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The growing global popularity of wildlife crossings 07 Jul 2026 22:34:18 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/07/the-growing-global-popularity-of-wildlife-crossings/ author: Mikedigirolamo dc:creator: Mike DiGirolamo content:encoded: Nearly three years ago, Newscast guest, author and journalist Ben Goldfarb discussed his book Crossings, which is about wildlife crossings and road ecology. Wildlife crossings help reconnect habitats fragmented by road networks, reducing collisions, helping protect threatened wildlife, and improving genetic diversity. Since that conversation, Goldfarb has documented the growing popularity of wildlife crossings worldwide. He returns to the Newscast to detail how, where, and why wildlife crossings are becoming increasingly funded and built. “Probably the biggest factor is that at this point, the evidence that wildlife crossing structures are effective is just overwhelming. Maybe 20 years ago, you could’ve theoretically said, ‘Well … we don’t necessarily know that …’ but here in 2026, we just have a lot of scientific research basically showing that animals of all shapes and sizes use wildlife crossings,” Goldfarb says. He takes us to locations in South America, North America and Europe, where this particular type of infrastructure has rare nonpartisan political support. A bill is currently before the U.S. Congress to make the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program permanent. Public surveys show overwhelming support for wildlife crossings in the United States. Goldfarb explains that the positive reception may also be due to the visual nature of one iteration of crossings, the highway overpass, which a source of his long ago described as “billboards for connectivity.” “I love wildlife crossings for … their ability to … just remind us that we’re sort of global citizens of a planet that we share with wildlife.” Please take…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Nearly three years ago, Newscast guest, author and journalist Ben Goldfarb discussed his book Crossings, which is about wildlife crossings and road ecology. Wildlife crossings help reconnect habitats fragmented by road networks, reducing collisions, helping protect threatened wildlife, and improving genetic diversity. Since that conversation, Goldfarb has documented the growing popularity of wildlife crossings worldwide. […] authors: | ||
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‘A targeted, data-driven approach’: Interview with Vietnam’s antipoaching unit 07 Jul 2026 22:21:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-targeted-data-driven-approach-interview-with-vietnams-antipoaching-unit/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Campbell Rusden content:encoded: Southeast Asia’s middle class has grown exponentially in recent decades, driving demand for exotic pets, meats and animal parts used for luxury goods and traditional medicines. In Vietnam, long a destination country for trafficked animal products, rising demand has motivated wildlife trafficking rings to expand their activities domestically as well as internationally, putting the country’s rich biodiversity under pressure from indiscriminate and widespread trap use. As trafficking rings become more sophisticated and entrenched, conservation groups have also had to adapt, embracing new technologies and deepening their own networks to combat wildlife crime. One group working to stay ahead of traffickers is Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW), which has partnered with several national parks to implement antipoaching practices in Vietnam’s richest and most targeted ecosystems. Pu Mat National Park traces the border of Vietnam and Laos, where its rich biodiversity and many endemic species suffer growing pressure from poaching activity. Since 2018, SVW has worked in partnership with the park and its rangers to support the recruitment, equipping and training of a dedicated antipoaching unit, or APU. Since its inception, the APU has removed tens of thousands of snares, dismantled poaching camps, confiscated firearms, and detained more than 1,000 alleged violators. Its approach integrates tools such as the SMART data aggregation software and remotely monitored “PoacherCams” to identify trafficking hotspots and guide patrols more strategically. At the same time, outreach efforts with local communities aim to reduce both the supply of and demand for illegally sourced wildlife. APU coordinator Huu Trung Nguyen, team head…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Members of an antipoaching unit in Vietnam’s Pu Mat National Park recently told Mongabay how technology and on-the-ground patrols are combining to reduce poaching pressure in the park. - Supported by the NGO Save Vietnam’s Wildlife, the APU integrates tools such as SMART data aggregation software and remotely monitored “PoacherCams” to identify trafficking hotspots and guide patrols more strategically. - Though technologies like AI are highly effective at aggregating data, the team notes these tools have limits in rugged tropical terrain with limited connectivity and ever-shifting conditions. - Patrol members say they’ve observed signs of wildlife returning to places that were once heavily hunted. authors: | ||
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Illegal fishing takes a toll on Australia’s sea cucumbers 07 Jul 2026 17:52:21 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/ author: Autumn Spanne dc:creator: Madeline Shaw content:encoded: Off the northwestern coast of Australia, in some of the world’s most pristine and diverse coral reefs, sea cucumbers are rapidly vanishing. Overall populations of these tubular, blobby animals declined by more than half from 2018 to 2023 in the Rowley Shoals, a remote Australian marine park, according to a recent survey. Some especially vulnerable species, such as the pineapple sea cucumber (Thelenota ananas) and the hairy blackfish (Actinopyga miliaris), have disappeared across most or all of the monitoring sites there. Researchers believe a boom in illegal fishing is to blame. Sea cucumber harvesting is prohibited in the Rowley Shoals, and the survey found Australian authorities caught 112 fishing vessels in the area carrying a collective 22 metric tons of sea cucumbers between 2021 and 2023, a figure that translates to roughly 33,000-45,000 animals. This is just the share of illegal fishing that authorities managed to intercept; the researchers noted that the actual sea cucumber body count is likely much higher. The problem isn’t unique to Rowley Shoals. It occurs in reefs across the country’s western and northern waters and has recently been on the rise, according to several researchers interviewed by Mongabay, driven by demand for the animals in China and other East Asian countries where they are considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. Illegal sea cucumber fishing spiked in northern Australia in 2024, according to experts, with fishers targeting sanctuaries and internationally protected species. The Australian government responded by launching Operation LUNAR at the end…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Researchers blame an increase in illegal fishing for the decline of sea cucumbers in a remote Australian marine park and say many other reefs in the country have also been affected. - The Australian government has launched an operation to crack down on illegal fishing in the country’s Northern Territory where the problem is acute, including for high-value sea cucumbers. - But as long as the market for sea cucumbers remains strong in China and other East Asian countries, experts say, wild populations of this slow-growing animal could collapse and put the health of reef systems at risk in Australia and beyond. authors: | ||
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Roads, loggers close in on an unprotected refuge for isolated Kakataibo 07 Jul 2026 17:40:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/roads-loggers-close-in-on-an-unprotected-refuge-for-isolated-kakataibo/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: An unprotected area in Peru’s Amazon, where Indigenous people live in voluntary isolation, sits in a growing sea of forestry concessions, illegal roads, illegal loggers and drug traffickers, according to maps and confidential reports seen by Mongabay. Indigenous leaders and national organizations are calling the area Kakataibo Extremo Norte, or Kakataibo Extreme North. Julio Cusurichi, a Shipibo-Conibo leader and political coordinator of the PIACI (Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact) program of AIDESEP, Peru’s national Indigenous rights organization, told Mongabay that the forests and isolated people in this area face serious threats. “There are loggers there, there are illicit activities,” he said in an interview. “It is a very worrying issue. The fact that these illegal activities are linked to roads is particularly concerning.” Indigenous leaders and organizations have sought formal recognition of Kakataibo Extremo Norte from the Peruvian state since 2021. In 2023, however, the Ministry of Culture rejected the application, according to a confidential technical report seen by Mongabay, because it relates to the isolated Kakataibo people. The report said the Kakataibo people are already recognized by the Peruvian state and therefore measures and mechanisms for the protection of their rights have already been established. Kakataibo Extremo Norte sits above the Kakataibo North and South Indigenous Reserve (RIKNS), established in 2021 to protect groups of Kakataibo people who live in voluntary isolation. This latter reserve covers 148,997 hectares (368,180 acres) — an area roughly twice the size of New York City — straddling the departments of Loreto,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Isolated peoples and forests in the Kakataibo Extremo Norte area of the Peruvian Amazon are under threat from illegal loggers, drug traffickers, the construction of illegal roads, and multiple forestry concessions. - Indigenous leaders and organizations have sought formal recognition for the area as an Indigenous reserve since 2021, but the Ministry of Culture rejected the application in 2023 because it relates to isolated Kakataibo people who are already recognized by the Peruvian state and receive protections in a nearby reserve. - Sources told Mongabay that threats to the area’s isolated groups are increasing, exposing them to significant risk due to their extreme vulnerability. authors: | ||
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In AI race, Indigenous values could guide environmental issues, researchers suggest 07 Jul 2026 17:33:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-ai-race-indigenous-values-could-guide-environmental-issues-researchers-suggest/ author: Latoya Abulu dc:creator: Shradha Triveni content:encoded: Nicole Horseherder has seen the impacts of unsustainable development on Indigenous communities. A Navajo environmental activist and co-founder of Tó Nizhóní Ání (Sacred Water Speaks), a Diné-led nonprofit organization based in Arizona in the U.S., she has spent years protecting water that sustains communities from industrial use. She sees parallels with today’s artificial intelligence development, she said. As technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate, a growing body of research is looking at Indigenous knowledge systems for guidance on ethical frameworks for AI. But for someone like Horseherder, Indigenous knowledge is not data to be harvested, she said. “It is built on thousands of years of real-time human observations on the changes in landscapes, the weather and the seasons, the directions of the moon, the sun and everything around us,” she said. Within the Navajo community, people living in different landscapes including the high-deserts, river valleys and dry to arid places have their own local knowledge systems. A recent study published in AI and Ethics journal examines how Indigenous ecological knowledge could reshape AI frameworks through an analysis of Navajo and Māori concepts. The paper drew on Māori value of Kaitiakitanga, or guardianship, and Navajo philosophy of Hózhó, meaning balance and harmony. The study’s authors said that traditional ecological knowledge embodies collective responsibility and could provide an ethical basis for questioning whether the scale of a proposed AI model is justifiable given its environmental cost, prioritizing ecological integrity over unbounded technological expansion. This rainforest in Ituri, DRC, is part of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent study provides a framework for the integration of Indigenous knowledge and values into AI governance and examines how these ethical principles can translate to practical requirements for individual AI projects. - The authors say that Indigenous ecological knowledge embodies collective responsibility and could provide an ethical basis for questioning whether the scale of a proposed AI model is justifiable given its environmental cost, prioritizing ecological integrity over unbounded technological expansion. - Some Indigenous researchers voice skepticism over whether a broad category of ‘Indigenous values’ exists and whether Indigenous knowledge could truly be translated into AI tools. authors: | ||
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Cabo Verde program and its fishers have been protecting the sea for 10 years 07 Jul 2026 16:44:25 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/cabo-verde-program-and-its-fishers-have-been-protecting-the-sea-for-10-years/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Alice PistolesiMonica Pelliccia content:encoded: FOGO, Cabo Verde — Alberto Martius had just returned to shore in his white and blue wooden boat with his 18-year-old son, Leandro. The pair had been fishing off their home island of Fogo in the Cabo Verde archipelago off northwestern Africa. While out, they were also keeping an eye on the sea. “I’m proud my son is following in my footsteps, protecting the ocean,” Martius told Mongabay. “I feel I’m doing the right thing to protect the sea. Almost every day, I’m patrolling this area to monitor marine animals and make them return as numerous as they were when I was a little kid.” The Martiuses volunteer with an initiative called Guardians of the Sea that celebrated its 10th anniversary in June. Run by eight local and international NGOs and led by the Maio Biodiversity Foundation at the national level, it trains and supports fishers to serve as voluntary ocean observers as they go about their daily fishing work. Among other tasks, they monitor megafauna and collect data on illegal activities during their fishing trips. Around 190 fishers are involved, working around seven of the archipelago’s 10 islands. The program launched on the island of Maio in 2016 and expanded to its seventh island, São Antão, with 30 guardians, in 2024. Fishers have always been a pillar of Cabo Verde’s economy and identity. The country hosts a fleet of around 1,535 vessels, ranging from artisanal to semi-industrial, and the sector provides a livelihood for coastal families. Alberto Martius with…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - In Cabo Verde, 190 fishers from seven of the archipelago’s 10 islands volunteer with the Guardians of the Sea program, reporting illegal practices and sightings of marine megafauna as they go about their daily fishing work. - Their presence at sea acts as a strong deterrent against illegal activities and raises awareness among other fishers about the importance of long-term, sustainable marine management, according to a program co-founder. - Fishers have always been a pillar of Cabo Verde’s economy and identity. The country hosts a fleet of approximately 1,535 vessels, ranging from artisanal to semi-industrial, and the sector provides a livelihood for coastal families. authors: | ||
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Tornadoes and storms in central China kill at least 11 people 07 Jul 2026 16:22:11 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tornadoes-and-storms-in-central-china-kill-at-least-11-people/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: BEIJING (AP) — Tornadoes and storms hit central China, killing at least 11 people and injuring hundreds, state media reported on Tuesday, while areas in the south suffered record-breaking rain. Thunderstorms battered parts of Hubei province’s eastern region on Monday night, affecting 14,600 people, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. More than 330 people were injured, and one person remained missing, the agency said, adding that over 20 houses collapsed and 4,800 others were damaged. A rare EF2 tornado swept through the city of Huanggang, where a logistics company and a warehouse were hit hard and multiple trucks were lifted and displaced by winds as much as 30 meters (98 feet), Xinhua reported. A video posted by Shanghai Daily on X appeared to show people on the ground floor of a building screaming as high winds blew open the glass doors, shattering one. Tornadoes are usually recorded in southern and coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu, according to China Weather News, which is run by the China Meteorological Administration. They are rare in Hubei and multiple factors, including the remnants of Tropical Storm Maysak, contributed to those that swept the region on Monday night, meteorological expert Wang Xiaoling told the Hubei Daily newspaper. Meanwhile, in southern China, officials said six people had died, and 11 others were missing as record-breaking rain from Maysak caused widespread flooding in the Guangxi region, affecting 375,000 people, of whom 130,000 evacuated, according to the Guangxi regional propaganda office. Guangxi issued a red alert, the highest level, for flooding on…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: BEIJING (AP) — Tornadoes and storms hit central China, killing at least 11 people and injuring hundreds, state media reported on Tuesday, while areas in the south suffered record-breaking rain. Thunderstorms battered parts of Hubei province’s eastern region on Monday night, affecting 14,600 people, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. More than 330 people were injured, and […] authors: | ||
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Belief-based use increasing threat to yellow-billed kite, an important African scavenger 07 Jul 2026 14:52:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/belief-based-use-increasing-threat-to-yellow-billed-kite-an-important-african-scavenger/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: With West Africa’s vulture populations dwindling, poachers are increasingly turning to yellow-billed kites, a medium-sized, extremely adaptable raptor found in nearly every landscape across much of sub-Saharan Africa. And though they are listed as a “least concern” species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, they face a growing threat: They’re more frequently hunted for use as fetishes and for food. Like vultures, kites — both alive and dead — and their parts are used in rituals and as charms. They’re caught as bushmeat, supply fetish markets and are used as ingredients in local traditional medicine. A study by Abiola Chaffra, a research fellow at the International Bird Conservation Partnership, found that during November-to-March hunting seasons in 2022 and 2023, hunters killed 20,200 yellow-billed kites (Milvus aegyptius) in southern Benin. They flock from across Africa to nest and breed in southern Benin each year, and as soon as they arrive, they’re in danger. “[These hunts occur] every year because the kites always come back,” Chaffra told Mongabay. The research will be published in the bulletin of the African Bird Club. Their loss could have broad impact: Yellow-billed kites are opportunistic predators that eat a wide range of small mammals, amphibians and insects that are considered pests. They play a key role in cleansing landscapes of disease and scavenging carcasses. Yellow-billed kites at a fetish market in Benin. Image by Abiola Chaffra. Belief-based demand Raptors have long been used in rituals in Benin, but it appears to be increasing, Chaffra…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Yellow-billed kites are widespread across Africa. But conservationists warn that in the absence of heavily-hunted vultures, this bird is now targeted for use in belief-based rituals in West Africa. - A survey spanning two hunting seasons in southern Benin estimated that more than 20,000 yellow-billed kites were poached for consumption and for sale in fetish markets. Researchers tallied nearly 2,000 birds for sale in markets. - Poaching is also occurring in neighboring Togo and Nigeria. - Experts are concerned that at this scale, poaching could quickly lead to population-level declines. They urge action to control hunting and sale of this bird. authors: | ||
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‘The only possible transition is a just transition’: Interview with WEF’s Clemence Schmid 07 Jul 2026 11:37:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-only-possible-transition-is-a-just-transition-interview-with-wefs-clemence-schmid/ author: Malavikavyawahare dc:creator: Jackson Ambole Okata content:encoded: During the 11th Our Ocean Conference held in the coastal city of Mombasa, the Kenyan government, together with the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) and UNDP Kenya, formally launched the Kenya National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP Kenya). At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year making up 80% of all marine debris found in surface waters and deep-sea sediments. Kenya faces considerable challenges with plastic pollution, particularly in urban centers and along its coastline. Plastics account for 20% of the 22,000 tonnes of waste generated daily in Kenya, according to estimates. Only 27% of the plastic waste is collected, of which 8% is recycled and the remaining 19% disposed of in unsanitary landfills or dumpsites. The plastic waste not properly collected and managed often ends up in rivers and the ocean. It disrupts ecosystems, endangers wildlife, and impacts tourism and fisheries. In 2017, Kenya introduced a ban on the use, manufacture and importation of single-use plastic bags. In 2020, the ban was extended to single-use plastics in protected areas. NPAP Kenya will help accelerate the country’s transition to a circular plastics economy, according to Clemence Schmid, Director, Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) at the World Economic Forum (WEF). Clemence Schmid, Director, Global Plastic Action Partnership, World Economic Forum during the formal launch of NPAP, Kenya at the Our Ocean conference in Mombasa. Image courtesy of NPAP Kenya. The GPAP launched by the WEF in 2018 is a multi-stakeholder initiative to tackle…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Kenya formally launched the National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP) in collaboration with the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), an initiative of the World Economic Forum, at the Our Ocean conference held in Mombasa. - Plastic pollution is a pressing threat to Kenya’s marine ecosystems, fisheries and coastal livelihoods, driven by poor or non-existent waste management on land, along the coast and at sea. - The initiative seeks to accelerate the transition to a circular plastics economy, which aims to reduce plastic pollution, valorize materials traditionally considered ‘waste’ and generate economic opportunities in the process. - Mongabay spoke to Clemence Schmid, Director, Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), on the sidelines of the Mombasa conference to understand what the collaborative effort is trying to achieve in Kenya. authors: | ||
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Rare seed collection offers hope for last wild tree of its kind from Chile 07 Jul 2026 09:40:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/rare-seed-collection-offers-hope-for-last-wild-tree-of-its-kind-from-chile/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shreya Dasgupta content:encoded: On Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island, in the South Pacific, a tree juts out precariously from the side of a steep cliff. It’s the last known wild individual of Dendroseris neriifolia. To prevent its total extinction in the wild, conservationists recently collected seeds from the tree and have begun trials to cultivate them. All 11 species of the genus Dendroseris are exclusive to the Juan Fernández Archipelago off Chile. The trees, with striking yellow, orange or white flowers, have been nearly wiped out by extensive habitat degradation, invasive plants, and damage by introduced mammals such as goats and rodents. Only one known wild individual of the critically endangered D. neriifolia remains on Robinson Crusoe, one of the three main islands in the archipelago, according to Paulina Hechenleitner, research associate at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K. This tree, estimated to be around 150 years old, hangs off a remote cliff that “is extremely difficult to access, requiring specialist fieldwork and careful planning to avoid any harm,” she told Mongabay by email. Every year, local conservationists attempt to collect seeds from the tree’s one-seeded fruits. However, fruiting is irregular and some seasons the fruits produce few or no viable seeds, Hechenleitner said. This year, conservationists collected about 400 seeds, of which 29 were considered potentially viable and sent to the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Kew, the world’s largest wild plant seed conservation program. There, researchers used X-ray imaging to confirm that 24 seeds showed the presence of embryo development. These 24 “good…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: On Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island, in the South Pacific, a tree juts out precariously from the side of a steep cliff. It’s the last known wild individual of Dendroseris neriifolia. To prevent its total extinction in the wild, conservationists recently collected seeds from the tree and have begun trials to cultivate them. All 11 species […] authors: | ||
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The Gaza scientist still tracking manta rays from a war zone 07 Jul 2026 09:30:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/the-gaza-scientist-still-tracking-manta-rays-from-a-war-zone/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Mohammed Abu Daya is a marine ecologist from Gaza. His work focuses on spinetail devil rays, also known as giant devil rays, a critically endangered species that moves through the Mediterranean and beyond. Few scientists specialize in these animals. Fewer still have studied them from Gaza, where local waters form part of their range. Before the war, Abu Daya taught at Palestinian universities and worked from Gaza’s National Research Center. He went to sea with fishers, measured spinetail devil rays (Mobula mobular) brought ashore, monitored markets, and gathered data on a species more often studied from the western Mediterranean. His work helped place Gaza within the known range of the threatened migratory animal, reports contributor Lyse Mauvais for Mongabay. The pressures on Gaza’s sea were already severe. Israeli restrictions limited where fishers could work. Fish stocks had declined. Poverty and fuel costs pushed people toward whatever could be caught close to shore. In 2013, when a large group of devil rays came near Gaza’s coast, fishers landed several hundred of them. Abu Daya did not treat the event only as a conservation failure. He tried to understand what had led to it, including the lack of local conservation systems and the strain on people living with few choices. Then came the current war. Abu Daya lost his home, his office, and regular access to the sea. Universities, libraries, fishing boats, landing sites, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Mohammed Abu Daya is a marine ecologist from Gaza. His work focuses on spinetail devil rays, also known as giant devil rays, a critically endangered species that moves through the Mediterranean and beyond. Few scientists specialize in these […] authors: | ||
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Himalayan pangolin emerges as distinct species, 189 years after first described 07 Jul 2026 01:16:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/himalayan-pangolin-emerges-as-distinct-species-189-years-after-first-described/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Abhaya Raj Joshi content:encoded: KATHMANDU — The animal Brian Houghton Hodgson saw looked almost like a pangolin, but it didn’t tick all the boxes. It had amor-like scales from head to tail, just as the French zoologist Georges Cuvier had earlier described. But it also had ears and far more scales across its trunk than any recorded species. The year was 1836. For the 35-year-old British diplomat and pioneering naturalist, who was confined to Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, this demanded an investigation: Was it a new species, or just an outlier? Convinced he had come across an undescribed species, he gave the animal a name built entirely on those ears, Manis auritus: The Latin auritus translates to “with large ears.” But he hedged it with a backup name, Plurisquamis, “the many-scaled,” in case the ears turned out later to be an unremarkable feature. Nearly two centuries later, his question finally has a plausible answer. A team of scientists spanning Asia, the Americas and Europe has spent five years building the case that the pangolin Hodgson described in 1836 is in fact a separate species, distinct from the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) it had long been lumped together with and the seven other recorded species. Two-week-old Chinese pangolin clinging to mother at Taipei Zoo. Image courtesy of Suzi Eszterhas/New On Earth: Baby Animals in the Wild/Earth Aware Editions. Their recently published findings also establish its name, now called the Himalayan pangolin, and carry immediate consequences for conservation. Across their Africana and Asian ranges, they’re all endangered,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new genomic and morphological study has revalidated Manis aurita, a pangolin species first described in Nepal in 1836 and then forgotten for some 189 years. - The species, given the common name the Himalayan pangolin, was among what researchers long assumed was a single, widespread species, the Chinese pangolin. - Confirming the species has immediate implications, including prospects of better protection and more nuanced approaches to conservation. authors: | ||
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NGO support can negatively impact allocation of Amazonian territorial rights, research finds 06 Jul 2026 21:35:20 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/ngo-support-can-negatively-impact-allocation-of-amazonian-territorial-rights-research-finds/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played a critical role in the fight to secure title to ancestral Indigenous lands in the Amazon. They can provide financial assistance and legal representation in court, but new research shows that for groups that do not benefit from this support, the arrival of NGOs may cause more harm than good. A recent paper, published in Political Geography, highlights how this dynamic has played out in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon. There, with the backing of the NGO Amazon Frontlines, the Siekopai community of San Pablo de Katëtsiaya won title to 42,360 hectares (104,674 acres) of their ancestral land. However, the area had long been occupied by another Indigenous group, the Kichwa community of Zancudo Cocha, or Zancudo, which also had deep cultural and spiritual ties to the land but was not included in Amazon Frontline’s efforts. Such unequal support is termed “uneven territorial sponsorship” by the study authors. It can come from third parties including NGOs, states, religious organizations and others when they support one community at the disadvantage of another that may have a similar ancestral claim to the land. In Ecuador, it has led to tensions between the two communities, with reported incidents of violence and a lack of compromise. Amazon Frontlines helped the Siekopai secure title to the territory by framing their claim in a more non-Indigenous, Western, legal tradition, which defines territory as sovereign, sacred and timeless, according to the paper. Historically, before the mid-20th century, Amazonian communities saw territorial claims as…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played a critical role in the fight to secure title to ancestral Indigenous lands in the Amazon. They can provide financial assistance and legal representation in court, but new research shows that for groups that do not benefit from this support, the arrival of NGOs may cause more harm than good. […] authors: | ||
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As East Africa’s oceans change, coastal women build new livelihoods 06 Jul 2026 21:18:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/as-east-africas-oceans-change-coastal-women-build-new-livelihoods/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: MALINDI, Kenya (AP) — Across East Africa’s coastline, climate change and industrial fishing are threatening the livelihoods of millions who depend on the ocean. In Kenya, women are turning to community tourism, mangrove restoration and other nature-based enterprises as declining fish stocks force them to adapt. Their experiences mirror a regional push to strengthen coastal resilience through sustainable livelihoods and marine conservation, as governments and environmental groups call for stronger action to protect fisheries, curb illegal fishing and safeguard the future of the region’s oceans. Conservation groups also are urging African governments to ratify a landmark U.N. pact establishing marine protected areas in international waters and fair sharing of marine resources. By Allan Olingo, Associated Press Banner image: An unfinished restaurant under construction by a women’s group led by Nuru Mohammed is seen in Sabaki, Malindi, Kenya, on June 15, 2026. Allan Olingo, Associated Press. This article was originally published on Mongabay description: MALINDI, Kenya (AP) — Across East Africa’s coastline, climate change and industrial fishing are threatening the livelihoods of millions who depend on the ocean. In Kenya, women are turning to community tourism, mangrove restoration and other nature-based enterprises as declining fish stocks force them to adapt. Their experiences mirror a regional push to strengthen coastal […] authors: | ||
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María Laura Tolmos, 37, turned a childhood in the Amazon into her life’s work 06 Jul 2026 19:45:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/maria-laura-tolmos-37-turned-a-childhood-in-the-amazon-into-her-lifes-work/ author: Rhett Butler dc:creator: Rhett Ayers Butler content:encoded: Maria Laura Tolmos Coquelet grew up in the Peruvian Amazon. As a child, she explored rivers by kayak and looked for animals along the banks. Nature was not a distant idea to her. It was home, and it shaped the course of her life. Tolmos, who died of breast cancer on June 21st in Barcelona, aged 37, became a forest scientist because the forest had never been remote to her. She studied forest sciences in Peru, then went to Germany for a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in forest sciences and forest ecology at the University of Göttingen, which she completed in 2024. Her research examined patterns of plant and tree diversity across islands, island-like ecosystems, mountains, and tropical landscapes. She studied different dimensions of biodiversity, from taxonomy to evolutionary history to function, and the environmental gradients that shape them. Her science was exacting because its source was personal. Deforestation, pollution, and the overuse of natural resources were pressures she had seen in places she knew. At Wilderness International, where she served as co-director of science and sat on the board of Wilderness International Perú, she helped turn concern into method: field knowledge, ecological assessment, institutional trust, and long-term protection. Alongside her husband, Fabian Mühlberger, and others, she helped create the team that founded Wilderness International Perú in 2019. María Laura Tolmos. From her social media. She was, colleagues said, a stickler for detail in the best sense. She wanted clean data, robust methods, and answers that could withstand…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - María Laura Tolmos, who died of breast cancer on June 21st in Barcelona, aged 37, grew up in the Peruvian Amazon, where the forest became the foundation of her life and work. - A forest scientist trained in Peru and Germany, she completed a Ph.D. in forest sciences and forest ecology at the University of Göttingen in 2024. - At Wilderness International, she served as co-director of science and helped found Wilderness International Perú, bringing rigor, field knowledge, and institutional trust to its conservation work. - In the field, she was exacting and deeply alive to nature, whether checking research methods, sleeping in a hammock in the forest, joining night surveys, or noticing the species and details others passed by. authors: | ||
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The women leading a quiet conservation revolution in a Nigerian gorilla sanctuary 06 Jul 2026 19:06:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-women-leading-a-quiet-conservation-revolution-in-a-nigerian-gorilla-sanctuary/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Orji Sunday content:encoded: BOKI, Nigeria — The morning light fills Ulom with warmth and radiance. A dome of mountains, their green vegetation spread out like giant green walls, is visible at the edge of this serene village in Nigeria’s southeast. In the king’s palace, a women’s group kicks off its monthly meeting with prayers and choruses. Today’s meeting centers on river pollution, a significant issue being addressed as part of a broader initiative to save Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWS), a 100-square-kilometer (39-square-mile) wildlife hotspot situated near Ulom. Gazetted in 2000, the sanctuary is inhabited by the critically endangered Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) and drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus); porcupines; duikers; and dozens of bird, bat, and butterfly species. Afi is the shared heritage of 16 villages, including Ulom, broadly known as the sanctuary’s landlords. Together, these communities have set up initiatives and bylaws aimed at protecting the hotspot, often in collaboration with nonprofits and other stakeholders. The women’s collective meeting here today is one signal of a growing surge of women’s conservation leadership across the host communities. Asu Margaret, the group secretary, reads aloud from a notebook. “In our previous meeting we discussed how to prevent wildfires in the Afi Mountains,” she says. “We rejected the felling of trees. We maintain the ban on timber dealers.” Only about 300 Cross River gorillas are estimated to survive in the wild; roughly 100 of them live in a patchwork of interconnected protected areas that includes Afi, Mbe Mountains,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Women’s conservation collectives in the communities surrounding Nigeria’s Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary are working to defend the wildlife, forests and rivers in a protected area that’s home to threatened gorillas and chimpanzees. - Funded by membership dues, these groups carry out patrols, investigate wildlife crimes, and work collaboratively with traditional leadership structures to censure violators. - One of the groups’ notable successes comes in ensuring that rules aimed at protecting the environment are upheld without bias or favoritism. - The successes of the pioneering women’s collectives have inspired the formation of similar initiatives in other villages surrounding the sanctuary. authors: | ||
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War reveals the isolation of Iran’s scientists 06 Jul 2026 18:39:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/war-reveals-the-isolation-of-irans-scientists/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: John Cannon content:encoded: The smiles on the faces of Iman Ebrahimi and his colleagues in the photograph are revealing: After more than a month of war in Iran, a tenuous ceasefire in mid-April offered a brief window for the team to travel to one of Ebrahimi’s favorite field sites. Maharloo Lake is the “hottest spot for flamingo breeding in Iran,” he said excitedly on a video call during a rare period of stable internet early in the war. They saw “at least 5,000” greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) that day, he said, though there were probably more beyond the reach of their binoculars. “It was incredible.” A salt lake that tinges pink when summer heat shrinks its footprint, the lake was flush with water when they visited. “This is a very lovely place, but I’ve never seen Maharloo like this,” Ebrahimi said. The winter rains had been heavier than normal, to be sure, but he said he also suspects that agricultural and industrial activity, muted by the war, were drawing off less water from the lake — an unanticipated impact. Ebrahimi and his teammates from the NGO AvayeBoom Bird Conservation Society are doing their best to track the conflict’s effects on Iran’s environment. They’ve noticed, for example, shifts in bird aggregations, apparently moving away from areas that reverberate with airstrikes. But the war has also laid bare the damage caused by international sanctions imposed by the U.S., the EU and the U.N., along with other moves to cut Iran off from the rest of…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The war in Iran has hindered scientific research, making the long-running isolation of Iranian scientists more apparent. - For decades, international sanctions and the war have limited their access to funding, professional development, and global scientific collaboration. - Beyond potential damage to wildlife populations and ecosystems, conservation efforts are often ignored during wartime. - Even amid the war, the Iran-based AvayeBoom Bird Conservation Society has continued its work “reconnecting people with wetlands through birds” and protecting critical bird habitats like the Arjan wetland in the country’s southwest. authors: | ||
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Brazil boosts budget and number of firefighters amid strong El Niño forecast 06 Jul 2026 17:12:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/brazil-boosts-budget-and-number-of-firefighters-amid-strong-el-nino-forecast/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Brazil has increased wildfire spending and has hired a record number of federal firefighters in anticipation of extreme drought in the Amazon due to what could be one of the strongest El Niño events in more than a century. The El Niño climate pattern, which emerges from unusually warm waters in the tropical Pacific, typically brings hotter, drier conditions to large parts of the Amazon. This raises the risk of severe drought and large wildfires. With a ‘strong’ to ‘very strong’ El Niño predicted this year, the impacts on the world’s largest rainforest are also expected to be more extreme. “I’m not calm. I’m very alert,” João Paulo Sotero, director of deforestation and fire policy at Brazil’s environment ministry, told Mongabay in a video interview. “We are much better prepared [now] than we were in 2024 and 2025 … we are prepared for the worst scenario.” Sotero said Brazil has increased funding for fire management in 2026 to 1.023 billion reais ($197 million), up 28% from 2025, or 24% after adjusting for inflation, rising after pro–deforestation president Jair Bolsonaro left office at the end of 2022. The budget is now five times larger than it was in 2019. The environment ministry also hired 4,410 additional federal firefighters for the 2026 fire season. In 2024, 3,224 firefighters were hired, while 4,358 firefighters were hired in 2025. Map by Emilie Languedoc/Mongabay. According to Sotero, his team has identified high-risk locations in the Amazon to focus efforts, including a new deforestation frontier in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Brazil has increased wildfire spending and has hired a record number of federal firefighters in anticipation of extreme drought in the Amazon due to what could be one of the strongest El Niño events in more than a century. The El Niño climate pattern, which emerges from unusually warm waters in the tropical Pacific, typically […] authors: | ||
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Listen to whales to improve connection, care & ocean health (commentary) 06 Jul 2026 17:07:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/listen-to-whales-to-improve-connection-care-ocean-health-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: David GruberSylvia Earle content:encoded: Seventy years ago, Le Monde du Silence, a film by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle, depicted the ocean as silent. Today, we know that the ocean is filled with the melodies of millions of vocalizing sea creatures, from the crisp snapping of shrimps to the complex singing and speaking of whales. In fact, the first life to vocalize with intent likely began in the sea. It is far from silent. Together, our careers span generations of ocean exploration. Sylvia has spent more than seven decades advancing ocean exploration and conservation, helping inspire the protection of critical marine ecosystems. And David has worked for more than three decades to better understand how marine life perceive their world, which has led him to a current focus with Project CETI translating the communication of whales. This is uncovering a vast depth and complexity in whale voices, which we are just beginning to understand. While there have been remarkable conservation successes, the overall trend is clear: the health of the ocean is declining faster than our efforts to protect it. Throughout our careers, we have witnessed extraordinary discoveries about marine life as well as humans’ ability to access even its deepest reaches, alongside dramatic changes to the ocean itself. We have celebrated conservation victories and scientific and technological breakthroughs. But we have also watched habitats disappear, species decline, and human impacts reach even the most remote corners of our oceans. David Gruber and Sylvia Earle in conversation for the Project CETI program, “The Deep…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - From establishing conservation protections to developing tools to understand whale communication, the work of marine biologist David Gruber and oceanographer Sylvia Earle is grounded in the same belief: understanding leads to connection and care. - While there have been remarkable conservation successes across the five decades of their efforts, the overall trend is clear: the health of the ocean is declining faster than efforts to protect it. - “We still have an opportunity to leave future generations an ocean filled with life, wonder, and possibility. But this window is closing. The choices we make in the next decade will firmly shape the future of marine ecosystems,” the co-authors argue. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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King vultures in Costa Rica: Photo of the week 06 Jul 2026 16:45:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/king-vultures-in-costa-rica-photo-of-the-week/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Shanna Hanbury content:encoded: Two king vultures (Sarcoramphus papa), one of the largest vulture species in the Americas, perch on a tree branch in Costa Rica. One leans over to nibble the other. The king vulture’s range stretches from Mexico south through the Amazon Rainforest and down to northern Argentina. These birds have a wingspan of up to 2 meters (6.6 feet), white plumage with black wingtips, and a remarkably colorful head with orange, yellow, red and purple hues. The species is featured symbolically in ancient Maya carvings, manuscripts and painted ceramics that date back millennia. More recently in the Amazon, historians detailed Indigenous oral traditions that feature king vultures as a master of fire. Peter Hudson, a professor of biology at Penn State University, U.S., captured the photo above in April 2026. “They really look very, very prehistoric,” he told Mongabay by phone. “They’re beautiful birds, absolutely stunning.” In Costa Rica, ecotourism has helped garner support for the conservation of vultures and other species, Hudson said. In the areas surrounding national parks and public nature reserves, private landowners are becoming more interested in conservation and offering tourists hides from which they can observe wildlife. It was from one of these hideouts on private land that Hudson spotted and photographed the king vultures. In total, he spotted six vultures, one which he suspects was a juvenile. “[The owner of the hideout] was going ecstatic when one of them was leaning over to sort of nibble at the other one,” Hudson said, describing the moment…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Two king vultures (Sarcoramphus papa), one of the largest vulture species in the Americas, perch on a tree branch in Costa Rica. One leans over to nibble the other. The king vulture’s range stretches from Mexico south through the Amazon Rainforest and down to northern Argentina. These birds have a wingspan of up to 2 […] authors: | ||
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Brazil’s expanding offshore oil frontier puts biodiversity at risk: study 06 Jul 2026 15:42:29 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazils-expanding-offshore-oil-frontier-puts-biodiversity-at-risk-study/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Daniel Shailer content:encoded: In late August 2019, fishing communities along the northeast coast of Brazil reported black oily stains washing up on beaches, with crude clumping between the roots of mangroves, on the shells of turtles and on growing numbers of beached fish. The origin of the spill was never confirmed: Then-president Jair Bolsonaro first blamed a Venezuelan tanker, then Greenpeace. What was soon clear, however, was the scale of the disaster. Carried by strong winds and ocean currents, by early 2020 the oil had contaminated thousands of kilometers of coastline across all nine Brazilian states in the region. As the country’s government issued its first oil exploration licenses off the northeast coast in two decades earlier this year, research published last month looks to predict the scale and spread of a potential future spill. According to the study, outdated marine habitat maps and a failure to consider expansion across multiple sites in the region has led officials to underestimate the environmental risks of oil spills, especially for seagrass meadows and deepwater corals. Regions where a spill is more likely to happen should prepare an emergency response, the paper recommends, while “areas of high conservation importance but relatively lower oil spill risk” could be targeted for new or expanded Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a precaution. “Most of the licensing just looks at one activity in one location: not the whole seascape,” Rafael Magris, an ecologist at the Chico Mendez Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and lead author of the research, told Mongabay in…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Fossil fuel exploration off the northeast coast of Brazil presents a greater cumulative risk of oil spills than previously expected, according to new modeling. - Seagrass meadows and deep-water reefs in the Potiguar Basin are at greatest risk, as well as portions of the coasts of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Amapá states. - As the Brazilian government is pursuing rapid expansion of oil exploration in the region, researchers recommend prioritizing preparedness for emergencies where pollution would likely spread, and expanding Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in low-risk areas. - Campaigners worry that MPAs might restrict local fishing communities or be implemented too slowly. authors: | ||
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Nepal’s birdwatchers help monitor wildlife and promote tourism 06 Jul 2026 15:09:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/nepals-birdwatchers-help-monitor-wildlife-and-promote-tourism/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Bibek Bhandari content:encoded: KATHMANDU — As a child, Shankar Tiwari and his friends killed birds for fun around Chitwan National Park in central Nepal, where they grew up. Years later, a foreign guest at the hotel where Tiwari worked took him birdwatching and turned the hunter into a bird lover. The striking yellow and black plumage and red eyes of the black-hooded oriole (Oriolus xanthornus), which he saw magnified through binoculars for the first time, sparked Tiwari’s lifelong passion for birds, he said. Today, the 57-year-old is one of Nepal’s leading birdwatching guides and a prominent member of the country’s growing birdwatching community that is contributing to bird conservation while promoting it as a tourism attraction. Enthusiasts look for birds in Suryabinayak, Kathmandu Image courtesy of Prasan Shrestha. “The birdwatching community has grown significantly today,” he said. “This has helped not just in raising awareness of the birds, but the community also helps in keeping tabs on the birds — how their habitat and population have changed over the years.” A new study suggests that birdwatching is becoming increasingly popular in Nepal, particularly among the young, and that this trend “contributes to biodiversity conservation through public engagement and ecological data collection.” In Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, nonprofits like Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) and Friends of Birds organize events on weekends, drawing a diverse group of birdwatchers. Despite the increasing popularity of birdwatching, the study notes, public participation and data sharing remain limited. A black-hooded oriole, the bird that sparked Tiwari’s lifelong passion for birds.…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Birdwatching is becoming increasingly popular in Nepal, contributing to biodiversity conservation through public engagement and ecological data collection. - Despite its popularity, a lack of public participation and data-sharing practices affect record-keeping. - Researchers say documentation provided by birdwatchers helps fulfill data gaps related to bird population and habitat. - Birdwatching helps promote local destinations and generate economic activity, though Nepal as a birdwatching destination remains largely untapped. authors: | ||
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Sightings off Southern Africa suggest blue and fin whales may be rebounding 06 Jul 2026 11:59:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/sightings-off-southern-africa-suggest-blue-and-fin-whales-may-be-rebounding/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: Sightings of blue whales and fin whales off Southern Africa’s Atlantic coast have increased in recent years, according to a newly published study. This could signal recovery of the marine mammals after being virtually eliminated from the area by commercial whaling in the 20th century, the study authors say. Scientists estimate around 350,000 Antarctic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) and some 725,000 fin whales (B. physalus quoyi) were killed in the Atlantic during the industrial whaling era from 1913-1978, driving both whales to near extinction. A research team led by Bridget James of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, set out to assess if both subspecies are recovering in the Benguela ecosystem in the southeastern Atlantic. It’s a stretch of water between the west coasts of northern Angola, Namibia and South Africa, where currents bring nutrients from lower ocean depths to the surface, producing rich blooms of krill, a marine crustacean that both whale subspecies eat. The team found that between 1964 and March 2025, there were 17 reports of blue whale sightings and one report of stranding in the region. They also recorded 76 fin whale sightings and six strandings. The blue whales were most often seen between late spring to summer (October-December) and autumn (March-April) in the Benguela ecosystem, while fin whales were seen year-round. While the number of sightings is still relatively low, 95% of them were recorded since 2012. James told Mongabay by email that the Benguela ecosystem is a migratory corridor between breeding and feeding grounds for the whales, and that…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Sightings of blue whales and fin whales off Southern Africa’s Atlantic coast have increased in recent years, according to a newly published study. This could signal recovery of the marine mammals after being virtually eliminated from the area by commercial whaling in the 20th century, the study authors say. Scientists estimate around 350,000 Antarctic blue […] authors: | ||
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Dusky langurs start using new canopy bridge in Malaysia’s Penang Island 06 Jul 2026 09:42:12 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/dusky-langurs-start-using-new-canopy-bridge-in-malaysias-penang-island/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Endangered dusky langurs have successfully begun using a new artificial canopy bridge in a major tourism hub on Malaysia’s Penang Island. Camera traps set up by the Langur Project Penang (LPP) confirmed that the first dusky langur (Trachypithecus obscurus) crossed the bridge made out of old fire hoses on June 1, about two months after it was installed on April 8, 2026. Known as “The Obscura,” the bridge was installed in Batu Ferringhi, a beach resort town in the northern part of Penang Island. LPP founder Yap Jo Leen previously told Mongabay that the bridge provides a safe path for urban wildlife, such as langurs and macaques, to cross busy roads without risking death by vehicles or electric wires. LPP, a citizen science-driven conservation initiative, works to mitigate the habitat fragmentation caused by Malaysia’s rapid urban development. Mongabay previously reported that Malaysia has lost more than half its forest cover since 1900 as its human population has climbed. What forest remains is increasingly divided by roads and residential infrastructure, isolating populations of wild animals in residential areas away from their natural habitats. Yap documented eight langurs killed by vehicles during her research in Penang between 2016 and 2018. Since then, LPP has installed three bridges made of fire hoses, The Obscura being the latest, to help the langurs cross roads. The first bridge, Ah Lai’s Crossing, was installed in 2019 to help a group of langurs navigate a busy coastal road to find food. While a long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis)…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Endangered dusky langurs have successfully begun using a new artificial canopy bridge in a major tourism hub on Malaysia’s Penang Island. Camera traps set up by the Langur Project Penang (LPP) confirmed that the first dusky langur (Trachypithecus obscurus) crossed the bridge made out of old fire hoses on June 1, about two months after […] authors: | ||
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In Southeast Asia, peer-support network boosts women’s well-being in conservation 06 Jul 2026 08:21:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-southeast-asia-peer-support-network-boosts-womens-well-being-in-conservation/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: When Jessa Cabaay began working in marine conservation in the Philippines, she frequently found she was the only woman in the room. Her isolation meant she often felt anxious while presenting at stakeholder meetings, sensing her audience questioned her credibility. “Most of the fishing communities I was working with were older and male,” Cabaay says, describing her experience of discussions on planning out marine protected areas (MPAs). “They didn’t listen the first few times I tried to talk to them.” Cabaay says she observed that her male colleagues were rarely under the same pressure to prove their competence. Now the technical manager of Community Centered Conservation (C3), a Philippine-based nonprofit, she says the fishers’ skepticism likely reflected cultural beliefs held in many Philippine coastal communities that place women in domestic roles rather than professional ones. “There are expectations that as a woman, you follow; you cannot lead,” she says. Lacking female colleagues to turn to for support and advice, Cabaay persevered largely alone through her early-career struggles. Now, however, she finds strength and encouragement through a peer-support network that links female conservation professionals across Southeast Asia. Connecting with other women facing similar challenges has been a game changer, she says: “I realized I’m not struggling alone. We all feel the same.” The initiative, the Network of Women (NOW), is led by the Asian Species Action Partnership (ASAP), a Singapore-based interagency coalition that focuses on critically endangered species of land and freshwater vertebrates. Launched in 2021, the program combines in-person leadership…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Women in conservation continue to face significant cultural and systemic challenges, despite efforts to address gender equality across the sector. - Pressures can lead to burnout, stalled careers, and women leaving the industry, reducing the diverse perspectives experts say are essential to tackling global conservation challenges. - Peer-support networks and woman-to-woman mentorship are increasingly providing women with safe spaces to share their experiences and advice, helping participants rise to leadership positions and build long-term careers. - While these networks can fill existing sector-wide gaps, experts say broader institutional and societal changes are also required to create safe, inclusive and supportive working environments for all. authors: | ||
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What are these parrots saying? 05 Jul 2026 15:47:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/what-are-these-parrots-saying/ author: Lucia Torres dc:creator: Julia Lemos Lima content:encoded: New research shows that the yellow-naped amazon (Amazona auropalliata), a critically endangered parrot in Central America, has a sophisticated way of communicating. Instead of just making noise, these birds perform complex “warble duets” that act like synchronized sentences to protect their territory. Using software designed for human language, scientists discovered that these parrots have a “vocabulary” of 36 different calls. Their duets follow “syntactic rules” — essentially parrot grammar — to keep their messages organized. Partners coordinate their timing and use sex-specific calls to stay in sync. This proves that these clever birds have advanced cognitive abilities similar to humans.This article was originally published on Mongabay description: New research shows that the yellow-naped amazon (Amazona auropalliata), a critically endangered parrot in Central America, has a sophisticated way of communicating. Instead of just making noise, these birds perform complex “warble duets” that act like synchronized sentences to protect their territory. Using software designed for human language, scientists discovered that these parrots have a […] authors: | ||
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Tropical mountain wildlife are at high risk from climate change impacts, study finds 03 Jul 2026 18:45:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tropical-mountain-wildlife-are-at-high-risk-from-climate-change-impacts-study-finds/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Bobby Bascomb content:encoded: As the planet warms, animals living in tropical mountains may find it increasingly difficult to shift to new areas, according to a new study. Tropical mountains are particularly at risk when the impacts of climate change combine with changes in land use and human pressures, Chiara Dragonetti, co-author of the study published in June, told Mongabay in a video call. Many mountain-dwelling species are endemic to those areas and can only tolerate climatic conditions within narrow limits, researchers have previously found. Higher altitudes may be the right temperature but the wrong habitat, and species already living at high altitudes can only shift so high. Eventually, animals can run out of safe space on a mountain in a pattern scientists have dubbed an “escalator to extinction.” Changes in how mountain land is used can further limit animals’ movement. Dragonetti wanted to understand how mountain wildlife will fare in a warming world, while also considering land-use changes and the species’ dispersal abilities. She and her colleagues analyzed existing global datasets of distribution for 395 different mountain-dwelling species, including 361 birds and 34 mammals, breaking them down by animals that can easily disperse, such as birds, and those that can’t easily relocate, such as sloths. They then used computer models to project where these species could occur in 2050, under future high and low greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. The study found that under a high emissions scenario, wildlife would lose 16% more range (or places they can live) compared to a low emissions…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: As the planet warms, animals living in tropical mountains may find it increasingly difficult to shift to new areas, according to a new study. Tropical mountains are particularly at risk when the impacts of climate change combine with changes in land use and human pressures, Chiara Dragonetti, co-author of the study published in June, told […] authors: | ||
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Australia’s seagrass meadows under pressure as climate change turns up the heat 03 Jul 2026 15:19:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/australias-seagrass-meadows-under-pressure-as-climate-change-turns-up-the-heat/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Sean Mowbray content:encoded: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is renowned for its coral, but far less so for its expansive seagrass meadows. “People don’t dive on them, don’t snorkel on them, and don’t go rock pooling on them,” said Emma Jackson, director of the Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC) at Central Queensland University. She’s a self-confessed seagrass nerd. One reason, she said, is because “they have this wealth of different ecosystem services.” Though they’re known as the “ugly cousins” of coral reefs, these flowering grass-like plants provide a home and foraging grounds for marine life, as well as habitat for commercial fish species. These meadows stabilize sediments, help cleanse the water column and sequester substantial amounts of carbon. “I think when people understand that, then they can share my nerdiness and share that passion for seagrass,” Jackson said. Emma Jackson, who directs CMERC (right), envisions large-scale restoration using many seagrass species, with the process as routine as seeding a lawn. Image courtesy CMERC. The Great Barrier Reef is home to around 3.5 million hectares (8.6 million acres) of seagrass, an area larger than Belgium, which accounts for about 11% of the world’s total. Australia is a global hotspot of seagrass biodiversity, hosting around half of the world’s 60 species of the plants. But as climate change ratchets up temperatures and triggers more frequent extreme weather events, Australia’s marine meadows are increasingly battered by intense storms and cyclones, flooding, and devastating marine heat waves. Algal blooms are also impacting seagrasses by blocking out sunlight…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Australia is a global stronghold for seagrasses, the flowering plants that grow in coastal waters and bays. - Seagrasses are unsung but vital ecosystem engineers: They stabilize sediments, provide habitat and food for marine species, help cleanse the water column of pollutants and sequester vast amounts of carbon dioxide. - Across Australia’s waters, these undersea meadows are suffering as coasts are developed, seas are polluted and climate change continues to raise water temperatures. - Conservationists are working to restore seagrasses and build resilience to preserve these vital marine ecosystems. authors: | ||
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New data reveals surge in human rights abuses linked to transition minerals mining 03 Jul 2026 15:01:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/new-data-reveals-surge-in-human-rights-abuses-linked-to-transition-minerals-mining/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Aimee Gabay content:encoded: New data released by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) finds that, worldwide, South America has the most abuse allegations associated with large-scale mining for transition minerals over the past 15 years. Such minerals are essential for the shift away from fossil fuels and are critical for other industries, such as tech and defense. Many of the allegations were associated with environmental harm including water pollution and deforestation. Roughly 36% of such abuse allegations recorded between 2010 and 2025 were in South America. Many of the abuses involved local community rights violations, labor rights violations and attacks against defenders. Of the allegations reported worldwide in 2025, 17% were related to the abuse of Indigenous People’s rights, including their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent before mining activities could take place in their territory. The researchers analyzed the BHRRC’s Transition Minerals Tracker to identify allegations of abuse related to mining nine key transitional minerals, including bauxite, cobalt, copper and lithium. They identified 329 allegations of abuse in 2025, up from 156 in 2024. Between 2010 and 2025, Peru had the most reported allegations (174), followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (151) and Chile (137). “This year’s data really lays bare the cost of conflict: we’re seeing project delays and suspensions as a direct result of human rights concerns, which poses a real threat to the transition as a whole,” author of the report Blanca Racionero Gomez, natural resources and just energy transition senior researcher at the BHRRC,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: New data released by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) finds that, worldwide, South America has the most abuse allegations associated with large-scale mining for transition minerals over the past 15 years. Such minerals are essential for the shift away from fossil fuels and are critical for other industries, such as tech and […] authors: | ||
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Malawi agroecologists see opportunity in Gulf fertilizer supply disruption 03 Jul 2026 14:04:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/malawi-agroecologists-see-opportunity-in-gulf-fertilizer-supply-disruption/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Charles Mpaka content:encoded: As the first rays of the sun streak through the misty morning early in June, James Singano spits into his right hand for a good grip of the hoe handle. With one swing, he brings down a shrub. Malawi’s farming season is five months away, but Singano has started clearing the land where he inter-crops maize, a staple food here, with pigeon peas. He is one of the more than 4 million smallholder farmers that depend on subsistence farming and contribute significantly to national food security by producing 80% of Malawi’s annual maize harvest. Most of them farm on less than a hectare. From his farm in the outskirts of Blantyre City in Southern Malawi, Singano’s maize harvest varies between 400kg and 600kg annually, which hardly feeds his family of six for a year. He says the land’s yield has consistently over the last 21 years, since he inherited it from his parents. “They (parents) did not need fertilizer to produce enough maize for our family,” he says, sweeping off the shrub he has cut with his bare foot onto a heap of grass nearby. “These days, farming is a lot of toil for very little harvest because the soil isn’t producing as much and fertilizer is getting harder to afford.” Maize is staple crop in Malawi and its production is heavily dependent on chemical fertilizers. Malawi imports over 90 percent of the over 400,000 tons of fertilizers it consumes annually – Image by Charles Mpaka for Mongabay. Soils losing…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Geopolitics in the Middle East that has affected shipping through the Strait of Hormuz risk disrupting fertilizer supplies and drive-up prices ahead of the next planting season. - Small-scale farmers are already dealing with effects of land degradation, and high input costs, with the cost of urea increasing from $96 to $103 for a 50kg bag in a matter of months, before planting season. - Agroecologists say the instability is an opportunity for the country to refocus on manure, compost and crop diversification to reduce dependence on fertilizer and maize. - Some farmers remain hopeful that the synthetic fertilizer, on which they rely for improved harvests, will be at least available. authors: | ||
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Declining carp fishes in Bangladesh’s Kaptai Lake leave small-scale fishers struggling 03 Jul 2026 13:37:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/declining-carp-fishes-in-bangladeshs-kaptai-lake-leave-small-scale-fishers-struggling/ author: Abu Siddique dc:creator: Sifayet Ullah content:encoded: A faded towel draped over his shoulders, 53-year-old Khokon Jaladas sat quietly in the yard of his home. Just beyond his house, a few fishing boats moored in Kaptai Lake, the largest manmade reservoir in Bangladesh. He watched them quietly. Until a few years ago, he would have been out on the water too, spending long hours casting nets and trying to catch enough fish to feed his family. But now, fishing alone is no longer enough for him. To make ends meet, he works as a laborer in the boat building sector while continuing to fish whenever he can. “There used to be plenty of carp fish. We could catch fish easily and earned Tk 1200 ($10) to 1600 ($13) per day. But now, catches of high-value carp species dwindled,” Khokon said from Old Jelepara, a settlement on the edge of the lake in Rangamati district’s Sadar upazila (sub-district). “Sometimes, I return home empty handed from the lake. For this, it would be difficult to support my six-member family without doing other work,” Khokon said. Around Kaptai Lake, Khokon’s story is becoming far too common. For generations, the fishers met their livelihoods catching high-value carp species. As these fish become harder to find, many have no choice but to leave the profession. Created by a hydroelectric dam on the Karnaphuli River in 1960, the Kaptai Lake is one of Bangladesh’s most important hubs of inland fisheries. Fisherman Khokon Jaladas sits in the yard of his home near Kaptai Lake,…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Kaptai Lake is one of Bangladesh’s largest inland fish hubs, supporting the livelihoods of more than 27,000 registered fishers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. - Over the past several years, catches of high value carp fishes have declined sharply, forcing many small-scale fishers to abandon or supplement the ancestral profession. - Researchers said carp species depend on specific spawning conditions including suitable breeding grounds. But the lake’s major breeding areas have been degraded, while overharvesting has further reduced the chances of natural recovery. - Experts warn that without restoring breeding grounds, increasing carp fry stocking and improving fisheries management, the decline could continue, which would deepen economic pressure on small-scale fishers. authors: | ||
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Running on empty: How the gulf war is threatening Kenya’s food security 03 Jul 2026 13:28:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/running-on-empty-how-the-gulf-war-is-threatening-kenyas-food-security/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Achieng’ Otieno content:encoded: Philip Kitur walks through a neat row of maize stalks, with budding leaves painting a picture of a bountiful harvest. The 71-year-old has a 41-acre parcel at Kipkeikei village in Trans-Nzoia County. However, hidden behind Kitur’s smile is the fear of losing a significant yield if he does not access fertilizer. “The crop is due for top dressing, but I have not accessed urea, without which I may lose up to 30% of my harvest,” he told Mongabay. Mutahi Kagwe, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, says the country has adequate stocks of fertilizer, including 2 million bags for top-dressing. He says Kenya is working around finding alternative sources for the fertilizer to ensure food security in spite of global shocks triggered by the tension between Iran and USA. “While we cannot preempt or predict how long the conflict in the Middle East will take, we have had conversations on sourcing Urea from Algeria and fertilizer from Morocco,” Kagwe told Mongabay in an interview done virtually. A maize farm belonging to Dennis Chemonges, a farmer in Cherengani, in Kenya’s Trans-Nzoia. The crop is due for top dressing. Photo by Achieng’ Otieno. Key food basket Trans-Nzoia is one of Kenya’s food baskets, especially for maize, which is a staple food. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ 2025 National Agriculture Production Report, Trans-Nzoia accounted for 423,156 (10.5%) of the 4,028,320 tons of maize produced in 2024. However, there has been immense strain in Kenya’s ability to sustain its maize production over…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Tensions in the Gulf that have disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, causing fertilizer prices to rise. Despite the Kenyan government’s subsidy program, farmers have to deal with high fuel and other input costs. - At least 26% of Kenya’s fertilizer supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The government has, however, assured its citizens of adequate stocks of fertilizer, with plans to diversify imports. - Meanwhile, farmers foresee reduced yields, despite government subsidy program, while commercial fertilizer prices continue to soar amid rising fuel costs. - Kenya has to also deal with land degradation attributed to soil erosion, poor farming practices, overuse of synthetic fertilizers and climate change impacts such as floods. authors: | ||
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Iran rearrests prominent conservationists freed just two years ago 03 Jul 2026 13:13:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/iran-rearrests-prominent-conservationists-freed-just-two-years-ago/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Iranian security forces in Tehran arrested wildlife conservationists Houman Jowkar and Sepideh Kashani, alongside Sepideh’s sister, Sima Kashani, on July 1, 2026, according to reports from multiple Iranian news sources. Jowkar and Sepideh, who are married, are experts on the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and were previously arrested in 2018 on espionage charges related to their alleged use of camera traps. The cheetah subspecies, found only in Iran, is believed to have fewer than 30 individuals remaining in the wild. Hojjat Kermani, the trio’s attorney, told media that security agents confiscated electronic devices during a raid at the couple’s residence, before taking all three into custody. The conservation NGO Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) expressed “profound concern and alarm” over the detentions. It urged Iranian authorities to clarify the group’s legal status and whereabouts. Mongabay previously reported that Jowkar and Sepideh were members of the now-defunct Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF), a Tehran-based conservation organization. They were among a group of eight conservationists arrested in January 2018 on charges alleging use of wildlife camera traps for the purpose of spying on Iran, including monitoring the country’s missile program. Those 2018 charges were widely condemned by the international scientific community as baseless. One of the arrested researchers, Kavous Seyed Emami, died in custody with Iranian authorities saying the death was a suicide, a claim doubted by Seyed Emami’s family. Jowkar and Sepideh were eventually pardoned and released in April 2024 after serving six years in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Authorities…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Iranian security forces in Tehran arrested wildlife conservationists Houman Jowkar and Sepideh Kashani, alongside Sepideh’s sister, Sima Kashani, on July 1, 2026, according to reports from multiple Iranian news sources. Jowkar and Sepideh, who are married, are experts on the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and were previously arrested in 2018 on espionage […] authors: | ||
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Zambia’s bumper harvest masks likely food insecurity amid geopolitics and climate threats 03 Jul 2026 13:12:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/ author: Terna Gyuse dc:creator: Chisapi Kumbutso content:encoded: LUSAKA, Zambia — The escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, has prompted warnings that disruptions to the supply of fuel and fertilizer shipped through the Strait of Hormuz could cause food insecurity in some African countries. While experts say it will take time for the effects of the conflict to be felt in Zambia, they also point to vulnerabilities in the country’s food system and suggest greater resilience to possible stresses. Zambia’s food security is generally understood to rest on a single crop: maize. Zambia Statistics Agency reports that the price of a 25-kilogram bag of breakfast mealie meal declined slightly from April to May. In fact, the price of mealie meal is 15% lower than it was this time last year. The FAO’s April 2026 country briefing for Zambia said good rains since last October point to a second consecutive year of above-average harvests of maize. The rains are also expected to support a rebound of wheat harvest, as full reservoirs mean a steady supply of hydroelectric power that will allow the crop’s growers (primarily large-scale, industrial farmers) to irrigate their fields. The briefing reported that reference prices for maize were 25% lower year-on-year in March, thanks to plentiful domestic supply and a strengthening of the currency. Maize meal prices also declined by 15%, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency. Drawing on the IPC classification, the FAO said the number of Zambians facing “crisis” levels of acute food insecurity in the six months to March 2026 was…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Zambia may seem food-secure now, with recent adequate rains and bumper harvests, but experts say it could be short-lived as global geopolitical tensions drive up fertilizer and fuel costs. - Experts say the urban populations are the most likely to bear the brunt of the Gulf tensions, as they heavily depend on imported foodstuffs such as wheat. - There are calls for the country to build long-term resilience through investment in irrigation, climate-smart agriculture, locally produced fertilizer, and diversified food systems. - Zambia and the rest of Southern Africa is staring at another round of El Niño, which might disrupt rainfall patterns and affect food production. authors: | ||
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Researchers in Nigeria successfully cultivate wild mushroom in agricultural waste 03 Jul 2026 12:30:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/researchers-in-nigeria-successfully-cultivate-wild-mushroom-in-agricultural-waste/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: Researchers in Nigeria have cultivated a wild mushroom species using sawdust, an agricultural waste product. This could help develop farming of local mushrooms in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, they report in a recent study. Lentinus squarrosulus is a wild mushroom that typically grows on decaying logs in wild habitats across tropical forests, including in eastern Nigeria. This mushroom is both edible and has medicinal value, and is at risk of becoming scarce in the wild because of habitat destruction. If domesticated, however, this mushroom could be an inexpensive and reliable source of protein, mushroom researcher Chiemeziem Agbonma Onyeka told Mongabay by email. “Mushroom farming in Africa is still developing,” Onyeka said. “In many regions, there is still limited awareness that mushrooms can be cultivated as a reliable year-round agricultural crop rather than only collected from the wild during specific seasons.” Onyeka set out to learn how to cultivate L. squarrosulus for her doctoral work at the Federal University of Technology in Owerri, Nigeria. Her goal was to find a way to provide a year-round crop that people could grow, reliably and safely, using waste as a growing material or substrate. Onyeka and her colleagues collected wild L. squarrosulus and tried cultivating them on sawdust from three different types of wood: mango (Mangifera indica), African breadfruit (Treculia Africana) and African pear (Dacryodes edulis). Sawdust is a common byproduct of agriculture and forestry waste. The researchers found that L. squarrosulus mushrooms grew fastest and generated the greatest number of fruiting…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Researchers in Nigeria have cultivated a wild mushroom species using sawdust, an agricultural waste product. This could help develop farming of local mushrooms in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, they report in a recent study. Lentinus squarrosulus is a wild mushroom that typically grows on decaying logs in wild habitats across tropical forests, including […] authors: | ||
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Rare fungi help restore Palmyra Atoll rainforests, new study finds. Here’s how 03 Jul 2026 06:10:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/rare-fungi-help-restore-palmyra-atoll-rainforests-new-study-finds-heres-how/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: Palmyra Atoll in the North Pacific is one of the most remote island systems on Earth. A native rainforest tree on the island performs a critical ecological service by providing nesting sites for thousands of seabirds, whose guano fuels the surrounding coral reefs. But a new study revealed that this entire cycle depends on an invisible partner: Symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi. Researchers mapped the fungal diversity across the atoll and discovered the native pisonia (Pisonia grandis) trees have a 100% with a specific genus of fungi called Tomentella — meaning the trees depend on the fungi to survive. These fungi capture intense pulses of nitrogen and phosphorus from bird guano that would otherwise wash into the ocean. This relationship was present in every tree the team sampled. “Most ectomycorrhizal fungi struggle in extremely nutrient-rich soils, but the Tomentella fungi associated with Pisonia appear to be adapted to the high phosphorus levels created by seabird guano,” study co-author Alex Wegmann told Mongabay over email. “This suggests a long evolutionary partnership between the fungi, the trees, and the massive seabird colonies that shape these atoll ecosystems.” The discovery has major implications for the ongoing effort to restore Palmyra’s native forests by removing 1.5 million invasive coconut palms. The study found that Tomentella abundance drops off sharply when there are more than 250 meters (820 feet) away from a pisonia tree. Therefore, natural regeneration might fail in large areas cleared of coconut palms, because the necessary fungi aren’t present in the soil, the study…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: Palmyra Atoll in the North Pacific is one of the most remote island systems on Earth. A native rainforest tree on the island performs a critical ecological service by providing nesting sites for thousands of seabirds, whose guano fuels the surrounding coral reefs. But a new study revealed that this entire cycle depends on an […] authors: | ||
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Can selective logging help the Congo Basin store more carbon? 02 Jul 2026 22:38:09 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-selective-logging-help-the-congo-basin-store-more-carbon/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: Claudia Geib content:encoded: The rainforests of the Congo Basin are the planet’s largest forested carbon sink: as these 3.3 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) of trees in Central Africa breathe in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they turn it into leaves and bark and branches, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change. Yet a recently published study quantifying this carbon storage presents a surprising suggestion: that the most effective way to trap even more carbon in Congo Basin rainforests may be to cut some of its trees down. The study, published as an advance copy in April in Nature Communications, found that selectively managed logging areas make up about 57% of the net carbon removals in the Congo Basin. The authors suggest this shows these forests could provide benefits to both the planet and local communities if sustainable logging is permitted. “The question is: is logging, or any other sustainable use of those forests, only bad for the environment?” said lead researcher Le Bienfaiteur Sagang, a tropical ecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Can we use these forests, give them more value, provide jobs for the locals, and still provide a good contribution to the climate?” Sagang and his co-authors decided to put this questions to test. They designed a machine-learning program that combined land-cover data, captured between 1990 and 2020 across the Congo Basin’s six forested countries, with aboveground carbon levels estimated from other studies via lidar, which creates complex 3D landscape scans using lasers. This rainforest…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A recent study created a machine-learning program that estimated the amount of carbon dioxide already stored, and sequestered annually, by rainforests in Central Africa’s Congo Basin, the planet’s largest forested carbon sink. - They found that managed logging concessions, which remove a small number of large trees annually and strictly control other human activities, made up more than half of the net carbon removed by Congo Basin rainforests. - The authors say these results suggest that expanding logging concessions could help the Congo Basin sequester more carbon while also providing locals with a source of income. - Other experts, however, argue that addressing local conflicts that lead to illegal forest clearing would be a better way to benefit these forests. authors: | ||
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Indonesia’s ratification of fishing labor reforms will also boost conservation (commentary) 02 Jul 2026 20:46:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-ratification-of-fishing-labor-reforms-will-also-boost-conservation-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: Muhamad Nour content:encoded: Indonesia’s recent ratification of the ILO Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (C188) is a historic milestone for the country’s fisheries sector. The ratification is expected to strengthen the protection of fishers; improve working and living conditions at sea; and enhance the competitiveness of Indonesian seafood products in international markets, where buyers increasingly require compliance with labor, human rights and sustainability standards. One of the key lessons from Indonesia’s ratification of ILO Convention No. 188 is that fisheries labor reform requires a broad coalition beyond traditional labor actors. Because the convention directly affects the fisheries sector, successful advocacy depended on active engagement from fisheries authorities, fishing companies, fishers’ organizations and other sectoral stakeholders.Indonesia’s progress was driven by an inclusive “tripartite plus” approach, which combined collaboration among government, employers and workers, with advocacy and technical support from civil society organizations and international partners, including Greenpeace, the Freedom Fund, International Justice Mission and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). These stakeholders played a critical role in raising awareness, generating evidence, strengthening engagement and building public support for ratification. Over the years, various ILO-supported projects also created important momentum by facilitating dialogue, evidence generation and stakeholder engagement on labor issues in fisheries. A clear stakeholder mapping process helped identify the respective roles and interests of each actor, enabling more strategic advocacy and stronger ownership of the ratification process. The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) emerged as a critical partner alongside the Ministry of Manpower, demonstrating that labor protection in fisheries cannot be achieved…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia’s formal ratification of the ILO Work in Fishing Convention is a historic milestone for workers and will boost the sustainability of the fishing industry, the writer argues. - Such reforms require a broad coalition beyond traditional labor actors and must include fisheries authorities, fishing companies, fishers’ organizations and conservation groups. - “Fishers working under safer and fairer conditions are more likely to engage in responsible fishing practices and support conservation measures,” the author writes. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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Dutch importers linked to suspect Amazon timber, investigation finds 02 Jul 2026 20:34:19 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/dutch-importers-linked-to-suspect-amazon-timber-investigation-finds/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Maxwell Radwin content:encoded: Two Dutch timber importers are at the center of a new investigation that shows they may have purchased suspect wood sourced to one of the largest logging companies in Brazil, which had temporarily lost its permits and been banned from clearing. Brazilian logging company Samise Indústria Comércio e Exportação was clearing the forest to make roads and lumber yards months before receiving operating permits, according to an investigation by Earthsight, a U.K.-based nonprofit that exposes environmental and social crime. Employees also allegedly tampered with identification tags before inspections and transported illegally cleared lumber. Some of the wood was eventually moved to sawmills owned by Brazilian company Greenex S/A Indústria Comércio e Exportação de Madeira, then exported to Dutch companies Hoogendoorn Hout and Van den Berg Houtgroep, the investigation found. The transactions reveal weak points in international trade regulations and the certification process, intended to verify sustainably sourced wood, the report said. “[Trade regulations] must go beyond surface-level checks on their supply chains,” Rafael Pieroni, Earthsight’s Latin America team lead, said in a statement. “European importers must refrain from treating certification as a substitute for rigorous due diligence.” In the 2010s, Samise was one of three companies granted forestry concessions inside the 429,000-hectare (1.1-million-acre) Saracá-Taquera National Forest, which is covered almost entirely with primary forest and home to 29 mammal species found nowhere outside the Amazon. In May 2023, Samise’s operations were banned due to evidence of fraud discovered by Brazil’s Chico Mendes Biodiversity Conservation Institute (ICMBio), the agency responsible for…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Wood from a Brazilian logging company banned several times for violating regulations may have ended up in the Netherlands, according to an investigation by campaign group Earthsight. - The bans on logging company Samise stemmed from suspicions of, among other violations, illegal extraction, and resulted in fines and community service orders for the company. - Yet Samise’s timber went on to be imported by Dutch companies GWW Houtimport, Van den Berg Hardhout, and Hoogendoorn Hout, via Brazilian exporter Greenex, according to the investigation. - Earthsight called for rigorous implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which is scheduled to go into effect at the end of the year. authors: | ||
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UK deforestation rules take step forward after a long delay 02 Jul 2026 18:46:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/uk-deforestation-rules-take-step-forward-after-a-long-delay/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: Ashoka Mukpo content:encoded: The U.K government has announced that it will advance long-delayed regulations on commodities linked to deforestation. On June 23, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) issued a press release promising to “take forward new rules” that will force companies in Great Britain to carry out due diligence on the products they sell. “Under the proposals UK businesses who trade in commodities sourced from rainforests such as soy, palm oil, cocoa and rubber will need to check that their supply chains are not contributing to illegal deforestation,” it said. The rules have been anticipated since the passage of the U.K.’s Environment Act in 2021. “Schedule 17” of the Act established a legal basis for strict rules covering forest risk commodities, but the U.K. government has yet to issue those rules or submit them to Parliament. The slow implementation of Schedule 17 has drawn the ire of environmental groups and their allies. In a press release, U.K.-based NGO Forest Coalition welcomed the latest announcement. “In our view the delay has been unacceptable because the U.K. imports deforestation-tainted commodities,” said Cassie Dummett, the group’s coordinator, in a phone interview with Mongabay. “That means members of the public are buying deforestation in the food they buy, unwittingly.” The U.K. government said the regulation will closely mirror the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which, despite repeated delays, is set to take effect at the end of 2026. Both rules will cover a similar set of commodities, including cattle, cocoa, palm oil, rubber…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The U.K government has announced that it will advance long-delayed regulations on commodities linked to deforestation. On June 23, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) issued a press release promising to “take forward new rules” that will force companies in Great Britain to carry out due diligence on the products they sell. […] authors: | ||
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Santa Marta report by 57 nations defines rapid fossil fuel transition path 02 Jul 2026 16:17:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/santa-marta-report-by-57-nations-defines-rapid-fossil-fuel-transition-path/ author: Glenn Scherer dc:creator: Julian Reingold content:encoded: London Climate Action Week (LCAW) kicked off in June amid an unprecedented European heat wave and with a special statement by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warning, “We have just lived through the eleven hottest years ever recorded … with higher temperatures to come. London isn’t just calling — it’s cooking,” he said. “We cannot double down on a system based on fossil fuels that is driving both the climate crisis and the energy crisis … These twin crises have once again exposed the limits of an outdated model of development,” the U.N. chief said. “This is our moment of choice. Our moment of truth. Our moment of opportunity. Let’s seize it.” Just such an opportunity came later at LCAW with the launch of the outcome report derived from the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, which was held in April in Santa Marta, Colombia. That landmark summit was co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands and convened 57 countries, a “Coalition of the Willing” accounting for roughly 30% of global energy demand and about 20% of global energy supply — a group committed to a rapid fossil fuel phaseout. The meeting was called to serve as a viable complement to the formal U.N. climate consensus negotiating process, which has been blocked from climate action for decades by large petrostates and lobbied against by the fossil fuel industry. The new report released June 23 presents a summary of Coalition of the Willing stakeholder-led dialogues and includes strategies for a…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, which took place in April 2026, in Colombia, released its final report on June 23 at the London Climate Action Week. - The so-called Santa Marta Process, arising from a meeting between 57 nations, is not meant to replace the U.N. climate framework consensus process, but rather to complement it. The SMP explores the means for moving beyond decades of diplomatic deadlock. - The new report offers five practical pathways to a just, orderly, and equitable fossil fuels transition, a process requiring stronger international cooperation and more effective and robust governance frameworks from what currently exist. - The report’s key findings, including a shift of financing and subsides away from fossil fuels to green energy, was agreed to by 57 countries forming the so-called “Coalition of the Willing.” But Colombia and the Netherlands, which sponsored the April summit, already appear to be realigning their nations with fossil fuels. authors: | ||
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Sightings of humpback whales surge in Rio de Janeiro, fueling demand for whale-watching trips 02 Jul 2026 15:27:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/sightings-of-humpback-whales-surge-in-rio-de-janeiro-fueling-demand-for-whale-watching-trips/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Sightings of humpback whales off Rio de Janeiro’s coast are surging as they recover from decimation due to commercial whaling, prompting an acceleration in the demand for whale-watching excursions to spot the huge marine creatures during their annual migration. The species’ population has jumped from around 2,000 to around 35,000 in approximately 40 years, close to their population before whaling, said Enrico Marcovaldi, co-founder of the Humpback Whale Project. That means they are increasingly being spotted in Rio’s postcard Guanabara Bay. “It’s wonderful. It shows that the whales are making a recovery, are healthy and thriving, and hopefully they’ll continue to do so,” said Marcovaldi. In 1982, the International Whaling Commission decided that there should be a pause in commercial whaling on all whale species and populations from the 1985/1986 season onward. Louise Raulais, who runs the Rio Ocean Club with her partner Theo Andrade, is among those who see the tourism opportunities in the whales’ resurgence. This year, the company began offering sailboat trips for between five and 10 people to observe the whales. Raulais said they always have a biologist onboard to share information, which can stimulate a desire to protect the whales and the ocean. “These animals are so iconic and charismatic that they have the power to transform people, to change the way they see the world,” said Raulais. Humpback whales are known for roaming long distances across major oceans in predictable patterns, typically following migration routes learned from their mothers. They feed on krill and…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Sightings of humpback whales off Rio de Janeiro’s coast are surging as they recover from decimation due to commercial whaling, prompting an acceleration in the demand for whale-watching excursions to spot the huge marine creatures during their annual migration. The species’ population has jumped from around 2,000 to around 35,000 […] authors: | ||
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Crackdown lets rainforest reclaim illegal road in rare win for the Amazon 02 Jul 2026 14:38:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/crackdown-lets-rainforest-reclaim-illegal-road-in-rare-win-for-the-amazon/ author: Alexandre de Santi dc:creator: Rafael Spuldar content:encoded: In 2022, an illegal road cutting the length of a full marathon through two strictly protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon threatened to do what conservationists feared most: Split the Xingu Socioenvironmental Corridor, a mosaic of Indigenous territories and conservation units covering some 26 million hectares (64 million acres), in half. Four years later, satellite images reveal the 42.8-kilometer (26.6-mile) road is gone, swallowed by regrowing forest — something rarely seen in the region. Its disappearance runs counter to everything that typically happens when a road appears in the Amazon. “Here, the road is the beginning of everything, the beginning of the devastation,” Bruno Ferreira, a researcher at the conservation nonprofit Imazon, part of the MapBiomas mapping network, told Mongabay. Usually, roads give birth to a set of new roads (legal or illegal) that spawn from the main one, creating a fishbone pattern in satellite images. Imazon research suggests that 95% of deforestation in the Amazon happens within 5 km (3 mi) of a road, meaning that illegal cattle ranching and logging would have been virtually unstoppable had this one road been consolidated. For the organizations monitoring the region around the Xingu, a key tributary of the Amazon, the now dead road is proof that the alliance between civil society and a willing government can reverse destruction that once seemed irreversible — and a reminder of what is at stake as Brazil heads into a tightly contested presidential election in October. Uncovered in 2022, the 42-kilometer-long illegal road ran along…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Recent satellite images show forest closing over the path of an illegal road that nearly severed the Xingu Socioenvironmental Corridor in 2022. - In early 2023, civil society pressure put the road at the top of the government’s agenda, leading to enforcement operations and a sharp decline in new illegal road openings across the Xingu Basin. - Conservationists warn the gains remain fragile: Invaded Indigenous territories face violent backlash, illegal mining is regrouping, and this year’s elections could redefine Brazil’s environmental policies. authors: | ||
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Endangered West African leopards show signs of recovery, despite odds. ‘It’s a win’ 02 Jul 2026 13:13:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/endangered-west-african-leopards-show-signs-of-recovery-despite-odds-its-a-win/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Ruth Kamnitzer content:encoded: It’s been difficult to monitor West African leopards in Benin’s Pendjari National Park: It’s a large wilderness area, situated within a hotspot of armed conflict. The park is among the last strongholds for this geographically distinct leopard population — but a recent study shared hopeful news. Leopard density in the park increased over a six-year period, according to a study published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation. The park has been managed by the nonprofit African Parks since 2017 in partnership with the government — and this conservation effort seems to be working. “It’s a win,” said study lead author Marine Drouilly, a biologist with Panthera, the global wild cat conservation non-profit. West African leopards are geographically separated from other African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) populations. In 2025, they were listed as regionally endangered on the IUCN Red List, after suffering a 50% decline over the past two decades. Numbers are estimated at just 354 across West Africa. In addition to Pendjari, important strongholds include the Niokolo-Koba–Badiar landscape in Senegal and the Guinea, Taï and Comoé National Parks in Côte d’Ivoire and Mole National Park in Ghana. A rapidly growing human population across West Africa means wildlife habitat is disappearing and becoming more fragmented, isolating already small leopard populations, Drouilly said, while widespread bushmeat hunting leaves leopards without enough prey. There’s a growing threat from poachers continent-wide, as leopards are targeted for their spotted skins, canine teeth, bones and other body parts, killed to supply the illegal wildlife trade…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Researchers working in Benin’s Pendjari National Park reported some promising news for West African leopards: Density rose from 2017 to 2023. - West Africa’ leopards are regionally endangered, with just 354 remaining across the region. - Pendjari National Park sits within the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex, a large transboundary conservation landscape encompassing national parks, hunting reserves and buffer zones that in recent years has been infiltrated by non-state armed groups operating in the Sahel. While conservation efforts in the national park are working, the security crisis remains a major threat. authors: | ||
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Heat and pests are making it hard to grow a gourd that’s critical for Indian music 02 Jul 2026 12:35:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/heat-and-pests-are-making-it-hard-to-grow-a-gourd-thats-critical-for-indian-music/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Mongabay.com content:encoded: The tanpura is synonymous with Indian classical music. The sitar-like musical instrument has a long, wooden neck with four strings attached to a bulbous base that acts as the sound chamber. This base is traditionally made from the fruit of a vining gourd, but excessive heat, unseasonal rains, pests and diseases are an increasing threat to gourd crops in India. That’s put the future of both gourd farmers and the instrument at risk, according to a video produced by Mongabay India. To make a tanpura, one must first select a gourd of a suitable size and shape, says tanpura maker Mohsin Mirajkar in the video. The variety of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) grown especially for musical instruments such as the tanpura must be 53-60 inches (135-152 centimeters) in circumference. Musicians prefer larger gourds as they have better resonance. But in recent years, gourds have gotten smaller, Mirajkar says, “Some people complained that the sound was not right.” It’s not just the gourd’s size that matters. Sagar Hazri, a gourd farmer, says the shell should also be thick and heavy, and, when dried, should make a clear “tong tong” sound. “This is the kind we can sell,” he says. “The thin, lower-quality shells make a duller ‘dhop dhop’ sound. They get damaged easily. We have to reject those gourds.” The gourd, which is only harvested once a year, during the peak of the Indian summer, is increasingly under threat from climate change. Gourds grown especially for musical instruments such as the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: The tanpura is synonymous with Indian classical music. The sitar-like musical instrument has a long, wooden neck with four strings attached to a bulbous base that acts as the sound chamber. This base is traditionally made from the fruit of a vining gourd, but excessive heat, unseasonal rains, pests and diseases are an increasing threat […] authors: | ||
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Illegal timber imports from Cambodia, Laos skirt Vietnam safeguards, report reveals 02 Jul 2026 11:35:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-timber-imports-from-cambodia-laos-skirt-vietnam-safeguards-report-reveals/ author: Isabel Esterman dc:creator: Carolyn Cowan content:encoded: Illegally sourced timber from Cambodia and Laos continues to enter Vietnam’s supply chains despite recent efforts to tighten legality controls, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Falsified paperwork, manipulated harvesting quotes, and intermixing of timber from multiple sources are just some of the ways well-established criminal networks perpetuate the illicit trade, EIA teams uncovered during a four-year investigation. “We repeatedly observed mechanisms through which timber from questionable sources could be incorporated into formal trade channels,” says Thomas Chung, forest timber campaigns lead for the EIA. Vietnam is one of the world’s largest timber exporters. As a major manufacturing hub of furniture, flooring and other wood products, it plays a key role in international supply chains, shipping roughly $17 billion in timber and timber products in 2025. Timber from neighboring Laos and Cambodia represents a relatively small share of Vietnam’s total supply, the EIA report says, accounting for less than 9% of all timber shipments into the country. However, it carries an outsized legality risk that significantly undermines Vietnam’s efforts to ensure legal sourcing. To maintain access to lucrative export markets, such as the U.S., the EU, Japan and China, the country has made several recent updates to its national timber legality framework, known as the Vietnam Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS). However, the EIA investigation indicates these efforts are being grossly undermined by persistent imports of illegal timber from Cambodia and Laos, exposing key weaknesses in the VNTLAS system. A consistent issue was…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals persistent trafficking of illegal timber from Cambodia and Laos into Vietnam. - The illegal cross-border trade fuels deforestation and undermines what the report describes as “significant progress” by Vietnam in recent years to clean up its timber supply chains. - Multiple mechanisms perpetuate the illicit trade, including the falsification of paperwork, manipulation of harvesting quotas and economic land concessions, and the use of intermediary criminal networks to facilitate the trade, the report says. - The report calls on Vietnam’s timber authorities to close regulatory gaps in its timber verification system and urges regional governments to improve levels of independent oversight. authors: | ||
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Targeted conservation in Brazil could help protect the Amazon’s flying rivers 02 Jul 2026 10:41:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/targeted-conservation-in-brazil-could-help-protect-the-amazons-flying-rivers/ author: Alexandra Popescu dc:creator: Constance Malleret content:encoded: Twenty years ago, a meeting of scientists that included Brazilian climatologist Carlos Nobre coined the term “flying rivers” to describe the water vapor moving from east to west in the atmosphere over the Amazon Basin. These flows are carried from the Atlantic Ocean by the forest’s continuous recycling of moisture through evapotranspiration, a process where water is transferred from soil and plants to the atmosphere. Sometimes called “aerial rivers,” they provide vital rainfall across South America. Scientists have long studied the Amazon Basin’s impact on rainfall in southern Brazil, but much less attention has been given to its importance for Andean countries, even though flying rivers provide more than 70% of precipitation in parts of southern Peru and northern Bolivia. A recent white paper from the NGO Amazon Conservation highlights flying rivers’ transnational effects by showing how deforestation in Brazil risks reducing rainfall in Peru and Bolivia. It builds on earlier research by Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP), which mapped the flying rivers’ pathways through the wet, dry and transition seasons and identified the most sensitive areas in the Andean Amazon. The new report identifies the forests at risk of being cleared along these pathways and offers recommendations for how to protect the invisible moisture flows. “It is more critical that forest is retained along the pathway than in other places, because the [flying] rivers do take a specific course, and if forest cover was to be removed along that path, then it would affect the…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Amazon’s atmospheric moisture flows known as “flying rivers” provide over 70% of rainfall in parts of southern Peru and northern Bolivia, but they are threatened by deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. - According to a new report by the NGO Amazon Conservation, the lack of protections for areas known as undesignated public forests and road development projects pose a deforestation risk that would disrupt the flying rivers during dry and transition seasons. - Research shows that the Amazon is already experiencing longer dry seasons, which in turn affects the forest’s capacity to recycle moisture for the flying rivers. - Conservation targeting the forests that are most important for recycling atmospheric moisture could help maintain the flying rivers, the report proposes. authors: | ||
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A possible strong El Niño fuels fears for fires across Indonesian tropical peatlands 02 Jul 2026 07:49:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Rendy Tisna content:encoded: JAKARTA, Indonesia — An emerging El Niño risks fueling devastating wildfires on peatland areas in Borneo earmarked by Indonesia’s government about six years ago for a flagship food estate program, environmentalists have warned. The warning comes as Indonesia braces for heightened fire risk during the current dry season. “What we are most concerned about is the rice paddy cultivation activity that is being carried out on peatlands,” said Janang Palanungkai, who runs the Central Kalimantan office of Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi. Central Kalimantan is one of five Indonesian provinces on Borneo, a forested island twice the size of Germany shared by Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have both determined that a strong El Niño is likely this year. An El Niño is declared when equatorial Pacific Ocean temperatures remain more than 0.5° Celsius above average for several months. This warmer surface water sets off a global chain of climatic reactions, including hotter and drier conditions over Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest tropical peatlands. “There is a 50% to 60% chance of a moderate El Niño starting mid-year, and the 2026 dry season is predicted to be drier than usual,” the BMKG’s Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan said in mid-June. Traditional fishermen are active in the peatland areas of Central Kalimantan. Image by Rendy Tisna/ Mongabay Indonesia. Satellite imagery from NASA’s FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) shows the distribution of hotspots in the West Kalimantan…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Meteorologists say emergence of a strong El Niño climate phenomenon is increasingly likely this year, as ocean temperatures in June reached a record high. - Indonesian environmental groups fear the drier El Niño conditions could trigger renewed peatland fires in Borneo and Sumatra, particularly on land converted for rice cultivation under the government food estate projects announced in 2020. - In the 1990s, President Suharto launched an ambitious scheme to convert vast areas of Borneo’s peatlands into rice fields. The project failed, and much of the drained landscape burned during the strong 1997–98 El Niño. authors: | ||
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Sri Lanka intensifies fight against dengue and the mosquitos that cause the infection 02 Jul 2026 05:44:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sri-lanka-intensifies-fight-against-dengue-and-the-mosquitos-that-cause-the-infection/ author: Dilrukshi Handunnetti dc:creator: Kamanthi Wickramasinghe content:encoded: DEMATAGODA, Sri Lanka — Niroshan Peters, 54, a resident of Dematagoda, a densely populated suburb in Colombo, has no option but to live and work in an environment frequently polluted due to careless waste disposal. He blames authorities for not having an effective waste management system, which results in people getting exposed to unhygienic environments. “Last week, workers from the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) came to fumigate this area but that alone is not enough,” Peters told Mongabay. “Every time there is a surge in dengue they suddenly remember to carry out fogging and launch dengue prevention drives. But during the rest of the year people continue to dump waste in abandoned lands and contribute to a never-ending problem.” As of July 1, Sri Lanka’s National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) has recorded a total of 56,422 dengue cases and 35 deaths. In 2025, a total of 51,000 cases were reported, indicating an alarming increase in incidence this year. Speaking at a recent briefing, Nalinda Jayatissa, Sri Lanka’s minister of health and media, told Colombo-based journalists that the increasing number of dengue patients could overwhelm hospitals, adding “severe pressure to the healthcare system.” A dominant serotype In Sri Lanka, there are four dengue serotypes — a distinct variation within a species of bacteria or virus — and different serotypes emerge during different peak seasons, said Preshila Samaraweera, consultant community physician at NDCU. However, since 2017, when Sri Lanka experienced one of its major dengue outbreaks resulting in more than 186,000 suspected…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Sri Lanka has recorded more than 56,422 dengue cases from January to July 1, adding pressure to the country’s healthcare system as the caseload continues to increase. - DENV-2 is the dominant dengue serotype causing a higher number of infections at present, health officials say. - According to academics, unplanned urbanization and climate change are factors contributing to the spike in dengue cases in South Asia and many other regions. - Meanwhile, the Aedes vector is evolving and adapting, increasing the mosquito’s ability to survive in constantly changing environmental conditions, researchers say. authors: | ||
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New Indonesia roadmap aims to protect Indigenous knowledge for biodiversity 02 Jul 2026 03:12:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-indonesia-roadmap-aims-to-protect-indigenous-knowledge-for-biodiversity/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — The Indonesian government is developing a roadmap to protect local wisdom in biodiversity conservation, a move aimed at strengthening the recognition and protection of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) whose traditional practices have long safeguarded some of the country’s richest ecosystems. The roadmap, the drafting of which began in June 2026, comes as Indonesia seeks to implement its commitments under the multilateral treaty Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF). The KM-GBF is a global agreement adopted in 2022 that recognizes the important role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in achieving biodiversity conservation. One of the framework’s targets, known as target “30×30,” calls for conserving 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030 while respecting the rights, territories and knowledge of Indigenous peoples. Indonesia is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, harboring some of the planet’s highest levels of species richness and endemism. It is also home to an estimated 50 million to 70 million Indigenous people, or around one-fifth of the country’s population. Many of these communities inhabit forests, coasts and other ecosystems with exceptional biodiversity. According to the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Areas and Territories Indonesia (WGII), a coalition of NGOs documenting community conservation, its spatial analysis identified more than 29 million hectares (71.6 million acres) of Indigenous territories and community-managed areas with the potential to qualify as Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCAs). Nearly 70% of these areas overlap…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Indonesia is developing a roadmap to recognize and protect Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ (IPLCs) traditional knowledge in biodiversity conservation, aligning with its commitments to international frameworks. - Indigenous communities in Indonesia already safeguard vast biodiverse areas — an estimated 29 million hectares (71.6 million acres) — through customary practices, though only a small portion has been formally documented or recognized. - The lack of legal recognition of Indigenous territories and rights leave many communities vulnerable to having their conservation efforts overlooked or criminalized despite their role in protecting ecosystems. - Experts and advocates argue the roadmap must be backed by stronger policy recognition and broad collaboration among government, Indigenous groups, experts and civil society. authors: | ||
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Updated standards make the case for restoration: ‘We have to create uplift’ 01 Jul 2026 22:33:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/updated-standards-make-the-case-for-restoration-we-have-to-create-uplift/ author: Morgan Erickson-Davis dc:creator: John Cannon content:encoded: The Society for Ecological Restoration, a U.S.-based conservation organization, published an updated set of standards and principles for restoring ecosystems on June 23, the third edition of the volume since 2016. Back then, the idea was to develop a way of thinking about and carrying out restoration that avoided some of the damage caused by projects focused on a narrowly defined target, says lead author George Gann. For example, enhancing carbon storage in forests could lead to monoculture tree plantations instead of productive habitats for biodiversity-rich ecosystems. The 2026 version of the manual also asserts do-no-harm principles and the importance of conserving native ecosystems, just as the first did in 2016. “But now we have to do more,” says Gann, international policy lead at the Society for Ecological Restoration. “We can’t just avoid collateral damage. We have to actually create recovery. We have to create “uplift” for biodiversity. Sapling planting in the Dering-Dibru Saikhowa Elephant Corridor in India. Image courtesy of Shiekh Marifatul Haq/Wildlife Trust of India. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, sets the goal of restoring 30% of all degraded ecosystems by 2030, and the United Nations has tagged 2021-2030 the “decade on restoration.” The standards and principles are specific, providing a set of tools for designing, implementing, and monitoring restoration work. At the same time, they’re “generic,” the authors note, allowing their application across diverse ecosystems facing different pathways to restoration. “These standards don’t tell you how to restore grasslands or mangroves,” Gann says. “They’re…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - The Society for Ecological Restoration released the third edition of its global restoration standards on June 23, shifting the emphasis from doing no harm to actively driving ecological “uplift” and recovery in line with the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s goal of restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030. - A central feature is the refined “Five-star System,” complemented by the “Restorative Continuum,” tools that measure restoration progress both ecologically and socially. - The standards make an explicit “business case” for restoration, framing it as a way to redirect environmentally harmful subsidies toward investments that benefit both biodiversity and economic livelihoods, giving companies and funders a trusted roadmap for action. - Experts emphasized that integrating local and Indigenous ecological knowledge alongside science is essential to credible restoration, with one researcher calling for greater involvement from Global South practitioners in shaping future iterations of the standards. authors: | ||
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Can coastal infrastructure be engineered to harbor marine life instead of harming it? 01 Jul 2026 18:57:56 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-coastal-infrastructure-be-engineered-to-harbor-marine-life-instead-of-harming-it/ author: Rebecca Kessler dc:creator: Elizabeth Claire Alberts content:encoded: COBH, Ireland — On a bright, warm day in April in Cobh, Ireland, I step down a centuries-old cobbled slipway that descends into a harbor packed with fishing boats. Halfway down, something interrupts the weathered wall: an installation of 60 hexagonal concrete panels bolted into the stone. Some panels are ridged or textured; others are pitted with holes and crevices that either trap water or let it filter through with the changing tide. Bright green algae drapes across many of the panels. When I look closer, I notice a few marine snails, including periwinkles (Littorina littorea) and dog whelks (Nucella lapillus), stuck to the tiles. These panels were installed at Kennedy Pier in Cobh, a seaport town in Ireland’s County Cork, in September 2025, as part of the Living Seawalls project. Spearheaded by the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and the company Reef Design Lab, both in Australia, the Living Seawalls project aims to create biodiversity-friendly panels, boulders and pilings that can be installed on seawalls, marinas, piers and other hard coastal infrastructure to make them more hospitable to marine wildlife. Living Seawalls principal investigator Louise Firth, right, with postdoctoral researcher Soli Levi at the Living Seawalls installation in Cobh, Ireland, in April 2026. Image by Elizabeth Claire Alberts/Mongabay. Louise Firth, a senior lecturer in environmental sustainability at Ireland’s University College Cork and one of the principal investigators of the Living Seawalls project, is on site to show me the Cobh installation, Ireland’s first. (Since my visit, a second Living…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Living Seawalls is a global initiative that aims to make seawalls, marinas and other hard coastal structures more hospitable to marine wildlife by installing biodiversity-friendly panels, boulders and pilings. - In 2025, Ireland’s first Living Seawalls installation was established at Kennedy Pier in the port town of Cobh, and marine life is already starting to colonize the panels. - While researchers say the panels can help marine life colonize hardened coastlines, and stayed cooler than standard flat seawall surfaces, questions remain about their effect on seawalls’ main function of keeping waves at bay, leading scientists to suggest that design modifications may be needed. authors: | ||
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Youth biodiversity conservation efforts face serious funding challenges, report finds 01 Jul 2026 18:42:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/youth-biodiversity-conservation-efforts-face-serious-funding-challenges-report-finds/ author: Bobbybascomb dc:creator: David Brown content:encoded: A new report finds that a chronic lack of funding is undermining youth-led environmental work worldwide. The report, titled “Ecologies of Empowerment: Why and how to fund youth-led biodiversity action,” argues that a current lack of adequate funding for youth biodiversity conservation initiatives threatens development of future generations of conservation leadership and action. “Youth are already doing the work, restoring wetlands, defending territories, leading species conservation efforts, training next-generation leaders, and influencing global policy,” lead author of the report Félix Feider, told Mongabay in an email. “A core recognition of the report is that a biodiversity sector without a well-supported regeneration layer, will never be sustainable, and as a result our work will risk failing in the long term.” The report was compiled by the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, The Iris Project, Synchronicity Earth and the Global Landscapes Forum. The report authors surveyed 161 youth-led biodiversity initiatives from 57 countries and found that 93% of the contributors involved in such initiatives are volunteers. The findings also show that 85% of youth initiatives lack adequate funding. “If you are among the fortunate 15% of young people who are able to access funding for biodiversity conservation, that is wonderful,” report co-author Swetha Stotra Bhashyam told Mongabay. “But for the rest of us, the reality is that there is no quick-fix approach, and we can no longer approach this work in isolation.” Roughly 44% of surveyed organizations reported operating on less than $1,000 in 2024 and one-fifth of them had no funding. Most…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A new report finds that a chronic lack of funding is undermining youth-led environmental work worldwide. The report, titled “Ecologies of Empowerment: Why and how to fund youth-led biodiversity action,” argues that a current lack of adequate funding for youth biodiversity conservation initiatives threatens development of future generations of conservation leadership and action. “Youth are […] authors: | ||
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Sea level rise is ruining coastal Bangladesh with salty water (commentary) 01 Jul 2026 17:10:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sea-level-rise-is-ruining-coastal-bangladesh-with-salty-water-commentary/ author: Erik Hoffner dc:creator: AL Sharia content:encoded: Every morning, before the sun has fully risen over the tidal flats of Satkhira in southwest Bangladesh, women begin walking. They walk two kilometers, sometimes five (about 1.2 to 3.1 miles) and sometimes more, carrying empty vessels that they will fill with water fit for drinking. Then they walk back. Then, some days, they walk again. A UNDP study found that women in coastal Bangladesh spend up to six hours a day on this task alone, six hours that cannot be spent earning, learning or caring for their children, and this is not even a drought zone. This is one of the largest deltas on Earth. The women walk past rivers, channels and flooded fields. The water is everywhere, and none of it is safe. Approximately 20 million people along Bangladesh’s coast cannot safely drink the water that surrounds them. Yet, a UNDP survey found that 73% of residents in five coastal sub-districts of Satkhira consume saline water every single day. The crisis does not make the front pages of international newspapers the way droughts in East Africa or floods in Pakistan tend to. It is slow, structural and unglamorous, which is precisely why it has been allowed to continue for this long. A woman collects water from a pond about 1 km from her home in Shyamnagara, Satkhira district, Bangladesh. Image courtesy of Abu Siddique/Dialogue Earth. The intrusion of saltwater into Bangladesh’s coastal mainland is not simply a consequence of rising seas, though the seas are certainly rising. Studies…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Projections indicate that Bangladesh faces an amount of sea level rise that will bring major saltwater intrusion into precious freshwater supplies, plus human health impacts, flooding and rampant erosion across coastal areas. - Though Bangladesh did very little to cause climate change, the nation is not without answers, including the government’s Delta Plan 2100, but it is not moving quickly enough to act on them in time to avoid the worst impacts, the author writes. - “What has been missing is not knowledge or technology, but the institutional will to treat this like the emergency that it is,” the writer argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. authors: | ||
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A marine heat wave caused seabird deaths off California. El Nino could worsen the die-off 01 Jul 2026 16:16:06 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/a-marine-heat-wave-caused-seabird-deaths-off-california-el-nino-could-worsen-the-die-off/ author: Mongabay Editor dc:creator: Associated Press content:encoded: SAN DIEGO (AP) — Many seabirds are starving to death as a marine heat wave lingers off California and fish seek deeper, cooler waters. That’s according to scientists who say a persistent marine heat wave has shrunk the band of cold, nutrient-rich surface water where krill, anchovies and sardines thrive near the shore. Scientists fear the die off of birds could worsen with El Nino. The natural warming of parts of the central Pacific that alters weather worldwide and spikes global temperatures formed in June. Wildlife rehabilitation facilities in California before El Nino formed were seeing hundreds of emaciated birds brought in by people when the marine heat wave intensified this spring. A veterinarian holds an ailing pelican before surgery at SeaWorld on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A common murre spreads its wings in a rehabilitation tank at the SeaWorld Animal Rescue Center on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Russell holds the wing of a pelican during surgery at SeaWorld on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) By Julie Watson, Associated Press Banner image: A common murre lies on a beach near Scripps Pier during a survey for dying seabirds Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in San Diego. Image by Gregory Bull via Associated Press This article was originally published on Mongabay description: SAN DIEGO (AP) — Many seabirds are starving to death as a marine heat wave lingers off California and fish seek deeper, cooler waters. That’s according to scientists who say a persistent marine heat wave has shrunk the band of cold, nutrient-rich surface water where krill, anchovies and sardines thrive near the shore. Scientists fear […] authors: | ||
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Leaked document shows EU closer to dropping leather from anti-deforestation law 01 Jul 2026 15:27:27 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/leaked-document-shows-eu-closer-to-dropping-leather-from-anti-deforestation-law/ author: Andy Lehren dc:creator: Elisângela Mendonça content:encoded: The European Commission is taking further steps to formally exempt the global leather trade from its landmark EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), according to a leaked draft obtained by news outlet Euractiv. The revelation comes just one month after a review of internal documents, first reported by Mongabay, exposed a paradox at the heart of the commission: its own consultants explicitly tied leather to widespread forest destruction, yet commissioners are choosing to ignore the data. In the leaked draft, later reviewed by Mongabay, the commission acknowledged the relatively low compliance cost of including leather, but said “the supply chain considerations and load on the EUDR Information System … justify the proposed removal.” The European Commission did not respond to Mongabay’s questions about the document and its authenticity. The proposal is not yet final. Following a feedback period, concluded on June 1, the formal adoption of the delegated act is expected in “the next weeks,” a European Commission spokesperson told Mongabay, after declining to offer any further comments. After adoption, the usual path includes the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union having two months to object. If they do not object or propose revisions, the changes will be automatically enacted. This means that unless EU lawmakers stage an unexpected, last-minute revolt, the leather industry’s multibillion-dollar pass on deforestation is poised to be finalized, policy analysts say. The decision would come via a delegated act, subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union, which have…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - A leaked draft document suggests the European Commission will remove leather from the EU Deforestation Regulation, despite internal findings linking it to deforestation. - The commission cites “supply chain considerations and load on the information system” as justifications for exempting leather from the list of deforestation-risk commodities. - The adoption of a proposed delegated act is expected in the “next weeks,” according to the European Commission; it’s still subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union, which would have two months to object or change the proposal. - Environmental groups believe the move reflects strong industry lobbying and contradicts evidence linking cattle and leather supply chains to forest loss. authors: | ||
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Nepal’s new government bets on tax revenue over clean energy push 01 Jul 2026 11:37:35 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/nepals-new-government-bets-on-tax-revenue-over-clean-energy-push/ author: Abhaya Raj Joshi dc:creator: Rudra Pangeni content:encoded: KATHMANDU — When Balendra Shah took office as Nepal’s new prime minister in March following a landslide victory for his party, he inherited a fuel crisis triggered by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. His government faced a choice between speeding up the clean energy transition or shoring up the public finances needed to sustain it. In its May 29 fiscal policy, it chose the latter. Nepal imports fossil fuels at a cost of 300 billion rupees ($2 billion) a year, including cooking gas that it subsidizes about 9 billion rupees ($59.5 million) annually. On the “clean” side of that equation, nearly all its grid electricity comes from hydropower — so much so that it exports the surplus to India and Bangladesh during the wet season. And on sales of electric vehicles, Nepal ranks second globally, with EVs estimated to account for 73% of new car sales in 2025, thanks to lower import taxes compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. But the new government argues for a shift to raise revenue to fund grid upgrades that would make a clean energy transition possible in the first place. A former bureaucrat and a sitting official both told Mongabay that this logic is backward: that the tax revenue raised will be less than the savings in gas subsidies if it instead encouraged households to switch to electric stoves. In his maiden budget speech, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle announced a 5% value-added tax on high-consuming electricity users, and fresh new taxes on EV…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Nepal has the world’s second-highest rate of electric vehicle adoption, but a newly proposed government tax hike on EV imports and electricity consumption could undermine this transition. - The government argues the previous decade of EV tax breaks was fiscally unsustainable and primarily benefited wealthy buyers in a country where most people can’t afford a car of any kind. - The new tax could also slow households’ switch from gas cooking stoves to electric ones, with critics pointing out that electricity costs are the single strongest predictor for this transition; they also argue the government would save far more by accelerating that switch — and cutting gas subsidies — than it would collect from the new tax. - The policy has also exposed divisions within the government itself: the energy minister backed a pro-consumption strategy just days before the tax landed; engineers have publicly disputed the prime minister’s warnings about grid overload; and officials are already signaling they may raise the rates from 5% to up to 13%. authors: | ||
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Wildlife’s unpredictable movements make climate-change planning difficult 01 Jul 2026 10:40:42 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/wildlifes-unpredictable-movements-make-climate-change-planning-difficult/ author: Sharon Guynup dc:creator: Gloria Dickie content:encoded: New England’s winters have long been a punishing force. Forests fade in and out of deep freezes. Animals pile on fat for warmth in anticipation of the harsh weather to come. Others flee south, seeking warmer refuges. However, over the past 50 years, winters there have become much milder. In the northeastern U.S., winters now average between 4 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 and 2.7 degrees Celsius) warmer than in the 1970s. Snowfall can be sparse, and there are usually fewer days of extreme cold. For decades, ecologists have expected that animals living within narrow climate niches would adapt to rising temperatures by moving northwards or upslope to higher elevations. For example, they thought the American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in the northeastern U.S. would move up into the mountains in search of cold. But in a study published last year, scientists found that despite warmer winters, the squirrels haven’t sought out higher elevations. Rather, they’ve relocated downslope, seemingly drawn by the return of red spruce forest following a period of dieback. The tiny forest critters, it seems, are prioritizing habitat over temperature. The red squirrel isn’t alone. Thousands of plants and animals that scientists thought would be on the move in response to rising global temperatures don’t yet seem to have hit the road. In a 2023 study in the journal Environmental Evidence, scientists reviewed the observed range movements of more than 12,000 species, both terrestrial and marine, to see whether they aligned with what ecologists had expected would…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Ecologists expected many species to shift northward or upslope in response to warming temperatures, but only about half of observed range shifts so far align with their projections. - Species responses are likely shaped by multiple factors — changing habitat, rainfall and food availability — not just temperature. Some species may be unable to move, trapped within a fragmented habitat. - Research shows animals that move toward higher latitudes don’t necessarily fare better. - These mismatches between predictions and reality create more uncertainty for conservation planning and how best to support species adaptation through corridors. authors: | ||
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Indonesia’s blackouts reignite debate over coal-dependent energy transition 01 Jul 2026 09:45:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/ author: Hans Nicholas Jong dc:creator: Hans Nicholas Jong content:encoded: JAKARTA — Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition after widespread blackouts struck Java and Sumatra in recent weeks, exposing what analysts say are deep vulnerabilities in a power system that remains highly centralized and heavily dependent on coal. In late May, large parts of Sumatra lost electricity after a transmission line in Jambi failed. Just days later, a separate outage disrupted power across parts of Java, Indonesia’s most populous island and economic center. While officials initially pointed to technical problems, state utility PLN later said constrained coal supplies had contributed to the Java outage. For energy analysts, the outages underscore a broader structural problem. “The dependence on a centralized, coal-dominated electricity system is a threat to energy supply security,” said Fabby Tumiwa, executive director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR). To reduce the risk of more widespread outages, analysts at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a U.S.-based think tank, said Indonesia should accelerate the deployment of decentralized renewable energy, particularly rooftop solar combined with battery energy storage systems (BESS). “For Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, rooftop solar combined with battery energy storage systems offers a viable alternative to diesel power, which can be costly and challenging to supply,” IEEFA researchers Mutya Yustika and Randi Bachtiar wrote in a recent analysis. Unlike fossil fuels, they noted, solar power is not vulnerable to fuel supply disruptions or price volatility. Because rooftop systems can be installed on homes, businesses and industrial…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: - Recent blackouts in Sumatra and Java exposed vulnerabilities in Indonesia’s electricity system, with PLN saying constrained coal supplies contributed to the Java outage. - Energy analysts say the outages exposed the risks of Indonesia’s centralized, coal-dependent electricity system and strengthened the case for distributed renewable energy such as rooftop solar. - A recent study identified six coal plants on Java as priority candidates for early retirement, estimating their closure would eliminate 93.5 million metric tons of annual CO₂ emissions. - Environmental groups say biomass co-firing allows aging coal plants to keep operating while creating new pressures on forests and rural communities supplying wood fuel. authors: | ||
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Recent discoveries of ‘lost’ Mekong giant salmon carp renews hope for the fish 01 Jul 2026 04:31:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/recent-discoveries-of-lost-mekong-giant-salmon-carp-renews-hope-for-the-fish/ author: Shreya Dasgupta dc:creator: Naina Rao content:encoded: A large fish once feared extinct in Cambodia has been recorded in the country’s waters for the fourth time since 2020, renewing hope for the species. The Mekong giant salmon carp (Aaptosyax grypus), a critically endangered large-sized freshwater fish, was formally described from the Mekong River in 1991. Over the next 14 years, there had been only 20 formal records of the species; none since 2005. However, Bunyeth Chan, a researcher at Svay Rieng University in Cambodia, and his colleagues confirmed three observations in a 2024 study. The three carps had been caught by fishers from different parts of the lower Mekong River Basin between 2020 and 2023. “Those recent observations indicate that the species persists, and that one or more populations of A. grypus inhabit the Cambodian Mekong and its tributaries,” the researchers wrote. The same team confirmed a fourth record of the species, captured by a fisher on Nov. 27, 2025, according to a note recently published in the journal Oryx. “The rediscovery of the giant salmon carp is a reason for hope, not just for this species but for the entire Mekong ecosystem,” Chan said in a statement to Nevada Today in 2024. “The Mekong ecosystem is the most productive river on Earth, producing over two million tons of fish per year worth over $10 billion.” The Mekong giant salmon carp, endemic to the middle and lower reaches of the Mekong River basin, can grow up to 130 centimeters (more than 4 feet) in length and weigh…This article was originally published on Mongabay description: A large fish once feared extinct in Cambodia has been recorded in the country’s waters for the fourth time since 2020, renewing hope for the species. The Mekong giant salmon carp (Aaptosyax grypus), a critically endangered large-sized freshwater fish, was formally described from the Mekong River in 1991. Over the next 14 years, there had […] authors: | ||
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