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A United Nations expert is calling for an urgent shift away from fossil fuels by the global economy, including a ban on advertisements or promotions, and the criminalization of misinformation from the industry. Elisa Morgera, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and climate change, who presented her 23-page report at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, reminded states of their human rights obligations, and businesses of their responsibility to phase out fossil fuel within the current decade. “The interlinked, intergenerational, severe and widespread human rights impacts of the fossil fuel life cycle, coupled with six decades of climate obstruction, compel urgent defossilization of our whole economies, for a just transition that is effective, human rights-based and transformative,” Morgera wrote in the report. She added there’s “no scientific doubt” that fossil fuels are the main cause of climate change, and the main driver of planetary crises including biodiversity loss and mass human rights violations. Morgera said at the Human Rights Council’s 59th session that current efforts to mitigate climate change “fall significantly short” of greenhouse gas reductions needed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) by the end of the century. But she added that “securing a liveable and sustainable future for humanity is still possible” through effective climate action within the decade. This includes countering the fossil fuel industry’s efforts to “keep the public uninformed about the severity of climate change and about the role of fossil fuels in causing it,” Morgera wrote in the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In a corner of the rainforest where Colombia meets Peru and Brazil, the hum of chainsaws and gunfire never quite dies. Yet, in the shadows of this long emergency, a subtler resistance endures. Its frontline is marked not by barricades or armed patrols, but by walking sticks carved from peach palm, and a deep, unshakable intimacy with the land, reports Mongabay Latam’s Daniela Quintero Díaz. Luis Alfredo Acosta has walked this path for 35 years. A member of the Nasa people and national coordinator of the Indigenous guard under the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), Acosta speaks with clarity shaped by decades of witnessing promises deferred and communities displaced. “Although these appear to be isolated things … it really is an integral resistance,” he says. “Because at its core, all of this only works if there is land.” In Colombia’s Amazon region, “resistance” is neither metaphor nor battle cry. It is physical — guarding against armed groups, illegal loggers, and narcotraffickers. It is intellectual — preserving ancestral knowledge and mapping sacred sites. It is spiritual — sustained through rituals and the use of yagé. And it is cultural — enacted in daily life through small farms, seed banks and forest patrols. That these efforts persist amid violence is remarkable. Of the 1,411 human rights defenders killed in Colombia over the past decade, at least 70 were Indigenous guards. In many areas, the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities in Greece imposed mandatory work breaks on Monday in parts of the country where temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), with the heat wave forecast to last through Thursday. The labor ministry ordered the work stoppage, in effect from midday to 5:00 p.m. (0900–1400 GMT), for outdoor manual labor and food delivery services, primarily in central Greece and on several islands. Employers were also asked to offer remote work options. No emergency measures were implemented in Athens, and the current hot spell — following sweltering temperatures across Europe — is not considered unusual. Greek authorities say they are taking long-term steps to address the effects of climate change, including the deployment this summer of a record number of firefighters. Banner image: Tourist with umbrellas wait outside the Acropolis of Athens, on Monday, July 7, 2025 while authorities in Greece have imposed mandatory work stoppages in parts of the country where temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A two-year investigation into 139 complaints lodged by communities in Africa and Asia affected by tropical plantation company Socfin has confirmed that many of the allegations are at least partly valid, according to a statement released by a collective of 33 civil society organizations from around the world. The statement follows the final report by the Earthworm Foundation (EF), a nonprofit that was commissioned by Socfin to look into the allegations of communities in Côte d’Ivoire against Socfin’s Ivorian subsidiary SOGB in Grand Béréby. In its visit to Côte d’Ivoire, EF confirmed SOGB concessions encroached village land, labor issues, and the plantation’s history of non-compliance with free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) standards. Previously, during its two-year investigation, EF visited 12 Socfin-owned plantations in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Cambodia. These visits also found ongoing severe human rights violations, prompting EF to urge Socfin to take meaningful action. “Earthworm is trying its best by conducting field visits to better understand the problems facing communities and workers, but it is unable to change Socfin’s policy,” Emmanuel Elong, a community member and the president of the National Synergy of Peasants and Residents of Cameroon (Synaparcam), told Mongabay in a message. The civil society signatories of the recent statement analyzed all EF reports published over the past two years and found that almost two-thirds (59%) of the communities’ grievances were confirmed as “founded” or “partially founded.” About one-third (30%) of the allegations were labeled as “unfounded,” while the rest…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Since the first scientific critiques of fossil fuels, oil companies have gone from being the “wealth of nations” to “destroyers of the planet.” In financial market terms, they have become environmental liabilities. It cannot be said, however, that they have also become economic liabilities. The global carbon credit market is heating up — quite like the planet — and oil companies are among the main players interested in leveraging this business. Among the world’s largest oil producers, countries on the Arabian Peninsula, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have partnered with Brazil’s Minerva Foods. It is the country’s second-largest meatpacker by net revenue, trailing only JBS — a giant firm whose supply chain has been linked to deforestation. In 2021, Minerva’s subsidiary MyCarbon 3 Ltda was created for a single purpose: to generate and sell carbon credits. However, the company’s projects are far from transparent. Currently under validation by Verra, the world’s leading carbon credits certifier, these initiatives aim to restore degraded pasturelands in the Cerrado. This biodiverse savanna ecosystem, which comprises around 20% of Brazil’s territory, is home to part of Minerva’s cattle supply chain and has already lost half of its native vegetation. The main cause of deforestation in the Cerrado is the activity that feeds Minerva’s meatpacking plants, farming. Partnerships between oil companies and carbon credit companies are emerging as a global trend. In 2022, Shell invested 200 million reais (roughly $40 million) in Carbonext, a developer of REDD+ projects (carbon projects in forests).…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Mongabay India won an excellence in audio reporting award recently from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA). The award was for the limited series podcast Wild Frequencies. SOPA, which promotes best practices and excellence in journalism, announced the winners of its 2025 Awards of Editorial Excellence during a ceremony in Hong Kong on June 26. Wild Frequencies, a three-episode series that follows researchers in India studying animal sounds to better understand wildlife, is hosted by Mongabay India’s Kartik Chandramouli and Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta. It features sound design and original music by Abhijit Shylanath. SOPA shared the judges’ comments on the series: “With a rich audio-scape and creative sound design, rigorous reporting and engaging storytelling, these reports from the field (and forests and wetlands) around India offer listeners a deeper understanding of how the sounds [are] made by creatures in the natural world, and what those creatures and their bioacoustics can tell us about whether an ecosystem is healthy or imperiled.” The series also won “Best Science and Medical” podcast at the Publisher Podcast Awards in June and the “Best Produced Show” in the science category for the India Audio Summit & Awards 2025. In 2023, Mongabay won SOPA’s Excellence in Bahasa Indonesian News Reporting Award for the story ‘The promise was a lie’: How Indonesian villagers lost their cut of the palm oil boom, which was a collaboration with The Gecko Project and BBC News. Find the Wild Frequencies episodes here: Episode 1: “Find Them” — introduces the science of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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OIAPOQUE, Brazil —  At the northernmost tip of Brazil, where the Amazon spills into the Atlantic, a fragile web of estuaries, mangroves, submerged reefs and open sea is showing signs of distress. Here, where biodiversity has long flourished, something is shifting. The seismic airguns used by the oil industry to locate underwater oil reserves are disrupting marine life. The appearance of rare fish and stranded marine mammals is evidence that a silent, serious transformation is underway. Julio Garcia, a fisherman for 45 years and president of a fishing colony, knows these waters intimately. It is here, in the municipality of Oiapoque, where the Amazon says farewell to dry land, that he has spent his life fishing, attuned to every shift in the wind and every lull in the tides. But something has changed. “The sea is sick,” Garcia says. And with it, so, too, is the way of life for riverside and Indigenous communities that rely on artisanal fishing for survival. Dolphins, porpoises, migratory whales, fish, mollusks, crustaceans and corals — many still unknown by scientists — share this embattled territory where nature, culture and subsistence are deeply intertwined. The fish caught in these silty waters supply local markets, urban centers like Macapá and even distant parts of the country. Yet this ecosystem, a living bridge between biomes, cultures and livelihoods, now faces mounting risk. The threat comes from multiple fronts, but none more contentious than oil exploration. Petrobras began 3D seismic surveys close to the Amazon River coast in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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TAPLEJUNG, Nepal — In the misty hills of eastern Nepal near the border with India, 48-year-old farmer Surya Bhattarai patrols the steep slopes of Sudap Community Forest in Taplejung district. Braving remoteness, treacherous terrain and wild animals, he is tracking red pandas, an elusive and endangered species native to the eastern Himalayas. Trained in field data collection, Bhattarai, one of 128 Forest Guardians, carries a GPS tracker, a mobile phone, a notebook, a pen, a measuring tape and a vernier scale to document signs of the animal. Forty-four Forest Guardians operate within the Panchthar–Ilam–Taplejung (PIT) Corridor, a vital 11,500-square-kilometer (4,440-square-mile) habitat that shelters roughly a quarter of Nepal’s red panda (Ailurus fulgens) population. In Taplejung, Bhattarai monitors designated forest blocks, walking transects to look for scat, claw marks or other signs of red panda. Monitoring takes place four times a year — in February, May, August and November — timed around key stages in the red panda’s life cycle, like breeding and mating seasons. Patrolling during the summer months also helps deter poaching, says Bhattarai. Globally, fewer than 10,000 red pandas remain across India, Bhutan, China and Nepal, which hosts between 500 and 1,000 in its temperate bamboo forests across 25 districts. The shy, elusive species is quietly slipping toward extinction due to rapid development like road building and hydropower expansion and habitat degradation from human activities that are fragmenting the bamboo forests they depend on. Red panda photographed on a tree in eastern Nepal. Image courtesy of Fabian Muehlberger/…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A new report by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) finds that more than half of the 95 legal cases initiated around the world since 2009 by those impacted by the energy transition were documented in Latin America and the Caribbean (53%). Indigenous peoples filed almost half of all cases recorded worldwide (47%). “People affected by transition minerals mining projects or renewable energy projects are increasingly resorting to courts to make sure that those projects respect their rights,” Elodie Aba, senior legal researcher at the BHRRC and lead author of the report, told Mongabay over a video call. “Most of the time, litigation is going to be the last resort for them. But when there’s no other choice, we can see that people are more aware of their rights now and [are] actually using the tools at their disposal for that.”  The researchers analyzed the BHRRC’s just transition litigation tool to assess the status of human rights lawsuits against transition mineral mining firms and renewable energy companies. Mining for minerals used in the global energy transition, such as bauxite, copper and lithium, was the sector with the most lawsuits, representing more than 70% of all cases analyzed. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 76% of cases involved transitional mineral mining. Across the world, 71% of transition mineral mining cases focused on the projects’ environmental impacts, while more than 60% included water access issues or water pollution. Research has shown that mining processes, such as ore extraction and mineral…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon are working to revive populations of the aguaje palm tree, commercially valued for its fruits, by shifting to more sustainable harvesting practices, Mongabay’s Aimee Gabay reported in April. The reptilian-looking fruits of the aguaje palm tree (Mauritia flexuosa) are consumed raw or used as an ingredient in beverages, soap, oils and other products. Historically, locals harvested the fruits once they fell from the female trees, which produce the fruits. But in the 1990s, after the discovery of the fruit’s market potential, both Indigenous communities and outsiders across the Peruvian Amazon began its large-scale commercial extraction. This involved cutting down entire aguaje trees, leading to a significant reduction of female palms in the region, Gabay writes. “Our ancestors weren’t aware that they were harming their palm trees,” Edber Tang Rios, president of the Maijuna-Kichwa Regional Conservation Area (ACR) management committee, told Gabay. “They had no knowledge. They cut it down and, little by little, it was dying out.” A 2012 study found that between 1995 and 2000, the number of female aguaje trees in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve dropped from 66 to 29 per hectare (27 to 12 per acre). This resulted in a 53.8% decline in harvest. But now, the Maijuna, Kichwa and Kukama Kukamiria Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon no longer cut down entire trees. Instead, they use sustainable techniques, such as safely climbing the trees to harvest the fruits. “To achieve this, we’ve had many workshops where other brothers who…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Among Indigenous Naga tribes in India’s northeastern state of Nagaland, hunting traditions are transforming as cheap homemade guns make targeting commercially valuable large mammals easier, a recent study finds. “Indigenous hunting preferences are rooted in cultural traditions but have evolved under the influence of economic pressures and environmental changes,” Satem Longchar, conservation ecologist and the study’s lead author, told Mongabay by phone. “The use of modern weapons like cheap homemade firearms has increased the efficiency of hunting, resulting in a decline in wildlife.” Indian laws prohibit wildlife hunting, but they’re mostly ineffective in Nagaland, where Indigenous tribes manage around 88% of the state’s forest, the paper notes. To better understand how and what the communities hunt and how they perceive wildlife conservation, the researchers interviewed 45 hunters across 10 villages around two areas: Khelia Community Forest in eastern Nagaland and Intangki National Park. The team also installed 156 camera traps in both forests. The interviews revealed that 78% of the hunters owned cheap, homemade firearms for hunting, using them along with traditional methods such as snares, traps, bows and plant poisons. Meanwhile, the cameras photographed 31 species of wild mammals. While the hunters said they hunt all these species, they primarily target large-bodied mammals, including barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), wild boar (Sus scrofa), Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) and sun bears (Helarctos malayanus). These are valued both for consumption and sale.   Some 87% of the hunters reported a decline in wild animals over the period they’ve been hunting. “With…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Catholic bishops representing more than 800 million people across the Global South, for the first time in history, issued a joint statement demanding an “ambitious implementation” of the Paris Agreement. “Ten years since the publication of Laudato Si’ and the signing of the Paris Agreement, the countries of the world have not responded with the necessary urgency,” the Catholic Episcopal Conferences and Councils of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean wrote in their appeal for climate justice, referring to the late Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical calling for the urgent need to care for the environment. Laudato Si’ was released in 2015, and is reflected in the preamble the Paris Agreement on climate change adopted by nearly every country in the world in December that year. Part of the agreement requires that participating countries prepare and maintain their own Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of human-induced climate change. The bishops’ appeal, launched at a Vatican press office briefing, demanded that “states implement ambitious NDCs on a scale commensurate with the climate emergency.” The call to action comes months after the U.S. pulled out of the Paris Agreement and ahead of the upcoming COP30. During the briefing, Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, said, “In Asia, millions of people are already living the devastating effects of climate change, typhoons, forced migration, loss of islands, pollution of rivers.” Reaffirming the science of limiting global warming to 1.5°…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In a decision welcomed by advocacy groups and researchers, South Africa’s Cabinet has approved a ban on the import of Terbufos, a highly toxic pesticide linked to the deaths of six children in a South African township in October 2024. On June 12, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Minister of Presidency, said the ban will be accompanied by enforcement measures and broader consultations “to identify safer alternatives to Terbufos.” The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) called the decision “a historic milestone in the realisation of critical socio-economic rights, including the right to health, clean water, a safe environment, and adequate food.” Terbufos, also known as Halephirimi, is legally registered as an agricultural pesticide in South Africa, although the World Health Organization classifies it as a Class 1A organophosphate pesticide, indicating it’s highly toxic. According to SAHRC, Terbufos has been banned in the EU since 2009 and is prohibited in 13 Southern Africa countries, including Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In South Africa, Terbufos and roughly 194 other highly hazardous pesticides continue to be used, according to a database maintained by UnPoison, a South African advocacy group focused on reforming pesticide regulation. UnPoison adds that South Africa doesn’t publicly disclose its complete list of registered pesticides. Used in citrus and vineyards, maize, wheat and sugarcane plantations, Terbufos is considered toxic to mammals, birds, honeybees and aquatic organisms. The pesticide can also cause deaths and long-term health effects like cancers and reduced fertility among exposed farmworkers, Hanna-Andrea…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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NAIROBI — Swarms of desert locusts are moving across parts of North Africa. With unusually heavy rains in late 2024 supporting growth of vegetation, and rising temperatures since February 2025 speeding their reproductive cycle, ideal breeding conditions for locusts are in place. Significant outbreaks have already been reported in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, while smaller bands have appeared elsewhere across the Sahara Desert’s northern boundary, and in Saudi Arabia. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and its regional partners have issued caution-level alerts for Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Chad, and Niger. The FAO is coordinating efforts with national authorities to prevent the insects from spreading south into the Sahel, where further rains could trigger a new wave of breeding. “The current outbreaks are due to very favorable breeding conditions over a six-month period in the northern Sahel, following significant rainfall in August and September 2024,” said Cyril Piou of FAO’s Desert Locust Information Service (DLIS). Newly hatched desert locusts near Medenine, Tunisia. Image © Cyril Piou/FAO Map of desert locusts’ breeding and invasion areas courtesy of FAO. For now, these outbreaks are significant, but not on the scale of those that preceded swarms that devastated East Africa in 2019 and 2020. That earlier crisis affected more than 20 countries, with swarms covering hundreds of square kilometers and threatening the food security of more than 20 million people. It was triggered by an unusual combination of cyclones and sustained rains that enabled desert locusts to breed rapidly…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A recent conservation initiative is closely monitoring the return of 20 critically endangered red-crowned roofed turtles in India’s Ganga River, where the species was nearly wiped out, reports Mongabay India’s Manish Chandra Mishra. The red-crowned roofed turtle (Batagur kachuga), found only in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, was historically widespread in Ganga and its tributaries. But a 2019 assessment found that hunting, illegal trade, habitat loss and river flow changes reduced the turtle’s population by 80% over the previous 50 years. At the time of the assessment, researchers noted the only known remaining population, about 500 adult females, was in the National Chambal Sanctuary, located on Chambal River in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) state. Chambal is part of the Ganga River system. In 2021 and 2023, however, residents of two villages in U.P. spotted some red-crowned roofed turtles and their nests in the Ganga outside of Chambal, indicating the turtles were capable of surviving in other parts of the river. So, in April 2025, conservationists and government authorities moved 20 turtles from the Garheta Turtle Conservation Centre in the National Chambal Sanctuary to two different areas in the Ganga. They released 10 turtles at the Haiderpur wetland, a Ramsar wetland of importance in U.P., while the other 10 were taken to the main Ganga River in the state’s Meerut forest division. Conservationists said they hoped that by splitting the turtles into two groups they could evaluate the best rehabilitation method, Chandra reports. The translocated turtles were carefully selected based on health, sex…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Sandhya Sekar never intended to lead a newsroom. Trained as an ecologist with a Ph.D., Sekar pivoted into journalism to pursue a wider lens on environmental science. Her path wasn’t linear, but it was intentional. First as a writer, then as an editor, and ultimately as the founding program director of Mongabay India, she helped transform an editorial experiment into one of the country’s most respected environmental news platforms. When Mongabay launched its India bureau in 2018, it needed someone who could bridge science, storytelling, and systems. Sekar, then a freelance contributor and former intern at Mongabay, was selected to co-lead the initiative. With a small remote team and a big vision, she helped build the operation from scratch — hiring, fundraising, planning, and steadily steering the newsroom through its formative years. She doesn’t often take center stage. But her influence is everywhere, from the decision to launch Mongabay Hindi to the way her team members describe her as a calm, trusted presence. What Sandhya says she has learned along the way: Not all impact is visible. Behind-the-scenes work — solving problems, holding a team together — is as critical as the stories that get published. Storytelling is about resonance. Whether speaking to policymakers or rural communities, the most powerful narratives blend data with lived experience. Leadership doesn’t have to be about the limelight. Approachability, consistency, and trust can be just as powerful…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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At Abdullahpur Government Primary School in Akhaura area, in eastern Bangladesh’s Brahmanbaria district, the day begins with the stench of sewage wafting from an adjacent canal, Katakhal. Located in eastern Bangladesh’s Brahmanbaria district, the Akhaura channel makes up a stretch of about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) of the cross-border Katakhal canal which originates in Agartala, the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura. After crossing the India-Bangladesh border at the border outpost, the canal flows for about 8 km (5 mi) through Bangladesh before draining into the Titas River. “We struggle to concentrate on lessons because of this disturbing odor. Teachers remain vigilant so that no child goes close to the canal,” Mahmuda Akhter, one of the schoolteachers, tells Mongabay. Mahmuda says she deplores the canal carrying pitch-black water year-round. She says she has not seen any remedy since she joined the school in 2013. It was reported in 2017 that the erstwhile kings of the princely state of Tripura originally created the channel to ferry goods to and from the Bangladeshi regions. After the countries’ partition in 1947, transportation stopped and the canal gradually turned into a drainage conduit for Agartala’s municipal and industrial waste. Some local people from Akhaura, like middle-aged farmers Jaan Miah and Nazrul Islam, say they have never seen the Katakhal water clean. Especially in the dry seasons, the water quality falls drastically, they say. The Bangladeshi government is concerned about the problem of water pollution by the cross-border channel. Periodically, the Border Guard…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A family of giant river otters was released into the Iberá National Park in northeast Argentina on July 1. The endangered species, with no known breeding populations in Argentina over the past 40 years, was considered probably extinct in the country. The release, led by conservation nonprofit Rewilding Argentina, included a breeding pair named Coco and Nima, translocated from different zoos in Europe, and their offspring, named Pirú and Kyra. The family of four now swim freely in Laguna Paraná, a lake in the Iberá wetlands located in the province of Corrientes. “This is the first time this species has been reintroduced to a place from where it had disappeared,” Rewilding Argentina wrote on Instagram. “It’s also the first time a mammal declared extinct in Argentina has been brought back.” The endangered giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is the largest of the world’s 14 otter species, reaching up to 1.8 meters (nearly 6 feet) in length and weighing as much as 34 kilograms (75 pounds). “The last family groups of giant otters in Argentina were observed in 1986,” Sebastián Di Martino, conservation director at Rewilding Argentina, said in a statement. “The giant otter is the top aquatic predator in these wetlands, and its diet consists almost entirely of fish, so its presence contributes significantly to maintaining healthy ecosystems.” While giant otter families disappeared from Argentina in the 1980s, a rare sighting occurred in 2021, when one individual was spotted in the Impenetrable National Park in northeastern Chaco province. Experts previously told…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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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 by mining and poaching, and calling for increased legal protection and landscape connectivity. The population of the bear cuscus (Ailurops ursinus), one of the four nocturnal marsupials endemic to Sulawesi, is now scattered and disconnected from each other across the declining forests of the island, according to the paper by two Indonesian researchers published in May on the journal Oryx. The research found poaching and mining operations to be the most imminent threats to the survival of the cuscus, which the authors have described to be an overlooked potential flagship species. “Today, unfortunately this bear cuscus is no longer included as a protected species,” Siti Nurleily Marliana, a conservation ecology Ph.D. from the University of Gadjah Mada who is one of two authors of the paper, wrote in an email to Mongabay. An adult female bear cuscus and her baby are resting on a tree branch and observing visitors in the Educational Forest of Hasanuddin University in South Sulawesi. Image courtesy of Rahmia Nugraha. The researchers collected data from October 2020 to January 2021 in the protected areas of Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park and Hasanuddin University Educational Forest in South Sulawesi — spanning a total of 143,682 hectares (355,000 acres) — which are key habitats for the bear cuscus. They also used inventory data from a 2019 survey of the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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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 side of the fence. The gate of the enclosure at the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) rescue center in central Thailand’s Phetchaburi province pops open, and the keeper enters. The prowling cat switches to a loping canter — moving more like an otter than a wild cat — as it whips a fish from the tub and takes it to a corner to dine in privacy. The muscular nape ripples at its powerful jaws make quick work of its slippery fare. Fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) are superbly adapted to living and hunting in marshes, wetlands and mangroves. Nocturnal hunters, they have an almost unique affinity for water among felines, sporting partially webbed feet, a double-layered coat and ears that seal when submerged. But with these habitats fast disappearing, the species is in trouble. The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, considers fishing cats vulnerable to extinction. Fewer than 10,000 individuals are thought to remain in the wild across their range spanning South and Southeast Asia. Globally, they face many of the same threats as other wild cat species: habitat loss, persecution, pollution and genetic problems associated with small and fragmented populations. In Thailand, a country perhaps better known for its big cats like tigers and leopards, fishing cats often fall under the radar. While no one knows exactly how many…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Golden State Natural Resources (GSNR), a California nonprofit that focuses on rural economic development, has canceled plans to build two industrial-scale wood pellet plants in the state. The organization cited weakening market conditions and pushback from locals as the drivers of their decision. Conservation groups are hailing the move as a win for forests and communities. The company planned to source wood from public and private forest land in a 161-kilometer (100-mile) radius of each proposed plant. Their stated aim was to reduce overgrown vegetation and reduce fire risk. The two pellet plants would have produced roughly 1 million tons of pellets annually for use as biomass energy, mostly for export markets. However, demand for pellets has significantly declined recently. In December 2024, South Korea abruptly announced it would end subsidies for new biomass projects starting in January 2025 and that it would phase down subsidies for power plants using imported forest biomass fuel. In February, the U.K. government announced it would cut in half the subsidies received by a controversial wood-burning power station. In response to overseas market shifts for wood pellets, GSNR announced it will instead explore the domestic market for wood chips. “GSNR’s reduced-scale project not only increases forest resiliency, but directly supports sustainable biomass use innovation in accordance with state and federal goals,” GSNR President Patrick Blacklock said in a press release. Biomass proponents, including GSNR, say thinning forests to make wood pellets is a sustainable, climate-friendly fire-resiliency option because forests can be replanted. However, Rita…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Saiga antelopes, among the most ancient living mammals, are set to be reintroduced to China 75 years after they went extinct in the region, thanks to a donation of 1,500 wild individuals from Kazakhstan. The transfer, announced during a meeting between the countries’ presidents on June 17, is projected to begin in 2026. Its aim is to restore part of the antelope’s historic range, which stretched from Kazakhstan into northwest China until the 1950s. The donation “is a significant conservation-driven move aimed at restoring the saiga population in China and promoting international collaboration on the conservation of transboundary species,” conservation biologist Zhigang Jiang, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Mongabay by email. Jiang co-authored a 2017 study on the saiga antelope’s historic range and its prospects for reintroduction in China. The saiga (Saiga tatarica), most easily recognized for its large otherworldly nose, lived alongside Ice Age megafauna like woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats thousands of years ago. Until the 1800s, the species could be found as far as Eastern Europe, but its range has contracted ever since. Disease and poaching pushed the antelope’s population to a historic low of fewer than 30,000 individuals in 2003, before it bounced back following a recovery effort led by the Kazakh Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative. As of April, there are now an estimated 4.1 million individuals, with more than 98% concentrated in Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe. China has tried to reintroduce the saiga into the wild since the 1980s, but low numbers…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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One year ago, Cambodia jailed five activists from the award-winning environmentalist group Mother Nature Cambodia for plotting against the government, after they had sounded the alarm about river pollution and land reclamation projects. THE CLEARING follows Chandaravuth – the group’s most outspoken member – and his colleagues in the months leading up to their incarceration as they continue on their collision course with Cambodia’s rulers and refuse to buckle under pressure. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! Banner image: Ly Chandaravuth, Mother Nature Activist. Image ©Andy Ball. Illegal fishing and land grabs push Cambodian coastal communities to the brinkThis article was originally published on Mongabay

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In Colombia’s Middle Magdalena region, a patchwork of forest corridors is linking up isolated populations of the critically endangered brown spider monkey (Ateles hybridus). Composed of native and fruit-bearing trees, these corridors on the margins of agricultural land and along riverbanks are providing a lifeline to this species and others, enabling them to move between isolated forest fragments. Around 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of forest providing habitat for the brown spider monkey in the Middle Magdalena are being connected by 15 ecological corridors, created by conservationists Andrés Link and Gabriela de Luna. Their NGO, Fundación Proyecto Primates (the Primates Project Foundation), aims to add another six corridors and connect a total of 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of forest across the region. “We’ve used the brown spider monkey as an umbrella species,” Link says. “We believe that working for the brown spider monkey is helping the entire biological community in this really diverse area of central Colombia.” Reversing fragmentation The brown spider monkey, also known as the variegated spider monkey or Choibos locally in Spanish, is one of the world’s most threatened primates. Over the past few decades, the middle Magdalena saw two waves of deforestation and land use change; more than 50 years ago, cattle ranching arrived, followed by oil palm plantations that have intensified in the last 15 years and continue to expand. Remaining forest patches that were spared in the first wave, such as in mountainous areas or wetlands, are now threatened by oil palms, biologist de Luna…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments seem to have disappeared from the federal websites built to display them. The reports tell state and local governments and everyday people what to expect in a warming world and how to prepare for it. Scientists say the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. Websites for the national assessments and their parent agency — the U.S. Global Change Research Program — were down Monday and Tuesday with no links, notes or referrals elsewhere. The White House says the information will be housed in NASA to comply with the law, but gave no further details. Reporting by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press Banner image: People watch the sunset from the Liberty Memorial grounds in Kansas City, Mo., May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)This article was originally published on Mongabay

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