Mongabay News

4 July 2025. Mongabay India podcast ‘Wild Frequencies’ wins audio reporting award – 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 […]

4 July 2025. In Latin America, energy transition stirs a rise in human rights lawsuits – 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%). […]

4 July 2025. Meat giant profits from carbon market without halting deforestation – 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 […]

4 July 2025. The forest guardians along Nepal-India border leading red panda conservation – 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 […]

4 July 2025. Seismic noise from oil companies threatens Amazon River Mouth marine life – As oil companies push for drilling on the Amazon coast, an underwater war silences the ocean’s most vocal creatures.

4 July 2025. Traditional hunting shifts with access to cheap guns in India’s Nagaland: Study – 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 […]

3 July 2025. Agencies race to prevent new food crisis as locusts return to northern Africa – 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 […]

3 July 2025. Peru’s Indigenous aguaje harvesters turn to sustainability, but challenges remain – 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, […]

3 July 2025. African Parks earns over $7 million from carbon credit sales in Benin and CAR – African Parks has generated $7.35 million in carbon credit sales from Chinko National Park in the Central African Republic, Helge Mahne, global funding director for African Parks, confirmed to Mongabay in an email. An unspecified sum was also raised via sales from a similar project in Benin’s Pendjari and W national parks, although the nonprofit […]

3 July 2025. Tracking the return of critically endangered turtles in India’s Ganga River – 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 […]

3 July 2025. From intern to Mongabay India director in less than 4 years: Sandhya Sekar’s journey – 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 […]

3 July 2025. Bangladeshi village grapples with contaminated water flowing in from India – 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, […]

3 July 2025. Giant river otter returns to Argentina after almost four decades – 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 […]

3 July 2025. Study urges legal protection for Sulawesi’s endangered bear cuscus amid habitat loss – 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 […]

3 July 2025. As Thailand’s fishing cats face habitat loss & conflict, experts seek resolution – 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, […]

2 July 2025. California wood pellet plants canceled amid market decline & public pushback – 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 […]

2 July 2025. Kazakhstan to donate 1,500 wild saiga to China after 75 years of local extinction – 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 […]

2 July 2025. Jaguar population doubles around Brazil’s Iguaçu Falls  – Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Once vanishing from view in the dense Atlantic Forest, jaguars are again stalking the undergrowth of Iguaçu National Park in Brazil. Their comeback — numbers have more than doubled in the region since 2010 — is a rare success […]

2 July 2025. Catholic bishops from Global South call for ambitious climate action ahead of COP30 – 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 […]

2 July 2025. Young activists risk all to defend Cambodia’s environment – 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 […]

2 July 2025. Assisted colonization could be our ally in adapting to climate change, study suggests – From Shakespeare’s plays to William Wordsworth’s poetry to J.R.R Tolkien’s fantasy realms, Britain’s lush green forests are described as a paradise of trees. Thousands of species have called these oak, hazel, beech and pine woodlands home for millennia. But as human-caused emissions warm up the planet, many of Britain’s iconic species are at risk: a […]

2 July 2025. South Africa to ban highly toxic pesticide Terbufos – 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 […]

2 July 2025. Wildfire kills 2 people in Spain as parts of Europe bake in heat wave – BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish authorities say two people have died in northeastern Spain in a wildfire that spread quickly before firefighters brought it under control. Catalan regional president Salvador Illa announced the deaths in a social media post around midnight on Tuesday. The fire came amid a European heat wave that’s sending thermometers soaring […]

2 July 2025. Forest corridors protect Colombia’s critically endangered brown spider monkey – 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 […]

2 July 2025. Scientists trial chlorine as gentler alternative to antibiotics to fight coral disease – ANTANANARIVO — Researchers studying a coral disease that has devastated reefs across the Caribbean say they’ve come up with a promising treatment that avoids the long-term harm associated with antibiotics, currently the most effective remedy. In a study published November 2024 in Frontiers in Marine Science, the researchers showed how the application of chlorine, typically […]

1 July 2025. This nonprofit connects frontline conservationists with funders, catalyzing impact – Jean-Gaël “JG” Collomb says community-based conservation organizations know best how to tackle the complex conservation challenges unique to their ecosystems. However, they’re also among the most underserved in terms of funding of all stripes. On this week’s episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Collomb explains how his nonprofit, Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), is working to change that. […]

1 July 2025. Blue cranes now listed as vulnerable in South Africa – The blue crane, South Africa’s national bird, is now at greater risk of extinction, as a new regional assessment lists the species as “vulnerable.” “A Near-Threatened listing is no longer appropriate, now that the population is declining,” states the recently published Red Data Book of Birds, which follows the International Union for Conservation of Nature […]

1 July 2025. A Kenya marine biodiversity credit program restores mangroves — and livelihoods – MARERENI, Kenya — The scorching afternoon sun stretches across the semiarid landscape of Marereni, in Kenya’s Kilifi county, where salt and sea shape both the land and the lives that depend on it. Known for its extensive salt mining operations, this remote settlement lies at the heart of the country’s north coast salt belt. Yet […]

1 July 2025. With coral-rich Churna Island now an MPA, Pakistan takes baby steps on ocean protection – KARACHI — From the sands of Manjhaar Beach on the far outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan, an island is just visible 10 kilometers, about 6 miles, offshore. Mist rising from the Arabian Sea often shrouds Churna Island from the view of sailors and tourists heading toward it for fishing or diving. Below the waves, the island […]

1 July 2025. Major reports about how climate change affects the US are removed from websites – 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 […]