss nationwide 12 Jun 2026 10:13:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/amazon-deforestation-declines-as-brazil-reduces-forest-loss-nationwide/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon biome fell by 23.5% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a new report from MapBiomas, a Brazil-based land-use mapping project. Reductions in deforestation were recorded across the board in all of Brazil’s biomes, culminating in a 21% nationwide decrease in forest loss. In total, nearly 985,000 hectares (2.4 million acres) of forested land was cut down in 2025, the report found. Of this, 289,478 hectares (715,315 acres) was deforested in the Amazon. The decline in deforestation likely reflects a combination of stronger environmental enforcement, improved satellite monitoring and growing market demands for sustainable production, Nathalia Crusco, a researcher with MapBiomas, wrote to Mongabay. Only 5% of deforested land overlapped with enforcement actions or clearing authorizations in 2019, compared with 65% over the 2019-2025 period, she added, based on MapBiomas data. Deforestation also fell by nearly 17% in the Cerrado savanna, where agriculture expansion is most aggressive. More than half of the Cerrado’s native vegetation has already been cleared. And while the rate of deforestation in the Cerrado declined, the majority of forest clearing in Brazil, 55%, took place in the Cerrado savanna, the report said. Much of the reduction in deforestation was within Indigenous territories. Clear-cut deforestation on Indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 25% in 2025, according to a technical memo shared with Mongabay by Brazil’s Indigenous agency, Funai. Funai’s Remote Monitoring Center compiled the recent report. A total of 30,128 hectares (74,450 acres) of clear-cutting on Indigenous land was recorded last…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon biome fell by 23.5% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a new report from MapBiomas, a Brazil-based land-use mapping project. Reductions in deforestation were recorded across the board in all of Brazil’s biomes, culminating in a 21% nationwide decrease in forest loss. In total, nearly 985,000 hectares (2.4 million acres) […] authors: | ||
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‘Chemical cocktail’ of pharmaceuticals found in Djibouti coastal waters 12 Jun 2026 09:59:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/chemical-cocktail-of-pharmaceuticals-found-in-djibouti-coastal-waters/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Common medications that billions of people take for ailments like pain, fever and infections were detected in several sites along Djibouti’s Gulf of Tadjourah in East Africa, according to a recent study. Researchers found that untreated urban wastewater contained dangerous concentrations of anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen, caffeine, and the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine, which were contaminating Djibouti’s coastal ecosystem. They also detected the presence of levofloxacin, an anti-tuberculosis antibiotic, and 12 other pharmaceutical and personal care compounds. The Gulf of Tadjourah is an important marine biodiversity hotspot that is home to coral reefs, mangroves and fish nurseries. Djibouti City, home to more than 70% of the country’s population, borders the gulf. “One particularly surprising finding was the relatively high ecological risk associated with some common everyday pharmaceuticals, especially ibuprofen and caffeine,” lead author of the study Abdillahi Elmi Adaneh, an environmental chemist at the regional Observatory for Research on the Environment and Climate (ORREC) in Djibouti, told Mongabay by email. “These compounds are often perceived as ‘ordinary’ substances, yet they were among the main contributors to ecological risk in the coastal waters we studied,” he added. Ibuprofen was among the most concerning substances detected, Adaneh said. At one sampling site, where urban and hospital wastewater are dumped in the water, the team found ibuprofen concentrations hundreds of times higher than levels considered safe for aquatic organisms. “[Ibuprofen] can disrupt several biological functions in marine organisms, including reproduction, growth, enzymatic activity, and physiological responses,” Adaneh said. “Invertebrates, fish, and algae are particularly…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Common medications that billions of people take for ailments like pain, fever and infections were detected in several sites along Djibouti’s Gulf of Tadjourah in East Africa, according to a recent study. Researchers found that untreated urban wastewater contained dangerous concentrations of anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen, caffeine, and the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine, which were contaminating […] authors: | ||
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In Ecuador, an Indigenous community goes thirsty despite its two rivers 12 Jun 2026 07:00:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-ecuador-an-indigenous-community-goes-thirsty-despite-its-two-rivers/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Gabriela Verdezoto Landívar content:encoded: The man’s cheekbones are painted with achiote, a red pigment extracted from the seeds of the Bixa orellana plant. He wears a thin headband over his gray hair, and a traditional green shirt with yellow and blue trim on the collar and sleeves. In his right hand, he holds a wooden spear, 2.5 meters long, or just over 8 feet, made from the chonta palm (Bactris gasipaes). He stares at the journalist. His dark eyes widen as he laments the occurrence of several cases of community residents, including children, suffering from fungal infections. “Even two people have already died from stomach pain, and at the hospital, they said: ‘Maybe it’s the water.’” The video was first broadcast on Sept. 28, 2024, on an Ecuadorian national news program. The man recorded is Galo Villamil, one of the leaders of the Capirona community, an Indigenous Kichwa resistance enclave in the Ecuadorian Amazon. One year before, in 2023, 22-year-old Joana Ashanga and her 2-year-old nephew, Ville Ashanga, were victims of what the community considers the fatal consequence of river pollution. “Despite the complaints, official reports from the [Ecuadorian] Ministry of Health made no mention of links between the pollution and the deaths, which generated distrust and outrage,” said Linda Tapuy, president of the Capirona community, before an audience at a university auditorium in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, two years after the deaths. The victims’ death certificates said the cause of death was “unknown.” For the Indigenous group, appearing in that television news story was…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On the banks of the Puní River’s middle basin, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, illegal mining has increased by 2,700% over seven years, contaminating the main water source for the ancestral Kichwa community of Capirona. - Residents of Capirona say that, by 2021, the color of the Puní River started to change, turning brownish. Meanwhile, problems such as skin rashes, fungal infections, and itching became frequent. - In samples of mining ore collected by Ecuadorian authorities from an illegal mining camp on the banks of Puní, signs of mercury were found at levels far exceeding the permitted limit for this metal in agricultural soils. - Industrial farming activity has also polluted the waters of the Shalkana River, another watercourse located within the community. Despite being surrounded by two rivers, residents of Capirona rely on two water tankers sent weekly by municipal authorities, which is enough for barely half of the families for just a few days. authors: | ||
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Nepal’s tourism growth sparks unchecked liquor concerns involving national flower 12 Jun 2026 06:59:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/nepals-tourism-growth-sparks-unchecked-liquor-concerns-involving-national-flower/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Every April, eastern Nepal’s Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale region sees a rush of tourists, arriving for the vibrant spring bloom of rhododendrons, the country’s national flower. The flowers have now become more than a photo backdrop; they’re part of a new, unregulated market for a “souvenir:” Unlicensed rhododendron liquor. Sold openly in reused bottles with handwritten labels, the rhododendron alcohol market operates without health testing, official tracking or sustainability monitoring, Mongabay contributor Mukesh Pokhrel reports. The Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) region is home to at least 26 species of rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.). It has seen a massive post-pandemic tourism surge, with local officials estimating 500,000 visitors arrived from April 1-15 this year. For some families, the seasonal sale of flower-based alcohol provides supplemental income. “Tourists want something unique from here,” said Denga Lama, a resident who produces the liquor at their home. “People buy the alcohol because it reminds them of the flowers and mountains.” Forests within the TMJ region, where rhododendron plants occur, are largely managed as community forests. Nepal’s conservation laws prohibit commercial harvesting from community forests without approval. However, legal ambiguity regarding rhododendrons grown in private gardens has left officials uncertain about enforcement. When asked about bottled rhododendron liquor, Division Forest Officer Megh Raj Rai told Mongabay it was the first time he had heard about it. Rai said that if the liquor is being produced at large scales, the lack of oversight poses potential public health risks. Certain rhododendron species contain grayanotoxins, neurotoxins that can potentially be fatal; although, the risks…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Every April, eastern Nepal’s Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale region sees a rush of tourists, arriving for the vibrant spring bloom of rhododendrons, the country’s national flower. The flowers have now become more than a photo backdrop; they’re part of a new, unregulated market for a “souvenir:” Unlicensed rhododendron liquor. Sold openly in reused bottles with handwritten labels, the […] authors: | ||
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Indigenous organization buys wetland property in Australia to help conserve it 12 Jun 2026 04:37:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/indigenous-organization-buys-wetland-property-in-australia-to-help-conserve-it/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Megan Strauss content:encoded: A large property containing a unique wetland system in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin was transferred into long-term Indigenous ownership in 2026 for conservation. The 33,000-hectare (81,545-acre) property contains most of the Great Cumbung Swamp, located at the end of the Lachlan River in the state of New South Wales. The swamp has a mix of open water and reed beds, bordered by river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) woodlands, and is an important habitat for waterbirds, frogs, fish and reptiles. The Nari Nari Tribal Council (NNTC), an Indigenous conservation land management organization, purchased the property in January 2026 following joint fundraising efforts by the conservation NGO The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and NNTC. James Fitzsimons of TNC recently wrote about the sale of the property in Oryx. Fitzsimons told Mongabay by email that the Great Cumbung Swamp “acts a refuge when the rest of the landscape is dry,” He added that it supports threatened species such as the Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) and the southern bell frog (Litoria raniformis). Each year, approximately 11,500 waterbirds visit the swamp. The wetland is not only of local, state and national significance, but has been evaluated to be listed as a Ramsar wetland of international significance, Fitzsimons said. The property had experienced decades of logging and cattle grazing. In 2019, TNC and the Tiverton Agricultural Impact Fund jointly purchased it to prevent future agricultural intensification and further degradation of the ecosystem. Fitzsimons said grazing pressures have reduced since the purchase. This, combined with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A large property containing a unique wetland system in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin was transferred into long-term Indigenous ownership in 2026 for conservation. The 33,000-hectare (81,545-acre) property contains most of the Great Cumbung Swamp, located at the end of the Lachlan River in the state of New South Wales. The swamp has a mix of open […] authors: | ||
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Southeast Asian nations chart important new course toward environmental justice (commentary) 11 Jun 2026 22:57:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/southeast-asian-nations-chart-important-new-course-toward-environmental-justice-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: John Knox content:encoded: The countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have made an important commitment to environmental justice for the 680 million people who call this region home. Now comes the hard part: putting it into practice. Last October, ASEAN member states — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam — adopted a Declaration on the Right to a Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment. They are currently in the process of drafting a regional plan of action to give it life. The right to a healthy environment as it’s usually called is now globally accepted as a fundamental human right. ASEAN first recognized this right in 2012 in the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. In 2022, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the right in a virtually unanimous vote: 161 governments voted in favor, none against, and only eight abstained. At the national level, more than 100 countries now include it in their constitutions. Southeast Asia enjoys a rich natural heritage, like this coral reef in the Philippines, that supports the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Image courtesy of Jett Britnell/Coral Reef Image Bank. At the same time, international tribunals and domestic courts have made strides in clarifying what the right requires. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, issued an opinion on climate change in which it said the human right to a healthy environment is inherent and essential for other human rights, including…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Recently, the 11 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted a Declaration on the Right to a Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment. - This is an important commitment to environmental justice for the 680 million people who call this region home, a new op-ed by the former U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and the environment states, but it needs to begin implementation, he argues. - “The next step — implementation — is even more crucial,” he writes. “The ASEAN region faces enormous environmental challenges, and too often governments have failed to protect the human rights of those who are on the frontlines of those challenges.” - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Removal of African elephants causes coextinction of dung beetles, study finds 11 Jun 2026 18:12:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/removal-of-african-elephants-causes-coextinction-of-dung-beetles-study-finds/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: A field experiment in Kenya shows that dung beetles disappear when the African elephants they depend on for their fecal food and shelter also vanish locally. This is the first time that coextinction, the disappearance of one species leading directly to the extinction of another species, has been demonstrated in a large-scale field experiment, according to a recent study. In 2008, the researchers built a set of 10,000-square-meter (2.4 acres) exclosures in Mpala, Kenya. The exclosures were a fenced area of natural savanna habitat that kept out certain animals. Some exclosures kept out elephants, simulating what would happen if elephants went extinct from the landscape. The research focused on the connection between elephants and dung beetles, which bury and consume the feces of larger animals. Dung beetles provide an essential ecosystem service of ensuring feces doesn’t pile up to contaminate the land and water, which reduces the density of biting flies. The beetles also help with nutrient cycling, which keeps the soil and ecosystems thriving. The researchers set out to see if removing elephant dung would affect the dung beetle community, and if it could lead to coextinction of some dung beetle species. The scientists, led by researcher Finote Gijsman, measured the dung preferences of 179 Kenyan dung beetle species and found that dung beetles love elephant dung. The team used modeling to predict that when elephants became locally extinct within the enclosures, 28% of dung beetle species would go extinct along with them. Their prediction was very close: 23%…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A field experiment in Kenya shows that dung beetles disappear when the African elephants they depend on for their fecal food and shelter also vanish locally. This is the first time that coextinction, the disappearance of one species leading directly to the extinction of another species, has been demonstrated in a large-scale field experiment, according […] authors: | ||
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Brazil carves an Amazon national park to make room for grain railway 11 Jun 2026 18:06:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/brazil-carves-national-park-to-make-room-for-grain-railway/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: André Schröder content:encoded: A ruling by Brazil’s Supreme Court has given new momentum to one of the most controversial infrastructure projects in the Brazilian Amazon: The Ferrogrão railway. The plan is to link Sinop, in the grain-producing state of Mato Grosso, to the port of Miritituba in Pará, a key commodity export hub on the Tapajós River. Conceived by the agribusiness sector to reduce grain transportation costs, Ferrogrão is a priority project for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration, despite warnings about its potential impacts on Indigenous territories and protected forests in an Amazon region already under significant socio-environmental pressure. In May, the justices upheld a 2017 law that removed 862 hectares (2,130 acres) from Jamanxim National Park, a conservation unit located in Pará state, to allow Ferrogrão to pass through the protected area. The initiative had been challenged on the grounds that Brazil’s Federal Constitution requires a formal law to reduce the size of protected areas, rather than the conversion into law of a provisional measure issued by the executive branch. “The STF decision does not give the green light to the Ferrogrão project, which still must undergo environmental studies and the licensing process,” said Alice Dandara de Assis Correia, an attorney at Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), a nonprofit that advocates for environmental and Indigenous rights. “But the courts have ruled that specially protected areas can be altered through an expedited process, an extremely dangerous shortcut that could pave the way for Congress to approve similar changes in other protected areas facing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld a law removing 862 hectares (2,130 acres) from Jamanxim National Park, clearing a legal obstacle for the proposed Ferrogrão grain railway. - The lower house in Congress also approved a measure reducing another Jamanxim conservation unit; although, the bill still must be voted on in the Senate. - The project threatens Indigenous territories and key habitats for jaguars, giant otters and primates in an Amazonian region already facing extensive land grabbing and deforestation. - Experts warn the ruling could make it easier to reduce protected areas elsewhere in Brazil for future infrastructure and development projects. authors: | ||
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El Nino is here and scientists fear it’ll be big, bad and costly with heat, floods, droughts, fires 11 Jun 2026 17:10:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/el-nino-is-here-and-scientists-fear-itll-be-big-bad-and-costly-with-heat-floods-droughts-fires/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. meteorologists say an El Nino has formed. That’s the natural warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather around the globe. It is likely to a major factor in extreme and deadly weather across the planet for the next year or so. The one announced Thursday is expected to rival the record and costly 1997-1998 El Nino. It is usually strongest in the wintertime, and it makes it incredibly likely that 2027 will set a record for the hottest year globally. The United Nations secretary-general says El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world. By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press Banner image: Joe Chyuwei, right, Addison Black, front center, James Black, front left, and back row from left, Helen Chyuwei, Jameson Black, Grace Chyuwei and Grayson Black watch the sunset in the heat at Zabriskie Point, Aug. 3, 2025, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. Image courtesy of John Locher via Associated Press. This article was originally published on Mongabay description: WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. meteorologists say an El Nino has formed. That’s the natural warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather around the globe. It is likely to a major factor in extreme and deadly weather across the planet for the next year or so. The one announced Thursday is expected to rival […] authors: | ||
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Jute waste may cut Bangladesh’s import bill as researchers make ink, graphene 11 Jun 2026 15:33:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/jute-waste-may-cut-bangladeshs-import-bill-as-researchers-make-ink-graphene/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Md Jahidul Islam content:encoded: Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest producer and the top exporter of jute. The “golden fiber” is so abundant here that, in rural regions, piles of dried jute sticks are commonly burned as cooking fuel or used as low-cost fencing. Scientists have now found a way for this agricultural waste to become an unlikely solution to one of Bangladesh’s overlooked industrial dependencies — imported printing ink. A Bangladeshi-led research team has developed environmentally friendly ink using submicron carbon particles derived from discarded jute sticks. This is a potential low-cost alternative to imported commercial black ink. The innovation could help Bangladesh reduce import dependence in a market worth millions of dollars annually while creating new economic value from agricultural waste. The research, published in Chemistry: An Asian Journal in 2022, was led by Md Abdul Aziz, a Bangladeshi scientist at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. “We are trying to convert low-value biomass into advanced industrial materials,” Aziz told Mongabay. “But when we tried it with jute sticks, we were surprised. We have obtained better-quality ink from jute sticks, and it can reduce the cost by about 10 times compared with the import cost.” “Bangladesh produces huge amounts of jute sticks every year,” he said, and referred to the country’s raw jute production sometimes reaching 9 million bales (1.6 million tons) annually. “Instead of treating them as waste, they can become raw materials for sustainable technologies.” Jute plantation and harvest in Bangladesh. Image by Shahnoor Habib Munmun via…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A team of Bangladeshi researchers have found a way to transform agricultural waste into environment-friendly printing ink, which could reduce Bangladesh’s dependence on imported industrial materials. - The country currently imports nearly all its printing ink as its annual domestic market is worth around $245 million; a jute-based ink could reduce production costs by up to 10 times, the study suggests. - The innovation also uses a greener production process that recycles hazardous gases generated during biomass pyrolysis. - Beyond printing ink, researchers have also developed graphene from jute sticks, raising hopes that Bangladesh could enter the growing global market for nanomaterials. authors: | ||
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Sri Lanka leopard deaths prevalent in region where humans and big cats overlap 11 Jun 2026 15:10:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lanka-leopard-deaths-prevalent-in-region-where-humans-and-big-cats-overlap/ author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti dc:creator: Malaka Rodrigo content:encoded: COLOMBO — The mist-covered tea estates, forest patches and mountain valleys of Sri Lanka’s hill country support some of the country’s most important leopard populations outside protected areas. Yet the same landscapes have emerged as the deadliest places for the threatened big cats of Sri Lanka. A new study analyzing 17 years of leopard mortality records has found that nearly 40% of recorded leopard deaths occurred within a single district of Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, the tea-growing Nuwara Eliya, which accounts for only 4.4% of the species’ estimated range. The study, published in Wildlife Letters, documented 164 human-caused leopard deaths between 2008 and 2024. Most of the victims were adult males, with adults accounting for 87.3% of deaths, out of which 68.4% males made up 68.4% of that adult population. With fewer than 1,000 mature leopards believed to remain in Sri Lanka, deaths of adult leopards are raising concerns for the species’ long-term survival, as deaths of breeding-age individuals, even modest increases in adult mortality, can have significant impacts, said Sanjaya Weerakkody, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. The majority of recorded deaths were of males, also problematic as the males maintain large territories overlapping with multiple females, which could lead to destabilize local populations, Weerakkody told Mongabay. A rare image of a mating leopard pair captured by a camera trap in the tea fields of Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands highlights that the human-dominated hill country tea landscape is habitat for Sri…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent analysis of 164 leopard deaths recorded between 2008 and 2024 shows that nearly 40% of deaths occurred in the central Nuwara Eliya district, which represents only 4.4% of the species’ estimated range in Sri Lanka. - Wire snares accounted for more than 60% of known leopard deaths, with most incidents occurring in plantation landscapes in the Central Highlands. - A separate study found that leopards living in Sri Lanka’s tea country rely primarily on wild prey rather than livestock, indicating these human-modified landscapes remain important habitat for the leopards. - As Sri Lanka joins the International Big Cat Alliance, scientists say conservation efforts must extend beyond national parks and address growing threats in plantation landscapes where many leopards now live and die. authors: | ||
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How an activist network built pressure without political power 11 Jun 2026 14:44:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-an-activist-network-built-pressure-without-political-power/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: When Rainforest Action Network began in 1985, it had little of what usually makes an organization powerful. It had no large budget, no legal department, no reliable access to politicians, and no formal way to force global corporations or development banks to change. It had Randy Hayes, a wide activist network, a way to connect distant forest destruction to everyday choices, and a willingness to use tactics that many mainstream environmental groups avoided. David Benac’s new book, Rainforest Radicals: A History of Rainforest Action Network and Transnational Organizing, tells the story of how that combination became effective. RAN’s early campaigns targeted Burger King over rainforest beef, True Geothermal in Hawai‘i, the World Bank over development projects, and Mitsubishi over tropical timber. These were different fights, involving different places, institutions, and coalitions. Together, they show how a small San Francisco-based group helped bring tropical deforestation, Indigenous rights, and corporate accountability into late twentieth-century environmental politics. Rainforest Radicals: A History of Rainforest Action Network and Transnational Organizing Benac, an environmental and public historian of the postwar United States, came to the subject indirectly. He was researching timber-industry history in the Pacific Northwest when he encountered the MacMillan Bloedel papers and a grassroots campaign against clear-cutting in British Columbia’s coastal rainforests. RAN appeared in the archival trail. That led him to Hayes, RAN’s co-founder, then to a larger oral-history project with activists, allies, and contemporaries. The result is a history built around interviews, archives, and a close look at how people organize when…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - David Benac’s Rainforest Radicals traces how Rainforest Action Network grew from a small San Francisco-based activist group into an influential force in rainforest protection, Indigenous rights, and corporate accountability. - The book follows RAN’s early campaigns against Burger King, True Geothermal, the World Bank, and Mitsubishi to show how the group linked distant forest destruction to everyday choices, public pressure, and corporate reputation. - Benac shows how RAN combined decentralized organizing, nonviolent direct action, media spectacle, boycotts, and long-term support for local and Indigenous-led campaigns. - The interview explores what RAN’s history can teach today’s environmental movements about leverage, persistence, outside solidarity, and the challenges that come when a radical network begins to win. authors: | ||
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Environmental group intervenes in lawsuit to help orangutans, tigers in Indonesia 11 Jun 2026 13:08:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/environmental-group-intervenes-in-lawsuit-to-help-orangutans-tigers-in-indonesia/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Indonesia’s oldest and largest environmental group, Walhi, has formally intervened in an environmental lawsuit filed by the government against a major logging company, arguing the government’s case fails to account for the full extent of ecological damage allegedly caused by the company’s operations. Walhi filed the intervention on May 20, 2026, in the Medan District Court, where the environment ministry is seeking 3.89 trillion rupiah ($214 million) in damages and environmental restoration measures against pulpwood plantation operator PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL). The environmental group is not arguing that the ministry’s damages claim is too small. Instead, it says the lawsuit overlooks key ecological impacts, such as critical orangutan and tiger habitats, that should also be addressed through court-ordered restoration. In January 2026, the environment ministry filed lawsuits against six companies over alleged damage to watersheds in North Sumatra province, which the government says contributed to the floods and landslides that struck the region in late November 2025 following cyclone-driven storms across Sumatra. The government also announced the revocation of the permits for TPL and 27 other companies in January 2026. TPL later disclosed to investors that it had received a forestry ministry decree dated Jan. 26 formally revoking its forest-use license, and that it had subsequently ceased forest-use activities within its concession. The floods and landslides struck three provinces on the island of Sumatra, including North Sumatra, and claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people. In its lawsuit against TPL, the environment ministry identified 1,261.5 hectares…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi, has officially intervened in an environmental lawsuit filed by the government against major pulpwood producer PT Toba Pulp Lestari. - Walhi says the lawsuit overlooks key ecological impacts, such as critical orangutan and tiger habitats, that should also be addressed through court-ordered restoration. - TPL is one of dozens of companies whose forest-use licenses were revoked after their forest-clearing activities were blamed for exacerbating floods and landslides during torrential rains in late November 2025. - Walhi is asking that any funds recovered from the lawsuit be directed toward environmental restoration activities on the ground. authors: | ||
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Four years to earn their trust: Habituating bonobos in DRC’s Salonga National Park 11 Jun 2026 10:56:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/four-years-to-earn-their-trust-habituating-bonobos-in-drcs-salonga-national-park/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: SALONGA NATIONAL PARK, Democratic Republic of Congo — Just before sunrise, while much of the rainforest remains cloaked in darkness, a team of researchers and trackers leaves the Inkomu research camp. Their destination is the previous night’s nesting site of a group of bonobos deep within the Salonga forest, located in the center of the DRC. Their mission is to persuade the bonobos (Pan paniscus) to accept human presence as a natural part of their environment. By earning the animals’ trust, researchers hope to create opportunities to better understand their behavior, ecology and health. This painstaking process, bonobo habituation, involves spending time near the apes day after day until they gradually become accustomed to people. It is a slow and demanding undertaking that can take years, requiring patience, consistency and thousands of hours in the forest. Long before dawn, often around 3 a.m., trackers — some of them former poachers whose knowledge of the forest has become an asset for conservation — begin making their way toward the previous night’s nesting site. They must arrive before the bonobos wake. Then begins an all-day pursuit through one of the most remote rainforests on Earth, following the apes from dawn until they build fresh nests for the night. “The whole idea of habituation is that you meet the group every day in a very friendly, non-interactive way so they accept you as part of the forest,” says Felix Bofeko, an assistant researcher working with a bonobo habituation program in Salonga National Park.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In the heart of Salonga National Park, one of Africa’s largest protected areas, researchers are trying to earn the trust of wild bonobos, one of the continent’s most endangered great apes. - Conservationists say that habituation is a critical tool for protecting the species, allowing scientists to monitor their health, behavior and populations while strengthening long-term conservation efforts. - As the Democratic Republic of Congo confronts a renewed Ebola outbreak in its eastern region, park officials acknowledge the ever-present risk of zoonotic disease transmission. However, when conducted under strict biosecurity protocols, bonobo habituation offers significant conservation, scientific and ecotourism benefits that outweigh the risks. authors: | ||
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Improved transport opens Mozambique’s forests to new pressures 11 Jun 2026 09:16:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/improved-transport-opens-mozambiques-forests-to-new-pressures/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Mkhululi Chimoio content:encoded: Up until 10 years ago, large sections of the road linking Malawi and Zambia to the Indian Ocean port of Nacala would become nearly impassable during the rainy season, with potholes, damaged bridges and traffic bottlenecks causing long delays along this regional transport artery across northern Mozambique. The Mozambique government has carried out major upgrades to transport infrastructure, but this may have come at the cost of accelerating deforestation across the region. Between 2017 and 2022, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Bank financed major transportation upgrades along the Nacala Corridor, centered on the 912-kilometer (565-mile) rail line linking coal mines in western Mozambique with ports on the Indian Ocean, as well as road upgrades, to lower costs and improve regional trade connections with Malawi and Zambia. “This project reduces the ‘penalty of remoteness’ that poorer households pay,” Romulo Cunha Correa, Mozambique country manager for the African Development Bank, told Mongabay in an interview. The AfDB has prioritized improvements to road and rail infrastructure across the continent, also backing projects linking Cameroon to the cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa on the Congo River, and South Sudan to Indian Ocean ports in Kenya. But researchers studying this expansion of infrastructure have warned that the road upgrades can intensify deforestation and habitat loss. Women walk past a fish pond in Moatize, in Mozambique’s western province of Tete, in 2011. Image by Peter Fredenburg via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Manuel Mario Nazare, a conservationist with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Between 2017 and 2022, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Bank financed road and railway upgrades along the Nacala Corridor in northern Mozambique. - Environmentalists warned that the expansion of transport infrastructure would likely drive forest loss across the corridor. - Figures for forest loss show accelerating deforestation in many parts of the corridor since completion of the transport upgrades in 2022. - The AfDB said it took steps to mitigate environmental harm, but observers said implementation of measures to balance protection of ecosystems with this type of development in Mozambique is weak. authors: | ||
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In Indonesia’s Lombok, fishers find food security tied to mangrove reforestation 11 Jun 2026 08:51:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-indonesias-lombok-fishers-find-food-security-tied-to-mangrove-reforestation/ author: Mongabay User dc:creator: Ahmad H. Ramdhani content:encoded: EAST LOMBOK, Indonesia — Jamil stood at the water’s edge holding a bucket of fish guts and chicken heads, waiting for signs of life as the late-afternoon sun cast a sheen over the pond. “At this time of day, they’ll start becoming active and feeding,” said Jamil, 63, as the onshore breeze settled and the light began to fade. “In the morning, they’re more likely to stay in their holes.” Until recently, the mud crabs (genus Scylla) were almost entirely a product of the wild here in Sugian village on the Indonesian island of Lombok. Fishers would set traps in the estuary and sell their catch to traders, with little incentive to spare juveniles or undersized animals. “If you sell them immediately when they’re small, they’re cheaper,” Jamil said. But when crab populations fell from overzealous fishing, so too did local earnings here in a region of Indonesia where many families struggle to remain together in the face of economic pressures. Mangrove roots provide shelter, stabilize temperatures, and support the microorganisms and nutrients on which mud crabs depend. Image by Nopri Ismi/Mongabay Indonesia. Few places in Indonesia endure more family separation than the district of East Lombok. Last year it topped the list of Indonesia’s more than 500 districts for the highest number of its residents who left for work overseas. The minimum wage set by the local government for this year is 2.7 million rupiah ($150), less than half that in the capital, Jakarta. Last year, around 14,000 people…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On the east coast of Indonesia’s Lombok Island, local people who rely on the local crab fishery have initiated their own mangrove planting program in a bid to resuscitate failing crab habitats. - The system is known as a silvofishery, which integrates mangrove forests with aquaculture cultivation to raise productivity. - Instead of catching immature crabs from the coastline for quick sale, some local fishers have started to raise the crabs to adulthood alongside newly planted mangroves, garnering a higher price while overseeing a more sustainable population. - However, local officials say a lack of technical training means most silvofishery initiatives have been forged through trial and error, and that expanding the system could result in greater mangrove planting in addition to boosting purchasing power in subsistence communities. authors: | ||
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The search for climate-resilient coffee: Diversifying beyond Arabica and Robusta 11 Jun 2026 08:41:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-search-for-climate-resilient-coffee-diversifying-beyond-arabica-and-robusta/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: As rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and increased pest pressure reduce yields and quality of Arabica and Robusta coffees, the two species that account for nearly all commercial production, researchers and growers are turning to overlooked coffee species for a more climate-resilient future, Mongabay-India contributor Meena Menon reports. Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (C. canephora) have long dominated the global coffee industry. Other coffee species such as Excelsa (C. dewevrei) were previously relegated to the margins of coffee plantations as boundary markers or shade trees in India. Akshay Dashrath, co-founder of the South India Coffee Company (SICC), is leading efforts to re-evaluate Excelsa for its potential resilience. According to the SICC, a British planter introduced Excelsa to India in the late 1800s as an alternative to Arabica. However, it grew tall and dense, making it an impractical crop to manage and commercialize. Dashrath’s farm in Kodagu district in Karnataka state has 60-year-old Excelsa trees that his family preserved, which are now a source for trials aimed at scaling production. His company is collaborating with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to do the research. Aaron Davis, a senior research leader at the Royal Botanic Gardens, said that the dominance of Arabica and Robusta in the global markets could see major disruptions in the next decade or so from other coffee crop species adapted to altered climates. Excelsa, native to parts of Tropical and West Africa as well as Southeast Asia, is already being scaled in Uganda and Vietnam. According to Kiwuka Catherine,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: As rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and increased pest pressure reduce yields and quality of Arabica and Robusta coffees, the two species that account for nearly all commercial production, researchers and growers are turning to overlooked coffee species for a more climate-resilient future, Mongabay-India contributor Meena Menon reports. Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (C. canephora) have […] authors: | ||
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Cambodia wants its tigers back. So it plans to import Bengal tigers from India 11 Jun 2026 04:40:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/cambodia-wants-its-tigers-back-so-it-plans-to-import-bengal-tigers-from-india/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Cambodia is preparing to reintroduce tigers after nearly two decades without a confirmed wild population. The plan is ambitious, and many of its basic assumptions remain contested, report Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon and Mongabay contributor Andy Ball. The last confirmed tiger sighting in Cambodia came from a camera trap in 2007. By 2016, tigers had been declared extinct in the country. The animals were lost after years of poaching, snaring, habitat degradation, and trade in tiger parts. Those pressures remain. Cambodia’s Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) was declared functionally extinct in 2023, and snares continue to threaten large mammals. The proposed reintroduction would use Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris) from India, released into Kravanh National Park in the Cardamom Mountains. Supporters of the program see a chance to restore an apex predator to one of Cambodia’s largest remaining forest landscapes. India has rebuilt its own tiger numbers over several decades, and Cambodia has approved a tiger action plan. A soft-release enclosure has already been built. The unresolved questions are ecological and political. Tigers need abundant prey. One 2020 study found only a low probability that the proposed landscape could support 25 adult tigers, though it might support a small founder population of five tigers. However, small populations face inbreeding risk and require sustained management. Wild pigs in the landscape may form much of the prey base, but experts disagree on whether current prey data…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Cambodia is preparing to reintroduce tigers after nearly two decades without a confirmed wild population. The plan is ambitious, and many of its basic assumptions remain contested, report Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon and Mongabay contributor Andy Ball. The […] authors: | ||
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A ‘climate-ready’ corridor created for Kyrgyzstan’s snow leopards 11 Jun 2026 04:18:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/a-climate-ready-corridor-created-for-kyrgyzstans-snow-leopards/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Kyrgyzstan has officially designated a massive stretch of its high-altitude landscape as a protected corridor for snow leopards and other mountain wildlife. The Ak Ilbirs ecological corridor, formalized in 2025, spans nearly 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) and was designed with the future climate in mind, Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough reports. The corridor connects several existing protected areas in the country, as well as pastureland, forest and other ecosystems across 14 rural municipalities to ensure wildlife, including snow leopards (Panthera uncia), can move freely as climate change shifts their habitats. The project was spearheaded by the Central Asian Mammals and Climate Adaptation (CAMCA) initiative, led by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the Kyrgyz government, Humboldt University of Berlin, and local conservation groups including CAMP Alatoo and Ilbirs Foundation. Murat Zhumashev, director of CAMP Alatoo, said that while the Ak Ilbirs corridor carries official protected area status, it functions differently from most. “The ecological corridor in Kyrgyzstan is based on a regulatory rather than a restrictive approach,” Zhumashev and his colleague Salamat Zhumabaeva told Mongabay by email. “It builds on existing environmental legislation, but unlike strictly protected areas, it does not involve land withdrawal or the introduction of strict prohibitions.” To design the corridor, scientists at Humboldt University “applied a combination of expert local knowledge, climate predictions and technical expertise to build the narratives for the future scenarios,” Julieta Decarre from Humboldt told Mongabay by email. Under future climate emissions scenarios, more than 60% of suitable habitat for snow…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Kyrgyzstan has officially designated a massive stretch of its high-altitude landscape as a protected corridor for snow leopards and other mountain wildlife. The Ak Ilbirs ecological corridor, formalized in 2025, spans nearly 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) and was designed with the future climate in mind, Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough reports. The corridor connects several existing […] authors: | ||
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Kenya is Africa’s first country to receive crucial climate disaster funding 11 Jun 2026 02:37:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/kenya-is-africas-first-country-to-receive-crucial-climate-disaster-funding/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Lynet Otieno content:encoded: Kenya became the first African nation to receive landmark climate disaster funding. It will be used to identify Kenyans who have suffered climate-related losses and damages during the last decade. The Sh90 million ($700,000) in funding comes from the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, a Switzerland-based United Nations mechanism funded by voluntary contributions from developed countries and the international community. The Kenyan funding will be administered by the national government and used to identify Kenyan communities that have suffered losses as a result of climate-induced droughts, floods, crop failures and other extreme weather events. Festus Ng’eno, principle secretary for Kenya’s Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, announced the achievement at a recent U.N. climate meeting in Bonn, Germany. He said the assistance is a milestone as Kenya is only the second country globally to benefit from the fund. Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago, was the first. In a Facebook post, the State Department for Environment and Climate Change in Kenya said, “Despite enduring some of East Africa’s most devastating climate shocks, Kenya has never fully measured the true scale of what has been lost. That is set to change.” “It is long overdue for countries on the frontline of the climate crisis to receive support to build resilience,” Fred Njehu, a Pan-African political strategist with Greenpeace, told the Daily Nation. “Kenya’s allocation points to shifting climate actions, from frameworks, roadmaps, and dialogues to actual implementation.” The funding comes as African countries continue to pursue climate justice and reparations from countries that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Kenya became the first African nation to receive landmark climate disaster funding. It will be used to identify Kenyans who have suffered climate-related losses and damages during the last decade. The Sh90 million ($700,000) in funding comes from the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, a Switzerland-based United Nations mechanism funded by voluntary contributions from […] authors: | ||
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Two pangolin traffickers in South Africa sentenced to eight years in prison 10 Jun 2026 19:51:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/two-pangolin-traffickers-in-south-africa-sentenced-to-eight-years-in-prison/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: The Molopo Regional Court in Mahikeng, South Africa, sentenced two wildlife traffickers, Edward Motlatsi Phiri, 46, and Tlhoriso France Ralph, 51, to eight years in prison. They were convicted of smuggling a Temminck’s pangolin, a vulnerable species native to Southern and Eastern Africa, according to a statement released by the North West province’s environment agency. The judgment, delivered on May 26, 2026, followed the arrest of four suspects on June 2, 2023, when law enforcement authorities, acting on a tip, intercepted a vehicle in which they were traveling and seized a live female pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) intended for sale. During the court hearing three years later, charges against two accused traffickers were withdrawn while Phiri and Ralph were found guilty. “This sentence sends a strong message that wildlife crime is a serious offense with devastating environmental consequences,” said Bitsa Lenkopane, with the Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism in the North West province, in a statement. “Every operation, every investigation, and every successful prosecution strengthen our collective fight against illegal wildlife trafficking.” Pangolins are trafficked for their scales, worth thousands of dollars on the black market. They are falsely believed to have medicinal qualities in East Asia. The demand has driven steep declines in pangolin numbers worldwide: Six of the eight species are classified as endangered or critically endangered today. Pangolins are also consumed as bushmeat in parts of Africa. These mammals are protected under South African law, which prohibits their possession, sale, display or transportation. Their international commercial trade…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The Molopo Regional Court in Mahikeng, South Africa, sentenced two wildlife traffickers, Edward Motlatsi Phiri, 46, and Tlhoriso France Ralph, 51, to eight years in prison. They were convicted of smuggling a Temminck’s pangolin, a vulnerable species native to Southern and Eastern Africa, according to a statement released by the North West province’s environment agency. […] authors: | ||
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