Global warming hits hardest for those who can’t escape it
In July 2024, a heat wave swept through the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. The surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 7.5 million people, is known for…
Conservation News
Indigenous nations fought for a new national monument. Will it survive Trump?
In northeastern California, the Upper Pit River undulates through evergreen forests, wet meadows and rugged mountains. It's part of the snow-fed headwaters of the Sacramento River, the largest river in…
Pope Francis’ uncompromising defense of nature may be his greatest legacy
Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, was as much a tireless advocate for nature as he was the poor and marginalized the world over. While his death leaves a…
New research finds substantial peat deposits in Colombia’s conflicted Amazon
In the heart of the Colombian Amazon, the towering mountains of the Serranía del Chiribiquete harbor secrets including South America’s oldest rock art. The remote site was off-limits and poorly…
Global agarwood trade heavily dependent on wild, threatened trees: Study
Agarwood, a fragrant resinous wood commonly referred to as oud, is a prized constituent in incense, perfumes, medicines and ornaments and remains in high demand across East Asia and the…
Indian trawlers leave Sri Lankan small-scale fishers a ravaged, bereft sea
COLOMBO — The Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar have long served as rich fishing grounds, providing bountiful harvests to Sri Lanka’s northern coastal communities. However, fishing activity in…
Nepal announces its snow leopard population after first-of-its-kind assessment
KATHMANDU — Following decades of speculation, skepticism and lack of consensus, Nepal’s government has announced the country’s first-ever consolidated national estimate of snow leopards (Panther uncia): 397 individuals. The figure,…
Loss of great white sharks triggers domino effect down food chain, study shows
CAPE TOWN — South Africa’s False Bay was once known as a global hotspot for great white sharks. But within the span of a few years, between 2015 and 2019,…
Mexican government looks to correct Tren Maya environmental damages
MEXICO CITY — Officials have acknowledged the environmental damage caused by Tren Maya, and say they’re exploring ways to restore cenotes and rainforests disrupted by the railway’s construction through the…
Sweeping cuts and deregulation imperil U.S. fisheries, experts warn
This is Part 1 of a two-part series on fisheries management and ocean governance under the second Trump administration, which took office Jan. 20. Part 1 looks at the potential…
Meet the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
Seven environmental activists from around the world will be awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize on April 21. Known as the “Green Nobel Prize,” the Goldman Prize honors activists from the…
Mangroves mount a fragile green revival in Iraq’s toxic south
BASRA, Iraq — The air in Basra carries a strange weight: part saline mist from the nearby Persian Gulf and part acrid smoke from the towering oil refineries that loom…
Agroforestry can reduce deforestation, but supportive policies matter, study finds
Intensifying heat waves, extreme floods and forest fires have devastated parts of Southeast Asia in recent years, spurring experts and authorities to look for holistic solutions. Agroforestry, the practice of…
Vital Mekong fish corridors tracked for first time, but funding cuts threaten future research
The first-ever acoustic telemetry network in the Mekong River has tracked key migration corridors critical to the survival of fish in Cambodia and Laos. To conduct the study, researchers caught…
Armed groups, cattle ranchers drove 35% rise in Colombia’s deforestation in 2024
The prediction came true: deforestation in Colombia increased in 2024 after two years of decline, just as the environment ministry had warned since April last year. The ministry announced that…
Illegal trafficking of siamang gibbons is a concerning and underreported crisis (commentary)
Siamangs are the largest of the 20 gibbon species, and belong to their own genus, Symphalangus. Distributed across Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, and the southernmost part of Thailand, their unforgettable and…
Ecuador communities resist Canada-backed gold mine in sacred highlands
This is the second part of a three-part series on underreported issues involving Canadian mining companies and Indigenous peoples or local communities. Read part one here. Shrouded in the lush…
‘Trophies’ shared on social media reveal scale of mass bird slaughter in Lebanon
Every year, during the Northern Hemisphere spring and autumn, the skies over Lebanon are dotted with millions of birds on their epic migrations. From soaring Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) to…
How Mexican fishers are protecting an endemic oyster — and its ecosystem
Over the past few decades, the harvesting of the Cortez oyster in western Mexico’s Marismas Nacionales — or the Marshes Biosphere Reserve — in Nayarit state has shifted from suffering…
AI uncovers how birds remix their songs over time
If you thought only humans had unique musical tastes that differed drastically across geographies and generations, think again. Researchers have long suspected that migration and population dynamics shape the musical…
Africa’s growing cities are endangering birdlife (commentary)
As urbanization reshapes global landscapes, ecological balance is increasingly at risk, especially in Africa. The primary drivers are rapid development and expanding human settlements, often without proper environmental considerations, posing…
Still no trial over Argentina cyanide mine spill, 7 years after officials were charged
This is the first of a three-part series on underreported issues involving Canadian mining companies and Indigenous peoples or local communities. Read part two here. Seven years after an environmental…
Plastic-eating seabird chicks show signs of organ failure and cognitive decline
For years, Jack Auty studied how inflammation in the human body drives diseases, ranging from stroke to sepsis to Alzheimer's, at the Tasmanian School of Medicine. But a visit to…
In an ancient Javanese sultanate, coastal women battle climate fallout
DEMAK, Indonesia — The Java Sea has pursued Sunarti for years, first submerging her birthplace in Timbulsloko village, before forcing the mother of two to flee inland on the northern…
Diverse forests and forest rewilding offer resilience against climate change
When it comes to reforestation, planting a diversity of tree species could have a plethora of positive effects on forest health and resilience, climate mitigation and biodiversity. That’s based on…
Action plan aims to save Asia’s leaf-eating monkeys amid ‘alarming’ declines
Primatologists and conservation organizations have launched a 10-year action plan to improve the outlook for langur monkeys in the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot, a region of Southeast Asia that spans Brunei,…
Fishing rights, and wrongs, cast small-scale South African fishers adrift
LANGEBAAN LAGOON, South Africa — Deon Warnick’s three chest freezers stood silently in his living room, lids open. Without any fish to keep frozen, he was using them as cupboard…
Back to the skies: the unlikely comeback of one of Brazil’s rarest parrots
Parrots numbered 44460 and 44461 don't know it yet, but they're about to meet the human species — with all the trauma that entails. It's late afternoon, yesterday's rain has…
Even the Gulf of Aqaba’s ‘supercorals’ bleached during 2024 heat wave
EILAT, Israel — Rugged red mountains tower over the aquamarine waters off Eilat in southern Israel. A group of divers plunges beneath the waves on a warm winter morning, bound…
Where war once raged in Iraq, Yezidi women plant hope
KHANKE, Iraq — In the wind-swept town of Khanke in northern Iraq, a fragile tree stands as a quiet symbol of resilience. Its slender trunk bends slightly in the dry…
Seychelles becomes first country to comply with fisheries transparency standard
In February, Seychelles became the first country to comply with an international standard that aims to make governments’ management of their fisheries more transparent. The goal of the Fisheries Transparency…
‘Heart of Borneo’ dams raze Indigenous forests for Indonesia green energy drive
MALINAU, Indonesia — Indonesia is pressing ahead with construction of a new network of dams in Borneo to power a major “green” industrial estate that will relocate Indigenous communities and…
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
- Southeast Asia’s fisheries thrive despite decades of overfishing warnings: Study
- Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill
- Smuggling networks exploit migrant debt to fuel tiger poaching in Malaysia, study shows
- Community-based conservation cuts thresher shark fishing by 91% in Indonesia: Study
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
- ‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
- 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
Endangered Environmentalists
- Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
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
