In the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, India, traditional homes have a dedicated space to accommodate bees. Women then care for the bees as part of a beekeeping practice that has become a crucial sanctuary for indigenous bee populations facing severe environmental threats, reports contributor Swati Thapa for Mongabay.

For generations, households in the region have shared their homes with the Indian honey bee (Apis cerana indica), using traditional “wall hives”, rectangular cavities constructed directly into mud house walls through which bees can enter. A small door, accessible from inside the house, is sealed with clay and cow dung. The seal is removed when it’s time to harvest honey.

Historically, it’s the women in households who tend to the bees, especially as many men have left rural villages for job opportunities elsewhere.

“The only reason A. cerana indica is still surviving in Uttarakhand is the women,” said Nagma Parveen, assistant professor of biomedical sciences at Kumaun University, India. Nagma added that traditional beekeeping is practiced as a sacred cultural custom rather than a commercial enterprise, with women regularly maintaining hives and feeding colonies amaranth or hemp seed powder during winter months when food is scarce.

The thick mud construction of traditional wall hives provides essential insulation against extreme mountain cold, storms and rain, protecting bees that cannot safely forage when outdoor temperatures drop below 10–13°C (50–55°F).

But this traditional ecosystem is increasingly threatened by rapid architectural changes and climate impacts. A study in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district revealed that the proportion of traditional houses dropped from 61% before 1980 to 26% between 2001 and 2010, causing the average number of wall hives per home to drop to 8.4 per house by 2010.

Modern cement houses contain zero observed bee colonies, depriving native bees of essential nesting structures. At the same time, shifting weather patterns, heavy rains and high winds have dramatically reduced honey yields and altered local flora profiles. Saraswati Devi, an 80-year-old resident, said that honey harvests have fallen from roughly 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) per hive in past years to barely 1 or 2 kilograms (2.2-4.4 pounds) today.

Extreme weather events have left many wall hives empty as bees exhaust their stored honey while trapped indoors during prolonged storms. “Rain, storms and cold also impact the well-being of the bees. Inside the wall hives, they are safe, but outside they cannot fight the natural forces,” said Shakuntala Devi, a local beekeeper.

While women’s stewardship provides vital shelter, broader deforestation and habitat destruction continue to drive native bees out of wild ecosystems. “Bees only need humans because humans are devastating their natural homes,” Nagma said. “On one hand, people destroy forests and drive climate change, destroying hundreds of colonies. On the other hand, they offer shelter to just one or two hives in their walls.”

Read the full story by Swati Thapa here.

Banner image: Indian honey bees find refuge in traditional homes in Uttarakhand in India. Image © Afsar Nayakkan via iNaturalist (CC BY 4.0).

Cambodia’s mangrove forests and the wetlands associated with them provide critical refuge for several threatened and elusive species, including fishing cats and hairy‑nosed otters, according to a recent study.

Researchers from the Phnom Penh-based private company Fishing Cat Ecological Enterprise (FCEE) deployed camera traps across 156 coastal and riverine mangrove sites within the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and the adjacent Koh Kapik Ramsar site between 2017 and 2023. Both the sanctuary and the Ramsar site form Cambodia’s largest mangrove expanse.

The camera footage revealed that the mangrove forests are a rich habitat of threatened species: Fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) slipping through mangrove thickets away from shores, smooth‑coated otters (Lutra perspicillata) patrolling fringe river channels, leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis) and hairy‑nosed otters (Lutra sumatrana) favoring mangroves by rivers, and large‑spotted civets (Viverra megaspila) moving through swamp forests dominated by paperbark trees (Melaleuca spp.).

Researchers also found that four threatened species had declined over the seven-year study period. These included the endangered long‑tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) and large‑spotted civet, and the vulnerable fishing cat and smooth‑coated otter.

Only the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), an adaptable species, showed signs of increase. The critically endangered Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and the endangered hairy‑nosed otter remained difficult to detect.

“Our results also showed that it’s essential to protect not just the mangrove forests, but [also] the surrounding Melaleuca forests which are important for the Endangered large-spotted civet, and the riverine mixed mangroves which are critical for the Endangered hairy-nosed otter, considered the rarest otter in the world,” the study’s corresponding author and FCEE director Vanessa Herranz Muñoz told Mongabay via email.

A 2023 biodiversity survey by the conservation NGO Fauna & Flora and the FCEE, in which Herranz Muñoz was also involved, identified more than 700 unique species in Pream Krasop and Koh Kapik.

Herranz Muñoz said the research team initially focused on the fishing cat, but later included other mammal species to ensure their conservation as well.

The team mapped the various species’ presence across habitat types and found that fishing cats, smooth-coated otters and macaques showed tolerance of human proximity, while hairy-nosed otters, large‑spotted civets, and Sunda pangolins were more likely to stay away from settlements.

“We found that fishing cats, smooth-coated otters and long-tailed macaques were often photographed not too far from villages, which is great news,” Herranz Muñoz said. “It means that there is peaceful co-existence between the local communities and these species, rather than hunting or conflicts near villages.”

However, the researchers also expressed concerns about threats from human-wildlife conflict, poaching, and loss of forest habitat due to fire and urbanization.

“The Cambodian government, conservation organisations and the local community need to work together to ensure all these habitats are protected from loss or degradation,” Herranz Muñoz said.

Banner image: A fishing cat in the Koh Kapik Ramsar site in Cambodia. Image courtesy of the Fishing Cat Ecological Enterprise.

The Daasanach people in the Turkana Basin of northern Kenya experienced the worst drought in 40 years between November 2020 and March 2023. The Daasanach are pastoralists who have lived semi-nomadically for roughly 6,000 years, supported by herds of livestock including cows, camels, donkeys, and goats.

A group of researchers worked with the Daasanach to study the effects of the drought on their culture and access to food. They examined water and food access as well as coping and dietary strategies for 515 adults and 384 children in communities around Lake Turkana in Kenya.

During the drought, livestock herds dropped precipitously, with little recovery by 2024. Prior to the drought in 2019, each household had an average of 24 sheep and goats; by 2022 and 2023, they had just eight on average. Similarly, before the drought, the average family had six cows, and during the drought, just two. Such livestock are central to the economy and food security of the Daasanach pastoralists. With fewer animals to feed themselves, many Daasanach families moved to the town of Illeret during the drought to be closer to food aid.

As the drought progressed, nutrition worsened for the Daasanach amid a drop in milk and meat consumption. Researchers found that children who had access to milk had significantly better nutrition over time compared to children without access to milk.

The study also found an increase in water insecurity during the drought, compounding food insecurity challenges.

“The lived experience of Daasanach is important to understand and can tell us more than just how much rain has fallen, but how people are experiencing the drought so that the particular issues can be addressed,” Asher Rosinger, lead researcher of the study, told Mongabay in an email.

The Turkana Basin historically experiences frequent droughts, Rosinger said. “Pastoralism as a livelihood has developed primarily in what we call patchy, or ecologically marginal environments,” and pastoralists typically migrate to find better pasture conditions during drought, he added.

“With an increasing number of droughts, Daasanach adapt by finding ways to diversify,” Rosinger said. They began fishing for both food and income when livestock failed. “But the interesting thing is that as conditions have improved since the end of the drought, many are still fishing and using the fishing income to replenish their livestock. This diversification has increased resilience and is another source of income.”

Rosinger said he hopes conditions will improve so people can sustain the ancient practice of keeping livestock in this region of northern Kenya. “Pastoralism in this region has been going for more than 6000 years strong, and I hope it will continue for another 6000 years.”

Banner image of Daasanach warriors, by Rod Waddington via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Prominent climate change activist Greta Thunberg arrived Tuesday at the U.N. climate meeting, where she emphasized the need to protect people and the planet over profits and power.

This year’s meeting — called the Conference of the Parties, or COP31 — comes after a year of climate-induced heat waves and other disasters.

As she arrived at the meeting venue in Antalya, Turkey, Thunberg said climate change is “threatening everything” and that “everything and everyone we love is at stake.”

“We should act to protect and benefit people rather than constantly sacrificing the global majority and the very planet we are all living on, for a fortunate few to keep making unimaginable profits and maintaining geopolitical power,” she told reporters.

Thunberg is attending her first U.N. climate summit since she participated in the 2021 COP in Glasgow, Scotland, where she dismissed promises made by global leaders as “blah, blah, blah.”

In 2024, Thunberg participated in a protest rally in Georgia against Azerbaijan hosting that year’s climate talks. Thunberg accused Azerbaijan of using that summit to “greenwash their crimes and human rights abuses.”

Thunberg is expected to join this year’s talks for a few days. She said structural changes are needed across the world to deal with the climate crisis because current political and economic systems “have become incompatible with human nature.”

By Khalil Hamra and Sibi Arasu, Associated Press

Banner image: Activist Greta Thunberg speaks to members of the media at the COP31 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, in Antalya, Turkey. Image courtesy of Khalil Hamra via Associated Press. 

Four decades ago, Wayan Wardika says, clouds of fireflies would illuminate the night sky above the rice fields of his native village in Bali, Indonesia. Today, the insects have virtually disappeared from here due to rapid land development, light pollution, habitat degradation, and heavy use of agricultural pesticides, reports contributor Rizky Maulana Yanuar and Mongabay’s Sam Lee in a video.

Across Southeast Asia, at least four firefly species are nearing extinction. Beyond their cultural importance, fireflies serve as critical bioindicators of environmental health, act as plant pollinators, and control agricultural pests by preying on crop-destroying snails.

To reverse the fireflies’ decline, Wardika founded Bring Back the Light in 2020 on his family farm in Taro, Bali, establishing Indonesia’s only firefly conservation program. Lead scientist Cindy Chayani works alongside a specialized research team to oversee a captive-breeding program designed to rewild native populations.

In custom terrariums engineered to replicate natural jungle and wetland habitats, scientists nurture firefly larvae for up to two years. Then they release roughly 90% of the adult insects into the wild. “We designed their mating terrariums to mimic their natural habitat,” Chayani says in the video. “This is so they hopefully feel comfortable and produce more eggs.”

The program has released nearly 20,000 larvae and adults, resulting in a gradual recovery of local firefly counts.

But Wardika acknowledges that breeding fireflies alone won’t ensure long-term survival without healthy habitats. “If we don’t see fireflies, there is something wrong with the ecosystem,” he says, adding that his goal has expanded to not only protect and save the fireflies, but also regenerate the ecosystem.

To eliminate toxic agricultural runoff, Wardika began collecting manure from a local facility that hosts white cows, revered as sacred in Balinese Hinduism, and processing it into organic compost. He also developed an organic pesticide concoction, known as an eco-enzyme, crafted from market food waste.

To build a pesticide-free sanctuary across the region, Wardika is working to transition 35 neighboring farmers to chemical-free agriculture. To lower adoption barriers, his initiative provides organic fertilizers and eco-enzymes for free, while reimbursing farmers for any financial losses during the transition. He funds these efforts through firefly ecotourism visits and sales of organic farm produce.

Four local farmers have adopted the system so far, including Pak Nyoman. “In the past, who took care of the fireflies? No one! But now they are considered important,” Nyoman says in the video.

For Wardika, restoring fireflies represents a broader commitment. “We maintain the sustainability of nature, not just for our generation, bur for our future generation.”

Watch the video by Sam Lee and Rizky Maulana Yanuar here.

Banner image: Conservationist Wayan Wardika in the farm. Image courtesy of Bring Back the Light.

An emergency effort to rescue tens of thousands of orchids from being razed for a road-building projects in southern India has been hailed a success in a recent study.

Many species of orchids are classified as epiphytes, which means they grow on trees, using them as physical support frames. When these host trees are killed, the orchids can die along with them. Researchers in the state of Kerala collected more than 27,000 such orchids from trees that had either been felled or were scheduled to be cut down for road development. The rescued orchids were then planted on trees in two public wetlands and a beach. About two years later, nearly three-quarters of those orchids were still alive, researchers found.

Among the rescues were 12 orchid species endemic to the region. Eleven of those 12 aren’t even listed on the IUCN Red List, meaning their conservation status isn’t known.

“There is a kind of silent extinction going on with some of these orchids,” Viswambharan Sarasan, study co-author and an expert in orchid conservation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the U.K., told Mongabay in a video call.  “We don’t know how many of these orchids are being lost to road-building program over the last 15-20 years.”

Kerala is an orchid hotspot, with 271 known species. Many grow on trees in forests, roadsides, and tea and coffee plantations in the biodiverse Western Ghats mountain range.

Sarasan and his colleagues planted the 27,324 rescued orchids in three public areas: Kappad Beach; Sarovaram Bio Park, an urban mangrove wetland; and Malabar Botanical Garden, also an urban wetland. After 12-24 months, more than 19,500 orchids, nearly 71%, had survived. Of the 6,126 endemic orchids, nearly 55% survived.

Sarasan said many of the endemic orchid species grow in cold, hilly areas, so translocating them to warmer areas, near sea level, was risky. But they not only survived, many also flowered and produced seed capsules. “That was a really big surprise,” he said.

The researchers also used the opportunity to generate public awareness about orchids. At Sarovaram, they tagged 10 orchid species with a QR code that visitors could scan to learn more about the plants and how they ended up there. The park receives nearly 511,000 fee-paying visitors annually, the authors say, and the 10 species generated more than 126,000 QR-code scans over two years. Sarasan said that to his surprise, the QR code traffic was equally good for orchids with very tiny non-showy flowers, as for those with visually striking ones.

The study shows that “rescue translocation can transform orchids facing otherwise inevitable destruction during infrastructure development into living conservation assets,” the study authors write. However, they caution that rescue translocation should be “a last resort when orchid-bearing trees cannot be retained.”

Banner image: Aerides crispa, an orchid species endemic to the Western Ghats, was among those rescued. Image © tspkumar via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).