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Venezuela has a long history of federal government, and twelve of its 22 constitutions have included the word ‘Federal’ in the title, including the first, in 1811. Most of these federal regimes were established in the nineteenth century, however, and an extended period of military rule between 1900 and 1958 established a centralized governing philosophy that continues to dominate political affairs in the country. Venezuela has all the trappings of a federal state, including regional assemblies and the direct election of regional authorities, but the reality is the predominance of a central government that is authoritarian in nature. There was a brief period when federalist principles left a mark on the Amazonian states, when the country established the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) in 1960. This was followed by two decades of investment in hydropower, mining and industrial development. The legacy of these investments persists today in the county’s dependence on the Guri hydropower facility. The mining industry has been in decline for more than a decade and the metal refineries are barely functioning. In 2024, Venezuela is essentially a failed state, and the collapse of its formal institutions has led the national government to declare military rule in Bolívar and Amazonas states. Crack in Diablo Mountain, Venezuela. Image by Rhett A. Butler. Guyana and Suriname are small, centralized republics where the national government is responsible for policy development and the delivery of basic services, although it may administer them via local jurisdictions, which are called Regional Democratic Councils in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Civil groups expressed dismay as the 30th International Seabed Authority (ISA) session recently ended in Jamaica without a moratorium on deep-sea mining, a process of extracting minerals from the seafloor, which experts say can damage marine ecosystems. The ISA Council finished the second reading of the draft regulations for the commercial exploitation of deep-sea minerals. However, the Earth Negotiations Bulletin of the International Institute for Sustainable Development noted that many parts of the text still require further negotiations. The bulletin said some member states wanted to finalize regulations, claiming that delays create uncertainty amid possibilities of deep-sea mining outside the ISA framework, which The Metals Company (TMC) the U.S. government is reportedly attempting. Countries like Germany, Greece and Ireland say they want to first have a better scientific understanding of the risks of deep-sea mining, a general policy for marine environmental protection or a long-overdue periodic review to account for changes in ocean governance and trends. Working groups will continue discussions on the draft mining code until the ISA’s next session in 2026. “With dozens of unresolved issues in the International Seabed Authority’s draft deep-sea mining regulations, the ISA still has significant work ahead before any rules can be completed,” Julian Jackson, The Pew Charitable Trusts project director, said in an email to Mongabay. Jackson said the ISA should listen to “a growing wave of governments, businesses, scientists, organizations, and communities worldwide urging a moratorium on seabed mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction until there is sufficient science to ensure the marine…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Ecuador announced this month that it’s eliminating the Ministry of Environment and folding its responsibilities into the Ministry of Energy and Mines — a move that could prove disastrous for conservation efforts, critics say. President Daniel Noboa announced the mergers of more than a dozen ministries as part of a larger effort to cut back on public spending. But conservationists say the country needs an independent Ministry of Environment to protect fragile forest ecosystems from mining, oil and gas, and other forms of development. “It’s not a simple institutional reorganization,” the Ecuadorian Coordinator of Organizations for the Defense of Nature and the Environment, a coalition of green groups, said in a statement. “It represents an unprecedented setback in environmental protection and constitutes a direct attack on the rights of nature, the rights of present and future generations, and the constitutional framework of Ecuador.” The presidential decree, published July 24, builds on an institutional reform plan introduced last year to limit spending and improve “efficiency and effectiveness” in the government — part of a larger effort to revive the national economy. The country experienced a sharp economic slowdown in 2023 fueled by drought-driven electricity shortages and tight public budget constraints, which stifled investment and prevented businesses from operating normally. The security crisis, caused by a rise in organized crime, also contributed to the slowdown, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last year during loan talks. President Daniel Noboa speaks during a military ceremony in Quito. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa) In July, the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A recent study in the US, UK, and Australia showed that referring to the terms “climate change” or “global warming” did not affect whether people accepted what the science tells us—that the world’s climate is changing. But it showed that for various reasons, ideological or otherwise, there is a significant proportion of people who do not “believe” in climate change, despite the overwhelming evidence. In effect, there is a widespread acknowledgment of climate change (72%-85% of people worldwide), but multiple psychological and structural barriers impede understanding of its nature (natural or man-made) and the advancement of climate action. People may fail to act because climate change does not seem relevant to themselves or people they know, may be perceived as an abstract future threat, or they believe their actions are not efficacious (https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2426768122). This calls into question what matters more when trying to convey scientific findings and environmental messages: Are the arguments more relevant than the “marketing” of the information? Framing can be an important way to reach audiences who may otherwise ignore certain topics. Based on cognitive science, some authors have debunked common myths about the relationship between evidence and human decision-making. Facts—and their quantity—do not make much of a difference, as they are absorbed into existing beliefs rather than the other way around: “When facing uncertainty, humans make decisions that are satisfactory, rather than optimal”. What emerges as a pattern from specialists in neuroscience and cognitive learning is the need to consider how different groups with varying backgrounds or…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Natural streams, the lifeline of Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts’ rich biodiversity, are vanishing due to a combination of anthropogenic and climate change-induced stresses. Aggressive deforestation is wiping out local flora, including the bamboo groves that help the soil absorb water underground. Combined with erratic rainfalls, this has left natural streams completely dry for eight rainless months every year for the last few years. Wildlife and local communities, both dependent on the streams, are suffering from an acute water crisis, as experts have observed. Having experienced the water shortage, Mahfuz Ahmed Russel, custodian of the community-based initiative (PCI) in Khagrachhari district’s Matiranga region in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), has adapted a customized version of a local practice to pilot the revival of streams. Traditionally, local people harvest rainwater by damming streams or diverting stream water into ponds for fish farming. “Instead of disturbing the streams, I harvest rainwater to keep them alive,” Mahfuz tells Mongabay. In small valleys within the 9.3-hectare (23-acre) privately conserved Pittachhara Forest, Russel has constructed three artificial ponds by building earthen dams at the foot of the valleys. Locally, such gentle-sloping flatlands, surrounded on three sides by hillocks, are called longa. The ponds collect monsoon runoffs and, over time, water gradually seeps from those into nearby streambeds, helping keep them alive or moist for four to six months during the dry season. Russel’s house in the 9.3-hectare (23-acre) privately conserved Pittachhara Forest. Image courtesy of Mahfuz Ahmed Russel. Rainwater-fed ponds boost biodiversity The Pittachhara Forest, named after…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Parrots of the Amazona genus are among the most trafficked birds in Colombia. With their distinctive feathers, these parrots are relatively easy to identify by authorities after they have been rescued. But “determining their home territory is a much more complex task that cannot be carried out relying on just the naked eye,” says Luis Alejandro Arias, a biologist at the National University of Colombia. Different populations of each species sometimes live in various parts of the country. Learning the origin of the rescued and rehabilitated birds is necessary to reintroduce them back into the wild. “Although the law demands that environmental authorities release the animals as close to their origin as possible, it isn’t easy to do so at the technical level,” Arias says. To address this problem, a group of Colombian scientists led by Arias established a genetic database by studying rescued birds of the Amazona genus that had a documented origin. In their study published in the journal Bird Conservation International, the researchers analyzed the birds’ genetics and compared them with their database. This helped them to determine the most likely origin of 156 illegally-traded parrots that had been seized near Bogotá. A seized yellow-crowned Amazon (Amazona ochrocephala) that was part of this study. Image by Luis Alejandro Arias. Technological advances are changing the field of conservation. “As new molecular tools are created, like this one just published, we can go a step beyond,” says Carlos del Valle-Useche, co-author of the study and a biologist with the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In Indonesia’s Central Java province, two groups of Javan gibbons have become isolated in two small forest patches. To help the gibbons make their way to larger forest areas, a local NGO, SwaraOwa, is working with farmers in the region to restore and build “corridors” that would connect the fragmented forest blocks, Mongabay reported in a video published in June. Javan gibbons (Hylobates moloch), known locally as owa, are only found on the island of Java and are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. Only 4,000 individuals are thought to remain in the wild, with many confined to increasingly fragmented forest patches due to logging, agriculture and infrastructure. Two such Javan gibbon groups, one with five members and the other with four, live in two tiny forest patches isolated from a larger forest area by farms and settlements. The gibbons have little canopy cover to move between the forests. “From about 2000 until the end of 2010, hunting of primates was still massive, especially gibbons and langurs. Sometimes people hunted them to sell their meat, sometimes to sell their offspring,” Alex Rifai, a farmer from Mendolo village, said in the video. But then SwaraOwa (“Sound of the owa” in Indonesian) started educating farmers about the biodiversity treasure on their doorstep: that the Javan gibbon is one of five primate species on the island that’s found nowhere else on Earth. “That was a point of pride for us, we were like, ‘Wow, we have to protect them,’” Rifai recalled.…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. In the Brazilian Amazon, where enforcement agents are spread thin across vast territories, an unlikely success story has emerged — not from drones or satellites, but from flip-flop-wearing locals paddling through forest rivers. A study examining 11 years of patrol data from two sustainable development reserves, Mamirauá and Amanã, has found that community-led voluntary environmental patrols were associated with an 80% drop in detected environmental crimes. By contrast, over the same period, government-led inspections outside these areas showed no such decline, reports contributor Fernanda Biasoli for Mongabay. From 2003 to 2013, more than 19,000 patrols were conducted under the Voluntary Environmental Agents (VEA) program, launched in 1995. Armed with local knowledge and community trust, participants recorded more than 1,200 crimes, most of them related to fishing and hunting. Meanwhile, federal enforcement teams conducted 69 operations across broader areas, detecting fewer crimes overall and failing to demonstrate a meaningful reduction in infractions over time. The discrepancy underscores a broader insight: legitimacy and local ownership can matter more than legal authority when it comes to enforcement. Community agents, motivated by a blend of cultural ties, informal authority and modest support from the state, were often more effective at both detecting and deterring infractions. Their efforts also coincided with greater adherence to local conservation norms and improved stewardship of natural resources. Yet, this model is not without caveats. The VEA system does not replace government oversight.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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TABASCO, Mexico — Flooding caused by rapid sea-level rise and increasingly intense storms has decimated the coastal town of El Bosque in Tabasco, Mexico. Between 2019 to June 2024, at least 70 homes in the community were destroyed by the sea. Most of its residents have been relocated to a site further inland by the government—but starting a new life comes with a catch. Most of their livelihoods depend on fishing, but the new site is 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) away from the sea and residents cannot fish as easily. This video follows members of the climate-displaced community as they grapple with an increasingly common question: how do you rebuild a future when your past has been erased?   Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here!This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Six months ago, the M23 rebel group seized Goma, one of the largest cities in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the time since, local activists and satellite images compiled by Mongabay have identified sites with soaring forest loss in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, southwest of Goma. In this vast area of primary forest, home to eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri), researchers attribute these spikes of forest loss to the expansion of illegal charcoal production, collapsing conservation enforcement, and land conflicts. In November 2021, the Rwanda-backed rebel group resurfaced in the DRC’s North Kivu province after nearly a decade of relative absence from the region. Events escalated in January and February 2025, when M23 launched a rapid offensive and seized control of critical areas in both North and South Kivu provinces, including the respective provincial capitals, Goma and Bukavu. These areas remain under M23 control to this day. Beyond these major cities, the armed group also controls access to key mining zones and globally significant protected areas, such as Virunga National Park and Kahuzi-Biega National Park, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. So far, the conflict is having a tangible impact on biodiversity by exacerbating existing conservation challenges and deforestation, researchers say. In Kahuzi-Biega, satellite images from Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union’s space program, show sharp declines in forest cover between January and July 2025. Areas that were green six months ago, covered in lush, primary forest, now show patches of bare earth. Mongabay…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Flooding from torrential rain in northeastern China has killed at least 60 people since July 29, according to Xia Linmao, the deputy mayor of Beijing, China’s capital city.  The region hit hardest was the Beijing suburb of Miyun, where accumulated precipitation reached 543 millimeters (21.4 inches), nearing the annual average rainfall for Beijing, which is 585 mm (23 in). In Miyun, 31 people died in a nursing home impacted by the flash flood. Another 16 people died in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, and an additional 18 people are still reported missing. “I’ve never seen such ferocious floodwaters in my life,” Zhai Cheng’an, a 89-year-old resident of Taotiaogou, a remote village of Yanqing district in Beijing, told China Daily. Deputy Mayor Xia announced that all major roads will be restored by July 31 and that villages have been served with emergency water supplies, adding that local governments need to improve preparation and relief efforts for extreme weather. “Local governments lack adequate early warning systems for extreme weather, and disaster prevention plans are incomplete,” Xia said.   More than 80,000 people have been relocated across Beijing. Meanwhile, in Shanghai, China’s most populous city, 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) south of Beijing, 283,000 people have evacuated coastal areas as Typhoon Co-May sweeps through eastern China. Chen Tao, chief forecaster at China’s National Meteorological Center, said the typhoon isn’t particularly strong but its slow movement could lead to dangerous levels of accumulated rainfall. In the first half of 2025, China’s emergency ministry reported that…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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On the fourth anniversary of his imprisonment, Vietnamese environmentalist Dang Dinh Bach, who was sentenced to five years on tax evasion charges, has been recognized with a prestigious international award. The 46-year-old was officially presented the Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty in July by the president of the U.S.-based organization Human Rights First. The prize, which honors those who “champion human rights despite immense personal risk,” was accepted by Bach’s wife on his behalf in an online ceremony. The distinguished public interest lawyer had been chosen by an independent jury “in recognition of his lifetime commitment to protecting communities in Vietnam from the harmful effects of pollution and the climate crisis,” Human Rights First president Uzra Zeya said. According to Zeya, Bach’s detention has been marked by “rampant human rights violations,” including reports he had been beaten and mistreated. Bach has also undertaken several hunger strikes. On July 18, the U.N. Human Rights Committee published its findings on the fourth periodic review of Vietnam as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, expressing serious concerns over the treatment of political prisoners and increased restrictions on freedoms of association and expression and on independent civil society organizations, among other issues. The four-year anniversary of Bach’s arrest sparked renewed calls from organizations around the world for his urgent and unconditional release, with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders and Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition among those issuing statements. The U.N. Human Rights…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Early on, Canada-based The Metals Company cast the rocks it seeks to mine from the deep seafloor as a crucial resource for electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies, positioning them as a solution to the accelerating climate crisis. However, in 2024, another message overtook the first in TMC’s communications, according to an analysis by Mongabay and collaborators. It now cast these same rocks as strategic assets, essential for strengthening the mineral dominance and national security of the U.S., where the company has a subsidiary. This narrative pivot seems to have helped TMC position itself to act on potential U.S. approval for deep-sea mining even before the Trump administration gave its formal authorization in April, and may well provide the momentum needed to launch this contentious and still highly speculative industry. TMC did not address the specific claims Mongabay presented in this investigation regarding the company’s narrative strategies. Instead, in a statement, TMC criticized Mongabay for being “increasingly captured by activist narratives,” while offering no comment on its own messaging aimed at investors and the public. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a fellow. It is part two of an investigation into TMC, its investors, partners and business strategies. Read part one here. There are at least two versions of the pitch. One casts polymetallic nodules — metal-rich rocks scattered across flat stretches of the deep seafloor — as a crucial resource for electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies, positioning…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Fifteen teams have advanced to the semifinal round of XPRIZE’s $5 million Autonomous Wildfire Response Track, moving one step closer to proving that autonomous systems can detect and extinguish wildfires within 10 minutes across 1,000 square kilometers of challenging terrain. Part of a four-year, $11 million global competition launched in 2023, the initiative seeks to spur breakthroughs in rapid-response firefighting technology as climate-driven wildfires grow more frequent and destructive. Selected from a global pool, these teams represent a range of institutions, from defense contractors to university research labs and even a high school in California. Each presents a unique solution that blends robotics, artificial intelligence, and wildfire science. “The convergence of exponential technologies such as AI, robotics, drones, and sensors offers us the opportunity to detect wildfires at inception, and put them out in minutes before they spread—that’s the mission of this XPRIZE,” said Peter H. Diamandis, Executive Chairman of XPRIZE, at the time of the competition’s launch in 2023. Many of the semifinalists take a “system-of-systems” approach. AeroWatch, a Spain-based consortium, is integrating components from over a dozen partners to create a unified interface for fire managers. Crossfire, based at the University of Maryland, deploys scout UAVs for surveillance and “Firejumper” drones for suppression. Its system was validated in a live-fire demonstration earlier this year. Others focus on scale and speed. Canada’s FireSwarm Solutions is developing heavy-lift drone swarms capable of operating at night. Germany’s Dryad combines solar-powered sensors with reconnaissance and suppression UAVs to detect fires at the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Sara Olsvig is a veteran advocate for Indigenous rights at international meetings, maneuvering with some success even at institutions not known to be particularly adaptive. “Through the many decades of advocacy and Indigenous diplomacy that we’ve been doing, we have seen how much we can impact decision-making in the U.N.,” she says. Olsvig chairs the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), which represents some 180,000 Inuit people across Alaska (in the United States), Canada, Kalaallit Nunaat (the Inuit name for Greenland) and Chukotka (in Russia). She grew up in Inuit communities in Greenland, the world’s largest island and an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, and has served in both the Greenlandic and Danish parliaments. The ICC has been at work since 1977, yet some of its most essential international efforts are underway today. The Inuit are a coastal people who largely live off the sea, and much of the ICC’s work focuses on marine governance. Climate change has reduced the extent of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, opening up new shipping lanes and increasing interest in various forms of resource exploitation, including for oil, gas and minerals. As these pivotal changes take place, the ICC is engaged in negotiations over the development of major marine-related international agreements under U.N. bodies. These include shipping decarbonization talks and other rule-making processes at the International Maritime Organization (IMO); the drafting of a global plastics treaty; and the implementation of the agreement on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), which is also…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon who have only recently come into contact with the outside world say they want conservation projects to stay out of their territory, along with the NGOs and researchers championing these initiatives. The demands are outlined in the Chachibay Declaration, recently drafted by Indigenous leaders from 12 communities located deep in Peru’s Amazon Rainforest. It was signed at a unique gathering between the leaders in the Chachibay native community in the Ucayali Basin in May, when they also created the first Federation for Nationalities of Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples and Their Families Living in Voluntary Isolation. The declaration demands that large-scale conservation initiatives operating on or near their territory, like REDD+ — ostensibly meant to prevent deforestation — come to a halt. It also rejects “exploitative conservationists” who control development projects and funds in their territory. The signatories also stress that Indigenous self-governance is the only way to protect both their communities and their families still living in voluntary isolation, and who face increasing threats from outsiders. “The Murunahua Reserve here in Ucayali — that ‘model protected area’ — has more illegal coca fields and loggers than guard posts. Our families there don’t need another biodiversity report; they need all those profiting from our misery to leave,” reads the English translation of the declaration. The declaration was translated into English by Alejandro Argumedo, director of programs and Andes Amazon lead with the Swift Foundation, who was at the meeting in May. Argumedo said the Swift…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Historically, most United Nations agreements have been reached by consensus. But based on recent events, this no longer seems likely for achieving a fully effective global treaty on plastic pollution, according to many analysts. The fifth resumed session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2) will take place Aug. 5-14 in Geneva, Switzerland. The impending summit’s outcome remains highly uncertain, with two groups of countries holding strongly opposing views on the agreement’s scope: The High Ambition Coalition, along with other nations, totaling 106 member states, is seeking a binding treaty with global caps on plastics production and a ban of the most toxic chemicals used in plastics. The so-called “Like-minded countries” (Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, India) and other countries, including Brazil and the United States, want a voluntary treaty focused only on waste management, especially recycling. Treaty negotiations began hopefully in 2022 and were scheduled to conclude with a final document by 2024 following UNEA Resolution 5/14. But at each new session, oil- and plastic-producing countries (including Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, India, and Brazil) exploited unresolved procedural rules to delay negotiations, used obstructionist tactics to slow down progress and insisted on consensus for all decisions — effectively vetoing majority agreements, observers of the U.N. process say. Tired of the lack of progress in negotiations, on Dec. 1, 2024, the last day of INC-5.1, more than 100 countries came together at a press conference as a coalition of the willing, declaring “No treaty is better than a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Two Indigenous groups in Panama are collaborating with researchers in a long-term reforestation project that promises them income in return for growing native trees for carbon sequestration, Mongabay contributor Marlowe Starling reported in May. As part of the project, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) have partnered with the local leadership in the rural district of Ñürüm in the Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca, the largest officially recognized Indigenous land in Panama. With funding support from the U.S.-based Rohr Family Foundation and the U.K. government’s Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate, the project aims to plant native trees across 100 hectares (nearly 250 acres) in Ñürüm. Ñürüm’s landscape has been heavily deforested for decades for agriculture and cattle pasture, as well as government-led plantations of nonnative pine and teak. It doesn’t help that the soil in the area is clay, acidic, phosphorous-deficient and of low fertility. The Smithsonian, through two decades of experience from its Panama Canal Watershed Project in Agua Salud in Colón province, has worked out what types of trees work best on the land. Nearly 30 individuals and families had chosen to participate in the comarca reforestation project at the time of publishing. The community members have already planted several native species on their land, including high-value and low-maintenance trees like cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa), a nitrogen-fixing species whose wood is used for carvings and furniture. “It grows on crappy soils, good soils, grows fast when it’s young, it’s good for covering the land area and it’s got big roots, so…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia has launched a national campaign to plant 700 million trees in one day. The ambitious goal, announced Thursday, is part of a conservation initiative seeking to plant 50 billion trees by 2026. The reforestation campaign has been a personal project of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since 2019. Authorities say some 40 billion tree seedlings have already been planed since 2019. The target for 2025 alone is 7.5 billion trees. Some critics have dismissed the campaign as a publicity stunt by Abiy. By Amanuel Gebremedhin Birhane, Associated Press  Banner image: Participants planting in a park as part of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative, which aims to plant 7.5 billion trees by the end of the year, at Jifara Ber site, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Amanuel Birhane)  This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A new report by the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the U.S. National Drought Mitigation Center has revealed the most widespread and damaging impacts of last year’s severe drought in the Amazon Basin, which affected hundreds of thousands of Amazonian people. According to the report, impeded transportation, drinking water shortages, aquatic wildlife deaths and wildfires were among the greatest challenges the communities faced. The 2023-24 drought led to the isolation of Indigenous communities that are dependent on waterways for transportation, food and income. This caused food insecurity and impacts on health, researchers say. “We are witnessing droughts that are more widespread, more frequent and more intense, and that compound with other risks like heat and fires,” Daniel Tsegai, a UNCCD program officer and drought expert, told Mongabay by email. “The fact that not even rainforests are spared from this emerging trend is of great concern and should be taken seriously to prevent human suffering, ecosystem destruction, and economic loss.” Environmental researchers consider the drought as “unprecedented” and “the most severe and widespread of the past century” in the Amazon region. In 2023, it led to a loss of 3.3 million hectares (8.1 million acres) of surface water in Brazil’s Amazon relative to 2022, while nine Amazonian countries experienced extremely high temperatures and their lowest rainfall in 40 years. Researchers attribute the drought to a combination of El Niño and human-induced climate change. Residents transport drinking water from Humaita to the Paraizinho community, along the dry Madeira River, a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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KATHMANDU — Wildlife trafficking for the illegal pet trade in Nepal has made a significant shift online, according to recent research that attributes the trend to the rapid penetration of smartphones, social media and online payment systems across Nepali society. The findings, based on year-long research led by Reshu Bashyal from environmental NGO Greenhood Nepal, also suggests the country, previously seen as a source and transit point for wildlife trafficking, could soon emerge as a destination country. “We see that with the advent of mobile phones and social media, illegal trade in wild animals as pets has gone digital,” Bashyal said at a session to share the preliminary findings of the research into the illegal pet trade in the region. “Our initial findings suggest that economic growth in South Asia, including Nepal, in recent years is leading to increased connectivity and movement of goods, including wildlife,” she said. Pigeons being sold at a temple in Nepal. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi/ Mongabay. The objective of the research, conducted between October 2022 and June 2023, was to identify emerging trends and drivers and assess governance gaps. It also looked at the species traded and mapped key trafficking routes, said researcher Ashmita Shrestha, also from Greenhood Nepal. Nearly three in four Nepali adults uses a smartphone, according to the 2020 census, and about half the population is on Facebook, the country’s most popular social media site, according to analytics firm NapoleonCat. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Viber are also widely popular.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The critically endangered African penguin has several predators to fear, including gulls, seals and sharks at sea, and leopards, caracals, domestic dogs and mongoose on land. A recent study has now documented the first confirmed case of yet another predator: a Cape clawless otter was observed preying on the African penguins of a mainland colony. African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) historically bred on islands around South Africa and Namibia, where they were safe from larger mainland mammalian predators like leopards and caracals. However, as growing human settlements kept large predators at bay, the penguins began establishing mainland colonies. One such mainland colony is in Simon’s Town, along South Africa’s southwest coast. Between 2020 and 2023, the penguin population there has declined from 1,100 breeding pairs to 870, the study’s authors write. Local authorities first observed Cape clawless otters (Aonyx capensis), which typically eat fish and crustaceans, near the Simon’s Town penguin colony in September 2022. They also found seven penguin carcasses, but couldn’t confirm what had killed them. In March 2023, authorities finally caught an otter in the act: they observed and photographed a female otter attacking penguins. They rescued two adult penguins and recovered carcasses of three others and sent them to the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) for autopsy. With the predator visually confirmed, SANCCOB researchers were able to record and identify the characteristic measurements, location and nature of the wounds linked to otter attacks. “This will help separate otter predation from other predators,”…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. In the United States, there are few things more American than ice cream. And few names more synonymous with it than Baskin-Robbins. The company’s pastel storefronts, pink spoons and 31 flavors became part of the cultural wallpaper. John Robbins could have had it all: the corner office, the yacht, the financial security to outlast a dozen lifetimes. But in 1969, aged 21, he walked away from the empire his father had built — from the money, prestige and his presumed inheritance — and never looked back. What he chose instead was harder, lonelier and, ultimately, far more consequential. Robbins spent his life not selling sweetness, but questioning its cost. In Diet for a New America (1987), he indicted industrial food systems for harming not only the human body but also animals, ecosystems and the planet itself. At a time when vegetarianism was fringe and veganism rarer still, he made the case — calmly, clearly and persuasively — that what Americans ate was making them sick, and that a different way was possible. The message gained traction. EarthSave, the nonprofit he founded in 1988, helped catalyze a growing awareness of food’s ethical and environmental dimensions. His son, Ocean, co-founded the Food Revolution Network with him in 2011. By then, the elder Robbins had become one of the most respected voices in the plant-based movement — a position earned not by bluster but by consistency,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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On the moonlit beaches of Terengganu state, on Malaysia’s east coast, green sea turtles have been returning for generations to lay their eggs. For just as long, people have collected, sold and eaten the eggs as a delicacy, supporting coastal livelihoods but stressing turtle populations. As a conservation compromise to balance livelihoods and turtle protection, the state’s Department of Fisheries (DoF) introduced a licensing system in 1951, auctioning rights to harvest eggs from designated beaches. In 1961, it added a buyback scheme, paying licensed collectors to hand over eggs for relocation to protected hatcheries. With limited resources, the DoF partnered with NGOs like Marine Conservation and Research Organisation Malaysia (PULIHARA), which has run buyback efforts since 2016. While the scheme helped divert eggs from markets, it also faced financial and logistical challenges — especially until 2022, when Terengganu expanded its leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) egg ban to cover all species, ending legal egg sales altogether. Now, a study published in Ocean & Coastal Management in May 2025 offers the clearest picture yet of the buyback model’s conservation impact — and its limits — in this new legal landscape. “We wanted to better understand the conservation impact of our efforts … and whether such a model could remain viable in the long term,” said lead author Seh Ling Long, who conducted the study while at PULIHARA and now works as a senior program officer at wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC. During the five-year study period, from 2016 to 2021, PULIHARA bought more…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Camera traps installed high in the rainforest canopy in Malaysian Borneo have filmed a bounty of threatened primates, hornbills and a host of tree-dwelling animals feasting on figs. Biologists from Malaysia-based nonprofit 1StopBorneo Wildlife, along with Sabah Parks and local conservationists, scaled two enormous fig trees in Tawau Hills National Park in Sabah state to install 16 camera traps in their canopies in late June. The cameras have since amassed more than 10,000 images of wildlife. Among the fig foragers were Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), helmeted hornbills (Rhinoplax vigil) — both critically endangered — binturongs (Arctictis binturong), gibbons, flying squirrels, and several species of leaf monkey. This is likely the first time camera traps have been used to document wildlife associated with fruiting fig trees in Malaysia, according to Shavez Cheema, founder of 1StopBorneo Wildlife. “The best was having three different primate species in the frame at the same time: the red leaf monkey [Presbytis rubicunda], gibbons [genus Hylobates], and the Sabah gray leaf monkey [Presbytis sabana].” During his nine years working in the national park, Cheema said, he’s only once glimpsed the gray leaf monkey, an endangered species endemic to Sabah. But the arboreal cameras captured them almost daily. The cameras also recorded activities otherwise hidden from view, such as a binturong pooping into a tree nook, showing its role as a vital seed disperser. Arboreal camera traps allow “cheaper, more accurate, longer, and verifiable sampling,” said Matthew Luskin, a conservation biologist at the University of Queensland, Australia, who wasn’t…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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