With evidence that the giant river otter is in an increasingly perilous state, delegates to the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) listed it as an…
BANJAR, Indonesia – Indonesia’s government continues to review mines and plantations in the river basins of southern Borneo, months after more than 7% of the population there was impacted by…
The Mekong Delta of Vietnam ranks among the world’s three most climate-vulnerable regions. Known as Southeast Asia’s “rice basket,” the region is home to 18 million people, produces half of…
CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil — In the wide, sandy stretches of Brazil’s Araguaia River, the piraíba, South America’s largest catfish, is a cornerstone of local fisheries. Fishers often recognize individual fish…
Hatchlings talk inside their shells to time their birth, but the roar of massive barges may soon drown out their sound.
The 1995 Mekong Agreement was meant to be a cornerstone of cooperation for Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam — promising equitable use, no significant harm, and joint management of the…
STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Sunrise is still a long way off when the first fishing boats slip into the landing site at this provincial town along the Mekong River in…
Brazil bet big on a mega river dam using old data, but climate change is leaving its massive turbines high and dry.
VAUPÉS, Colombia — The Vaupés River and its extensive network of waterways and lagoons in the southeastern Colombian department of the same name are integral to the Indigenous Macaquiño community,…
Generations of fishers have called these rocky formations home. Now, they say Brazil is not hearing their knowledge.
Rainfall is often treated as a gift of geography — a function of latitude, oceans, and atmospheric circulation. A growing body of research suggests that in the tropics, it is…
BRUMADINHO, Brazil — In the rural community of Jangada, in the municipality of Brumadinho in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, the water that supplies local families comes from springs that emerge…
This is the second of two stories about the potential impact of Cambodia’s planned Funan Techo Canal. Read part one, about consequences for coastal communities and wildlife, here. TAKEO, Cambodia…
This January, U.S. President Donald Trump offered to act as a mediator between Egypt and Ethiopia over Nile River waters, signaling renewed interest in the dispute. Ethiopia’s flagship project, the…
After her father’s death, Bigga-Helena Magga and her sister were determined that their ancestral homeland, Alttokangas, a Sámi boreal forest and peatland in Finland’s Inari municipality, would not be turned…
BIRGUNJ, Nepal — When 38-year-old Pradeep Kumar Bishwokarma was growing up in Ramgadhawa, a neighborhood in southern Nepal’s industrial town of Birgunj, he would jump into the Sirsiya River to…
Glaciers are often treated as scenic features or scientific curiosities. In fact, they are critical infrastructure. Though they cover roughly a tenth of the Earth’s land surface, meltwater from glaciers…
On a small airplane, José Manuyama, a professor, frowns and shakes his head with anguish while thousands of feet below, five dredges operated by illegal miners excavate the Nanay River…
On Feb. 17, 2016, the gears ground into life at the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, on the “Large Curve” of the Xingu River, or Volta Grande do Xingu, in…
SEKADAU, Indonesia — Children’s laughter skimmed over water the color of mud as mothers wrung laundry over banks where the Sekadau joins the Kapuas, the longest river in Indonesia. Local…
Rampant sand mining in the Mekong River is directly weakening critical seasonal river flows that sustain Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, new research indicates. The Mekong’s annual wet season flood…
Sweden has granted the Australia-based battery anode and graphite company, Talga Group, the necessary permits to move forward with its Nunasvaara South graphite mine near Vittangi in northern Sweden. The…
Abijata-Shalla National Park, ETHIOPIA — Under the scorching midday sun in the upper catchment of Ethiopia’s Abijata-Shalla National Park, a local youth group toils along the edges of a deep…
KATHMANDU — A year ago, the appearance of the Asian small-clawed otter in Nepal created a buzz, given that the species hadn’t been seen in the country in 185 years.…
Earlier this year, a spate of deaths in Florida caused by Vibrio vulnificus, known as the flesh-eating bacteria, made headlines. Infections of this kind are troublingly on the rise as…
Southeast Asia’s Mekong River is one of the world’s most diverse and productive freshwater ecosystems, home to more than 1,000 fish species, including both the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish…
Erosion is natural along Amazonian rivers, but increasing boat traffic can raise the risk of bank collapse.
Amid rounds of court hearings and the decision pending on a 2024 writ petition, Indigenous Bhote-Lhomi Singsa community leaders of the Lungbasamba region in northeastern Nepal have filed another writ…
Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d…
BANGKOK — A new satellite analysis from U.S. think tank the Stimson Center has identified 517 suspected mines along rivers in Laos, including major tributaries of the Mekong, Southeast Asia’s longest…
“People bathe in the river, they eat from the river — they live, dance and sing there,” says Dora Agudelo Vázquez. “Their whole lives are bound to the river.” Agudelo…
A new study suggests that the Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth-longest, is 11% longer than previously thought, with its most distant source lying in Angola, not Zambia. While the finding leaves…
