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The power of cities over the seas 01 Mar 2026 14:10:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-power-of-cities-over-the-seas/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Debates about ocean protection tend to orbit national governments and multilateral treaties. Fisheries quotas, shipping rules, and marine reserves are usually negotiated by states. Yet much of the activity that determines the ocean’s health passes through cities. Ports regulate entry. Municipal buyers decide what seafood is served in schools and hospitals. Urban air-quality rules shape how ships fuel and operate at berth. Taken together, these levers suggest that coastal cities may exert more practical influence over the seas than is commonly acknowledged. Consider the modern port, which is less a waterfront than a complex regulatory zone. Ships cannot simply arrive and unload. They must comply with local safety, environmental, and operational requirements. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, for instance, introduced a Clean Air Action Plan that has pushed shipping lines toward cleaner fuels, shore power, and newer vessels. The primary motivation was urban smog, not marine conservation. Still, the result has been a measurable reduction in greenhouse gases and particulate pollution across one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors. When ports tighten standards, global shipping companies adjust, because the trade is too valuable to forgo. Procurement offers another underappreciated channel. Large metropolitan governments purchase enormous volumes of food for public institutions. If those buyers adopt sustainability criteria for seafood, they can influence supply chains in ways that national policy often struggles to achieve. Several U.S. cities now use guidelines informed by organizations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. In Brazil, reporting revealed that shark…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Much of what determines the ocean’s condition is decided on land, where ports control entry, cities regulate ship operations, and municipal buyers shape seafood demand. These urban levers can influence marine outcomes at scale even though they receive far less attention than treaties or national policy. - Port rules on fuel use, emissions, and safety can compel global shipping companies to change behavior, as access to major trade hubs is too valuable to lose. When several large ports adopt similar standards, their combined weight can shift industry norms across entire maritime corridors. - Public procurement provides another pathway, with city-run institutions able to influence fisheries through what they choose to purchase. Sustainability standards — or public scrutiny, as seen in Brazil’s school meal controversy — can ripple back through supply chains and alter incentives at sea. - Philanthropy focused on oceans may find high leverage in supporting city-level actions such as port electrification, data-sharing systems, and procurement reform. By targeting where rules meet markets and infrastructure, urban governance can complement national efforts and deliver practical gains even when international cooperation falters. authors: | ||
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Online ads reveal scale — and gaps — in amphibian pet trade into US 27 Feb 2026 22:03:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/online-ads-reveal-scale-and-gaps-in-amphibian-pet-trade-into-us/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: Much of the pet trade in amphibians is conducted online, but it’s not well understood. Herpetologist Devin Edmonds with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently mapped out the trade in nonnative amphibians sold in the United States in a study published in the journal Biological Conservation. Edmonds and his colleagues scanned through online classified ads for nonnative amphibians from 2004 to 2024 and compiled a database of 8,500 listings for 301 amphibian species — including frogs and salamanders — for sale in the U.S. and originating from around the world. The researchers then compared the classified ads database with amphibian import records from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They found there were no import records for 44 of the species in their database, and concluded these species were likely imported illegally. The authors say some of the animals may have been smuggled into the U.S. by fudging their identity. For example, they suggest that Caatinga horned frogs (Ceratophrys joazeirensis) could have been smuggled from Brazil into neighboring Suriname, which has its own species of horned frog, Ceratophrys cornuta. The Caatinga frogs were likely then imported into the U.S. simply labeled as Ceratophrys, leaving authorities ignorant about exactly which species they were. Once in the U.S., they could be bred in captivity for sale. The researchers’ database shows that 30 amphibian species were offered for sale more often than computer modeling would suggest. They interpreted this to mean that these species are being successfully bred in captivity and the offspring…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Much of the pet trade in amphibians is conducted online, but it’s not well understood. Herpetologist Devin Edmonds with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently mapped out the trade in nonnative amphibians sold in the United States in a study published in the journal Biological Conservation. Edmonds and his colleagues scanned through online classified ads […] authors: | ||
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Five Yanomami infants in Brazil die amid whooping cough outbreak 27 Feb 2026 19:56:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/five-yanomami-infants-in-brazil-die-amid-whooping-cough-outbreak/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Five Indigenous Yanomami infants have reportedly died from a preventable respiratory illness called pertussis, or whooping cough. The outbreak began Jan. 7 in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Roraima state in northern Brazil. A representative of the Urihi Yanomami Association (UYA) told Mongabay that health authorities have been slow to respond. Three of the deaths have been confirmed by the state health agency in Boa Vista, Roraima’s capital city. The UYA told Mongabay that another two infants died in the Parima and Roko villages with similar symptoms but the cause of death has not yet been confirmed by health professionals. At least 59 additional Indigenous infants have been flown out of the Yanomami territory for medical treatment, UYA representatives told Mongabay. Mongabay reviewed several death certificates and found the infants ranged from 1 month and 17 days to 4 months and 30 days old. “Some of the children hadn’t even opened their eyes yet and have died,” Waihiri Hekurari Yanomami, the president of the UYA, told Mongabay by phone. At least three babies did not have a name yet; Yanomami mothers typically wait several months to name their children in case they don’t survive. “Yanomami health has been neglected time and time again. All these children should have already been vaccinated, and their mothers too. If they were vaccinated, this situation would not be happening,” Hekurari said. According to the Yanomami Special Indigenous Health District authority, full vaccination coverage of children under 1 rose from 29.8% in 2022 to…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Five Indigenous Yanomami infants have reportedly died from a preventable respiratory illness called pertussis, or whooping cough. The outbreak began Jan. 7 in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Roraima state in northern Brazil. A representative of the Urihi Yanomami Association (UYA) told Mongabay that health authorities have been slow to respond. Three of the […] authors: | ||
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Senegal gas project draws international scrutiny 27 Feb 2026 17:13:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/senegal-gas-project-draws-international-scrutiny/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Elodie Toto content:encoded: The UK’s OECD national contact point (NCP), which oversees complaints related to corporate conduct with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has ruled admissible a complaint from Senegalese fishers alleging wrongdoing by energy companies in Senegal. A local NGO and an artisanal fishers’ association assert that the natural gas platform Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) offshore Senegal is polluting their local environment. In a win for civil society, the OECD plans to bring all parties to the negotiating table to find a solution. “This decision is a major one,” Mamadou Sarr, spokesperson for Gaadlou Guèrri, the association of artisanal fishers that brought the complaint, told Mongabay in a phone call. “It can later help us seek compensation for the losses we have suffered, for the environmental consequences, and for gas leaks,” he added. The OECD is an organization of 38 member states, including the U.K., that have committed to respecting guidelines that cover several areas of corporate responsibility, including human rights, the environment and corruption. GTA is being co-developed by multinational oil company BP, U.S.-based Kosmos Energy and the national oil companies of Senegal and Mauritania. It is located offshore from Saint-Louis, Senegal, near one of the country’s largest fishing communities. The complaint accused the energy companies of denying local artisanal fishers access to the area surrounding GTA, compromising their livelihoods and reducing food availability for local communities. Fish accounts for almost 70% of the animal protein consumed in Senegal. It’s a vital resource for a region facing rising…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The UK’s OECD national contact point (NCP), which oversees complaints related to corporate conduct with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has ruled admissible a complaint from Senegalese fishers alleging wrongdoing by energy companies in Senegal. A local NGO and an artisanal fishers’ association assert that the natural gas platform Grand Tortue Ahmeyim […] authors: | ||
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Climate change is slowing southern right whale birth rate, 33-year study finds 27 Feb 2026 15:46:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-is-slowing-southern-right-whale-birth-rate-33-year-study-finds/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off Australia’s southern coast are having calves less often than they used to. A new study links this slowdown to warming water and shrinking sea ice in the Southern Ocean. The study, conducted by researchers at Australian, South African and U.S. institutions and published this month in Scientific Reports, tracked more than 1,100 calving events from 696 individual female whales at a major breeding ground in an area called the Great Australian Bight within the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area. Since around 2015, the average time between births rose from 3.4 years to 4.1 years. For a species that reproduces slowly, that shift adds up. “These extended calving intervals mean fewer calves are being born overall, and this reduces population growth over time,” lead author and marine biologist Claire Charlton from Flinders University writes in The Conversation. “Southern right whales have been celebrated as one of conservation’s success stories … But our new research shows this success story is changing.” Between 1991 and 2024, scientists used photo-identification data to tell the whales apart. Each whale has a unique pattern of callosities, or patches of thickened skin, on its head that distinguishes one from another. Southern right whale individuals are identified by their callosity patterns, patches of roughened skin covered with white cyamids or “whale lice”, that give every right whale’s head a unique and stable pattern. Photo by Macarena Agrelo. Using this long-term whale dataset, along with environmental records, researchers found that half of the variation…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new 33-year study finds that southern right whales off Australia are having calves less often, with the average time between births rising from 3.4 to 4.1 years since 2015, a trend researchers link to climate-driven changes in the Southern Ocean. - Shrinking Antarctic sea ice and warming waters are reducing the availability of krill and copepods, the whales’ main food sources, leaving females struggling to rebuild their energy after nursing and delaying their next pregnancy. - The reproductive slowdown is not unique to Australia, with similar declines documented in southern right whale populations off South Africa and Argentina, raising concerns for a species still recovering from near-extinction due to commercial whaling. - Researchers are calling for expanded marine protected areas, stricter management of Antarctic krill fisheries, and urgent action on climate change to protect the species. authors: | ||
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How cockfighting imperils Peru’s critically endangered sawfish 27 Feb 2026 12:27:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/how-cockfighting-imperils-perus-critically-endangered-sawfish/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: MANCORA, Peru — The largetooth sawfish is a critically endangered fish distinguished by its long, blade-like snout edged with tooth-like projections. In the waters off Peru, it’s become an unlikely casualty of one of the country’s most entrenched traditions: cockfighting. The elongated “teeth” that give sawfish (Pristis pristis) their name aren’t actual teeth, but hardened, modified scales embedded along the rostrum. For decades, some cockfighters have carved these structures into sharp spurs that they attach to a rooster’s legs before a fight. (Left) A crowd gathered on the beach in the town of Caleta La Cruz in Tumbes province, northern Peru, in 2014, after fishers landed a largetooth sawfish they captured accidentally. (Right) A sawfish rostral “tooth.” Images courtesy of (left) Emilio Borjas Garcia/Planeta Oceano and (right) Patricia Charvet. A new film by Mongabay, Why cockfighting is threatening Peru’s last sawfish, examines how — even as sawfish have nearly disappeared from Peruvian waters — their rostral teeth continue to circulate through informal markets, repurposed into weapons for the ring. Cockfighting in Peru is legal and is formally recognized as cultural heritage. An estimated 1,700 arenas operate nationwide, with between 300,000 and 500,000 breeders involved. Blade fights and spur fights are common. Historically, prized spurs were crafted from natural materials, including hawksbill turtle shells and sawfish rostral teeth. By the 1970s, sawfish spurs were especially sought after for their durability and capacity to inflict severe injury. They commanded premium prices among competitors. Spurs for cockfighting fashioned from sawfish teeth. Images courtesy…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Mongabay’s new film “Why cockfighting is threatening Peru’s last sawfish” investigates how the critically endangered largetooth sawfish has become a victim of Peru’s legal cockfighting industry. - Although the species has nearly disappeared from Peru’s Pacific waters, its rostral “teeth” continue to circulate in informal markets, prized for use as cockfighting spurs. - A single sawfish can yield dozens of spurs, each worth up to $250, creating powerful economic incentives for artisanal fishers facing financial hardship. - Through interviews with fishers, scientists and cockfighting industry leaders, the film explores whether cultural change within the sport can outpace the illegal trade before the species disappears entirely. authors: | ||
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Climate change drives uneven shifts in tree diversity across Amazon and Andes 27 Feb 2026 09:57:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-drives-uneven-shifts-in-tree-diversity-across-amazon-and-andes/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Constance Malleret content:encoded: The tropical forests of the Amazon and Andes are some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, but across both regions, changes in climate and landscape conditions are driving a shift in the number of tree species, recent research has found. Although the overall number of tree species across the Andes and Amazon hasn’t changed in recent decades, some subregions are gaining species while others are losing them, according to the study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Trees provide vital ecosystem services, and changes in their diversity — what experts call tree richness — could have an impact, including on the forests’ role in temperature regulation or carbon storage. Using more than 40 years of tree diversity data, the study found that species richness declined in the central Andes, the Guyana Shield, and the central-eastern Amazon subregions. Meanwhile, it increased in the northern Andes and western Amazon, and didn’t change significantly in the southern Amazon. Researchers used data from 406 different forest plots across 10 countries, paired with records of climate indicators. “Forests are changing and now we have evidence that it’s linked to climate change,” said Belén Fadrique, a research fellow at the University of Liverpool in the U.K. and lead author of the study, which involved more than 160 co-authors. “We do find that a majority of sites are decreasing in richness,” Fadrique told Mongabay in a video interview. In total, 203 plots declined in tree richness and 146 increased, the research found. Overall, the richness…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A team of researchers looked at changes in tree richness across the lowland and montane forests of the Andes and Amazon over the last four decades. - While their results didn’t show an overall shift in any one direction, they found that tree richness changed significantly across the six subregions: forests in the central Andes, Guyana Shield and central-eastern Amazon have been losing species, while the northern Andes and western Amazon showed increased tree richness. - Changes in the seasonality of precipitation, total rainfall, temperature, as well as the degree of forest fragmentation are key drivers for tree richness: forests that warmed more since 1971 lost species faster than those moderately warming; but regionally, precipitation plays a bigger role than temperature in richness changes. - Forests with a higher number of trees and landscape integrity gain species, so limiting deforestation across the Andes–Amazon ecosystems can protect tree richness, in particular the northern Andes, which could serve as a key refuge for species that can no longer survive the warming Amazon. authors: | ||
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Brazil wanted more protections for its endangered national tree. Then France called 27 Feb 2026 08:30:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/brazil-wanted-more-protections-for-its-endangered-national-tree-then-france-called/ author: Andy Lehren dc:creator: Emmanuelle PicaudFernanda WenzelSpoorthy Raman content:encoded: Just three months ago, Brazil seemed close to winning the highest level of international trade protections for the country’s symbol and namesake, the Brazilwood tree (Paubrasilia echinata). On Nov. 26, Brazil’s delegation was in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for the summit of CITES, the global trade convention under which 184 countries plus the European Union have agreed on rules to protect wildlife from unsustainable commerce. The Brazilians were confident that they would gain approval for their formal proposal to protect the endangered tree from all international commercial trade. “There was massive support,” said a Brazilian delegate attending the meeting, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. “There was a feeling that it would pass.” Found only in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, P. echinata’s population declined by 84% over the last three generations, and is currently down to around 10,000 adult trees, according to Brazilian environmental officials. The species was exploited during colonial times to meet European demand for the red dye that comes from its wood and was used to color fabrics. Since the mid-18th century, the world’s music industry has prized the wood, also known as pernambuco, for its resonance, durability and flexibility for bows to play violins, cellos and other stringed instruments. Each bow can be worth up to 7,000 euros (more than $8,200), making the wood treasured not just by those in the music business, but also by smugglers. As the tree’s numbers dwindled, Brazil’s National Center for Flora Conservation (CNCFlora) escalated the species’ conservation status in 2024 from endangered…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Alleged last-minute political maneuvers prevented Brazil from securing the highest protections from international commercial trade of Brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata) at the 2025 meeting of CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty. - The music industry, which covets the wood to produce violin bows — costing up to $8,200 a piece — saluted French President Emmanuel Macron’s “decisive involvement” to avoid new trade restrictions. - The French press reported that Macron personally called Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to discuss the issue, but the Brazilian Presidency denied receiving such a call. - Found only in Brazil, Paubrasilia echinata has experienced an 84% decline over the last three generations, and now the country deems the tree critically endangered. authors: | ||
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Avian flu strikes California’s northern elephant seals; area quarantined 27 Feb 2026 05:04:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/avian-flu-strikes-californias-northern-elephant-seals-area-quarantined/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Christine Heinrichs content:encoded: Ever since a deadly strain of avian influenza, H5N1, killed some 17,000 southern elephant seal pups on South American coastlines in 2023 and 2024, researchers and public officials have kept an extra-close eye on California’s northern elephant seals. Fears of infection have now become reality: Lab tests just proved the virus has breached this colony. In mid-February, six young, newly weaned seals on Año Nuevo State Park beaches fell ill. They had obvious respiratory problems and also suffered from neurological symptoms, including weakness, tremors and seizures — all of which pointed to H5N1. The research team collected samples from sick and dead elephant seals, which were analyzed at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System. Initial screening revealed that the samples were positive for avian influenza; it was then confirmed to be the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain. A mother northern elephant seal and her pup rest on a beach at the Piedras Blancas viewing area in California, south of Año Nuevo, where seven young seals have been infected with a deadly strain of avian influenza. Image by Christine Heinrichs. As of Feb. 24, seven pups had tested positive for the virus, according to the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory. At time of publication, 30 seals had died, 29 of them weaned pups, but the cause has not yet been confirmed for all the victims. The outbreak marks the first cases of H5N1 in marine mammals in California and the first time it’s been found in northern elephant seals…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Experts confirmed that seven young northern elephant seals on the beach at California’s Año Nuevo State Park carried a deadly form of avian influenza, H5N1, the first recorded infection in these seals. - This highly contagious virus has circulated the globe since 2020. The U.N. estimates that as of December 2025, H5N1 had infected some 598 bird species and 102 mammal species. In 2022-23, the virus devastated seal colonies off South American coastlines, sparking increased surveillance of North American marine mammals. - This northern elephant seal population has been carefully studied for about 60 years. With close monitoring, researchers quickly discovered that sick pups were infected with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1. - Since this avian flu strain emerged, there have been 131 human infections globally, including 71 in the U.S. As a precaution, California officials have banned visitors from the elephant seal beaches and canceled guided tours. authors: | ||
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Who actually uses environmental journalism — and why it matters 27 Feb 2026 00:02:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/who-actually-uses-environmental-journalism-and-why-it-matters/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In 2025, Mongabay recorded 111 million unique visitors to its websites, a 46% increase on the year before. Pageviews rose by 72%. Those figures capture direct readership only. They exclude circulation through newsletters, messaging apps and social platforms, as well as republication by more than 100 partner outlets. Yet volume is not the metric we care about most. For our purposes, scale is most meaningful when considered alongside use and influence. Mongabay is not built primarily to maximize general-audience traffic. Pageviews indicate that a page was opened, but on their own they reveal little about whether it informed a decision or changed a course of action. The question I return to is simple: who used the reporting, and for what purpose? Mongabay’s theory of change rests on a different premise: journalism matters when it shapes decisions. What matters most is who reads a story and whether they are in a position to act. Much of our journalism is designed for practitioners, policymakers, researchers, advocates, journalists, and others whose choices shape environmental outcomes. This focus reflects how environmental governance typically operates—through interconnected networks of public agencies, companies, investors, media, non-profit and civil-society groups, researchers, conservation practitioners, courts, and community organizations. The most consequential reader is rarely the most casual one. The geographic distribution of our audience hints at how this works in practice. Asia and the Americas each accounted for more than 46 million unique visitors. In absolute terms, those regions dominate. In per capita terms, the story differs, and that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In 2025, Mongabay’s websites attracted 111 million unique visitors, with pageviews rising even faster, though these figures capture only direct readership and exclude widespread redistribution through partners, messaging platforms, and secondary circulation. - The organization prioritizes influence over raw traffic, aiming to inform practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and others whose decisions shape environmental outcomes rather than a broad general audience. - Audience patterns reflect where environmental stakes are highest, with particularly strong readership across Asia and the Americas and disproportionate reach in countries where land use, biodiversity, pollution, and resource governance are central public concerns. - Impact is assessed not only through analytics but through documented real-world outcomes—from policy changes to legal actions—while emerging referral channels such as AI tools suggest shifts in how people seek and verify authoritative environmental information. authors: | ||
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Warming and farming hasten bird losses across North America, study shows 26 Feb 2026 20:01:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/warming-and-farming-hasten-bird-losses-across-north-america-study-shows/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: After half a century of steep declines, North America’s birds are disappearing faster than ever. A new study shows that populations are shrinking across most of the continent, with intensive agriculture playing the largest role in accelerating those losses. Scientists warn the impacts extend well beyond wildlife, undermining ecosystem function and human well-being. The recent study, published in Science, relied on data collected by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), a citizen science initiative that has collected annual bird population data since 1966. Thousands of trained amateur birders conduct standardized counts for the BBS along fixed routes across North America, recording species presence and abundance year after year. Researchers analyzed BBS data collected between 1987 and 2021 from 1,033 of the survey routes. They tracked the change in abundance of 261 bird species across 10 different habitats. They found population declines across nearly every region, with the most severe declines in hot Southern states. In fact, already quite-hot states, like Florida and Texas, had the “most pronounced average decline” of bird abundance, the study notes. “Just looking at the decline of abundance … temperature was the main predictor,” François Leroy, the study’s lead author and an Ohio State University postdoctoral researcher, told Mongabay in a video call. While plenty of other studies have linked warmer temperatures due to climate change with degraded habitat and a shift north by birds to cooler climates, Leroy’s findings suggest that such warming is most impactful in regions that were already quite hot. However, the scientists…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: After half a century of steep declines, North America’s birds are disappearing faster than ever. A new study shows that populations are shrinking across most of the continent, with intensive agriculture playing the largest role in accelerating those losses. Scientists warn the impacts extend well beyond wildlife, undermining ecosystem function and human well-being. The recent […] authors: | ||
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Mongabay shark meat exposé wins national journalism education award in Brazil 26 Feb 2026 19:47:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mongabay-shark-meat-expose-wins-national-journalism-education-award-in-brazil/ author: Karla Mendes dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: A Mongabay exposé that revealed widespread Brazilian government procurements of shark meat to serve in thousands of schools, hospitals, prisons and other public institutions has won first place in the higher education category of Brazil’s National Association of Directors of Federal Higher Education Institutions (Andifes) awards, a top journalism education honor in the country. “The work stands out for its expert input from specialists and researchers, who contribute to the analysis of the environmental, health and regulatory impacts of the issue,” Andifes said in the Feb. 24 announcement. “By valuing scientific knowledge in its journalistic approach, the report highlights the role of higher education in producing evidence, training specialists and contributing to public debate and public policy.” In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, the investigation published in July 2025 tracked 1,012 public tenders issued by Brazilian authorities since 2004 for the procurement of more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat, worth at least 112 million reais ($21.8 million today). These tenders were issued by 542 municipalities in 10 of Brazil’s 26 states, raising environmental and public health concerns. Senior editor Philip Jacobson and investigative reporters Karla Mendes and Fernanda Wenzel were the Mongabay authors of the two-part investigation, along with Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, the Pulitzer Center’s data editor. As apex predators, sharks’ tissues tend to accumulate high levels of heavy metals like mercury and arsenic, which can harm human health if ingested in large enough quantities, especially in young children and other vulnerable populations. Overfishing both for shark…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On Feb. 24, Mongabay won first place in the higher education category of Brazil’s National Association of Directors of Federal Higher Education Institutions (Andifes), a top journalism education award in the country, with an investigation that revealed Brazilian state-run institutions were bulk-buying shark meat for public schools, hospitals and prisons. - “The work stands out for its expert input from specialists and researchers, who contribute to the analysis of the environmental, health and regulatory impacts of the issue,” Andifes said in the announcement. - In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, the investigation published in July 2025 tracked 1,012 public tenders issued by Brazilian authorities since 2004 for the procurement of more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat, worth at least 112 million reais. - In December 2025, the investigation won second place in the national category of the 67th ARI/Banrisul Journalism Award, one of Brazil’s most prestigious journalism prizes. authors: | ||
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Ocean Equity Index aims to measure justice at sea 26 Feb 2026 17:04:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/ocean-equity-index-aims-to-measure-justice-at-sea/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: Ocean projects and governance systems abound globally— everything from offshore energy to coastal aquaculture and fishing treaties — yet there is no standardized way to measure how equitable they are. Now researchers have developed an Ocean Equity Index that seeks to address that gap. The index, released alongside a study in the journal Nature on Jan. 28, is designed to measure the equity of ocean initiatives based on 12 criteria and can be used by governments, companies and community or Indigenous groups. “Inequality is on the rise,” Jessica Blythe, an associate professor of environmental sustainability at Brock University in Canada and lead author of the study, said in a video accompanying the index’s release. “A handful of corporations are generating billions in profit while marginalized [communities] are excluded from management decisions that affect them.” The study was authored by 27 researchers from institutions around the world. They write that the index aims to help marine ecosystems and coastal communities achieve “better outcomes” when it comes to ocean initiatives. “Once we start tracking equity, we’re going to see big changes,” Blythe said. The “conceptual framework” of the Ocean Equity Index. The researchers who developed the index focused on three core types of equity: recognitional, procedural and distributional. For each type, they named two principles, and for each principle, two criteria, resulting in the 12 criteria that are scored in the index and which can be seen in the circle’s outer layer. Image courtesy of Blythe et al. (2026). Economic activity in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Researchers have developed an Ocean Equity Index that seeks to measure how equitable ocean initiatives are based on 12 criteria. - The index, which was introduced alongside an academic study, can be used by governments, companies and community or Indigenous groups; the authors hope its use will be institutionalized globally. - Assessing equity quantitatively is challenging because of the subject’s complexity and because perspectives of equity vary widely across actor groups, experts say. authors: | ||
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Photos: In the Colombian Amazon, fishing binds a community to river and forest 26 Feb 2026 16:09:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/photos-in-the-colombian-amazon-fishing-binds-a-community-to-river-and-forest/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: VAUPÉS, Colombia — The Vaupés River and its extensive network of waterways and lagoons in the southeastern Colombian department of the same name are integral to the Indigenous Macaquiño community, who lives along its banks. It provides them with water for drinking, bathing and washing, and also serves as a migration route and breeding ground for an abundance of fish, which they depend on for food. But for the Macaquiño community, these waters are more than just a food pantry, they told Mongabay. It forms part of the deep cultural and spiritual connection they have with their waters and the species that inhabit them. Their traditional calendar responds to its natural cycles, marked by the rainy and dry seasons, each with their own traditional rules and rituals dictating when the community can harvest food, fish and hunt. Omar Salvador Fernández Chequemarca and Harold Ferreira Romero, two fishers from the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés, fish in the Vaupés River. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay. A fish caught from the waters of a flooded forest near the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay. Manuel Claudio Fernández, the captain of Macaquiño, said the community doesn’t just care for the land; they coexist with it. “How do we coexist? By respecting the forest, the articulation of spirits, the water, the forest and us humans. We, the people, depend on water and the forest. And the forest and water also depend on us.” While Macaquiño fishers still use some of the traditional…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - For members of the Macaquiño community in the southeastern Colombian department of Vaupés, fishing forms part of the deep cultural and spiritual connection they have with their waters and the species that inhabit it. - The introduction of more intensive modern fishing gear, such as using longlines and mesh nets, has had an impact fish populations and has contributed to a decline in the use of some ancestral fishing practices, they said. - Community elders told Mongabay that while some traditional fishing tools are still used today, few people know how to make them, raising concerns that fishers may eventually turn to other techniques that can damage habitats and reduce fish species. authors: | ||
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Out of captivity, into conflict: slow lorises struggle to survive after release 26 Feb 2026 15:07:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: Wildlife releases are usually joyous events. Uplifting scenes of animals cautiously nosing the air as they take their first tentative steps into freedom warm our hearts. However, new research suggests the wild can be a “death trap,” especially if the released individuals lack the essential skills to find food and integrate with wild populations, or are set free into unsuitable habitat. The new study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, follows the fate of nine Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) released into a forest reserve in Bangladesh. The researchers found only two of the nine survived beyond six months. Several died within days or weeks. Slow lorises, with their wide eyes and plump bodies, are one of the world’s most trafficked primates. Despite their venomous bite that can prove fatal to people and their nocturnal habits, they’re highly sought after in the pet trade and for use as tourist photo props — a demand fueled by ill-informed social media videos displaying them in domestic settings or captivity. All nine slow loris species, which range across South and Southeast Asia, are also threatened by deforestation and poachers who kill them for use in traditional medicines. A 2010 study found lorises were the most in-demand animal in traditional medicine stores in Cambodia. Tragically, these pressures act in synergy. Habitat loss pushes lorises closer to forest edges and humans, who at best mistakenly think them lost and take them into captivity with a view to relocating them to a habitat that’s more “wild.”…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A study in Bangladesh found that seven of nine rescued Bengal slow lorises died within six months of release, showing that rewilding trafficked animals can become a “death trap” if habitat and social conditions aren’t right. - Most of the dead lorises bore venomous bite wounds from their wild counterparts, indicating that releasing highly territorial animals into already occupied forests can trigger lethal fights. - The two that survived established larger home ranges, while those kept longer in captivity fared worse, underscoring the need for careful site selection, population surveys, and evidence-based release protocols. - Experts say that rescue and release only address the symptoms of illegal wildlife trafficking, and that curbing poaching and habitat loss is essential to prevent further harm to both individuals and wild populations. authors: | ||
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US firm Virtus Minerals closes in on deal for crucial DRC copper and cobalt mines 26 Feb 2026 15:04:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/us-firm-virtus-minerals-closes-in-on-deal-for-crucial-drc-copper-and-cobalt-mines/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Ashoka Mukpo content:encoded: Virtus Minerals, a U.S.-based firm backed by the Trump administration, is inching closer to acquiring the assets of Chemaf, a troubled copper and cobalt miner that works in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to media reports. If the deal is approved by the DRC’s state mining company, Gécamines, it would be one of the most significant acquisitions of extractive rights in the region by a U.S. corporation since the two countries signed a “strategic partnership agreement” for critical mineral access in December. The agreement is part of a push by the U.S. to reassert itself in global critical mineral supply chains, which have been dominated by Chinese firms in recent years. At a diplomatic summit convened by the U.S. in February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that securing access to those minerals was a “priority for this administration at the highest order.” With its vast reserves of cobalt, copper, tungsten and other minerals that are vital to advanced industries like artificial intelligence and clean energy, the DRC is center stage in this effort, and has been a recent focus of the Trump administration’s foreign policy in Africa. The partnership agreement was announced in Washington just a day before a ceremony was held at the White House between DRC President Félix Tshishekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame to cement a U.S.-brokered peace deal between the two countries. In his comments at the event, U.S. President Donald Trump made it clear his administration’s involvement in the deal — which has…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - U.S.-based firm Virtus Minerals has reached an agreement to take control of large copper and cobalt mines run by Dubai-based Chemaf in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to its CEO. - Founded by former military and intelligence officials, Virtus has received strong backing from the Trump administration as part of its push to secure access to critical minerals and for greater control over supply chains. - The deal still has to be approved by the DRC’s state-owned mining company Gécamines, which owns the mining permits sought by Virtus. - In 2024, Chinese state-owned defense company Norinco attempted to buy Chemaf’s assets but was blocked by Gécamines after an intervention by the U.S. Biden administration. authors: | ||
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Mummified cheetahs found in Saudi caves could shape rewilding plans 26 Feb 2026 13:46:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mummified-cheetahs-found-in-saudi-caves-could-shape-rewilding-plans/ author: Lizkimbrough dc:creator: Liz Kimbrough content:encoded: Researchers exploring a cave network in northern Saudi Arabia have made an unexpected find: seven naturally mummified cheetahs, along with the skeletal remains of 54 more, preserved for up to 4,000 years in arid underground chambers. “It was a big surprise,” lead author Ahmed Al Boug of Saudi Arabia’s National Centre for Wildlife told Scientific American. One of the mummified cheetahs as it was found in situ in a cave in northern Saudi Arabia. Photo courtesy of National Center for Wildlife – Saudi Arabia The discovery, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, is already reshaping how scientists think about reintroducing the big cats to the Arabian Peninsula. The mummies were found during surveys of 134 caves spanning an area the size of New York City (1,211 square kilometers, or 468 square miles) near the city of Arar. Five of the caves contained cheetah remains, with one sinkhole-accessed cave alone yielding 41 specimens. “The fact that they went into over one hundred caves and were able to find mummies — that’s highly unusual outside of permafrost,” Liz Kierepka, a wildlife geneticist at North Carolina State University in the U.S., who wasn’t involved in the study, told Science News. The hot, dry microclimate of the limestone caves created ideal conditions for natural preservation, inhibiting bacterial decay and keeping soft tissue intact for centuries. An above ground view of one of the caves where a mummified cheetah was found. Photo courtesy of David Chancellor/Ahmed Boug et al./Communications Earth & Environment CT…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Researchers discovered seven naturally mummified cheetahs and 54 skeletal remains preserved for up to 4,000 years in caves in northern Saudi Arabia. - Ancient DNA analysis, performed on naturally mummified big cats for the first time, showed that two subspecies historically inhabited the region, not one as previously assumed. - The Asiatic cheetah, long considered the only candidate for reintroduction, has fewer than 30 individuals left in the wild, making the genetic evidence for a second subspecies significant for rewilding planners. - Saudi Arabia has already successfully reintroduced several ungulate species, setting a foundation for a potential future cheetah reintroduction. authors: | ||
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Cockfights might knockout Peru’s rarest fish? 26 Feb 2026 13:35:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/cockfights-might-knockout-perus-rarest-fish/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Romi Castagnino content:encoded: In Peru, cockfighting is legal — and one of its traditional weapons, a spur, may be pushing an ancient species closer to extinction. For decades, rostral teeth from the critically endangered sawfish have been carved into razor-sharp spurs used in rooster fights. Though selling sawfish parts is illegal, these spurs still circulate in informal online markets, sometimes fetching up to $250 each. For small-scale fishers facing declining catches, a single sawfish can mean months of income. But researchers, conservationists and even leaders within the cockfighting community are now working to remove sawfish from the sport before it’s too late. Can tradition evolve fast enough to save one of the rarest fish on Earth?This article was originally published on Mongabay description: In Peru, cockfighting is legal — and one of its traditional weapons, a spur, may be pushing an ancient species closer to extinction. For decades, rostral teeth from the critically endangered sawfish have been carved into razor-sharp spurs used in rooster fights. Though selling sawfish parts is illegal, these spurs still circulate in informal online […] authors: | ||
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Brazil revokes decree privatizing three Amazonian rivers after Indigenous protests 26 Feb 2026 11:24:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/brazil-revokes-decree-privatizing-three-amazonian-rivers-after-indigenous-protests/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Brazil has revoked a presidential decree that placed sections of three Amazonian rivers — the Tapajós, Madeira and Tocantins — under a state-led privatization program. Indigenous groups had protested the plan for 33 days by blockading a Cargill grain port in Santarém in the western Brazilian Amazon. The decree was a part of a larger infrastructure initiative to create an industrial export route for freight barges carrying soy, corn and other grains from Brazil’s agricultural states in the Cerrado and the Amazon to ports on the Atlantic coast. For more than a month, hundreds of Indigenous protesters demanded that the government halt the initiative. They raised concerns that the project would damage the rivers and threaten at least 17 Indigenous territories and many more riverine communities. The protesters occupied Cargill’s terminal in Santarém. Archaeologists say it was built in 2003 on top of a precolonial archaeological site called Porto, a claim Cargill denies. Today, the site is the biggest export terminal on the Tapajós River, with an annual export capacity of 4.9 million metric tons. According to a 2013 study, bone fragments were identified in a ceramic urn excavated from the Porto site. Records also show the Santarém area was once one of the most densely populated regions in the Amazon, and that many Indigenous people were killed there by European colonists. “We have to protect this river, we have to protect this forest,” Indigenous leader Alessandra Korap Munduruku said from the port, in a video published after the government’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Brazil has revoked a presidential decree that placed sections of three Amazonian rivers — the Tapajós, Madeira and Tocantins — under a state-led privatization program. Indigenous groups had protested the plan for 33 days by blockading a Cargill grain port in Santarém in the western Brazilian Amazon. The decree was a part of a larger […] authors: | ||
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Profitable cash crop trend in Bangladesh’s hills affects regional ecology 26 Feb 2026 09:44:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/profitable-cash-crop-trend-in-bangladeshs-hills-affects-regional-ecology/ author: Abusiddique dc:creator: Abu Siddique content:encoded: The hill people of Bangladesh have been moving to profitable cash crops for the last couple of decades, dropping traditional agricultural practices. However, the economic gain soon turned into ecological damages, including severe soil erosion and water crisis. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region in Bangladesh, comprising three districts — Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarbans — has a unique hill forest landscape and rich biodiversity and is home to several Indigenous communities. The agricultural people of CHT have long been accustomed to the shifting, or slash-and-burn, cultivation process, locally known as jhum. Jhum cultivation is a process where farmers use a piece of land for cropping for one to three years, then leave it fallow for five to 20 years. They later clear rain-fed trees and bushes using the slash-and-burn method to make it arable again. A 2016 study mentioned that, lately, people of the region are farming pineapple, banana, papaya, turmeric and ginger, which are usually cultivated on the same land every year. “Cultivating cash crops has become very common in the region now, and these crops do not need the land to be kept fallow. All the changes come through different initiatives, including government and non-government projects, and also by the social influencers and corporates,” said Ratan Kumar Dey, former project manager at Anando, a Bangladeshi nonprofit that empowers rural populations. Dey worked in CHT for 18 years till 2025. Smoke and fire rise over land used for jhum cultivation on the hills of Bandarban, CHT. Image by Ariful…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The hill districts in the Chittagong region in Bangladesh have seen a large scale switch from the traditional shifting agriculture, or jhum, to more profitable cash crop cultivation in recent years. - According to a study, a major portion of the 40,000 hectares (98,842 acres) of hills that were previously used for traditional agriculture have been transformed for cultivating different cash crops like ginger, turmeric, pineapple and banana. - Though the transformation ensured economic gain for the farmers and investors, the ecology of the hill landscape has been affected by soil erosion, dried up streams, increased landslides and water scarcity for the locals. authors: | ||
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Nepal signs major carbon deal but community access remains challenging 26 Feb 2026 02:01:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/nepal-signs-major-carbon-deal-but-community-access-remains-challenging/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Sonam Lama Hyolmo content:encoded: KATHMANDU — Nepal signed an agreement with the LEAF Coalition on Jan. 23, becoming the first country in Asia to secure a deal expected to potentially deliver $55 million in carbon finance to support forest-dependent communities. However, carbon trade experts and forest group members say that ensuring the money reaches communities remains a challenge, as this is relatively uncharted territory for Nepal. Also, the agreement’s impact will depend on how transparently the funding is utilized, how strong the safeguards are and how meaningful the inclusion of Indigenous and forest-dependent communities is in decision-making and benefits sharing. “The achievement truly demands a transparent process for communities to access the money and participation of forest communities at the decision-making level,” Buddha Gharti Bhujel, senior vice chair and REDD focal person at the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), told Mongabay. As part of the agreement with LEAF — a public-private initiative involving the governments of Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Republic of Korea, along with more than 30 companies — Nepal aims to reduce emissions from potential deforestation across Gandaki, Bagmati and Lumbini provinces. “Through the agreement, we are working to ensure forest-dependent communities are paid for their significant roles in forest protection ensured for the period of 2022-2026,” said Nabaraj Pudasaini, joint secretary and chief of the REDD Implementation Center (REDD IC), the agency leading Nepal’s jurisdictional REDD+ program. Forest cover now accounts for more than 44% of Nepal’s land area. Pudasaini said his office is planning…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nepal is the first country in Asia to sign an agreement potentially worth $55 million with the LEAF Coalition to reduce emissions from deforestation across three provinces. - Experts and community representatives emphasize the deal’s success hinges on local people’s access, transparent funding, strong safeguards and inclusive benefit sharing. - While communities push for 80% of the funds to go directly to forest communities, bureaucratic processes, administrative fees and gaps in coordination and capacity could limit direct access, echoing lessons from Nepal’s previous REDD+ programs. authors: | ||
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In Nepal polls, political parties root for mega infrastructure 26 Feb 2026 01:56:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-nepal-polls-political-parties-root-for-mega-infrastructure/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Rajendra Pokehrel content:encoded: KATHMANDU — Bigger hydropower plants, wider roads and more transmission lines: These are the promises major political parties in Nepal are presenting to win votes in the country’s general elections, scheduled for March 5, a quick scan of the cover illustrations used in their manifestos suggest. The images show that despite rising climate risks across the country, major political parties continue to prioritize economic growth and mega infrastructure expansion, with climate and environmental issues receiving limited space even in their imagination, experts say. “The manifestos seem to reflect a dominant view that Nepal needs to focus on roads, bridges, industries, hospitals and educational institutions,” said researcher Ambarish Pokhrel of the Chubu Institute for Advanced Studies, Japan. “They also view environmental and climate issues as not urgent,” even as impacts are already affecting communities at the grassroots level “and they only slow down development,” he added. The manisfestos of the major parties. Globally, Nepal is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It ranked sixth on the list of countries most impacted by climate change in 2024, according to the Germanwatch Climate Risk Index. Rising global temperatures have changed monsoon characteristics and prolonged winter droughts. In the Himalayan areas, glacial melting and glacial lake outburst risks are rising; in the hill regions, landslides are becoming more frequent and in the Tarai-Madhesh, floods and inundation are intensifying. These changes are already affecting agricultural productivity, energy production, tourism and daily life. Mega infrastructure projects also have borne the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nepal’s major political parties focus their election manifestos on mega projects, viewing big construction as the primary engine for economic growth. - Despite Nepal ranking as the sixth most climate-vulnerable nation globally, parties largely treat environmental issues as an afterthought or a development delay, often ignoring the fact that recent climate-driven disasters have already severely damaged expensive infrastructure like the Melamchi water project. - While “green” terminology occasionally appears in the fine print to satisfy international frameworks, experts warn that low budget allocations and a lack of coordination mean these environmental commitments usually remain “on paper” while industrial expansion takes center stage. authors: | ||
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Letters to the future from journalism’s next generation 26 Feb 2026 00:51:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/letters-to-the-future-from-journalisms-next-generation/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Six young journalists, scattered across three continents and connected largely by screens, recently attempted an unusual exercise: writing letters addressed to the future instead of to editors. All six were members of the 2025 cohort of the English-language Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship. The results read like field notes from a generation that has come of age amid overlapping ecological and informational strain. Their concerns differ in detail, yet converge on a single question: Wwhat kind of journalism will be needed when crisis becomes a daily condition? For Shradha Triveni (India), environmental change permeates daily life. She describes working in cities where pollution is a lived reality and where trust in media is eroding as audiences migrate to video platforms and social feeds. Reinventing storytelling, she suggests, has become essential to journalism’s survival. Lee Kwai Han (Malaysia), arrives at a similar destination by tracing her journey from skepticism about sensational coverage to confidence in rigorous editing and verification as journalism’s distinguishing features. Ethics, in her telling, serves as the discipline that keeps reporting coherent and credible. Elsewhere, the letters dwell on what conventional coverage often overlooks. Manuel Fonseca (Colombia) reflects on the tendency to reduce assassinated environmental defenders to statistics, arguing that numbers alone cannot explain why individuals remain in dangerous places to protect land and water. Blaise Kasereka Makuta (Democratic Republic of Congo) offers a meditation on traditional medicine, treating it as a knowledge system threatened by displacement, climate change and institutional neglect. The future, he implies, will…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Six young journalists, scattered across three continents and connected largely by screens, recently attempted an unusual exercise: writing letters addressed to the future instead of to editors. All six were members of the 2025 cohort of the English-language Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship. The results read like field notes from a generation that has […] authors: | ||
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Australia spends $18b more on harming nature than protecting it: Study 25 Feb 2026 22:57:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/australia-spends-18b-more-on-harming-nature-than-protecting-it-study/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Megan Strauss content:encoded: The Australian government spends more money on activities that harm biodiversity than those that protect biodiversity, a new study suggests. Australia is a biodiversity hotspot, home to more than two-thirds of the world’s marsupials and a high rate of endemic species, but the country has suffered significant species extinctions since European arrival. Under Target 18 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), Australia’s government agreed to identify spending that harms the country’s plants, animals and fungi by 2025, and reduce it by 2030. However, the government has yet to release such estimates, so a team of researchers did it themselves. “The urgency of the 2030 reform deadline, and the ongoing deterioration of Australia’s environment, made it clear that this work couldn’t wait,” lead author Paul Elton of Australian National University told Mongabay by email. The study analyzed the federal government’s 2022-2023 budget using a method recommended by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It identified subsidies in the form of payments and tax concessions that may be harmful to biodiversity. Experts and collaborators from the Australian Biodiversity Council then ranked the impacts from those subsidies on biodiversity. The researchers found that between 2022 and 2023, Australia’s government spent A$26.3 billion ($18.6 billion) — or 1.1% of the country’s gross domestic product — on subsidies for activities believed to cause at least a medium level of harm to biodiversity. This stands in sharp contrast with the current spending on biodiversity conservation, estimated by the Biodiversity Council at less than…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The Australian government spends more money on activities that harm biodiversity than those that protect biodiversity, a new study suggests. Australia is a biodiversity hotspot, home to more than two-thirds of the world’s marsupials and a high rate of endemic species, but the country has suffered significant species extinctions since European arrival. Under Target 18 […] authors: | ||
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Australia hands record prison sentence to reptile smuggler in trafficking crackdown 25 Feb 2026 21:16:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/australia-hands-record-prison-sentence-to-reptile-smuggler-in-trafficking-crackdown/ author: Nandithachandraprakash dc:creator: Gloria Dickie content:encoded: The seizure of dozens of live Western blue-tongued lizards, bearded dragons and spiny-tailed skinks covertly packed into popcorn bags, biscuit tins and women’s handbags have led to the longest prison sentence ever doled out to a wildlife smuggler in Australia. On February 13, a New South Wales District Court sentenced 61-year-old Neil Simpson to eight years in jail for attempting to export 101 Australian reptiles to Hong Kong, Romania, South Korea and Sri Lanka. They were intercepted soon after being mailed, and investigators recovered several hundred more during subsequent searches of Simpson’s home. “This record sentence sends a strong message that profiting from illegally exporting our native wildlife will not be tolerated,” a spokesperson with Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) said. In addition to Western blue-tongued lizards (Tiliqua occipitalis) and multiple bearded dragon and spiny-tailed skink species, Simpson trafficked shingleback lizards (Tiliqua rugosa), Centralian blue-tongued skinks (Tiliqua multifasciata), desert skinks and narrow-banded sand swimmers (Eremiascincus fasciolatus). They were concealed in post packages shipped to international buyers. Each of the confiscated species is classified as a “regulated native specimen.” (Left) This Eastern Pilbara spiny-tailed skink was among hundreds of trafficked reptiles confiscated by Australian authorities that were intercepted en route to Asia and Europe or were seized at the home of Neil Simpson, who masterminded the operation. (Right) Numerous Australian reptiles were trafficked internationally by Simpson and others, according to officials, from at least 2018 to 2023, including this Southern Pygmy spiny-tailed skink. Both photos…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A 61-year-old Sydney man was sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to smuggle native Australian reptiles to Europe and Asia. - Australia is home to 10% of the world’s reptile species, and 90% can be found nowhere else in the world. - The Australian government is cracking down on wildlife trafficking, with arrests tripling from mid-2023 to early 2025. During that period, authorities seized more than 200 parcels at the border containing 780 native species. authors: | ||
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Agroforestry offers market-based way to boost Amazon rains & farmer incomes (analysis) 25 Feb 2026 19:24:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/agroforestry-offers-market-based-way-to-boost-amazon-rains-farmer-incomes-analysis/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Timothy J. Killeen content:encoded: The Amazon Rainforest generates its own weather. Each day, the forest’s 390 billion trees release approximately 20 billion metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, creating what Brazilian scientists call rios voadores — flying rivers. These aerial currents of moisture flow westward from the Atlantic, recirculating water from the forest canopy before turning south to deliver rainfall across South America’s agricultural heartlands. But the mechanism is breaking down. Since the 1970s, Brazil has cleared 88 million hectares (217 million acres) of Amazon forest, most converted into low-productivity pastures, with around 45 million hectares (111 million acres) considered severely or moderately degraded. The consequences extend beyond biodiversity loss, carbon emissions and social disruption: deforestation threatens the continent’s productive capacity and the economic livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. Droughts in 2023 and 2024 affected more than 50 million hectares (124 million acres) of forest, and scientists warn that continued deforestation could push the system past a tipping point where the Amazon can no longer sustain its rainfall regime. Yet hidden within this environmental crisis lies an economic opportunity. Brazil’s Forest Code, revised in 2012, requires private properties in the country’s Amazonian region to maintain native vegetation on 80% of their landholding as a “legal reserve” (reserva legal). Properties that clear forest beyond the 80% threshold carry a “forest debt” with a legal obligation to restore equivalent forest cover. Analysis using Brazil’s Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) indicates about 280,000 properties are noncompliant, with a collective deficit of 10…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Since the 1970s, Brazil has cleared a large amount of Amazon Rainforest, and the consequences extend beyond biodiversity loss, carbon emissions and social disruption, because the forest generates its own weather. - Continued deforestation could push the system past a tipping point where the Amazon can no longer sustain its rainfall regime, threatening the continent’s productive capacity and the economic livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. - The economic opportunity that can change this is agroforestry systems that reforest areas to produce global commodities that can also comply with Brazil’s Forest Code, which requires private properties in the Amazonian region to maintain native vegetation on 80% of their landholdings. - This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Big biodiversity goals run up against small funding realities 25 Feb 2026 19:23:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-biodiversity-goals-run-up-against-small-funding-realities/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: John Cannon content:encoded: Mexico’s sundry landscapes have few parallels. Straddling the northern boundary of the Tropic of Cancer, the country boasts low-lying deserts and humid rainforests, scrubby chaparral and tangled mangroves, with long spines of the Sierra Madre stitching the country’s starkly different biomes together. Mexico is home to the third-most mammal species of any country and supports a whopping 864 species of reptiles, nearly half of which occur only within Mexico’s borders. What’s more, human culture is deeply intertwined with the natural world here, with known traditional uses for almost a quarter — some 5,000 species — of its plants. “Mexico is a ‘megadiverse’ country,” Daniela Carrión, senior director of project design and oversight at the NGO Conservation International, tells Mongabay. The “megadiverse“ moniker is ascribed to 17 countries holding most of the world’s biodiversity. They typically have high levels of endemic species, plants in particular, that occur nowhere else on Earth. Still, Carrión adds, Mexico “faces a lot of challenges that are similar to all countries in terms of land use options and climate change.” Deforestation for agriculture, as well as logging, water scarcity and sea level rise, all threaten to strain the country’s resilience. The Mexican government has a long history of conservation, Carrión says, with recent moves to boost protected areas to 95 million hectares (235 million acres), covering 14% of the country’s land and a quarter of its seas and oceans by the end of 2024. But maintaining such large areas, which the country hopes to expand on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The global loss of biodiversity is a pressing problem that scientists and economists warn could have disastrous repercussions for society. - The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, signed in 2022, laid out a set of targets, including substantial increases in funding and ending subsidies that harm nature, to find ways to address and stem the loss. - Since the signing of the agreement, financing aimed at catalyzing work to protect species by less-industrialized countries, as well as Indigenous communities, has been channeled through the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund. - The fund has begun supporting projects around the world, even as the amounts committed from a handful of governments are a fraction of what researchers say is required to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. authors: | ||
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Floods ravage southeastern Brazil and kill 40 as rescuers race to find dozens missing 25 Feb 2026 18:10:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/floods-ravage-southeastern-brazil-and-kill-40-as-rescuers-race-to-find-dozens-missing/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil (AP) — Families of those killed in the devastating floods in southeastern Brazil began burying the dead on Wednesday, as the death toll climbed to at least 40 in the state of Minas Gerais. All the victims found so far are in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Uba, about 310 kilometers (192 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro. Some 30 people are still missing and more than 3,000 residents have been forced to leave their homes as of Wednesday morning, according to Minas Gerais’s fire department. Among the dead was 11-year-old Bernardo Lopes Dutra, after the rain caused his house to collapse. “It’s a tragedy that no one was expecting,” his father, Ricardo Dutra, said at the funeral in Juiz de Fora. He described Bernardo as “a boy with a big heart who, in his own way, touched everyone around him.” Dutra’s wife and daughter were still in a hospital. The Rev. Ananias Simões, the pastor at the church that Dutra and his family regularly attended in Juiz de Fora, said that the building has been turned into a temporary shelter. “We’re doing what we can, collecting food, water. We’re in a war situation,” Simões said. Dário Tibério, a 41-year-old truck driver, decided to leave his house along with his family for fear of collapse. He found refuge at the church, while he waits on authorities to say his home is risk-free. “There’s a danger that the mud and earth can come and bury us along with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil (AP) — Families of those killed in the devastating floods in southeastern Brazil began burying the dead on Wednesday, as the death toll climbed to at least 40 in the state of Minas Gerais. All the victims found so far are in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Uba, about 310 kilometers […] authors: | ||
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Penguins are breeding much earlier in a warming Antarctic, study finds 25 Feb 2026 17:55:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Ruth Kamnitzer content:encoded: Penguins are dramatically shifting their breeding season as the Antarctic peninsula warms, a recent study finds. From 2012 to 2022, researchers used remote cameras to examine the timing of breeding for three penguin species across 37 colonies on the Antarctic peninsula and surrounding islands. They tracked their ‘settlement date’: when the penguins began continuously occupying their nesting zones. The study, led by the citizen-science collective Penguin Watch at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, U.K., was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. Over that 10-year period, gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) began their breeding season an average of 13 days earlier in the year, though for some colonies, it was more than three weeks. Chinstrap (P. antarcticus) and Adélie (P. adeliae) penguins settled into their colonies an average of 10.4 and 10.2 days, respectively, ahead of their schedule a decade ago. These breeding changes are amongst the most extreme yet recorded for any bird — and likely any vertebrate — in response to climate change, the study notes. “This is a huge advance and an incredibly fast one … and that’s what surprised us,” says Ignacio Juarez Martínez, a biologist and the study’s lead author who conducted the research as part of his PhD at the University of Oxford. “It’s literally a world record.” Gentoo colony at Neko Harbour, on the Antarctic peninsula. Gentoo penguins are the least ice-tolerant of the three species studied — which also included Adélie and chinstrap penguins. They are expanding their range southwards…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Penguins on the Antarctic peninsula and surrounding islands are breeding substantially earlier in the year than just a decade ago, according to new research. - The study used remote cameras to track the breeding season of three penguin species across 37 colonies from 2012 to 2022. - Gentoo penguins advanced their breeding season by about 13 days over the 10-year period, while Adélie and chinstrap penguins each shifted breeding by about 10 days. - Researchers don’t yet know how the changes are impacting penguins, but it could lead to a mismatch in food availability for chicks or create competition among species for food and other resources. authors: | ||
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In Brazil, a free platform uses government data to track EUDR compliance 25 Feb 2026 17:13:05 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-brazil-a-free-platform-uses-government-data-to-track-eudr-compliance/ author: Jeremy Hance dc:creator: Constance Malleret content:encoded: In 2020, a research paper published in the journal Science found that 20% of soy exports and at least 17% of beef exports from Brazil’s Cerrado and Amazon biomes to the European Union had been tainted by illegal deforestation. At the time, the EU was debating the EUDR, its regulation on deforestation-free products. Producer countries like Brazil were pushing back, worried about the cost and feasibility of complying with the regulations, said Raoni Rajão, an associate professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil and lead author of the paper. The study, which analyzed land use across 815,000 rural properties in the Amazon and Cerrado, showed that “technology and data do exist to implement government systems for universal traceability,” Rajão told Mongabay. This prompted him and other UFMG researchers to develop an online platform that uses official records to cross-check data on land use, deforestation, cattle transport, and compliance with environmental laws of rural properties, making the information public and free. Called Selo Verde (“Green Label” in English), the platform was first trialed in 2021 for soy and beef in the Amazonian state of Pará. Three other Brazilian states have since adopted their own version of it, offering a model for guaranteeing that commodities destined for the EU — such as soy, beef, coffee and cacao — are compliant with the EUDR. Due to come into effect at the end of this year after two postponements, the EUDR puts the onus on importers to ensure that certain…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Developed by researchers at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, the Selo Verde platform provides a free, public tool to check a Brazilian producer’s compliance with environmental laws, including the upcoming EU deforestation regulation. - The tool crosses data from state and federal governments on land use, deforestation, cattle transport and legal infractions, to monitor environmental compliance on rural properties. - Selo Verde is run by state governments: First launched in the state of Pará in 2021, it has since been adopted in Minas Gerais, Acre and Espírito Santo, with other states interested in developing their own Selo Verde, and other countries encouraged to emulate their own. - The adoption of the platform by businesses remains a challenge, however, with experts saying there’s no incentive to do so amid ongoing delays to the EUDR. authors: | ||
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Why is cockfighting a risk to Peru’s rarest fish? 25 Feb 2026 15:16:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/02/why-is-cockfighting-a-risk-to-perus-rarest-fish/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Romi Castagnino content:encoded: PERU — The film uncovers the connection between one of Peru’s most iconic cultural traditions and one of its most endangered marine species. In northern fishing communities, the rostral teeth of the largetooth sawfish, once thought extinct in the waters off Peru, have long been carved into razor-sharp spurs for cockfights. Today, even as the practice becomes illegal and increasingly discouraged within the sport, the teeth still circulate through informal markets, fueled by economic desperation and cultural pride. Through the perspectives of a fisherman who accidentally captured a massive sawfish at sea, a young scientist who fought to save one on a chaotic dock, a biologist documenting the species’ decline, and a cockfighting leader pushing to eliminate animal-based spurs, the film reveals a complex conservation story. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! Banner image: Collage featuring cockfighting and a largetooth sawfish. The man who risked everything to steal bird eggsThis article was originally published on Mongabay description: PERU — The film uncovers the connection between one of Peru’s most iconic cultural traditions and one of its most endangered marine species. In northern fishing communities, the rostral teeth of the largetooth sawfish, once thought extinct in the waters off Peru, have long been carved into razor-sharp spurs for cockfights. Today, even as the […] authors: | ||
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Big cats get the press, but small wildcats are being poached and trafficked in silence 25 Feb 2026 15:13:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-cats-get-the-press-but-small-wildcats-are-being-poached-and-trafficked-in-silence/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Jaguars are increasingly targeted across Latin America for their roseate-patterned pelts and canine teeth, following decades of relatively little poaching. When researchers in Colombia investigated the jaguar trade within the country, they made a troubling discovery: Colombia’s small wildcats are also in the crosshairs. Official records revealed that between 2015 and 2021, more than 700 small wildcats were seized or surrendered to authorities. The vast majority of these cats were found alive, including more than 400 ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) as well as oncillas (Leopardus pardinoides), also known as the clouded tiger cat, jaguarundis (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) and margays (Leopardus wiedii). Between 2015 and 2021, more than 400 ocelots were seized by or surrendered to Colombian authorities. Image by Robin Gwen Agarwal via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). Skins, teeth and other parts were also confiscated. The research, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation, suggests an established demand for small wildcats as exotic pets in Colombia. “Until now, the trade in small cats in Latin America had always seemed [to be at] a very low scale — opportunistic activity,” says Melissa Arias, a wildlife trade specialist at the Zoological Society of London and a co-author of the study. “But what we saw with the numbers is that it is actually quite significant.” Their findings are both unsurprising and worrisome, as the true scale of trade is likely to be higher, says Pauline Verheij, a wildlife crime specialist with the NGO EcoJust, who wasn’t involved in the research. “It’s a given that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - While black market sale of jaguars, tigers and other big cats has been carefully tracked for decades, trade in small and medium-sized felines has gone largely undocumented. Many are threatened or endangered species. - Researchers in Colombia discovered that a substantial number of smaller wild cats were seized by or surrendered to wildlife officials from 2015 to 2021. - The cats are mostly sold alive as pets, though some skins, teeth and other parts were also confiscated. - Seizures of illegally traded wildlife represent just a small percentage of those that are poached and trafficked. The smaller cats are, the more they seem to be traded, researchers say, and globally, there needs to be greater monitoring of international trade in small and mid-sized felines. authors: | ||
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Indigenous Ikoots community prepares to relocate as the Pacific floods their town 25 Feb 2026 13:47:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-ikoots-community-prepares-to-relocate-as-the-pacific-floods-their-town/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Euan Wallace content:encoded: CUAUHTÉMOC, Mexico — On a wind-battered beach in San Mateo del Mar, Mexico, four figures haul a net into shore. Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens) mark the fishers’ position in a high, twisting column that follows their progress from the water onto the beach. One of the men tosses a small fish onto the sand. It barely comes to rest before a dark bird wheels down from the sky to claim it. The man is José Rangel Edison, 57, a fisher from the community of Cuauhtémoc, an Indigenous Ikoots community of 900 people in the municipality of San Mateo del Mar, on Mexico’s Pacific coast. “In the past, the sea used to be over there,” Edison says, pointing to the horizon across the cresting waves. “But since I was 18, when I started fishing, it’s been coming in little by little. Now it has almost wiped out Cuauhtémoc.” Edison’s community is perched on a slim stretch of land between the ocean and a large lagoon system. Now, rapid se level advance is displacing residents and disrupting daily life. According to a report from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, the Pacific Ocean consumed 8.4 meters (27.5 feet) of Cuauhtémoc’s land per year between 1967 and 2014, while locals describe a larger encroachment of around 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) since the first half of the 20th century. Two Cuauhtémoc residents walk past a dead tree as they make their way toward the ocean. Image by Euan Wallace for Mongabay. The effect on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - On Mexico’s Pacific coast, sea level rise and infrastructure projects have eroded 8.4 meters of coastline per year since 1967. - In the community of Cuauhtémoc, San Mateo del Mar, at least 900 Indigenous Ikoots people are increasingly affected by flooding, as homes and streets give way to the sea. - The community voted to relocate in May 2025, but bureaucratic delays are hindering the process, and many lack the funds to leave the community on their own. authors: | ||
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Indigenous communities oppose Papua forest rezoning for palm oil 25 Feb 2026 08:09:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-communities-oppose-papua-forest-rezoning-for-palm-oil/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Indigenous communities in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua accuse the government of underhanded zoning changes to expand the so-called food estate program there to include large-scale oil palm plantations. Indigenous representatives have filed a formal objection to two decrees issued by the Ministry of Forestry that reclassify 486,939 hectares (1.2 million acres) of forest in Merauke, Boven Digoel and Mappi districts, in South Papua province, as nonforest land. This new designation means these forests are now eligible to be cleared for oil palm plantations. The communities say these decrees were issued without consulting them and overlap with areas they’ve long proposed as customary forests, or hutan adat. They allege that the process is being bulldozed through without their knowledge or consent, and that it threatens their customary territories. “This [rezoning] harms communities because they are the owners of those forests, yet they are not recognized as customary owners,” Tigor Hutapea, a lawyer from the NGO Pusaka Bentala Rakyat working with the communities, told Mongabay. He said at least four Indigenous clans in Boven Digoel district are affected by the rezoning as the areas covered by the decrees overlap onto their customary lands. Papuan Indigenous people and activists hold a protest against Merauke Food Estate in front of the Defense Ministry office in Jakarta in 2024. Image © Afriadi Hikmal / Greenpeace. Next-day approval The rezoning follows a proposal to expand the food estate program into a broader agricultural and energy project in South Papua. On Sept. 17, 2025,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indigenous communities in Indonesian Papua have filed an administrative objection against forestry ministry decrees that reclassify more than a million acres as nonforest land, clearing the way for oil palm development under the government’s food estate program. - The rezoning last September was carried out without the communities’ knowledge or consent, and the affected areas include swaths of forest that they have proposed as customary forests. - The communities only learned of the decision months later, after NGOs obtained the decree. If the ministry fails to respond to their objection, they plan to sue in the State Administrative Court. - The expansion aligns with the government’s drive to boost food and biofuel production, but Indigenous rights advocates warn the plan could cost communities their forests, livelihoods and cultural ties to the land. authors: | ||
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In Myanmar’s limestone hills, people and bats are often too close for comfort 25 Feb 2026 07:28:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-myanmars-limestone-hills-people-and-bats-are-often-too-close-for-comfort/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: Limestone karst is like an island. Each rocky formation rises distinctly out of the surrounding landscape. Over time, an array of highly specialized species, each adapted to that particular landform’s jagged forests and dark caves, have evolved. As a result, many karst species are endemic and perilously rare. Myanmar is home to Southeast Asia’s second-largest area of limestone karst, after Indonesia; its rugged peaks cover a total of more than 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles. The area hosts the entire global population of Popa langurs (Trachypithecus popa), one of the world’s most recently described primates, and scores of gecko species described only in the past decade. Scientists say countless others likely remain tucked away in obscurity, waiting to be discovered. Yet despite its biodiversity, less than 1% of Myanmar’s limestone karst is formally protected, prompting concerns from conservationists about fragile wildlife populations that are facing mounting pressure amid a boom in clandestine mining and deforestation across the country to meet rising demand for cement, minerals and timber. Now, a recent census of cave-dwelling bats in northeast Myanmar’s Shan state indicates many karst caverns are becoming increasingly inhospitable for the winged mammals due to human disturbance, posing risks to both bats and people. “Bats are natural reservoirs for many viruses, including coronaviruses,” said Thura Soe Min Htike, conservation officer at the Nature Conservation Society–Myanmar and a co-author of the study. “Understanding how bats interact with their environment, and how humans interact with bats, is an important first step in preventing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent census of cave-dwelling bats in northeastern Myanmar found many karst caverns are increasingly inhospitable for the winged mammals due to human disturbance, posing risks to both bats and people. - Bats are natural reservoirs for many viruses, researchers say, which means managing the ways humans interact with them is vital to managing potential disease spillover, researchers say. - The main sources of disturbance are limestone quarrying, tourism and religious activities, hunting of bats for food, and guano harvesting. - To manage the ecological threats and disease risk, the researchers recommend better conservation protections, improved land-use planning, and dedicated cave management plans that include public education programs on cave hygiene and zoonotic disease risk. authors: | ||
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Amazon riverfolk warn blasting rocks for shipping route will kill fisheries 25 Feb 2026 07:00:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/amazon-riverfolk-warn-blasting-rocks-for-shipping-route-will-kill-fisheries/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Tiffany Higgins content:encoded: ITUPIRANGA, Brazil — Ronaldo Macena and Erlan Moraes, traditional riverfolk leaders whose families have lived for generations on the Lourenção Rocks fishery on the Amazon’s Tocantins River, were hopeful in September when a federal judge visited their villages. For several generations, Macena told the judge, the peoples of the Pedral do Lourenção riverfolk territory, as they call it, have thrived in its rocky reaches, gaining not just income and dignified livelihoods but also cultural identification from fishing its stony subaquatic canyons that reach to more than 76 meters (250 feet) deep. But as the federal government seeks to open the river as a new shipping route, their rights have been systematically violated, Macena said, by a federal government that hasn’t treated them as traditional peoples with a distinct “culture, language and traditions” — but instead lumped riverfolk in with urban peoples, leaving their traditional knowledge, fishing and even existence barely acknowledged in government records. Brazil’s federal transport agencies plan to explode the deep, rocky river territory of the Pedral do Lourenção, as riverfolk call it (formally known as Pedral do Lourenço), a first step toward a riverway on the Tocantins River meant to expand exports of grains, minerals and cattle. The project is being executed by Brazil’s infrastructure transport department (DNIT), with studies by the Brazilian engineering consulting firm DTA Engenharia. To turn the river into a shipping route, authorities decided to blow up the rocks of a 35-kilometer (21.7-mile) section of the Lourenção, which is 43-kilometers (26.7-miles) long and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - As Brazil moves to explode the deep, rocky river territory of the Lourenção Rocks, locals on the Tocantins River say the government’s refusal to recognize them as “impacted” excludes thousands of fishers from protections. - Scientists compare the 43-kilometer (26.7-mile) rocky stretch to an “underwater Galapagos,” warning that detonations will destroy the quiet water pockets and deep rocks where rare species breed. - The industrial shipping route is designed to accelerate global exports of soy and minerals, a move critics say prioritizes corporate profit over the survival of traditional peoples. authors: | ||
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Bringing Mongabay’s Amazon narco airstrip exposé to the stage 24 Feb 2026 23:45:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/02/bringing-mongabays-amazon-narco-airstrip-expose-to-the-stage/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Mongabay Latam’s multiyear, *award-winning **investigation that uncovered 67 clandestine airstrips in the Peruvian Amazon used for drug trafficking sent waves across the local media landscape. It drew attention to the Indigenous communities impacted by these illegal airstrips and the 15 Indigenous leaders who were killed defending their territory. To communicate this story to a wider audience, Mongabay Latam director Maria Isabel Torres and managing editor Alexa Vélez adapted it into an interactive live theater performance for an audience of 100. They join this week’s podcast to tell the “story behind the story” of what they, their reporters, and Indigenous leaders experienced during this investigation, and how their play adaptation brings that to the eyes and ears of a theatrical audience. “I think that all the journalists in these times, we are very worried [about] trying to find ways to understand our audience and to get their attention. We know that there are news avoiders. We know that there are fake news. So we are trying to look for different ways,” Torres says. The idea behind the concept of a live theatrical performance is to put the audience in the shoes of the reporters and Indigenous leaders on the ground who faced intimidation and threats, they tell me. And to communicate how reporters ultimately uncovered the truth. “Instead of saying that 15 Indigenous leaders were killed, we gave the audience banners with the photos of each of the Indigenous leader, asking them to stand up … at the beginning of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Mongabay Latam’s multiyear, *award-winning **investigation that uncovered 67 clandestine airstrips in the Peruvian Amazon used for drug trafficking sent waves across the local media landscape. It drew attention to the Indigenous communities impacted by these illegal airstrips and the 15 Indigenous leaders who were killed defending their territory. To communicate this story to a wider […] authors: | ||
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In Thailand, old camera-trap photos shed new light on Asian tapirs 24 Feb 2026 23:06:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-thailand-old-camera-trap-photos-shed-new-light-on-asian-tapirs/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: Researchers in Thailand have used archived camera-trapping data to identify a stronghold for Asian tapirs in the Khlong Saeng–Khao Sok Forest Complex, a lush network of protected areas in the country’s southern Surat Thani province. The new study, led by Wyatt Petersen, a biologist at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand, and published in the journal Mammalian Biology, shows how camera-trap “bycatch” data — images of nontarget species — can be used to monitor tapirs (Tapirus indicus). To date, tapirs have mostly been surveyed using visual transects, in which researchers walk along a predefined path through the forest and count any tapirs they can spot along the way. The Asian tapir, sometimes also called the Malayan tapir, is the largest of the world’s four tapir species and the only one found outside Latin America. It ranges from southern Myanmar and Thailand to Sumatra and is considered endangered, with fewer than 2,500 mature individuals remaining, according to the latest assessment conducted in 2014 for the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Boldly black-and-white patterned adult tapirs can weigh up to 350 kilograms (772 pounds), whereas the more discrete brown coats of calves are flecked with white, perfectly camouflaging them against the dappled light of the forest floor. As nocturnal understory specialists, they have stubbornly thick hides to protect them against scrubby thorns, and a protruding prehensile snout for gathering foliage and fruits that doubles as a “snorkel” while rummaging underwater for aquatic plants. Although Asian tapirs are preyed on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Archived camera-trap data from southern Thailand’s Khlong Saeng–Khao Sok Forest Complex identified at least 43 individual Asian tapirs, suggesting the area may be a key refuge for the endangered species. - Researchers used “bycatch” images from camera traps originally set to photograph bears to estimate tapir density at 6-10 individuals per 100 square kilometers, showing existing data can help monitor elusive species. - Modeling suggests the forest complex could hold up to 436 mature tapirs, far higher than previous estimates for Thailand and Myanmar combined, though researchers warn the figure may overestimate actual numbers. - Despite the promising findings, Asian tapirs face ongoing threats from habitat loss and snaring, and experts say protecting intact forest strongholds is vital for the species’ survival. authors: | ||
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Indigenous leader assassinated in Colombia’s Caldas department 24 Feb 2026 21:15:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/indigenous-leader-assassinated-in-colombias-caldas-department/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: Indigenous leader José Albino Cañas Ramírez was recently shot and killed by two unknown individuals in Colombia’s Caldas department. Indigenous authorities suspect it was a targeted attack linked to his work in defense of one of the oldest Indigenous reserves in Colombia, the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta (RCMLP). It’s a 37.6-square-kilometer (14.5-square-mile) reserve established in 1540 but has been threatened by illegal miners and armed groups for decades. According to a statement released by the RCMLP, the two individuals arrived at the shop attached to the home of Cañas Ramírez at approximately 8:50 p.m. on Feb. 16. As Ramírez prepared to attend to them, they shot him four times and fled along the community’s roads toward Supía, a neighboring municipality. Ramírez died several minutes later, the statement said. Ramírez was an active member of the resguardo’s governing council (cabildo) and an Indigenous authority from the community of Portachuelo, one of 32 Embera Chamí Indigenous communities in the reserve. Ramírez’s responsibilities included territorial protection, conflict resolution and the promotion of cultural preservation within the Portachuelo community. As part of his work, he encouraged young people to stay away from drugs, which has been a growing concern in the community, Hector Jaime Vinasco, a member of the resguardo’s governing council, told Mongabay over a phone call. Illegal mining and armed conflict have threatened the local communities for many years. In recognition of the threats and violence they face, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted the Embera people precautionary measures…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Indigenous leader José Albino Cañas Ramírez was recently shot and killed by two unknown individuals in Colombia’s Caldas department. Indigenous authorities suspect it was a targeted attack linked to his work in defense of one of the oldest Indigenous reserves in Colombia, the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta (RCMLP). It’s a 37.6-square-kilometer (14.5-square-mile) reserve […] authors: | ||
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Spiro secures $50 million to expand Africa battery-swapping network 24 Feb 2026 15:50:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/spiro-secures-50-million-to-expand-africa-battery-swapping-network/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Financing for electric vehicle transport is ramping up in Africa as confidence rises in the potential for battery swapping, fast charging and other technologies. Spiro, Africa’s largest electric mobility operator, has secured $50 million in debt financing from African Export-Import Bank, or Afreximbank, U.S.-based climate fintech platform Nithio and the Africa Go Green Fund to expand its battery-swapping network. The announcement came days after Arc Ride, another e-mobility firm, received a $5 million equity commitment from the International Finance Corp., or IFC, signaling growing institutional confidence in Africa’s clean transport sector. Gogo Electric, a Ugandan e-bike startup also raised $1 million last week from ElectriFi, the European Union-funded electrification financing funded by the EDFI management firm. Spiro said that it would use the capital to extend its battery-swapping stations to existing and new markets, while advancing technology including automated battery swaps, fast charging and renewable energy integration. “This new funding reinforces our vision of building a robust, scalable energy network tailored for Africa by Africans,” said Kaushik Burman, CEO of Spiro. The e-mobility company operates in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Benin and Togo, with trials in Cameroon and Tanzania. It has deployed more than 80,000 electric motorcycles, circulated more than 300,000 batteries, completed 30 million battery swaps, and established more than 2,500 swap stations. Riders have logged more than 1 billion carbon-free kilometers. “We will use it to deploy energy infrastructure that will contribute meaningfully to a greener future in Africa,” said its founder, Gagan Gupta.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Financing for electric vehicle transport is ramping up in Africa as confidence rises in the potential for battery swapping, fast charging and other technologies. Spiro, Africa’s largest electric mobility operator, has secured $50 million in debt financing from African Export-Import Bank, or Afreximbank, U.S.-based climate fintech platform Nithio and the Africa […] authors: | ||
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Flying along with monarch butterflies 24 Feb 2026 14:17:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/flying-along-with-monarch-butterflies/ author: Sam Lee dc:creator: Abhishyant Kidangoor content:encoded: Every year, monarch butterflies make their iconic migration across North America. The journey spans thousands of miles and three countries. However, very little is known about this migration, resulting in the lack of concrete data about a very important life stage of these butterflies. Scientists are now using lightweight radio tags to get insights into the mysterious migration of monarch butterflies. Using the technology, they have been able to understand how and where the butterflies move, filling crucial gaps in the data. Watch the latest episode of Then vs Now to learn more.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Every year, monarch butterflies make their iconic migration across North America. The journey spans thousands of miles and three countries. However, very little is known about this migration, resulting in the lack of concrete data about a very important life stage of these butterflies. Scientists are now using lightweight radio tags to get insights into […] authors: | ||
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As Nepal votes, climate change is an elephant in the room for Sherpa community 24 Feb 2026 14:13:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/as-nepal-votes-climate-change-is-an-elephant-in-the-room-for-sherpa-community/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Shashwat Pant content:encoded: KATHMANDU — As Nepal gears up for parliamentary elections on March 5, 2026, the remote high-altitude villages of Khumbu, home to the Indigenous Sherpa people, Sagarmatha (Everest) and some of the world’s most iconic trekking trails remain largely untouched by the political frenzy sweeping towns and cities across the country. While posters, rallies and door-to-door campaigns dominate the lowlands, harsh winter conditions coupled with mass seasonal migration have left villages such as Namche Bazaar, Lukla and Pangboche in the Sagarmatha region eerily quiet. “With most residents having moved to Kathmandu [Nepal’s capital], the candidates will arrive here only at the last minute as campaigning [for the Khumbu constituency] goes on in Kathmandu itself,” Sonam Sherpa, a resident of Lukla, told Mongabay by phone. In high-altitude communities beneath Sagarmatha, worsening climate impacts such as retreating Himalayan glaciers and frequent avalanches are growing risks, yet election debates still focus mainly on immediate infrastructure needs such as roads, electricity and drinking water rather than long-term environmental resilience, residents say. “We only talk about climate change among ourselves,” Sonam Sherpa said. The candidates, meanwhile, talk about issues related to infrastructure such as roads and electricity, he adds. Villages wear a deserted look in the Khumbu region in Nepal. Image by Shashwat Pant. Since the first ascent of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, the Sherpa people, known for their ability to thrive at high altitudes, gained global visibility and mobility. Second-generation Sherpas often pursue higher education and professional careers abroad. Third-generation…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Seasonal migration and low resident voter presence in Nepal’s Sagarmatha (Everest) region mean election campaigns concentrate on infrastructure rather than climate adaptation, leaving long-term environmental resilience underprioritized. - Sherpa communities are witnessing retreating glaciers, erratic snowfall, avalanches and flooding, consistent with IPCC reports on elevation-dependent warming, changing snow and monsoon patterns and downstream water risks. - Everest mountaineering revenue and helicopter tourism generate income, but limited reinvestment in climate adaptation, environmental regulation and sustainable infrastructure threatens ecosystems and the local economy in the face of climate change. authors: | ||
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Botswana shows how smarter cattle herding can save lions, reopen ancient wildlife pathways 24 Feb 2026 13:51:00 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/botswana-shows-how-smarter-cattle-herding-can-save-lions-reopen-ancient-wildlife-pathways/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Gloria Dickie content:encoded: The lions that roamed the plains of northern Botswana were dying. One by one, the big cats were succumbing to poisoned bait planted by exasperated villagers. The lions had been chipping away at their livelihood, feasting on the cattle that they left to graze along the Okavango Delta. By the end of 2013, around 30 lions — more than half of the northern Okavango population — had been killed in just one year. More than a decade later, the situation is radically different. The lion population has rebounded. Cub survival rate is up. And cattle losses are dramatically down. It’s the result of years of hard work: restoring traditional herding practices, collaring and tracking lions, and, most recently, establishing a market for ‘wildlife-friendly beef.’ This serves as a model, wildlife advocates say, for other parts of southern Africa where modern grazing practices have collided with big cats’ appetites. “It can be adapted to just about anywhere,” said Andrew Stein, the founder of Communities Living Sustainably Among Wildlife (CLAWS) Conservancy, which is based in Botswana. In the last 25 years, more than half the lions have vanished from the plains of Africa, largely due to conflicts with communities. As human populations have expanded, the animal’s range has shrunk, leaving remnant isolated groups. Today, there are fewer than 25,000 lions left across the continent. But in southern Africa, one large continuous population still roams the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), the world’s largest transnational land-based protected area, which runs across Angola,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Restoring traditional herding practices in northern Botswana has led to a huge decrease in cattle predation and retaliatory lion poisonings in the Okavango Delta region. - More lion cubs are now surviving, with the lion population in northern Botswana up 50% over the past four years. - Experts say bringing back traditional herding practices is the key to restoring migration routes for wildebeest, zebra and many other species. - If herding expands, government officials may consider removing some veterinary cordon fences that have blocked wildlife corridors for decades. authors: | ||
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Measuring what works in conservation 24 Feb 2026 13:24:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/measuring-what-works-in-conservation/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Conservation has never lacked ideas. Protected areas, payments for ecosystem services, community management, certification schemes, and public campaigns have all been promoted as solutions to biodiversity loss. What has often been missing is reliable knowledge about how well these interventions work, for whom, and under what conditions. A growing body of recent research argues that answering those questions requires moving beyond counting activities to establishing causal impact — determining whether observed outcomes can truly be attributed to conservation actions. Two recent commentaries underscore this shift. One, published on Mongabay by Oxford researcher Tanya O’Garra, warns that conservation risks spending scarce funds on “well-intentioned but ineffective efforts” without stronger causal evidence. Another, published in Nature, argues that biodiversity policy suffers from an “evidence problem,” with many interventions not grounded in robust research. Together with recent methodological papers, they reflect a field attempting to move from persuasion to proof. From monitoring to impact evaluation Traditional conservation monitoring focuses on trends: forest cover, species abundance, or compliance indicators. These metrics are valuable but insufficient. A forest might remain intact because of protection, or because it lies far from roads, markets, or settlements. Distinguishing between these possibilities requires impact evaluation — assessing changes that can be causally attributed to an intervention. Impact evaluation centers on a deceptively simple question: what would have happened without the intervention? Because this counterfactual world cannot be observed, researchers approximate it using comparison groups or statistical techniques. The aim is to rule out alternative explanations for observed outcomes.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Conservation has many widely used strategies, but far less reliable evidence about how well they work, making it difficult to direct scarce resources effectively. Researchers increasingly argue that measuring causal impact — not just tracking activities or trends — is essential to understanding real outcomes. - Impact evaluation seeks to determine what would have happened without an intervention, but doing so is challenging because conservation actions occur in complex, real-world settings where experiments are often impractical. Without accounting for factors like location bias, programs can appear more effective than they truly are. - To address this, conservationists are adopting methods from fields such as economics and public health, including randomized trials where possible and quasi-experimental approaches when they are not. Different tools suit different contexts, and evaluation needs evolve as projects move from pilot stages to large-scale implementation. - Evidence gaps, limited resources, and institutional incentives can all discourage rigorous evaluation, yet the stakes are high as biodiversity loss accelerates. Most experts now agree that while not every project requires exhaustive study, systematic learning about what works is crucial to improving conservation outcomes. authors: | ||
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Panama NGOs face lawsuits, asset seizures in fight over port construction 23 Feb 2026 22:07:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/panama-ngos-face-lawsuits-asset-seizures-in-fight-over-port-construction/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: For more than a year, dozens of environmental groups have been fighting the construction of a controversial port in Panama, arguing that it will harm marine life and the mangroves they depend on. Now, two of those groups have had their assets seized amid lawsuits filed by the port’s developer — a move environmental advocates say is highly unusual. The Puerto Barú project, located in Panama’s northwestern Chiriquí province, has been stalled by legal challenges filed by a coalition of environmental groups, which have also led public campaigns claiming the port could damage the breeding grounds of sharks, rays and other marine life. In response, the port’s developer, Ocean Pacific Financial Services Corp., has filed criminal and civil lawsuits against two of the groups, and a court has ordered the seizure of some of their assets. “It’s a very worrying precedent that the judicial system is being used in this way against actions to defend the environment,” said Joana Abrego, legal manager at the Environmental Advocacy Center of Panama (CIAM), a nonprofit and one of the defendants in the lawsuits. Puerto Barú is designed to improve connectivity with the nearby town of David and the Pan-American Highway while also strengthening tourism and agribusiness, according to developers. But the project also includes a 31-kilometer (19-mile) navigation channel to the Pacific coast that must be dredged deep enough for large merchant ships. The area is home to around 25% of Panama’s mangroves, and parts of it are considered an Important Shark and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Two environmental groups fighting the Puerto Barú project in Panama have been named in lawsuits claiming they defamed the developers and created public confusion about the project. - The Center for Environmental Advocacy of Panama and the Adopt a Panama Rainforest Association (Adopta Bosque) say the port could damage mangroves and harm vulnerable shark and ray species. - Both organizations have had their assets seized, including bank accounts and properties that serve as private nature reserves. authors: | ||
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Azores dodges proposal to overturn no-fishing zones in its giant new MPA network 23 Feb 2026 19:29:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Maria José Mendes content:encoded: SÃO MATEUS, Portugal — Winter forced Emanuel Alves to remove his boat from the water at the port of São Mateus in the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. The 64-year-old fisher expressed concern about the giant network of marine protected areas that permeates the archipelago. “Where are we going to fish now?” he asked. The law establishing the Azores Marine Protected Areas Network was approved in October 2024 and took effect just recently, on Jan. 1 this year. The network now safeguards 30% of Azorean waters, 287,000 square kilometers (110,800 square miles) of seascape sheltering a rich array of marine life. Not two weeks later, on Jan. 15, the Azores Parliament voted to uphold a core provision of the MPA network, after it came under fire in recent months: No fishing inside the fully protected areas, which constitute half the vast network. Pico Mountain on Pico Island in the Azores, the tallest mountain in Portugal at 2,351 meters (7,713 feet). Image by Maria José Mendes for Mongabay. The vote effectively killed an earlier move to open these areas to pole-and-line tuna fishing that would have been “catastrophic and damaging to the region,” according to Luís Bernardo Brito e Abreu, coordinator of Blue Azores, a Portugal-based partnership between the Azores regional government, the U.S.-based nonprofit Waitt Institute and the Portugal-based Oceano Azul Foundation that began advocating for the establishment of the MPA network in 2019. “[The] criterion for a total protection area is indeed total protection; there…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A law establishing the Azores Marine Protected Areas Network was approved in October 2024 and took effect recently, on Jan. 1 this year. - The network now safeguards 30% of Azorean waters, 287,000 square kilometers of seascape sheltering a rich array of marine life, and makes up the largest MPA network in the North Atlantic Ocean. - Not two weeks later, on Jan. 15, the Azores Parliament voted on a measure that upholds a core provision of the MPA network, after it came under fire in recent months: No fishing inside the fully protected areas, which constitute half the vast network. - Conservationists expressed satisfaction, broadly, with the agreement, but fishers’ groups expressed disappointment. authors: | ||
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It’s electric: Scientists develop cheap way to keep sharks off fishing hooks 23 Feb 2026 19:08:13 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/its-electric-scientists-develop-cheap-way-to-keep-sharks-off-fishing-hooks/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Edward Carver content:encoded: Unintentional catch is a big reason that more than a hundred shark species are threatened with extinction. Yet creating a small electric field around fishing hooks using cheap inputs — zinc and graphite — is enough to keep many away, a new study indicates. In coastal waters off Florida, small zinc-and-graphite blocks rigged next to fishing hooks reduced shark catch by around two-thirds, according to the study, which was published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences on Jan. 15. “This study was part of an effort to reduce the number of sharks that are caught and killed as incidental bycatch in commercial fisheries,” Stephen Kajiura, a professor of biological sciences at Florida Atlantic University and lead author of the study, told Mongabay. “We’re trying to develop a method that will be cheap and effective that the fishermen could use, that would keep the sharks off the hooks but still allow them to catch their target species.” “It’s no good if it impedes the fisherman’s ability to get what they want,” he added. “And that’s the cool thing about this type of repellent … it only repels sharks and not anything else.” A skipper pulls up longlines after catching a large number of piked dogfish (Squalus acanthias) in waters off Chatham, Massachusetts, in 2009. Unlike other shark species, piked dogfish weren’t deterred by an electric field created around fishing hooks, a new study shows. Image by AP Photo/Stephan Savoia. Sharks and related species are especially electrosensitive. Researchers have…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Unintentional catch is a major reason that more than a hundred shark species are threatened with extinction. - A new study found that creating a small electric field around fishing hooks using zinc and graphite is enough to keep many sharks away. - Researchers have for decades tried to take advantage of sharks’ electrosensitivity to develop devices to keep them off fishing hooks. The authors of the new study chose zinc and graphite because they’re nonmagnetic, cheap and readily available materials. - The lead author and two former students are pursuing commercial applications for the new method. authors: | ||
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Supreme Court agrees to hear from oil and gas companies trying to block climate change lawsuits 23 Feb 2026 17:38:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-from-oil-and-gas-companies-trying-to-block-climate-change-lawsuits/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change. The conservative-majority court agreed to take up a case from Boulder, Colorado, among a series of lawsuits alleging the companies deceived the public about how fossil fuels contribute to climate change. Governments around the country have sought damages totaling billions of dollars, arguing it’s necessary to help pay for rebuilding after wildfires, rising sea levels and severe storms worsened by climate change. The lawsuits come amid a wave of legal actions in states including California, Hawaii and New Jersey and worldwide seeking to leverage action through the courts. Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil appealed to the Supreme Court after Colorado’s highest court let the Boulder case proceed. The companies argue emissions are a national issue that should be heard in federal court, where similar suits have been tossed out. “The use of state law to address global climate change represents a serious threat to one of our Nation’s most critical sectors,” attorneys wrote. President Donald Trump’s administration weighed in to support the companies and urge the justices to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court decision, saying it would mean “every locality in the country could sue essentially anyone in the world for contributing to global climate change.” Trump, a Republican, has criticized the lawsuits in an executive order, and the Justice Department has sought to head some off in court. Attorneys for Boulder had…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change. The conservative-majority court agreed to take up a case from Boulder, Colorado, among a series of lawsuits alleging the companies deceived the […] authors: | ||
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How Lucia Torres is bringing people into nature’s frame 23 Feb 2026 17:36:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/how-lucia-torres-is-bringing-people-into-natures-frame/ author: Hayat Indriyatno dc:creator: Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo content:encoded: When Lucía Torres tells stories about nature through video, she starts with people. That was the case in one of her favorite reports, about a small town in Mexico that was forced to relocate after years of rising sea levels and increasing storms and floods. By spending time with residents who had lost their homes, she built relationships based on “trust and reciprocity.” The result? “We were able to put a face on who is being affected by climate change,” she says, “which is something very complicated to do.” This ethos now shapes the way she leads Mongabay’s video team as managing editor: stories start with people, whether they are sharing on screen, reporting in the field, or filming behind the lens. “I like to say that at Mongabay we do global journalism but from a local perspective,” Torres says. “Every time we produce a video for Mongabay, there’s a local crew involved in the process of building the story.” Over her five years at Mongabay, Torres has led Mongabay’s expanding video team, with a keen eye for creativity and innovation. Her tenure has seen them test formats, experiment with style, and raise production standards. “It’s really inspirational to see how the type of journalism we are doing is very creative, very new, and very fresh,” she says. The 2022 video series Chasing Deforestation marked a turning point for Mongabay, which demonstrated “how investing in thoughtful scripting, visual storytelling, and strategic delivery can truly elevate the impact of Mongabay’s work.”…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Lucía Torres is the video managing editor at Mongabay and leads efforts to tell environmental stories through people-centered video journalism. - With a background in biology and science journalism, she specializes in solutions-focused storytelling that centers on Indigenous voices and local perspectives. - From covering climate-displaced communities in Mexico to shaping Mongabay’s video strategy, Torres is committed to making complex environmental issues accessible and impactful. - This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom. authors: | ||
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A journey from student to Amazon “Junglekeeper”: Interview with Paul Rosolie 23 Feb 2026 16:13:08 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-journey-from-student-to-amazon-junglekeeper-interview-with-paul-rosolie/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Jeremy Hance content:encoded: Paul Rosolie has had a career unlike any other. First traveling to the Peruvian Amazon at the age of 18, Rosolie partnered with Juan Julio Durand, a local member of the Infierno Indigenous group. Together, the pair explored the primeval forest of the Las Piedras River, a tributary of the Amazon River and a place little seen by outsiders. “It’s climax community, untouched, primordial forest, and we have the chance to save it,” Rosolie tells Mongabay in a new interview. When roads began to breach the region, Rosolie and Durand turned from young explorers into “junglekeepers,” the name of both their nonprofit and a new book by Rosolie. Junglekeepers: What it Takes to Change the World is the personal tale of Rosolie’s rise from a wide-eyed student to heading a multimillion-dollar nonprofit devoted to saving part of the western Amazon — and all the challenges in between. The book recently made The New York Times Best Sellers list. Rosolie says he had many ups and downs in the book. From the Eaten Alive documentary debacle to partnering with billionaire Dax Dasilva to fund the Junglekeepers nonprofit; from discovering the floating forest with its giant anacondas to struggling for years with depression and a plaguing sense of failure. “At 22, people are like, ‘Yes, go follow your dream.’ At 29, people are like, ‘OK, that’s cool. It’s been going on for a while’ … Then, at 33, 35, people are like, ‘Hey, man. How’s that going, jungle boy?’” Rosolie says. The…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Conservationist Paul Rosolie published a new book describing his journey from student to Amazon “Junglekeeper.” - In a wide-ranging interview, Rosolie talks about uncontacted tribes, drug traffickers and the distance he still needs to go to achieve his goal of protecting the Las Piedras River. - Rosolie also discusses the personal challenges and sacrifices of devoting his life to this slice of the Peruvian Amazon. authors: | ||
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Petrostates stymie effort to rein in Arctic shipping carbon emissions 23 Feb 2026 15:41:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/petrostates-stymie-effort-to-rein-in-arctic-shipping-carbon-emissions/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: International shipping is on the rise in the Arctic region now that climate change regularly opens up transpolar sea routes in summer. That surge in traffic is leading to higher emissions of black carbon — colloquially known as soot, considered a “super pollutant.” Those emissions are escalating climate change and quickening sea ice and snow loss across the Arctic, which is already Earth’s most rapidly warming region. At a recent meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), member states (led by Denmark, and including France, Germany and the Solomon Islands), proposed new regulations to require ships sailing in the Arctic to use fuels that emit low amounts of black carbon. But in February, global petrostates, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States, opposed this effort, meant to slow Arctic warming. This delay follows a 2025 postponement of an IMO plan that had been widely expected to succeed, which would have accelerated the decarbonization of global shipping. That plan was blocked by the U.S. along with other oil-producing nations. The just-nixed Arctic proposal would have required ships sailing in the Far North to stop burning residual fuels — responsible for high black carbon emissions — and instead move to less polluting fuels. As spring approaches in the Arctic, an orange horizon backlights a ship’s stack emissions. The Research Vessel Polarstern embarked on a yearlong expedition to drift in Arctic sea ice called the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC). Image by Julienne Stroeve/NSIDC via Flickr (CC…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Black carbon emissions (colloquially known as soot) produced by marine shipping contribute to Earth’s warming climate and also reduce ice and snow cover. In the Arctic, those emissions are hastening regional heating and sea ice loss. - In the 21st century, climate change has so diminished Arctic sea ice thickness and extent that transpolar crossings in summer by large numbers of commercial vessels has not only become possible but also increasingly frequent, resulting in a marked increase in black carbon emissions from dirty fossil fuels. - In February, members of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) considered a proposal by several nations to require use of cleaner polar fuels, which emit lower amounts of black carbon. But the effort was blocked and delayed by large petrostates, including the U.S., Russia and Saudi Arabia. - Implementation of the measure is expected to be delayed by at least two years. With Arctic sea voyages forecast to soar from thousands of trips annually to tens of thousands by 2050, NGOs are calling for greater support for clean polar fuels as a quick and effective way of reducing warming pressure on the Arctic region. authors: | ||
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Mongabay Explains 23 Feb 2026 08:42:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/02/mongabay-explains/ author: Alejandroprescottcornejo dc:creator: content:encoded: Join Mongabay’s reporters as we unpack some of the most urgent and intriguing issues in climate, the environment and biodiversity today. In this multimedia Special Issue, we go beyond the headlines to examine how science, policy and human activity intersect with Nature. We try to answer questions you might not have known to ask, with episodes ranging from how memes influence conservation and ducks improve rice farming, to how corruption fuels Amazon deforestation and why protecting wildlife is critical for preventing the next pandemic.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Join Mongabay’s reporters as we unpack some of the most urgent and intriguing issues in climate, the environment and biodiversity today. In this multimedia Special Issue, we go beyond the headlines to examine how science, policy and human activity intersect with Nature. We try to answer questions you might not have known to ask, with […] authors: | ||
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After logging bans, Australia turns to “forest thinning”. Does it reduce fire risk? 23 Feb 2026 03:05:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/after-logging-bans-australia-turns-to-forest-thinning-does-it-reduce-fire-risk/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: In the aftermath of Australia’s “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019–20, few policy questions have proved as persistent as how, exactly, to live with fire on a warming continent. Governments promise resilience. Communities demand safety. And industries facing declining markets look for new purposes. Out of this mix has emerged an unlikely battleground: the thinning of native forests. Mechanical thinning — the selective removal of trees to reduce stand density — has long been a conventional forestry practice. What is new is its political repositioning. In Victoria and Western Australia, where governments have largely halted native forest logging, industry advocates now present thinning as a public-interest service: a tool to reduce fuel loads, moderate fire behavior, and protect towns. Critics counter that the same activity, carried out at scale, risks becoming logging by another name. Dave Soldavini holds a baby kangaroo that was rescued from a wildfire in Cobrunga, Australia. Photo credit: Jeremy McMahon/USDAFS Bureau of Land Management via AP A recent perspective paper in Biological Conservation, Ecological trade-offs of mechanical thinning in temperate forests, provides a useful anchor for the debate. Its authors, including David Lindenmayer and colleagues, do not dismiss thinning outright. Instead they catalog a series of trade-offs that are often underplayed in policy discussions: impacts on biodiversity, carbon storage, hydrology, soils, and even fire dynamics themselves. Mechanical thinning, they note, can reduce competition among trees and sometimes lower canopy fuel loads. But it may also increase wind speeds near the ground, promote the growth of flammable…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - As native forest logging ends in parts of Australia, governments and industry are turning to large-scale forest thinning as a tool to reduce bushfire risk, prompting a new debate over how best to protect communities in a warming climate. - Research shows thinning can lower fire severity under some conditions, especially when paired with prescribed burning, but its effectiveness often diminishes during extreme fire weather — the very conditions driving the most destructive fires. - Scientists warn that removing trees can alter forest structure, dry fuels, release stored carbon, and eliminate critical wildlife habitat, meaning the ecological and climate costs may be substantial in high-conservation forests. - The controversy reflects deeper tensions over land use, public safety, and economic transition, with critics arguing that large-scale thinning risks becoming logging by another name while supporters see it as a necessary adaptation to escalating fire danger. authors: | ||
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The cost of compliance with the EUDR will limit its impact on reducing deforestation (commentary) 23 Feb 2026 01:33:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/the-cost-of-compliance-with-the-eudr-will-limit-its-impact-on-reducing-deforestation-commentary/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Bjørn Rask ThomsenDaniel Nepstad content:encoded: The production of food continues to eat its way into the world’s tropical forests. Agricultural expansion drives nearly 90% of global deforestation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The sector therefore represents a critical climate challenge: forest loss and degradation account for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions, by estimates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One primary strategy to slow deforestation over the past two decades involves food and agri-commodity companies pledging “zero deforestation supply chains”, under pressure from consumers and environmental groups. These commitments have helped reduce deforestation from land uses like soybean production in the Brazilian Amazon through initiatives such as the now-suspended “Brazilian Soy Moratorium”. Tropical deforestation globally has remained persistently high, however. We argue here that the long-term impact of “zero deforestation supply chains” will be limited by the costs of implementing and operating these pledges; companies striving to do their part to reduce deforestation are less price-competitive than those that do not. Adjustments are urgently needed to translate corporate engagement into more collaborative and effective approaches to deforestation. With the goal of mitigating deforestation, the European Union has adopted a “zero deforestation supply chain” approach as the basis of its Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). When and if it is eventually implemented, the EUDR is set to exclude from the EU market those agri-commodities produced on land deforested after 2020. Implementation, originally scheduled for January 2025, has been postponed twice, however, and its future is unclear. EU countries…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Many links in agri-commodity supply chains have very narrow profit margins, making them particularly sensitive to additional costs. - The costs of implementing “zero deforestation” agri-commodity supply chain commitments requiring physical segregation are likely to cause positively engaged companies to avoid commodities grown in regions with active deforestation, leaving companies with no deforestation commitments in their place. - Contrary to dominant beliefs in adding controls and costs, systemically linking markets and public policy in producer regions enables cheaper, more price-competitive and thus more effective forest-climate strategies; jurisdictional REDD+ is poised to provide such a bridge, argue Bjørn Rask Thomsen, Europe Director at Earth Innovation Institute and former food industry CEO and Daniel Nepstad, Executive Director and President at Earth Innovation Institute in this op-ed. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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José Albino Cañas Ramírez, a defender of Indigenous territories, aged 44 20 Feb 2026 21:46:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/jose-albino-canas-ramirez-a-defender-of-indigenous-territories-44/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: José Albino Cañas Ramírez did not die in a war zone, though war had shaped the landscape where he lived. He was shot at his home in the community of Portachuelo, in Colombia’s Caldas department, on the evening of February 16. Two men came to the shop he ran from his house, opened fire, and fled along the footpaths that lace the Indigenous reserve. He was 44. His killing was treated not merely as a private tragedy, but as a public matter of governance. Cañas Ramírez was a cabildante—a member of the governing council—of the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta, an Emberá Chamí territory of more than 23,000 people spread across dozens of communities. His death, leaders said, struck at the very structure of Indigenous self-government. The community of Portachuelo, where Cañas Ramírez lived, lies at the base of a sacred hill called Carbunco. Photo by Héctor Jaime Vinasco, member of the Governing Council of the Cañamomo Lomaprieta Indigenous Reserve of Colonial Origin. The Emberá Chamí, whose name means “people of the mountains,” inhabit the central and western Andes. Their lands are biodiverse, steep, and contested. For decades, they have lived at the intersection of armed conflict and extractive ambition. Guerrilla groups, paramilitaries, criminal networks, miners, and state interests have all sought to control territory that the Emberá consider ancestral. The result has been what activists call a form of “double victimization”: pressure from illegal armed actors on one side, and development projects and resource exploitation on the other.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - José Albino Cañas Ramírez, a prominent Indigenous leader and member of the governing council for the Resguardo Cañamomo Lomaprieta, was shot and killed at his home in Caldas, Colombia. - His death highlights the “double victimization” faced by the Emberá Chamí people, who navigate pressure from both illegal armed groups and extractive development projects. - As a dedicated community figure, Cañas Ramírez spent his life strengthening local institutions and managing essential services in a region where state support is often absent. - The killing is part of a broader, persistent pattern of violence against territorial defenders in Colombia, with at least 21 social leaders killed already this year. authors: | ||
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Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island 180 years after relatives went extinct 20 Feb 2026 21:07:53 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/giant-tortoises-return-to-galapagos-island-180-years-after-relatives-went-extinct/ author: Alexandrapopescu dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: For the first time in nearly two centuries, giant tortoises are once again roaming Floreana Island in the Galápagos, a conservation milestone more than a decade in the making. Early settlers on Floreana Island altered the landscape and hunted the Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger) into extinction about 180 years ago. But while working on Wolf Volcano, roughly 180 kilometers (112 miles) away on Isabela Island, researchers with the Galápagos Conservancy noticed something unexpected. “The tortoises seemed different,” Penny Becker, CEO of Island Conservation told Mongabay in a video call. “They looked different and they were behaving differently.” So, the researchers took DNA samples from those tortoises and compared them with DNA from tortoise bones found in caves on Floreana. “Indeed, there were some pretty strong genetics left in the Wolf [Volcano] population from tortoises that were here on Floreana,” Becker said. How the heavy terrestrial reptiles got to Wolf Volcano remains uncertain. They could have floated on ocean currents or been transported by whaling ships that kept tortoises for food. In any case, scientists launched a breeding program using the Wolf Volcano tortoises to establish a new hybrid population for reintroduction to Floreana. On Feb. 20, with support from local residents and a consortium of partners, 156 endangered tortoises were released. Each of them is between 10 and 13 years old. They will reach sexual maturity at roughly 25 years old, so building a self-sustaining population will take time. Becker is confident in the project’s long-term success. The tortoises’…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: For the first time in nearly two centuries, giant tortoises are once again roaming Floreana Island in the Galápagos, a conservation milestone more than a decade in the making. Early settlers on Floreana Island altered the landscape and hunted the Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger) into extinction about 180 years ago. But while working […] authors: | ||
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Torrential rains unleash landslides that kill 7 in southern Philippines 20 Feb 2026 18:56:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/torrential-rains-unleash-landslides-that-kill-7-in-southern-philippines/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Torrential rains set off two landslides that killed seven people and floods that displaced more than 3,000 villagers in the southeastern Philippines, officials said Friday. A boulder-laden landslide buried a house and killed a couple and their two daughters Friday in the coastal city of Mati in Davao Oriental province, disaster-response and provincial officials said. Rescuers used earth-moving equipment to retrieve the bodies, according to Ednar Dayanghirang, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense. In Monkayo, a gold-mining town in Davao de Oro province near Davao Oriental, the remains of three people were dug up after their house was buried late Thursday by a landslide, Dayanghirang and other officials said. Nearly 10,000 were affected by the downpours in recent days, including more than 3,200 people who were forced to move to emergency shelters or with relatives, Dayanghirang said. Several outlying provinces and towns were forced to cancel classes and work, he said. The downpours and thunderstorms occurred well ahead of the typhoon season, which usually starts in June, and were caused by cold wind interacting with warm and moist air from the Pacific, forecasters said. About 20 typhoons and storms each year batter the Philippine archipelago, which also lies in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone. By Associated Press Banner image: Rescuers wading along a flooded street as they try to locate trapped residents when another storm earlier this…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Torrential rains set off two landslides that killed seven people and floods that displaced more than 3,000 villagers in the southeastern Philippines, officials said Friday. A boulder-laden landslide buried a house and killed a couple and their two daughters Friday in the coastal city of Mati in Davao Oriental province, disaster-response […] authors: | ||
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In Thailand, a coral cryobank tries to buy time for dying reefs 20 Feb 2026 17:26:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-thailand-a-coral-cryobank-tries-to-buy-time-for-dying-reefs/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Neelanjana Rai content:encoded: In a quiet laboratory at Phuket Rajabhat University in southern Thailand, Preeyanuch Thongpoo is attempting to freeze time. As a molecular biologist, her work focuses on the cryopreservation of live larvae and algae to facilitate future restoration. Inside, suspended in liquid nitrogen at -196° Celsius (-321° Fahrenheit), are vials containing microscopic algae no bigger than specks of dust. Her team is deep-freezing the vital symbiotic algae of the cauliflower coral (genus Pocillopora), from the family Symbiodiniaceae. These live inside coral tissues and provide most of the energy corals need to survive. The larvae of the cauliflower coral itself, a rugged pioneer known for recolonizing heat-damaged reefs, have been preserved in separate vials. Working as part of the Coral Research & Development Accelerator Platform (CORDAP) initiative, Preeyanuch is building more than a repository; she is creating a “living seed bank” aimed at supporting future reef restoration. Preeyanuch Thongpoo works to preserve coral specimens in hopes it will buy “crucial time” to prevent extinctions. Image courtesy of Preeyanuch Thongpoo. This effort comes at a precarious moment for Thailand’s marine heritage. Coral reefs in Thailand are under pressure from both global climate change and local stressors, including tourism and coastal development. Recent coast-to-coast surveys show that Thailand’s coral reefs, home to more than 300 species of reef-building corals, are losing structural complexity and shifting in species composition after repeated mass bleaching events driven by extreme marine heat waves between 2022 and early 2024, with heat stress in 2024-2025 likely compounding the declines. Tourism,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Scientists in Phuket are freezing coral larvae and their symbiotic algae, aiming to create a “living seed bank” to preserve Thailand’s reef genetic diversity amid accelerating climate stress. - Thailand’s reefs, home to more than 300 coral species, have experienced repeated mass bleaching events since 2022, with damage compounded by tourism pressure, wastewater runoff, sedimentation and overfishing. - Researchers describe coral cryobanks as a form of “genetic insurance” and ex-situ conservation, but stress they can’t replace in-water protection and must be integrated into broader restoration and marine management strategies. - Conservation experts say improving water quality, regulating tourism impacts and strengthening community-led marine protection are essential if preserved coral material is to be successfully restored to the wild. authors: | ||
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Recycling startups test limits of private solutions to deluge of waste in Lagos 20 Feb 2026 14:26:46 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/recycling-startups-test-limits-of-private-solutions-to-deluge-of-waste-in-lagos/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi content:encoded: OJUELEGBA, Nigeria — On the bustling streets of this central Lagos neighborhood, it’s easy to buy a drink. Hawkers weave between buses and motorcycles with wheelbarrows of bottled water and canned beverages. Finding a bin for the empty container is much harder. Many end up on the ground. Glass, cardboard, aluminum and — most commonly — plastic collect in piles at busy junctions and in open gutters, mixed with food waste and refuse from nearby shops and homes. Drains clog, and stagnant water lingers. Bayo Adeolu, proud holder of a degree in plant biology from the University of Lagos, spent months tramping these same streets in search of work. He endured rejection after rejection, then tried selling used phones with a friend, but competition in this saturated market beat them back. One afternoon, scrolling through social media, a post caught his eye. “Earn-As-You-Waste,” it read, advertising an information session for Pakam, a company promoting recycling as a source of income. At the session, Pakam’s staff explained how participants could earn money by collecting recyclable waste from the company’s clients. Registered collectors, they said, would be trained to sort and weigh the waste, record this shabby bounty digitally, and transport the recovered materials to aggregation points. The state of Lagos state generates nearly 5.5 million metric tons of solid waste every year, according to the state waste management authority — or roughly 15,000 metric tons a day. A 2024 World Bank study estimated that nearly 40% of this rubbish is recyclable…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous state, generates nearly 5.5 million metric tons of solid waste every year. - The state’s formal waste management system handles less than half of this, with homes and businesses improvising disposal of the rest wherever they can: an estimated 40% of this waste is recyclable. - Pakam Technology Limited is one of several private companies trying to profitably retrieve a greater share of the roughly 6,000 metric tons of recyclable materials thrown away every day. - Recycling companies say inconsistent enforcement of regulations is a major obstacle to improving recycling rates. authors: | ||
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Migrant fishers’ deaths at sea tied to unchecked captain power, study shows 20 Feb 2026 13:31:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/migrant-fishers-deaths-at-sea-tied-to-unchecked-captain-power-study-shows/ author: Philip Jacobson dc:creator: Basten Gokkon content:encoded: The deaths of migrant fishers at sea are largely driven by structural labor and governance failures, rather than by safety or compliance issues alone, a new study shows. Migrant sea workers, especially those recruited from low-wage Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, often experience violence and fatal abuse while aboard distant-water fishing vessels, those that operate in the seas outside any one country’s jurisdiction. The study, published Jan. 27 in the journal Maritime Studies, found that deaths of migrant fishers at sea are frequently the result of systemic working conditions that give boat captains control over basic living and survival conditions, making fatalities a predictable outcome rather than isolated incidents. “In seeking a conceptual framework to analyse these deaths at sea, we employed necropolitics, as it captures how power operates through death and the threat of death as instruments of governance,” lead author Christina Stringer, director of the Centre for Research on Modern Slavery at the University of Auckland Business School, Aotearoa New Zealand, told Mongabay by email. Indonesian migrants on board foreign fishing boats describe experiencing overwork, withholding of wages, debt bondage, and even physical and sexual violence. Image courtesy of Greenpeace. The paper is based on systematic analysis of 55 documented cases of Indonesian fishers who died or went missing on distant-water fishing vessels owned by or operating under the flags of China, Taiwan and South Korea. Using the idea of “necropolitics,” which refers to the power to decide who lives and who dies, the authors found that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new study finds migrant fishers’ deaths at sea stem from systemic labor and governance failures, not isolated safety lapses. - Far from shore, captains control food, medical care and even how deaths are recorded, with little oversight or accountability. - Researchers documented 55 cases of Indonesian fishers who died or went missing, showing deaths occur through both direct abuse and prolonged neglect. - The authors call for stronger international cooperation, mandatory death reporting and supply chain transparency, arguing existing rules alone cannot prevent further fatalities authors: | ||
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