In Panama, major port construction begins at key mangrove site
Conservation groups in Panama are trying to halt the construction of a new port in the Pacific province of Chiriquí that they say could destroy breeding grounds and nurseries for…
Oceans News
Ogoni women restore mangroves and livelihoods in oil-rich Niger Delta
A women-led reforestation effort has planted millions of mangrove trees with a high survival rate across swamps in Nigeria’s oil-rich and severely degraded Niger Delta. For decades, the Ogoni people…
Global ocean temperatures set new record in 2024
Average temperatures across the world’s oceans reached an all-time high in 2024, a new multi-team study shows. The temperatures surpassed even those of 2023, which themselves represented a marked uptick…
2024’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
1. Long-awaited plastics treaty flops, for now Despite around-the-clock efforts from delegates, negotiators and numerous advocacy groups, the fifth session of the U.N. Environment Programme’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) on…
Atlantic puffins are perilously attracted to artificial light, new study shows
As the long summer days of August turn into nights, a few dozen volunteers gather in the small community of Witless Bay, a tiny town on the Atlantic coast about…
We need a North Pole Marine Reserve to secure a healthy future for Arctic waters (commentary)
In the 1990s, a single moratorium announcement wiped out an entire industry, leaving 37,000 people unemployed overnight. The ecological collapse of the Canadian Grand Banks Cod Fisheries is the most…
New evidence spells massive trouble for world’s sharks, rays and chimaeras
Evolution has perfected the world’s sharks and rays for more than 420 million years. Unlike the ammonites or pterosaurs that they once shared the oceans with, sharks and rays persevered…
Sunken ships in Sri Lanka’s Colombo attract more fish than coral reefs
COLOMBO – The MV Thermopylae Sierra, a 155-meter (508-foot) bulk carrier flying the Cypress flag, was anchored off Sri Lanka’s west coast by court order following a legal dispute. Neglected…
After trial and error, Mexican fishers find key to reforesting a mangrove haven
When David Borbón first arrived in the village of El Delgadito in 1980, it was a paradise with seemingly unlimited natural resources. He continued to return seasonally to fish for…
Photos: Top new species from 2024
A giant anaconda, a vampire hedgehog, a dwarf squirrel, and a tiger cat were among the new species named by science in 2024. Found from the depths of the Pacific…
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…
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…
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.…
Shipbreaking pollutes Türkiye’s coast despite European cleanup efforts
ALIAĞA, Türkiye — Every day, as dusk settles over the Aegean Sea, small vans ferrying workers homeward bustle in and out of Aliağa, a town nestled against lush, forested hills…
Scientists, Māori experts uncover new insights into rare spade-toothed whale
The spade-toothed whale is among the rarest and least-studied of whales. Until recently, only six records of the species existed, collected over the past 150 years. In early December, scientists…
‘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…
First-of-its-kind crew welfare measure adopted at Pacific fisheries summit
Working on fishing vessels has for centuries been one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. To this day, forced labor and other human rights abuses remain relatively common,…
How conservation photographer Cristina Mittermeier uses visual storytelling to inspire action
Conservation photography occupies a unique space, blending the art of visual storytelling with the urgency of environmental advocacy. Cristina Mittermeier, a pioneering figure in this field, has spent decades capturing…
After historic 2024 coral bleaching, hope remains for Mesoamerican Reef
2024 brought the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer ever recorded, only narrowly surpassing the record set in 2023. The trend, driven largely by human-caused climate change, according to NASA, caused the…
Colliding icebergs and chirping seals: Polar ocean sounds are reimagined in art-science collaboration
The frigid depths of the polar oceans exist only in the imagination for most people. Images of stark white ice fields and vast expanses of water might lead us to…
As Thailand’s blue swimming crabs decline, crab banks offer a sustainable solution
PHUM RIANG, Thailand — The sea is quiet except for the swish of the longtail boat cutting sharply through the waves. Fishermen Sutham Abmanee and Komsan Witan, from Phum Riang…
In Chile, discovery of shallowest red hydrocoral forest yet surprises scientists
The first thing the researchers noticed from their boat were red spots below the surface of the water during one of their expeditions. This detail led them to carry out…
Traditional fishers in Peru guard the coast from illegal fishing
It’s 4 a.m., and a group of fishers in the city of Chimbote, 422 kilometers (262 miles) north of Lima, have arrived at the rocks of Campamento Atahualpa and Vesique…
How are mangrove restoration projects doing? Interview with Tom Worthington
Where are mangrove restoration projects taking place? How many of them are successful? If they’ve failed, what happened? Finding answers to these questions isn’t easy. But those answers are critical…
Killer whales have found new homes in the Arctic Ocean, potentially reshaping marine ecology
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are finding a new place to roam in the rapidly changing Arctic Ocean. Though Indigenous people in the region have seen the whales, also known as…
Antarctic krill store massive amounts of carbon in the deep ocean, researchers find
In the icy waters surrounding Antarctica, small shrimp-like crustaceans called krill (Euphausia superba) swim in swarms of trillions, forming a biomass larger than the entire human population. Scientists knew these…
Desalination plants proposed for Texas Gulf Coast spur broad opposition
Corpus Christi is a city of 316,000 residents on Texas's Coastal Bend, a rich marine area along the Gulf of Mexico. Located close to multiple water hungry industries, this city…
Conservationists see progress for swordfish, problems for sharks at Atlantic fisheries summit
In the late 1990s, swordfish had been so overfished in the North Atlantic Ocean that its population faced the possibility of collapse. The dire situation sparked boycotts and conservation campaigns…
As Sumatra loses mangroves to oil palms, local fishers also suffer
LANGKAT, Indonesia — Syafi’i has spent three decades picking up the crabs scurrying along the coast here in Langkat district on Sumatra Island’s northeastern coast, a reliable trade that provided…
Elephant seal colonies in Argentina face long recovery after ‘catastrophic’ avian flu
An epidemic of avian flu in Patagonia appears to be on the decline after decimating southern elephant seal populations for the last year and half, with researchers finding no new…
Leaders fail to address overfishing near Europe at ‘fraught’ international meeting
Mackerel and herring in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, near Europe, have been dramatically overfished for many years, endangering the stocks and creating potential knock-on effects for marine mammals and seabirds…
India advances deep-sea mining technology in the Andaman Sea
India’s government organization dedicated to developing technologies for exploring and harnessing ocean resources has been exploring parts of the Indian Ocean for the last few years. In October, the National…
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
- 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
- A national park and its rangers in Bolivia endure persisting road construction, illegal mining
Endangered Environmentalists
- 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
- Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
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
