- 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
A new investigation suggests that carbon assets aren’t helping to control climate change (ProPublica).
More people in Asia than in Europe are aware of the diversity of life on Earth, according to a recent report (EnviroNews Nigeria).
Bonobo mothers aim to boost their sons’ mating prowess, a new study has found (The Atlantic).
A Brazilian minister says the Amazon Fund, aimed at backing initiatives to halt deforestation, isn’t effective (The Washington Post).
An indigenous community in Paraguay is mapping its lands to protect them from deforestation (Reuters).
Other news
A panel of researchers is in favor of officially naming the current period of geologic time the Anthropocene (Nature).
Botswana, which has more elephants than any other country in Africa, has lifted a ban on hunting them (The Hill).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is changing its calculus on the health effects of air pollution, which critics say could make coal-burning power plants appear less noxious (The New York Times).
Hunters took more than six times as many hawksbill sea turtles between 1844 and 1992 than previously thought (Hakai Magazine).
More carbon in the ecosystem translates into a healthier environment for the species that live there (CIFOR Forests News).
Tanzania’s ban on most plastic bags starts June 1 (The East African).
Could converting methane into carbon dioxide, a less potent greenhouse gas, help address climate change? (Los Angeles Times)
A study has found the source of chemicals destructive to the ozone layer in China (The Washington Post, The New York Times).
Temperate rainforests in the U.S.’s Pacific Northwest are at higher risk of catching fire as a drought continues (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
A former head of the U.S.’s nuclear agency says energy efforts should focus on renewables like wind and solar, not fission-based plants (The Washington Post).
Europe’s Green Party candidates hope to do well in the election, through May 26 (Reuters).
Belugas in Alaska aren’t recovering, puzzling scientists (Hakai Magazine).
The Rockefeller Foundation shuttered its “100 Resilient Cities” plan, calling into question the reliance on philanthropy to bolster climate resilience (Undark).
Small, bottom-dwelling fish appear to anchor coral reef ecosystems (The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times).
Warmer waters have shifted the main food source of endangered North Atlantic right whales, helping to explain the observed dip in their numbers (The New York Times).
The world’s drylands could face a sizeable loss of species, according to the recent report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Forbes).
The World Health Organization plans to officially recognize traditional Chinese medicine, worrying conservationists about its inclusion of wildlife-sourced remedies (EIA International).
Banner image of a bonobo by John C. Cannon/Mongabay.
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