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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/author/hayat/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/hayat/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:29:45 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Hayat Indriyatno, Author at Conservation news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/hayat/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Sea turtle hunters become their protectors in Cabo Verde</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/cabo-verde-ex-hunters-now-protect-vulnerable-sea-turtles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/cabo-verde-ex-hunters-now-protect-vulnerable-sea-turtles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 12:25:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/17122429/10-scaled-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321374</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cape Verde, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Herps, Hunting, Over-hunting, Poaching, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Former sea turtle hunters in Cabo Verde, off the coast of West Africa, have shifted to working in loggerhead turtle conservation along the archipelago nation’s main nesting beaches. The change was propelled by 2018 legislation that criminalized killing threatened turtle species, Sonam Lama Hyolmo reported for Mongabay. Rangers, around a dozen of which used to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Former sea turtle hunters in Cabo Verde, off the coast of West Africa, have shifted to working in loggerhead turtle conservation along the archipelago nation’s main nesting beaches. The change was propelled by 2018 legislation that criminalized killing threatened turtle species, Sonam Lama Hyolmo reported for Mongabay. Rangers, around a dozen of which used to poach or hunt turtles, now patrol key beaches where turtles lay their eggs, walking several kilometers each night during the nesting season, which runs from June to October. Turtle meat is historically consumed in Cabo Verde and many other regions, which has created a conflict between conservation needs and local customs. However, awareness campaigns and employment opportunities are helping to bridge that gap. “I had turtle meat for personal consumption and never realized I could make a living out of conserving them,” Roni Nelson Batista Ramos, a ranger and camp coordinator at the Turtle Foundation, told Mongabay. “But now, I guard them against the poachers, and it’s motivating to see how these efforts have driven positive impacts for their conservation.” Ramos and others monitor around 31 kilometers (19 miles) of coastline, patrolling the beaches on foot, and using drones and dogs for added assistance. Roughly two-thirds of loggerhead turtle nesting activity in Cabo Verde happens on the eastern island of Boa Vista, which has seen a dramatic decline in illegal turtle hunting, according to the Turtle Foundation. In 2007, 1,253 female loggerheads were illegally caught on the island; by 2024 there were just 20. Over&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/cabo-verde-ex-hunters-now-protect-vulnerable-sea-turtles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/cabo-verde-ex-hunters-now-protect-vulnerable-sea-turtles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Africa’s community-led marine organizations on which 30&#215;30 depends</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/africas-community-led-marine-organizations-on-which-30x30-depends/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/africas-community-led-marine-organizations-on-which-30x30-depends/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 10:45:16 +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/20/2026/06/17102647/486611801_1125966072908240_4237381363299060798_n-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321349</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Economics, Environment, Finance, Fish, Freshwater Fish, Mangroves, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Plants, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This week, thousands of delegates are gathered in Mombasa, Kenya, for the first Our Ocean Conference to be hosted on African soil. As expected, much of the conversation will focus on the global &#8220;30&#215;30&#8221; target — protecting 30% of the world&#8217;s land, freshwater and oceans by 2030. Yet, far from the conference halls, the big [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This week, thousands of delegates are gathered in Mombasa, Kenya, for the first Our Ocean Conference to be hosted on African soil. As expected, much of the conversation will focus on the global &#8220;30&#215;30&#8221; target — protecting 30% of the world&#8217;s land, freshwater and oceans by 2030. Yet, far from the conference halls, the big pledges and state commitments, many of the people doing the daily work of marine conservation are community organizations operating on modest budgets along Africa’s coastlines. They often do so far from the spotlight, but their contribution is vital for the global ambition to conserve ocean spaces. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), under whose Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework the 2030 targets were adopted, highlights that success hinges heavily on community involvement. Across Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia, four such groups — Coastal and Marine Resource Development (COMRED), Action for Ocean, Mwambao Coastal Community Network and the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) — offer a window into what community-led marine conservation looks like in practice. Their work might be underfunded, uneven and sometimes slow, but are increasingly central to how marine protection is imagined on the continent. Marine ecosystems in Africa support fisheries, tourism, transport, carbon storage and coastal protection while sustaining millions of livelihoods from the Western Indian Ocean to Africa’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. In East Africa in particular, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass meadows and nearshore fisheries underpin food systems and local economies even as they face pressure from overfishing, habitat degradation, climate change and pollution.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/africas-community-led-marine-organizations-on-which-30x30-depends/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/africas-community-led-marine-organizations-on-which-30x30-depends/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Community-led initiatives safeguard marbled cats in northeast India</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/community-led-initiatives-safeguard-marbled-cats-in-northeast-india/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/community-led-initiatives-safeguard-marbled-cats-in-northeast-india/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 09:47:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/17094207/1.-Marbled-cat-captured-on-camera-trap-in-Nagaland.-PC-Giridhar-Malla-e1780642216526-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321347</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Cats, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Governance, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Monitoring, Research, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In India’s northeast, local communities are leading the charge for the protection of the marbled cat, one of Asia’s most poorly studied small wild cat species, reports contributor Barasha Das for Mongabay India. The marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. However, not much is known about its population and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In India’s northeast, local communities are leading the charge for the protection of the marbled cat, one of Asia’s most poorly studied small wild cat species, reports contributor Barasha Das for Mongabay India. The marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. However, not much is known about its population and movement patterns because it isn’t a species many researchers specifically set out to study. It is “often studied as part of broader wild cat groups rather than through species-specific research,” Jimmy Borah, deputy director of the legal and advocacy division at conservation NGO Aaranyak, told Mongabay India. Most of what is known about the cat is from camera trap records, Borah added. One such camera trap study in Southeast Asia found that only a small proportion of the marbled cat’s range in the region lies within protected areas.   Similarly, conservationists with the Eastern Himalayas Marbled Cat Project (EHMCP) used camera traps to confirm the presence of the marbled cat in parts of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya, finding that most habitats of the wild cat extend beyond protected areas. “It became clear that if conservation efforts are to be effective, we need to focus on sensitizing communities living around these forests because they interact more frequently with these species but are less aware of them,” Giridhar Malla, founder of the EHMCP, told Mongabay India.  The EHMCP conducted awareness programs in villages near the cat’s habitat and engaged local youth and hunters&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/community-led-initiatives-safeguard-marbled-cats-in-northeast-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/community-led-initiatives-safeguard-marbled-cats-in-northeast-india/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>In South Africa, a village learns to live with baboons — but it may be the exception</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-south-africa-a-village-learns-to-live-with-baboons-but-it-may-be-the-exception/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-south-africa-a-village-learns-to-live-with-baboons-but-it-may-be-the-exception/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 08:00:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Barry Christianson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16122415/slide-house-rooiels_mb_bc_DSC1072-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321297</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conflict, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Sustainability, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ROOIELS, South Africa — Baboons aren’t exactly punctual, but Gavin Lundie still expected them to appear in the village around 9 a.m. “They’re coming!” his wife Leslie called. Members of the Rooiels baboon troop had begun to make their way down. Leslie made her way to the sliding doors on their patio and secured it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ROOIELS, South Africa — Baboons aren’t exactly punctual, but Gavin Lundie still expected them to appear in the village around 9 a.m. “They’re coming!” his wife Leslie called. Members of the Rooiels baboon troop had begun to make their way down. Leslie made her way to the sliding doors on their patio and secured it with two shoelaces attached to a hook. She remained on the balcony and watched as the troop entered into the village a few properties away. The Lundies live in Rooiels, a small, affluent village on False Bay, approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Cape Town’s city center. The village, scattered from the coastal flats up the slopes of the Klein Hangklip mountain, is part of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve. The mountain’s cliff faces offer sleeping baboons (Papio ursinus) protection from leopards, their natural predator, but the sparse vegetation doesn’t offer enough for them to eat or drink. In contrast, the lower slopes, where the village has grown up, is still covered with dense fynbos scrub on undeveloped plots, in gardens and along unpaved verges. The baboons forage on a range of flowers, seeds and berries in the warmer months; in winter, when the fynbos is dormant, the baboons eat kikuyu grass from lawns in the village. They also eat limpets in the intertidal zone, and the Rooiels River is a year-round source of freshwater. A juvenile baboon clings to its mother&#8217;s back as she forages in fynbos on the roadside in Rooi Els. Image by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-south-africa-a-village-learns-to-live-with-baboons-but-it-may-be-the-exception/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-south-africa-a-village-learns-to-live-with-baboons-but-it-may-be-the-exception/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>How one woman&#8217;s farm is a model for small-scale farmers in Malawi</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-one-womans-farm-is-a-model-for-small-scale-farmers-in-malawi/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-one-womans-farm-is-a-model-for-small-scale-farmers-in-malawi/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 05:24:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/17052407/4573806241_2de801253b_k-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321344</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Malawi, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Community Development, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Development, Environment, Farming, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Natural Resources, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Malawi’s Chiradzulu district, located in the southern region of the country, Diana Sitima&#8217;s farm shows how a combination of agroecology and secure land ownership can create a thriving commercial enterprise. Many neighboring farmers rely primarily on growing and selling maize. But, on her 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) farm, Sitima combines diverse crops of fruits and vegetables [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Malawi’s Chiradzulu district, located in the southern region of the country, Diana Sitima&#8217;s farm shows how a combination of agroecology and secure land ownership can create a thriving commercial enterprise. Many neighboring farmers rely primarily on growing and selling maize. But, on her 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) farm, Sitima combines diverse crops of fruits and vegetables with fishponds and livestock to protect soil health and reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers, reports Mongabay contributor Charles Mpaka. Sitima started farming as a side hustle in 1993 while working as an office assistant. At the time she used microloans to rent small parcels of land. By 2006, she had saved enough to purchase her own property, a move she describes as the most critical step toward her success. In 2026, Sitima’s farm is &#8220;almost 100% organic,&#8221; she says. She uses a biodigester to turn manure into biogas for cooking and to power an egg incubator, while growing aquatic ferns to supplement livestock feed. “The animals and the crops support each other in various ways,” Sitima tells Mongabay. The farm’s productivity has led to significant economic results. It generates approximately $1,200 in weekly sales and provides permanent employment for six workers. Sitima attributes her growth to persistent learning, having relied on technical advisors from the government for two decades. Beyond her own fields, Sitima serves as a mentor and the chairperson for a local chapter of the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA), a grassroots network supporting nearly 200,000 small-scale women farmers across 11 countries in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-one-womans-farm-is-a-model-for-small-scale-farmers-in-malawi/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>How a tiny blue gecko became a conservation comeback story</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-a-tiny-blue-gecko-became-a-conservation-comeback-story/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-a-tiny-blue-gecko-became-a-conservation-comeback-story/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 00:05:41 +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/20/2026/06/17000449/herps_686-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321342</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Herps, Reptiles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Williams electric blue day gecko is a small Tanzanian reptile whose recovery shows what focused conservation can do, reports Mongabay contributor, Manuel Fonseca. Once heavily collected for Europe’s pet trade, the species is now rebounding because pressure from trade has eased, captive breeding has reduced demand for wild animals, and local people are helping restore [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Williams electric blue day gecko is a small Tanzanian reptile whose recovery shows what focused conservation can do, reports Mongabay contributor, Manuel Fonseca. Once heavily collected for Europe’s pet trade, the species is now rebounding because pressure from trade has eased, captive breeding has reduced demand for wild animals, and local people are helping restore the forest it needs. The gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi) lives in only two small forest reserves in central Tanzania, Kimboza and Ruvu, and depends almost entirely on screwpines for shelter, food, basking and breeding. That dependence made it vulnerable. Collectors cut down screwpines to reach the geckos, and by 2009, researchers estimated that tens of thousands had been taken from the wild. The species was later listed as critically endangered, and international commercial trade was banned under CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, in 2017. The work on the ground has mattered just as much. In Kimboza, forest ecologist Charles Kilawe and people from surrounding villages have worked with rangers to remove invasive Spanish cedar, which had spread through the reserve and displaced native habitat. Since 2016, they have cut down nearly 100,000 cedar trees, reduced forest fires by around 80%, and planted about 5,000 native trees a year. Those efforts are helping the gecko’s population return toward earlier levels. They are also improving habitat for other wildlife, including blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis), white-chested alethes (Chamaetylas fuelleborni) and trumpeter hornbills (Bycanistes bucinator). For species with tiny ranges, conservation can be very specific work: Keep trade pressure&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-a-tiny-blue-gecko-became-a-conservation-comeback-story/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>The Bougainville community in Panguna wants justice for mining’s ‘toxic legacy’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/06/the-bougainville-community-in-panguna-wants-justice-for-minings-toxic-legacy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/06/the-bougainville-community-in-panguna-wants-justice-for-minings-toxic-legacy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 21:35:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike DiGirolamo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mikedigirolamo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/Media-Room-Theonila_Credit-Goldman-Environmental-Prize_152.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=podcasts&#038;p=321261</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Melanesia and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Environment, Health, Interviews with conservation players, Mining, Pollution, Prizes, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Theonila Roka Matbob grew up next to what was — at the time — the world’s largest open-pit mine in Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, operated by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. This mine wrought environmental and social devastation on the community of Panguna for decades. And many of these impacts carry [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Theonila Roka Matbob grew up next to what was — at the time — the world’s largest open-pit mine in Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, operated by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. This mine wrought environmental and social devastation on the community of Panguna for decades. And many of these impacts carry on today, says Roka Matbob, who is an Indigenous Nasioi woman and politician. With the help of Jubilee Australia and the Human Rights Law Centre, Roka Matbob was able to file a legal complaint with Australia’s National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct. As a result, Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bougainville government to remediate the impacts of this mine. For this legal achievement, Roka Matbob was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize. However, she is skeptical that remediation for these impacts will occur. She joins the podcast this week to tell the Bougainville story and what she wants people to understand about mining&#8217;s impacts on the autonomous region and her community. “ The Bougainville story is a result of Australia&#8217;s political decision through Papua New Guinea government now implemented on Bougainville and leaving behind a toxic legacy that is already been kind of fenced out, not to have a forum to talk about,” she says. “So my intention is for us to start telling this story.” Late last year, the Bougainville government signed another memorandum of understanding with an Indian metals company, Loyd’s Metals, to redevelop the Panguna mine. Roka Matbob says&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/06/the-bougainville-community-in-panguna-wants-justice-for-minings-toxic-legacy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Rain along the Gulf Coast could become the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/rain-along-the-gulf-coast-could-become-the-first-named-storm-of-the-atlantic-hurricane-season/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/rain-along-the-gulf-coast-could-become-the-first-named-storm-of-the-atlantic-hurricane-season/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 21:27:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16212238/AP26167592799499-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321339</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Science, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, and Storms]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MIAMI (AP) — A cluster of storms along the Gulf Coast could become the first named tropical storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center said. The storms threatened to bring heavy downpours that could lead to dangerous floods across southern states including Texas and Louisiana. The system was centered Tuesday afternoon about [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MIAMI (AP) — A cluster of storms along the Gulf Coast could become the first named tropical storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center said. The storms threatened to bring heavy downpours that could lead to dangerous floods across southern states including Texas and Louisiana. The system was centered Tuesday afternoon about 55 miles (85 kilometers) south-southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas, according to a hurricane center advisory. National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said meteorologists are expecting the system to strengthen, possibly into a tropical storm by early Wednesday. But coastal areas could experience tropical storm conditions this week, even if the system doesn’t officially get a name, Brennan said. “The main hazard with these types of systems is largely the flooding from the heavy rainfall,” Brennan said. “And we could see potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding across the Texas coast eastward into central Mississippi through Thursday. Prolonged rainfall may extend the flood threat into the weekend.” Tornadoes were possible from the upper Texas coast across southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, forecasters said. The storm&#8217;s maximum sustained winds were around 30 mph (45 kph) Tuesday, just shy of the 39 mph (63 kph) needed to be named a tropical storm. The system had a 70% chance of forming into a tropical cyclone over the next two days, the hurricane center said. Houston, where a World Cup match between Portugal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is scheduled for Wednesday, has been under a flood warning since&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/rain-along-the-gulf-coast-could-become-the-first-named-storm-of-the-atlantic-hurricane-season/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Lawsuit demands accountability for Cerro de Pasco mining pollution in Peru</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/lawsuit-demands-accountability-for-cerro-de-pasco-mining-pollution-in-peru/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/lawsuit-demands-accountability-for-cerro-de-pasco-mining-pollution-in-peru/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 21:14:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16210447/AP0909151105123-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321332</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Clean Energy, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Environment, Health, Mining, Pollution, Public Health, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A mine that has been operating for decades in the Peruvian Andes continues to contaminate the soil, water and air for thousands of people living nearby, according to a lawsuit filed last month. The contamination has displaced farming and livestock, the lawsuit said, while causing cognitive issues in children, among other public health concerns. Companies [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A mine that has been operating for decades in the Peruvian Andes continues to contaminate the soil, water and air for thousands of people living nearby, according to a lawsuit filed last month. The contamination has displaced farming and livestock, the lawsuit said, while causing cognitive issues in children, among other public health concerns. Companies working at the Cerro de Pasco mine, located in Peru’s central highlands, need to be held responsible for the pollution and public health issues that have affected more than 100,000 people, according to Cerro de Pasco Mayor Julio Rupay Malpartida and public prosecutor Darwin Alejandro Ramón Yalico, who filed the injunction petition on behalf of the municipality. “[The] environmental contamination is on such a scale that it’s present in every corner of the city,” the lawsuit said, “a consequence of the accumulation of heavy metals and toxic substances.” The area has been home to mining activity since at least the 16th century, when the Spanish discovered silver deposits during colonization. More recently, the private company Volcan Compañía Minera took over the mines in 2000 and has overseen underground and open pit operations to extract silver, copper, zinc and lead, among other metals. The lawsuit also lists Volcan subsidiaries Óxidos de Pasco, Empresa Administradora Cerro and Empresa Minera Paragsha as defendants. The Cerro de Pasco mine from above. Image courtesy of SkyTruth/Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Some of the operation is located in the center of the city, with a population of more than 74,000. As a result, particulate&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/lawsuit-demands-accountability-for-cerro-de-pasco-mining-pollution-in-peru/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>‘Thinking how traffickers think’: Study uses AI to detect marine wildlife smuggling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/thinking-how-traffickers-think-study-uses-ai-to-detect-marine-wildlife-smuggling/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/thinking-how-traffickers-think-study-uses-ai-to-detect-marine-wildlife-smuggling/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 17:53:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Shailer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16081112/6-spiny-seahorse-Hippocampus-histrix-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321275</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Sharks, Software, Solutions, Technology, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Sunday, April 26, Argentine officials stopped an unusual shipment arriving at an airport near Buenos Aires. Inside, they found so many dead and dying fish, octopuses and crabs that a national rescue center had to install 10 new emergency tanks to support the survivors. It was the third time in a year authorities had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Sunday, April 26, Argentine officials stopped an unusual shipment arriving at an airport near Buenos Aires. Inside, they found so many dead and dying fish, octopuses and crabs that a national rescue center had to install 10 new emergency tanks to support the survivors. It was the third time in a year authorities had seized an illegal shipment of sea life at the same airport, the Associated Press reported. Marine wildlife trafficking is a growing global business, driven by demand for ornamental fish, luxury foods and traditional medicines. Much of that trade is routed through airplane luggage or airmail, where the vast majority of animals, dead or alive, go undetected. The combined use of artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D X-ray machines could change that, according to an international team of researchers. Training an algorithm on samples of seahorses, shark fins and sea cucumbers, the scientists achieved successful detection rates between 86% and 96%, according to a research paper published last week. “As it stands, our methods of detecting something that shouldn’t be in our bags on the front line is reliant on human inspection and biosecurity dogs,” Vanessa Pirotta, a marine biologist at Macquarie University in Australia and the paper’s lead author, told Mongabay. “AI could be used to complement that. It’s not a silver bullet, but an assistant and a tool.” Image from the study showing (from top to bottom) shark fin, seahorse and sea cucumber samples next to a security X-ray of each item. Image courtesy of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/thinking-how-traffickers-think-study-uses-ai-to-detect-marine-wildlife-smuggling/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>How a popular spaghetti dish is threatening Italy’s marine ecosystem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 17:47:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuela Callari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16113722/Riccio_Viola_URCHIN-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321286</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Italy]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Consumption, Crime, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Illegal Fishing, Invertebrates, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Surveillance, Tourism, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended on the seafloor. “It was midnight. Here they were again,” Simeone told Mongabay. The poachers had come a few nights before to scout the area. Then a second time. This time, Simeone was waiting for them. He rushed to alert the Coast Guard. The poachers operated with ruthless efficiency, using a dangerous illegal method known as the hookah system. A compressor on a small boat pumps air through a hose to a diver, allowing them to stay underwater for hours and systematically strip the seabed. Every 20 minutes, the diver resurfaced to hand over a net full of purple sea urchins (Paracentrotus lividus), grab an empty net and then dive back down. When the authorities moved in, the two men on the boat began dumping hundreds of sea urchins and their gear into the sea, as the diver quickly resurfaced. The three men were old acquaintances of Simeone’s. “They are repeat offenders. It’s not the first time we’ve caught them,” Simeone said. Illegally harvested sea urchins seized in July 2024. Image courtesy of Maurizio Simeone. During a previous bust a year earlier, the vessel was apprehended with a staggering haul: 976 sea urchins pulled from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Teeming with turtles: Cabo Verde island sees 80-fold increase in nesting loggerheads</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/teeming-with-turtles-cabo-verde-island-sees-80-fold-increase-in-nesting-loggerheads/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/teeming-with-turtles-cabo-verde-island-sees-80-fold-increase-in-nesting-loggerheads/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 16:36:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[By André Habet]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15192409/b.-%C2%A9-Roberto-Pillon-via-iNaturalist-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321257</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Hope and optimism, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Sea Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, night patrol teams on Boa Vista, the third-largest island in the Cabo Verde archipelago, started noticing a change along the beaches: The loggerhead turtles were arriving in significantly larger numbers than usual. In previous years, each team, comprised of staff and volunteers from local conservation NGO Cabo Verde Natura 2000 (CVN2), encountered between [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, night patrol teams on Boa Vista, the third-largest island in the Cabo Verde archipelago, started noticing a change along the beaches: The loggerhead turtles were arriving in significantly larger numbers than usual. In previous years, each team, comprised of staff and volunteers from local conservation NGO Cabo Verde Natura 2000 (CVN2), encountered between five and 10 female turtles (Caretta caretta) a night. But now, the teams were each recording between 20 and 30 females a night. By 2021, that number had grown to between 30 and 40. A recent study published in Biological Conservation confirms the upward trend: An 80-fold increase in the population of loggerheads nesting at three of Boa Vista’s beaches over 27 years, from 1998 to 2024. The authors of this first long-term study of Cabo Verde’s nesting loggerheads ascribe the remarkable trend to decades-long conservation efforts at the local and national level. Loggerheads, which primarily inhabit temperate and subtropical regions of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, are long-lived, slow-maturing migratory animals. With a lifespan of 80 years or more, female loggerheads take decades to reach sexual maturity. The global loggerhead population has declined by 47% over the past three generations, according to the last IUCN Red List assessment, where it remains listed as a globally ‘vulnerable’ species. The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, largely attributes this decline to anthropogenic pressures such as habitat loss, marine pollution, bycatch, poaching and multiple climate change-driven impacts. Loggerhead turtle eggs. Image by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/teeming-with-turtles-cabo-verde-island-sees-80-fold-increase-in-nesting-loggerheads/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>In Rio Indio, farmers fight Panama Canal reservoir project — and displacement</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 15:20:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Pelliccia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16150742/6-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321305</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Global, North America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Canals, Controversial, Corporations, Dams, Development, Encroachment, Endangered Species, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Resource Conflict, and Shipping]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LIMÓN DE CHAGRES, Panama — In Panama’s Rio Indio Basin, a $1.5 billion reservoir project aims to meet water demand for the next 50 years. But the project would displace dozens of farming communities, sparking widespread opposition to the reservoir’s construction. “We will give our lives to save Rio Indio! I came from Limón de [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LIMÓN DE CHAGRES, Panama — In Panama’s Rio Indio Basin, a $1.5 billion reservoir project aims to meet water demand for the next 50 years. But the project would displace dozens of farming communities, sparking widespread opposition to the reservoir’s construction. “We will give our lives to save Rio Indio! I came from Limón de Chagres, the first community that could be flooded to make space for the dam,” shouts Maricel Sanchéz at the microphone from a stage during a May 1 march in Panama City. “Today, I’m so proud to see how united we are in our resistance.” Sanchéz, 25, is the spokesperson for the Rio Indio farmers’ assembly, which is part of Coordinadora Campesina por la Vida (Peasant Coordinator for Life), a grassroots social and community organization of farmers, Indigenous communities and civic groups in Panama. During the march, she spoke out about their mobilization against the Río Indio reservoir: a $1.5 billion project by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Panama’s government agency responsible for managing the canal. Rio Indio is a 98-kilometer (about 61-mile) river in central Panama, flowing through the Costa Abajo area (home to 231 farming communities) to the Caribbean Sea. Here, the ACP plans to create a reservoir to provide water to nearby Gatun Lake (the northern entrance of the Panama Canal in the Atlantic Ocean) to meet water demand for the next 50 years for human consumption and for canal operations, especially during droughts. The construction is expected to begin in 2027 and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Beyond wildlife trade: Endangered pangolins are losing habitat in Pakistan</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/beyond-wildlife-trade-endangered-pangolins-are-losing-habitat-in-pakistan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/beyond-wildlife-trade-endangered-pangolins-are-losing-habitat-in-pakistan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 13:22:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emma Smith]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15121551/Manis-crassicaudata-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321187</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, China, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Pangolins, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tariq Mahmood was alarmed when he found 19 sacks tucked away in a railway tunnel in the Chakwal district of northern Pakistan. Their contents were extremely disturbing: 45 rotting pangolin carcasses, all devoid of their distinct, orange-and-light-brown scales. That was in 2012. “It was very difficult to see these innocent, dead bodies,” said Mahmood, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Tariq Mahmood was alarmed when he found 19 sacks tucked away in a railway tunnel in the Chakwal district of northern Pakistan. Their contents were extremely disturbing: 45 rotting pangolin carcasses, all devoid of their distinct, orange-and-light-brown scales. That was in 2012. “It was very difficult to see these innocent, dead bodies,” said Mahmood, a wildlife biologist at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University in Pakistan, who began studying pangolins in 2009. Finding so many slain Indian pangolins (Manis crassicaudata) alerted Mahmood to a dark truth. Poachers were paying local citizens to capture them, so the overlapping scales that cover their bodies — the pangolin’s first line of defense — could be sold into the illegal wildlife trade. “It was terrible to know that.” At the time, global conservationists were realizing that demand for pangolin was driving trade, mostly to China. “We first saw the emergence of this intercontinental trafficking around 2010, and it&#8217;s continued to take place since then,” said Dan Challender, a pangolin expert at the University of Oxford who has studied international wildlife trade for 15 years. This shy, toothless, nocturnal animal has become the world’s most-trafficked mammal. When Asia’s four species were nearly poached to extinction, traders turned to the four African species and their numbers soon plummeted. All pangolins are on the IUCN Red list: Four of them, including the Indian pangolin, are endangered, and three hang on the brink, critically endangered. Pangolin scales command substantial prices on the black market. The demand is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/beyond-wildlife-trade-endangered-pangolins-are-losing-habitat-in-pakistan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Climate-fueled landslides killed an estimated 58 Tapanuli orangutans, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-fueled-landslides-killed-an-estimated-58-tapanuli-orangutans-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-fueled-landslides-killed-an-estimated-58-tapanuli-orangutans-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 06:52:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/15042253/Orangutan-tapanuli_Junaidi-Mongabay1-1536x1024-1-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321265</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Landslides, Mammals, Orangutans, Primary Forests, Primates, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Climate change has become a direct threat to the survival of the world&#8217;s rarest great ape, according to scientists, after landslides triggered by an unusually intense storm killed an estimated 58 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) in Indonesia’s Batang Toru ecosystem. The estimate comes from a new study published in Current Biology, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Climate change has become a direct threat to the survival of the world&#8217;s rarest great ape, according to scientists, after landslides triggered by an unusually intense storm killed an estimated 58 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) in Indonesia’s Batang Toru ecosystem. The estimate comes from a new study published in Current Biology, whose authors say the findings may represent one of the first examples of climate change immediately threatening the survival of an entire species. The researchers found that landslides triggered by extreme rainfall associated with Cyclone Senyar in November 2025 likely killed about 7% of the estimated global population of Tapanuli orangutans, which number fewer than 800 individuals and are concentrated in the Batang Toru landscape in North Sumatra. After analyzing satellite imagery, the researchers identified more than 50,000 individual landslide scars and estimated that about 8,300 hectares (20,500 acres) of forest in the western block of Batang Toru were affected by the disaster. The western block is considered the species&#8217; most important stronghold, hosting more than 500 orangutans and one of the three known population clusters within the Batang Toru landscape. The researchers believe most orangutans caught in the landslides died rather than being displaced because of the violence and speed of the event. While the landslides were relatively shallow, they moved extremely rapidly and transformed into channelized debris flows. With little or no warning, orangutans and other wildlife likely had little chance of escaping and may have been buried, drowned or fatally injured by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-fueled-landslides-killed-an-estimated-58-tapanuli-orangutans-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>&#8216;Lost&#8217; parrot rediscovered on remote Indonesian peak</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lost-parrot-rediscovered-on-remote-indonesian-peak/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lost-parrot-rediscovered-on-remote-indonesian-peak/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 04:37:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16043458/Mittermeier_Lorikeet-2-2048x1364-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321272</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Hunting, Mountains, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Following a grueling 14-day trek, a team of mountaineers and conservationists has photographed the elusive blue-fronted lorikeet in the highlands of eastern Indonesia’s Buru Island. This is only the second photographed record of the parrot in more than 100 years, according to bird conservation groups. The blue-fronted lorikeet (Charmosynopsis toxopei) is a small species found [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Following a grueling 14-day trek, a team of mountaineers and conservationists has photographed the elusive blue-fronted lorikeet in the highlands of eastern Indonesia’s Buru Island. This is only the second photographed record of the parrot in more than 100 years, according to bird conservation groups. The blue-fronted lorikeet (Charmosynopsis toxopei) is a small species found only in the island of Buru. The bird, which has a lime-green plumage, an orange beak and a pointed tail, was first identified from seven museum specimens collected in the 1920s. The avian species went undetected despite surveys conducted in the lowland and mid-elevation forests they’re described from, until it was photographed in 2014 by Craig Robson during a birding tour, according to the Search for Lost Birds project, a global partnership between the NGOs American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Re:wild and BirdLife International. In April 2026, Indonesian mountaineering group Kanal Buru, which included researchers from ABC, Birdtour Asia and Yayasan Planet Indonesia, led an expedition in Buru. They scaled the limestone terrain of Mount Kapalatmada in the west of the island to reach a 2,700-meter (8,900-foot) summit cloud forest and successfully photographed the parrot. The team also captured its high-pitched calls for the first time. &#8220;We noticed two small birds fly into a nearby tree so I picked up my binoculars to see what one of them was,” John C. Mittermeier, director of the Search for Lost Birds at ABC and part of the expedition, said in a statement by the ABC. “I short-circuited with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lost-parrot-rediscovered-on-remote-indonesian-peak/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Himalayan rivers shifting course as climate warming thaws the &#8216;Water Tower of Asia&#8217;</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/himalayan-rivers-shifting-course-as-climate-warming-thaws-the-water-tower-of-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/himalayan-rivers-shifting-course-as-climate-warming-thaws-the-water-tower-of-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 04:04:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16040408/Low-Res_HCUGB_1_4_126870533_hcugb_1_2_image_press_release.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321269</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Earth Science, Environment, Impact Of Climate Change, Research, Rivers, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rivers are known to naturally meander, change courses, braid and branch. But as rising temperatures melt glaciers and thaw frozen ground, the courses of Himalayan rivers are shifting and changing shape much more rapidly than before, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The rising instability of the rivers could pose a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rivers are known to naturally meander, change courses, braid and branch. But as rising temperatures melt glaciers and thaw frozen ground, the courses of Himalayan rivers are shifting and changing shape much more rapidly than before, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The rising instability of the rivers could pose a risk to water security and critical infrastructure, researchers say. The Himalayas, often referred to as the &#8220;Water Tower of Asia&#8221;, provide vital water resources for nearly 2 billion people downstream. But according to the study, in the upper high Himalayan region, where several important river basins originate, temperatures have risen nearly twice as fast as the global average in the past four decades. The researchers studied three upper high Himalayan river drainage basins: Yarlung Tsangpo, Indus and Ganges. The sources of these rivers occur at elevations of nearly 5,000 meters (16,404 feet), where there is extensive glacier, ice cover and permafrost. Meltwater from these glaciers and permafrost, which is sensitive to climate warming, forms the rivers’ primary water supply. To find out how climate change is shifting and reshaping these upper high Himalayan river basins, the researchers analyzed 40 years of satellite imagery. In particular, they measured 1,079 river bends, covering roughly 1,582 kilometers (983 miles), from 1980 to 2020. Since valleys can confine and influence river movements, the researchers chose unconfined bends or meanders that flowed freely through the landscape for their analysis. Their analysis found that the rivers’ courses were shifting sideways faster&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/himalayan-rivers-shifting-course-as-climate-warming-thaws-the-water-tower-of-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>In Bangladesh, scientists learn what happens after rescued pangolins return to the wild</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-bangladesh-scientists-learn-what-happens-after-rescued-pangolins-return-to-the-wild/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-bangladesh-scientists-learn-what-happens-after-rescued-pangolins-return-to-the-wild/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 02:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/05082005/Banner-1_Camera-trap-image-of-one-of-the-radio-tagged-pangolins-released-into-Lawachara-National-Park.-Image-courtesy-of-Creative-Conservation-Alliance-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320632</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Critically Endangered Species, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Research, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a forest reserve in northeastern Bangladesh, two Chinese pangolins rescued from trafficking have been given a second chance at life in the wild. As poaching pushes the critically endangered species toward extinction, the releases aim to do more than boost flagging local populations. With the help of tiny radio transmitters, scientists are tracking each [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a forest reserve in northeastern Bangladesh, two Chinese pangolins rescued from trafficking have been given a second chance at life in the wild. As poaching pushes the critically endangered species toward extinction, the releases aim to do more than boost flagging local populations. With the help of tiny radio transmitters, scientists are tracking each individual to learn about their survival, movements and behavior. Equipped with an armor-plated body, elongated snout and sticky tongue the length of their body, Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) are beautifully adapted to a life spent grubbing out ant and termite nests and resting in burrows dug into the forest floor. However, like all eight of the world’s known pangolin species, Chinese pangolins are among the most trafficked mammals on Earth. They’re plucked from forests across their range to feed an illegal trade driven by demand in China and Vietnam for pangolin meat, and scales and other body parts used in traditional medicines. While no global population counts exist, the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, classifies the species as critically endangered, due to the combined threats of poaching, habitat loss and deforestation. High poaching rates in China in the late 20th century caused local extinctions, displacing hunting pressure to other parts of the species’ range, which spans from northern India and Nepal, through Bangladesh and northern parts of Southeast Asia to southern China and Taiwan. Yet very little is known about the species in many countries, including Bangladesh, says Shahriar Caesar Rahman, co-founder and CEO&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-bangladesh-scientists-learn-what-happens-after-rescued-pangolins-return-to-the-wild/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Peter Klopfer, the scientist whose civil-rights case helped bring lemurs to Duke</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/peter-klopfer-the-scientist-whose-civil-rights-case-helped-bring-lemurs-to-duke/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/peter-klopfer-the-scientist-whose-civil-rights-case-helped-bring-lemurs-to-duke/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 00:04:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16000122/Peter-Klopfer-16x9-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321263</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ethics, Human Rights, Lemurs, Obituary, and Protests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the American South of the late 1950s, segregation was part of the daily architecture. Airports had separate facilities. Restaurants barred Black customers or served them apart. Schools, buses, waiting rooms, and lunch counters carried the same instructions. The system depended on law, custom, and the expectation that most white people would accommodate it. Resistance [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the American South of the late 1950s, segregation was part of the daily architecture. Airports had separate facilities. Restaurants barred Black customers or served them apart. Schools, buses, waiting rooms, and lunch counters carried the same instructions. The system depended on law, custom, and the expectation that most white people would accommodate it. Resistance often began with small acts that carried real costs. A professor might drive arrested students back to campus. A family might refuse to send its children to segregated schools. A group of faculty members might walk toward a restaurant door together and be met in the parking lot by men who intended to stop them. The work required patience, and it also required a willingness to be arrested, disliked, and misunderstood. Peter Klopfer, who died on June 5th at 95, spent nearly seven decades at Duke University as a zoologist, teacher, and builder of institutions. He helped develop behavioral ecology, studied mother-offspring bonding, and co-founded the Duke Lemur Center, which became the world’s largest collection of lemurs outside Madagascar. He was also the named plaintiff in a Supreme Court case that extended the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial to state courts. The civil-rights defendant and the lemur scientist were the same man, formed by the same habits of attention and conscience. He was born in Berlin in 1930 and raised in a German immigrant family in the United States. He attended Friends schools and later studied at UCLA and Yale. At UCLA he&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/peter-klopfer-the-scientist-whose-civil-rights-case-helped-bring-lemurs-to-duke/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global map of Earth’s mycorrhizal fungal networks could help protect them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/global-map-of-earths-mycorrhizal-fungal-networks-could-help-protect-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/global-map-of-earths-mycorrhizal-fungal-networks-could-help-protect-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 21:58:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jamie Forsythe]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15215107/Screenshot-2026-06-12-at-1.16.27-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321259</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fungi are living below your feet. Roughly 110 quadrillion kilometers of living fungal threads are woven through the world&#8217;s soils. Stretched end-to-end they would cover a distance nearly a billion times that from Earth to the sun. Now, scientists have mapped where those networks are, how dense they are, and what threatens them. Last year, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fungi are living below your feet. Roughly 110 quadrillion kilometers of living fungal threads are woven through the world&#8217;s soils. Stretched end-to-end they would cover a distance nearly a billion times that from Earth to the sun. Now, scientists have mapped where those networks are, how dense they are, and what threatens them. Last year, researchers published global analyses in Nature about the diversity patterns of underground mycorrhizal fungal communities along with the Underground Atlas to help decision makers visualize where to prioritize conservation. Now, they ask the question: How much fungal infrastructure exists, and where? A new study published in Science by researchers with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and collaborators produced the first global maps of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal network density and biomass. “There could be up to 10 meters (32 feet) of mycorrhizal network in just a teaspoon of soil,” lead author Justin Stewart of SPUN said in a press statement. Nearly all land plants live in partnership with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi exchange water and nutrients for carbon made from sunlight. These underground networks act as a living circulatory system for the planet, and the new study found they move an estimated 4 billion tons of CO2 equivalent into soils annually, roughly 11% of global human-related emissions. To build the density maps, the team drew on data from more than 16,000 soil cores collected across nine biomes referenced in 322 published studies. They developed machine-learning models to predict network density&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/global-map-of-earths-mycorrhizal-fungal-networks-could-help-protect-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Australian authorities seize 100,000 live cockroaches in crackdown on exotic insect trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 19:11:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15145844/4282167421_06254f145e_3k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321200</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Australia, East Africa, Madagascar, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Insects, Invertebrates, Law, Law Enforcement, Pet Trade, Pets, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On June 5, Australian authorities announced that they confiscated more than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches from an unnamed commercial breeder in Bathurst, a town in New South Wales (NSW), about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Sydney. It was the largest bust of illegal invertebrates ever made in the country. The insects were estimated to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On June 5, Australian authorities announced that they confiscated more than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches from an unnamed commercial breeder in Bathurst, a town in New South Wales (NSW), about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Sydney. It was the largest bust of illegal invertebrates ever made in the country. The insects were estimated to be worth about AU$200,000 (about $140,000 at current exchange rates). They included dubia cockroaches (Blaptica dubia), endemic to South America, and Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) found only in the island nation of Madagascar. They were bred to be sold as food for pet reptiles, authorities said. Hissing cockroaches are also sought after as pets since they don’t have wings and can’t fly away. No one has been charged with a crime, according to a statement by an environment agency spokesperson. Australia has strict biosecurity laws, permitting live import of only certain animal species; controls are needed to effectively protect crops, plants and native wildlife. The legally-imported list excludes exotic insects like cockroaches that can become invasive or spread diseases “We’re seeing illegal breeding and trading of exotic cockroaches, and we’re putting pet businesses and pet owners on notice,” a spokesperson from the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, the agency responsible for environmental protection, said in a press release. “If you are found to possess, breed or trade exotic cockroaches such as dubia cockroaches and Madagascar hissing cockroaches, they will be seized and you could face penalties under federal law.” Officials&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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					<title>Lawmakers fight to stop the Trump administration&#8217;s dismantling of a $386M ocean observatory project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lawmakers-fight-to-stop-the-trump-administrations-dismantling-of-a-386m-ocean-observatory-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lawmakers-fight-to-stop-the-trump-administrations-dismantling-of-a-386m-ocean-observatory-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 19:08:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15164258/AP26166465431565-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321228</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Change Denial, Climate Science, Earth Science, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine Conservation, Ocean Acidification, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Research, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SEATTLE (AP) — Lawmakers are demanding the National Science Foundation stop dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $386 million ocean monitoring network being wound down under President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration. House Democrats on two committees call the action illegal. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley says he&#8217;s drafting legislation to freeze the removal of instruments until a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SEATTLE (AP) — Lawmakers are demanding the National Science Foundation stop dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $386 million ocean monitoring network being wound down under President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration. House Democrats on two committees call the action illegal. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley says he&#8217;s drafting legislation to freeze the removal of instruments until a full scientific review is completed. The National Science Foundation directed the removal of most of the system’s instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027. Monday’s pushback against the Republican administration’s actions comes as scientists are set to remove instruments from the Pacific and as an El Niño event is predicted to arrive this summer. By Annika Hammerschlag, Associated Press Banner image: In this 2021 image provided by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, workers walk near buoys used to gather data at Pioneer New England shelf off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Image courtesy of Véronique LaCapra/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via Associated Press. This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lawmakers-fight-to-stop-the-trump-administrations-dismantling-of-a-386m-ocean-observatory-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/lawmakers-fight-to-stop-the-trump-administrations-dismantling-of-a-386m-ocean-observatory-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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					<title>We must prevent the next pandemic, not build perfect conditions for it (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/we-must-prevent-the-next-pandemic-not-build-perfect-conditions-for-it-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/we-must-prevent-the-next-pandemic-not-build-perfect-conditions-for-it-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 18:54:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Chris Walzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15183056/kathas_fotos-forest-5481035-e1781548832209-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321244</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Coronavirus, Deforestation, Diseases, Environment, Health, Pandemics, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In recent weeks, two outbreaks captured international attention: a hantavirus cluster linked to a cruise ship and an escalating outbreak of Bundibugyo ebolavirus in Central and Eastern Africa. How the world reacted to these outbreaks tells us more about inequity than about epidemiology. The Andes hantavirus outbreak aboard a luxury cruise ship generated extensive evacuation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent weeks, two outbreaks captured international attention: a hantavirus cluster linked to a cruise ship and an escalating outbreak of Bundibugyo ebolavirus in Central and Eastern Africa. How the world reacted to these outbreaks tells us more about inequity than about epidemiology. The Andes hantavirus outbreak aboard a luxury cruise ship generated extensive evacuation footage and widespread public anxiety. The numbers involved were small, and public health authorities clearly emphasized that the broader risk was very low. Meanwhile, the Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak, involving a rapidly increasing number of cases and deaths, spreading across fragile border regions, and unfolding without an approved vaccine, or therapeutics, still struggles to command comparable global urgency despite its coverage in the news. This disparity reflects an uncomfortable and common truth: some outbreaks become global emergencies only when wealthy travelers, tourists, or Western borders appear threatened. Others remain regional tragedies, normalized by poverty, and neglect. However, both outbreaks point to the same deeper reality. These events are not isolated biological accidents, but predictable consequences of the ecological, economic, and political systems we have built. In partnership with local governments across Central Africa, WCS set up an early warning system for Ebola, working with traditional hunters, forest communities, and rangers to raise awareness and promote best practices in zoonotic risk reduction, and to monitor wildlife health through sampling and a carcass monitoring, as in this case where a worker surveys a gorilla. Image courtesy of A. Ondzie / WCS. Global health has largely focused&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/we-must-prevent-the-next-pandemic-not-build-perfect-conditions-for-it-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Growing appetite for açaí is damaging bird diversity in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/growing-appetite-for-acai-is-damaging-bird-diversity-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/growing-appetite-for-acai-is-damaging-bird-diversity-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 17:15:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suzana Camargo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15162629/17-white-throated-toucan-Ramphastos-tucanus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321214</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Food, Food Industry, Industrial Agriculture, Monocultures, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Your refreshing smoothie bowl might be silencing the white-throated toucan and the razor-billed curassow.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;Ah-sigh-ee.” Perhaps you don’t yet know the correct pronunciation of this Amazonian fruit, but chances are high that you’ve already seen its name – açaí – on some menu, especially in cafes and small shops specializing in healthy eating, sold mainly as the primary ingredient in bowls, smoothies, ice creams or juices. In Brazil, about 95% of the production of this small, round and very dark-purple fruit is concentrated in the Amazonian state of Pará. It’s a staple of the local diet, where it’s consumed, blended, with fish, cassava flour and other Amazonian ingredients. But because of its nutritional benefits, being rich in antioxidants and fibers, and having high energy value, açaí’s fame as a “superfood” quickly reached other Brazilian regions and, eventually, other countries. But the increase in fruit production to meet both national and international demand is reducing bird diversity in the floodplain forests of the Amazon. According to a study recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, areas with a higher density of açaí palm trees show a 28% decline in the number of bird species. “Our goal was to understand the consequences of the expansion of açaí cultivation and its various forms of management on birds, with a primary focus on frugivores, those that feed on fruits,” study co-author Raphael de Vasconcelos Nunes, a biologist at the Federal University of Pará, told Mongabay. According to Nunes, floodplain forests are already among the most impacted forest environments in the Amazon. They’re located on riverbanks and undergo constant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/growing-appetite-for-acai-is-damaging-bird-diversity-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/growing-appetite-for-acai-is-damaging-bird-diversity-in-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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					<title>Plastic food packaging blankets the world’s coastlines, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/plastic-food-packaging-blankets-the-worlds-coastlines-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/plastic-food-packaging-blankets-the-worlds-coastlines-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 16:12:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashley Yeong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15103550/shoreline-in-Cap-Haitien-Haiti-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321178</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Environment, Food Industry, Global Environmental Crisis, Industry, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Food packaging ranks among the top plastic pollutants littering the world’s coastlines, a new study confirms. The study, published May 20 in the journal One Earth, analyzed data from 112 nations, including 5,300 shoreline litter surveys, to produce the first global index of macroplastic pollution by usage type. Based on 355 peer-reviewed studies, it found [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Food packaging ranks among the top plastic pollutants littering the world’s coastlines, a new study confirms. The study, published May 20 in the journal One Earth, analyzed data from 112 nations, including 5,300 shoreline litter surveys, to produce the first global index of macroplastic pollution by usage type. Based on 355 peer-reviewed studies, it found that food and beverage plastics were the most common litter type for 93% of the countries surveyed. Within that category, food packaging, caps and lids, and plastic bottles were the most consistently found items, appearing as the top three across more than half of surveyed countries. This included the world’s five most populous countries: China, India, the United States, Indonesia and Pakistan. Plastic bags and cigarettes followed as the next most prevalent categories. The study’s lead author, Max Richard Kelly of the University of Plymouth in the U.K, said he was not surprised by the volume of food and beverage plastics on beaches but was struck by similarities in the surveyed countries. “Seeing the exact pattern replicated across the vast majority of nations was a stark reminder of the true scale of crisis we are facing,” he told Mongabay in an email. Single-use plastic sachets sold in a village in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Image by Ashley Yeong for Mongabay. Putting a lid on plastic pollution The study comes during an uncertain time for global plastics governance. The United Nations global plastics treaty talks have stalled repeatedly over whether the agreement should focus more on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/plastic-food-packaging-blankets-the-worlds-coastlines-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>The Future of Suriname’s Rainforests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/06/the-future-of-surinames-rainforests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/06/the-future-of-surinames-rainforests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 15:04:47 +0000</pubDate>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lemae Mortimer]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15150251/9-1-768x450.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=specials&#038;p=321209</guid>

					
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Suriname remains an outlier in the Amazon Basin: more than 90% of the country is still covered by rainforest, making it one of the few nations in the world that remains a net carbon sink. But a wave of development proposals — from large-scale agriculture and Mennonite farming settlements, to mining projects and new carbon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Suriname remains an outlier in the Amazon Basin: more than 90% of the country is still covered by rainforest, making it one of the few nations in the world that remains a net carbon sink. But a wave of development proposals — from large-scale agriculture and Mennonite farming settlements, to mining projects and new carbon market initiatives — have raised questions about how the country will manage its natural wealth. Mongabay journalist Maxwell Radwin examines how these plans could reshape Suriname’s forests by documenting debates over land use plans, and the efforts of  Indigenous and Maroon communities to defend their ancestral territories amid long-standing disputes over land rights.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/06/the-future-of-surinames-rainforests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>How courtrooms are deciding the fate of whales</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-courtrooms-are-deciding-the-fate-of-whales/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-courtrooms-are-deciding-the-fate-of-whales/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 13:46:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Izzy Sasada]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15134441/humpback-whale-family-swimming-in-deep-blue-ocean-2026-01-08-07-47-33-utc-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321203</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Zealand and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environmental Law, Law, Marine Mammals, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Legal courtrooms are becoming a new battleground in the fight to save whales. In New Zealand, the proposed Tohorā Oranga Bill could recognize whales as legal persons — building on Pacific Indigenous efforts like He Whakaputanga Moana. This push to obtain legal rights for whales is part of the fast-growing ‘Rights of Nature’ movement. But [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Legal courtrooms are becoming a new battleground in the fight to save whales. In New Zealand, the proposed Tohorā Oranga Bill could recognize whales as legal persons — building on Pacific Indigenous efforts like He Whakaputanga Moana. This push to obtain legal rights for whales is part of the fast-growing ‘Rights of Nature’ movement. But at the same time, weakened protections under the Endangered Species Act threaten the last 51 Rice whales in the Gulf of Mexico. Join Conservation Entangled host Izzy Sasada as she explores how courtrooms are becoming a new frontier in deciding the fate of whales.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-courtrooms-are-deciding-the-fate-of-whales/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/how-courtrooms-are-deciding-the-fate-of-whales/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Australia establishes the first Sea Country Indigenous Protected Area</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/australia-establishes-the-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/australia-establishes-the-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 11:26:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14120202/b.-glyall-via-iNaturalist-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321185</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Culture, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Seabirds, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For the Karajarri people of Kimberley in northwestern Australia, the coastline, reefs, wetlands, beaches and desert-edge country form one estate, held through law, memory, work and obligation. That relationship now has new recognition, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. In [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For the Karajarri people of Kimberley in northwestern Australia, the coastline, reefs, wetlands, beaches and desert-edge country form one estate, held through law, memory, work and obligation. That relationship now has new recognition, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. In March, the Karajarri dedicated Karajarri Jurarr Ngurra, Australia’s first Sea Country Indigenous Protected Area. It covers 237,489 hectares (nearly 587,000 acres) of marine and coastal ecosystems, including part of Malumpurr, the Karajarri name for Eighty Mile Beach. The area is rich in life. Flatback turtles (Natator depressus) nest along the shore of Malumpurr. Migratory birds use the wetlands. Sawfish swim through nearby waters. These species are often recorded through science, surveys and management plans. The Karajarri know them through long presence, close observation and responsibility passed across generations. The new protected area builds on three decades of legal and political work. The Karajarri first secured recognition of their land claims. They then established a land-based Indigenous Protected Area and developed a ranger program. Sea Country protection is the next step. It gives formal weight to an existing relationship. Jesse Ala’i, formerly the Land and Sea Country manager for the Karajarri Traditional Lands Association, put it simply: “In order to have healthy Country, you need healthy people.” The reverse is also true. “Healthy people need healthy Country,” he added. Australia’s Indigenous Protected Areas now account for more than half of the country’s progress toward protecting 30%&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/australia-establishes-the-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/australia-establishes-the-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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					<title>The quest to reconnect imperiled rainforest in West Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/the-quest-to-reconnect-imperiled-rainforest-in-west-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/the-quest-to-reconnect-imperiled-rainforest-in-west-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 10:22:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15121758/Leopard.Panthera.pardus_TaiNPCoteDivoire2026_OIPREBURCO-CROP-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321165</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, forest degradation, Mammals, Plants, Primates, Reforestation, Restoration, Solutions, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NIGRE, Côte d’Ivoire — The village of Nigré in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire sits — like much of this part of West Africa — in a landscape of rice and cassava fields, oil palm plantations and stands of rubber trees that have replaced the forests that once clothed the landscape. Chief Djahi Bertin and his attendants [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[NIGRE, Côte d’Ivoire — The village of Nigré in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire sits — like much of this part of West Africa — in a landscape of rice and cassava fields, oil palm plantations and stands of rubber trees that have replaced the forests that once clothed the landscape. Chief Djahi Bertin and his attendants offer a traditional welcome to a group of scientists, conservationists and park rangers in an open-sided building in the chief’s yard. The guests are served slices of radish-red kola nut, together with a teaspoon of ginger-colored spices, and a choice of wine, beer, spirits or soda. Bertin takes a glass of wine, half full, and empties it on the concrete floor. The splash resembles the palm of a hand, fingers splayed out. Both the palm and the digits form a unified whole, he says. “We are of one mind.” Chief Djahi Bertin, left, and his advisors meet with conservationists and scientists at his residence in the village of Nigré to discuss the creation of an ecological corridor linking the nearby Taï National Park, with Grebo National Park just 4 kilometers away in neighboring Liberia. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. The village is not far from the western edge of Taï Forest. At 5,000 square kilometers (1,930 square miles), it’s the largest intact remnant of Upper Guinean rainforest, which once stretched east from Liberia, across Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, to Togo. During a two-day road trip from the commercial hub of Abidjan to Taï, Mongabay&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/the-quest-to-reconnect-imperiled-rainforest-in-west-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>The bats that pollinate for tequila: Photo of the week</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-bats-that-pollinate-for-tequila-photo-of-the-week/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-bats-that-pollinate-for-tequila-photo-of-the-week/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 08:25:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15082510/Peter-Hudson-_0341-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321174</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arizona, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Animal Behavior, Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Crops, Environment, Farming, Food Industry, Mammals, Monocultures, Natural Resources, Photos, Picture Of The Day, Plantations, Pollinators, Science, Sustainable Forest Management, and Symbiotic Relationships]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A Mexican long-tongued bat, featured above, flies into the blooms of an agave plant, a feeding and pollination technique used to reach nectar. The bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) have unusually long tongues to access nectar while their impact spreads pollen grains everywhere to pollinate nearby agave. Peter Hudson, a professor of biology at Penn State University, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A Mexican long-tongued bat, featured above, flies into the blooms of an agave plant, a feeding and pollination technique used to reach nectar. The bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) have unusually long tongues to access nectar while their impact spreads pollen grains everywhere to pollinate nearby agave. Peter Hudson, a professor of biology at Penn State University, U.S., photographed the moment in 2019 in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert near the U.S.-Mexico border. The region is a biodiversity hotspot, home to native species including trogons and antelope jackrabbits (Lepus alleni). “These bats just go, like little kids on a sugar rush,” Hudson told Mongabay by phone. “They&#8217;re taking in so much of this rich sugar stuff that they&#8217;re flying about doing happy laps, as it were, in the sky.” The bats’ long tongues can extend nearly 8 centimeters (3 inches) from their body and are covered in hair-like protusions, papillae, that help it drink nectar from flowers. They primarily feed on agave nectar, cactus flowers, soft fruits and the occasional insect. Hudson used a movement trigger and flash to snap the moment. “It all happens so fast,” he said. “You have to get the bat as it&#8217;s coming into the plant and see if you can capture it as it hits the plant.” The agave plant is used to make tequila and mezcal, Mexico’s national spirit. As demand for export has increased, the country has experienced a more than 700% surge in mezcal production in the past decade. The jump in demand for Mexican&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-bats-that-pollinate-for-tequila-photo-of-the-week/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Destructive ‘wrong stories’ drive environmental exploitation, Indigenous scholar says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/destructive-wrong-stories-drive-environmental-exploitation-indigenous-scholar-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/destructive-wrong-stories-drive-environmental-exploitation-indigenous-scholar-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 04:42:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15044131/Eight_Indigenous_Ways_of_Learning.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321171</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Books, Culture, Economics, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Media, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new book from Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta of Australia explores how human narratives dictate how modern society governs itself and, crucially, how it exploits or protects the natural world. “It’s a terrible thing to … misrepresent things, make false claims, bear false witness in a way that is bending story, the story that everybody [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A new book from Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta of Australia explores how human narratives dictate how modern society governs itself and, crucially, how it exploits or protects the natural world. “It’s a terrible thing to … misrepresent things, make false claims, bear false witness in a way that is bending story, the story that everybody follows,” Yunkaporta told Mongabay’s newscast host Mike DiGirolamo. Yunkaporta is a Deakin University senior research fellow and member of the Apalech clan (Wik) whose traditional lands are located in far north Queensland, Australia. &nbsp; His book, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking, argues that identifying and correcting &#8220;wrong stories&#8221; is key to stopping environmental exploitation. A wrong story, according to Yunkaporta, is one that acts as a deceptive “curse” by presenting an illusion as if it were real to justify the exploitation of nature and community well-being through narratives that have no connection to the land. To illustrate the &#8220;wrong story&#8221; of modern resource exploitation, Yunkaporta told Mongabay the Aboriginal folk tale of Tidalik, a giant frog who hoarded all the world’s water for himself. Yunkaporta compares Tidalik to Wall Street firms and billionaires who gamble on water futures and &#8220;park their cash&#8221; in housing, exacerbating the affordability crisis while stopping the natural flow of resources. In the legend, the animal kingdom does not &#8220;eat&#8221; Tidalik; instead, an eel makes him laugh by tying himself in knots, forcing the frog to &#8220;vomit all the water back into the land.” &#8220;A lot of people&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/destructive-wrong-stories-drive-environmental-exploitation-indigenous-scholar-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>In Thailand, EUDR pressure on small-scale rubber farmers prompts private-sector assistance</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 02:02:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/14133641/1.-Banner-option-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Certification, Commodity agriculture, Corporations, Crops, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, EUDR, Farming, Forest Products, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, Law, Plantations, Rubber, Supply Chain, Sustainable Forest Management, Trade, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KRABI, Thailand — Beneath a humid canopy of rubber trees, Sathit Phromraksa pauses to inspect a coagulated ball of rubber in a palm-sized bowl fastened to a trunk. Last night, he and his wife worked their way through the plantation, carefully carving a line in the bark of each tree to stimulate the flow of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KRABI, Thailand — Beneath a humid canopy of rubber trees, Sathit Phromraksa pauses to inspect a coagulated ball of rubber in a palm-sized bowl fastened to a trunk. Last night, he and his wife worked their way through the plantation, carefully carving a line in the bark of each tree to stimulate the flow of milky latex. With a total 500 trees to tap in their 1.6-hectare (4-acre) plantation, their work took them from midnight to 3:30 a.m. “I inherited this rubber farm from my father,” says 59-year-old Sathit, a lifelong resident of Namgaan subdistrict in Thailand’s Krabi province. “Back then, my family used a lot of chemicals to control weeds and pests, but now, we follow organic practices.” Sathit is one of roughly 1.7 million smallholders who produce 90% of Thailand’s natural rubber supply across millions of individual plantations, most of them no bigger than his. For many, staying profitable is a constant challenge amid fluctuating market prices, crop diseases and climate change. Now, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is poised to add to the pressures facing small-scale producers like Sathit. Under the law, set to take effect in January 2027, only suppliers who can prove their land wasn’t cleared after Dec. 31, 2020, will be allowed to continue selling rubber to EU markets. As the world’s leading natural rubber producer, the economic implications for Thailand are significant. While the bulk of its exports go to China and Malaysia, the value of Thai rubber entering the EU increased by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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