2019 in line for second lowest Arctic sea ice extent record
High heat and conditioning throughout this year’s melt season put a hurting on Arctic sea ice, but it may still take big storms or more heat to break 2012 extent record.
Environmental headlines
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Colombia: Indigenous Yukpa besieged by deforestation and armed conflict
There is still hope in the innocent eyes of Yukpa children. They play, laugh, and jump about, despite the difficulties their people face. However, the adults’ eyes tell a different…
Mysterious plants that thrive in darkness, steal food: Q&A with botanist Kenji Suetsugu
When Kenji Suetsugu is out looking for plants in Japan’s forests, he's not looking for the usual green ones. Instead, on dark forest floors, where little light penetrates, Suetsugu painstakingly…
Connecting an island: Traveling the Pan Borneo Highway
This is the first article in our six-part series “Traveling the Pan Borneo Highway.” MIRI, Malaysia — Tucked under the sweep of green that blankets parts of Malaysian Borneo is…
Philippine eco-warrior Gina Lopez, who battled mines, dies at 65
MANILA — Gina Lopez, a former Philippine environment secretary, philanthropist and eco-warrior, died on Aug. 19 from brain cancer. She was 65. Lopez was best known for fighting against destructive…
Travel: A charmed encounter with birds-of-paradise in Papua’s Arfak Mountains
ARFAK MOUNTAINS, Indonesia — Seblon Mandacan scampers with ease up the slippery footpath through the forest in the Arfak Mountains. I follow slowly. It’s about 4 a.m. and the sky’s…
Deforestation, climate crisis could crash Amazon tree diversity: study
Combined impacts of escalating climate change and rising deforestation could result in an up to 58 percent reduction in Amazon tree species richness by 2050.
![Wild male saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) visiting a waterhole at the Stepnoi Sanctuary, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Photo credit: Andrey Giljov [CC BY-SA 4.0]](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/16183224/Saiga_antelope_at_the_Stepnoi_Sanctuary-768x512.jpg)
CITES 2019: What’s Conservation Got To Do With It? (commentary)
From August 17-28, the global community convenes in Geneva for the meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild…
![Wild male saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) visiting a waterhole at the Stepnoi Sanctuary, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Photo credit: Andrey Giljov [CC BY-SA 4.0]](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/16183224/Saiga_antelope_at_the_Stepnoi_Sanctuary-100x100.jpg)
Bid for greater protection of star tortoise, a trafficking mainstay
In March 2019, custom officials open abandoned luggage in the halls of Manila’s international airport. In June, law enforcement agents stop a car to check four trolley bags that passengers…
Madagascar: What’s good for the forest is good for the native silk industry
AMORON’I MANIA REGION, Madagascar — People in the highlands of central Madagascar have long buried their loved ones in shrouds of thick wild silk. After several years, they exhume the dead…
Norway freezes support for Amazon Fund; EU/Brazil trade deal at risk?
Unilateral changes made to the Amazon Fund by Jair Bolsonaro have caused Norway to freeze US$33.2 million slated to reduce Amazon deforestation.
In other news: Environmental stories from around the web, August 16, 2019
Tropical forests A free-trade deal between the United States and Brazil could be disastrous for the Amazon and forest communities, one commentator argues (The Hill). The continent of Africa emitted…
Asian elephant footprints serve as safe spaces for frog nurseries
While wandering through northwestern Myanmar in 2016, a group of scientists stumbled on hundreds of huge tracks in the ground. According to a new paper in the journal Mammalia, these…
Newly described giant extinct penguin and parrot once lived in New Zealand
Millions of years ago, giant birds roamed ancient New Zealand. There was the moa, an extinct flightless bird, thought to weigh up to 230 kilogram (510 pounds). Then there was…
Ekuri Initiative: Inside a Nigerian community’s battle to keep its forest
LAGOS, NIGERIA -- Surrounded by smoke-capped dense forest thick with tall, evergreen trees and wildlife, the Ekuri people in southeastern Nigeria’s Cross River state treasure the forest near their homes.…
Precision conservation: High tech to the rescue in the Peruvian Amazon
Conservation leaders join successfully with technologists to thwart artisanal gold mining and illegal logging by creating early warning systems and transparency.
Nigeria finds itself at the heart of the illegal pangolin trade
EPE, LAGOS – A babel of voices hangs in the misty air over the Oluwo bushmeat market in Epe, in Nigeria's southwestern Lagos state. Smoke curls toward women selling live…
Europe-bred rhinos join South African cousins to repopulate Rwanda park
Five eastern black rhinos translocated from European zoos to Rwanda's Akagera National Park have successfully completed an initial period of acclimatization and been moved into larger, 1-hectare (2.5-acre) enclosures. They…
From science to reporting (Insider)
When I was growing up, I always thought I would become a writer. I loved reading and writing, and excelled at both from a young age. But when I was…
Indonesia forest-clearing ban is made permanent, but labeled ‘propaganda’
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s president has made permanent a temporary moratorium on forest-clearing permits for plantations and logging. It’s a policy the government says has proven effective in curtailing deforestation, but…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Peru: Invaders claim their first victim at the Macuya Forest Investigation Center
- Forests and forest communities critical to climate change solutions
- Peru: Madre de Dios land defenders face trouble whether they report crimes or not
Indonesias forest guardians
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
- On the island of Java, a social forestry scheme creates jobs at home
- In Indonesia, bigger catches for a fishing village protecting its mangroves
Amazon infrastructure
- Yanomami Amazon reserve invaded by 20,000 miners; Bolsonaro fails to act
- Amazon infrastructure puts 68% of indigenous lands / protected areas at risk: report
- Amazon fish kill at Sinop spotlights risk from 80+ Tapajós basin dams
Asian rhinos
- Is the rhino horn trade a cartel? Economic analysis suggests it works like one
- Indonesia agrees to attempt Sumatran rhino IVF with eggs from Malaysia
- When it comes to captive breeding, not all Sumatran rhinos are equal
