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With coral-rich Churna Island now an MPA, Pakistan...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/01

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 […]

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Major reports about how climate change affects the US...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/01

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 […]

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Countries seek urgent CITES protection of more than...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/01

Several proposals seeking greater protection of more than 70 shark and ray species from commercial trade were raised this week for deliberation at the 20th meeting of CITES, the global convention on the wildlife trade, to be held in November. “The world is at a tipping point for sharks and rays,” Luke Warwick, director of […]

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Bogong moths use stars and the Milky Way to make epic...

Conservation news ·

2025/07/01

In Australia, millions of newly hatched Bogong moths embark on an impressive journey twice a year. Each spring, they hatch from eggs in their breeding grounds in Australia’s southeast and fly up to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) further southward to spend a few months in the cool caves of the Australian Alps — a place […]

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Predatory snakehead fish poses invasive threat after...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/28

COLOMBO — The Deduru Oya reservoir in northwestern Sri Lanka has long been a favorite fishing spot for angler Ishanka Dissanayaka. In mid-June, he returned to the reservoir for a relaxing day by the water. But this time, the fish that snagged his bait was so heavy that he had to wade to the edge […]

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Commuter traffic stops for whales on Australia’s...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

PORT STEPHENS, Australia (AP) — Sydney’s harbor becomes a humpback highway in winter as the whales migrate from feeding grounds in Antarctica to breeding areas off Australia’s coast. Whale watchers are spoiled for sightings during peak traffic weeks in June and July, when 40,000 creatures the size of buses will navigate the waters of New […]

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After USAID cut, Ethiopia’s largest community...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

ADDIS ABABA — Local leaders at Ethiopia’s largest community conservation area are working to become financially self-sufficient and continue protecting land and wildlife independently, following the abrupt cut of funding from USAID earlier this year. The Tama Community Conservation Area (TCCA), started in 2022 with $8.5 million from the USAID’s BIOM project, had made progress […]

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Peter Seligmann steps down from Conservation...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

Peter Seligmann, the founder of Conservation International (CI) and longtime Chair of its Board of Directors, has stepped down from the Board effective June 22, 2025, the organization announced. He will continue to support the organization in the role of Chairman Emeritus. Seligmann co-founded Conservation International in 1987 after a decade at The Nature Conservancy, […]

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Friendship benefits male and female mountain gorillas...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

Titus was just 4 years old when poachers killed his father and several other close adults in his group. Despite the violence, the young mountain gorilla developed an approach to leadership characterized by gentleness and calm behavior, building close bonds with the females in his group, who often stayed in physical contact with him. This […]

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Bangladesh plans new reserve for trapped elephants

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Bangladesh is preparing to add to its tally of 56 protected areas by declaring a new sanctuary in its northeast — not for forests or tigers, but for a group of elephants trapped by geopolitics, reports Mongabay’s Abu […]

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Fire is both destruction and rebirth for Maya...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

PUNTA GORDA, Belize — Rosa Mis walks on a carpet of cracking dry leaves under the scorching sun of late May. Her green T-shirt blends in with the newly grown grass, medicinal herbs and plantain trees. One year ago, this land went up in flames. “Our 3 hectares [7.4-acre] farm burned for six days and […]

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Flash floods in Pakistan kill 8 and 58 are rescued...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Flash floods triggered by pre-monsoon rains swept away dozens of tourists in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least eight people. The nationwide death toll from rain-related incidents rose to 18 over the past 24 hours, officials said. Nearly 100 rescuers in various groups rescued a total of 58 people and […]

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WWF’s top leader acknowledges reforms in wake of...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

VILLARS, Switzerland — Six years after being shaken by allegations of human rights abuses linked to conservation enforcement, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says it has undertaken considerable reforms — reforms that, according to its leadership, are not just structural but signal a broader rethink of global conservation itself. In an interview with […]

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What happens to artisanal fishers when a deep-sea...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/27

This is Mongabay’s second story in a short series about the new Shimoni Fish Port. Read the first story here. SHIMONI, Kenya — On a drizzly March afternoon, more than two dozen vessels bobbed on moorings near the jetty or lay along the beach in the Kenyan village of Shimoni. There were motor-boats, dugout canoes, […]

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Author Kim Stanley Robinson on climate fiction &...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/26

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Five years on from the publication of the climate fiction book, The Ministry for the Future, author Kim Stanley Robinson finds little he would change in his sweeping speculative novel —aside from a regrettable mention of blockchain. “What I […]

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Sweden needs a rights of nature legal framework...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/26

On July 1, 2025, the reassessment of Swedish hydropower plants will resume under the framework of its national plan – a necessary and long-delayed effort. Swedish rivers are heavily impacted by dams, which have harmed ecosystems and the species dependent on freely flowing water, but traditional legal reforms are no longer sufficient. In an era […]

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As ocean acidification ramps up, experts call for...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/26

Ocean health is moving into a danger zone, with rampant human-caused carbon dioxide emissions having already pushed ocean acidification levels beyond safe limits in large swaths of the marine environment, according to a recent study. The new findings underline the urgent need to ramp up protection of the world’s oceans, while simultaneously slashing CO2 emissions, […]

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Indigenous guards: The shield of Colombia’s Amazon

Conservation news ·

2025/06/26

In early February, in downtown Bogotá, Colombia, Luis Alfredo Acosta recited a line in a book from memory: “I am from the rainforest because I smell like the rainforest; I smell like the mountains. And when I smell like the mountains and I smell like the trees, I can touch the forehead of a wild […]

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Regulation on oil palm expansion in Peru’s Amazon...

Conservation news ·

2025/06/26

Oil palm is a crop whose derivatives have multiple uses, resulting in staggering global demand. Because of this, Peru’s Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI in Spanish) has developed a new regulation to boost oil palm production. On March 22, 2025, MIDAGRI published a ministerial resolution titled Policy Framework for the Sustainable Development of […]

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Why is star anise disappearing from northeastern India?

Conservation news ·

2025/06/26

ARUNACHAL PRADESH — India. Over 60% of star anise trees have vanished from the region in just 84 years, pushing this valuable spice toward endangerment and leaving the Indigenous Monpa community struggling to sustain it. Now, conservation efforts are stepping in. The World Wide Fund for Nature-India is helping to form village committees that support […]

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