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Conservation news

Environmental science and conservation news

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Indonesia moves to revise sea sand export policy...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/18

The Indonesian government is revising a regulation that reopened the export of dredged sea sand, after the country’s Supreme Court annulled key provisions over environmental and legal concerns. In a ruling last month, the court struck down three articles in a 2023 regulation that had lifted a 20-year ban on sea sand exports. The judges […]

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Small Australian carnivorous marsupial reclassified...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

Researchers describe the kultarr as “Australia’s cutest mammal”: It’s eyes are quite large for its mouse-like head, it’s ears are perky and it has long, thin legs that allow it to run so fast that it looks like it’s hopping. A recent study has now confirmed that the insect-eating marsupial is not one, but three […]

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In the Andes, decentralization fails to address...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

The Andean nations are unitary republics by history and constitution. Consequently, the push to devolve power to lower jurisdictions is less obvious and its degree of implementation variable. Over the last several decades, Andean countries have, at different times and with different levels of determination, organized efforts to decentralize decision-making and the state’s administrative functions. […]

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Brazil’s Congress passes ‘devastation bill’ in major...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

As Brazil gears up to lead COP30, its Congress pushes the worst environmental setback in 40 years.

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In a warming world, can California save its Joshua...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

In early springtime in the Mojave Desert, Joshua trees provide one of the few foods available to many of the wildlife species in this part of the southwestern U.S. Stretching above the surrounding dry vegetation and desert soil, the tall yuccas blossom with clusters of large white flowers that beckon insects, birds, deer, cattle, ground […]

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Sri Lanka’s plant messiah spreads optimism for...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

When the government of Sri Lanka published the National Red List of threatened plants in 2020, my eyebrows shot up. We’ve all become accustomed, after all, to the grim news these reports periodically bring us. But here it was, in black and white: 128 species, not having been recorded in surveys conducted during the past […]

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Open burning of plastic is an escalating public...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

When Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa was a child, her mother sent her to market with a basket woven from grasses. “But now we don’t do that,” she says, because plastic has taken over most utilitarian purposes in today’s Malawi. “You go and you get a plastic carrier, and they’re usually not reusable plastics.” In many Malawi communities, […]

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Now on Wall Street, JBS eyes growth amid scrutiny on...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

The world's largest meatpacker had a long journey to the U.S. stock market, one full of reports of greenwashing and corruption.

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How climate change could force FIFA to rethink the...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

GENEVA (AP) — Soccer faces growing challenges from extreme heat, as seen during the FIFA Club World Cup in the U.S. this summer. Rising global temperatures are making summer tournaments increasingly dangerous for players and fans. Scientists warn that continuing to hold events in June and July could lead to severe heat-related illnesses. FIFA introduced […]

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Sri Lanka grants protection to a rare ecosystem

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In a move hailed as a long-overdue conservation victory, Sri Lanka has formally declared Nilgala — a sweeping mosaic of grasslands, forests and sacred sites — as a protected forest reserve, reports contributor Malaka Rodrigo for Mongabay. Spanning […]

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Study finds two-thirds of India’s snow leopards are...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/17

Snow leopards are often called “ghosts of the mountains,” and for good reason: They’re notoriously difficult to spot. But researchers behind a recent study used a comprehensive set of methods — from following the cats’ tracks and droppings, to deploying camera traps over vast areas — to find that the region of Ladakh in the […]

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Amazon deforestation spikes as Brazil blames criminal...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

A new and alarming pattern of destruction is emerging in the rainforest, challenging Brazilian authorities ahead of COP30.

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From protection to control: Van Beeman and Kaplin...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

In March this year, Dutch investigative journalist Olivier van Beemen published In the Name of Nature: An Investigation into the Neocolonial Practices of the NGO African Parks. The result of four years of dogged investigating, it recently received the Brusseprijs 2025, a prize for Dutch-language journalistic books. African Parks, the object of Van Beemen’s focus, […]

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Deforestation in the Philippines may have caused...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

In 1996, when herpetologist Rafe Brown accompanied a few biologists to the Philippine island of Mindanao to study frogs, they heard a cacophony near their campsite. In a puddle that skirted the forest, hundreds of chubby frogs with big, bright eyes had gathered, looking for mates to breed with. Brown said he remembers hearing two […]

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In California, an invasive mustard is destabilizing...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

In southern California’s Coachella Valley, pale sand dunes sprawl under the desert sun, shifting and re-forming in the wind. In dry years, lone shrubs dot the dunes. But the landscape bursts with color and greenery after a wet winter. That’s because seeds of desert plants may wait in the soil for years, even decades, for […]

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Global tracking study reveals marine megafauna...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

A global study tracking nearly 13,000 individual marine animals has uncovered a sharp disconnect between where these animals actually spend their time and where marine protections exist. The findings raise concerns over whether current conservation targets can deliver for ocean giants. Published in the journal Science on June 5, the study mapped the movements of […]

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As Brazil expands oil, COP30 head urges rich nations...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL — As Brazil ramps up offshore oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River, the CEO of COP30 urged wealthy nations to be the first to cut back on both producing and consuming fossil fuels. Ana Toni is Brazil’s national secretary for climate change at the Ministry of the Environment and […]

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Landmark Indigenous land title in Ecuador protected...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

This is Part 4 of a four-part series on Indigenous land rights in Ecuador. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Twenty months after a landmark court ruling in Ecuador recognized the rights of the Indigenous Siekopai Nation to land within a protected Amazonian area, the government has yet to issue the required title. […]

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‘Shock and alarm’ as Malawi pardons wildlife...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

LILONGWE — Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has granted a presidential pardon to Lin Yunhua, a Chinese national sentenced to 14 years in prison for wildlife trafficking. Lin was among 37 inmates who received a presidential pardon as part of Malawi’s 61st independence anniversary celebrations on July 6. Conservationists have since expressed their disappointment, warning that […]

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Bicolored waterberry: The overlooked tree shaping...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/16

KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia — At a bend in Zambia’s Kafue River, the bicolored waterberry trees resemble an avenue planted along a city boulevard. Their evergreen crowns stretch as far as the eye can see, reflected in the still, glassy water, only broken by the surfacing of two curious hippos. These trees — Syzygium guineense […]

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