- 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.
We’ve collected a few stories that were published this week by other news outlets.
Tropical forests
Major funders such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have shied away from supporting the Batang Toru hydropower project in Indonesia over environmental concerns, but Chinese donors may step up (BFM Malaysia).
Ahead of Sunday’s election in Cambodia, conservationists have raised concern about the uptick in logging (Phnom Penh Post).
Thousands of years ago, farmers changed the makeup of the Amazon, new research shows (University of Exeter/Phys.Org).
Deforestation in the northern Amazon could trigger a cascade of rainfall pattern changes across South America (Heriot-Watt University/Phys.Org).
The canopies of tropical forests are warming more quickly than air temperatures, a study finds, which could be harmful to forest health (Florida State University/EurekAlert).
Deforestation could soon turn tropical forests into a net source of carbon, hampering efforts to limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (University of Edinburgh/EurekAlert).
A new investigation highlights charcoal’s role in deforestation (BBC News).
New research documents the perils of the peace treaty in Colombia to the country’s rainforests (University of Cambridge/Science Daily ).
Swapping out land for companies that have restored forest in Indonesia could lead to more deforestation, researchers say (AP/Tampa Bay Times).
Nestlé offers new promise to protect rainforests, after regaining RSPO membership (Sault Online).
What role can monitoring by civil society groups play in rooting out corruption in forest conservation? (Voices for Transparency).
The evidence showing that deforestation shifts global water cycles is mounting (Yale e360).
New images document the continuing cost of gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon (Wired).
Other news
Mountaintop coal mining is still happening in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern U.S. (Duke University/Phys.Org).
Growing enough food for the global population by 2050 is possible, but we’ll have to make different choices, scientists say (Lancaster University/EurekAlert).
A new survey analysis demonstrates that the U.S. Endangered Species Act has robust support (Michigan Technological University/EurekAlert).
As the climate changes, species could seek refuge in microclimates, researchers find (University of York/EurekAlert).
As the Mekong Delta changes, a new study outlines a potential crisis for millions of people who depend on the region’s soil and water (University of Illinois/EurekAlert).
Leaders in the U.S. could roll back protections on marine monuments off the East Coast and allow fishing (Science Magazine).
Humans drive animals to map out a “landscape of fear” of safe and risky places to be (The Atlantic).
Climate change could lead to thousands of additional suicides in the next three decades, a study shows (The Atlantic).
Survival of the stickiest: Caribbean hurricanes weed out lizards that can’t cling as strongly to trees (The Atlantic).
An international court tells the U.S. government to stop importing gillnet-caught fish from Mexico to help protect the vaquita, a critically endangered porpoise that lives in the Gulf of California (Los Angeles Times).
Scientists express concern that seismic testing for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could harm wildlife (The Guardian).
Diamond giant De Beers is backing the relocation of 200 elephants from South Africa to Mozambique to replenish the population there (Reuters).
Yangtze porpoise numbers continue to slide, the Chinese government says (Reuters).
In vitro fertilization could succeed in saving the northern white rhino, but the odds are long (The Economist).
Scientists uncover rare black coral living in the northern Atlantic Ocean near Ireland (BBC News).
A $2 billion hydropower dam inside one of Africa’s largest game reserves could create winners and losers in Tanzania (Ozy).
The U.S.’s NOAA lays out 12 surprising facts about sharks (NOAA Fisheries).
Banner image of a Yangtze finless porpoise by Yohkawa (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
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