Brazil’s big push for tropical forest funding gets support for 2025 debut
Twelve countries, including Brazil, are currently discussing the Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) framework, which is expected to be concluded by next January.
Conservation News
Electrochemical removal of ocean CO2 offers potential — and concerns
Ocean-based carbon dioxide removal technology is ramping up, with startups and existing companies racing to develop electrochemical techniques that either remove carbon from seawater or prompt oceans to suck up…
South Korea slashes forest biomass energy subsidies in major policy reform
In a major policy shift, South Korea announced Dec. 18 that it will end renewable energy subsidies for new biomass projects, as well as for state-owned coal and biomass cofired…
Coral destruction for toilet construction: Interview with a Malagasy fisher
TOAMASINA, Madagascar — Abraham Botovao, a boat skipper and the president of the Association of Progressive Fishers of Toamasina, has become accustomed to seeing an unusual activity while out at…
Poachers target South Africa’s ‘miracle’ plant with near impunity
NIEUWOUDTVILLE, South Africa — It is the devil’s breath, this wind, blowing dry and mercilessly across a plain left threadbare by decades of overgrazing. With this wind at their backs,…
As lithium mining bleeds Atacama salt flat dry, Indigenous communities hit back
You could be forgiven for thinking there’s no water in the Atacama Desert. In fact, the driest desert on Earth has underground springs that feed the Chaxa, Cejar and Tebenquiche…
Indonesia’s Indigenous communities sidelined from conservation
JAKARTA — In recent United Nations biodiversity conferences, global leaders have championed Indigenous peoples as critical partners in achieving conservation goals. Indonesia, as a signatory to an international treaty on…
For ecological restoration, evidence-based standards deliver better outcomes (commentary)
Recognition of the need to restore degraded landscapes is accelerating at pace. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (the UN Decade) has triggered a global movement to rally individual action,…
Unlike: Brazil Facebook groups give poachers safe space to flex their kills
Between 2018 and 2020, users of Facebook groups in Brazil shared more than 2,000 records of wildlife poaching, amounting to 4,658 dead animals: everything from pacas and armadillos to capybaras…
‘Killed while poaching’: When wildlife enforcement blurs into violence
KITABU, Uganda — It’s mid-afternoon in Kitabu, a small town nestled in the hills of western Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains. Neatly manicured plots of beans and…
New frog species show how geology shapes Amazon’s biodiversity
The frog’s loud croaking turned out to be a call to its own demise. The researchers walking along the steep muddy bank on a rainy November day in 2022 in…
A port is destroying corals to expand. Can an NGO rescue enough to matter?
TOAMASINA, Madagascar — The landscape was primed for adventure during a mid-April visit to L’île aux Prunes, an idyllic islet selected by the NGO Tany Ifandovana for transplanting rescued corals.…
Nepal created a forest fund to do everything; five years on it’s done nothing
KATHMANDU — In October 2019, Nepal’s government introduced a new Forest Act. The law laid the basis for the establishment of the Forest Development Fund (FDF) with an extensive mandate…
Can the Cali Fund provide a rights-based remedy for biopiracy? (commentary)
When considering the vastly unequal realities of the current global order, it is clear that the ongoing impact of the colonization of the Global South is wide ranging and all-encompassing.…
Next-gen geothermal offers circular promise, but needs care and caution
Next-generation geothermal technologies are gaining steam as a source of clean, renewable energy and an alternative to fossil fuels. With demonstration projects across the globe now showing strong potential, enhanced…
In 2024, Nepal faced old & new challenges after tripling its tiger population
KATHMANDU — The year 2024 marked two years since Nepal announced the near tripling of its wild Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population as part of the 2010 global initiative…
Renewables won’t save us from climate catastrophe, experts warn; what will?
In 2022, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declared that the “lifeline of renewable energy can steer [the] world out of climate crisis.” In saying so, he echoed a popular and tantalizing…
Top Mongabay podcast picks for 2024
It was another busy year for Mongabay’s podcast team, featuring many fresh interviews, a new season of the Mongabay Explores series, an award, and its first year featuring a two-person…
Communities launch new Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park amid Myanmar civil war
Amid Myanmar’s ongoing civil war, Karen and other ethnic minority communities have officially launched the Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park, a new community-led conservation area in the northern Kayin state. The…
Hundreds of whales to be harpooned as Iceland issues new hunting licenses
On Dec. 6, Iceland’s caretaker government announced it had issued five-year licenses to hunt fin and minke whales in Icelandic waters. It granted the fin whale hunting license to Hvalur…
‘Like you, I fear the demise of the elephants’
On June 13, 1959, the Watha hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Watha had hunted elephants. Killing…
We must prioritize rangeland conservation for planetary health and biodiversity (commentary)
In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in awareness about the importance of rainforests to global ecosystems and economies. Meanwhile, another biome – one that covers more than…
‘Shifting baselines’ in Cabo Verde after 50 years of declining fish stocks
In Cabo Verde, as in many low-income countries in Africa, the historical record of fish catch is incomplete, making it hard to know what’s been lost and what’s required to…
Armed conflict, not Batwa people, at heart of Grauer’s gorillas’ past decline in DRC park
A new study has concluded that the decline in Grauer’s gorillas in a sector of their main stronghold in the Democratic Republic of Congo was the result of the impacts…
Grassroots efforts sprout up to protect Central America’s Trifinio watershed
ESQUIPULAS, Guatemala — An estimated 8 million migrants have entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, the highest number in centuries. Many still come from the so-called Northern Triangle, made…
High-flying concessions: Clandestine airstrips, coca crops invade Ucayali’s forests
Zooming in on the Peruvian jungle, many hectares of deforestation can be seen amid the thick vegetation, like huge scars hidden among the foliage. They’re dispersed between the forests in…
Greater Mekong serves up 234 new species in a year, from fanged hedgehog to diva viper
The dense tropical forests, isolated mountain peaks and limestone karst caverns of the Greater Mekong region yielded a remarkable 234 new-to-science species in 2023, according to a new report compiled…
Endangered seabirds return to Pacific island after century-long absence
Small seabirds skim the open ocean at night, patting their legs on the surface as they hunt for small fish. Now, for the first time in more than 100 years,…
Recycling gold can tackle illegal mining in the Amazon, but is no silver bullet
Researchers suggest that recycling gold could dramatically reduce harmful emissions, along with other solutions such as formalizing mining, adopting clean technologies, and improving gold supply chain transparency.
Vietnam’s mammals need conservation within and outside their range: Study
Many species of mammals, either extinct in the wild or teetering close to it, have been successfully restored to parts of their range: the scimitar-horned oryx in northern Africa, black-footed…
Foreign investor lawsuits impede Honduras human rights & environment protections
Foreign investors in Honduras enjoy “extraordinary privileges” that hinder the government’s ability to implement reforms that could benefit human rights and the environment, a report has found. These advantages allow…
Indonesian forests put at risk by South Korean and Japanese biomass subsidies
Biomass energy subsidies in South Korea and Japan are threatening Southeast Asia’s tropical forests, warns a new report by environmental NGOs. Of particular concern is the nascent but rapidly growing…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- 15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
Oceans
- Scientists, Māori experts uncover new insights into rare spade-toothed whale
- Coral reefs could survive climate change, but in altered state, study says
- Conservationists see progress for swordfish, problems for sharks at Atlantic fisheries summit
- As tidal power rides a wave of clean energy optimism, pitfalls persist
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
- A national park and its rangers in Bolivia endure persisting road construction, illegal mining
- Can nations ever get artisanal gold mining right?
Endangered Environmentalists
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
- Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
- Indonesian activist freed in hate speech case after flagging illegal shrimp farms
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
