As biodiversity on Earth faces rapid decline, scientists are advocating for a new conservation approach: Save habitat for primates and protect countless other species along with them.

For long, conservation efforts and funding have prioritized umbrella species such as tigers and giant pandas on the basis that protecting the vast areas they depend on can help protect other wildlife that live in the same ecosystems.

A 2025 study found that monkeys, apes and other charismatic primates are potential “umbrella species” as well. They, too, often require large tracts of healthy habitat to survive. And by safeguarding the vast territories these animals need, countless other wildlife that share their ecosystem would also be protected, researchers say.

The researchers analyzed the habitats of 16 primate species across China’s biodiverse Yunnan province. They also examined the ranges of 601 species of threatened and endemic mammals, amphibians, birds and reptiles, as well as 4,010 species of seed plants found in Yunnan. Their analysis showed that if just 30% of Yunnan were designated a primate conservation priority area, 86% of the animals and 72% of the seed plants would have about a third of their habitats protected.

Protecting that area would also protect for more than half of the provinces’ annual carbon storage, the study found.

Conservation groups elsewhere, too, have advocated for protecting the habitats of charismatic primate species as a way to extend protection to several other species. For example, the nonprofit Rainforest Trust has sought to protect habitats of the critically endangered Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which it says will then help safeguard habitats of more than 11,000 species. Similarly, according to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, protecting habitats of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) could help protect an estimated 20,000 species across the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.

Primates “are charismatic which helps greatly with fundraising and advocacy and a role as flagships,” Tim Davenport, Africa director at the U.S.-based nonprofit Re:wild, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Mongabay by email. “But equally they have a significant role in forest habitats, both as prey for higher groups but as vital seed dispersers through frugivory. Significantly, the reverse is true, a forest in decline is often characterised by the loss of its primates first.”

“Protecting wild populations of large vertebrates is a great way to protect so much more,” Amy B. McEuen, author of the new book How to Think Like an Ecologist, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Mongabay in an email.

“The umbrella approach is very practical as a conservation tool,” Davenport said. “Its limitations are more a function of governance and human behaviour than the concept itself.”

Banner image: The black-and-white snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) is found in Yunnan, China. Image by Rod Waddington via Flickr. (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Over the past two decades, Belize lost around 20% of its forest cover — more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres). Much of it is the result of agricultural expansion by Mennonites, the conservative Christian denomination that arrived in the country more than six decades ago.

To understand the corporate machinery that’s allowed the Mennonites to expand so quickly, often outbidding private landowners and environmental groups trying to protect the rainforest, a Mongabay investigation conducted extensive interviews and reviewed dozens of land records.

The investigation found a unique system of strategic land titling and pooled financial resources, with communities consolidating numerous properties under a single corporation or church entity.

“[Mennonite communities] pride themselves on being more autonomous,” Elma Kay, chair of the board of directors of the nonprofit Maya Forest Corridor Trust, told Mongabay during the investigation. “They’re very efficient at managing their finances, harnessing those to acquire more land as a community, as a collective.”

Many Mennonite communities live without modern technology, rejecting electricity and other conveniences. At the same time, some have adopted heavy machinery for agriculture, helping them become one of the leading national producers of crops and poultry.

In the process, they’ve consolidated hundreds of thousands of hectares of land under single corporations and church entities. Individual Mennonites and their families are issued certificates to occupy the land by community leadership, rather than a traditional title.

With the certificate, the land can be transferred within the community without being legally bought or sold, leaving development largely off the public record. The system also ensures the land remains under community control, never sold away to non-Mennonite residents.

The Spanish Lookout Community Trust Corporation Ltd., for example, controls 42,100 hectares (104,000 acres) of land. The consolidation process started in the early 2000s, records show.

In the Blue Creek community, the consolidation process is still underway, with thousands of hectares throughout the community being transferred to the Blue Creek Mennonite Church as recently as 2023.

“We’re consolidating that all into one title so that it’s less hassle keeping it up to date,” Blue Creek Mayor John Krahn told Mongabay.

Large, collective land titles allow Mennonites to expand more easily than other Belizeans, tapping communal resources without having to go through banks or other lenders, the investigation found. They can also get financing through community credit unions, such as Blue Creek Credit Union and Spanish Lookout Credit Union.

Mennonite community leaders and real estate agencies told Mongabay expansion will continue, and there are large properties they hope to purchase in the future, while adding they respect the environment.

However, conservationists said they’re concerned about how Mennonite expansion will impact Belize’s forests.

“As a conservationist, to hear more and more of these statements [about expansion], I think it becomes more alarming, and one starts to ask more questions,” WCS terrestrial conservation director Boris Arevalo told Mongabay.

Read the full investigation by Maxwell Radwin here.

Banner image: A lumberyard in Spanish Lookout. Image by Maxwell Radwin/Mongabay.

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries.

A harpy eagle needs large trees for nesting and enough surrounding forest for its young to learn to fly. The Amazon also depends on the eagle. By controlling populations of monkeys, sloths, and other animals, the predator helps limit damage to the forest canopy. Its decline can therefore indicate broader changes in the ecosystem.

Governments often assess biodiversity by counting species. These figures are useful, although they don’t show whether an ecosystem is still functioning. A recent paper in Frontiers in Science argues that conservation policy should also track ecological processes, including predation, migration, pollination, and the movement of water and nutrients, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon.

The authors propose using the Three Global Conditions Framework, developed in 2019, to decide what different landscapes require. It divides the planet according to the degree of human influence. Large, relatively intact areas need protection from new development. Landscapes where farming and settlements coexist with nature require management that maintains ecological functions. Heavily altered areas need restoration.

The approach could help countries meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for the loss of nature to be halted and reversed by 2030. Progress varies widely among countries. The agreement is not legally binding, and national governments determine how its targets are applied.

The paper uses the term “nature positive” to describe an outcome in which ecosystems are healthier at the end of the decade than they were at its start. Measuring this will be difficult. An increase in tree cover, for example, may reveal little about whether a restored forest supports its former species or ecological relationships.

Implementation also raises political and economic questions. Conservation measures can restrict access to land, change farming practices, or impose costs on communities that contributed little to biodiversity loss. Decisions about what to protect and restore will depend partly on whose knowledge is recognized and who bears the expense.

The framework helps distinguish among landscapes and identify suitable forms of intervention. Governments will still need to turn broad targets into policies that reflect local conditions, maintain ecological functions, and allocate costs in ways that affected communities consider fair.

Read the full story by John Cannon here.

Banner image: Research shows keystone species, such as the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) pictured here with a tufted capuchin (Cebus apella), play essential roles in maintaining the health of the Amazon ecosystem. Image by Jiang Chunsheng via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Beaches in San Vicente municipality in the Philippines’ Palawan province are crucial nesting grounds for olive ridley sea turtles. But the turtles and their babies face perilous journeys on those beaches — from dogs, tourism, and increasingly severe storms and high tides.

To counter these threats, the NGO Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE) has partnered with residents to patrol the beaches and rescue turtle eggs, reports contributor Rachel Duckett for Mongabay.

In Santo Niño village, volunteers and patrollers conduct intensive night patrols covering more than 8 kilometers (5 mile) of the beach in five shifts.

When the patrollers find a nesting turtle, they protect her from dogs. When she’s done nesting, they measure her and take photographs of her before she reenters the water. These help them identify her in the future.

Then they relocate the eggs to protected hatcheries, a move researchers say is vital because nests left on the beach are almost always lost to stray dogs or flooding. Sometimes, they encounter dead nesting mothers or turtles mortally wounded by dogs. They remove eggs from those nests as well.

“In the end, even though she’s dead, at least her babies survive,” said researcher Klara Simon at LAMAVE.

In the hatcheries, the eggs are placed in nests in the sand, which the researchers check on every few hours. Baby olive ridleys (Lepidochelys olivacea) start emerging two months after the eggs are laid.

According to LAMAVE data from last season and preliminary data from this season, their hatcheries achieve a hatching success rate of approximately 75%. For comparison, on beaches untouched by predators, hatching success rates of 80% or higher are common for olive ridley nests.

Local patrollers like Jerald Mahusay, who once viewed turtle eggs as toys during his childhood, now serve as research assistants and patrol leaders. LAMAVE also engages directly with residents to manage free-roaming dogs, such as building enclosures for pets that might otherwise attack turtles and eat the eggs.

Despite the current reliance on hatcheries, project leader Kalei Suza said relocation is a temporary measure necessitated by human-induced pressures. “We still want the turtles to nest in their regular, natural place where they want to nest, because mama knows best,” Suza said, noting that the ultimate goal is for the community to take full ownership of turtle protection.

San Vicente has seen a rise in tourism over the last few years. Luxury developer Century Properties purchased 56 hectares (138 acres) of land in the municipality with plans to build a beachfront resort. Another major developer, Megaworld Corporation, has begun construction of a resort expected to cover 462 hectares (1,142 acres).

Read the full story by Rachel Duckett here.

Banner image: LAMAVE patrollers find a predated nest in Santo Niño, San Vicente, Palawan, April 2026. Image by Rachel Duckett for Mongabay.

A mountainous reserve near Manila, the Philippine capital, is a critical ecological refuge, harboring high levels of plant diversity despite its proximity to the highly urbanized city, according to a recent study.

The findings come from surveys done 10 years earlier, however, and mounting pressures on the area’s forests since then may have had an impact, the authors say.

As the last remaining natural lowland forest in Cavite province, on the southern shores of Manila Bay, Mounts Palay-palay-Mataas-na-Gulod Protected Landscape serves as a vital stronghold for Philippine biodiversity, researchers say.

In July 2016, they surveyed plants within the landscape, known as MPPMGPL. At the time, they documented 294 species of plants across the landscape’s varied habitats, from grasslands and secondary forests to old-growth stands. They found that 42 species, or 16%, are found only in the Philippines, while 31 species are classified as threatened on national or international red lists.

“The most remarkable finding is that this landscape … harbors an incredibly high concentration of biodiversity despite being so close to highly urbanized zones,” study lead author Enrico Replan, an assistant professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (IESM) at the University of the Philippines Diliman, told Mongabay by email.

The study also identified 43 species that likely represent new records for Cavite province, “filling major geographic knowledge gaps,” Replan said. Among the most significant findings was the dominance of guijo (Shorea guiso), a critically endangered tree species, in the forest’s interior core. This highlights the role of MPPMGPL as a key conservation refuge, the authors write.

While the study was only published recently, Replan told Mongabay the 2016 findings offer a baseline for this landscape; there haven’t been similar surveys since.

In the past 10 years, however, urbanization and land conversion have led to a decrease in forested areas and breached strict protection zones in the landscape. A study that used satellite imagery to examine changes in forest area from 2015 to 2021, found a 13.8% decrease in MPPMGPL due to urbanization.

The 2016 survey “showed promising resurgence of Shorea guiso” in the interior core parts of MPPMGPL, Replan said. But because dipterocarp species such as guijo are highly sensitive to local climatic changes and canopy gaps, he added that any encroachment that disturbed the forest over the last decade could easily have stalled this progress.

“This 10-year gap highlights exactly why we are calling for continuous, long-term monitoring rather than relying solely on spatial snapshots,” Replan said.

He added that stricter local policy interventions and aggressive conservation programs are urgently needed to safeguard the endemic and threatened plants in the landscape “before they are permanently fragmented or lost.”

The research team writes that establishing permanent monitoring plots would better track the functional dynamics of this ecosystem amidst climate change.

 Banner image: Enrico Replan from the, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (IESM), University of the Philippines Diliman doing fieldwork in Mounts Palay-Palay-Mataas-na-Gulod Protected Landscape. Image courtesy of Enrico Replan.

On the morning of June 27, a 7.6-meter (25-foot) blue whale calf washed ashore on a busy beach in Mumbai, India’s financial capital and the capital of Maharashtra state. Whale strandings are rare along the Maharashtra coast, so Mongabay spoke with experts to find out what happened next.

“Each stranding incident is a totally unexpected event,” N. Vasudevan, former head of Maharashtra government’s Mangrove Cell, an administrative unit that manages coastal ecosystems, told Mongabay. “You can prepare for years, but then it may not happen for years. And one fine morning, it is there on the beach.”

According to the Mangrove Foundation, a registered society established by the Maharashtra government, only six of the 109 recorded stranding incidents in 2020-21 involved whales.

Under national guidelines, the first step in any stranding involving a protected species, such as the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), is alerting the local stranding network, whose coordinator notifies the forest department, according to Shaunak Modi, director of the Coastal Conservation Foundation, which is also part of the Mumbai Stranding Response Network.

Modi said that on June 27, a lifeguard notified him about the whale calf around 9 a.m. By the time he reached the site in the Bandra coastline 30 minutes later, the young cetacean had suffered severe injuries from crashing against exposed rocks. Ultimately, police and fire department authorities at the site confirmed it had died.

Fishers and local people told Modi they had first spotted the stranded whale around 6 a.m. First responders, primarily local fishers and lifeguards, receive specialized training to inform the network immediately of these emergencies, he said.

But what happens to the dead whale? Modi said legal and practical realities clash under national law.

The blue whale is a Schedule 1 species, meaning authorities give it the highest-level protection in India. “As per the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, if any Schedule 1 species dies, it needs to be cremated,” Modi said. But the law was made with terrestrial animals in mind, he added.

“If you try to burn a whale, I can assure you it will keep burning for days, if not weeks, because it has that much oil in it. So then instead of cremating a marine mammal, they’re buried.”

The calf was buried in a Mumbai beach.

Beforehand, veterinarians collected tissue samples and conducted a necropsy under forest department supervision.

“The necropsy report is still not ready, but what we know is that it was a calf,” Modi said. “Blue whale calves stay with their mother for up to seven or eight years and are entirely dependent on her for food during the first few years. We assume it may have been separated from its mother, which caused its condition.”

Vasudevan said there are systematic hurdles in knowing the cause of death. “The experts who conduct necropsy are nonexistent in our country.”

Banner image: Stranded whale calf in Mumbai. Image courtesy of Shaunak Modi.