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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/gerryflynn/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 29 Aug 2026 01:05:10 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Stories produced by gerryflynn for Conservation news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/gerryflynn/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>7 Indigenous Guarani killed after loose grain trailer hits car in central Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/7-indigenous-guarani-killed-after-loose-grain-trailer-hits-car-in-central-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/7-indigenous-guarani-killed-after-loose-grain-trailer-hits-car-in-central-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2026 01:05:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28212047/RS41038_20190718_RH_2410_lpr-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327834</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Culture, Indigenous Peoples, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Seven Indigenous Guarani, including two children and a prominent community leader, were killed Aug. 14 in a crash with a grain cargo trailer that reportedly broke loose from the truck pulling it in central Brazil. All seven were from Kalipety village in the Tenondé Porã Indigenous Territory in São Paulo state. A fisher who witnessed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Seven Indigenous Guarani, including two children and a prominent community leader, were killed Aug. 14 in a crash with a grain cargo trailer that reportedly broke loose from the truck pulling it in central Brazil. All seven were from Kalipety village in the Tenondé Porã Indigenous Territory in São Paulo state. A fisher who witnessed the crash told police that the corn-filled cargo trailer detached from the truck and “violently” struck the passenger car, according to a police report seen by Mongabay. The force of the collision caused both vehicles to catch fire, killing everyone in the car and incinerating the bodies. The truck driver fled the scene of the accident, the witness said. The bodies have not yet been officially identified but community members confirmed that the victims were Karaí Tiago Honório dos Santos, 34; his wife, Kerexu Laudiceia Benites, also a community leader, 31; their children, Jaxuka Luna Benites Santos, 7, and Tadeu Hiago Werá Mirim Benites dos Santos, 14; his sister, Kerexu Cleonice Honório dos Santos, 42; Ileo Benites, 32; and Genilson Euzébio Karay Mirim, 30. Karaí Tiago Honório dos Santos was the executive coordinator of the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission and Guarani Inter-Village Committee, where he worked to further the rights of the Guarani and other Indigenous peoples in Brazil. He also spearheaded environmental recovery and agrobiodiversity efforts. “[Tiago’s] journey was interrupted in such a brutal way, and what a sad coincidence that [it was] by a truck loaded with corn.” Tatiane Klein, an anthropologist and friend&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/7-indigenous-guarani-killed-after-loose-grain-trailer-hits-car-in-central-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/7-indigenous-guarani-killed-after-loose-grain-trailer-hits-car-in-central-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327834</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>First Nations in Canada call for emergency order to protect southern mountain caribou</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/first-nations-in-canada-calls-for-emergency-order-to-protect-southern-mountain-caribou/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/first-nations-in-canada-calls-for-emergency-order-to-protect-southern-mountain-caribou/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2026 00:04:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28230737/1-Caribou-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327848</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, Global, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Under our Syilx Okanagan law, everything is sacred to us. We believe that Mother Earth is alive, all of kʷuləncutn, the creator&#8217;s creation, that it&#8217;s all alive,” Chief Dan Wilson of the Okanagan Indian Band, a Syilx Okanagan Nation, told Mongabay in a phone call. “That&#8217;s why the caribou are so important to us … [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Under our Syilx Okanagan law, everything is sacred to us. We believe that Mother Earth is alive, all of kʷuləncutn, the creator&#8217;s creation, that it&#8217;s all alive,” Chief Dan Wilson of the Okanagan Indian Band, a Syilx Okanagan Nation, told Mongabay in a phone call. “That&#8217;s why the caribou are so important to us … they reflect on the job we&#8217;re doing for preserving kʷuləncutn as a creation for the next generation.” Southern mountain caribou are a type of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) found in mountainous regions of Western Canada, and until recently, parts of the U.S. They live in mature forests, and depend on lichen as a winter food. Three caribou herds — all imperiled — remain within Syilx-Okanagan territory in southern British Columbia. The Columbia North herd is the strongest with 185 individuals. The Central Selkirk herd has just 27 individuals, and the Frisby-Boulder herd, with eight individuals, is considered too small to remain viable. A fourth herd, the Columbia South, was extirpated from Syilx-Okanagan territory in 2023. The situation is mirrored across the southern mountain caribou’s range, where logging has chipped away at their mature forest habitat. In the past 20 years, 15 out of 40 herds once found in British Columbia and Alberta have disappeared or are too small to stand a chance, with numbers falling from nearly 10,000 in 1991 to just over 4,700 in 2023. In British Columbia alone, 11 of the province’s 32 herds have either vanished completely or become so small&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/first-nations-in-canada-calls-for-emergency-order-to-protect-southern-mountain-caribou/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/first-nations-in-canada-calls-for-emergency-order-to-protect-southern-mountain-caribou/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327848</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global sea surface temperatures reach a record high, again</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/global-sea-surface-temperatures-reach-a-record-high-again/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/global-sea-surface-temperatures-reach-a-record-high-again/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 20:14:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bobby Bascomb]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28200510/jan-15-2025-buffering.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327823</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coastal Ecosystems, Coral Reefs, Disasters, Earth Science, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fish, Fisheries, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Research, Saltwater Fish, Science, Storms, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Global sea surface temperatures have reached a record high, raising serious concerns for global Earth systems, according to new data released by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). On Aug. 22, the daily global average sea surface temperature, outside polar regions, reached 21.1° Celsius (69.98° Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record set in March [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Global sea surface temperatures have reached a record high, raising serious concerns for global Earth systems, according to new data released by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). On Aug. 22, the daily global average sea surface temperature, outside polar regions, reached 21.1° Celsius (69.98° Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record set in March 2024 of 21.09° C (69.96° F). Even small temperature increases represent a huge gain in heat energy in the ocean because of its vast volume, noted the 2025 European state of the climate report. In 2025, too, the global ocean heat content — that is, the total amount of heat stored in the ocean — reached a new record high, passing the previous record set in 2024. The increase in ocean warming is having far-reaching consequences. “Our [latest] report highlights how sea surface temperatures contribute to sea-level rise, increase the likelihood and intensity of marine heatwaves, put critical ecosystems such as coral reefs and seagrass under greater stress, and threaten fisheries and food security,” Samantha Burgess told Mongabay in an email. Burgess is the strategic lead for climate with the C3S at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which produced the report. She added that increased sea surface temperatures “can also increase the potential for some extreme weather events, putting coastal communities at risk, all the while reducing the ocean’s ability to act as a carbon sink for the planet.” The world’s oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat produced by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/global-sea-surface-temperatures-reach-a-record-high-again/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/global-sea-surface-temperatures-reach-a-record-high-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327823</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why a newly formed lake is sparking fears of more flooding along the Nepal-China border</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/why-a-newly-formed-lake-is-sparking-fears-of-more-flooding-along-the-nepal-china-border/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/why-a-newly-formed-lake-is-sparking-fears-of-more-flooding-along-the-nepal-china-border/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 17:51:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28174044/AP26238334531076-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327820</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Nepal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BENGALURU, India (AP) — Even as rescuers worked through mud and debris Friday in areas devastated by a catastrophic flash flood along the Himalayan border between Nepal and China, authorities warned that a newly formed, overflowing lake could trigger further flooding. Nepalese authorities said all security personnel, rescue workers and members of the public deployed in rescue and relief efforts have been told [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BENGALURU, India (AP) — Even as rescuers worked through mud and debris Friday in areas devastated by a catastrophic flash flood along the Himalayan border between Nepal and China, authorities warned that a newly formed, overflowing lake could trigger further flooding. Nepalese authorities said all security personnel, rescue workers and members of the public deployed in rescue and relief efforts have been told to remain on high alert and immediately move to a safe location if necessary. Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told The Associated Press that the rescue operation is continuing but with authorities remaining on high alert. “It hasn’t stopped,&#8221; he said. Where is the lake? Satellite imagery shown by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV seems to indicate that the newly formed lake was in the same area as where the glacial detachment event happened on Wednesday that resulted in the chain of events leading to catastrophic damage downstream. Nepal&#8217;s disaster management authority said that satellite imagery and preliminary assessments indicate that the river has been blocked upstream, creating a growing lake that could burst and trigger a sudden downstream flood. CCTV reported Friday morning that the lake’s barrier was more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Gyirong Port, the border crossing with Nepal that was engulfed by mud and floodwater. The broadcaster said that the lake was at an elevation of 2,950 meters (9,680 feet), about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above Gyirong Port. How did it form? Climate scientists tracking developments in the Himalayan region said that Wednesday&#8217;s glacial collapse has resulted in several small&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/why-a-newly-formed-lake-is-sparking-fears-of-more-flooding-along-the-nepal-china-border/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/why-a-newly-formed-lake-is-sparking-fears-of-more-flooding-along-the-nepal-china-border/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327820</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Photo Ark turns 20, Joel Sartore photographs 18,000 animal species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-the-photo-ark-turns-20-joel-sartore-photographs-18000-animal-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-the-photo-ark-turns-20-joel-sartore-photographs-18000-animal-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 15:16:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28145437/06_Female-red-handfish_black-BG_cr-Joel-Sartore-National-Geographic-Photo-Ark_NG-3002036-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327768</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Culture, Endangered Species, Media, Photos, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For 20 years, Joel Sartore has been on a quest: to photograph every animal species in human care, and then some. This year, on the 20th anniversary of the Photo Ark somewhere in Australia, Sartore photographed the project&#8217;s 18,000th animal. He’s not totally sure which one pushed the project over the threshold, but gives it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For 20 years, Joel Sartore has been on a quest: to photograph every animal species in human care, and then some. This year, on the 20th anniversary of the Photo Ark somewhere in Australia, Sartore photographed the project&#8217;s 18,000th animal. He’s not totally sure which one pushed the project over the threshold, but gives it to the critically endangered red handfish (Thymichthys politus) a grumpy, red Muppet of a fish that could use the publicity. When Mongabay asked Sartore, just a few days after the official anniversary, about the last animal he had photographed, he got very excited about a small moth on the screen door of his home in the U.S. state of Nebraska. He coaxed it into an old cup and photographed it. He was still waiting on an identification from a couple of moth experts, who, he notes, are night owls. Portrait of National Geographic photographer and PhotoARK founder Joel Sartore with frill necked lizard, (Chlamydosaurus kingii). Photo by Douglas Gimesy for National Geographic Photo Ark. If you find Joel, you’ll likely find him working. Midwestern-friendly, practical, and optimistic, the National Geographic photographer shoots wherever animals turn up. This includes zoos and aquariums, pet shops, bioblitzes — where scientists and volunteers race to find and document as many species as they can — stream samplings by the Tennessee Valley Authority (a power utility), a cave in Kenya, and, as in the case of the moth, on his porch. When it comes to scheduling, “I would say we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-the-photo-ark-turns-20-joel-sartore-photographs-18000-animal-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-327768</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Failed environmental safeguards leave coastal Bangladesh facing coal pollution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/failed-environmental-safeguards-leave-coastal-bangladesh-facing-coal-pollution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/failed-environmental-safeguards-leave-coastal-bangladesh-facing-coal-pollution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 15:15:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rashidul Hasan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28151048/Payra-Power-Plant_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327777</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Industry, Law, Law Enforcement, Pollution, Regulations, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Riaz Panchayet used to farm papaya, cucumber, okra and bananas on his land in Madhupur village, located in southern Bangladesh’s coastal Patuakhali district. These days, he runs a small tea stall near one of the gates of the Payra Power Plant, and worry has replaced the seasonal rhythm of harvests. “I notice a layer of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Riaz Panchayet used to farm papaya, cucumber, okra and bananas on his land in Madhupur village, located in southern Bangladesh’s coastal Patuakhali district. These days, he runs a small tea stall near one of the gates of the Payra Power Plant, and worry has replaced the seasonal rhythm of harvests. “I notice a layer of ash on the leaves of the plants and low production,” he says. “There are coconut trees on my farm; I climb them for pruning or collecting coconuts, and my shirt turns black due to the ash. We are used to bathing in an open pond, but for the last several years there has been an itching problem. My eyesight is affected, too. It is all happening because of the coal power plant.” Panchayet says he lost almost 1 hectare (2.4 acres) of land to the plant. The reaming 1 hectare, he says, is waterlogged by an ill-planned drainage system that leaves the power station’s discharge sitting stagnant on his fields. Across a large area of Kalapara subdistrict in Patuakhali, where the coal-fired Payra Power Plant is located, residents tell versions of the same story. A recent study linked local suffering related to air quality and fly ash to the power plant authority’s failure to maintain proper environmental guidelines for protecting the local environment and ecology. The Payra 1320 MW Thermal Power Plant, operated by Bangladesh-China Power Company Ltd., a joint venture between Bangladesh and China, started operations in 2020. The plant consumes 10,000 to 12,000&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/failed-environmental-safeguards-leave-coastal-bangladesh-facing-coal-pollution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327777</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hà Đình Đức, guardian of Hanoi’s legendary turtle, died at 86</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/ha-dinh-duc-guardian-of-hanois-legendary-turtle-died-at-86/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/ha-dinh-duc-guardian-of-hanois-legendary-turtle-died-at-86/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 15:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28150614/ha-dinh-duc-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327770</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Herps, Obituary, Reptiles, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On March 15th 1991 Hà Đình Đức happened to be passing Hồ Gươm, the small lake at the center of Hanoi, when he saw its giant softshell turtle surface. Đức went home and marked the date on his calendar. He was a zoologist, but the encounter created an “invisible bond” between himself and the turtle, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On March 15th 1991 Hà Đình Đức happened to be passing Hồ Gươm, the small lake at the center of Hanoi, when he saw its giant softshell turtle surface. Đức went home and marked the date on his calendar. He was a zoologist, but the encounter created an “invisible bond” between himself and the turtle, almost “hypnotizing” him. He said it changed the course of his life. A research project later gave him an official reason to study the animal. When the project ended, he carried on. For the next quarter-century he photographed it, recorded its appearances and worried about its health. Hanoians came to know him as &#8220;Professor Turtle&#8221; or simply &#8220;Đức Rùa&#8221;. Very few of these enormous freshwater turtles survived and little was known about the individual in Hồ Gươm. But Đức also saw the turtle as inseparable from the lake and the legend associated with it. According to the 15th-century story, Lê Lợi led a rebellion that drove Ming forces from Vietnam with the help of a magical sword. After his victory he was boating on the lake when a golden turtle surfaced and reclaimed the weapon for its divine owner. The lake became Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, the Lake of the Returned Sword. For Đức, the survival of a giant turtle in the lake made the old story tangible. The animal was the lake’s &#8220;soul&#8221;, by his telling. Đức traveled Vietnam looking for other turtles that might be related to the one in Hồ Gươm. He hoped&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/ha-dinh-duc-guardian-of-hanois-legendary-turtle-died-at-86/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/ha-dinh-duc-guardian-of-hanois-legendary-turtle-died-at-86/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327770</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A sea cucumber venture in Zanzibar seeks to balance business and conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-sea-cucumber-venture-in-zanzibar-seeks-to-balance-business-and-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-sea-cucumber-venture-in-zanzibar-seeks-to-balance-business-and-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 14:45:23 +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/20/2026/08/28133301/005-Mpogo1-2-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327729</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Marine, Natural Resources, Oceans, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA, Tanzania — Like many coastal communities across East Africa, the residents of Shamiani have grown accustomed to watching the sea yield less and less. Warming waters, degraded marine habitats and decades of fishing pressure have all taken a toll on the resources that once sustained local livelihoods, according to community members. On Tanzania&#8217;s Pemba [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA, Tanzania — Like many coastal communities across East Africa, the residents of Shamiani have grown accustomed to watching the sea yield less and less. Warming waters, degraded marine habitats and decades of fishing pressure have all taken a toll on the resources that once sustained local livelihoods, according to community members. On Tanzania&#8217;s Pemba Island, a part of the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar, Shamiani is no exception. Here, however, residents are trying something different. Ropes now mark out protected sections of shallow seagrass meadows, the result of months of community meetings and negotiations over how the area should be managed. For generations, the island&#8217;s coastal waters have supported fishing families. But in recent years, many residents say nearshore resources have steadily declined. Sea cucumbers, once abundant enough to be harvested and processed locally, have become increasingly scarce. Fishers and gleaners now work harder for smaller returns, trying to make a living from coastal waters that many say are less productive than they once were. A view of the no-take zone operated by Asili in Shamiani, on Pemba Island, where protected sections of shallow seagrass meadows are used to grow sea cucumbers. The area was established following months of community meetings and negotiations over its management. Image by David Akana/Mongabay. That decline is what led Asili, a Tanzania-based aquaculture company working with communities in Pemba since 2022 to ranch sea cucumbers inside locally protected marine areas. The model aims to restore depleted coastal ecosystems, generate income from a high-value export&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-sea-cucumber-venture-in-zanzibar-seeks-to-balance-business-and-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-327729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Under protection: The environmentalist’s widow in Brazil who had to disappear to survive</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/under-protection-the-environmentalists-widow-in-brazil-who-had-to-disappear-to-survive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/under-protection-the-environmentalists-widow-in-brazil-who-had-to-disappear-to-survive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 14:20:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Felipe Sabrina]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28140713/AP19273713038690-snake-on-road-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327753</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Law, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At around 1 a.m. on April 29, 2026, in a courtroom in Maranhão’s Bom Jardim district, Judge Philipe Silveira da Cunha publicly decided the fate of former military police officer Francisco da Silva Sousa. “The defendant is sentenced to 35 years and four months in prison, to be served initially in a closed facility,” he [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At around 1 a.m. on April 29, 2026, in a courtroom in Maranhão’s Bom Jardim district, Judge Philipe Silveira da Cunha publicly decided the fate of former military police officer Francisco da Silva Sousa. “The defendant is sentenced to 35 years and four months in prison, to be served initially in a closed facility,” he announced into the microphone. Judge Cunha stood before the defendant, jurors, prosecutors and defense and prosecution lawyers under the white lights of the courtroom, ending a trial that had lasted more than 16 hours since it began the previous morning. The 66-year-old former police officer went straight from the courtroom to prison. A jury found Da Silva, as he is known, guilty of orchestrating the murder of 54-year-old environmentalist and peasant farmer Raimundo dos Santos Rodrigues and the attempted murder of his wife Maria*, who was 37 at the time. The crime took place on Aug. 25, 2015, in the Bom Jardim district, inside the Gurupi Biological Reserve in northeastern Brazil. The reserve is a federally protected area and managed by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the federal agency overseeing protected areas. Since 2009, Raimundo, Maria, their six children and about 38 other peasant families had been living in the Brejinho Rio da Onça II community encampment inside the reserve. They were waiting for the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) to regularize their status as formal settlers, either on that site or on another plot of land where they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/under-protection-the-environmentalists-widow-in-brazil-who-had-to-disappear-to-survive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/under-protection-the-environmentalists-widow-in-brazil-who-had-to-disappear-to-survive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327753</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The conservation population of Australia’s endangered eastern quoll welcomes joeys</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-conservation-population-of-australias-endangered-eastern-quoll-welcomes-joeys/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-conservation-population-of-australias-endangered-eastern-quoll-welcomes-joeys/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 12:35:55 +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/20/2026/08/28015007/eastern-quolll-nighttime-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327711</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Global, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Cute, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Marsupials, Research, Science, Solutions, Species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SYDNEY — The endangered eastern quoll, one of Australia’s species of quoll, is a nocturnal carnivorous marsupial that is small in stature with a ferret-like pointed face and a bushy tail. The mammal has two primary color variants: Light fawn and blackish-brown, with white spots on the body. Once so widespread along the eastern coastal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SYDNEY — The endangered eastern quoll, one of Australia’s species of quoll, is a nocturnal carnivorous marsupial that is small in stature with a ferret-like pointed face and a bushy tail. The mammal has two primary color variants: Light fawn and blackish-brown, with white spots on the body. Once so widespread along the eastern coastal fringe of Australia, the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) was described as being in “plague abundance” and was occasionally kept as a pet and prized by farmers for its skills in hunting rodents. It was even called a native cat in the 1800s due to its resemblance in both size and hunting behavior to the domestic feline, brought by settlers from Europe.  Despite its onetime abundance on the Australian mainland, by the 1960s the last known remaining eastern quoll population was lost. Disease, habitat loss, car strikes and predation by cats, dogs and invasive foxes led to the demise of the species.  However, a taxidermied specimen of an eastern quoll emerged in 2016, purportedly originally picked up as roadkill in the Barrington Tops, northwest of Sydney, in 1989 and handed over to the National Parks and Wildlife Service nearly three decades later. This could mean that the species survived for decades longer than official records suggest.  Although now considered extinct in the wild on the mainland, the eastern quoll has not been lost entirely. The southern Australian island of Tasmania, free of the predatory invasive foxes, is home to a number of wild populations of eastern&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-conservation-population-of-australias-endangered-eastern-quoll-welcomes-joeys/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327711</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Singapore made a crow-friendly city. Now it wants to shoot them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/singapore-made-a-crow-friendly-city-now-it-wants-to-shoot-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/singapore-made-a-crow-friendly-city-now-it-wants-to-shoot-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 05:05:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28050402/Crow-poisoned-Sungei-Tengah-dorm-July-2026-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327695</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Cities, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Research, urban ecology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The resumption of a crow-shooting campaign in Singapore has revived intense debate over lethal wildlife management in the highly urbanized city-state. Government officials revived the culling program in response to public complaints about crow attacks on pedestrians and cyclists, reports contributor Robin Hicks for Mongabay. In a public statement in March announcing the resumption of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The resumption of a crow-shooting campaign in Singapore has revived intense debate over lethal wildlife management in the highly urbanized city-state. Government officials revived the culling program in response to public complaints about crow attacks on pedestrians and cyclists, reports contributor Robin Hicks for Mongabay. In a public statement in March announcing the resumption of crow shooting, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat said that alternative measures such as trapping the birds, tree pruning, and removing nearly 9,000 nests in 2025 had proved insufficient. How Choon Beng, director of wildlife management at the National Parks Board, told Hicks that shooting, combined with other measures, would lead to a “gradual and sustained reduction” in crow numbers. But some experts say culling is merely a reactive measure that fails to address the underlying drivers of the bird boom. Albert Liu, assistant director for conservation at the nonprofit Nature Society Singapore, told Hicks that culling primarily serves “to show the public that something is being done” and “treats the symptoms, not the cause.” Ecologists point out that the hyperabundance of &#8220;nuisance&#8221; birds, such as house crows (Corvus splendens), Javan mynas (Acridotheres javanicus) and common pigeons (Columba livia), is driven entirely by human-made urban conditions. A global review of more than 400 studies found that most crow species grow more abundant as cities expand because urban areas provide plenty of food, nesting spots, and few predators. A Singapore-specific study from 2003 supports these findings. For example, crows often nest in the yellow flame trees (Peltophorum pterocarpum)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/singapore-made-a-crow-friendly-city-now-it-wants-to-shoot-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327695</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community programs linked to lower forest loss in Indonesia’s Borneo during COVID-19</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/community-programs-linked-to-lower-forest-loss-in-indonesias-borneo-during-covid-19/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/community-programs-linked-to-lower-forest-loss-in-indonesias-borneo-during-covid-19/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 02:03:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/12215106/kalbar_drone_190946a_sungai_utik-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327673</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, COVID-19, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Illegal Logging, Logging, NGOs, Pandemics, Protected Areas, Reduced Impact Logging, Research, Solutions, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Villages in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan saw less forest loss during the COVID-19 pandemic when conservation groups provided health and livelihood support, a new study has found, suggesting social safety nets can help protect forests during economic crises. The peer-reviewed study, published last month in Lancet Planetary Health, suggests forest loss in West Kalimantan province on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Villages in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan saw less forest loss during the COVID-19 pandemic when conservation groups provided health and livelihood support, a new study has found, suggesting social safety nets can help protect forests during economic crises. The peer-reviewed study, published last month in Lancet Planetary Health, suggests forest loss in West Kalimantan province on the Indonesian part of Borneo fell sharply during the pandemic, as weak timber demand and travel restrictions made logging less profitable and harder to carry out. At the same time, villages with access to alternative livelihoods and other support were less reliant on forests for income, the paper adds. The researchers say their study is among the first to combine household surveys with detailed satellite data to examine how the pandemic affected rural livelihoods and forest loss in the same communities, offering a closer look at how economic shocks and social support can influence pressure on tropical forests. “As the pandemic started, we expected economic hardships to cause illegal logging to increase again,” Skylar Hopkins, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University and the lead author for the new study, said in a statement. Mapping deforestation trends Before the pandemic, average forest loss was 52% lower in NGO-affiliated villages than in unaffiliated villages, the study finds. Indonesia has the world’s third-largest tropical forest area, a major store of biodiversity and carbon, long threatened by logging, agricultural expansion and fires. The researchers surveyed 10 villages in West Kalimantan in late 2021: six communities supported by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/community-programs-linked-to-lower-forest-loss-in-indonesias-borneo-during-covid-19/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327673</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Africa’s new gold rush: Big money, high stakes in emerging spekboom restoration sector</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/south-africas-new-gold-rush-big-money-high-stakes-in-emerging-spekboom-restoration-sector/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/south-africas-new-gold-rush-big-money-high-stakes-in-emerging-spekboom-restoration-sector/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 21:34:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leonie Joubert]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27122503/b.-ToShowMongaBay_%C2%A9S-Reinders_01-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327564</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Environment, Funding, Landscape Restoration, Mongabay investigation, Nature-based climate solutions, Plants, Reforestation, Restoration, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first article in Mongabay&#8217;s three-part investigation of spekboom-led ecosystem restoration in South Africa. It is part of an award-winning collaboration between independent science writer Leonie Joubert, the Stellenbosch University School for Climate Studies, and the Henry Nxumalo Foundation which supports investigative journalism in Africa. GQEBERHA, South Africa — The spekboom is to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first article in Mongabay&#8217;s three-part investigation of spekboom-led ecosystem restoration in South Africa. It is part of an award-winning collaboration between independent science writer Leonie Joubert, the Stellenbosch University School for Climate Studies, and the Henry Nxumalo Foundation which supports investigative journalism in Africa. GQEBERHA, South Africa — The spekboom is to goats what ice cream is to a toddler, say the locals in this little nook of South Africa&#8217;s Eastern Cape province. This explains why roughly 90% of the Albany thicket plant biome has been stripped by generations of livestock farming, mostly mohair-producing goats. Where there once was impenetrable bush, many farmlands now look like a desert. This particular plot of cultivated spekboom (Portulacaria afra) — literally, bacon tree in Afrikaans — carries the weight of expectation, though. “These are the old ones,” says Nick Hamp-Adams, gesturing to a dense line of bushes, each a spray of boughs that erupts from the ground like fireworks. After half a century, they stand a little higher than a tall person’s head. Their plush, water-laden leaves create a pointillist hedge that’s hard to see through. Where the lower branches dip to the ground, some send out roots, which allows the plant to spread and further carpet the soil. “The farmer planted them because mud [kept] flooding his barn,” says Hamp-Adams, an environmental policy graduate and general manager at Return to Thicket, a small restoration initiative in this emerging sector. From those humble beginnings in 1976 — a farmer needing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/south-africas-new-gold-rush-big-money-high-stakes-in-emerging-spekboom-restoration-sector/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327564</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Costa Rica to require wildlife crossings for roads when they impact fauna</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/costa-rica-to-require-wildlife-crossings-for-roads-when-they-impact-fauna/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/costa-rica-to-require-wildlife-crossings-for-roads-when-they-impact-fauna/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 21:05:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bobby Bascomb]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27205801/Cebus-imitator_-Route257_Canopybridge_Panthera_CCT_APMTerminals_MOPT_Recope_Veragua-e1787864653223-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327666</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Protected Areas, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rican lawmakers unanimously voted to require wildlife crossings for new and existing road infrastructure when evidence shows the infrastructure interrupts natural connectivity and threatens wildlife safety. The measure, approved in August 2026, will help wildlife avoid being struck by cars while crossing roads and connect habitat, the regulation notes. Once signed into law by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rican lawmakers unanimously voted to require wildlife crossings for new and existing road infrastructure when evidence shows the infrastructure interrupts natural connectivity and threatens wildlife safety. The measure, approved in August 2026, will help wildlife avoid being struck by cars while crossing roads and connect habitat, the regulation notes. Once signed into law by the president, the regulation will require that new infrastructure projects must include wildlife crossings in the earliest stage of development and budgeting. Costa Rica’s National Environmental Technical Secretariat will be responsible for confirming such plans are sufficient and appropriate before they grant approval for new projects. Existing roads may also require new wildlife crossings if the government is presented with information showing they are necessary. “Anyone can contribute scientific data to show that a bridge is needed,” Rebecca Cliffe, the founder and director of the Costa Rica-based Sloth Conservation Foundation, told Mongabay in a video call. Cliffe is planning a citizen science project to compile data from rescue centers and community reports in the South Caribbean and request bridges where they are needed. Costa Rican roads are dotted with bright yellow wildlife crossing signs featuring sloths, tapirs and coatis. But a 2025 study from Brazil found such signs do little to actually slow down drivers. Cliffe said these signs amount to “greenwashing” in Costa Rica. “No one&#8217;s slowing down when they see those signs.” In contrast, wildlife crossings — which can include bridges, culverts, tunnels and ropes for arboreal species — are known lifesavers. Beyond saving animals, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/costa-rica-to-require-wildlife-crossings-for-roads-when-they-impact-fauna/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/costa-rica-to-require-wildlife-crossings-for-roads-when-they-impact-fauna/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327666</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s 30&#215;30 conservation promise matters a lot, but how it’s achieved is key (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/australias-30x30-conservation-promise-matters-a-lot-but-how-its-achieved-is-key-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/australias-30x30-conservation-promise-matters-a-lot-but-how-its-achieved-is-key-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 19:12:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tim Nicol]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27184114/RS5375_Goss-Govt-gazetted-in-1992-136288-56-Minerval-Hills-National-Park-Credit_-Tourism-and-Events-Queensland-lpr-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327641</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Global, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine Protected Areas, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Australia has just four years to meet a global biodiversity promise: Protect 30% of its land and seas by 2030. What happens here in one of the planet’s megadiverse nations, which is also an extinction hotspot, will signal whether the world’s most ambitious conservation commitment can succeed. Australia is a wealthy country with abundant resources, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Australia has just four years to meet a global biodiversity promise: Protect 30% of its land and seas by 2030. What happens here in one of the planet’s megadiverse nations, which is also an extinction hotspot, will signal whether the world’s most ambitious conservation commitment can succeed. Australia is a wealthy country with abundant resources, so the question is not only if it can meet its target goal, but whether it’s protecting the right places. Global example In 2022, nearly 200 countries agreed to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, known as 30 by 30. The pact calls for at least 30% of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments to be effectively conserved and managed to help reverse biodiversity loss. In addition, the conserved areas need to be biodiverse, ecologically representative, well connected, well managed, and equitably governed, while the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities are recognized and respected. Australia’s biodiversity crisis is already severe. The country is home to globally distinctive species and ecosystems, yet it has one of the world’s worst records for mammal extinctions driven by land clearing, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, changed fire regimes, water extraction, climate change, and poorly-controlled development. Lyndal Scobell of Cape York Natural Resource Management Ltd and Roderick Doughboy, an Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger, discuss land management issues at the Split Rock Escarpment overlooking the Kennedy Valley near Laura in Outback Queensland. Image courtesy of Kerry Trapnell. But&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/australias-30x30-conservation-promise-matters-a-lot-but-how-its-achieved-is-key-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/australias-30x30-conservation-promise-matters-a-lot-but-how-its-achieved-is-key-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327641</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>13 peccaries sail home to heal a Costa Rican forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 18:30:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27141909/The-first-ever-release-of-white-lipped-peccary-into-Piedras-Blancas-National-Park.-Photo-by-Ian-Rock-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327587</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Costa Rica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Endangered Species, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Threatened species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It&#8217;s after midnight, and veterinarian Dennise Ortiz Angulo is in the middle of Golfo Dulce, surrounded by shooting stars, bioluminescent water, and 13 boar-like beasts. &#8220;That moment, it felt like the movie Life of Pi,&#8221; Ortiz told Mongabay. After years of preparation, hours of fast-paced decision-making, and a tedious truck drive, Ortiz, 13 white-lipped peccaries [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It&#8217;s after midnight, and veterinarian Dennise Ortiz Angulo is in the middle of Golfo Dulce, surrounded by shooting stars, bioluminescent water, and 13 boar-like beasts. &#8220;That moment, it felt like the movie Life of Pi,&#8221; Ortiz told Mongabay. After years of preparation, hours of fast-paced decision-making, and a tedious truck drive, Ortiz, 13 white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari), and a few other humans were midway through a voyage from Costa Rica&#8217;s Osa Peninsula to Piedras Blancas National Park. The peccaries had finally settled, and Ortiz had a moment to catch her breath and take in the scene: stars, glowing water, and a boat full of gently breathing threatened mammals. This group had been carefully captured on the Osa Peninsula, where the species still ranges in strong numbers. White-lipped peccaries also used to be found in Piedras Blancas until hunters wiped them out roughly 18 years ago. The plan: reintroduce the peccary to a forest across the water, an ecosystem the animals themselves had helped build. After crossing the Golfo Dulce on boat, white-lipped peccaries are unloaded at the shores of Piedras Blancas National Park. Photo courtesy of Ian Rock. Peccaries are a force. You often smell them before you see them, a musky, garlicky scent that clings to the forest after the herd has passed. They travel in tight, noisy groups that, in Costa Rica, can number 70 to 100 animals, and elsewhere in their range, up to 300. On the night the herd reached Piedras Blancas, the animals began to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327587</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More than 380 coastal World Heritage Sites may face climate risks, new data shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/more-than-380-coastal-world-heritage-sites-may-face-climate-risks-new-data-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/more-than-380-coastal-world-heritage-sites-may-face-climate-risks-new-data-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 18:20:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[María Paula Rubiano A.]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27161847/Flamants_roses_parc_des_oiseaux_du_Djoudj-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327615</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biocultural Diversity, Climate, Climate Change, Coral Reefs, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Oceans, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Whenever coastal engineer Robert Nicholls looks outside one of his home’s windows, he can see the Hurst Castle Spit on the south coast of England slowly eroding across the sea. “In a way, Hurst Castle is a part of me, because I did all my Ph.D. work on the spit.” ​Although this particular castle doesn’t [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Whenever coastal engineer Robert Nicholls looks outside one of his home’s windows, he can see the Hurst Castle Spit on the south coast of England slowly eroding across the sea. “In a way, Hurst Castle is a part of me, because I did all my Ph.D. work on the spit.” ​Although this particular castle doesn’t have an international heritage status, it inspired Nicholls to study how climate change and weather events threaten the survival of such sites across the globe. Now, Nicholls has co-created the first global high-resolution digital dataset of UNESCO World Heritage Sites located along coastlines. Together, the included sites cover more than 235 million hectares (~581 million acres).​ ​Nicholls and his colleagues say the database can be used as a tool to help assess vulnerabilities of  coastal sites that possess great natural and cultural significance, and local authorities can make them more resilient in the face of climate change and other threats posed by weather extremes. “The surprising thing, I suppose, was the number of sites in the coastal zone,” Nicholls, a professor of climate adaptation at the University of East Anglia, told Mongabay over a video call. The database, published in the journal Scientific Data in July, includes 386 locations and maps cultural landmarks; biocultural sites deemed to have both ecological and cultural value; and unique ecosystems, biodiversity fortresses and geological marvels. All are threatened by climate change and other environmental factors that might not be directly tied to it, such as erosion, according to co-author&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/more-than-380-coastal-world-heritage-sites-may-face-climate-risks-new-data-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/more-than-380-coastal-world-heritage-sites-may-face-climate-risks-new-data-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327615</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Devastating’ rush for critical minerals has little to do with green energy: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/devastating-rush-for-critical-minerals-has-little-to-do-with-green-energy-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/devastating-rush-for-critical-minerals-has-little-to-do-with-green-energy-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 17:14:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27170559/c.-51538940854_48252d7768_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327639</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate, Climate Change, Crime, Critical Minerals, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Health, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Impact Of Climate Change, Law, Mining, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new report published by U.S.-based think tank the Oakland Institute warns that the rush for critical minerals comes with massive implications for the world, especially African countries. The report, “RUSH: Global Scramble for Minerals Wages War on People and Planet,” challenges the popular narrative that an expansion of mining operations is necessary for the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new report published by U.S.-based think tank the Oakland Institute warns that the rush for critical minerals comes with massive implications for the world, especially African countries. The report, “RUSH: Global Scramble for Minerals Wages War on People and Planet,” challenges the popular narrative that an expansion of mining operations is necessary for the global green energy transition. “The intensification of mineral extraction has already had devastating consequences around the world, destroying land, livelihoods, and waters,” Oakland Institute policy director Frederic Mousseau told Mongabay in an email. He added the projected expansion of mining to meet global mineral demands will only perpetuate this devastation. Global demand for critical minerals is projected to increase drastically over the next two to three decades. Between 2000 and 2024, nickel production rose by 187%, rare earth extraction by 329%, and lithium production by 1,602%. According to projections by the International Energy Agency, demand for six key minerals — copper, graphite, lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements, and nickel — will further skyrocket in the coming decades. The IEA forecasts that total mineral demand from clean energy technologies will at least double by 2040. However, the Oakland Institute report found that currently, most of the critical minerals produced end up in industries unrelated to the green energy transition. Solar, wind, battery storage, and power networks for renewables together make up around a fifth of the demand, while defense and aerospace, conventional transport, AI data centers, and construction account for the rest. In Africa, home to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/devastating-rush-for-critical-minerals-has-little-to-do-with-green-energy-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/devastating-rush-for-critical-minerals-has-little-to-do-with-green-energy-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327639</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US environmental groups plan to sue to relist gray whales under Endangered Species Act</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-environmental-groups-plan-to-sue-to-relist-gray-whales-under-endangered-species-act/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-environmental-groups-plan-to-sue-to-relist-gray-whales-under-endangered-species-act/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 15:51:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27154400/original-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327597</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Climate, Climate Change, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Mammals, Marine Mammals, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of environmental organizations announced their intent to sue the United States National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) for failing to consider protections for Eastern Pacific gray whales under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) are experiencing a potentially catastrophic population decline, a sharp reversal from what had been considered a conservation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A group of environmental organizations announced their intent to sue the United States National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) for failing to consider protections for Eastern Pacific gray whales under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) are experiencing a potentially catastrophic population decline, a sharp reversal from what had been considered a conservation success.  In 2019, there were roughly 20,500 gray whales; by 2023, the population had declined to just 14,526 individuals, “nearly 30% of the entire population” gone in four years, according to nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Like many whale species, gray whales are being killed by ship strikes and entanglements, but scientists attribute most of the recent mortality to climate change and disruptions to the Arctic food web on which the gray whales depend. They “seem to be starving” to death, PEER said. The whale’s population was greatly reduced by a century of whaling, but in 1973, ESA protections helped the species recover and they were delisted in 1994. Given the recent population collapse, environmental groups petitioned NMFS in 2025 to relist the whales, which would afford them additional protections. The agency should have published a 12-month finding by Aug. 24, 2026. They didn’t, so the group has sent a notice of intent to sue for violations of the ESA. “The Trump administration has once again broken one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws — the ESA — by failing to respond to our August 2025 petition to list gray whales under the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-environmental-groups-plan-to-sue-to-relist-gray-whales-under-endangered-species-act/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-environmental-groups-plan-to-sue-to-relist-gray-whales-under-endangered-species-act/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327597</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal floods highlight growing glacier risks in warming Himalayas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/nepal-floods-highlight-growing-glacier-risks-in-warming-himalayas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/nepal-floods-highlight-growing-glacier-risks-in-warming-himalayas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 15:26:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27152232/AP26239261180558-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327595</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Nepal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BENGALURU, India (AP) — Scientists say a deadly flash flood in Nepal on Wednesday was likely caused by a glacier chunk breaking off and temporarily damming a river. This may have led to a surge of water downstream, killing at least 353 people and leaving over 1,300 missing. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BENGALURU, India (AP) — Scientists say a deadly flash flood in Nepal on Wednesday was likely caused by a glacier chunk breaking off and temporarily damming a river. This may have led to a surge of water downstream, killing at least 353 people and leaving over 1,300 missing. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse, causing catastrophic debris flow. Researchers are still analyzing satellite and ground-level data to understand the event. Experts say it&#8217;s too early to directly link the disaster to global warming, but note that rising temperatures increase such risks, especially in the rapidly warming Himalayan region. By Sibi Arasu, Associated Press  Banner image: Earthmovers clear the debris of flash flooding in Nepal&#8217;s Nuwakot district, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/nepal-floods-highlight-growing-glacier-risks-in-warming-himalayas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327595</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia defies UN call to free ‘arbitrarily jailed’ environmental activists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 10:30:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/02191929/Ly-Chandaravuth-addresses-Mother-Nature-Cambodia-supporters-before-the-court-issued-a-verdict-on-July-2-2024-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327551</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Justice, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Governance, Law, Natural Resources, NGOs, Nonviolence, Protests, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The Cambodian government has defended its continued imprisonment of five environmental activists, after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared the five had been arbitrarily detained and called for their immediate release. The activists, from environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia, have since 2024 been serving prison sentences of between [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The Cambodian government has defended its continued imprisonment of five environmental activists, after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared the five had been arbitrarily detained and called for their immediate release. The activists, from environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia, have since 2024 been serving prison sentences of between six and eight years for allegedly plotting against the government. In a 16-page opinion published in February, the U.N. working group said it had found that the imprisonment of Long Kuntha, 28, Ly Chandaravuth, 26, Phuon Keoraksmey, 25, Thun Ratha, 34 and Yim Leanghy, 37, met the conditions for arbitrary detention on the grounds that there was no legal basis for the arrests. It said authorities had targeted the activists for exercising their fundamental freedoms, making the detention discriminatory and resulting in severe violations of their right to a fair trial. The opinion asked Cambodia to take immediate action on the matter in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the latter of which Cambodia ratified in 1992, and to provide evidence of having done so within six months. Contacted by Mongabay in August, six months since the working group’s findings, a government spokesperson said the activists would remain behind bars. “I have no comment on [the working group’s] rulings against us as all detentions have been made under legal and judicial proceeding,” Chan Rothona, spokesperson for Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327551</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Java’s hills, former bird hunters are rebuilding a songbird haven</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-javas-hills-former-bird-hunters-are-rebuilding-a-songbird-haven/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-javas-hills-former-bird-hunters-are-rebuilding-a-songbird-haven/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 10:29:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Triyo Handoko]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27102040/Javan-blue-flycatcher-Cyornis-banyumas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327538</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Hunting, Poaching, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PURWOREJO, Indonesia — As a young man, Parman hunted songbirds here in the Menoreh Hills, a landscape of karst valleys near the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. The area is now a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, but back then Parman would raid nests for rare birds, taking fledglings before they had learned to fly, then raising them [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PURWOREJO, Indonesia — As a young man, Parman hunted songbirds here in the Menoreh Hills, a landscape of karst valleys near the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. The area is now a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, but back then Parman would raid nests for rare birds, taking fledglings before they had learned to fly, then raising them himself until they were old enough to sell. “Most buyers came from outside the area, especially Yogyakarta and Magelang,” Parman told Mongabay Indonesia in June, referring to the two nearest cities to his home in Donorejo village. “They’d ask local people to catch them, and we’d sell them — for a pretty good price.” The colorful Javan blue flycatcher (Cyornis banyumas), for example, used to be a common sight and sound here in the Menoreh Hills. But the species is now critically endangered, a sad reflection of the depth of Indonesia’s songbird trade. Today, many more of these birds are held in cages than live freely in forests. “Remarkably, the population in captivity likely numbers in the tens of thousands, while the wild population is now suspected to number fewer than 1,000, and maybe much lower,” notes the most recent assessment of the Javan blue flycatcher, published in 2022 by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. “It became really difficult to find birds here,” Parman said. “So that’s why we stopped, and chose to focus on raising goats instead.” But after Parman and his peers stopped hunting for the songbird trade, they found outsiders&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-javas-hills-former-bird-hunters-are-rebuilding-a-songbird-haven/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-javas-hills-former-bird-hunters-are-rebuilding-a-songbird-haven/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327538</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A ‘leading’ Chinese miner of Mozambique’s heavy sands linked to environmental destruction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-leading-chinese-miner-of-mozambiques-heavy-sands-linked-to-environmental-destruction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-leading-chinese-miner-of-mozambiques-heavy-sands-linked-to-environmental-destruction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 08:35:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26134735/1-heavy-sand-mining-site-off-the-coast-of-Mozambique-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327406</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Mozambique, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Governance, Industry, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Conservation, Mining, and Natural Resources]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A sand mining operation along the coast of central Mozambique’s Zambezia Province decimated hundreds of hectares of mangroves in just a few years, a Mongabay investigation has found. The area is under the control of Mozambique Heavy Sand Company VIII, part-owned by the Jinan Yuxiao Group, an influential Chinese mining group claiming to hold more than [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A sand mining operation along the coast of central Mozambique’s Zambezia Province decimated hundreds of hectares of mangroves in just a few years, a Mongabay investigation has found. The area is under the control of Mozambique Heavy Sand Company VIII, part-owned by the Jinan Yuxiao Group, an influential Chinese mining group claiming to hold more than 500,000 hectares (1.24 million acres) of land in mining concessions in Mozambique. That’s an area larger in size than 700,000 soccer fields. These concessions mostly target heavy mineral sands that primarily yield titanium ores that are used in the production of everything from paints to plastics and sunscreen. Environmental activists are raising the alarm about the risks from heavy minerals mining along Mozambique’s coast and local media has documented the growing threat from it. “All of our coastal zones have these heavy mineral sands projects,” Fatima Mimbire, an advocate for transparency in Mozambique’s mining sector, told Mongabay, adding that. most mineral sand mining companies in Mozambique were Chinese. “These companies are destroying without concern for the environment, without concern for the people.” Global Mangrove Watch (GMW), a platform built to track where mangroves are recovering and where they are in retreat, first signaled the losses in the Chinde district of Zambezia. Lammert Hilarides, an earth observation specialist at Wetlands International (WI), told Mongabay how he started noticing an uptick in mangrove deforestation alerts from the region in late 2023. WI is one of the organizations that designed and now helps run GMW. In the years&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-leading-chinese-miner-of-mozambiques-heavy-sands-linked-to-environmental-destruction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-leading-chinese-miner-of-mozambiques-heavy-sands-linked-to-environmental-destruction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327406</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Sumatran villager lost ground to the sea. So he planted mangroves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/a-sumatran-villager-lost-ground-to-the-sea-so-he-planted-mangroves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/a-sumatran-villager-lost-ground-to-the-sea-so-he-planted-mangroves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 08:12:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27081220/Planting-mangroves-with-students-from-Tanjung-Kuras-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327539</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Mangroves, Marine, Peatlands, Solutions, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a coastal village on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an oil palm and pineapple grower named Harisyah is fighting rapid coastal erosion. The region’s northern coastline, which sits on carbon-rich tropical peat soils, is losing ground to the sea at a rate of more than 6 meters (20 feet) annually. Researchers attribute the retreat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a coastal village on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an oil palm and pineapple grower named Harisyah is fighting rapid coastal erosion. The region’s northern coastline, which sits on carbon-rich tropical peat soils, is losing ground to the sea at a rate of more than 6 meters (20 feet) annually. Researchers attribute the retreat to a combination of subsiding drained peatland and the loss of mangrove forests cleared for charcoal production, aquaculture, and oil palms. Harisyah’s hands-on activism began in 2011 after he attended an aquaculture training course in the Meranti Islands, off the eastern coast of Sumatra, reports contributor Suryadi for Mongabay Indonesia. He spent the next few years learning how to restore mangrove forests, from raising seedlings to organizing community volunteers. In 2018, when he became the head of Tanjung Kuras village, on the Sumatran mainland, he used local funds to kick-start mangrove restoration efforts around his village. In 2024, after leaving office, he partnered with local and international nonprofits to scale up restoration in Tanjung Kuras, aiming to revive 25 hectares (62 acres) of degraded mangrove forest. A key part of Harisyah&#8217;s current strategy is involving local youths to ensure long-term stewardship. One of the restoration sites is near an elementary school, and  local schoolchildren and residents joined him to plant seedlings along the riverbanks. “This new generation will grow up close to mangroves, and they can learn more about them through playing and activities,” Harisyah said. The replanting efforts highlight a shift from unmet national&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/a-sumatran-villager-lost-ground-to-the-sea-so-he-planted-mangroves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/a-sumatran-villager-lost-ground-to-the-sea-so-he-planted-mangroves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327539</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>China&#8217;s Tianmu Mountain reserve tackles modern conservation amid religious tradition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/chinas-tianmu-mountain-reserve-tackles-modern-conservation-amid-religious-tradition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/chinas-tianmu-mountain-reserve-tackles-modern-conservation-amid-religious-tradition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 04:38:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27043739/UNESCO-tianmu-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327536</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, and East Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Law, Protected Areas, Religions, Research, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions have long guided the protection of plants and wildlife in a nature reserve on Tianmu Mountain in eastern China. Local temples enforced strict rules and punishments against forest destruction, but, following the reserve’s recent expansion, state regulations now provide the formal legal framework for the area. Local officials say religious [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions have long guided the protection of plants and wildlife in a nature reserve on Tianmu Mountain in eastern China. Local temples enforced strict rules and punishments against forest destruction, but, following the reserve’s recent expansion, state regulations now provide the formal legal framework for the area. Local officials say religious traditions from the past continue to shape public attitudes, reports contributor Keith Anthony Fabro for Mongabay.  The Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve, located on the eastern coast of China,  expanded from 4,300 hectares (10,630 acres)  to become the 54,700-hectare (135,170-acre) Tianmushan-Qingliangfeng UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in 2025. It represents a landmark expansion, the first of its kind in China. Long known as the &#8220;kingdom of big trees&#8221; and home to the ancient, endangered Ginkgo biloba, the biosphere reserve is a crucial biodiversity haven for thousands of species  including the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), black muntjac (Muntiacus crinifrons), Chinese golden larch (Pseudolarix amabilis) and Tianmu ironwood (Ostrya rehderiana). Religion has been one of Tianmu’s most steadfast guardians, like many mountainous regions in China, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. &#8220;This place is special not only because of its nature,&#8221; Lu Senhong, head of the publicity and education division at the Tianmu National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, told Mongabay in an interview. &#8220;It is also because people here have long believed that every tree, flower, and bird carries a spirit. That respect has kept the mountain alive.&#8221; Today, the administration formally manages the now expanded reserve, but&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/chinas-tianmu-mountain-reserve-tackles-modern-conservation-amid-religious-tradition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327536</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil relaxes Belo Monte water rule amid El Niño-fueled Amazon drought risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/brazil-relaxes-belo-monte-water-rule-amid-el-nino-fueled-amazon-drought-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/brazil-relaxes-belo-monte-water-rule-amid-el-nino-fueled-amazon-drought-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 23:30:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/31094008/belo_monte090920214077-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327526</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Dams, Drought, Energy, Environment, Extreme Weather, Hydroelectric Power, Impact Of Climate Change, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazilian authorities have temporarily relaxed an environmental rule for the Belo Monte hydropower plant on the Xingu River in the northeastern Amazon. The change comes in anticipation of another potentially severe, El-Niño-fueled dry season. Under the temporary measure, Belo Monte&#8217;s operator Norte Energia can cut the flow of the dam’s 119 square-kilometer (46 square-mile) intermediate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazilian authorities have temporarily relaxed an environmental rule for the Belo Monte hydropower plant on the Xingu River in the northeastern Amazon. The change comes in anticipation of another potentially severe, El-Niño-fueled dry season. Under the temporary measure, Belo Monte&#8217;s operator Norte Energia can cut the flow of the dam’s 119 square-kilometer (46 square-mile) intermediate reservoir from the current minimum of 300 cubic meters per second (10,600 cubic feet per second) to 100 m³/s (3,530 ft³/s). It has already begun the gradual cuts to reduce flow. They will remain until Nov. 30. Regulators told Mongabay the change will allow the plant to both preserve electricity generation and water flows through the Volta Grande do Xingu, a large bend in the Xingu River where Indigenous and riverine communities depend on the river for fishing, transport and daily life. Reduced water flow in the reservoir increases the risk of poorer water quality, with potential consequences for both aquatic life and people as the river flows downstream. “Between a worse option and a bad one, they chose the bad one,” André Oliveira Sawakuchi, a geoscientist at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, told Mongabay by phone. Norte Energia said the measure will ensure that the required flow through the Volta Grande will remain unchanged. They also said that they will monitor water quality and fish movements and report back to regulatory agencies. “Significant social and environmental impacts are not expected.” IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environment agency, told Mongabay by email. “If the measure were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/brazil-relaxes-belo-monte-water-rule-amid-el-nino-fueled-amazon-drought-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/brazil-relaxes-belo-monte-water-rule-amid-el-nino-fueled-amazon-drought-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327526</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pastoralists in a Changing World</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/pastoralists-in-a-changing-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/pastoralists-in-a-changing-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 21:03:40 +0000</pubDate>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alejandroprescottcornejo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/21123337/pastoralists-kenya-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=specials&#038;p=327515</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cattle, Climate Change, Environment, Farming, Global Environmental Crisis, Livestock, Natural Resources, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Pastoralism is one of humanity’s oldest ways of life. Moving livestock across vast landscapes in rhythm with seasonal change and environmental conditions, pastoralist cultures rely on freedom of movement and shared arrangements over how to graze rangelands. Today, pastoralists are navigating profound environmental changes to the lands that have sustained their communities for generations. This [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Pastoralism is one of humanity’s oldest ways of life. Moving livestock across vast landscapes in rhythm with seasonal change and environmental conditions, pastoralist cultures rely on freedom of movement and shared arrangements over how to graze rangelands. Today, pastoralists are navigating profound environmental changes to the lands that have sustained their communities for generations. This Special Issue explores many of the tensions influencing pastoral livelihoods including climate change, conflict with wildlife, access to land, water and traditional migration routes, as well as the adaptation and innovation sustaining hundreds of millions of people worldwide. This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/pastoralists-in-a-changing-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327515</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Kenya’s clothing waste raises concerns about potential public health risks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kenyas-clothing-waste-raises-concerns-about-potential-public-health-risks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kenyas-clothing-waste-raises-concerns-about-potential-public-health-risks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 17:57:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ouma Elvine Tina]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26204347/Clothes_shop-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327508</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Microplastics, Plastic, Pollution, Public Health, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Kenya&#8217;s secondhand clothing trade, locally known as mitumba, clothes millions of people and supports an estimated 2 million livelihoods, making it one of Africa&#8217;s largest markets for used garments. That makes Kenya a useful lens for understanding the growing global public health problems associated with textile waste disguised as reusable clothing. More than 4.5 billion [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Kenya&#8217;s secondhand clothing trade, locally known as mitumba, clothes millions of people and supports an estimated 2 million livelihoods, making it one of Africa&#8217;s largest markets for used garments. That makes Kenya a useful lens for understanding the growing global public health problems associated with textile waste disguised as reusable clothing. More than 4.5 billion used garments are shipped to Africa each year, according to a recent letter published in Science. Many end up in dumpsites or are burned when local sorting systems are overwhelmed. The researchers argue that discarded textile waste can become reservoirs for harmful bacteria, including Escherichia (which includes E. coli) and Klebsiella. These bacteria are linked to illnesses ranging from diarrheal disease and urinary tract infections to pneumonia, bloodstream infections and, in severe cases, life-threatening sepsis. A growing body of research links health risks with textile waste. A recent review found that discarded textiles can harbor pathogenic microorganisms and antimicrobial-resistant genes. Another study showed that microplastics released from degrading synthetic textiles can transport pathogens and toxic chemicals through the environment. Recent reporting by Mongabay highlighted evidence that microplastic pollution may contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance. For Kenya, the enormous scale of the secondhand clothing trade is at the root of the problem. A 2023 report estimates that Nairobi’s largest dumpsite receives roughly 86 metric tons of textile waste each day. Once discarded, synthetic textiles can fragment into microplastics that pollute both the air and waterways. To combat the problem, the authors of the Science&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kenyas-clothing-waste-raises-concerns-about-potential-public-health-risks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327508</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As hay fever sufferers grow in Japan, the country is looking to plant no-pollen trees</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-hay-fever-sufferers-grow-in-japan-the-country-is-looking-to-plant-no-pollen-trees/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-hay-fever-sufferers-grow-in-japan-the-country-is-looking-to-plant-no-pollen-trees/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 16:09:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jonathan Vit]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/17115248/Japan-hay-fever-02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326395</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Farming, Health, Plants, Reforestation, Solutions, Timber, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TOKYO — For Mariko Aoki, the new year began with an itch. “Right after the New Year in January, my nose starts to get a little itchy,” Aoki said. “It peaks in March, and the sneezing, runny nose, itchy throat and itchy eyes are really bad. It lasts all the way until just before Golden [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TOKYO — For Mariko Aoki, the new year began with an itch. “Right after the New Year in January, my nose starts to get a little itchy,” Aoki said. “It peaks in March, and the sneezing, runny nose, itchy throat and itchy eyes are really bad. It lasts all the way until just before Golden Week [April 29-May 5].” Aoki, like many in Japan, suffers from hay fever, or kafunsho, an annual affliction that affects more than 40% of the population — nearly double the rate in the U.S. The seasonal allergies leave many with red eyes, a stuffy nose, a sore throat and feelings of exhaustion. The combined lassitude annually costs Japan an estimated 245 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in economic losses per day during hay fever season, according to one survey. “My head feels so foggy that I can’t concentrate,” said Aoki, who works as a secretary at the National Diet — Japan’s legislature. “When it gets really bad, I go to the doctor.” In Japan, hay fever has been called a national disease. But it’s a man-made one. The majority of Japan’s hay fever sufferers are allergic to the pollen of two trees: sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) and hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa). Both trees were widely planted in the years following World War II as a much-needed source of timber. Sugi cones. Image by Plant Image Library via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). The trees helped fuel Japan’s post-war recovery. Now, decades later, they’re fuelling a national health crisis. “People&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-hay-fever-sufferers-grow-in-japan-the-country-is-looking-to-plant-no-pollen-trees/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-hay-fever-sufferers-grow-in-japan-the-country-is-looking-to-plant-no-pollen-trees/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326395</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nigeria can build the new coastal highway and also protect natural areas (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nigeria-can-build-the-new-coastal-highway-and-also-protect-natural-areas-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nigeria-can-build-the-new-coastal-highway-and-also-protect-natural-areas-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 16:03:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mahmoud Ibrahim Mahmoud]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/28203550/CrossRiverMonument_CalabarCrossRiverNigeria_KoutchikaLihouenouGaspardWikicommonsBYSA4.0-e1787757447155-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327410</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Commentary, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Infrastructure, Mangroves, Marine, Roads, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nigeria needs road infrastructure for improved living conditions. Anyone who has watched trucks crawl out of Lagos, farmers and fishermen struggle to reach markets, or small coastal businesses lose value to poor logistics, knows that road infrastructure in Nigeria is not a luxury. The proposed Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, running roughly 700 kilometers (about 435 miles) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nigeria needs road infrastructure for improved living conditions. Anyone who has watched trucks crawl out of Lagos, farmers and fishermen struggle to reach markets, or small coastal businesses lose value to poor logistics, knows that road infrastructure in Nigeria is not a luxury. The proposed Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, running roughly 700 kilometers (about 435 miles) from Badagry toward Calabar, is therefore easy to sell as a nation-building project: faster trade, more jobs, increased tourism, port access, socioeconomic development, and a stronger southern economic corridor. However, the same road could also become a long concrete trigger for ecological loss. Nigeria’s coast is not empty land waiting for asphalt. It is a living system of mangroves, freshwater swamps, tidal channels, floodplains, fishing settlements, and remnant forests. These ecosystems store carbon, buffer storms, nurse fisheries, serve as breeding grounds for marine life, and support livelihoods that rarely appear in road-cost spreadsheets. The question is not whether Nigeria should develop. It is whether development will be intelligent enough to avoid destroying the natural infrastructure that already protects coastal communities. The answer depends on whether environmental and social impact assessments, or ESIAs, are treated as honest decision-making tools rather than administrative rituals. A mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona), is one of the many species inhabiting Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve, which the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway is proposed to be routed through. Image courtesy of AlexisENVN via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Recent developments have already raised serious concerns. Mongabay has noted that the highway passes through or&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nigeria-can-build-the-new-coastal-highway-and-also-protect-natural-areas-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-327410</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At least 75 killed and hundreds missing after flash floods in Nepal and China</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/at-least-75-killed-and-hundreds-missing-after-flash-floods-in-nepal-and-china/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/at-least-75-killed-and-hundreds-missing-after-flash-floods-in-nepal-and-china/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 15:18:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26151459/AP26238503532584-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327443</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Nepal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, and Global Environmental Crisis]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal (AP) — Flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China have killed at least 75 people and left hundreds missing. On Wednesday, officials in Nepal reported 403 people missing, including 341 foreign nationals. Many were said to be on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in China&#8217;s autonomous region of Tibet. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal (AP) — Flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China have killed at least 75 people and left hundreds missing. On Wednesday, officials in Nepal reported 403 people missing, including 341 foreign nationals. Many were said to be on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in China&#8217;s autonomous region of Tibet. China’s state broadcaster said a mudslide in Tibet killed at least three people and left 265 missing. The floods have destroyed villages, roads, and hydropower projects. Nepal said it has asked India and China to help with rescue efforts. Rescuers carry a victim of flash flooding to safety along the Trishuli River in Nepal&#8217;s Nuwakot district, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) Damaged houses stand precariously near the swollen, debris-choked banks of the Trishuli River after flash floods in Nepal&#8217;s Nuwakot district on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) By Niranjan Shrestha and Sibi Arasu, Associated Press Banner image: Rescuers use an earthmover to carry a victim of flash flooding to safety along the Trishuli River in Nepal&#8217;s Nuwakot district, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. Image courtesy of Niranjan Shrestha, Associated Press. This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/at-least-75-killed-and-hundreds-missing-after-flash-floods-in-nepal-and-china/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/at-least-75-killed-and-hundreds-missing-after-flash-floods-in-nepal-and-china/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327443</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Blast fishing destroys reefs. Underwater microphones can help detect it</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 14:22:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Syris Valentine]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26122700/Ben-deploys-a-hydrophone-credit-Tim-Lamont-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327367</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When he went for a dive between the tiny islands off the coast of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, marine biologist and AI researcher Ben Williams could often hear as many as three fish bombs detonate. “But the thing is, because sounds travel so far underwater, the bombing is often happening quite far away,” he said. “So [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When he went for a dive between the tiny islands off the coast of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, marine biologist and AI researcher Ben Williams could often hear as many as three fish bombs detonate. “But the thing is, because sounds travel so far underwater, the bombing is often happening quite far away,” he said. “So you could hear one that feels like a kick in the chest, then you look up [above the water], and you can’t even see a boat on the horizon.” Those islands, the Spermonde Archipelago, were once home to a pristine and vibrant network of coral reefs. But from 1990 to 2022, some three-quarters of this coral was killed, primarily by the illegal practice of blast fishing. In it, fishers toss improvised explosives into the sea to kill and stun fish en masse and scoop up the mostly intact ones, leaving underwater wreckage behind. “If you look at the rubble after a city&#8217;s been blown up in a war zone,” Williams told Mongabay in a video call, “it&#8217;s not too dissimilar.” Since 2013, local communities, conservation organizations and scientists have collaborated on the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Project, an effort to restore those damaged reefs. Williams joined researchers studying the effectiveness of those efforts in 2019. His particular contribution focused on using recent advances in data science to investigate Spermonde’s marine soundscape: Where a healthy reef sings like an alien jungle come to life at night, a dead one crackles like a forest smoldering after a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327367</doi>				</item>
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