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A recent study has identified how cattle pasture and agricultural expansion, driven by global demand for beef and soy, is causing biodiversity loss in the Gran Chaco region of Argentina and Paraguay. The Gran Chaco, the second-largest forested region in South America, after the Amazon, is spread across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil. Over the past 30 years, more than 19 million hectares (47 million acres) of the Chaco were lost to pasture and agricultural expansion, mainly for beef and soy. To find out how this forest conversion has affected biodiversity in the Argentinian and Paraguayan Chaco, researchers created maps of where 47 key mammal species had declined from 2008-2018. They overlaid these on maps of agriculture and pasture expansion during the same period. The analysis showed that conversion of forest into pasture was associated with greater biodiversity loss than cropland expansion. The researchers also found that 15 soy- and beef-producing Argentinian and Paraguayan provinces in the Chaco were associated with biodiversity declines. Upon tracing the supply chains of the commodities as of 2018, they found that the domestic consumption of both commodities was a key driver of biodiversity loss. The European Union, Vietnam and China were among Argentinian soy importers driving the greatest biodiversity decline in the Chaco. Among importers of Paraguayan beef, Chile, Russia and Israel were the top nations contributing to biodiversity loss. The EU had a disproportionately high impact on biodiversity decline associated with Argentinian soy. The authors write this was not surprising as the EU…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Singapore has come a long way since the 1880s, when only roughly 7% of its native forests remained. Since the 1960s, when the city-state gained independence, it has implemented a number of urban regreening initiatives, and today, nearly 47% of the city is considered green space, providing numerous benefits to human residents and wildlife, like heat mitigation, freshwater conservation and cleanliness, carbon sequestration, coastal climate adaptation, biodiversity protection, and public enjoyment. To discuss his city’s regreening efforts — from the philosophical to the practical applications of methods and mindset shifts that have allowed the city to revitalize its urban wildlife interface — Anuj Jain, director and principal ecologist at the biomimicry consultancy bioSEA and an adviser to BirdLife International, joins Mongabay’s latest podcast. “ Through the greening initiatives in Singapore, it’s attracted a lot of species, many of which actually had declined before, some even had gone extinct, or locally extinct,” Jain says. Government initiatives such as the Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises (LUSH) have contributed, he says, mandating “100% replacement of greenery for buildings in some districts in Singapore.” There’s also the Landscape Excellence Assessment Framework (LEAF), a certification that “incentivizes spontaneous vegetation and biodiversity in landscape design.” While Singapore’s efforts are by no means perfect, the results are hard to ignore, and provide a workable concept that cities across the globe can learn from — especially those currently struggling with climate impacts, air pollution, stressed residents, or housing affordability. Still, even in Singapore, work remains to be done…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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While AI has faced a lot of rightful flak for its environmental impacts, it has also become a tool for wildlife conservation around the world. From monitoring deforestation, impacts of climate change and enhancing wildlife population counts to combating poaching and illegal wildlife trade, AI is revolutionising conservation worldwide.This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The Amur leopard lives in isolation in the freezing forests of southeast Russia and northeast China. It’s one of the most endangered of eight leopard subspecies in the world. Today, its population is on the upswing. In the 20th century, poaching for its spotted fur, forest fires and conversion of land for farming caused the wildcat’s population to plummet to roughly 25 individuals in the wild. Today, there are approximately 130 in Russia alone, according to a recent Wildlife Conservation Society report. Since 2016, the Wildlife Conservation Society in Russia (ANO WCS) has partnered with Land of the Leopard National Park in monitoring and conservation efforts. In 2014-15, researchers estimated a global population of 84 Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis), increasing recently to 130, the highest density of leopards recorded in 10 years of rigorous monitoring, according to the report. Efforts to save the species date back decades. Collaboration between conservationists and Russian government agencies helped establish protected areas in the Primorsky Krai region since 1979, which halted the leopard’s rapid decline, according to WWF. In 2012, the Russian government created Land of the Leopard National Park, which included all of the leopard’s breeding areas and about 72% of suitable habitat in Russian territory. “It was only the creation of the national park that set the conditions for these cats to recover,” Aleksandr Rybin, large carnivore specialist for ANO WCS, told Mongabay. Simultaneous recovery of prey, the Sika deer (Cervus nippon), fire management, strong law enforcement and population monitoring gradually…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Researchers have recently found that sacred waters protected by Indigenous traditions are key to fish conservation in Indonesia, yet they remain largely unrecognized and excluded from national frameworks for biodiversity and cultural heritage preservation. In Indonesia’s vast archipelagic region, where traditional practices often intersect with biodiversity conservation efforts, many bodies of water have been highly revered as inhabited by sacred spirits or deities, making them de facto protected areas for native fish species, according to a peer-reviewed study published in June in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. However, the paper’s researchers said the relevance of sacred natural sites for fish conservation has been overlooked by conservation authorities even though many customary practices were still being observed across the country. “Our motivation for addressing this topic in a scientific article stems from the widespread lack of public awareness about aquatic environmental conservation,” Darmawan Setia Budi, aquaculture lecturer at Airlangga University who is the lead author of the paper, told Mongabay in an email. “We observed that many people still pollute rivers and other water bodies, and engage in overfishing using environmentally harmful methods,” he added. A sacred river in the forest. Image by Aseanty Pahlevi/Mongabay Indonesia. The study used a qualitative, ethnobiological review to examine the cultural role of sacred waters in Indonesian freshwater fish conservation, drawing on literature, community narratives, and case studies. The authors highlighted in the paper traditional practices’ relevance to modern ecological and community resilience efforts, grounding them in both academic and cultural perspectives.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Haryanto surveys a sandy patch the size of roughly half a soccer field. Overlooked by a 40-meter (130-foot) lighthouse, the clearing is a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean, where the surf pummels Pandansari Beach — a pristine stretch lined with casuarina trees about an hour’s drive south of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. But here, directly under the 66-year-old’s feet: 1,800 cubic meters of garbage — nearly 200 dump truck loads — of household, industrial and even hospital waste, Haryanto says. According to Haryanto, a one-time manager with the state electricity monopoly PLN, the garbage appeared unannounced last December. Some 18 months prior to that, 10 times that amount landed on a second, bigger site about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away in a similar manner. “This is a tourist area. There was no warning. It just appeared,” Haryanto tells Mongabay. Haryanto now heads a local group called Forum Peduli Gadingsari, named after his village in the district of Bantul and intended to “watch out for government mismanagement,” as he puts it. “There was no environmental review. There were no permits. What if there was a tsunami? How do they manage the leachate? This is an environmental crime,” he says. For at least two decades, Indonesian governments have struggled to come to grips with their growing mountains of waste, with much of it dumped illegally. More than 35% of all of Indonesia’s garbage — some 11 million metric tons last year — was deemed unmanaged, finding its way into rivers,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Our vibrant nation of the Philippines is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Subject to tropical cyclones, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, it ranks number one globally on the World Risk Index. It is also one of the 17 mega-biodiverse countries, and it’s easy to see how nature and climate go hand in hand in this archipelagic nation. Working for the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), together we have seen how mangrove rehabilitation projects hold the power to inspire hope and bring security back to local communities following the typhoons that ravage our coastlines. Although we are accustomed to the threat of natural disasters, the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones is leaving communities reeling, with thousands of local people without homes, work, or access to sanitation. Typhoon Man-Yi (known locally as Pepito), was the sixth super typhoon to make landfall here between October and November in 2024, and worryingly, last November the Japan Meteorological Agency reported that it was the first time since records began in 1951 that four storms coexisted in the Pacific basin. Mangrove forests provide key marine habitats for many creatures, while also protecting coastlines from storms. Image by Maxwell Ridgeway via Unsplash. Living in the shadow of these typhoons, we are proud that the Philippines was selected to host the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Loss and Damage Fund board last year. Former Philippine secretary of environment and natural resources Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga shared at the 4th meeting of the board…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Mangroves, the amphibious forests that fringe tropical and subtropical coastlines, are ecological powerhouses. They buffer communities against storm surges, support fisheries, and sequester carbon at rates that rival their terrestrial counterparts. Yet despite growing recognition of their value, mangroves remain imperiled. About 35% of global cover was lost in the late 20th century, largely to aquaculture and coastal development. New research offers the most comprehensive look yet at the cost of reversing that damage. Drawing on nearly 250 projects and dozens of data sources, researchers have created the first global model of site-specific mangrove restoration costs. They find a median implementation cost of $8,143 per hectare ($3,297 per acre), with wide variability: From just $9 to more than $700,000. Site conditions matter. Rehabilitating abandoned shrimp ponds tends to be cheap; replanting eroded or hydrologically disrupted coastlines is far pricier. Indonesia, with its vast archipelago and degraded deltas, holds the greatest potential. At least 204,000 hectares (504,100 acres) could be restored at less than $10,000 per hectare ($4,049 per acre) — making it a focal point for meeting national and international targets. Globally, 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) of mangroves could be restored for $10.73 billion, or roughly what Americans spend on pet food every three months. That could remove up to 0.93 gigatons of CO₂ from the atmosphere, at an average cost of $11.49 per metric ton. Such figures are competitive in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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NEW YORK (AP) — The United Nations reports a global shift toward renewable energy, calling it a “positive tipping point.” Tuesday’s U.N. reports reveal that 92.5% of new electricity capacity in 2022 came from renewables, with wind and solar leading the way. Renewables like solar and wind are now significantly cheaper than fossil fuels, driving investment to $2 trillion last year. However, officials warn the transition is not happening fast enough, especially in regions like Africa. Despite booming renewables, fossil fuel production continues to rise due to increasing energy demands. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on tech firms to power data centers completely with renewables by 2030. By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press This article was originally published on Mongabay

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For more than 10 years, a funding model has quietly done what many others have struggled to do: Funnel nature and climate finance directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities. The Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) was created by the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) in 2010 to support Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ involvement in forest conservation and community-led nature-based solutions. This came after Indigenous beneficiaries of CIF programs demanded that a portion of the funds be granted directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities for projects they design and manage. Since the start of this program, $70 million has been allocated to communities through CIF’s Forest Investment Program (FIP) and $40 million has been approved for its Nature, People and Climate (NPC) program. The model doesn’t only direct funding, say project managers, but also addresses key obstacles — like donor mistrust in giving money directly to communities and the lack of local capacity to manage funding portfolios effectively. “It’s not traditionally the direction that [the multilateral development banks] go,” said Paul Hartman, the lead for CIF’s NPC Program, explaining why their direct funding model, as part of a multilateral climate financing mechanism, is so little known and passes under the radar. We’re also rarely in the spaces and meetings on territorial governance and community finance, so the news doesn’t spread, he told Mongabay. For years, communities have been underrepresented when it comes to decision-making and the governance of funds, say researchers. Little funding reaches communities directly and instead passes through…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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LUANG PRABANG, Laos — “No coffee, no coffee,” repeated the security guard. His smile stood in stark contrast to his faded camouflage fatigues and the machine gun slung over his shoulder. Few cafés in the sleepy Laotian tourist town of Luang Prabang boast armed guards, but Kin Liao Coffee is not the average café. While it’s unclear if Kin Liao Coffee actually serves coffee, the café situated on the side of the road near the Kuang Si waterfall has been found to illegally sell a wide array of ivory, rhino horn and bear bile products, as well as Angong Niuhuang Wan — a traditional Chinese medicine that is often manufactured in North Korea using powdered rhino horn. Kin Liao Coffee is just one of more than 20 locations across Luang Prabang and the Laotian capital of Vientiane identified in a joint investigation between Mongabay and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) as selling illegal wildlife products at scale. These shops appear to exclusively cater to Chinese tourists, specifically those visiting Laos on pre-arranged low-budget package tours. The tours target elderly Chinese nationals, promising them all-inclusive trips to explore the historic ties between the two countries, often via the China-Laos railway. Upon arrival, tour groups are ferried from one shop to another, where sellers — mostly Chinese nationals themselves — use coercive and manipulative sales tactics to pressure tourists into buying illegal wildlife products, most of which are sold at inflated prices, the investigation found. Large ivory carvings, some…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The skies overhead are already teeming with satellites. But their orbiting numbers will skyrocket in the near future as the commercial and international space race takes off. Three projects alone — SpaceX’s Starlink, China’s Guowang megaconstellation, and Donald Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile defense system — will launch tens of thousands of new satellites. Today’s 12,000 satellites could, according to some estimates, grow to 60,000, or even 100,000 total satellites by 2030, as a space industry already worth hundreds of billions of dollars sees rapid growth. This 21st-century space race, while a boon for communications and Earth monitoring, is sending up a red flag with experts, who warn that the tech advances satellite may bring are linked to a growing number of Earth environmental impacts stretching from the industry’s supply chain here on Earth, into the upper atmosphere and out into space itself. With countries initiating or expanding their space programs (including the U.S., EU, India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates), and commercial efforts all in full swing, “we’re moving towards an industry that could cause a lot of damage to the environment if we don’t regulate it or understand it,” now, says Eloise Marais, an atmospheric chemist at University College London, U.K. The industry’s toll stretches from its ground-based, energy-guzzling data centers, to metal-shedding rocket launches, to tons of orbiting space junk and debris regularly plummeting back to Earth. Among the risks are poorly understood space age atmospheric pollutants that could harm the ozone…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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SÃO PAULO — The Brazilian government has fallen short of its promise to include Indigenous peoples in the decision-making process at the upcoming COP30 climate summit it’s hosting in the Amazonian city of Belém, according to prominent Indigenous leader Beto Marubo. “The spaces that were created for Indigenous participation … these are bodies that do not make decisions. They only contribute information,” Marubo told Mongabay’s Karla Mendes at the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism conference in São Paulo on June 12. “I would like us to be at the decision-making table.” Brazil is set to host the U.N. climate summit in November 2025. Measures such as the introduction of a People’s Circle, led by Brazil’s minister of Indigenous peoples, Sonia Guajajara, and the presence of Brazil’s Indigenous Committee on Climate Change, have created greater engagement with Indigenous communities. But Indigenous representation still falls short, Marubo said. Beto Marubo is a leader of the Marubo people from the Vale do Javari region in the Brazilian Amazon. At a climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, in June that served as a run-up to COP30, he said Indigenous leaders were able to optimize their role by adding criteria for accountability and monitoring of decisions in advance of the main summit in November. But Brazil, he said, remains full of contradictions, as the country tries to position itself as a leader on climate while at the same time weakening laws that protect the environment. “It’s a sad situation. It feels like every week they are…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Tropical Storm Wipha has left a trail of heavy flooding, landslides, strong winds and several deaths in parts of Southeast Asia over the past few days. The cyclone started as a low-pressure area east of the Philippines on July 15. By July 16, it had intensified into a tropical depression, according to the Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). As the storm strengthened over the next couple of days, it brought heavy rains throughout the Philippines, flooding several communities and making roads impassable. Dams were also forced to release water, local media said. The public works department said the disaster caused 526 million pesos ($9.2 million) in infrastructure damage. The storm and the Southwest Monsoon together affected more than 1.2 million people, with more than 20,000 of them forced to stay in evacuation centers. Almost 1,300 houses were partially or totally damaged. At least five people died and seven remain missing, according to the NDRRMC. In rural areas of the Philippines, heavy rain damaged high-value crops such as rice, tomato, eggplant and bitter gourd. Livestock, especially goats, were reportedly affected by hypothermia. Fishers in provinces south of the capital region were also affected, prompting a group to call for relief, media reported. By July 19, Wipha, known in the Philippines as Crising, had developed into a severe tropical storm, just as it exited the Philippine region. As it passed south of Taiwan that same day, domestic flights and ferry routes on the island were suspended or cancelled.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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JAKARTA — Indonesia is testing whether one of the world’s most powerful timber certifiers can deliver justice — or merely a reset — to forest communities harmed by industrial logging. At stake is the credibility of the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) first-of-its-kind “remedy framework,” an ambitious mechanism that allows logging companies stripped of certification to regain it — but only if they repair the environmental and social damage they’ve caused. But early implementation has exposed cracks — particularly in how past harms are assessed. The FSC is the world’s most recognizable ethical wood certifier, whose logo of a green checkmark and tree is widely used to assure consumers of sustainable sourcing and appears on forestry products — from furniture to paper — worldwide. Under the remedy framework that was adopted in 2023, forestry companies can obtain or regain sustainability certificates if they remedy past environmental and social harms. Two of Indonesia’s largest forestry firms have entered this process, making the country a global testing ground for what could become a new model of corporate accountability, opening the door to restoring millions of hectares of forests, and bringing restitution to thousands of affected communities. FSC director-general Subhra Bhattacharjee told Mongabay that the Indonesian context will highlight the framework’s limitations and the need to customize it to local conditions, “because what works in Indonesia won’t work in another country — but the processes will.” Area of natural forest near a river cleared by PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL). Toba Pulp Lestari in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Amid the calls of gibbons and the whir of drones scanning forest canopies, a quieter crisis is unfolding within the ranks of those trying to save nature. Conservationists, often seen as tireless stewards of the planet’s dwindling biodiversity, are burning out. In some cases, they are breaking down. And with disturbing regularity, social media feeds are peppered with tragic news of conservation professionals who have taken their own lives. Yet data on suicide within the field is scarce, both due to stigma and the sector’s fragmented structure. A study published in Conservation Biology in 2023 surveyed more than 2,300 conservation professionals across 122 countries, offering one of the first comprehensive glimpses into the sector’s mental health. More than a quarter of respondents scored in the moderate-to-severe range for psychological distress. Women, early-career professionals, those with poor physical health, and those lacking social support were particularly at risk. The study’s authors, led by Thomas Pienkowski of Imperial College London and the University of Oxford in the U.K., emphasize that psychological distress does not equate to mental illness, but high levels can signal serious well-being concerns. Conservation work blends passion with precarity. Many are drawn to the field by a sense of duty or love of nature, but are often greeted by underfunding, job insecurity and poor institutional support. The vocational allure of saving the planet is sometimes exploited through long hours, unpaid labor or…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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From the volcanic fjords of Tufi in Papua New Guinea, researchers have described a new-to-science species of a coral reef fish called a dwarfgoby with an unusual purplish-black color. The tiny fish is the “darkest of all described dwarfgobies,” the researchers say in the study, naming it Eviota vader after the Star Wars villain Darth Vader. Dwarfgobies are miniscule fish that live on reefs across the Indo-Pacific, measuring less than 1.8 centimeters (0.7 inches). Researchers found E. vader, also called black dwarfgoby, during a reef fish biodiversity survey at a depth of 4 meters (13 feet) in Tufi’s volcanic fjords. At the time, there were 134 known species of dwarfgobies globally, and the fish they spotted was unlike any of them. “It stood out to us immediately, as while there are many dwarfgobies in the 1-4m [3.3-13 ft] depth range on coral reefs, none have this unique purplish-black coloration,” Mark V. Erdmann, study co-author and executive director of ReShark and shark conservation director at Re:wild, told Mongabay by email. “So in short, yes, immediately upon seeing this fish we knew it was something special.” The lone black dwarfgoby the researchers spotted had large yellow eyes and was 1.15 cm (0.45 in) in length. They photographed it perched on a section of a large coral colony. The fish was later collected using clove oil, which is used to sedate small fish. The team didn’t encounter any other similar-looking fish during the survey. Erdmann said they sent their only specimen to David…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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TOKYO (AP) — Decontaminated but slightly radioactive soil from Fukushima was delivered Saturday to the Japanese prime minister’s office to be reused in an effort to showcase its safety. This is the first soil to be used, aside from experiments, since the 2011 nuclear disaster when the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered a cataclysmic meltdown following an earthquake and tsunami that left large amounts of radioactive materials spewing out from the facility, polluting surrounding areas. The government is desperate to set people’s minds at ease about recycling the 14 million cubic meters of decontaminated soil, enough to fill 11 baseball stadiums, collected after massive clean-ups and stored at a sprawling outdoor facility near the Fukushima plant. Officials have pledged to find final disposal sites outside of Fukushima by 2045. The Environment Ministry said the 2 cubic meters, now at Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s office complex in Tokyo, will be used as foundation material in one section of the lawn garden, based on the ministry’s safety guidelines endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The soil does not include any from inside the plant. Despite assurances, there has been much public unease. The government has already been forced to scrap a plan to experiment using some of the soil in flower beds at several public parks in and around Tokyo following protests. Banner image: A bag of soil, slightly radioactive but decontaminated one from Fukushima, is delivered to the Japanese prime minister’s office to be reused in the garden, in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 19, 2025. (Kyodo…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Conservationists snapped images of two small wildcat species in Pakistan earlier this year: an Asiatic caracal (Caracal caracal schimitzi) and a sand cat (Felis margarita) — both which are incredibly rare in the country. Information on both cats in Pakistan is limited, with the sand cat presumed possibly extinct there, according to the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. The camera-trap image of the caracal is “very rare visual evidence of the once widespread but now rapidly declining species,” says Zafeer Ahmed Shaikh, director of the Indus Fishing Cat Project. That image — the first camera-trap record of a caracal in Pakistan, according to Shaikh — came from Kirthar National Park, where the Indus Fishing Cat Project, an NGO, has had cameras set for around four years. The team decided to extend its camera trapping after earlier reports of a caracal crossing a road in broad daylight in the area in January this year. The NGO’s local partners, Qalandar Burfat, Zohaib Ahmed and Ramzan Burfat, set up the trap near a watering hole inside the national park. “There was only one singular video of this male cat from about 400 videos at this particular camera station across a two-week-long period,” Shaikh says. Unfortunately, another sighting included one juvenile cat killed in the national park by local people. These images offer firm evidence that caracals are still present in Pakistan, says Jim Sanderson, founder and director of the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation. “But, as with most places, we have no…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, local communities are leading the charge against environmental crime — and they’re succeeding. Our new peer-reviewed study published in Conservation Biology has found that community-led patrols reduced illegal activities such as unregulated fishing, hunting and logging by up to 80% in two vast protected areas, even in the near-total absence of formal government enforcement. These findings come from a decade-long analysis of the Voluntary Environmental Agents (VEA) Program, a community-based monitoring initiative in the Mamirauá and Amanã sustainable development reserves in Brazil’s Amazonas state. From 2003 to 2013, more than 200 trained residents carried out nearly 20,000 patrols, totaling around 150,000 hours of activity. When communities are equipped with training, resources and institutional support, they can become powerful guardians of biodiversity. Local participation in environmental protection offers a scalable and cost-effective approach that not only enhances rule enforcement but also strengthens social legitimacy and long-term compliance — especially in remote or underresourced regions. A community patroller in the region studied. Image courtesy of Bruno Kelly/Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá. Patrolling with purpose The study tracked illegal activities across 12 community-managed territories within the two reserves. VEAs, often mobilized through community alerts, responded to environmental infractions including poaching of pirarucu (Arapaima gigas), the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish, and the use of banned fishing gear. Crime detection was higher during informant-led patrols and increased with the number of patrollers and time spent in the field. But what stood out was the overall downward trend:…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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WILLIAMSPORT, Ohio (AP) — As global temperatures rise under climate change, the bees responsible for pollinating many crops are under increasing stress and scientists are trying to understand how they are affected. It’s an important question because the bees are critical to the fruit, vegetables, nuts and other foods that humans need. Scientists have found that bees fly differently during extreme heat and may also cope the same way humans do — by finding a cooler environment. But they aren’t able to do as much as they normally do, and scientists worry that heat makes the bees more vulnerable to disease. By Joshua A. Bickel, Isabella O’Malley and Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In April 2023, fishermen caught a Eurasian otter in their net in the Karnali River, western Nepal, and reported the finding to researchers. A new study now confirms that this marks the northernmost spot in the country where the species has been spotted, Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi reported in June. The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) occurs widely across Europe and Asia, from as far west as the Iberian Peninsula and British Isles to the eastern borders of Asia, as well as down south to Vietnam to far north as Russia. However, in Nepal, it hadn’t been confirmed for decades until 2021, when there were a number of sightings across the country’s rivers. The latest sighting of the otter in Karnali River is cause for both excitement and concern, researchers told Mongabay. “The finding is important as we confirm the northernmost documented record of the animal in Nepal,” said Rinzin Phunjok Lama, co-author of the study. “But that the animal was found dead most likely because it got strangled in a net also raises concerns about its conservation.” Estimates for the global population of Eurasian otters, classified as near threatened, range from almost 60,000 to more than 360,000 mature individuals. While widespread, the species’ range is likely underexplored, Joshi writes. Recently, it was photographed by camera traps in Malaysia after not being spotted there for more than a decade. Otters inhabit rivers, wetlands and lakes that are very sensitive to human activities, especially those affecting river flow and bankside vegetation, making…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A new WWF report is sounding the alarm on Africa’s freshwater fish: one in four fish species it assessed is at risk of extinction. These declines threaten not only biodiversity, but also the food security, livelihoods and cultural identity of millions of people who depend on inland fisheries across the continent. Released in the lead-up to the Ramsar conference on wetlands to be held in Zimbabwe, the report notes there are at least 3,281 freshwater fish species in Africa’s rivers, lakes and wetlands. It also highlights the extraordinary diversity of Africa’s freshwater fish — from air-breathing lungfish to blind, cave-dwelling cichlids — that have remained largely invisible in conservation and development policies despite being essential to ecosystems and economies alike. “Africa is a global hotspot of freshwater fish diversity, home to over 3,200 species, but it’s also a hotspot of risk,” Eric Oyare, WWF’s Africa freshwater lead, said in a statement. “When these fish disappear, we lose much more than species: we lose food and nutrition security, livelihoods, ecosystem balance, and adaptive capacities to climate change.” The report points to habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, invasive species and climate change as key drivers of freshwater fish decline. Lake Malawi’s iconic chambo tilapia, for example, declined by 94% from 2006-2016. Meanwhile, Lake Victoria has likely seen hundreds of cichlid species vanish since the introduction of the invasive Nile perch and water hyacinth. Africa also accounts for almost 30% of global freshwater fish catch, according to the report. The continent’s freshwater fisheries are…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Forestry companies, including pulp and paper producers, have a long history of deforestation and social conflict in tropical countries like Indonesia. In Indonesia, millions of hectares of rainforest and peatland have been cleared to make way for industrial forest plantations, displacing thousands of communities from their customary lands in the process. To help ensure sustainable forestry practices, a voluntary global certification organization, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), was established in 1993 by a coalition of environmentalists, Indigenous groups, human rights advocates and timber industry players. Since then, FSC has grown into the world’s most recognizable ethical wood certifier. Its logo — a green checkmark and stylized tree — is widely used to assure consumers that forestry products are sourced sustainably. In 2022, Mongabay spoke with then-FSC director-general Kim Carstensen, who emphasized the need to strengthen the credibility and accountability of forest certification. Two years later, his successor, Subhra Bhattacharjee, is leading the FSC through one of its most ambitious reforms to date: the remedy framework. Adopted in 2023, the framework allows companies previously disassociated from FSC, including some responsible for major deforestation, to regain certification if they undertake credible efforts to redress past environmental and social harms. Indonesia, home to some of the most protracted and complex forestry conflicts in the tropics, is now the testing ground for this framework. Two of the world’s largest pulp and paper producers, including APRIL, are currently undergoing the remedy process. But a recent report by a coalition of NGOs — including Forest Peoples…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Reforestation has long been viewed as one of the more hopeful climate interventions: a process that can, in theory, restore degraded landscapes, absorb carbon dioxide, and support biodiversity. But as sociologist Thomas Rudel makes clear, the return of forests is rarely a passive process. His decades of research highlight a more complex truth—one in which reforestation is shaped not only by ecological conditions, but by economic shifts, social movements, and, crucially, the actions and choices of people on the ground. Rudel’s interest in forest change dates back to the late 1960s, when he served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador’s Amazon region. There, as a young volunteer assisting with land measurement and community-building efforts, he witnessed firsthand how forests were being cleared to make way for new settlements. The experience would go on to shape the trajectory of his academic career. After earning his doctorate, Rudel began conducting fieldwork with colonists and Indigenous communities in Ecuador, tracing both the causes of deforestation and the conditions that allow forests to regrow. His latest book, Reforesting the Earth: The Human Dimensions of Reforestation, draws on that lifetime of scholarship. It focuses not just on ecological recovery, but on the political and social factors that determine whether reforestation takes root—and lasts. Natural climate solutions, Rudel argues, hold enormous promise, but only if they account for the lived realities of small farmers, Indigenous communities, and the institutions that govern land use. Tree planting effort in India. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler. In a recent…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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