A feed from Mongabay, which seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of nature and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development.
30 October 2025. In Malawi, a rural community shines bright with 100% solar power milestone – LILONGWE — Four years ago, a U.K.-based charity, SolarAid, set out to provide solar-powered electricity to every home in Kasakula, a village around 90 kilometers, or 56 miles, from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. The project was aimed at demonstrating the potential for distributing and maintaining renewable energy in rural Africa. Today, SolarAid says it has installed […]
30 October 2025. In Rio’s largest favela, used oil becomes soap and social change – Rocinha, in the south of Rio de Janeiro, is, according to official data, the largest of Brazil’s more than 12,000 favelas, or inner-city communities. It has a population of just over 72,000, and the most occupied homes of any favela — more than 30,000. Rocinha sprang up in the early 20th century, but its population […]
30 October 2025. On first International Day of the Deep Seabed, we seek stewardship and consensus (commentary) – Beneath the waves of the high seas, beyond the national borders of any country, lies the deep seabed. Known in international law as the “Area,” it covers 54% of the global ocean and lies at depths from 200 to 10,000 meters (from 660 to almost 33,000 feet) below the ocean’s surface. It is home to […]
30 October 2025. In Mauritius, an NGO is tracking the sex life of corals to save them – BLUE BAY, Mauritius — Every October, Blue Bay in southeastern Mauritius, named for its enticing waters, takes on a pinkish hue. The cause: corals releasing millions of eggs and sperm. This type of annual synchronized spawning is crucial to the survival of these corals. Now, scientists are pinning their hopes of saving corals battered by […]
30 October 2025. Mauritius rethinks coral restoration as reefs suffer from another mass bleaching – PORT LOUIS, Mauritius — Seeing coral reefs can color one’s monochrome view of the ocean forever. In the pink of health — and red, blue, green and purple — corals resemble underwater fireworks, forming glorious landscapes pulsating with marine life. But the latest episode of mass coral bleaching, starting in 2023 and stretching into 2025, […]
29 October 2025. Bird flu hits migrating cranes hard in Germany as the virus flares up – LINUM, Germany (AP) — In a spot outside Berlin that’s usually a paradise for birdwatchers, volunteers have recovered nearly 2,000 dead cranes in recent days as bird flu has hit the migrating birds hard. Linum, a small village about an hour’s travel from the German capital, is a popular resting spot for thousands of cranes […]
29 October 2025. UK fish stocks in trouble as catch limits exceed scientific advice: Report – Nearly half of the United Kingdom’s most commercially valuable fish populations are either overexploited, critically low or both, according to a new report warning that the government continues to set catch limits above scientific advice. The report, “Deep Decline,” by conservation nonprofit Oceana UK, found that 17 of 105 U.K. fish stocks are both overfished […]
29 October 2025. With ‘terrifying’ trade in African hornbills, scientists call for increased protection – For millions of years, the African landscape — the rainforests, woodlands, savannas and scrublands — has echoed with the booms and cackles of large, raucous, strange-looking birds: hornbills. When U.S. ornithologist Nico Arcilla came to Gabon in the late 1990s as a Peace Corps volunteer, these noisy birds enchanted her. “There’d be a big flock […]
29 October 2025. Report finds dangerous mercury levels, highlights mislabeling in shark meat sold in EU – Shark meat sold across Europe may be serving up more than seafood. Dangerously high levels of methylmercury, toxic to humans, were present in nearly a third of shark meat samples taken from European restaurants, fishmongers and supermarkets, according to a new report by a group of marine conservation NGOs. The findings suggest that Europeans are […]
29 October 2025. Potential wind slowdown threatens renewable energy and fuels heat domes – Climate change may be causing long-term global wind speeds to slow down, a shift that will likely lead to a dangerous rise in local temperatures, worsening air pollution and disruption to renewable energy systems, Mongabay writer Sean Mowbray reported. A warming atmosphere is likely weakening the forces that govern wind speeds, leading to more frequent […]
29 October 2025. Landmark conviction exposes Sri Lanka’s deep-rooted illegal elephant trade – COLOMBO — In a landmark ruling hailed as a major victory for Sri Lanka’s wildlife conservation, the Colombo High Court in September convicted a person for the illegal possession of a wild-caught elephant and sentenced him to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of 20.6 million rupees (nearly US$70,000). A three-member bench […]
29 October 2025. Colony of world’s highest-flying bird under threat in Uganda – LUKU CENTRAL FOREST RESERVE, Uganda — Ornithologist Ivan Oruka stops suddenly near the foot of a cliff that’s streaked with the telltale whitewash of bird droppings. He quickly presses his binoculars to his eyes. Against the clear blue sky, on a bright September morning, at least 29 large birds circle effortlessly above on broad, dark […]
29 October 2025. In search of a real wild date (cartoon) – Despite being one of the most wide-ranging wildcat species, the Afro-Asian wildcat faces a threat from its own evolutionary successor—the domestic cat. Interbreeding leads to hybridization and genetic dilution for the species, adding yet another conservation challenge as it already faces threats from habitat loss across most of its range.
29 October 2025. Filipino survivors of deadly 2021 typhoon planning to sue Shell for damages – Nearly 70 Filipinos affected by a deadly 2021 typhoon are planning to sue oil giant Shell in its home country of the U.K. for the damages they suffered. Typhoon Rai, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Odette, was one of the most devastating storms in the Philippines’ recorded history. It killed more than 400 […]
29 October 2025. Two years later, no closure for family of missing Ghanaian fisheries observer – Two years after Samuel Abayateye went missing from a fishing boat he was tasked with monitoring, Ghanaian authorities are no closer to announcing what happened to him. They also still haven’t shared with his family the results of a DNA test from a body that washed up near the family home shortly after his disappearance. […]
29 October 2025. Why facts alone won’t save the planet – Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. When I think about what makes someone care about the natural world, it rarely begins with statistics or graphs. It begins with a moment. For me, it was an encounter I had at age 12 with frogs in […]
29 October 2025. Ousted Nepal gov’t cleared easier path for controversial cable cars, documents show – KATHMANDU — Nepal’s outgoing government, toppled by two days of nationwide Gen Z protests, granted national priority status to six commercial cable car projects, according to documents released by the new government recently. The decision made by the cabinet of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, but published after the interim caretaker government took office, […]
29 October 2025. California’s grand insect census – California has a way of exaggerating things—mountains, deserts, and egos. But its insects? They take excess to another level. Somewhere between the redwoods and the Salton Sea live perhaps 60,000, maybe over 100,000 species. Nobody really knows. That’s the problem—and the provocation—behind the California Insect Barcode Initiative, a monumental effort to document them all, one […]
28 October 2025. What to know about Hurricane Melissa – Hurricane Melissa, an intense Category 5 storm, brought violent winds and heavy rainfall to Jamaica after making landfall Tuesday and continues to threaten parts of the Caribbean as it tracks through. Melissa was then forecast to cross Cuba and the Bahamas through Wednesday. Here is what to know about the storm: A record storm for Jamaica Melissa […]
28 October 2025. Australia celebrates ‘humpback comeback,’ but a main food source is under threat – News of Australia’s “humpback comeback” is making waves globally. Numbers of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on the nation’s east coast have rebounded to an estimated 50,000 from a historic low of just a few hundred before commercial whaling was outlawed in the 1970s. And wildlife scientist and whale expert Vanessa Pirotta joins the podcast to […]
28 October 2025. Belém faces its social and natural demons as host to COP30 – Once a major river city, Belém turned its back on the water, leaving 40% of its urban area vulnerable to floods.
28 October 2025. Gold mining impacts persist after DRC shuts down company operations: Video – In a new short video, Mongabay visits the Dimonika Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO site in southwestern Republic of Congo. The government shut down a Chinese company’s gold mining operation in November 2024, but mining pollution and its impacts on local communities persist. Photojournalist Berdy Pambou talked with local artisanal gold miners who accuse the Chinese […]
28 October 2025. Drax pellet mill wins appeal to raise pollution limits in small Mississippi town – In April 2025, the town of Gloster, Mississippi, population 858, won a significant battle against the giant global wood pellet maker Drax, when the permitting board of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sided with the small community and denied the company’s request to increase air pollution limits so it could increase its manufacturing […]
28 October 2025. Virus outbreak deepens rift over return of Spix’s macaw to Brazil – CURAÇÁ, Brazil — Under the scorching sun of Brazil’s semiarid Caatinga shrubland, squawks tear through the skies, signaling the arrival of one of the most threatened bird species in the world. Quickly, the unmistakable blue silhouettes fly overhead. It’s the Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), a species declared extinct in the wild in 2000 and now […]
28 October 2025. Senegal’s great green wall progress falters amid unfulfilled pledges: Study – Earlier in 2025, political and administrative leaders in Senegal gathered to plant trees in a forest in the country’s northwest to mark National Tree Day. They took advantage of the ceremony to call for action towards a greener, more resilient and sustainable country. Senegal is one of 11 countries participating in Africa’s Great Green Wall […]
28 October 2025. Mexico adopts protections for Atlantic sharks – Mexico recently adopted national regulations protecting several threatened shark species in the Atlantic from being caught or retained as bycatch. Shark conservationists welcome the protections but say they are long overdue, coming years after the country’s commitments to a multilateral fishery regulator. Mexican fisheries catch a significant number of various shark species in the Atlantic […]
28 October 2025. Supercharged dust storms are exposing millions to deadly air pollution – More people are getting sick due to sand and dust storms that are now more intense and frequent, contributor Sean Mowbray reported for Mongabay. The intensifying storms have exposed many millions more people to dangerous levels of particulate pollution across the world. In some regions, it has also triggered outbreaks of respiratory and infectious diseases. […]
28 October 2025. Bangladesh to reintroduce captive elephants to the wild – Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Bangladesh has embarked on an ambitious plan to end the centuries-old practice of keeping elephants in captivity. The government has begun retrieving privately owned elephants and aims to rehabilitate them in the wild. The initiative follows a 2024 […]
27 October 2025. As the Atlantic Ocean warms, climate change is fueling Hurricane Melissa’s ferocity – Hurricane Melissa has rapidly intensified into a Category 5 storm due to warming oceans linked to climate change. Scientists say its wind speed doubled in less than 24 hours over the weekend. The hurricane is set to hit Jamaica on Tuesday and then move across Cuba and the Bahamas. Experts note this is the fourth […]
27 October 2025. Nuns, scientists & microchips: An alliance to save Mexico’s achoque salamanders – In a monastery beside a 16th-century basilica in Pátzcuaro, Mexico, Dominican nuns move between rows of aquarium tanks, checking water quality and feeding earthworms to hundreds of brown salamanders with flowing gills. Sister Ofelia Morales Francisco has cared for the critically endangered achoque salamander (Ambystoma dumerilii) for nearly 20 years. She and her team have […]