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…
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…
Founder's Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For much of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, peatlands sat awkwardly…
Wildlife researchers have confirmed the presence of endangered fishing cats in 158 subdistricts that cover about 32% of Bangladesh’s territory. At first glance, this may seem like charming news. But…
The Tingana Conservation Concession sits in the center of a unique wetland in the Alto Mayo Basin, the highest swamp in Peru with Amazonian characteristics. In its flooded forest, native…
Efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change have focused largely on the protection of tropical forests like the Amazon Rainforest, important carbon sinks that can store between 60 and…
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…
When Fredy Yavinape was a young child, he didn’t know the biological concept of an “umbrella species.” These are species that require large areas of undisturbed habitat to survive, which…
Ani Dasgupta has spent a career trying to make cities fairer and the planet more livable, first as an architect in training, then as a World Bank hand in the…
COLÓN, Argentina — Darío Larrosa was 15 when he learned to drive a motorboat. Decades later, he still loves taking tourists fishing along the Uruguay River’s sandy shores aboard Abuela…
PORTO JOFRE, Brazil — When Oscar de Morais isn’t out tracking jaguars, you’ll find him aboard his houseboat moored along the banks of the São Lourenço River. He sits beneath…
A year ago, deep in the heart of the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland, the lifeless body of Gaia, a jaguar known and loved by conservationists, was found charred…
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…
Wetlands are disappearing at three times the rate of forests, alarming conservationists who highlight the ecosystems’ role in achieving global biodiversity and climate goals. To address these challenges and chart…
When Abebayehu Aticho first visited the flat terrains and floodplains in the Gambella region for his Ph.D. research in 2014, he was captivated by the rich biodiversity and bird varieties…
KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia — At a bend in Zambia’s Kafue River, the bicolored waterberry trees resemble an avenue planted along a city boulevard. Their evergreen crowns stretch as far…
KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia — “Hippos ahead.” The warning comes from the lead canoe. Hippos are dangerous — highly territorial and fiercely protective of their young. They are capable of…
African Parks, the conservation NGO, has a 20-year agreement with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) to co-manage Kafue National Park. Running through the heart of the park…
A crocodile flips over on the river’s surface right in front of the canoe, then disappears into the white water frothing through the narrow channel. It’s too late to stop,…
Chisomo M’hango is a trainee field ecologist at Musekese Conservation (MC), a nonprofit whose research station is located deep inside the Musekese-Lumbeya section of Zambia’s Kafue National Park. M’hango and…
KAFUE, Zambia — “Three cattle on the left, 20 elephants on the right,” shouts the expedition leader from the bow seat of the first of five canoes snaking along a…
KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia – Biologist Mike Ross, balanced in a canoe beneath a star-filled sky in central Zambia, slaps the water with a net attached to a wooden pole…
Pacing paw-to-paw, the fishing cat hisses. About twice the size of a domestic cat, its grey-green eyes fix on the keeper who carries a tub of tilapia on the other…
Just 10 years ago, spotting a gray crowned crane in Rwanda’s wetlands had become a rarity. These elegant birds — tall and statuesque, with golden plumes fanning from their heads…
In an era marked by climate urgency and an escalating demand for sustainable alternatives, Bangladesh has introduced a notable innovation in the textile industry: lotus silk — a rare, biodegradable…
KAPILVASTU, Nepal — At his fish pond near his home in Krishnanagar Municipality in western Nepal’s Kapilvastu, Imtehaj Khan closely watches a large TV screen mounted on a wall. For…
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…
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…
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 and part three. Shrouded in…
The large leaves of the aguaje, a tropical palm tree that grows in the peatlands and other seasonal wetland areas in tropical South America, form a rounded crown on its…
JAKARTA — Nearly half of Indonesia’s peatlands are vulnerable to flooding due to degradation caused by unchecked exploitation, with 6 million hectares (15 million acres) — an area twice the…
Ever since the Upamayo Dam on Peru’s Lake Chinchaycocha was built in 1932, floods have become a frequent occurrence in the area for several months a year. From January to…
