Bird diversity drops in human-dominated habitats, Nepal study suggests
KATHMANDU — Birds prefer to live in a mix of forests, fields and wetlands, but human activities such as logging, hunting and sand and gravel mining are taking a toll…
Habitat Degradation News
Botanists decode secret life of rare plants to ensure reintroduction success
It was 2006 and Ismail Ebrahim, a botanist with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), was worried. While surveying one of the last remaining patches of renosterveld shrubland in…
Thai agri giant CPF sues activist over claims linking it to invasive fish outbreak
The secretary-general of a Thai agricultural watchdog is facing a lawsuit that observers say is part of corporate efforts to silence citizens who are calling for greater accountability over the…
Rare earth mining expands into Laos, threatening entire Mekong River
BANGKOK — New data show a recent proliferation of rare earth mines across river basins in Laos, potentially posing a transboundary water pollution threat to Vietnam and the entire Mekong River…
Uphill battle to save California’s endangered mountain yellow-legged frog
Earlier this year, 350 endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs hopped into their new home in Bluff Lake in Southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains. It’s the latest step in a long-running battle…
IUCN downgrades guiña threat status, prompting conservation warning
The guiña, a small cat species found only in Chile and northern Argentina, has just been reclassified as of least concern by the IUCN. Until recently it was listed as…
Funding is needed to save Samoa’s ‘little dodo’ from extinction (commentary)
It’s early August 2025. Deep in the rainforests of Upolu, on the island of Samoa, Moeumu “Moe” Uili and I have paused our hike, counting the seconds between coo calls…
Nepal’s Himalayan biodiversity struggles with new herds and highways (commentary)
A journey into Nepal’s Limi Valley is always profound. We at the Himalayan Wolves Project first visited the area more than a decade ago and were immediately struck by its…
Madagascar’s dry forests need attention, and Verreaux’s sifakas could help
ANTANANARIVO — Which tropical habitats are worthy of conservation? Humid forests, with their dazzling species counts, easily gain notice. Dry forests may not boast the same numbers, but their unique…
Discovery of dazzling blue butterfly underscores peril facing Angola’s forests
Francis’s gorgeous sapphire — a new-to-science species of butterfly — has just been described in the high-altitude evergreen forests of western Angola. The identification of Iolaus francisi, with its shimmering…
Shrinking Mekong megafish underlines risks to the river, study finds
The megafish of the Mekong River are shrinking, a new study has found. In the most comprehensive analysis of species size in Southeast Asia’s Lower Mekong Basin, researchers have tracked…
Rare Javan leopard sighting renews focus on conservation, monitoring efforts
A camera trap in an Indonesian mountain forest has recorded a rare Javan leopard, sparking renewed conservation monitoring efforts in the area. The Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas) was captured…
Green hydrogen development threatens wildlife in Chile
Green hydrogen promoters tout it as the clean energy of the future. In 2020, Chile launched its National Green Hydrogen Strategy, looking to position the country as a leader in…
A critical stopover for shorebirds awaits protection in Malaysia
TELUK AIR TAWAR, Malaysia — The tide is rising. On the Teluk Air Tawar-Kuala Muda coast (TAT-KM) of Penang state in Peninsular Malaysia, fishers are boating out to the sea…
As gas giants move in, Philippine fishers fight for their seas and survival
BATANGAS CITY, Philippines — On a hot October afternoon near the largest oil and gas port in the Philippines, the roar of a nearby natural gas tanker drowned out conversations…
In rare triumph, camera traps snap endangered wildcats in Pakistan
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…
Endangered Andean cat is imperiled by climate change and its solutions
Many conservationists dedicated to protecting the endangered Andean cat have never seen one in the wild, with the species known to science by just a few photos until the late…
Forest connectivity key to preserving PNG’s spectacular rainforest birds: Study
From pollinating plants to dispersing seeds, birds play a variety of crucial roles that help to keep ecosystems in balance. But when we degrade and fragment their habitats, some species…
Study urges legal protection for Sulawesi’s endangered bear cuscus amid habitat loss
A new study has shown the first habitat suitability model for the endangered bear cuscus in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi, showing its limited and fragmented range, much of which is threatened…
In Colombia, bird-watching brings tourism and a love for conservation
It was 3 in the morning when Lorenzo Mora, 41, was getting ready to go bird-watching. This wasn’t just any birding trip: he’d meticulously prepared his boots, clothes, jacket, recorder,…
Major coral loss in Vietnam’s first marine protected area: Study
Vietnam’s first marine protected area, Nha Trang Bay, has lost nearly 200 hectares (494 acres) of coral reef since its creation in 2002, a new study shows. The alarming decline…
Mounting risks due to climate change threaten Sri Lanka’s endemic species
COLOMBO – During the Ice Ages, there was a decrease in global sea levels, creating a land bridge between Sri Lanka and India, only to have the then-warmer interglacial periods…
Critically endangered chameleon discovered outside its known habitat in Madagascar
ANTANANARIVO — At the end of April, a team of researchers scouring a scarred area of spiny forest in southwestern Madagascar came across three individuals of a critically endangered chameleon…
Tabby’s likely ancestor & Earth’s most widespread wildcat is an enigma
The Afro-Asiatic wildcat (Felis lybica) is the world’s most widely distributed wildcat, but experts and information on the species are scarce. The species’ range is immense, stretching across most of…
Concrete sprawl in Buddha’s birthplace in Nepal threatens sarus cranes
LUMBINI, Nepal — Legend has it that before he became the Buddha, a young Prince Siddhartha Gautama nursed an injured sarus crane (Antigone antigone) back to health. Since then, the…
Orangutan habitat under siege as palm oil company clears forest in Borneo
JAKARTA — A palm oil company is gearing up to expand into critical orangutan habitat in Indonesian Borneo, raising alarms over the survival of the critically endangered great apes. PT…
Dugong numbers plummet amid seagrass decline in Thailand’s Andaman Sea
Unprecedented numbers of emaciated dugongs have washed up dead along Thailand’s Andaman Sea coast over the past three years, prompting marine scientists to urgently investigate what’s driving their decline. Thailand’s…
New strategy launched to protect Tanzanian biodiversity hotspot
Conservationists have launched a 20-year-long project to protect what is arguably Tanzania’s most biologically rich landscape: the Udzungwa Mountains. The strategy places notable emphasis on communities living here, with more…
Beyond reforestation, let’s try ‘proforestation’
Edward Faison, an ecologist at the Highstead Foundation, stood quietly in a patch of forest that stretched for miles in all directions. Above him, the needles from white pine trees…
As apes adapt to human disturbance, their new behaviors also put them at risk: Study
Human activities such as mining, agriculture, urbanization, damming and logging threaten the habitats of great apes in Africa and Asia. Apes have shown resilience to these disruptions by adapting their…
Bleak future for Karoo succulents as desert expands in South Africa
Sometimes words fall hopelessly short. This might explain the silences between the two botanists as their vehicle crunches over a gravelly Richtersveld moonscape, a desert that straddles the South African…
Global outcry as petitioners demand no mining expansion in orangutan habitat
JAKARTA — Nearly 200,000 people have signed a petition calling on U.K. multinational Jardine Matheson to cancel its plan to expand deeper into Indonesia’s Batang Toru Forest, the only known…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Satellite data show burst of deforestation in Myanmar rare earth mining hotspots
- 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
Oceans
- Methane chasers: Hunting a climate-changing gas seeping from Earth’s seafloor
- Scientists call for stronger action to save Indonesia’s vanishing seagrass meadows
- Antarctic conservation summit closes with stalemate on MPAs & krill fishing rules
- Norway’s proposal to double krill harvests raises tension at Antarctic conservation summit
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
- Lithium mining may threaten a precious resource — water: Voices from the land (commentary)
- Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests
- Amid Venezuela’s illegal gold heist are armed groups, gangs & elites, report says
- Indigenous women in Peru use technology to protect Amazon forests
Endangered Environmentalists
- A killing with precedent: Kaiowá man’s murder fits a pattern in Brazil
- 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
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
