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Angolan communities return to seasonal migration amid severe drought 11 Sep 2026 19:54:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/angolan-communities-return-to-seasonal-migration-amid-severe-drought/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: Several years of severe drought are forcing people to leave their homes in Angola to search for water and food in neighboring Namibia. “There is real hunger and thirst here; that’s why the village has become depopulated,” Nghikembua (not his real name), who lives in Cunene Province in southern Angola, told Amnesty International in 2021. Nghikembua said nearly all the able-bodied people of his village have left, leaving behind only the elderly, like himself, “Those who still had some strength left felt forced to leave the village for Namibia.” More than 1.8 million people live in Cunene and nearly 75% of the population is rural and depends on pastoralism and subsistence farming. “Southern Angola has experienced repeated severe droughts, extreme heat and environmental degradation for quite a number of years, leaving families without water, crops, or livestock,” said Victor Nyamori, an Amnesty International researcher and migration lawyer who collected the testimonies for the recently published report featuring Nghikembua. Approximately 30% of the area has been degraded by desertification, according to the Amnesty International report, leaving many subsistence communities without livelihoods. “Namibia has also suffered from drought, but the state has responded much better and has put solutions in place to prevent the population from falling into food insecurity and to ensure access to water,” Nyamori told Mongabay in a phone call. Between 2023 and 2024, a strong El Niño event brought the most severe drought in more than a century to the region. Namibia responded to the drought by expanding…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Several years of severe drought are forcing people to leave their homes in Angola to search for water and food in neighboring Namibia. “There is real hunger and thirst here; that’s why the village has become depopulated,” Nghikembua (not his real name), who lives in Cunene Province in southern Angola, told Amnesty International in 2021. […] authors: | ||
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Federal court rejects Trump order keeping Michigan coal plant open 11 Sep 2026 19:31:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/federal-court-rejects-trump-order-keeping-michigan-coal-plant-open/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: WASHINGTON (AP) — In a defeat for the Trump administration, a federal court on Friday ruled that the Energy Department exceeded its authority when it forced a Michigan coal-fired power to stay open past its scheduled retirement date last year. Energy Secretary Chris Wright had said the 64-year-old J.H. Campbell plant was needed to ensure reliable electricity in the region and used emergency powers to keep it operating. Environmental groups and three states — Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota — went to court to try to overturn orders keeping the plant online. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the states and the groups, saying there was no real emergency under the law. The section of the Federal Power Act that allows emergency orders “is essentially a narrow, last-resort backstop,” Appeals Court Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. By reversing the Campbell plant’s “long and carefully planned retirement … the results are disruptive,” Pillard wrote. There was “no ‘emergency’ within the meaning” of the statute, she added. The Michigan case is one several legal disputes that have emerged across the country as the Trump administration uses emergency powers to force a half-dozen coal-fired plants from closing. The orders are raising ratepayer bills, critics say, and adding air and water pollution that could otherwise have been avoided. Keeping the Michigan plant open cost at least $135 million in 2025 alone, officials said. Ted Kelly, U.S. clean energy director at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the court ruling rejected…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: WASHINGTON (AP) — In a defeat for the Trump administration, a federal court on Friday ruled that the Energy Department exceeded its authority when it forced a Michigan coal-fired power to stay open past its scheduled retirement date last year. Energy Secretary Chris Wright had said the 64-year-old J.H. Campbell plant was needed to ensure […] authors: | ||
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Mozambique protects Mount Mabu ‘butterfly forest’ 11 Sep 2026 16:03:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/mozambique-protects-mount-mabu-butterfly-forest/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Mozambique has formally protected Mount Mabu, a hotspot of endemic wildlife and home to more than 200 species of butterflies, located in the Lugela district of northern Mozambique. The decree, published on Aug. 24 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, created the 9,341-hectare (23,082-acre) Mount Mabu Community Conservation Area, with stewardship of the land granted to the local communities that have preserved the forest for generations. “It’s a great relief,” Julian Bayliss, an ecologist who led several surveys over 20 years that helped build the case for protecting Mount Mabu, told Mongabay by phone. “These forests are very important because they’ve got high levels of endemism.” Map by Emilie Languedoc/Mongabay. Every year in October and November, hundreds of butterflies gather in the morning on the 1,700-meter (5,577-foot) summit of Mount Mabu, a mating behavior scientists call hilltopping. In 2013, the phenomenon was documented by naturalist David Attenborough who lent Mount Mabu the nickname “butterfly forest.” Scientists have recorded more than 200 butterfly taxa at Mabu but say the real number could reach 250 with further surveys. Since 2005, more than 30 species, including frogs, chameleons, bats and insects, have been discovered in the forests of Mabu. Bayliss and colleagues most recently described a new-to-science cobalt-blue butterfly, Iolaus mabuensis, found by a research team he led in Mabu in 2008. Only one specimen of the species has been collected to date, Bayliss said. Front and back of the Iolaus mabuensis butterfly. Image courtesy of Szabolcs Sáfián. Bayliss was also…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Mozambique has formally protected Mount Mabu, a hotspot of endemic wildlife and home to more than 200 species of butterflies, located in the Lugela district of northern Mozambique. The decree, published on Aug. 24 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, created the 9,341-hectare (23,082-acre) Mount Mabu Community Conservation Area, with stewardship of the […] authors: | ||
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Migratory bird species increasingly at risk, report finds, but there is still hope 11 Sep 2026 13:54:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/migratory-bird-species-increasingly-at-risk-report-finds-but-there-is-still-hope/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Every year, billions of birds take to the skies, responding to changing seasons, navigating to breeding sites or escaping the cold of winter. The newest edition of BirdLife International’s State of the World’s Birds report says 45% of migratory bird species are in decline — 11% are threatened with extinction, the authors write. Launched at the Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sept. 11, the report is the first to focus on migratory birds. Migratory birds are sensitive indicators of wider ecosystem health, the report’s lead author Lucy Haskell, senior science officer at BirdLife, told Mongabay in an interview. They play a vital role in connecting ecosystems, cultures and people. “This report is about migratory birds, but it also serves as a warning about the state of the planet in general,” she said. Invasive species, agricultural expansion, climate change, residential and commercial development and hunting are major threats facing multiple species across the globe. The report found that seabirds and shorebirds are particularly threatened, while species that depend on marine habitats, forests and coastal wetlands are also increasingly imperiled. An Egyptian vulture in Spain. This species’ ongoing recovery is an example of how concerted conservation action can have a positive impact, experts say. Image © Lars Petersson. Last year, the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, officially confirmed the extinction of the slender-bill curlew, last seen in Morocco in 1995. It’s a poignant example of the pressures facing birds the world over, the experts say. Seven other migratory avian…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The new State of the World’s Birds report says 45% of migratory bird species are in decline with 11% threatened with extinction. - “This report is about migratory birds, but it also serves as a warning about the state of the planet in general,” the report’s lead author says. - Currently only around 9% of migratory bird species have adequate protection across their full cycle, compared with 45% of non-migratory species, the report states. - The launch of the report coincided with the signing of the Nairobi Flyways Declaration by governments, conservation organizations and others that are committing to protecting vital flyways. authors: | ||
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World Dolphin Day: Reporting unusual behavior, threats and increased protections 11 Sep 2026 13:24:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/world-dolphin-day-reporting-unusual-behavior-threats-and-increased-protections/ author: Shanna Hanbury dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Nine dolphin species, and several more subspecies and local populations, are currently critically endangered or endangered, according to the most recent assessment by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. September 12 marks World Dolphin Day, an awareness day created in 2022 by marine conservation nonprofit Sea Shepherd to bring attention to the threats that these highly intelligent mammals face. In late 2025, Lahille’s bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus gephyreus), a subspecies of the common bottlenose dolphin, was reclassified from vulnerable to endangered, with fewer than 400 individuals estimated to remain in the wild. Its main threat, according the IUCN, is being killed as bycatch in gillnet fisheries that operate along the coasts of southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. While threats to species and sub-species remain, efforts are being made to protect and better understand dolphins across the globe, from research uncovering novel behaviors, and increased formal protections, to steps to end cruel confinement practices. For this World Dolphin Day, we present three recent Mongabay stories reporting on dolphins around the world. Illegal drift nets trap dolphins in the Mediterranean despite ban The use of drift nets to catch swordfish is banned in the Mediterranean because the gear often traps dolphins, whales, sharks and turtles. But recent investigations by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) found it was still widely in use in the Alboran Sea between northwestern Morocco and the south coast of Spain, Mongabay’s Victoria Schneider reported in July. “We can see that it is having an impact on precious…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Nine dolphin species, and several more subspecies and local populations, are currently critically endangered or endangered, according to the most recent assessment by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. September 12 marks World Dolphin Day, an awareness day created in 2022 by marine conservation nonprofit Sea Shepherd to bring attention to the threats that […] authors: | ||
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Lack of data hinders fight against environmental crimes in Angola, says environmentalist 11 Sep 2026 12:02:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lack-of-data-hinders-fight-against-environmental-crimes-in-angola-says-environmentalist/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: David Tjyakala content:encoded: Angola faces severe environmental challenges, and the govern has signed international commitments, such as the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment, to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by 2030 and cut hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by 80% by 2045. However, climate crises such as prolonged droughts affecting the country’s southern region, soil degradation, and floods caused by heavy rains continue to have significant social and economic impacts. It is estimated that more than 2.2 million people are affected by these phenomena. It is against this backdrop that the voice of a new generation of Angolan environmentalists is gaining prominence. Among them is 29-year-old Érica Tavares. She studied Environmental Biology at the University of Nottingham in the UK and now works with environmental conservation and youth mobilization in Angola. She is a co-founder of the NGO EcoAngola and has been at the forefront of forest advocacy, environmental education and youth participation in sustainability debates. In an interview with Mongabay Brazil, Tavares discusses her journey as an environmentalist and the issues that concern her most. Érica Tavares, co-founder of the NGO EcoAngola. Image by EcoAngola Image Bank. Mongabay: How would you describe the state of the environment in Angola in 2026? Is it better or worse than five years ago? Érica Tavares: It’s always difficult to answer that question — which I am often asked — because one of our major challenges is the analysis of [nonexistent] data and information. To conduct a comparative analysis between now and five years ago, we would need to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - At 29, Érica Tavares represents a new generation of environmentalists in Angola, where she leads the NGO EcoAngola. - She advocates for satellite monitoring, specialized oversight and energy solutions to curb illegal deforestation. - Tavares says the government’s strategies and plans still fall short of what Angolans need to address environmental challenges. authors: | ||
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Indigenous knowledge x tech in the search for a tiny Amazon monkey 11 Sep 2026 10:40:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-x-tech-in-the-search-for-a-tiny-amazon-monkey/ author: Abhishyantkidangoor dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: How do you search for the world’s smallest monkey? Earlier this year, Nicolás Schuldt Durán took on this task after he was approached by members of an Indigenous community in Ecuador. Ever since, he’s been tapping into the knowledge of the Siekopai people and combining it with passive acoustic monitoring technology to look for pygmy marmosets. Spoiler alert: They’re still looking for this elusive species. Working in the Siekoya Remolino community in Ecuador, Durán is collaborating with Indigenous community members to track pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea), locally called leoncillo, and gather data on where they live and how they’re faring. “The community has already been setting up camera traps and running a territorial monitoring program to catch hunters and loggers,” Durán, founder of conservation technology organization Neblina Labs, told Mongabay in a video interview. “This is just adding one more tool to their toolkit to monitor biodiversity.” Pygmy marmosets are threatened by the illegal pet trade as well as deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. Image by David Reece via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Pygmy marmosets, native to the western Amazon Basin, are so small that an adult weighs only 140-150 grams (about 5 ounces), or the weight of a small apple. They live high up in trees and are known for their high-pitched calls, including whistles that are often in the ultrasonic range and which they use to communicate with one another. Classified as vulnerable to extinction, these primates are threatened by the illegal pet trade as well as deforestation…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Conservationists are collaborating with Indigenous communities in Ecuador to look for the world’s smallest monkey. - Pygmy marmosets live high up in trees and are hard to monitor visually; they’re also a key indicator of how forests are faring in the face of deforestation and degradation. - Conservationists are using passive acoustic monitoring to find the monkeys; they’re also training the communities on using the technology for the future. authors: | ||
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Nigeria’s Rachel Ikemeh wins Rolex Award for efforts to save rare red monkey 11 Sep 2026 09:51:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/nigerias-rachel-ikemeh-wins-rolex-award-for-efforts-to-save-rare-red-monkey/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: Nigerian conservationist Rachel Ikemeh has been named the 2026 Rolex Award laureate, for her work with communities in the Niger Delta to protect the region’s ecology and the critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey. The red colobus (Piliocolobus epieni), a monkey known as epieni by the region’s communities, is listed as one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. It was first described scientifically in 1993. At the time, there were about 10,000 epieni estimated to be living across its limited range in the Niger Delta. However, by 2013, their numbers had plunged to just hundreds rather than thousands of individuals, Ikemeh noted in a study. In 2021, Ikemeh and her colleagues helped establish a 1,010-hectare (2,496-acre) community-protected area for the epieni in Apoi, a town within the monkey’s range. By 2024, the monkey’s population had doubled within the community-protected forest, from 180-200 individuals in 2021, Ikemeh told Mongabay by email. She added the team has since helped create community conservation areas in the neighboring communities of Garnaut and Kokoloama. The award “feels less like a personal honour and more like validation for the community model itself,” Ikemeh said. She added she’s optimistic about the epieni’s future because she’s seen community perception around their conservation model shift over the years. “[T]he same community who once suspected we’d come to ‘collect their forest’ for the government now talk about epieni as a source of pride, something that put their village on the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Nigerian conservationist Rachel Ikemeh has been named the 2026 Rolex Award laureate, for her work with communities in the Niger Delta to protect the region’s ecology and the critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey. The red colobus (Piliocolobus epieni), a monkey known as epieni by the region’s communities, is listed as one of the […] authors: | ||
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Can mining gold be sustainable? 11 Sep 2026 07:32:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/can-mining-gold-be-sustainable/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Felipe Esparza content:encoded: In Madre de Dios, Peru, gold mining is deeply intertwined with the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people. But the industry is also leaving a heavy mark on the Amazon, with mercury pollution and deforestation reshaping one of the world’s most biodiverse forests. In La Pampa, an area known for gold mining, a formalized artisanal mining operation is attempting to find a different path. By using mercury-free technologies, the project aims to show that small-scale mining can produce “clean gold.” But making that transition is far from simple. The operation faces violence, informal economies, bureaucratic obstacles and limited government support. Through the stories of miners, workers and local businesses, the film looks at the challenges of moving toward more responsible mining in a region where environmental protection and economic survival are deeply connected. This video is supported by the Amazon Film Grant, as part of the One World Media Fellowship.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In Madre de Dios, Peru, gold mining is deeply intertwined with the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people. But the industry is also leaving a heavy mark on the Amazon, with mercury pollution and deforestation reshaping one of the world’s most biodiverse forests. In La Pampa, an area known for gold mining, a formalized […] authors: | ||
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Javan rhinos survive eruption in Indonesia, but single habitat leaves species vulnerable 11 Sep 2026 01:33:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/javan-rhinos-survive-eruption-in-indonesia-but-single-habitat-leaves-species-vulnerable/ author: Basten Gokkon dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: Indonesia’s critically endangered Javan rhinos appear to be safe despite an ongoing eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau near their last remaining habitat, conservation authorities said. Ardi Andono, head of Ujung Kulon National Park, home to the world’s only wild population of Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus), said on Sept. 7 that the rhinos’ habitat had been minimally affected by vibrations and noise from Anak Krakatau, which began erupting on Sept. 4. Mount Anak Krakatau, an active volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, lies about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the park on Java’s southwestern tip, and its recent eruption sent ash across parts of both islands, disrupting air travel and prompting some schools and fishing activities to halt. “The Javan rhinos remained safe and still appear normal,” Ardi told Mongabay in a WhatsApp message, adding that his park rangers continue to stand on guard. A female calf of the Javan rhinoceros with her mother. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry. The number of Javan rhinos remaining in the wild is disputed. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates the current minimum population of Javan rhinos at about 50, a figure used by conservation groups such as Save the Rhino International, while Indonesia’s forestry ministry puts the population at 87 to 100. The government’s figures have previously faced scrutiny after a 2023 investigation by Indonesian environmental group Auriga Nusantara found that rhinos not seen by camera traps for years, including some later…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia’s critically endangered Javan rhinos appear to have weathered a recent volcanic eruption near their only remaining habitat, highlighting the precarious position of one of the world’s rarest large mammals. - With the entire wild population concentrated in one coastal national park, the species faces risks from natural disasters as well as the challenges of conservation and population management. - Efforts to give the rhinos greater protection have included plans for a second habitat and attempts to move the animals to safer areas. authors: | ||
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Court rules residents of a US city don’t have a constitutional right to lead-free water 10 Sep 2026 20:38:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/court-rules-residents-of-a-us-city-dont-have-a-constitutional-right-to-lead-free-water/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: A U.S. federal court recently ruled that residents of Jackson, Mississippi, don’t have a constitutional right to truthful information from public officials, nor the right to municipal drinking water that is free of lead, a neurotoxin. “The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing,” Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, who was appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump, wrote in the majority opinion. The case was brought by a group of Jackson residents in 2022 who alleged that the city allowed lead to enter the municipal water system and then lied to residents saying the water was safe, though they knew it was not. “Knowing what is in our water is fundamental to protecting public health,” Caroline Leary, general counsel at the U.S.-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group, told Mongabay by email. Jackson is home to roughly 150,000 people. Nearly a quarter of them are children under 18 who are particularly vulnerable to the potentially life-long toxic impacts of lead exposure including seizures, lowered IQ, impaired brain development and even death. The plaintiffs alleged that several of their children have been diagnosed with lead poisoning and now require special educational, medical, sociological, occupational and disability services. The plaintiffs also argued that exposure to contaminated water and the failure to be informed about the risks violated their 14th amendment due process right to bodily integrity. A November 2025 ruling by a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A U.S. federal court recently ruled that residents of Jackson, Mississippi, don’t have a constitutional right to truthful information from public officials, nor the right to municipal drinking water that is free of lead, a neurotoxin. “The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing,” Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt of the U.S. Court of […] authors: | ||
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Japan deploys equipment to Indonesia’s Borneo to help fight wildfires causing toxic haze 10 Sep 2026 18:47:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/japan-deploys-equipment-to-indonesias-borneo-to-help-fight-wildfires-causing-toxic-haze/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: MEMPAWAH, Indonesia (AP) — A Japanese military transport ship docked on the island of Borneo on Thursday as part of a disaster relief mission to help fight wildfires in Indonesia that are causing a toxic haze impacting people’s health in other countries. Japan deployed 300 crew members, landing ship JS Kunisaki and three CH-47 helicopters, which arrived in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The mission in Indonesia marked the first known overseas firefighting operation carried out by the Japan Self-Defense Forces, or JSDF. “To this end, we will learn from the Indonesian military’s operational experience and work in coordination and cooperation with them, striving to ensure that the Indonesian people can lead stable lives as soon as possible,” Col. Syunji Nakahara, the commander of the disaster relief activities, said at a port in Mempawah district. Japan and Indonesia have been also increasingly strengthening their military cooperation ties, with the two sides discussing the Japanese sale of its used destroyers. Indonesia has been plagued by forest and land fires for decades, but an intensifying El Niño pattern this year and a prolonged dry season worsened the impact of the fires. Toxic haze and smoke have caused a health crisis in neighboring countries. The smoke has drifted as far as the Philippines, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away, and breached Malaysia’s emergency-level threshold for air pollution, forcing authorities to declare an emergency last week in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo. The air pollution has also affected several areas on the island of Sumatra, forcing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: MEMPAWAH, Indonesia (AP) — A Japanese military transport ship docked on the island of Borneo on Thursday as part of a disaster relief mission to help fight wildfires in Indonesia that are causing a toxic haze impacting people’s health in other countries. Japan deployed 300 crew members, landing ship JS Kunisaki and three CH-47 helicopters, […] authors: | ||
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Amazon Fund grantees fear a new funding freeze after Brazil’s election 10 Sep 2026 17:34:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/amazon-fund-grantees-fear-a-new-funding-freeze-after-brazils-election/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Fernanda Wenzel content:encoded: In 2018, the Amazon Fund chose to support a project in the Brazilian Amazon helping 614 families engaged in babassu coconut breaking in 11 traditional communities. Encroached on by soy farming and cattle ranching, the families in the state of Tocantins would receive financial support to keep producing oil, flour and handicrafts from this unique Amazonian fruit while reinforcing their role as guardians of the forest. But the promise was short-lived. Jair Bolsonaro took office as Brazil’s president in January 2019, and immediately set his far-right agenda to work dismantling the country’s environmental frameworks and freezing the Amazon Fund’s contributions. The fund was created in 2008, with initial donations from Norway and Germany to reward Brazil for its success in reducing Amazonian deforestation. Over the last 18 years, it has benefited 288,000 people and supported 144 projects in forest restoration, sustainable production, firefighting, inspections and monitoring of environmental crimes, and Indigenous issues. “It is one of the world’s leading funds for investing in projects that protect the rainforest,” said Rayandra Araújo, climate policy specialist at Talanoa, a Brazilian climate think tank. When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva replaced Bolsonaro, returning to the presidency in January 2023, he revived the Amazon Fund’s operations. The babassu coconut breaker project, led by the group Alternatives for Small-Scale Farming in Tocantins (APA-TO), was again considered and began implementation in April 2026. “The project was on hold for almost 10 years,” says Selma Yuki Ishii, the project coordinator and technical director at APA-TO. With Lula,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - As Brazil approaches a pivotal presidential election, grantees of the Amazon Fund warn that a radical change in administration could derail its recent momentum, which saw annual financing quadruple. - While the fund helped drive Amazonian deforestation to its lowest level in a decade, experts warn a new disruption would have greater impacts amid the growing climate crisis. - International donors are already signaling caution, as widespread anxiety reflects the trauma of 2019, when the previous government dismantled Brazil’s environmental frameworks. authors: | ||
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Offshore wind may be good for the climate but can it be good for the ocean, too? 10 Sep 2026 16:38:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/offshore-wind-may-be-good-for-the-climate-but-can-it-be-good-for-the-ocean-too/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: This is Part Three in a Mongabay series about trends in the offshore wind industry. Part One describes the sector’s untapped potential and gaps between installed energy generation capacity and climate goals. Part Two describes challenges the sector faces in scaling up to meet climate goals. Offshore wind farms are growing in number, with many experts saying this renewable source of energy is vital to tackling climate change. But many of the same experts caution that responsible construction is required to avoid potentially large impacts on marine ecosystems as farms proliferate in the coming years. On one hand, offshore wind farms can provide an ecological boon by acting as de facto marine reserves that limit fishing, including harmful practices like bottom trawling. They can also be refugia for fish like sharks and rays, crustaceans and other species, as their structures act as artificial reefs. But offshore wind farms also have a host of negative impacts across their life cycle, from construction to decommissioning. Birds and bats risk collision with offshore wind turbines and loss of habitat to farms, while some marine mammals avoid wind farms or change behavior due to their presence. Bass Rock, Scotland, is home to the world’s largest colony of northern gannets (Morus bassanus). The offshore Berwick Bank Wind Farm is expected to have a significant impact on populations of seabirds like the gannets, as well as guillemots, kittiwakes, razorbills and puffins. Image by Stephen Magee/RSPB. Over the past two decades, offshore wind farm numbers have increased, particularly…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Offshore wind energy is on the rise. Many experts regard it as pivotal to building renewable energy grids around the globe, while also noting that it affects the marine environment. - On one hand, offshore wind farms can create mini marine protected areas by prohibiting harmful practices like bottom trawling, and could eventually enable restoration of depleted habitats like oyster reefs. - But they also bring notable challenges. Alongside well-documented threats to birds and bats, several issues remain poorly understood, such as how large-scale wind platforms might affect ocean circulation, temperature and the movement of sediment. - Researchers say a host of measures can be taken to address some environmental challenges, while underlining the need for continued investment and innovation in solutions. authors: | ||
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‘Forgotten fauna’: Little known river sharks and rays face increased extinction risk 10 Sep 2026 15:48:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/forgotten-fauna-little-known-river-sharks-and-rays-face-increased-extinction-risk/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Malaka Rodrigo content:encoded: The Vashishti River, originating in the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats and flowing into the Arabian Sea along India’s western coast, has long supported traditional fishing communities. But in 2023, local fishers encountered something entirely unexpected. As they hauled a gill net into a boat, a gray body, still making faint movements, emerged tangled in the mesh, and then another surfaced beside it. By the time the net was lifted aboard, three bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) were tangled inside. The video of the incident quickly spread across social media, drawing renewed scientific attention to the presence of sharks in inland and estuarine waters. “This is the first documented report of sharks from the Vashishti River, although historically sharks and rays have been recorded from several major Indian river systems,” Priyankar Chakraborty, an independent marine and wildlife researcher in India, told Mongabay. Across India, dozens of species of sharks and rays (collectively known as elasmobranchs) have been reported as inhabiting estuaries and rivers, but while species such as the bull shark are relatively well documented, many others are known from only a handful of records, leaving major gaps in understanding, Chakraborty said. Globally, around 60 species of sharks and rays spend at least part of their lives in inland waters. Yet compared with their marine counterparts, these species have received remarkably little scientific attention, even though many are among the most threatened vertebrates on Earth, Michael Grant, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Australia and member of the IUCN Species Survival…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Dozens of shark and ray species are known to spend some or all of their life cycle in freshwater environments, but they remain among the least studied and least protected. - According to the IUCN, 76% of non-marine sharks and rays in the Indo-Pacific region are threatened with extinction — about twice the rate of their marine relatives. - Rivers and estuaries are heavily impacted by human activities, and many non-marine sharks and rays have already disappeared from parts of their historic range, with some at risk of vanishing before their conservation needs are understood. authors: | ||
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As saltwater advances, Gambian farmers rethink how to protect rice fields 10 Sep 2026 15:42:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Yero S. Bah content:encoded: Every year, the villagers of Kiang Jifarong contribute labor and money to build earthen dikes using clay and mud in an effort to keep seawater out of their farms. Rice fields once stretched unbroken for 5 kilometers, about 3 miles, along the Bintang Bolong estuary here in western Gambia. For generations, families cultivated rice on these fertile lowlands, relying on seasonal floods and freshwater to sustain one of the country’s oldest farming traditions. There are now worrying gaps in this productive landscape. For 10 years now, many of the villagers have retreated inland, away from the coastline, as saltwater transforms once-productive rice fields into barren land. Farmers say saltwater stress is easy to recognize: rice leaves turn yellow, while harvested grains become light and hollow because the plants fail to develop properly. “The grains become almost empty,” says Tombong Barrow from the Kiang Jifarong village development committee, a statutory body responsible for identifying local development needs at the village level and coordinating responses to them. “The salt makes them useless.” Aerial view of the Bintang Bolong estuary at Kiang Sankandi, the Gambia. Image courtesy of Ansumana Darboe. Jonni Kinteh and Mama Njie, both veteran rice farmers, say they abandoned their fields eight years ago after repeated crop failures linked to salinity. “We have farmed these fields since childhood alongside our mothers,” Kinteh says. “Now we can no longer use them.” “Our parents farmed much closer to the river,” Barrow says. “Now those fields have been completely taken over by salt.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Every year, the villagers of Kiang Jifarong in the Gambia contribute their labor and money to building earthen dikes from clay and mud in an effort to keep seawater out of their rice farms along the Bintang Bolong estuary. - Stretches of salt-blighted or barren plots and growing numbers of farmers moving inland to higher ground are a sign that rising sea levels and uncertain rainfall that could flush saline water out of the estuarine landscape are overcoming this defense. - The villagers look enviously at a UNDP-funded concrete dike at a nearby village, but one sustainable development expert says permanent dikes often aggravate the problem. authors: | ||
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Children’s health at risk in south Borneo as El Niño intensifies Indonesia wildfires 10 Sep 2026 13:22:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/childrens-health-at-risk-in-south-borneo-as-el-nino-intensifies-indonesia-wildfires/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Riyad Dafhi Rizki content:encoded: BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — Siti Sarah slept in fits and starts through August as the fires broke out around her village and surrounding peatlands. One fire on Aug. 18 at first seemed a safe distance away, but in a heartbeat the flames were within 100 meters (330 feet) of her home in Pengayuan, a village in Indonesia’s South Kalimantan province. “The fire seemed to leap up,” Siti told Mongabay Indonesia. “All of a sudden it was right there — it grew so fast.” Cries for help echoed around the village as Siti joined the community’s firefighting press. “I also helped put out a fire,” she said. “By whacking it with a piece of wood.” Two days later, firefighters scrambled to extinguish yet another blaze in the village grounds, dousing the flames before they could reach any homes. Across Indonesia, community and government firefighters have been battling fires like this since the main dry season began in July, many of them burning across carbon-rich peatlands in the low-lying deltas and plains of Borneo and Sumatra. In recent decades, Borneo’s peatlands have been drained for oil palm plantations to meet rising global consumer demand for palm oil. Fire is often used as a cheap way to clear land, but the flames can quickly run out of control across drained peatlands, which become a tinderbox when desiccated by El Niño-fueled drought. Commuters on the road try to shield their noses from the thick haze as they drive. Image by Riyad Dafhi Rizki/Mongabay Indonesia. In…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Wildfires across Borneo and Sumatra are raising health risks for local populations, with some health offices reporting rising rates of respiratory disease. - Mothers in Indonesia’s South Kalimantan province report extensive stress from caregiving and domestic responsibilities as family members fall ill amid harmful air quality caused by hinterland fires. - A strong El Niño is expected to prolong Indonesia’s main dry season, possibly beyond October, elevating risks to people and wildlife from wildfires. - Southeasterly trade winds have spread wildfire pollution beyond Indonesia to neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, whose governments have issued health advisories for their citizens. authors: | ||
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Huge AI data center project blindsides water-stressed town in Brazil 10 Sep 2026 12:00:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/huge-ai-data-center-project-blindsides-water-stressed-town-in-brazil/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Naira Hofmeister content:encoded: PARACATU, Brazil — As the president of Paracatu’s city council, Manoel Alves is used to being courted by companies and executives that want his blessing for new business. But on a Thursday afternoon in May 2026, he was upset talking on the phone about a data center planned for his city, about which he was informed by reporters. “I just heard the data center construction will start in two months. Don’t you guys know about this either?” Alves asked someone at the mayor’s office. The answer from the other side of the call was “no”, the same received from all interviewees: Local authorities, business owners, farmers, and citizens. “It is some new hotel concept?” a major restaurant owner in the city asked. “A dentist?” a citizen in Paracatu’s main square questioned. “Data center? What is this?” queried the guardian of an 18th-century church. Read it in Portuguese. The data center in Paracatu, a municipality located a three-hour drive from Brazil’s capital, Brasília, is not just any data center, but a 1-gigawatt data center, which will be larger than the combined total of all data centers currently installed in the country, which use around 800 megawatts. Or similar to one of the gigantic projects that are part of the Stargate initiative, one of the world’s largest artificial intelligence infrastructure networks, strongly supported by the U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. Paracatu’s data center is being planned by Atlas Renewable Energy, owned by an arm of the global asset manager BlackRock, which already…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Atlas Renewable Energy is planning a 1-gigawatt data center in the Paracatu municipality that exceeds the combined power capacity of all such facilities currently installed in Brazil. - The project risks depleting fragile Cerrado springs in a municipality where around 80% of the territory faces water conflicts and demand already exceeds 100% of available groundwater reserves. - Local authorities and residents say they were never consulted about the multi-billion-dollar investment, which was only revealed to them through inquiries from reporters. - The project reflects a global trend of tech giants seeking out resource-rich countries like Brazil to power an increasingly water and energy intensive AI boom. authors: | ||
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Indigenous fisherwoman finds ‘lost’ spinach pipefish, not seen by science in 40 years 10 Sep 2026 10:52:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/indigenous-fisherwoman-finds-lost-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-by-science-in-40-years/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. On the final day of a two-week expedition, where researchers were searching for a “lost” species along Papua New Guinea’s Sepik River, Helen Asu arrived with two small, greenish-brown fish. She had caught them while fishing for prawns with an umben, a traditional hand net, near Imbando village in East Sepik province. They were spinach pipefish (Microphis spinachioides), a species known only from the Sepik and not recorded by scientists since 1985, reports Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman. “It was honestly an incredible moment,” said Jerrica Agebigo, a researcher at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology and the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, who led the expedition. “When Helen showed the fish to us, I immediately realized that we had found something very special.” The spinach pipefish is a freshwater relative of seahorses and seadragons. It grows to about 15 centimeters (6 inches) and uses its elongated snout to catch small prey. Its coloring helps conceal it among water lilies and other plants along the banks of the Sepik, Papua New Guinea’s longest river. Almost everything else about it remains uncertain. The specimen used to describe the species was held at Hamburg’s natural history museum, but was destroyed during the second world war. When the fish was last assessed for the IUCN Red List in 2016, it was classified as data deficient. It later became one of the 10 most sought-after species on the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. On the final day of a two-week expedition, where researchers were searching for a “lost” species along Papua New Guinea’s Sepik River, Helen Asu arrived with two small, greenish-brown fish. She had caught them while fishing for prawns […] authors: | ||
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Japan wants to plant no-pollen trees to solve its hay fever crisis 10 Sep 2026 06:38:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/japan-wants-to-plant-no-pollen-trees-to-solve-its-hay-fever-crisis/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Two species of trees helped Japan build millions of homes after World War II. However, pollen from those same trees has also fueled a nationwide hay fever allergy. More than 40% of Japan’s population now suffers from hay fever, locally called kafunsho. That’s nearly double the rate in the U.S., reports contributor Jonathan Vit for Mongabay. “Right after the New Year in January, my nose starts to get a little itchy,” Mariko Aoki, who works as a secretary at the National Diet, Japan’s legislature, told Mongabay. “It peaks in March, and the sneezing, runny nose, itchy throat and itchy eyes are really bad. It lasts all the way until just before Golden Week,” which runs from April 29 to May 5. Two tree species are largely to blame: sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) and hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa). Both are fast-growing trees that were widely planted for timber after bombing during the war left Japan in need of millions of homes. Today, forests cover roughly 70% of Japan, and 41% of those forests are planted. Sugi trees account for roughly 40% of planted forests, while hinoki accounts for another 25%. That means two-thirds of the nation’s cultivated forests are planted with trees that can make people sick. Climate change has made things worse: warming has driven sugi trees to release pollen earlier than they used to, making country’s annual pollen season longer and more severe. To solve its hay fever crisis, the Japanese government announced a plan in 2023 to cut down 20% of sugi trees…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Two species of trees helped Japan build millions of homes after World War II. However, pollen from those same trees has also fueled a nationwide hay fever allergy. More than 40% of Japan’s population now suffers from hay fever, locally called kafunsho. That’s nearly double the rate in the U.S., reports contributor Jonathan Vit for […] authors: | ||
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The EU approved an antideforestation law. The US paper lobby sought to weaken it 10 Sep 2026 06:00:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/the-eu-approved-an-antideforestation-law-the-us-paper-lobby-sought-to-weaken-it/ author: Andy Lehren dc:creator: Elizabeth Schell content:encoded: When the European Union’s new anti-deforestation law threatened to expose the environmental costs of logging in North America’s forests, the American paper industry, supported by the U.S. government, mobilized an intense lobbying effort to weaken the legislation. According to lobbying disclosures, the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), a leading trade group representing paper and wood product manufacturers, have spent nearly $11 million dollars on lobbying efforts since 2023, including on the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This year, the group — which represents companies such as Procter & Gamble and International Paper — has already spent $1,3 million on lobbying. AF&PA’s in-house lobbyists — Julie Landry, David Ross, and Clara Cozart — have repeatedly met with members of Congress as well as representatives from the Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, the State Department, the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Trade Representative to discuss the EUDR. Officials from those agencies went on to tour European capitals pressing for exemptions to Europe’s landmark deforestation rules. The campaign escalated last year as the EU revised the final details of the new law, which is set to take effect in December. According to the new rules, companies selling wood, paper, and certain other commodities in Europe must prove their products have not contributed to deforestation or forest degradation. Industry groups have called for the creation of a “no-risk” category with loosened due-diligence requirements. At stake is relations with a major trading partner. The U.S. exported $879.7 million worth of forest products to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Industry groups from the U.S. and Canadian forestry sector pressured the European Union to reduce rules facing North American timber and paper goods under the new European Union Deforestation Regulation. - The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has spent nearly $11 million on lobbying efforts since 2023, and its political action committee contributed $272,041.63 in campaign donations since 2025. - Several lawmakers, including U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, got AF&PA campaign donations and have also pressured the EU for looser regulations. - U.S. and Canadian industry and their governments continue to campaign for exceptions to new European traceability requirements. authors: | ||
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Two wild Przewalski’s horse foals born in Kazakhstan after 200 years 09 Sep 2026 23:59:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/two-wild-przewalskis-horse-foals-born-in-kazakhstan-after-200-years/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Two Przewalski’s horse foals were born in a reintroduction center in the grasslands of central Kazakhstan in late August. They are reportedly the first wild horses born on Kazakh soil in more than 200 years. The first foal, a male, was born Aug. 22 to a 7-year-old mare named Tessa. The second, also male, followed on Aug. 31, born to a mare named Umbra. They share the same father, a stallion named Zorro who has since died. The Equus ferus przewalskii foals have not yet been named, but their births are being celebrated as a milestone of the Kazakhi reintroduction effort. “The birth of these two foals is important because it shows that the horses are adapting to this climate, to this territory,” Alyona Krivosheyeva, conservation director of the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), told Mongabay by phone. “This is the proof of success of what we do.” Rewilded Przewalski’s horses with the second foal born on Aug. 31. Image courtesy of Kanat Batyrkhanuly/ACBK. Both foals were born inside a 56-hectare (140-acre) enclosure at the Alibi Wild Ungulates Reintroduction Center, part of Kazakhstan’s 489,000-hectare (1.2-million-acre) Altyn Dala State Nature Reserve. The reserve has also been an important recovery site for saiga antelopes (Saiga tatarica) and Asiatic wild asses (Equus hemionus kulan). Known locally as kertagy, Przewalski’s horse is the only living wild relative of the domestic horse. It was listed as extinct-in-the-wild until one adult was found in 1996, after which it was re-listed as critically…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Two Przewalski’s horse foals were born in a reintroduction center in the grasslands of central Kazakhstan in late August. They are reportedly the first wild horses born on Kazakh soil in more than 200 years. The first foal, a male, was born Aug. 22 to a 7-year-old mare named Tessa. The second, also male, followed […] authors: | ||
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Nepal’s high-altitude wildernesses & wildlife are increasingly under threat (commentary) 09 Sep 2026 19:49:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-high-altitude-wildernesses-wildlife-are-increasingly-under-threat-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Geraldine WerhahnSabita Gurung content:encoded: Changes like increasing geological and glacial instability driven by the warming climate are a growing concern across the Himalayas. Our hearts go out to the thousands of families across Nepal, China, and around the world grieving their loved ones and searching for those missing after the recent catastrophic flash flood at the Nepal-China border. Though nearly 400 kilometers (almost 250 miles) to the northwest of the recent flash flood zone, our study area in Nepal’s Limi Valley in Upper Humla — a landscape with several villages and a rich wildlife heritage, that we have spent years trying to understand and protect — is also affected by such changes. Limi Valley has been wild for as long as we’ve studied it, but not anymore. After many days of travel to reach the study area recently, our team was excited to check on the Himalayan wolves, to see if its family would be denning in the same spot as last year. We found no wolves. Instead, we found thousands of sheep and goats, trailed by herders from lower-lying villages, free-ranging herd dogs, and patches of burning vegetation. A Himalayan wolf in its natural habitat in Limi Valley, northwestern Nepal. Photo courtesy of Himalayan Wolves Project. Every season we return, there is less wild left to find. Upper Humla’s once-pristine high-altitude habitats are suffering from human encroachment advancing at an unprecedented pace, pushing wildlife into ever-smaller pockets of shrinking habitat. While formal protection of this unique ecosystem has been on the political agenda…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - High-altitude wildernesses like Limi Valley in Nepal are suffering from human encroachment, which is advancing at an unprecedented pace, pushing wildlife into ever-smaller pockets of shrinking habitat. - Creatures ranging from wild yaks to Himalayan wolves, snow leopards, Eurasian lynx, Tibetan brown bears and Pallas’s cats are under pressure from a new wave of herders bringing sheep, goats and dogs into the remotest areas, spreading disease and degrading grazing lands. - “What this high-altitude landscape, its people, and biodiversity need is straightforward: formal legal ecosystem protection from the Nepalese government, led by the stewardship of the Limi community who are best placed to protect it, and supported by conservation organizations,” a new op-ed argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Indigenous land back in Chile brings mixed bag of environmental outcomes: Study 09 Sep 2026 18:59:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-land-back-in-chile-brings-mixed-bag-of-environmental-outcomes-study/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: Indigenous land restitution in Chile came with a mixed bag of environmental outcomes and did not boost natural forest cover, according to a new study published in Nature Sustainability. While the return of ancestral lands gave the Indigenous Mapuche communities in southern Chile greater control over how their land was used — leading to an increase in grasslands for livestock production and a reduction in non-native tree plantations — it did not improve biodiversity, carbon sequestration or erosion control. Researchers say these findings challenge long-held assumptions that Indigenous self-determination automatically equates to positive changes in natural forests, carbon sequestration or biodiversity. “In the past, conservation advocates have at times adopted romanticized views of what such self-determination would mean, assuming that Indigenous communities will always choose to allocate land towards more ‘natural’ uses,” said study co-author Robert Heilmayr, an associate professor at the University of California Santa Barbara in the U.S. He told Mongabay over email that the new research “complicates this narrative,” arguing that true self-determination only emerges when Indigenous communities define for themselves what land uses align with their needs and values. The study set out to understand how Indigenous land restitution in Biobío, Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos reshapes the environment. It did so by analyzing satellite and administrative data from 1,577 properties across 36 communities to compare land use and environmental outcomes before and after land restitution. Researchers focused on what happened after a Chilean land restitution program, known as the Chilean Indigenous Land and Water…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study found that the restitution of 217,000 hectares (about 538,000 acres) of land to Mapuche communities in Chile did not produce the environmental gains often associated with Indigenous land stewardship. - Researchers found that restitution was associated with an increase in grasslands and a decline in non-native plantation forests, but found no significant changes in natural forest cover, carbon sequestration, biodiversity or erosion control. - The study challenges the assumption that Indigenous land restitution automatically results in environmental restoration, while emphasizing that restitution’s primary goals are historical justice and Indigenous self-determination rather than conservation. - Researchers also pointed out that much of the land that was returned to the Mapuche had already been degraded after decades of intensive agriculture and that Mapuche livelihoods have changed since the 16th century, when they were introduced to livestock by the Spanish. authors: | ||
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How to enhance ocean health and resilience with marine rewilding 09 Sep 2026 18:59:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/how-to-enhance-ocean-health-and-resilience-with-marine-rewilding/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Ocean ecosystems are under extreme stress on several fronts including overfishing, ocean acidification, climate change and marine warming. While ocean conservation efforts often tend to focus on creating marine protected areas, researchers recently stressed the need to move beyond protection toward active recovery using a different approach: Marine rewilding. In a new perspective paper, the researchers laid out eight key principles that can guide such rewilding. The concept of “rewilding” is usually applied to terrestrial ecosystems, where the goal is to restore ecological processes and create resilient, self-sustaining ecosystems with minimal human interventions. Gavin Stark, a post-doctoral researcher with the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, and his colleagues, write that one important principle of marine rewilding is that people can’t simply be fenced out of the process. “You cannot really separate people from the rewilding process inside the marine ecosystems,” Stark told Mongabay in a video call. Another key principle of marine rewilding is restoring food webs, which may include reintroducing top predators such as sharks. In 2024, for example, Mongabay reported on a project where eggs of the endangered Indo-Pacific leopard shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) raised in an aquarium in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., were shipped to nurseries in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. So far, the project has released more than 60 young sharks into the protected waters of Raja Ampat with the goal of restoring balance to the region’s coral reef ecosystem. The authors note that along with restoring food webs, strengthening connectivity between ecosystems is also a pillar…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Ocean ecosystems are under extreme stress on several fronts including overfishing, ocean acidification, climate change and marine warming. While ocean conservation efforts often tend to focus on creating marine protected areas, researchers recently stressed the need to move beyond protection toward active recovery using a different approach: Marine rewilding. In a new perspective paper, the […] authors: | ||
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In North Carolina, a race is on to restore critical peatland before it dries up or is destroyed 09 Sep 2026 18:02:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/in-north-carolina-a-race-is-on-to-restore-critical-peatland-before-it-dries-up-or-is-destroyed/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: BELHAVEN, N.C. (AP) — Scientists and investors are restoring a 23-square-mile tract of peatland in North Carolina to help curb climate-warming emissions and restore native habitat. Ditches have drained water from thousands of years of accumulated peat, leaving the site vulnerable to drought and wildfire and unleashing huge volumes of carbon dioxide. One-third of global carbon is stored in saturated peatlands, more than all forests combined. But that reverses when peatlands are damaged. Pantheon Regeneration plans to restore the water table to curb emissions, then sell carbon credits to help fund its goal of preserving a million acres of peatland from Virginia to Florida. A planter, right, works in a field adjacent to a peatland forest Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Belhaven, N.C. Image courtesy of Joshua A. Bickel, Associated Press By Tammy Webber and Joshua Bickel, Associated Press Banner image: Neal Flanagan, right, a research scientist at Duke University, uses a tool to take a soil sample from a peatland as Curt Richardson, an ecology professor at Duke, observes Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Belhaven, N.C. Image courtesy of Joshua A. Bickel, Associated PressThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: BELHAVEN, N.C. (AP) — Scientists and investors are restoring a 23-square-mile tract of peatland in North Carolina to help curb climate-warming emissions and restore native habitat. Ditches have drained water from thousands of years of accumulated peat, leaving the site vulnerable to drought and wildfire and unleashing huge volumes of carbon dioxide. One-third of global […] authors: | ||
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Kashmir’s water bodies have declined for decades. Is conservation keeping pace? 09 Sep 2026 17:58:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/kashmirs-water-bodies-have-declined-for-decades-is-conservation-keeping-pace/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Hashim Quraishi content:encoded: For generations, Kashmir’s wetlands, lakes and rivers have been woven into the landscape around its towns and villages. Paddy fields once stretched across parts of the valley, while canals and springs were familiar features of everyday life. But much of that landscape has changed. A new study published in Water Science assessing six decades of land use and land cover change in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the northernmost part of India finds that the extent of water bodies declined between 1960 and 2020, while built-up areas expanded markedly, particularly after the 1990s. The researchers found that socioeconomic factors including urbanization, population growth, literacy, per capita income and passenger and freight traffic were more strongly associated with many of these changes than the climatic variables they examined, including annual precipitation and mean maximum and minimum temperatures. The findings raise a broader question for Jammu and Kashmir: As development continues to reshape the landscape, are conservation initiatives and land use planning keeping pace with the pressures on the region’s water bodies? The authors caution that the study is not based on primary field surveys. Because land use records were available mainly at decadal intervals, the researchers interpolated data between those years to create an annual data set for their statistical analysis. They acknowledge that this approach can inflate some statistical measures and say the results should be interpreted primarily as associations rather than precise predictions. Still, the broad direction of change is clear. The sun peeks through a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent study examines 60 years of land use change in Jammu and Kashir and finds a decline in the area’s water bodies while built-up areas expanded markedly. - The research found that socioeconomic factors were more strongly associated with many of the changes than climatic variables examined. - The findings raise a broader question: As development continues to reshape the landscape, are conservation initiatives and land use planning keeping pace with the pressures on the region’s water bodies? - Experts say that while development is necessary for economic growth, it needs to be balanced against ecological conservation, while individual water bodies need to be examined according to their specific pressures. authors: | ||
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When climate-related hazards rise, so do barriers for people with disabilities 09 Sep 2026 17:32:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/when-climate-related-hazards-rise-so-do-barriers-for-people-with-disabilities/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Patricia Sia Ngevao content:encoded: When climate-related hazards like floods, storms, extreme heat and landslides strike, roads can become impassable, homes unsafe and communities begin looking for ways to escape. But for persons with disabilities, the danger can be greater. An inaccessible route can become an impassable barrier. A warning delivered only through sound can leave a deaf person uninformed, while a shelter without accessible toilets, adequate space or support can turn a place of safety into another barrier. A new study from Kerala, India, shows how climate-related disasters can expose these barriers and deepen inequalities faced by persons with disabilities. The study, published in Global Environmental Change, examines how people with disabilities experience and respond to climate change. Researchers conducted 72 semi-structured interviews with persons with disabilities, caregivers and institutional stakeholders between February 2023 and June 2024. Although the research centered on Kerala, it offers insights that can extend to sub-Saharan Africa and possibly beyond. Katherine Lofts, the study’s lead author and a doctoral researcher at McGill University in Canada, told Mongabay that the team wanted to understand lived experiences of disability in the climate crisis and examine what increases or reduces vulnerability during climate-related disasters. The research found that policies do not automatically remove barriers on the ground. National Disaster Response Force personnel help move flood victims to safer areas in Kerala, India. A new study examines the challenges that people with disabilities face in Kerala when climate-related hazards arise. Image courtesy of the National Disaster Response Force via AP Photo. The study…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study from Kerala, India, shows how climate disasters deepen inequalities and increase risk for people with disabilities. - The findings are not unique to India, however; parallels are drawn with Sierra Leone, where more than 9% of the population lives with a disability. - People with disabilities can face physical, social, economic and institutional barriers, including inaccessible early-warning systems, evacuation routes and shelters, limited access to healthcare and much more. - People with disabilities are also finding ways to adapt and support each other when disaster strikes. authors: | ||
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Caribbean scientists document uncharted deep-sea waters in Trinidad and Tobago 09 Sep 2026 15:45:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/caribbean-scientists-document-uncharted-deep-sea-waters-in-trinidad-and-tobago/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts content:encoded: During a recent monthlong expedition, a team of scientists conducted one of the most comprehensive surveys ever undertaken in the deep waters of Trinidad and Tobago, a dual-island nation located in the southern Caribbean Sea. Nearly 93% of the country’s waters are deeper than can be reached by recreational scuba diving, making it impossible to map them without specialized equipment. This expedition, which took place between June 29 and July 28 onboard the California-based Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel R/V Falkor (too), helped fill major gaps about Trinidad and Tobago’s deep-sea environment by deploying remotely operated vehicles and other technology in the nation’s deep waters. The scientific team documented dozens of active cold seeps and species believed to be new to science, and mapped about 13% of the country’s marine territory, according to a press release. The expedition also marked a milestone for Caribbean science. It was led by deep-sea ecologist Diva Amon, a Trinidad and Tobago native and co-founder of SpeSeas, an organization that works to advance marine science, education and conservation across the country and the wider Caribbean. Amon, who is also a scientific advisor at the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was joined by fellow scientists from across the Caribbean as well as from the U.S., Canada and Spain. Deep-sea ecologist Diva Amon, right, a Trinidad and Tobago native and co-founder of SpeSeas, an organization that works to advance marine science, education and conservation across the country and the wider Caribbean, led…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In a milestone for Caribbean science, researchers recently conducted one of the most comprehensive surveys ever undertaken in the deep-sea waters off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. - It marks the first time a team of predominantly Caribbean scientists have worked on deep-ocean exploration in the region, according to expedition leader Diva Amon, a deep-sea ecologist and Trinidad and Tobago native. - The expedition team collected more than 700 specimens, including many Amon believes will be identified as new species, and found 25 cold seep ecosystems formed by methane and other gases emanating from the ocean floor. - Amon said she hopes the data gathered on the expedition will be used by decision-makers in Trinidad and Tobago to improve stewardship of the country’s waters, which are threatened by oil and gas drilling, plastic pollution and climate change. authors: | ||
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New Zealand put fishing boats under camera surveillance. Will it stay the course? 09 Sep 2026 14:59:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-zealand-put-fishing-boats-under-camera-surveillance-will-it-stay-the-course/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: NAPIER/DUNEDIN, Aotearoa New Zealand — In 2016, a scandal engulfed Aotearoa New Zealand’s fisheries regulator. Leaked documents showed that the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) had found, during investigative operations conducted in prior years, systematic illegal discarding of low-value fish as well as other violations, such as failing to report the catch of an endangered Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori), on commercial vessels off the South Island — and elected not to prosecute or inform the public of the findings. The controversy raised a question that conservationists the world over have long asked about commercial fishing: what’s happening on vessels when no one is watching? In the years since, the MPI has mandated onboard cameras across most of the country’s inshore fleet, which operates close to the coast, alongside other forms of electronic monitoring. The rollout, aimed at monitoring catch, discards, protected species interactions, and the use of mitigation devices, has put New Zealand near the leading edge internationally in the use of onboard cameras. This comes as fisheries managers across the world are discussing the use of electronic monitoring as a complement to, or even an imperfect substitute for, the onboard work of fisheries observers, who collect scientific data and report on compliance with rules. Yet electronic monitoring has its detractors, including even Shane Jones, the politician who oversees Fisheries New Zealand (FNZ), a branch of the MPI. He took office following a 2023 general election, after the camera system rollout was already underway, as a member of the conservative…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In recent years, Aotearoa New Zealand has mandated onboard cameras across most of its inshore fleet, alongside other forms of electronic monitoring, covering vessels using six types of fishing gear. - The rollout, aimed at monitoring catch, discards, protected species interactions, and the use of mitigation devices, has put New Zealand near the leading edge internationally in the use of onboard cameras. - Conservation-minded experts say the system is far from perfect but has improved transparency and especially the quality of data on bycatch, or unintended catch. - Shane Jones, the New Zealand government official in charge of fisheries, has expressed skepticism about the onboard camera system and sponsored a bill that would restrict public access to the footage, raising doubts about the program’s future. authors: | ||
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Vantara works with lobbyist tied to Trump Jr. and pro-hunting groups 09 Sep 2026 10:00:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/vantara-works-with-lobbyist-tied-to-trump-jr-and-pro-hunting-groups/ author: Andy Lehren dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: Checkmate Government Relations, a lobbying firm founded by a hunting friend of Donald Trump Jr., recently represented Vantara, a controversial private Indian zoo that has been in the spotlight over the questionable origins of some of its more than 150,000 animals, which include protected and endangered species. Tristan Breijer, the head of the U.S.-based lobby firm Checkmate’s London office, sent an unsolicited email “representing the Vantara initiative in the United Kingdom,” sometime before July, according to a source who asked not to be named. Breijer is a lobbyist and has a history of representing pro-hunting groups in Europe. Vantara is a massive private zoo that sprawls over 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares): It’s about four times the size of Central Park in New York City and is run by Anant Ambani, the son of one of Asia’s richest men, Mukesh Ambani. The zoo, which claims to be an animal rescue facility with about 2,000 species, came under scrutiny after media reports surfaced that it allegedly acquired endangered animals illegally. A report by CITES, the global treaty that regulates commercial international trade in endangered wildlife, flagged irregularities in some of its animal imports. Vantara has denied wrongdoing and India’s top court dismissed similar allegations after an investigation last year. Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, at Vantara. Image by Bohoindian via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). In the email allegedly sent by Breijer, he invited the recipient to a roundtable meeting hosted by Vantara on the sidelines of the Animals…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Vantara, the controversial billionaire-run Indian zoo, has worked with lobbyists in the U.K. with ties to pro-hunting organizations and the Trump administration, sources told Mongabay. - Tristan Breijer, a U.K.-based lobbyist at Checkmate Government Relations, invited at least one wildlife conservation organization to a roundtable hosted by Vantara on the sidelines of the CITES Animals Committee in July 2026, according to sources. - Checkmate was founded by Charles ‘Ches’ McDowell, a hunting friend of Donald Trump Jr. Its long list of clients includes Reliance Industries, the petrochemical giant owned by the Ambani family, which includes Anant Ambani, who started Vantara. - Conservationists say Vantara’s lobbying efforts at CITES meetings before a key November meeting raises questions about its intentions. India is expected to respond to a CITES report on the origins of some endangered and protected species imported by Vantara. They also question the Indian zoo’s association with lobbyists tied to pro-hunting organizations, when it claims to be rescuing animals from around the world. authors: | ||
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Rescuers scramble to save orangutans as El Niño-boosted fires spread across Borneo 09 Sep 2026 07:03:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-scramble-to-save-orangutans-as-el-nino-boosted-fires-spread-across-borneo/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Rendy Tisna content:encoded: BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — As a strengthening El Niño fuels wildfires across much of Indonesia, NGO and government conservationists are at work in forests here trying to save an increasing number of orangutans from burning landscapes. “Seven individuals were rescued through August,” said Heribertus Suciadi, spokesperson for Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO working to establish and maintain sustainable orangutan populations. The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is one of three orangutan species in the world, and the only one found on the island of Borneo. All three species of orangutan are critically endangered and native to Indonesia. The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) are both found on the island of Sumatra. The most recent assessment by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, estimated just over 100,000 Bornean orangutans remained in the wild. But that survey was conducted in 2016, and conservationists estimated a projected decline in the Bornean species population of around 86% between 1950 and 2025. Researchers attribute this population collapse over three generations to habitat loss and direct killing. Orangutans also reproduce exceptionally slowly, with Bornean females typically giving birth to a single offspring about every seven to eight years, making populations particularly slow to recover from losses. In addition, major wildfire crises accelerate the decline. “Recurrent forest fires, especially in peat forests, cause additional sharp declines about once every decade,” the IUCN noted. Indonesian meteorologists expect an intense fire season through October as climate forecasts point to a strengthening El…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Through last month, Indonesian wildlife conservation NGO YIARI and government conservation officials recovered seven critically endangered Bornean orangutans from wildfires raging across the island. - One of the orangutans died from smoke exposure, while others were taken some to YIARI’s rehabilitation center and some released others into a nearby national park. - A strengthening El Niño threatens to fuel major fires across Indonesia’s peatlands and mineral soils during this year’s dry season. - YIARI workers in Ketapang district, a low-lying peatland area in Borneo’s West Kalimantan province, remain on high alert for orangutans stranded or injured by wildfires. authors: | ||
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Colombia’s Indigenous guardians adapt as pressures mount on the ‘Heart of the World’ 09 Sep 2026 07:00:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/colombias-indigenous-guardians-adapt-as-pressures-mount-on-the-heart-of-the-world/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Roberto Maccariello content:encoded: RIOHACHA, Colombia — Amid the low slopes of a tropical dry forest, families from the Wiwa community of Gomke are building a new home. Their ancestral settlement lies higher on a lush mountain in the town of Dibulla, overlooking the Caribbean coast in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Across this region, many Indigenous communities have been forcibly displaced by climate-related disasters or uprooted by armed actors. Gomke’s move to lower terrain, however, is described by community representatives as voluntary: a collectively led adaptation strategy to protect social, educational and spiritual cohesion amid intensifying climate pressures and the presence of paramilitary groups. They call their new settlement Shegunamke. Shegunnamke is a recently rebuilt Wiwa village. Severe weather events and the spread of paramilitary violence have made their home village increasingly isolated and dangerous. In response, the community is building a new settlement in a safer and more accessible location in order to preserve its social and spiritual structures. Image by Roberto Maccariello. The Wiwa have also acquired other parcels of land elsewhere in the Sierra, including at higher elevations. “We have left [those] untouched so that rivers, springs and bodies of water do not die,” said Roberto Carlos Coronado Calvo, rector of Shenzhawimaku, the Wiwa educational institution that combines conventional learning with the community’s language, culture, knowledge systems and relationship to the territory. “If we begin clearing and cutting into the páramo [ecosystem], how can we guarantee life for those living below?” Across the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, known…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indigenous Wiwa families in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are moving farther downslope in an effort to preserve community cohesion amid climate and security pressures. - The mountain range’s Indigenous nations continue to hold to a “law of origin” that guides their path amid intensifying pressures from armed violence, resource extraction, and climate change. - Wiwa leaders describe sacred sites, rivers and forests as “living curricula,” inseparable from cultural and ecological responsibilities. - Recent protections have expanded the protected parts of the Sierra Nevada and prohibited new bids for mining and fossil fuel extraction. authors: | ||
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To save Europe’s raptors, conservationists say, look to West Africa 09 Sep 2026 06:07:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-save-europes-raptors-conservationists-say-look-to-west-africa/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: In 2020, a juvenile osprey was fatally shot in Ghana. The bird, one of hundreds of raptors killed in similar circumstances across West Africa every year, had been fitted with a leg ring by the British Trust for Ornithology in Scotland the previous year. Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) were locally extirpated in Scotland in the early 1900s due to persecution, and the bird killed in Ghana was part of a population reintroduced to that part of the U.K. beginning in the 1990s. Tim Mackrill, an osprey expert and director of the Scotland-based Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, said the bird’s death points to the need for a conservation approach that spans migratory birds’ entire habitat. “If you’re not thinking of the whole flyway of migratory routes, connectivity, and then where the birds are actually wintering, then conservation efforts for that species are really not sufficient.” Many raptor species, such as ospreys, return to the same wintering site year after year. “They are literally faithful to the same tree, whether it’s in Ghana, whether it’s in Guinea, or whether it’s in Gambia,” Mackrill said. Raptors such as ospreys travel in large numbers from Europe to West Africa during the Northern Hemisphere winter. Image by Eileen Fonferko via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0) Millions of birds travel from Europe to Africa each year, spending the Northern Hemisphere’s coldest months in warmer climates far to the south. “People put a huge amount of effort into restoring raptors and protecting them in Europe, and that is a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The fate of an osprey that was tagged in Scotland and shot in Ghana highlights the dangers migratory raptors face far from their European breeding grounds. - Researchers found strong migratory links between Northern Europe and West Africa by analyzing records from 257 tagged raptors. - Habitat loss, hunting and belief-based trade threaten both migratory and resident raptors across West Africa. - Conservationists say better tracking, monitoring, and collaboration between European and West African institutions could help protect raptors along their entire migratory routes. authors: | ||
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Colorful Himalayan pheasants face a less rosy future under human pressure 09 Sep 2026 05:46:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/colorful-himalayan-pheasants-face-a-less-rosy-future-under-human-pressure/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In the Indian Himalayas, numerous species of colorful pheasants roam the understory, pecking at seeds, roots, leaves, berries, and insects. These large, ornate birds are vital to the Himalayan ecosystem. But some species now face increasing pressures from habitat degradation and hunting, reports contributor Hirra Azmat for Mongabay India. Among them is the white-crested kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos hamiltoni). It’s a highly adaptable bird capable of living in habitats ranging from coniferous forests to scrublands and forest edges near human settlements. “Like other pheasant species, it plays an essential role in Himalayan ecosystems by forming a major prey base for carnivores and raptors,” said Arif Nabi Lone, a researcher at the University of Kashmir’s Department of Zoology. “Besides, it also acts as a seed disperser and soil aerator.” The white-crested kalij pheasant isn’t considered threatened on the IUCN Red List. However, in a 2025 study, Lone and his colleagues interviewed communities around two protected areas in the Indian-administered region of Jammu and Kashmir, and identified several threats to the bird, including habitat degradation, hunting, livestock grazing, and mushroom collection. “Timber and firewood collection, resource extraction and deforestation are degrading its habitat,” Lone said. “Hunting and overgrazing are other serious threats. Mushroom collection is particularly concerning because it coincides with the breeding season, and people searching for mushrooms often disturb nesting females, reducing their breeding success.” Human activities may also be threatening a rarer pheasant species: the western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus). Listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, the bird…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In the Indian Himalayas, numerous species of colorful pheasants roam the understory, pecking at seeds, roots, leaves, berries, and insects. These large, ornate birds are vital to the Himalayan ecosystem. But some species now face increasing pressures from habitat degradation and hunting, reports contributor Hirra Azmat for Mongabay India. Among them is the white-crested kalij […] authors: | ||
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Sickles, sarees and smoke: Women on the frontlines of Uttarakhand forest fires 08 Sep 2026 20:50:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Swati Thapa content:encoded: In the village forests of Uttarakhand, in the Himalayan region of northern India, a tree can be charred at its base while maintaining a green canopy at its peak. The distinct separation between burnt and unburnt wood is a physical marker of how high the flames reached. For the local women who rely on these woods for survival, the aftermath of wildfire means their daily chores take twice as long, forcing them deeper into the forest just to gather basic fodder and firewood when those closer to home are unusable. Uttarakhand is the most fire-prone state in the Indian Western Himalayas, with increased fire incidence in the region coinciding with high-altitude warming that exceeds the global rate. Beyond individual fire events, the fire season itself is expanding. While the season usually lasts for about 12 weeks starting in mid-March, Uttarakhand now experiences winter fires, an alarming shift from what was previously snow season, hinting at a deeper ecosystem-level impact. This trend has only escalated, with the state recording a sharp spike in forest fire activity during the first four months of 2026. This period is not just witnessed but experienced through each of the human senses. Trails of grey smoke engulf the bright blue sky. Along with the fog-like situation, the air carries soot, sometimes covering the roofs of houses with snow-like ash. “We are all coughing our lungs out; during that time, our eyes are bloodshot, irritated by all the smoke, and it’s hard to breathe in the thick…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Uttarakhand is the most fire-prone state in the Indian Western Himalayas, where wildfire seasons are expanding — and women are taking the lead on fighting fires in their communities. - Traditional gender roles assigning household and caregiving work to women is a reason why women are first responders to fire. - In addition, many men have left rural villages in Uttarakhand to search for opportunities elsewhere; women often stay behind for agriculture and feel obliged to protect their land and animals. - Despite a lack of formal employment, equipment and support for their firefighting work, Uttarakhand women successfully work to stop fires at their source, protecting their villages from hazard. authors: | ||
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Indigenous peoples near Congo parks propose diverse solutions for the future of conservation 08 Sep 2026 20:50:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-peoples-near-congo-parks-propose-diverse-solutions-for-the-future-of-conservation/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Blaise Kasereka MakutaLatoya Abulu content:encoded: GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — High above the lush forests of protected areas in the Congo Basin in eastern Congo, the calls of endemic birds and monkeys echo through the trees. Beneath the canopy, the Maiko, Salonga, Kahuzi-Biega, and Virunga National Parks sprawl across millions of hectares. For millennia, long before these protected areas were established, Indigenous peoples lived in, roamed and shaped these lands, only to be expelled during the 20th century. “We lived in harmony with the forest,” says Julien Basimika, a young Mutwa man, one of the Indigenous Twa people in Congo. “We protected everything that needed protecting, because our lives depended on it. If we had started destroying the forest, we would have suffered the consequences.” Today, many descendants of those who were displaced live in extreme poverty owing to lack of land, armed conflicts and discrimination. Discussions on how to better involve these communities in conservation fuel passionate debates among protected area managers, environmentalists, lawyers and human rights advocates: Should they return to their ancestral lands or not? Should they be part of environmental projects? If so, which ones? How can we mitigate armed conflicts and the involvement of Indigenous peoples in illegal logging, which complicate the situation? Among the communities living near these four national parks, views vary on how to address these issues. Meanwhile, policymakers are discussing how best to involve communities in the Belém Call to Action, announced in November 2025, which aims to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay spoke with Indigenous people and members of local communities living near four national parks in the Congo Basin, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to gather their testimonies and learn about the solutions they envision for reconciling forest conservation with the rights of nearby communities. - Many Indigenous peoples wish to return to their ancestral lands from which they were displaced when the national parks were established; though some still prefer that authorities continue to lead conservation efforts. - Others, however, believe they should remain outside the parks, while calling for better living conditions and greater access to resources and economic opportunities to prevent environmental destruction. - Initiatives such as community forest concessions, local employment and ecotourism programs seek to reconcile conservation, land rights and the needs of communities, but their implementation continues to face tensions and significant challenges. authors: | ||
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A health crisis for Peru’s recently contacted people brings planetary health to the fore 08 Sep 2026 20:02:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/09/a-health-crisis-for-perus-recently-contacted-people-brings-planetary-health-to-the-fore/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay joins the Newscast this week to discuss her reporting trip to the Peruvian Amazon, where she spoke with the Indigenous Matsés community. She made the trip initially to examine environmental threats to Matsés territory. Instead, she found them suffering from an epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B, which they have been asking the Peruvian government to help address. “The story itself was a surprise … every question directed to them about environmental changes would immediately become an issue about health,” Gabay says. The Matsés people have long experienced conflict with outsiders such as rubber tappers encroaching into their territory. So in 1969, in the hope of finding help to ease the conflict, they chose to initiate contact with the outside world, reaching out to evangelical missionaries, Gabay says. But making contact also exposed them to diseases they’d never encountered before, and since then they’ve suffered from a barrage of epidemics. “They don’t have the immunological defenses to be able to fight these diseases that maybe, for us, we are constantly exposed to,” she says. The current epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B they face is being exacerbated by climate change, drought, and state neglect. Prolonged dry weather allows for favorable conditions for malaria-bearing mosquitoes to breed, and at the same time cuts off the river transit that the Matsés depend on for access to health care. Community members have travelled to the nearest major city to plead with the Peruvian government, but they say they’re…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay joins the Newscast this week to discuss her reporting trip to the Peruvian Amazon, where she spoke with the Indigenous Matsés community. She made the trip initially to examine environmental threats to Matsés territory. Instead, she found them suffering from an epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B, which they have […] authors: | ||
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Singkil peat swamp: The embattled orangutan capital of the world 08 Sep 2026 19:04:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singkil-peat-swamp-the-embattled-orangutan-capital-of-the-world/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Mongabay content:encoded: Deep within Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, one of the most important peat swamp forests left on Earth is being cleared, drained, and burned. The Singkil peat swamp is the largest of three remaining coastal peat swamp forests on Sumatra’s west coast, alongside Kluet and Tripa. Together, these extraordinary peatlands form what’s been called “the orangutan capital of the world,” supporting some of the highest densities of Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) ever recorded. But Singkil is being destroyed. A worker inside the Singkil peat swamp, a legally protected wildlife reserve and crucial orangutan habitat, July 2026. Image by Global Conservation. The Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve is nationally protected under Indonesian law. Clearing forest and establishing oil palm plantations inside the reserve is illegal. Yet forest is being cleared and burned, peat is being drained, and canals are being dug into the swamp, lowering water tables and transforming ancient forests into land for agriculture and oil palm. Satellite investigations have documented extensive illegal clearing and plantation expansion inside the reserve. And Indonesia’s fire season has now begun. Fires are lit and illegal clearing is taking place in the Singkil peat swamp, Leuser Ecosystem. Image by Global Conservation. An orangutan seen in the Leuser Ecosystem, the last place on earth where tigers, orangutans, elephants and rhinos still coexist. Image by Global Conservation. For peatlands, fire can be devastating. Once drained, peat dries out and becomes highly flammable. Fires can smolder deep underground for weeks or even months, continuing to burn beneath the surface and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Singkil peat swamp, part of Sumatra’s Leuser ecosystem, is a critical habitat for Sumatran orangutans. - Although legally protected, the Singkil peat swamp is being cleared and drained for oil palm and other crops. - Drained and deforested peat swamps are highly flammable, and Indonesia’s fire season is beginning. - This photo essay highlights the beauty and diversity of Singkil, as well as documenting some of the many threats facing the ecosystem. authors: | ||
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Riverside families in the Amazon change meals as mercury poisons staple fish 08 Sep 2026 18:59:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: LAGO DO PURUZINHO/KARIPUNA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY/CALAMA, Brazil — The Lake Puruzinho community sits on a clear, fish-rich lake in the Brazilian Amazon, an area that, at first glance, resembles paradise. Just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Humaitá in Amazonas state, the community is soundtracked by two contrasting noises: the song of birds like the crested oropendola as it flies in search of fruit, and the thunderous engines of vessels plying the Madeira River. For decades, the approximately 170 residents of the riverside community ate fish from the lake, but that changed when they learned about mercury — and discovered that large quantities of the heavy metal were being dumped into the Madeira by illegal gold mining. The river, which feeds Lake Puruzinho and is a tributary of the Amazon, receives an estimated 10-50 metric tons of mercury from dredges used in gold mining. “There was a lot of mercury in our hair [because] of the fish, the tucunaré, which we eat a lot,” says Maria Rogelina Soares da Silva dos Santos, a fisher and homemaker, at the door of her house, located on the shore of Lake Puruzinho. “It was a huge scare.” She’s referring to studies by researchers at the Federal University of Rondônia (UNIR), in which she has participated for 26 years. The research examines how mercury contamination affects fish and, ultimately, human health, focusing on pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children in communities along the Madeira River. The studies revealed, in recent years, the presence…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A database built by Mongabay Latam, based on the analysis of scientific studies that gathered more than 7,000 samples from humans and 5,900 from fish, identified the areas most affected by mercury contamination in the Madeira River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon. - Mongabay Latam investigated the impact of mercury contamination on the health of the most affected communities: Lake Puruzinho in the state of Amazonas, and the riverside community of Calama and the Karipuna Indigenous Territory, in Rondônia state. - Studies show that mercury concentrations among residents of Lake Puruzinho are among the highest recorded in the Madeira River Basin and well above what the World Health Organization considers safe, prompting residents to change their eating habits. - High levels of mercury in Amazonian communities are related to fish consumption, their main source of protein; the accumulation of mercury in humans can cause serious health damage, such as motor and neurological problems, researchers say. authors: | ||
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In Peru, mercury leaves a toxic footprint on those who depend on a river 08 Sep 2026 18:51:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-peru-mercury-leaves-a-toxic-footprint-on-those-who-depend-on-a-river/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Elizabeth Salazar Vega content:encoded: MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — “Bayolet, my little daughter, had some tests when she was five years old,” says Gladys Ordoñez, a mother from the Shintuya Indigenous community, located on the banks of the Madre de Dios River, in the Peruvian Amazon. “She had already fainted twice at school, and we didn’t know why … That’s where they found mercury.” Ordoñez still remembers the group of “outsiders” who arrived a decade ago to take blood and hair samples. Weeks later, they returned to warn that the fish the community was consuming — its main source of food — could be contaminated. “We said no, that it couldn’t be,” says María Santos, another mother from the community. “We don’t mine for gold here. There is no mining here”. But its source was not in the village: Upstream, illegal gold mining was pouring mercury into the rivers that flow through the Madre de Dios region. Fish came into contact with the heavy metal and traveled downstream before reaching the plates of dozens of local families. Eleven years later, the problem persists. Little Bayolet is now 16 years old. In her fourth year of secondary school, she says she still finds it difficult to concentrate when taking lessons. According to Bayolet, her greatest wish is to finish school so she can take nursing classes. She remembers feeling constant fatigue in the classroom, along with tiredness and weakness. After her diagnosis of mercury exposure, she says she only received treatment for anemia. Bayolet was…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay reviewed nearly three decades of scientific research on the impact of heavy metals and traveled to several Amazonian communities to track the course of mercury contamination. - Previous studies reviewed found that one-third of the children evaluated in the Amarakaeri Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon grew up with mercury levels in their hair that exceed the limit established by the World Health Organization (WHO). - The pollution does not remain within mining enclaves: Mercury travels through the river and reaches Indigenous peoples who are unrelated to the mining practice, while pregnant women and newborns show exposure to mercury and lead, with impacts on infant development and birth weight. - Meanwhile, the state budget for caring for those affected is minimal, and Peru lacks laboratories to measure methylmercury levels — the most toxic form of this metal, associated with fish consumption. authors: | ||
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Indigenous territories maintain Amazon forest just as well as protected areas, study finds 08 Sep 2026 18:45:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/indigenous-territories-maintain-amazon-forest-just-as-well-as-protected-areas-study-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: A new study has found that in Ecuador’s Amazon, Indigenous territories without formal conservation contracts maintained forest conditions just as well as formal protected areas. Ecuador has three different approaches to forest governance: Forests protected by government institutions, forests managed by local communities under formal conservation agreements and Indigenous territories without formal conservation agreements. To find out the state of forests under these different policies, researchers used satellite data to examine three metrics: Long-term changes in vegetation greenness as an indication of degradation or improvement in forest cover; abrupt changes in forest condition due to more acute disturbances like human settlements, roads and agricultural fields; and how forest productivity responded to the 2015-2016 El Niño drought — a climate phenomenon that causes extreme changes in rainfall and temperature patterns. They found that community-protected forests performed best overall in some measures, particularly resilience after drought. These forests were under formal contracts such as a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program, which provides communities with financial incentives to refrain from any commercial activity that disturbs the natural forest. However, Indigenous territories without similar formal conservation agreements and who can use natural resources for subsistence and cultural preservation also had forest condition patterns comparable to the other governance regimes. In fact, they had the greatest proportion of areas showing positive long-term trends in vegetation greenness. “From a practical perspective, our results suggest that conservation is not only about drawing lines on a map,” lead author Fernando Troya, currently based in Ecuador, who conducted…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A new study has found that in Ecuador’s Amazon, Indigenous territories without formal conservation contracts maintained forest conditions just as well as formal protected areas. Ecuador has three different approaches to forest governance: Forests protected by government institutions, forests managed by local communities under formal conservation agreements and Indigenous territories without formal conservation agreements. To […] authors: | ||
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Mercury threatens over 160 communities in Bolivia’s Beni River basin 08 Sep 2026 18:44:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Iván Paredes Tamayo content:encoded: BENI, Bolivia — Gilberto Vaca Muiba fears that the mercury in his body will end his life. Yet, the fear does not change his routine. He takes his old fishing rod, walks toward the river, and waits patiently for the meal of the day. He is on his knees on one of the shores of the Beni River, in the Bolivian Amazon, waiting for a fish to bite — so he can take the food home. It is a July afternoon in the Bolivian community of Puerto Yumani, and he has just caught a small surubí. The local fish is likely contaminated with mercury, but he brings it to his table nonetheless. Puerto Yumani is one of the five Indigenous communities Mongabay visited along a 41-kilometer (25.48 miles) stretch of the Beni River. The other four are Carmen Soledad and Puerto Motor, in the municipality of Rurrenabaque (in the Beni department), and Eyiyoquibo and Buena Vista, in the municipality of San Buenaventura (north of La Paz department). All these territories, belonging to the Tacana, Leco, and Ese Ejja Indigenous peoples, are exposed to mercury contamination arising in the river. Because of that, the Beni River is perceived in two ways: As a source of subsistence for the communities but also as the center of all their ills. “We eat fish every day; it is our common diet because buying meat or chicken is too expensive for us. In the rivers, we have our food, but this very food is contaminated.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay found that 39 communities in Bolivia are suffering from mercury poisoning and that 125 more face a similar risk. - The findings were part of a scientific and geographic analysis covering 42 investigations published over 27 years. Seven were conducted in Bolivia. - The Indigenous and riverside communities affected consume fish daily. Mongabay’s database showed that the protein is contaminated with mercury in at least 17 communities. - Mongabay reached five Indigenous communities located on the banks of the Beni River (northern Bolivia). In some of them, such as Santa Rosita, mercury levels are nine times higher than the limit permitted by the World Health Organization. authors: | ||
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New analysis maps mercury threat to 951 Amazon communities in three countries 08 Sep 2026 18:34:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/09/new-analysis-maps-mercury-threat-to-951-amazon-communities-in-three-countries/ author: Mariaisabel dc:creator: Alexa VélezDaniela Quintero DíazVanessa Romo content:encoded: For the first time, Mongabay Latam analyzed 39 scientific studies published between 1997 and 2024 that confirm that 249 Indigenous and riverside communities in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil have been exposed to mercury contamination. Nearly all of them exceed the limits considered safe by the World Health Organization. The stories reported by three journalistic teams in the field reveal the impact on schools, breastfeeding mothers and numerous Indigenous communities. Mongabay Latam followed the trail of mercury along 2,763 kilometers of three Amazonian rivers: the Madre de Dios (Peru), Beni (Bolivia) and Madeira (Brazil). The analysis by Mongabay Latam reveals that another 702 communities located less than two kilometers from the rivers analyzed are at risk and could be living the same situation, but remain uncertain because no assessments have been carried out. “I had some tests done on my little daughter Bayolet when she was 5 years old. She had already fainted twice at school and we didn’t know why,” says Gladys Ordoñez, a resident of the Indigenous community of Shintuya, in the Peruvian Amazon. A few kilometers beyond Shintuya, navigating the Madeira River, lies the Karipuna territory in Brazil. There, Adriano Karipuna, the community leader, tells a similar story. “[The children] are born with problems, with heart condition … There are young people and teenagers who already have trouble breathing.” The same scenario is repeated in the Bolivian Amazon. “We are tired of asking for medical assistance,” says Limberth Miquere, the corregidor (local Indigenous community leader) of the community…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: For the first time, Mongabay Latam analyzed 39 scientific studies published between 1997 and 2024 that confirm that 249 Indigenous and riverside communities in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil have been exposed to mercury contamination. Nearly all of them exceed the limits considered safe by the World Health Organization. The stories reported by three journalistic teams […] authors: | ||
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Carbon credit financing emerges as Africa’s biggest bet for expanding clean cooking 08 Sep 2026 17:19:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/carbon-credit-financing-emerges-as-africas-biggest-bet-for-expanding-clean-cooking/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Carbon credit financing is helping to drive Africa’s clean cooking transition by making cleaner stoves affordable for millions of low-income households. As governments introduce new policies, securing $900 million in fresh financing commitments, companies such as Kenya’s BURN are using carbon credits to subsidize electric and efficient biomass cookstoves across the continent. As such devices replace charcoal stoves and open fires, supporters say the approach could accelerate access to clean cooking, help to reduce deforestation and cut hazardous household air pollution. Still, its long-term success depends on sustained demand for high-integrity carbon credits. By Allan Olingo, Associated Press Banner image: Mary Kavutha prepares breakfast using a fuel-efficient cookstove made by BURN in Kiambu, Kenya, on July 31, 2026. Image courtesy of Allan Olingo, Associated Press.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Carbon credit financing is helping to drive Africa’s clean cooking transition by making cleaner stoves affordable for millions of low-income households. As governments introduce new policies, securing $900 million in fresh financing commitments, companies such as Kenya’s BURN are using carbon credits to subsidize electric and efficient biomass cookstoves across the […] authors: | ||
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New-to-science Amazon frog stands out for its slow ‘lazy’ song 08 Sep 2026 15:53:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-to-science-amazon-frog-stands-out-for-its-slow-lazy-song/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Scientists recently described a new species of a tiny brown frog found in the Amazonian floodplain forests of Ecuador and northwestern Brazil. It looks nearly identical to related species but its slow, widely spaced out call sets it apart, researchers note in a study. “I’ve had to get into arguments because people said the frog I study is ugly,” lead author Marianna Borburema, who studied the species as an undergraduate student at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and is now a researcher at the University of São Paulo, told Mongabay by phone. “I find it absurd. The frog I study is beautiful! It is super cute.” “Super cute” specimen of the newly described Adenomera varcena species. Images courtesy of Marianna Borburema. Despite dazzling the study’s lead author, the evolution of the frog, named Adenomera varcena, hasn’t been one focused on appearances. Biologists call this a “cryptic species”, a species whose external traits can be very similar to related species. It is roughly 22 to 24 millimeters (0.9 inches) long and has brown skin and dark blotchy patterns. “Because of natural selection, the pressure isn’t on the frog’s appearance, it’s on the call,” said Borburema, who spent three weeks analyzing the frogs’ sounds. “We understand that evolution happens faster in their call because the song is what interests the female.” Related species typically call frequently, some up to 70 notes a minute. However, the songs of A. varcenas include just one to five notes a minute, the slowest rate documented…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Scientists recently described a new species of a tiny brown frog found in the Amazonian floodplain forests of Ecuador and northwestern Brazil. It looks nearly identical to related species but its slow, widely spaced out call sets it apart, researchers note in a study. “I’ve had to get into arguments because people said the frog […] authors: | ||
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Why is Amazonian wildlife turning up at a Bangkok market? 08 Sep 2026 14:03:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-amazonian-wildlife-turning-up-at-a-bangkok-market/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Gloria Dickie content:encoded: BANGKOK, Thailand — In the narrow alleys of Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market, the world’s wildlife is for sale. Ensnared in jungles, fished out of rivers and plucked from wetlands across the globe, hundreds of exotic species are packed onto transcontinental flights only to end up on display in what experts say ranks as one of the largest wildlife markets on Earth. Here, alongside Thai milk tea vendors and mango sticky rice stalls, visitors need only veer a few steps from the tourist path to end up in the market’s “Pets” zone — an arguably liberal use of the term. This section of the market hosts a menagerie of domestic and wild animals alike, often crammed into cages with little water and no respite from temperatures that soar beyond 32° Celsius (90° Fahrenheit). From Africa, there are spurred tortoises, fennec foxes, gray parrots, serval cats, and ball pythons. Giant bush babies retail for 48,000 baht (about $1,450), with signs advertising the nocturnal African primates as “newly arrived.” Miniscule meerkats dressed in tutus, sometimes presented in petting zoo sandboxes, are among the most plentiful animals at Chatuchak. Masked palm civets, sugar gliders, squirrels, rainbow lorikeets, and eclectus parrots are on offer from Asia and Oceania. As are baby raccoons, prairie dogs, iguanas, goats, cats, baby pigs, among others. Much of the planet is represented in this market; meerkats, like the one pictured here, hail from Southern Africa and are dressed up to be sold as an adorable pet. Image by Gloria Dickie. To…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The sheer numbers and vast array of Latin American wildlife species offered for sale in one of Southeast Asia’s largest wildlife markets, in Thailand, has been steadily rising over the past two years, observers say, alongside animals from across the globe. - The trend points to a broader shift in the global wildlife trade, with more species coming out of the imperiled Amazon and many of them sold as pets. - Trafficked animals are often laundered from other South American countries through Peru, where regulations make it easier to export species abroad. - Many of these species are threatened, plucked from the wild, and then face abhorrent conditions during the journey from the Amazon to Asia, raising further animal welfare concerns; many perish during transit. authors: | ||
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‘Plastic pollution hotspots’ spawn a public health crisis across Latin America 08 Sep 2026 13:33:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/plastic-pollution-hotspots-spawn-a-public-health-crisis-across-latin-america/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Mark Hillsdon content:encoded: Since China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018, plastic pollution has been having a growing impact on the people and ecosystems of Latin America. As the region imports an increasing amount of the world’s used and discarded plastic, new research shows that waste infrastructure in many countries is already buckling under the strain of dealing with domestic trash. As a result, much of the imported plastic is leaking out into the environment, with experts and the U.N. warning of major consequences for human health. A study published in April found that seven countries in the region — the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay — have become plastic pollution hotspots, or PPHs, where high imports of low-quality plastics meet high rates of mismanaged waste. Global plastic waste generation reached 353 million metric tons in 2019 alone, of which 72% ended up being landfilled or dumped and just 9% was recycled, according to an OECD report. Much of the world’s plastic waste was previously destined for China, but in 2018 the country banned those imports. While Malaysia and Thailand took up much of the slack, Latin America also started importing more plastic waste, although the region has historically been an importer of difficult-to-recycle plastics. “Certain countries in Latin America have started importing more waste but they haven’t actually got the capacity to deal with [it],” Veronica Herrera, lead author of April study and an associate professor at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Since 2018, when China banned the import of plastic waste, many countries in Latin America have been struggling to manage a huge increase in the amount of plastic waste imported into the region, some of them becoming “plastic pollution hotspots,” according to a recent study. - Overstretched waste management infrastructure and a glut of hard-to-recycle plastics mean that thousands of tons of plastic are leaking out into the environment every day, experts say, with major health implications for communities already facing poor sanitary conditions. - With talks for a global plastics treaty set to resume next year, campaigners say only a reduction in plastic production can solve the problem but warn against the influence of the powerful petrochemical lobby. authors: | ||
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‘Birds know no borders’: Interview with BirdLife Africa’s Alex Ngari 08 Sep 2026 07:36:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/birds-know-no-borders-interview-with-birdlife-africas-alex-ngari/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Wilson Odhiambo content:encoded: Every year, twice a year, millions of birds belonging to hundreds of species fly between breeding grounds in Europe and Asia and their non-breeding habitats in Africa. Scientists have surprisingly sparse knowledge of exactly where many species actually go — or what risks and obstacles the migrating birds encounter along the way. Populations of the vulnerable curlew sandpiper, which breeds in in Siberia, for example, appear everywhere from South Asia to East and Southern Africa during the northern hemisphere winter. “One important fact that we all need to understand is that migratory birds do not belong to any one country, but are a shared global heritage, and their survival requires a borderless safety net,” says Alex Ngari, who manages the migratory birds and flyways program for BirdLife Africa. “These birds know no borders, which means that the conservation methods that we develop must be aware of that fact, and every country has a responsibility to protect them.” Until recently, what monitoring there was relied on ringing — but piecing together birds’ year-long itinerary depends on where someone encounters a ringed bird, on that person knowing what the band on its leg means, and details of the encounter reaching some coordinating authority. As lighter and more reliable electronic tags that can be fitted to birds to record and broadcast their locations have become available, researchers have started to gather more detailed information about migratory pathways. This type of tracking is still relatively expensive, however, especially for tags small enough for small-bodied…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - “[M]igratory birds do not belong to any one country, but are a shared global heritage, and their survival requires a borderless safety net,” says Alex Ngari, migratory birds and flyways programme manager for BirdLife Africa. - Gaps in scientific knowledge regarding migratory birds’ pathways affect conservation efforts, Ngari explains. - These gaps also prevent us from predicting the safety of bird populations in relation to climate change, he adds in a Q&A with Mongabay ahead of the Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. authors: | ||
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Protect this tree. Save Africa’s rainforests. 08 Sep 2026 06:06:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/protect-this-tree-save-africas-rainforests/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: The Rainforester content:encoded: Ogbono is one of Africa’s most iconic plants, and its seed is one of African cuisine’s iconic ingredients. Providing both food and shelter for a great many species; this canopy tree is integral to many of the continent’s rainforests! In this 4-part series on NTFPs (non-timber forest products) with The Rainforester and Mongabay, we explore the ways that harvesting sustainably from our forests can keep them alive!This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Ogbono is one of Africa’s most iconic plants, and its seed is one of African cuisine’s iconic ingredients. Providing both food and shelter for a great many species; this canopy tree is integral to many of the continent’s rainforests! In this 4-part series on NTFPs (non-timber forest products) with The Rainforester and Mongabay, we explore […] authors: | ||
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In Panama’s Darién, Indigenous communities test a new way to fund conservation 07 Sep 2026 15:10:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-panamas-darien-indigenous-communities-test-a-new-way-to-fund-conservation/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: María Paula Rubiano A. content:encoded: When Elsa Quiroz saw the spotted body of a jaguar appear on her son’s computer screen, she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I’d only seen them in books,” she said. In late 2025, a camera captured the animal crossing a semi-abandoned path in Puerto Lara, a an Indigenous Wounaan village north of Panama’s Darien forest, close to the Pan-American Highway, an area known for its rich biodiversity. The community was aware of how many birds lived around them, but not of the jaguars. Samuel Cheucarama, Quiroz’s son, reviews each photo taken by the two cameras installed in Puerto Lara every two weeks. He was as astonished as his mom when he first saw the extent of the biodiversity concealed within Puerto Lara’s forest, which covers an area less than twice the size of New York City’s Central Park. He reels off the list: agoutis, spotted rabbits, turkeys, margays, white-headed monkeys, among others, all found within this wilderness of just 600 hectares, or less than 1,500 acres. Cheucarama’s work is a small part of a wider project promoting nature-based economic alternatives in four communities managing a combined 18,000 hectares (about 44,500 acres) of tropical forest in eastern Panama. Although the Panamanian government has made efforts to reduce deforestation in Darién National Park, deforestation from illegal logging and agricultural expansion has increasingly been putting communities under pressure, with little to no support from local and national authorities. As a result, communities have been exploring alternatives to make their conservation efforts economically viable. In…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - With illegal logging and agricultural expansion closing in on their lands, four Indigenous Wounaan and Emberá-Wounaan villages in Panama’s Darién forest started a biodiversity monitoring project to document their forests’ conservation status. - Their biodiversity monitoring project recorded more than 200 species across 18,000 hectares (44,500 acres) of threatened forest. - They’re now using the data as a baseline for joining the biodiversity credits market — a nascent arm of the nature finance industry that’s being touted as a way to help pay for conservation. - Although biodiversity credit advocates say this market has learned from the mistakes of the carbon credit markets, observers say it’s still too soon to evaluate if it will deliver on its promises. authors: | ||
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Guinea’s Iron Frontier 07 Sep 2026 09:00:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/09/guineas-iron-frontier/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: content:encoded: What does it take to turn one of the world’s richest iron deposits into a global export hub? Eastern Guinea has become a focal point in the global race for high-grade iron ore. Mongabay has traced the rapid expansion of two of Guinea’s largest iron ore projects in the Simandou range and the Nimba Mountains, as mines, railways and ports move from plan to reality. Our coverage examines what this shift means for communities, waterways and farmland, alongside the risks it poses to chimpanzees, rare bats, and a World Heritage landscape under growing pressure.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: What does it take to turn one of the world’s richest iron deposits into a global export hub? Eastern Guinea has become a focal point in the global race for high-grade iron ore. Mongabay has traced the rapid expansion of two of Guinea’s largest iron ore projects in the Simandou range and the Nimba Mountains, […] authors: | ||
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What conservation rumors reveal about climate projects in the Congo Basin (commentary) 07 Sep 2026 07:00:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/what-conservation-rumors-reveal-about-climate-projects-in-the-congo-basin-commentary/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Andre MalekaniEric AbanatiFergus O’Leary SimpsonKristof TitecaPapy Bambu content:encoded: In 2020, a strange rumor began circulating in villages around the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Tshopo province. A newly constructed scientific tower, people said, was extracting oxygen from the surrounding rainforest and sending it to Europe, where it was being sold for profit. Not long after, an initiative to plant acacia trees around the reserve was incorporated into the rumor: the trees, some people claimed, were being planted to produce more oxygen for the tower to extract. Then, during an unusually hot spell in May 2024, another version spread rapidly through social media in Kisangani, the provincial capital. This time, the tower was accused of causing the extreme heat by removing oxygen from the atmosphere. When that rumor spread in 2024, the DRC’s then environment minister, Ève Bazaiba, publicly attributed such claims to “ignorance” and “superstitions.” She posted a video on social media to demonstrate that the tower, CongoFlux, does not extract oxygen: it measures exchanges of greenhouse gases between the rainforest and the atmosphere, helping scientists understand the Congo Basin’s role in global climate regulation. But correcting the science only gets us so far. Rumors can also tell us something about the people who spread them — and their relationship with conservation. While conducting research in Yangambi, recently published in Environmental Sociology, we learned that the rumors are ways for people to contest conservation, but also to make claims about who should benefit from it. At the same time, they are shaped by a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Conservation rumors should not be dismissed as misinformation: they influence people’s attitudes toward conservation and how they respond to it, a group of researchers argues in a new op-ed. - In the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, rumors about a scientific tower became a vehicle for both resistance and demands to benefit from conservation. - These reactions are rooted in a longer history of dispossession and extraction, but also in memories of the jobs and services once associated with conservation, the authors write. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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New nocturnal snake from New Guinea named after Slash of Guns N’ Roses 07 Sep 2026 06:35:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-nocturnal-snake-from-new-guinea-named-after-slash-of-guns-n-roses/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Scientists have identified a new-to-science, reddish-brown snake from specimens found in the forests of Papua New Guinea and named it after Slash, the lead guitarist of the rock band Guns N’ Roses. Slash’s groundsnake (Lielaphis slashi) is the twentieth species to be confirmed within the genus Lielaphis, a group of groundsnakes found primarily on the island of New Guinea – which is split between Papua New Guinea in the east and Indonesia in the west, the researchers reported in a recent study. The snake’s name honors the musician Saul Hudson, professionally known as “Slash”, of Guns N’ Roses, for his lifelong promotion and advocacy of snakes, zoos, and museums, the authors write. “As a long-time herpephile, I am extremely honored and humbled to have Lielaphis slashi from New Guinea named after me,” Slash said in a press release. “It is really exciting, I never would have imagined this moment would arrive.” Slash’s groundsnake has a reddish-brown, unpatterned back and an unmarked white or cream underside. Study co-author Christopher Austin, professor of natural science and curator of amphibians and reptiles at Louisiana State University in the U.S., first found the snake in July 2006 in a largely undisturbed secondary forest in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. “Snakes in general are pretty hard to find, and these nocturnal snakes are especially challenging to find,” Austin told Mongabay by email. “Given that there are several venomous snake species in New Guinea, one needs to be especially careful finding these snakes at night.” Austin…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Scientists have identified a new-to-science, reddish-brown snake from specimens found in the forests of Papua New Guinea and named it after Slash, the lead guitarist of the rock band Guns N’ Roses. Slash’s groundsnake (Lielaphis slashi) is the twentieth species to be confirmed within the genus Lielaphis, a group of groundsnakes found primarily on the […] authors: | ||
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World Heritage status for South Sudan parks will be a boon for the birds 07 Sep 2026 06:09:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/world-heritage-status-for-south-sudan-parks-will-be-a-boon-for-the-birds/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Ryan Truscott content:encoded: The onset of the rains in South Sudan around April each year is accompanied by a remarkable avian spectacle. “There are so many storks that they kind of look like flies in the sky,” said Megan Claase, a conservation manager with African Parks, the organization that manages the Boma and Badingilo national parks in partnership with the South Sudanese government. The vast flocks congregating in the skies above Boma and Badingilo include African openbills (Anastomus lamelligerus), Abdim’s storks (Ciconia abdimii), and other birds moving across Africa in sync with the changing seasons. “I think it’s a very productive system after the first rains,” Claase told Mongabay, citing as an example the large blooms of winged alates that emerge from termite holes and are eaten by a wide variety of birds, including the storks. “It’s just such a haven for migratory species.” Wetlands at Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape, South Sudan. Image © Marcus Westberg. As the rains persist and much of the landscape becomes waterlogged, an abundance of invertebrate food is produced, Claase said. That includes snails and other mollusks eaten by the openbills, named for the curious gap in their bills that help them to grip their slippery prey. The Boma and Badingilo parks and surrounding areas are all part of a massive interconnected ecosystem of wetlands, swamps, woodlands, and grassy plains, which Claase said lies at the heart of Africa’s largest intact savanna system. This landscape, around the size of North Korea, is home to an estimated 6 million antelopes,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - South Sudan’s Boma and Badingilo national parks are best known for the massive herds of antelope that migrate across them each year. - But the landscape is also a key habitat for birds — resident species like shoebills, and those that migrate between southern and northern parts of Africa. - In July, the parks and surrounding areas were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which conservationists hope will attract support to conserve the region’s rich biodiversity. authors: | ||
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Bhutan’s pursuit of happiness takes root on its farms 07 Sep 2026 05:49:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/bhutans-pursuit-of-happiness-takes-root-on-its-farms/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Guided by its national philosophy of Gross National Happiness, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan aims to achieve food self-sufficiency by 2029 under its 13th five-year plan. However, the rugged, landlocked nation faces challenges in the form of steep terrain and logistical bottlenecks, chef and restaurateur Bleu Tshering Dorji told host Mike DiGirolamo on a recent episode of the Mongabay Newscast. “We are a mountainous landlocked country, and only a small percentage of our land is, I think, actually suitable for agriculture,” Dorji said. Bhutan’s five-year plan seeks to dramatically boost domestic production of key commodities while supporting smallholder farmers. Agriculture employs more than 40% of Bhutan’s 800,000 citizens, but arable land is extremely limited, and remote farms struggle with unpaved roads and a lack of cold storage. Dorji said the biggest challenge for farmers is getting their produce from farm to market due to the rugged terrain. “Every extra hour in transit affects quality and freshness.” Labor is also increasingly scarce as young people leave agriculture. “We need our young Bhutanese people to be able to see farming as not a last resort, but as a profession that you could be proud of,” Dorji said. To counter these issues, the government is investing approximately $180 million under the plan, with $139 million targeting smallholder farmers, the majority of whom in Bhutan are women, according to the five-year plan. Sonam Wangchuk, an executive specialist at Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, told DiGirolamo on the newscast that under the current five-year…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Guided by its national philosophy of Gross National Happiness, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan aims to achieve food self-sufficiency by 2029 under its 13th five-year plan. However, the rugged, landlocked nation faces challenges in the form of steep terrain and logistical bottlenecks, chef and restaurateur Bleu Tshering Dorji told host Mike DiGirolamo on a recent […] authors: | ||
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Indigenous knowledge helps reveal the ties between reefs and mangroves 06 Sep 2026 07:00:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-helps-reveal-the-ties-between-reefs-and-mangroves/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Anthony Ham content:encoded: In a recent scientific article in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management, alongside the list of scientist-authors were the Bardi Jawi and Oorany Rangers and the Bardi Jawi Traditional Owners. For the past decade, Bardi Jawi rangers and traditional owners have been working with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to study and protect their mangrove and reef ecosystems, as well as their traditional Indigenous fishing grounds. The Bardi Jawi, according to Phillip “Bibido” McCarthy, are a “Saltwater People” whose traditional diet revolves around healthy oceans. Their land, located in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, is of “red earth, blue ocean, and green mangroves,” Bibido, the 59-year-old coordinator of the Bardi Jawi men’s ranger program, tells Mongabay. Bardi Jawi Country forms part of the 95,000-hectare (235,000-acre) Bardi Jawi Indigenous Protected Area (declared in 2013 and administered by the Bardi Jawi) and the 204,000-hectare (504,000-acre) Bardi Jawi Gaarra Marine Park (established in 2022, with a zoning scheme that came into force in July 2026). Among the most important findings in the study was the interconnectedness between reef and mangrove ecosystems for sustaining fisheries — an aspect long recognized in Bardi Jawi traditional ecological knowledge. The overall project and its findings also guided the design of both the IPA and marine park. Cape Leveque on the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia. Image by Marty Southwell via Unsplash. Goldlined rabbitfish (Siganus lineatus). Image by © Kristin Anderson via iNaturalist. CC BY-NC 4.0. Much scientific work in recent years has focused on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A scientific collaboration between Australian scientists and First Nations Bardi Jawi rangers and elders has highlighted how fish species rely on the connectivity of reef and mangrove ecosystems. - The study found that culturally important fish species, which form part of traditional fishery practices in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, migrated between the two ecosystems more than other species. - The collaboration enabled Western scientists to draw on millennia of traditional ecological knowledge in carrying out the study and interpreting its findings. - While most of the findings were already part of traditional ecological knowledge, rangers say they learned how certain species may not be able to survive if either reefs or mangroves were threatened by climate change and environmental impacts. authors: | ||
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Why are they killing this beautiful fish? 05 Sep 2026 07:11:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/why-are-they-killing-this-beautiful-fish/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Sandy Watt content:encoded: Lionfish are beautiful, venomous and devastating Caribbean reefs. In Honduras, divers are fighting back with homemade spears, hunting competitions and by putting lionfish on restaurant menus. Watch the full film to meet the community fighting back against one of the Caribbean’s most destructive invasive species.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Lionfish are beautiful, venomous and devastating Caribbean reefs. In Honduras, divers are fighting back with homemade spears, hunting competitions and by putting lionfish on restaurant menus. Watch the full film to meet the community fighting back against one of the Caribbean’s most destructive invasive species. authors: | ||
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Urban water quality pose challenges to low-income communities in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital 05 Sep 2026 06:49:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/urban-water-quality-pose-challenges-to-low-income-communities-in-sri-lankas-commercial-capital/ author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti dc:creator: Kamanthi Wickramasinghe content:encoded: COLOMBO — As part of his morning routine, Nalin Kaluwitharana from “Ranjan Wijerathnapura,” a low-income settlement in the heart of Colombo, waters his home garden before setting off to work. Like many others in his neighborhood, he works as a three-wheeler driver. “We obtain pipe-borne water provided by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB). In the wake of drought conditions, NWSDB has requested people to use water sparingly. But we need water for our daily needs and have no alternatives but to rely on tap water,” he told Mongabay. Despite increasing utility tariffs, he continues to water the plants to keep them green and his surroundings alive. Kaluwitharana and a majority of houses in this settlement do not have water storage facilities and are dependent on the state utility to obtain water directly from the water line. The routine water cuts and maintenance work disrupt the regular water supply, inconveniencing them. Linda Arulanantham is from the same neighborhood. “Immediately after a water cut, the water turns muddy. We use a water filter to make sure that the water we drink is clean,” she said. But every household doesn’t have a water filter system, and water safety in urban low-income settlements is often neglected. Community water supply schemes In Sri Lanka, community water supply schemes were established around the 1990s to provide safe drinking water to rural communities. Ananda Vijitha Kumara Mapa, director general at the Department of National Community Water Supply (DNCWS) told Mongabay that community water supply…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Most urban poor living in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, rely on pipe-borne water for their daily needs. - Many fresh water sources have become contaminated over a period of 20-25 years due to human interventions and environmental factors. - As extreme heat impacts the island, water scarcity may force city people to use alternative or less protected water sources, researchers say. - Studies indicate that other water sources, such as wells and community water schemes, are more likely to show bacteriological non-compliance. authors: | ||
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Comparing green space for urban cooling, study 04 Sep 2026 23:23:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/comparing-green-space-for-urban-cooling-study/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: Cities can become dangerously hot during extreme heat events, making it increasingly important for urban planners to find ways to reduce temperatures and protect people from heat exposure. Woodlands, grasslands, lakes and rivers can create significantly cooler microclimates, offering one potential way to reduce urban heat, a new study finds. The study focused on Guildford, a town in southeast England with a variety of green-blue infrastructure (GBI) types. GBI are land and water-based features integrated with each other and the built environment to provide mutually beneficial services, including wildlife corridors, flood mitigation and cooling. In Guildford, researchers collected data from six sites — a woodland, grassland, lakeside, vegetated green wall, small pocket park and riverside — and compared how effective they are in cooling the areas around them. They compared each site with a built-up location. The team established sensors at each site and recorded temperatures at one-minute intervals, from June 2023 till the end of August 2025. These sensors recorded temperatures through both normal climatic conditions and several extreme heat events. The researchers also used satellite data over the same timeline to get a more robust picture of the conditions in each location. The team found that all six GBI sites were cooler by 1.81-2.49° Celsius (3.26-4.48° Fahrenheit) than their built-up comparison site. The cooling was more pronounced during extreme heat events. The woodland site was upward of 6°C (almost 11°F) cooler than the built environment on the hottest days. The riverside and pocket park were cooler by 3.5°C…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Cities can become dangerously hot during extreme heat events, making it increasingly important for urban planners to find ways to reduce temperatures and protect people from heat exposure. Woodlands, grasslands, lakes and rivers can create significantly cooler microclimates, offering one potential way to reduce urban heat, a new study finds. The study focused on Guildford, […] authors: | ||
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