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Fatal WWII bomb blast in Indonesia was a result of illegal fishing activity, police say 29 Jul 2026 09:03:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fatal-wwii-bomb-blast-in-indonesia-was-a-result-of-illegal-fishing-activity-police-say/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Asrida Elisabeth content:encoded: BIAK, Indonesia — The munition here had outlasted one of the Pacific’s fiercest World War II battles. Eight decades later, investigators in Indonesia said it exploded by the timber-framed houses in the coastal village of Fandoi on Indonesia’s Biak Island. Investigators and officials later concluded a group of local fishers were dismantling an unexploded munition recovered from coastal waters off Papua, where some of the Pacific’s most intense fighting took place in 1944. “They take them and dismantle them on the island,” said Cliff Marlessy, who as director of the Indonesia Locally Managed Marine Area (ILMMA) works with communities to manage marine resources in Biak. Their deaths are the latest in a long legacy of unexploded wartime ordnance, which has killed or injured at least 25,000 people across neighboring Papua New Guinea since 1945, according to The HALO Trust, the world’s largest humanitarian mine-clearance organization. No concrete estimate exists for the death toll across Indonesia. Authorities have known about repurposing of unexploded bombs for decades, yet some fishers continue to recover wartime explosives for use in blast fishing despite the extreme danger. Goa Jepang — or “Goa Binsar,” as locals call it — is a Japanese military bunker from World War II. Image by Asrida Elisabeth/Mongabay Indonesia. Legacy of war New Guinea and its surrounding islands were among the Pacific’s most violent World War II theatres, while Allied forces advanced westward through Japanese-held territory. During this period, months of heavy bombing and naval combat left countless unexploded bombs and artillery…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - At least seven people were killed on May 31 when a World War II bomb exploded in Fandoi village on Indonesia’s Biak Island. - Interviews with officials indicate the explosion occurred while an unexploded wartime ordnance was being dismantled to recover explosives for illegal blast fishing. - The HALO Trust estimates that unexploded bombs and ammunition have killed or injured around 25,000 people in neighboring Papua New Guinea since the end of the World War II, reflecting the region’s enduring wartime legacy. - A casualty estimate for the Indonesian territory of the New Guinea archipelago is unclear. authors: | ||
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Kenyan teen leads charge on tree planting and climate awareness 29 Jul 2026 09:03:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/kenyan-teen-leads-charge-on-tree-planting-and-climate-awareness/ author: Ashoka dc:creator: Lynet Otieno content:encoded: Baraka Moruri has been passionate about the environment since he was 6. Now 13, the Kenyan climate champion says he has planted more than 7,600 trees with the help of family, friends and private organizations. “My goal is unlimited. I want to plant over 1 million trees before I turn 18,” he says. On March 20 this year, Baraka and his family launched Go Green with Baraka, a book calling for young people in Africa to lead in protecting the environment. Baraka is Little Mister Environment Kenya, and the ambassador of Plant Your Age, an initiative started by the Green Africa Foundation following the death in 2011 of Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai at the age of 71. Her work inspired him to become involved in climate action. “Once, as I was doing my agriculture class assignment that involved researching about Prof Wangari Maathai, I watched a video in which she was being denied her rights. She later won a global award because of her love for the environment,” Baraka says. Baraka Moruri with his younger sister, as he holds ‘Go Green With Baraka’, a book he authored. Photo by Lawrine Moruri. Baraka’s father Arnold Warinda (left), his mother Lawrine Moruri and a friend during the launch of ‘Go Green With Baraka’ in Nairobi in January 2026. Photo by Lawrine Moruri. The impacts of climate change fall especially hard on children in countries like Kenya. The newly released “Children’s Climate Risk Report” by UNICEF describes how children in East and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Kenyan teenager Baraka Moruri has planted more than 7,600 trees over the last four years with the help of his family, friends and private organizations. - He says he wants children to be better engaged in climate action and policy, arguing that they have ideas and energy to contribute. - Climate finance experts say less than 1% of international climate finance gets to youth- and children-led projects, despite climate change affecting their health, education and food security. authors: | ||
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International Tiger Day: A complex landscape of recovery, conflict, and empty forests 29 Jul 2026 07:32:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/international-tiger-day-a-complex-landscape-of-recovery-conflict-and-empty-forests/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: July 29 is International Tiger Day. Few species have benefitted from global conservation attention and funding like the tiger. Its numbers have seen a hopeful increase in recent years, yet the big cat continues to face localized pressures. Recent Mongabay coverage highlights three starkly different realities for tigers (Panthera tigris) across Asia. India’s corridors under pressure India remains the global stronghold for wild tigers, currently home to roughly 75% of the world’s remaining population. While India’s 2022 census shows numbers have rebounded to an estimated 3,682 cats, this success brings new challenges, reports contributor Nirmal Ghosh for Mongabay. As tiger numbers grow in protected areas, the big cats are forced to disperse out in search of new homes. They end up navigating human-dominated landscapes where they’re likely to run into conflict with people or infrastructure like roads and railways. Though India has invested heavily in building some of the world’s largest wildlife underpasses, Ghosh reports that vital ecological corridors remain under severe threat, and development proposals like mining and road infrastructure in protected habitats continue to be approved. Nepal’s controversial solution for ‘problem’ tigers Nepal has successfully tripled its tiger population since 2009 to 355 individuals, report Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi and contributor Mukesh Pokhrel. But this boom has led to a sharp rise in human-tiger conflict. Government records show 38 people died in tiger attacks between 2019 and 2023, leaving authorities struggling to manage the captured “problem” tigers, or individuals involved in killing and eating one or more humans.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: July 29 is International Tiger Day. Few species have benefitted from global conservation attention and funding like the tiger. Its numbers have seen a hopeful increase in recent years, yet the big cat continues to face localized pressures. Recent Mongabay coverage highlights three starkly different realities for tigers (Panthera tigris) across Asia. India’s corridors under […] authors: | ||
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Rare palm tree rediscovered in Madagascar after nearly 100 years 29 Jul 2026 04:48:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/rare-palm-tree-rediscovered-in-madagascar-after-nearly-100-years/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shreya Dasgupta content:encoded: Researchers have tracked down 28 individuals of a palm tree species last recorded in Madagascar nearly 100 years ago. Nearly every tree of the species, Ravenea latisecta, was found within four protected areas in the Andasibe-Mantadia region of Madagascar, according to a recent study. “Andasibe–Mantadia is one of Madagascar’s best-explored botanical regions, and Ravenea latisecta is not an inconspicuous plant, it is a palm several metres tall,” Louis Aureglia, study lead author with Aix-Marseille University in France, told Mongabay by email. “Yet confirmed populations remained undocumented for almost a century. This is a good reminder that botanical exploration is far from complete.” There are around 20 known species of palm trees in the genus Ravenea. All are only found in Madagascar and the Comoros, and nearly all are endangered or critically endangered. For the study, Aureglia and his colleagues launched a survey in Andasibe–Mantadia in 2024 to document Ravenea palm trees in the wild. They also examined historical specimens kept in herbariums. Palm trees are usually large and difficult to miss, yet some Ravenea species can be tricky to tell apart with confidence if they’re not flowering, Aureglia said. The “real turning point” in their fieldwork, he added, was when they found “fertile” plants: male or female trees containing inflorescences, or branched structures with clusters of flowers. “Ravenea latisecta is dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers are produced on separate plants,” Aureglia said. “Once we found both male and female individuals, with inflorescences matching the original description, we could…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Researchers have tracked down 28 individuals of a palm tree species last recorded in Madagascar nearly 100 years ago. Nearly every tree of the species, Ravenea latisecta, was found within four protected areas in the Andasibe-Mantadia region of Madagascar, according to a recent study. “Andasibe–Mantadia is one of Madagascar’s best-explored botanical regions, and Ravenea latisecta […] authors: | ||
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Indonesian zoo corruption case renews scrutiny of animal welfare 29 Jul 2026 04:18:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/ author: Basten Gokkon dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: An alleged corruption case at Indonesia’s Surabaya Zoo has renewed scrutiny of how the country’s wildlife conservation institutions are governed and prompted experts to warn that financial misconduct can have consequences that extend beyond public finances to the welfare of animals entirely dependent on human care. The investigation has also reignited calls for stronger oversight and accountability to ensure conservation institutions protect both public resources and the wildlife entrusted to them. East Java prosecutors named Choirul Anwar a suspect on July 21, 2026, in connection with an alleged corruption case involving the operational budget of Surabaya Zoo between 2016 and 2024. Choirul was previously the president director of the Surabaya Zoo and Wildlife Park Regional Company. A preliminary audit conducted jointly with the East Java representative office of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) estimated state losses at 10.2 billion rupiah ($564,000), of which approximately 7.4 billion rupiah ($409,000) was allegedly diverted for the suspect’s personal benefit. Prosecutors said the alleged corruption had contributed to a deterioration in the management of Surabaya Zoo in the subsequent years, leading to declining services and facilities, while a number of animals reportedly died due to inadequate care. A 16-year-old tiger died in 2016 in Surabaya Zoo. Image courtesy of Surabaya Zoo. The case has renewed calls from zoo and conservation experts for stronger oversight of conservation institutions, including audits that assess not only financial compliance but also animal welfare outcomes and governance safeguards in hopes of detecting misconduct earlier. “Many people still…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - An alleged corruption case at Indonesia’s Surabaya Zoo has reignited concerns over governance at the country’s wildlife conservation institutions. - Experts say the investigation highlights broader questions about transparency, accountability and how conservation facilities are monitored. - They warn that failures in oversight can have far-reaching implications for both public trust and animal welfare. authors: | ||
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Tech helps Vietnam rangers turn the tide on poaching 29 Jul 2026 03:55:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tech-helps-vietnam-rangers-turn-the-tide-on-poaching/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In Vietnam’s Pu Mat National Park, which borders Laos, an antipoaching unit is integrating high-tech tools with on-the-ground patrols to help turn the tide on illegal wildlife poaching. The antipoaching unit (APU) was formed through a partnership in 2018 between the NGO Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) and the park, to address the widespread use of wire snares and the limited capacity of forest rangers, APU coordinator Huu Trung Nguyen told contributor Campbell Rusden in an interview for Mongabay. Nguyen said that about 70 forest rangers previously monitored more than 1,300 hectares (3,200 acres) of rugged terrain each on average. Patrol information was also recorded in written notes and patrol routes, and locations of illegal activities were described in narrative form, said Trung Hau Luong, the unit’s deputy head, in the interview. Now, the APU team uses SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) software and remotely monitored “PoacherCams.” Luong said that SMART allows patrol teams to record routes, wildlife observations, and snare locations via GPS-enabled smartphones, creating structured data to identify trafficking hotspots and guide strategic planning. Meanwhile, PoacherCams, which are cameras installed at certain locations such as forest entry points, ridge crossings, or trails frequently used by hunters, help the unit better understand people’s movements through the forest and identify potential illegal activities. In one instance, a camera captured footage of a man entering the forest with a gun. After the authorities spoke with the individual and explained the legal consequences of hunting, he voluntarily surrendered his hunting gun, Luong…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In Vietnam’s Pu Mat National Park, which borders Laos, an antipoaching unit is integrating high-tech tools with on-the-ground patrols to help turn the tide on illegal wildlife poaching. The antipoaching unit (APU) was formed through a partnership in 2018 between the NGO Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) and the park, to address the widespread use of […] authors: | ||
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Bill Oddie brought birdwatching into millions of homes 29 Jul 2026 03:27:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/bill-oddie-brought-birdwatching-into-millions-of-homes/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: On television, Bill Oddie often seemed to forget the camera. A call came from a hedge, and his attention shifted toward it. He listened, peered through his binoculars, and said what he thought he had heard. Viewers shared the uncertainty, the waiting, and the excitement when the bird finally appeared. He showed that birdwatching could begin almost anywhere. The equipment was simple, and the wildlife was often close to home. A garden, park, reservoir, or patch of scrub provided enough to get started. Oddie, who died on July 25th, aged 85, had already been famous for many years. As one of The Goodies, alongside Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, he helped create a form of television comedy built around satire, songs, visual jokes, and cheerful disorder. Their series ran through the 1970s and made him especially familiar to children. Birds had occupied him long before television did. Raised in Birmingham, he recorded sightings for the West Midland Bird Club while still young. His initials appeared in its 1956 report, and his first article, on the birds of Bartley Reservoir, was published in 1962. He became a knowledgeable field ornithologist, skilled at identifying birds by sight and sound. In the 1990s, he began presenting programs that drew on both his ornithological knowledge and his experience as a performer. Birding with Bill Oddie followed him into hides, wetlands, and ordinary British landscapes. Bill Oddie Goes Wild covered a wider range of animals. Wild in Your Garden and Britain Goes Wild used live…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: On television, Bill Oddie often seemed to forget the camera. A call came from a hedge, and his attention shifted toward it. He listened, peered through his binoculars, and said what he thought he had heard. Viewers shared the uncertainty, the waiting, and the excitement when the bird finally appeared. He showed that birdwatching could […] authors: | ||
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Forests in Liberia are falling to cocoa, in half a year the EU could ban imports 28 Jul 2026 20:35:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/07/forests-in-liberia-are-falling-to-cocoa-in-half-a-year-the-eu-could-ban-imports/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: On this week’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with features writer Ashoka Mukpo, who traveled to southeastern Liberia to investigate what satellite images indicated was a spike in deforestation over a relatively concentrated period. Along with video production coordinator Juan Maza, Mukpo documented illegal cacao plantations in the rainforests in the county of Grand Gedeh. In this interview, he explains how and why these plantations are appearing now in Liberia. “What we saw … probably the best metaphor for it is that there’s a kind of gold rush happening in this part of Liberia, except it’s not gold that people are after, it’s cocoa,” Mukpo says. “And this makes sense, given the context that in the last few years there was a huge price spike for cocoa, and this had to do with a lot of factors, including climate change and a poor harvest in Côte d’Ivoire. And so that’s pushing this huge number of migrant workers from Côte d’Ivoire into Grand Gedeh.” At the end of the year, the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is set to take effect. The EU legislation would ban the importation of certain commodities produced via deforestation, and one of those commodities is cocoa. And much of the cocoa being grown in Liberia right now would potentially fall under this ban, Mukpo says. Furthermore, setting up the tracking infrastructure to ensure commodities meet EUDR standards is expensive. While nations like Côte d’Ivoire have already invested in this, Liberia has not. That leaves…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: On this week’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with features writer Ashoka Mukpo, who traveled to southeastern Liberia to investigate what satellite images indicated was a spike in deforestation over a relatively concentrated period. Along with video production coordinator Juan Maza, Mukpo documented illegal cacao plantations in the rainforests in the county of […] authors: | ||
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Fishers fight for solutions as Brazil lists tambaqui as threatened 28 Jul 2026 19:34:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fishers-fight-for-solutions-as-brazil-lists-tambaqui-as-threatened/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: An Amazon fisher for 38 years, Josué de Castro said he was very surprised when he learned that tambaqui, a fish that accounts for 20% of his income, is now a threatened species in Brazil, and he might not be allowed to fish it anymore. “It will ultimately have a big impact on the lives of the fishers and riverside communities who depend on fishing,” Castro, who lives in the São Raimundo do Jarauá community in northern Amazonas state, told Mongabay by phone. “In our area, I don’t think it’s actually facing extinction yet; there are still plenty of them around.” One of the most consumed fish in the Brazilian Amazon, the tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) was included in the official national list of threatened fish and aquatic invertebrate fauna species published by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) in April. Starting at the end of October, its fishing could be prohibited in the entire country if a recovery plan isn’t implemented by then, said Braulio Dias, MMA’s director of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. “Inclusion on the list does not mean a fishing ban, provided that a population recovery plan — proposed by experts under MMA coordination — is approved,” Dias told Mongabay in a text message, adding that Ordinance Nº 1,666, published on the same day of the April 27 list, set a 180-day deadline for this to happen, which would be Oct. 25. Tambaqui, Manaus Fish Market, Brazil. Image by Thorke Østergaard via Wikimedia Commons…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - One of the most cooked fish in the Brazilian Amazon, the tambaqui was included in the official national list of threatened species, triggering fear of losses from Amazon small-scale fishers who depend on the species for their livelihood. - The tambaqui was classified as vulnerable due to projections of a 43.4% overall population decline over three generations as it’s targeted by intense fishing. - Starting at the end of October, its fishing could be prohibited in Brazil if a recovery plan isn’t implemented, according to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. - The gray triggerfish was also included in the list of 490 fish and invertebrate threatened fauna, triggering reactions from artisanal fishers and the fishing industry. authors: | ||
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Women’s collectives are protecting Nigeria’s gorilla wildlife sanctuary 28 Jul 2026 15:01:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/womens-collectives-are-protecting-nigerias-gorilla-wildlife-sanctuary/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In the communities surrounding Nigeria’s Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, women’s conservation collectives are transforming the protection of a biodiversity hotspot that’s home to the critically endangered Cross River gorilla and endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee. These collectives, operating in villages such as Ulom, Katabang and Buanchor in southeastern Nigeria, were born from a realization that traditional, male-led governance often struggled to curb illegal activities in and around the 100-square-kilometer (39-square-mile) sanctuary, reports contributor Orji Sunday for Mongabay. Village residents told Mongabay that because men were frequently the primary participants in hunting, logging and river pollution, they often lacked the moral authority to enforce communal bylaws that punish those activities. “Our men have failed to stop the threats,” Ofre Mary, founder of the Ulom Women’s Conservation Collective, told Mongabay. “That’s why women decided to take a stand. That’s why we decided to take the risk”. The collectives conduct regular and spontaneous patrols, sometimes late at night or at dawn, to track signs of hunting, wildfires or illegal logging. The groups also investigate allegations of wildlife crimes, either alone or together with other community leaders, state forestry officers and nonprofits in the region. In 2024, women in both Ulom and Buanchor successfully halted illegal timber deals, being made by men, Francis Akie, who heads the Traditional Rulers Council of Ulom, told Mongabay. The women threatened nude protests, a form of resistance that forced local leaders to refund timber dealers and cancel contracts. The women’s collectives also patrol the Afi River and other streams to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In the communities surrounding Nigeria’s Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, women’s conservation collectives are transforming the protection of a biodiversity hotspot that’s home to the critically endangered Cross River gorilla and endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee. These collectives, operating in villages such as Ulom, Katabang and Buanchor in southeastern Nigeria, were born from a realization that traditional, male-led […] authors: | ||
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Study investigates how to prevent viral spread from bat guano in Southeast Asia 28 Jul 2026 13:55:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/study-investigates-how-to-prevent-viral-spread-from-bat-guano-in-southeast-asia/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: As humans encroach further into ecosystems, people and wildlife are brought into closer proximity. One potential consequence is an increased risk of pathogens jumping from animals to humans, prompting researchers to explore the dynamics of how viruses circulate in nature and how best to prevent the risk of this transmission. New research from Thailand identified genetic material belonging to Betacoronaviruses, a genus of viruses that includes the strains responsible for Covid-19, SARS and MERS, within commercially available agricultural products, raising concerns over a general lack of safety protocols to protect harvesters and handlers from exposure. In the study, published in PLOS One, researchers screened 41 samples of bat guano fertilizers commonly sold in Thai markets for the presence of coronaviruses. While all the samples were from products bought in Thailand, the researchers couldn’t determine the exact origins of the guano contained in each product, which may have been from outside the country. Two of the samples tested positive for Alphacoronaviruses, another genus of coronaviruses, and one tested positive for Betacoronaviruses. Genetic analysis showed the Betacoronavirus sample was closely genetically related to the sarbecovirus subgenus, the group that includes the Covid-causing pathogen, SARS-CoV-2. Importantly, the researchers note the viral strains detected are not known to infect humans. Moreover, they only detected a fragment of viral RNA, the genetic blueprint of viruses, and did not fully isolate a live virus in the samples. As a result, they couldn’t definitively confirm the genetic material detected is capable of posing risks to human health.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Scientists say they have found the first evidence of bat-linked viruses in commercial fertilizer made from bat guano in Thailand. - Bat guano harvested from roosting cave sites is widely used, both commercially and informally, as agricultural fertilizer across many parts of Southeast Asia. - While the viral strains detected in the study are not known to infect humans, the research urges the fertilizer industry to introduce stronger safety precautions throughout the supply chain to minimize the risk of zoonotic disease transfer. - Experts also note the need to adhere to a “One Health” approach that minimizes disturbance of bat roosts and habitats to maintain safe ecological boundaries between potential zoonotic disease reservoirs and people. authors: | ||
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India’s tiger numbers are rising. Protecting their pathways is next 28 Jul 2026 13:16:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-tiger-numbers-are-rising-protecting-their-pathways-is-next/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Nirmal Ghosh content:encoded: RAJAJI TIGER RESERVE, India — It is early morning in late May in the hardwood sal forests of Rajaji Tiger Reserve in north India, and the heat is rising. By afternoon it will reach 39° Celsius (102° Fahrenheit). I am squatting on the forest floor under National Highway 72, a steady rumble of traffic above, looking at the footprints of a wild elephant in a patch of moist mud that has thus far survived this scorching summer. This is the Teen Pani (Three Waters) underpass, just 400-odd meters (about 1,300 feet) in length, but good enough to allow everything from mice to elephants to pass safely beneath the highway. And it’s also good enough for T8, a Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) that occasionally walks through the area on his nocturnal perambulations, safe from the speeding vehicles above. T8 was one of five tigers relocated to Rajaji from Corbett Tiger Reserve in May 2025, and now roams extensively, and elusively, across this often human-dominated landscape. The expressway above me dates back just to 2021, and it doesn’t have sound barriers, hence the noise. But it replaced the narrower, heavily trafficked old road running from Delhi to the holy Hindu town of Haridwar and on to Dehradun, the capital of the mountain state of Uttarakhand. T8, one of five tigers translocated from Corbett Tiger Reserve to Rajaji Tiger Reserve, will hopefully use the Teen Pani underpass. This photo was made before his release into Rajaji in 2025. Image courtesy of Rajaji…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - India has made progress in conserving its Bengal tigers, but now it must accommodate growing numbers as they disperse from protected habitats into human-dominated areas — even as poaching is on the rise and destruction of forested land continues. - Protected forest corridors are crucial to restoring lost or tenuous connectivity between key habitats, enabling genetic exchange between tiger populations that otherwise risk isolation and inbreeding. - India has built more mitigation structures than any other country in Asia, including the world’s 10 largest wildlife underpasses and overpasses. - But even as the country is reconnecting habitat, it’s also rapidly expanding road infrastructure, and even protected forests remain under threat. authors: | ||
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End of Brazil’s Soy Moratorium risks millions of hectares of Amazon rainforest: Study 28 Jul 2026 13:07:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/end-of-brazils-soy-moratorium-risks-millions-of-hectares-of-amazon-rainforest-study/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Millions of hectares of Amazon rainforest are newly at risk of being legally deforested, a new study estimates. The potential increase in deforestation comes as soy companies have terminated their voluntary participation in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a private-sector agreement that barred signatories from buying soy grown on land deforested after 2008. Researchers found 9.1 million hectares (22.5 million acres) of private forest, a total area around three times the size of Belgium. Additionally, more than 28 million hectares (69 million acres) of public forests without any clear purpose or protection could now face additional pressure from rural land speculation, where people buy and hold land to sell later at a higher cost, and illegal conversion for agriculture. According to Tiago Reis, a conservation specialist at WWF-Brazil and co-author of the analysis, the positive impacts of the moratorium went beyond the direct prevention of soy-linked deforestation. “[The Soy Moratorium] also hindered illegal deforestation, land speculation, social conflicts and land conflicts,” Reis told Mongabay Brasil reporter Lucas Berti. In January 2026, the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) announced it was withdrawing from the pact. Abiove represents many of the largest grain traders operating in Brazil including Cargill, ADM, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus Company and COFCO International. Other companies not represented by Abiove, including Amaggi and Glencore, also left the agreement. The former signatories of the moratorium traded roughly 90% of the soy grown in the Brazilian Amazon. The decision to leave the soy moratorium was prompted by a new law…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Millions of hectares of Amazon rainforest are newly at risk of being legally deforested, a new study estimates. The potential increase in deforestation comes as soy companies have terminated their voluntary participation in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a private-sector agreement that barred signatories from buying soy grown on land deforested after 2008. Researchers found 9.1 […] authors: | ||
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‘The shape of the land will change:’ South African villages resist heavy sands mine 28 Jul 2026 12:09:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-shape-of-the-land-will-change-south-african-villages-resist-heavy-sands-mine/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Anna Weekes content:encoded: PHOZI VILLAGE, South Africa — On a grassy mountainside overlooking the Indian Ocean on South Africa’s Eastern Cape coast, dozens of cattle graze freely. For generations, families in the small rural villages of Tyolomnqa, Phozi, and Qaga, about 30 miles from the nearest city, KuGompo, have relied on these communal lands for food, income, healing and spiritual connection. Residents of the village say a planned open-cast mine complex spread over thousands of hectares of communal land threatens their way of life. The Tyolomnqa Heavy Mineral Sands Project, proposed by Johannesburg-based Vendicom Minerals Beneficiation Group, is targeting zircon, rutile, ilmenite and leucoxene — heavy mineral ores used in products ranging from ceramic tiles and paint pigments to titanium for aircraft, medical implants and some renewable energy technologies. Though, its initial application to prospect in the area was rejected by the government on procedural grounds, communications from a consultancy hired by Vendicom to conduct the environmental and social impact assessment show that the company is still keen to mine in the region. The area Vendicom is eyeing is spread across up to 18 miles (29 kilometers) of communal grazing land stretching across the Tyolomnqa, Keiskamma and Kiwane estuaries. The three rivers, all of whose names are derived from Indigenous words, flow through rolling grasslands before reaching estuaries fringed by dunes and sandy beaches. The word Keiskamma comes from the Khoekhoe language and is commonly translated as “place of sweet waters.” For generations, rural isiXhosa communities have relied on these connected ecosystems for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Communities in South Africa’s Eastern Cape are opposing a proposed heavy mineral sands mine that a South African company wants permission to operate day and night for 30 years on their communal land. - They say the land targeted for mining is far from unused, supporting more than a 1,000 cattle, traditional medicine gathering, tourism and facilitates access to the coast and fishing. - The villagers say that if the mine goes ahead, it will damage livelihoods, ancestral graves, biodiversity and water resources. - The planned mine could also impact their long-running campaign to acquire commercial seaweed harvesting permits and an existing small-scale sand mining business run by a village committee. authors: | ||
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Mining, drilling, and fire are fragmenting the world’s largest forests 28 Jul 2026 11:48:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/mining-drilling-and-fire-are-fragmenting-the-worlds-largest-forests/ 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. The world’s largest remaining stretches of undisturbed forest are shrinking. Fires now cause more of the loss than logging, while mining and oil and gas development have moved close to the top of the list. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis from the World Resources Institute, based on data developed with researchers at the University of Maryland, U.S., and the nonprofit Greenpeace. The report examines “intact forest landscapes,” large blocks of forests that show no readily detectable signs of industrial activity or fragmentation. Their global extent has fallen by more than 15%, or 195 million hectares (482 million acres) between 2000 and 2025, an area roughly the size of Mexico. Canada, Russia, and Brazil contain almost two-thirds of the remaining intact forests. They also recorded the largest reductions. Fires have become a major driver of recent decline in intact forest area, accounting for almost 40% of the reduction between 2020 and 2025, up from 21% during 2000-2013. Logging, previously the leading cause, accounted for around one-fifth since 2020. Mining, drilling, and exploration contributed nearly 19%, making extractive industries the third-largest cause. Drivers of intact forest landscape loss. Image courtesy of World Resources Institute. The figure for extractive industries requires some explanation. While agriculture remains the main cause of global deforestation, mines and oil wells directly clear a relatively small area. However, the WRI analysis measures the loss of intact forests: A road,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The world’s largest remaining stretches of undisturbed forest are shrinking. Fires now cause more of the loss than logging, while mining and oil and gas development have moved close to the top of the list. That’s the conclusion […] authors: | ||
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Africa’s smallest wildcat found using abandoned rodent burrows to raise kittens 28 Jul 2026 10:25:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/africas-smallest-wildcat-found-using-abandoned-rodent-burrows-to-raise-kittens/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Africa’s smallest wildcat uses abandoned springhare burrows to raise its kittens, according to new research. There are fewer than 10,000 black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) left in the wild and studies on these nocturnal animals are rare. To learn more about them, a team of researchers tracked five female black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) with radio collars and scanned more than 50 burrows in southern Namibia between 2020-21. The research found that 98% of the dens used by the cats had originally been dug, then abandoned, by springhares (Pedetes capensis), an endemic rodent which looks like a cross between a small kangaroo and a rabbit. The cats depend on springhares to provide the underground dens where the felines raise their kittens for the first six to seven weeks of life. “I can’t prove black-footed cats would disappear without springhares, but at this site they would be much more vulnerable,” Harold Brindley, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, told Mongabay contributor María de los Ángeles Orfila. F. nigripes in a springhare burrow in southern Namibia. Image courtesy of Harold Brindley. Researchers used laser-based, remote-sensing technology to measure tunnel dimensions and determine which species created them. The cats selected burrows with tunnel entrances between 10 and 27 centimeters (4 and 11 inches) in diameter. They ignored smaller rodent holes and larger aardvark or porcupine burrows. After the kittens reached about seven weeks of age, mothers typically transitioned from staying in one location for nearly a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Africa’s smallest wildcat uses abandoned springhare burrows to raise its kittens, according to new research. There are fewer than 10,000 black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) left in the wild and studies on these nocturnal animals are rare. To learn more about them, a team of researchers tracked five female black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) with radio collars […] authors: | ||
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Pat Lowe spent decades describing and defending the Kimberley 28 Jul 2026 00:02:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/pat-lowe-spent-decades-describing-and-defending-the-kimberley/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The termites had built their towers long before roads crossed the Kimberley or companies proposed industrial projects along its rivers and coasts. Their colonies worked beneath the red earth, altering the soil and supporting other forms of life. Pat Lowe studied them closely. She asked Aboriginal knowledge-holders what they knew, spoke with scientists, read widely, and eventually wrote a book about them. She was drawn to subjects that were common and easily overlooked. The same attention led her to boabs, mammals, desert plants, and the pindan woodlands around Broome, where red soil lies beneath pale grasses and scattered trees. Her interest in conservation grew from long observation of how these landscapes worked. Pat Lowe, who died on July 2nd, 2026, aged 84, spent much of her life studying the Kimberley and helping others understand it. She was a psychologist, writer, editor, naturalist, and environmental campaigner. Her path to northern Western Australia began far away. Born in England in 1942, she trained as a teacher, worked in East Africa, and later moved to Australia, where she became a psychologist in the prison system. At Fremantle Prison, she met Jimmy Pike, a Walmajarri man who had grown up in the Great Sandy Desert and became one of Australia’s best-known Indigenous artists. After Pike’s release, they lived for three years at Kurlku, a remote desert camp. Water, weather, distance, and food governed daily life. Pike taught her about his Country: its routes, seasons, foods, history, and obligations. She learned Walmajarri words, listened…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Pat Lowe, who died on July 2nd, 2026, aged 84, was a psychologist, writer, naturalist, editor, and longtime defender of the Kimberley in Western Australia. - Her understanding of the region was shaped by years living with Walmajarri artist Jimmy Pike at Kurlku in the Great Sandy Desert and by listening to Indigenous knowledge-holders. - She helped found Environs Kimberley, later chaired it, served on its board for decades, and edited its newsletter for 29 years. - Lowe also supported Broome’s literary community, wrote extensively about the Kimberley, and argued that communities should be able to reject projects that would permanently damage Country, the Indigenous Australian term for ancestral lands, waters, relationships, knowledge, and responsibilities. authors: | ||
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More than 100 queen ants destined for Laos seized in Mexico 27 Jul 2026 22:52:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/more-than-100-queen-ants-destined-for-laos-seized-in-mexico/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: Authorities in Mexico’s Jalisco state seized a parcel containing 105 queen harvester ants concealed in toys on July 9. The shipment, sent from El Salto in Jalisco and destined for Laos, was falsely labeled “collectible figures,” authorities said in a press release. The parcel delivery company reported a suspicious package to Mexico’s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa). They found the ants. Each one stuffed in a test tube with a cotton ball, hidden inside two plastic toys; 18 of the 105 queen ants were dead, authorities said. The surviving ants were released in the Cerro Viejo Protected Natural Area in Jalisco. An ant expert determined the harvester ants belonged to the genus Pogonomyrmex, according to the release, and are native to the deserts of the Americas, including Mexico. Further investigations related to this seizure are ongoing, authorities said. Insects, including ants, have become targets for wildlife trafficking in recent years. Harvester ants are particularly in demand for their complex colony-building skills and are kept in specialized artificial ant habitats known as formicariums. “This seizure is another indicator of the globally booming interest in ants,” Sandra Altherr, cofounder of the German NGO Pro Wildlife, told Mongabay in an email. In 2025, Kenyan authorities confiscated more than 5,300 endemic harvester ants and arrested four suspects — two Belgians, one Kenyan national and one Vietnamese national. In a recent online survey of ant trading websites, Altherr’s team found more than 360 different species of ants from all over the world for sale,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Authorities in Mexico’s Jalisco state seized a parcel containing 105 queen harvester ants concealed in toys on July 9. The shipment, sent from El Salto in Jalisco and destined for Laos, was falsely labeled “collectible figures,” authorities said in a press release. The parcel delivery company reported a suspicious package to Mexico’s Federal Attorney for […] authors: | ||
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How carbon markets can succeed & also serve Global South communities (commentary) 27 Jul 2026 21:09:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Pati Ruiz Corzo content:encoded: Carbon markets were designed around the compelling premise that private finance could flow where forests are most at risk, rewarding the communities and landowners who protect them while helping companies take responsibility for their emissions. For anyone working in climate or conservation, the underlying logic still holds. The world’s forests provide essential ecosystem services, capture and store huge amounts of carbon dioxide, face enormous pressure, and need sustained economic incentives if they are to survive. So why has the voluntary carbon market so consistently fallen short of this promise? Over the past decade, the sector has faced mounting evidence that many carbon credits, particularly those issued for forest conservation in the Global South, have not delivered the climate outcomes they claimed. There have been well-documented cases of social harm to Indigenous and local communities, scientific analysis has repeatedly found that the methodologies used to calculate emissions reductions were prone to significant overestimation, and trust in the market, among both buyers and civil society, has been eroded. Military macaws (Ara militaris) flying over a forest in the Sierra Gorda. They are one of the many iconic and endangered species that call the forests of the Sierra Gorda home. Image courtesy of Roberto Pedraza Ruiz / Sierra Gorda Alliance. However, this is not a reason to abandon the idea of climate finance for nature. It is a reason to understand what has gone wrong, and to ask what a more inclusive, just, and transparent model can look like. What hasn’t worked Before…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The world’s forests provide essential ecosystem services, capture and store huge amounts of carbon dioxide, face enormous pressure, and need sustained economic incentives if they are to survive. - So why has the voluntary carbon market consistently fallen short of its promise to support forest conservation and communities, a new op-ed asks. - “The ecosystem services forests provide are worth something, and the people who live in and protect those forests must be the primary beneficiaries of that value. Anything short of that is not conservation but a new form of exploitation,” the author argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Heat stress is rising globally, raising health concerns for billions: Study 27 Jul 2026 20:57:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/heat-stress-is-rising-globally-raising-health-concerns-for-billions-study/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Patricia Sia Ngevao content:encoded: Climate change is causing frequent, well-studied, extreme heat events. Less well understood is the additional heat stress experienced by billions of people as a result of those extreme heat events. However, a new study published in Nature Climate Change aims to change that. The study analyzed more than 70 years of climate data stored in the ERA5-HEAT data set, which includes heat stress data going back to 1940. The researchers combined that climate information with population data to estimate human exposure to hazardous heat worldwide. The study found that nighttime “feels-like” temperatures have increased faster than daytime temperatures. Around 70% of the world’s population now experiences at least 90 days of strong heat stress annually, compared with 55% in the 1970s. They found that hazardous heat stress has intensified across every continent over the last five decades, including in places historically unaccustomed to such heat like parts of Europe. A recent heat wave in Europe is said to have caused more than 10,000 excess deaths. “Heat stress is already affecting lives worldwide and is no longer a future threat,” Rebecca Emerton, lead author of the study, and a senior scientist with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, told Mongabay in a video call. Extreme heat causes more human deaths than any other extreme weather event; children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. Underlying health conditions including asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease can become deadly with heat. “This study provides strong evidence that heat stress is increasing globally and that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Climate change is causing frequent, well-studied, extreme heat events. Less well understood is the additional heat stress experienced by billions of people as a result of those extreme heat events. However, a new study published in Nature Climate Change aims to change that. The study analyzed more than 70 years of climate data stored in […] authors: | ||
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Listening to birdsong in a forest lowered a person’s stress during experiment 27 Jul 2026 20:19:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/listening-to-birdsong-in-a-forest-lowered-a-persons-stress-during-experiment/ author: Liz Kimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Sitting in a small, restored forest while listening to birdsong lowered people’s stress and lifted their mood in the moment, according to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Conservation. Researchers asked 106 students at North Carolina State University in the U.S. to sit outdoors in noise-canceling headphones at two spots on campus: A strip of riparian forest restored two decades ago and a paved plaza facing a road intersection. At each location, participants listened to 10 minutes of birdsong and 10 minutes of traffic noise, in random order, then rated their stress, their positive and negative feelings, and how mentally restored they felt. The design, swapping both the place and the soundtrack, let the researchers separate the effect of where someone sits from what they hear. Both mattered, and their effects stacked. Participants in the forest hearing birdsong reported an average stress score of 3.2 on an 11-point scale, compared with 6.4 for those on the plaza hearing traffic. Eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) in Texas, U.S. Eastern bluebirds are commonly seen in agricultural lands. parks and neighborhoods in North America. Image by Shiva Shenoy via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). The forest-and-birdsong pairing also produced the highest positive emotion and the strongest sense of restoration. The two mismatched conditions (forest with traffic, plaza with birdsong) landed in between, better than the plaza-and-traffic combination but short of the full effect. “For participants who were in a green space listening to the birds, there were significant effects. Positive emotions went up,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new experiment found that sitting in a restored urban forest while listening to birdsong lowered people’s stress and improved their mood more than any other setting tested. - Researchers had 106 students at North Carolina State University in the U.S. sit in either a restored forest or a paved plaza while hearing birdsong or traffic noise, isolating the effects of place and sound. - Both the natural setting and the birdsong helped independently, and the benefits were largest when combined. - The forest was a human-made restoration completed in 2006, suggesting cities could build mental-health benefits into parks rather than relying on remote wilderness. authors: | ||
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Scaling up offshore wind requires overcoming global and local challenges 27 Jul 2026 20:12:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scaling-up-offshore-wind-requires-overcoming-global-and-local-challenges/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: This is Part Two in a Mongabay series about trends in the offshore wind industry. Part One, published in April, described the sector’s untapped potential and gaps between installed energy generation capacity and climate goals. The last year has highlighted both the vast potential of the growing offshore wind sector, and the major headwinds it must contend with. On one hand, the United Kingdom, a major offshore wind market, produced nearly 20% of the electricity it generated from offshore wind alone in 2025. Some 3,000 turbines generated enough electricity to power around 15.5 million homes. In 2025, 9.3 GW of offshore wind capacity was connected to the grid. By the end of 2026, it’s estimated that a further 18.8 GW will be added across the world. That would take total global capacity above 100 GW. In contrast to this positive backdrop are signs the industry is in a difficult period. 2025’s installations were dominated by China, at 6.6 GW, with European countries only adding around 3 GW. That’s off pace to meet many countries’ national targets, which must be fulfilled to meet climate goals. The Global Wind Energy Council, a trade industry association based in Portugal, also noted that just 11.4 GW of new projects were awarded contracts in 2025, down from 56 GW in 2024. That follows a series of failed auctions. Some developers also canceled large-scale projects. Notably, in May 2025 Danish developer Ørsted axed its U.K.-based Hornsea 4 project, which would have become one of the largest offshore…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Offshore wind has great potential as a renewable source of energy, experts say, but remains underutilized; its pace of development is slower than needed to meet set climate goals. - As a sector, offshore wind is buffeted by global economic factors, such as inflation and supply chain constraints. That’s led to failed auctions and canceled projects in recent years. - Other challenges at the national level, such as ensuring timely grid connections and ship and port capacity, have also emerged. - These must be overcome if offshore wind is to scale, according to experts. authors: | ||
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Colorful birds are at greater risk of extinction than drab birds, study finds 27 Jul 2026 20:02:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/colorful-birds-are-at-greater-risk-of-extinction-than-drab-birds-study-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Habitat loss, climate change, hunting and the pet trade are well-known drivers of bird declines. A new study suggests the colors of the birds themselves may also influence their extinction risk: Birds with colorful plumage seem to be more threatened than those with dull colors. Researchers Montague Neate-Clegg and Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela were on a bird watching trip in Vietnam when they realized that some of the colorful birds they spotted were both highly threatened and prized for the pet trade, Neate-Clegg, an assistant professor at the University of California Davis told Mongabay in a video call. “So, we got talking about how more colorful birds might be at higher risk of extinction.” To test their idea, the researchers analyzed the conservation status for some 4,334 passerine bird species using data from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Passerine birds make up more than half of all known bird species and include perching and songbirds such as canaries, finches, sparrows and bulbuls. The researchers then compared extinction risks for these species with colorfulness, or the number of distinct colors on each bird. They also looked at geographic threat patterns and controlled for other factors including body size, diet, ability to disperse and dependency on forest. The study found that colorful birds are indeed more threatened than dull birds, even after accounting for body size and other traits. In Southeast Asia, where brightly colored birds are heavily targeted for the pet trade, the pattern was especially clear. “If…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Habitat loss, climate change, hunting and the pet trade are well-known drivers of bird declines. A new study suggests the colors of the birds themselves may also influence their extinction risk: Birds with colorful plumage seem to be more threatened than those with dull colors. Researchers Montague Neate-Clegg and Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela were on a bird […] authors: | ||
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French wildfire created a monster cloud, unleashing lightning that ignited more fires 27 Jul 2026 19:06:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/french-wildfire-created-a-monster-cloud-unleashing-lightning-that-ignited-more-fires/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: PARIS (AP) — A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its towering smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. The so-called pyrocumulonimbus — which France’s national firefighters federation said had never before been seen in the country — also generated violent, erratic winds that could drive the flames in new directions. The inferno was no longer simply being propelled by the weather around it. It had begun creating its own. By Thomas Adamson, Associated Press Banner image: People watch a pyrocumulonimbus, a giant cloud created by large wildfires in Le Porge, western France, Thursday, July 23, 2026. Caroline Blumberg, Associated Press This article was originally published on Mongabay description: PARIS (AP) — A wildfire in southwest France grew so powerful that its towering smoke column became a thunderstorm, generating lightning that struck the ground and ignited new fires beyond the original blaze, French officials said. The so-called pyrocumulonimbus — which France’s national firefighters federation said had never before been seen in the country — […] authors: | ||
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Father Robert Athickal asked children to protect the living world 27 Jul 2026 12:32:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/father-robert-athickal-asked-children-to-protect-the-living-world/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The first members had no office, no money, and little authority. They were schoolchildren in Patna, a crowded city on the Ganges, worried about the trees being cut around them. They met after class, visited other schools, planted saplings, and spoke to anyone willing to listen. Some traveled by bicycle to carry their message farther. Their organization had a name, Tarumitra, meaning “Friends of Trees,” though for a time it consisted mainly of students and a small circle of adults helping them. Among those adults was a Jesuit priest who believed that children could be trusted with serious work. Father Robert Athickal, who died on July 19th, aged 73, spent nearly four decades developing that idea. From its beginnings in Patna in 1988, Tarumitra grew into one of India’s largest student environmental movements. It established groups in schools and colleges across the country, trained generations of young campaigners, and created a reserve for threatened plants from the Gangetic plain. Athickal had few of the resources usually available to someone building a national organization. There was no large funder behind the project and no government mandate. He relied on his position as a Jesuit teacher, the cooperation of schools, and his ability to persuade students and adults that local environmental problems deserved their attention. Tarumitra’s early campaigns were designed to be practical and easy to reproduce. Students cleaned neglected plots, planted roadside gardens, and turned former garbage dumps into what they called “Oxygen Belts.” Other school groups could follow…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Father Robert Athickal helped a small group of schoolchildren in Patna turn local tree-planting efforts into one of India’s largest student environmental movements. - Tarumitra trained generations of young people to restore degraded land, protect native species, practice organic farming, and organize around environmental problems. - Athickal combined Jesuit teaching with Indian philosophy, arguing that humans had moral obligations toward animals, plants, rivers, soils, and other forms of life. - By trusting students with real responsibility, he showed how modest, local action could grow into a movement involving hundreds of thousands of young people. authors: | ||
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Extreme weather dampens breeding success for marine predators in Tasmania: study 27 Jul 2026 12:11:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Madeline Shaw content:encoded: On the rocky shores of Tasmania, seals and seabirds can’t shelter indoors during a storm or turn on the AC during a hot spell. When extreme weather strikes, they’re exposed to the elements, especially when they’re tied to a clumsy pup or a nest of newly hatched chicks. The effects can be deadly. A study published in Science Advances in June found that extreme weather events like storms, heat waves and floods can interfere with the breeding success of important marine predators like seals, shearwaters and albatross that raise their young along the coasts. As these events become both more frequent and increasingly intense due to climate change, the study authors stress the need to monitor predator populations to better protect them from the effects, especially during vulnerable times in the breeding season. “Extreme weather events are becoming a new normal,” study lead author Milan Sojitra, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania, told Mongabay. “It is having an effect on ecosystems and species.” Marine ecosystems around the world are under stress from the effects of human-caused climate change, including heatwaves and warming ocean temperatures that can cause coral bleaching and mass die-offs of marine species. Tasmania, an island and Australian state 240 kilometers (149 miles) south of the mainland, is a climate change hotspot, with surface waters off its eastern coast warming three to four times faster than the global average, according to a 2018 study. The frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall and heat on the island…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent study found that extreme weather events like storms, heat waves and floods can interfere with the breeding success of marine predators like seals, shearwaters and albatross that raise their young along the coasts of the Australian state of Tasmania. - While some colonies appeared unaffected by extreme weather, others saw offspring swept away by powerful waves and storm surges, hypothermia during unusually wet episodes, and deadly overheating during periods of high temperatures. - The researchers noted that these extremes are among many challenges seals, seabirds and other marine predators face, including pollution, disease and declining food supplies, which can also be influenced by extreme weather events. authors: | ||
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Cheetahs reintroduced to Zambia’s Greater Luangwa Ecosystem 27 Jul 2026 12:10:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/cheetahs-reintroduced-to-zambias-greater-luangwa-ecosystem/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Charles Mpaka content:encoded: Cheetahs are back in Zambia’s Greater Luangwa Ecosystem, nearly 30 years after the big cats’ last recorded presence in the massive landscape. Six cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), three males and three females, were earlier in July moved by Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and several conservation groups, including the South Africa-based Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), to a remote part of North Luangwa National Park. The cheetahs were translocated from private reserves in South Africa. Another six will be moved in August, while a third batch of six will follow in August 2027, according to a statement by EWT. There haven’t been confirmed sightings of cheetahs in the Greater Luangwa Ecosystem since 1998, according to EWT’s fact sheet, which attributes the cat’s disappearance to successive outbreaks of anthrax disease and habitat disturbance. “Many of the threats that likely contributed to the disappearance of cheetahs from Luangwa in the 1990s have been significantly reduced,” Olivia Sievert, manager for EWT’s Cheetah Metapopulation Project, told Mongabay by email. Sievert said conservation efforts in North Luangwa and South Luangwa national parks, the two major protected areas in the ecosystem, have resulted in healthy prey populations, allowing large carnivores such as lions (Panthera leo) and African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) to flourish across the ecosystem. “However, cheetahs are unable to naturally recolonise the Luangwa valley because the nearest viable populations are too distant and disconnected for natural dispersal to occur,” Sievert said. “As a result, active reintroduction is the only realistic way to restore…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Cheetahs are back in Zambia’s Greater Luangwa Ecosystem, nearly 30 years after the big cats’ last recorded presence in the massive landscape. Six cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), three males and three females, were earlier in July moved by Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and several conservation groups, including the South Africa-based Endangered Wildlife […] authors: | ||
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Bangladesh shipbreakers push back against stricter environmental standards 27 Jul 2026 11:23:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-shipbreakers-push-back-against-stricter-environmental-standards/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Ashraful Haque content:encoded: DHAKA — Ships sail oceans all over the world, yet as they reach the end of their lives, they mostly go to die on the beaches of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Around 85% of the world’s end-of-life ships are dismantled and recycled in these three South Asian countries, an industry that has long relied on low-cost manual labor but has also been criticized for its high disregard for worker safety and severe environmental pollution. Shipbreaking is so hazardous that the industry was shut down in industrialized countries in the 1960s, displaced to less-industrialized countries, particularly in South Asia. Data from the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, which campaigns for improved ship-recycling standards, show that since 2009, 8,221 ships have ended up on South Asian beaches, 480 workers have died on the job, and 520 have been injured. The numbers don’t account for pollution so severe that fish stocks have declined in these areas, putting local fishers out of work. The future of Bangladesh’s ship recycling industry now hinges on a dispute over two international treaties: the Basel Convention, which regulates the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, and the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC), a sector-specific treaty adopted under the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Bangladesh ratified both conventions: Basel in 1993, and HKC in 2023. The latter came into force in 2025, while the former entered into force in 1992. Shipbreaking in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Shipbreaking is so hazardous that the industry was shut down…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Bangladesh’s shipbreaking industry faces a pivotal treaty dispute. The country’s interim government last year decided that both Basel Convention and the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) will apply simultaneously to the local shipbreaking operations. - However, shipbreakers say that applying Basel rules would make ship imports more expensive and legally complex, potentially forcing many shipbreaking yards to close due to their inability to meet Basel standards. - Basel strictly controls transboundary movement of toxic waste, and requires dismantling ships on impermeable surfaces that contain hazardous waste, effectively ruling out the conventional method used in Bangladesh, of grounding a ship onto a beach. - The Hong Kong Convention permits the beaching method, but environmental activists say it doesn’t provide sufficient environmental protection and reflects shipping industry interests. authors: | ||
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Finning the High Seas 27 Jul 2026 09:52:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/07/finning-the-high-seas/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: content:encoded: This investigative series uncovered a massive illegal shark-finning scheme and widespread labor abuses across the fleet of Dalian Ocean Fishing (DOF), a major Chinese tuna company with dozens of boats operating in international waters. Reporters tracked down and interviewed some two dozen Indonesian deckhands who worked aboard the company’s vessels, documenting their experiences with excessive work, substandard food and drinking water, illness, and deaths at sea. Their testimonies enabled Mongabay and its partners to determine that a tiny handful of DOF boats took more sharks than what China reported its entire longline fleet catching in the same place and time, which informed U.S. sanctions against the company.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: This investigative series uncovered a massive illegal shark-finning scheme and widespread labor abuses across the fleet of Dalian Ocean Fishing (DOF), a major Chinese tuna company with dozens of boats operating in international waters. Reporters tracked down and interviewed some two dozen Indonesian deckhands who worked aboard the company’s vessels, documenting their experiences with excessive […] authors: | ||
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Major orangutan study finds Sumatran population fell nearly 20% despite slower forest loss 27 Jul 2026 08:30:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Hans Nicholas JongJunaidi Hanafiah content:encoded: JAKARTA — The number of Sumatran orangutans has declined by nearly 20% in the past decade and the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan remains perilously close to extinction despite years of conservation efforts, according to a new study. The study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, also suggests that habitat loss alone cannot explain the species’ decline. While deforestation remains the primary driver, several orangutan populations in Indonesia’s island of Sumatra shrank by a far greater degree than the rate of forest loss might explain, pointing to additional threats such as killing, conflict with humans and habitat fragmentation. The findings come from the first comprehensive reassessment of both Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and Tapanuli (Pongo tapanuliensis) orangutans since the landmark 2016 range-wide survey led by primatologist Serge Wich. The study also signals a notable shift in the Indonesian government’s public approach to orangutan conservation. Between 2018 and 2022, then environment and forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar repeatedly said “ground-based evidence” showed orangutan populations were growing and dismissed projections of continued decline. Those claims were challenged at the time by prominent primatologists, who argued that peer-reviewed research consistently showed that the populations of all three orangutan species, Sumatran, Tapanuli and Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus), were declining and urged the ministry to release the data underpinning its assertions. The dispute escalated when the ministry temporarily barred several of the scientists from conducting research with Indonesia’s national parks and conservation agencies. The latest assessment of the animals presents a picture that’s markedly different from the previous…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study estimates the Sumatran orangutan population declined by nearly 20% between 2011 and 2023. - The researchers found that habitat loss alone cannot explain the declines, pointing to additional threats such as killing, conflict and habitat fragmentation. - The study is the first comprehensive reassessment of Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutans since a landmark 2016 survey. - The Forestry Ministry co-authored the study and says it will use the findings to guide conservation policy, marking a contrast with the previous administration’s public claims that orangutan populations were increasing. authors: | ||
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Thai MP calls for new committee to scrutinize AI data centers’ environmental impact 27 Jul 2026 02:48:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/thai-mp-calls-for-new-committee-to-scrutinize-ai-data-centers-environmental-impact/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Gerald Flynn content:encoded: BANGKOK — An opposition member of Thailand’s parliament has called for the creation of a parliamentary committee on the regulation of data centers. The call comes amid a raft of new project approvals linked to the sector, which requires large amounts of water and electricity. “I believe Thailand needs to rethink its overall approach to data center development,” Sahassawat Kumkong, a member of the reformist People’s Party, told Mongabay in an interview. “The objective should not simply be to attract investment as quickly as possible. We also need to ensure that development is environmentally sustainable, that local communities are protected, and that the economic benefits are shared more fairly.” Sahassawat represents Constituency 7 in Chonburi, a coastal province in eastern Thailand where at least 13 data centers are in the construction or planning phases, with four more already operational, according to public records, news coverage and, in some cases, on-the-ground reporting by Mongabay. Part of his responsibility in this role, he said, was to safeguard the interests of his constituents, who largely depend on natural resources that data centers may put under strain. The MP said he intends to do this by forming a parliamentary committee to scrutinize the government’s approval and regulation of data centers. This will involve a comprehensive review of Thailand’s current policy framework, including long-term planning for water and energy resources, stronger environmental safeguards, greater transparency, meaningful public participation and mechanisms to ensure that communities sharing the costs of these projects also share in their benefits,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A Thai member of parliament has called for the formation of a new committee to scrutinize the development of new data centers. - Experts have warned that Thailand needs to find a balance between economic development and the water and energy resources required to fuel data centers. - Despite these concerns, international tech companies are spending billions of dollars on data centers in Thailand, sparking fears over water scarcity and energy infrastructure. authors: | ||
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Khuiusi Khisêtjê helped his people recover their land and future in the Xingu 24 Jul 2026 17:37:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/khuiusi-khisetje-helped-his-people-recover-their-land-and-future-in-the-xingu/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The plane sprayed the soy fields beside the forest. Residents of Khikatxi said the single-engine aircraft appeared several times during each harvest and passed over Wawi Indigenous Territory. They worried about pesticides reaching their water, gardens, animals, and homes. For years, Khuiusi Khisêtjê watched the farms advance around his people’s land. In 2018 he made a decision.. The community would rebuild its village ten kilometers deeper in the forest. Leaving a village is difficult. Houses must be rebuilt, paths cleared, gardens planted, and daily routines restored. The old place contained years of work and memory. Khuiusi Khisêtjê had already lived through several such upheavals. He knew what was lost when people were forced from their land. He also knew when it had become unsafe to remain. The move took the Khisêtjê farther from the expanding agricultural frontier. It was one more decision in a life devoted to the survival of his people. Khuiusi, who died in Goiânia on July 3rd, at about 80, belonged to a generation that saw the Khisêtjê come close to extinction. He was born when his people still lived beyond the settled frontiers of central Brazil. Their villages lay among rivers, forest, and savanna in a region that would later form part of the Xingu Indigenous Territory and the adjoining Wawi Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso. Contact with outsiders brought disease, violence, and displacement. Epidemics killed older people who held knowledge of the land, ceremonies, songs, and family histories. Khuiusi lost his father and many of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Khuiusi Khisêtjê assumed leadership after disease and violence reduced his people to around 50 and killed many of their elders. - He helped recover the Wawi Indigenous Territory, which contained ancestral villages, sacred places, and the graves of Khisêtjê relatives. - He worked to preserve Khisêtjê songs, language, oral history, and cultural knowledge while preparing younger leaders to navigate Brazilian institutions. - As soy farms and pesticide use expanded around the territory, he continued defending the land and, in 2018, led his community deeper into the forest. authors: | ||
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Conservationists got delayed access to court-ordered inspection of Nairobi National Park 24 Jul 2026 16:05:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/conservationists-got-delayed-access-to-court-ordered-inspection-of-nairobi-national-park/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Lynet Otieno content:encoded: The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has been accused of harassing co-petitioners in a case challenging the relocation of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage to make it part of the larger Bomas International Conference Complex. The proposal would carve out between 76 and 89 acres inside Nairobi National Park for upgrades to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facilities. Conservationists are concerned that the facility, which will include parking for 1,300 vehicles, poses threats to a protected indigenous forest and habitat for the critically endangered black rhino. On July 16, the Environment and Land Court in Nairobi ordered its deputy registrar Vincent Kiplagat to visit the park in the presence of all parties to prepare and file a report about the proposed facility. The Nairobi-based NGO Save the Nairobi National Park (SaveNNP) said it was denied court-ordered access to the site. In a statement sent to Mongabay, SaveNNP condemned “threats and intimidation” by KWS personnel. In the same statement, SaveNNP and JustAct, another Nairobi-based NGO, accused the KWS of planning to “control the narrative and ensure the voice of Kenyans was not heard by the courts or the media while on site.” Similar claims were made by Friends of Nairobi National Park. Mongabay asked KWS spokesperson Duncan Wanyama for a comment and was referred to a local media report in which Wanyama said the visitors were not obstructed and that rangers were just enforcing standard protocols within the park. The activists said they were later allowed in, but “only once the court officers, KWS…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has been accused of harassing co-petitioners in a case challenging the relocation of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage to make it part of the larger Bomas International Conference Complex. The proposal would carve out between 76 and 89 acres inside Nairobi National Park for upgrades to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facilities. […] authors: | ||
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California solar project threatens Mojave wildlife corridor, scientists say 24 Jul 2026 14:33:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/california-solar-project-threatens-mojave-wildlife-corridor-scientists-say/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Hyeyoon Cho content:encoded: The Mojave Desert may look like a flat, brown stretch of nothing between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. But threading through its rocky mountain ranges is an intricate network of wildlife movement that has sustained desert species for thousands of years. Now, scientists and advocates say a solar project approved by the state of California threatens to sever it. In April, the California Energy Commission, the state agency that oversees energy infrastructure, voted 4-0 to approve a $700 million, 1,080-hectare (2,670-acre) solar facility proposed by New Jersey-based developer VC Renewables on federal land adjacent to the Mojave National Preserve. The preserve, spanning more than 1.6 million acres, is one of the largest in the U.S. National Park System and is located in Southern California. The project, known as Soda Mountain Solar, sits in the migration corridor that desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) use to move between mountain ranges. This large solar array would also obstruct desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) habitat, which has already undergone significant loss due to climate change and land developments. The energy commission’s environmental review found the project would cause significant and unavoidable harm to wildlife. Scientists and conservation advocates say the approval threatens one of the last intact desert ecosystems in California. But the commission’s final order memo states that ecological mitigation incorporated into the solar project would reduce the impacts on desert wildlife to “less than significant” and that the commission expects the project will bring more renewable energy to the state. Scientists and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The state of California has approved a solar project in the Mojave Desert on land that serves as a migration corridor for desert bighorn sheep and habitat for the desert tortoise. - Scientists and conservation advocates say the approval threatens one of the last intact desert ecosystems in California, but the California Energy Commission says ecological mitigation will reduce the impacts on wildlife and that the project will bring more renewable energy to the state. - The Mojave is already fragmented by Interstate 15, and solar projects add further threats; the ability to move between mountains is what keeps the bighorn sheep population from collapsing. authors: | ||
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At least 50 people killed and 700,000 displaced by India floods after monsoon rains 24 Jul 2026 13:05:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/at-least-50-people-killed-and-700000-displaced-by-india-floods-after-monsoon-rains/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Flooding in India’s northeastern Assam state has killed at least 50 people and displaced 700,000 after days of heavy monsoon rain that overflowed the Brahmaputra River, officials said Friday. The river, one of Asia’s largest that originates in China’s Tibet region and flows about 900 kilometers (560 miles) through Assam, flooded villages, swept away homes and forced nearly 300,000 people into government-run relief camps, officials said. Authorities provided food and relief supplies to flood victims including airdrops from helicopters, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Nearly 900 villages were submerged and more than 7,000 homes were without electricity, he said. Police, disaster response teams and local volunteers were working to rescue stranded residents and deliver essential supplies to flood-hit communities, officials said. Jatin Gogoi, a 52-year-old farmer from Nazira, said the rising waters swept away his bamboo-walled home and destroyed his livelihood. “I lost all my cattle. My five-member family and I have nowhere to go, so we are taking shelter in a relative’s home,” he said over the phone. Flooding on Thursday evening disrupted parts of Guwahati, Assam’s capital with about 2 million residents, as submerged roads left commuters stranded for hours. “I had to stay overnight at my office. The roads were filled with water, some waist deep,” said Sudip Mazumdar, a journalist in Guwahati. Experts say human-caused climate change is intensifying South Asia’s monsoons, which traditionally run from June to September and again from October to December. The rains, once predictable, now arrive in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Flooding in India’s northeastern Assam state has killed at least 50 people and displaced 700,000 after days of heavy monsoon rain that overflowed the Brahmaputra River, officials said Friday. The river, one of Asia’s largest that originates in China’s Tibet region and flows about 900 kilometers (560 miles) through Assam, flooded […] authors: | ||
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Winners of the annual Mangrove Photography Awards: See the photos 24 Jul 2026 12:15:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/winners-of-the-annual-mangrove-photography-awards-see-the-photos/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: In celebration of World Mangrove Day on July 26, the U.S.-based Mangrove Action Project (MAP) has announced the winners of its 12th annual photography awards. “Mangroves are the underdog. They will never be as glamorous as the Amazon rainforest or coral reefs. But through photography we can change that narrative, and intrigue people by showing them their beauty, diversity and fragility,” Leo Thom, creative director with MAP told Mongabay in an email. Mangroves cover just 0.1% of the surface of the Earth but are essential ecosystems; they stabilize coastlines and provide habitat for diverse wildlife including fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, primates and, even, big cats such as tigers. Mangroves also store three to five times more carbon per acre than tropical forests. Scientists estimate that more than half of all mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse by 2050, mostly from sea-level rise and severe storms associated with climate change. Gaurav Patil/Mangrove Photography Awards (MPA) The 2026 overall winning photograph features another threat to mangroves — ghost nets, fishing nets that are discarded or lost at sea. This photo was taken near Nandgaon village, south of Mumbai, India. At sea, such fishing gear can entangle wildlife including sea turtles, birds and whales. Less understood is how problematic ghost nets are for mangroves. “I have been watching ghost nets getting trapped in mangroves for the last several years,” photographer Gaurav Patil from India, said in a press release. Michol Sanchez/MPA A “highly commended” photo in the threats category of the contest…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In celebration of World Mangrove Day on July 26, the U.S.-based Mangrove Action Project (MAP) has announced the winners of its 12th annual photography awards. “Mangroves are the underdog. They will never be as glamorous as the Amazon rainforest or coral reefs. But through photography we can change that narrative, and intrigue people by showing […] authors: | ||
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New treaty promises safer conditions for Indonesia’s fishing crews 24 Jul 2026 10:54:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-treaty-promises-safer-conditions-for-indonesias-fishing-crews/ author: Basten Gokkon dc:creator: M Ambari content:encoded: JAKARTA — Endi sat in front of the door leading to the second deck of a fishing boat at the Nizam Zachman fishing port in Jakarta. As he waited for the vessel to depart, the 42-year-old member shared his experience working at sea. “I only have a primary school education. I tried other jobs, like construction, but I couldn’t handle it. The pay was low,” he told Mongabay. On fishing boats, he said, crew members are paid according to their roles. Ordinary deckhands earn around 25,000 rupiah per day, or about $1.40, while the chief engineer gets up to four times that much. For a two-month voyage, that puts total earnings anywhere from 1.5 million to 6 million rupiah ($84-$334). Endi said that while this is still insufficient to support a family, he remains grateful to have work. This could improve in the near future. In April this year, the Indonesian government ratified the International Labour Organization’s Work in Fishing Convention of 2007 (also known as ILO 188), marking a major step toward strengthening labor protections in the fishing sector. The government now has one year to prepare for its implementation, including revising existing regulations governing the recruitment, training, certification, and management of fishing crews. Overall, the convention seeks to establish minimum standards for occupational safety and health, fair wages, decent working conditions, social security, legal protection, and adequate rest for workers in the fishing industry. Fishing crew members wait for their vessel’s scheduled departure from the Nizam Zachman fishing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia has ratified the ILO Work in Fishing Convention (ILO 188), committing to stronger protections for fishing crews, including safer working conditions, fairer pay and better access to health care. - Labor groups say the convention could close long-standing legal gaps that have left many domestic fishing workers vulnerable to poor conditions and weak oversight. - Experts say stronger labor standards could also help curb illegal fishing and boost the credibility of Indonesian seafood exports in markets with strict sustainability requirements. - The biggest challenge now is implementation, with the government facing a year to update regulations and improve enforcement, training, and support for the fishing industry. authors: | ||
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Ghana’s High Court sentences politician to 20 years in illegal mining case 24 Jul 2026 09:16:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ghanas-high-court-sentences-politician-to-20-years-in-illegal-mining-case/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Mabel Adorkor Annang content:encoded: ACCRA — In a landmark ruling, the Accra High Court has sentenced Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a regional chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party, to 20 years in prison for facilitating unlicensed mining in the Samreboi concession. The concession is in Ghana’s Western Region, in the Upper Guinean Forest Belt that extends across the subregion from Togo and Ghana in the east to Guinea in the west. The concession is set in the remains of the belt’s tropical rainforest. While large parts of the landscape at Samreboi have been logged and converted to cocoa plantations or other farmland in recent decades, significant tracts of natural forest remain, including the nearby Tano Nimiri and Aboi forest reserves. In recent years, the area has been massively degraded by illegal mining, known locally as “galamsey,” damaging remaining wildlife habitat, destroying farmland, and altering natural drainage patterns. This has left a landscape deeply scarred by abandoned pits. During heavy rainfall in June, the Tano River burst its banks and submerged more than 200 houses in Samreboi and neighboring communities, with some buildings collapsing entirely. While illegal mining dominates headlines, industrial mining is the leading cause of forest loss in Ghana — Africa’s biggest gold producer. This damage was exacerbated by legislation passed in 2022, allowing mining concessions to be granted even inside forest reserves, opening previously protected forests to exploitation. That legislation was repealed in 2025. Graphic by Mongabay. The NPP official’s conviction and sentencing, handed down on July 20, has prompted energetic public…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A court in Accra has sentenced Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a regional chairman of Ghana’s opposition New Patriotic Party, to 20 years in prison for unlicensed mining in the country’s Samreboi concession. - In recent years, the area has been massively degraded by illegal mining, known locally as “galamsey,” damaging remaining wildlife habitat, destroying farmland, and altering natural drainage patterns. - Civil society hopes the conviction of a prominent politician signals that political cover allowing illegal mining will now be reined in. authors: | ||
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One scientist’s mission to save Ghana’s disappearing guitarfish 24 Jul 2026 08:34:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/one-scientists-mission-to-save-ghanas-disappearing-guitarfish/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda content:encoded: Fishers from western and central Ghana are renowned in the region, traveling the length of the West African coastline to cast their nets in the richest fishing grounds. These migrant fishers, relying on beach and purse seining, dry their catch to preserve them for transport to distant markets. Fish is an important dietary component for West Africans, according to Ghanaian marine biologist Issah Seidu, but its availability is under threat. “There has been a tremendous decline in fish like the tunas, anchovies, mackerel,” he told Mongabay. “And in response, the fishermen have switched gears from the traditional fishing tools to now using gillnet to target these species as their last safety net to support their livelihood.” Issah Seidu with two colleagues from his NGO, Aqualife. Image courtesy of Issah Seidu. As well as bony fish, elasmobranches — like sharks and rays, whose skeletons are made of cartilage — are much sought after. Fifty years ago, sawfish and wedgefish were widely found in shallow water along Ghana’s coast; today, both groups of elasmobranches have been fished to local extinction. Seidu, the founder of a marine conservation NGO called AquaLife, said fishers he’s interviewed for his research say sawfish haven’t been seen in Ghanaian waters since the 1980s, and it’s now been more than eight years since wedgefish were last caught. He said guitarfish, a group of rays, could be next. “Guitarfish are at a tipping point,” Seidu told Mongabay in an interview in March, “owing to their lucrative and high-value white…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Fishers from Ghana travel the length of the West African coastline to find the richest fishing grounds, but the availability of this vital source of protein is under threat from a number of sources. - Declining catches of bony fish like tuna and mackerel have put elasmobranch populations — sharks and rays — under increasing pressure by fishers, who seek them not just to supply local markets for their meat, but to meet lucrative demand for their fins from Asia. - Sawfish and wedgefish species have now been fished to local extinction in Ghana, and marine biologist Issah Seidu warns guitarfish will be next. - Earlier this year, Seidu was the recipient of a Whitley Award, which will support the work of his NGO alongside Ghanaian fishing communities to research and protect guitarfish. authors: | ||
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Volunteers play crucial role in Bangladesh’s wildlife crime control efforts 24 Jul 2026 07:46:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/volunteers-play-crucial-role-in-bangladeshs-wildlife-crime-control-efforts/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Sadiqur Rahman content:encoded: A handful of animal lovers, mostly representing the youth community, spread across Bangladesh, have become crucial arsenals of the Forest Department’s wildlife crime control efforts. Despite not being assigned by the state, like the responsibilities a crime control force shoulders, the animal lovers help the Forest Department trace stressed wildlife in traps, cages or enclosures of poachers and smugglers. Primarily, they share intel information about any potential wildlife crime. Often, they join the wildlife inspectors of the department, act as undercover buyers, reach the crime scene, and help arrest the criminals. All things they do are under life threats — voluntarily. The Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU), established in 2012, conducted more than 3,000 raids against wildlife criminals between July 2012 and March 2026. Almost all raids were planned with volunteers’ tip-offs. Chief conservator of forests, Md Amir Hosain Chowdhury, told Mongabay: “Volunteers are our crucial partners [in wildlife conservation].” The government of Bangladesh has also recognized the collaboration between the WCCU and the volunteers. The WCCU and wildlife photographer and conservationist Faisal Bin Azad, better known as Adnan Azad, were honored with the National Wildlife Conservation Awards 2026 on July 9. Azad is one of the pioneers in non-government campaigns for nature conservation and was one of the original volunteers with WCCU. Local volunteers and Forest Department officers pose for photographs with an administration officia after two pooches were detained while possessing a macaque illegally. Image by Siddiqur Rahman Rabbi. The Forest Department on Nov. 6, 2025,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The government in Bangladesh has recognized the collaboration between the wildlife crime control force and volunteers by awarding one of the pioneering volunteers with a national prize. - Risking their own lives, the volunteers collaborate with the Forest Department by sharing information about poachers and smugglers; often, they help arrest criminals. - The Forest Department has launched a volunteer registration process, which, however, fails to attract prominent volunteers. authors: | ||
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First sighting of African wild dogs in Malawi national park in more than 10 years 24 Jul 2026 06:01:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/first-sighting-of-african-wild-dogs-in-malawi-national-park-in-more-than-10-years/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: Four African wild dogs were recently spotted in Kasungu National Park in Malawi, making it the first confirmation of the endangered species in the park in more than a decade. The wild dogs appear to have travelled hundreds of kilometers from a park in eastern Zambia to reach Kasungu. Matthew Becker, chief executive of the Zambian Carnivore Programme, told Mongabay his team recognized the four African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) from a database of known wild dogs collected in South Luangwa National Park and the Luangwa River valley as part of a long-term study. South Luangwa is located around 300 kilometers (186 miles) to the west of Kasungu. The four dogs had been recorded in May near a school in Mfuwe village, just outside South Luangwa, Becker said. The wild dogs may have traversed parts of the Malawi-Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), Becker added. The TFCA connects Malawi’s Kasungu to Zambia’s Lukusuzi National Park adjoining the Luangwa Valley, through a long narrow region of densely packed villages, farms and homesteads, “I suspect they would have used the areas that were least impacted by development and (with the) least amount of threats, but one never knows with dogs,” Becker said. He added that “it’s very promising” the wild dogs were able to move from South Luangwa all the way into Malawi. “I think hopefully this signals more dogs in the future exchanging between the countries through dispersal,” he said, adding that the journey of the four dogs to Kasungu shows that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Four African wild dogs were recently spotted in Kasungu National Park in Malawi, making it the first confirmation of the endangered species in the park in more than a decade. The wild dogs appear to have travelled hundreds of kilometers from a park in eastern Zambia to reach Kasungu. Matthew Becker, chief executive of the […] authors: | ||
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Rare alpine herb confirmed in India after 158 years 24 Jul 2026 03:59:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/rare-alpine-herb-confirmed-in-india-after-158-years/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: In the rugged, high-altitude meadows of the Eastern Himalayas in India, researchers have confirmed the presence of a tiny plant with purple-blue flowers, last documented in the country more than 150 years ago. The plant, Cyananthus hookeri, was previously recorded in India by British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker who collected some specimens from the northeastern state of Sikkim in 1867. Last year, a research team located the species at an altitude of 3,600 meters (11,811 feet) in Chuna Valley in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh state, also in northeast India. This milestone, documented in a recent update in Oryx, marks the first confirmed record of the species in Arunachal Pradesh and the first record from India in 158 years, the researchers write. Sudhanshu Sekhar Dash, one of the botanists on the research team from the Botanical Survey of India, told Mongabay over email that the rediscovery of Cyananthus hookeri “is an exciting and significant botanical finding.” “What impressed us most was that such a distinctive species had remained undetected despite extensive botanical exploration in the eastern Himalaya,” Sekhar Dash said. “This highlights how remote alpine ecosystems still harbor poorly documented plant diversity.” C. hookeri is a small, short plant that grows in mat-like clumps. It has densely hairy stems, and striking purple-blue flowers with hairy throats. Sekhar Dash said the plant is a highly specialized herb that’s adapted to harsh mountain climates. “It creates robust, hairy cushions that protect it from the severe mountain conditions,” he said. Despite the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In the rugged, high-altitude meadows of the Eastern Himalayas in India, researchers have confirmed the presence of a tiny plant with purple-blue flowers, last documented in the country more than 150 years ago. The plant, Cyananthus hookeri, was previously recorded in India by British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker who collected some specimens from the […] authors: | ||
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Beavers restored a volcano-scarred river. Now it’s at risk again 24 Jul 2026 03:50:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/beavers-restored-a-volcano-scarred-river-now-its-at-risk-again/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: More than 40 years after sediment from a volcanic eruption filled up a stretch of the North Fork Toutle River in the U.S. state of Washington, beavers are turning the smothered waterway into a thriving wetland. However, a planned infrastructure project now threatens to undo five years of restoration progress, reports contributor Isabel Gil for Mongabay. Following the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Mark and Dawn Smith, owners of the Eco Park Resort, watched as volcanic sediment accumulated over native vegetation and wildlife along the river. The degradation was exacerbated when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1989 built a sediment retention structure (SRS) to hold back sediment to protect shipping routes and downstream communities from flooding. The structure trapped volcanic material, creating a massive sediment plain on the Smiths’ property. In 2021, the Smith family began collaborating with natural resource experts from the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, the Cascade Tribe, and conservation groups to reintroduce beavers (Castor canadensis) to the area. Emily Fairfax, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota, told Mongabay that 58 beavers have been relocated to the resort in the last five years. Many of them were at risk of being euthanized after coming into conflict with humans in other areas. The relocated beavers have established a complex network of dams and what Smith described as “honeycomb” canals, deepening ponds and allowing native willows and alders to take root. Smith said he’s seen ducks and elk return to his property. Moreover, the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: More than 40 years after sediment from a volcanic eruption filled up a stretch of the North Fork Toutle River in the U.S. state of Washington, beavers are turning the smothered waterway into a thriving wetland. However, a planned infrastructure project now threatens to undo five years of restoration progress, reports contributor Isabel Gil for […] authors: | ||
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Scientists call on countries to act on ‘forgotten’ sawfish teeth trade 23 Jul 2026 22:12:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: Sawfish, a group of large marine rays, derive their name from a striking appendage: Their long, saw-like snout lined with teeth-like scales. Nature intended these fish to use their snout, also called a rostrum, to send out electric signals that shock unsuspecting prey, slice it like a sword to impale it, and devour the catch. Humans, on the other hand, use these sharp teeth as cockfighting spurs — a spiky object strapped to a game cock’s legs so it can deliver lethal blows to its opponent and win the fight. For centuries, practitioners of the sport in Latin America have carved sawfish (fam.Pristidae) teeth into spurs. But in the 2000s, as sawfish became overfished for their fins, many cockfighting associations in the region officially banned using their teeth as spurs. In 2007, all sawfish species were added to CITES, the global wildlife trade agreement, and their commercial international trade was banned. A sawfish’s rostrum is lined with sharp teeth-like scales, which are carved into cockfighting spursCredits: Vassil – CC0. A recent study, published in the journal Conservation Letters, found that international commerce in sawfish rostra and teeth continues in Latin America despite bans. Talking to cockfighting practitioners and association representatives, the researchers found most rostral teeth entering the trade came from Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Central America and Colombia. Peru topped the list as a destination. They call for stricter law enforcement and coordination in these countries, and urge CITES to take action to curb the “hidden” trade. Although the peak…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Teeth of critically endangered sawfish species continue to be used as cockfighting spurs in Latin America despite bans from cockfighting organizations, a new study found. - Researchers interviewed cockfighting practitioners in Peru, where the sport is widely prevalent, and leaders from cockfighting associations in Peru, Mexico, Ecuador and Puerto Rico to understand the dynamics of this illegal trade. - The study found sawfish teeth are sold for anywhere between $25 and $400 per pair, making them some of the most valuable wildlife products. Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil and Colombia supply most of the teeth, while Peru tops the list of consumers. - All commercial international trade in sawfish is prohibited under CITES, and the fish is a protected species across Latin America. Scientists call on countries to enforce their laws and on CITES to act against hidden illicit trade. authors: | ||
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In Michoacán, Mexico, drying soil threatens water supplies and avocados, says study 23 Jul 2026 21:28:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-michoacan-mexico-drying-soil-threatens-water-supplies-and-avocados-says-study/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Caitlin Cooper content:encoded: MEXICO CITY — In the heart of Mexico’s southwestern state of Michoacán, Juan Madrigal spends his free time organizing to protect the city of Uruapan’s urban ecological park, a 50-hectare (124-acre) plot of land at the edge of the Río Santa Bárbara. A state-protected area since 1995, the park’s marshlands help to purify the surrounding Cupatitzio watershed, where nine natural springs provide drinking water to approximately half a million people. According to Madrigal, the park, a habitat of the ruddy-capped nightingale-thrush (Catharus frantzii), the endangered Michoacán pocket gopher (Zygogeomys trichopus) and the endemic Pátzcuaro frog (Lithobates dunni), is a victim of neglect. “The authorities have never paid any attention to it, and it’s us citizens who’ve been speaking out,” Madrigal, who in 1993 founded Ecocentro del Río Cupatitzio, a nonprofit educational center, tells Mongabay by phone. The movement to protect the park gained momentum after it involved the ranchers that grow fruit and corn downstream, Madrigal says. “They realized the importance of us supporting each other in defending the vital sources of life,” he says. “Without trees, there is no water.” For a certain type of tree, however, the inverse occurs: Without water, there are no avocados. Defending native forests, urban or otherwise, is a small but important fight in Michoacán, where avocado orchards have replaced nearly 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of tree cover, an area almost three times the size of Cape Town, between 1993 and 2023. Michoacán is the top avocado exporter in Mexico and the only…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Avocados are grown year-round in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacán, which exports more than 1 million metric tons of avocados annually. - A recent study in Michoacán found that between 2001 and 2018, soils with high avocado productivity lost 38 liters per cubic meter of water annually. - Illegal logging of high-altitude forests to accommodate new avocado plantations simultaneously depletes the aquifer, as avocado trees consume 4-5 times more water than native pines. - If the trend continues, Michoacán’s avocado-growing areas are expected to suffer increased water stress in the short term, negatively affecting both agricultural production and drinking water access in the region. authors: | ||
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Sea salt in Lombok Island, Indonesia is contaminated with microplastics: study 23 Jul 2026 19:28:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/sea-salt-in-lombok-island-indonesia-is-contaminated-with-microplastics-study/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: Sea salt sold in markets across Lombok Island, Indonesia, is contaminated with microplastics, according to a recent study. Microplastics are small plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in length that form when larger plastic waste breaks down. Microplastics have been found everywhere scientists have looked for them, including seafood and table salt, raising concerns for public health. Much of the plastic waste generated on land ends up in the ocean where it can break down into microplastics. Because sea salt is created by evaporating salt water, it is particularly vulnerable to microplastic contamination when the source water contains suspended microplastics. Scientists estimate that there are millions of tons of plastic pollution in the ocean, by far the largest form of marine pollution. The research team lead by Anna Ida Sunaryo Purwiyanto collected 20 salt samples from vendors at 10 markets across Lombok Island. They extracted potential microplastic particles from the samples and identified the particles using a stereo microscope. Every salt sample contained microplastics, “indicating widespread contamination across the surveyed markets,” the study notes. The researchers found some variation in microplastic contamination levels in different markets and in crystal versus fine sea salt. However, the results consistently showed that the source material for the salt, the ocean surrounding Lombok Island, is contaminated with microplastics. The researchers note that crystal sea salt had higher levels of microplastics than fine salt, likely because fine salt is washed and filtered, which removes some microplastic particles. They conclude that additional washing and filtering of salt…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Sea salt sold in markets across Lombok Island, Indonesia, is contaminated with microplastics, according to a recent study. Microplastics are small plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in length that form when larger plastic waste breaks down. Microplastics have been found everywhere scientists have looked for them, including seafood and table salt, raising concerns for public […] authors: | ||
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Wildfire spreads near popular French tourist town as thousands are evacuated 23 Jul 2026 17:54:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/wildfire-spreads-near-popular-french-tourist-town-as-thousands-are-evacuated/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: PARIS (AP) — About 20,000 people were evacuated from towns and vacation resorts along the French Atlantic coast Thursday as the latest in a series of wildfires raged and hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to tackle it. Local authorities said the fire in a forest near the town of Lège-Cap Ferret, southwest of Bordeaux, spread over more than 31 square kilometers (12 square miles), though no injuries have been reported. The prefect, or head of the surrounding Gironde region, Sophie Brocas, said some 700 firefighters have been deployed, including forces sent from the Paris region. The fire came within 300 meters (980 feet) of the first homes in Lège, and water bombers were being used. Later in the day, the prefect’s office said the wildfire had not yet been brought under control but remained contained to the north of Lège. More than 10,000 people, including tourists staying at holiday camps and campgrounds, were moved to safety overnight, along with more than 1,000 residents living in residential areas along the forest edge. Authorities later evacuated the village of Claouey, including residents staying at several campsites, as a precautionary measure. Brocas said the evacuation involved 8,800 people. Several municipalities have opened reception and respite centers for evacuees, the prefecture said. Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Following a succession of heat waves that started even before the summer, wildfires…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: PARIS (AP) — About 20,000 people were evacuated from towns and vacation resorts along the French Atlantic coast Thursday as the latest in a series of wildfires raged and hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to tackle it. Local authorities said the fire in a forest near the town of Lège-Cap Ferret, southwest of Bordeaux, spread […] authors: | ||
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How saline drinking water raises preeclampsia risks in coastal Bangladesh (commentary) 23 Jul 2026 16:59:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-saline-drinking-water-raises-preeclampsia-risks-in-coastal-bangladesh-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Ashik Rubaiyat content:encoded: Hypertensive or high blood pressure disorders are among the leading causes of maternal deaths in low-income countries. A pregnancy complication known as preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder, is listed among the top five causes of maternal deaths in Bangladesh. For expectant women with preeclampsia, timely treatment is required; otherwise, it can lead to issues such as elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count syndrome, hepatic failure, coma or loss of life.The Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the U.N. set an ambitious target to reduce the maternal mortality rate to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by the end of 2030. While many developed nations have already achieved the U.N. target, low- and middle-income countries are yet to achieve these goals. In Bangladesh, the maternal mortality rate is 196 per 100,000 live births and rates remain significantly higher in the neighboring countries . A recent study reported an association between hypertension, preeclampsia and high-salinity drinking water. The same study argues that, in Bangladesh, preeclampsia is associated with high-salt drinking water. Epidemiological evidence links high salt intake to hypertension in both adults and children. The scarcity of safe drinking water has become a serious global issue due to agricultural expansion, sea level rise caused by global warming and population growth. The IPCC, in its sixth Assessment Report (AR6), stated that climate change affects water availability and water quality. Globally, around 4 billion people face water scarcity for at least one month each year. Storm surges and rising sea levels make it easier for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Climate change and rising sea levels are driving salt water intrusion into drinking water sources in coastal Bangladesh, which research links to an increased risk of preeclampsia, a leading cause of maternal mortality. - Rural communities lack adequate freshwater infrastructure, which means pregnant women are often forced to consume saline water, making them particularly vulnerable to the life-threatening effects of excessive sodium intake. - To address this hidden health crisis and prevent further maternal deaths, Bangladesh’s government and partner organizations must take urgent action by subsidizing household rainwater harvesting tanks for the most vulnerable coastal families. - Since this article is a commentary, the views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Ten years of Mongabay Latam 23 Jul 2026 15:48:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ten-years-of-mongabay-latam/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: When Mongabay Latam began publishing in 2016, the decision felt like a logical next step. Mongabay Indonesia, launched four years earlier, had shown that a locally led, local-language newsroom could build an audience for sustained environmental reporting. Spanish offered the chance to apply that approach across a region extending from Mexico through Central America and the Andes to Chile and Argentina. The political and ecological conditions varied widely, but the need was similar: important environmental stories were going unreported, or receiving attention only after a crisis became difficult to ignore. Latin America and the Caribbean are the most biologically diverse region on Earth, holding nearly half of the world’s tropical forests and unusually large shares of its mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and plants. The Spanish-speaking countries in Mongabay Latam’s coverage area include some of the richest parts of the Amazon rainforest, the tropical Andes, Mesoamerica, the Chocó, and the eastern Pacific. These landscapes face growing pressure from mining, agriculture, infrastructure, organized crime, and climate change. Macaws in Peru. Image by Rhett Butler for Mongabay. I was also drawn to the region’s cultural and intellectual range. Latin America has produced many responses to these pressures, including Indigenous territorial governance, community forestry, new legal approaches to nature, and locally designed conservation programs. A regional news service could document environmental damage while also examining how people were responding to it. Mongabay Latam’s staff and contributors built the newsroom that followed. Editors developed the judgment, relationships, and institutional memory needed to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay Latam marks ten years of providing daily environmental news across Spanish-speaking Latin America, with stories distributed through a broad network of mainstream and independent media partners. - Its locally led reporting has documented environmental change across some of the world’s most biologically and culturally diverse landscapes, while placing Indigenous peoples and other affected communities at the center of the coverage. - Investigations by the bureau and its partners have contributed to government interventions, land restitution, enforcement action, and greater scrutiny of illegal mining, deforestation, organized crime, and other environmental threats. - These achievements reflect the work of Mongabay Latam’s staff, contributors, and media partners throughout the region, supported by funders who have sustained independent public-interest journalism. authors: | ||
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For Brazil’s Xokleng people, saving a sacred tree means saving their culture 23 Jul 2026 13:17:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/for-brazils-xokleng-people-saving-a-sacred-tree-means-saving-their-culture/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Letícia Klein content:encoded: IBIRAMA-LA KLÃNÕ INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — Zág, pronounced “zã,” is the Xokleng word for the Brazilian pine. This tree species, Araucaria angustifolia, is typical of the Atlantic Forest that runs along Brazil’s south and southeastern coast, and has been evolving on the planet for about 200 million years. Each female tree produces dozens of cones, which in turn carry hundreds of seeds. Known in Brazil as pinhão, the Brazilian pine seed is a nut eaten by at least 22 animal species as well as humans, who rely on it for both nutrition and income. For some Indigenous peoples, however, it means more than food. It’s part of their culture, history, and origin myths. That’s the case for the Xokleng people, also known as the Laklãnõ, in what is today Santa Catarina state. In their villages, people are even named after the tree. “Brazilian pines are sacred to us,” says Carl Gakran, executive director of the Zág Institute. “You can’t tell the story of our people without speaking of them. Our creation myth says the protective animal was made from that tree, so it appears in the very first story.” Carl decided to do something for the pines in 2016, after learning that the species was critically endangered as a result of deforestation, urban expansion, and logging. Currently, Brazilian pine forests are estimated to cover less than 3% of their original range, which once stretched across much of the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, with small patches…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Zág Institute, an initiative of the Laklãnõ/Xokleng Indigenous people, is restoring the Brazilian pine on their traditional territory in the state of Santa Catarina. - Sacred to the Indigenous people, the Brazilian pine is a critically endangered species; replanting it is seen as a way of strengthening their identity. - Nearly 100,000 seedlings have been planted across 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres), in the process restoring water sources and degraded land. - The reforestation project involves the whole community in planting the seedlings, which is done through collective efforts throughout the year and also by donating them to Indigenous families. authors: | ||
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New bird species identified on remote Indonesian island 23 Jul 2026 05:13:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/new-bird-species-identified-on-remote-indonesian-island/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: A songbird species previously thought to occur across two Indonesian islands has turned out to be two distinct species, according to a recent study. For more than 120 years, many scientists believed that Indonesia’s Babar Islands in eastern Banda Sea, and Tanimbar Islands, roughly 135 kilometers (84 miles) east of the Babar Islands, were both home to the cinnamon-tailed fantail (Rhipidura fuscorufa). But a team of researchers led by James A. Eaton of Birdtour Asia Limited and Alex J. Berryman of BirdLife International has confirmed that the songbird on Babar Islands is a distinct species, which they’ve named the cheerful fantail (Rhipidura laguceria). To confirm these findings, the researchers analyzed 19 museum specimens of birds labeled cinnamon-tailed fantail, historically collected from both Tanimbar and Babar islands. They also recorded songs of the birds on both islands, then played the recorded calls back to the wild birds 132 separate times over several years. The researchers found that physical differences between the populations on the two islands are subtle: The cheerful fantail possess slightly darker upperparts and less extensive cinnamon plumage below than the cinnamon-tailed fantail. However, their songs vary considerably. The researchers said in the study that songs of the birds on Babar typically consist of “single whistles that rise in pitch towards the end.” By contrast, the Tanimbar birds combine very short and longer whistles, which gives their songs a “much more rhythmic cadence,” with pitch that typically goes up and down. The song recording experiments also revealed that birds…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A songbird species previously thought to occur across two Indonesian islands has turned out to be two distinct species, according to a recent study. For more than 120 years, many scientists believed that Indonesia’s Babar Islands in eastern Banda Sea, and Tanimbar Islands, roughly 135 kilometers (84 miles) east of the Babar Islands, were both […] authors: | ||
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Third year of wildfires threaten isolated Indigenous group in Bolivia 22 Jul 2026 21:59:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/third-year-of-wildfires-threaten-isolated-indigenous-group-in-bolivia/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Wildfires have burned thousands of hectares of forest and savanna in the Chacobo-Pacahuara Indigenous territory in the Beni department of northern Bolivia, according to satellite imagery and on-the-ground sources. The fires likely resulted from illegal burns in pastures surrounding the Indigenous territory. The fires hit Chacobo-Pacahuara in September and October 2025, the third consecutive year of unusually high fire activity in the Indigenous land, according to the most recent data released by Global Forest Watch, a platform that uses satellite data to track forest loss worldwide. The flames consumed Indigenous subsistence crops and homes. Locals also expressed worry for the safety of isolated Indigenous communities. “We have Indigenous relatives who live in voluntary isolation, and we do not know what has happened to them because the forest and the forest islands where they lived burned,” Constantino Toledo Ortiz, a leader of the Chácobo people, told Mongabay in a voice message. “We think they may have crossed into Brazil.” According to a bulletin published by the Center for Legal Studies and Social Research (CEJIS), 1,141 heat hotspots, typically caused by fire, were recorded in the territory between Jan. 1 and Sept. 12, 2025. CEJIS recorded an additional 845 heat hotspots between Sept. 29 and Oct. 16, 2025. The sharp increase is in line with the Bolivian Amazon’s typical fire season, which usually peaks around August and September when the climate is at its driest. Chacobo-Pacahuara was the most affected Indigenous territory in the Bolivian Amazon in 2025. Map by Andrés Alegría/Mongabay. In 2024,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Wildfires have burned thousands of hectares of forest and savanna in the Chacobo-Pacahuara Indigenous territory in the Beni department of northern Bolivia, according to satellite imagery and on-the-ground sources. The fires likely resulted from illegal burns in pastures surrounding the Indigenous territory. The fires hit Chacobo-Pacahuara in September and October 2025, the third consecutive year […] authors: | ||
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As Australia expands seismic testing, experts warn of profound effects on sealife 22 Jul 2026 18:38:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Theoné van der Merwe content:encoded: It was spring, 20 years ago now, but he remembers it clearly. On the deck of the Geco Resolution, wind tearing spray from the waves, Robert McCauley stood gazing out onto an ocean blackened by night. The ship had been firing seismic airguns all day, thunderous blasts punching through the water and into the seabed. Over time, the rhythmic boom reverberating through the hull had almost faded into the background. But then night fell, and the sound revealed itself. “Every time the airgun went off, the sea would light up,” McCauley told Mongabay. Each blast was triggering a burst of bioluminescence — dinoflagellates and other microscopic life igniting in unison. “A sheet of light would shoot out, like a wave traveling at the speed of sound. It went out for about a kilometer at least,” he said. As Australia’s leading expert in marine bioacoustics, McCauley, a research scientist at the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University, was there to study how whales responded to the noise. But watching the bioluminescent glow pulse outward and fade, then pulse again, he found himself wondering less about whales and more about the tiny organisms that sustain them. “It made me think, what’s happening to all those little animals? How are they being stimulated? And what happens if they’re being stimulated every five or 10 seconds, repeatedly?” McCauley wondered. For decades, marine seismic surveys have echoed through the world’s oceans, largely in search of oil and gas. Research has shown the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Research has shown the intense, impulsive underwater noise from marine seismic surveys can harm marine animals up and down the food chain. Yet marine scientists say major gaps remain in understanding how the effects of repeated exposure may accumulate across ecosystems over time. - Even so, the technology is becoming embedded in Australia’s energy transition plans, as projects increasingly rely on seismic surveys not only to search for gas, but also to repeatedly monitor sites where carbon dioxide captured during gas production would be injected permanently into seabed rock formations. - The process, known as carbon capture and storage, is relatively new, and while proponents say it is the only way to reach net zero goals, major economic and performance challenges remain. - The expansion of carbon capture and storage could make seismic surveys a recurring feature of Australia’s net-zero ambitions. authors: | ||
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Why a New England city is building tunnels to protect an imperiled salamander 22 Jul 2026 18:29:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-a-new-england-town-is-building-tunnels-to-protect-an-imperiled-salamander/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Alex Megerle content:encoded: NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S. — It’s a mild March night in Keene, New Hampshire, and the salamander brigade is out in full force. A constellation of flashlight beams wink and flash along a dark street, as rain falls onto the jackets and reflective vests of the assembled crew. Tonight, a veritable army of amphibians is trekking from the upland forests, where they spend the winter, toward the wetlands where they breed. In their path lies a two-lane asphalt road, North Lincoln Street. Animals need to move for a variety of reasons, but in a world crosshatched by motorways, that’s not an easy task. Each spring in Keene, wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus), spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) and spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) must navigate roads to reach their natal spawning grounds. This particular road in Keene is routinely closed to cars during nights of amphibian migration. At other crossing sites in the region, volunteers are the only thing standing between these slow-moving critters and the danger posed by passing traffic. Carrying animals across the road by hand gets the job done, but it’s limited by human availability and energy. The hope has always been that “crossing brigades are the first step, not the last step,” said Brett Amy Thelen, who organizes these efforts and serves as science director for the Harris Center for Conservation Education, a regional nonprofit. That hope is being realized: Thelen and her salamander squadron are at the center of a new initiative to build small…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In the small U.S. city of Keene, New Hampshire, plans are underway to build small underpasses to help amphibians safely cross a road, including hybrid Jefferson/blue-spotted salamanders, an imperiled species complex. - In the neighboring state of Vermont, salamander crossings constructed in 2015 have reduced the number of amphibian deaths at that site by 80%. - Habitat connectivity is crucial: Animals need to move to find water and food, to mate or to escape extreme, climate-change-driven weather events. - With growing human populations, wild lands are increasingly fragmented and relinking habitat with wildlife crossings has become an important conservation tool. authors: | ||
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Smithsonian ornithologist John Rappole reconsidered why birds migrate 22 Jul 2026 16:31:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For much of the year, migratory songbirds were treated as temporary visitors to the tropics. They arrived from the north, spent the winter, and departed again. Ornithologists paid more attention to their journeys and breeding grounds than to the months they passed farther south. The birds were often described as transients, moving through tropical forests without becoming part of them. What they did there, and how firmly they occupied those places, remained poorly understood. Years of catching, banding, and watching them suggested a different account. In the forests of southern Mexico, individual birds returned to familiar patches and defended feeding territories. They were regular members of tropical bird communities for months at a time. A bird that appeared to be a passing visitor might return to the same small area year after year. Its life in the tropics was structured, local, and essential to its survival. Migration could not be explained only as an escape from northern winters. Its origins might instead lie in dispersal from warmer regions, as birds gradually extended their ranges toward seasonal food and breeding opportunities. John Hilton Rappole, who died on June 30th, aged 79, pursued this argument for much of his career. It became known as the dispersal theory of bird migration. The theory challenged a long-standing explanation for why birds crossed continents. His commitment to it reflected his approach to science. He relied on sustained field observation, questioned established assumptions, and was prepared to defend an idea over many years. He was less…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - John Hilton Rappole helped reshape the study of bird migration by showing that migratory songbirds were established members of tropical ecosystems during winter. - His dispersal theory argued that migration may have developed as tropical birds expanded into seasonal northern habitats, challenging a long-standing scientific explanation. - Across five decades of fieldwork, he studied birds in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Myanmar, and spent 20 years at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. - Colleagues knew him as a rigorous, generous, and modest scientist who trusted sustained observation, questioned established assumptions, and revised his conclusions when the evidence required it. authors: | ||
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An Indigenous take on Colombia’s new gov’t: Interview with a Putumayo Indigenous leader 22 Jul 2026 14:12:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/an-indigenous-take-on-colombias-new-govt-interview-with-a-putumayo-indigenous-leader/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: In just a few weeks, Colombia will have a new leader. Right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella won Colombia’s runoff election on June 11 with 49.6% of the vote, securing a razor-thin victory over the left-wing candidate Ivan Cepeda, who received 48.7%. De la Espriella has promised to expand fossil fuel production and mining in the country, leaving the future of conservation in the Colombian Amazon, the fossil fuel phaseout commitments made by current President Gustavo Petro’s administration and the rights of Indigenous peoples and other traditional communities open to question. Ahead of de la Espriella’s inauguration on Aug. 7, Mongabay interviewed Marino Peña, an Indigenous Inga leader and president of the Indigenous Zonal Organization of Putumayo (OZIP), to get his take on how the incoming president’s policies might impact communities in the department of Putumayo, in southwestern Colombia. De la Espriella has also promised to reduce the state budget to a minimum and tackle violence using greater force and militarization. For communities in Putumayo, the implications of these promises hold weight. Colombia’s Putumayo region, which has historically been a drug production and trafficking hotspot, is “one of the deadliest regions in Colombia for social leaders.” Illegal mining by armed groups has also grown exponentially in recent years, fueling conflicts, violence, mercury contamination and accelerated deforestation. Due to their critical role as vocal defenders of their territories and of environmental and Indigenous rights, social leaders have frequently found themselves in the crossfire between armed groups and the state. In addition,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay interviewed Marino Peña, a prominent Indigenous leader from Colombia’s Putumayo region, to hear his take on the incoming government’s plans and how it might affect Indigenous communities and forests in Colombia. - Abelardo de la Espriella, from the far-right Defenders of the Homeland party, won Colombia’s runoff election on June 11 and will be inaugurated on Aug. 7. - De la Espriella says he will expand fossil fuel production and mining across the country and has promised to tackle violence using greater force and militarization. - In this interview with Mongabay, Peña explains that the atmosphere on the ground is tense, in part because de la Espriella’s policies might exacerbate existing conflicts linked to a controversial copper mine in the region. authors: | ||
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How to stitch a massive wildlife corridor through the Rocky Mountains 22 Jul 2026 12:07:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-to-stitch-a-massive-wildlife-corridor-through-the-rocky-mountains/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Jane Palmer content:encoded: BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada — On a sunny Thursday in May, Kent Kebe had to scrape yet another bighorn sheep carcass off Highway 93/95 running through Radium, British Columbia. The necropsy confirmed what Kebe, the village’s protective service manager, already knew: A car collision killed the ram. Roadkill deaths hit this community hard. Residents love their sheep so much that the village center sports a huge steel sculpture of sheep horns that stands roughly 12-meters- (39-foot-) wide and 6-meters- (19-feet-) tall. The Big Horn Cafe on the main drag features artwork of bighorn rams and serves custom-blended “Headbanger tea.” In the 1990s, about 350 bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) milled around, drawn to the golf course and the grasses along the highway. “It’s like a candy store for them,” Kebe says. But by 2022, the herd’s numbers had dwindled to 140. While some sheep died from natural causes, vehicle collisions played a big role in the death toll. “There’s a tension where the sheep are the mascots of the village, but the traffic is killing them,” says wildlife scientist Clayton Lamb, who works with the nonprofit Biodiversity Pathways and the University of British Columbia. He helped bring attention to the issue in 2022. Habitat loss is a major threat to species, but highways, railways and towns impact how animals move to eat, meet and mate — and that can endanger their survival. A 2025 review in the journal Science warned that while the world aims to protect 30% of the planet by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Across the world, roads, railways, towns and farms sever habitat, preventing wildlife from moving across the landscape. Cutting off animals’ ability to connect can limit genetic exchange and cause entire populations to decline — and ultimately, collapse. - The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, or Y2Y, is trying to create a giant connected area stretching across the Rocky Mountains from the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem in the U.S. to Canada’s Yukon Territory. It will allow animals to move, meet and mate. - Across Canada, the U.S. and the world, countries are building wildlife crossings that reconnect habitat and keep motorists safe from costly, potentially deadly collisions with animals. authors: | ||
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Vietnam’s coffee boom fueled by decades of deforestation, report finds 22 Jul 2026 07:20:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/vietnams-coffee-boom-fueled-by-decades-of-deforestation-report-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Decades of unchecked deforestation for coffee production has devastated Vietnam’s Central Highland forests, according to a new investigation by the Berlin-headquartered watchdog group Coffee Watch. Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest coffee producer, supplying nearly 40% of the world’s exports of Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora). The investigation, which analyzed satellite data and government records, found that tropical forest cover in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region, which produces 95% of the country’s coffee, plummeted from 42.8% in 1990 to just 19% by 2020. Forest loss was most rapid between 1995 and 2010, and stabilized at low levels in the 2020s, the investigation found. Much of the remaining tropical moist forest is now confined to “steeper, less accessible terrain, often at higher elevations and within formally designated protected areas,” the Coffee Watch’s report notes. Historically, government policy and international development financing incentivized the rapid expansion of coffee in the Central Highlands, according to Coffee Watch. The ecological cost has been severe, the nonprofit adds, resulting in fragmented habitats, accelerated soil erosion and a “nutrient treadmill” where farmers must use increasing amounts of fertilizer to maintain yields in exhausted soils. The Coffee Watch report notes that forest loss has affected water flow and recharge, soil stability and moisture, carbon storage and pests in the Central Highlands. It warns that 50% of Vietnam’s robusta belt could become unsuitable for coffee owing to the added impacts of climate extremes such as rising temperatures and erratic rainfall. Ly Thi Minh Hai, Vietnam country director at the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Decades of unchecked deforestation for coffee production has devastated Vietnam’s Central Highland forests, according to a new investigation by the Berlin-headquartered watchdog group Coffee Watch. Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest coffee producer, supplying nearly 40% of the world’s exports of Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora). The investigation, which analyzed satellite data and government records, […] authors: | ||
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In southern India, beekeeping helps Indigenous women earn more 22 Jul 2026 07:11:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/in-southern-india-beekeeping-helps-indigenous-women-earn-more/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: A beekeeping initiative is enabling women in India’s Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot that runs parallel to India’s west coast, to strengthen their livelihoods with more reliable honey harvests. The 50 women are part of the Women for Bees project, launched in India in April 2025 by UNESCO in partnership with local nonprofit the Keystone Foundation. The project provides training and equipment to women from the Irula, Kurumba and Kattunayaka Indigenous communities across the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, reports Mongabay-India’s Arathi Menon. Traditionally, many of these communities were skilled wild honey hunters, a practice that is often risky and increasingly restricted by forest protection laws. Managed beekeeping, using hive boxes, offers a safer, more predictable alternative. The women are trained to rear the native Asian honey bee (Apis cerana indica), which is more resistant to local diseases and parasites than the commercially dominant European honey bee (Apis mellifera). A 2023 study comparing the two species suggests that, while the life cycles are generally similar, A. cerana colonies are better able to defend themselves against threats, diseases and disruptions. The economic impact of the honey harvests from the hive boxes has been immediate, providing many participants with their first taste of financial independence. Neelavathi, an Irula woman from Tamil Nadu state, has used her earnings to support her family and purchase household goods. “Since I am the beekeeper at home, my family lets me keep the income for my own needs,” she told Mongabay-India. Malavika Jayakrishnan, who leads…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A beekeeping initiative is enabling women in India’s Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot that runs parallel to India’s west coast, to strengthen their livelihoods with more reliable honey harvests. The 50 women are part of the Women for Bees project, launched in India in April 2025 by UNESCO in partnership with local nonprofit the Keystone […] authors: | ||
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A Tunisian phosphate plant that sickens children so US, Europe can get fertilizer 22 Jul 2026 02:00:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-tunisian-phosphate-plant-that-sickens-children-so-us-europe-can-get-fertilizer/ author: Andy Lehren dc:creator: Dawn KikelElisângela MendonçaKhadija Ben Salah content:encoded: Dalila grew up in the Tunisian coastal city of Gabès and is accustomed to the heavy, acrid smell from the state-owned phosphate processing plant about a 10-minute walk from her home. On days when noxious fumes fill the air, Dalila rushes to tightly shut the windows and tells her children to hurry indoors. She washes them, believing it lessens harmful effects from chemicals. Emissions can last all day. Residents may get little or no advance warning. But one day in September 2025, children were at school when gases spread. Some students fell to the ground, complaining they had difficulty breathing. Others said they felt like they were suffocating. Dalila’s daughter said she felt like she was choking. Dalila rushed her to a government-run hospital. When she asked about test results or the type of substances that may have caused her difficulty breathing, Dalila said she did not get clear answers. The incident sickening the schoolchildren helped spark mass protests in the streets of Gabès, with people waving banners that read “Stop Pollution” and “Move The Plant.” It is not the first time that residents have protested water and air pollution from the factory. Dalila feels that she and others in Gabès are being ignored. They are far from alone. Fishermen report coastal waters were once abundant with fish, but, now, their nets come up empty. Scientific studies provide evidence that environmental damage poses a danger to the health of those living nearby. People take part in a demonstration against pollution…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Toxic emissions from a phosphate processing plant in the Tunisian port city of Gabès have left residents reporting respiratory problems and other illnesses. Children are among the hardest hit. - A Mongabay and ARIJ analysis of Sentinel-5 satellite imagery found concentrations of air pollutants in the area that may have reached up to nine times the World Health Organization’s recommended limits. - The city’s coastal waters – historically a biodiversity hotspot and a fish and shellfish nursery – have suffered severe damage from phosphate-related pollution, according to scientific studies and local fishermen. - Phosphate is one of Tunisia’s most valuable exports and a key ingredient in fertilizer shipped to overseas markets, including the United States, Europe and India. Companies buying phosphate products from the Gabès factory, including giants EuroChem and U.S.-based Koch Fertilizer, did not respond to requests for comment. authors: | ||
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