Mongabay.com News

Animal picture of the day: the boat-billed heron

2012-05-16T19:22:00Z

Boat-billed herons (Cochlearius cochlearius) are found in Central and South America, as far north as Mexico and as far south as Argentina. A notably bizarre heron, the species is the only member of the genus Cochlearius. Like many heron species it feeds on a wide variety of freshwater and terrestrial animals.

Featured video: why one scientist is getting arrested over climate change

2012-05-16T18:57:00Z

In March 2012 the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and well-known climatologist, James Hansen, spoke at a TED conference to explain what would push a 70-year-old scientist to participate in civil disobedience against mountaintop coal mining and the Keystone Pipeline, even leading to several arrests.

Up to 20% of humanity directly dependent on forests

2012-05-16T17:31:00Z

Despite a global trend towards urbanization some 1.2-1.7 billion people worldwide remain primarily dependent on forests for their livelihoods, reports a review published by the Forest Peoples Programme. The figures exclude people who are indirectly dependent on forests for the services they provide, including climate regulation, provision of clean water, and carbon sequestration.

New population of Myanmar snub-nosed monkey discovered in China

2012-05-16T15:41:00Z

Scientists in China have located a second population of the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri), a primate that was only first discovered two years ago in Myanmar, also known as Burma. Long Yongcheng, scientist with the Nature Conservancy in China, told the China Daily that his team have discovered 50-100 Myanmar snub-nosed monkeys in the Gaoligong Mountain Natural Reserve near the border with Myanmar in Yunnan Province.

Jaguar v. sea turtle: when land and marine conservation icons collide

2012-05-16T14:47:00Z

At first, an encounter between a jaguar (Panthera onca) and a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) seems improbable, even ridiculous, but the two species do come into fatal contact when a female turtle, every two to four years, crawls up a jungle beach to lay her eggs. A hungry jaguar will attack the nesting turtle, killing it with a bite to the neck, and dragging the massive animal—sometime all the way into the jungle—to eat the muscles around the neck and flippers. Despite the surprising nature of such encounters, this behavior, and its impact on populations, has been little studied. Now, a new study in Costa Rica's Tortuguero National Park has documented five years of jaguar attacks on marine turtles—and finds these encounters are not only more common than expected, but on the rise.

Asia Pulp & Paper to temporarily suspend rainforest clearing in Indonesia

2012-05-16T11:48:00Z

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), a forestry giant that has been heavily criticized for destroying rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia, will temporarily suspend clearing of natural forest areas until conservation assessments have been conducted.

Consumption, population, and declining Earth: wake-up call for Rio+20

2012-05-15T21:00:00Z

Currently, human society is consuming natural resources as if there were one-and-a-half Earths, and not just a single blue planet, according to the most recent Living Planet Report released today. If governments and societies continue with 'business-as-usual' practices, we could be consuming three years of natural resources in 12 months by 2050. Already, this ecological debt is decimating wildlife populations worldwide, disproportionately hurting the world's poor and most vulnerable, threatening imperative resources like food and water, heating up the atmosphere, and risking global well-being.

Wildlife in the tropics plummets by over 60 percent

2012-05-15T15:32:00Z

In 48 years wildlife populations in the tropics, the region that holds the bulk of the world's biodiversity, have fallen by an alarming 61 percent, according to the most recent update to the Living Planet Index. Produced by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the index currently tracks almost 10,000 populations of 2,688 vertebrate species (including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish) in both the tropics and temperate regions.

U.S. car manufacturers linked to Amazon destruction, slave labor

2012-05-14T20:17:00Z

According to a new report by Greenpeace, top U.S. car companies such as Ford, General Motors, and Nissan are sourcing pig iron that has resulted in the destruction of Amazon rainforests, slave labor, and land conflict with indigenous tribes. Spending two years documenting the pig iron trade between northeastern Brazil and the U.S., Greenpeace has discovered that rainforests are cut and burned to power blast furnaces that produce pig iron, which is then shipped to the U.S. for steel production.

Global wetlands shrink 6% in 15 years

2012-05-14T19:21:00Z

Global wetlands declined by six percent between 1993 and 2007 due to conversion for agriculture, drainage, and water diversion, reports a new satellite-based assessment published by European researchers in Geophysical Research Letters.

Emissions from deforestation depend on fate of cleared trees

2012-05-14T19:00:00Z

Carbon emissions from deforestation vary greatly depending on whether timber stocks are turned into finished wood products, converted into bioenergy feedstocks, or burned outright, reports a new study published in Nature Climate Change.

Educating the next generation of conservation leaders in Colombia

2012-05-14T16:08:00Z

Colombia's northern departments of Cordoba and Bolivar are home to an abundance of coral reefs, estuaries, mangroves forests, and forests. Rich in both marine and terrestrial wildlife, local communities depend on the sea and land for survival, yet these ecosystems are imperiled by booming populations, overexploitation, and unsustainable management. Since 2007, an innovative education program in the region, the Guardians of Nature, has worked to teach local children about the ecology of the region, hoping to instill a conservation ethic that will aid both the present and the future.

Terra preta found in Asia

2012-05-14T14:59:00Z

Indigenous people of the Amazon produced rich agricultural soil by adding charcoal, manure, and animal bones to the otherwise nutrient-poor dirt of the world's greatest rainforest. The inputs allowed early indigenous people to farm their terra preta, or dark earth, sustainably in the Amazon. To date such practices are only known from the the Amazon and parts of Africa. But in a recent paper in the open access journal Forests scientists in Indonesian Borneo report on the first evidence of terra preta in Asia.

Noel Rowe: all the world's primates "in one place"

2012-05-14T13:53:00Z

Spanning the gamut from mouse lemurs to mountain gorillas, All The World’s Primates is a comprehensive database of primate species. Founded in 2004 by Noel Rowe and Marc Myers and designed primarily to aid scientists and college students in primatology research, ATWP is also readily accessible to anyone who would like to know a little more about primates. The database is continually updated when new species are discovered; from its inception in 2004 until 2010, 58 new species had been added to the site. In addition to discoveries made by primatologists in the field, All The World’s Primates compiles information from the latest genetic studies. The site also includes photos and videos of many species, and was recently expanded to include a visual key for identification.

President of Czech Republic to give keynote at Heartland climate summit despite backlash over murderer billboards

2012-05-14T12:52:00Z

Companies are abandoning the Heartland Institute left-and-right following the conservative group's controversial climate change billboard campaign, but Czech President, Václav Klaus, is sticking with the group, reports the Guardian. Although he criticized the Heartland's short-lived campaign, Klaus is still planning to be the keynote speaker at the Heartland Institute's upcoming annual climate change summit, which gathers prominent climate denialists from around the world.

We should help solve illegal logging, not be part of the problem

2012-05-14T05:14:00Z

It's tempting to think of illegal logging as an environmental crisis but it takes a serious human toll too. Just ask the wife and children of Chut Wutty, an environmental activist who was murdered last week for investigating rampant illegal logging in Cambodia. Wutty was far from alone. Criminal gangs increasingly control illegal logging, and don't hesitate to kill those who dare to oppose them.

Pictures: Jaguar bonanza caught on camera

2012-05-13T17:18:00Z

Images of several jaguars, including cubs, have been captured by camera traps on a Colombian ranch that is well known among cat researchers for its diversity of felines.

Picture: Happy migratory bird day

2012-05-13T01:50:00Z

May 12-13 is World Migratory Bird Day for 2012.

Scientists launch crowd-funding experiment for research projects

2012-05-12T14:27:00Z

Seeking to capitalize on the crowd-funding trend, a pair of biologists this month launched the #SciFund Challenge to raise money for dozens of scientific projects.

Greenpeace makes social media push for zero deforestation in Brazil

2012-05-12T13:52:00Z

Greenpeace is leveraging social media in its push for a zero deforestation target in Brazil.

Regency head calls for stop to palm oil development in contested peat forest in Indonesia

2012-05-11T15:49:00Z

The acting head of Nagan Raya Regency — the location of Tripa peat swamp — on Thursday demanded a stop to a controversial palm oil development project that conservationists say threatens a population of endangered orangutans, reports Serambi Indonesia.

Susan Cosier: Good environmental writing takes 'time, effort, and poetry'

2012-05-11T15:49:00Z

Susan Cosier is a senior editor for Audubon, as well as running the magazine’s Green Guru column where she answers readers’ questions about how to live life in ways which are environmentally responsible. Susan studied environmental science as an undergrad at Wesleyan University, then went to NYU where she earned a Master of Arts in Science in the Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program. Her work has appeared in E/The Environmental Magazine, Wildlife Conservation, Utne Reader, and Scientific American MIND. Susan lives in Brooklyn, NY, and when she’s not writing about interesting things, she enjoys running, reading, traveling, and trying to learn Spanish.

Manta rays tracked by satellite

2012-05-11T12:55:00Z

Satellite tracking technology has revealed new insights into the behavior of manta rays, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The findings are published in this week's issue of the journal PLoS.

Can loggers be conservationists?

2012-05-10T20:35:00Z

Last year researchers took the first ever publicly-released video of an African golden cat (Profelis aurata) in a Gabon rainforest. This beautiful, but elusive, feline was filmed sitting docilely for the camera and chasing a bat. The least-known of Africa's wild cat species, the African golden cat has been difficult to study because it makes its home deep in the Congo rainforest. However, researchers didn't capture the cat on video in an untrammeled, pristine forest, but in a well-managed logging concession by Precious Woods Inc., where scientist's cameras also photographed gorillas, elephants, leopards, and duikers.

Featured video: the oceans and Rio+20

2012-05-10T16:14:00Z

A new video by Pew Environment Group and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) hopes to convince policy-makers attending the Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development this summer that urgent action is needed to save the ocean's from an environmental crisis.

U.S. undergoes warmest 12 months yet

2012-05-10T14:21:00Z

Americans would not be remiss in asking, "is it getting hot in here?" According to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s National Climatic Data Center, the last twelve months (from May 2011 through April 2012) were the warmest on record for the lower 48 U.S. states since record keeping began in the late 19th Century.

'The real Hunger Games': a million children at risk as Sahel region suffers punishing drought

2012-05-09T15:26:00Z

The UN warns that a million children in Africa's Sahel region face malnutrition due to drought in region. In all 15 million people face food insecurity in eight nations across the Sahel, a region that is still recovering from drought and a food crisis of 2010. In some countries the situation is worsened by conflict.

App designed to fight wildlife crime in Cambodia

2012-05-08T18:03:00Z

Conservation NGO Wildlife Alliance has launched a new iPhone app that not only teaches users about Cambodian wildlife but also gives them information on how to help the group fight pervasive wildlife crime in the country. The app includes photos and information regarding species imperiled by the wildlife trade as well as informational videos with Jeff Corwin from the Animal Planet.

First camera trap video of world's rarest gorilla includes shocking charge

2012-05-08T17:02:00Z

Ever wonder what it would be like to be charged by a male gorilla? A new video (below) released by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), gives one a first hand look. Shot in Cameroon's Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary, the video is the first camera trap footage of the incredibly rare Cross River gorilla subspecies (Gorilla gorilla diehli); listed as Critically Endangered, the subspecies is believed to be down to only 250 individuals.

Heartland Institute losing major corporate sponsors after comparing climate change advocates to mass-murderers

2012-05-08T15:05:00Z

The Heartland Institute has lost two corporate supporters since it unveiled a billboard campaign that compared those who accept the science of climate change to mass murderer Ted Kaczynski also known as the Unabomber. Yesterday, State Farm Insurance confirmed it was severing ties with the group, while on Sunday, Diageo, a major alcoholic drink company, announced it was also cutting its support of the conservative think tank. Even before this, General Motors (GM) cut ties with the group over its climate stance. The exodus of the three corporate supporters has lost the Heartland Institute an estimated $180,000 for 2012, according to fundraising documents leaked to the media.

13 arrested for blockading coal train, including Nobel Prize winning economist

2012-05-07T18:34:00Z

Thirteen Canadians were peacefully arrested this weekend for blockading Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway train tracks in order to prevent the passage of coal stemming from the United States and destined to be burned in Asia. Among those arrested was Mark Jaccard, an economics professor with Simon Fraser University, who won the Nobel Prize for his work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Cambodia suspends economic land concessions

2012-05-07T16:47:00Z

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced today that Cambodia would be temporarily suspending new economic land concessions and would revoke any concessions from companies involved in illegal logging, the evictions of locals or land-grabbing. The announcement comes two week after the high-profile death of local forest activist, Chut Wutty, who was shot and killed by military police while investigating illegal logging with two journalists.

Organizations target rhino horn consumption in China

2012-05-07T14:30:00Z

Last year nearly 450 rhinos were killed for their horns in South Africa, which has become the epicenter for the global rhino poaching epidemic. Rhinos are dying to feed rising demand for rhino horn in Asia, which is ground up and sold as traditional Chinese medicine, even though scientific studies have shown that rhino horn has no medicinal benefit. Now, two organizations, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and Wildaid have announced a partnership to move beyond anti-poaching efforts and target rhino horn consumption in China.

Pictures of the day: activists highlight personal impacts of climate change worldwide

2012-05-07T13:08:00Z

On Saturday, people around the world gathered to highlight the varied impacts of climate change on their lives. Organized by 350.org, the global day of action was a call to "connect the dots" between a warming Earth and extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and fires among other impacts. Nearly 1,000 events were held worldwide.

Fallout for Heartland Institute after it likens those who accept climate change to 'murderers' and 'madmen'

2012-05-07T12:12:00Z

According to the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank, those who accept the science of climate change are 'on the radical fringe' with the movements most 'prominent advocates' being 'murderers, tyrants, and madmen.' The Heartland Institute's statements came as it launched a billboard campaign featuring notorious mass-murderer, Ted Kaczynski also known as the Unabomber, on a billboard in Chicago that read 'I still believe in Global Warming? Do you?' The Kaczynski billboard remained live for 24 hours before widespread condemnation, including from the Heartland Institute's own supporters, pushed the group to pull the billboard. It has now suspended the short-lived campaign which was also going to feature similar billboards with Fidel Castro, Osama Bin Laden, and hostage-taker James J. Lee.

Indonesia's Environment Ministry to sue APP, APRIL in $225B illegal logging case

2012-05-03T22:18:00Z

Indonesia's Ministry of Environment is planning to sue 14 pulp and paper companies for illegally logging forests in Riau Province on the island of Sumatra, reports Tempo Magazine. 12 of the 14 companies are linked to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and Asian Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), pulp and paper giants that have been heavily criticized by environmentalists for destroying rainforests and peatlands that serve as critical habitat for endangered tigers, elephants, and orangutans.

Just how far can a polar bear swim?

2012-05-03T19:27:00Z

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are capable of swimming incredible distances, according to a new study published in Zoology, which recorded polar bears regularly swimming over 30 miles (48 kilometers) and, in one case, as far as 220 miles (354 kilometers). The researchers believe the ability of polar bears to tackle such long-distance swims may help them survive as seasonal sea ice vanishes due to climate change.

Permaculture: a path toward a more sustainable Amazon?

2012-05-03T19:26:00Z

Communities living in and around tropical forests remain highly dependent on forest products, including nuts, resins, fruit and vegetables, oils, and medicinal plants. But relatively few of these products have been successfully commercialized in ways that generates sustained local benefits. When commercialization does happen, outsiders or a few well-placed insiders usually see the biggest windfall. Large-scale exploitation can also lead to resource depletion or conversion of forests for monoculture-based production. The ecosystem and local people lose.

115 mining companies operating illegally in forest areas in Indonesia

2012-05-03T18:55:00Z

More than 100 mining companies are operating without licenses in forest areas across 471,000 hectares in Indonesia, reports The Jakarta Post.

Exploring Asia's lost world

2012-05-03T17:19:00Z

Abandoned by NGOs and the World Bank, carved out for rubber plantations and mining by the Cambodian government, spiraling into a chaos of poaching and illegal logging, and full of endangered species and never-explored places, Virachey National Park may be the world's greatest park that has been written off by the international community. But a new book by explorer and PhD student, Greg McCann, hopes to change that. Entitled Called Away by a Mountain Spirit: Journey to the Green Corridor, the book highlights expeditions by McCann into parts of Virachey that have rarely been seen by outsiders and have never been explored scientifically, including rare grasslands that once housed herds of Asian elephants, guar, and Sambar deer, before poachers drove them into hiding, and faraway mountains with rumors of tigers and mainland Javan rhinos.

Thousands worldwide to "connect the dots" between climate change and extreme weather this weekend

2012-05-03T14:44:00Z

On Saturday, May 5th vulnerable populations from the United States to Bangladesh will "connect the dots" between devastating extreme weather and climate change in a global day of action organized by 350.org. The nearly 1,000 events occurring in over half of the world's nations are meant to highlight to governments, media, and the public that climate change is impacting lives through an increase in number and intensity of devastating weather events, such as droughts, heatwaves, and floods.

Nearly 200,000 homeless after floods in Peru's Amazon region

2012-05-02T20:37:00Z

191,000 people are homeless or have have suffered "significant" damage due to flooding in the Amazon region of eastern Peru, reports the Associated Press.

Assassinated forest activist Chut Wutty: 'I want to see people live with freedom'

2012-05-02T19:55:00Z

Chut Wutty, a dedicated Cambodian activist, was shot dead at an illegal logging site by military police, last Thursday. At the time Wutty was driving with two journalists, who wrote a shocking eye-witness account of his death, revealing that he was physically and verbally abused, then shot whilst trying to drive away, and left to die. His death reveals the brutal power of logging syndicates and companies, which are looting the country’s natural wealth, and employing the military to silence their opponents.

Gas development pushing pronghorn out of vital wintering grounds

2012-05-02T18:09:00Z

Development of natural gas fields in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is pushing pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) out of crucial wintering grounds, a situation that could result in a population decline according to a new study in Biological Conservation. By tracking 125 female pronghorn over five years in Wyoming, researchers found that highest quality habitat had fallen by over 80 percent in two vast gas fields on land owned by the government's Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Bigger is better for gorillas

2012-05-02T17:34:00Z

A new study confirms that bigger and stronger silverback gorillas have more success finding mates and raising offspring.

Biodiversity loss cripples plant growth

2012-05-02T17:33:00Z

For decades scientists have been warning that if global society continues with "business-as-usual" practices the result will be a mass extinction of the world's species, an extinction event some researchers say is already underway. However, the direct impacts of global biodiversity loss has been more difficult to compile. Now a new study in Nature finds that loss of plant biodiversity could cripple overall plant growth.

Animal picture of the day: the prehistoric peccary

2012-05-02T16:07:00Z

The Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri) was only known from fossils and thought extinct, perhaps a victim of the megafaunal extinction that ended the Pleistocene, until researchers in the 1970s stumbled on a living population in Argentina. While peccaries look like and are distantly related to the pig species that originated in the Old World, they belong to their own family, the Tayassuidae.

The month in environmental news for April 2012

2012-05-02T05:00:00Z

Mongabay.com provides a quick review of forest-related news for April 2012.

New attack on Greenpeace in Indonesia

2012-05-01T21:08:00Z

As fallout from its campaign against Asia Pulp & Paper grows, Greenpeace's critics have opened a new front on the environmental group, accusing it of "embezzlement", reports Mongabay-Indonesia.

New video documents nearly all the world's remaining Javan rhinos

2012-05-01T18:25:00Z

Nearly all the world's remaining Javan rhino have been documented on video via camera traps in Indonesia's Ujung Kulon National Park, according to a montage put together by park authorities.