<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" >

	<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, 26 Aug 2026 15:18:26 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
		<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Stories produced by Hayat Indriyatno for Conservation news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/hayat/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
				<item>
					<title>At least 75 killed and hundreds missing after flash floods in Nepal and China</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/at-least-75-killed-and-hundreds-missing-after-flash-floods-in-nepal-and-china/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/at-least-75-killed-and-hundreds-missing-after-flash-floods-in-nepal-and-china/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 15:18:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26151459/AP26238503532584-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327443</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Nepal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, and Global Environmental Crisis]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal (AP) — Flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China have killed at least 75 people and left hundreds missing. On Wednesday, officials in Nepal reported 403 people missing, including 341 foreign nationals. Many were said to be on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in China&#8217;s autonomous region of Tibet. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal (AP) — Flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China have killed at least 75 people and left hundreds missing. On Wednesday, officials in Nepal reported 403 people missing, including 341 foreign nationals. Many were said to be on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in China&#8217;s autonomous region of Tibet. China’s state broadcaster said a mudslide in Tibet killed at least three people and left 265 missing. The floods have destroyed villages, roads, and hydropower projects. Nepal said it has asked India and China to help with rescue efforts. Rescuers carry a victim of flash flooding to safety along the Trishuli River in Nepal&#8217;s Nuwakot district, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) Damaged houses stand precariously near the swollen, debris-choked banks of the Trishuli River after flash floods in Nepal&#8217;s Nuwakot district on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) By Niranjan Shrestha and Sibi Arasu, Associated Press Banner image: Rescuers use an earthmover to carry a victim of flash flooding to safety along the Trishuli River in Nepal&#8217;s Nuwakot district, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. Image courtesy of Niranjan Shrestha, Associated Press. This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/at-least-75-killed-and-hundreds-missing-after-flash-floods-in-nepal-and-china/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/at-least-75-killed-and-hundreds-missing-after-flash-floods-in-nepal-and-china/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327443</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Blast fishing destroys reefs. Underwater microphones can help detect it</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 14:22:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Syris Valentine]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26122700/Ben-deploys-a-hydrophone-credit-Tim-Lamont-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327367</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When he went for a dive between the tiny islands off the coast of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, marine biologist and AI researcher Ben Williams could often hear as many as three fish bombs detonate. “But the thing is, because sounds travel so far underwater, the bombing is often happening quite far away,” he said. “So [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When he went for a dive between the tiny islands off the coast of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, marine biologist and AI researcher Ben Williams could often hear as many as three fish bombs detonate. “But the thing is, because sounds travel so far underwater, the bombing is often happening quite far away,” he said. “So you could hear one that feels like a kick in the chest, then you look up [above the water], and you can’t even see a boat on the horizon.” Those islands, the Spermonde Archipelago, were once home to a pristine and vibrant network of coral reefs. But from 1990 to 2022, some three-quarters of this coral was killed, primarily by the illegal practice of blast fishing. In it, fishers toss improvised explosives into the sea to kill and stun fish en masse and scoop up the mostly intact ones, leaving underwater wreckage behind. “If you look at the rubble after a city&#8217;s been blown up in a war zone,” Williams told Mongabay in a video call, “it&#8217;s not too dissimilar.” Since 2013, local communities, conservation organizations and scientists have collaborated on the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Project, an effort to restore those damaged reefs. Williams joined researchers studying the effectiveness of those efforts in 2019. His particular contribution focused on using recent advances in data science to investigate Spermonde’s marine soundscape: Where a healthy reef sings like an alien jungle come to life at night, a dead one crackles like a forest smoldering after a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26123332/Hydrophone-on-reef-2-credit-M.mp4" length="0" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327367</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists discover 149 new deep-sea species at remote Indian Ocean seamounts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-discover-149-new-deep-sea-species-at-remote-indian-ocean-seamounts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-discover-149-new-deep-sea-species-at-remote-indian-ocean-seamounts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 11:53:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emma Smith]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26081523/BANNER-IN2022-V08_170_Sponge-crab_Sphaerodromia-brizops_Museums-Victoria-Benjamin-Healley-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327357</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Christmas Island, Global, Indian Ocean, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Health, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mining, Natural Resources, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Overfishing, Pollution, Research, Saltwater Fish, Science, Sharks, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Indian Ocean accounts for about a fifth of global ocean area, with 90% of it reaching deeper than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). Yet compared to the Pacific and Atlantic, its deep-sea biodiversity is relatively understudied — particularly the seamounts of the ocean’s central eastern region. An expedition that surveyed dozens of these volcanic underwater [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Indian Ocean accounts for about a fifth of global ocean area, with 90% of it reaching deeper than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). Yet compared to the Pacific and Atlantic, its deep-sea biodiversity is relatively understudied — particularly the seamounts of the ocean’s central eastern region. An expedition that surveyed dozens of these volcanic underwater mountains around the Christmas and Cocos islands, located southwest of the Indonesian island of Jakarta between Australia and Sri Lanka, has revealed remarkable marine animal biodiversity along the Indian Ocean seafloor. Published in Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography in June, the resulting study details 149 new species, including a sea cucumber from the genus Oneirophanta, a new fish from the greeneye family (Chlorophthalmus), and a parasitic barnacle from the genus Rhizolepas. Researchers surveyed at depths ranging from 94 to 5,431 m (308 to 17,818 ft), mapping a dark abyssal seafloor punctuated by 40 to 120-million-year-old volcanic seamounts that can be up to 70 kilometers (43 miles) across. They had never been studied before, study lead author Tim O’Hara, a marine scientist at Museums Victoria in Melbourne, told Mongabay. “People had been around the islands in shallow water before, but no one had looked at life in the deep. It was a massive hole in the data,” O’Hara said. Mapping remote underwater mountains Getting to these sites required time. The islands are so remote that, leaving from Darwin on the northern coast of Australia, it took nearly seven days to arrive at Christmas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-discover-149-new-deep-sea-species-at-remote-indian-ocean-seamounts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-discover-149-new-deep-sea-species-at-remote-indian-ocean-seamounts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327357</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘They will do it legally or illegally’: Interview with James Giahyue on Liberia’s cocoa boom</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/they-will-do-it-legally-or-illegally-interview-with-james-giahyue-on-liberias-cocoa-boom/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/they-will-do-it-legally-or-illegally-interview-with-james-giahyue-on-liberias-cocoa-boom/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 11:05:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/23115512/James-QA-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327377</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Chasing Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, forest degradation, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Natural Resources, Rainforest Destruction, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2024, the price of cacao on world markets spiked dramatically, nearly quintupling from what it had been a year earlier. Prices have since dropped, but along with a land crunch in Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top producer of the commodity, the prospect of high financial rewards have helped to drive a rapid expansion of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2024, the price of cacao on world markets spiked dramatically, nearly quintupling from what it had been a year earlier. Prices have since dropped, but along with a land crunch in Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top producer of the commodity, the prospect of high financial rewards have helped to drive a rapid expansion of new plantations in the forests of southeastern Liberia. This region contains some of West Africa’s last intact rainforest. The land on which these plantations are being developed is customarily owned by local communities, and many of their residents have been eager to reap the rewards of the cacao market. Handshake deals between them and migrants from neighboring Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso is now driving a wave of deforestation. “The people of the southeast, where you have a lot of forests, have realized or seen that cocoa can give them more money than they get from other traditional things like charcoal burning and subsistence farming,” says Liberian journalist James Giahyue. “It’s like a new phenomenon, and a new opportunity.” As editor-in-chief of news outlet The DayLight, Giahyue has guided extensive coverage of environmental issues in Liberia. He was an integral member of a Mongabay reporting team that published an investigation into deforestation there this past July. He spoke to Ashoka Mukpo from his base in Monrovia. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity. &nbsp; Mongabay: A big part of the cocoa story in Liberia is migration. So many of these cocoa workers that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/they-will-do-it-legally-or-illegally-interview-with-james-giahyue-on-liberias-cocoa-boom/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/they-will-do-it-legally-or-illegally-interview-with-james-giahyue-on-liberias-cocoa-boom/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327377</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Kenyan investigators arrest 4 people linked to 18 Amboseli elephant deaths</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kenyan-investigators-arrest-4-people-linked-to-18-amboseli-elephant-deaths/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kenyan-investigators-arrest-4-people-linked-to-18-amboseli-elephant-deaths/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 10:52:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lynet Otieno]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26104641/Elephant-Amboseli-KWS-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327385</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Elephants, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Pesticides, Poisoning, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At least four suspects have been arrested in connection with the deaths of 18 elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem in southern Kenya, near the border with Tanzania. Preliminary investigations by a multiagency team suggest poisoning from agricultural pesticides, authorities say. In July, 16 elephants were found dead at Kimana Sanctuary and Kuku Group Ranch in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At least four suspects have been arrested in connection with the deaths of 18 elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem in southern Kenya, near the border with Tanzania. Preliminary investigations by a multiagency team suggest poisoning from agricultural pesticides, authorities say. In July, 16 elephants were found dead at Kimana Sanctuary and Kuku Group Ranch in the Amboseli ecosystem. The death toll rose to 18 in August, after two more elephant carcasses were found in Kitenden B reserve, near the Amboseli National Park. On Aug. 21, Kenya Wildlife Service’s (KWS) communication director Duncan Wanyama told Mongabay by phone that another elephant was in critical condition in Amboseli and under close watch by animal experts. The KWS has previously said that most of the elephants found dead were female and their calves. Investigations have led to the recovery of substances, including chemicals that are potentially toxic, and “unlabelled materials”, which have been secured for further scientific analysis, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Rebecca Miano said in a statement seen by Mongabay. “Although the investigations remain active, the arrest of persons of interest and the recovery of exhibits do not in themselves establish criminal culpability,” she said. Miano added that a suspect believed to have crucial information about the killings of the elephants was still at large. Initial investigations indicated that the elephants died after ingesting a toxic substance, with laboratory tests pointing to cyanide. The elephants were thought to have come into contact with the chemical in pesticides sprayed on tomatoes&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kenyan-investigators-arrest-4-people-linked-to-18-amboseli-elephant-deaths/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kenyan-investigators-arrest-4-people-linked-to-18-amboseli-elephant-deaths/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327385</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In South Africa, renewable energy latest part of timber industry’s green efforts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-south-africa-renewable-energy-latest-part-of-timber-industrys-green-efforts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-south-africa-renewable-energy-latest-part-of-timber-industrys-green-efforts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 10:09:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mkhululi Chimoio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26100828/HarvestingTimber_MpumalangaSouthAfrica_YorkTimbersFairUse-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327323</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Forests, Governance, Renewable Energy, Timber, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — York Timber Holdings signed a 10-year renewable electricity agreement with electricity trader Discovery Green for power for its Jessievale sawmill in June 2026. Renewables will now make up approximately 90% of the mill’s electricity use, and the agreement is a trend that is spreading amongst commercial users in South Africa. “The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — York Timber Holdings signed a 10-year renewable electricity agreement with electricity trader Discovery Green for power for its Jessievale sawmill in June 2026. Renewables will now make up approximately 90% of the mill’s electricity use, and the agreement is a trend that is spreading amongst commercial users in South Africa. “The 10-year agreement gives York Timbers access to renewable electricity at scale, while improving long-term certainty regarding electricity costs,” said Linmari Pelser, the company’s group risk and compliance officer. Discovery Green is a subsidiary of one of South Africa’s largest health insurance schemes; Discovery’s renewable energy division works with companies that want to increase energy efficiency and shift to renewables, including “wheeling” agreements like the one with York Timber. Under the agreement, York Timber’s electricity will still arrive over the same infrastructure, but Discovery Green will coordinate the equivalent amount of power being fed into the national grid from a range of solar and wind producers across the country. York Timber also operates a 700 kW solar farm at the mill. Pelser said the agreement will reduce the sawmill’s greenhouse gas emissions, while reducing its exposure to electricity tariff hikes and potential future carbon-based costs, such as South Africa’s Carbon Tax. This tax on greenhouse gas emissions was introduced in 2019, and generous allowances that allowed most polluters to pay only a fraction of their assessed costs are scheduled to be lifted this year. Dan Ginsberg, head of actuarial and research and development at Discovery Green,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-south-africa-renewable-energy-latest-part-of-timber-industrys-green-efforts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-south-africa-renewable-energy-latest-part-of-timber-industrys-green-efforts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327323</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>El Niño is disrupting the Pacific’s marine food web from the bottom up</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/el-nino-is-disrupting-the-pacifics-marine-food-web-from-the-bottom-up/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/el-nino-is-disrupting-the-pacifics-marine-food-web-from-the-bottom-up/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 10:07:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26100647/chlorophyll_pace_globes_lrg-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327373</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Science, Earth Science, Ecosystems, El Nino, Fisheries, Marine, Marine Animals, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Science, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the 2026 El Niño strengthens in the equatorial Pacific, satellites are capturing the first major signs of disruption to the marine food web. According to by NASA’s Earth Observatory observations, satellite measurements show a substantial drop in surface concentrations of chlorophyll across the Central Pacific compared with neutral conditions in June 2025. Chlorophyll is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the 2026 El Niño strengthens in the equatorial Pacific, satellites are capturing the first major signs of disruption to the marine food web. According to by NASA’s Earth Observatory observations, satellite measurements show a substantial drop in surface concentrations of chlorophyll across the Central Pacific compared with neutral conditions in June 2025. Chlorophyll is the pigment that helps plants absorbs sunlight to generate energy, and its reduction indicates a decline in phytoplankton, the base of the ocean’s food webs. Hyung-Gyu Lim, an associate professor of oceanography at Chonnam National University in South Korea, told Mongabay by email that a developing El Niño can slow the process of upwelling, where nutrient-rich cold waters rise from the ocean depths to the surface. &#8220;This may trigger less nutrient supply. It is not surprising for me,&#8221; Lim said. Matthew Kehrli and Graham Trolley, oceanographers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, wrote in a NASA Earth Observatory article that El Niño can suppress upwelling because easterly equatorial trade winds weaken, causing the warm surface layer of the ocean to extend deeper. They added that as El Niño progresses, chlorophyll concentrations will likely decrease further over a broader region. The ecological consequences of this nutrient decline would mean less food available for zooplankton, as well as for fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, the NASA Earth Observatory article said. This affects fisheries: Peru’s anchovy fisheries, for example, saw significant declines in catch during previous El Niño events, driven by warmer surface waters, reduced upwelling, and lower&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/el-nino-is-disrupting-the-pacifics-marine-food-web-from-the-bottom-up/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/el-nino-is-disrupting-the-pacifics-marine-food-web-from-the-bottom-up/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327373</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous water systems gain ground as climate pressures intensify in Bolivia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-water-systems-gain-ground-as-climate-pressures-intensify-in-bolivia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-water-systems-gain-ground-as-climate-pressures-intensify-in-bolivia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 10:00:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anastasia Austin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25151101/restoring-pauros-credit-MAPEKO-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327250</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Drinking Water, Ecosystems, Freshwater, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Landscape Restoration, Natural Resources, Nature-based climate solutions, Restoration, Solutions, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA, Bolivia — When Rolando Ágreda was 16, a severe drought hit his community of Ascensión de Guarayos in the Bolivian Amazon in 2022. Rumors spread that the municipality’s only water reservoir was dwindling. But it was the communal spring-fed pool, or paúro, that Ágreda had been visiting since childhood that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA, Bolivia — When Rolando Ágreda was 16, a severe drought hit his community of Ascensión de Guarayos in the Bolivian Amazon in 2022. Rumors spread that the municipality’s only water reservoir was dwindling. But it was the communal spring-fed pool, or paúro, that Ágreda had been visiting since childhood that evaporated first. “Confusion was the strongest feeling,” Ágreda says in a video call. “But also sadness, because for everyone I know that place represents joy.” According to the Guarayú Indigenous People, who settled the area around Ágreda’s village of Ascensión de Guarayos in the 18th and 19th centuries, woodland spirits guard the paúros, and the community is responsible for maintaining them. But with urbanization, the arrival of non-indigenous Bolivians, and modern water infrastructure, this Indigenous knowledge had nearly disappeared. Ágreda says only three of his 28 classmates knew about paúros. “The others didn’t. It was easy not to know because [the paúros] had been neglected: The grass was so overgrown that they looked like abandoned lots. You would never imagine that there was a pool of water in the middle,” he says. A mural in Ascensión de Guarayos, where ranching is putting pressure on nature. Image by Douwe den Held. With help from his teachers, Ágreda launched a districtwide competition during the spring semester of 2022 to restore paúros across the municipality, which involved locating them, removing trash and clearing vegetation from the walls so water could filter through. By June 2022, they had restored&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-water-systems-gain-ground-as-climate-pressures-intensify-in-bolivia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-water-systems-gain-ground-as-climate-pressures-intensify-in-bolivia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327250</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tracing the origins of tulips: Interview with botanist Brett Wilson</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tracing-the-origins-of-tulips-interview-with-botanist-brett-wilson/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tracing-the-origins-of-tulips-interview-with-botanist-brett-wilson/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 06:32:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26062941/Tulipa-anadroma-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327342</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Asia, and Kyrgyzstan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Flowers, Genetics, Interviews, Plants, Research, Science, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The universally beloved tulips are synonymous with the Netherlands. The low-lying European country dominates the global market, producing nearly 90% of the world’s tulips. Every year, from March to May, tourists flock to tulip gardens and fields in the Dutch countryside to see the flowers in full bloom. The origins of Tulipa, however, are believed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The universally beloved tulips are synonymous with the Netherlands. The low-lying European country dominates the global market, producing nearly 90% of the world’s tulips. Every year, from March to May, tourists flock to tulip gardens and fields in the Dutch countryside to see the flowers in full bloom. The origins of Tulipa, however, are believed to lie elsewhere. A massive genetic analysis of wild tulips has confirmed that broader Central Asia is the birthplace of tulips, dating back roughly 32.5 million years. The researchers also traced the closest ancestors of the popular garden tulips down to two possible candidates. This study “is a foundational piece of our understanding of the [Tulipa] group,” study lead author Brett Wilson, co-founder of the IUCN SSC Wild Tulip Specialist Group, told Mongabay by email. “We now know — rather than assume — that tulips originated in Central Asia, and that urgent action is needed there if we are not going to lose a great many of these species.” Wilson, a botanist and conservationist whose Ph.D. research was focused on tulips at the University of Cambridge, U.K., spoke with Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta about the new study. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. Botanist and conservationist Brett Wilson. Image courtesy of Brett Wilson. Mongabay: It&#8217;s been generally believed that tulips originated in Central Asia. Why is this study important now?  Brett Wilson: Central Asia has always been the obvious suspect — it holds more wild tulip species than anywhere else on Earth&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tracing-the-origins-of-tulips-interview-with-botanist-brett-wilson/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/tracing-the-origins-of-tulips-interview-with-botanist-brett-wilson/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327342</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can big tech stop wildlife crime?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/can-big-tech-stop-wildlife-crime/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/can-big-tech-stop-wildlife-crime/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 05:41:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26054044/Can-big-tech-stop-wildlife-crime.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327339</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Illegal Trade, Technology, Trade, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There’s a new, unlikely ally in the fight against illegal wildlife crime: Big tech.  Earlier this year, new commitments from household names including Paypal, Meta, eBay and Etsy were announced at the United For Wildlife Business Forum to End Wildlife Trade. Wildlife trafficking is a sophisticated international crime worth billions of dollars. As wildlife trade [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There’s a new, unlikely ally in the fight against illegal wildlife crime: Big tech.  Earlier this year, new commitments from household names including Paypal, Meta, eBay and Etsy were announced at the United For Wildlife Business Forum to End Wildlife Trade. Wildlife trafficking is a sophisticated international crime worth billions of dollars. As wildlife trade increasingly moves online, traffickers are using social media, e-commerce platforms and even cryptocurrency to operate across borders. The involvement of these organisations will be crucial in disrupting the networks behind wildlife crime and experts have welcomed these pledges but the question remains: will these new commitments be enough? Especially when some of the same technologies being enlisted to fight wildlife trafficking have also helped enable its growth, as shown by recent reports watchdog organizations.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/can-big-tech-stop-wildlife-crime/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/can-big-tech-stop-wildlife-crime/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327339</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Polluted waterways and water shortages complicate the fight against Ebola in the DRC</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/polluted-waterways-and-water-shortages-complicate-the-fight-against-ebola-in-the-drc/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/polluted-waterways-and-water-shortages-complicate-the-fight-against-ebola-in-the-drc/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 05:30:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21153424/002-IMG_9540-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326929</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Health, One Health, Planetary Health, Pollution, Public Health, Research, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Ndrele, a commercial center in Ituri with nearly 40,000 inhabitants, there is virtually no access to safe drinking water. Children leave home at 5:30 a.m. to fetch water for their families and often spend hours doing this activity. They usually don&#8217;t return before 11 a.m. or noon. “It&#8217;s a serious problem, and it&#8217;s the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Ndrele, a commercial center in Ituri with nearly 40,000 inhabitants, there is virtually no access to safe drinking water. Children leave home at 5:30 a.m. to fetch water for their families and often spend hours doing this activity. They usually don&#8217;t return before 11 a.m. or noon. “It&#8217;s a serious problem, and it&#8217;s the same everywhere,” Jacques Pithua, deputy coordinator of civil society group “Forces vives des Djukoth,” told Mongabay by phone. Pithua lives near Ndrele, in Mahagi, in Ituri province bordering Lake Albert in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In May 2026, the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in the province. To prevent Ebola transmission, health authorities recommend frequent handwashing, among other measures, but in many parts of Ituri, clean water remains scarce. The current Ebola outbreak is the largest in terms of case numbers for the DRC, and it is also the fastest spreading. The rising number of cases, over 5,000 recorded as of Aug 17 and more than 2,400 deaths in three months, has prompted health agencies including the Africa CDC to adapt its strategy. A joint response plan also calls for an assessment and strengthening of water, sanitation and hygiene services in health facilities within communities and provides training. Oxfam, a confederation of NGOs, which is also involved in the response to the outbreak, warned in a statement that “most health facilities in the areas hardest hit by Ebola still lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation facilities.” Ebola is not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/polluted-waterways-and-water-shortages-complicate-the-fight-against-ebola-in-the-drc/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/polluted-waterways-and-water-shortages-complicate-the-fight-against-ebola-in-the-drc/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326929</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ashéninka leader killed while patrolling Indigenous territory in Peru</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/asheninka-leader-killed-while-patrolling-indigenous-territory-in-peru/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/asheninka-leader-killed-while-patrolling-indigenous-territory-in-peru/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 03:24:22 +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/20/2026/08/26032038/Americo_Pascuala_Tumisha-Photo-RFN-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327333</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Murdered Activists, Rainforests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ashéninka leader Américo Pascuala Tumisha was shot and killed on Sunday while patrolling the territory of the Onconashari Indigenous community in Peru’s Ucayali region. According to the Regional Organization AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU), Pascuala encountered people who were allegedly extracting copaiba oil without permission inside the community’s territory. A confrontation followed, and he was fatally shot. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ashéninka leader Américo Pascuala Tumisha was shot and killed on Sunday while patrolling the territory of the Onconashari Indigenous community in Peru’s Ucayali region. According to the Regional Organization AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU), Pascuala encountered people who were allegedly extracting copaiba oil without permission inside the community’s territory. A confrontation followed, and he was fatally shot. Pascuala was serving as coordinator of Onconashari’s territorial surveillance committee at the time of his death. He was previously chief of the community. Unauthorized copaiba extraction had been reported in the area since at least 2020. A 2023 report by the Peruvian nonprofit Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR) found that a group from the nearby Nueva Luz de Arara community had been entering Onconashari and the neighboring Murunahua Indigenous Reserve without the community’s permission to extract copaiba oil. The reserve was created to protect Indigenous peoples living in isolation and initial contact. The report said some extractors threatened Onconashari residents after they complained. Community authorities then reported the incursions to their Indigenous federation, Peru’s Ministry of Culture, and the police. Joint patrols followed in late 2022. Copaiba extraction in the area expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, when cash was scarce and buyers from Pucallpa arrived in the Yurúa area, according to the report. The oil is tapped from copaiba trees and used in traditional medicine and commercial products. Government records show patrol and surveillance work around Onconashari as early as 2014. In August 2025, the Ucayali regional government formally recognized Onconashari’s Forest Surveillance and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/asheninka-leader-killed-while-patrolling-indigenous-territory-in-peru/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/asheninka-leader-killed-while-patrolling-indigenous-territory-in-peru/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327333</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can REDD+ deliver for Philippines’ Iraya Mangyan?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/can-redd-deliver-for-philippines-iraya-mangyan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/can-redd-deliver-for-philippines-iraya-mangyan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 02:01:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25201552/Pederico-Garcia-traditional-healer-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327306</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Forest Carbon, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Nature-based climate solutions, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Redd, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO GALERA, Philippines — Before sunrise, Bernito Pampilo shoulders a backpack carrying a mobile phone, flashlight and enough food — he hopes — for a day’s patrol through the forests of Puerto Galera in northern Mindoro, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Manila. By around 6 a.m., the 56-year-old Iraya Mangyan patroller and two [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO GALERA, Philippines — Before sunrise, Bernito Pampilo shoulders a backpack carrying a mobile phone, flashlight and enough food — he hopes — for a day’s patrol through the forests of Puerto Galera in northern Mindoro, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Manila. By around 6 a.m., the 56-year-old Iraya Mangyan patroller and two companions leave their mountain outpost in Aninuan village after praying to Apo Iraya, the creator, for protection. Their route crosses rivers, steep ridges, dense vegetation and deep natural holes known locally as balahaw. “If you walk too quickly, sometimes you won’t see the hole,” Pampilo told Mongabay. “If you fall into it, you could die.” Some patrols continue into the night, forcing the team to cross rivers and climb ridges by flashlight. Mobile apps point them toward assigned coordinates, but not toward the safest path. The forest lies within the 14,661-hectare (36,228-acre) Puerto Galera Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO in 1977. For Pampilo, the work is more than a job. It is part of an effort to protect forests his community has depended on for generations while testing whether an international climate mechanism can deliver lasting Indigenous benefits. Led by the Center for Conservation Innovations Philippines Inc. (CCIPH), the Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Programme (MFBCP) aims to conserve more than 40,000 hectares (nearly 99,000 acres) of ancestral forest, while supporting about 2,500 Iraya Mangyan households. Running from 2020 to 2049, it combines ancestral-domain recognition, carbon monitoring, Indigenous patrols and livelihood projects under the United&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/can-redd-deliver-for-philippines-iraya-mangyan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/can-redd-deliver-for-philippines-iraya-mangyan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327306</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At global desertification conference, pastoralists call for greater recognition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 20:36:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Joseph Lee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/23160710/IMG_4465-e1787690019347-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327316</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environment, Governance, Grasslands, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Livestock, Pasture, Ranching, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cattle are a central part of the identity of Andrew Msami’s Maasai community in northeast Tanzania. Herd size determines social position, and many people keep all their wealth in livestock, not banks. In recent years, however, Msami and others have been forced to sell the animals and buy goats, which can handle drought better but [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cattle are a central part of the identity of Andrew Msami’s Maasai community in northeast Tanzania. Herd size determines social position, and many people keep all their wealth in livestock, not banks. In recent years, however, Msami and others have been forced to sell the animals and buy goats, which can handle drought better but are less financially and culturally valuable. Msami says adapting to a shifting climate has been a part of Maasai life for generations, but recent conditions represent an existential threat. “We have to adapt because it&#8217;s like desertification is attacking our identity,” Msami told Grist. a U.S.-based nonprofit media organization. “If you lose your identity, it means you have lost everything.” The Maasai are pastoralists, a term that describes the roughly 500 million people around the world who tend herds of livestock including cattle, goats and sheep. They often move with the animals as they seek grass and water. Because they live and work in places with arid conditions and extreme temperatures, they are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Around the world, drought and land degradation threaten rangelands, which make up roughly half of the planet’s landmass, and the pastoralists from Tanzania and Sudan to Nepal and Mongolia that rely on them. The pace of arable land degradation is 30 to 35 times the historic average, threatening even the most resilient communities, according to the U.N. Pastoralists also face an influx of invasive species, extractive industries, tourists and other threats. To address these overlapping crises, Msami&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Bhutan, a philosophy of happiness guides a push for food self-sufficiency</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/in-bhutan-a-philosophy-of-happiness-guides-a-push-for-food-self-sufficiency/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/in-bhutan-a-philosophy-of-happiness-guides-a-push-for-food-self-sufficiency/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 20:29:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike DiGirolamo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mikedigirolamo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/23171856/39504348814_2873f81ce1_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=podcasts&#038;p=326636</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bhutan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Conservation, Development, Environment, Environmental Policy, Food, Food Industry, food security, Food Vs Forests Debate, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Natural Resources, Politics, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bhutan is a Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between China and India. Forty percent of its 800,000 citizens work in the agriculture sector. The mountainous country is famous for its breathtaking landscapes and its unique policy of “Gross National Happiness,” instituted in 1972 by Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the fourth king of Bhutan. My guests on the Newscast [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bhutan is a Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between China and India. Forty percent of its 800,000 citizens work in the agriculture sector. The mountainous country is famous for its breathtaking landscapes and its unique policy of “Gross National Happiness,” instituted in 1972 by Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the fourth king of Bhutan. My guests on the Newscast this week say this philosophy is the backbone of the nation&#8217;s food system, and its plan for full food self-sufficiency by 2029. “Our food system isn&#8217;t just about producing food. It&#8217;s about sustaining our landscapes, our communities, and our culture,” says renowned chef and restaurateur Bleu Tshering Dorji. She owns two restaurants in the nation&#8217;s capital, Thimphu. She explains the unique challenges farmers she works with face due to climate change and steep mountain terrain. “We are a mountainous landlocked country, and only a small percentage of our land is, I think, actually suitable for agriculture. We don&#8217;t have the luxury of just expanding farmland. We have to make better use of the land that we sort of already have,” she says. “Labor is becoming extremely scarce as young people sort of move away from agriculture, and farmers still have to deal with issues like wildlife conflict, unpredictable weather, and also getting their produce to the market,” Bleu says. She adds the outflow of young people from rural areas, where most of the population currently lives, presents its own set of challenges. “We need our young Bhutanese people to be able to see farming as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/in-bhutan-a-philosophy-of-happiness-guides-a-push-for-food-self-sufficiency/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/in-bhutan-a-philosophy-of-happiness-guides-a-push-for-food-self-sufficiency/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326636</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US proposes rescinding Roadless Rule protections for national forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-proposes-rescinding-roadless-rule-protections-for-national-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-proposes-rescinding-roadless-rule-protections-for-national-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 19:31:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bobby Bascomb]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25192941/dT8MtZHc-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327304</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forest Products, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Old Growth Forests, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Aug. 25 is a National Day of Action to support U.S. national parks and public lands. One focus of the event is the U.S. government’s intention to rescind a rule that bans road construction and industrial logging across more than 23 million hectares (57 million acres) of national forest land. The 2001 Roadless Rule, has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Aug. 25 is a National Day of Action to support U.S. national parks and public lands. One focus of the event is the U.S. government’s intention to rescind a rule that bans road construction and industrial logging across more than 23 million hectares (57 million acres) of national forest land. The 2001 Roadless Rule, has helped protect some of the country’s most wild public lands, including Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest and the ancestral homeland of several Indigenous peoples. “A rollback on the Roadless Rule means cultural genocide for our people,” Yolanda Fulmer of the Tlingit Indigenous nation and a Tongass representative with the California-based NGO Women Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), said in a statement. “Every part of our culture is intimately intertwined with the Tongass Forest, our traditional homelands.” The Tongass spans 6.8 million hectares (17 million acres) of mountains, rivers, rugged coastline and old-growth forest. Nicknamed “America’s Climate Forest,” the Tongass holds 20% of all the carbon stored in the country’s national forests and provides habitat for some 400 wildlife species including bears, wolves and moose. It also supports roughly 40% of North American bird species. If the Roadless Rule is rescinded, roughly 3.6 million hectares (9 million acres) of the Tongass could lose protections against new road development. Nationwide, 18 million hectares (45 million acres) of national forest system land could be affected. In an Aug. 18 statement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers national forests through the U.S.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-proposes-rescinding-roadless-rule-protections-for-national-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-proposes-rescinding-roadless-rule-protections-for-national-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327304</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia charges 72 over fires as haze chokes Borneo and Sumatra</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/indonesia-charges-72-over-fires-as-haze-chokes-borneo-and-sumatra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/indonesia-charges-72-over-fires-as-haze-chokes-borneo-and-sumatra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 18:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25175923/AP26223596463482-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327302</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Disasters, Environment, Fires, Health, Orangutans, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian authorities have charged 72 individuals with intentionally igniting forest fires across five provinces on the island of Borneo and four on Sumatra. Fires across both islands have burned nearly 286,000 hectares (about 707,000 acres) of land from January to Aug. 24 alone, according to FireWatch, a satellite-based monitoring tool developed by forest-mapping platform Nusantara [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian authorities have charged 72 individuals with intentionally igniting forest fires across five provinces on the island of Borneo and four on Sumatra. Fires across both islands have burned nearly 286,000 hectares (about 707,000 acres) of land from January to Aug. 24 alone, according to FireWatch, a satellite-based monitoring tool developed by forest-mapping platform Nusantara Atlas. That’s an area half the size of the island of Bali. Officials say prolonged dry conditions and a powerful El Niño this year have severely worsened the wildfires. In a statement, local law enforcement alleged that the 72 suspects used fire to clear land in preparation for planting. Police seized lighters, fuel containers, machetes, axes, and samples of burned soil and tree trunks among various items of evidence. The smoke from the wildfires has caused choking haze clouds that have reduced visibility to just 10 meters (33 feet) in one province, according to the Associated Press. Mongabay previously reported that the fires have also caused hazardous air quality, and the destruction of vegetation has led to food shortages for wildlife like long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The smoke has even drifted across the border to neighboring Malaysia. The wildfires have also affected critical conservation work, Mongabay previously reported. In Borneo’s West Kalimantan province, fires came close to an orangutan rehabilitation facility run by the nonprofit YIARI, where more than 60 critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) are housed after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and habitat loss. Meanwhile, the health toll is rising&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/indonesia-charges-72-over-fires-as-haze-chokes-borneo-and-sumatra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/indonesia-charges-72-over-fires-as-haze-chokes-borneo-and-sumatra/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327302</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Only 1,325-1,648 wild elephants left in Indonesia, government says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/only-1325-1648-wild-elephants-left-in-indonesia-government-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/only-1325-1648-wild-elephants-left-in-indonesia-government-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 17:41:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dyna Rochmyaningsih]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25160441/AP958512122711-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327276</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Ungulates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new 10-year plan for elephant conservation released by the Indonesian government places the country’s wild elephant population at an estimated 1,325-1,648 individuals. The previous figure, published in 2007, was 2,400-2,800 individuals, meaning the new estimate represents a decline of 41-45%. The launch of the 2026-2036 strategy and action plan comes after a long wait. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new 10-year plan for elephant conservation released by the Indonesian government places the country’s wild elephant population at an estimated 1,325-1,648 individuals. The previous figure, published in 2007, was 2,400-2,800 individuals, meaning the new estimate represents a decline of 41-45%. The launch of the 2026-2036 strategy and action plan comes after a long wait. After the 2007-2017 elephant plan expired, the government was supposed to release a new one. While a draft 2019-2029 plan was completed in 2017, then-President Joko Widodo’s administration never finalized the plan or shared it with the public. The draft 2019-2029 plan, seen by Mongabay, placed Indonesia’s elephant population at just 928-1,379 individuals, Mongabay reported in 2022. The plans are drafted by the Indonesian Elephant Conservation Forum (FKGI), a multi-stakeholder group composed of conservationists from NGOs and government agencies, and submitted to the forestry ministry for approval. FKGI deputy head Wishnu Sukmantoro suggested the discrepancy between the new plan and the previous unreleased one was due to the incorporation of new data. “The higher figure [in 2026] doesn’t mean the elephant population has increased” since 2017, Wishnu told Mongabay. The updated number better represents the situation on the ground, he said. “It is a combination of scientific analysis and agreements among elephant conservationists.” Nearly all of Indonesia’s elephants are Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus), a critically endangered subspecies of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which is itself endangered. Fewer than 52,000 Asian elephants are left, most of them in India, according to WWF. Indonesia’s new&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/only-1325-1648-wild-elephants-left-in-indonesia-government-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/only-1325-1648-wild-elephants-left-in-indonesia-government-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327276</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Congo&#8217;s Ebola outbreak records one of its highest weekly death tolls yet</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/congos-ebola-outbreak-records-one-of-its-highest-weekly-death-tolls-yet/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/congos-ebola-outbreak-records-one-of-its-highest-weekly-death-tolls-yet/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 17:29:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25172559/AP26230686221639-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327294</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Diseases, Health, One Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BUNIA, Congo (AP) — More than 300 people died of Ebola in eastern Congo in the past week, one of the highest weekly tolls yet, government data showed Monday, as health workers struggle to catch up with an outbreak that is spreading at unprecedented speed. Ministry of Health data showed that as of Saturday, the outbreak had recorded [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BUNIA, Congo (AP) — More than 300 people died of Ebola in eastern Congo in the past week, one of the highest weekly tolls yet, government data showed Monday, as health workers struggle to catch up with an outbreak that is spreading at unprecedented speed. Ministry of Health data showed that as of Saturday, the outbreak had recorded 5,514 cases and 2,642 deaths, including 317 deaths reported in the previous seven days. But Congolese experts have said the outbreak that started weeks before it was confirmed could be three times the known size. This is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, with many people dying outside treatment centers. It has recorded seven times more deaths at this stage than the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak that is the deadliest in history with over 11,000 in all. Most new cases in Ituri province, the current epicenter, still come from outside monitored contacts. Nearly half of people infected have died — 47.9% — but the government data shows much higher rates in hard-to-reach areas such as North Kivu province, which has a fatality rate of 68.6%. Frontline workers to receive vaccine used in past outbreaks A key challenge has been the lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak. On Friday, Congo received more than 16,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine that was effective in past Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common type. The World Health Organization says it also will be used in clinical trials for a Bundibugyo virus vaccine. WHO&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/congos-ebola-outbreak-records-one-of-its-highest-weekly-death-tolls-yet/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/congos-ebola-outbreak-records-one-of-its-highest-weekly-death-tolls-yet/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327294</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU’s deforestation rule could derail Liberia’s cocoa trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/eus-deforestation-rule-could-derail-liberias-cocoa-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/eus-deforestation-rule-could-derail-liberias-cocoa-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 15:12:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/15115102/Photo-7-Cocoa-25-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327240</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cacao, Community Forests, Conservation, Crops, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, EUDR, Forests, Governance, Law, Natural Resources, and Plantations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Liberia’s Grand Gedeh county, deforestation for cocoa has soared since 2020, pushing the region’s cocoa trade into an uncertain future. The EU is Liberia’s biggest cocoa customer, but is set to implement the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which bans the import of forest products, including cocoa, made on land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Liberia’s Grand Gedeh county, deforestation for cocoa has soared since 2020, pushing the region’s cocoa trade into an uncertain future. The EU is Liberia’s biggest cocoa customer, but is set to implement the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which bans the import of forest products, including cocoa, made on land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020, reports Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo. “If cocoa from Liberia was produced on land cleared after that EUDR cutoff date, it would fail on deforestation grounds,” Owen Gibbons, senior manager for global advocacy and UK public affairs, at the Rainforest Alliance, told Mongabay. In 2024, the EU imported more than 17,000 metric tons of cocoa from Liberia, a 30% increase in two years. Soon, Liberian cocoa producers will have to show their beans weren’t produced on forest land cleared after December 2020. However, most cacao plantations in Grand Gedeh are deep inside forests. In fact, much of the forest loss in the region has occurred since 2020. Before that, 99% of the county was covered by forests. Primary forest loss in Grand Gedeh, 2015-2025. Image by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay. Some forests are communally owned and private individuals can lease them out. However, cacao plantations have also encroached into other forests, including the proposed Kwa National Park area, where commercial agriculture is currently banned. To meet the EUDR requirements, cocoa producers will have to show their EU customers exactly where the cocoa plantations are and when they started production. Tracing every plantation and its production is a massive&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/eus-deforestation-rule-could-derail-liberias-cocoa-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/eus-deforestation-rule-could-derail-liberias-cocoa-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327240</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Inspiring young herpetologists in Sri Lanka: Interview with Anslem de Silva</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/inspiring-young-herpetologists-in-sri-lanka-interview-with-anslem-de-silva/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/inspiring-young-herpetologists-in-sri-lanka-interview-with-anslem-de-silva/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 14:53:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25122934/3.-in-the-field-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327246</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Education, Herps, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Lizards, Reptiles, Science, and Tropical Conservation Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lankan-born conservation biologist and National Geographic explorer Ruchira Somaweera is internationally recognized for his award-winning wildlife research, photography and storytelling. Despite his global achievements, Somaweera treasures an old journal copy containing a prophecy. When he was 13 years old, Somaweera received a copy of the research journal Lyriocephalus with a handwritten note [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lankan-born conservation biologist and National Geographic explorer Ruchira Somaweera is internationally recognized for his award-winning wildlife research, photography and storytelling. Despite his global achievements, Somaweera treasures an old journal copy containing a prophecy. When he was 13 years old, Somaweera received a copy of the research journal Lyriocephalus with a handwritten note which read: “One day you will be a great herpetologist,” signed by Anslem de Silva. “Almost 30 years ago, I got hooked into herpetology after reading a series of newspaper articles written by de Silva on Sri Lankan snakes in a local science publication. Those articles inspired me to prepare a small booklet on snakes as my school science project. Most of the herpetologists of my generation were groomed by de Silva, and hundreds, if not thousands, of students have been inspired by him, just like I was,” Somaweera told Mongabay. In 1995, Ruchira Somaweera received a copy of the research journal Lyriocephalus from Anslem de Silva with the signed inscription: “One day you will be a great herpetologist.” Image courtesy of Ruchira Somaweera. Anslem de Silva is widely regarded as as the father of modern herpetology in Sri Lanka, having dedicated more than six decades to studying the island’s reptiles and amphibians. His pioneering research, publications and conservation efforts have transformed scientific understanding of Sri Lanka’s remarkable herpetofauna. Sri Lanka’s herpetofauna represents the island’s extraordinary diversity of reptiles and amphibians, including snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, frogs, toads and caecilians, with many species found nowhere&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/inspiring-young-herpetologists-in-sri-lanka-interview-with-anslem-de-silva/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/inspiring-young-herpetologists-in-sri-lanka-interview-with-anslem-de-silva/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327246</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia targets online wildlife trade on social media, but experts say it’s not enough</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-targets-online-wildlife-trade-on-social-media-but-experts-say-its-not-enough/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-targets-online-wildlife-trade-on-social-media-but-experts-say-its-not-enough/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 12:42:37 +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/20/2026/08/21160626/2-elephant-tusk-offered-for-sale-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326945</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Crime, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Social Media, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia’s environment ministry has urged the public and social media content creators to stop making or sharing content that encourages the commerce, consumption or capture of wildlife. It has warned that such actions are illegal and pose risks to human health and the country’s wild animals and plants. At a press conference on Aug. 7, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia’s environment ministry has urged the public and social media content creators to stop making or sharing content that encourages the commerce, consumption or capture of wildlife. It has warned that such actions are illegal and pose risks to human health and the country’s wild animals and plants. At a press conference on Aug. 7, 2026, ministry spokesperson Khvay Atitya called on social media users to refrain from posting wildlife content to garner clicks and promote trade, including sharing photos and videos of eating or preparing dishes made from wildlife and rare plants. “Promoting love for wildlife does not mean keeping wild animals in cages,” Atitya reportedly said in response to questions from the press. “Eating wildlife meat provides no benefit and can pose serious health risks to consumers.” Atitya urged relevant ministries and authorities to take legal action against those involved in online wildlife commerce, stressing that online sales are as illegal as physical trading, according to a report from The Phnom Penh Post. Russell Gray, head of ECO-SOLVE at the Swiss-based Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), who studies the online illegal wildlife trade, said this was a welcome move. “One challenge we consistently see in the online illegal wildlife trade is that it can be treated as separate from the physical wildlife trade, when in reality the two are increasingly inseparable,” Gray said. “Social media, messaging applications and online marketplaces are now the primary infrastructure through which wildlife is advertised, buyers and sellers connect, and trafficking&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-targets-online-wildlife-trade-on-social-media-but-experts-say-its-not-enough/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-targets-online-wildlife-trade-on-social-media-but-experts-say-its-not-enough/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326945</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DNA analysis of Asiatic wild dogs scat in India reveals wild prey preference</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/dna-analysis-of-asiatic-wild-dogs-scat-in-india-reveals-wild-prey-preference/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/dna-analysis-of-asiatic-wild-dogs-scat-in-india-reveals-wild-prey-preference/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 11:14:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25111403/Dhole_Asiatic_wild_dogs_in_Bandipur_National_park-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327243</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Conservation, Food, Forests, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, National Parks, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Asiatic wild dogs in central India almost entirely eat wild prey, even where they overlap with livestock, according to a recent study. The findings show that maintaining healthy wild prey populations is key to conserving the species, reports contributor Rajeev Tyagi for Mongabay India. The study, led by the National Centre for Biological Sciences [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Asiatic wild dogs in central India almost entirely eat wild prey, even where they overlap with livestock, according to a recent study. The findings show that maintaining healthy wild prey populations is key to conserving the species, reports contributor Rajeev Tyagi for Mongabay India. The study, led by the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru and the Maharashtra Forest Department, analyzed the feces or scat of dholes or Asiatic wild dogs (Cuon alpinus) inside the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in the state of Maharashtra. Instead of scooping up entire piles of dhole scat, forest staff and researchers collected only small pinches of material during the monsoon and winter of 2022-2023. Researchers then used a method called DNA metabarcoding to analyze what the dholes had eaten. It’s a technique that extracts genetic material from fecal samples and matches it against a massive reference database containing information from tens of thousands of species. Traditional methods for analyzing carnivore diets rely on microhistology — examining prey hairs found in animal feces of scat under a microscope. But this method is vulnerable to observer bias, said study co-author and molecular ecologist Abhinav Tyagi. “Different people can categorise hair differently, and it induces a human or an observer&#8217;s bias,” Tyagi said. Arjun Srivathsa, a wildlife biologist affiliated with the Wildlife Conservation Society &#8211; India and not involved in the study, said that traditional methods are also prone to errors like misidentification of species or non-detection of certain species. However, the DNA barcoding method&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/dna-analysis-of-asiatic-wild-dogs-scat-in-india-reveals-wild-prey-preference/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/dna-analysis-of-asiatic-wild-dogs-scat-in-india-reveals-wild-prey-preference/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327243</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil firms kept zero-deforestation pledges, but forests saw little extra benefit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/palm-oil-firms-kept-zero-deforestation-pledges-but-forests-saw-little-extra-benefit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/palm-oil-firms-kept-zero-deforestation-pledges-but-forests-saw-little-extra-benefit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 09:46:11 +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/20/2026/08/25084940/oil-palm-deforestation-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327215</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Business, Conservation, Crops, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Food Industry, Forests, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, Law, Palm Oil, Plantations, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new study of palm oil concessions linked to Indonesian supply chains finds no evidence that corporate zero-deforestation commitments have led to additional reductions in deforestation. Tropical countries such as Indonesia continue to lose their forests at an alarming pace. In 2025, the world lost 4.3 million hectares of tropical primary forest, equivalent [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new study of palm oil concessions linked to Indonesian supply chains finds no evidence that corporate zero-deforestation commitments have led to additional reductions in deforestation. Tropical countries such as Indonesia continue to lose their forests at an alarming pace. In 2025, the world lost 4.3 million hectares of tropical primary forest, equivalent to more than 11 football fields of forest a minute . To curb this trend, palm oil-producing countries have introduced national policies in the past decade, while companies have increasingly adopted zero-deforestation commitments (ZDCs). When viewed through a before-and-after lens, Indonesian palm oil ZDCs appear highly successful at reducing deforestation. To determine how effective these commitments actually are, an international team of researchers compared deforestation trends in Indonesia’s palm oil sector — the world’s largest producer and exporter of the commodity — between concessions linked to supply chains with ZDCs and those without them. Using public databases to identify companies that have adopted ZDCs, the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), found that companies had largely complied with their commitments. However, it found no evidence that those commitments produced an additional reduction in deforestation in Indonesian palm-oil concessions beyond broader changes affecting the sector. In both ZDC-linked and non-ZDC concessions, the study says, . During the full implementation period for ZDCs from 2018 to 2020, annualized deforestation fell to around 0.5% in both groups. In the researchers’ preferred, the decline was 6.5 percentage points in ZDC-linked concessions and 6.63&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/palm-oil-firms-kept-zero-deforestation-pledges-but-forests-saw-little-extra-benefit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/palm-oil-firms-kept-zero-deforestation-pledges-but-forests-saw-little-extra-benefit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327215</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Plans of Peru’s new administration spur concern among environmentalists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/plans-of-perus-new-administration-spur-concern-among-environmentalists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/plans-of-perus-new-administration-spur-concern-among-environmentalists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 09:38:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/17050949/peru_221217-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327225</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Development, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Environmental Policy, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Organized Crime, Politics, Pollution, Renewable Energy, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi from the Popular Force Party was sworn in as the new president of Peru on July 28. Fujimori, who has pledged to tackle insecurity using greater force and militarization, narrowly defeated her left-wing opponent Roberto Sánchez by fewer than 50,000 votes on June 7. The new president has promised to expand [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi from the Popular Force Party was sworn in as the new president of Peru on July 28. Fujimori, who has pledged to tackle insecurity using greater force and militarization, narrowly defeated her left-wing opponent Roberto Sánchez by fewer than 50,000 votes on June 7. The new president has promised to expand fossil fuel production and mining across the country, raising concerns among environmentalists and Indigenous leaders about the future of the Peruvian Amazon, as well as its international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — a national climate action plan under the Paris Agreement. The country submitted its first NDC in 2016, which was then updated in 2020 and 2025. In its plan, it has committed to diversify renewable energy sources, strengthen sustainable transportation, reduce deforestation, protect natural areas and support Indigenous and local communities, among other mitigation priorities. Experts, environmentalists and Indigenous leaders expressed concerns about the government’s plans, particularly Fujimori’s promise to expand the exploration and exploitation of energy resources, such as the promotion of new lots in the Amazon and the northern coast. Peru&#8217;s President Keiko Fujimori, center, poses for a group photo with members of her cabinet at the government palace in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo) “The current government is a bit pragmatic in its decisions because they are really driven by wanting development without considering the consequences for the Amazonian peoples,” Matsés Indigenous leader Leo Chuma Teca Beso told Mongabay&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/plans-of-perus-new-administration-spur-concern-among-environmentalists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/plans-of-perus-new-administration-spur-concern-among-environmentalists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bogong moths support Australia’s alpine ecosystems, but face uncertain future</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bogong-moths-support-australias-alpine-ecosystems-but-face-uncertain-future/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bogong-moths-support-australias-alpine-ecosystems-but-face-uncertain-future/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 08:45:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hannah Thomasy]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25073757/bogong-moth-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327204</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Conservation, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Insects, Moths, Research, Science, Species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At first glance, Australia’s bogong moth is a decidedly unspectacular-looking creature. The moths are typically a dark, mottled brown and each weighs less than a Tic Tac mint or half a gram. But looks can be deceiving. Every spring in the Southern Hemisphere, from September to November, billions of bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) undertake an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At first glance, Australia’s bogong moth is a decidedly unspectacular-looking creature. The moths are typically a dark, mottled brown and each weighs less than a Tic Tac mint or half a gram. But looks can be deceiving. Every spring in the Southern Hemisphere, from September to November, billions of bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) undertake an epic journey. Using the stars and the Earth’s magnetic field, these tiny insects navigate hundreds of kilometers across Australia. Their destination is the Australian Alps, located in the far southeast corner of the country, where they will shelter in cool caves for the duration of the summer. The moths are a critical resource for the many rare and wonderful species that live in these mountains. “The whole [alpine] zone relies on the bogong moths,” said Marissa Parrott, a senior conservation biologist at Zoos Victoria. “They’re the second largest influx of nutrients into the Alps every year, beaten only by the sun.” But the moth’s future is far from certain. Their numbers have been slowly declining since the 1980s, and in 2017, populations crashed, likely due to extreme drought across much of southeastern Australia. A bogong moth in Sydney. Image by John Tann via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). At several locations, cave walls that had once been densely blanketed with moths — several thousand occupying each square meter (equivalent to 11 square feet) — were all but empty. “They went from four billion to nearly undetectable,” Parrott said. The population collapse threatens the alpine ecosystem,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bogong-moths-support-australias-alpine-ecosystems-but-face-uncertain-future/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bogong-moths-support-australias-alpine-ecosystems-but-face-uncertain-future/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327204</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Raja Ampat, children learn that their knowledge can help protect their islands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 23:31:29 +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/20/2026/08/24232329/IMG_20260825_0810072-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327187</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Energy Transition, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Animals, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Protected Areas, Rays, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.” That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange. The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.” That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange. The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play in the sea, during a reading of a children’s book about Raja Ampat and the threat of nickel mining. A coral reef and marine life in the waters off Raja Ampat in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Econusa. Research suggests that children who grow up closely connected to their surroundings can develop sophisticated understandings of their local environment. A 2014 study of children in 22 villages in Indonesian Borneo, for example, found that they recognized relationships among forests, rivers, wildlife and other environmental changes. So Sekar Bestari, the book’s illustrator, wasn’t surprised by the children’s answers. “Most of the time when we read the books to children, they understand them, so don’t underestimate children’s knowledge,” she said after the reading in Arborek. “We’re not surprised anymore today.” The reading was part of a three-day gathering of Indigenous communities in Arborek that brought together representatives from 20 Indigenous subtribes in Raja Ampat, as well as Indigenous people from other parts of Indonesia and abroad. The gathering, organized by Greenpeace Indonesia and local NGO Institut USBA, was intended to strengthen solidarity among Indigenous communities in protecting their lands, waters and biodiversity. The children’s knowledge of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327187</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How a rare bird sparked a wildlife movement across 16 villages in Guyana</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-a-rare-bird-sparked-a-wildlife-movement-across-16-villages-in-guyana/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-a-rare-bird-sparked-a-wildlife-movement-across-16-villages-in-guyana/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 23:26:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gentry Hale]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24145023/red-siskin-Spinus-cucullatus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327131</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Guyana, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Endangered Species, Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WICHABAI, Guyana — At sunrise in Guyana’s South Rupununi, Leroy Ignacio stops beside a tree scored with large claw marks. The animal responsible was a giant anteater. “They even rub their backs on the trunk to leave a scent behind,” says Ignacio, president of the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS), as he demonstrates the motion. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WICHABAI, Guyana — At sunrise in Guyana’s South Rupununi, Leroy Ignacio stops beside a tree scored with large claw marks. The animal responsible was a giant anteater. “They even rub their backs on the trunk to leave a scent behind,” says Ignacio, president of the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS), as he demonstrates the motion. Indigenous researchers had long observed anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) climbing and marking trees, behaviors previously documented by scientists only in isolated cases. Working with four Indigenous communities, SRCS placed cameras at trees identified by locals. The resulting 883 recorded visits suggested the solitary animals use the trees to communicate. For nearly a quarter-century, SRCS has built a multi-community approach to conservation grounded in traditional knowledge. Its members are villagers, farmers and teachers who work with participating communities to research wildlife, develop conservation guidelines and teach local ecology. Before SRCS, Indigenous-led conservation in the Rupununi was mostly in the form of scattered projects and traditional stewardship by Makushi and Wapichan communities. But the discovery of an endangered bird, the red siskin (Spinus cucullatus), gave several South Rupununi communities a reason to organize across village boundaries. A flock of red siskins in Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana. Image by Nick Athanas via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). A multi-community movement It all began with a scientific trip, recounts Ignacio. In 2000, researchers from the Smithsonian and the University of Kansas, both in the U.S., came to the South Rupununi to survey birds. Duane De Freitas and other young Indigenous residents&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-a-rare-bird-sparked-a-wildlife-movement-across-16-villages-in-guyana/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-a-rare-bird-sparked-a-wildlife-movement-across-16-villages-in-guyana/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327131</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Xokleng Indigenous people plant thousands of critically endangered pine in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/xokleng-indigenous-people-plant-thousands-of-critically-endangered-pine-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/xokleng-indigenous-people-plant-thousands-of-critically-endangered-pine-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 22:16:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20151307/8C9A8751-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327185</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Culture, Endangered Species, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Nature-based climate solutions, Plants, Protected Areas, Reforestation, Solutions, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Xokleng Indigenous people of Santa Catarina state of southern Brazil have planted nearly a  100,000 seedlings of a critically endangered native tree, Mongabay contributor Letícia Klein reported. The Brazilian pine (Araucaria angustifolia), or araucária, can grow more than 50 meters (164 feet) tall and has a straight trunk with a broad crown of branches [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Xokleng Indigenous people of Santa Catarina state of southern Brazil have planted nearly a  100,000 seedlings of a critically endangered native tree, Mongabay contributor Letícia Klein reported. The Brazilian pine (Araucaria angustifolia), or araucária, can grow more than 50 meters (164 feet) tall and has a straight trunk with a broad crown of branches near its top. Araucária pine forests historically covered large swathes of southern Brazil, but their range declined by roughly 97% in the last century. “Just as our pine is endangered, my people are also endangered, and consequently our language and culture are endangered,” Carl Gakran, executive director of the Zág (pronounced zā) Institute, told Klein. The institute was founded in conjunction with Isabel Gakran, his wife, to organize and expand the replanting effort. Carl Gakran began the restoration effort in 2016 after he learned that the Brazilian pine was listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List, the global conservation authority. He initially planned to grow just 10 trees on his own property. But the idea gained traction with the community, and they began the project the following year. Araucária pine trees produce edible nuts called pinhão, a staple food in the culinary tradition of southern Brazil. They are also eaten by at least another 22 animal species. Project organizers and volunteers harvest the seeds but leave at least 40% behind for wildlife. “Following our elders’ knowledge, we speak to the seeds, explain what’s happening, and perform harvest rituals. We harvest 60%, no more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/xokleng-indigenous-people-plant-thousands-of-critically-endangered-pine-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/xokleng-indigenous-people-plant-thousands-of-critically-endangered-pine-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327185</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Did you know forests can save themselves?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/did-you-know-forests-can-save-themselves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/did-you-know-forests-can-save-themselves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 21:58:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jonathan Mbu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24215742/NTFPs_Thumbnail.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327183</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Solutions, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Did you know forests can save themselves? (With a little help from us, of course). Turns out, trees can be super valuable apart from being used for timber. Their seeds, nuts, leaves, bark, and more are natural commodities&#8230; and have the potential to prevent logging, support local communities, and protect the health of our precious [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Did you know forests can save themselves? (With a little help from us, of course). Turns out, trees can be super valuable apart from being used for timber. Their seeds, nuts, leaves, bark, and more are natural commodities&#8230; and have the potential to prevent logging, support local communities, and protect the health of our precious ecosystems. These are called non-timber forest products (aka NTFPs). In this 4-part series with @therainforester and Mongabay, we explore the ways that harvesting sustainably from our forests can keep them alive! Follow along for more episodes.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/did-you-know-forests-can-save-themselves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/did-you-know-forests-can-save-themselves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327183</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rescue networks built by fire: Saving animals from Australia’s bushfires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescue-networks-built-by-fire-saving-animals-from-australias-bushfires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescue-networks-built-by-fire-saving-animals-from-australias-bushfires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 21:25:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Starre Vartan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/20122246/1-Koala_in_Zoo_Duisburg-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326765</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Disasters, Environment, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Impact Of Climate Change, Marsupials, Research, Threatened species, Water Pollution, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — A wallaby with a joey tucked into her pouch grazes beneath towering eucalyptus trees. Black cockatoos wheel overhead, their wailing calls echoing across the green hills of Vanessa Hartley&#8217;s property on the South Coast of New South Wales in Australia. A kangaroo bounces away, seeking better forage. The russet and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — A wallaby with a joey tucked into her pouch grazes beneath towering eucalyptus trees. Black cockatoos wheel overhead, their wailing calls echoing across the green hills of Vanessa Hartley&#8217;s property on the South Coast of New South Wales in Australia. A kangaroo bounces away, seeking better forage. The russet and golden horses that wander nearby are used to the wildlife: They ignore the bounding animals and the bird cries. Standing there on a blue-sky autumn afternoon, it was difficult to imagine that just a few years earlier this same landscape was engulfed in flames. &#8220;It was full-on,&#8221; Hartley said, scratching her brindled sheepdog’s ears. &#8220;The horse poo was spontaneously combusting.&#8221; During Australia&#8217;s catastrophic Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020, roughly 95% of Jerrawangala National Park burned as repeated fire fronts swept through. The park borders Hartley’s property, where she rehabilitates abused and surrendered horses before partnering them with people experiencing mental health challenges and disabilities as support animals. When smoke rolled over the ridgeline behind her pastures, Hartley posted a message on Facebook asking for help. Within an hour, neighbors and strangers arrived with trucks and horse trailers and evacuated all 19 of Hartley’s horses. “It made me cry knowing how supported we were,” she said. After the fires passed, Hartley returned to find another crisis unfolding. The surviving wildlife had little food or water, and the land was quiet. When she finally spotted a bedraggled wallaby (Phascolarctos cinereus), then another, she was relieved. “But they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescue-networks-built-by-fire-saving-animals-from-australias-bushfires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescue-networks-built-by-fire-saving-animals-from-australias-bushfires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326765</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Spain &#038; South Africa, communities use restoration to &#8216;grow&#8217; fire insurance (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-spain-south-africa-communities-use-restoration-to-grow-fire-insurance-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-spain-south-africa-communities-use-restoration-to-grow-fire-insurance-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 19:24:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire PattersonPenelope Choussat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24184231/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-18.24.44-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Europe, Global, South Africa, Southern Africa, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Environment, Finance, Fires, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Nature-based climate solutions, Restoration, Solutions, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Huddled shoulder to shoulder, a flicker of glowing orange illuminates the faces gathered around. The world quiets. The dark presses in from every side, and the cold with it. At the center of it all, a fire is roaring. Fire warmed us, fed us, and kept the dark at bay long after the sun went [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Huddled shoulder to shoulder, a flicker of glowing orange illuminates the faces gathered around. The world quiets. The dark presses in from every side, and the cold with it. At the center of it all, a fire is roaring. Fire warmed us, fed us, and kept the dark at bay long after the sun went down, allowing us to gather together when solitude was the alternative. But the same flames that draw people together can just as easily tear through a landscape, destroying livelihoods and communities. Whether they do depends on the condition of the land itself. In some cases, fires are a natural part of the ecosystem. But when forests are poorly managed they become fuel waiting for a spark. Invasive vegetation, in particular, can burn hotter and more explosively than the indigenous ecosystems it displaces, turning a landscape adapted to survive fire into one that is destroyed by it. Restore the landscape, and you don&#8217;t eliminate fire, but you can change how fire behaves. In that sense, healthy landscapes act as vital risk infrastructure, reducing the likelihood that a spark becomes a catastrophe. The landscapes of Spain&#8217;s Muga Valley and South Africa&#8217;s Langkloof share a history of poor management that has left them degraded and exposed to wildfire. Today, both areas are discovering that managing fire as a part of restoring ecosystems is vital to protecting both communities and economies from disaster. Two hours north of Barcelona, the Muga Valley is verdant but increasingly vulnerable to fire after&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-spain-south-africa-communities-use-restoration-to-grow-fire-insurance-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-spain-south-africa-communities-use-restoration-to-grow-fire-insurance-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327163</doi>				</item>
			</channel>
</rss>