PODCAST

Conservation news

Environmental science and conservation news

All Episodes

Supporting journalism: The catalytic role of...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/26

When a logging concession in Gabon threatened a community’s ancestral forest, their appeals to officials went nowhere—until the story was reported. Once the facts reached the public record, the environment minister revoked the company’s permit and moved to legally protect the forest, officially recognizing a community’s stewardship. The example illustrates a quiet but potent truth: […]

en-US

FSC to vote on new traceability rules amid fraud...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/26

The world’s largest green timber label will vote next week on whether to begin work on new traceability rules, amid renewed scrutiny and accusations over whether the body is doing enough to prevent fraud within its supply chains. The Bonn-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) bills itself as “the world’s most trusted mark for sustainable forestry.” […]

en-US

Radioactive leak in Banten exposes workers to danger...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/25

SERANG, Indonesia — The rain had just passed over Nambo Udik, a village in Cikande, Serang, Banten. The air hung heavy and damp, and puddles lingered in the muddy yard in front of Sakinah and Roni’s home. These days, the couple spends most of their time indoors, gazing out at the quiet street. It has […]

en-US

Dom Phillips & Bruno Pereira ‘would be killed again,’...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/24

SÃO PAULO AND RIO DE JANEIRO — Despite government efforts to halt violence in the Amazon region where British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were killed three years ago, the threats remain, prominent Indigenous leader Beto Marubo said. “Unfortunately, I can say that if Dom and Bruno were in the Javari Valley […]

en-US

How to clean solar panels in arid areas? Waterless...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/24

As the world grapples with the challenges of meeting rising electricity demand, particularly in developing countries, solar energy has emerged as a beacon of hope. In sub-Saharan Africa, where energy poverty is a persistent challenge, the potential for solar energy is vast. Monocrystalline photovoltaic (PV) panels have become a popular choice for solar energy generation […]

en-US

In memory of the Christmas Island shrew

Conservation news ·

2025/10/24

It never weighed more than a spoonful of sugar. Five or six grams of life, soft-furred and sharp-nosed, darting among the roots and leaf litter of a tiny island in the Indian Ocean. At night, its voice—a thin, high cry, part bat and part whisper—once filled the forest of Christmas Island. Now the forest is […]

en-US

Has Uganda done enough to prevent pollution of Lake...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/24

Fears of underinvestment in mitigation against oil spills, poor waste disposal and water overuse remain a major concern for environmentalists, even as Uganda insists adequate measures are in place to protect Lake Albert and the surrounding ecosystem from the adverse effects of petroleum exploration and development. A report commissioned by my organization, Environmental Defenders — […]

en-US

International Gibbon Day: Spotlighting the...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/24

Gibbons, commonly called lesser apes, aren’t as well-known as some of their great ape cousins like chimpanzees or gorillas. But the lives of these highly arboreal primates are no less fascinating. They reside in the canopy of the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia, living in small family groups, each patrolling its own territory, […]

en-US

Reimagining meat: The Good Food Institute’s bid to...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/24

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. After decades spent protecting forests, fighting for human rights and shaping climate policy, Nigel Sizer has turned his attention to what’s on our plates. As the new CEO of the Good Food Institute (GFI), he argues that how […]

en-US

Researchers fear Chile copper project may threaten...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

Researchers are raising concerns about the creation of a large-scale open-pit copper-molybdenum mine in Chile’s Valparaíso region, which they say will destroy the habitat of the recently recorded population of Andean cat, an endangered species and one of the rarest felines in the Americas. To protect its habitat, members of the affected Putaendo community and […]

en-US

Nickel mining damage near UNESCO site stirs outrage...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

MINDANAO, Philippines — A nickel mining project in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao is facing renewed calls for closure after a recent government inspection revealed that strip mining there has stripped bare about 200 hectares (494 acres) of forest land in an ecologically sensitive area. The Pujada Nickel Project, in the province of Davao […]

en-US

Arctic seals edge closer to extinction as sea ice...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

Three Arctic seal species have moved closer to extinction, as rapid sea ice loss continues to erode their breeding and feeding grounds, according to the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The update, released Oct. 10 during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, “uplists” the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) […]

en-US

AI system eavesdrops on elephants to prevent deadly...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

When elephant biologist Seema Lokhandwala, with the Elephants Acoustic Project, visited a village near Balipara in India’s Assam state, as part of her fieldwork in December 2015, she witnessed firsthand what it takes to live alongside elephants. After night fell, a herd of 150 elephants — “I counted them,” she says — devoured all of […]

en-US

After a hiatus, an endemic plant bursts into life in...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

COLOMBO — Every dozen years or so, Sri Lanka’s mist-shrouded highlands burst into color. Violet, pink and white carpets of tiny blooms spread across the grasslands of the Horton Plains and other hill country trails, drawing thousands of visitors eager to witness one of nature’s rarest spectacles: the mass flowering of nelu, a group of […]

en-US

‘We are just waiting to die’: Mining activists...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

Environmental justice activists have spoken out against coal and iron mining in South Africa, telling a recent human rights hearing that the industry violently undermines the country’s promised energy transition. They also pointed to the continued threats, displacement and killings faced by community organizers resisting land grabs by mining companies. The fifth Human Rights Defenders […]

en-US

Global conservation body takes first step to protect...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

The mesopelagic zone is the chilly, dimly lit layer of ocean found 200-1,000 meters (660-3,300 feet) below the surface, which scientists say plays key roles in the marine food web and carbon cycle. On Oct. 15, delegates to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi adopted a motion to protect it. The motion calls […]

en-US

An Indigenous women-led revolution fights fires in...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

When they closed their eyes, the Bakairi people of the Santana Indigenous Territory in Brazil heard a sound similar to rain in the forest. It was reminiscent of a summer storm, the kind that arrives suddenly and drenches the vast Cerrado savanna. But instead of water, it was fire. The flames spread across the 73,000-hectare […]

en-US

International Snow Leopard Day: Conservation and...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

They’re known as the “ghost of the mountains,” so it makes sense that snow leopards can be extremely difficult to spot. Yet, these majestic, thick-furred cats, living in the high mountains of Asia, are also disappearing from much of their range due to declines in prey, retaliatory killing for livestock predation, the illegal wildlife trade, […]

en-US

Christmas Island shrew officially declared extinct: IUCN

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

The Christmas Island shrew, a tiny mammal once found only on the Australian island of the same name, has been declared officially extinct. It’s at least the fourth small mammal species to be wiped out from the island since the introduction of invasive species there a century ago. The Christmas Island shrew (Crocidura trichura) was […]

en-US

Indonesia’s most vulnerable push for nation’s first...

Conservation news ·

2025/10/23

JAKARTA — “Going to Dubai was an act of desperation,” says Muninggar, a 48-year-old former fish farmer from northern Java. “There were no jobs left in the village. If I wasn’t forced to, I wouldn’t have gone — my kids were still small.” Like many Indonesians on the frontlines of climate change, Muninggar has seen […]

en-US

1,317 results