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Conservation news

Environmental science and conservation news

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Suspected rise in targeted leopard killings worries...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/22

After a series of alleged leopard poaching incidents in Sri Lanka, conservationists warn that the big cats are likely being deliberately targeted for their skin, teeth, claws and meat at a higher rate than previously believed, reports contributor Malaka Rodrigo for Mongabay. “Sri Lanka may not be part of an international trafficking chain for leopard […]

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The clothes that never die: How fast fashion is...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/22

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Mountains of smoking waste sprawl across the Dandora dump in Nairobi, Kenya. The acrid stench clings to the air; marabou storks pick over scraps alongside people searching for plastic bottles or bones. Interspersed among the refuse are scraps […]

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Development banks under fire for backing disputed...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/22

Nepal has long relied on hydropower projects to meet most of its energy needs, but recent complaints from Indigenous and local communities have cast a shadow over the development of some projects — particularly the Tanahu project. The project is being developed by Tanahu Hydropower Limited (THL), a subsidiary of the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority […]

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Indonesia’s Bajau fishers lament nickel mining’s...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

For many members of the nomadic Bajau sea tribe on Indonesia’s Kabaena Island, growing up meant swimming and fishing in clear waters, just outside their homes built on stilts. However, in 2010, the water turned red, which the villagers blame on runoff from nearby nickel mining, Mongabay’s Hans Nicholas Jong reported in July. “Now, I […]

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How Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize plan to protect 14...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Mexico, Guatemala and Belize have announced plans to create a huge reserve of tropical forest spanning across the three countries. Protecting it from ranchers, miners and loggers, and pushing out criminal gangs, won’t be easy. Environment ministers from Mexico and Guatemala have emphasized the need for security to combat organized crime […]

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Brazil cities vow to stop buying threatened shark...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

Several government agencies in southern Brazil have said they will stop ordering angelshark meat for public meal programs, in response to a Mongabay investigation that highlighted the widespread consumption of the threatened species. Shark meat is often served in public schools, hospitals and other institutions due to its low cost and lack of bones. The […]

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Rhino breeder John Hume accused of horn trafficking,...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

John Hume, a controversial rhino breeder and former owner of the world’s largest rhino breeding farm, was arrested in South Africa on Aug. 19 for alleged involvement in a rhino horn trafficking syndicate. The arrest follows a seven-year-long investigation by South African authorities. Hume, along with five others, faces 55 charges on multiple counts of […]

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Killings on Kenya’s Lake Naivasha raise questions...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

NAIVASHA, Kenya — It was still dark when the call came. Grace Nyambura, known to her neighbors in Karagita as Mama Chuma, was asleep when she got a call from her daughter. It was around 5 a.m. She told Nyambura something had happened to Chuma, Nyambura’s fifth-born son. She asked her mother to get to […]

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Brazil’s land registry holds farmers accountable, but...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

The CAR is an obligatory land registry for all rural properties in Brazil. The CAR was created because the national rural land registry (Sistema Nacional de Cadastro Rural (SNCR) developed by INCRA, was (and remains) incomplete. Consequently, the government created the CAR as a parallel (ad hoc) mechanism to force landholders to comply with the […]

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Sustainable biomass certification scheme is flawed,...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) is a leading global biomass certification scheme offering assurances to end users (especially nations in the EU and Asia) that biomass (especially wood pellets for energy) is “sourced both legally and sustainably.” But a recent report by a group of environmental NGOs alleges SBP is approving biomass fuel projects linked […]

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Climate change tests the resilience of people and...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

SESFONTEIN, Namibia — “I want my children to see a rhino with their own eyes — not only in Etosha [National Park],” says Sofia /Nuas, a member of the Sesfontein Conservancy Committee, located in Namibia’s arid northwest. She’s sitting in the shade of a large sausage tree, yet even on this winter morning temperatures have quickly […]

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New coalition focuses on ‘reuse’ to tackle top...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

JAKARTA — Thirteen organizations and businesses have launched the Indonesian Reuse Association, or AGUNI, a coalition dedicated to building a sustainable reuse system to curb the country’s worsening waste crisis. AGUNI serves as a collective hub for pioneering businesses offering reuse-based solutions for everyday needs, ranging from micro-enterprises to tech-based startups. Collectively, its members already […]

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Study uncovers laundering of Galápagos iguanas...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

Galápagos iguanas look like prehistoric animals: Their scaly skin resembles volcanic rock, their backs are ridged with a row of spikes, and they have extremely long, curved claws. They use their tails as a whip to defend themselves, but even that hasn’t been enough to prevent poachers from capturing and trafficking them to North America, […]

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Invasive ants get a warm welcome as global...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

As people move plants, soil and goods around the world, insects including ants often hitch a ride, making themselves at home in new regions. A recent study finds that some of these nonnative ants, currently restricted to warmer indoor environments like buildings or greenhouses, could easily spread outdoors as global temperatures rise, raising concerns for […]

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Indonesia’s idle land problem

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Indonesia is defying the global trend in tropical deforestation. While forest loss in much of the tropics reached record highs in 2024, Indonesia’s rate fell by 14% compared with the previous year. Yet beneath this apparent success lies […]

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Brazil cities order endangered angelshark meat...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/21

Government agencies in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state launched public procurements for more than 200 metric tons of meat from endangered angelshark species between 2015 and 2025, a Mongabay investigation has revealed. The meat is served in public institutions, including schools. Fishing for angelsharks is prohibited in Brazil, but its trade is legal if […]

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Bonobos keep track of groupmates even when they can’t...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/20

Kanzi, a bonobo celebrated for his intelligence, died in March this year. A recently published study adds to his long list of cognitive abilities: he was able to track the location of people familiar to him, even when they were out of sight. He could also recognize the individual voices of his caretakers, a skill […]

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Tortoise hatchlings born of century-old parents come...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/20

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sixteen critically endangered western Santa Cruz tortoises born to some very old parents got a slow walk and the red carpet treatment Wednesday at a Philadelphia Zoo event to show off the highly prized hatchlings. Animal care specialists who have watched over the 16 since they were eggs held the animals on […]

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Philippine fishers struggle as LNG ‘superhighway’...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/20

Fishers in the Philippines’ Batangas Bay are struggling to make ends meet and feed their families as nearby coastal areas are developed into a natural gas import hub, Mongabay contributor Nick Aspinwall reported in July. Families that have been fishing in Batangas Bay for years have been asked by local officials to leave to make […]

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Ethiopian initiatives try to mainstream traditional...

Conservation news ·

2025/08/20

ARBA MINCH, Ethiopia — On a late May morning, as the chill of dawn gives way to sunlight warming the hills of Hareba village in southern Ethiopia, 56-year-old Almaz Achamo tends to her staple crop: a towering, banana-like plant that has supported her community for generations. Known locally as enset (Ensete ventricosum), or the “false […]

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