Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon biome fell by 23.5% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a new report from MapBiomas, a Brazil-based land-use mapping project.

Reductions in deforestation were recorded across the board in all of Brazil’s biomes, culminating in a 21% nationwide decrease in forest loss. In total, nearly 985,000 hectares (2.4 million acres) of forested land was cut down in 2025, the report found. Of this, 289,478 hectares (715,315 acres) was deforested in the Amazon.

The decline in deforestation likely reflects a combination of stronger environmental enforcement, improved satellite monitoring and growing market demands for sustainable production, Nathalia Crusco, a researcher with MapBiomas, wrote to Mongabay.

Only 5% of deforested land overlapped with enforcement actions or clearing authorizations in 2019, compared with 65% over the 2019-2025 period, she added, based on MapBiomas data.

Deforestation also fell by nearly 17% in the Cerrado savanna, where agriculture expansion is most aggressive. More than half of the Cerrado’s native vegetation has already been cleared. And while the rate of deforestation in the Cerrado declined, the majority of forest clearing in Brazil, 55%, took place in the Cerrado savanna, the report said.

Much of the reduction in deforestation was within Indigenous territories. Clear-cut deforestation on Indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 25% in 2025, according to a technical memo shared with Mongabay by Brazil’s Indigenous agency, Funai. Funai’s Remote Monitoring Center compiled the recent report. A total of 30,128 hectares (74,450 acres) of clear-cutting on Indigenous land was recorded last year, compared to 40,178 hectares (99,280 acres) in 2024.

“We’ve verified a significant reduction,” the authors of the report wrote. “The [clear-cutting deforestation] 2025 data are the lowest since 2016.”

Despite the overall decline, sharp increases were recorded on some Indigenous lands. In the Batelão Indigenous territory, in the state of Mato Grosso, clear-cut deforestation increased by roughly 10,000%, from around 5.5 hectares (13 acres) in 2024 to more than 567 hectares (1,400 acres) in 2025.

In December 2025, one of the leaders of the Batelão territory told Mongabay that Indigenous people could not access their land, that it had been taken over by soy, cotton and corn farms, as well as pastures.

“We want Terra Batelão back. We are fighting for it, but there are only promises — and so far, nothing,” Indigenous representative Porokó Kayabi told Mongabay Brasil.

In the Pantanal, the world’s largest and most biodiverse wetland, deforestation fell by nearly half between 2024 and 2025, and nearly 80%, if compared to 2023 levels. MapBiomas satellite monitoring detected around 12,260 hectares (30,300 acres) of deforested land in the Pantanal biome in 2025, an area slightly larger than the city of Barcelona in Spain.

Much of the Pantanal deforestation in 2024 can be traced back to huge wildfires that scorched habitat for jaguars (Panthera onca), hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) and caimans, among many more species.

Banner image: Soy plantations amid savanna vegetation in Maranhão state, Brazil. Image courtesy of Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil.

Common medications that billions of people take for ailments like pain, fever and infections were detected in several sites along Djibouti’s Gulf of Tadjourah in East Africa, according to a recent study.

Researchers found that untreated urban wastewater contained dangerous concentrations of anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen, caffeine, and the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine, which were contaminating Djibouti’s coastal ecosystem. They also detected the presence of levofloxacin, an anti-tuberculosis antibiotic, and 12 other pharmaceutical and personal care compounds.

The Gulf of Tadjourah is an important marine biodiversity hotspot that is home to coral reefs, mangroves and fish nurseries. Djibouti City, home to more than 70% of the country’s population, borders the gulf.

“One particularly surprising finding was the relatively high ecological risk associated with some common everyday pharmaceuticals, especially ibuprofen and caffeine,” lead author of the study Abdillahi Elmi Adaneh, an environmental chemist at the regional Observatory for Research on the Environment and Climate (ORREC) in Djibouti, told Mongabay by email.

“These compounds are often perceived as ‘ordinary’ substances, yet they were among the main contributors to ecological risk in the coastal waters we studied,” he added.

Ibuprofen was among the most concerning substances detected, Adaneh said. At one sampling site, where urban and hospital wastewater are dumped in the water, the team found ibuprofen concentrations hundreds of times higher than levels considered safe for aquatic organisms.

“[Ibuprofen] can disrupt several biological functions in marine organisms, including reproduction, growth, enzymatic activity, and physiological responses,” Adaneh said. “Invertebrates, fish, and algae are particularly sensitive to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.”

Researchers wrote that caffeine, which was detected in all the sampling sites, is widely used as an indicator of pollution from domestic wastewater. They also noted the combined effects of these contaminants are even more concerning than their individual effects.

The study is one of the few of its kind to be carried out in East Africa. However, pollution from medicines has been a growing concern globally, especially as many of these compounds can have long-lasting effects in marine organisms. A global study published in 2022 found evidence of pharmaceutical pollution even in remote locations like Antarctica.

Researchers highlighted wastewater treatment as a solution to preventing pharmaceutical pollution in marine environments; according to the U.N., just 11% of domestic wastewater is treated in Djibouti.

In Marseille, a city on the southern coast of France, species like neptune grass (Posidonia oceanica) and salema porgy (Sarpa salpa) were able to bounce back after the city introduced a wastewater treatment plant in 1987.

“Discharges of untreated urban and hospital wastewater are turning Djibouti’s coastal waters into a chemical cocktail that poses a high ecological risk,” Adaneh said. “It is a problem that makes Djibouti a cautionary tale for many low- and middle-income countries.”

Banner image: From left to right, Tannwir Sagid Abdoul-Bari, Ismael Said Ismael, Mahamoud Ali Chirdon and Abdillah Elmi Adaneh collect water samples in Djibouti. Image courtesy of Abdillah Elmi Adaneh.

Every April, eastern Nepal’s Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale region sees a rush of tourists, arriving for the vibrant spring bloom of rhododendrons, the country’s national flower. The flowers have now become more than a photo backdrop; they’re part of a new, unregulated market  for a “souvenir:” Unlicensed rhododendron liquor. Sold openly in reused bottles with handwritten labels, the rhododendron alcohol market operates without health testing, official tracking or sustainability monitoring, Mongabay contributor Mukesh Pokhrel reports.

The Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) region is home to at least 26 species of rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.). It has seen a massive post-pandemic tourism surge, with local officials estimating 500,000 visitors arrived from April 1-15 this year.

For some families, the seasonal sale of flower-based alcohol provides supplemental income. “Tourists want something unique from here,” said Denga Lama, a resident who produces the liquor at their home. “People buy the alcohol because it reminds them of the flowers and mountains.”

Forests within the TMJ region, where rhododendron plants occur, are largely managed as community forests. Nepal’s conservation laws prohibit commercial harvesting from community forests without approval. However, legal ambiguity regarding rhododendrons grown in private gardens has left officials uncertain about enforcement.

When asked about bottled rhododendron liquor, Division Forest Officer Megh Raj Rai told Mongabay it was the first time he had heard about it. Rai said that if the liquor is being produced at large scales, the lack of oversight poses potential public health risks.

Certain rhododendron species contain grayanotoxins, neurotoxins that can potentially be fatal; although, the risks depend on what part of the plant is consumed and its preparation. Moreover, not all species carry the same amounts of toxins and hybridization between species may produce plants with undetermined toxin levels. The souvenir rhododendron liquor bottles haven’t undergone laboratory safety testing for toxins, Pokhrel reported.

Botanist and biodiversity researcher Kamal Maden warned that the commercialization of these flowers could have long-term ecological impacts. While community forest groups fine tourists for plucking flowers, there is little oversight of commercial-scale harvesting for alcohol production.

“The local administration should investigate where the flowers are coming from and whether harvesting levels are sustainable,” Maden told Mongabay.

Rhododendron plants are already under pressure from climate change, which is shifting blooming cycles due to prolonged droughts and late snowfall, according to Indra Bahadur Khadka, chairperson of the Chaite Community Forest in Tehrathum, a district in eastern Nepal. Research from the western Himalayas has recorded significant shifts in rhododendron blooming times linked to warming temperatures.

Maden said the TMJ region is already dealing with waste, flower picking and unmanaged visitor pressure. “There should first be a clear conservation management plan before expanding tourism infrastructure further,” Maden said. “Otherwise, we risk increasing pressure faster than local communities and forests can handle.”

Read the full story by Mukesh Pokhrel here.

Banner image: Rhododenrdron flowers in bloom. Image by Nirmal Dulal via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

A large property containing a unique wetland system in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin was transferred into long-term Indigenous ownership in 2026 for conservation.

The 33,000-hectare (81,545-acre) property contains most of the Great Cumbung Swamp, located at the end of the Lachlan River in the state of New South Wales. The swamp has a mix of open water and reed beds, bordered by river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) woodlands, and is an important habitat for waterbirds, frogs, fish and reptiles.

The Nari Nari Tribal Council (NNTC), an Indigenous conservation land management organization, purchased the property in January 2026 following joint fundraising efforts by the conservation NGO The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and NNTC. James Fitzsimons of TNC recently wrote about the sale of the property in Oryx.

Fitzsimons told Mongabay by email that the Great Cumbung Swamp “acts a refuge when the rest of the landscape is dry,” He added that it supports threatened species such as the Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) and the southern bell frog (Litoria raniformis). Each year, approximately 11,500 waterbirds visit the swamp.

The wetland is not only of local, state and national significance, but has been evaluated to be listed as a Ramsar wetland of international significance, Fitzsimons said.

The property had experienced decades of logging and cattle grazing. In 2019, TNC and the Tiverton Agricultural Impact Fund jointly purchased it to prevent future agricultural intensification and further degradation of the ecosystem.

Fitzsimons said grazing pressures have reduced since the purchase. This, combined with natural flooding, has led to significant recovery of the vegetation and biodiversity within the property, he added. “Previously water stressed mature [river red gum] trees have rebounded with new growth and the extensive reed beds have benefited from reduced grazing pressure,” Fitzsimons said.

The two organizations bought the property to achieve conservation goals while generating revenue, but this model was “challenged due to record-breaking floods between 2020 and 2023,” Fitzsimons said. So, they decided to sell the property with the goal of “securing long-term conservation outcomes,” he added.

Following the purchase in 2026, NNTC has committed to the permanent legal protection of 16,000 hectares (39,537 acres) of the property, which will conserve the high value wetland and the surrounding riverine corridor, Fitzsimons said. He added the “NNTC have indicated they are keen to improve the ecological health of the whole property.”

The NNTC already manages areas adjoining the property for conservation, including the Gayini Conservation Area and the Toogimbie Indigenous Protected Area, according to its website.

“This milestone strengthens our stewardship of this landscape and supports ongoing culturally-led conservation for future generations,” Jamie Woods, chair of NNTC, said in a statement. “Our approach will ensure the ecological health, biodiversity protection, and landscape-scale restoration outcomes that this unique environment requires.”

Banner image: The Great Cumbung Swamp in 2019 (left) and 2022 (right). Images by James Fitzsimons (left) and Matt Davis (right) (CC BY 4.0).

Correction (2026-06-12): The article has been edited to reflect that NNTC has committed to the legal protection of 16,000 hectares of the property. A previous version of the article noted the legal protection had already been received.  

A field experiment in Kenya shows that dung beetles disappear when the African elephants they depend on for their fecal food and shelter also vanish locally. This is the first time that coextinction, the disappearance of one species leading directly to the extinction of another species, has been demonstrated in a large-scale field experiment, according to a recent study.

In 2008, the researchers built a set of 10,000-square-meter (2.4 acres) exclosures in Mpala, Kenya. The exclosures were a fenced area of natural savanna habitat that kept out certain animals. Some exclosures kept out elephants, simulating what would happen if elephants went extinct from the landscape.

The research focused on the connection between elephants and dung beetles, which bury and consume the feces of larger animals. Dung beetles provide an essential ecosystem service of ensuring feces doesn’t pile up to contaminate the land and water, which reduces the density of biting flies. The beetles also help with nutrient cycling, which keeps the soil and ecosystems thriving. 

The researchers set out to see if removing elephant dung would affect the dung beetle community, and if it could lead to coextinction of some dung beetle species.

The scientists, led by researcher Finote Gijsman, measured the dung preferences of 179 Kenyan dung beetle species and found that dung beetles love elephant dung. The team used modeling to predict that when elephants became locally extinct within the enclosures, 28% of dung beetle species would go extinct along with them.

Their prediction was very close: 23% fewer dung beetle species and 67% fewer individual dung beetles were found in the areas without elephants following the 15-year experiment. The same area also showed impaired dung decomposition and seed dispersal; ecosystem services that healthy dung beetle populations perform in the savanna ecosystem.

The results show elephants are a true keystone species, and critical for ecosystem function, the study found.

“The main message I hope our paper highlights is that ecosystems are deeply interconnected, and that all organisms play an important role, so changes to or impacts in one component can ripple through the ecosystem with effects that are much greater than the loss of an individual species,” Gijsman told Mongabay in an email.

“I hope that people who care about elephants come away with an even deeper appreciation of their ecological importance, not just as iconic animals, but as species that structure and shape entire ecosystems. Protecting elephants means also protecting the many smaller species that depend on them,” Gijsman said.

Owen Lewis and Eleanor Slade, biologists not involved in the research, said in a commentary that the study “also highlights the vulnerability of dung beetles and adds to growing concerns about the decline of insect populations.”

 Banner image: African elephants in Tanzania.  Image by Rhett Butler, Mongabay.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. meteorologists say an El Nino has formed. That’s the natural warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather around the globe. It is likely to a major factor in extreme and deadly weather across the planet for the next year or so. The one announced Thursday is expected to rival the record and costly 1997-1998 El Nino. It is usually strongest in the wintertime, and it makes it incredibly likely that 2027 will set a record for the hottest year globally. The United Nations secretary-general says El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world.

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press 

Banner image: Joe Chyuwei, right, Addison Black, front center, James Black, front left, and back row from left, Helen Chyuwei, Jameson Black, Grace Chyuwei and Grayson Black watch the sunset in the heat at Zabriskie Point, Aug. 3, 2025, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. Image courtesy of John Locher via Associated Press.