- 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.
- Mongabay does not vet the news sources below, nor does the inclusion of a story on this list imply an endorsement of its content.
Tropical forests
The governor of Nigeria’s Cross River state plans to move forward with the construction of a highway despite the economic, environmental and social costs (Sahara Reporters).
A peatland technique for making biofuel could help people co-exist with Sumatran elephants in Indonesia (CIFOR Forests News).
A multinational crew helped extinguish a fire in one of Ethiopia’s cloud forests (Africa News).
Gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo imitate their guards in a selfie (BBC News).
Madagascar’s lemurs and the forests they inhabit struggle in the face of surging poaching (Daily Times).
Tanzania has made a $310 million down payment for the construction of a hydropower dam inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Reuters).
Scientists have discovered two new species of bird in Indonesia (Haaretz).
Other news
Businesses are exploring a way to siphon carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to tackle climate change (The Washington Post).
Polluted drinking water, not climate change, is the threat that most worries people in the U.S. (Newsweek).
The disparity between the rich and poor has been exacerbated by climate change (Pacific Standard, The New York Times).
New research finds that Greenland’s loss of ice due to warmer temperatures is accelerating (The Atlantic, The Washington Post).
Fish raised in hatcheries don’t produce as many offspring as those that grow up in the wild (Hakai Magazine).
The author of a new book on climate change draws hope from past examples of humans solving problems on a global scale (Climate Change News).
Rollbacks of policies that halted coal mining in the U.S. by President Donald Trump’s Interior Department were illegal, a judge rules (The New York Times).
A science writer argues that it’s time to revive the Gaia Hypothesis and the interconnectivity of life it entails (The New York Times).
Polly Higgins, a lawyer who campaigned for laws against “ecocide,” has died (The Guardian).
Pennsylvania has a new state amphibian in the eastern hellbender (NPR) …
… But authorities have decided to keep it off the endangered species list (Citizen Times).
Scientists have sequenced the genome of the California redwood, the tallest trees on Earth (Mendovoice).
A surging pet craze is threatening Asian small-clawed otters in the wild (The New York Times).
The numbers of turtles nesting on Nicaragua’s beaches have dropped off sharply (The Guardian).
Wealthy falconers are being allowed to hunt a rare species of bustard in Pakistan (The Economist).
North Korea faces a deforestation crisis (Scientific American).
Banner image of an Asian small-clawed otter at Australia’s Melbourne Zoo by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos via Wikimedia Commons (GFDL 1.2).
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