The Zambian government is investigating a chemical spill in its Copperbelt Province allegedly linked to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), owned by U.K.-based multinational Vedanta Resources.

Residents in Chingola district told Mongabay they observed discoloration of the Kafue River and fish die-off on Sept. 28, raising fresh concerns about the environmental and social impacts of mining operations in one of Zambia’s most important copper-producing regions.

According to a statement by Gilbert Siame, Zambia’s minister of Green Economy and Environment (MGEE), the incident was caused by a leaking pipe at KCM’s tailings leach plant and an overflow from the company’s pollution control dam outside Chingola.

“The pollution control dam was full, that’s why it spilled,” Eugene Mulenga, Chingola-based human rights activist and coordinator for caritas, told Mongabay. “The [chemical] discharge happens all the time, mostly at night, and the local residents consume this water because they don’t have another option.”

Following the Sept. 28 spill, tests conducted by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), KCM and local water utility Mulonga Water Supply and Sanitation Company showed elevated levels of turbidity and conductivity downstream along the Kafue River.

In a statement issued Oct. 1, KCM contested its responsibility in the spillage, saying that company officials reported the incident to ZEMA and asked for a fact-based investigation. Mongabay reached out to the company but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Siame noted in the statement shared with Mongabay that authorities are still testing water samples to confirm heavy metals and other contaminants.

He added the ministry has ordered KCM to conduct a comprehensive assessment of its pollution control dams, tailings pipelines and related infrastructure to determine whether other facilities could pose environmental risks.

“The Ministry is consulting with relevant stakeholders on the appropriate penal sanctions against the polluter in accordance with the provisions of the Environmental Management Act,” he wrote in the statement.

Under this law, major toxic discharges or hazardous waste violations can result in penalties of up to 280,000 Kwacha ($14,000).

The Sept. 28 incident adds to a long history of environmental concerns surrounding KCM and other mining companies operating in Zambia’s Copperbelt. KCM was previously at the center of a major legal case in the U.K. following a 2008 pollution incident. The case was settled out of court in 2021, with the company paying compensation to around 2,500 affected villagers “without admission of liability.”

KCM, one of Zambia’s largest copper producers, is expanding and recapitalizing mining and processing operations in the country as the government seeks to more than triple national copper output in the coming years. Vedanta Resources owns 80% stake in KCM.

The Zambian government had placed KCM into liquidation in 2019, citing concerns including tax evasion, unpaid debts, inadequate investment and environmental pollution, but the company picked up operations again in 2024.

Banner image: Dead fish at Hippo Pool, north of Chingola, where the Kafue River narrows into a shallow valley. Image by Victoria Schneider for Mongabay.

Africa’s monitored wildlife populations have declined an average of 80% since 1970, according to a new global assessment. The report also points to pockets of recovery where conservation efforts have been maintained over decades.

The report on the decline in the average size of monitored populations was released Oct. 8 in the Living Planet Report 2026. It tracked monitored populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians between 1970 and 2022. Africa’s 80% decline compares with a global average of 73%; Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the largest regional decline, at 95%.

The findings come as governments prepare to assess progress on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, whose 23 targets include commitments to halt human-induced extinctions and support the recovery of threatened species by 2030. The framework also calls for conserving at least 30% of the world’s land, inland waters and seas by 2030.

The Living Planet Index, managed by the Zoological Society of London in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), draws on 35,803 population trends from 5,790 vertebrate species worldwide. The index measure changes in the average size of monitored populations, it does not mean that Africa lost 80% of its wild animals or wildlife species, a press release obtained by Mongabay cautions.

Habitat destruction and degradation are the most frequently reported pressures on the wildlife populations tracked globally, the report finds. Overexploitation, climate change, pollution, disease and invasive species are among the other threats identified.

In the Congo Basin, for example, those pressures include expanding agriculture, logging and mining, as well as roads and other infrastructure that fragment forests and make previously remote areas more accessible, according to the report. Hunting and poaching add to the pressure. WWF says African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) populations have fallen by more than 60% over recent decades, largely because of habitat loss and illegal killing for ivory.

“Reversing this trend requires coordinated action across governments, civil society and other sectors, with Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the centre,” said Nadège Nzoyem, WWF’s regional director for the Congo Basin, in the release.

The global numbers show that conservation can make a difference. Half the populations included in the index are either stable or increasing but steep declines among the remaining populations are large enough to pull the overall index sharply downward.

As an example, in Southern Africa savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) remain endangered and are declining across much of their range, the report reveals. But some populations are increasing in places where communities help directly manage wildlife and benefit from doing so. Those efforts have been accompanied by anti-trafficking measures, judicial reforms and efforts to reduce corruption.

The report argues protecting individual species and habitats will not be enough. Food and energy production as well as financial systems are underlying forces that must also change to reverse biodiversity decline, the report notes.

Banner image: Namibian elephants in Etosha. Image courtesy of Stephan Scholvin.

Humpback whales found in the Arabian Sea are likely a distinct subspecies, having evolved in isolation for tens of thousands of years, according to a newly published genetic analysis.

“Arabian Sea humpback whales have long been an enigma to the scientific community,” lead author Rita Amaral, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said in a press release. “Their ecology is unlike that of any other known humpback whale population, and this new genetic work represents an important milestone in understanding how that uniqueness developed.”

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are found throughout the world’s oceans, typically migrating from warm waters near the equator, where they breed, to the colder poles, where they feed. To date, scientists recognize three subspecies: the North Atlantic (M. n. novaeangliae), Southern Hemisphere (M. n. australis), and North Pacific (M. n. kuzira) humpback whales.

Unlike most humpbacks, however, the population living in the Arabian Sea doesn’t migrate, remaining in tropical and subtropical waters all year.

Researchers compared mitochondrial DNA, which mothers pass to their babies, collected from 2,285 humpback whales globally, including those from the Arabian Sea coast of Oman.

The analysis showed considerable genetic differentiation between the latter population and the other subspecies. The researchers also found the Arabian Sea population had the lowest genetic diversity observed across any global ocean basin.

The study estimates humpback whales in the Arabian Sea diverged from the other populations between roughly 43,000 and 113,000 years ago, suggesting a long history of isolation. Such isolation also makes them vulnerable to extinction, the authors say.

“The recently published genetic study adds to the growing body of evidence that this population is discreet, isolated, unique and in urgent need of conservation efforts,” study co-author Gianna Minton, who co-chairs the Cetacean Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay by email.

Minton added that strong seasonal coastal upwelling allows the Arabian Sea whales “to find both the cold nutrient rich waters associated with feeding grounds, and the warm protected waters associated with mating, calving and nursing, within the Arabian Sea.”

The IUCN Red List recognizes the Arabian sea humpback whales as an endangered subpopulation. This population remains small with no evidence of an increase over the past two decades, the authors write.

Two-thirds of whales photographed off Oman bear scars consistent with fishing gear entanglement. Expanding shipping corridors also present severe risks from vessel strikes and increasing underwater noise, they add.

The International Whaling Commission recently endorsed a regional Conservation Management Plan (CMP) to coordinate cross-border protection of Arabian Sea humpbacks across all range nations, Minton said.

“The CMP will facilitate regional collaboration among a wide range of relevant stakeholders — including the fishing and shipping industries, government agencies, NGOs and universities — to more effectively monitor the population and mitigate threats it faces,” Minton added.

Banner image: An Arabian Sea humpback whale breaches following interaction with another whale. Image courtesy of Robert Baldwin via Wildlife Conservation Society.

MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico and forecasters said it was expected to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before hitting the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week.

The rapidly strengthening storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record as the latest arriving initial hurricane of the Atlantic season. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center on Wednesday issued a hurricane watch for the northern Gulf Coast from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass on the Florida Panhandle. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours.

Isaias was centered about 260 miles (420 kilometers) northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 540 miles (870 kilometers) southwest of the Mississippi River’s mouth, according to the National Hurricane Center. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving east-northeast at 8 mph (13 kph).

Forecasters predict Isaias will become a hurricane by Thursday as it turns northward toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. Though its path and timing could shift, the storm is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday.

The hurricane center said residents of the northern Gulf Coast should prepare for dangerous wind, storm surge and heavy rain that could trigger flash floods.

“It’s definitely time to look at your hurricane plan and put whatever you need into action,” said Eric Blake, a hurricane center forecaster.

In Gulf Shores, Alabama, the approaching storm caused organizers to cancel the National Shrimp Festival that had been scheduled for Thursday through the weekend. The event drew an estimated 325,000 people last year.

Festival Chairman Rob Barnas said the safety of thousands of anticipated visitors, plus hundreds of vendors and volunteers, “was our top priority.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 25 counties in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions. The declaration activates the state’s emergency management plan for hurricanes, allowing officials to deploy disaster responders and equipment.

Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE’-ahs, according to the hurricane center) is forecast to dump heavy rainfall of 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 centimeters) along the Gulf Coast beginning Friday, with some areas getting up to 10 inches (25 centimeters). Parts of the Southeast, as far inland as Tennessee and the Carolinas, could see 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 centimeters).

The storm comes as the Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year due to a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over that ocean. Storm activity in the Pacific has been above average.

By Associated Press

Banner image: This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Isaias off the eastern coast of Mexico on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. Image courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via Associated Press. 

More than half of the world’s wild tulip species assessed so far are threatened with extinction, reports Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta.

“For a flower this famous, it may surprise people how rare its wild relatives have become,” Brett Wilson, co-founder of the Wild Tulip Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global nature conservation authority, told Mongabay in an interview.

Researchers have so far assessed the conservation status of 62 wild tulip species for the IUCN Red List, Wilson said. Of these, 32 are threatened with extinction.

Most of the assessed species, 53, occur in Central Asia; five are critically endangered, seven endangered, 15 vulnerable, and 14 classified as near threatened. These at-risk wild tulips are concentrated in the massive Central Asian mountain systems of Tien Shan and Pamir-Alay, which Wilson calls the single richest region on Earth for tulip diversity.

The biggest threats to most wild tulips are livestock overgrazing and climate change. Tulips grow underground as dormant bulbs in cold, harsh conditions, before emerging and flowering in spring. Grazing animals can trample tulip bulbs and eat the flowers before they produce seeds, Wilson said. Meanwhile, “a warming, drying climate is squeezing mountain species upslope with nowhere left to go while more unpredictable weather can lead to landslides and floods,” he added.

Other threats including mining, infrastructure development, and overharvesting of bulbs from the wild, which affect specific species. The “classic victims of overcollection,” Wilson said, are the big, showy red-flowered species growing close to settlements. “Tulipa fosteriana in Uzbekistan and Tulipa praestans in Tajikistan have both been collected heavily, and both are now assessed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List,” he added.

Most commercial tulip breeding, however, depends almost entirely on cultivated varieties, so international trade in wild species isn’t large, Wilson said.

“We do note some wild material collected in recent years, possibly entering breeding without clear permits, but this is small-scale and driven by tulip fanatics rather than industry,” he added.

Some tulip species, such as T. greigii, T. kaufmanniana and T. fosteriana, are abundant in cultivation, but have become rare in the wild. The conservation goal, Wilson said, is to maintain self-sustaining populations in their natural habitats, “because those are the plants established, reproducing and surviving in nature.”

Individuals from cultivated collections and nurseries can be reintroduced to the wild, but tulips have an added complication of hybridization. Cultivated tulip varieties and wild tulip species can cross-breed easily, producing genetic combinations that never occurred naturally. Those must not be released into the wild, Wilson said.

“Reintroduction still has to be done carefully: No hybrids, good survival rates for bulbs and seed, and only into places where the original threats have actually been reduced,” he said.

Read the full interview with Brett Wilson here.

Banner image: Tulipa anadroma, a threatened species, growing in Sary-Chelek Biosphere Reserve in western Kyrgyzstan in early 2019. This protected area is the only place the species can be found. Image courtesy of Brett Wilson.

The reported death of a 28-year-old laboratory technician in eastern Siberia has triggered regional quarantines and international attention over fears of the cause of death and a lack of transparency.

According to local media reports, Darya Shipilova, a technician employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, died on Oct. 2 at a regional hospital in the nearby town of Shelekhov. She had been diagnosed with pneumonia of “unknown” origin, according to Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s public health agency.

Local Russian media reported that Shipilova told medical staff she had accidentally dropped a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples.

Rospotrebnadzor refuted claims of a biosafety reach, maintaining that tests detected no professional pathogens and there had been no complaints from other staff at the institute regarding infectious diseases in the past 10 days, Russian newspaper Kommersant reports.

Russian authorities have reportedly quarantined the hospital and anyone who came into contact with the employee, according to the Associated Press (AP).

AP also reports that Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, flew to Irkutsk for an emergency anti-epidemic meeting with the region’s Governor Igor Kobzev, who called the case a “particularly dangerous infection”.

Local media have reported that more than 60 staff members at the Anti-Plague Institute were isolated inside their workplace. Unofficial reports, including those from the independent Russian media outlet Liudi Baikala, said that nearly 200 people were placed under medical observation or isolation.

“Attention must be paid to the reported illness and death of a worker in a Siberian lab that handled dangerous pathogens,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Brown University Pandemic Center, in a statement shared with Mongabay. “Though we don’t know enough about the case to conclude it presents a broader threat, several reported details are enough to raise concerns.”

Nuzzo said that the patient’s laboratory duties at a facility with a history of handling high-consequence agents, including plague (Yersinia pestis), warrant complete transparency. “What is needed now is clear, detailed, and transparent communication from Russian health authorities,” Nuzzo stated, urging full disclosure of testing criteria and contact monitoring.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington is keeping a close watch, according to The Guardian. “I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause just to keep an eye on it,” said Rubio.

WHO representatives told CNN that the organization is in contact with Russian officials to verify diagnostic findings, assessing the immediate public health risk to the broader population as low.

Banner image: Irkutsk, the largest city in Irkutsk Oblast region in Russia, is home to the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, where the death of a laboratory technician has triggered regional quarantines and international concern. Image courtesy of © Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).