PODCAST

Conservation news

Environmental science and conservation news

All Episodes

Heading into COP, Brazil’s Amazon deforestation rate...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/30

As the world’s attention turns toward COP30 in Belém next month, the story of Brazil’s Amazon is shifting—though not quite in a straightforward way. According to the government’s satellite-based monitoring system, INPE’s PRODES, deforestation in the region known as the “Legal Amazon” totaled 5,796 square kilometers for the 12 months ending July 31st, 2025. That’s […]

en-US

First documented case of plant smelling like an ant...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/30

In a greenhouse in Tokyo, researcher Ko Mochizuki noticed something unusual. Flies were swarming around the delicate flowers of an obscure plant species. The blooms, however, weren’t offering nectar or bright colors to attract these insects. Instead, they were releasing a chemical signal that smelled like something the flies craved: the scent of an injured […]

en-US

Norway’s proposal to double krill harvests raises...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/30

Norway proposed almost doubling the catch limit for krill in the Southern Ocean during the annual conference of the intergovernmental body that manages Antarctic fisheries taking place Oct. 20-31, according to confidential documents seen by Mongabay. The proposal heightened diplomatic tensions at the meeting, which had already been overshadowed by the arrest of a Ukrainian […]

en-US

In Malawi, a rural community shines bright with 100%...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/30

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 […]

en-US

In Rio’s largest favela, used oil becomes soap and...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/30

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 […]

en-US

On first International Day of the Deep Seabed, we...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/30

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 […]

en-US

In Mauritius, an NGO is tracking the sex life of...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/30

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 […]

en-US

Mauritius rethinks coral restoration as reefs suffer...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/30

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, […]

en-US

Bird flu hits migrating cranes hard in Germany as the...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

UK fish stocks in trouble as catch limits exceed...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

With ‘terrifying’ trade in African hornbills,...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

Report finds dangerous mercury levels, highlights...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

Potential wind slowdown threatens renewable energy...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

Landmark conviction exposes Sri Lanka’s deep-rooted...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

Colony of world’s highest-flying bird under threat in...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

In search of a real wild date (cartoon)

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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.

en-US

Filipino survivors of deadly 2021 typhoon planning to...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

Two years later, no closure for family of missing...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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. […]

en-US

Why facts alone won’t save the planet

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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 […]

en-US

Ousted Nepal gov’t cleared easier path for...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/29

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, […]

en-US

1,317 results