- 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
Beekeeping in the Amazon is improving lives and helping to stave off deforestation, according to environmentalists (The Guardian).
NGOs are fighting with local groups to halt deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Phys.Org).
Two members of a tribe engaged in defending the Amazon were killed on Dec. 7 in Brazil (The Wall Street Journal).
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro writes off young climate activist Greta Thunberg as a “brat” (The Hill) …
… While his environment minister asks for help from other countries in the fight against deforestation (The Hill) …
… And France sidesteps Brazil’s national government in favor of helping individual states protect the Amazon (The New York Times).
The fragmenting of forests hits wildlife hard in the tropics, a study has found (Earther, The New York Times).
A multi-decade project in India to secure land rights for indigenous people has won a gold prize at the World Habitat Awards (Reuters).
After a decade and a half of declines, malaria cases have plateaued, raising questions about approaches to prevention of the disease (The Economist).
The reefs at the mouth of the Amazon River are making a comeback (Hakai Magazine).
Other news
Deforestation is partly responsible for the expanding range of a disease-carrying tick in the eastern U.S. (WMTW).
A new documentary follows elephant hunters in Africa (The New York Times).
An artist is working to capture the threat of extinction through her art (The Revelator).
Lawmakers in California approve a one-year moratorium on the ability of insurers to drop customers because of the climate change-induced rise in the state’s forest fires (The New York Times).
Ship strikes of whales in the Canary Islands are on the rise in connection with a high-speed ferry service (Hakai Magazine).
Temperatures hit near-record highs in the Arctic this year, scientists say, which has led to less sea ice (The New York Times) …
… While a new report suggests that the warming Arctic region is releasing billions of tons of carbon dioxide (The Washington Post).
Conservation scientists lay out what they see as the most important stories in 2020 (Ensia/Trends in Ecology & Evolution).
Tanzania put in place the first national giraffe conservation plan as threats to giraffes rise (IPP Media).
Mimicking the flight of geese may help airplane designers in the quest to save fuel (The Economist).
Tanzania’s president signed off on East Africa’s largest national park (eTurboNews).
2019 saw the discovery of 71 species of plants and animals that were new to science (CNN).
A scientist draws parallels between racism and the way coyotes are treated in the U.S. (University of Washington Magazine).
Pigeons in Las Vegas have turned up wearing tiny cowboy hats (The New York Times).
South Africa has put out a call for a continent-wide response to climate change in Africa (EnviroNews Nigeria).
Southern Africa’s Victoria Falls has nearly dried up amid “the worst drought in a century” (The Guardian).
Oxygen levels in the world’s oceans have dropped precipitously in the past 50 years, a new report has found (The New York Times).
Safari-goers paying top dollar can get hands-on in conservation projects, like collaring elephants (The Telegraph).
Banner image of a giraffe in Tanzania by John C. Cannon/Mongabay.
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