- There are many important conservation and environmental stories Mongabay isn’t able to cover.
- Here’s a digest of some of the significant developments from the week.
- If you think we’ve missed something, feel free to add it in the comments.
Tropical forests
A government agency in Indonesia aims to restore peatlands and help communities (CIFOR Forests News).
Planting cocoa trees could help farmers and ranchers avoid further deforestation in the Amazon (Reuters).
Leeches help scientists assess the array of species present in forests (The New York Times).
CITES finds that some reptiles and amphibians sold as “captive bred” are actually captured from the wild (The New York Times).
Pollution appears to be changing the chemistry of the air in the Amazon (Phys.Org).
Habitat loss killed most of the koalas that died in recent years in Queensland, Australia (The Guardian).
The proliferation of wildlife on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi happened more recently than scientists previously estimated, according to a new study (Phys.Org).
Other news
Sperm whale succumbs to 29 kilograms (64 pounds) of trash in its gut, according to an autopsy (The New York Times).
Animals’ “charismatic” status may increase their risk of extinction, a new study finds (PLOS Biology/EurekAlert).
Increased snowfall in Antarctica over past 200 years isn’t enough to compensate for the sea-level rise caused by melting ice (BBC News).
Now a different dodo, a small pigeon in the South Pacific, is facing extinction due to hunting (The Guardian).
Scientists debate the danger that climate change poses to polar bears, and denialists use the discord to sow doubt (The New York Times).
New research suggests that as mountains erode, they release climate-warming gases (Science Magazine).
In a bid to save dugongs, conservation groups are trying to set up a sanctuary free of fishing nets on the Great Barrier Reef (The Guardian).
A leak in South Dakota’s Keystone pipeline in November may have been twice as large as originally thought (Reuters).
Rising temperatures are causing glaciers in Alaska to melt faster than they have in 400 years, according to new research (Phys.Org).
Food maker Nestlé aims to use only recyclable plastic packaging by 2025 (Reuters).
Indonesian authorities seize an illegal fishing boat with 600 gillnets on board (Reuters).
Mentions of human role in climate change erased from Trump administration reports (Mother Jones).
Mississippi River Delta in serious danger from rising sea levels (The Washington Post).
Coral bleaching taxes anemones and the clownfish that depend on them (The New York Times).
Banner image of a koala in Australia by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.