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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/autumnspanne/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:07:34 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Stories produced by Autumn Spanne for Conservation news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/autumnspanne/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Leaders grapple with finance and harmful subsidies at UN’s COP17 biodiversity conference</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/leaders-grapple-with-finance-and-harmful-subsidies-at-uns-cop17-biodiversity-conference/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/leaders-grapple-with-finance-and-harmful-subsidies-at-uns-cop17-biodiversity-conference/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2026 07:07:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/31062001/DSC_9185-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334599</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Finance, and Finance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[YEREVAN, Armenia — Visitors entering the main hallway of the 2026 U.N. biodiversity conference (COP17) encounter a mural of a herd of elephants. The installation, led by the NGO Friends of the Earth International, doesn’t celebrate the gains that some elephant populations have made in recent decades. Instead, it uses the &#8220;elephants in the room&#8221; [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[YEREVAN, Armenia — Visitors entering the main hallway of the 2026 U.N. biodiversity conference (COP17) encounter a mural of a herd of elephants. The installation, led by the NGO Friends of the Earth International, doesn’t celebrate the gains that some elephant populations have made in recent decades. Instead, it uses the &#8220;elephants in the room&#8221; metaphor for the entrenched, but often-ignored financial systems that lead to widespread biodiversity destruction. &#8220;It is astounding that the global economy is spending only $1 on nature protection for each $30 that it spends on nature destruction,&#8221; said An Lambrechts, a biodiversity politics expert with Greenpeace International, at a COP17 press conference. Lambrechts was referring to a key finding from the State of Finance for Nature 2026 report from the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). WWF International&#8217;s recent Living Planet report found that populations of wild vertebrates fell by an average of 73% between 1970 and 2022. The authors tagged climate change, agriculture and — notably — the flow of money toward nature-averse industries and practices. Industrial logging in Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland province. Image by John Cannon/Mongabay. The 196 parties that adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in 2022 laid out the ambition in its Target 18 of slashing $500 billion annually from subsidies and other financial support for activities that harm biodiversity. Unsustainable fishing and industrial agriculture, for example, contribute directly to the dwindling of plant, animal and fungal life. But financial support for such “nature-negative” activities remains high — at $7.3&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/leaders-grapple-with-finance-and-harmful-subsidies-at-uns-cop17-biodiversity-conference/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334599</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World Lemur Day: How can we save these primates’ forest homes?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/world-lemur-day-how-can-we-save-these-primates-forest-homes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/world-lemur-day-how-can-we-save-these-primates-forest-homes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 23:57:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/15104055/Verreauxs-Sifaka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334597</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Hunting, Lemurs, Mammals, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 100 known species of lemurs live in Madagascar. These primates with large eyes, a pointed snout, and long bushy tails are found only in the island country, where they usually live in large groups on trees. Lemurs are one of the world’s most threatened groups of primates, under pressure from the loss of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 100 known species of lemurs live in Madagascar. These primates with large eyes, a pointed snout, and long bushy tails are found only in the island country, where they usually live in large groups on trees. Lemurs are one of the world’s most threatened groups of primates, under pressure from the loss of their habitat and hunting. On World Lemur Day, celebrated on the last Friday of October, we highlight some recent Mongabay stories about these remarkable animals. Restoring a connection between forests offers hope for lemurs In eastern Madagascar, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and the Analamazoatra Special Reserve shelter around a dozen species of lemurs, alongside an extraordinary array of other animals and plants, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Once connected by continuous rainforest, the landscape between the two parks was fractured in the 1960s, when large stretches were cleared for agriculture and cattle pasture. What remained was a patchwork of forest fragments separated by degraded land, limiting wildlife movement and threatening biodiversity. Mongabay’s Marina Martinez reported in April about how a coalition of researchers, conservationists and local communities is rebuilding the forest corridor.  Launched in 2023, the reforestation project aims to restore 150 hectares (370 acres) of native forest and reconnect these two critical habitats. Lemurs like invasive guava fruits, and that could be a problem for reforestation Restoring native forests is critical for lemurs. However, once damaged, forests in Madagascar are vulnerable to takeover by invasive guava trees, whose seeds the lemurs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/world-lemur-day-how-can-we-save-these-primates-forest-homes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334597</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The women who won&#8217;t let go: Female-led resistance to development harms across Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-who-wont-let-go-female-led-resistance-to-development-harms-across-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-who-wont-let-go-female-led-resistance-to-development-harms-across-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 23:50:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kannikar Petchkaew]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30233650/WB-women-4_banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334537</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Environment, Environmental Law, Gender, Governance, Law, Politics, Protests, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Now in her mid-70s, Sompong Viengchan has seen 16 prime ministers and 26 cabinets come and go during her fight against a dam upstream of her village. Governments change; her demand for justice remains. Since 1990, Sompong  and her neighbors along the Mun and Mekong rivers have fought relentlessly to prove that the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Now in her mid-70s, Sompong Viengchan has seen 16 prime ministers and 26 cabinets come and go during her fight against a dam upstream of her village. Governments change; her demand for justice remains. Since 1990, Sompong  and her neighbors along the Mun and Mekong rivers have fought relentlessly to prove that the 136 MW multipurpose Pak Mun Dam, co-funded by the World Bank Group and built to deliver promised prosperity, instead took their livelihoods. At a people’s tribunal in Bangkok in October, aimed at highlighting the social and environmental impacts of IMF and World Bank-funded projects, Sompong  told the story of the women-led Pak Mun Dam movement to 400 women land defenders from more than 30 nations. &#8220;Living in the village downstream with no agricultural land, we rely primarily on fishing,” Sompong  said. “Blasting rock for dam construction wiped out local fish. We faced financial ruin — investments vanished and were replaced by debt; livelihoods became impossible to sustain. Families were forced to send their children to big cities to work, and when the area flooded, the entire community had to relocate.” In 2000, the World Commission on Dams, a body established by the World Bank and IUCN, determined the dam took houses and land, or both, from around 1,700 households and that fish catches in the reservoir and directly upstream declined by  60-80%. &#8220;Building a dam is the same as burying a person alive,” Sompong said. “It doesn’t kill you right away, but it ruins your&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-who-wont-let-go-female-led-resistance-to-development-harms-across-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334537</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Given a chance, women-led microenterprises uplift Nepali communities &#038; conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/given-a-chance-women-led-microenterprises-uplift-nepali-communities-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/given-a-chance-women-led-microenterprises-uplift-nepali-communities-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 18:02:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emma White]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30164427/Spinning-Wool2_NadiaWhite_19May2026-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334507</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Cats, Conflict, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Forest Products, Forestry, Forests, Gender, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Plants, Tigers, Traditional Knowledge, Trees, Wildlife, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAYA PADAMPUR, Nepal — A spinning wheel whirs on a rooftop in Naya Padampur in south-central Nepal, sending ivory strands of yarn through Bin Maya Gurung’s practiced fingers. Smile lines crinkle at the corners of her eyes as she works. Her limbs move in synchrony with the wheel, both integral parts of the machine that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[NAYA PADAMPUR, Nepal — A spinning wheel whirs on a rooftop in Naya Padampur in south-central Nepal, sending ivory strands of yarn through Bin Maya Gurung’s practiced fingers. Smile lines crinkle at the corners of her eyes as she works. Her limbs move in synchrony with the wheel, both integral parts of the machine that ensures her family’s well-being. She’s sitting at the top of a building that houses a wool spinning enterprise, which has blossomed in the years since she learned to spin wool in the early 2000s. It’s one of many women-led microenterprises that have sprouted across the country. The past few decades have seen many women in rural Nepal venture into the business environment for the first time, as governmental regulations and societal norms started to shift. The benefits for women entrepreneurs are significant, with a 2022 study conducted in the Parbat district of Nepal showing that 96% of women involved in microenterprises felt confident in supporting their families with the money they earned. The microenterprises are also important in another way: They provide an alternative source of income to rural families, lessening their reliance on forest products such as timber. Successful women-led microenterprises — in Nepal and elsewhere — have provided a symbiosis between land and community, allowing conservation efforts to flourish while acting as a catalyst for local income generation and women’s empowerment. The growth of these microenterprises in Nepal mirrors a growing global recognition of the benefits of women’s involvement in both forests and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/given-a-chance-women-led-microenterprises-uplift-nepali-communities-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334507</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US lawmakers urge Trump administration to oppose Colombia&#8217;s Amazon aerial spraying plans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/us-lawmakers-urge-trump-administration-to-oppose-colombias-amazon-aerial-spraying-plans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/us-lawmakers-urge-trump-administration-to-oppose-colombias-amazon-aerial-spraying-plans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 17:56:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30175011/AP26302569506005-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334582</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of U.S. lawmakers is urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio not to support Colombia’s plans to restart aerial spraying of coca crops in the Amazon, warning of risks to human health and the environment. The Colombian government says spraying is needed to combat cocaine production and weaken armed groups, but critics argue the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A group of U.S. lawmakers is urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio not to support Colombia’s plans to restart aerial spraying of coca crops in the Amazon, warning of risks to human health and the environment. The Colombian government says spraying is needed to combat cocaine production and weaken armed groups, but critics argue the decades-old strategy has failed and could accelerate deforestation. The lawmakers are questioning Washington’s potential involvement and calling for alternatives that protect rural communities and the rainforest. Despite decades of U.S.-backed counternarcotics efforts, Colombia remains the world’s largest cocaine producer.  By Steven Grattan, Associated Press  Banner image: A small coca crop is visible on the outskirts of Puerto Asis, Colombia, Nov. 26, 2025. Image courtesy of Ivan Valencia, Associated Press This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/us-lawmakers-urge-trump-administration-to-oppose-colombias-amazon-aerial-spraying-plans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334582</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Aztec methods and crocodiles: How biologists are restoring mangroves in Mexico</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/aztec-techniques-and-crocodiles-how-biologists-are-restoring-mangroves-in-mexico/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/aztec-techniques-and-crocodiles-how-biologists-are-restoring-mangroves-in-mexico/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 17:05:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laura Allen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30152724/Cocodrilo4-Morelets-crocodile--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334543</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Habitat, Herps, Mangroves, Reptiles, Restoration, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2017, Omar Trujillo Santos was sitting in a small wooden boat holding a crocodile, its skin soft like a snake. He helped untie the reptile, a juvenile Morelet’s crocodile, and carefully guided it into the dark water. It swam off to find a new home in the Alvarado Lagoons System in Veracruz, southeastern Mexico, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In 2017, Omar Trujillo Santos was sitting in a small wooden boat holding a crocodile, its skin soft like a snake. He helped untie the reptile, a juvenile Morelet’s crocodile, and carefully guided it into the dark water. It swam off to find a new home in the Alvarado Lagoons System in Veracruz, southeastern Mexico, completing the final phase of a mangrove restoration project. Studies suggest Mexico, a country rich in mangroves, has experienced the highest degree of mangrove loss in the Americas. Conservation and reforestation efforts seek to reverse this loss, yet many projects fail to restore a mature forest. Seedlings and young trees too often die due to improper planting techniques or unsuitable sites. Led by REVIVE, a nonprofit that works to boost biodiversity in the region, the Veracruz project aims to restore not just trees, but the mangrove ecosystem as a whole by employing Aztec-inspired planting methods to rebuild forests and using crocodiles to help maintain them. According to REVIVE, this technique has resulted in a fully restored forest. Conservationists involved in the project say they hope this success encourages others to consider how crocodiles could be used to benefit future mangrove restoration projects. Omar Trujillo Santos stands in front of a chinampa planted with mangrove seedings grown in a nursery. Image from Soto et al., 2026 (preprint) (CC BY 4.0). An ancient technique In 2006 when biologist Aníbal Ramírez Soto began working with mangroves in the wetlands around the Alvarado lagoons, he planted mangrove seedlings in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/aztec-techniques-and-crocodiles-how-biologists-are-restoring-mangroves-in-mexico/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334543</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How citizen scientists are mapping Pune’s trees, with hopes of a greener future</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-citizen-scientists-are-mapping-punes-trees-with-hopes-of-a-greener-future/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-citizen-scientists-are-mapping-punes-trees-with-hopes-of-a-greener-future/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 16:53:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stephin Thomas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30142521/WhatsApp-Image-2026-10-26-at-23.36.38-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334527</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cities, Citizen Science, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Fellows, Mapping, Plants, Research, Science, Technology, Trees, urban ecology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUNE, India — On a quiet Saturday morning, away from the usual urban rush of Pune, citizens gather at the Madhavrao Scindia Garden along the banks of the Mula River. Out on the water, two fishers quietly navigate their boat surrounding a dense forested area on the other side of the river; the cooling shade [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[PUNE, India — On a quiet Saturday morning, away from the usual urban rush of Pune, citizens gather at the Madhavrao Scindia Garden along the banks of the Mula River. Out on the water, two fishers quietly navigate their boat surrounding a dense forested area on the other side of the river; the cooling shade and chirping birds feel like a natural alarm that you would want to listen to every day. Such a setting is increasingly rare in a bustling metropolis like Pune, where the population is estimated at 7.9 million, yet these volunteers arrive every weekend equipped with measuring tapes, smartphones and a keen curiosity to explore and document the trees in the city’s riparian zones. On this particular Saturday, a group of seven visits a city park along a riverbank, where trees stand tall against the sky. The volunteers belong to Pune River Revival, a grassroots movement formed in response to the Pune Riverfront Development Project, a large urban redevelopment plan along the Mula-Mutha rivers aimed at creating promenades, recreational spaces and infrastructure along the riverbanks. The total estimated cost of the project is around 4,727 crore rupees (about $500 million). &#8220;We started organizing the tree mapping exercise systematically in 2024,&#8221; explains Raghunandan Patil, a volunteer with the group. &#8220;While our volunteers used to do tree mapping earlier manually, at that time, the group was not well-versed in the technical details of how to map a tree properly and create thorough documentation.&#8221; Patil adds that now they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-citizen-scientists-are-mapping-punes-trees-with-hopes-of-a-greener-future/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334527</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Philippines halts U.S. e-waste imports but struggles to police customs-free zones</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/philippines-halts-u-s-e-waste-imports-but-struggles-to-police-customs-free-zones/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/philippines-halts-u-s-e-waste-imports-but-struggles-to-police-customs-free-zones/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 16:13:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Biena MagbitangGabriele Di DonfrancescoHelena Rodríguez GómezLouis Boyd-Madsen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/23181923/GP0STPYT3_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333738</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, North America, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[E-waste, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, International Trade, Pollution, Trade, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After months of scrutiny, the Philippines has closed its doors to electronic waste from the United States, ending, for now, a stream of shipments that environmental groups have tracked since March 2025. This move marks the clearest government response yet to controversy over suspected U.S. e-waste shipments entering the Philippines via the Subic Bay freeport, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After months of scrutiny, the Philippines has closed its doors to electronic waste from the United States, ending, for now, a stream of shipments that environmental groups have tracked since March 2025. This move marks the clearest government response yet to controversy over suspected U.S. e-waste shipments entering the Philippines via the Subic Bay freeport, with environmental groups questioning whether cargoes were being properly screened and regulated. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) told Mongabay on Oct. 12 the restriction is not a new U.S.-specific ban. Instead, it said, the policy, which was publicly announced on Sept. 22, will see customs officials enforcing existing rules under the Basel Convention. The convention, an international treaty governing cross-border waste shipments, prohibits e-waste imports from the five countries that are not parties to the treaty — including the United States. Michael Drake Matias, who heads the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau, said customs has stopped allowing waste shipments from all nonparty countries to be unloaded at Philippine ports. Aerial photo obtained by the Basel Action Network on April 27, 2026 of the discarded electronics piling up outside of Jack Electronics, one of the recovery facilities northeast of Subic Bay. Photo credit: Basel Action Network, 2026. Customs-free zones? It remains unclear whether the reinforced restriction resolves a broader enforcement problem created by a 2025 Manila court ruling that disrupted normal pre-shipment controls in the Subic Bay freeport. The case began in 2024, when the customs bureau held shipments belonging to three recycling companies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/philippines-halts-u-s-e-waste-imports-but-struggles-to-police-customs-free-zones/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/philippines-halts-u-s-e-waste-imports-but-struggles-to-police-customs-free-zones/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333738</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After Botswana, Nepal tries artificial scent marking to fend big cats off villages</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/after-botswana-nepal-tries-artificial-scent-marking-to-fend-big-cats-off-villages/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/after-botswana-nepal-tries-artificial-scent-marking-to-fend-big-cats-off-villages/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 14:45:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Deepak Adhikari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30131038/leopard-nepal-zoo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334483</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Botswana, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Biology, Buffer Zones, Cats, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Human-wildlife Conflict, Leopards, low-tech, Mammals, Predators, Research, Science, Snow Leopards, Technology, Tigers, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — In March 2025, a tiger followed a forest trail through Nepal’s Khata Corridor until it reached a small iron stake next to the path. Attached to it was a dispenser releasing a laboratory-made version of a chemical found in the scent markings big cats use to mark their territory and communicate with other [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — In March 2025, a tiger followed a forest trail through Nepal’s Khata Corridor until it reached a small iron stake next to the path. Attached to it was a dispenser releasing a laboratory-made version of a chemical found in the scent markings big cats use to mark their territory and communicate with other cats. A camera trap recorded the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) approaching the station. The curious cat investigated the smell and then stopped, one of multiple instances of tigers and leopards coming up to these scent stations and then turning back the way they came. These encounters offer an early glimpse into an international experiment seeking to harness big cats’ territorial instinct in order to keep them away from livestock, farms and human settlements. But researchers caution that a tiger turning away from an experimental station is not yet solid evidence that the method can prevent livestock attacks. “It’s a long way from proving that — and we don’t claim otherwise,” said Martin Gilbert, a wildlife veterinarian, epidemiologist and associate professor at Cornell University in the U.S. who helped bring the research to Nepal. “At this stage, we’re asking a more fundamental question: Can these compounds reliably alter a predator’s behavior?” A woman with her goats in the buffer area in Bardiya. Image by Tulsi Rauniyar for Mongabay. Across Nepal’s buffer-zone settlements, encounters with tigers, leopards and snow leopards have led communities to use electric fences, flashing lights and other deterrents to protect livestock and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/after-botswana-nepal-tries-artificial-scent-marking-to-fend-big-cats-off-villages/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/after-botswana-nepal-tries-artificial-scent-marking-to-fend-big-cats-off-villages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334483</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Angola designates Serra do Pingano as a protected area amid rapid forest loss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/angola-designates-serra-do-pingano-as-a-protected-area-amid-rapid-forest-loss/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/angola-designates-serra-do-pingano-as-a-protected-area-amid-rapid-forest-loss/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 13:12:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Tjyakala]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30131118/i.-Serra-do-Pingano_Angola_logged1_c_Raffael-Ernst_SGN-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334509</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Dry Forests, Elephants, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The last large tracts of forest in Serra do Pingano, in northern Angola, are disappearing rapidly, leaving the landscape increasingly bare. Over the past two decades, central Serra do Pingano lost 43% of its original forest cover, while the wider Serra do Pingano Forest Ecosystem (SPFE) lost 21%, equivalent to 536 square kilometers (207 square [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The last large tracts of forest in Serra do Pingano, in northern Angola, are disappearing rapidly, leaving the landscape increasingly bare. Over the past two decades, central Serra do Pingano lost 43% of its original forest cover, while the wider Serra do Pingano Forest Ecosystem (SPFE) lost 21%, equivalent to 536 square kilometers (207 square miles) of forest. The findings appeared in Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution earlier this year. Two of the paper&#8217;s authors are Angolan. Signed by 11 researchers from multiple institutions, the study serves both as an urgent warning and as a call to action to protect what remains of the vanishing forest. After years of appeals, the Angolan government established the Serra do Pingano Conservation Area in April. Located in Uíge province, the SPFE encompasses several densely forested mountain ranges of high biological value. Pingano forms an ecological transition zone between tropical rainforest and miombo savanna, bringing together elements of western Central African forests and species and evolutionary lineages associated with southern and eastern Africa. It also shelters some of Angola&#8217;s last remaining tropical forest south of the Congo River. The Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution study brings together evidence from years of research into the SPFE. One of its co-authors spoke with Mongabay. Thea Lautenschläger, a German ethnobotanist specializing in northern Angola and scientific director of the Botanical Garden of Hamburg, described the threats facing the forest and the species that depend on it. “It is difficult to say to what extent our work directly influenced the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/angola-designates-serra-do-pingano-as-a-protected-area-amid-rapid-forest-loss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334509</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A historic land restitution process offers new hope for Botswana&#8217;s Indigenous San</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-historic-land-restitution-process-offers-new-hope-for-botswanas-indigenous-san/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-historic-land-restitution-process-offers-new-hope-for-botswanas-indigenous-san/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 09:33:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30082944/IMG_7790-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334343</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Botswana, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two decades after winning a landmark court case against their forced removal from ancestral lands in Botswana&#8217;s Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Indigenous San communities may finally be closer to securing broader, legally protected rights to the land they have called home for generations. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve was established in 1961 both to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two decades after winning a landmark court case against their forced removal from ancestral lands in Botswana&#8217;s Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Indigenous San communities may finally be closer to securing broader, legally protected rights to the land they have called home for generations. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve was established in 1961 both to protect wildlife and to provide a sanctuary where San communities could continue their traditional way of life. But beginning in the 1990s, the government relocated residents to settlements outside the reserve. The United Nations documented how the authorities justified these policies on conservation grounds and the costs of providing public services. Some residents moved under government resettlement programs, while others resisted. Following the withdrawal of basic services in 2002, further forced relocations led to a prolonged legal battle. In December 2006, Botswana&#8217;s High Court ruled in favor of Roy Sesana and other San applicants, finding that they had been unlawfully deprived of possession of their land. But the ruling did not resolve the wider question of Indigenous land rights in that area. A change of government in November 2024 opened the possibility of a different approach. Botswana&#8217;s new president, Duma Boko, a former human rights lawyer involved in the San people&#8217;s legal struggle, had firsthand knowledge of their grievances. In March 2025, his administration announced an interministerial committee to examine the situation of San communities, including their relocation, land claims, cultural rights and possible return to the reserve. The committee subsequently began consultations with affected&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-historic-land-restitution-process-offers-new-hope-for-botswanas-indigenous-san/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334343</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Legal loopholes and weak enforcement leave India&#8217;s exotic pet trade hard to police</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/legal-loopholes-and-weak-enforcement-leave-indias-exotic-pet-trade-hard-to-police/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/legal-loopholes-and-weak-enforcement-leave-indias-exotic-pet-trade-hard-to-police/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 06:29:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/30062900/5185845064_4edf537494_o-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334491</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Crime, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, Law, Pet Trade, Pets, Regulations, Social Media, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rising disposable incomes, social media algorithms, and pop culture influences have led to a surge in demand for exotic pets in India, reports Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon. A recent report by the Humane World for Animals (HWA) valued India’s exotic pet market at $42.6 million in 2024, and projected it will nearly double by 2030. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rising disposable incomes, social media algorithms, and pop culture influences have led to a surge in demand for exotic pets in India, reports Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon. A recent report by the Humane World for Animals (HWA) valued India’s exotic pet market at $42.6 million in 2024, and projected it will nearly double by 2030. Despite laws in the country to prevent illegal wildlife trade, trafficking persists due to gaps in enforcement and unmonitored online sales. Online platforms and closed messaging groups provide discreet environments for transactions, bypassing health screenings and documentation requirements. Sumanth Bindumadhav, India director for HWA, said social media platforms normalize exotic pet ownership. “The algorithms amplify it: Videos that receive a lot of engagement and views are shown to more people, which can lead to more people wanting these animals. The interactions facilitated at petting zoos can also create demand.” In 2020, India’s environment ministry introduced a Voluntary Disclosure Scheme allowing owners of nonnative pets to declare their animals to the government without facing prosecution. More than 40,000 people across 30 states and union territories declared their exotic pets, according to the HWA report. India also updated its wildlife law to mandate the registration of possession, transfer, birth, and death of species listed under CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty. Jose Louies, CEO of the nonprofit Wildlife Trust of India, said the amendment gave forest departments a crucial legal mechanism to act against illicit nonnative animal possession within Indian borders. However, Shubhra Sotie, an environmental lawyer&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/legal-loopholes-and-weak-enforcement-leave-indias-exotic-pet-trade-hard-to-police/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334491</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bat Week: Celebrating ecologically important, poorly understood mammals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/bat-week-celebrating-ecologically-important-poorly-understood-mammals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/bat-week-celebrating-ecologically-important-poorly-understood-mammals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 05:33:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/19162609/new-zealand-bat-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334489</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Hunting, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bat Week, from Oct. 24-31, 2026, is a worldwide celebration of bats — a group that makes up 20% of all mammals. Bats live on all continents except for Antarctica, and provide major ecosystem services such as mosquito control, pollination and seed dispersal. Despite their ecological importance and ubiquity, bats still remain poorly understood. Here [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bat Week, from Oct. 24-31, 2026, is a worldwide celebration of bats — a group that makes up 20% of all mammals. Bats live on all continents except for Antarctica, and provide major ecosystem services such as mosquito control, pollination and seed dispersal. Despite their ecological importance and ubiquity, bats still remain poorly understood. Here we highlight some stories on bats that Mongabay has reported in the last year: India has a wealth of bats, but our knowledge of them is poor India is home to 135 known bat species but, according to the first nationwide assessment of the country’s bats, much about the mammals remains poorly understood, reports Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta. Of these 135 species, seven are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List, while 35 species are data deficient or not listed at all, meaning their conservation status isn’t known. “Bats are the most diverse order of mammals in [India],” Rohit Chakravarty, report co-author and India program manager of the nonprofit organization Bat Conservation International (BCI), told Mongabay by email. “[Yet] there are less than 50 dedicated bat researchers in the country so there’s an urgent need for prioritizing research topics, species, geographical areas.” Community project targets New Zealand&#8217;s bats The only known native land mammals still in New Zealand today are two species of bats: the New Zealand long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) and the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata). A third species, the New Zealand greater short-tailed bat, Mystacina robusta, not recorded since 1967 is likely extinct. A&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/bat-week-celebrating-ecologically-important-poorly-understood-mammals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334489</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Philippine village uses nature to defend against floods with bamboo, shells and husks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/philippine-village-uses-nature-to-defend-against-floods-with-bamboo-shells-and-husks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/philippine-village-uses-nature-to-defend-against-floods-with-bamboo-shells-and-husks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 01:17:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Oliver Samson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29135605/1000020683-Pamarawan-barangay-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334387</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Disasters, Environment, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Marine Conservation, Nature-based climate solutions, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Sea Levels, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PAMARAWAN, Philippines — For years, residents of Pamarawan barangay, or village, in the City of Malolos, had to live with floodwater inundating their streets as the southwest monsoon, known locally as hagabat, brought strong waves into the fishing village. It got even worse during typhoons. “When there was a typhoon, the waves would go over [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PAMARAWAN, Philippines — For years, residents of Pamarawan barangay, or village, in the City of Malolos, had to live with floodwater inundating their streets as the southwest monsoon, known locally as hagabat, brought strong waves into the fishing village. It got even worse during typhoons. “When there was a typhoon, the waves would go over the breakwater by almost a meter, a direct hit on the houses beside the dike,” said Roldan Dayao, secretary of Pamarawan, a low-lying fishing village at North Manila Bay that is only accessible by boat. The village already has a concrete breakwater that stands 3 to 4 meters (9-13 feet) high, Dayao said. But it does little to prevent the recurring flood. The situation changed after the construction of a nature-based coastal defense and flood control project. It used locally available materials, such as bamboo poles, oyster shells and coconut husks, to protect Pamarawan from tidal waves and storm surges. Interlocking, interconnected bamboo cribs now cover 14 hectares (35 acres) off the coast. The bamboo structures, alongside discarded oyster shells placed inside cocomesh, or coconut husk nets, serve as breakwaters that reduce incoming wave energy. Small boats inside a bamboo enclosure, part of a nature-based coastal defense and flood control project, in Pamarawan barangay, in Malolos City, Bulacan province, the Philippines, on Sept. 28, 2026. Image by Oliver Samson for Mongabay. The cribs also trap drifting mud and sand. Over time, the accumulated sediment is expected to gradually raise the seabed to a height sufficient&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/philippine-village-uses-nature-to-defend-against-floods-with-bamboo-shells-and-husks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334387</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To help farmers in Southern Africa, scientists predict when to plant native nuts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/to-help-farmers-in-southern-africa-scientists-predict-when-to-plant-native-nuts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/to-help-farmers-in-southern-africa-scientists-predict-when-to-plant-native-nuts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 22:55:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29193517/4350578751_3c1f1a38a3_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334469</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Commodity agriculture, Food, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Natural Resources, Nutrition, Solutions, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists studying indigenous crops recently completed a study to advise farmers on the best time to plant bambara groundnuts, a neglected African crop. Such underutilized native plants have the potential to diversify crop production and improve food security in Southern Africa. Scientists used 50 years of climate and soil data to simulate 49 growing seasons. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists studying indigenous crops recently completed a study to advise farmers on the best time to plant bambara groundnuts, a neglected African crop. Such underutilized native plants have the potential to diversify crop production and improve food security in Southern Africa. Scientists used 50 years of climate and soil data to simulate 49 growing seasons. Their model found that planting in October, broadly the onset of the rainy season in the region, produced the highest yields; sowing seeds later in the year potentially exposes the crop to frost and yield reductions. Much of Southern Africa still depends on rain-fed maize, wheat and rice as staple crops but water-stress and climate change are making production difficult, adding to growing food security challenges. However, indigenous crops are often more drought-tolerant and can do well in low-fertility soils, according to the study. In addition, many indigenous crops, including bambara groundnuts (Vigna subterranea), are also rich in nutrients and minerals vital to humans such as fiber, protein and zinc, iron and calcium, the researchers say. “You cannot build climate resilience by planting and relying on only a few crops,” Richard Kunz, one of the researchers, told Mongabay in an email. But to encourage smallholder farmers to grow these neglected crops, they need to know where and when to plant them, he said. Using the Food and Agriculture Organization AquaCrop model, the scientists simulated growing conditions across 5,838 altitude zones in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, accounting for daily rainfall, air temperature, water retention, planting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/to-help-farmers-in-southern-africa-scientists-predict-when-to-plant-native-nuts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/to-help-farmers-in-southern-africa-scientists-predict-when-to-plant-native-nuts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334469</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Suriname’s Amazon, the Wayana community struggling to keep gold miners at bay</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-surinames-amazon-the-wayana-community-struggling-to-keep-gold-miners-at-bay/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-surinames-amazon-the-wayana-community-struggling-to-keep-gold-miners-at-bay/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 18:47:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29181238/IMG_3302-JPEG-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334444</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, French Guiana, Global, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Education, Environment, Forest Loss, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAWEMHAKAN, Suriname — Beneath thousands of square kilometers of rainforest here lie vast deposits of gold and other minerals. Around a million ounces are extracted legally every year, but much more remains buried throughout the Amazon. In some of the farthest-flung parts of the rainforest, such as these small villages along the border with French [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAWEMHAKAN, Suriname — Beneath thousands of square kilometers of rainforest here lie vast deposits of gold and other minerals. Around a million ounces are extracted legally every year, but much more remains buried throughout the Amazon. In some of the farthest-flung parts of the rainforest, such as these small villages along the border with French Guiana, the government hasn’t stopped locals — joined by Brazilian miners and Chinese traders — from clearing the forest in search of gold. Moving up and down the Lawa River and its tributaries, these criminals establish mining camps and trading posts far beyond the reach of most law enforcement, where robberies, extortion and other violent crimes happen out of sight. Many Indigenous Wayana families live on both sides of the Lawa River — which also marks the border with French Guiana — and face a growing list of challenges, including health issues from mercury use on their land and dwindling wildlife populations they’ve long relied on for food. Indigenous Wayana communities have lived in the area for generations but still lack an official land title that might offer some protection. The only airstrip for kilometers around, and the primary practical connection to the capital, Paramaribo, sits in the middle of one of the Indigenous villages, giving leadership some leverage with miners and traders: Unless they want to travel for days by river to get back and forth from the city, it’s important to be on good terms with the community, residents said. These delicate relationships&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-surinames-amazon-the-wayana-community-struggling-to-keep-gold-miners-at-bay/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334444</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Zambia’s edible insect tradition offers a potential boost to food security</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/zambias-edible-insect-tradition-offers-a-potential-boost-to-food-security/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/zambias-edible-insect-tradition-offers-a-potential-boost-to-food-security/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 17:42:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29171401/Ngumbi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334450</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Food, Food Industry, food security, Insects, Invertebrates, Natural Resources, Nutrition, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a rural area of Zambia, where eating insects has long been a part of local food culture, reviving the practice could help households improve food security — though its potential would depend on how widely insect-eating is embraced by the mainstream, a new study suggests. Researchers John Nyawali and Jasper Knight, from the University [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a rural area of Zambia, where eating insects has long been a part of local food culture, reviving the practice could help households improve food security — though its potential would depend on how widely insect-eating is embraced by the mainstream, a new study suggests. Researchers John Nyawali and Jasper Knight, from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, surveyed 139 rural households in Zambia’s Central province to understand the types and quantities of insects eaten by people. They found that edible insects contribute to household food security and nutrition, but that the tradition of entomophagy, or the eating of insects as food, has declined in recent years, especially among younger people. The study notes that while insects have the potential to contribute to sustainable food systems, they aren’t well-integrated into mainstream economic and dietary practices, thus “limiting their potential to contribute to sustainable livelihoods, food security and wellbeing.” In some cultures, entomophagy is sometimes stigmatized as primitive or associated with poverty, the study notes. But in Zambia, the researchers found that households with higher levels of education consumed more insects compared to those with less education, suggesting that educated community leaders may be able to help communicate the economic and nutritional importance of entomophagy. In an email interview with Mongabay, co-author Knight said another great way for entomophagy to gain traction in communities is to link it more closely with existing community-based public health initiatives, such as AIDS awareness, mother and baby health care, and primary school&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/zambias-edible-insect-tradition-offers-a-potential-boost-to-food-security/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334450</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Between revered and hunted: The journey of human-otter coexistence in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/between-revered-and-hunted-the-journey-of-human-otter-coexistence-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/between-revered-and-hunted-the-journey-of-human-otter-coexistence-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 16:21:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29131318/pteronura-brasiliensis-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334366</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Food, food security, Freshwater, Human-wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a warm, humid morning, along the Içana River in Brazil’s upper Rio Negro Basin, researchers saw a group of Baniwa men heading to the river to check the fishing traps they left in shallow, fast-moving waters. Slightly further downstream, a group of giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) was also hunting. They stayed in the water [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a warm, humid morning, along the Içana River in Brazil’s upper Rio Negro Basin, researchers saw a group of Baniwa men heading to the river to check the fishing traps they left in shallow, fast-moving waters. Slightly further downstream, a group of giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) was also hunting. They stayed in the water by the riverbank, their heads popping through the surface and dipping back down like a wild version of the arcade game Whack-A-Mole. One resurfaced with a striped fish held between its front paws before it climbed onto the bank to eat. The sound of it eating carried across the water; sharp cracks as it worked through the bones and wet chomps as it tore through scales and flesh. The otters’ feeding site along the bank was littered with fish bones and reeked of feces. “They&#8217;re almost impossible to ignore,” Jansen Zuanon, ecologist and fish specialist who contributed to a 2026 study about Baniwa people and otters, told Mongabay. Giant otters tend to live in groups of between nine and 12 family members. Image by Allan Hopkins via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). The Içana flows into the Rio Negro, a major tributary in the Amazon with dark, tea-colored, naturally acidic water. Its rivers and tributaries are home to diverse fish species — though they are not especially abundant. For the Indigenous Baniwa people, who live along the Içana’s banks and tributaries in northwestern Brazil near the Colombian border, fishing is an essential source of protein. But&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/between-revered-and-hunted-the-journey-of-human-otter-coexistence-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334366</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>If we don’t start counting insect populations, we won’t know what we&#8217;re losing (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/if-we-dont-start-counting-insect-populations-we-wont-know-what-were-losing-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/if-we-dont-start-counting-insect-populations-we-wont-know-what-were-losing-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 15:54:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Prayan Pokharel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/06134017/Coleoptera_SMNK_web-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334400</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, Insects, Invertebrates, Orchids, Plants, Pollinators, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Panchase Protected Forest, in the hills above Nepal’s second city of Pokhara, is known among botanists as an orchid haven. Hundreds of species grow there, many of them found nowhere else in Nepal. I have been working in Panchase for some time now, starting with the insects that live on mistletoes, trying to understand who [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Panchase Protected Forest, in the hills above Nepal’s second city of Pokhara, is known among botanists as an orchid haven. Hundreds of species grow there, many of them found nowhere else in Nepal. I have been working in Panchase for some time now, starting with the insects that live on mistletoes, trying to understand who is there, what they are doing, how they connect to the plants around them. It is slow, careful work and one of the things it has taught me is how little we know, not just about Panchase but about insects in Nepal generally. We do not have a proper picture of what is there. We are still, in many parts of this country, at the very beginning of asking the question. Nobody, for instance, has properly studied the pollinators of Panchase&#8217;s orchids. Those relationships exist, they have existed for thousands of years, but they are undocumented. We do not know which insects visit which flowers, which ones are essential, and which are incidental. That work is still ahead of us. Orchids like this large group growing on a tree in Nepal&#8217;s Panchase Forest need insects, too. This protected area is home to 142 orchid species from 52 genera. Image courtesy of Kumar Paudel/Greenhood Nepal. I think about this every monsoon season, when the rivers rise and the news fills with the same images: fields gone under, families on rooftops, roads washed away. The death tolls come in. The damage figures follow. And then, a few&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/if-we-dont-start-counting-insect-populations-we-wont-know-what-were-losing-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334400</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>China&#8217;s record-breaking exports of clean tech are making a big dent in emissions, report says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/chinas-record-breaking-exports-of-clean-tech-are-making-a-big-dent-in-emissions-report-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/chinas-record-breaking-exports-of-clean-tech-are-making-a-big-dent-in-emissions-report-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 15:51:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29154834/AP26301615747100-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334427</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Alternative Energy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK (AP) — China is exporting a record amount of clean energy technology and that is making a dent in global emissions. Interest in renewables has surged due to the energy crisis from the Iran war. A report released Thursday shows that China&#8217;s exports of clean energy equipment such as solar panels, wind turbines, batteries [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK (AP) — China is exporting a record amount of clean energy technology and that is making a dent in global emissions. Interest in renewables has surged due to the energy crisis from the Iran war. A report released Thursday shows that China&#8217;s exports of clean energy equipment such as solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles will avert an estimated 450 million metric tons of carbon dioxide this year. Experts say this is a small sign of progress in faltering global efforts to curb climate change. Such issues are likely to be on the agenda of annual United Nations climate talks kicking off next month in Turkey. By Anton L. Delgado, Associated Press   Banner image: Installers haul a solar panel onto the roof of a home in Manila, Philippines, on April 30, 2026. Image courtesy of Anton L. Delgado via Associated PressThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/chinas-record-breaking-exports-of-clean-tech-are-making-a-big-dent-in-emissions-report-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334427</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Already feeling it’: Northern Amazon waterfall season ends early, hurting livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/already-feeling-it-northern-amazon-waterfall-season-ends-early-hurting-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/already-feeling-it-northern-amazon-waterfall-season-ends-early-hurting-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 14:03:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Felipe Medeiros]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29092627/Veu_de_Noiva_waterfall_Canta_Roraima_Katarine_Almeida-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334337</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Culture, Disasters, Drought, Earth Science, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Natural Resources, Rainforests, Research, Science, Tourism, Travel, Water, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOA VISTA, Roraima — “For those who live off the river, water isn’t just scenery: It is also a road, work and income.” That is how tour guide Fredson Guedes, known as “Tarzan,” learned to view the natural world around him over the course of his 55 years. “I work entirely with nature and depend [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOA VISTA, Roraima — “For those who live off the river, water isn’t just scenery: It is also a road, work and income.” That is how tour guide Fredson Guedes, known as “Tarzan,” learned to view the natural world around him over the course of his 55 years. “I work entirely with nature and depend heavily on it. Just the other day, I was at Serra Grande [an ecotourism destination in the municipality of Cantá, Roraima], working at the Véu de Noiva [bridal veil, in Portuguese] waterfall, but now there is no waterfall anymore. It dried up.” In the Amazonian region of Serra Grande in Brazil, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the state capital, Boa Vista, the seasonal waterfall known as Véu de Noiva usually draws visitors from May through early September during Roraima&#8217;s rainy season. That changed in 2026. By late July, the water that defines the landscape had already vanished. Fábio Wankler, a geologist and professor at the Federal University of Roraima (UFRR), points to a &#8220;super El Niño&#8221; as the driver behind the disruption. The phenomenon, unusually intense this year, has triggered a series of shifts in weather patterns that, across various parts of the country, “have caused longer and more intense periods of drought,” he said. The effects are felt daily. The waterfall, whose cascading flows resemble the delicate lace of a wedding gown, sits along one of the primary routes traveled by Guedes, who navigates the Branco River to reach it at least twice&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/already-feeling-it-northern-amazon-waterfall-season-ends-early-hurting-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334337</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Investigations into Singapore palm oil firm find family ties to Borneo deforesters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/investigations-into-singapore-palm-oil-firm-find-family-ties-to-borneo-deforesters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/investigations-into-singapore-palm-oil-firm-find-family-ties-to-borneo-deforesters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 13:57:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robin Hicks]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29135043/DJI_20260701144528_0163_D_SAAJETTY-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334374</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Anonymous Companies, Business, Commodity agriculture, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Industrial Agriculture, Palm Oil, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Investigations by environmental groups have found new evidence that companies linked to deforestation in Borneo are likely controlled by First Resources, a Singapore-listed plantation firm that produces palm oil marketed as sustainable. A report by Rainforest Action Network (RAN) cites shipping records, internal accounting documents and employee testimonies that link palm oil producers in Indonesia, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Investigations by environmental groups have found new evidence that companies linked to deforestation in Borneo are likely controlled by First Resources, a Singapore-listed plantation firm that produces palm oil marketed as sustainable. A report by Rainforest Action Network (RAN) cites shipping records, internal accounting documents and employee testimonies that link palm oil producers in Indonesia, the Kalimantan Agro Sejahtera (KAS) Group and FAP Agri, to First Resources, which is run by Indonesia’s billionaire Fangiono family. The investigation, conducted from January to July 2026, found that crude palm oil from mills run by the three businesses was transported to a First Resources storage and shipping facility on the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan province, where it was mixed then shipped to refineries for processing. A separate report by NGOs the Environmental Investigation Agency and Kaoem Telapak also suggests ties between First Resources, FAP Agri and KAS Group with evidence of these firms operating as a single corporate group. The findings echo long-held concerns that major agribusiness firms are using opaque corporate structures to gain access to palm oil sourced from plantations that flout sustainability commitments. First Resources adopted a No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation (NDPE) policy in 2015 and is a long-standing member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a global certification body for sustainably produced palm oil. FAP Agri adopted an NDPE policy in 2019. Across the industry, NDPE policies represent a commitment to stop clearing any natural forest and to stop buying from other companies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/investigations-into-singapore-palm-oil-firm-find-family-ties-to-borneo-deforesters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/investigations-into-singapore-palm-oil-firm-find-family-ties-to-borneo-deforesters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334374</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ghana targets end to raw mineral exports by 2030 to boost local industry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/ghana-targets-end-to-raw-mineral-exports-by-2030-to-boost-local-industry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/ghana-targets-end-to-raw-mineral-exports-by-2030-to-boost-local-industry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 13:51:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/28114307/IllegalMinersHose_KumasiGhana_ElodieToto-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334388</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Critical Minerals, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Mining, and Natural Resources]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ghana has set itself an ambitious target to end the export of unprocessed mineral ores by 2030 as it moves to strengthen in-country processing and manufacturing, transforming its mineral wealth into domestic industries and jobs. President John Dramani Mahama announced the goal during the African Minerals Policy Forum in the capital, Accra, on the theme [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ghana has set itself an ambitious target to end the export of unprocessed mineral ores by 2030 as it moves to strengthen in-country processing and manufacturing, transforming its mineral wealth into domestic industries and jobs. President John Dramani Mahama announced the goal during the African Minerals Policy Forum in the capital, Accra, on the theme “The Accra Reset and Africa’s Mineral Sovereignty.” Mahama said Africa could no longer afford to export raw mineral materials that power global industries while importing finished products manufactured from its own resources. “Will our copper bring electricity to African homes? Will our bauxite power African factories?” he asked, urging delegates at the summit to reconsider how mineral agreements are negotiated and how the benefits of extraction are distributed. Highlighting Ghana’s long history of exporting raw minerals, Mahama said the country had watched its manganese and bauxite leave through its ports for decades, only to import the finished products. He said this pattern had deprived Ghana of valuable opportunities for skilled employment, technological advancement, and industrial growth. Through the Accra Reset agenda, Mahama said the government seeks to strengthen domestic mineral processing and link extraction more closely to manufacturing. Mahama cited ongoing efforts across the bauxite-to-aluminum value chain, iron ore and steel production, manganese processing, and gold refining as important steps toward retaining more economic value within the country. He also announced his intention to pursue a phased prohibition on exports of unprocessed mineral ores, supported by the necessary legal measures and clear implementation timelines. Mahama&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/ghana-targets-end-to-raw-mineral-exports-by-2030-to-boost-local-industry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/ghana-targets-end-to-raw-mineral-exports-by-2030-to-boost-local-industry/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334388</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Early tech warning hopes to give Sumatra’s peat community a head start on fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/early-tech-warning-hopes-to-give-sumatras-peat-community-a-head-start-on-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/early-tech-warning-hopes-to-give-sumatras-peat-community-a-head-start-on-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 12:49:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Teguh Suprayitno]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29124349/Kondisi-kanal-yang-kering-di-kawasan-HKm-Air-Merah-Sungai-Gelam-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334356</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Science, Conservation, Conservation Technology, data, Disasters, early warning, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Monitoring, Peatlands, Research, Technology, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MUARO JAMBI, Indonesia — Pineapples rattled around in the basket on the back of Tahang’s motorcycle as he drove through the cracked and dried out peatland in eastern Sumatra’s Muaro Jambi district. Tahang later pulled up beside local residents Ali and Haidir, as smoke drifted in the distance over a grove of areca palms, which [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MUARO JAMBI, Indonesia — Pineapples rattled around in the basket on the back of Tahang’s motorcycle as he drove through the cracked and dried out peatland in eastern Sumatra’s Muaro Jambi district. Tahang later pulled up beside local residents Ali and Haidir, as smoke drifted in the distance over a grove of areca palms, which are grown for their betel nuts. “Did you see that fire earlier?” Tahang asked. “Yes, but it was only small,” Haidir replied. A few hours later, as Tahang rested in Muara Medak village and Ali returned to collect pineapples, the fire spread through dry grass and reached the carbon-rich peat. “It exploded,” Tahang said. Tahang picked up his water pump and raced to the field by motorcycle. By the time he arrived, he told Mongabay Indonesia, state firefighters and disaster agency staff were already battling the blaze, with little water available. A dry canal in the Air Merah community forest area. Image by Teguh Suprayitno/Mongabay Indonesia. Wildfire crisis across Indonesia Indonesia is facing its worst wildfire crisis in years, as months of drought across much of Borneo and Sumatra are compounded by a strong El Niño, which is delaying the onset of the archipelago’s main rainy season. In Sumatra’s Jambi province, fires have burned in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park and across extensive peatland areas in Berbak-Sembilang National Park, a major wetland adjacent to the subdistrict of Sungai Gelam designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Peat in Jambi’s Sungai Gelam reaches depths of up to 11 meters&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/early-tech-warning-hopes-to-give-sumatras-peat-community-a-head-start-on-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/early-tech-warning-hopes-to-give-sumatras-peat-community-a-head-start-on-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334356</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Design conservation with those who will live with it’: 30 by 30 in Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/design-conservation-with-those-who-will-live-with-it-30-by-30-in-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/design-conservation-with-those-who-will-live-with-it-30-by-30-in-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 08:58:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sasha Nunneley]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29083339/DSC05020_AdrianPonsardWCS-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334316</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Liberia, Namibia, Southern Africa, Tanzania, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Rights, Oceans, Politics, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Perhaps the best-known target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is what’s commonly known as “30 by 30,” the aim to bring at least 30% of the world&#8217;s terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine ecosystems into effective conservation and equitable management by the year 2030. According to Skytruth’s tracker, which combines multiple databases to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Perhaps the best-known target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is what’s commonly known as “30 by 30,” the aim to bring at least 30% of the world&#8217;s terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine ecosystems into effective conservation and equitable management by the year 2030. According to Skytruth’s tracker, which combines multiple databases to provide a ready overview, as of October 2026, African countries had secured 19.9% of terrestrial and 17.2% of marine areas, a tick above the global coverage of 18.7% of land, and 10% of marine landscapes. As delegates from around the world gather in the ancient city of Yerevan, Armenia, for the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity from Oct. 19 to 30, it seems unlikely that the 30 by30 target will be met. Since the GBF was agreed in 2022, diverse observers have argued that we should also be turning our attention to what lies beneath these numbers. “The objective is not simply to reach 30% on paper by 2030,” says Daniel Marnewick, a conservation expert with the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. “It is to secure biodiversity, strengthen ecological resilience, and build conservation approaches that are socially legitimate, locally grounded, and sustainable over the long term.” Beneath the headline figures, Marnewick says, “land and natural resources are under increasing pressure from competing demands, including agriculture, infrastructure, energy, mining, and other forms of economic development.” One obvious obstacle across the African continent arises from governments&#8217; own conflicting priorities.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/design-conservation-with-those-who-will-live-with-it-30-by-30-in-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fires and weak monitoring hinder reforestation efforts in Mozambique</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/fires-and-weak-monitoring-hinder-reforestation-efforts-in-mozambique/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/fires-and-weak-monitoring-hinder-reforestation-efforts-in-mozambique/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 08:13:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Far Vubil]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/28154204/cenario-de-floresta-queimada-2-Foto-de-Far-Vubil-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334239</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Mozambique, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Disasters, Dry Forests, Economics, Environment, Fires, Forests, Governance, Plants, Solutions, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MOCUBA, Mozambique — Mozambique ranks among the 10 countries with the highest deforestation rates in the world. Each year, it loses about 267,000 hectares (660,000 acres) of forest, with the heaviest rates concentrated in the provinces of Nampula, Zambézia, and Manica. To counter this, a decade ago the country set an ambitious goal to reforest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MOCUBA, Mozambique — Mozambique ranks among the 10 countries with the highest deforestation rates in the world. Each year, it loses about 267,000 hectares (660,000 acres) of forest, with the heaviest rates concentrated in the provinces of Nampula, Zambézia, and Manica. To counter this, a decade ago the country set an ambitious goal to reforest 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) by 2030, alongside a 2025 target to restore 52,000 hectares (128,500 acres) per year through 2029 on a budget of 105 billion meticais ($1.65 billion). To date, however, only 58,000 hectares (143,300 acres) have been reforested — a total that includes tree plantations established before the million-hectare goal was set, according to data compiled by Sá Nogueira Lisboa, a forestry professor and researcher at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Maputo. Zambézia province in central Mozambique holds one of the country&#8217;s main forest areas, key to conserving biodiversity, regulating water resources, protecting soil, storing carbon, and supporting local communities. Yet it also faces severe pressure from deforestation, suffering some of the nation&#8217;s steepest losses in tree cover. Between 2000 and 2024, cumulative forest loss across the province reached 1.26 million hectares (3.11 million acres) — roughly 19% of its total forested area — according to the Provincial Directorate of Territorial Development and Environment (DPDTA). Replanting is critical to restore degraded landscapes, but inadequate follow-up monitoring has squandered much of that effort. A technician from the District Service for Economic Activities (SDAE) among trees with charred stems in the Tónduè Forest,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/fires-and-weak-monitoring-hinder-reforestation-efforts-in-mozambique/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/fires-and-weak-monitoring-hinder-reforestation-efforts-in-mozambique/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334239</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pemba&#8217;s new marine protected areas show the power of collaboration to meet 30&#215;30 goal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/pembas-new-marine-protected-areas-show-the-power-of-collaboration-to-meet-30x30-goal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/pembas-new-marine-protected-areas-show-the-power-of-collaboration-to-meet-30x30-goal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 07:45:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sasha Nunneley]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29063925/DSC04884_AdrianPonsardWCS-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334310</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Environmental Policy, Finance, Fisheries, Governance, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Omar Hamad Salim, like many other fishermen from Tumbe village, relies on the ocean for food, an income and a way of life. A number of years ago, he and his fellow fishers began returning from the sea with less and less. “Fishers would go to sea and return with very few fish, or sometimes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Omar Hamad Salim, like many other fishermen from Tumbe village, relies on the ocean for food, an income and a way of life. A number of years ago, he and his fellow fishers began returning from the sea with less and less. “Fishers would go to sea and return with very few fish, or sometimes none at all,” Salim says. “And this was not a temporary situation; the shortage had persisted for an extended period.” Salim is one of 12 elected members of the fisheries committee for the Tumbe shehia, or ward, on the north-eastern shore of Pemba Island, part of the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar. Shehia fishing committees elsewhere on Pemba’s east coast were also worried as their catches shrank. They decided that something had to change. Salim and a few others from Tumbe village conducted a more detailed assessment of what was actually happening, which they then presented to the rest of the village during a public meeting. Fishing committees on Pemba island’s east coast grew worried as their catches shrank. Image courtesy of Adrian Ponsard/WCS. The community had seen how the establishment of the Pemba Channel Conservation Area (PECCA) on the other side of the island in 2005 increased fish populations and improved livelihoods for fishers there. They wondered if new marine protected areas (MPAs) could do the same in the east. Some villagers were hesitant at first, recalls Salim, with fellow fishers wondering: “Where will we get school fees for our children? Where will we get&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/pembas-new-marine-protected-areas-show-the-power-of-collaboration-to-meet-30x30-goal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334310</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>India&#8217;s forgotten vegetables offer a glimpse into what global diets are missing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/indias-forgotten-vegetables-offer-a-glimpse-into-what-global-diets-are-missing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/indias-forgotten-vegetables-offer-a-glimpse-into-what-global-diets-are-missing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 05:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29055318/Chocolate-Cherry-Tomato-1-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334299</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroecology, Business, Climate, Conservation, Crops, Culture, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Impact Of Climate Change, Industrial Agriculture, Natural Resources, Research, Subsistence Agriculture, and Supply Chain]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world is eating a smaller variety of vegetables as diets become increasingly uniform, reports contributor Sharmila Vaidyanathan for Mongabay India. In India, Indigenous crops such as the clove bean and the Yerengere white long eggplant have largely vanished from commercial markets as hybrid varieties dominate supply chains. Prabhakar Rao, a natural farmer and founder [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world is eating a smaller variety of vegetables as diets become increasingly uniform, reports contributor Sharmila Vaidyanathan for Mongabay India. In India, Indigenous crops such as the clove bean and the Yerengere white long eggplant have largely vanished from commercial markets as hybrid varieties dominate supply chains. Prabhakar Rao, a natural farmer and founder of Hariyalee Seeds in Bengaluru, conserves hundreds of heirloom seed varieties to prevent their extinction. “People are all eating the same few vegetables, and the loss of vegetable biodiversity has not received a lot of attention,” Rao said. “Sadly, this loss is happening under the radar.” Recent research has confirmed this loss of vegetable diversity is global. In a paper published in PNAS in July, researchers compiled a list of 1,482 vegetable species in a new global data set, though they note the true number of local and wild varieties is substantially higher. Many wild vegetable varieties are threatened, they write: approximately 24% of the wild relatives of 79 major vegetable species are currently at risk of extinction. “A major consideration that prompted this article is that many of the vegetable species are not conserved in national and international gene banks,” said lead author Maarten van Zonneveld, head of the gene bank at the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru. “There are so many vegetables that need to be rescued before they completely disappear. And the end goal is not just conservation, but also ensuring that this diversity is utilised.” Some reasons for the eroding&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/indias-forgotten-vegetables-offer-a-glimpse-into-what-global-diets-are-missing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334299</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fishing cat rescue-and-release offers potential model for conservation in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/fishing-cat-rescue-and-release-offers-potential-model-for-conservation-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/fishing-cat-rescue-and-release-offers-potential-model-for-conservation-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 05:46:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29054627/61-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=334296</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cats, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Mammals, Monitoring, Rehabilitation, Rewilding, Small Cats, Solutions, Technology, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A fishing cat found badly injured and malnourished in northern Bangladesh has been returned to the wild following months of intensive rehabilitation. The feline was recently released into a tea estate bordering a large freshwater wetland, after being fitted with a satellite-tracking collar. Fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus), one of the larger species of small wildcats, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A fishing cat found badly injured and malnourished in northern Bangladesh has been returned to the wild following months of intensive rehabilitation. The feline was recently released into a tea estate bordering a large freshwater wetland, after being fitted with a satellite-tracking collar. Fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus), one of the larger species of small wildcats, may number as many as 7,500 in the wild, according to the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. They’re found mostly in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, where roughly 95% of their range falls outside protected areas. They also occur in Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Thailand; and are thought locally extinct in Indonesia and Vietnam. The Bangladesh Forest Department rescued the male fishing cat in February 2026 and transferred it to the Jankichara Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in the country’s northeast. The odds that it would survive was low, according to the Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA), the conservation nonprofit that runs the center. “His jaw was dislocated, most likely from being beaten by people, and he could not feed himself. He was badly malnourished and weighed barely five kilograms [11 pounds],” Caesar Rahman, CEO of the CCA, told Mongabay by email. “We had very little hope that he would survive.” After weeks of assisted tube feeding and veterinary treatment, the cat’s health improved and it eventually reached 12 kg (26.5 lb). To ensure a smooth transition back into the wild, conservationists kept the cat in a soft-release enclosure at the Ooterbhag and Indanugger&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/fishing-cat-rescue-and-release-offers-potential-model-for-conservation-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334296</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fishers in eastern Indonesia struggle as rough seas keep them ashore</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/fishers-in-eastern-indonesia-struggle-as-rough-seas-keep-them-ashore/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/fishers-in-eastern-indonesia-struggle-as-rough-seas-keep-them-ashore/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 05:19:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29045302/WhatsApp-Image-2026-10-22-at-09.37.32-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334289</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, El Nino, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Research, Saltwater Fish, Science, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fishers in the east Indonesian Maluku Islands say rough seas are keeping them ashore and shrinking their catches as El Niño builds, according to early local monitoring and interviews. Yustinus Pesireron, a 64-year-old fisherman from Kaibobo village on Seram island in Maluku, told Mongabay on Oct. 2 he had not been to sea for almost [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fishers in the east Indonesian Maluku Islands say rough seas are keeping them ashore and shrinking their catches as El Niño builds, according to early local monitoring and interviews. Yustinus Pesireron, a 64-year-old fisherman from Kaibobo village on Seram island in Maluku, told Mongabay on Oct. 2 he had not been to sea for almost a month — the longest break of his three decades on the water. He said fishing is the main source of income in the village of about 1,800 people. Yustinus said the earnings he makes from selling his catch finance daily household needs and school expenses for three of his six children. Local monitoring by partners of the UK-headquartered conservation group Blue Ventures shows the amount of fish caught on an average fishing trip in coastal waters around Ambon and Seram islands fell to an average of 3.6 kilograms (7.9 pounds) in April-July 2026 at one monitoring site, down from 8.3 kg (18.3 lb) in 2025 and 10.6 kg (23.4 lb) in 2024. The group said the data do not show that fish populations are shrinking. Rather, fishers report that higher waves and rougher seas are limiting how long they can fish and how far they can travel. “Sometimes, even when the weather isn’t good, we still go out to sea and catch some fish,” Yustinus told Mongabay in a phone interview. “But, as we say here in Maluku, such a catch is only enough to cover the cost of fuel, and perhaps food. That’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/fishers-in-eastern-indonesia-struggle-as-rough-seas-keep-them-ashore/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334289</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Action on the ground’ in Laos is needed to recover large mammals, protect more species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/action-on-the-ground-in-laos-is-needed-to-recover-large-mammals-protect-more-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/action-on-the-ground-in-laos-is-needed-to-recover-large-mammals-protect-more-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 02:05:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/28181937/40996036275_d596751668_k-e1793211752183-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334256</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Laos, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cattle, Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Megafauna, Research, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Less than half a century ago, the thickly forested landscapes of Laos rumbled with herds of Asian elephants as well as two species of rhinoceros — the Javan rhino and Sumatran rhino. Wild water buffalo and the now-globally-extinct kouprey cattle wallowed in more open habitats that were also stalked by Indochinese tigers. However, decades of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Less than half a century ago, the thickly forested landscapes of Laos rumbled with herds of Asian elephants as well as two species of rhinoceros — the Javan rhino and Sumatran rhino. Wild water buffalo and the now-globally-extinct kouprey cattle wallowed in more open habitats that were also stalked by Indochinese tigers. However, decades of habitat loss, infrastructure expansion and hunting for food and the illegal wildlife trade have diminished this impressive assemblage of some of the world’s largest mammals. Today, only the elephants remain. A new study in Global Ecology and Conservation that examined the historic losses, current status and recovery prospects of large mammal megafauna in Laos, suggests that the disappearance of these species could have been avoided if stronger conservation, monitoring and protection plans had been in place. “These trajectories were not necessarily inevitable,” the study, which analyzed historical species records and survey data dating back to 1850 alongside information on threats and conservation policies, says. “Delayed recognition and response, insufficient control of hunting, and limited enforcement capacity likely contributed to these declines.” The loss of so many key large predators and herbivores, along with their ecological functions, occurred despite Laos retaining relatively extensive forest cover compared to other countries in mainland Southeast Asia, the study notes. Laos’s “empty forests” might at first glance seem intact and structurally diverse, yet they often lack key large animals that should inhabit them. “Laos still has high forest cover and a large protected area network. The task now is to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/action-on-the-ground-in-laos-is-needed-to-recover-large-mammals-protect-more-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334256</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Historic win’: Australian state approves national koala park despite controversial funding</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/historic-win-australian-state-approves-national-koala-park-despite-controversial-funding/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/historic-win-australian-state-approves-national-koala-park-despite-controversial-funding/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 01:28:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Paul Harvey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/28133825/kenny-van-roosbroek-CG2AtzDOLFg-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334201</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Controversial, Environment, Environmental Law, Finance, Funding, Governance, Mammals, Marsupials, National Parks, Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SYDNEY — After more than a decade of campaigning, Australian conservation and community groups celebrated a historic win on Oct. 23 after legislation was passed to create the Great Koala National Park in New South Wales (NSW). The campaigners’ success came 10 days after NSW Premier and Labor politician Chris Minns tabled a bill proposing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SYDNEY — After more than a decade of campaigning, Australian conservation and community groups celebrated a historic win on Oct. 23 after legislation was passed to create the Great Koala National Park in New South Wales (NSW). The campaigners’ success came 10 days after NSW Premier and Labor politician Chris Minns tabled a bill proposing the creation of the park in the Mid North Coast region of the state. The park was a key 2023 election promise made by Australia’s Labor Party. “This park will protect our precious Australian wildlife and boost tourism for the region for generations,” Minns wrote on Facebook after the result of the vote. The park, slated to open before the end of 2026, will incorporate 178,000 hectares (440,000 acres) of state forests, primarily earmarked for native timber harvesting, and other government land into the existing national park estate. It will create a protected area spanning 475,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) for 12,000 koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) and more than 100 other threatened fauna and flora species, including southern greater gliders (Petauroides volans), glossy black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus lathami) and rare spider orchids. The park, slated to open before the end of 2026, will incorporate 178,000 hectares (440,000 acres) of state forests. Image courtesy of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti people, who have helped shape the national park, “will continue to guide its management,” according to the NSW government. “Eight Aboriginal rangers will be employed through community-controlled organisations and some park roles will&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/historic-win-australian-state-approves-national-koala-park-despite-controversial-funding/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334201</doi>				</item>
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