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The fuel that moves people: the Ecuadorian case 20 Dec 2024 20:50:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-fuel-that-moves-people-the-ecuadorian-case/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Timothy J. Killeen content:encoded: Throughout most of the twentieth century, the Ecuadorian authorities pursued a geopolitical strategy that reflected a long-held conviction that they were cheated out of large territories in the Western Amazon. Most of their claims were adjudicated in favor of Peru and they were on the losing side of border disputes in 1860, 1903 and 1941. Consequently, successive governments were intent on not losing another square meter of what they fervently believed was their national territory, a policy that led to the construction of several highways and deliberate policies to foster migration into their lowland provinces. Peru and Ecuador resolved their differences in 1998, after another border dispute, via an arbitration process coordinated by the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the United States. In the process, the countries established paired national parks on both sides of the border, and an ambitious IIRSA-sponsored initiative was launched to provide Ecuador with direct access to the Amazon waterway at Puerto Morona. The resolution of the border conflict and the much-improved transportation infrastructure opened up the Cordillera del Condor to large-scale mining operations operated by Canadian and Chinese corporations. The road network in Amazonian Ecuador closely corresponds to the petroleum pipeline system, partly because the government promoted settlement along service roads during the 1970s. Data sources: GEM (2023) and RAISG (2022). Migratory pathways Migration into Amazonian Ecuador has occurred via four highway routes that connect urban centers in the Andes with a town or small city in the lowlands; from north to south, they…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Ecuador, the main areas of colonization were a north-south corridor along the base of the Andes and the Sucumbíos-Orellana quadrant, the country’s major oil-producing region. - Since the 1970s, populations in both areas have grown significantly. The Andean zone went from 160,000 inhabitants to more than 520,000 in 2017; in parallel, the population in the provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana increased from less than 12,000 to more than 350,000. - Colonization also led to the invasion of lands of the indigenous Shuar, which prompted an unusual effort on their part to protect their territory. Today, the area specializes in cattle production and seeks to establish a niche market for high-quality beef for the domestic market. authors: | ||
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Brazil’s illegal gold miners carve out new Amazon hotspots in conservation units 20 Dec 2024 19:39:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/brazils-illegal-gold-miners-carve-out-new-amazon-hotspots-in-conservation-units/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Fernanda Wenzel content:encoded: When President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in January 2023, illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon was out of control. According to the research collective MapBiomas, illegal miners — garimpeiros, as they are known in Brazil — almost doubled the area they occupied during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s (2019-22), who openly defended the activity. The most severe situation occurred in Indigenous territories, particularly among the Yanomami, whose heartbreaking images of sick children shocked the world. Humanitarian tragedies also affect other communities, such as the Kayapós and the Mundurukus in Pará state, where contamination from the mercury used by miners has dire consequences for Indigenous health. Things changed when Lula’s environment minister, Marina Silva, resumed on-the-ground operations. According to Brazil’s environmental agency, IBAMA, in 2023, agents destroyed 150 backhoes and 600 dredgers, machines that churned up the riverbed searching for gold. As a result, deforestation linked to garimpos in the Amazon plummeted by 30% compared with 2022. “We believe that when we have an institutional presence and work on several fronts, we reduce the number of deforestation and degradation alerts due to illegal mining,” Ronilson Vasconcelos told Mongabay from Itaituba, where he coordinates a special advanced unit of ICMBio, the agency responsible for federal conservation units. Data are crystal clear in showing the effects of the environmental agents’ offensive. However, they also show that garimpos keep expanding across the Amazon, albeit at a slower pace. Indigenous territories, where any kind of mining is illegal, lost…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration reduced the expansion of illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon, but miners keep finding new sites. - In 15 conservation units, illegal gold miners destroyed 330 hectares (815 acres) in only two months. - According to experts, gold miners expelled from Indigenous territories may be migrating to conservation units. - Alliances with narco mafias and the rise in gold prices are obstacles to fighting illegal mining. authors: | ||
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Amazon’s Boiling River gives scientists a window into the rainforest’s future 20 Dec 2024 17:28:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/amazons-boiling-river-gives-scientists-a-window-into-the-rainforests-future/ author: Lizkimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: “You’re engulfed in waves of steam and sweating buckets and there’s no cool water anywhere,” Kenneth Feeley, a professor at the University of Miami, tells Mongabay. He’s describing the Boiling River in Peru’s Amazon Rainforest. “If you look at the heat index, everything says immediate danger of heat stroke.” The Boiling River gets its name from thermally heated water bubbling up from underground, creating distinct temperature zones in the surrounding forest. Within less than a kilometer (just over half a mile), temperatures vary by up to 11° Celsius (19.8° Fahrenheit), providing scientists with a natural laboratory to study how rising temperatures may affect tropical trees. This natural hotspot has existed for thousands of years, offering a window into how forests might look in a warmer future. In a study published in Global Change Biology, researchers found that for each 1°C (1.8°F) increase in temperature, there were 11% fewer tree species in the area. These temperature effects on tree diversity are significant, the authors say, given that scientists predict the region could warm by 3-6°C (5.4-10.8°F) by 2100. The Boiling River immediately downstream of most hot water inputs. Here, the water can reach 95 ˚C. Photo courtesy of Riley Fortier. To study these effects, the research team, led by Riley Fortier, a graduate student at the University of Miami, established 70 circular study plots, each with a diameter of 6 meters (20 feet). In each plot, they measured and identified every woody plant with a trunk diameter of 2 centimeters (nearly…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Scientists studying Peru’s Boiling River found 11% fewer tree species for every 1°C (1.8°F) increase in temperature, offering insights into how climate change might affect the Amazon Rainforest. - The research team discovered that hotter areas not only had fewer species overall but were dominated by heat-tolerant trees that typically grow in the warmest parts of South America. - The study site is protected by Indigenous Asháninka people as sacred land, but the forest still faces threats from nearby deforestation and fires, reflecting broader challenges across the Amazon. - The Amazon is experiencing climate pressures, with fire-affected areas in the Brazilian Amazon increasing 18-fold in September 2024, covering a combined area nearly the size of the Netherlands. authors: | ||
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Electrochemical removal of ocean CO2 offers potential — and concerns 20 Dec 2024 15:36:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/electrochemical-removal-of-ocean-co2-offers-potential-and-concerns/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Ocean-based carbon dioxide removal technology is ramping up, with startups and existing companies racing to develop electrochemical techniques that either remove carbon from seawater or prompt oceans to suck up more. Electrochemical marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) aims to store carbon in the ocean or strip it from seawater using electricity. Broadly speaking, mCDR is divided into two methods with some overlap: ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) and direct ocean capture (DOC), also known as direct ocean removal. OAE electrochemically splits seawater into a base and acid stream. The base stream is added back to the ocean, notching up pH to make the ocean’s surface more alkaline, prompting more CO2 to be absorbed from the atmosphere over time in the form of bicarbonate. The acidic stream can be used by industry or sequestered in the deep sea. “If you think of the ocean like a sponge, adding alkalinity makes that sponge bigger, so it’s able to take up more carbon dioxide,” says Helen Findlay at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. DOC also uses electrochemical processes to strip carbon dioxide from seawater. One method converts dissolved inorganic carbon within seawater into a gas that is then captured. Low CO2 water is returned to the ocean, where it naturally rebalances as carbon dioxide is drawn down from the atmosphere. The captured carbon can be stored geologically or used in industrial processes, much like direct air capture on land. “Back to the sponge analogy, direct ocean capture is like squeezing the sponge and then allowing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Stripping seawater of carbon dioxide via electrochemical processes — thereby prompting oceans to draw down more greenhouse gas from the atmosphere — is a geoengineering approach under consideration for largescale CO2 removal. Several startups and existing companies are planning projects at various scales. - Once removed from seawater, captured carbon dioxide can be stored geologically or used commercially by industry. Another electrochemical method returns alkaline seawater to the oceans, causing increased carbon dioxide absorption over time. - In theory, these techniques could aid in carbon emission storage. But experts warn that as some companies rush to commercialize the tech and sell carbon credits, significant knowledge gaps remain, with potential ecological harm needing to be determined. - Achieving the scale required to make a dent in climate change would require deploying huge numbers of electrochemical plants globally — a costly and environmentally risky scenario deemed unfeasible by some. One problem: the harm posed by scale-up isn’t easy to assess with modeling and small-scale projects. authors: | ||
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South Korea slashes forest biomass energy subsidies in major policy reform 20 Dec 2024 15:12:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/south-korea-slashes-forest-biomass-energy-subsidies-in-major-policy-reform/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Annelise Giseburt content:encoded: In a major policy shift, South Korea announced Dec. 18 that it will end renewable energy subsidies for new biomass projects, as well as for state-owned coal and biomass cofired power plants starting in January 2025. The nation’s ministries also committed to phased reductions of subsidies supporting existing power plants using imported forest biomass fuel. The abrupt change is “the largest [biomass] policy rollback of its kind in Asia,” according to South Korean environmental nonprofit Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), and also among the largest policy shifts away from forest biomass subsidies by any nation worldwide. South Korea is currently Asia’s second-largest user of forest biomass for energy, importing 3.9 million metric tons of wood pellets as of April 2024. Scientists and forest advocates have long asserted that burning forest biomass to generate electricity isn’t carbon neutral, but creates more carbon emissions than coal per unit of energy produced, while the manufacture of wood pellets, a type of biomass fuel, causes deforestation and negatively impacts forest biodiversity. Although South Korea will continue to subsidize biomass fuel sourced domestically, advocates say they hope that reducing support for imported biomass will help alleviate pressure on forests threatened by Asia’s growing biomass market — particularly tropical forests in Southeast Asia. Tanks used to store biomass fuel at a biomass power plant in Okinawa prefecture, Japan. Advocates say they hope Japan will take similar steps as South Korea to wind down existing biomass subsidies. Image by Annelise Giseburt. ‘A step in the right direction’…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In a surprise move, South Korea has announced that it will end subsidies for all new biomass projects and for existing state-owned plants cofiring biomass with coal, effective January 2025, a significant and sudden policy shift. - Additionally, government financial support for dedicated biomass plants using imported biomass will be phased down, while support for privately owned cofiring plants will be phased out over the next decade. However, subsidy levels for domestically produced biomass fuel remain unchanged. - The biomass reform is being hailed by forest advocates as a step in the right direction, potentially setting a new, environmentally sound precedent for the region. - Advocates are now calling on Japan, Asia’s largest forest biomass importer, to follow South Korea’s example. authors: | ||
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Coral destruction for toilet construction: Interview with a Malagasy fisher 20 Dec 2024 14:32:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/coral-destruction-for-toilet-construction-interview-with-a-malagasy-fisher/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Valisoa Rasolofomboahangy content:encoded: TOAMASINA, Madagascar — Abraham Botovao, a boat skipper and the president of the Association of Progressive Fishers of Toamasina, has become accustomed to seeing an unusual activity while out at sea. Every day, people in boats plunder a local reef for hundreds of kilograms of coral to sell at the market. There, locals buy the coral in large blocks to use in building septic tanks. Toamasina, located around 350 kilometers (220 miles) east of Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, is one of the country’s main coastal cities, with a population of around 529,500. It’s also home to Madagascar’s largest and most important port, which handles 90% of the country’s international trade. The city is surrounded by a series of coral reefs: Hastie Reef, Bain des Dames Reef, Grand Reef, Petit Reef, and the reef at L’île aux Prunes, an island known locally as Nosy Alanana. The corals on these reefs include near-threatened species such as Pavona decussata, P. cactus and Acanthastrea brevis, according to Jean Maharavo, a marine biologist and vice president of the NGO Tany Ifandovana, which is working to transplant corals slated for destruction by the port’s expansion to L’île aux Prunes. Like most of the world’s tropical reefs, these corals are under threat from bleaching due to global warming. However, those on the east coast of Madagascar are relatively unaffected by this phenomenon, compared with reefs in the Mozambique Channel on the west coast, according to WWF. Despite this, Toamasina’s corals are under considerable anthropogenic pressure, from both unregulated…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Toamasina, a coastal city in eastern Madagascar, is surrounded by an extensive network of coral reefs that are home to near-threatened species. - For decades, these reefs have been under threat from an unusual activity: The use of coral in the construction of septic tanks. - Mongabay spoke with Abraham Botovao, a boat skipper and the president of a local fishers’ association, who has been closely monitoring this trade and its impact on the local marine environment. - “It frustrates me every time I see them when I’m out fishing, but unfortunately all I can do is watch without being able to do anything,” Botovao said. authors: | ||
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Poachers target South Africa’s ‘miracle’ plant with near impunity 20 Dec 2024 13:03:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/poachers-target-south-africas-miracle-plant-with-near-impunity/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Leonie Joubert content:encoded: NIEUWOUDTVILLE, South Africa — It is the devil’s breath, this wind, blowing dry and mercilessly across a plain left threadbare by decades of overgrazing. With this wind at their backs, small groups of mostly men have toiled upslope, along historic shepherding paths to the top of an escarpment 600 meters (2,000 feet) high over the past year. They’ve been recruited by poaching syndicates to find one specific plant at the top of the plateau, hidden in a remote and rugged gorge. Clivia mirabilis, the miracle clivia. Most clivia species grow in shady, damp, woody groves. The miracle clivia got its name because it has carved out a niche on the arid, hot escarpment on the edge of South Africa’s western near-desert. The area has an unusual climate, with winter rainfall and summer temperatures that can climb to 45° Celsius (113° Fahrenheit). The plant can withstand the harsh sun, and its maroon stem and hanging candelabra-like blooms set it apart from other clivia species. The best-known populations grow in a single gorge in Oorlogskloof Nature Reserve, on the edge of the Bokkeveld Plateau in Northern Cape province, where the species was first identified in 2002. Private landowners on the border of the reserve are reluctant to say if the plant grows on their properties. This is wild, rugged country. When Mongabay visited the reserve in November, field rangers were called out to find two tourist parties that had lost their way on the paths whose signs had gone missing or been…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - South Africa has faced a surge in poaching of rare succulents by criminal syndicates since 2019. - A recent spike in prices paid for a different kind of plant, a drylands-adapted lily, the miracle clivia (Clivia mirabilis), has drawn the attention of plant-trafficking syndicates to the lone reserve where it grows. - Large numbers of clivias have been seized by law enforcement, raising fears that this rare plant is quickly being wiped out from the limited range where it’s known to occur. - Reserve staff and law enforcement agencies are underfunded and spread too thinly across the vast landscapes of South Africa’s Northern Cape province targeted by plant poachers. authors: | ||
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As lithium mining bleeds Atacama salt flat dry, Indigenous communities hit back 20 Dec 2024 10:44:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/as-lithium-mining-bleeds-atacama-salt-flat-dry-indigenous-communities-hit-back/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Barinia Montoya content:encoded: You could be forgiven for thinking there’s no water in the Atacama Desert. In fact, the driest desert on Earth has underground springs that feed the Chaxa, Cejar and Tebenquiche lagoons, as well as other bodies of water, providing oases for various animals such as flamingos and extremophiles. It’s said that the ancestors of the Indigenous Lickanantay people practiced agriculture here without damaging the fragile ecosystem, using only the water deposited in irrigation channels, in a method known by locals as “sowing water.” The Lickanantay have built a unique cosmovision around the water cycle or Puri in the Kunza language. “They know how to live with its scarcity, tame it and even sometimes fear it,” says Oriana Mora, an Indigenous Atacameño, in a study she carried out while at the University of Seville in Spain. It’s no coincidence that one of their most important ceremonies, the Talatur, consists of cleaning out the canals so that the water can flow freely, she says. However, the Lickanantay are not the only ones interested in the natural resources of the Atacama Desert: the lithium industry is too. The two mining companies operating in the region extract more than 63 billion liters (17 billion gallons) of brine per year from deep beneath the desert, a rate of nearly 2,000 liters per second, or 525 gallons per second. The industry also consumes a significant amount of freshwater. Indigenous defender Sonia Ramos Chocobar. Image courtesy of Sonia Ramos Chocobar. This prompted researchers at the University of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Council of Atacameño Peoples filed a complaint in October 2024 against lithium mining companies operating in Chile’s Atacama salt flat, accusing them of causing the land to sink around their extraction wells. - The complaint was based on findings from a study published in July that revealed portions of the salt flat are subsiding by up to 2 centimeters, or nearly an inch, per year. - Scientists warn that one of the main consequences could be the loss of the aquifer’s storage capacity. - They also point out that since the salt flat lies on a tectonic fault, the subsidence could spread further, including to two protected areas in the region that are home to flamingos and other rare wildlife. authors: | ||
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Indonesia’s Indigenous communities sidelined from conservation 20 Dec 2024 09:45:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesias-indigenous-communities-sidelined-from-conservation/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — In recent United Nations biodiversity conferences, global leaders have championed Indigenous peoples as critical partners in achieving conservation goals. Indonesia, as a signatory to an international treaty on biodiversity protection, pledged to uphold these principles. Yet, its latest conservation law does the opposite—sidelining Indigenous communities and threatening to criminalize their traditional practices, despite global recognition of their essential role in biodiversity stewardship. A rapidly growing body of scientific research has found that Indigenous peoples are the most effective stewards of their forests and the massive stores of carbon and biodiversity within them. A 2023 research paper by think tank the World Resources Institute (WRI) concluded that Amazonian forests managed by Indigenous peoples are strong “carbon sinks” as they remove 340 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, while forests outside the Amazon’s Indigenous lands release more carbon dioxide than they absorb. But as Indigenous communities’ role in biodiversity conservation gains more global recognition, communities in Indonesia, a megadiverse country that harbors the majority of Earth’s species and high numbers of endemic species, are increasingly sidelined from nature conservation efforts. Database records indicate 22.5 million hectares (55.6 million acres) of Indigenous territories in Indonesia have high conservation potential, highlighting the critical role of Indigenous stewardship. Instead of having protected rights to manage their forests that overlap with conservation areas, Indigenous communities in Indonesia are at risk of being displaced from protected areas. Therefore, activists say it is urgent for the Indonesian government and lawmakers to pass a long-awaited bill on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Research shows that globally, Indigenous peoples are the most effective stewards of their forests and the massive stores of carbon and biodiversity within. - Yet in Indonesia, which harbors the majority of Earth’s species, Indigenous communities are increasingly sidelined from nature conservation efforts. - Activists say it is urgent for the Indonesian government to pass a long-awaited bill on Indigenous rights to ensure that Indigenous peoples can contribute to biodiversity conservation without fear of being criminalized or evicted. - This is especially important, activists say, in light of a new conservation law in Indonesia, which is criticized for not protecting Indigenous land rights; the law also outlines a new form of “preservation area,” where Indigenous activities could be heavily restricted. authors: | ||
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Balochistan’s Gwadar city sits at the crossroads of climate and conflict 20 Dec 2024 03:00:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/balochistans-gwadar-city-sits-at-the-crossroads-of-climate-and-conflict/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Waqas Alam Angaria content:encoded: In late February, a flash flood hit Gwadar, a port city on Pakistan’s southwestern coast in Balochistan province. The 183 millimeters (7.2 inches) of rain that fell in 30 hours was double what the city typically gets in a year, and it exacted a heavy toll. At least five people died, and more than 800 had to leave their homes because of stagnant sewage water. The storm damaged thousands of homes and shops, inundated farmlands and killed hundreds of livestock. Residents shared videos online showing flooded streets and homes, and they criticized the lack of government response. Protests broke out as hundreds of people took to the streets, chanting, “Take water out of our houses,” “Stop helping the influential” and “We want our rights.” In already fragile areas like Gwadar, extreme weather can fuel conflict and be a threat multiplier, according to recent research published in the journal Alternatives: Global, Local, Political. “The grievances of the Baloch people against the state of Pakistan stem from inequality, human rights violations, lack of necessities and noninclusive governance,” Muhammad Makki, an assistant professor at the Centre for International Peace and Security at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad and lead author of the study, told Mongabay by phone. “Climate calamities like floods and droughts worsen these issues and further destabilize development.” Over the past six years, Gwadar has been beset by large protests and sit-ins, most reportedly linked to climate issues or government failures. In 2019, thousands of people, including…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study examines the links between conflict and climate in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, where extreme weather can be a threat multiplier. - The port city of Gwadar serves as an example, as local residents have long had grievances against the state, which were exacerbated by recent flooding that killed several people and displaced hundreds. - Experts highlight the absence of data-driven policies, citing a gap in research that has hindered solutions; they call for investment in data and the inclusion of local people in decision-making and infrastructure planning. authors: | ||
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From Bhutan to Nigeria & Kenya, women endure climate change differently than men 20 Dec 2024 02:00:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/from-bhutan-to-nigeria-kenya-women-endure-climate-change-differently-than-men/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Choki WangmoJuliet Akoth OjwangKaren CoatesTarinipre Francis content:encoded: Climate change is not an equal player; neither is environmental degradation. Research shows that both disproportionately affect populations that are already vulnerable. The effects of floods, fires, heat waves and droughts are all more likely to hit harder in communities living under the poverty line or on society’s socioeconomic fringes. And gender is a critical factor. Globally, women and girls suffer the effects of climate change more than men. Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die in environmental disasters. Women also make up the majority of the world’s poor, and they rely more heavily on the environment for their survival. These are all among the reasons why the United Nations says women are key to climate action. And yet, women are also disproportionately neglected in reporting on climate change and the environment — one global analysis found that women account for just 28% of the voices quoted in stories about climate change. Further research shows a myriad of reasons for this: Women are seen as “less credible” sources than men, men fill the majority of newsroom leadership roles, reporters are influenced by cultural norms that don’t prioritize women’s voices and women journalists face greater safety risks in the field — and online — that often curtail their reporting. This year, Mongabay’s fourth cohort of Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows comprised a diverse group of journalists from Bhutan, Nigeria and Kenya — all women. This was not orchestrated; each was selected (as all fellows are)…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Research shows that globally, women and girls suffer greater effects of climate change and environmental disasters than men; at the same time, women environmental journalists often face greater obstacles on the job, and women’s voices are often missing from stories about climate change. - Three recent Mongabay fellows, all women, report on specific examples from their home countries (Bhutan, Nigeria, Kenya) in which women disproportionately experience the effects of climate change and extreme weather. - In all three examples, women exhibit a perseverance that ensures their own and their families’ survival — and sometimes aids their own independence and resourcefulness. authors: | ||
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For ecological restoration, evidence-based standards deliver better outcomes (commentary) 20 Dec 2024 01:10:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/for-ecological-restoration-evidence-based-standards-deliver-better-outcomes-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Karma Bouazza and Bethanie Walder content:encoded: Recognition of the need to restore degraded landscapes is accelerating at pace. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (the UN Decade) has triggered a global movement to rally individual action, financial investment, and political backing to prevent, halt and reverse the loss of nature. In October, at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) conference in Cali, Colombia, experts and policymakers focused on mobilizing global action to implement all 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF). Target 2 (the restoration target) encourages all parties to bring 30% of degraded ecosystems under effective restoration by 2030. In December restoration also received significant attention at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification COP. In addition, incoming regulations like the EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL) are creating mandatory obligations to restore previously degraded lands. These initiatives are driving countries, industry, and civil society to elevate investment in, implementation of, and reporting about ecosystem restoration. Corporations and investors increasingly understand community expectations to invest in the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services – because their businesses depend on or impact these resources upon which all life depends. But ecosystem restoration is inherently uncertain – ecosystems do not always react as we expect them to, and therefore restoration projects do not always achieve their intended outcomes. This uncertainty can be due to variability in, for example, landscape ecology and climate, understanding of effective design and implementation, funding and policy frameworks, and the level of community engagement. An increasing number of globally relevant…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration has triggered a global movement to rally individual action, financial investment, and political backing to prevent, halt and reverse the loss of nature. - Evidence-based standards can help meet restoration targets and improve general compliance with laws and regulations while delivering social, environmental and economic net gain for people and nature. - “As we near the halfway point of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration [the] global application of effective restoration through the use of standards provides a path forward that can help slow climate change and recover ecosystem processes and biodiversity for the future of life on Earth,” a new op-ed argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Unlike: Brazil Facebook groups give poachers safe space to flex their kills 19 Dec 2024 16:08:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/unlike-brazil-facebook-groups-give-poachers-safe-space-to-flex-their-kills/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Adele Santelli content:encoded: Note: This article contains graphic images of dead animals that might be upsetting. Between 2018 and 2020, users of Facebook groups in Brazil shared more than 2,000 records of wildlife poaching, amounting to 4,658 dead animals: everything from pacas and armadillos to capybaras and various species of birds. That was the finding from a study carried out by a group of researchers led by Brazilian biologist Hani R. El Bizri from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development. They collected and analyzed data from the five most relevant Brazilian Facebook poaching groups, both open and private, to understand how the activity impacts biodiversity. By identifying the patterns of illegal hunting in Brazil, it was possible to map the municipalities and biomes in which poaching took place; estimate the number of poachers involved and the number of animals killed; identify the species affected; and count the amount of meat in tons, in order to know how much biomass was removed from the habitats. The survey showed that illegal hunting took place in all of the country’s biomes and in 14% of Brazilian municipalities, spread across all states. There were an estimated 1,400 poachers involved and a total of 29 metric tons of wild meat obtained from the activity. A total of 157 species were killed, from small amphibians to large mammals. Of these, 19 were threatened species, such as tapirs, peccaries, jacutinga birds and coandu-mirim dwarf porcupines, a species only described by science in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study shows how openly poachers in Brazil are sharing content of dead wildlife, including threatened and protected species, on Facebook. - It found 2,000 records of poaching on Brazilian Facebook groups between 2018 and 2020, amounting to 4,658 animals from 157 species from all over the country. - Data suggest there were trophy hunts, meant only to show off hunting hauls rather than being done for subsistence or a consequence of human-wildlife conflict. - The study highlights the impunity for environmental crimes and the easy dissemination of content related to illegal practices on social media networks in Brazil. authors: | ||
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‘Killed while poaching’: When wildlife enforcement blurs into violence 19 Dec 2024 15:41:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killed-while-poaching-when-wildlife-enforcement-blurs-into-violence/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Ashoka Mukpo content:encoded: This is the second story in the Mongabay Series – Protected Areas in East Africa. Read Part One here. KITABU, Uganda — It’s mid-afternoon in Kitabu, a small town nestled in the hills of western Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains. Neatly manicured plots of beans and cassava line the road that leads toward it. Women and young children carry bundles of firewood on their heads under the hot October sun. Far below, a vast green-and-brown savanna unfolds into the horizon, dotted with glittering lakes and rivers. This is Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda’s “most popular tourist destination,” and one of the most important ecosystems in East Africa. Its forests, swamps and grasslands span nearly 2,000 square kilometers (about 765 square miles). There are savanna elephants here, along with lions that nap on tree branches, buffalo, leopards, antelopes, chimpanzees, hippos, and more than 600 different bird species. “Queen,” as the park administrators call it, is a UNESCO “man and biosphere reserve” — one of the few protected wildlife habitats of its scale left on the continent. The school here in Kitabu isn’t a typical one. It was set up in 2018 by a group of former wildlife poachers, and is one of a few around Queen Elizabeth that get support from donors abroad or, occasionally, from the agency responsible for managing the park, the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Its purpose is to educate orphans whose families can’t afford school fees. Of the students in attendance here, 63 don’t have…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In October 2023, Mongabay traveled to Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park as part of a reporting series on protected areas in East Africa. - While there, we heard allegations that Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers have carried out extrajudicial killings of suspected bushmeat poachers inside the park. - Two weeks before our visit, a man was shot to death inside the park; his relatives and local officials alleged he was killed by wildlife rangers while attempting to surrender. - The allegations follow other recent human rights scandals related to aggressive conservation enforcement practices in the nearby Congo Basin. authors: | ||
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Most large banks failing to consider Indigenous rights 19 Dec 2024 13:12:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/most-large-banks-failing-to-consider-indigenous-rights/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: Major banks, including Citibank and JPMorgan Chase, are still failing to implement the full scope of U.N. human rights principles, a new report has found. The report by finance watchdog BankTrack evaluated the policies and practices of 50 major banks and found that most are failing to implement adequate safeguards in line with the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This is the fifth iteration of the international NGO’s benchmark series and, for the first time, banks were assessed against three new criteria from U.N. human rights declarations. These criteria consider policies and practices related to the rights of human rights defenders, Indigenous peoples’ rights to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and the human right to a healthy environment. On human rights defenders, 82% of all banks fail to mention human rights defenders and their specific rights. While 66% of banks mention FPIC in their policies, none have processes in place to ensure that clients and investee companies respect it where it is required. Only three banks — Banco Santander, ING and Bank of America — explicitly acknowledge that environmental rights are human rights in their statements of policy. Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo stands next to an oil spill near Shushufindi, in the Sucumbíos province, Ecuadorian Amazon, on June 26, 2023. Image by Sophie Pinchetti (Amazon Frontlines). “Indigenous Peoples face disproportionate risks from the activities banks finance, yet banks are failing to implement adequate safeguards in line with their responsibilities,” Giulia Barbos, a human rights researcher and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new report by finance watchdog BankTrack evaluated the policies and practices of 50 major banks and found that most are failing to fully implement adequate safeguards in line with U.N. human rights principles. - The 2024 report included three new criteria centered around the rights of human rights defenders and Indigenous peoples and the right to a healthy environment; the majority of banks did not explicitly acknowledge environmental rights are human rights and all failed in due diligence around Indigenous peoples’ free, prior and informed consent. - The report found that small progress has been made in the last two years as banks improve policies and processes for managing human rights. - The authors say stronger human rights due diligence laws could be a game changer in driving corporate respect for human rights. authors: | ||
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New frog species show how geology shapes Amazon’s biodiversity 19 Dec 2024 11:34:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/new-frog-species-show-how-geology-shapes-amazons-biodiversity/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Sibélia Zanon content:encoded: The frog’s loud croaking turned out to be a call to its own demise. The researchers walking along the steep muddy bank on a rainy November day in 2022 in the Imeri Range on the Brazil-Venezuela border were alerted by the unfamiliar sound. They found the frog sitting outside the opening to a tarantula’s burrow and captured it. They later named the frog Neblinaphryne imeri. “That was the most difficult expedition I’ve ever been on in my entire life,” says Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues, a herpetologist at the University of São Paulo (USP). Rodrigues has been doing fieldwork for more than 40 years, and this time he was leading a team of 14 researchers on a 12-day camping expedition at the top of a nearly 1,900-meter (6,200-foot) peak. Even the region’s Indigenous Yanomami don’t climb to the Imeri peak because of the treacherous route and the fact that there are no large mammals to be hunted at that altitude. Rodrigues’s team only managed to reach the spot with a Brazilian military helicopter. This was the second time Rodrigues had led an expedition of researchers, with the help of the military, in this part of Brazil’s Amazonas state. The first was to the Neblina peak in 2017, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Imeri. Both mountains are located inside protected areas: Pico da Neblina National Park and the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, respectively. The Neblina expedition also resulted in the discovery of a previously undescribed frog species, which they named Neblinaphryne mayeri after…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - DNA testing of two new-to-science frog species has shown they share a common ancestor — a species that lived 55 million years ago in the mountains of what is today Brazil’s Amazonas state. - The multidisciplinary study drew together biologists and geologists to map how geological changes in the mountain range shaped not just its geography but also the diversity of species in the region. - The two endemic species were collected on two separate peaks — Neblina and Imeri — and their discovery has led to further understanding of the origins and evolution of biodiversity in the Amazon. - Another expedition to the Tulu-Tuloi Range, located 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Imeri, is scheduled for 2025. authors: | ||
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Even for ‘progressive’ Danone, complying with EUDR is a challenge 19 Dec 2024 11:07:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/even-for-progressive-danone-complying-with-eudr-is-a-challenge/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: French dairy giant Danone has been around for more than a century and operates across more than 55 countries, producing everything from yogurt and milk to protein drinks and baby formula. It did $28.9 billion in sales last year, maintaining its spot as the world’s top dairy producer. But to make all that happen, the company needs a complex operation of paper products, soy, palm oil and cocoa — much of it sourced from countries with vulnerable rainforests like the Amazon. With the European Union’s deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) set to go into effect at the end of 2025, Danone and other companies that deal in cocoa, soy and other commodities tied to deforestation are facing extra scrutiny as they prepare to meet some of the most rigorous environmental trade restrictions ever implemented. The EUDR requires companies importing cocoa, cattle, rubber, soy, wood, palm oil and coffee into the EU to demonstrate their products weren’t grown on land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. It’s proven to be a significant challenge even for companies with relatively strong environmental track records, like Danone. Tracking the impacts of sensitive commodities requires advanced technology and strong relationships with suppliers, but can still ultimately fall short for huge corporations that work across multiple countries. “Voluntary practices are not enough for the magnitude of the challenge [combating deforestation and forest conversion], and public policy such as the EUDR helps bring additional transparency, due diligence and collaboration across the value chain as a few good actors and a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) requires companies importing cocoa, cattle, rubber, soy, wood, palm oil and coffee into the EU to demonstrate their products weren’t grown on land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. - French dairy giant Danone works with soy, cocoa and palm oil — products subject to the EUDR, which goes into effect at the end of 2025. - In general, Danone’s sustainability policies have been better than most, outsider observers said. But it still has a lot of work to do to ensure 100% of its supply chain is free of deforestation and land conversion. authors: | ||
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A port is destroying corals to expand. Can an NGO rescue enough to matter? 19 Dec 2024 10:11:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/a-port-is-destroying-corals-to-expand-can-an-ngo-rescue-enough-to-matter/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Valisoa Rasolofomboahangy content:encoded: TOAMASINA, Madagascar — The landscape was primed for adventure during a mid-April visit to L’île aux Prunes, an idyllic islet selected by the NGO Tany Ifandovana for transplanting rescued corals. With its nearly virgin tropical forest and maze of trails, the islet, known locally as Nosy Alanana, has a well-earned reputation as a former hideout where pirates once supposedly hid their loot. The reef where the corals originated was due to be filled in for the expansion of the port of Toamasina, a city on Madagascar’s east coast. The young NGO is trying its best, with few resources and little support from the port itself, to compensate for at least some of the ecological destruction. “As an environmentalist, it hurt my heart to know that these corals were just going to be filled in,” Jean Maharavo, marine biologist and vice president of Tany Ifandovana, told Mongabay. “Something had to be done.” Aerial view of L’île aux Prunes, 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) from Toamasina in eastern Madagascar. Image courtesy of Creocean. The deep-water port of Toamasina is the largest and most important in Madagascar, handling 90% of the country’s international cargo flows. The expansion adds 25 hectares (62 acres) to the port’s initial 70-hectare (173-acre) footprint, with the ultimate goal of tripling the port’s capacity by 2026. The port is surrounded by a series of coral reefs: Hastie Reef, Bain des Dames Reef, Grand Reef, Petit Reef, and the reef at L’île aux Prunes. To carry out the expansion work, part…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The ongoing expansion of the port of Toamasina in eastern Madagascar is set to destroy 25 hectares (62 acres) of coral reefs. - Tany Ifandovana, a Malagasy NGO, removed a small portion of these corals before construction began, and transplanted them to a coral island several kilometers away, as a way to ecologically compensate for the losses, at least in part. - The NGO faces major challenges, including a lack of resources, little support from the port, and locals destroying corals around the island transplant site. - “As an environmentalist, it hurt my heart to know that these corals were just going to be filled in,” Tany Ifandovana’s vice president told Mongabay. “Something had to be done.” authors: | ||
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Nepal created a forest fund to do everything; five years on it’s done nothing 19 Dec 2024 05:46:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/nepal-created-a-forest-fund-to-do-everything-five-years-on-its-done-nothing/ author: Abhayarajjoshi dc:creator: Abhaya Raj Joshi content:encoded: KATHMANDU — In October 2019, Nepal’s government introduced a new Forest Act. The law laid the basis for the establishment of the Forest Development Fund (FDF) with an extensive mandate ranging from running afforestation programs to facilitating research and addressing human-wildlife conflict. Yet, five years later, the FDF has not spent a single rupee, even as the forest-managing communities it aims to assist struggle with financial challenges in preserving the country’s forests. “We have around 6.4 billion rupees [$47 million] in the forest department’s accounts set aside for the Forest Development Fund,” said Bijay Dhakal, an officer at the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation. “As of now, the fund itself doesn’t have a separate bank account,” he told Mongabay. The Forest Regulation, prepared by the Ministry of Forests and Environment to implement the act’s provisions, contains a long list of mandates for the fund. The FDF has been authorized to support forest development and conservation by promoting and managing forests, establishing nurseries, preventing encroachment and planting trees in public and degraded lands. Hills and mountains visible on a clear sunny day from Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park in Kathmandu. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi Similarly, it has been assigned to restore degraded ecosystems and manage environmentally sensitive areas, address human-wildlife conflict and climate change and control forest fires and the spread of invasive species. The fund is authorized to facilitate research, relocate vulnerable settlements and foster collaboration between provincial and local governments, forest user groups and organizations. “The government is working…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nepal’s Forest Development Fund, established in 2019, was designed to support forest conservation, research and other environmental initiatives, but it has not spent any of the allocated funds in five years. - The fund is meant to be financed through various sources, including lease fees from developers, compensatory afforestation payments, a percentage of profits from forest land use and revenue from carbon trading. - Forest user communities, which have successfully increased forest cover in Nepal, continue to face financial difficulties, with illegal logging and wildfires exacerbating the situation, while the FDF remains frozen. authors: | ||
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Can the Cali Fund provide a rights-based remedy for biopiracy? (commentary) 18 Dec 2024 21:20:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/can-the-cali-fund-provide-a-rights-based-remedy-for-biopiracy-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Alex ReepJasmine BetancourtNissim Roffe PiketVictoria Osanyinpeju content:encoded: When considering the vastly unequal realities of the current global order, it is clear that the ongoing impact of the colonization of the Global South is wide ranging and all-encompassing. From legacies of racial subjugation, to the disproportionate impact of climate change, to the rise of populist authoritarianism, the colonial project is strong. But one ongoing element of extraction from the Global South is largely unknown, under-addressed, and requires a human rights-based response – biopiracy. It might sound strange to talk about scientists as pirates, but in some cases, they are. Scientists across lucrative industries — pharmaceuticals to biotechnology to cosmetics — utilize digital sequence information (DSI), the genomic sequence data derived from an organism, to develop scientific advancements for profit. These ‘biopirates’ extract DSI from genetic resources on lands long stewarded by local, often Indigenous, communities, without consent — reaping windfall rewards with little or zero benefit trickling back to the resource’s origin. The global DNA sequencing market, which relies heavily on DSI, is projected to reach $21.3 billion by 2031. Billions of dollars in profits are disproportionately concentrated in the Global North, where the largest DSI databases are housed. For example, a single sequence from a bean grown by an Indigenous group in Colombia could hold the key to resistance against a disease that threatens agricultural crops across the world. Shouldn’t the communities that cared for the beans that led to this important global benefit be compensated for their contributions? DSI has proven invaluable in efforts such as…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - One ongoing element of wealth extraction from the Global South that remains largely unaddressed – biopiracy – requires a human rights-based response, a new op-ed argues. - Defined as the unauthorized use of genetic resources and traditional knowledge of Indigenous communities and developing nations for profit without their consent, a remedy to biopiracy was recently agreed to at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Colombia. - Can the Cali Fund – which obliges corporations that profit from biodiversity to contribute to its conservation – be a step in the right direction, the authors ask? - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
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In the Philippines, persecuted Lumads push for Indigenous schools to be reopened 18 Dec 2024 18:03:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/in-the-philippines-persecuted-lumads-push-for-indigenous-schools-to-be-reopened/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Michael Beltran content:encoded: “I tried to live a normal life,” Yana, 31, tells Mongabay. In 2020, after the Philippine government forcibly shut down schools for the Indigenous Lumad in the country’s south, Yana, a teacher, returned to her hometown of Davao de Oro to be with her family. “But the military kept coming to my house, asking me to surrender or admit to supposedly teaching children about armed revolution,” says Yana, who, like all Lumad students and teachers interviewed for this story requested anonymity to avoid reprisals. Soldiers had their eye on Yana because of a November 2018 incident in which she helped other teachers and humanitarian workers evacuate around 50 Lumad students from their campus in the municipality of Talaingod, in Davao del Norte province. Earlier in the day, paramilitary groups had threatened to hurt the students and teachers staying on the campus if they didn’t leave, according to the teachers. When soldiers weren’t visiting Yana, they sought her father, intimidating him for information on subversive activity. Her mother died in 2019; Yana says it was the stress from the constant harassment that caused this. She says she fears the same for her father should the military pressure escalate. Since the Talaingod evacuation, Yana and 12 others have been charged with kidnapping, child trafficking and child abuse. The accused, known as the Talaingod 13, include opposition congresswoman France Castro and former congressman Satur Ocampo, who were at the scene to aid the evacuation of the students. After six years on trial, Yana…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Five years after government forces began shutting down their schools for alleged links to communist rebels, thousands of Indigenous Lumads remain dispersed and deprived of justice. - A group of 13 were earlier this year convicted on kidnapping and child trafficking charges after arranging the evacuation of students from a school targeted by paramilitaries, but have mounted an appeal. - Without the opportunity for an education, many have returned to working the fields with their families, while young women have been married off by their parents to pay off debts. - In the Lumads’ ancestral home in the country’s south, investors such as miners and property developers are moving in, leading to land grabs. authors: | ||
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Next-gen geothermal offers circular promise, but needs care and caution 18 Dec 2024 14:38:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/next-gen-geothermal-offers-circular-promise-but-needs-care-and-caution/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Next-generation geothermal technologies are gaining steam as a source of clean, renewable energy and an alternative to fossil fuels. With demonstration projects across the globe now showing strong potential, enhanced geothermal (using ever-present and bountiful heat found deep within the Earth) could one day offer energy to millions of homes, businesses and cities. But geothermal currently makes up just a fraction of global energy produced, at less than 1%. That’s because conventional geothermal methods require special conditions, including permeable land, subsurface heat, plus available water with which to tap into this energy resource. This trifecta means that, while geothermal is exploited in slightly more than 30 countries — led by the U.S., Indonesia, the Philippines and Turkey — actual production is miniscule, a mere 16,318 megawatts of installed capacity. By contrast, installed global wind capacity tipped 1 million MW over the last year. But next-gen geothermal seems poised to take a great leap forward, expanding its capacity massively because all that’s needed is underground heat and economical access to it. Instead of tapping surface hot springs, next-gen tech aims to drill deep into hot rocks to create permeability. It then injects water or other fluids, such as brackish water or treated wastewater, into the Earth to construct artificial subsurface reservoirs heated by the surrounding hot bedrock. These innovative approaches, once perfected, could drive geothermal use far higher. In the U.S. alone, it’s estimated that next-gen geothermal could provide 8.5% of the country’s energy by 2050; that’s enough to power 65…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) and other next-generation geothermal tech show promise as a relatively clean, reliable renewable energy source for a post-fossil fuels future. - Next-gen geothermal uses a variety of engineering techniques, including hydraulic fracturing borrowed from the oil and gas drilling industry, to create conditions for successful subsurface energy production beyond traditional locations, such as hot springs. - Enhanced geothermal’s promise of a reliable source of power is huge around the globe, but so far has barely been tapped, say experts. Companies are starting to develop commercial-scale projects, aiming to harness this potential. - But next-gen geothermal is not without risk. There are concerns, for example, that this tech can induce seismicity. In the past decade, earthquakes shut down two EGS projects in South Korea and Switzerland. Yet, experts say this concern and other environmental impacts, such as pollution, can be controlled and mitigated. authors: | ||
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In 2024, Nepal faced old & new challenges after tripling its tiger population 18 Dec 2024 04:27:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/in-2024-nepal-faced-old-new-challenges-after-tripling-its-tiger-population/ author: Abhayarajjoshi dc:creator: Abhaya Raj Joshi content:encoded: KATHMANDU — The year 2024 marked two years since Nepal announced the near tripling of its wild Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population as part of the 2010 global initiative to save the big cats. Nepal was home to 121 tigers in 2010, the same year that 13 range countries agreed to double the animal’s population by 2022. According to the latest count, the country is now home to 355 individuals of the endangered species. But with the success, 2024 reminded all stakeholders, ranging from local communities to law enforcement officials, development planners and conservationists, that challenges for conservation have also increased. Never before in history have so many tigers lived with so many people in Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape. Historically, settlements in the landscape were rare, except for those of local Indigenous communities, due to the prevalence of diseases such as malaria. This meant that the apex predator of the plains roamed the area in large numbers. But with the eradication of malaria in the 1960s, people from the hills migrated to the fertile flood plains to turn them into farmlands, a trend that continues to date. With increased poaching for its body parts as well as encroachment of its habitats, the tiger’s population fell sharply until fresh initiatives were launched in 2010 to save the animal. In 2024, Mongabay continued its coverage of tiger conservation in Nepal, highlighting the nuanced relationship between the charismatic species and the people it lives with as well as deeper challenges the country…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nepal successfully increased its wild tiger population, tripling numbers since 2010, but this achievement brings challenges like human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss and balancing conservation with development. - Growing tiger populations in areas with dense human settlements have intensified conflicts, creating hardships for communities living near protected areas and raising concerns about fair compensation for losses. - Expanding infrastructure, such as highways through tiger habitats, poses risks like habitat fragmentation and increased wildlife-vehicle collisions, with budget constraints limiting necessary safeguards. - Local communities relying on forest resources, especially wild edibles, face dangers from tiger encounters, highlighting the need for safer practices and improved community management. authors: | ||
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Renewables won’t save us from climate catastrophe, experts warn; what will? 17 Dec 2024 21:23:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/renewables-wont-save-us-from-climate-catastrophe-experts-warn-what-will/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Gerry McGovernSue Branford content:encoded: In 2022, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declared that the “lifeline of renewable energy can steer [the] world out of climate crisis.” In saying so, he echoed a popular and tantalizing idea: that, if we hurry, we can erase the climate emergency with widespread adoption of renewables in the form of solar panels, wind farms, electric vehicles and more. But things aren’t that simple, and analysts increasingly question the naïve assumption that renewables are a silver bullet. That’s partly because the rapid transition to a global energy and transport system powered by clean energy brings with it a host of new (and old) environmental problems. To begin with, stepping up solar, wind and EV production requires many more minerals and materials in the short term than do their already well-established fossil fuel counterparts, while also creating a major carbon footprint. Also, the quicker we transition away from fossil fuel tech to renewable tech, the greater the quantity of materials needed up front, and the higher the immediate carbon and numerous other environmental costs. But this shift is now happening extremely rapidly, as companies, governments and consumers try to turn away from oil, coal and natural gas. “Renewables are moving faster than national governments can set targets,” declared International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol. In its “Renewables 2024” report, the IEA estimates the world will add more than 5,500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity between 2024 and 2030 — almost three times the increase between 2017 and 2023. But this triumph…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Demand for renewable energy, particularly solar panels, is growing at an exponential rate. But the shift to solar, wind, EVs and other sustainable tech solutions has sparked an environmentally destructive mining boom and is itself carbon intensive. - And even as renewables boom, we’re burning more fossil fuels than ever, setting another record for emissions in 2023. So it appears high tech alone can’t save the world from catastrophic climate change; only massive cuts in fossil fuels can do that, say experts. But even addressing the climate change planetary boundary isn’t enough. - Five other planetary boundaries are in the danger zone, though solutions exist to reverse these negative environmental trends, say analysts. But for those solutions to happen, governments must shift trillions of dollars in “perverse subsidies” (that support fossil fuels and do environmental harm) to renewable energy. - Without real, drastic, decisive action now, the sixth great mass extinction could be unstoppable and doom modern life as we know it. Still, there’s another way forward: Learn from Indigenous cultures, with their willingness and ability to integrate into the biosphere, and to humbly turn away from greed and overconsumption. authors: | ||
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Top Mongabay podcast picks for 2024 17 Dec 2024 20:41:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/top-mongabay-podcast-picks-for-2024/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: It was another busy year for Mongabay’s podcast team, featuring many fresh interviews, a new season of the Mongabay Explores series, an award, and its first year featuring a two-person co-host team at the microphone. With more than 40 episodes published, there are many favorites to choose from, but the following is a list of conversations that particularly sparked discussion, inspiration, and impact. From heartfelt testimonies of activists to detailed dissection of the cutting-edge research of top scientists, the following list of episodes, our editors believe, are worth listening to (and revisiting) as we move into 2025. Rewilding Ireland: Healing from a history of deforestation, one tree at a time Eoghan Daltun, a rewilding advocate, shares how he painstakingly restored 30 hectares (73 acres) of land on the Beara Peninsula in County Cork, Ireland, in just 14 years. Daltun’s inspiring testimony highlights what’s possible with rewilding, even in one of the planet’s most ecologically denuded nations. Listen here: Can ecotourism protect Raja Ampat, the ‘crown jewel’ of New Guinea? The Mongabay Newscast team traveled to one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems on the planet, Raja Ampat, to document the experiences of local communities who run ecotourism ventures. In a region with few options for people to sustainably make a living, these conversations highlight how some have changed from exploiting the land for money to protecting it: ‘Not the End of the World’ book assumptions & omissions spark debate It may not be the literal end of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - With more than 40 episodes published, 2024 was another busy year for Mongabay’s podcast team, featuring many fresh interviews, a new season of the Mongabay Explores series, an award, and its first year featuring a two-person co-host team at the microphone. - Here are a few of the team’s favorites worth listening to–and revisiting–as we move into 2025. authors: | ||
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Communities launch new Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park amid Myanmar civil war 17 Dec 2024 18:44:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/communities-launch-new-thawthi-taw-oo-indigenous-park-amid-myanmar-civil-war/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Sonam Lama Hyolmo content:encoded: Amid Myanmar’s ongoing civil war, Karen and other ethnic minority communities have officially launched the Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park, a new community-led conservation area in the northern Kayin state. The launch lasted December 10-12, 2024. Organizers of the park say this new conservation area is a move to strengthen their self-determination and agency over lands and resources. “Launching the park was an announcement of our rights over the lands and natural resources that we have cared for for generations with our customary laws, governance and administration,” said Saw Thaw Tu Htoo, one of the founders of the park’s committee and the secretary of Taw-Oo district. Covering an area of 575,450 hectares (1,421,967 acres) and 318 villages, the park includes 28 kaws (ancestral customary lands), four community forests, seven watersheds, six reserved forests and one wildlife sanctuary. It is just north of the Salween Peace Park, an award-winning Karen-led protected area of similar size, and is situated in one of the most biodiverse areas of the Asia-Pacific. The founders of the park’s committee, Saw Ma Bu Htoo and Saw Thaw Tu Htoo, told Mongabay that the conservation area was envisioned back in 2017. The park was created in a collaboration between communities, the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) civil society organization and the forestry and agriculture departments of the Karen National Union (KNU), a political organization vying for Karen independence. Representatives of these groups sit on the park’s management committee. Many ethnic groups, including Karen subgroups, the Pa’O and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On Dec. 10, communities in Myanmar’s Kayin state launched the Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park amid the country’s ongoing civil war. Some representatives call it a ‘peaceful resistance’ to the Myanmar state military. - Inspired by the Salween Peace Park to its south, the new park is roughly the same size, spread across 318 villages, and includes 28 kaws (ancestral customary lands), four community forests, seven watersheds, six reserved forests and one wildlife sanctuary. - The park’s charter is based on customary laws and includes guidelines to conserve the area like protected forests, rotational farming, and areas restricted for killing culturally important wildlife species. - Communities, the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) and representatives from the Karen National Union (KNU) are working in coordination to govern and manage the park, including measures to strengthen peoples’ self-determination. authors: | ||
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Shipbreaking pollutes Türkiye’s coast despite European cleanup efforts 17 Dec 2024 18:18:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/shipbreaking-pollutes-turkiyes-coast-despite-european-cleanup-efforts/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Lyse MauvaisWouter Massink content:encoded: ALIAĞA, Türkiye — Every day, as dusk settles over the Aegean Sea, small vans ferrying workers homeward bustle in and out of Aliağa, a town nestled against lush, forested hills in the western İzmir province of Türkiye, formerly known as Turkey. Stepping out in oil-streaked overalls after a long day, the workers’ scent blends with the thick industrial haze, a smell alien to outsiders and unnoticed by locals. Since the 1970s, this historic town near the ancient city of Troy, has become one of Türkiye’s prime industrial hubs, home to oil refineries, a liquefied natural gas plant and iron-steel furnaces. These highly polluting industries have helped transform the area into a notorious hotspot of carcinogenic contamination. But another key culprit lies just out of sight, hidden at the bay’s edge: shipbreaking. Aliağa is the world’s fourth destination for decaying oil rigs, container carriers and cruise ships. According to the Brussels-based NGO Shipbreaking Platform, at least 2,224 vessels have been dismantled there over the past 15 years, spewing out billions of tons of scrap metal, along with oil from the guts of rusty tankers, old electric wires, asbestos-based insulants and thousands of liters of bilge and ballast water. Locals know better than to eat the fish caught in Aliağa’s waters, which receive a toxic cocktail of pollution from the shipyards, a fisher and a shipbreaker told Mongabay. “They say even the fish is inedible here because it smells like shipbreaking,” the shipbreaker said. Yet this doesn’t stop people from selling fish…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Over the past decade, more than 2,000 ships have been dismantled at shipyards in Türkiye’s coastal town of Aliağa, one of the world’s main destinations for decommissioned vessels. - Locals and environmentalists alike complain of rampant water and air pollution linked to shipbreaking, among other industrial activities. - Workers’ unions and activists have also called out substandard working conditions at the yards, recording 11 deadly accidents between 2018 and 2024. - Efforts by the European Union to promote better practices in some yards by allowing them to dismantle European ships have had a mixed effect, according to workers and experts Mongabay interviewed, encouraging some yards to improve practices without solving the pollution problem. authors: | ||
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Hundreds of whales to be harpooned as Iceland issues new hunting licenses 17 Dec 2024 17:18:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/hundreds-of-whales-to-be-harpooned-as-iceland-issues-new-hunting-licenses/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: On Dec. 6, Iceland’s caretaker government announced it had issued five-year licenses to hunt fin and minke whales in Icelandic waters. It granted the fin whale hunting license to Hvalur hf., the country’s only remaining fin-whaling company, run by billionaire Kristján Loftsson, and the minke-hunting permit to a ship owned by Tjaldtangi ehf., a whaling company that was previously licensed to hunt minke whales. The licenses were issued by Iceland’s caretaker prime minister, who also serves as the minister of food, agriculture and fisheries, Bjarni Benediktsson. They allow the companies to hunt 209 fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and 217 minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) each year between 2025 and 2029. The government says this quota is based on population assessments by the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Council, an international body for cooperation on the conservation, management and study of whales, dolphins and seals in the region. In 2015, the council estimated that around 41,000 fin whales inhabited the waters around Iceland and Eastern Greenland, and their numbers were increasing. With surveys from 2014 to 2019, the council estimated that around 50,000 minkes lived in an overlapping but smaller area, with their numbers around Iceland’s coastal areas having declined compared to earlier years. The whaleboat Hvalur 8, photographed in 2009. Its owner, Hvalur hf., Iceland’s only remaining fin-whaling company, has been issued a five-year license for fin whaling until 2029. Image courtesy of Dagur Brynjólfsson via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). “The management of the exploitation of living marine resources in Iceland is…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On Dec. 6, Iceland’s interim government announced it had issued five-year commercial whaling permits to hunt fin and minke whales. - The permits, issued to domestic whaling companies Hvalur hf and Tjaldtangi, allow the hunting of 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales each year in Icelandic waters. - The move follows recent government decisions to briefly pause whaling based on welfare concerns about using grenade-tipped harpoons for hunting, and then resume it again. - Conservationists say the new whaling decision is a blow to marine conservation and question its timing by an interim government that’s soon due to hand over power to a coalition that isn’t pro-whaling. authors: | ||
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‘Like you, I fear the demise of the elephants’ 17 Dec 2024 15:55:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Ashoka Mukpo content:encoded: On June 13, 1959, the Watha hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Watha had hunted elephants. Killing one was a rite of passage; unlike their neighbors, who raised and kept cows, the Watha lived off game meat and wore elephant skins. Ivory wasn’t of much use to them, but it could be bartered for other goods with Arab traders in nearby Mombasa. As the ivory trade picked up steam in the 17th century, fueled by the growth of European consumer markets, the Watha’s reputation grew. They were among the best elephant trackers in East Africa, known as the “people of the long bow” for their skilled use of poisoned arrows. But European hunters came to view the Watha and other Indigenous people as competition. In 1897, as Britain set its sights on a permanent Kenyan colony, it banned unauthorized “native” hunting. At the stroke of a pen, the core of the Watha’s way of life became illegal. Traders weighing ivory in 1935. Image by Ewing Galloway via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). In 1948, the British created Tsavo National Park, one of the first in Kenya. But its eastern flank was a Watha hunting ground. Richard Sheldrick, one of the 20th century’s most prominent conservation icons, was tasked with stamping it out. Kafonde, the Watha’s most famed hunter, was his prime target. In his history of the ivory trade, the writer Keith Somerville recounts Kafonde’s statement upon his…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - There are nearly 9,000 inland protected areas across the African continent, covering 4.37 million square kilometers (1.69 million square miles). - These protected areas are at the center of conservation policymaking by African countries hoping to safeguard nature and threatened wildlife. - Under the UN Global Biodiversity Framework’s “30×30” target, the amount of conserved land in Africa would significantly expand. - As part of a reporting series on this goal, Mongabay visited protected areas in three countries: Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. authors: | ||
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Indonesia reforestation plan a smoke screen for agriculture project, critics say 17 Dec 2024 14:46:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesia-reforestation-plan-a-smoke-screen-for-agriculture-project-critics-say/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — At the U.N. climate conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Indonesian government announced an ambitious plan to reforest 12.7 million hectares (31.4 million acres) of degraded land, an area 80 times the size of London. The government framed the policy as a critical move to combat climate change, as Indonesia is one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases from the land sector, mainly due to deforestation for agriculture. But critics argue it’s a smoke screen to offset deforestation from a massive agricultural project, raising questions about its sincerity and feasibility. Others warn the plan faces significant challenges, such as logistical hurdles. The reforestation initiative comes as part of Indonesia’s efforts to achieve its FOLU Net Sink 2030 target, which aims to turn the country’s forests into a net absorber of carbon by 2030. The reforestation initiative will help Indonesia achieve the target by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the country’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said. Yet government officials admitted the program is also intended to offset deforestation caused by the controversial food estate program, a mega agricultural project targeting millions of hectares for cultivation. Critics argue that this dual approach means the reforestation initiative might be more about optics than impact, which will undermine the credibility of Indonesia’s climate commitments. Natural forests, like this one in Indonesia, contain hundreds of native species that all contribute to the ecosystem services they provide. Protecting standing forests is quicker…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Critics say an Indonesian government plan to reforest 12.7 million hectares (31.4 million acres) of degraded land is a smoke screen to offset deforestation from a massive agricultural project. - The food estate program includes a plan to establish 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of sugarcane plantations in Papua. - A new study by the Center of Economic and Law Studies estimates the food estate program would emit 782.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, nearly doubling Indonesia’s global carbon emission contribution. - Indonesia climate envoy Hashim Djojohadikusumo, who is also the brother of President Prabowo Subianto, says the food estate program is necessary for food security and that forest loss will be offset by reforestation; critics, however, say reforestation cannot compensate for the destruction of natural forests. authors: | ||
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Scientists, Māori experts uncover new insights into rare spade-toothed whale 17 Dec 2024 14:09:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/scientists-maori-experts-uncover-new-insights-into-rare-spade-toothed-whale/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Keith Anthony Fabro content:encoded: The spade-toothed whale is among the rarest and least-studied of whales. Until recently, only six records of the species existed, collected over the past 150 years. In early December, scientists and Indigenous Māori cultural experts in Aotearoa New Zealand documented the seventh in unprecedented detail, conducting the first ever dissection of this cryptic cetacean. They uncovered numerous new findings, with more expected as the analysis proceeds, and reaffirmed Māori cultural connections to whales while exchanging Western and Indigenous understandings of the animals. “This one is the rarest of the rare, only the seventh specimen known from anywhere in the world, and the first opportunity we have had to undertake a dissection like this,” Anton van Helden, senior marine science adviser with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, who led the dissection, said in a Dec. 2 news release. “Most of what we know about these elusive whales comes from the examination of whales that have come ashore and died.” ‘Rarest of the rare’ Spade-toothed whales (Mesoplodon traversii) belong to a cetacean family known as the beaked whales for their protruding snouts. Beaked whales (family Ziphiidae) have small flippers that they tuck alongside their bodies while diving deep to forage for squid and small fish throughout the world’s oceans. They can remain underwater for long periods, which makes them difficult to study and earned them a reputation as some of the most enigmatic large mammals on Earth. While 13 of the 22 recognized species of beaked whales are known to strand along…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Spade-toothed whales (Mesoplodon traversii) are among the rarest and least-studied whales, partly due to their deep-diving behavior and long periods spent underwater in the vast, underexplored South Pacific Ocean. - Until recently, only six records of spade-toothed whales had been documented over 150 years, all but one found in Aotearoa New Zealand, a known hotspot for whale strandings. - The seventh and most recent record, a 5-meter (16-foot) male, stranded in New Zealand in July 2024, was recently dissected by scientists and Māori cultural experts at a scientific research center. - A key finding was the presence of tiny vestigial teeth in the upper jaw, offering insights into the species’ evolutionary history, with further discoveries anticipated as analysis continues. authors: | ||
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On Indonesia’s unique Enggano Island, palm oil takes root in an Indigenous society 17 Dec 2024 07:41:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/on-indonesias-unique-enggano-island-palm-oil-takes-root-in-an-indigenous-society/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Betty HerlinaElviza Diana content:encoded: ENGGANO ISLAND, Indonesia — Milson Kaitora’s grandparents never had trouble finding water to grow food here on Enggano Island. But today, coastal abrasion is pushing back the shoreline of Milson’s village, and the dearth of freshwater has reduced the annual rice harvest from twice a year to just once. “Now, there isn’t even enough water, the rice fields have become abandoned land,” Milson Kaitora, the Pa’abuki, or tribal leader, of the Enggano Indigenous people, told Mongabay Indonesia. Saltwater abrasion is gradually submerging land and intruding on freshwater sources beneath Enggano, which is leading to desiccation of the community’s once-fertile rice fields. With an Indonesian company now targeting the island for palm oil development, people here fear worse is to come. Enggano was formed by oceanic crust and is today slightly larger than the city of Detroit. It never joined to the mainland of Indonesia’s main western island of Sumatra, meaning Enggano is host to a unique array of endemic animal and plant species. Oceanic islands like Enggano, or the Galápagos, form when magma rises up from beneath the ocean to create a new land mass. Such islands develop a degree of ecological isolation from their nearest mainland, which were formed out of tectonic collision, because species on an oceanic island must arrive naturally, usually via the wind or sea. As the millennia pass, these plant and animal species proceed further down their own evolutionary path. The explorers Charles Miller and Elio Modigliani traversed Enggano on foot after arriving in the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Formed millions of years ago in the Indian Ocean by a process independent of tectonic collision, Indonesia’s Enggano Island is now home to many unique species and a diverse Indigenous society of subsistence farmers. - Since the early 1990s, developers have sought to obtain control over large parts of the island, but encountered staunch opposition from its six Indigenous tribes. - Today, PT Sumber Enggano Tabarak, which has been linked to the billionaire-owned London Sumatra group, is seeking to establish an oil palm plantation over 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres). - Civil society researchers and Indigenous elders say the island lacks sufficient freshwater to provide irrigation to both the community and an industrial oil palm plantation, and that a plantation at scale risks catalyzing an ecological crisis. authors: | ||
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We must prioritize rangeland conservation for planetary health and biodiversity (commentary) 16 Dec 2024 20:31:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/we-must-prioritize-rangeland-conservation-for-planetary-health-and-biodiversity-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Dr. Igshaan Samuels content:encoded: In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in awareness about the importance of rainforests to global ecosystems and economies. Meanwhile, another biome – one that covers more than half of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and is similarly important to tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation – has been overlooked. Rangelands, despite their size and significance, have been historically under-appreciated in global sustainability discussions. However, as this “triple COP” year of three UN summits draws to a close, we have an opportunity to reverse this trend. By giving rangelands the consideration and support they deserve, their potential to help lower emissions, reduce biodiversity loss, and reverse land degradation can be realized. Rangelands cover more than 79 million square kilometers of grasslands, savannas, deserts, shrublands, and tundra globally. But they are more than just expansive open landscapes – rangelands are central to global economies, ecosystems, and cultures. Camels, cattle and goats are a common sight on the rangelands of northern Kenya. Image courtesy of Peyton Fleming. In some African countries, for example, rangelands are key to the livestock sector, providing natural forage for cattle, sheep, goats and camels. Globally, they provide over 70% of the forage consumed by livestock, underpinning a significant portion of the global protein supply – especially for 200 million pastoralists. Overall, rangelands support the food security and livelihoods of up to two billion people. They also foster some of the most biodiverse areas in the world and are home to 30% of biodiversity hotspots, including the Succulent Karoo biodiversity hotspot in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Rangelands, despite their size and significance, have been historically under-appreciated in global conservation and climate discussions, a new op-ed argues. - They cover more than 79 million square kilometers of grasslands, savannas, deserts, shrublands, and tundra globally. But they are more than just expansive open landscapes – rangelands are central to global economies, ecosystems, and cultures. - Ahead of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026, governments and conservationists have an opportunity to lay groundwork to ensure their health for wildlife habitat and their use by pastoralists is sustainable. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
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‘Shifting baselines’ in Cabo Verde after 50 years of declining fish stocks 16 Dec 2024 18:43:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/shifting-baselines-in-cabo-verde-after-50-years-of-declining-fish-stocks/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: In Cabo Verde, as in many low-income countries in Africa, the historical record of fish catch is incomplete, making it hard to know what’s been lost and what’s required to fully rebuild. In a new study, researchers used an old-fashioned workaround to understand how fish catches have changed over time: They tapped local knowledge, speaking to Cabo Verdeans up to 77 years old. The study, recently published in the journal Marine Policy, indicates there’s been a “staggering decline” in fish stocks around Maio, one of the archipelagic nation’s 10 islands, since the 1970s, in terms of both volume of catch and maximum size of key species. The study also shows that young fishers and fishmongers don’t fully realize the scale of the loss — a case of what scientists call “shifting baselines.” Younger people on Maio tend not to perceive the decline “because they don’t know what is the normal state of the environment, of the fishing and of the catch,” study lead author Thais Peixoto Macedo, a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology in Barcelona, told Mongabay. Cabo Verde is an archipelagic nation in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean some 570 kilometers (350 miles) west of Senegal. Its exclusive access zone covers an area larger than Texas. Cabo Verde lies in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, some 570 kilometers (350 miles) west of Senegal on the African mainland. It’s considered part of West Africa, a region rich in marine resources but also threatened by intense fishing pressure.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Cabo Verde, as in many low-income countries in Africa, the historical record of fish catch is incomplete, making it hard to know what’s been lost and what’s required to fully rebuild. - In a new study, researchers interviewed fish workers to understand how catches have changed over the last five decades, finding evidence of a major decline in volume of catch and maximum size of key species. - The study also shows that young fishers and fishmongers don’t fully realize the scale of the loss — a case of what scientists call “shifting baselines.” - Fishing communities on the West African mainland tell a similar story of decline, pointing to the urgency of centering local knowledge when devising fisheries management and conservation policies. authors: | ||
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Armed conflict, not Batwa people, at heart of Grauer’s gorillas’ past decline in DRC park 16 Dec 2024 18:09:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/armed-conflict-not-batwa-people-biggest-factor-in-decline-of-grauers-gorillas-in-drc-park/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimable TwahirwaLatoya Abulu content:encoded: A new study has concluded that the decline in Grauer’s gorillas in a sector of their main stronghold in the Democratic Republic of Congo was the result of the impacts of armed conflict, rather than the presence or absence of Indigenous communities. With the end of the Second Congo War in 2003, gorilla populations in Kahuzi-Biega National Park’s highland sector rose back up, where they’ve remained since one of the latest estimates. The international group of authors said their analysis challenges two opposing narratives around the Indigenous Batwa people native to the area: on one hand, some conservation authorities view the Batwa as forest destroyers responsible for gorilla decline; on the other, some Indigenous rights activists say the decline occurred because the Batwa were evicted and no longer present to care for the forest. The situation is more complex than this dichotomy, the researchers told Mongabay. Kahuzi-Biega National Park used to be home to thousands of Indigenous Batwa people before they were forcibly evicted in the 1970s, with no alternative lands. Today, the highland sector of the park serves as a center for tourism of Grauer’s gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri), a critically endangered subspecies of the eastern gorilla, and the park’s headquarters. In the last several years, Indigenous rights advocates and conservation authorities have debated over the imposition of “fortress conservation” and the Batwa peoples’ role in biodiversity loss. According to field survey data analyzed for the new study, after the Batwa were removed from the park, gorilla numbers remained…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The decline in critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas between 1994 and 2003 in the highland sector of Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo was due to the impacts of armed conflict, rather than the presence or absence of Indigenous communities, according to a new study. - The finding, including recent analysis of forest loss in parts of the park where Indigenous Batwa people returned, challenges simple but competing narratives that the region’s Batwa people are either forest destroyers or forest guardians, say various primatologists. - After the onset of the Rwandan genocide and Congo Wars, which drove an influx of refugees, poaching, hunting and mining in the region, estimates of Grauer’s gorillas dropped from about 258 to 130 individuals, only to rise again once the Second Congo War ended. - Researchers and conservation authorities say conservation in Kahuzi-Biega National Park remains challenging, but that Indigenous people should be included in environmental stewardship. authors: | ||
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Grassroots efforts sprout up to protect Central America’s Trifinio watershed 16 Dec 2024 16:21:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/grassroots-efforts-sprout-up-to-protect-central-americas-trifinio-watershed/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: ESQUIPULAS, Guatemala — An estimated 8 million migrants have entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, the highest number in centuries. Many still come from the so-called Northern Triangle, made up of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, as they seek to escape gang violence and a lack of employment. But there’s another driver of migration that officials sometimes overlook: climate change. Dry seasons in Central America are getting longer and hotter all the time, and rural families can’t grow enough crops to feed their families. More than 3 million people were expected to face crisis-level food insecurity earlier this year, potentially driving them out of the region. They also lack access to clean drinking water. “The problems of extreme poverty, low access to services, a highly aggravated and vulnerable population — all of that is made worse by the consequences of climate change,” said Berta Medrano, head of the Gaia Association, a conservation group that works in all three countries. Governments in the region are still working to develop policies that address crop failure and climate change-resilient jobs in hopes of slowing migration. The international community, whether in the form of NGOs or government agencies like USAID, are also very present in the region. But some parts of the problem may not be receiving enough attention. One major watershed running through Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador has been so polluted and industrialized that 20% of it could dry up by 2050, according to a U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A major watershed in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador has been so polluted, industrialized and interfered with that 20% of it could dry up in the next few decades, according to a U.N. report. - The Trifinio Fraternidad Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, which covers the triborder region of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, suffers from a free-for-all of deforestation, chemical runoff and mining that threatens the existence of the watershed. - If it dries up, millions of people could be left without water for drinking, bathing and farming. - While conservation groups continue to lobby for funding, residents frustrated with government inaction have started to organize themselves to fight everything from mining and runoff to illegal building development. authors: | ||
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Young people in Africa call for a fair increase in funding for climate adaptation 16 Dec 2024 15:51:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/young-people-in-africa-call-for-a-fair-increase-in-funding-for-climate-adaptation/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Leocadia Bongben content:encoded: Yaounde – African youths have adopted “The Yaounde African call on more than doubling Adaptation Finance for a Resilient Africa,” calling for a large raise in the share of adaptation finance in the overall climate finance portfolio to match the needs and costs of adaptation for African nations. They argue that doubling adaptation finance to approximately $40 billion per year would still remain inadequate relative to the identified needs. The call, at the end of the three-day second Youth Forum on Adaptation Finance in Africa, YOFAFA, held in the city of seven hills—Yaounde in Cameroon—comes as climate impacts rise in Africa, as the continent faces widening financial gaps for adaptation. “We call on developed countries to increase and prioritize climate financing for energy access projects in Africa, recognizing that energy access is essential to climate resilience,” the youths also declared. Idris Adoum from Chad, advocacy and awareness expert for the Youth for Adaptation Finance and Youth for Climate in Africa network, says, “We made the call last year; it had an appreciable impact, but it was not adopted. We have reiterated the call and added access to the energy campaign.” Given that many youths were unable to attend COP 29 in Azerbaijan, Adoum says, “The strategy is for delegates at the Yaounde forum to approach focal points of adaptation, climate, and the country negotiators to hand them the declaration. In Chad, I will hand it to the Secretary-General of the Governor, the country’s negotiator who will participate in the delegation…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Young activists in Africa are calling for doubling adaptation financing for climate change. - The youths presented their demands during COP29, dubbing it the ‘six30 campaign’. - Experts say the adaptation funds for the continent is seriously underfunded. authors: | ||
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Brazil paper and pulp industry invests in blockchain to comply with EUDR 16 Dec 2024 15:32:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/brazil-paper-and-pulp-industry-invests-in-blockchain-to-comply-with-eudr/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: The European Union’s deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) won’t affect the operations of Brazil’s paper and pulp industry, which has already traced its supply chains “from farm to factory” for more than two decades and doesn’t source from illegal deforested areas, the country’s industry association says. However, the fulfillment of some specific EUDR requirements compel companies to invest in blockchain and other technologies, which could increase the cost per ton of pulp by up to $230, according to the Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá). “Although for Ibá’s members the [EUDR] adjustments have not changed their business model, nevertheless they have demanded and will continue to demand higher production costs,” Ibá tells Mongabay in an emailed interview. Production costs will likely increase between $40 and $230 per ton of pulp depending on the size and complexity of the supply chain, Ibá says, referring to estimates from RISI Fastmarkets, a leading information provider for the forest products industry. The EUDR, initially planned to come into effect this month and recently postponed for another year, will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas. The legislation followed increasing claims of commodities exports to the EU linked to illegal deforestation. In Brazil, experts say the EUDR will help halt illegal deforestation in the Amazon. Deforestation in the Amazon in 2022. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay. Brazil exports 4.4 million tons of pulp to the EU per year, an essential input for the tissue paper market,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Brazil’s paper and pulp industry says the European Union’s deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR), which will come into effect in late 2025, won’t affect the sector’s operations, which has already traced its supply chains “from farm to factory” for more than two decades and doesn’t source from illegal deforested areas. - The EUDR will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas; in Brazil, experts say it will help halt illegal deforestation in the Amazon. - To fulfill some specific EUDR requirements, companies need to invest in blockchain and other technologies, which could increase the cost per ton of pulp by up to $230, according to the Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá). - The EUDR postponement was received differently by the industry and experts: While Ibá says it would allow “a smoother and more effective implementation,” given some aspects that need improvement from the EU Commission, deforestation experts say there is no time to wait, as deforestation continues and the climate crisis gets worse. authors: | ||
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High-flying concessions: Clandestine airstrips, coca crops invade Ucayali’s forests 16 Dec 2024 09:52:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/high-flying-concessions-clandestine-airstrips-coca-crops-invade-ucayalis-forests/ author: Mongabayauthor dc:creator: Mongabay Latam content:encoded: Zooming in on the Peruvian jungle, many hectares of deforestation can be seen amid the thick vegetation, like huge scars hidden among the foliage. They’re dispersed between the forests in the departments of Ucayali, Loreto, Huánuco, Madre de Dios, Pasco and Cusco. Some are very close to rivers, others just meters away from tracks or roads, and many are in the middle of protected areas. After more than 10 months of research, a team coordinated by Mongabay Latam confirmed that these openings in the middle of the jungle are clandestine airstrips. Many of them are built in or around native communities’ territories, close to protected areas or inside Indigenous reserves. With information obtained from the Peruvian police’s antinarcotics unit, DIRANDRO; the departmental government of Ucayali, GORE Ucayali; OpenStreetMap; and used an AI visual search to review satellite imagery, we identified a total of 128 illegal airstrips across six departments in the Peruvian Amazon. We confirmed the presence of 76 of these through approximately 60 interviews with Indigenous leaders, community members, prosecutors, experts and civil servants. Of this number, 45 are in Ucayali and were built for drug trafficking. The collaboration with Earth Genome was supported by the Pulitzer Center. “We found drug laboratories and clandestine airstrips mostly in the [province] of Atalaya [in Ucayali],” said Pedro Velásquez, deputy prosecutor of the Ucayali Special Prosecutor’s Office for Illicit Drug Trafficking. “Drug traffickers often use native communities or hard-to-access areas with no land registry and position themselves there; they know which areas…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - An investigation by Mongabay Latam and Earth Genome identified 45 clandestine airstrips in the rainforest in Peru’s Ucayali department. - Ten of these airstrips, most likely built for narcotrafficking activity, are located inside nine forest logging concessions. - Peru’s forest and wildlife monitoring agency, OSINFOR, says only four of these logging concessions are still active. - Complaints made by concession holders to environmental authorities about the airstrips, as well as associated deforestation and coca cultivation, have been shelved. authors: | ||
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Greater Mekong serves up 234 new species in a year, from fanged hedgehog to diva viper 16 Dec 2024 06:11:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: The dense tropical forests, isolated mountain peaks and limestone karst caverns of the Greater Mekong region yielded a remarkable 234 new-to-science species in 2023, according to a new report compiled by WWF. A striking orange-and-black crocodile newt recorded at the highest ever elevation for its type, a karst dragon lizard that represents an entirely new genus, and a shrew mole that tips the scales at only 8 grams, or less than 0.3 ounces, qualifying it among the top 10 lightest land mammals on Earth, feature among the new assortment of species. Nature enthusiasts and researchers in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, along with experts at global museums, described 173 plants, 26 reptiles, 17 amphibians, 15 fish and three mammals previously unknown to science. The 2023 haul brings the total number of newly described species in the region since 1997 to 3,623. “Although these species were just described by science last year, they have been living in the unique habitats of our region for many millennia,” said Chris Hallam, head of wildlife and wildlife crime at WWF-Greater Mekong. “Each of these species is a critical piece of a functioning, healthy ecosystem and a jewel in the region’s rich natural heritage.” Other new curiosities include a species of wild ginger with roots that smell like mango; a red-and-green pit viper with scales sculpting the appearance of glamorous eyelashes around its eyes; and a soft-furred hedgehog that makes up for its lack of pointy spines with formidable incisors, described by researchers as…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Researchers and local nature enthusiasts described 234 new-to-science species across the Greater Mekong region in 2023. - Among the new assortment of critters are sweet-smelling plants, glamorous snakes, a dragon lizard, a psychedelic-orange crocodile newt, and several new mammals, including a mole shrew and a fanged hedgehog. - The Greater Mekong is a fast-developing region of Southeast Asia, characterized by intensive agriculture, internationally significant inland fisheries and rapid urban expansion. - As such, the newly described species and their habitats are under pressure from multiple threats, not least from the illegal wildlife trade that also flourishes in the region. Experts say consistent and concerted action is required to secure their future. authors: | ||
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Illegal timber from Amazon carbon credit projects reached Europe, U.S. 16 Dec 2024 00:01:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-timber-from-amazon-carbon-credit-projects-reached-europe-u-s/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Fernanda Wenzel content:encoded: High-class pool decks, furniture, floors, ceilings and boats. Those are some of the primary destinations of the valuable tropical timber that leaves South America in large containers to supply markets in Europe and the U.S. But consumers may be taking home the spoils of crime. That may be the case for 21,538 cubic meters (760,607 cubic feet) of Brazilian timber exported to the U.S., Portugal, Belgium, Spain and France between 2023 and early 2024, according to an investigation by the Brazilian Federal Police. This timber originated in forest management plans owned by Ricardo Stoppe, a physician and entrepreneur who is suspected of leading a criminal group responsible for extracting 38,000 truckloads of illegal wood from the Amazon Rainforest. Mongabay first revealed the case in May, showing the connections between Stoppe — until then known as an Amazon conservationist and Brazil’s largest seller of carbon credits — and an illegal logging scheme. A few weeks later, the Federal Police targeted the group in Operation Greenwashing, which also revealed Stoppe’s role in land-grabbing a plot of public land three times the size of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest metropolis, in Amazonas state. Stoppe used the area to develop five REDD+ projects, whose carbon credits have been sold to companies such as GOL Airlines, Nestlé, Toshiba, Spotify, Boeing and PwC, Mongabay revealed. REDD+ refers to a program aimed at reducing deforestation and forest degradation emissions. It operates on the principle that landowners are financially rewarded for preserving areas at risk of deforestation. The emissions…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Amazon timber from carbon credit projects targeted by the Brazilian Federal Police was sold to companies in Europe and the United States. - The group is suspected of land-grabbing and laundering timber from Indigenous territories and protected areas. - Most of the exported timber belongs to the almost-extinct ipê species and was sent to a company in Portugal. - The group is also suspected of using fake documents to launder cattle raised in illegally deforested areas. authors: | ||
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Endangered seabirds return to Pacific island after century-long absence 14 Dec 2024 00:35:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/endangered-seabirds-return-to-pacific-island-after-century-long-absence/ author: Lizkimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Small seabirds skim the open ocean at night, patting their legs on the surface as they hunt for small fish. Now, for the first time in more than 100 years, endangered Polynesian storm petrels (Nesofregetta fuliginosa) have returned to a far-flung island in French Polynesia. These rare birds began exploring Kamaka Island just three weeks after conservationists set up special equipment to attract them back, according to Coral Wolf, conservation science program manager at Island Conservation, the U.S.-based NGO overseeing the project. “This remarkable progress brings hope for the future, as the Polynesian storm petrels reclaim their island home,” Tehotu Reasin, landowner of Kamaka Island, said in a statement. “These seabirds bring critical nutrients from the ocean to the island, which cascades down into the surrounding marine environment, benefiting fish and corals. The entire ecosystem can once again thrive.” Gear and equipment arriving on Kamaka Island, French Polynesia for the restoration project. Image courtesy of Austin Hall/Island Conservation. A Polynesian storm petrels (Nesofregetta fuliginosa) flies over the open ocean near Rapa Iti Island, French Polynesia. Photo courtesy of Hadoram Shiriai. Researchers estimate that numbers of storm petrels were once quite high on Kamaka Island, as a relatively large number of individuals were recovered from an archeological site on the island. However none have been seen on the island since 1922. Now, only an estimated 250-1,000 individual birds remain in the wild. Getting the birds to return required solving a serious problem: invasive rats that had driven the ground-nesting birds to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Endangered Polynesian storm petrels have returned to Kamaka Island in French Polynesia for the first time in more than 100 years, after conservationists used drones to remove the invasive rats eating the birds’ eggs and chicks. - Scientists attracted the birds back to the island using solar-powered speakers playing bird calls recorded from a neighboring island, with monitoring cameras showing regular visits, though nesting has not yet been confirmed. - The project demonstrates successful collaboration between international conservation groups and local communities, with the local Mangareva community’s knowledge and support proving crucial to the operation’s success. - The birds’ return could benefit the entire island ecosystem, as seabirds bring nutrients from the ocean that help sustain both terrestrial and marine life around the island. authors: | ||
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Study looks for success factors in African projects that heal land and help people 13 Dec 2024 22:09:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/study-looks-for-success-factors-in-african-projects-that-heal-land-and-help-people/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Ruth Kamnitzer content:encoded: Argan oil cooperatives in Morocco. Regreening Niger. Revitalizing a national park in Madagascar. Wildlife conservancies in Namibia. Cashew plantations in Burkina Faso. Beach management in Kenya. Agroforestry in Ghana. These are but a smattering of the many initiatives that have tried to reverse land degradation in Africa while improving people’s lives. Some succeeded, others failed, and as a recent study finds, the outcomes are devilishly difficult to predict. Nearly half of Africa is affected by desertification, and two-thirds of productive land is degraded, according to a 2021 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); yet, 60% of people in Africa depend on their land and forests. The Torra Conservancy, northwest Namibia. Much of the arid landscape is unsuitable for farming, and income from tourism, including a partnership with Wilderness Safaris, provides substantial benefits for conservancy members. Image by Sonse via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). “I do a lot of projects where I go to the communities, and I work with people to change things, and to imagine how we could improve things,” says Camille Jahel, a researcher at the French Agricultural Centre for International Development (CIRAD). “At one point we wanted to know, but is it possible? Is it even possible to have a sustainable change?” To be clear, this is not an entirely new question. But Jahel says that while there’s a trove of theoretical work, few studies have looked at on-the-ground projects in Africa and holistically considered the complex combination of local dynamics,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Land degradation across Africa impacts the lives of rural Africans, who depend heavily on natural resources. - Reversing land degradation while improving livelihoods can be tricky, and not all initiatives succeed. - A recent Sustainability Science study examined 17 initiatives in 13 African nations to tease out what factors contribute to success or failure. - The study finds that tapping into social relationships, providing adequate incentives to overcome risk-adverse behaviors, and maintaining momentum over the long term emerged as key factors in an initiative’s success. authors: | ||
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Illegal cockfighting threatens endangered sea turtles across Central America 13 Dec 2024 18:05:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Tina Deines content:encoded: Cockfighting has been illegal in Costa Rica for more than a century, but this violent tradition persists underground across the country. To make the birds deadlier, their owners often tie razor-sharp blades to their legs, known as gaffs or cockspurs. Aside from the roosters, which get seriously injured or killed during fights, another species has become an unlikely victim of the cockspur trade: the hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), a critically endangered species whose shell is often used to make these deadly implements. Hawksbills have long been targeted for their black-and-brown mottled shells, used in jewelry, combs and other decorations going back to ancient Rome. The species was also historically hunted for its meat as far back as the fifth century B.C.E. in China. Maike Heidemeyer, a Costa Rica-based marine biologist and head of biodiversity and community for the nonprofit conservation group Natural Capital Reserve, first noticed tortoiseshell spurs at holiday markets about two decades ago after moving to the country from Germany. The spurs were openly displayed, mixed in with other hawksbill-shell products like bracelets and trinkets. Though she says these types of bold exhibitions of hawksbill products have tapered off in recent years, demand remains, despite the nationwide ban on cockfighting. The critically endangered hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) are found in tropical and subtropical waters in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans where they prefer coral reefs. Image by Kanenori via Pixabay. “There are associations, groups that openly defend their right to fight cocks, even in Costa Rica,” says…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), a critically endangered species, has long been exploited for its shell, used in a wide range of ornaments, including, in Costa Rica, the deadly spurs used in illegal cockfighting. - Cockfighting is banned in Costa Rica, but the tradition persists underground, with authorities increasing their efforts to seize hawksbill spurs. - Conservationists are also helping to train inspection officers to identify hawksbill products brought into Costa Rica from neighboring countries. - When poachers harvest hawksbills, they’re not targeting them specifically for spurs but also for other products, which often find their way into tourist shops and online markets worldwide. authors: | ||
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Direct air capture climate solution faces harsh criticism, steep challenges 13 Dec 2024 15:27:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/direct-air-capture-climate-solution-faces-harsh-criticism-steep-challenges/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Pulling carbon dioxide directly from the air with giant vacuum-like devices is an enticing solution to the climate crisis, with governments and industry funneling billions of dollars into direct air capture (DAC) technology. But this would-be heavy-industry geoengineering solution remains mired in controversy as it faces real-world questions of cost, scale and viability. At its most basic, direct air capture works by passing vast quantities of air through a series of filters and membranes to trap atmospheric carbon dioxide. DAC differs from other carbon capture approaches that aim to trap CO2 directly at the source. Once captured, CO2 can be funneled into the earth, stored in geological formations for hundreds or thousands of years, or used by other industries to produce products ranging from plastics to hydrogen to synthetic aviation fuels. DAC is just one of many carbon dioxide removal techniques (including technological and nature-based solutions) that many experts say may be needed by countries desperate to achieve their carbon reduction targets under the Paris climate agreement. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) may also be needed to mitigate the worst impacts of global warming, as the world continues releasing record carbon emissions skyward. Proponents argue that DAC can help achieve these climate goals, especially tackling emissions from hard-to-abate industries, and they underline its potential to remove CO2 at industrial scales, possibly even capturing billions of tons each year. “The reason why direct air capture is such a unique and important part of the carbon removal portfolio is because it gives extremely…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Direct air capture — geoengineering technology that draws carbon dioxide from the air, allowing it to be stored in geologic formations or used by industry — is being heavily hyped as a climate solution. - But as direct air capture (DAC) pilot projects an startups grow in number around the world, fueled by investment and government funding in the U.S. and elsewhere, this proposed climate solution is becoming ever more divisive. - Critics paint DAC as a costly, ineffective distraction from drastically slashing fossil fuel extraction and emissions. The use of captured carbon by the fossil fuel industry to squeeze ever more oil from wells comes in for particularly sharp criticism. - Though carbon dioxide removal (CDR) may be needed to help limit the worst impacts of global warming, experts say betting on direct air capture is riddled with challenges of cost and scale. Two hurdles: sourcing sufficient renewables to power DAC facilities, and minimizing carbon-intensive DAC infrastructure. authors: | ||
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Recycling gold can tackle illegal mining in the Amazon, but is no silver bullet 13 Dec 2024 09:00:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/recycling-gold-can-tackle-illegal-mining-in-the-amazon-but-is-no-silver-bullet/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Sarah Brown content:encoded: Decades of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Tapajós River Basin have left a heavy environmental legacy in the Brazilian Amazon: rivers contaminated with mercury, and high greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers are now proposing recycling gold as a sustainable alternative, one that could dramatically reduce these impacts and outperform even “green” gold mining, which focuses on more sustainable extraction methods. The findings, presented at a sustainability conference in Japan in November, show that recycling used gold, particularly from high-value end-of-life sources like old jewelry, has the lowest environmental footprint, emitting as little as 22-50 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of gold produced, according to data the researchers published in the journal Nature Sustainability in 2024. In comparison, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM) in the Tapajós River Basin generates approximately 16 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of gold, but still less than the 21 metric tons produced by industrial operations. “The carbon footprint is a fundamental problem in gold mining, both ASM and industrial mining,” study co-author Mario Schmidt, a professor of environmental management at Pforzheim University in Germany, told Mongabay. “Here, the only solution is recycling, although care must be taken to ensure that primary gold is not illegally mixed with recycled gold.” Despite the carbon efficiency of recycling “scrap” gold, the relentless demand for newly mined gold persists, driven by economic and fashion pressures as well as cultural notions linking gold and wealth. Even small-scale gold mining releases large carbon emissions, up to 16,000 kilograms of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Brazil’s Tapajós River Basin emits 16 metric tons of CO2 per kilo of gold produced, and 2.5 metric tons of mercury annually, a study has found. - Researchers suggest that recycling gold could dramatically reduce harmful emissions, along with other solutions such as formalizing mining, adopting clean technologies, and improving gold supply chain transparency. - Economic dependence, mercury accessibility, and a demand for gold sustain small-scale gold mining, while enforcement risks pushing miners into ecologically sensitive areas. - In November, Brazil launched a federal operation in the Tapajós Basin to expel illegal gold miners from the Munduruku Indigenous Territory, imposing millions of reais in fines to curb the damage caused by gold mining. authors: | ||
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Climate change fuels African floods that hit harder in vulnerable regions 13 Dec 2024 07:02:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/climate-change-fuels-african-floods-that-hit-harder-in-vulnerable-regions/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Fanta Mabo content:encoded: Extreme rainfall recorded in Sudan, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad this year marks a heightened stage in Africa’s climatic vulnerability. According to research by World Weather Attribution (WWA), such floods, which killed roughly 2,000 people and displaced millions more in recent months, are increasingly frequent events linked to anthropogenic global warming. The WWA team has used observational data and climate models to demonstrate that the probability and intensity of extreme precipitation in these regions have increased, and these events are no longer rare. “Due to high temperatures, the probability of such extreme precipitation has doubled, with an increase in intensity of around 10%. This means that even rainfall once considered normal can now cause catastrophic effects,” Izidine Pinto, researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and lead author of WWA research published in October, told Mongabay in an interview. The study, which focuses on Sudan, is an example of an “extreme event attribution,” in which scientists determine the degree to which weather events are influenced by climate change. This report follows on the heels of WWA research published in 2022 examining “nearly identical’’ flooding conditions in the wider region that year. WWA researchers note that socioeconomic and political factors in the region intensify the situation. While climate change had a distinct role in the flooding, “The devastating impacts were further exacerbated by the proximity of human settlements, infrastructure (homes, buildings, bridges), and agricultural land to flood plains, underlying vulnerabilities driven by high poverty rates and socioeconomic factors (e.g. gender, age,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Extreme rainfall and flooding across Sudan, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad this year led to thousands of deaths and millions of displacements, mirroring what occurred in the region in 2022. - Research by World Weather Attribution shows that such extreme floods, linked to anthropogenic climate change, are likely to become more intense and frequent in the future. - Existing conflicts, poverty, aging infrastructure and socioeconomic inequalities further exacerbate the exposure of vulnerable communities to extreme floods; local leaders and experts call for improved sanitation and urban development policies as well as adaptation strategies in preparation for future floods. authors: | ||
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Vietnam’s mammals need conservation within and outside their range: Study 13 Dec 2024 05:01:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/vietnams-mammals-need-conservation-within-and-outside-their-range-study/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: Many species of mammals, either extinct in the wild or teetering close to it, have been successfully restored to parts of their range: the scimitar-horned oryx in northern Africa, black-footed ferrets in the United States, and Arabian oryx in Oman, to name but a few. These species would have been doomed without one thing: captive, or ex situ, populations in well-managed zoos. A new study from Vietnam indicates the country’s diverse but increasingly imperiled host of mammals could benefit from such assurance collections alongside concerted efforts to strengthen protection of their habitats. “The conservation goal today is not only to avoid extinction but also to focus on species recovery,” the study says. The team of researchers from Germany, Japan and Vietnam found 20% of Vietnam’s 329 species of mammal are threatened with extinction at a global level, and more than one-third at a national level. The findings broadly reflect the bleak global outlook for mammals; the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, estimates 27% of mammal species worldwide face extinction. Endemic bats of Vietnam: The Ha Long leaf-nosed bat (left) and the Da Lat tube-nosed bat (right). Images courtesy of Son Truong Nguyen. Localized mammal diversity Vietnam is home to an impressive diversity of mammals, including the highest number of primate species in mainland Southeast Asia: 28 species in total, including endemic Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus avunculus) and Delacour’s langurs (Trachypithecus delacouri). Camera-trapping surveys in the country’s network of national parks also frequently turn up an array of species, from…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Vietnam is a treasure trove of mammalian diversity: it’s home to the highest number of primate species in mainland Southeast Asia and a host of unique species found nowhere else on the planet. - However, a new study reveals more than one-third of Vietnam’s mammal species are threatened with extinction at a national level. - The researchers advocate combining field-based and ex-situ conservation measures to recover the country’s mammal populations. - They recommend conservation managers focus on establishing captive-breeding populations of key conservation species, as well as strengthening protection of habitats and creating wildlife corridors. authors: | ||
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Foreign investor lawsuits impede Honduras human rights & environment protections 12 Dec 2024 23:29:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/foreign-investor-lawsuits-impede-honduras-human-rights-environment-protections/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Sarah Brown content:encoded: Foreign investors in Honduras enjoy “extraordinary privileges” that hinder the government’s ability to implement reforms that could benefit human rights and the environment, a report has found. These advantages allow corporations to sue the Central American country for policy changes that allegedly harm their investments using controversial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, resulting in a surge of lawsuits amounting to billions of dollars. The report from the Institute for Policy Studies, the Transnational Institute, TerraJusta and the Honduras Solidarity Network reveals that the impact of these legal disputes creates a “chilling effect,” otherwise known as a “deterrent effect,” in which the state may be discouraged from enacting public interest legislation due to the costly risk of liability under investment agreements. “The lawsuits directly undermine the government’s ability to listen to local communities and make sovereign decisions about protecting their land and resources,” Karen Spring, coordinator for the Honduras Solidarity Network and co-author of the report, told Mongabay. Honduras has faced 19 claims over the past two decades, 14 of which have occurred since 2023. The chart highlights the various sectors involved and the legal pathways investors have used to file these lawsuits. Image via ‘Corporate Assault on Honduras’ report. The ISDS provision allows private sector lawyers to determine whether countries are treating foreign investors fairly. The report says that many lawsuits in Honduras stem from companies that made questionable investments after the 2009 coup d’état, with around a third of the investments facing significant resistance from affected communities. ISDS is…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Foreign investors in Honduras have “extraordinary privileges,” allowing them to sue the government for reforms that affect their investments, hindering public interest legislation, a recent report has found. - Honduras faces billions of dollars in lawsuits from corporations, many tied to controversial investments made after the 2009 coup, creating a deterrent effect on the government’s ability to make sovereign decisions and making it the second-most-sued country in Latin America over the period of 2023 to August 2024, after Mexico. - Some local communities in Honduras are divided over foreign investment projects, with several expressing resistance due to concerns about their impact on the environment and land rights. - Honduras’ recent energy reforms and mining bans are facing backlash and legal challenges, as foreign corporations resist changes aimed at protecting natural resources and human rights. authors: | ||
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Indonesian forests put at risk by South Korean and Japanese biomass subsidies 12 Dec 2024 15:22:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesian-forests-put-at-risk-by-south-korean-and-japanese-biomass-subsidies/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Annelise Giseburt content:encoded: Biomass energy subsidies in South Korea and Japan are threatening Southeast Asia’s tropical forests, warns a new report by environmental NGOs. Of particular concern is the nascent but rapidly growing woody biomass industry in Indonesia, where rainforests are already being cleared to make wood pellets to be burned for electricity. The report, published in October by Earth Insight, Auriga Nusantara, Forest Watch Indonesia, Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), Trend Asia, and Mighty Earth, notes that South Korea received around 62% and Japan 38% of Indonesian wood pellet exports over 2021-2023. During that same period, Indonesian wood biomass export volumes grew by orders of magnitude, rising from a trickle of just over 100 metric tons annually to more than 1,000 times that. However, Indonesia’s biomass production isn’t only for export. Thanks to the support of Japanese businesses and government institutions, Indonesia has begun burning wood pellets alongside coal in many of its own power plants, a practice known as cofiring, in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (at least on paper). Plans to further expand in-country biomass use are in the works. Meanwhile, deforestation for biomass projects has already arisen in the country’s Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua regions. Ipu Angit, a Dayak Punan from Indonesia’s North Kalimantan province, is struggling to protect the forest he calls home from a company that wants to clear it to make way for a wood pellet plantation. Image by Nanang Sujana for Mongabay. The forest in Ipu Angit’s village, Laban Nyarit, could be demolished…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Subsidies for forest biomass energy in Japan and South Korea are contributing to deforestation in Southeast Asia, according to an October 2024 report by environmental NGOs. The biomass industry is expanding especially quickly in Indonesia; the nation is exporting rapidly growing volumes of wood pellets, and is burning biomass at its domestic power plants. - Japanese trading company Hanwa confirmed that rainforest is being cleared to establish an energy forest plantation for wood pellet production in Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island. Hanwa owns a stake in the project. The wood pellet mill uses cleared rainforest as a feedstock while the monoculture plantation is being established. - A Hanwa representative defended the Sulawesi biomass project by claiming the area consists of previously logged secondary growth and that the energy plantation concession is not officially classified as “forest area.” - The Japanese government is supporting biomass use across Southeast Asia through its Asia Zero Emission Community initiative, begun in 2023. authors: | ||
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Peru’s modern history of migration and settlement 12 Dec 2024 10:20:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/perus-modern-history-of-migration-and-settlement/ author: Mayra dc:creator: Timothy J. Killeen content:encoded: Policies designed to occupy and populate the Peruvian Amazon began about seventy years ago with the construction of a trunk highway connecting Pucallpa on the Ucayali River with Lima. Named after a Peruvian historian, the construction of the Carretera Federico Basadre is a landmark event in the nation’s history, because it provided the first reliable means of communication between the capital and the Amazonian provinces that make up more than fifty per cent of Peru’s territory. The next major initiative began when the government added a northern spur through the montane forests of the Huallaga Valley, which was intended to integrate its northern Amazonian provinces while opening a lush tropical valley to agricultural development. Construction of these two highways was financed with state resources in the 1970s, when a left-wing military government had limited access to international finance. After a return to civilian government in the 1980s, multilateral institutions financed several project-based initiatives, but these were soon sidelined when the country entered a period of civil unrest that impeded economic growth and foreign investment. The economy improved in the 1990s following the end of the civil war, and the government, then led by Alberto Fujimori, initiated a series of system-wide investments in transportation infrastructure using public money leveraged with loans from the IDB. The system-wide approach was complemented in 2000 with the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA), which improved the strategic planning of highway investments in general, while promoting public-private partnerships (PPP) to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Four roads with an enormous impact on rural Peru were built starting in the 1970s, incentivizing migration in the second half of the 20th century to the Amazonian lowlands from the Andean foothills. - The largest single migratory destination in the Peruvian Amazon is landlocked Iquitos; immigrants arrived there in search of jobs in the oil industry. Currently counting more than 500,000 inhabitants, Iquitos is now the largest city in the Western Amazon. - The cultivation of coca has had major impacts on the development of Peru’s Amazonian regions. Violent clashes between armed groups searching to dominate the activity have pushed as many as 450,000 people out of their homes. authors: | ||
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Communities warn of threat to ecosystems from Brazil bridge project 12 Dec 2024 09:11:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/communities-warn-of-threat-to-ecosystems-from-brazil-bridge-project/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Lobato Felizola content:encoded: “It seems like they intentionally neglected the ferry system just to create enough discontent so that people would accept construction of this bridge,” says Maria José Pacheco, executive secretary of the Bahia Fishermen’s Protection Council. Passengers making the crossing between the Brazilian city of Salvador and the island of Itaparica in Todos os Santos Bay on the Atlantic have a litany of complaints about the ferry service: delays, dirtiness, mechanical problems, even collisions. One of the previous operators was accused of overbilling and poor management; the current operator has already been hit with millions of reais in fines for similar problems. The ferry crossing across the mouth of the bay takes about 50 minutes. A proposed bridge would cut that time down to just 15 minutes. Construction is expected to start in 2025, and once completed in four years’ time, the 12.4-kilometer (7.7-mile) span will be the second-longest bridge in the Southern Hemisphere, after Rio de Janeiro’s 13.29-km (8.26-mi) Niterói bridge. A consortium of two Chinese companies won the bid for the Salvador-Itaparica bridge in 2020. The public-private partnership has a price tag of 9 billion reais ($1.5 billion). The companies’ portfolios include similar grand public works projects, including the world’s largest maritime bridge in the Sea of China, and railway lines in Ethiopia and Nigeria. The 35-year concession for the Salvador-Itaparica Island Highway Bridge System, as it’s known, involves the construction phase, operation and maintenance, as well as works including roads, tunnels, viaducts and toll plazas. The bridge between…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Islanders and experts have warned of widespread environmental and social impacts from the construction of a bridge linking the Brazilian city of Salvador with the island of Itaparica in Todos os Santos Bay. - Critics say the project will devastate mangrove forests and coral reefs, leading to environmental imbalance, compromising fishing communities and threatening the survival of many marine species including humpback whales and sea turtles. - Proponents say the bridge will boost development in the region, in particular transporting agricultural produce, but islanders say the anticipated population surge on Itaparica will create unsustainable pressure on public services as well as drastically change the dynamics of the community living there. - Experts say the best solution for improving transportation links between Salvador and Itaparica is to invest in the existing ferry system, but this option wasn’t considered by planners. authors: | ||
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Kenya embraces electric buses to combat air pollution 12 Dec 2024 07:30:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/kenya-embraces-electric-buses-to-combat-climate-change-but-rollout-is-bumpy/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Stephanie Wangari content:encoded: NAIROBI — There are 22,000 buses on Nairobi’s crowded streets, the backbone of commuter transit for the Kenyan capital’s population of 5.3 million. The city’s matatus, privately owned public transport, are famously airbrushed with slogans and portraits of rap stars and English football clubs. Among these garish, growling, diesel-fueled hordes, there are now 35 quiet newcomers: electric buses assembled by a local company called BasiGo. For the last six years, Isaac Kamau has been a bus driver in Nairobi, ferrying passengers between the central business district and the city’s residential outskirts. In 2022, Kamau was selected by his employer for training to operate an electric bus. “You had to have a good track record to benefit from such an opportunity,” Kamau told Mongabay. Kamau’s training focused on eco-driving and safety, and he has relished driving his new vehicle. “Passengers prefer electric vehicles over traditional fossil-fueled ones. They rarely need convincing to board. EVs are more comfortable, faster, and operate without noise.” Kamau’s is one of 35 electric buses operating in the city, with 14 more expected to hit the streets as 2024 closes. BasiGo, which assembles buses in Kenya from imported parts manufactured by Chinese bus and heavy truck maker CHTC, says it has received 500 preorders from bus operators. Nairobi’s matatus are more than transportation. Their colorful artwork and loud soundsystems are part of the Kenyan capital’s cultural signature — they also contribute around 20% of the city’s transport-related air pollution. Image by CakeForBreakfast via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Kenyan capital Nairobi is slowly introducing electric buses into the fleet of notoriously noisy and polluting matatus that ply its streets. - Drivers selected to operate these Chinese-made and locally assembled buses say passengers prefer them because they’re quieter, faster and more comfortable. - The rollout is still on a small scale: the $200,000 price tag for an electric bus is prohibitive, but the manufacturer is leasing them to operators to make them more affordable. - Charging is also an issue, with drivers reporting shorter ranges than advertised, and just three charging stations available in the city. authors: | ||
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In 2024, Nepal’s elusive snow leopards pounce into spotlight 12 Dec 2024 06:43:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/in-2024-nepals-elusive-snow-leopards-pounce-into-spotlight/ author: Abhayarajjoshi dc:creator: Abhaya Raj Joshi content:encoded: KATHMANDU — The elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia), often described as the “ghost of the mountains,” has captivated the imagination of researchers, the general public and mountain communities for centuries. Fables related to this enigmatic big cat have been handed down from generation to generation, weaving a sense of mystery and reverence for the cat of the rugged mountain terrain. Its uncanny ability to blend seamlessly into its surroundings, coupled with its natural aversion to human presence, makes direct encounters exceptionally rare. The snow leopard is so elusive that even researchers dedicated to studying this animal often go years without seeing one in the wild. Despite their elusive nature, they play a crucial role in the mountain ecosystem as its apex predator and keystone species. That’s why the animal is one of the priority species for conservation activities in Nepal, where researchers deploy several techniques such as camera traps, tracking footprints in the snow and studying scat samples to learn more about snow leopards. The year 2024 marked significant milestones for the animal for several reasons. While a snow leopard was spotted for the first time in living memory in Nepal’s plains, the government shifted its conservation focus from research to conflict mitigation. Similarly, a government committee is aggregating various studies carried out around the country to come up with a scientific estimate of its population. Here’s a summary of Mongabay’s coverage of snow leopards in Nepal in 2024: Rare snow leopard sighting in Nepal’s ‘home of tiger’ puzzles conservationists…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The year 2024 marks significant milestones for snow leopard conservation in Nepal, one of the animal’s 12 range countries. - A snow leopard was found roaming the country’s plains and provided a home in the country’s central zoo. - With the launch of a new conservation action plan, the government has initiated a shift in its approach to save the animal. - Snow leopards also found their way into the popular imagination of filmmakers and even cricket enthusiasts. authors: | ||
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Wildlife conservation is a key climate change solution (commentary) 11 Dec 2024 20:38:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/wildlife-conservation-is-a-key-climate-change-solution-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Peter Lalampaa and Jean-Gaël Collomb content:encoded: When most people think about climate change, images of melting ice caps or rising sea levels come to mind. However, the reality is far more intricate and urgent. The effects of climate change, such as fires, droughts, and extreme weather events are not just environmental threats, but crises that directly impact human well-being and wildlife survival alike. In reality, it is a complex web that affects both people and animals, and conversely, where each plays a crucial role in fostering resilient ecosystems that can withstand these challenges. Take elephants, for example – these natural ecosystem landscapers help prevent wildfires by clearing excess vegetation, creating firebreaks through their movement, and dispersing seeds through their dung that grow into carbon-absorbing trees. Their activity even helps cool the planet’s surface by trampling dense vegetation to reflect sunlight off the newly exposed ground. Conservationists doing critical work on the ground witness firsthand how threats to wildlife like poaching, conflict, and climate change itself, disrupts these natural processes which act to mitigate climate change, driving droughts, fires, and other disruptions that make it harder for both wildlife and local communities to thrive. These interconnected challenges affecting water quality, soil erosion, and even the spread of diseases highlight the inextricable link between climate change, wildlife conservation, and the well-being of communities. These issues cannot be separated in the fight against the negative effects of climate change. Grevy’s zebras in Samburu Reserve, Kenya. Photo courtesy of Dan Lundberg. The intersection of climate change and wildlife conservation is…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - It’s time for global leaders, funders, and policymakers to prioritize the inclusion of local conservationists in major climate discussions, a new op-ed argues. - The effects of climate change, such as fires, droughts, and extreme weather events are not just environmental threats, but crises that directly impact human well-being and wildlife survival alike. - “If we are serious about tackling climate change and preserving biodiversity, we must embrace holistic and inclusive approaches to conservation that integrate both wildlife and community needs,” two conservationists write. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Brazil natural landscape degradation drives toxic metal buildup in bats 11 Dec 2024 20:22:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/brazil-natural-landscape-degradation-drives-toxic-metal-buildup-in-bats/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Bats play a key role in maintaining the health of forest ecosystems as pollinators, seed dispersers and insect pest controllers. But according to new research, bats and the ecosystem services they offer are under threat in Brazil’s heavily fragmented Atlantic Forest biome, where natural lands have been largely converted for agriculture and mining, degradation that is increasing wildlife exposure to toxic heavy metals. Scientists at Brazil’s Santa Cruz State University plucked hair samples from bats in the state of Bahia across a patchwork of landscapes — including cattle pasture, eucalyptus and coffee monocultures and cacao agroforest — then tested them for three metals: lead, manganese and copper. “We found that bats living in areas where the landscape is dominated by intensive agriculture or grasslands have higher levels of toxic metals, particularly lead and manganese,” says Julián Barillaro, the study leader and a conservation ecology researcher at Santa Cruz State University. This, he says, is likely due to use of agrochemicals and leaded fuel. Reduced natural habitat also likely increased exposure. Other factors, such as bat species and sex, didn’t affect bioaccumulation, leading the authors to believe that the bats came into direct contact with these heavy metals by resting on contaminated leaves or trees and then grooming. The exposure levels within different monocultures requires further study, Barrilaro says, as some bat species are highly mobile and could be moving from crop to crop. By comparison, the researchers found that bats in cacao agroforestry areas with higher natural forest cover had…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Bats play a crucial role in tropical regions as pollinators, seed dispersers and agricultural pest controllers. But they are exposed to a wide range of threats, pollution among them. - Two recent papers show how natural landscape transformation and degradation, due to pasture and crop monoculture creation and mining in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, can increase bioaccumulation of toxins and heavy metals in bat populations, leading to potential health impacts. - Over time, this toxic accumulation could increase the likelihood of local bat extinctions and the loss of vital ecosystem services. The toxic contamination of these landscapes also poses a concern for human health, researchers say. - These findings are likely applicable to bats living in other highly disturbed tropical habitats around the world, researchers say. authors: | ||
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Andes glacier melt threatens Amazon’s rivers & intensifies droughts 11 Dec 2024 13:35:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/andes-glacier-melt-threatens-amazons-rivers-intensifies-droughts/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Amanda Magnani content:encoded: After two consecutive years of record-breaking droughts, the river levels in the Amazon Basin are slowly starting to recover. According to the Geological Survey of Brazil, the Madeira River, home to the most diverse fish life in the region, left the “drought” classification as its levels surpassed the 13-foot mark in late November. In both Madeira and Negro rivers, navigability is back to normal after months of suspension. However, the drought is far from over, and its impacts are still felt across the region. In 2024, 69% of municipalities in the Amazon recorded more intense drought levels than in 2023. In the Madeira River, the levels were so low that the Geological Survey had to install a new ruler to measure it. In Amazonas state alone, 850,000 people were affected and Indigenous communities still struggle with food insecurity and lack of access to drinking water. In the state of Pará, mass mortality of fish caused by the drought increases the vulnerability of riverine communities. Although river levels are beginning to rise, the rains from the Amazonian wet season are less than expected, and the drought may further intensify into December. While notably extreme, the droughts experienced by the Amazon River Basin in the past two years are not unusual. For the past 20 years, the nine countries that make up the Amazon Basin have seen drastic reductions in their total water surface area, with nine out of the past 10 years among the driest ever registered. They were also made…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study found that Andean tropical glaciers have reached their lowest levels in 11,700 years, with drastic consequences for the Amazon due to the overlap of the two ecosystems. - The findings come to light as record droughts in the Amazon in 2023 and 2024, exacerbated by climate change, have severely impacted local communities, including food insecurity and lack of access to drinking water. - The ice loss in the Andes could reduce the water flow to the Amazon rivers by up to 20%. - Venezuela is on the verge of becoming the first country in modern history to lose all its glaciers. authors: | ||
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Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger 11 Dec 2024 09:52:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/environmental-journalist-in-cambodia-shot-and-killed-by-suspected-logger/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Gerald FlynnPhoung Vantha content:encoded: SIEM REAP, Cambodia — Chhoeung Chheng, a journalist covering environmental issues for local online news outlet Kampuchea Aphiwat News, has died of his injuries after being shot in Siem Reap province on Dec. 4 by a suspected illegal logger. Chheng was rushed to a commune health clinic with a gunshot wound to the abdomen before being transferred to Siem Reap Provincial Hospital where, in the early hours of Dec. 7, he died of his wounds. The attack took place at around 6 p.m. near Trapeang Phluoh village, Pongro Leu commune, Chi Kraeng district, Siem Reap province, close to Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, where Chheng and a colleague, Moeun Ny, had been traveling at the time. “We’d traveled from toward Trapeang Raing, which is a conservation area under the Ministry of Environment, to take photos of illegal [forest] activities for producing news,” Ny told Mongabay. The pair had been traveling toward Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected forest that lost 72% of its primary forest cover between 2002 and 2023, according to Global Forest Watch data. Based on testimony from witnesses, this map shows the rough location of the shooting, which happened on the border of Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary as Chhoeung Chheng and Moeun Ny returned from the forest. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. Much of that deforestation was due to economic land concessions that saw some 70,000 hectares of the sanctuary cleared to make way for rubber plantations. What remains of the forest has been further decimated by new…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Free press advocates are demanding justice for environmental reporter Chhoeung Chheng after he was shot and killed by a suspected illegal logger on the outskirts of a protected area in northern Cambodia. - Chheng and a colleague were in the region to document illegal forest activities when they encountered the alleged perpetrator on Dec. 4; police arrested the suspect the following day. - Chheng died in hospital on Dec. 7, making him the latest victim in a broader trend in which covering environmental issues puts journalists in the firing line. - Advocates say the incident underscores the threats to journalists seeking to cover issues such as logging amid increasing climate-related catastrophes across Asia, and have called on governments like Cambodia’s to ensure journalists can freely and safely report on those issues. authors: | ||
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First-of-its-kind crew welfare measure adopted at Pacific fisheries summit 10 Dec 2024 17:43:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/first-of-its-kind-crew-welfare-measure-adopted-at-pacific-fisheries-summit/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: Working on fishing vessels has for centuries been one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. To this day, forced labor and other human rights abuses remain relatively common, with workers from low-income countries especially at risk. But new regulations in the Western Pacific Ocean could make it harder for ship operators to get away with abuses, and could catalyze change in other regions. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), a multilateral body that sets fishing rules for an area that covers nearly 20% of Earth’s surface and produces half the world’s tuna catch, adopted a landmark crew welfare measure at its recent annual meeting, which took place in Fiji from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3. It’s the first binding labor rights measure adopted by any of the world’s 17 regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs). The measure is a “step forward for human rights at sea,” Bubba Cook, a program manager at WWF-New Zealand who has advocated for the measure for years, told Mongabay. “There is no question this is a … mast light for other RFMOs as we chart a course into the future,” Cook said at the meeting’s final plenary, according to a statement he shared with Mongabay. “With this important step, we have acknowledged the humanity of those crew working in challenging conditions around the world to bring seafood to our tables.” On a personal level, Cook said the measure’s adoption was a “hugely emotional moment” that brought him to tears because a friend…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The organization that sets fishing rules for a swath of the Pacific Ocean covering nearly 20% of Earth’s surface and supplying half the world’s tuna catch held its annual meeting in Fiji from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3. - Parties to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) adopted a landmark crew welfare measure — the first binding labor rights measure adopted by any of the world’s 17 regional fisheries management organizations. - The parties, 25 countries plus the European Union, also adopted a voluntary measure to implement electronic monitoring of catches. - However, they didn’t adopt a proposal to curb potentially dodgy ship-to-ship transfers known as transshipments, or substantive new protections for sharks and seabirds, as NGO observers had hoped. authors: | ||
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Deadlocked plastic treaty talks will lead to renewed negotiations in 2025 10 Dec 2024 15:32:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/deadlocked-plastic-treaty-talks-will-lead-to-renewed-negotiations-in-2025/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Charles Pekow content:encoded: “Just wait till next year!” goes the slogan often attributed to disappointed sports fans. Those same words could equally apply to proponents of an internationally binding U.N. agreement to phase out plastic pollution; they’ll now need to wait at least till next year to try and achieve that goal. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution this month failed to meet its self-imposed deadline to approve final plastics treaty language by the end of 2024. Instead, at its fifth major session, known as INC-5, conducted Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 in Busan, South Korea, the parties remained deadlocked. In the end, with the summit running into overtime, the great divide couldn’t be crossed. Oil- and plastics-producing nations (including Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran and India), refused to compromise on their demands for a voluntary accord only covering plastic reuse and recycling. The majority of nations — more than 100 in total — held out for a binding treaty mandating reductions in plastic production and restricting use of certain toxic chemicals. The Busan meeting was the fifth major international negotiation session in a fast-tracked process that began in 2022 to address the global plastics pollution crisis. More than 3,300 participants attended the INC-5 summit, including delegates from more than 170 nations and 440 observers. Environmentalists and delegates from the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution representing 68 nations (counting the European Union as one) headed home disappointed but hopeful for progress, and maybe a treaty breakthrough, in 2025. The United…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In 2022, U.N. negotiators set a timetable to finalize a global plastics treaty by the end of 2024. - That hope was dashed on Dec. 1 at the United Nations summit in Busan, South Korea, as a few oil petrostates and plastic-producing nations (seeking a voluntary treaty focused on waste reduction) blocked 100-plus higher-ambition nations (seeking a binding treaty with limits on plastic production). - However, many parties feel that a strong agreement can still be reached, and say there’s good reason for hope: In Busan, participating nations agreed to a 22-page “Chair’s Text” for the treaty that will serve as the starting point for negotiations at a resumed session in 2025, perhaps as early as May. - But much remains to be worked out, especially concerning limits on plastic production, proposed bans on some toxic chemicals used in plastics, a phaseout of some single-use plastic products, and more. A key sticking point is the question of who will pay for the treaty’s implementation and ongoing enforcement. authors: | ||
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