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Bat virus fragments turn up in fertilizer sold in Thai markets, study finds 13 Aug 2026 10:08:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/bat-virus-fragments-turn-up-in-fertilizer-sold-in-thai-markets-study-finds/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Researchers have found the first genetic evidence of bat-borne viruses within commercially sold bat guano fertilizer in Thailand. However, the viral strains the team detected are not known to infect humans. Moreover, since the researchers only identified fragments of viral RNA and did not isolate live, intact viruses, they could not confirm if the genetic material poses an active threat to human health, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. But the findings suggest that viral genetic material from bat populations can persist far beyond caves and survive within publicly available retail products, the study says. “The most surprising thing was that these viruses don’t just stay in the caves,” senior author Thachawech Kimprasit, a medical microbiologist at Mahidol University in Bangkok, told Mongabay. “Their material can be found in commercial end products.” The discovery raises concerns over a general lack of biosecurity protocols to protect harvesters, agricultural workers, and retail handlers, Thachawech added. Bat guano or droppings are harvested from caves and widely used as agricultural fertilizer around the world. Researchers screened 41 samples of commercially available bat guano fertilizer commonly sold in Thai markets. They found two samples that tested positive for Alphacoronaviruses, a genus of coronaviruses, and one sample that tested positive for Betacoronaviruses, the genus that includes the Sarbecovirus subgenus, from which the pathogen responsible for COVID-19 originates. The researchers identified the croslet horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus coelophyllus), a cave-dwelling insectivorous species common across mainland Southeast Asia, as the most likely natural host of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Researchers have found the first genetic evidence of bat-borne viruses within commercially sold bat guano fertilizer in Thailand. However, the viral strains the team detected are not known to infect humans. Moreover, since the researchers only identified fragments of viral RNA and did not isolate live, intact viruses, they could not confirm if the genetic […] authors: | ||
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Siraya gain recognition as Taiwan’s 17th official Indigenous group 13 Aug 2026 09:10:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/siraya-gain-recognition-as-taiwans-17th-official-indigenous-group/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Yenni Kwok content:encoded: In a significant milestone, the Siraya people of Taiwan have won legal recognition from the government as the island’s 17th officially designated Indigenous group. In late July, the Siraya were the first Indigenous people from Taiwan’s lowland plains, or Pingpu, to gain official status under the Pingpu Indigenous Peoples Status Act. The law, passed in October 2025, offers pathways to redress their erasure as Indigenous peoples. The designation also encapsulates the Siraya’s decades-long fight for legal recognition after centuries of forced assimilation by various colonial powers. “I’ve officially announced in a Cabinet meeting that the Siraya are a legally recognized Indigenous group in Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai said on July 30 to cheers from Siraya community members. Wan Cheng-hsiung, activist and founder of the Tainan Siraya Cultural Association, shouted in Siraya, “We’ve finally come home!” President Lai Ching-te, who backed the Siraya’s fight for cultural and legal recognition during his previous tenures as mayor of the city of Tainan and later as vice president, welcomed the news. “This is a historic moment for the Siraya people and an important milestone in the pursuit of historical and transitional justice for Indigenous peoples,” he wrote on Facebook on Aug. 1, Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Jolan Hsieh, an Indigenous studies scholar at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, who’s also known by her Siraya name, Bavaragh Dagalomai, said the impact of the recognition “could be profound, but recognition itself is only the beginning.” “I see official recognition primarily as a process of restoring…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On July 30, the Siraya became the first Indigenous group from Taiwan’s lowland plains, or Pingpu, to gain official status under the Pingpu Indigenous Peoples Identity Act, which offers pathways to redress the erasure of their Indigenous identities. - The designation also encapsulates the Siraya’s decades-long fight for legal recognition after centuries of forced assimilation by various colonial powers. - The Siraya, a traditionally matrilineal people residing mainly in the southern city of Tainan and its surroundings, are considered to be the largest of the Pingpu Indigenous groups. - Seen to be “well assimilated” with the Han Chinese population, the Pingpu communities have been largely denied not only official Indigenous status but also legal protections, resources, and other benefits. authors: | ||
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How the first published Indigenous ethnobotanist & elders recorded their people’s medicinal knowledge 13 Aug 2026 07:00:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-the-first-published-indigenous-ethnobotanist-elders-recorded-their-peoples-medicinal-knowledge/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Karla Mendes content:encoded: CARAMURU/PARAGUASSU INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — Looking at the landscape of dry and cleared mountains around her house, Marta Xavier de Oliveira remembered when it was a forest. “When we got sick, that’s where we got our medicine from,” Oliveira, known as Dona Marta, 87, told Mongabay. An Indigenous elder of the Kariri-Sapuyá people, she stands amid her ancestral land in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state and her vegetable garden where she’s kept several medicinal plants going. Beside her is an embaúba tree (Cecropia pachystachya), used to treat diabetes and prostate issues, in the backyard of her house in the village of Caramuru. “It was all over there. They knocked everything down. Everything was cleared and they destroyed the forest.” Some native species, including embaúba, were planted here 44 years ago. Others, however, disappeared from the territory over the past decades, when outsiders invaded the area and cleared the forests for cattle pastures, Dona Marta said. She cited a specific plant: puaia, used to treat snake bites, plague — an illness elders said includes fever, headaches, and leaves the body all twisted — and various other diseases. “It was there in the woods,” she said, pointing to the cleared mountains. “It’s gone.” On Dec. 27, 2025, Dona Marta passed away. Her knowledge, however, is alive today in a study published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethomedicine, which cited her. The paper is authored by Indigenous ethnobotanist Hemerson Dantas dos Santos Pataxó HãHãHãi and Eliana Rodrigues, a professor and coordinator of ethnobotanical…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In an unprecedented participatory ethnobotany approach, Hemerson Dantas dos Santos Pataxó HãHãHãi, the world’s first published Indigenous ethnobotanist, documented alongside his people their traditional medicinal practices: cataloging 175 medicinal plants, many of which had their use reaffirmed in scientific literature. - Mongabay visited Hemerson and spoke with several Indigenous elders who survived violent land conflicts about their medicinal knowledge and their efforts to protect it in the Caramuru/Paraguassu Indigenous Territory, a land illegally occupied by cattle farmers for decades in Brazil’s Bahia state. - Samples of plants collected by Hemerson are being kept at an internationally registered herbarium, and he’s finalizing a book in the hope of keeping the knowledge of the species and ancestral healing practices alive for his people’s future generations. - The work carried out with his people was essential to make “immortal” the knowledge of the elders, Hemerson said, describing them as “living libraries” and “Guardians of Memories.” authors: | ||
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Myanmar junta pushes to restart Myitsone Dam project 13 Aug 2026 05:31:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/myanmar-junta-pushes-to-restart-myitsone-dam-project/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Esther J content:encoded: Since June, Myanmar’s military government has increased its efforts to restart a massive, controversial hydropower project backed by China that has remained suspended for 15 years. The Myitsone Dam project, launched in 2009 and estimated to cost $3.6 billion then, was to be built along the Mali River, the N’mai River, and their confluence at Myitsone, where the Ayeyarwady River begins. Planned in Kachin state in an earthquake-prone area in northern Myanmar, the project is owned by Upstream Ayeyarwady Confluence Basin Hydropower Company, which is jointly owned by China’s Power Investment Corporation, Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power and Asia World Company. The dam was designed to be 1,310 meters (4,298 feet) long and 139.6 meters (458 feet) high. In 2011, then-President Thein Sein suspended the project after widespread public opposition due to its environmental and social impacts. However, at a June 30 press conference in Naypyidaw, the junta’s spokesperson, Khaing Khaing Soe, stated that the Myitsone project would be resumed to generate electricity for Myanmar. The chief minister of Kachin state, Khet Htein Nan, also promoted the project during a public meeting in the state on June 23, offering incentives about electricity and adding that the dam will be built to withstand earthquakes and there will be no need to worry about flooding. He further said that if construction begins this year, the project could be completed within 8.5 years. These statements follow junta leader-turned-President Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to China in early June. The head of the junta’s Myitsone…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Since June, Myanmar’s military government has increased its efforts to restart a massive, controversial hydropower project backed by China that has remained suspended for 15 years. The Myitsone Dam project, launched in 2009 and estimated to cost $3.6 billion then, was to be built along the Mali River, the N’mai River, and their confluence at […] authors: | ||
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Six African countries now support precautionary pause on deep-seabed mining 13 Aug 2026 05:18:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/six-african-countries-now-support-precautionary-pause-on-deep-seabed-mining/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: Three more African countries have joined calls for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining until the environmental, social and economic impacts of such mining are better understood. This brings the number of African countries supporting a moratorium to six. Mauritius, Mozambique and the Republic of the Congo announced support for the precautionary pause during the annual meeting of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaica, in July, joining Malawi, Kenya and Madagascar. The government of Mauritius said in its statement during the ISA meeting that “the sustainable development of Mauritius is inextricably dependent on a healthy and resilient ocean.” Mauritius officials stressed that decisions regarding deep-seabed mining must be made based on “best available scientific evidence and by the precautionary approach, as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.” Malawi was the first African country to support a precautionary pause in May 2026. Kenya and Madagascar followed in June. “The basis for all of these countries, while taking into account their individual contexts, is the lack of sufficient science and the governance gaps that persist,” David Willima from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), a group of more than 140 NGOs and organizations, told Mongabay via email. The six African nations are among 46 countries globally that support a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-seabed mining. The ocean floor in the deep sea has small, hard rocks called polymetallic nodules that contain minerals like nickel, cobalt and manganese. Countries and companies want to mine…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Three more African countries have joined calls for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining until the environmental, social and economic impacts of such mining are better understood. This brings the number of African countries supporting a moratorium to six. Mauritius, Mozambique and the Republic of the Congo announced support for the precautionary pause during the […] authors: | ||
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Nepal enlists AI to help fight against crop-raiding macaques 13 Aug 2026 05:00:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/nepal-enlists-ai-to-help-fight-against-crop-raiding-macaques/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In a village in central Nepal, growing conflict between farmers and rhesus macaques has prompted researchers to test artificial intelligence-based systems that can swiftly detect and deter the monkeys, reports contributor Praveen Kumar Yadav for Mongabay. A 2026 study that followed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in one central Nepal region, found that nearly half of their diet consists of cultivated crops. In villages like Birta Deurali, also in central Nepal, farmers take turns guarding fields every two hours, Yadav reported. To alleviate this burden, researchers in the country are developing AI-driven solutions. Progress Jung Thapa, a researcher at Madan Bhandari University of Science and Technology, has developed a system built on cameras and lightweight computing devices trained on more than 4,000 annotated images. It detects monkeys and interprets their behavior, such as whether the monkeys are moving, feeding, or being vigilant, with an 88% accuracy across 28 field trials. “If a monkey is still watching, the farmer has time,” Thapa said. “If it is already feeding, the response has to be immediate. A machine can detect. But a human decides.” Once a threat is identified, the system sends an alert straight to the farmer’s phone. Meanwhile, Santosh Giri, an assistant professor at Tribhuvan University, is developing a prototype that pairs AI detection with an ultrasonic deterrent to repel monkeys. The deterrent system is, however, yet to be tested in working farm environments. Both Thapa and Giri acknowledged that translating these technologies to field conditions is challenging. Poor visibility from rain…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In a village in central Nepal, growing conflict between farmers and rhesus macaques has prompted researchers to test artificial intelligence-based systems that can swiftly detect and deter the monkeys, reports contributor Praveen Kumar Yadav for Mongabay. A 2026 study that followed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in one central Nepal region, found that nearly half of […] authors: | ||
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Indigenous groups renew legal challenge to Indonesian conservation law 13 Aug 2026 01:20:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-groups-renew-legal-challenge-to-indonesian-conservation-law/ author: Yenni Kwok dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indigenous groups in Indonesia have made a legal challenge to parts of a new conservation law. The groups say it could allow the government to designate their ancestral lands as conservation areas without their consent and threaten their land rights. The Coalition for Equitable Conservation, which comprises the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), civil society groups and representatives of Indigenous and local communities, filed the lawsuit on July 8, 2026. The case seeks to overturn provisions of Indonesia’s 2024 conservation law that the groups say threaten the rights of communities living on ancestral lands, community-managed areas, coastal regions, small islands and conservation zones. The new petition follows the Constitutional Court’s rejection of a separate procedural challenge to the law in July 2025, prompting the coalition to pursue a substantive review of the disputed articles. During a hearing on Aug. 6, 2026, the Constitutional Court was due to hear arguments from the government and the House of Representatives (DPR), which drafted the 2024 law. However, Chief Justice Suhartoyo postponed the hearing until Aug. 24 after both the government and the parliament said they were not ready to present their positions. Indigenous peoples and local communities from the Coalition for Equitable Conservation file a judicial review of the 2024 conservation law at the Indonesian Constitutional Court in Jakarta on July 8, 2026. Image courtesy of AMAN. The petitioners expressed their disappointment with the delay. “The government and the DPR’s failure to present their statements before the Constitutional…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indigenous groups in Indonesia are petitioning the country’s Constitutional Court to invalidate parts of a 2024 conservation law, arguing it could allow the government to designate ancestral lands as conservation areas without communities’ consent and threaten their customary land rights. - The court case comes a year after the court denied a judicial review of the law’s legislative process, despite dissent from two justices. - The latest legal challenge focuses on provisions allowing the creation of “preservation areas”, which the groups say could restrict communities’ access to their lands and undermine traditional forms of conservation. authors: | ||
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Urban heat islands have solutions; many tropical cities can’t afford them 13 Aug 2026 00:34:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/urban-heat-islands-have-solutions-many-tropical-cities-cant-afford-them/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Adam Litchkofski content:encoded: Urban heat islands pose a growing global health threat. But in tropical cities, the peril is surging. Already burdened by hot-humid equatorial weather, global warming, intense poverty, rapid urbanization, and a lack of cooling infrastructure, tropical city officials now face a powerful 2026-2027 El Niño that could put millions of vulnerable urban dwellers at risk. Heat islands form because artificial surfaces, like roads and rooftops, trap heat by day and release it by night, never giving highly-urbanized spaces time to cool. When climate change-induced heat domes stall over cities, temperatures can soar for weeks into the triple digits. Every “city has a rhythm, it has a metabolism,” Matthias Roth, a National University of Singapore researcher, told Mongabay in a video interview. “The metabolism of each city — especially how incoming solar energy is divided between heating surfaces, warming the air, evaporating water, and being stored in the ground and buildings — influences how much energy heats up buildings, surfaces, and air. The prevalence of concrete and asphalt and the absence of vegetation creates a heat island.” But not all tropical urban heat islands (UHIs) are created equally, with the severity of their heat burdens dependent on innovative city planning and the financial clout to keep pace with global warming. In wealthy Singapore (which has devoted high levels of funding to curb UHI effects), air temperatures can still swell; compact high-rise building complexes there can see outdoor temperatures 4.3° Celsius (7.9° Fahrenheit) above rural areas. But in poorer cities, like Lagos,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In tropical cities, urban heat islands (UHIs) exacerbate an already challenging hot-humid heat burden for residents. UHIs are formed by urban artificial surfaces like concrete and asphalt that retain heat by day and slowly release it at night, never giving cities a chance to cool. - Natural and infrastructure solutions can be implemented to combat the UHI effect and cool cities. These include creating shade by planting trees or extending roofs; inducing wind to blow down urban streets; constructing green roofs and walls; painting roofs light colors; and changing social practices to avoid midday heat. - But sufficient funding is needed to implement many of these changes. Wealthy cities, like Singapore, have an advantage over cities with less funding. Many tropical mega-cities, including Lagos, Mumbai, Manila, Jakarta and São Paulo, are working to reduce UHI effects, but struggle to afford full implementation. - The 2026-2027 El Niño is now growing in strength and expected to bring record temperatures to the tropics. These extreme temperatures, combined with UHI effects and urban poverty, could prove deadly for vulnerable residents, which include the poor, young, old, those with disabilities, and those working outdoors. authors: | ||
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Brazil Supreme Court upholds laws that led to downfall of Amazon soy moratorium 12 Aug 2026 23:00:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/brazil-supreme-court-upholds-laws-that-led-to-downfall-of-amazon-soy-moratorium/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court has upheld state laws denying tax incentives to farmers who adhered to the country’s soy moratorium. The court also affirmed the constitutionality of the voluntary agreement. For nearly 20 years, the pact barred the purchase of soy grown on deforested Amazon land. Major grain traders withdrew from the moratorium in January after top soy-producing states revoked tax benefits for participating companies. Brazil is the world’s largest soybean producer, accounting for about 40% of global output. The Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries said the ruling ends years of legal uncertainty but is unlikely to revive the pact. By Gabriela Sá Pessoa, Associated Press Banner image: Patchwork of legal forest reserves, pasture, and soy farms in the Brazilian Amazon in Mato Grosso. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court has upheld state laws denying tax incentives to farmers who adhered to the country’s soy moratorium. The court also affirmed the constitutionality of the voluntary agreement. For nearly 20 years, the pact barred the purchase of soy grown on deforested Amazon land. Major grain traders withdrew from […] authors: | ||
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Decades after religions shaped China’s Tianmushan, authorities tackle protecting reserve 12 Aug 2026 16:11:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/decades-after-religions-shaped-chinas-tianmushan-authorities-tackle-protecting-reserve/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Keith Anthony FabroLatoya Abulu content:encoded: HANGZHOU, China — On a misty morning in Zhejiang province, the peaks of Tianmu Mountain rise like sentinels above the forest canopy, their slopes wrapped in shifting veils of cloud. For centuries, monks and many villagers revered every tree and stream as sacred, a belief that researchers say has guided protection long before the word “conservation” entered common use. “This place is special not only because of its nature,” Lu Senhong, head of the publicity and education division at the Tianmu National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, told Mongabay. “It is also because people here have long believed that every tree, flower, and bird carries a spirit. That respect has kept the mountain alive.” For more than a millennium, a mix of Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions guided protection of plants and wildlife in this lush reserve, which recently extended twelvefold to create a 54,700-hectare (135,170-acre) Tianmushan–Qingliangfeng UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve — the first such expansion in China. In the past, temples that dotted the land imposed strict punishments on anyone caught cutting trees or damaging parts of the old-growth forest — fines in rice or silver, or even expulsion from the monastery. The same rules bound monks themselves to strict conduct, ensuring they upheld the forest’s sanctity. Today, it is state regulations that provide the legal framework for protection and, along with a management plan developed with local communities, that try to tackle challenges the rich ecosystem faces and negotiate a sustainable development model following earlier community land use conflicts.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - For more than a millennium, Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions in China have shaped conservation practices at Tianmu mountain, with beliefs in the sacred connection between humans and nature influencing how communities protect its forests, wildlife and ecosystems. - Today, state regulations provide the legal framework for the protection of the expanded Tianmushan–Qingliangfeng UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and establish a management plan developed with local communities to tackle challenges the rich ecosystem faces and negotiate sustainable development following past land conflicts. Authorities and a study show efforts have increased plant productivity. - Authorities say religious values continue to influence conservation efforts, as monks, residents and officials work on education, ecotourism and monitoring programs to preserve the mountain’s biodiversity. - Despite progress, the reserve faces ongoing challenges including climate change and tree disease. authors: | ||
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Delays, biosecurity failures worsened flu outbreak at Nepal zoo, probe finds 12 Aug 2026 11:57:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/delays-biosecurity-failures-worsened-flu-outbreak-at-nepal-zoo-probe-finds/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Deepak Adhikari content:encoded: KATHMANDU — Delayed reporting, poor communication and weak biosecurity allowed bird flu to spread through Nepal’s Central Zoo in June and July killing or prompting the culling of at least 65 birds and animals, according to an internal inquiry report obtained by Mongabay. The investigation by the nonprofit National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), the autonomous body that manages the zoo and frequently partners with the government, found that officials failed to act adequately on a warning about avian influenza among crows (Corvus splendens) in Kathmandu. The facility also remained open for five days after a rapid test indicated the virus was present. “The investigation found serious negligence and weaknesses at the management level,” according to the report, a copy of which was provided to Mongabay following a right to information application. The inquiry was led by Rachana Shah, the NTNC’s spokesperson and programs manager, raising questions about a conflict of interest. Shah rejected concerns about a potential conflict of interest, saying the goal was to identify institutional failures and draw lessons from the outbreak. “We treated it as an opportunity to draw lessons from the incident, rather than as a formal investigation into the bird flu outbreak at the zoo,” she told Mongabay. “If a similar incident occurs in the future, we will bring in an external expert.” According to the report, bird flu killed 27 birds and 14 mammals between June 12 and July 2, 2026. Authorities also culled 21 birds on suspicion of bird flu to contain…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The bird flu outbreak at Nepal’s only zoo killed or led to the culling of at least 63 animals, including birds, wild cats, civets, two leopards, a jackal and a bear, an inquiry has found. - The inquiry’s report says contaminated feed and water in open bird enclosures, along with failures in animal-food handling, likely helped the virus spread. - The zoo remained open for five days after a rapid test indicated bird flu, despite receiving an earlier warning about infections among crows in Kathmandu. - Less than two weeks after reopening following the bird flu outbreak, the zoo recorded another disease outbreak that killed three wild boars from African swine fever. authors: | ||
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On fragile Sumatran peatland, a farmer fights to bring back lost mangroves 12 Aug 2026 11:44:33 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-fragile-sumatran-peatland-a-farmer-fights-to-bring-back-lost-mangroves/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Suryadi content:encoded: SUNGAI APIT, Indonesia — Harisyah was still knee-deep in peat as the light faded over the mouth of Indonesia’s Siak River. The 53-year-old palm oil and pineapple grower had been cutting back weeds since morning, clearing the riverbank on the north coast of Sumatra island before driving wooden stakes into the peat at 1.5-meter (5-feet) intervals. “We’re going to use this location as a nursery for the new seedlings,” Harisyah told Mongabay Indonesia. “This new generation will grow up close to mangroves, and they can learn more about them through playing and activities.” Harisyah and others who live in Tanjung Kuras, a coastal village in Siak district, say the weather has become increasingly erratic in recent years. Researchers, meanwhile, have documented a rapidly retreating coastline as the area’s peat soils continue to subside. Residents also contend with frequent tidal flooding, which many blame on the loss of the mangrove forests that once fortified the shoreline. Last Ramadan, the Islamic holy month observed by millions in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, strong winds lifted off the dome from the village mosque. “It’s because there’s no mangrove forest as a buffer to block the wind,” Harisyah said. “It’s been turned into an oil palm plantation — so the wind from the sea blows straight onto land.” Harisyah plants a marker stake at the mangrove planting site. Image by Suryadi/Mongabay Indonesia. World’s largest mangroves Indonesia’s more than 17,000 islands contain the world’s largest mangrove forest estate, covering about 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A palm oil grower in an Indonesian village on Sumatra island, around 100 miles west of Singapore, has spent 15 years studying the role of mangroves in coastal ecosystems and pushing local action to restore coastal forests. - Research shows this area of Sumatra’s northern coastline, which is separated from the Strait of Malacca by a narrow channel and the island of Bengkalis, is experiencing coastal abrasion of more than 6 meters per year, due primarily to mangrove loss. - Indonesia pledged to restore around 600,000 hectares in five years by 2024, which researchers say was likely the world’s most ambitious reforestation initiative on record. However, only a small share of the planned planted area was successfully seeded. authors: | ||
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A plastic eater in Bangkok’s canals 12 Aug 2026 11:28:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/a-plastic-eater-in-bangkoks-canals/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Sandy Watt content:encoded: This solar-powered barge collects plastic from Bangkok’s canals before it can wash into the ocean. It’s an innovative solution to a growing problem, but cleaning up plastic is only part of the answer. Reducing plastic use and improving waste management remain the biggest challengesThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: This solar-powered barge collects plastic from Bangkok’s canals before it can wash into the ocean. It’s an innovative solution to a growing problem, but cleaning up plastic is only part of the answer. Reducing plastic use and improving waste management remain the biggest challenges authors: | ||
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As DRC confronts largest Ebola outbreak, health agencies revise strategy 12 Aug 2026 11:11:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-drc-confronts-largest-ebola-outbreak-health-agencies-revise-strategy/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Mongabay.org content:encoded: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recorded more than 4,300 Ebola cases with more than 2,000 deaths as of Aug. 9, making this the country’s largest outbreak, to date. In the last major Ebola outbreak, the country reported around 3,500 confirmed and probable cases over two years (2018-20). However, this time, the number was surpassed in just 12 weeks from the time the outbreak was officially declared on May 15 of this year, making it the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record. “The scale of these epidemic reveals, for the first time, the gravity of the situation and forces us to rethink our response strategies in order to provide a more effective and better-coordinated response,” Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said during an online press briefing on Aug. 6. In May, the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in Ituri province, which borders Uganda. Kaseya said the official figures provide only a partial picture of the epidemic’s true scale in the eastern DRC. In remote villages and rural areas, which are among the hardest hit, many cases may go undetected by surveillance systems due to difficult access and operational constraints. Health workers transporting an Ebola patient to a treatment center. Image by Moses Sawasawa/Associated Press. The World Health Organization and the Africa CDC had previously estimated that the DRC needed $1.4 billion to tackle the crisis in a comprehensive manner, including for humanitarian response, and that available funding was well below that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Central African country is facing its largest and also the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record. - Health agencies are seeking to revise their strategy to tackle the public health crisis but focusing on response at the village level in the affected provinces of the DRC. - Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC underscored the need to bring the outbreak response to the village level, saying that a community-centered approach helps build trust between local populations and health teams while strengthening participatory surveillance. - One of the reasons this outbreak has turned out to be more difficult to contain is because a rare strain of the Ebola virus, Bundibugyo ebolavirus, is driving the cases. authors: | ||
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Bolsonaro’s easing of gun control fueled illegal hunting, study indicates 12 Aug 2026 10:17:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bolsonaros-easing-of-gun-control-fueled-illegal-hunting-study-indicates/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Adele Santelli content:encoded: “I want everyone armed!” Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s statement during a cabinet meeting in May 2020 signaled the fulfillment of a presidential campaign promise he made in 2018. During that meeting, he demanded that his ministers sign a decree raising the limit on civilian ammunition purchases. Throughout his campaign and his term, Bolsonaro aggressively promoted and implemented a progun agenda with a direct impact on illegal wildlife hunting, data show. “I want everyone armed!” Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s statement during a cabinet meeting in May 2020 signaled the fulfillment of a presidential campaign promise he made in 2018. During that meeting, he demanded that his ministers sign a decree raising the limit on civilian ammunition purchases. Throughout his campaign and his term, Bolsonaro aggressively promoted and implemented a progun agenda with a direct impact on illegal wildlife hunting, data show. According to 2023 data compiled by nonprofit institutes Igarapé and Sou da Paz, the number of guns in private collections held by Brazilian civilians and military personnel nearly doubled to 3 million between 2019 and 2022 — that is, during the Bolsonaro administration. In 2018, that figure stood at just over 1.3 million, with nearly half belonging to the military. Policy enacted under Bolsonaro significantly eased access to firearms, particularly for a group known in Brazil as CACs — an acronym for hunters, sport shooters and collectors. According to the survey, CACs purchased 59,000 weapons in 2018. By 2022, that figure stood at 430,000. Over the same period,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study points to the easing of gun restrictions during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro as a primary driver of illegal wildlife hunting in Brazil. - By mapping social media posts, researchers documented more than 4,000 animals killed from 157 native species across the country, coinciding with a surge in gun purchases by sport hunters. - The primary hotspots are concentrated in the Amazon’s Arc of Deforestation, where forest loss, environmental degradation, gun availability and agricultural expansion compound pressure on wildlife. - Researchers are calling for stricter firearm controls, stronger law enforcement and coordinated conservation policies to curb an environmental impact they describe as silent and widespread. authors: | ||
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Illegal mining threatens Ghana’s first marine protected area 12 Aug 2026 09:41:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/illegal-mining-threatens-ghanas-first-marine-protected-area/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Mabel Adorkor Annang content:encoded: Ghana’s land ministry is failing to act against illegal gold mining in the Greater Cape Three Points Forest Reserve, say conservationists. Their call comes as pollution threatens vulnerable and endangered species in both the protected forest and the adjacent waters of a newly declared marine protected area. Mining activity is causing toxic chemicals, including mercury, arsenic and cyanide, to wash into streams in the reserve and then into the sea via the Nyan River, said Stephen Kankam, deputy director of Hεn Mpoano, a Ghanaian NGO that works with communities, government and businesses to strengthen management of coastal and marine ecosystems. “The destruction is phenomenal,” he told Mongabay in a phone interview. “I mean, you cannot just imagine the kind of destruction that is ongoing. There is clearing of large swaths of the forest areas that have paved the way for digging, for excavation, and all sorts of operations within the forest.” He said the inshore waters have turned brown, as tons of polluted sediment flow into the ocean: “All the ecosystems that we are considering as fish habitats, like the mangrove ecosystems, the bottom or the rocky shores — all those areas where the fish stay within the near-shore environment are affected.” Aerial view of Cape Three Points, Ghana. Image courtesy of Environmental Justice Foundation. The Cape Three Points Marine Protected Area was formally inaugurated in April 2026. Its 700 square kilometers (270 square miles) are intended to be a safe zone which serves as a nursery for small pelagic…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Illegal gold mining in Ghana’s Greater Cape Three Points Forest Reserve threatens vulnerable and endangered species in the protected forest, say conservationists. - Sediment and toxic chemicals from the mining also threaten the adjacent waters of a newly declared marine protected area just offshore. - Conservation NGOs want the government to act against illegal miners, including establishing permanent camps in the forest to protect a wider area. authors: | ||
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Nickel expansion puts Indonesia’s biodiversity goals under pressure, study finds 12 Aug 2026 09:20:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Indonesia’s nickel boom is colliding with its efforts to protect biodiversity and reduce emissions from forests and other land uses. A new study warns that meeting growing global nickel demand could increasingly put some of the world’s most important ecosystems at risk. A study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution focuses on the trade-offs between meeting future nickel demand and protecting areas important for biodiversity and carbon storage. The researchers found that 44% to 49% of projected nickel demand between 2025 and 2050 could be met by mines located in the world’s top 10% of terrestrial areas for biodiversity and carbon conservation. “Nickel is in everything from steel in infrastructure to the pots and pans in our kitchens, and demand is surging for clean energy especially to make batteries for electric vehicles,” said lead author Jayden Hyman of the University of Queensland’s School of the Environment in a press release. “But the decisions being made now about where to source nickel could lock in impacts for decades in some of Earth’s most biodiverse and carbon-rich ecosystems.” The findings pose a particular challenge for Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer and the source of more than half of global supply. The researchers project that Indonesia could account for as much as 74% of global nickel production by 2040 as demand continues to grow. The country is also committed to expanding biodiversity conservation. Indonesia’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (IBSAP) 2025-2045 is aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia holds the world’s largest nickel reserves and has rapidly expanded production, which a new study says has grown roughly tenfold over the past decade. - Nickel mining can fragment wildlife habitat as mines, roads and associated infrastructure expand, threatening biodiversity in areas of global conservation importance. - Researchers say protecting the most important biodiversity and carbon areas could substantially reduce environmental risks, but doing so could also constrain nickel supply. - Even with greater adoption of low- or no-nickel battery chemistries, total nickel demand could continue to grow because the metal is also used extensively in stainless steel, renewable-energy infrastructure and other applications, the study notes. authors: | ||
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Cacao plantations in Liberia encroach into proposed Kwa national park 12 Aug 2026 08:29:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/cacao-plantations-in-liberia-encroach-into-proposed-kwa-national-park/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: A cocoa boom in southeast Liberia is wiping out native forests and encroaching into a proposed national park. The would-be Kwa National Park, a dense tropical rainforest, is home to chimpanzees, forest elephants, pygmy hippos and pangolins. Kwa is partly located in Grand Gedeh county, one of the most densely forested regions in southeast Liberia. Commercial agriculture is banned across the 1,720 square-kilometer (664 square-mile) area set aside for the national park, reports Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo. Yet, during patrols, forest rangers from Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and community eco-guards, such as George Bowey with the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, have discovered illegal cocoa plantations inside the park’s boundaries. Much of the forest around Kwa has already been cleared for cacao by people who live nearby. “At the end of 2023, we started seeing cocoa going closer to the park, but to enter the park it was last year,” Bowey said. Mukpo accompanied Bowey through the dense canopy of Kwa to reach a massive 100-hectare (250-acre) cacao plantation full of leafless, rotting trees and waist-high cacao saplings. On their way back to a ranger camp, Mukpo and Bowey passed other cacao plantations within Kwa, all showing signs of burns on trees. Cacao can be grown in one of two ways: Saplings can be intercropped with other tree species to form a diverse ecosystem; or gasoline can be poured at the base of trees and their roots set on fire, effectively killing trees to make way for cacao. It’s the second method…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A cocoa boom in southeast Liberia is wiping out native forests and encroaching into a proposed national park. The would-be Kwa National Park, a dense tropical rainforest, is home to chimpanzees, forest elephants, pygmy hippos and pangolins. Kwa is partly located in Grand Gedeh county, one of the most densely forested regions in southeast Liberia. […] authors: | ||
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World Elephant Day: How these giants are adapting to a changing world 12 Aug 2026 05:58:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/world-elephant-day-how-these-giants-are-adapting-to-a-changing-world/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: August 12 is World Elephant Day. To celebrate, Mongabay looks back at recent stories about how the future success of these mammals depends on healthy, connected habitats. Asian elephants adjust what they eat A recent study from Malaysia showed that Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are adapting to rapidly changing landscapes by diversifying their diets — a sign of resilience, but also a warning about the pressures reshaping their habitats. In a heavily logged forested landscape, elephants ate a wide variety of available plants. These findings suggest that beyond formal reserve boundaries, when disturbances make it hard for the mammals to find their preferred plants, they can meet their nutritional requirements by including a broader selection of plants, the researchers say. Meanwhile, elephants within a landscape dominated by oil palm plantations mostly ate the cultivated oil palm crops. This could expose them to conflict. “Our findings highlight that elephants are highly adaptable feeders, but this flexibility often brings them into human-dominated landscapes, increasing the risk of conflict,” Mohammad Saiful Mansor, study lead author from the National University of Malaysia, told Mongabay’s David Brown. A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests Throughout most of Central Africa, it’s difficult to spot herds of forest elephants all at once. They move through dense rainforest, remaining elusive, their lives obscured by thick vegetation and distance. For tourists and even researchers, direct encounters are largely a matter of chance. But Dzanga Bai is different, Mongabay’s David Akana reported. Often called the “village of elephants,” this mineral-rich clearing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: August 12 is World Elephant Day. To celebrate, Mongabay looks back at recent stories about how the future success of these mammals depends on healthy, connected habitats. Asian elephants adjust what they eat A recent study from Malaysia showed that Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are adapting to rapidly changing landscapes by diversifying their diets — a […] authors: | ||
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In India, sacred groves serve as vital nurseries for future forests 12 Aug 2026 05:42:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/in-india-sacred-groves-serve-as-vital-nurseries-for-future-forests/ author: Naina Rao dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: In India’s Western Ghats, sacred groves – small, community-protected forest patches dedicated to local deities – are far more effective at regenerating native tree species than surrounding village lands, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough. For the study, a research team from the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) mapped and measured 82 giant, old-growth trees across 20 species in the village of Vanzole in the northern Western Ghats, the mountain chain that runs alongside India’s west coast. The researchers defined giant trees as those that measure more than 1 meter (3.3 feet). The researchers found that sacred groves held nearly twice the giant-tree species of nearby village areas, with 12 of the measured species growing exclusively within the groves. For example, while fruit trees including mango (Mangifera indica) and jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) were dominant in the villages, trees such as baheda (Terminalia bellirica), a medicinal plant, were common in the groves. “Settlements are curated orchards, while sacred groves are ecological time capsules,” study co-author Kevin Matteson, associate director of Project Dragonfly at Miami University, told Mongabay. Giant trees act as “ecological catcher’s mitts,” providing the massive branches and hollows needed by large, fruit-eating birds such as hornbills, Matteson said. As these birds feed, they disperse large seeds across the landscape. Seeds dropped in the less-disturbed ground of the sacred groves are more likely to grow into trees themselves compared to those dropped in village grounds, the study found. For instance, saplings of the strychnine tree (Strychnos nux-vomica), the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In India’s Western Ghats, sacred groves – small, community-protected forest patches dedicated to local deities – are far more effective at regenerating native tree species than surrounding village lands, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough. For the study, a research team from the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) mapped and measured 82 […] authors: | ||
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On ivory, follow the trafficking networks and not the headlines (commentary) 11 Aug 2026 22:47:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-ivory-follow-the-trafficking-networks-and-not-the-headlines-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Mary Rice content:encoded: In early March 2026, acting on intelligence shared by my organization, the Environmental Investigation Agency UK, Zambian authorities seized a consignment of more than 500 kg (over 1,100 pounds) of ivory and arrested a suspect with long-standing links to regional ivory trafficking operations. One of the suspects involved in the case was convicted in 2019 for possession of more than 200 kg (almost 441 lbs) of ivory and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2020. He was released after a matter of months and has continued trading ivory ever since. So, Zambia, which has been exploited by criminal networks operating with relative impunity since at least 2002, is under the spotlight once again. Of particular concern is the involvement of Congolese criminal groups, which continue to operate across Zambia and the wider region, sourcing and moving wildlife products including elephant ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales and big cats along complex transnational routes toward Asia, with Vietnam often serving as a key transit hub to other destinations. Exploiting the lack of political will, weak enforcement, corrupt officials and marginalized communities to facilitate their trade, these networks have been orchestrating poaching expeditions into neighboring countries, using Zambian intermediaries to supply their illicit trade chains. This recent interception in Zambia — alongside two other large-scale seizures made in Tanzania and Botswana in April and May respectively — brings the minimum total of ivory seized globally since 2023 to approximately 29 tons, nearly 64,000 pounds. That’s the equivalent of at least 4,000…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - An emerging narrative is that elephant poaching has declined, yet evidence shows that the illegal trade in ivory persists, and that the involvement of organized crime in it keeps growing. - Despite big and news-making seizures of illegal ivory recently, criminal networks continue operating, and southern Africa appears to be back at the illegal global trade’s center. - “The current narrative that the situation is under control should not be accepted without question,” a new op-ed for World Elephant Day 2026 argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Cambodia’s banned sand trade with Singapore appears to be back 11 Aug 2026 22:18:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Andy Ball content:encoded: Authorities in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province say they’ve approved a sand mining operation exporting to Singapore, despite an export ban imposed by national authorities a decade ago after large-scale dredging was found to be damaging riverine and coastal ecosystems. The dredging is occurring in an area of the Trapeang Rung River that falls within the boundaries of Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary and Botum Sakor National Park. Khlem Yonviseth, director of the Koh Kong provincial mining department, told Mongabay that the 2017 sand export ban had been lifted, and that his office had given a permit to the dredging operation and approved the exports. Yonviseth did not respond to a request to provide documentation of the ban being lifted. Mongabay was unable to locate any official announcement regarding the ban, and the relevant national agencies did not respond to requests for comment. Yonsiveth’s comments come after activist group Mother Nature Cambodia exposed the dredging operation in a video published July 14. In a subsequent video, published Aug. 8, the group tracked multiple cargo ships heading from Koh Kong Krao, Cambodia’s largest island, to Singapore’s Tuas Port. “How many more tons of Cambodian sand will be lost?” asks Lisa Mean, an activist with Mother Nature Cambodia, in the latest video. Analysis by Mongabay confirms that four of the ships identified by the group traveled to the Tuas Port, where a state-backed land reclamation project is currently underway. Mongabay has also found that the company Yonviseth said had been given a dredging license, Catalyst…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Cambodia appears to have resumed exporting sand to Singapore, despite a 2017 national ban, with Koh Kong provincial authorities saying a new dredging operation has been licensed. - Mongabay traced at least four bulk carriers from Koh Kong to Singapore’s Tuas Port, where the site of a massive land reclamation project. - The dredging is taking place within protected area boundaries and could affect riverbanks, fisheries and wildlife, as well as a major downstream mangrove forest. - Environmental activists say they hope to draw attention to the renewed sand trade, but Cambodia’s shrinking civic space and restrictions on civil society groups have made standing up to environmental violations increasingly difficult. authors: | ||
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Forest fires likely to continue to burn twice as much without ‘serious action’ on climate change 11 Aug 2026 21:11:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/forest-fires-likely-to-continue-to-burn-twice-as-much-without-serious-action-on-climate-change/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Elizabeth Goldman is a co-director of Global Nature Watch, previously known as Global Forest Watch, a database measuring forest loss that’s frequently cited in Mongabay reporting. She joins this week’s podcast to detail GNW’s updated 25-year analysis of global forest fire trends. The picture is stark: Forest fires burn twice as much forest today as they did 20 years ago, and historic fire seasons are the “new normal,” she says. “Catastrophic, large-scale fires are becoming more of a normal. The last three years are the worst three years in the record-keeping in our data set,” Goldman says. “Fires now burn twice as much forest as they did earlier in the time series from our data.” 2025, considered a drop from 2024, still saw 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of forest, an area roughly the size of Guatemala, burn. Rhett Butler, founder and CEO of Mongabay, published an analysis of the dip in 2025, cautioning readers against reading too much into what appeared to be a reprieve. He noted that large-scale commodity agriculture and climate change, the causes of this forest loss, remain. Goldman agrees. In the absence of “serious action” internationally to combat it, and commodity-driven agriculture that continues contributing to these fires, Goldman says there are things governments can do to mitigate their risk locally. “There are ways to sustainably manage a forest, like through thinning and prescribed burns, fire breaks, those sorts of things that don’t involve clear-cutting an entire forest, but leave the tree standing, leave the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Elizabeth Goldman is a co-director of Global Nature Watch, previously known as Global Forest Watch, a database measuring forest loss that’s frequently cited in Mongabay reporting. She joins this week’s podcast to detail GNW’s updated 25-year analysis of global forest fire trends. The picture is stark: Forest fires burn twice as much forest today as […] authors: | ||
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Key Amazon cases reach Brazil’s Supreme Court following Lula’s defeats in Congress 11 Aug 2026 21:07:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/key-amazon-cases-reach-brazils-supreme-court-following-lulas-defeats-in-congress/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court is set to decide cases that could reshape protections for the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous communities. These cases involve Indigenous land rights, environmental safeguards, and infrastructure projects. Congress approved measures that environmentalists say violate constitutional rights, but President Lula vetoed some. Lawmakers overrode these objections, sending disputes to the Supreme Court. Environmental advocates see the court as a defense against weakening protections. Despite reducing deforestation, Lula’s administration struggles against a conservative Congress aligned with agribusiness. The Supreme Court’s decisions could significantly impact Brazil’s environmental and Indigenous policies. By Gabriela Sá Pessoa, Associated Press Banner image: A section of the Amazon rainforest stands next to soy fields in Belterra, Para state, Brazil, on Nov. 30, 2019. Image courtesy of Leo Correa, via Associated PressThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court is set to decide cases that could reshape protections for the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous communities. These cases involve Indigenous land rights, environmental safeguards, and infrastructure projects. Congress approved measures that environmentalists say violate constitutional rights, but President Lula vetoed some. Lawmakers overrode these objections, sending disputes to […] authors: | ||
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Meet the Indigenous women restoring Kenya’s Mau Forest — and reshaping gender roles 11 Aug 2026 19:41:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/meet-the-indigenous-women-restoring-kenyas-mau-forest-and-reshaping-gender-roles/ author: Karen Coates dc:creator: Juliet Akoth Ojwang content:encoded: Before dawn breaks over Eor Ewaso, a village in southwestern Kenya, Judy Mukut is already awake. By 6:30 a.m., she has fetched water, milked the family’s cattle, prepared breakfast, cleaned the house and seen her children off to school. Only then does she leave home for a resource center run by the Paran Indigenous women’s organization, where another day’s conservation work begins. For Mukut, conservation of the Mau Forest is squeezed into the few hours left after fulfilling the responsibilities expected of her as a Maasai wife and mother. Yet it is this balancing act that reflects a quieter transformation taking place across one of Kenya’s most important forest ecosystems. As Indigenous women restore degraded sections of the Mau Forest, they are also earning independent incomes, participating in household decisions and reviving traditional ecological knowledge that once sustained their communities for generations before going dormant. Founded in 2005, the Paran Women Group has grown into a network of 64 registered Indigenous women’s groups, mostly drawn from Maasai and Ogiek communities in Narok county, as well as communities in West Pokot and Samburu counties. Through community-managed tree nurseries, kitchen gardens, village savings groups, beekeeping and landscape restoration, the organization has linked environmental conservation with women’s empowerment. To coordinate its expanding network, Paran established seven community resource centers. Rather than functioning as offices, the centers serve as demonstration sites where women raise seedlings, receive technical training and exchange traditional knowledge. “The work has taught us how to organize ourselves,” Mukut said. “Even…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Kenya, a network of Indigenous women’s groups is restoring degraded areas of the Mau Forest while also providing the women with incomes and decision-making power. - The Paran Women Group includes Maasai, Ogiek and other Indigenous community members learning to manage enterprises such as tree nurseries, kitchen gardens, savings groups, beekeeping and landscape restoration. - Research shows that restoration programs designed to transform unequal gender roles give women more prominence in the household and improve conservation outcomes. - Paran members say they previously relied on their husbands for everything, but they now have income of their own as well as a larger say in family decisions. authors: | ||
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Iceland to deport antiwhaling protest ship’s crew after they interfered with whale hunt 11 Aug 2026 18:39:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/iceland-to-deport-antiwhaling-protest-ships-crew-after-they-interfered-with-whale-hunt/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Alex Megerle content:encoded: Authorities in Iceland detained the M/V Bandero, an antiwhaling protest ship, on July 30 and held the boat in port in Reykjavík with its 21-person crew detained on board, according to Manolya Adan, an environmental biologist who was among the crew. She spoke to Mongabay on Aug. 4 from the ship and communicated further via text message over the next few days. The vessel is operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, a “direct action” ocean conservation nonprofit that operates globally (but maintains a P.O. box in New York City). It flies the Panamanian flag. According to the foundation, the M/V Bandero had been at sea for more than a month monitoring whaling activities by Hvalur hf., the country’s last whaling company, which is owned by Kristján Loftsson. The ship had purportedly been required to report its position hourly to the Icelandic Coast Guard, broadcast AIS and were under constant surveillance, monitored by plane and drones. The vessel entered into Iceland’s 12-nautical-mile national waters on July 30 after the crew identified that the Hvalur 9, one of the country’s last whaling ships, was leaving harbor. The Hvalur 9 returned to port without hunting as the M/V Bandero approached. The Coast Guard then deployed a helicopter and pursued the M/V Bandero with patrol vessels, eventually boarding the ship with armed forces. Adan said the vessel was boarded just before midnight on July 30 in Iceland’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), an area that extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the country’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Authorities in Iceland have detained an antiwhaling protest vessel and its crew after it interfered with a hunt by Hvalur hf., the country’s last whaling company. - The M/V Bandero, operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, and its 21 crew members were being held in Reykjavík; authorities have ordered the crew’s deportation, with five Americans deported on August 6. - Iceland is one of the few countries in the world that still commercially hunts whales, with a quota this year of 150 fin whales; in 2023, Hvalur hf. killed 24 fin whales, and the year before, 148. As of Aug 7, at least 35 fin whales have been killed, according to the foundation. - The fin whale is one of the world’s largest animals and is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with about 100,000 mature individuals remaining worldwide. authors: | ||
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As Singapore culls ‘nuisance’ birds, rapid urbanization continues to fuel an avian boom 11 Aug 2026 16:39:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-singapore-culls-nuisance-birds-rapid-urbanization-continues-to-fuel-an-avian-boom/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Robin Hicks content:encoded: SINGAPORE — On a Friday afternoon in July, a pest control officer patrols the grounds of Sungei Tengah Lodge, Singapore’s largest dormitory for migrant construction workers, picking up birds in various stages of distress. Some are twitching, others are wobbling, as if drunk. The officer tosses the birds, which he had poisoned with baited scraps a few hours earlier, into a garbage bag. Most of them are still alive. The bagged birds will later be gassed using carbon dioxide, a culling method for “pest” birds the authorities say is “humane” — a claim contested by animal welfare groups. Though culling may immediately trim the local population, ecologists question the long-term effectiveness of efforts to reduce urban birds, arguing that Singapore’s rapid urbanization creates favorable conditions for them to thrive, as forests are lost to high-rise buildings. Birds considered pests in the tropical metropolis are the common pigeon (Columba livia), Javan myna (Acridotheres javanicus) and house crows (Corvus splendens), which are not protected under the Wildlife Act and routinely culled in response to complaints from the public. Known as “nuisance” birds, they’re framed as invasive species that are noisy and a threat to public health and local biodiversity by competing with and, in the case of crows, preying on native birds. Crows, in particular, have found themselves in the crosshairs of late. The government resumed a program to shoot crows in March after a six-year hiatus, as complaints about attacks on people have surged. A crow poisoned by a pest control…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A campaign to shoot crows has resumed in Singapore in response to a surge in public complaints about attacks, with authorities saying “pest” birds pose a public health risk and outcompete native species. - Ecologists argue Singapore’s crow problem is human-made, with poor waste management and illegal feeding fueling a population boom. - They criticize culling as ineffective over the long term and say it risks normalizing lethal wildlife control while undermining Singapore’s “City in Nature” vision. - Nature groups say ongoing and planned forest clearance for public housing could lead to further increases in urban bird populations, as more favorable habitats are created, leading to “endless culling” to control bird populations. authors: | ||
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Forest Restoration Solutions 11 Aug 2026 14:51:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/forest-restoration-solutions/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: content:encoded: Tree growing has become one of the most widely promoted responses to climate change and ecosystem degradation, with governments, companies and nonprofits pledging to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of forests worldwide. But restoring ecosystems is far more complex than putting seedlings in the ground. This Special examines what it takes to rebuild forest ecosystems in ways that benefit climate, wildlife and people. Join Mongabay journalists as they dig into the science, practices, policies and institutions shaping global restoration efforts to unearth how tree-planting pledges are measured, how restoration projects affect biodiversity and livelihoods, and why some initiatives succeed while others fall short.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Tree growing has become one of the most widely promoted responses to climate change and ecosystem degradation, with governments, companies and nonprofits pledging to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of forests worldwide. But restoring ecosystems is far more complex than putting seedlings in the ground. This Special examines what it takes to rebuild forest […] authors: | ||
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Brazil’s wildcats face multiple diseases due to habitat fragmentation 11 Aug 2026 14:00:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-wild-cats-face-multiple-diseases-due-to-habitat-fragmentation/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Lucas Berti content:encoded: Every day, millions of Brazilians recall how rich the country’s feline biodiversity is when they reach into their wallets: Since entering circulation in 2010, the ‘50 real’ notes have carried a printed drawing of a jaguar (Panthera onca), the largest feline in the Americas. In Brazil, one can even trace the animal that inspired the design of the popular banknotes: It is the jaguar called “Gabi,” a 2002-born female that lived in the old Rio de Janeiro Zoo (today Rio’s BioParque). The “model” Gabi died in 2022, but she remains alive in the imagination of Brazilian consumers in every day-to-day cash transaction. Despite the tribute, alongside species such as the puma (Puma concolor), the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), and the jaguarundí (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) or gato-mourisco, as it is known in Brazil, the jaguar faces a common crisis among Brazilian species: Its existence is threatened by problems ranging from illegal wildlife trafficking to the accelerated degradation of its habitats across different biomes. Also, there is a silent emergency that places these wild felines in a threatening environmental context: Diseases that affect domestic animals. “There is a risk for all feline species. Especially for our native species and for those that are endangered,” said Flavia Tirelli, a doctor in zoology and coordinator of the Geoffroy’s Cat Working Group, an international network fighting for the conservation of Leopardus geoffroyi and other wild felines. According to the specialist, who also acts as a researcher at the Laboratory of Evolution, Systematics, and Ecology of Birds and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Throughout Brazil, the contact between domestic cats and wild felines has been exposing threatened, biologically vulnerable feral species to diseases, which can reduce their populations. - According to experts, habitat fragmentation is a common denominator of this crisis, from the Amazon to the Pampa, where felines are forced to leave the boundaries of their native areas and approach sites modified by human action. - From the imposing jaguar to one of the smallest and rarest, the pampas cat, no Brazilian feline escapes the risks of contracting fungi, bacteria, parasites, and known viral diseases, such as feline leukemia and others. - Studies and veterinarians warn that mass vaccination of domestic animals and the preservation of natural areas are key pieces to address this problem. authors: | ||
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What conservation looks like from the outside: A conversation with Adam Falk after his first year as CEO of WCS 11 Aug 2026 13:22:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/what-conservation-looks-like-from-the-outside/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Soon after becoming president and chief executive of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Adam Falk visited the giraffe keeper at the Bronx Zoo. What struck Falk was the source of the keeper’s commitment. If a giraffe needed help in the middle of the night, he said, the keeper would come in because of his bond with the animal. Falk recognized something familiar. Before joining WCS, he had been a theoretical physicist, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, president of Williams College, and president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Academics often pursue highly specialized work that matters deeply to them. A university leader has to support those individual efforts while helping the institution work toward shared goals. Falk found much the same challenge at WCS: leading people whose motivation is rooted in the work itself. Adam Falk with Joe Nappi, a Senior Keeper in the Mammal Department, and a Giraffe at the Bronx Zoo. Photo courtesy of WCS. He took over WCS in July 2025 without professional experience in zoology or conservation. That was unusual for the head of an institution founded in 1895, which now operates four zoos and an aquarium in New York alongside conservation programs in more than 50 countries. His first year gave him an outsider’s view of a field with its own history and assumptions. One of his early observations was that conservation work involves people as much as animals. Public campaigns often focus on wildlife, especially large and familiar species. Field programs depend on relationships…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In July 2026, WCS president and CEO Adam Falk spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler about his first year leading the organization. - Falk said conservation depends as much on relationships with Indigenous peoples, local communities, governments, and funders as it does on protecting wildlife. - He supports “30 by 30,” but argues that where areas are protected, how they are managed, and their ecological integrity matter as much as acreage. - Falk also discussed the collapse in U.S. government funding for WCS, the need for long-term philanthropy, and closer cooperation among conservation organizations. authors: | ||
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New ropeways aim to save wildlife in Bangladesh’s fragmented habitats 11 Aug 2026 12:27:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-ropeways-aim-to-save-wildlife-in-bangladeshs-fragmented-habitats/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Sadiqur Rahman content:encoded: As Bangladesh is rapidly being urbanized, more and more forests are getting fragmented, resulting in the construction of more roads, which means more wildlife are being killed in collisions with vehicles. To address these wildlife deaths, the Forest Department’s Tangail Divisional Office has recently facilitated a low-cost solution. At a total cost of 625,000 takas (around $5,000), ropeway bridges have been installed in northern Bangladesh at five locations along an 8-kilometer (5-mile) stretch of the Mymensingh-Tangail Highway N401, which slices through the reserved forest of Madhupur National Park, where heavy-duty vehicles regularly collide with wildlife, especially primates. “These ropeways are expected to protect rhesus macaques, capped langurs, Indian civets and small carnivores like fishing cats from roadkill,” Tangail divisional forest officer Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain told Mongabay. According to a 2018 study, the 8,436-hectare (20,845-acre) Madhupur National Park, the largest deciduous forest of Bangladesh, supports 151 wildlife species belonging to 23 orders and 62 families. According to available data that the Forest Department has from local sources, rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are most frequently killed in road accidents during the day. However, none of the roadkill in Madhupur can be documented, because the forest dependent Indigenous community here consumes the carcasses soon after an accident, said Md. Mossarrof Hosain, a deputy ranger at the Madhupur National Park. Naser said that the nylon-rope bridges are expected to provide safe aerial corridors for arboreal animals, both nocturnal and diurnal. Each is 30 meters (100 feet) long and almost 1-meter (3-feet) wide and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Forest Department of Bangladesh has recently installed five ropeway bridges at a fragmented national park, with plans to replicate the idea in other vulnerable reserved forests. - Pioneering conservationists have seen both successes and failures in previous ropeway-based projects. - Researchers appreciate the Forest Department’s move but recommend well-assessed site selection, incorporation of modern equipment for sharper surveillance and community engagement. authors: | ||
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What makes chimpanzee conservation last? Lessons from Sierra Leone 11 Aug 2026 10:03:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/what-makes-chimpanzee-conservation-last-lessons-from-sierra-leone/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than three decades, Willie Tucker has helped care for Sierra Leone’s western chimpanzees and watched the pressures on them change, reports contributor Patricia Sia Ngevao for Mongabay. Tucker, widely known as “Pa Willie,” helped establish Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in 1995. Since then, the sanctuary has rescued and cared for hundreds of chimpanzees, many confiscated from the illegal pet trade. It now houses more than 120 critically endangered western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), indicating that trafficking remains a serious problem. Tacugama’s work also shows why wildlife protection cannot be separated from local livelihoods. The sanctuary supports nearby communities through livestock, seed, and other livelihood programs intended to reduce dependence on hunting and forest resources. Families with more dependable sources of food and income may have less need to exploit wildlife habitat. Such programs can also give communities a direct stake in conservation and make restrictions on forest use more workable. Public recognition has helped as well. In 2019, Sierra Leone designated the western chimpanzee as its national animal. Tucker says the decision increased awareness of the species and encouraged greater respect for it. National symbols do not protect habitat by themselves, but they can support education, enforcement, and political attention. Tacugama’s experience offers several practical lessons for conservation organizations. Rescue centers can do more than rehabilitate individual animals. They can train local staff, document wildlife crime, assist law enforcement, educate visitors, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than three decades, Willie Tucker has helped care for Sierra Leone’s western chimpanzees and watched the pressures on them change, reports contributor Patricia Sia Ngevao for Mongabay. Tucker, widely known as “Pa Willie,” helped establish Tacugama […] authors: | ||
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Wildfire ravages Indonesia’s Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park 11 Aug 2026 07:31:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/wildfire-ravages-indonesias-bromo-tengger-semeru-national-park/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: A massive wildfire within a national park in Indonesia has forced a total closure of one of the country’s best-known tourist destinations. Some 899 hectares (2,222 acres) of savanna and forest within Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) in East Java province have been destroyed by fire as of the morning of Aug. 11, the provincial disaster management agency told Mongabay. The fire, which broke out on Aug. 3 in the park’s eastern entrance, is suspected to be human-caused, TNBTS chief Rudijanta Tjahja Nugraha told local media. TNBTS spokesperson Endrip Wahyutama confirmed the blaze originated along a path used as a shortcut by local residents that bypasses the park’s official tourist roads. “The source is … not a tourist location, and not a public road either,” Endrip said as quoted by Detik.com. The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Agency, which manages the protected area, has ordered it closed until further notice. Daryono Perwira Sakti, a disaster mitigation educator who previously oversaw the earthquake and tsunami directorate at the BMKG, Indonesia’s weather agency, posted on social media that it’s crucial the park be closed because vegetation on loose volcanic soil there is highly vulnerable to severe fires, which could trigger more disaster. “The extreme heat from this fire not only destroys vegetation cover and natural seed reserves (seed bank), but also triggers the formation of a water-repellent soil layer,” Daryono wrote. He said this water-repellent soil layer eliminates water absorption into the soil, elevating risks of massive gully erosion and landslides…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A massive wildfire within a national park in Indonesia has forced a total closure of one of the country’s best-known tourist destinations. Some 899 hectares (2,222 acres) of savanna and forest within Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) in East Java province have been destroyed by fire as of the morning of Aug. 11, the […] authors: | ||
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Uzbekistan’s houbara releases serve hunting, not conservation, expert says 11 Aug 2026 05:31:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/uzbekistans-houbara-releases-serve-hunting-not-conservation-expert-says/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: There’s no conservation motive or benefit behind the Uzbekistan government’s recent releases of more than 2,000 captive-bred Asian houbara bustards across its desert regions, according to an expert on the threatened species. The government has touted the releases over the past three months as a wildlife restoration effort, but Nigel Collar, a conservation biologist at BirdLife International, suggested the birds are meant to serve as quarry for hunting parties. “In reality both areas [where they were released] are hunting concessions for Gulf State falconers and these are birds being put out in the wild simply to provide ‘sport,’” Collar, who also co-chairs the Bustard Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay by email. “[T]here is no conservation strategy related to these releases, because they are not intended for conservation except in the sense that they can absorb some of the hunting pressure on wild populations,” he added. Neither Falcon Hunting Solutions LLC nor Uzbekistan’s National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, both involved in the releases, had responded to Mongabay’s requests for comment by the time this story was published. The Asian houbara (Chlamydotis macqueenii) is listed as vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN’s Red List. It migrates between Central and South Asia and the Middle East, and is hunted intensively across this range. Uzbekistan released nearly 900 of the birds in the Aral Sea region of Karakalpakstan in May this year, followed by some 670 birds in June, according to statements from the National…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: There’s no conservation motive or benefit behind the Uzbekistan government’s recent releases of more than 2,000 captive-bred Asian houbara bustards across its desert regions, according to an expert on the threatened species. The government has touted the releases over the past three months as a wildlife restoration effort, but Nigel Collar, a conservation biologist at […] authors: | ||
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Gabon ends fisheries partnership agreement with EU 10 Aug 2026 11:09:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/gabon-ends-fisheries-partnership-agreement-with-eu/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Victoria Schneider content:encoded: Gabon has ended its 19-year fisheries partnership with the European Union, which allowed EU industrial vessels to target tuna in Gabonese waters in exchange for payment, arguing the agreement no longer serves the country’s economic interests. The decision follows a June 2025 Council of Ministers meeting at which the government announced it would seek to renegotiate the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA), before formally ending it on June 29, 2026. In a statement last year, the Gabonese government said the massive exploitation of fishery resources wasn’t commensurate with the returns Gabon should receive in exchange. In a speech in January, government spokesperson Charles Edgard Mombo, said the move to cancel the agreement “reflects Gabon’s firm commitment to strengthening its sovereignty over its fishery resources and promoting a renewed, balanced, sustainable, and mutually beneficial cooperation framework.” The SPFA between the EU and Gabon was established in 2007 and implemented through three protocols lasting between three and six years. The latest protocol covering 2021–2026 allowed up to 27 EU purse seiners, commercial fishing boats that use large, vertical nets; six pole-and-line tuna vessels and four exploratory crustacean trawlers to fish in Gabonese waters. An independent evaluation commissioned by the European Commission found the EU paid Gabon an average of €2.6 million ($3 million) annually between 2021 and 2024 in exchange for access to 32,000 tons of tuna. However, it also found that Gabon captured just 23% of the total economic value generated; nearly half accrued to other countries because EU vessels made…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Gabon has ended its 19-year fisheries partnership with the European Union, which allowed EU industrial vessels to target tuna in Gabonese waters in exchange for payment, arguing the agreement no longer serves the country’s economic interests. The decision follows a June 2025 Council of Ministers meeting at which the government announced it would seek to […] authors: | ||
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Can a photo save orangutans? 10 Aug 2026 11:02:16 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/can-a-photo-save-orangutans-2/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Juan Maza content:encoded: In Indonesian Borneo, conservation organization KehatiKu is testing a new approach: paying local people to photograph wildlife and upload the sightings through an app. In just one year, the project has collected around 175,000 records. Participants can earn about $6 for a photo of an orangutan, while smaller payments are offered for more common species. Thanks to the initiative, local communities are already working to prevent illegal hunting in their areas. Why this new approach? In the last 20 years, more than $1 billion has been spent on orangutan conservation, yet around 100,000 orangutans have been lost. However, according to KehatiKu this new conservation approach is showing concrete successes at a small fraction of the cost of traditional conservation efforts. Some experts advise caution. Paul Ferraro, professor of human behavior and public policy at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., argues it requires a constant flow of funding, which could create problems in the future. It may be effective for initial engagement, he says, but could prove difficult to sustain in the long term.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In Indonesian Borneo, conservation organization KehatiKu is testing a new approach: paying local people to photograph wildlife and upload the sightings through an app. In just one year, the project has collected around 175,000 records. Participants can earn about $6 for a photo of an orangutan, while smaller payments are offered for more common species. […] authors: | ||
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Kazakhstan releases first tiger into the wild in 70 years 10 Aug 2026 10:54:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kazakhstan-releases-first-tiger-into-the-wild-in-70-years/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Yenni Kwok content:encoded: Kazakhstan has released its first tiger into the wild more than seven decades since the last confirmed sighting of the big cat in the country. On July 31, 2026, an adult female Amur tiger called Umit, which means “hope” in Kazakh, leapt from her cage on the back of a pickup truck, as she was released into the wilderness of the 450,000-hectare (1.1 million-acre) Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve in southeastern Kazakhstan. According to a statement issued by the Kazakhstan government on Aug. 3, Umit is fitted with a satellite tracking collar to monitor her movements and behavior in real time. “Today we are truly witnessing a historic event,” said Kazakh Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Yerlan Nyssanbayev in the statement. “For the first time in over 70 years since tigers were wiped out in Kazakhstan, a tiger has been reintroduced to its historic range.” The area of the Ile-Balkhash Reserve where Umit was released was once inhabited by the extinct Caspian (Turian) tiger. Its last confirmed sighting in Kazakhstan was recorded in 1948. Umit is an Amur tiger, a population of the mainland Asian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) native to the Russian Far East and northeastern China. The Amur and Caspian tigers were once recognized as two distinct tiger subspecies, but the IUCN recognized both as Panthera tigris tigris in 2017. Preparations for returning tigers to Kazakhstan have taken more than a decade, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources said. The reserve was established in 2018 to create the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Kazakhstan has released its first tiger into the wild more than seven decades since the last confirmed sighting of the big cat in the country. On July 31, 2026, an adult female Amur tiger called Umit, which means “hope” in Kazakh, leapt from her cage on the back of a pickup truck, as she was […] authors: | ||
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In Amazon rivers, fish breathe and ingest plastics 10 Aug 2026 10:36:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-amazon-rivers-fish-breathe-and-ingest-plastics/ author: Xavier Bartaburu dc:creator: Tiago da Mota e Silva content:encoded: This is the second story in a special three-part series on microplastics in the Amazon. Read the first part here. MANAUS, Brazil — In Amazonian waters, the pirarucu lives between two worlds. In the oxygen-depleted waters typical of floodplain lakes, this giant fish rises to the surface to breathe air. Over an evolutionary history spanning at least 100 million years, it developed a modified swim bladder that functions as a primitive lung. This rare adaptation has allowed it to thrive in environments that are too harsh for other fish species. Today, however, the very adaptation that ensures its survival makes it vulnerable to a new threat: Microplastic pollution. “Amazonian environment is already highly challenging,” said Adalberto Val, a biologist and head of the National Institute of Science and Technology for Adaptations of Aquatic Biota of the Amazon (INCT-Adapta). “Here we have high temperatures, low oxygen levels in the water … Organisms already respond to these challenges as they learned during the evolutionary process. Then we start adding new challenges, like plastic.” When breathing becomes a risk Pirarucus (Arapaima gigas) cannot survive for more than 10 minutes without surfacing for air. They rely on an air-breathing organ connected to their modified swim bladder, a necessity that puts them in direct contact with microplastics floating at the surface. Drawing on established knowledge about the species, Val and researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada published an article outlining the dangers of this exposure. When microplastics enter the pirarucu’s air-breathing organ,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Following proof of the presence of microplastics in Amazonian rivers, streams and lakes, researchers are investigating how these particles affect fish health and physiology. - A study highlights the risks associated with microplastics in the air-breathing organs of the pirarucu, a giant fish that must rise to the surface to breathe. - Studies conducted with Amazonian fish show microplastics in their gills and digestive tracts, and experiments with the tamoatá point to increased stress and weight loss. - Scientists warn of risks to human health in a region where fish is a dietary staple; in Brazil’s Amazonas state, average annual consumption is 14 kilos per person, five times the national average. authors: | ||
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Wildlife in the eastern US are making a comeback 10 Aug 2026 08:03:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/wildlife-in-the-eastern-u-s-are-making-a-comeback/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The best-known wildlife recoveries in the U.S. are often associated with the West. Yet some important gains have occurred east of the Mississippi, among cities, roads, farms, and landscapes altered over several centuries. Andrew Moore’s new book, Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America’s Eastern Wilderness, examines the decline and partial return of animals that once occupied the region in abundance. Before European settlement and large-scale land conversion, eastern habitats supported bison, elk, moose, woodland caribou, cranes, black bears, passenger pigeons, and Carolina parakeets. Many disappeared as forests were cleared, wetlands drained, and wildlife hunted. Some losses were permanent. Other species have returned through reintroductions, habitat restoration, hunting restrictions, and long-term management, reports Mongabay’s Erik Hoffner. The state of Kentucky now has roughly 10,000 elk (Cervus canadensis) across a 16-county restoration zone, the largest herd east of the Mississippi. At Nachusa Grasslands in the state of Illinois, conservationists have restored tallgrass prairie on former farmland and reintroduced bison (Bison bison). Forest regrowth across parts of New England has helped moose, bears, fishers, and otters expand their ranges. These recoveries have also brought some problems. An animal may find enough food and cover while still struggling to coexist with people. Elk damage crops, browse vegetation, and get hit by vehicles. Pumas (Puma concolor) could survive in much of the East, where forests and deer are plentiful, although proposals to restore them…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The best-known wildlife recoveries in the U.S. are often associated with the West. Yet some important gains have occurred east of the Mississippi, among cities, roads, farms, and landscapes altered over several centuries. Andrew Moore’s new book, Beasts […] authors: | ||
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Climate change doubled likelihood of Canada’s extreme fire weather, study finds 10 Aug 2026 04:44:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/climate-change-doubled-likelihood-of-canadas-extreme-fire-weather-study-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Human-induced climate change has more than doubled the likelihood of the extreme weather conditions that fueled Canada’s destructive 2026 wildfire season, finds a rapid analysis. As of early August, thousands of wildfires torched more than 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) across the country — an area already significantly in excess of Canada’s 30-year annual average of 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres). The 2026 wildfire season has escalated with astonishing speed, with approximately 94% of the total burned area accumulating in a brief five-week window between late June and late July. In its analysis of Canada’s wildfires, the team at World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of scientists who examine the influence of climate change on extreme weather events, focused on a metric called daily severity rating (DSR). It integrates temperature, wind, humidity and dryness to measure how difficult a fire is to suppress once ignited. By combining observational data with climate models, the researchers found that the kind of fires that burned in July 2026 can now be expected in today’s climate influenced by greenhouse gas emissions every two to six years in the Northwest Territories and every six to 15 years in Ontario. In a pre-industrial, cooler climate, such fires would occur every 50 years or so. “Our research is yet another piece of evidence for this shift being due to climate change,” Theodore Keeping, research associate in extreme weather and climate change at Imperial College London, said in a press release. “The geographic spread…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Human-induced climate change has more than doubled the likelihood of the extreme weather conditions that fueled Canada’s destructive 2026 wildfire season, finds a rapid analysis. As of early August, thousands of wildfires torched more than 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) across the country — an area already significantly in excess of Canada’s 30-year annual […] authors: | ||
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World Lion Day: The communities living with lions 10 Aug 2026 04:25:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/world-lion-day-the-communities-living-with-lions/ author: Meganstrauss dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: Numbering fewer than 25,000, lions remain vulnerable to extinction. These big cats have suffered catastrophic declines and today occupy roughly 6% of their historical range. Living with lions (Panthera leo) is not easy. Outside of protected areas, lions kill livestock and, infrequently, people. In response, the cats are poisoned, shot and speared. But across Africa, where the majority of lions live, communities are trialing traditional and new ways to ensure people and lions can coexist. To mark World Lion Day on Aug. 10, 2026, here is a look at some of Mongabay’s recent coverage of those projects. Protecting livestock saves lions In a conflict hotspot in northern Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean lion conservationist Moreangels Mbizah and her colleagues train Batabilili (“protectors” in Tonga, the local language). These community guardians track lions and promote the use of secure enclosures for livestock, as well as lion deterrents, reports Mongabay contributor Ryan Truscott. While not a panacea, the guardians program has significantly helped reduce conflict between lions and people, and vice versa. In 2026, Mbizah won a prestigious Whitley Award for her work. The £50,000 ($67,500) prize money will help Mbizah’s NGO, Wildlife Conservation Action, recruit more “Batabilili.” More evidence of success? In northern Botswana’s Okavango Delta region, a conservation nonprofit, CLAWS Conservancy, has helped set up a real-time alert system to warn locals of approaching lions so they can take measures to protect themselves and their livestock. Lions are fitted with GPS collars and tracked. “If the lion gets within a 5-kilometer [3-mile] radius…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Numbering fewer than 25,000, lions remain vulnerable to extinction. These big cats have suffered catastrophic declines and today occupy roughly 6% of their historical range. Living with lions (Panthera leo) is not easy. Outside of protected areas, lions kill livestock and, infrequently, people. In response, the cats are poisoned, shot and speared. But across Africa, […] authors: | ||
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Mariano Cenamo, advocate for a sustainable Amazon bioeconomy, has died, aged 46 10 Aug 2026 00:02:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mariano-cenamo-advocate-for-a-sustainable-amazon-bioeconomy-has-died-aged-46/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: For people trying to protect the Amazon, one problem has persisted for decades. A hectare of intact forest stores carbon, regulates water, supports wildlife, and provides food and materials for the people who live there. Much of that value does not appear in an economic ledger. Cattle, timber, soy, and gold do. For a farmer, a company, or a local government, clearing forest can therefore produce income more readily than keeping it standing. The Amazon bioeconomy grew from efforts to change that calculation. It includes forest products, agroforestry, biotechnology, carbon markets, and other businesses that depend on maintaining living forests. The aim is to make such activities commercially viable at a scale that matters. Mariano Cenamo spent most of his career working on that problem. He was 23 when he moved from São Paulo to Manaus in 2003. Trained as a forestry engineer at the University of São Paulo, he had first come to the Amazon for an internship. He stayed at the encouragement of Virgílio Viana, a former professor who was then Amazonas state’s environment secretary. Cenamo was struck by the gap between conservation work and the economic realities of people living in the forest. Environmental groups were doing important work, he later recalled, but local livelihoods often sat outside the conservation discussion. In 2004 he helped establish what became Idesam, the Institute for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon. At first there was barely an institution. Cenamo later described himself as an “ING”, an indivíduo não…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mariano Cenamo spent more than two decades trying to make standing forests economically competitive with cattle ranching and other activities driving Amazon deforestation, helping establish Idesam and later backing a new generation of sustainable businesses. - His work evolved from early efforts on forest carbon and REDD+ to agroforestry, bioeconomy ventures, investment, and entrepreneurship, always centered on creating practical sources of income for people living in the Amazon. - Drawing on Cenamo’s own writings and interviews, as well as Vanessa Adachi’s posthumous portrait in Reset, this obituary explores the ideas, motivations, and personal style behind one of the Amazon’s most influential environmental entrepreneurs. - Cenamo died on July 10 after several years with cancer. He was 46. authors: | ||
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‘This is what’s working’: Indigenous leaders on environment solutions in their communities 09 Aug 2026 04:00:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/this-is-whats-working-indigenous-leaders-on-environment-solutions-in-their-communities/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Latoya Abulu content:encoded: Eriberto throws his head back with a laugh and shakes it as he tills his plot of land in the Peruvian Amazon, near the Cordillera Azul National Park in central Peru. “That does not work here,” he says with a chuckle, responding to a question about why he doesn’t call his diverse forest garden “agroforestry”. In the past, government officials promoted planting coffee or cacao in agroforestry systems near his community. But Eriberto Guerra and other Indigenous farmers in the town of Lamas say it hasn’t been effective enough and some have rejected the sustainable farming label. “They promoted growing just one or two other food crops with some trees,” Guerra tells Mongabay. “But you need to plant dozens of species along with traditional plants. When one crop fails or doesn’t perform well in the local market, you need to have others to make up for it. And those others need to be the right crops, planted the right way, near the right plants.” His forest garden attracts endemic bird species and wildlife researchers, and has sustained his family for a decade, he says. “This is what is working,” Eriberto says. To mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and better understand the subtleties in biodiversity conservation and climate solutions implemented by people living at the frontlines, Mongabay interviewed nine Indigenous representatives from around the world. Dami Tateburuk, Frengky Sabbattilat, Ismael Saumanuk and Vincent Tateburuk (left to right), part of Malinggai Uma Tradisional Mentawai, a grassroots, Indigenous-led organization…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - To mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on Aug. 9, Mongabay has interviewed nine Indigenous representatives from around the world about the subtleties in biodiversity conservation and climate solutions implemented by people at a local level. - Solutions discussed ranged from strategies for reforestation and halting deforestation by extractives to conserving endemic plant species and strengthening Indigenous governance and traditional knowledge. - But conversations also included solutions that are not currently working and why, and the nuances of implementation in particular Indigenous communities. - Little input from Indigenous communities or a lack of understanding of local realities and cultural nuances are common reasons why such solutions fail, interviewees said. authors: | ||
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Amazon deforestation alerts fall to lowest level since 2013, Brazilian data show 09 Aug 2026 00:08:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/amazon-deforestation-alerts-fall-to-lowest-level-since-2013-brazilian-data-show/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years, according to new satellite data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), continuing a decline that began after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returned to office in 2023. INPE’s DETER alert system detected 2,874 square kilometers (1,110 square miles) of deforestation in the Amazon between August 1, 2025, and July 31, 2026. That was 36% below the previous 12-month period and 55.6% below the average of the preceding decade. The total is the lowest since INPE introduced the current DETER system in 2015. Including data from its predecessor system, the last time alerts were lower was the 2012/13 deforestation year, when 2,766 sq km were recorded. Accumulated deforestation for Aug 1-Jul 31 in recent years according to INPE’s DETER alert system. Image by Mongabay DETER is designed as a rapid-response system for enforcement agencies. It uses satellite imagery to identify new forest clearing quickly enough for authorities to investigate and intervene. It differs from PRODES, INPE’s higher-resolution annual monitoring system, which provides Brazil’s official deforestation rate. Preliminary PRODES figures for the year ending July 31 are expected in October or November. PRODES data for the year ending July 2025 had already put Amazon forest loss at its lowest level in 11 years. The latest DETER figures indicate that clearing fell further during the following year. If PRODES shows a decline similar to that recorded by DETER, Brazil could register its lowest official Amazon deforestation…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - INPE’s DETER system recorded 2,874 sq km of Amazon deforestation alerts from August 2025 through July 2026, down 36% from the previous year and 55.6% below the preceding 10-year average. - The total is the lowest since 2013 when earlier DETER data are included. If the trend is confirmed by the higher-resolution PRODES system, Brazil could record its lowest official Amazon deforestation rate since monitoring began in 1988. - The decline has coincided with stronger environmental enforcement under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Alerts also fell in the Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, and Pampa, with the Cerrado reaching a five-year low. - Despite the decline in clear-cutting, the Amazon remains vulnerable to logging, drought, forest degradation, and fire, which can cause substantial ecological damage without immediately appearing in deforestation statistics. authors: | ||
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How Sri Lanka’s heirloom rice can preserve Indigenous farming and help manage disease 08 Aug 2026 09:47:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-sri-lankas-heirloom-rice-can-preserve-indigenous-farming-and-help-manage-disease/ author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti dc:creator: Kamanthi Wickramasinghe content:encoded: WASGAMUWA, Sri Lanka – Prior to the 1940s and the Green Revolution, Sri Lankan paddy farmers cultivated traditional rice, locally known as purana haal. These rice cultivars were resilient and known to possess various nutritional and medicinal properties yet were soon replaced by new improved rice varieties to obtain better quality and bigger yields. Karu Herath, an heirloom paddy farmer in the village of Dunuwila, bordering the Wasgamuwa National Park located within the Matale and Polonnaruwa districts, has cultivated heirloom paddy varieties for the past 27 years. He told Mongabay that fewer than 30 varieties remain out of the estimated 2,500 varieties of heirloom rice that once existed, a claim supported by rice researchers. According to researchers, many of these rice varieties are long-aged, tall and low-yielding. Therefore, traditional farmers would only cultivate them during one harvesting cycle, known as the Maha season, which runs from September through March. With the introduction of new, improved rice varieties and fertilizers after the 1940s, Sri Lanka lost much of its Indigenous rice varieties and traditional knowledge of Indigenous farming practices. Image courtesy of Pethum Bandara. Herath follows this practice and cultivates only during the monsoon season. “During the Yala season [May to August], when it’s dry, we let the soil recover and grow heirloom cereals and vegetables such as kurakkan [finger millet] and mung [mung bean],” he said. “This draws different nutrients and requires less water than rice. This was the traditional land use system, which was changed by British colonialists who…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Heirloom rice varieties have been cultivated in Sri Lanka for centuries and flourished before the country’s “Green Revolution” that modernized agriculture in the mid-20th century. - Around 2,500 of these heirloom rice varieties are currently preserved at Sri Lanka’s Plant Genetic Resources Centre. - Traditional rice varieties possess various nutritional and medicinal properties which are useful in the management of non-communicable diseases, researchers say. - Scientific recommendations have been developed to help farmers minimize climate-related risks during the upcoming cultivation season. authors: | ||
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From small cats to pangolins: Detection dogs help track elusive species 08 Aug 2026 08:30:57 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/from-small-cats-to-pangolins-detection-dogs-help-track-elusive-species/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: María de los Ángeles Orfila content:encoded: In the grassy dwarf shrublands of South Africa’s Karoo, Michelle Marie Schroeder is looking for a very specific kind of poo. Black-footed cats spend most of the day hidden in burrows and emerge mainly under the cover of darkness, making them notoriously difficult to study. That’s why the conservation biologist relies unconventional assistants: Lyka and Sebala, two German Shorthaired Pointers trained to detect the cats’ scat by scent. When the dogs find a sample, they lie down and remain still to alert Schroeder, who works with the non-profit Canines for African Nature. Working on her own, Schroeder found just four scats in more than a year. Ten-year-old Lyka, by contrast, has located hundreds of samples in just a few months, providing the basis for non-invasive genetic monitoring of Felis nigripes. “I probably wouldn’t have found more than 90% of the scats without help,” she tells Mongabay. “And it’s also very difficult to distinguish them from those of other small carnivores. The dogs are much more accurate.” Lyka has located hundreds of black-footed cat scat samples, making non-invasive monitoring of the elusive species possible. Image courtesy of Veer Bills. On the trail of the black-footed cat Hal Brindley, a researcher at the Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa at the University of Cape Town, also studies these small, cryptic predators. “Studying the black-footed cat is incredibly difficult without resorting to invasive methods like trapping and collaring,” he says. “More common non-invasive approaches, such as camera trapping, are often ineffective. Fecal…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Dogs trained to detect scat are helping conservationists detect and research hard-to-study species in South Africa’s Karoo region. - From the black-footed cat and Temminck’s pangolin to riverine rabbits, the scat samples contain ‘nuggets of genetic data’, according to scientists. - The research and fieldwork has also helped uncover evidence of wildlife crimes and identify habitats in need of protection from development. authors: | ||
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Suriname moves to evict Mennonites and illegal Amazon settlers 07 Aug 2026 23:52:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/suriname-moves-to-evict-mennonites-and-illegal-amazon-settlers/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: The government in Suriname has started toughening up on land developers who illegally clear the Amazon Rainforest for agriculture and cattle ranching, according to Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, speaking at an Aug. 4 press briefing. In recent months, officials have started investigating illegal settlements and revising zoning for hundreds of thousands of hectares of mostly primary forest, previously set aside for agribusiness. Many areas under development are connected to Mennonites, a conservative Christian group who migrated to the country from other parts of the region, with plans to establish religious farming communities. “The people who are active there in the interior and have cleared land to live there, are there illegally,” Geerlings-Simons said during the briefing. “And that means that we’re going to take measures against them.” In 2023, Mongabay revealed that private agribusiness investors were working with the government to develop a Mennonite pilot program, in which around 1,000 families would be relocated from Bolivia — and possibly other parts of the region — onto as much as 30,000 hectares (about 74,000 acres) of land in interior departments of Suriname. In 2023 and 2024, Mongabay also published stories detailing the government’s plan to transfer around 467,000 hectares (1,153,982 acres) of mostly primary rainforest from the Ministry of Land Policy and Forest Management to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV) for future agribusiness development projects. Geerlings-Simons during the press briefing Aug 4. Image courtesy of Key tv 8.2 Backlash to the plans focused on Suriname’s 93% forest cover…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The government in Suriname has created a task force to crack down on land developers who illegally clear the Amazon Rainforest for agriculture and cattle ranching. - Many areas under development are connected to Mennonites who migrated to the country from other parts of the region to help meet a domestic demand for food production. - Conservationists warn that the group’s history of industrial-scale clearing and unauthorized ranching in other nations puts the rainforest at risk. - Some Mennonites have received a deurwaardersexploot, a written notice delivered by a bailiff to appear in court, according to Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons. authors: | ||
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Decades after bottom trawling, Chilean seamounts remain degraded 07 Aug 2026 17:07:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/decades-after-bottom-trawling-chilean-seamounts-remain-degraded/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts content:encoded: The scars of bottom trawling are still visible on seamounts in Chile’s Juan Fernández Archipelago, even 25 years after the fishing practice took place in the area, according to a new study. In 2024, scientists from Chile and the U.S. used remotely operated vehicles aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel R/V Falkor to survey four seamounts, underwater mountains that rise up from the seafloor, off Chile’s coast. Three of the seamounts are located in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, a cluster of volcanic islands that has one of the highest known rates of marine endemism on the planet. An estimated 62% of the reef fish species of Juan Fernández and the neighboring Desventuradas Islands are found nowhere else in the world. Other unique endemic species include the Juan Fernández fur seal (Arctocephalus philippii) and the Juan Fernández rock lobster (Jasus frontalis). The fourth study site was the Solito Seamount, located north of the Juan Fernández Archipelago and known to harbor similar marine communities. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, fishers conducted bottom trawling on the Juan Fernández seamounts, dragging weighted nets across the seafloor to catch orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) and alfonsino (Beryx decadactylus), long-living, deep-sea fish. After catches dwindled, these fisheries collapsed and the trawling stopped. Later, in 2015, Chile permanently banned bottom trawling on all of its seamounts. At Solito, by contrast, the study, published in July in Deep Sea Research, found no evidence that bottom trawling had ever occurred. Twenty-five years after bottom trawling had taken…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study found seamounts in Chile’s Juan Fernández Archipelago remained degraded 25 years after bottom trawling took place there, while an ecologically similar seamount outside of the archipelago, where no bottom trawling had been recorded, continued to support deep-sea habitats, including coral and sponge communities. - The researchers also found that the degraded seamounts in the archipelago had become inundated with sea urchins, which they hypothesized could be preventing the recovery and regrowth of coral communities. - While the lead author of the study said the research points to the destructiveness of bottom trawling, an outside expert said bottom trawling is not as destructive in some other marine environments, such as sandy, naturally dynamic seabed habitats. - While the study’s authors call for protection of these surveyed seamounts, experts acknowledge that protection may not be enough if destruction has already occurred. authors: | ||
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Sacred places & living lands: How Indigenous Sámi peoples steward biodiversity (analysis) 07 Aug 2026 17:00:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/sacred-places-living-lands-how-indigenous-sami-peoples-steward-biodiversity-analysis/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Emil Siekkinen content:encoded: Modern conservation is often traced to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. in 1872. In Sweden, a similar milestone came with the founding of Sarek National Park in 1909, partly intended to protect the endangered brown bear of the far north. Yet, long before states established national parks and environmental agencies, people across the world protected landscapes through religion, customary law, and Indigenous stewardship. In Japan, Shinto shrine forests have been preserved for centuries. In India, villagers continue to maintain sacred groves. Ethiopia’s churches and monasteries are often encircled by protected forests, while parts of rural Italy still contain sacred landscapes rooted in traditions older than Christianity itself. Some are associated with Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology; others may descend from sites once dedicated to Jupiter. A growing body of research suggests that such places have often functioned — intentionally or otherwise — as informal systems of conservation. In 2021, the researcher Piero Zannini and his colleagues published a systematic review of sacred natural sites and biodiversity conservation. Examining studies from around the world, they found that sacred natural sites frequently contained greater biodiversity, more intact vegetation, and better-preserved ecosystems than surrounding landscapes. Sacred places, they argued, often operate as effective forms of conservation grounded not in state bureaucracy or scientific management, but in cosmology, ritual, and local tradition. Sami people in Enontekiö, Finland, at the summit of Saana Fell, which they consider sacred. Image by Ninara via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The richness of an area’s biodiversity is not only related to protection of particular species or fragments of wilderness, but also often relates to how human beings inhabit the land across long stretches of time, a new analysis argues. - For instance, the home territories of Scandinavia’s Indigenous Sámi peoples reveal that their sacred natural sites frequently contain greater biodiversity, more intact vegetation, and better-preserved ecosystems than surrounding landscapes. - “Sámi land use suggests that cultural traditions, local knowledge, and enduring relationships with the landscape can help sustain environments where both humans and other living beings continue to share the same living lands,” the author writes. - This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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As Canada’s captive belugas arrive in the US, questions linger about their future 07 Aug 2026 16:16:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-canadas-captive-belugas-arrive-in-the-us-questions-linger-about-their-future/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Spoorthy Raman content:encoded: Thirteen beluga whales, part of a pod of about 30 that were left languishing in a shuttered Canadian theme park, arrived in the U.S. The first transfer of six whales happened on July 21, and another seven were shipped out on August 3. These whales are part of the emergency transfers from Canada’s Marineland to their new homes in the U.S., marking the beginning of the end to a year-long saga of uncertainty. Shipped in specialized, cold-water containers, the belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) traveled for hours, on trucks and a plane, to two U.S. facilities: nine individuals went to SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas, and four females to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, in two batches. Marine mammal veterinarians accompanied the cetaceans throughout their journeys, according to a press release from Georgia Aquarium. A spokesperson from the Atlanta-based aquarium said in an email it hopes to receive two beluga whales from Marineland in subsequent transfers. The international transfer came to fruition after several aquariums, all accredited with the U.S.-based Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), drew up an emergency rescue plan earlier this year to transfer the belugas out of Marineland. These cetaceans had spent years at the theme park in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In 2019, Canada passed the landmark Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, which banned the keeping, breeding and trading of cetaceans — whales, dolphins and porpoises — for entertainment, affecting Marineland’s business model. By 2021, Marineland was Canada’s only entertainment park with cetaceans and was…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Thirteen beluga whales from a pod of about 30 languishing in the shuttered Canadian marine park Marineland arrived in the U.S., six of them on July 21, and seven on August 3, as part of an emergency rescue of these captive cetaceans. - The transfers come after nearly a year of jostling between the Canadian government and Marineland about the belugas’ future, amid threats of euthanasia and disagreements over where the cetaceans should be housed. - Earlier this year, several U.S. aquariums drew up an emergency rescue plan to transfer these cetaceans to four U.S. facilities. - Conservationists say the U.S. move leaves questions unanswered about the cetaceans’ future, including if they would be used for entertainment or bred in captivity — both outlawed in Canada since 2019. authors: | ||
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A banana byproduct transforms farm waste into profits in Bangladesh 07 Aug 2026 14:38:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-banana-byproduct-transforms-farm-waste-into-profits-in-bangladesh/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Md Jahidul Islam content:encoded: Bananas make up 20% of all fruit crops grown in Bangladesh, and the country has begun to unlock the hidden potential of the plant’s agricultural byproducts. Banana fiber, extracted from post-harvest stems, is emerging as a versatile biodegradable material that can be used to manufacture textiles, blended yarns and handicrafts. In Bangladesh, banana fiber is used to make handcraft biodegradable items like the highly celebrated Kolaboti saree, curtains, mats, bags, handicrafts, ropes, paper, packaging material and eco-friendly composite products . According to World Population Review data, Bangladesh ranked 27th in global banana production in 2024, producing roughly 813,600 tons annually. India was the largest producer, with about 37.6 million tons. A 2024 study shows that Bangladesh could produce around 37,800 tons of banana fiber annually and generate more than $94 million in export earnings if the sector is commercialized effectively. In the Bangladeshi market, banana fiber is sold by some small and medium entrepreneurs for around 150 takas to 500 takas per kilogram (roughly $1.20 to $4 for 2.2 pounds). Processed and dyed banana fiber. Image by Mahmudul Hasan. The study also shows that Bangladesh has significant potential for banana fiber production because banana is cultivated across 54,756 hectares (133,305 acres) of land. The country generates substantial biomass from banana pseudo-stems, estimated at around 3.78 million tons annually, of which approximately 1% can be extracted as fiber. According to the study, banana fiber is generally more cost-effective on the raw material end because it uses agricultural waste, while jute requires…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Bangladesh, the agricultural byproduct of bananas, the fiber from the stems, is used to produce handicrafts, sarees, curtains, mats, and bags, among other products. - A study shows the country could commercially produce around 37,778 tons of banana fiber, with the potential to generate more than $94 million in export earnings annually. - The price of banana fiber in the local and global markets is more than double that of jute fiber. - Currently, the country earns around $1.5 million from banana fiber exports annually. authors: | ||
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Thermal drones deployed in Kenya’s Amboseli Park to tackle human-elephant conflict 07 Aug 2026 12:47:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/thermal-drones-deployed-in-kenyas-amboseli-park-to-tackle-human-elephant-conflict/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Aimable Twahirwa content:encoded: Dominic Mutua, a smallholder farmer from Inkoisuk village some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Amboseli National Park, has often clashed with two elephants that enter his farm and destroy crops. “We had to stay up guarding most nights and chasing them away,” Mutua told Mongabay in a telephone interview. The 2025 census conducted by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) recorded a population of 42,072 elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Kenya, 1,903 of which were counted in the Amboseli park and its surrounding areas. The absence of a perimeter fence means elephants can move freely beyond the national park’s boundaries. To address human-wildlife conflict in this remote rural region of southern Kenya, drones equipped with thermal-imaging technology enable conservation teams to monitor animal movement, detect wildlife at night and warn communities early before encounters escalate. Amy Baird, Deputy Director of the Big Life Foundation, says that aside from data collection, the drones can also safely deter elephants from entering farms and settlements by guiding them away from these areas. The US-based nonprofit works with communities to protect elephants and conserve habitats in the larger Amboseli ecosystem. An Amboseli elephant. Image courtesy of Big Life Foundation. Approximately 200,000 people live within the park and in the broader Amboseli region, which encompasses about 8,093 square kilometers (3,125 square miles) of rangelands, wetlands and wildlife corridors, according to the park’s management. As the park itself covers only 392 sq km (151 sq mi), its survival depends heavily on the health of the surrounding community lands.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Amboseli National Park, home to a population of nearly 2,000 African elephants, has witnessed significant human-wildlife conflict, in part, because it is largely unfenced to allow elephants to move freely. - Park managers are turning to drones to help reduce contentious interactions between elephants and residents in surrounding areas. - The drones provide real-time aerial surveillance that enables rangers and communities to track elephants and prevent dangerous encounters by corralling them away from human settlements and farmland. - “Thanks to the use of drones in wildlife conservation, we have seen a reduction in retaliatory injuries and deaths,” Jeremy Goss, Program Director at Big Life Foundation, told Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Flames reach edge of orangutan rehabilitation center, with fire season set to intensify 07 Aug 2026 10:41:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/flames-reach-edge-of-orangutan-rehabilitation-center-with-fire-season-set-to-intensify/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — A wildfire that reached the edge of an orangutan rehabilitation center in western Borneo is highlighting how Indonesia’s intensifying fire season threatens not just forests and wildlife, but also the conservation work taking place within them. The fire stopped just short of the facility run by the nonprofit organization YIARI, where more than 60 critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) are undergoing rehabilitation after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and habitat loss. The fire broke out on July 22 about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the center in Sungai Awan Kiri village, Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. Thick smoke blanketed the area as nearly 100 personnel from government agencies, the military, police and YIARI fought for hours to stop the flames before they reached the facility. “The fire reached the boundary of the rehabilitation center’s land,” YIARI CEO Karmele Llano Sánchez told Mongabay. Aerial view of the fire that broke out on July 22, 2026, about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from YIARI’s orangutan rehabilitation center in Sungai Awan Kiri village, Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. Image courtesy of YIARI. She said the incident highlighted the importance of being prepared for fires. “If we had not responded quickly, part of our rehabilitation center might already have been destroyed by the fire,” Llano Sánchez said. Satellite imagery of the fire that broke out on July 22, 2026, about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from YIARI’s orangutan rehabilitation center in Sungai Awan Kiri village, Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. Red…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A wildfire came within meters of an orangutan rehabilitation center in Indonesian Borneo, forcing emergency firefighting efforts to protect more than 60 rescued orangutans. - The close call comes as a strengthening El Niño fuels fires across Indonesian Borneo, where prolonged drought and expanding land clearing are driving orangutans from their forest habitat. - Conservationists warn that repeated fire seasons are undermining years of rehabilitation and habitat restoration work while increasing conflict between displaced orangutans and local communities. - With fires spreading into Key Biodiversity Areas, experts say better fire prevention and stronger support for frontline conservation efforts are urgently needed. authors: | ||
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Protecting primates could protect thousands of other species, study finds 07 Aug 2026 04:54:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/protecting-primates-could-protect-thousands-of-other-species-study-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Muhammad Talal content:encoded: As biodiversity on Earth faces rapid decline, scientists are advocating for a new conservation approach: Save habitat for primates and protect countless other species along with them. For long, conservation efforts and funding have prioritized umbrella species such as tigers and giant pandas on the basis that protecting the vast areas they depend on can help protect other wildlife that live in the same ecosystems. A 2025 study found that monkeys, apes and other charismatic primates are potential “umbrella species” as well. They, too, often require large tracts of healthy habitat to survive. And by safeguarding the vast territories these animals need, countless other wildlife that share their ecosystem would also be protected, researchers say. The researchers analyzed the habitats of 16 primate species across China’s biodiverse Yunnan province. They also examined the ranges of 601 species of threatened and endemic mammals, amphibians, birds and reptiles, as well as 4,010 species of seed plants found in Yunnan. Their analysis showed that if just 30% of Yunnan were designated a primate conservation priority area, 86% of the animals and 72% of the seed plants would have about a third of their habitats protected. Protecting that area would also protect for more than half of the provinces’ annual carbon storage, the study found. Conservation groups elsewhere, too, have advocated for protecting the habitats of charismatic primate species as a way to extend protection to several other species. For example, the nonprofit Rainforest Trust has sought to protect habitats of the critically endangered…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: As biodiversity on Earth faces rapid decline, scientists are advocating for a new conservation approach: Save habitat for primates and protect countless other species along with them. For long, conservation efforts and funding have prioritized umbrella species such as tigers and giant pandas on the basis that protecting the vast areas they depend on can […] authors: | ||
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How Mennonites in Belize built a land-buying machine taking over forests 07 Aug 2026 02:59:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/how-mennonites-in-belize-built-a-land-buying-machine-taking-over-forests/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: Over the past two decades, Belize lost around 20% of its forest cover — more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres). Much of it is the result of agricultural expansion by Mennonites, the conservative Christian denomination that arrived in the country more than six decades ago. To understand the corporate machinery that’s allowed the Mennonites to expand so quickly, often outbidding private landowners and environmental groups trying to protect the rainforest, a Mongabay investigation conducted extensive interviews and reviewed dozens of land records. The investigation found a unique system of strategic land titling and pooled financial resources, with communities consolidating numerous properties under a single corporation or church entity. “[Mennonite communities] pride themselves on being more autonomous,” Elma Kay, chair of the board of directors of the nonprofit Maya Forest Corridor Trust, told Mongabay during the investigation. “They’re very efficient at managing their finances, harnessing those to acquire more land as a community, as a collective.” Many Mennonite communities live without modern technology, rejecting electricity and other conveniences. At the same time, some have adopted heavy machinery for agriculture, helping them become one of the leading national producers of crops and poultry. In the process, they’ve consolidated hundreds of thousands of hectares of land under single corporations and church entities. Individual Mennonites and their families are issued certificates to occupy the land by community leadership, rather than a traditional title. With the certificate, the land can be transferred within the community without being legally bought or sold, leaving development largely off…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Over the past two decades, Belize lost around 20% of its forest cover — more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres). Much of it is the result of agricultural expansion by Mennonites, the conservative Christian denomination that arrived in the country more than six decades ago. To understand the corporate machinery that’s allowed the Mennonites to […] authors: | ||
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Tree cover is not the same as ecological recovery 07 Aug 2026 02:28:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/tree-cover-is-not-the-same-as-ecological-recovery/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. A harpy eagle needs large trees for nesting and enough surrounding forest for its young to learn to fly. The Amazon also depends on the eagle. By controlling populations of monkeys, sloths, and other animals, the predator helps limit damage to the forest canopy. Its decline can therefore indicate broader changes in the ecosystem. Governments often assess biodiversity by counting species. These figures are useful, although they don’t show whether an ecosystem is still functioning. A recent paper in Frontiers in Science argues that conservation policy should also track ecological processes, including predation, migration, pollination, and the movement of water and nutrients, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. The authors propose using the Three Global Conditions Framework, developed in 2019, to decide what different landscapes require. It divides the planet according to the degree of human influence. Large, relatively intact areas need protection from new development. Landscapes where farming and settlements coexist with nature require management that maintains ecological functions. Heavily altered areas need restoration. The approach could help countries meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for the loss of nature to be halted and reversed by 2030. Progress varies widely among countries. The agreement is not legally binding, and national governments determine how its targets are applied. The paper uses the term “nature positive” to describe an outcome in which ecosystems are healthier at the end of the decade than they were…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. A harpy eagle needs large trees for nesting and enough surrounding forest for its young to learn to fly. The Amazon also depends on the eagle. By controlling populations of monkeys, sloths, and other animals, the predator helps […] authors: | ||
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On the frontlines of conservation in Sumatra: Rangers safeguard Batutegi forest 07 Aug 2026 02:21:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-the-front-lines-of-conservation-in-sumatra-rangers-safeguard-batutegi-forest/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: TANGGAMUS, Indonesia — For more than a decade and a half, forest ranger Wandi Harmoko has walked the ridges and valleys of Batutegi, a landscape in southern Sumatra. He is one of only a handful of officers tasked with patrolling almost 60,000-hectares (148,300 acres) of forest that is not only ecologically significant but also economically vital to Lampung province. The forest Wandi protects today has been shaped by decades of disturbance. Since the turn of the century, waves of encroachment cleared large areas of forest to accelerate conversion to coffee plantations. Nevertheless, the forests here still harbors endangered wildlife, including Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae), siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus), pangolins (Manis javanica), Sumatran slow lorises (Nycticebus coucang) and sun bears (Helarctos malayanus). The survival and recovery of what remains in Batutegi depend on a fragile collaboration between a limited number of rangers, technology-driven monitoring systems, and social forestry farmers whose livelihoods are tied to the landscape. “What affects me most are the moments when we still encounter forest encroachment,” Wandi told Mongabay after joining his team for a day patrol inside Batutegi’s core zone. “It creates an inner conflict, because sometimes we have to arrest people and see them go to prison, even though we understand their situation.” Wandi Harmoko has patrolled the forest of Batutegi for over a decade. Image by Basten Gokkon. The Batutegi landscape, including a reservoir with the same name, stretches across 81,741 hectares (202,000 acres) jointly overseen by two forest management units (KPH), namely KPH Batutegi…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In southern Sumatra, a small team of forest rangers is racing to protect Batutegi forest, an important watershed and refuge for endangered wildlife such as tigers and slow lorises. - Batutegi faces persistent pressures from forest encroachment and the need to balance conservation with local livelihoods. - Experts say protecting Batutegi will require sustained collaboration with local communities, alongside long-term conservation and forest management efforts. authors: | ||
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How social media and parrotfish poop are protecting the Maldives 06 Aug 2026 23:17:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-social-media-and-parrotfish-poop-are-protecting-the-maldives/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Isabel Gil content:encoded: It started six years ago when Shaha Hashim began seeing posts across social media: Vulnerable and protected species were being fished throughout the atoll islands of the Maldives, and some were even turning up in fish markets. This included animals like the giant clam (genus Tridacna), Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), and even species of parrotfish (subfamily Scarinae). These species weren’t historically targeted by Maldivian fishers, but were rising in popularity over the last decade. This came to a head in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as tourism workers were being let go from their jobs at resorts, and fishing became more popular recreationally, as well as a means of earning money and providing food. “This was the only way for them to earn an income at that time,” Hashim told Mongabay by video call. Today, she’s the co-founder and executive director of Maldives Resilient Reefs (MRR). Hashim said the parrotfish were particularly concerning. At the time, they weren’t a protected species, though they played a key role in recycling sediment and generating new habitat for coral reefs. Protecting them means safeguarding accretion: An important sedimentary process that is intertwined with the resiliency and natural management of atolls. “Accretion really is the deposition of sediment above the water level,” said Paul Kench, a coastal scientist and the pro vice-chancellor of Te Wānanga Pūtaiao Division of STEM at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. He told Mongabay by video call that accretion allows atolls to naturally combat climate change by…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Parrotfish play a vital role in reef ecosystems by producing sand from consumed coral and maintaining healthy reefs by grazing algae; in doing so they support the sediment accretion processes that help low-lying atolls naturally grow and adapt to rising sea levels. - A grassroots social media campaign in the Maldives raised awareness about the ecological importance of parrotfish, helping build widespread public support for their conservation after the species began proliferating in local fish markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. - Public backing from the #FishForTomorrow campaign led the Maldivian government to ban the catch of all parrotfish species in 2020, making the Maldives one of the first countries to enact national protections based largely on community advocacy. - Building on this success, the NGO Maldives Resilient Reefs is expanding conservation efforts through sustainable fishing partnerships, seagrass protection and a nationwide initiative to protect 30% of the country’s marine habitats by 2030. authors: | ||
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From radar blobs to bird species, AI helps transform migration tracking 06 Aug 2026 16:56:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/from-radar-blobs-to-bird-species-ai-helps-transform-migration-tracking/ author: Abhishyantkidangoor dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: How can we identify specific bird species as they undertake their annual migrations? In the U.S., scientists have long relied on weather radar data to track flocks of birds migrating across the country. But that came with a caveat: the birds appeared as blobs on the radar, much like dark clouds. They couldn’t tell what species of birds they were looking at. A new tool is helping scientists and conservationists bridge this gap. BirdFlow combines citizen science observations with weather data and artificial intelligence technology to help scientists detect specific species and predict their migration routes. Two studies published in the journals Global Ecology and Biogeography and Movement Ecology describe how BirdFlow can distinguish between species that are migrating across North America. The tool was developed as a collaboration between Cornell University, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Let’s say we want to track Wilson’s warbler that winters in Alaska,” Yuting Deng, a co-author on both studies and postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, told Mongabay in a video interview. “Where exactly do they go? Do the eastern and western populations have similar migration timing? What routes are they taking? That’s where BirdFlow comes in.” Knowing which bird species are migrating where is critical for several reasons. For one, without being able to distinguish individual species, scientists can’t tell when and where a threatened species might be moving. The data are also useful for aviation managers, who would want to track larger birds that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new tool is helping scientists identify specific bird species from among flocks of migrating birds. - BirdFlow combines citizen science observations with weather radar data to help scientists detect specific species and predict their migration routes. - Conventional tracking of migrating birds uses weather radar, but this technology can’t distinguish between different species in a flock. - The BirdFlow developers say the tool can be helpful for tracking threatened species and improving conservation measures along the birds’ migratory routes. authors: | ||
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Some free-roaming cats in New York City are parasite ‘super-shedders,’ study shows 06 Aug 2026 16:33:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/some-free-roaming-cats-in-new-york-city-are-parasite-super-shedders-study-shows/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Alex Megerle content:encoded: If you’ve ever strolled through New York City and felt like there were a lot of cats strutting the streets, you weren’t wrong. No one knows exactly how many felines wander New York, but it’s a lot. Bideawee, a regional animal shelter, says tens of thousands of stray and feral cats live in the city’s outdoor spaces. In 2023, The New York Times said there could be as many as half a million feral cats; the same year, CBS News reported the number could be double that. The health of these cats is a bit less of a mystery thanks to a recent study from researchers at Rowan and Long Island Universities. It’s well-known that free-roaming cats can carry parasites and “shed” the eggs in their feces, which can then infect humans, pets and wildlife via contact with animal waste or soil in public places. Unmanaged free-roaming cat populations, the authors write, “occupy a critical interface between animal health, human health, and environmental hygiene.” But studies on this problem in New York City are rare, according to the researchers. The team tested nearly 90 cats across every borough except Manhattan in the late spring and summer of 2023. They found that more than half were infected with at least one parasite; 22% harbored two or more. These results aren’t surprising, said Felicia Nutter, a wildlife veterinarian at Tufts University, in an email to Mongabay. The study establishes a baseline for cats in this area. Continuing to study this same population…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - New York City has a large population of free-roaming cats, which can harbor and transmit zoonotic parasites. - Some parasites shed by cats remain in the environment for long periods and infect pets, wildlife and humans. - Researchers recently tested cats that were captured during a trap-neuter-return program in New York City and found that more than half were infected with at least one type of parasite; young male cats shed large numbers of parasite eggs into the environment. - The study’s authors suggest that trap-neuter-return programs incorporate disease management and surveillance to better monitor and mitigate zoonotic health risks. authors: | ||
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