|
World Bank carbon program risks further infringing upon rights of Indonesian Indigenous community (commentary) 28 Jan 2026 00:22:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/world-bank-carbon-program-risks-further-infringing-upon-rights-of-indonesian-indigenous-community-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Anna Christi SuwardiFuat Edi KurniawanSadar Ginting content:encoded: In the upper reaches of the Mahakam River, inside one of the last intact rainforest corridors of Borneo, the Dayak Bahau community of Long Isun has been fighting a long, layered battle for justice. Their history on the land predates the Indonesian state, yet on official maps their existence is reduced to an administrative code printed on a sheet of paper, with no record of the rivers they follow like family, the sacred groves where their elders are buried, the hills that hold ancestral stories. In the documents that decide the fate of their territory, their cosmology disappears beneath lines drawn to serve other interests. Erasure becomes technical: their land is not seen, so their rights are not acknowledged. The consequence is real. When companies arrive with permits approved in distant government offices, those papers speak louder than generations of lived governance. And now, international climate finance mechanisms have entered this same forest, treating the landscape as a source of carbon emission reductions while the people who protected it have yet to see their rights recognized. In November 2025, representatives from Long Isun filed a formal grievance against the World Bank’s Emission Reduction (ER) Program in East Kalimantan province, arguing that the project infringed upon their rights, ignored unresolved territorial conflicts, and failed to uphold a meaningful process of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). The complaint is not a sudden reaction, but is the culmination of more than a decade of resistance, from daily patrols and adat (customary laws…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Indigenous Dayak Bahau community of Long Isun has long fought for recognition, land rights and justice in Indonesian Borneo, and while those disputes remain unresolved, a new threat to their sovereignty has appeared: the World Bank’s carbon program. - The bank did not create the conflict, but by moving forward with a carbon offset project on this land that is still contested, it would risk reinforcing the status quo that enabled logging companies to operate on their territory without genuine consent. - “A genuine response from the World Bank could set an important precedent: resolving customary land disputes before launching carbon projects,” a new op-ed argues. - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Europe’s olive grove crisis affects nature & culture, but has solutions 27 Jan 2026 22:05:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/01/europes-olive-grove-crisis-affects-nature-culture-but-has-solutions/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Across Mediterranean Europe, olive groves are in decline from a range of factors, from disease to depopulation. In Italy alone, there are roughly 440 million abandoned olive trees, and the ecological, cultural and socioeconomic impacts from the loss are devastating, explains the latest guest on the Mongabay Newscast. Still, solutions exist to help turn the tide of this under-discussed problem. Federica Romano is the program coordinator and UNESCO Chair on Agricultural Heritage Landscapes at the University of Florence. She discusses the drivers of the degradation and abandonment of olive groves, how ecological factors and human-induced climate change exacerbate these, and the consequences for biodiversity and wildlife in Europe, where olive oil isn’t just an economic institution, but also a significant cultural one. “Olive groves hold [a] deep cultural significance that goes far beyond agriculture [and] food production across Europe,” she says. “Olive trees have symbolized peace, resilience and continuity through thousands of years, appearing in religious contexts, but also in arts and historical narratives.” The decline of olive groves is exacerbated by recent rural depopulation, as fewer people remain in rural areas to tend them. Romano highlights solutions to combat this, such as adoption schemes by organizations like Abandoned Grove, where people can adopt an olive tree and receive a liter of olive oil in return. Other schemes that she says need urgent attention include implementing tourism-based restoration and agroforestry. “Tree adoption programs, agricultural practices, economic incentives, rural tourism, education training, digital monitoring — so these all can support growth…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Across Mediterranean Europe, olive groves are in decline from a range of factors, from disease to depopulation. In Italy alone, there are roughly 440 million abandoned olive trees, and the ecological, cultural and socioeconomic impacts from the loss are devastating, explains the latest guest on the Mongabay Newscast. Still, solutions exist to help turn the […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Rio de Janeiro state bans shark meat for school meals 27 Jan 2026 14:24:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/rio-de-janeiro-state-bans-shark-meat-for-school-meals/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: RIO DE JANEIRO — The government of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro has banned shark meat for meals in most of the schools it manages, citing health and environmental concerns. The move puts the state in line to become the first in Brazil to do so, and has drawn accolades from shark conservation and health advocates, on the one hand, and criticism from the seafood industry, on the other. “The suspension was based on technical, scientific, health, and environmental grounds … complying with the principle of precaution and comprehensive protection of children” as required under the Constitution and the guidelines of the National School Feeding Program, the state department of education told Mongabay in an emailed statement on Jan. 8. It said the decision to ban shark meat in school meals rested on evidence from the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a research institute affiliated with Brazil’s health ministry. Effective since Oct. 23, 2025, the shark meat ban was enacted through an administrative guideline emailed that day to the 1,200 schools run by the Rio de Janeiro state education department. These schools account for 95% of all schools managed by the state. The ban doesn’t apply to the roughly 10,400 other schools in the state that are managed by municipalities or private institutions. The guideline, seen by Mongabay, was signed by the education department’s food safety coordinator, Lívia Ribera Souza. It cited a technical note from marine…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The government of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state has banned shark meat for meals in most of the schools it manages, after pressure from conservationists and school meal advisers raising health and environmental concerns. - The shark meat ban applies to all 1,200 schools run by the state education department, but not to the thousands of other schools in the state that are managed by municipalities and private entities. - A Mongabay investigation in July 2025 revealed 1,012 public tenders issued since 2004 to procure more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat in 10 of Brazil’s 26 states, including Rio de Janeiro. - Industry groups have criticized the Rio de Janeiro government’s decision, dismissing health risks linked to shark meat consumption, and complained of a lack of transparency in the decision-making process, noting that the ban has yet to be published in the state’s official gazette. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Coast-to-coast coral assessment reveals Thailand’s reefs losing complexity 27 Jan 2026 01:41:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/coast-to-coast-coral-assessment-reveals-thailands-reefs-losing-complexity/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: Marine scientists compiling the most holistic “snapshot” of Thailand’s coral reefs to date have uncovered evidence of a long-suspected reality: Thailand’s coral reefs are losing structural complexity. Home to more than 300 species of reef-building corals, Thailand’s reefs have been hit repeatedly by mass coral bleaching triggered by extreme marine heat waves. The stress of these events has likely prompted shifts in the species that make up coral communities, with knock-on effects across entire marine ecosystems, experts say. The new study, based on underwater surveys carried out between 2022 and early 2024, just before the effects of the fourth global coral bleaching event were widely reported in Thailand, documents fringing reefs and offshore pinnacles across eight provinces on the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea coasts. The 2024 bleaching event will have inevitably taken an as-yet-unquantified toll on the region’s reefs, the authors note. “Having this map of what corals are represented across the region gives us a starting point for conservation,” said Rahul Mehrotra, research director at the Aow Thai Marine Ecology Center (ATMEC) and a co-author of the study. “We hope that this baseline will [motivate] more nuanced assessments.” While nationwide studies have previously attempted to assess coral health at long-term monitoring sites in Thai waters, the majority of evaluations have been “highly localised and sporadic in nature,” the study says. The new coast-to-coast data represent a fresh baseline against which reef managers, researchers and policymakers can measure future change, Mehrotra said. A diversity of coral growth forms…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Marine scientists have documented Thailand’s coral reefs in unprecedented detail, providing a crucial baseline against which reef managers can measure future change. - The surveys indicate that, as in other parts of the world, Thailand’s reefs are losing structural complexity, becoming dominated by simpler boulder-forming corals, while staghorn and branching species die out. - Experts say the new baseline can help steer future strategies to prepare for future bleaching events through reef restoration and assisted reproduction. - The surveys were conducted just before the full effects of the 2024 global bleaching event were felt in Thai waters, which will have inevitably taken an as-yet-unquantified toll on the region’s reefs. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Poaching African lions for black market could pose existential threat 27 Jan 2026 01:28:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/poaching-african-lions-for-black-market-could-pose-existential-threat/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: African lions are increasingly targeted for trade in their bones, skin, teeth and claws, according to a newly published study. Without urgent action, the authors warn, poaching may pose an existential threat to Panthera leo, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands across Africa. Today, about 25,000 are relegated to just 6% of their historic range. They’re classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Poaching is especially rising in Mozambique and South Africa, said Peter Lindsey, the study’s lead author who directs the Wildlife Conservation Network’s Lion Recovery Fund. Officials seized more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of lion parts in Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, in 2023. That year, an Endangered Wildlife Trust survey found just 122 lions in an area of South Africa’s Kruger National Park that had held 283 in 2005 — a drop of nearly 60% Threats are pervasive. Prey is depleted by intensive bushmeat hunting. Lions are targeted for trophy hunting and poisoned in retaliatory killings by pastoralists when the cats hunt livestock. However, deliberate, organized poaching for body parts now “represents an intensifying challenge to lion conservation, compounding other threats, many of which are also growing in intensity,” the authors wrote. Luke Hunter, who heads the Wildlife Conservation Society’s big cats program, called trade-driven poaching “a defining threat to the future of Africa’s lions.” Demand is growing. The study notes that cats are killed for their bones — used in tiger bone wine, an expensive traditional medicine coveted in China. Some 37 African countries use…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: African lions are increasingly targeted for trade in their bones, skin, teeth and claws, according to a newly published study. Without urgent action, the authors warn, poaching may pose an existential threat to Panthera leo, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands across Africa. Today, about 25,000 are relegated to just 6% of their […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Tree spirits: The unintended ecology of belief 26 Jan 2026 20:58:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/tree-spirits-the-unintended-ecology-of-belief/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In parts of Indonesian Borneo, forests endure not because they are fenced off or regulated, but because they are feared. Among the Indigenous Iban people of Sungai Utik, large strangler fig trees are believed to house spirits that can mislead, sicken, or even kill those who disturb them. The belief is not abstract. It is anchored in stories, warnings and remembered loss, Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough recently reported. One such story recounts a boy who vanished near a rice field, only to be found hours later by a towering fig. He said spirits had called to him and hidden him in plain sight. His family took him to a shaman. His name was changed, to sever the spirits’ hold. The tree remained. For researchers, these accounts might read as folklore. Yet new fieldwork shows that the consequences of such beliefs are visible on the land. When the Iban clear fields for farming, they leave large strangler figs standing. They also leave a buffer of forest around them, creating islands of vegetation scattered through farmland. The practice is called dipulau, a word that translates simply as “island.” These islands occupy only a small fraction of the cultivated landscape, perhaps 1 or 2%. Still, they matter. Different species of strangler figs fruit at different times of the year and draw birds, primates and wild pigs when other food is scarce. Hunters once waited beneath them. Today, wildlife still moves between forest and field along these living stepping stones. Measurements from Sungai Utik…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In parts of Indonesian Borneo, forests endure not because they are fenced off or regulated, but because they are feared. Among the Indigenous Iban people of Sungai Utik, large strangler fig trees are believed to house spirits that can mislead, sicken, or even kill those who disturb them. The belief is not abstract. It […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Vanuatu communities move to protect taro, an ancestral climate-resilient crop (analysis) 26 Jan 2026 18:50:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/vanuatu-communities-move-to-protect-taro-an-ancestral-climate-resilient-crop-analysis/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Monica Kidd content:encoded: The packed-earth trail winds through the dense and tangled forest of Vanuatu, the ocean crashing just meters to our right. Richard Rojo’s feet don’t mind the stones and stumps, and he carries a bush knife and a repurposed rice sack. It’s a path well-trodden for Rojo, who’s lived here in the village of Tasmate on Vanuatu’s remote west coast of Espiritu Santo Island as a subsistence farmer and fisher all his 40-ish years. I walk-jog to keep up with him as he talks to me over his shoulder, idly whacking at an occasional vine with his knife. We’ve been traveling together a few days now in his open boat up and down this coast, on a reporting trip with the Sunset Santo Environmental Network (SSEN) team so I can see for myself the way villages here are threatened by climate change. We walk for about 10 minutes as I pepper Rojo with questions. We pass towering trees covered with epiphytic plants and wade across a river before popping out into a clearing the size of a few soccer pitches. Coconut palms edge the far side and, in front of us, earthen berms enclose a shallow rectangular pool maybe 5 by 50 meters (roughly 16 by 164 feet). Inside are rows and rows of chest-high plants with heart-shaped leaves: Colocasia esculenta, or water taro. Rojo sets down his knife and bag and wades into the pool. “I will go replace some that are dying like this one,” he says, finding his…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Taro is a traditional food of Vanuatu, and its culture over millennia has resulted in several hundred indigenous varieties. But cassava is more commonly grown nowadays, even as communities rely increasingly heavily upon imported food. - A key reason that communities are now fighting to reinvigorate taro cultivation is because it’s more resilient to climate shocks: In recent years, severe storms have led to the tiny nation’s islands being cut off from food shipments, but those with healthy taro crops were able to feed themselves and others. - “To the extent that ancient farming techniques continue to provide resilience in the face of a changing climate, it may also be a taste of the future,” an author who visited Vanuatu last year argues. - This post is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
The long struggle of women farmers to halt a zinc mine in North Sumatra 26 Jan 2026 17:12:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-long-struggle-of-women-farmers-to-halt-a-zinc-mine-in-north-sumatra/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Tonggo Simangunsong content:encoded: SILIMA PUNGGA-PUNGGA DISTRICT, Indonesia — Rainim Purba first heard the rumor in 1996. Back then, in her mid-30s, villagers were saying a zinc mining company was going to operate near their village of Pandiangan, northeast of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. It would also be near other villages like Longkotan. When rumor became reality, the company promised some residents jobs delivering logistics to workers in the hills, and others were promised to be employed in the mine. Little did Rainim know at the time that she was going to spend two decades of her life joining women farmers to challenge the mine and set a legal precedent in the country. Along with 11 villagers, women led a lawsuit that ultimately won in court. When the environment ministry followed through with the ruling by revoking the company’s environmental permit in May 2025, it marked a legal first: confirmation that an environmental permit of its kind, created through a controversial 2020 law, can in fact be challenged in court. Women were at the forefront of the legal challenge against PT DPM’s mine. Image courtesy of YDPK. According to community activists, when the mining company PT Dairi Prima Mineral (PT DPM) first came to speak to villagers, they were never properly informed of the potential threats the mine could pose. Notably, this consisted of the plan to build a tailings dam in an area with frequent earthquakes, landslide risks and unstable volcanic ash. “They just gave us a verbal notification, no outreach,” she said.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Women’s rights groups in Indonesia’s Dairi regency have been at the forefront of a legal challenge against a zinc mining company, which ultimately prevailed in court and set a legal precedent in the country in May 2025. - The women farmers joined a group of 11 villagers who say their successive victories in Indonesia’s courts was due to their unrelenting consistency and not giving up throughout the last two decades. - Developer PT Dairi Prima Mineral, backed by China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd., is now proposing for a new permit after the environment ministry revoked the old one and is hoping to gain the approval of all community elements, including villagers. - However, according to the local activists who spoke to Mongabay, they will continue to resist the mine. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
‘Political will is everything’: Interview with Kenyan Environment Minister Deborah Barasa 26 Jan 2026 16:24:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/political-will-is-everything-interview-with-kenyan-environment-minister-deborah-barasa/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: David Akana content:encoded: In 2022, when William Ruto was elected president of Kenya, he pledged that his government would plant 15 billion trees by 2032. Many observers saw it as a bold and ambitious promise — one that would require coordinated planning, reliable monitoring, sustained financing, and long-term stewardship on a massive scale. According to estimates from the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, about 1.5 billion trees have been planted so far. In a recent interview with Mongabay’s David Akana in Nairobi, Kenya’s environment minister, Deborah Barasa, said the country can still meet the 15 billion target. But recent media reporting on the tree-planting campaign has highlighted significant hurdles, including funding gaps, labor and seedling shortages, persistent drought conditions, and other challenges. Some conservation scientists point out that planting trees is not a cure-all and that without stronger monitoring systems and clearer accountability, the initiative risks becoming more about counting seedlings than restoring ecosystems. Barasa acknowledged the scale of the task, but argued that strong political backing at the highest levels of government, combined with genuine community ownership, can turn the pledge into lasting gains. Barasa made these remarks during a commemoration ceremony to honor the legacy of Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist whose work with communities helped reshape environmental stewardship in the country and earned her a Nobel Peace Prize. On Dec. 10, 2025, government officials joined representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Resources Institute Africa to celebrate Maathai’s legacy. In recent decades, a move toward…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - William Ruto won Kenya’s 2022 presidential election on a campaign that included a pledge to plant 15 billion trees by 2032. As the country approaches another election cycle, observers and environmental experts are questioning how much progress has been made. - Around 1.5 billion trees have been planted so far, Deborah Barasa, the environment minister, said in an interview with Mongabay. Despite concerns over planning, monitoring and funding, she said Kenya can still meet the 15 billion target. - She added that community ownership, long-term care and tree survival matter more than the number of seedlings planted, noting that the tree plantation campaign is “about instilling a culture of protecting and caring for the environment.” - Barasa spoke to Mongabay on the sidelines of an event celebrating the legacy of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist and winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai built a landmark women-centric movement to plant trees and combat deforestation and desertification. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
More than 5 years after Wakashio oil spill, questions linger in Mauritius 26 Jan 2026 14:36:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/more-than-5-years-after-wakashio-oil-spill-questions-linger-in-mauritius/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Malavika Vyawahare content:encoded: POINTE D’ESNY, Mauritius — In August 2020, Vikash Tatayah at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation made a phone call he never expected to make. He had “an unusual request,” he recounts telling friends in the U.K. who owned a private jet: A bunch of geckos needed to be evacuated. Mauritius had just entered COVID-19 lockdown, its airspace was closed, so it would have to be a special flight. Amid the chaos of the pandemic, the island nation had been hit by one of the worst environmental disasters in its history. On July 25, the MV Wakashio crashed onto coral reefs off Mauritius’ southeastern coast, later spilling around 1,000 metric tons of oil. In time, the slick spread north, creeping to the islets that line the coast. These are home to threatened lesser night geckos (Nactus coindemirensis), prompting Tatayah to call for their evacuation. The oil spill occurred near Blue Bay Marine Park, a coral hotspot, and two other protected sites: the Pointe d’Esny Wetland (a Ramsar site blessed with rich mangroves ) and the Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve. Oil started leaking from the ship in the first week of August. On Aug. 15, the Wakashio broke in two. In the days following the spill, ocean currents nudged the floating oil northward toward Vieux-Grand-Port. At its most expansive, the oil spill covered nearly 30 square kilometers (11.6 square miles) of coastal waters. A government-appointed group estimated that the shipwreck and oil spill affected 96 km2 (37 mi2) of coastal and marine…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In 2020, amid the chaos of the pandemic, the island nation of Mauritius was hit by one of the worst environmental disasters in its history when the MV Wakashio, owned by Nagashiki Shipping, crashed into the coral reef barrier off the southeastern part of the island. - The ship spilled around 1,000 metric tons of oil into the waters near three sites of ecological importance; more than five years on, conservationists and fishers say the Mauritian government quietly allowed the entire episode to fade from public memory, with little scrutiny. - When Mongabay visited mangroves in 2025 that had been affected by the oil spill, fuel oil still lingered in the water-soaked earth; it could persist for decades, experts warn. - Vikash Tatayah at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation facilitated the evacuation of animals considered at risk due to the oil spill, including lesser night geckos, to the U.K.; eggs from the geckos and their descendants were returned to Mauritius in 2025. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
DRC plans to export 100,000 metric tons of copper to the US 26 Jan 2026 13:49:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/drc-plans-to-export-100000-metric-tons-of-copper-to-the-us/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shared with the U.S. administration a list of state-backed projects for investment consideration in which critical minerals like copper, manganese and lithium are being mined, according to Reuters. The Central African nation had already announced plans to ship 100,000 metric tons of copper to the U.S. by the end of January. The move operationalizes a strategic partnership between the U.S. and the DRC, one conceived alongside the peace deal the U.S. helped broker between the DRC and Rwanda. The US signed a series of bilateral agreements with the two African countries, which U.S. President Donald Trump touted not just as a diplomatic victory but also an economic win for the U.S. “Today, the United States is also signing our own bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals and provide economic benefits for everybody,” Trump said at the peace deal signing ceremony. Since February 2025, parts of eastern DRC along the Rwanda-DRC frontier have been under the control of M23, an armed group allegedly backed by Rwanda. This was a major escalation of a long-simmering dispute in the politically volatile part of the Great Lakes region. In response, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi requested assistance from his U.S. counterpart, who mediated a peace deal, the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, between the two countries. “We’ll be involved. We’re sending some of our biggest and greatest companies over to the two countries, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - DRC’s state-owned Gécamines SA announced the sale of copper and cobalt to the U.S. following an agreement signed between the two countries at the end of 2025. - The minerals agreement was signed alongside a U.S.-mediated peace deal between Rwanda and the DRC; the former gives the U.S. preferential access to critical minerals mined in the DRC, which are currently mainly exported to China. - The U.S.-DRC export arrangement could strengthen the DRC’s control over its mineral resources and boost revenues. Still, it is unclear whether a new export partner would signify a change in how minerals are extracted in the DRC. - NGOs warn of persistent risks related to the governance of the state-owned Gécamines and to unresolved environmental and health impacts around the Tenke Fungurume mine, from which the copper slated for export to the U.S. originates. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Patagonia fires reignite debate over Argentina’s underfunded environmental agencies 26 Jan 2026 08:00:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/patagonia-fires-reignite-debate-over-argentinas-underfunded-environmental-agencies/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: Fires have surged through the forests of Argentina’s Patagonia region since the start of the year, with officials still working to contain damage to some of the world’s oldest ecosystems. The two major fires broke out in January in the southern province of Chubut, threatening parts of Los Alerces National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s home to trees thousands of years old. For many, the fires are another reminder of the significant budget cuts to the country’s environmental services. “We demand that the national government and the provinces provide more prevention, firefighters and infrastructure to respond quickly to fires, and penalize the destruction of forests,” Greenpeace Argentina said in a statement. Los Alerces National Park spans more than 259,000 hectares (642,000 acres) and is home to endemic species like the monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides), a marsupial, and the Magellanic woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus). Most notably, it contains the alerce tree (Fitzroya cupressoides), a cypress that can live for more than 3,600 years. On Jan. 5, a fire broke out in the southern part of the park between the Rivadavia, Futalaufquen and Menéndez lakes, according to NASA satellite readings. Another fire broke out on hillsides in the north. People walk on a road as a wildfire blazes in El Hoyo. (AP Photo/Maxi Jonas) It remains unclear how or why the fires began, but the prosecutor’s office reportedly confirmed one of them was set intentionally. Early estimates said around 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of forest and grassland were destroyed, with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Two major fires broke out in early January in Argentina’s southern Chubut province, threatening parts of Los Alerces National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. - The fires have destroyed at least 21,000 hectares (52,000 acres) of forest and grassland in and around the park, home to the alerce tree (Fitzroya cupressoides), a cypress that can live for more than 3,600 years. - Critics pointed to recent budget cuts and staff shortages for environmental programs, which make it difficult to both prevent fires and put them out when they start. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
José Zanardini, the priest who tried to reconcile faith and Indigenous autonomy 26 Jan 2026 00:59:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/jose-zanardini-the-priest-who-tried-to-reconcile-faith-and-indigenous-autonomy/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For much of South America’s history, the arrival of a missionary has carried two reputations at once. One is charitable: a figure with medicine, schooling, and a language of human dignity that can be useful in a state that is often absent. The other is coercive: an agent of conversion and acculturation, sometimes entangled with land seizures, forced settlement, and abuses that Indigenous communities still live with. Among the peoples of the Gran Chaco, the story of “contact” is still unfolding, with some groups settled and others choosing isolation. In that setting, the line between accompaniment and intrusion has never been simple. Anthropology, too, has had its double role. At its best it records languages, histories, and ways of seeing that outsiders once dismissed as obstacles to “progress.” At its worst it becomes another instrument for ordering Indigenous people into categories designed by others. The most careful scholars learn to doubt their own categories. They also learn that a field notebook can outlast a sermon. That tension framed the life of Father José (Giuseppe) Zanardini, a Salesian priest and anthropologist who arrived in Paraguay in 1978 and spent decades working among Indigenous communities, especially the Ayoreo in the Chaco. He died on January 19th 2026, aged 83. Zanardini was born in Brescia, Italy, in 1942. He studied engineering in Milan before turning to philosophy and theology. The Salesians chose him for Paraguay, and he chose, in turn, to study anthropology, completing a doctorate in social anthropology in England. He would…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Missionaries in South America have often brought schooling and support alongside coercion, acculturation, and lasting harm, especially in Indigenous communities where the legacy of “contact” remains contested. - Father José (Giuseppe) Zanardini, an Italian-born Salesian priest and anthropologist, arrived in Paraguay in 1978 and spent decades working among Indigenous peoples, particularly the Ayoreo of the Gran Chaco. - He combined pastoral work with scholarship and education initiatives, including support for Indigenous schooling and documentation of language and culture, while advocating for a more open church approach to Indigenous spirituality. - His story sits uneasily within a wider history of mission-driven disruption and abuse, raising the enduring question of whether a single life of listening can meaningfully offset the institutions that sent him authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Many Amazon climate disasters are missing from official records, study finds 24 Jan 2026 04:32:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/many-amazon-climate-disasters-are-missing-from-official-records-study-finds/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: More than 12,500 extreme climate events were registered in the Amazon biome between 2013 and 2023, according to a recent study. But many more events were never recorded, as some Amazonian countries provided no or limited information, Gonzalo Ortuño López reported for Mongabay Latam. The study aggregated available national data but found that the national governments of Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana didn’t provide any data on extreme weather events. As a result, data for the region overrepresents Brazil and to a lesser extent, Bolivia. “How can we believe in the satellite data showing us that there is aridification, but that there are no heat waves in Venezuela or Colombia?” Liliana Dávalos, study co-author and a conservation biology professor at Stony Brook University, told López. “It isn’t credible. Either records are not being kept, or they are not being classified as disaster events within monitoring systems.” Of the events analyzed by the study, researchers logged thousands of floods (4,233), landslides (3,089) and storms (2,607). The events are estimated to have affected more than 3 million people in a single year and caused extensive damage to public infrastructure. For other types of climate disasters, however, the data were so poor that researchers couldn’t work with them. For example, only 105 heat waves were detected in the decade analyzed: 97% of them in Brazil and 3% in Bolivia. Roughly 95% of drought events were logged in just these two countries, while Peru reported just over 4%. Due to insufficient data, both…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: More than 12,500 extreme climate events were registered in the Amazon biome between 2013 and 2023, according to a recent study. But many more events were never recorded, as some Amazonian countries provided no or limited information, Gonzalo Ortuño López reported for Mongabay Latam. The study aggregated available national data but found that the national […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Honeyguide birds learn local human dialects 23 Jan 2026 23:44:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/honeyguide-birds-learn-local-human-dialects/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: In northern Mozambique, local honey-hunters use vocal signals to communicate with wild honeyguide birds to locate and harvest honey. New research finds that human calls used across the region vary, but the birds learn these subtle differences and continue to cooperate with their human partners, guiding them to wild bees’ nests. The study focused on Mozambique’s 42,000-square-kilometer (16,000-square-mile) Niassa Special Reserve, where honey-hunters work with greater honeyguides (Indicator indicator), small brown birds that eat larvae and wax. With a bird’s-eye view, honeyguides locate bees’ nests and lead honey-hunters to them. People then use tools to open the nest for honey and leave behind the exposed wax and larvae for the birds. This ancient partnership can be found in a handful of areas across Africa. Niassa honey-hunters use three distinct calls to attract their bird partners. Two function as “recruitment calls,” attracting the birds’ attention, while a third “coordination call” keeps them engaged once the hunt is underway. Researchers examined recordings of 131 honey-hunters from 13 villages. The three principle calls involved combinations of shrill whoops, low trills and grunts, and the presence or absence of whistles. The calls varied between villages and those differences increased with distance between communities, much like human dialects. If honey-hunters move to live in other villages, they adopt the local calls, behavioral ecologist Jessica van der Wal, the study’s lead author, told Mongabay. “If a certain village is using a different call,” said van der Wal, “it probably means that’s the call to get the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In northern Mozambique, local honey-hunters use vocal signals to communicate with wild honeyguide birds to locate and harvest honey. New research finds that human calls used across the region vary, but the birds learn these subtle differences and continue to cooperate with their human partners, guiding them to wild bees’ nests. The study focused on […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Staying with the story: Isabel Esterman on long-term nature reporting in Southeast Asia 23 Jan 2026 16:14:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/staying-with-the-story-isabel-esterman-on-long-term-nature-reporting-in-southeast-asia/ author: Hayat Indriyatno dc:creator: Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo content:encoded: For Isabel Esterman, impact in her journalism doesn’t come from a single ground-breaking story, but from several years of sustained reporting that gradually reshape global understanding. “What I think about is the topics we’ve really stayed on and broken ground on that have changed the way people think and talk about issues,” she says. “It’s not one story, but this collective body of reporting, and staying on it has been significant.” This long-term approach has yielded tangible outcomes from many of Esterman’s projects, from scrutinizing carbon credit land deals in Malaysia to raising awareness about ritual use as a previously overlooked driver of ape trafficking in Africa. A major example is Mongabay’s reporting on the Sumatran rhino. When Esterman and her team began covering the species, official estimates suggested more than 100 remained. But Mongabay’s investigations indicated numbers closer to 30 in the wild. Thanks to this breadth of coverage, today’s official estimates now reflect this reality. ”Being able to have a more realistic figure to work with makes a big difference for conservation,” she says. Since joining Mongabay in 2016, Esterman has become one of the organization’s longest-tenured staff, and now serves as managing editor for Southeast Asia. Her work involves navigating shrinking press freedoms and safety risks that shape what can be reported and how. When working with local journalists in Southeast Asia, risk assessment is essential to ensuring environmental stories are covered safely and responsibly. “That means responsibility to our reporters — almost all are based in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Isabel Esterman is Mongabay’s managing editor for Southeast Asia, overseeing reporting across one of the world’s most complex environmental and political regions. - Her work is defined by long-term coverage of critical issues, including Sumatran rhinos, carbon credit land deals in Malaysia, and the illegal ape trade in both Asia and Africa. - Esterman values collaboration across bureaus, particularly with Mongabay Indonesia, and sees supporting freelance journalists and building sustainable career paths as a meaningful part of her role. - This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our newsroom. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Kirtida Mekani, Singapore’s tree lady, has died, aged 66 23 Jan 2026 11:30:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/kirtida-mekani-singapores-tree-lady-has-died-aged-66/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Singapore sells itself as an engineered miracle: a dense city that works, where heat, rain, and scarcity are managed rather than endured. Greenery is part of that bargain. Trees soften the concrete and help make the place livable, but they are also a kind of civic language. They signal order, foresight, and the idea that modern life does not have to be hostile to nature. Keeping that idea honest requires more than landscaping. It depends on citizens who treat the environment as something you participate in, not just consume. In a place where efficiency can crowd out messier forms of public engagement, the most durable gains often come from people who persuade institutions to open their doors, then persuade everyone else to walk through them. Kirtida Mekani was one of those people. Born in Karnataka, India, she moved to Singapore in 1990 and later became a citizen. She liked to recall the drive from Changi Airport, when she was struck by the greenery and felt, as others have since put it, that a seed had been planted. Her own interest began earlier, on her family’s farm. As a child she asked why a compost pit in the backyard smelled so bad. A caretaker showed her what it became. The lesson stayed with her: nature could teach, if you took the trouble to watch it. In 1993 she became the founding executive director of the Singapore Environment Council. Over four years she designed and implemented more than 50 environmental protection and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Singapore sells itself as an engineered miracle: a dense city that works, where heat, rain, and scarcity are managed rather than endured. Greenery is part of that bargain. Trees soften the concrete and help make the place livable, but they are also a kind of civic language. They signal order, foresight, and the idea that […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
In Brazil, planting forests for carbon credits could help ecosystem restoration 23 Jan 2026 11:12:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/in-brazil-planting-forests-for-carbon-credits-could-help-ecosystem-restoration/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Constance Malleret content:encoded: In Eunápolis, in the south of the Brazilian state of Bahia, the clearing of Atlantic Forest for agriculture started centuries ago, leaving a patchwork of cattle pastures, monocultures and degraded land. Between 11% and 25% of Brazil’s native vegetation is in a process of degradation related to deforestation, while 22% of its pasture is severely degraded. To reverse this, efforts are underway across the country to recover ecosystems and their services, a vital help in climate change mitigation. Since 2022, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) away from the city of Eunápolis, restoration efforts have been ongoing on the Ouro Verde farm to bring back Atlantic Forest species on hundreds of hectares of unproductive cattle pasture. Currently, 344 hectares (850 acres) of forest have been restored. “In two years, you’ve gone from degraded pasture, extremely damaged, sandy soil, to a forest with more than 60 species, trees more than 4 meters [13 feet] high. It looks like a forest,” said Miguel Moraes, director of projects at re.green, the Brazilian company behind the Ouro Verde project. Founded in 2021, re.green aims to restore 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of tropical forests across the Amazon and Atlantic Forest, while selling carbon credits and generating benefits beyond carbon capture. “We’d like to be a leader showing that there are different models of monetizing forests and natural ecosystems that don’t just generate benefits for the climate, but also for people and biodiversity,” Moraes told Mongabay in a video interview. Restored forest at re.green’s Ouro…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The sale of carbon credits from forest restoration is taking off in Brazil, but the sector still needs to tackle mistrust, the complexity of ecosystem restoration and the long-term nature of the projects. - Founded in 2021, Brazilian firm re.green commercially restores forests by selling carbon credits and has projects spanning 34,000 hectares (84,000 acres) in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest. - The company aims to restore 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of tropical forests across Brazil. Its work so far has been recognized through an EarthShot Prize in 2025. - As well as restoring ecosystems to sell high-integrity carbon credits, the company also works with the community and produces data and knowledge on forest restoration. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
World Bank watchdog looks into Nepal cable car project amid Indigenous outcry 23 Jan 2026 05:35:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/world-bank-watchdog-looks-into-nepal-cable-car-project-amid-indigenous-outcry/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Sonam Lama Hyolmo content:encoded: KATHMANDU — A cable car line is being built to serve the mountaintop temple of Pathibhara Devi, a popular pilgrimage destination for Hindus in eastern Nepal. But the area is also revered by the region’s Indigenous Yakthung (or Limbu) people, many of whom have objected to the clearing of trees that they say will weaken the spiritual power that the site holds according to their beliefs. The World Bank Group’s Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) says it is looking into a complaint filed by the Yakthung people against the International Finance Corporation (IFC) — the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group — for providing advisory support to a controversial cable car project in their ancestral land. The CAO recently confirmed to Mongabay that it had received the complaint filed in August 2025 and it meets the ombudsman’s criteria for formal registration. “As the Nepal cable car complaint met these criteria, it is now in the assessment phase of the CAO process,” Emily Horgan, communications and outreach lead at CAO, told Mongabay via email referring to the ombudsman’s policy of accepting a complaint if it concerns an IFC or MIGA (Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency) project. Horgan said that the Pathibhara issue also falls within the CAO’s mandate to address potential environmental and social impacts of projects. The CAO’s registry states that the complaint was accepted for review on Dec. 12, 2025. Project developer Pathibhara Devi Darshan Cable Car Pvt. Ltd., part of the IME Group led by prominent Nepali tycoon…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The World Bank Group’s Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) is assessing a complaint by Nepal’s Indigenous Yakthung (Limbu) people over the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) advisory involvement in the controversial Pathibhara cable car project, formally registered in December 2025. - The cable car, planned on land sacred to the Yakthung people and near the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, has sparked protests over alleged violations of Indigenous rights, forest clearance, threats to wildlife and inadequate environmental assessment. - Complainants argue the IFC failed to transparently disclose its advisory support to IME Group until late in the project, raising questions about accountability and compliance with IFC safeguards, despite the IFC saying it exited the advisory agreement early and did not directly support the Pathibhara project. - The case will undergo a 90-day CAO assessment to determine whether it proceeds to dispute resolution or a compliance review, amid ongoing legal challenges and community protests. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
What it will take to protect the Amazon, according to Virgilio Viana 22 Jan 2026 19:59:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/what-it-will-take-to-protect-the-amazon-according-to-virgilio-viana/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: The first time Virgilio Viana saw the Amazon, he was a 16-year-old traveling with two school friends, moving along dirt roads, then continuing by boat as the forest rose around them. The trip set something in motion. It stayed with him through a forestry degree, a Ph.D. on the region, and later a professorship in São Paulo that he eventually left for the more complicated work of trying to help govern the forest itself. Viana served as secretary for the environment and sustainable development in Brazil’s Amazonas state, where he found himself in the thicket of politics, land disputes, and the slow work of explaining why conservation matters to people who already live inside the ecosystem outsiders imagine as empty green. It was during this period that he coined a phrase now repeated across Brazil: the forest must be worth more standing than cut. An economist’s idea, reduced to the kind of line that spreads because people recognize something true in it. Today, he leads the Foundation for Amazon Sustainability (FAS), built around a principle that sounds obvious but was long resisted by some big conservation organizations: local people first. Much of what remains standing in the Amazon is there because Indigenous peoples and local communities have protected it. Caboclos, quilombolas, ribeirinho families — they are the center of Viana’s argument that conservation without them will fail. In a recent exchange, he spoke bluntly about the risks ahead. Some parts of the region, he says, have already passed a tipping…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The first time Virgilio Viana saw the Amazon, he was a 16-year-old traveling with two school friends, moving along dirt roads, then continuing by boat as the forest rose around them. The trip set something in motion. It stayed with him through a forestry degree, a Ph.D. on the region, and later a professorship in […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Making 60% of the ocean manageable (Commentary) 22 Jan 2026 19:45:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/making-60-of-the-ocean-manageable-commentary/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For most of modern history, the open ocean has been treated as a place apart. Beyond the 200-nautical-mile limits of national jurisdiction, it was governed by custom, fragmented rules, and the assumption that what lay far offshore was too vast to manage and too resilient to exhaust. That assumption has worn thin. Fishing fleets now range farther and stay out longer. Shipping lanes have thickened into highways. Interest in seabed minerals has grown. And the tools to extract value from the deep sea, including its genetic resources, have advanced faster than the institutions meant to oversee them. On January 17th 2026, a new United Nations agreement—the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction accord, or BBNJ—entered into force. It is the first global framework aimed explicitly at conserving life in the waters and seabed beyond national borders. It creates a process for establishing protected areas on the high seas, requires environmental impact assessments for new activities, sets out rules for sharing benefits from marine genetic resources, and commits to capacity building and technology transfer. The details will take years to settle. The shift in legal posture is immediate. The text is done. The hard part is turning it into practice. That is not a dramatic statement. It is simply where most treaties succeed or fail. The high seas cover roughly 60% of the ocean and more than 40% of the planet’s surface. They include deep trenches, seamount chains, and midwater ecosystems that regulate nutrient cycles and store vast amounts of carbon. Less than…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new UN treaty, BBNJ, has entered into force to create the first global framework aimed explicitly at conserving biodiversity on the high seas, where industrial activity has expanded faster than oversight. The agreement matters less for its text than for whether it can be translated into real-world governance and enforcement. - The high seas have never been lawless, but they have been managed through fragmented sector-by-sector institutions, leaving biodiversity as a secondary concern. BBNJ attempts to close that gap without replacing existing bodies, which creates both opportunity and friction. - The treaty’s success will hinge on practical systems: transparent environmental assessments, credible monitoring, and the capacity for more countries to participate meaningfully. Technology can make harmful activity harder to hide, but it cannot substitute for political will and durable enforcement. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Interpol-backed police make nearly 200 arrests in Amazon region gold mining sweep 22 Jan 2026 19:05:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/interpol-backed-police-make-nearly-200-arrests-in-amazon-region-gold-mining-sweep/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Police and prosecutors from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname have arrested nearly 200 people in their first-ever joint cross-border operation targeting illegal gold mining in the Amazon region, authorities said Thursday. The operation was backed by Interpol — the international police cooperation agency that helps law enforcement agencies in different countries share information and coordinate investigations — as well as the European Union and Dutch police specializing in environmental crime. Carried out in December, it involved more than 24,500 checks on vehicles and people across remote border areas and led to the seizure of cash, unprocessed gold, mercury, firearms, drugs and mining equipment, Interpol said. Among those arrested were three men detained in Guyana on suspicion of gold smuggling and money laundering after officers seized unprocessed gold and about $590,000 in cash. Investigators said the suspects are believed to be part of an organized crime group and may have links to a major gold exporting company in Guyana. Illegal gold mining has become a major driver of deforestation and river pollution in the Amazon, contaminating waterways with toxic mercury and damaging lands relied on by Indigenous communities. In recent years, the activity has expanded rapidly as global gold prices climbed to near-record highs, pushing miners deeper into remote forest regions and turning gold into one of the most profitable commodities for organized crime operating across borders. “Illegal gold mining is growing rapidly and causing serious harm to the environment and local communities, especially in remote and fragile areas,” Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza said in a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Police and prosecutors from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname have arrested nearly 200 people in their first-ever joint cross-border operation targeting illegal gold mining in the Amazon region, authorities said Thursday. The operation was backed by Interpol — the international police cooperation agency that helps law enforcement agencies in different countries […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Francis Hallé, the botanist who took a raft into the rainforest canopy 22 Jan 2026 04:00:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/francis-halle-the-botanist-who-took-a-raft-into-the-rainforest-canopy/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In most forests, a visitor’s eye is trained on what can be reached. The trunk can be measured. The leaves can be plucked. A specimen can be pressed, labeled, and filed away. Yet the largest share of life in a tropical rainforest is suspended overhead, in a zone of light, wind, and constant exchange. For much of the 20th century, that upper world remained a blank on the map of biology, less from lack of curiosity than from a practical problem: it was hard to work where you could not stand. Science often advances when someone treats a logistical obstacle as an intellectual one. In the 1980s, a group of researchers and engineers devised a way to bring a laboratory to the canopy itself. A balloon could lift a platform, set it down on the crowns of trees, and allow botanists to move and observe without felling what they came to study. The method was unglamorous in its intent, even if the image was memorable: a raft perched in the treetops. It opened a layer of forest that had been described more than it had been examined. The botanist at the center of this project had little taste for grand titles. Asked if he was an explorer, he waved it away. “No, no, no, botanist is more than enough for me.” he said. “Life is too short for a botanist,” he added, as if the subject could never be finished. The remark was not a pose. It reflected a view…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The richest part of a tropical rainforest is often the hardest to study: the canopy, where much of its biodiversity lives beyond reach from the ground. Francis Hallé helped change that by finding ways to observe the treetops without cutting them down. - A French botanist, biologist, and illustrator, he became known for the “canopy raft,” a platform set onto the crowns of trees by a balloon. It turned the upper forest from a place described in theory into one examined up close. - Hallé was an expert in tropical forest ecology and “the architecture of trees,” a way of identifying trees by how they grow and branch. He paired field science with drawing and plain speech, and he was unsparing about the forces driving deforestation. - In his later years he pursued a long-term plan to restore a “primeval forest” in Western Europe, left to evolve with minimal human interference over centuries. It was, in his view, a test of whether societies could think beyond the political moment. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits over role in deadly Sumatra landslides 22 Jan 2026 01:38:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-revokes-forest-and-mine-permits-over-role-in-deadly-sumatra-landslides/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has revoked the permits of 28 companies over environmental violations that authorities say exacerbated the deadly floods and landslides that struck the island of Sumatra in late 2025. The revocations follow an audit carried out by a government task force responsible for forest area enforcement after disasters triggered by Cyclone Senyar in November 2025, which killed about 1,200 people across Indonesia’s main western island. The audit found that the 28 companies had violated various rules, including the 2009 law on environmental protection, and bore responsibility for environmental damage linked to the disasters. Authorities still haven’t disclose detailed findings or evidence for each case. The audit results were presented to President Prabowo Subianto during an online meeting on Jan. 19. “Based on that report, the president decided to revoke the permits of 28 companies that were proven to have committed violations,” State Secretariat Minister Prasetyo Hadi said at a press conference on Jan. 20, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia. The move signals a shift in how administrative enforcement is framed in Indonesia, with permit sanctions now explicitly justified by post-disaster accountability rather than routine compliance alone. The revoked permits include 22 forest utilization permits (PBPH) for operating in natural and plantation forests, covering a combined area of about 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) — roughly one-third the size of Belgium — as well as six mining, plantation and timber forest product utilization permits (PBPHHK). Among the affected permit holders is major pulpwood producer PT Toba…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia has revoked the permits of 28 companies after a post–Cyclone Senyar audit found environmental violations that authorities say worsened deadly floods and landslides in Sumatra in late 2025, which killed about 1,200 people. - The revoked permits cover about 1 million hectares of forests and include major players such as pulpwood producer PT Toba Pulp Lestari, marking a shift toward framing permit enforcement as post-disaster accountability. - Two high-profile projects in the Batang Toru ecosystem were hit: a nearly completed hydropower plant and the Martabe gold mine, both long criticized for operating in landslide-prone terrain that’s the only habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. - Environmental groups have welcomed the revocations, but warn the move is incomplete, calling for transparency, ecosystem restoration, protection against permit transfers to new operators, and broader action to halt deforestation in vulnerable watersheds. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Philippines hosts new Asia-Pacific hub for sustainable agriculture, cuisine 21 Jan 2026 23:16:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/philippines-hosts-new-asia-pacific-hub-for-sustainable-agriculture-cuisine/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro content:encoded: BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — For five days last November, the city of Bacolod in the central Philippine province of Negros Occidental became a crossroads of food cultures from across Asia and the Pacific. The aroma of grilled seafood, fermented sauces, roasted coffee and freshly ground spices filled the air as farmers, chefs, food artisans, scientists, fisherfolk, Indigenous leaders, researchers and policymakers gathered to talk about seeds, soil, culture and survival. The event marked the first Asia-Pacific convergence of the global Slow Food movement, bringing together more than 2,000 delegates from 20 countries in Bacolod. The participants were drawn by shared concerns over biodiversity loss, climate change, and the future of food systems across the region. Organized by the international NGO Slow Food, which advocates for good, clean and fair food for all, in collaboration with Philippines partners, the gathering sought to strengthen regional networks around agroecology, a sustainable farming approach that integrates ecology, Indigenous knowledge, and social action, while showcasing food cultures rooted in local ecosystems. “This is a space where communities, ingredients, and ideas come together to shape the future of food,” Edward Mukiibi, president of Slow Food, told Mongabay, describing it as both a cultural platform and a venue for confronting urgent environmental challenges. Myrna Pula, a T’boli Indigenous leader from the southern Philippines, showcases heirloom rice varieties that have sustained her community and culture for generations. Image by Keith Anthony Fabro for Mongabay. Hub for ‘good, clean and fair’ food A key outcome of the gathering was…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - More than 2,000 farmers, chefs and policymakers met last November in the Philippines to explore food systems rooted in biodiversity conservation, Indigenous knowledge and local food security. - Speakers highlighted agroecology and nature-based solutions as practical ways to strengthen food security while restoring ecosystems and supporting livelihoods. - Climate risks from typhoons to floods underscored why diversified farming and healthy soils matter for resilience across Southeast Asia and the Pacific. - The gathering signaled a pushback against industrial agriculture, including GMOs, and a move toward regional cooperation on “good, clean and fair” food. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Critical wetland in Angola gets formal Ramsar recognition 21 Jan 2026 22:27:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/critical-wetland-in-angola-gets-formal-ramsar-recognition/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: In a remote part of Angola’s highlands, a critical natural reservoir or “water tower” has been recognized as a wetland of international importance. Known to locals as lisima lya mwono, or “source of life,” the area supplies water to the region’s most important rivers and supports unique native wildlife. Officially designated last October by the Angolan government and announced Jan. 6 by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the site covers around 53,000 square kilometers (20,500 square miles) in Moxico province. The area sits on a vast plateau roughly 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) above sea level. It’s creased by valleys and dotted with freshwater lakes, rivers, peatlands and marshes. These ecosystems store huge volumes of rainfall, releasing it steadily into major African river systems, including the Okavango and Zambezi. “It’s like a hidden world,” Kerllen Costa, Angolan director for the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project (NGOWP), told Mongabay. Project researchers first encountered the region’s water systems while tracing the length of the Cuito River in 2015. Since then, the team has documented nearly 150 new-to-science species from the area, including spiders, snakes, mice and mushrooms. Camera traps have revealed abundant wildlife, including lions, leopards and cheetahs. They’ve also confirmed local reports of secretive “ghost elephants” that may be a genetically distinct population. NGOWP botanical research director David Goyder, also with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the U.K., said the water tower’s deep, sandy soils support deciduous miombo woodlands. These are home to highly specialized plants, often unique to the region,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In a remote part of Angola’s highlands, a critical natural reservoir or “water tower” has been recognized as a wetland of international importance. Known to locals as lisima lya mwono, or “source of life,” the area supplies water to the region’s most important rivers and supports unique native wildlife. Officially designated last October by the […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
IUCN launches group to conserve at-risk microbes vital to life on Earth 21 Jan 2026 21:12:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/iucn-launches-group-to-conserve-at-risk-microbes-vital-to-life-on-earth/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Invisible in their trillions, microbes dwell in our bodies, grow in soils, live on trees and are integral to planetary health. Yet the huge oversized roles these teeming biodiverse microbial communities play as a foundation for life on Earth is often overlooked. And so, too, are the threats microorganisms face, especially from humanity’s actions. But this scientific inattention is about to end, as a newly launched International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) species survival commission focuses on microbiology and dire threats to microbial species. “I think this is a huge milestone for microbiologists, but also for conservation overall, because for the first time, we have an official recognition that microbes need to be included in the conservation agenda,” says Raquel Peixoto, co-chair of the IUCN specialist group and chair of the Marine Science Program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. “We cannot talk about either climate change or biodiversity loss without talking about microbes, because we need them to keep the ecosystems healthy and working, and we need them to keep the organisms working,” she adds. All plants and animals host invisible communities of microbes. These vast unseen microbiomes are fundamental to life as we know it, but these invisible ecosystems are also threatened by numerous intensifying pressures, including pollution, climate change and land use change. Prochlorococcus microorganisms in the world’s oceans produce vast amounts of oxygen via photosynthesis. Increasing water temperatures could cause declines of this invaluable microbe. A recent study estimates that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Microbial communities, though invisible to the naked eye, are vitally important to planetary health and to Earth’s ecosystems. But they are often neglected in conservation strategies. - Like other branches of life, microbial communities are under threat due to climate change, pollution, land use change and a wide range of other human actions. Degraded microbial communities can have harmful consequences for human well-being, ecosystems health and wider planetary processes. - A newly launched specialist group under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) aims to place microbes on the conservation agenda. - The new IUCN group plans to develop conservation strategies aimed at identifying and protecting at-risk microbial species vital to planetary health and create a Red and Green List, similar to those that exist for threatened animals and plants. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Overuse is pushing the world toward ‘water bankruptcy’ 21 Jan 2026 18:05:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/overuse-is-pushing-the-world-toward-water-bankruptcy/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: The world is depleting its freshwater far faster than nature can replace it, pushing many regions into “water bankruptcy,” according to a new report from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). The report compares Earth’s hydrological system to a household’s finances. Rivers, rainfall and snow represent annual income, while glaciers, wetlands and aquifers are long-term savings. Many regions have withdrawn too much water from both the “income” and “savings” accounts, leading to a water bankruptcy. “This report tells an uncomfortable truth: many regions are living beyond their hydrological means, and many critical water systems are already bankrupt,” lead author Keveh Madani said in a statement. Many water systems have been overdrawn for more than 50 years, the report finds. Roughly 70% of large aquifers show long-term decline while 30% of glacier mass has been lost since the 1970s due to a warming climate. Some mountains in low and mid latitudes are expected to lose their glaciers completely in the coming decades, meaning the rivers they feed won’t be replenished. When glaciers melt and aquifers are pumped dry, those resources can’t be replaced in a human timescale. Scientists have long warned of a global water crisis, but water bankruptcy is the post-crisis stage of irreversible damage to water systems. “The language of crisis — suggesting a temporary emergency followed by a return to normal through mitigation efforts — no longer captures what is happening in many parts of the world,” the report authors note. Agriculture accounts for roughly…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The world is depleting its freshwater far faster than nature can replace it, pushing many regions into “water bankruptcy,” according to a new report from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). The report compares Earth’s hydrological system to a household’s finances. Rivers, rainfall and snow represent annual income, while glaciers, […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Earth Rover Program seeks to track the world’s soil health 21 Jan 2026 18:02:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/earth-rover-program-seeks-to-track-the-worlds-soil-health/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: John Cannon content:encoded: With a synchronized tap from run-of-the-mill hammers on metal plates resting on the ground, researchers kneeling in nine fields across four continents believe they’ve hit upon more than just the earth beneath their feet. “Waiting for it,” someone said. And then, “Waveforms!” “Excellent, waveforms!” another said, as the tiles on screen reveal EKG-like sets of squiggles on laptops and smartphones from each of the locations. The video promotes the Earth Rover Program, a new effort to glean critical details about the soil from the way that a hammer tap tickles a set of sensors. It’s early days for the project. But its global team is working to bring the tools of seismology — known affectionately as “the science of the squiggle,” said co-founder Simon Jeffery — to bear on teasing apart the global puzzle of soil health. Jeffery and his fellow founders, geophysicist Tarje Nissen-Meyer and journalist George Monbiot, have staked out a far-reaching ambition to map soils with a cost-effective technology. They say they hope the program will equip farmers the world over with a better set of tools to grow crops and ensure that soils will remain healthy long into the future. “If we don’t have soil, then we don’t have the wonderful aboveground ecosystems that the vast majority of us enjoy so much,” Jeffery, a professor of soil ecology at Harper Adams University in the U.K., told Mongabay in an interview. He’s quick to point out that soil — the accumulated minerals, organic matter, droplets of liquid…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Leveraging tools from seismology — the study of earthquakes and the inside of our planet — the Earth Rover Program aims to provide critical data on the health of soil. - Humans, and terrestrial life in general, depend on the soil for nourishment. - Yet, in many parts of the world, soils are degraded, worn out and eroding away. - The recently founded program involves the development of inexpensive technology that farmers and scientists alike can use to better understand soil health and what can be done to improve it. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Growing native plants to heal land at Indigenous owned nursery in British Columbia 21 Jan 2026 17:13:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/growing-native-plants-to-heal-land-at-indigenous-owned-nursery-in-british-columbia/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Ruth Kamnitzer content:encoded: CRANBROOK, British Colombia | At the Nupqu Native Plant Nursery in the Canadian province of British Columbia, sulfur buckwheat seedlings fill Styrofoam trays. It’s October, the end of the growing season, and each is just a small cluster of dark-green, waxy, oval leaves, undersides bleeding to purple. Sulfur buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) is a high-altitude grassland species and one of the most in-demand species for restoration of highly degraded land, says Melanie Redman, the nursery’s seed specialist. But it’s also notoriously tricky to propagate. It usually takes two to three years to coax the plant from seed to seedling. This year, however, the nursery has managed to get the whole process down to just one year. Nupqu, which means “black bear” in the Ktunaxa language, is a wholly Ktunaxa-owned land and natural resource management company, part of a number of businesses jointly owned by the four Ktunaxa First Nations in Canada and the Ktunaxa Nation Council. Five years ago, the company acquired an existing native plant nursery, located on the ʔaq̓am reserve, and has since been building up expertise and capacity. The Nupqu Native Plant Nursery, which says it’s the largest Indigenous-owned native plant nursery in Canada, now cultivates more than 60 plant species. Most are grown from seeds collected on the Canadian portion of the Ktunaxa’s traditional territory, which stretches over 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 square miles) across the Kootenay region of what is now British Columbia. It’s a land of jagged peaks, high alpine meadows, grasslands, dappled forests, fish-bearing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Ktunaxa First Nation owned Nupqu Native Plant Nursery in south-eastern British Columbia propagates over 60 native plant species, with a focus on locally-collected seed. - The nursery grows 700,000 seedlings on site, and through five partner nurseries, supplies 2.5 million seedlings a year for restoration, mostly within Ktunaxa territory in Canada. - Over the past five years of operation, the nursery has built up a wealth of knowledge on how to propagate many tricky species. - Nupqu is now working with partners to build up an Indigenous-led native plant nursery industry in British Columbia. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Is South Asia becoming inhospitable for migratory birds? 21 Jan 2026 10:19:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/is-south-asia-becoming-inhospitable-for-migratory-birds/ author: Abusiddique dc:creator: Sadiqur Rahman content:encoded: Every winter, millions of birds fly thousands of kilometers via the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) and East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), from the frozen expanses of Siberia and Central Asia to the warmer South Asia and beyond. The birds’ migration depends on a chain of intact ecosystems: primarily wetlands, riverine forests and coastal mangroves, which serve as their crucial stopover sites for rest and refueling. However, today, many of these habitats and food sources are disappearing. Researchers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, India, the Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have assessed that wetland conversion amid agricultural expansion and rapid urbanization, unplanned fishing and pollution are degrading the wetlands, mudflats and river systems across South Asia. Bangladeshi ornithologist Sayam U. Chowdhury, a researcher at the Conservation Research Institute (CRI) under the University of Cambridge, explains how rapid urbanization and the loss of natural wetlands pose a serious threat to migratory waterbirds. Although many people associate waterbirds with fish, most migratory species — including ducks, geese and shorebirds — rely on shallow wetlands, mudflats and nearby agricultural lands. They primarily feed on aquatic vegetation, seeds and invertebrates rather than fish. “When waterbodies are drained, polluted or heavily altered, it destroys the habitats and food resources these birds depend on during their non-breeding season,” Chowdhury tells Mongabay. Bangladesh lies within both the Central Asian and the East Asian-Australian flyways and provides habitat for around 310 migratory bird species, according to Bangladesh’s National Report of COP13’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Migratory birds are losing critical stopover habitats across South Asia along major global flyways due to human-driven causes. - Draining wetlands and overfishing eliminate aquatic vegetation, invertebrates and fish that form the dietary base for migratory birds. - Researchers emphasize that protecting migratory birds requires coordinated action beyond national borders. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
‘Holy river’ carries industrial waste & sewage from Nepal to India 21 Jan 2026 10:01:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/holy-river-carries-industrial-waste-sewage-from-nepal-to-india/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Suresh Bidari content:encoded: BIRGUNJ, Nepal — When 38-year-old Pradeep Kumar Bishwokarma was growing up in Ramgadhawa, a neighborhood in southern Nepal’s industrial town of Birgunj, he would jump into the Sirsiya River to beat the summer heat as his mother washed clothes and residents drew drinking water from it. Today, Bishwokarma and his fellow residents of the border town cover their noses with a handkerchief whenever they pass by the river that was once their village’s lifeline. The flowing liquid no longer resembles a river. It is thick and black as if a truckload of oil had been dumped into it. The air around the river feels heavy with the stench of sulfur and rotting organic matter. “This is no longer a river,” Bishwokarma said, pointing toward it. “It has become an open drain for factories, and we haven’t just lost a river, we’ve lost our self-respect,” he added. The river, which was once a crucial part of daily life, religion and agriculture in Bara and Parsa districts, is one of the 6,000-odd rivers and rivulets flowing into India from Nepal. It begins its journey from the Ramban Jhadi( forest) of Bara district farther north and passes through Nepal’s largest industrial zone, the Bara-Parsa corridor. Map of factories along the Sirsiya River. Source: Feasibility Study for Effluent Treatment Plant for Discharges from Industries in the Birgunj-Pathlaiya section. (Image not in scale) Today, ineffective environmental regulation and poor coordination among government agencies have allowed factories to dump untreated industrial waste and sewage into the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Sirsiya River, once central to daily life, agriculture and religious rituals in southern Nepal, is now heavily polluted with industrial waste and sewage, turning it into a public health hazard. - Factories in Nepal’s industrial corridor discharge untreated effluents as weak enforcement, ineffective regulation and unimplemented wastewater plans allow pollution to persist. - Pollution flows into Raxaul, India, contaminating water and harming crops, while residents on other side of the border say Indian efforts to treat local sewage can’t offset the influx from Nepal. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
2025 was third-warmest year on record, research shows 20 Jan 2026 22:22:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/2025-was-third-warmest-year-on-record-research-shows/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: 2025 was the third-warmest year on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The warmest year on record is still 2024, with 2023 coming in second. The global average surface temperature for 2025 was estimated to be 1.44° Celsius (2.59° Fahrenheit) higher than preindustrial levels. The last 11 years have been the warmest 11 years since global records began in 1850. “The year 2025 started and ended with a cooling La Niña and yet it was still one of the warmest years on record globally because of the accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere,” WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo said in a statement. Annual global mean temperature anomalies relative to the 1850-1900 average, shown from 1850 to 2025 across eight data sets. Image courtesy of WMO. To calculate the mean temperature of 2025, the WMO consolidated eight different data sets from agencies based in North America, Europe and Asia. Each data set uses a different methodology, resulting in slightly different conclusions and a margin of uncertainty of ±0.13°C (±0.23°F). Six of the data sets were based on measurements made at weather stations and by ships and buoys. The other two, ERA5 by the EU-run Copernicus Climate Change Service and JRA-3Q by the Japan Meteorological Agency, are based on modeling. Although it wasn’t the warmest year on record, 2025 was expected to be cooler due to a La Niña event, which typically lowers ocean surface temperatures. But separate research published in January found that the world’s oceans set a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: 2025 was the third-warmest year on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The warmest year on record is still 2024, with 2023 coming in second. The global average surface temperature for 2025 was estimated to be 1.44° Celsius (2.59° Fahrenheit) higher than preindustrial levels. The last 11 years have been the warmest 11 years […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Drag artist Pattie Gonia on why nature advocacy needs joy to succeed 20 Jan 2026 21:01:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/01/drag-artist-pattie-gonia-on-why-nature-advocacy-needs-joy-to-succeed/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Basten GokkonMike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Professional drag artist and environmental activist Pattie Gonia has more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram and has raised $1.2 million for environmental nonprofits by hiking 100 miles, or 160 kilometers, in full drag into San Francisco. She has gained international recognition for using drag artistry to advocate for the environment, in acknowledgment and celebration of hundreds of researchers and scientists in the field who identify as queer. She joins Mongabay’s podcast to explain why joy is a fundamental ingredient missing in the environmental advocacy space, how she prioritizes it in her work as a drag performer and activist, and why she feels the environmental movement must prioritize it to succeed. “If we want people to join this movement, we have to make it freaking fun,” she says. Rather than highlighting the ways in which we are all different or siloing the environmental sector from everyday citizens, Pattie Gonia encourages the movement to embrace what all humans share in common — the natural world — and protect it from entrenched power structures of exploitation and the ultrawealthy. A merging of culture, art and nature is what she wants to see more of. “The outdoor communities need to start working together, because we have hunters over here and we have like little liberal L.A. girlies over here. And we’re all actually fighting for the same thing. And we have more in common with each other than we do with these billionaires who oppress us all. So how about we work together…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Professional drag artist and environmental activist Pattie Gonia has more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram and has raised $1.2 million for environmental nonprofits by hiking 100 miles, or 160 kilometers, in full drag into San Francisco. She has gained international recognition for using drag artistry to advocate for the environment, in acknowledgment and celebration […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Predators of the Great Wildebeest Migration: Then and now (cartoon) 20 Jan 2026 17:48:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/01/predators-of-the-great-wildebeest-migration-then-and-now-cartoon/ author: Nandithachandraprakash dc:creator: Rohan Chakravarty content:encoded: While ecotourism has contributed both to wildlife conservation and community welfare in Kenya, over-tourism and the corporatization of ecotourism are now proving to be literal impediments in the ecological webs of the Kenyan wilderness. A Maasai leader recently took legal action against luxury chain Ritz-Carlton, claiming that its new lodge in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Reserve obstructs a crucial wildebeest migration corridor.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: While ecotourism has contributed both to wildlife conservation and community welfare in Kenya, over-tourism and the corporatization of ecotourism are now proving to be literal impediments in the ecological webs of the Kenyan wilderness. A Maasai leader recently took legal action against luxury chain Ritz-Carlton, claiming that its new lodge in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Reserve […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
How US intervention could deepen Venezuela’s environmental crisis 20 Jan 2026 17:32:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/how-us-intervention-could-deepen-venezuelas-environmental-crisis/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: When U.S. forces entered Venezuela earlier this month and removed President Nicolás Maduro, officials framed the intervention as a strategic economic opportunity. President Donald Trump repeatedly pointed to the country’s oil reserves and rare earth minerals, saying U.S. companies stood to earn billions of dollars. Less attention has been paid to the environmental risks of his plan. More than half of Venezuela is covered by forest, some of it in the Amazon Basin. It also has grasslands, wetlands and thousands of kilometers of Caribbean coastline. These ecosystems were already under strain under the Maduro government, but critics warn that foreign intervention could intensify the damage. “If environmental risks aren’t taken into account in this process, we’re probably facing a potential environmental catastrophe of a very large magnitude,” Eduardo Klein, a marine ecology professor at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, told Mongabay. Venezuela has an estimated 300 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the largest in the world. Yet it produces slightly less than a million barrels a day, far below many other oil-producing countries with smaller reserves. By international standards, Venezuela’s oil is heavier than in other parts of the world, making it more costly and requiring special processing equipment. The government has also allowed pipelines and refineries to fall into disrepair over the last 20 years, the result of financial mismanagement, corruption, an untrained workforce and sanctions. In 2024, there were at least 65 oil spills across eight states, according to the Venezuelan Observatory for Political Ecology. It also…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Following the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. has expressed interest in the country’s oil and minerals. But the current landscape means that a rushed investment could be disastrous for the environment, critics warn. - Venezuela has an estimated 300 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the largest in the world. But decaying infrastructure and corruption make investment almost impossible, with a high risk of spills inside sensitive ecosystems. - The country also has massive mineral deposits, many of them in the rainforest and on Indigenous territory. The mines are largely controlled by criminal groups, making U.S. involvement there extremely complicated, critics said. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Too many African plants fall into the IUCN’s ‘not evaluated’ trap (commentary) 20 Jan 2026 16:41:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/too-many-african-plants-fall-into-the-iucns-not-evaluated-trap-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Victor Nsereko Wantate content:encoded: Many African conservation decisions such as funding, policy, species prioritization and nursery propagation implicitly treat the IUCN Red List as a complete map of extinction risk. It is not. For plants including trees, the biggest risk is not only that we mis-rank species, it’s that we overlook vast numbers of species that have never been globally assessed or have assessments that are decades old. So, how much plant diversity is assessed? Globally, one widely cited synthesis notes that of about 350,000 vascular plant species, the IUCN Red List documents about 62,666 species, or roughly 18%. That means most vascular plant species worldwide have no global Red List category to guide action. Africa illustrates the gap even more starkly. A comprehensive checklist of Mozambique’s vascular flora (compiled in July 2021) reported that although 1,667 taxa in the national checklist were registered on the IUCN Red List, the global extinction risk status for 76.5% of Mozambique’s vascular flora was not evaluated (including taxa explicitly categorized as not evaluated (NE) and taxa not listed on the IUCN Red List). At a broader (tropical Africa) scale, one peer-reviewed analysis of 22,036 green plant species found that only 2,856 had full IUCN assessments available (about 13%), and only 2,009 (9.1%) had assessments published after 2001. In other words, 87% of species had their assessments published a quarter century, or longer, ago. Flower and leaves of mgambo tree (Majidea zangueberica), which is also known as black pearl tree or velvet seed tree. Image courtesy of Lukango…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Of the approximately 350,000 vascular plant species in the world, only about 18% have been assessed by the IUCN Red List, and the situation is starker still if one looks at just tropical African species. - Further, IUCN’s “not evaluated” category simply means a species has not yet been assessed against Red List criteria, and in practice, African conservationists often meet a more confusing reality: Many species are not on the global Red List at all but are still informally talked about as if they are NE. - “Here’s a constructive way forward via “Red List + Reality” decision rules…A stronger system could combine global assessments with local intelligence,” a new commentary suggests. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Brazil bets reducing poverty can protect the Amazon 20 Jan 2026 16:31:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/brazil-bets-reducing-poverty-can-protect-the-amazon/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, in Brazil’s western Amazon, daily life still depends on the forest. Families tap rubber, collect Brazil nuts, and manage small plots without clearing large areas. The reserve is named after Chico Mendes, the rubber tapper and labor leader murdered in 1988 for defending that way of life. More than three decades later, the logic he argued for — that forests are better protected when people can make a living from them — has returned to the center of Brazilian conservation policy. That shift is taking place within ARPA, the Amazon Region Protected Areas program. Created in 2002 by the Brazilian government and later backed by WWF and major donors, ARPA supports 120 protected areas covering more than 60 million hectares (148 million acres), an expanse roughly the size of Madagascar. Its early years focused on expanding protected areas and building a long-term financing structure. The results were tangible. Between 2008 and 2020, deforestation in ARPA-supported areas was significantly lower than in comparable regions, avoiding large volumes of carbon emissions. A new phase, ARPA Comunidades, reflects a change in emphasis, contributor Constance Malleret wrote for Mongabay. About half of the protected areas under ARPA are sustainable-use reserves, where people live and work inside the forest. Until now, these communities benefited indirectly from conservation spending. The new program aims to support them directly. “We were missing closer attention to the communities living in these sustainable-use conservation units,” said Fernanda Marques of FUNBIO, the Brazilian nonprofit that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, in Brazil’s western Amazon, daily life still depends on the forest. Families tap rubber, collect Brazil nuts, and manage small plots without clearing large areas. The reserve is named after Chico Mendes, the rubber tapper and labor leader murdered in 1988 for defending that way of life. More than […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
For two of the world’s most at-risk primates, threats abound and the future looks grim 20 Jan 2026 10:54:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/for-two-of-the-worlds-most-at-risk-primates-threats-abound-and-the-future-looks-grim/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Mino Rakotovao content:encoded: Between Nigeria’s Cross River and Cameroon’s Sanaga River lies one of West Africa’s largest remaining blocks of intact rainforest. Noisy groups of Preuss’s red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus preussi) move through this forest’s canopy in bands 20-to-60-strong, feeding mainly on the young leaves of just a few tree species, including Lecomtedoxa klaineana (known locally as oguomo) and Xylopia aethiopica (“grains of Selim”). The leaf-heavy diet of these social monkeys helps shape forest structure, and declines in their numbers often foreshadow wider losses of wildlife across the forest. Half a world away, a very different primate lurks in the trees on the small, relatively isolated Indonesian island of Bangka. Readily identified by its pale facial mask, the Bangka slow loris (Nycticebus bancanus) is arboreal, nocturnal, and venomous, with large eyes and deliberate movements. Not much formal scientific knowledge has been gathered about this species since it was first described in 1937, but local conservationists have rehabilitated and released several dozen of the animals over the past decade. Both species feature on the “Primates in Peril”, a roll call of the world’s 25 most endangered primates, a call for careful, focused conservation action. The future prospects for either primate illustrates how a threatened species’ survival may depend on very specific conditions: the health and protection of a single small island, or a particular forest type, or a few key plant species within that forest can make the difference between persistence and disappearance. Korup National Park, Cameroon. Image by Pleauthon Pierre via Flickr (CC…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Preuss’s red colobus is found in two populations in West Africa — roughly 3,000 individuals in the Korup–Cross River forest block and none confirmed in the Yabassi Key Biodiversity Area for more than a decade — and faces intense pressure from hunting and habitat loss. - The Bangka slow loris, restricted to Bangka Island in Indonesia has not been systematically studied for decades and has suffered extensive habitat loss from mining and forest conversion. - Proper field studies and conservation approaches used for other slow loris species could provide a road map for assessing and protecting the Bangka slow loris. - For Preuss’s red colobus, a regional action plan is advancing in Nigeria, where monitoring and community outreach are underway, but implementation in Cameroon has been hampered by ongoing civil unrest around Korup National Park. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
The knowledge to save coffee already exists, now it’s in one e-library 20 Jan 2026 05:02:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/the-knowledge-to-save-coffee-already-exists-now-its-in-one-e-library/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Roughly half the world’s arabica coffee-growing regions will become unsuitable for cultivation of the crop by 2050 due to the effects of climate change. The consequences of a shrinking coffee harvest extend far beyond a daily caffeine fix, but experts say solutions do exist. One promising approach is agroforestry. The nonprofit Coffee Watch has now created an e-library of all the research ever conducted on coffee agroforestry to help producers grow the finicky plant amid the changing climate. Coffee is “a very sensitive little plant,” Etelle Higonnet, founder and director of Coffee Watch, told Mongabay in a video call. “It doesn’t like cold, but it doesn’t like hot. It doesn’t like dry, but it doesn’t like wet.” It only grows well in mountainous areas in the tropics. Coffee agroforestry seeks to mimic natural ecosystems by growing coffee alongside other trees and bushes, creating a moderated microclimate that meets the “Goldilocks” balance of temperature and rainfall, mitigating the impacts of climate change. The approach can also support soil health and biodiversity, and produce better coffee. Companion plants grown with coffee can include fruit trees or other cash crops that provide additional income and food for coffee growers. Coffee agroforestry is potentially a win-win, Higonnet said, but only if producers know how to do it. That’s where the Coffee Watch e-library comes in. “Anything that’s ever been written about agroforestry coffee is in this library. That way, companies don’t have to do a million stupid pilot projects and reinvent the wheel for 20…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Roughly half the world’s arabica coffee-growing regions will become unsuitable for cultivation of the crop by 2050 due to the effects of climate change. The consequences of a shrinking coffee harvest extend far beyond a daily caffeine fix, but experts say solutions do exist. One promising approach is agroforestry. The nonprofit Coffee Watch has now […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
From south to north, Sri Lanka’s cricket dreams undermine fragile ecosystems 19 Jan 2026 13:51:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/from-south-to-north-sri-lankas-cricket-dreams-undermine-fragile-ecosystems/ author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti dc:creator: Malaka Rodrigo content:encoded: COLOMBO — Cricket is more than a sport in Sri Lanka. It is woven into the country’s postindependence identity, a unifying passion that cuts across class, ethnicity and geography. Yet in recent years, the push to expand cricket infrastructure has increasingly collided with fragile ecosystems, triggering uncomfortable questions about development priorities, environmental governance and climate resilience. The latest controversy centers around plans to build an international cricket stadium on Mandaitivu, a small island off the Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka’s Northern province. Environmentalists warn that the proposal threatens a sensitive coastal ecosystem already under pressure from sea-level rise, flooding and postwar development. Mandaitivu Island has a traditional fishing community that relies on prawns and crabs for its livelihood, and the mangrove ecosystems are their breeding ground. Image courtesy of Muhunthan Balachandiran. In September, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake launched the construction, stating that the Jaffna International Cricket Stadium will not merely be a venue for cricket, but a symbol of national unity. Prasanna Rodrigo, media spokesperson for Sri Lanka Cricket, confirms a delay in commencing construction due to Cyclone Ditwah but says development work is being carried out as planned to have the project commissioned for international matches by 2027. This international cricket ground is part of Sri Lanka Cricket’s broader initiative to develop a modern sports city in Jaffna covering a total area of 56 hectares (138 acres), Rodrigo told Mongabay. Mandaitivu is a low-lying island of 7.6 square kilometers (2.9 square miles), rising only about 5 meters (16 feet) above sea…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Sri Lanka plans to construct an international cricket stadium and a sports complex on the northern island of Mandaitivu spanning more than 56 hectares to popularize the sport in the country’s Northern province. - Mandaitivu overlaps with mangroves and coastal wetlands in the ecologically sensitive Jaffna lagoon, and environmental groups warn that a construction on the low-lying island could reduce flood retention and increase climate vulnerability. - Mandaitivu’s mangroves support fisheries and coastal livelihoods causing concern about potential decline in aquatic creatures, especially prawns and crabs, impacting the traditional fisherfolk. - Conservationists say the project echoes past ill-informed infrastructure decisions, such as the Hambantota stadium built within an elephant habitat, reflecting weak environmental governance and repeated ecological trade-offs. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Indonesia sues 6 companies over alleged links to deadly floods & landslides 19 Jan 2026 06:21:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-sues-6-companies-over-alleged-links-to-deadly-floods-landslides/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — In the wake of the deadly floods and landslides that struck Indonesia in late 2025, the nation’s environment ministry has sued six companies, seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($284 million) in environmental damages linked to the disasters. Following devastating floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Senyar in November, which killed more than 1,100 people across Indonesia’s main western island of Sumatra, the ministry launched an investigation into 70 companies operating in the region to examine possible links between corporate activities and the disasters. This week, the environment ministry’s law enforcement department announced the preliminary results of its investigation. Six companies, it said, were responsible for alleged damage to watersheds in North Sumatra province, involving the clearing of 2,516 hectares (6,217 acres) of rainforest, particularly in and around the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds. “The reason these companies are being sued is that, based on expert studies, alleged environmental damage was found around the Garoga watershed and the Batang Toru watershed,” said Dodi Kurniawan, the director of environmental dispute resolution at the ministry, during a press conference in Jakarta on Jan. 15. Sentinel-2 imagery (natural colors, 10-meter spatial resolution) over the rainforest of Batang Toru, home to the Tapanuli orangutan, taken before and after the extreme rainfall event that caused havoc in Sumatra in late November 2025. The before image was taken on Oct. 27, 2025; the after image on Dec. 3, 2025, showing patches of bare soil suddenly appearing. Image courtesy of TheTreeMap. The steep rainforest hills of Batang…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia’s environment ministry is seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($284 million) in environmental damages from six companies it has linked to deadly floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Senyar in November. - Following the disasters, the ministry launched an investigation into dozens of companies in the region; the findings determined six companies were responsible for alleged damage to watersheds in North Sumatra. - The areas affected include Batang Toru, an ecologically fragile ecosystem home to the Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
A new treaty comes into force to govern life on the high seas 17 Jan 2026 00:03:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-treaty-comes-into-force-to-govern-life-on-the-high-seas/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For most of modern history, the open ocean has been treated as a place apart. Beyond the 200-nautical-mile limits of national jurisdiction, it was governed by custom, fragmented rules, and the assumption that what lay far offshore was too vast to manage and too resilient to exhaust. That assumption has worn thin. On January 17th 2026, a new United Nations agreement—the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction accord, or BBNJ—will enter into force, creating the first global framework aimed explicitly at conserving life in the waters and seabed beyond national borders. Oceanic manta rays photo courtesy of Mark Erdmann The scale of what it covers is hard to overstate. Areas beyond national jurisdiction account for roughly 60% of the ocean and more than 40% of the planet’s surface. They include deep trenches, seamount chains, midwater ecosystems, and the largely unseen communities that regulate nutrient cycles and store vast amounts of carbon. Less than 1.5% of this space is currently protected in any formal sense. Fishing, shipping, bioprospecting, and exploratory mining have expanded there faster than the rules governing them. BBNJ is an attempt to close that gap. Finalized in 2023 after two decades of negotiation, the treaty passed the threshold for entry into force when Morocco became the 60th country to ratify it last September. More than 80 states are now full parties, according to the High Seas Ratification Tracker. The United States helped shape the text but has not ratified it. The agreement rests on four pillars. An Ocean sunfish (Mola…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new United Nations treaty governing biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction will enter into force on January 17th 2026, creating the first global framework to conserve life on the high seas. - The agreement covers roughly 60% of the ocean and introduces mechanisms for marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, benefit-sharing from marine genetic resources, and capacity building for poorer states. - Long treated as a global commons with weak oversight, international waters have seen mounting pressure from overfishing, prospective seabed mining, and bioprospecting, with less than 1.5% currently protected. - The treaty’s significance will depend less on its text than on whether governments use it to impose real limits on exploitation and translate shared commitments into enforceable action. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Mosquitoes in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest prefer human blood 16 Jan 2026 22:59:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/mosquitoes-in-brazils-atlantic-forest-prefer-human-blood/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: As deforestation and habitat loss drive down wildlife populations, mosquitoes are increasingly turning to another source for their blood meal: humans. That’s the finding of a new study in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a global biodiversity hotspot with less than a third of its original forest remaining. Mosquitoes in the Atlantic Forest “have a clear preference for feeding on humans,” senior author Jeronimo Alencar, a biologist at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, said in a statement. To reach that conclusion, researchers collected 1,714 mosquitoes from two different Atlantic Forest reserves in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Only female mosquitoes bite; they require a blood meal to develop their eggs, so researchers focused on the 145 engorged female mosquitoes they collected. Of those, just 24 contained blood that could be successfully analyzed and matched to known vertebrates using DNA analysis. Three-quarters of the samples, 18 of the 24, revealed that the mosquitoes had fed on humans. The other sources of blood came from six birds, one amphibian, one canid and a mouse. Several mosquitoes had fed on more than one host species, including combinations of human/amphibian and human/bird, further raising concerns about the spread of disease. Researchers say they believe mosquitoes are showing a preference for human blood because deforestation and habitat loss have reduced the number of wild animals available for mosquitoes to feed on. “Once the vertebrate population decreases, moving for other habitats, mosquitoes … go in search of new blood sources,” Sérgio Lisboa Machado,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: As deforestation and habitat loss drive down wildlife populations, mosquitoes are increasingly turning to another source for their blood meal: humans. That’s the finding of a new study in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a global biodiversity hotspot with less than a third of its original forest remaining. Mosquitoes in the Atlantic Forest “have a clear preference […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Colombia poised for another drop in deforestation in 2025, data show 16 Jan 2026 19:58:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/colombia-poised-for-another-drop-in-deforestation-in-2025-data-show/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: Deforestation in Colombia appears to have declined in 2025, with notable reductions in several departments that have historically struggled with forest loss. An estimated 36,280 hectares (89,650 acres) of forest were lost during the first three quarters of the year, a 25% drop from the 48,500 hectares (about 119,850 acres) recorded over the same period in 2024, according to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), a government agency. The figures only account for January to September, as data for the final quarter of the year are still being processed. Officials celebrated the results while stressing the need to continue improving forest conservation strategies. “The sustained reduction of deforestation in the Amazon is the result of collaboration between the national government and communities, through ecological restoration actions, voluntary conservation agreements, strengthening of sustainable production chains and forest management,” the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development said in a December statement. Colombia has around 60 million hectares (148 million acres) of forest cover, representing more than half of its total land area. This includes the Amazon Rainforest and savanna ecosystems like the Orinoquía. For decades, the country has struggled to slow the spread of cattle ranching and agriculture as well as illicit crops like coca, the primary ingredient in cocaine. In 2025, many of the worst-hit departments also saw the largest drops in forest loss, signaling progress in addressing some of these long-standing drivers. “When the figures are low, we should take advantage and strengthen actions to reduce threats,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Deforestation in Colombia appears to have declined in 2025, with notable reductions in several departments like Meta, Caquetá and Guaviare. - The main drivers of deforestation include the spread of cattle ranching and agriculture, as well as illicit crops like coca, the primary ingredient in cocaine. - Officials attributed the declining trend to collaboration with Indigenous communities and environmental zoning in rural areas, as well as ecotourism and a program providing financial incentives for communities involved in forest conservation. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
How many insects does California have? We’re getting closer to an answer 16 Jan 2026 18:34:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/how-many-insects-does-california-have-were-getting-closer-to-an-answer/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: California’s insects are as outsized as the state itself. Between its redwood forests and desert basins may live 60,000, perhaps even 100,000 species — though no one truly knows. That uncertainty drives the California Insect Barcode Initiative, an audacious attempt to document every insect in the state through DNA sequencing. Leading the effort is Austin Baker, a postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. His mission sounds improbable: to collect, sequence and catalog every fly, ant and beetle that hums, crawls or burrows across California. “You could visit any vegetated area across that state and potentially collect several new (undiscovered and unnamed) insect species,” he says. Baker and his colleagues are working under the California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI), which seeks to “discover it all, protect it forever.” Their approach is exhaustive. California’s habitats range from fog-draped coasts to alpine forests and sun-scorched deserts, each with its own suite of species. To cover this diversity, the team is sampling every ecoregion recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency, deploying a mix of techniques and leaving passive traps in the field for months at a time. Every specimen collected is preserved and archived, forming a permanent record alongside its DNA barcode. “DNA barcoding is an excellent way to discover and delimit species, although it is not perfect,” Baker says. “Verifying accuracy requires going back to the voucher material for further examination.” The undertaking is vast and collaborative. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, the California Academy of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: California’s insects are as outsized as the state itself. Between its redwood forests and desert basins may live 60,000, perhaps even 100,000 species — though no one truly knows. That uncertainty drives the California Insect Barcode Initiative, an audacious attempt to document every insect in the state through DNA sequencing. Leading the effort is Austin […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Hidden heroes: Australian tree bark microbes consume greenhouse & toxic gases 16 Jan 2026 16:31:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/hidden-heroes-australian-tree-bark-microbes-consume-greenhouse-toxic-gases/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Ruth Kamnitzer content:encoded: Microbes living in tree bark consume vast amounts of climate-related and toxic gases, according to new research published Jan. 8 in Science. In the past, tree bark was considered little more than an inert protective covering for trees and unlikely to support significant microbial life. But over the last decade, research has found that microbes not only thrive in tree bark, but they consume methane, a phenomenon significant on a global scale. This knowledge caused scientists at Australia’s Monash and Southern Cross universities to wonder if microbial communities living in tree bark might also be utilizing and absorbing other ubiquitous atmospheric gases, a line of reasoning that turned out to be “spot on,” says Pok Man Leung, a research fellow at Monash University and the study’s co-lead author. The research team sampled the bark of eight common Australian trees across different biomes in subtropical eastern Australia. They then used metagenetics along with laboratory and field-based measurements of gas fluxes to determine what kinds of microbes lived in the bark, and what they were doing. Melaleuca wetland forest on the Tweed Coast of Australia, a hotspot for tree bark microbial life. Image courtesy of Luke Jeffrey/Southern Cross University. They found that the trees’ bark was brimming with microbes that digest methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Methane is at least 20 times more potent as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, while hydrogen and carbon monoxide are considered indirect greenhouse gases. Carbon monoxide and VOCs are both harmful…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study carried out in Australia finds that the bark of common tree species holds diverse microbial communities, with trillions of microbes living on every tree. - The research determined that many of these microbial species specialize in metabolizing methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). - Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, while hydrogen and carbon monoxide are considered indirect greenhouse gases. Carbon monoxide and VOCs are also both hazardous to human health. - The study found that tree bark microbes play a significant, previously unknown role in atmospheric gas cycling, potentially boosting estimations of the climate benefits offered by global forests. Learning which tree species boast the best microbes for curbing climate change and pollution could better inform reforestation strategies. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Mike Heusner, steward of Belize’s waters, has died, aged 86 16 Jan 2026 15:55:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/mike-heusner-steward-of-belizes-waters-has-died-aged-86/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For a small country, Belize has long carried an outsized reputation among people who care about water. Its flats and mangroves, its reef and river systems, have drawn anglers and naturalists who come for beauty but stay, if they are paying attention, for the fragile bargain that keeps such places alive. Tourism can finance protection. It can also erode the very ecosystems it depends on. Few industries have to argue so often that their future rests on restraint. That tension became sharper as Belize’s economy modernized and the pressures on its marine life grew more visible. The debate was never only about fish. It was about livelihoods, access, and who gets to decide what “development” means in a place where nature is not a backdrop but a working asset. The people who shaped that conversation were not always politicians or scientists. Some were business owners who spent enough time on the water to see what was changing, and who learned to speak in the language of policy when it mattered. Michael J. “Mike” Heusner, who died on January 10th at 86, was one of them. For decades he was a leading figure in Belize’s tourism and sportfishing sectors and a steady advocate for conservation. He helped build Belize River Lodge into a premier destination for anglers, while pushing the idea that the country’s natural environment was not separate from its economy, but the condition of its survival. Heusner’s authority came from lived experience and long committee meetings. He served with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: For a small country, Belize has long carried an outsized reputation among people who care about water. Its flats and mangroves, its reef and river systems, have drawn anglers and naturalists who come for beauty but stay, if they are paying attention, for the fragile bargain that keeps such places alive. Tourism can finance protection. […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Mongabay launches Newswire Desk to deliver bite-sized, accessible news on nature to diverse audiences 16 Jan 2026 12:50:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/mongabay-launches-newswire-desk-to-deliver-bite-sized-accessible-news-on-nature-to-diverse-audiences/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: With information moving faster than ever, the public’s need for credible, accessible environmental reporting has never been greater. In response, Mongabay has launched its Newswire Desk, specializing in short, written and multimedia content that brings news from nature’s frontline to non-specialist audiences. “Improving access to information isn’t only accomplished by publishing online for free. It’s achieved by providing information that satisfies audiences’ needs and adapts to their constraints,” says Willie Shubert, Mongabay’s executive editor and VP of programs. “The purpose of the Newswire Desk is to meet people where they are and inspire their curiosity to learn more.” The Newswire Desk enables Mongabay to cover significantly more news about environmental science, the ecosystems people interact with daily, and the links between current events and Nature. “The Newswire Desk has a mandate to use plain, direct language to break through jargon and quickly identify how people’s daily lives are connected to the environmental issues Mongabay covers in depth,” Shubert says. “It only takes a couple of minutes to read a short article and we envision the Newswire will become a starting point that welcomes people to discover all that Mongabay has to offer.” A king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah). Image by Max Tibby via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0). The people behind Mongabay’s Newswire Bobby Bascomb in Monteverde, Costa Rica working on a story about tree climbers collecting epiphytes for a study. The hard hat was to protect from falling tree branches. Photo: Bobby Bascomb Currently, three of Mongabay’s five bureaus publish short…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In response to a growing need for timely, credible, accessible environmental reporting, Mongabay has launched its Newswire Desk, specialized in creating short, written and multimedia content to reach new audiences. - The Newswire Desk has a mandate to use plain, direct language to break through jargon, spark curiosity and quickly identify how people’s daily lives are connected to the environmental issues Mongabay covers in-depth. - To reach new audiences, the desk responds quickly to emerging developments, condenses long-form reports into concise updates, and adapts stories for mobile and social media use. - The desk has already shown strong results by expanding production, increasing readership, and demonstrating real-world impact throughout academic and advocacy circles. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Flores’ geothermal ambitions collide with justice, culture & local resistance 16 Jan 2026 08:50:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/flores-geothermal-ambitions-collide-with-justice-culture-local-resistance/ author: Basten Gokkon dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: When Indonesia designated Flores a “geothermal island” in 2017, identifying up to 21 geothermal sites, the policy was framed as a cornerstone of the country’s renewable energy transition. Backed by international lenders and enshrined as a “national strategic project,” Flores was positioned as a global showcase for clean energy. Eight years later, key geothermal projects on the island remain suspended, derailed by sustained resistance from Manggarai communities who argue that the transition has come at the expense of justice, safety and cultural survival, found a study published Nov. 13 in the journal Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. Locator map of Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara. Image by Gunkarta via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Flores of East Nusa Tenggara province is a rugged and mountainous island where electricity access remains uneven. As of 2025, parts of the island were still not connected to the grid, which relies heavily on imported diesel and coal, both costly and polluting. Citing energy insecurity and the nearly 1 trillion rupiah ($59 million) spent annually on electricity subsidies, the government has argued that geothermal power could meet all of the island’s electricity needs. “Flores has become a uniquely distinctive case in Indonesia’s geothermal energy transition. It may even be unprecedented globally, as an entire island has been designated a “geothermal island,” with exploration occurring simultaneously across multiple sites,” Cypri Jehan Paju Dale, a social anthropologist with Kyoto University and University of Wisconsin-Madison who is a corresponding author of the study, told Mongabay in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia’s decision to turn Flores into a “geothermal island” was meant to anchor its renewable energy ambitions on a single, high-profile stage. - Now a decade on, the plan has collided with local realities on a rugged, underdeveloped island where energy access remains uneven and development pressures are intensifying. - A new study traces how this tension has made Flores an unexpected flashpoint in the national debate over how the energy transition should be carried out. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Hopes and fears as Guinea exports iron ore from Simandou mines 16 Jan 2026 08:30:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/hopes-and-fears-as-guinea-exports-iron-ore-from-simandou-mines/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Ashoka Mukpo content:encoded: On Dec. 2, 2025, Guinea celebrated a milestone when a ship loaded with iron ore departed from the newly constructed port of Morebaya on the Atlantic coast. The shipment of 200,000 tonnes of ore, pulled out of the Simandou mountain range in the forested southeast, was destined for China. Successive administrations in the capital Conakry have dreamed of turning the estimated 3 billion tons of ore in the Simandou deposits into cash for decades. Mamady Doumbouya, a military officer who seized power as interim president in 2021, put it at the center of his government’s promises to Guineans. After leaning on the two consortiums that operate mines in Simandou to fast-track construction of the 650-kilometer (400-mile) railway and port facilities needed to bring the ore to market, the first shipment left just weeks before he was elected president in late December. The Simandou mountain range before mining began. Image by cjvp via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) In a symbolic gesture, it contained ore extracted by each of the two consortiums. Simfer is a joint venture between the Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto and a group of Chinese companies that includes the state-owned aluminum producer Chinalco. The other, Winning Consortium Simandou, is partly owned by Singaporean investors but is dominated by Chinese interests and firms like the China Baowu Steel Group. Guinea’s government holds a 15% ownership stake in both projects, as well as in a separate joint venture established to build and then run the railway and port facilities needed to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - After decades of planning, the first shipment of iron ore from Guinea’s Simandou mines is on its way to China. - The shipment marks the beginning of an era in which Guinea is expected to become one of the world’s leading producers of iron ore. - Environmental advocates say that damage from the mines so far has gone largely unaddressed. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
In the race for DRC’s critical minerals, community forests stand on the frontline 16 Jan 2026 08:00:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/in-the-race-for-drcs-critical-minerals-community-forests-stand-on-the-frontline/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Didier MakalLatoya Abulu content:encoded: LIKASI, Democratic Republic of Congo — North of the limits of the Lukutwe community forest concession, two armed soldiers stepped in front of Valery Kyembo and his visitors. Wearing a bright orange vest with the logo of a reforestation project, Kyembo was guiding our journalists through a heavily deforested area in the copper-cobalt belt of the Democratic Republic of Congo, stepping around newly planted seedlings, when he was stopped by members of the FARDC, the national armed forces. Behind them stood a barrier to control access to a semi-industrial mine. “We are visiting the boundaries of our community’s property,” Kyembo tried to explain, before one of the soldiers brandished his automatic weapon to make him turn back. The land in question is the Lukutwe community forest concession (CFCL), 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Lubumbashi, the second-largest city in the DRC. The concession is a titled property created in the mineral-rich area of southeastern DRC by village leaders who sought to protect their land rights and miombo forests against a growing wave of mining companies taking up lands. Valery Kyembo walking in the Lukutwe forest concession in Likasi on November 26, 2025. Image by Glody MURHABAZI / AFP. Ten years ago, the displacement of nearby famers from the villages of Bungubungu and Shilasimba by Société d’Exploitation de Kipoi (SEK), a company owned by Australia-based Tiger Resources in search of copper and cobalt, sparked worry in Lukutwe village that their village could be next. “That’s why when the environmental project came to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s copper-cobalt belt, a region rich in critical minerals, villagers are turning to local community forest concessions (CFCLs) to prevent their eviction and conserve the remaining savanna forests in the face of mining expansion. - This is an area where miners from the DRC, China, the U.S. and elsewhere are searching for the minerals powering the high-tech, weapons and clean energy industries. - Community forest concessions offer communities land titles in perpetuity and have environmental management plans led by Indigenous and local communities with the support of environmental NGOs and donors. - But these concessions are not a perfect solution against deforestation or the eviction of communities by mining, and also suffer from a lack of funding to support all their environmental efforts. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Ocean set ‘alarming’ new temperature record in 2025 16 Jan 2026 01:43:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/ocean-set-alarming-new-temperature-record-in-2025/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: Every calendar year since 2019, ocean temperatures have reached new record highs. 2025 was no exception, according to a new study. The study, published Jan. 9 in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, found that the ocean heat content (OHC) in the upper 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) of the water column had increased by a larger amount than in any year since 2017. “Holy shit, the oceans are hot,” John Abraham, a professor of thermal sciences at the University of St. Thomas in the U.S. and a coauthor of the study, told Mongabay. “I would say it’s an exceptionally large [heat] increase, and it’s surprisingly large and it’s alarmingly large,” he added. Global ocean heat content (OHC) changes for the upper 2,000 m (6,562 ft) of ocean waters since 1958, according to the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). A 1981-2010 average is set as the reference level. The black curves represent monthly changes while the columns show yearly changes. The green bars represent uncertainty estimates. Image by Pan et al., 2025 (CC BY 4.0). Lijing Cheng, a professor at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, seated in the green chair, led the multi-team study on ocean temperatures for calendar year 2025. Image courtesy of Chenhao Guo. The study was undertaken by 55 scientists in 10 research teams located all over the world and led by Lijing Cheng of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Ocean temperatures set a record high in 2025, according to a new study. - The authors found that the heat content of the ocean increased by about 23 zettajoules between 2024 and 2025. That’s roughly the equivalent of 210 times humanity’s annual electricity generation. - The ocean has warmed significantly in recent decades largely because it absorbs roughly 90% of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by human-caused greenhouse gases. That makes the ocean a key indicator of global warming. - Warming ocean temperatures contribute to sea-level rise and to extreme weather events, which were frequent in 2025. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Nitrogen may turbocharge regrowth in young tropical forest trees 15 Jan 2026 16:41:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/nitrogen-may-turbocharge-regrowth-in-young-tropical-forest-trees/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: New research finds that tropical forests can grow significantly faster and sequester more climate-warming carbon dioxide when additional nitrogen is available in the soil. “With this information we can prioritise management and conservation practices to maximise forest regrowth,” Kelly Anderson, a research scientist at Missouri Botanical Garden in the U.S., told Mongabay by email. Anderson wasn’t involved with the study but does work with NEXTropics, a network of scientists who collaborate on forest nutrient studies. During the recent study, researchers “wanted to test how either nitrogen or phosphorus limit forest recovery and specifically if there was a shift in that limitation from really young forests to older forests,” Sarah Batterman, corresponding author of the study with the Cary Institute and the University of Leeds, told Mongabay in a video call. To test both nutrients the research team conducted a long-term field experiment in Panama. Research plots were established in 2015 and 2016 in recovering forests of three different ages: those on recently abandoned pasture; young secondary forest (10 years); and older secondary forests (30 years). They also looked at mature forest plots established in 1997, for a total of 76 experimental plots. For each age of forest, plots received one of four treatments: added nitrogen, added phosphorus, both nutrients, and control plots where nothing was added. They also established several replicate plots where they repeated the experiments. Batterman said the strongest response was in young trees that received additional nitrogen. “So, in the first 10 years of forest recovery, the forests…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: New research finds that tropical forests can grow significantly faster and sequester more climate-warming carbon dioxide when additional nitrogen is available in the soil. “With this information we can prioritise management and conservation practices to maximise forest regrowth,” Kelly Anderson, a research scientist at Missouri Botanical Garden in the U.S., told Mongabay by email. Anderson […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Involuntary parks: Human conflict is creating unintended refuges for wildlife 15 Jan 2026 16:10:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/involuntary-parks-human-conflict-is-creating-unintended-refuges-for-wildlife/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Annelise Giseburt content:encoded: Few locations on Earth are as haunting or deeply ironic as so-called involuntary parks — places too toxic, dangerous, or otherwise made off-limits for human habitation, but which have paradoxically and unintentionally become sanctuaries for wildlife in our absence. As the name coined by science fiction author Bruce Sterling suggests, involuntary parks weren’t established for conservation — and in many cases aren’t formally recognized as preserves. Some encompass former nuclear, military or manufacturing complexes and/or their buffer zones. Some are sites of major environmental disasters, former battlefields laced with unexploded munitions, or slices of no-man’s land demarcating tense borders between geopolitical rivals. Landmine warning sign in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a legacy of the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. In Ukraine, land mines have rendered large areas off-limits to people, while past wars left huge areas pocked by land mines in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Iraq, Syria, Angola and elsewhere, despite a global treaty banning their use. Image by Darij Zadnikar via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Despite their often destructive origins, a growing number of these involuntary parks have, over time, been officially designated as protected wildlife refuges or cross-border peace parks, actively managed by government organizations and advocated for by citizens and researchers — not so “involuntary” anymore. It’s an attractive narrative. But without sufficient context, the genesis of an involuntary park (a process also controversially dubbed passive rewilding) can “imply that nature simply fixes itself, or that in the absence of human intervention, a favorable recovery inevitably occurs at sites that may…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Involuntary parks — areas made largely untenable for human habitation due to environmental contamination, war, border disputes or other forms of conflict and violence — have often unintentionally benefited nature, with flora and fauna sometimes thriving in the absence of people. - In some cases, these unanticipated refugia have been formalized as wildlife preserves. Hanford Reach National Monument in the U.S. state of Washington is one example. Though the land of this conserved area surrounds a Cold War site contaminated by chemical and radioactive waste, hundreds of species thrive there. - The southern Kuril Islands — territory disputed by Russia and Japan — offer another example. Russia has set up preserves within the long-contested area, while Japan has declared a national park just outside it. But attempts at creating a permanent border peace park or resolving tensions have failed, and future conservation is uncertain. - With the world now rocked by geopolitical conflict and by worsening environmental disasters (due to pollution, climate change and land-use change), nations need to assess how places that become unhealthy to humanity — turning them into involuntary parks — can be healed, and what role conservation can play in recovery. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
A novel sanctuary in Antarctica is preserving ice samples from rapidly melting glaciers 15 Jan 2026 16:05:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/a-novel-sanctuary-in-antarctica-is-preserving-ice-samples-from-rapidly-melting-glaciers/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: ROME (AP) — Scientists in Antarctica on Wednesday inaugurated the first global repository of mountain ice cores, preserving the history of the Earth’s atmosphere in a frozen vault for future generations to study as global warming melts glaciers around the world. An ice core is something of an atmospheric time capsule, containing information about the Earth’s past changes in a frozen climate archive. With global glaciers melting at an unprecedented rate, scientists have raced to preserve ice cores for future study before they disappear altogether. The Ice Memory Foundation, a consortium of European research institutes, inaugurated the frozen sanctuary on Wednesday at the Concordia station in the Antarctic Plateau. The foundation livestreamed the ceremonial ribbon cutting and opening of the frozen cave where the ice samples will be kept for future generations. The first two sets of samples of Alpine mountain ice cores were drilled out of Mont Blanc in France and Grand Combin in Switzerland and arrived at the station after a 50-day refrigerated icebreaker and plane journey from Trieste, Italy. During the inauguration ceremony, pairs of foundation team members brought box after box of ice cores into the cave, burrowed deep into a 5-meter (yard) high compacted snow drift at a constant temperature of around -52°C/-61°F. “By safeguarding physical samples of atmospheric gases, aerosols, pollutants and dust trapped in ice layers, the Ice Memory Foundation ensures that future generations of researchers will be able to study past climate conditions using technologies that may not yet exist,” said Carlo Barbante, vice chair of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: ROME (AP) — Scientists in Antarctica on Wednesday inaugurated the first global repository of mountain ice cores, preserving the history of the Earth’s atmosphere in a frozen vault for future generations to study as global warming melts glaciers around the world. An ice core is something of an atmospheric time capsule, containing information about the Earth’s past […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Indonesia backs away from coal exit test case amid financial and political pushback 15 Jan 2026 13:44:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-backs-away-from-coal-exit-test-case-amid-financial-and-political-pushback/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has scrapped a plan to retire a major coal-fired power plant, after having promised for years to do so. Airlangga Hartarto, the country’s chief economics minister, said in December that it would be unfeasible to shut down the 660-megawatt Cirebon-1 plant by 2035, which is seven years ahead of its scheduled end of operation. But energy analysts and civil society groups say the decision reflects deeper political and financial resistance to moving away from coal — resistance that could undermine Indonesia’s energy transition at a time when global climate finance is becoming harder to secure. The failure of the early retirement plan for Cirebon-1 exposes how government policies that continue to protect and subsidize coal make it costly to shut plants early, they warn, even as Indonesia seeks international funding to do so. Airlangga said the decision was “based on technical considerations,” arguing that the plant, which went into operation in 2012, is still relatively young and therefore has a long operating life ahead. He also said Cirebon-1 uses “relatively better” technology that results in lower emissions, making it a less suitable candidate for early retirement compared with older, dirtier coal plants. As such, he said, the government will focus on shutting down older units, where the environmental benefits would be greater. “We will look for an alternative — one that is older and whose environmental impacts clearly mean it should already be retired,” he said on Dec. 5, as quoted by state news agency…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia has abandoned plans to retire the Cirebon-1 coal plant early, citing technical and financial concerns, dealing a blow to what was meant to be a flagship test case for coal phaseout backed by international climate finance. - Analysts say the decision reflects deeper structural resistance to moving away from coal, driven by long-term power contracts, coal subsidies, and policies that make early retirement costly while keeping coal artificially cheap. - The reversal risks undermining Indonesia’s credibility with global partners and investors, particularly under initiatives like the JETP, and exposes inconsistencies between political pledges on renewables and binding policy action. - Critics argue early coal retirement would benefit Indonesia overall if full costs were counted, including health and environmental impacts, but political ties between coal interests and policymakers, along with uncertainty in global climate finance, continue to stall progress. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Doug McConnell, interpreter of Northern California, has died, aged 80 15 Jan 2026 13:35:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/doug-mcconnell-interpreter-of-northern-california-has-died-aged-80/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Doug McConnell spent much of his adult life doing something that sounds simple and is not: he helped people look closely at the places where they lived. For decades he turned Northern California’s open spaces, back roads, and overlooked corners into familiar destinations people came to recognize and talk about, shown not as scenery but as places shaped by human care and choice. He died on January 13th 2026, after nearly half a century on air and in the field, still working, still curious, still convinced that attention to land mattered. He was a broadcaster, but his real subject was place. McConnell’s programs treated public land as something worth learning about, not just visiting. He did not lecture or scold. He did not argue from a studio desk. He drove, walked, hiked, climbed, and filmed. He listened to rangers, volunteers, advocates, and scientists, and tried to explain what they were doing in plain terms to viewers who might never attend a planning meeting or read an environmental report. McConnell often described himself as someone fortunate to have joined two long-held interests: nature and storytelling. “Getting a chance to do what I have been now doing for so many decades, which is to go wander around, usually with a small camera team and put the spotlight on great people, great places and the wonderful people doing great things on our behalf, has really been a way for me to combine my two passions in life,” he once told the Midpeninsula Regional…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Doug McConnell, who died on January 13, 2026, spent decades using local television to help Northern Californians see their landscapes as shared civic assets rather than scenery, making conservation legible, practical, and personal. - Best known for Bay Area Backroads and OpenRoad with Doug McConnell, he treated parks, trails, and open space as the result of human choices and public effort, consistently foregrounding the people and institutions that protected them. - A storyteller shaped by a lifelong love of California’s diversity, he combined curiosity about place with a clear-eyed understanding of governance, showing how history, policy, and persistence shape the land people inherit. - At a time of mounting environmental strain, McConnell resisted despair by staying close to the work itself, drawing energy from those quietly maintaining and restoring the natural world, and inviting viewers to join them by paying attention. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Democratizing AI for conservation: Interview with Ai2’s Ted Schmitt and Patrick Beukema 15 Jan 2026 07:29:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/democratizing-ai-for-conservation-interview-with-ai2s-ted-schmitt-and-patrick-beukema/ author: Abhishyantkidangoor dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: Environmental data-gathering technology has proliferated in recent years. But how do you derive meaningful insights from myriad data sources? A new AI-powered platform aims to solve this problem. OlmoEarth, developed by the nonprofit Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), is a platform that integrates multiple artificial intelligence models that have been trained on approximately 10 terabytes of environment observation data. The open-source platform, launched in November, helps extract actionable insights from satellite as well as sensor data. The platform allows researchers as well as organizations to use their own data to customize a foundational model and use it to monitor trends such as forest loss or mangrove health without having to build models from scratch. “It’s intended to democratize access to this kind of technology in a no-code kind of way,” Patrick Beukema, the OlmoEarth lead at Ai2, told Mongabay in a video interview. The motivation behind building the platform was to drastically reduce the time scientists spent parsing through humongous volumes of data to get meaningful information from it. “What we set out to do was to flip that on its head and really go from them spending months to literally days to get the same sort of information,” Ted Schmitt, senior director of conservation at Ai2, told Mongabay in a video interview. Mangrove tree rising out of crystal clear turquoise water on the tropical beach of Havelock Island, Andaman Sea, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Image by Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Beukema and Schmitt spoke…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - OlmoEarth is a platform that integrates multiple AI models to extract meaningful insights from environmental data. - The platform, developed by nonprofit organization Allen Institute for AI, is trained on 10 terabytes’ worth of Earth observation data. - The platform enables researchers as well as conservation organizations to analyze massive data sets by customizing AI models on the platform. authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |
|
Greenland sharks retain functional vision despite extreme longevity 14 Jan 2026 15:10:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/greenland-sharks-retain-functional-vision-despite-extreme-longevity/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Greenland sharks are the longest-living vertebrate known to science, topping out at more than 400 years old, and scientists have largely believed they were nearly blind. But new research suggests they actually can see, and, remarkably, maintain their vision for more than a century. Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) mostly live in the cold waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic, in the ocean’s dimly lit twilight zone, at depths of 200-1,000 meters (660-3,300 feet). Their dark habitat led scientists to believe that the sharks could barely see. Many Greenland sharks have also been found with parasites in their eyes, raising the possibility they may even be blind. Lily Fogg, who researches fish vision at the University of Basel in Switzerland, told Mongabay in a video call that shark biologist John Fleng Steffensen approached her to study the Greenland shark’s vision. Fleng Steffensen originally discovered Greenland sharks’ incredible longevity, and had 10 shark specimens from an ongoing study. “He said, ‘I’ve got these eyes, would you like to do a study on them?’ And we said, ‘Why not? That’s a great opportunity.’ If they’re going in the bin, then that would just be a waste,” Fogg said. So, Fogg and her team synthesized the shark’s genome and found that the genes involved with vision were still intact and functioning. The team also looked at cross sections of the sharks’ eyes to see if the structure of the tissue was degraded. “We found that it’s actually beautifully intact,” Fogg said. Furthermore, the researchers found…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Greenland sharks are the longest-living vertebrate known to science, topping out at more than 400 years old, and scientists have largely believed they were nearly blind. But new research suggests they actually can see, and, remarkably, maintain their vision for more than a century. Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) mostly live in the cold waters of […] authors: | ||
| Search Facebook | Check Twitter | |