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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/isabel/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2026 17:45:44 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Stories produced by Isabel Esterman for Conservation news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/isabel/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>‘Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals’ celebrates species with song</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/carnival-of-the-nearly-extinct-animals-celebrates-species-with-song/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/carnival-of-the-nearly-extinct-animals-celebrates-species-with-song/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2026 17:44:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/16174207/Screenshot-2026-09-16-at-12.41.08-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329945</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Hawaii and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Charismatic Animals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Once upon a time, flocks of passenger pigeons were so dense they blocked the sun like great gray thunderclouds flying overhead. Composer Stephanie Ann Boyd imagines this with music. &#8220;You will feel this movement before you hear it: a deep rumble in the low voices of the orchestra suddenly crescendo and explode into a grand, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Once upon a time, flocks of passenger pigeons were so dense they blocked the sun like great gray thunderclouds flying overhead. Composer Stephanie Ann Boyd imagines this with music. &#8220;You will feel this movement before you hear it: a deep rumble in the low voices of the orchestra suddenly crescendo and explode into a grand, flying murmuration of sound and flurry,&#8221; Boyd writes. The passenger pigeon movement is part of Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals, a work honoring species facing extinction and a few that have already crossed the threshold. This staged production pairing music with puppetry, dance, and spoken word opens at the historic Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu on Sept. 18 and 19, produced by Ocean Music Action in partnership with the Hawaii Theatre Center. Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals has 14 movements covering 13 species: tigers, bees and butterflies, polar bears, hawksbill turtles, elephants, black rhinos, coral, blue whales, ivory-billed woodpeckers, passenger pigeons, gray wolves, American buffalo and kāhuli, snails native to Hawai‘i, with a finale. Boyd designed the orchestral piece as a sister work to an older, famous piece of music called Carnival of the Animals, written by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns in the 1880s. The two pieces share the same number of movements and are roughly the same length. Musicians from the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra play the score in Honolulu, with dancers from Ballet Hawaii and guest artists from New York. Obie Award-winning puppeteer Greg Corbino built dozens of the animals by hand. Hawaiian&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/carnival-of-the-nearly-extinct-animals-celebrates-species-with-song/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/carnival-of-the-nearly-extinct-animals-celebrates-species-with-song/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329945</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why do these monkeys look so weird</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/why-do-these-monkeys-look-so-weird/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/why-do-these-monkeys-look-so-weird/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2026 14:13:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Izzy Sasada]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/16141244/Thumbnail-Monkey.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329907</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Why do the monkeys in Vietnam look so… odd? &#8220;The odd-nosed group&#8221; — that&#8217;s what scientists have called a group of primates found across Asia that share a common ancestry. Scientists think Vietnam’s monkeys—like the red-shanked douc and the Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys—developed their unique, flat or non-existent noses to adapt to the cold of high-elevation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Why do the monkeys in Vietnam look so… odd? &#8220;The odd-nosed group&#8221; — that&#8217;s what scientists have called a group of primates found across Asia that share a common ancestry. Scientists think Vietnam’s monkeys—like the red-shanked douc and the Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys—developed their unique, flat or non-existent noses to adapt to the cold of high-elevation forestsThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/why-do-these-monkeys-look-so-weird/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/why-do-these-monkeys-look-so-weird/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329907</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fishers bear deep costs of plastic pollution in Vietnam, but could help turn the tide</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/fishers-bear-deep-costs-of-plastic-pollution-in-vietnam-but-could-help-turn-the-tide/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/fishers-bear-deep-costs-of-plastic-pollution-in-vietnam-but-could-help-turn-the-tide/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2026 08:40:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/16081601/Banner-Repairing-fishing-nets-in-coastal-Vietnam.-Image-courtesy-of-3SIP2C-project-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329844</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Health, Marine, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Solutions, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plastic bags and bottles, aquaculture feed bags, nylon netting and ropes don’t sound like the makings of a healthy fishing haul. However, nets replete with these items are a near-daily reality for the majority of fishers interviewed by researchers during a recent study in Vietnam. Plastic waste causes small-scale fishers in Vietnam to lose an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plastic bags and bottles, aquaculture feed bags, nylon netting and ropes don’t sound like the makings of a healthy fishing haul. However, nets replete with these items are a near-daily reality for the majority of fishers interviewed by researchers during a recent study in Vietnam. Plastic waste causes small-scale fishers in Vietnam to lose an average of $3,421 per vessel, per year, in lost fishing time, reduced catch efficiency and damaged gear, the study assessing the economic impacts of plastic debris on fishing livelihoods found. This represents a 10-25% reduction in the annual income of vessel owners. Fishers interviewed for the study reported that they had significantly increased their fishing efforts in recent years in response to the combined pressures of overexploited fish stocks and plastic pollution. “Before, 6-7 hauls were enough [to turn a profit],” one interviewee told the researchers. “Now it takes 20-25 hauls.” The study also highlights how fishers could play a significant role in solutions tackling the plastic pollution crisis, including through “fishing for litter” programs that pay fishers modest financial incentives to bring back plastic bycatch for disposal and processing on land. “When you see firsthand the sheer volume of [plastic waste] in Southeast Asia, and how it directly impacts people’s lives and livelihoods, it crystallizes very clearly why we need to address this,” study co-author Michel Kaiser, a professor of fisheries conservation at Heriot-Watt University in the U.K., told Mongabay in an interview. “Fundamentally, turning off the source of the plastic is key, but&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/fishers-bear-deep-costs-of-plastic-pollution-in-vietnam-but-could-help-turn-the-tide/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/fishers-bear-deep-costs-of-plastic-pollution-in-vietnam-but-could-help-turn-the-tide/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329844</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Venezuela’s historic oil deal with the US reignites environmental, human rights concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/venezuelas-historic-oil-deal-with-the-us-reignites-environmental-human-rights-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/venezuelas-historic-oil-deal-with-the-us-reignites-environmental-human-rights-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2026 08:30:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15175444/Clouds-form-over-pumpjacks-and-power-transmission-towers-on-Lake-Maracaibo-in-Cabimas-Venezuela-Tuesday-Sept.-1-2026.-AP-PhotoAriana-Cubillos-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329807</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, International Trade, Natural Resources, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Politics, Pollution, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In late August, the U.S. announced a historic oil deal that gives it access to more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves in Venezuela, with investment of up to $100 billion in new oil infrastructure across the country. The deal has been billed as a way to secure “energy dominance” for the U.S. while [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In late August, the U.S. announced a historic oil deal that gives it access to more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves in Venezuela, with investment of up to $100 billion in new oil infrastructure across the country. The deal has been billed as a way to secure “energy dominance” for the U.S. while driving Venezuela’s economic recovery. But observers say they’re concerned about the climate impact of fossil fuels, the deal’s lack of transparency, potential oil spills and other environmental risks. “Economic recovery cannot come at the expense of human rights relating to the environment,” said a Sept. 9 joint statement from the Venezuelan Program for Education-Action on Human Rights (Provea) and Clima21, an environmental NGO. “No economic interest takes precedence over the constitutional and internationally recognized right to a healthy, safe and sustainable environment.” The deal is structured through private company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), the second-largest Venezuelan oil producer, which has “100-year concessions for 17 oil fields,” according to the U.S. government. The U.S. has a “35% equity stake” in the company and can purchase 20% of its production, with a right of first refusal for the remaining 80% throughout the 25-year agreement. It’s part of an attempt by the U.S. to increase involvement in Venezuela following a January military operation to remove President Nicolás Maduro, who has been accused of narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking. Throughout 2026, U.S. officials have visited Venezuela to discuss investment in the country’s natural resources, most notably oil and gas. Venezuela has one&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/venezuelas-historic-oil-deal-with-the-us-reignites-environmental-human-rights-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/venezuelas-historic-oil-deal-with-the-us-reignites-environmental-human-rights-concerns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329807</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For the first time, Congolese NGO to manage a DRC protected area</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/for-the-first-time-congolese-ngo-to-manage-a-drc-protected-area/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/for-the-first-time-congolese-ngo-to-manage-a-drc-protected-area/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2026 05:56:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/05014153/congo_0476-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329839</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Gorillas, Governance, Great Apes, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Primates, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the first time in the modern history of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a Congolese nongovernmental organization will co-manage a protected area in the country. “It is an honor,” Dominique Bikaba, founder of the NGO Strong Roots, told Mongabay by phone. Strong Roots has been entrusted with the management of Itombwe Nature Reserve [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the first time in the modern history of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a Congolese nongovernmental organization will co-manage a protected area in the country. “It is an honor,” Dominique Bikaba, founder of the NGO Strong Roots, told Mongabay by phone. Strong Roots has been entrusted with the management of Itombwe Nature Reserve (RNI), located in South Kivu province in the northeast DRC. Under a public-private partnership Strong Roots will manage the reserve for the next 10 years. The Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN), the national authority responsible for natural parks, will retain oversight of the park. “I think the government chose us, because they have observed the work we have done in the biodiversity corridor and the way we have put local communities at the center of conservation,” Bikaba said. Strong Roots has spent about a decade securing land for communities and wildlife to create a 1-million-hectare (2.5-million-acre) corridor through community forestry concessions. This corridor spans the area between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve. To date, Strong Roots has secured 23 community forest concessions in the area, covering nearly 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land. “Itombwe is made up of seven chiefdoms, and we are already working with four of them in the corridor,” Bikaba said. “So we have a very good knowledge of the reserve; we know its problems and its needs.” Bikaba is a member of an Indigenous community in the area that was evicted to make way for another protected area. So,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/for-the-first-time-congolese-ngo-to-manage-a-drc-protected-area/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329839</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Marine heatwave likely caused sharp decline in Hawaiian humpback whales, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/marine-heatwave-likely-caused-sharp-decline-in-hawaiian-humpback-whales-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/marine-heatwave-likely-caused-sharp-decline-in-hawaiian-humpback-whales-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 21:38:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bobby Bascomb]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15211402/AP23074823398722-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329826</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Climate, Climate Change, Earth Science, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Mammals, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Research, Science, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Roughly a decade ago, a marine heatwave in the northeastern Pacific Ocean caused a dramatic decline in populations of forage fish and krill, the base of the marine food chain. A recent study found that the Hawaiian humpback whale population, which feeds on krill and small fish, also declined sharply during the 2013-16 heatwave and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Roughly a decade ago, a marine heatwave in the northeastern Pacific Ocean caused a dramatic decline in populations of forage fish and krill, the base of the marine food chain. A recent study found that the Hawaiian humpback whale population, which feeds on krill and small fish, also declined sharply during the 2013-16 heatwave and has not yet recovered. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the North Pacific feed in cold Alaskan and Canadian waters during the summer months before traveling roughly 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) to Hawaii to breed and give birth over the winter. To understand the impact of the 2013-2016 marine heatwave, researchers analyzed more than 27,000 photos of whale sightings between 2002 and 2023 across the main Hawaiian islands. The photos came from Happywhale, a citizen science platform where anyone can upload images of whale flukes (tail fins) that scientists use to identify individuals. “Their flukes are a bit like a fingerprint for each individual humpback whale,” study co-author Shannon Barber-Meyer, formerly with Pacific Whale Foundation, told Mongabay in a video call. The researchers found the Hawaiian humpback whale population declined by 37% between the 2014-2015 breeding season and the 2021-2022 season. Adult survival rates also fell sharply. Before the heatwave, roughly 99% of adult whales survived year over year, but during the heatwave, adult survival was estimated at just 68%. “It&#8217;s a very precipitous drop, and that&#8217;s not something you normally see in adult survival of long-lived mammals,” Barber-Meyer said. During the heatwave, researchers documented an unusual mortality event&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/marine-heatwave-likely-caused-sharp-decline-in-hawaiian-humpback-whales-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/marine-heatwave-likely-caused-sharp-decline-in-hawaiian-humpback-whales-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329826</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil election could put 95% of the Amazon under right-wing governments</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 19:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15182022/AP26237589746151-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329809</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Peru, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Politics, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With 60% of the rainforest hanging in the balance, Brazil’s upcoming election could seal the Amazon's fate.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In January 2027, five of the nine Amazonian countries could be run by right-wing or far-right parties, posing new risks to the world’s greatest rainforest, experts warn. Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador have already elected presidents who explicitly favor agribusiness and mining over environmental conservation. Brazil, home to more than 60% of the Amazon, could be next. According to polls, the left-wing incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is neck and neck ahead of October’s ballot against Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right president he defeated in the last election four years ago. The elder Bolsonaro has since been convicted for an attempted coup d’état, imprisoned, and barred from running for office. Venezuela, run by a nominally socialist regime but now under economic intervention from the U.S., is facing mounting pressure from President Donald Trump to boost oil production and sign new mining deals, raising environmental concerns in the country. Together, these six nations cover up to 95% of the Amazon. Experts say Brazil’s election will have high stakes for the Amazon and other biomes, especially as the younger Bolsonaro looks set to revive his father’s policies. Opposition presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, left, greets El Salvador&#8217;s Minister of Justice and Public Security, Hector Gustavo Villatoro, during a meeting, in São Paulo, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. Image by AP Photo/Andre Penner. “Even under a government that is somewhat committed to combating deforestation, the task is already very difficult,” Márcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329809</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Big Cats’ highlights the remarkable power of photojournalism</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/09/big-cats-highlights-the-remarkable-power-of-photojournalism/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/09/big-cats-highlights-the-remarkable-power-of-photojournalism/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 19:25:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike DiGirolamo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mikedigirolamo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14032410/p042_p043_1-HOLLYWOOD-COUGAR_HIRES_SteveWinter_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=podcasts&#038;p=329566</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Culture, Interviews, Interviews With Environmental Journalists, Mammals, Media, Photos, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Sikich, the biologist for the National Park Service in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, thought that Steve Winter “was crazy” for wanting to capture a photograph of a mountain lion in front of the Hollywood sign. “He looked at me like I was crazy because he said, ‘There are no mountain lions in Griffith Park.’ [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Sikich, the biologist for the National Park Service in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, thought that Steve Winter “was crazy” for wanting to capture a photograph of a mountain lion in front of the Hollywood sign. “He looked at me like I was crazy because he said, ‘There are no mountain lions in Griffith Park.’ But I knew in the past that there had been,” Winter says. It took him around a year, but Winter managed to do it. He captured the famous mountain lion, named P-22 by scientists, sauntering down a hill at night wearing his tracking collar, with the Hollywood sign shimmering in the background. This helped spark a conservation movement in L.A. and eventually inspired funding for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over U.S. Route 101, which will be the world’s largest wildlife crossing when it opens on Dec. 2. Winter and Mongabay contributing editor Sharon Guynup join the Mongabay Newscast this week to detail this story and others that are featured in her and Winter’s upcoming book of impactful photojournalism, Big Cats from Nat Geo Books. Each of the nine stories in this book was selected specifically for the conservation outcomes these stories helped inspire. “We really wanted to emphasize that storytelling and photography can change the world. And beyond that, we all can have impact, so we all need to contribute our skills, whatever they are,” Guynup says. After reading all 25,000 words, this book stands out to me as more than a collection of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/09/big-cats-highlights-the-remarkable-power-of-photojournalism/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/09/big-cats-highlights-the-remarkable-power-of-photojournalism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329566</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report links fishmeal production to decline in key species for Guinea-Bissau communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/report-links-fishmeal-production-to-decline-in-key-species-for-guinea-bissau-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/report-links-fishmeal-production-to-decline-in-key-species-for-guinea-bissau-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 19:23:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15192106/7347123450_369d79c376_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329818</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Guinea-Bissau and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Food, Food Industry, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Marine Animals, Oceans, Overconsumption, Saltwater Fish, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Populations of sardinella, an important protein-rich fish, are in rapid decline in the waters off Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. The decline appears to be related to industrial fishing for two species of sardinella used to make fishmeal, according to a report by investigative news organization OCCRP. In Guinea-Bissau, fish like the Madeiran sardinella (Sardinella maderensis) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Populations of sardinella, an important protein-rich fish, are in rapid decline in the waters off Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. The decline appears to be related to industrial fishing for two species of sardinella used to make fishmeal, according to a report by investigative news organization OCCRP. In Guinea-Bissau, fish like the Madeiran sardinella (Sardinella maderensis) and round sardinella (Sardinella aurita) are among the primary ingredients in fishmeal, a processed fish product added to livestock feed for added protein and nutrients. But sardinella is also a crucial food for people in Guinea-Bissau and other West African nations. A fisheries assessment for the Guinea-Bissau government showed sardinella stocks have been decimated, according to the OCCRP report. This decline coincided with the arrival two Chinese fishmeal factories and a fleet of Turkish fishing boats off the coast of Guinea-Bissau. In an email to Mongabay, OCCRP report co-author Josef Skrdlik said the migration patterns of sardinella still aren’t fully understood, so there could be other explanations for the decline. “That said, the assessment, combined with the export data we’ve compiled, points to the Chinese-owned factory ships as the main culprits,” Skrdlik said. “The export data indicates that the production on the ships — supplied by a Turkish fleet for which sardinella was a key target — took place at a scale consistent with the decline in the sardinella stocks observed between 2013 and 2025,” he added. “In particular, fishmeal exports by a company linked to the floating factories corresponded to at least 350,000 tons&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/report-links-fishmeal-production-to-decline-in-key-species-for-guinea-bissau-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/report-links-fishmeal-production-to-decline-in-key-species-for-guinea-bissau-communities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329818</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Since US intervention, Venezuela’s illegal mining crisis has only worsened, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 17:13:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14212951/AP26023620981888-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329729</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mercury, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, could be worth billions. Burgum’s trip came just a few months after a U.S. military operation removed then-President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to a detention center in the U.S. state of New York. Since then, officials have heralded a new era for Venezuela, and tried to make the mining sector more attractive to foreign investment: Passing mining reform laws, taking down leaders of criminal groups involved in mining, and raiding illegal mining sites. The U.S. is also considering an executive order aimed at improving access to critical minerals, Reuters reported. Yet at the same time, observers say the illegal mining crisis is getting worse, not better. Illegal mining has expanded this year, in some cases in protected areas, and criminal groups involved in mining have tightened their hold in many parts of the country, according to sources contacted by Mongabay. “[Since Maduro’s capture], nothing has changed in the criminal and legal ecosystem,” Cristina Burelli, founder of SOSOrinoco, an advocacy group studying the social and environmental impacts of mining in Venezuela, told Mongabay. “If anything, we have seen an increase in certain areas.” Vendors weigh and trade gold at gold-buying shops in El Callao, Venezuela.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dhaka’s waste-to-energy project faces opposition from pollution-weary residents</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/dhakas-waste-to-energy-project-faces-opposition-from-pollution-weary-residents/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/dhakas-waste-to-energy-project-faces-opposition-from-pollution-weary-residents/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 16:30:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Eyamin Sajid]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15152846/Aminbazar-landfill-Photo-07-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329776</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Energy, Environment, Health, Pollution, Recycling, Solutions, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At years old, Yeasmin Begum has lived near the Amin Bazar landfill on the outskirts of Dhaka her whole life. She says the stench often triggers allergies, including colds and coughing. “Sometimes it is quite difficult for us to breathe when waste collectors burn the waste under the open sky. Smoke and ashes envelop our [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At years old, Yeasmin Begum has lived near the Amin Bazar landfill on the outskirts of Dhaka her whole life. She says the stench often triggers allergies, including colds and coughing. “Sometimes it is quite difficult for us to breathe when waste collectors burn the waste under the open sky. Smoke and ashes envelop our home and surroundings,” she says. That’s a problem that could get worse under a plan by municipal authorities to burn trash on a much larger scale. A so-called waste-to-energy project would incinerate up to 3,0000 metric tons of trash daily to heat a boiler, which would then produce steam to drive a turbine, thereby generating electricity. This would be the first-ever waste-to-energy project in Bangladesh, part of an effort to tackle the increasing volume of municipal waste. But the 42.5-megawatt North Dhaka project has raised concerns among nearby communities that have long suffered from exposure to polluted air, water, and soil. Dhaka North City Corporation is the municipal authority overseeing the project, which is owned by the China Machinery Engineering Corporation. Some of the total $467 million in total funding has been pledged by multilateral lenders including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank, both headquartered in China. The project is due to be completed by December 2028, four years later than initially planned. For nearby residents like Yeasmin, the prospect of thousands of tons of municipal waste every being burned every day, potentially releasing toxic substances like heavy metals and dioxins,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/dhakas-waste-to-energy-project-faces-opposition-from-pollution-weary-residents/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/dhakas-waste-to-energy-project-faces-opposition-from-pollution-weary-residents/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329776</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous leader Raoni receives palliative care in Brazil after cancer diagnosis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/329796/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/329796/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 16:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15160337/AP26258076587250-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329796</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Saving Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAO PAULO (AP) — Renowned Indigenous Chief Raoni Metuktire is receiving palliative care at home in the Brazilian heartland after being diagnosed with cancer at age 94, his institute said Monday. The Raoni Institute said the cancer diagnosis in the chief&#8217;s digestive system was confirmed after he was hospitalized in Sao Paulo in June due [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAO PAULO (AP) — Renowned Indigenous Chief Raoni Metuktire is receiving palliative care at home in the Brazilian heartland after being diagnosed with cancer at age 94, his institute said Monday. The Raoni Institute said the cancer diagnosis in the chief&#8217;s digestive system was confirmed after he was hospitalized in Sao Paulo in June due to a severe intestinal obstruction. He underwent surgery then and returned to the region of the city of Peixoto de Azevedo, in Brazil&#8217;s Mato Grosso state. “At this moment, our priority is ensuring that Chief Raoni is well cared for, comfortable, and close to his family and his people. We wish to share this information transparently, but we also ask for respect regarding his privacy, his need for rest, and his family’s decisions,” the institute said in a statement. Raoni, one of the most renowned advocates for the protection of the Amazon rainforest and for Indigenous rights, traveled the world for decades to raise awareness about environmental preservation. Doctors opted for palliative care given Raoni&#8217;s advanced age, overall clinical condition, and the high risks associated with aggressive oncological treatments, the institute said. “Palliative care does not mean an absence of treatment. The goal is to control pain and other symptoms, prevent complications, and ensure nutrition, hydration, medical supervision, nursing care, physical therapy, and the best possible quality of life,” it added. Raoni is currently resting at home, surrounded by his family, community, and specialized health teams. The care plan also incorporates intercultural and spiritual support,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/329796/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329796</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildfires on doorstep of Indonesia’s new capital as environmental and health crisis flares</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/wildfires-on-doorstep-of-indonesias-new-capital-as-environmental-and-health-crisis-flares/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/wildfires-on-doorstep-of-indonesias-new-capital-as-environmental-and-health-crisis-flares/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 11:50:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Niken D. Sitoningrum]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15113817/834BDB3B-70D3-4E4D-BE7A-21166F05BFE3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329765</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Climate, Climate Change, Development, Disasters, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PENAJAM PASER, Indonesia — Indonesia’s escalating wildfire crisis has reached the outskirts of Nusantara, the new capital city under construction as the world’s fourth-most-populous country seeks to transplant its political heartland from a flood plain in Java to the island of Borneo. Fires in mid-September burned 30 to 40 kilometers (19 to 25 miles) from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PENAJAM PASER, Indonesia — Indonesia’s escalating wildfire crisis has reached the outskirts of Nusantara, the new capital city under construction as the world’s fourth-most-populous country seeks to transplant its political heartland from a flood plain in Java to the island of Borneo. Fires in mid-September burned 30 to 40 kilometers (19 to 25 miles) from the perimeter of government buildings. The fires were reported at Wonotirto, near the main toll road, and at Bukit Tengkorak in the Bukit Soeharto protected forest. These wildfires were in the outer zone designated for Nusantara, authorities in the new capital said, but had stopped short of the construction site of the government complex. “Hopefully, it won&#8217;t reoccur,” Danis H. Sumadilaga, Nusantara authority spokesperson, said in a Sept. 9 statement. “We will have to conduct monitoring and patrols to ensure this fire doesn&#8217;t happen again.” On Sept. 14, forestry minister Raja Juli Antoni traveled to inspect the fires, along with the head of Indonesia’s disaster management agency and the lead of Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN), the agency overseeing the new city, one of the world’s largest construction sites. Helicopters carrying giant buckets of water buzzed overhead as the officials surveyed the fragile landscape skirting the city. “It’s there again — where’s Manggala Agni?” the minister said, referring to the state fire brigade after spotting a suspected fire burning in the hills. “They need to get there, along with colleagues — there’s smoke again. “Please coordinate with the firefighters, army, police,” Raja Juli Antoni said on Sept. 14.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/wildfires-on-doorstep-of-indonesias-new-capital-as-environmental-and-health-crisis-flares/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329765</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>10 promising ways to ‘green’ offshore wind</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/10-promising-ways-to-green-offshore-wind/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/10-promising-ways-to-green-offshore-wind/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 09:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14162042/Image_1_Offshore_wind_farms_photographed_at_the_Port_of_Noshiro_at_sunset_20220728-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329636</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Marine, Marine Conservation, Natural Resources, Oceans, Offshore Wind, Renewable Energy, Solutions, and Wind Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Read the stories in Mongabay&#8217;s series on offshore wind energy: Part One, Part Two and Part Three. Offshore wind has enormous potential as a source of renewable energy and is tipped to greatly expand in the next few decades. As this clean energy drive gathers pace, experts underline that new wind farms must be developed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Read the stories in Mongabay&#8217;s series on offshore wind energy: Part One, Part Two and Part Three. Offshore wind has enormous potential as a source of renewable energy and is tipped to greatly expand in the next few decades. As this clean energy drive gathers pace, experts underline that new wind farms must be developed responsibly to minimize harm to ecosystems and support biodiversity. Mongabay spoke to experts to identify promising solutions that can make offshore wind farms work with nature, rather than against it. 1. Marine spatial planning during site selection The best way to avoid negative impacts of offshore wind farms is to carefully select sites using marine spatial planning. “That’s step one,” Marjolein Kelder, senior project manager at The Rich North Sea, a Netherlands-based nonprofit, told Mongabay in an interview. “Don&#8217;t put wind farms in your ecologically most valuable areas or in bird migration corridors.” Spatial planning can ensure ecosystems are preserved, account for the needs of coastal communities, and reduce conflicts with other uses of marine areas, like fisheries and shipping. Organizations are also developing “sensitivity” maps for species of birds and bats to aid planning. 2. Nature-friendly structures Research shows that wind farms can act as refuges for some marine species. Modifying wind farm structures can provide additional important habitat for fish and other marine life. Strategies include deploying artificial reefs, installing or using existing intentional gaps called water replenishment holes that are built into turbine foundations to allow the flow of water, deploying steel&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/10-promising-ways-to-green-offshore-wind/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329636</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘They should choose their own destinies’: Manish Chandi on India’s isolated tribes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 07:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14173823/p.-Shompen-man-2-at-35km-EW-rd-GNI-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329679</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indian Ocean, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Oceans, Poaching, Tropical Forests, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From above, the North Sentinel Island tribal reserve in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is a thick, unbroken patch of dark green — starkly surrounded by the shimmering coastal blue waters of its buffer zone. On these shores, Sentinelese people, who live in voluntary isolation protected by a strict government no-contact policy, spear fish, hunt [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From above, the North Sentinel Island tribal reserve in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is a thick, unbroken patch of dark green — starkly surrounded by the shimmering coastal blue waters of its buffer zone. On these shores, Sentinelese people, who live in voluntary isolation protected by a strict government no-contact policy, spear fish, hunt turtles and collect mollusks in shallow reefs surrounded by mangroves. The coastal reefs are intact ecosystems rich in fish life, say biologists. “I have seen them [groups of men, women and children] foraging and collecting these food resources during low tide on several occasions,” says Manish Chandi, a tribal expert who has watched the island from afar. “The Sentinelese are aware of these as nutritious and sparsely available resources in such [mangrove] habitats, which are very few on and around the island.” The giant trees of the North Sentinel Island coastline are its first natural defense against storms and which hold its coastal soil together. The shore is lined with sandy beaches and rocky shores, while the foreshore is dotted with coral reefs and mangroves — excellent nurseries for marine biodiversity. Image by Manish Chandi. Like other tribal reserves on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the southeast of mainland India, North Sentinel Island is a biodiversity hotspot; and, like other tribal reserves, the isolated people who live there have attracted influencers and misunderstandings, says Chandi. “Curiosity and ignorance regarding the islanders is quite high and understandably so amongst outsiders and [government] bureaucrats who have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329679</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Electric fences that kill and the Maasai trying to save Kenya’s last giant pangolins</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/electric-fences-that-kill-and-the-maasai-trying-to-save-kenyas-last-giant-pangolins/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/electric-fences-that-kill-and-the-maasai-trying-to-save-kenyas-last-giant-pangolins/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 05:50:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pauline Kairu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14160539/1.-Giant_Ground_Pangolin_BlackandWhite_willbl-tpp-42-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329650</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Crime, Endangered Species, Governance, Mammals, Pangolins, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Naserian, a giant ground pangolin, lived for about two years in Kenya’s last remaining stronghold for this animal, Nyekweri Forest. When researchers from The Pangolin Project began tracking her in 2025, they observed her threading her way through a landscape where forests, farms and fences increasingly intersected. Each night, she emerged from the darkness of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Naserian, a giant ground pangolin, lived for about two years in Kenya’s last remaining stronghold for this animal, Nyekweri Forest. When researchers from The Pangolin Project began tracking her in 2025, they observed her threading her way through a landscape where forests, farms and fences increasingly intersected. Each night, she emerged from the darkness of Nyekweri Forest and moved through a shifting mosaic of woodland, farms and grazing lands on the western fringes of Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. Researchers watched on computer screens from their outpost near the reserve, tracking Naserian’s GPS signal as she followed familiar paths across a patchwork of privately owned parcels of land. Then one night, the signal stopped. A team from the Kenya-based pangolin research organization headed to the site. Naserian lay dead beneath an electrified fence. After years navigating a changing landscape, a single charged wire had ended her life. A landscape closing in Giant ground pangolins (Smutsia gigantea) are endangered across their fragmented Western and Central African range, with their numbers decreasing. Kenya’s only known population resides in Nyekweri, but it isn’t the safest place for them. Since 2022, researchers have recorded 15 deaths in the area, including 14 by electrocution on electric fences. With fewer than 30 believed to remain in Kenya, every death carries outsized consequences. The giant ground pangolin — the largest of the eight species, all of which live in Africa and Asia — occurs naturally at low densities. They normally give birth to just one offspring at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/electric-fences-that-kill-and-the-maasai-trying-to-save-kenyas-last-giant-pangolins/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/electric-fences-that-kill-and-the-maasai-trying-to-save-kenyas-last-giant-pangolins/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329650</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Roads, infrastructure prevent tigers from settling in Indian tiger reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/roads-infrastructure-prevent-tigers-from-settling-in-indian-tiger-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/roads-infrastructure-prevent-tigers-from-settling-in-indian-tiger-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 03:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15030456/Tara_in_Tadoba_Tiger_Reserve_AJTJ_P1090339-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329745</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Mammals, Tigers, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A forested tiger reserve in southern India is home to a thriving population of spotted and sambar deer, nilgai antelopes, and wild pigs — all ideal prey for tigers. Yet the reserve has no resident tigers, reports contributor Nivedhika Krishnan for Mongabay India. Kawal Tiger Reserve in the state of Telangana connects key tiger populations [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A forested tiger reserve in southern India is home to a thriving population of spotted and sambar deer, nilgai antelopes, and wild pigs — all ideal prey for tigers. Yet the reserve has no resident tigers, reports contributor Nivedhika Krishnan for Mongabay India. Kawal Tiger Reserve in the state of Telangana connects key tiger populations in the reserves of Tadoba-Andhari, in Maharashtra state to the west, and Indravati, in Chhattisgarh state to the east. Since 2015, researchers have confirmed that only 15 tigers entered Kawal from Maharashtra. Of these, only two were females. Lead researcher Imran Siddiqui told Mongabay India that tigers traveling from Maharashtra to Kawal face heavy infrastructure throughout their journey. “The corridor is fragmented by open-cast coal mines, the Ada irrigation project, electrified farm fences, and the main Hyderabad-Nagpur railway line,” Siddiqui said. “National Highway 44 acts as the most formidable barrier of all with its heavy traffic and high fencing. It isn’t just one obstacle — it is a cumulative mosaic of risks that forces dispersing tigers to turn back.” He added that while male tigers dispersing from their birthplace are “bolder risk-takers” and can move long distances through human-dominated landscapes, female tigers are more risk-averse and “require quiet, undisturbed habitat to raise cubs.” “Crossing busy highways, railways, and mines poses a massive perceived threat to females,” Siddiqui said. “That is why males occasionally dodge traffic to reach Kawal, but females turn back. Without females, you simply cannot build a breeding population.” Anish Andheria, president and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/roads-infrastructure-prevent-tigers-from-settling-in-indian-tiger-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329745</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EPA eliminates rule that limits planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/epa-eliminates-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-power-plants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/epa-eliminates-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-power-plants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 17:41:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14173645/AP26257540442676-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329685</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Climate Change Denial, Climate Science, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Natural Gas, and Oil]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas, an action the agency said would remove more than $300 billion in costs for the industry and help “unleash” American energy. The rule change, first proposed last year, represents a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas, an action the agency said would remove more than $300 billion in costs for the industry and help “unleash” American energy. The rule change, first proposed last year, represents a fundamental shift from efforts by Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama to address climate change and clean up industrial pollution. EPA officials said the change would allow utilities to make the best decisions for their ratepayers rather than be forced to close aging or inefficient plants. By Mathey Daly, Associated Press Banner image:  A barge on the Ohio River moves past the Mountaineer Power Plant, a coal-fired power plant near New Haven, W.Va., March 13, 2026. Image courtesy of Carolyn Kaster, Associated PressThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/epa-eliminates-rule-that-limits-planet-warming-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-power-plants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329685</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Kathmandu Resolution calls for Asia-wide leadership on conservation (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/katmandu-resolution-calls-for-asia-wide-leadership-on-conservation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/katmandu-resolution-calls-for-asia-wide-leadership-on-conservation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 17:29:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sayan Banerjee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/09151101/Image-1.image_jpeg-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329664</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Environment, and Governance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There is perhaps no other continent on earth that possesses as diverse an ecosystem, biodiversity and cultural diversity as Asia. Yet, biodiversity conservation in Asia is in constant crisis, due to uneven development after gaining independence from Euro-American colonization, capital intensive infrastructure growth with worsening inequality, heavy dependence on natural resources at different scales, from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There is perhaps no other continent on earth that possesses as diverse an ecosystem, biodiversity and cultural diversity as Asia. Yet, biodiversity conservation in Asia is in constant crisis, due to uneven development after gaining independence from Euro-American colonization, capital intensive infrastructure growth with worsening inequality, heavy dependence on natural resources at different scales, from household to nation, high population density and distribution that overlaps with spaces with endangered wildlife, illegal trade in endangered species, and finally, war, genocide, militarization and political conflict. Conservationists in Asia, therefore, have a difficult mandate for the continent’s future: To tackle the biodiversity, climate, and cultural crisis at a much faster rate. Yet, the conservation space is strictly dominated by researchers and practitioners, donors and funders, policymakers and other intellectuals based in Western knowledge production systems. To cater to this, almost 500 conservationists, majorly from Asian countries assembled in Kathmandu, Nepal, during the first week of June for the 6th Conservation Asia Congress. The conference was organized by the Asia region of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), in partnership with the Nepal chapter of SCB and a Nepal-based community-centric organization, Burhan Community Regeneration and Conservation Foundation (BCRCF). Under the theme &#8220;Harmonizing Biodiversity and Human Well-being in Asia,&#8221; the Congress united global experts, early-career researchers, and community leaders to address the critical intersection of nature conservation, community stewardship, and evidence-based policy. Almost 500 conservationists largely from Asian countries assembled in Kathmandu during the first week of June for the 6th Conservation Asia Congress. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/katmandu-resolution-calls-for-asia-wide-leadership-on-conservation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329664</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Did you know cocoa pulp tastes like lychee?!</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/did-you-know-cocoa-pulp-tastes-like-lychee/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/did-you-know-cocoa-pulp-tastes-like-lychee/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 15:31:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[The Rainforester]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14153051/CocoaFeatured.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329647</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ecosystems, Environment, Food, Forests, Natural Resources, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From a symbol of wealth and the food of the gods, to a sweet treat many of us can’t go too long without; the story of cacao (or cocoa, depending on how it was processed), has been intertwined with humanity&#8217;s for millennia! In this 4-part series on NTFPs (non-timber forest products) with The Rainforester and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From a symbol of wealth and the food of the gods, to a sweet treat many of us can’t go too long without; the story of cacao (or cocoa, depending on how it was processed), has been intertwined with humanity&#8217;s for millennia! In this 4-part series on NTFPs (non-timber forest products) with The Rainforester and Mongabay, we explore the ways that harvesting sustainably from our forests can keep them alive!This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/did-you-know-cocoa-pulp-tastes-like-lychee/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329647</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Decline of migratory birds spurs calls for coordinated conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/decline-of-migratory-birds-spurs-calls-for-coordinated-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/decline-of-migratory-birds-spurs-calls-for-coordinated-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 14:09:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Wilson Odhiambo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14122724/Bar-headedGoose.Anser_.indicus_-%C2%A9NejibAhmedShutterstock-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329611</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Europe, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Transmigration, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI — The decline of many migratory bird populations is a red flag that ecosystems around the world are under increasing pressure, conservation experts warn, adding it’s time for governments to come together and coordinate conservation efforts across national borders. Representatives from governments, conservation agencies, NGOs, financial institutions, and donors gathered in Nairobi from Sept. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI — The decline of many migratory bird populations is a red flag that ecosystems around the world are under increasing pressure, conservation experts warn, adding it’s time for governments to come together and coordinate conservation efforts across national borders. Representatives from governments, conservation agencies, NGOs, financial institutions, and donors gathered in Nairobi from Sept. 8-11 for the Global Flyways Summit, hosted by BirdLife International in collaboration with Nature Kenya to address the growing threats facing migratory birds and the habitats they depend on. BirdLife presented the latest edition of its quadrennial “State of the World’s Birds” report, which reported that 45% of migratory bird species are declining, while about one in nine faces the threat of extinction. Shorebirds and seabirds were identified as among the groups experiencing particularly severe declines. A great snipe (Gallinago media) in Nigde, Türkiye. These near threatened snipes breed in Scandinavia and western Russia, and spend their winters at sites across West, Central, and East Africa. According to the IUCN, this species’ numbers are declining rapidly due to habitat loss and hunting pressure. Image © Koray Öğreten via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). The Red List Index of species survival for migratory birds, with examples of species uplisted and downlisted and the main factors driving these changes. Image courtesy of BirdLife International, 2026. The conservation organization said the main pressures include loss of habitat, agriculture, hunting, pollution, and climate change. Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International’s chief scientist, said these threats cannot be addressed effectively in individual countries&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/decline-of-migratory-birds-spurs-calls-for-coordinated-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329611</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can we stop ships from killing the Mediterranean’s last great whales?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/09/can-we-stop-ships-from-killing-the-mediterraneans-last-great-whales/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/09/can-we-stop-ships-from-killing-the-mediterraneans-last-great-whales/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 13:44:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Clea SkopelitiFederica RossiWouter Massink]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08134319/Codamozza-whale-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=custom-story&#038;p=329085</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, Italy, and Mediterranean Sea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Shipping, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Collisions with ships are a leading anthropogenic killer of the Mediterranean’s two endangered large-bodied cetacean species, sperm and fin whales. In 2025, thousands of vessels traveled through the Mediterranean’s key whale habitats at speeds above 15 knots (28 km/h), the threshold at which vessel strikes are almost always fatal, according to an analysis by Magma [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Collisions with ships are a leading anthropogenic killer of the Mediterranean’s two endangered large-bodied cetacean species, sperm and fin whales. In 2025, thousands of vessels traveled through the Mediterranean’s key whale habitats at speeds above 15 knots (28 km/h), the threshold at which vessel strikes are almost always fatal, according to an analysis by Magma Magazine and Mongabay. Using vessel and whale telemetry data, Mongabay created a visualization that illustrates how dense maritime traffic poses a continuous threat to whales in the Mediterranean. Nascent solutions include vessel speed restrictions, rerouting ship traffic to avoid whale habitats, and systems that alert ships to the presence of whales. OSTIA, Italy — Standing before the carcass of a sperm whale on a beach in Ostia, near Rome, in 2023, Lisa Stanzani had no doubts about the animal’s cause of death. The marine biologist could see clear signs that this one had been killed by a vessel’s propeller. She recognized it from the wound on its head: a colleague had sent her a video of the injured animal near the island of Ponza, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) away, a couple of weeks earlier. “This means it died slowly, in agony. As with many collision cases, death isn’t instantaneous,” Stanzani, the founder of Sotto al Mare, an Italian cetacean research and conservation association, told Mongabay during an interview in Ostia. It was a young whale with a wound about a meter (3 feet) long. “For such a deep and clean cut to penetrate the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/09/can-we-stop-ships-from-killing-the-mediterraneans-last-great-whales/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329085</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Panama looks to science, fishers, and the law to protect its sharks and rays</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/panama-looks-to-science-fishers-and-the-law-to-protect-its-sharks-and-rays/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/panama-looks-to-science-fishers-and-the-law-to-protect-its-sharks-and-rays/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 11:47:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Pelliccia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14102837/4-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329577</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, North America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bycatch, Certification, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Protected Areas, Rays, Sharks, Solutions, Sustainability, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO CAIMITO, Panama — It’s a late April morning and the Tabor, an industrial fishing boat, is sailing around Chepillo Island in Panama Bay. Under the eyes of the crew, Yehudi Rodríguez, a marine biologist specializing in sharks, and sailor Joel Cordoba free a large black devil ray from a purse seine net and launch [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO CAIMITO, Panama — It’s a late April morning and the Tabor, an industrial fishing boat, is sailing around Chepillo Island in Panama Bay. Under the eyes of the crew, Yehudi Rodríguez, a marine biologist specializing in sharks, and sailor Joel Cordoba free a large black devil ray from a purse seine net and launch it back into the water. As they work with the biologist, the sailors, around a dozen of them, joke among themselves. Tabor is part of the Promarina S.A. fleet, a Panamanian company that produces fish oil and fish meal, authorized to catch only small open-ocean fish, or pelagics, such as sardines and herrings. Every two weeks, Rodríguez, a professor of biology at the University of Panama and director of the Shark Defenders NGO, analyzes bycatch — marine species not targeted but accidentally caught by fishers — freeing sharks, rays, and other animals entangled in the purse seine nets of Promarina vessels. “It’s an emotion to see a huge Mobula for the first time and liberate it in the ocean,” Rodríguez, 49, tells Mongabay after freeing the devil ray, which weighed an estimated 100 kilograms (220 pounds). Just a few hours later, Hermes, 18, the youngest sailor on the crew and nicknamed Mbappé after the French football star, helps Rodríguez liberate another ray, both taking care to avoid being hit by the animal’s venomous barb. Before returning an animal into the water, Rodríguez follows a short protocol:  she records the coordinates of the bycatch location, identifies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/panama-looks-to-science-fishers-and-the-law-to-protect-its-sharks-and-rays/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329577</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Against the odds, endangered dolphins survive in Bangladesh’s polluted river</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/against-the-odds-endangered-dolphins-survive-in-bangladeshs-polluted-river/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/against-the-odds-endangered-dolphins-survive-in-bangladeshs-polluted-river/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 10:11:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Md Jahidul Islam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14095844/ganges-river-dolphin-bangladesh-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329579</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Freshwater, Mammals, Pollution, Rivers, Waste, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Buriganga River, which flows by Dhaka city, is one of Bangladesh’s most polluted waterways and ranks among the most contaminated urban rivers in the world. Every day, the 29-kilometre- (18-mile-) long Buriganga River absorbs toxic industrial effluent from hundreds of factories, continuous tannery discharges, untreated sewage and solid waste, leaving much of the river [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Buriganga River, which flows by Dhaka city, is one of Bangladesh’s most polluted waterways and ranks among the most contaminated urban rivers in the world. Every day, the 29-kilometre- (18-mile-) long Buriganga River absorbs toxic industrial effluent from hundreds of factories, continuous tannery discharges, untreated sewage and solid waste, leaving much of the river virtually lifeless for fish. However, in the Buriganga, where native fish species have essentially vanished, endangered Ganges river dolphins (Platanista gangetica) continue to persist. A recent study published in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity found that around 20 dolphins live in the river. Researchers conducted the study for 12 months, from September 2023 to August 2024, and systematically surveyed a 27-km (16.7-mi) stretch of this heavily polluted river that skirts the southern edge of Dhaka. “The Buriganga is not a usual place for dolphins, where native fishes have largely vanished. Leaving the river full of invasive suckermouth catfish [Hypostomus Plecostomus, locally called sakar fish],” one of the researchers, Md. Aminur Rahman, told Mongabay. “When we found [the dolphins], we were amazed at how it was possible. Because the river is not livable for fish. Around the year, we didn’t track any dolphins only during two of the months, but all the other 10 months we tracked them.” The highest number of dolphins were seen in December, and throughout the winter season, and none were seen in October 2023 or between July and August of 2024. The dolphin groups averaged 4.18 individuals, higher than in earlier&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/against-the-odds-endangered-dolphins-survive-in-bangladeshs-polluted-river/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/against-the-odds-endangered-dolphins-survive-in-bangladeshs-polluted-river/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329579</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pacific bluefin tuna will get some help as countries agree to new harvest strategy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pacific-bluefin-tuna-will-get-some-help-as-countries-agree-to-new-harvest-strategy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pacific-bluefin-tuna-will-get-some-help-as-countries-agree-to-new-harvest-strategy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 08:59:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/13160625/b.-BANNER-GP01Y3H-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329570</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Marine Animals, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, and Tuna]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The annual meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) concluded on Sept. 4 with an agreement to adopt a long-term harvest strategy for Pacific bluefin tuna. The agreement aims to ensure sustainable management of this species, which has only recently recovered after decades of overfishing. But the commission fell short of establishing a harvest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The annual meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) concluded on Sept. 4 with an agreement to adopt a long-term harvest strategy for Pacific bluefin tuna. The agreement aims to ensure sustainable management of this species, which has only recently recovered after decades of overfishing. But the commission fell short of establishing a harvest strategy for other tuna species — bigeye, skipjack and yellowfin — managed under the convention. “A proposal was adopted … and that’s really great progress,” Dave Gershman, a senior officer for international fisheries at the U.S.-based think tank The Pew Charitable Trusts, who took part in the meeting as an observer, told Mongabay. The commission approved the plan for Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) after 10 years of research and mediation. The plan establishes science-based rules to support the stock&#8217;s complete recovery and long-term protection while taking into account impacts on the broader ecosystem. “You want to have these things in place when times are good so it’s there when you need it,” Gershman said. The 104th meeting of the IATTC took place in Lisbon from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. One of five main regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) responsible for tuna and tuna-like species, the commission is tasked with managing six tuna stocks, associated species and their ecosystems throughout the Eastern Pacific Ocean, from Canada south to Chile. There are more than a dozen RFMOs in the world, with some overlapping geographically but managing different fish stocks. The map shows the five best-known&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pacific-bluefin-tuna-will-get-some-help-as-countries-agree-to-new-harvest-strategy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pacific-bluefin-tuna-will-get-some-help-as-countries-agree-to-new-harvest-strategy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329570</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly forgotten languages are finding new words for Colombia’s dragonflies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/nearly-forgotten-languages-are-finding-new-words-for-colombias-dragonflies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/nearly-forgotten-languages-are-finding-new-words-for-colombias-dragonflies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 07:20:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24120503/DJI_20260520081010_0203_D-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329569</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Indigenous Peoples, Insects, Invertebrates, Language, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. When researchers began cataloging dragonflies in Guainía, a remote region in eastern Colombia, the scientific record contained only about 10 species. By working with Indigenous communities, they’ve found nearly 120. “When we started, very little was known,” Yiselle [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. When researchers began cataloging dragonflies in Guainía, a remote region in eastern Colombia, the scientific record contained only about 10 species. By working with Indigenous communities, they’ve found nearly 120. “When we started, very little was known,” Yiselle Cano, biodiversity leader of the Dragones Guainía project, told contributor Manuel Fonseca for Mongabay. “I think we must be close to 120 species by now,” Cano said. “It’s a hugely diverse group, because it includes dragonflies native to the Orinoco, Amazonas, and dragonflies that are endemic to the Guiana Shield.” The diversity makes Guainía a hotspot for dragonflies and damselflies. It may also provide insights on what is happening to the region’s water. These insects depend on healthy freshwater ecosystems, and their aquatic habitats are coming under growing pressure from mining, deforestation, poorly managed waste, and rapidly expanding tourism. Cataloging the insects was only part of the work. Once the researchers had begun filling gaps in the scientific record, they held workshops to share their findings with local communities. There they encountered another gap: the language of biology meant little to people whose understanding of the landscape had been formed outside scientific taxonomies. Some participants didn’t speak Spanish at all. Community leaders invited everyone, from young children to elders who retained ancestral knowledge. As researchers displayed the dragonflies found around puddles, streams, and rivers, participants tried to identify them in their own languages. “This is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/nearly-forgotten-languages-are-finding-new-words-for-colombias-dragonflies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/nearly-forgotten-languages-are-finding-new-words-for-colombias-dragonflies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329569</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Longest African mammal movement recorded by Zambian wild dogs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/longest-african-mammal-movement-recorded-by-zambian-wild-dogs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/longest-african-mammal-movement-recorded-by-zambian-wild-dogs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 05:08:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14045527/African-wild-dogs-in-Kafue-National-Park-Zambia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329567</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Canids, Conservation, Endangered Species, Mammals, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Three male African wild dogs in Zambia have travelled more than 4,000 kilometers, about 2,500 miles, in search of new territory and mates, according to a new study. This nine-month odyssey, about half the distance between Cairo and Cape Town, reveals how these endangered animals connect populations and ecosystems that are far apart within Southern [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Three male African wild dogs in Zambia have travelled more than 4,000 kilometers, about 2,500 miles, in search of new territory and mates, according to a new study. This nine-month odyssey, about half the distance between Cairo and Cape Town, reveals how these endangered animals connect populations and ecosystems that are far apart within Southern Africa and potentially beyond, researchers say. “It’s the longest African mammal movement on record, and the longest [recorded] wild dog dispersal,” study co-author Matt Becker, chief executive of the Zambian Carnivore Programme, told Mongabay. The trio of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), litter mates known as the Mayukuyuku males, left their birth pack in Kafue National Park in mid-2025. They travelled east out of the park, then north toward the industrial cities of Kitwe and Ndola, then doubled back before heading east toward the Luangwa River Valley and its 400-or-so-strong wild dog population. By April 2026, the pack had traversed 4,126 km (2,564 mi) to reach a game management area (GMA), a partially protected buffer zone, between the national parks of South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi. “We think they’ve actually established a [territorial] range, but we haven’t quantified who they’re with and how many dogs there are,” Becker said. The Mayukuyuku males were among 19 wild dog groups the team tracked using GPS collars fitted to individuals. Some journeys ended in tragedy. A female wild dog, nicknamed EWD-1355, set off with her two sisters from a pack in South Luangwa in 2021. After travelling more than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/longest-african-mammal-movement-recorded-by-zambian-wild-dogs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329567</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Biodiversity corridor payments boost household incomes in Vietnam’s Annamite mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/biodiversity-corridor-payments-boost-household-incomes-in-vietnams-annamite-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/biodiversity-corridor-payments-boost-household-incomes-in-vietnams-annamite-mountains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 02:00:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/13113754/Banner_Original_WW1304086-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329528</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community Forests, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Forest Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Funding, Governance, Habitat, Indigenous Peoples, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Protected Areas, Research, Sustainable Forest Management, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists say connecting existing protected areas through biodiversity corridors is vital in many landscapes to prevent further loss of species and habitats. Yet the households living inside conservation areas often face stark financial tradeoffs associated with lost access to resources, sometimes making new designations controversial. A recent study from the rugged mountains of central Vietnam, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists say connecting existing protected areas through biodiversity corridors is vital in many landscapes to prevent further loss of species and habitats. Yet the households living inside conservation areas often face stark financial tradeoffs associated with lost access to resources, sometimes making new designations controversial. A recent study from the rugged mountains of central Vietnam, however, suggests that biodiversity corridors can bring significant economic benefits to the households who live inside them. The study, published in Conservation Science and Practice, analyzed interviews with 120 families living in four villages in Quang Nam and Thua Thien provinces within the Annamite mountain range to find out how financial incentives tied to two biodiversity corridors connecting isolated protected areas affected people’s lives and livelihoods. Households inside biodiversity corridors earned substantially more, mainly from conservation-linked payments, than those outside them. However, they also made less money from forest resources due to greater restrictions on how they could use their land. The researchers say their findings underscore how conservation-linked payments and other longer-term benefits from living near flourishing forests, such as water purification, healthy pollinator populations and conservation-based jobs, can help communities recoup income they once derived from forest exploitation. “By providing regular financial benefits from forest protection, programs like PFES [Payment for Forest Ecosystem Services] create incentives for communities to maintain forest cover and reduce pressures on critical habitats,” study lead author Nguyen Van Tri Tin, a conservation scientist at Southern Cross University in Australia at the time of the study, told Mongabay in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/biodiversity-corridor-payments-boost-household-incomes-in-vietnams-annamite-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329528</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A clownfish’s last stand</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-clownfishs-last-stand/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-clownfishs-last-stand/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 00:11:51 +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/20/2026/09/13221234/clownfish-illustration-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329552</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Coral Reefs, Development, Infrastructure, Marine, Oceans, and Seagrass]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Twenty years ago, scientist and Mongabay board member Debby Ng joined a team documenting life at Terumbu Bayan, a coral reef south of Singapore that was about to be reclaimed. There she encountered a pair of false clownfish living in an anemone. The mother was unusually aggressive, even for a species known to be feisty. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Twenty years ago, scientist and Mongabay board member Debby Ng joined a team documenting life at Terumbu Bayan, a coral reef south of Singapore that was about to be reclaimed. There she encountered a pair of false clownfish living in an anemone. The mother was unusually aggressive, even for a species known to be feisty. She repeatedly charged Debby, a diver thousands of times her size, biting her several times. Then Debby saw what she was protecting: a brood of eggs. She could already see tiny eyes through the thin membranes. Eyes of the brood of false clown anemonefish. Photographed by Debby Ng in 2006. Soon an alarm sounded, calling Debby and the other scientists out of the water. From the dive boat, they watched the first barges tip rock and fill directly into the channel, sending a plume of sediment through the shallows where they’d been swimming minutes earlier. The team had salvaged some of the hard corals and a tiger-tail seahorse, but there was only so much they could move. The smaller animals, including shrimp and nudibranchs, had to be left behind along with topshells that sat in crevices and cowries with eggs attached to the reef. Debby still remembers that clownfish. False clown anemonefish parents. Photo by Debby Ng. I first wrote about the dive last year in Requiem for a Clownfish. It resurfaced for me recently after The Woke Salaryman adapted the account into a comic. In August, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that several islands&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-clownfishs-last-stand/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329552</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How burnt coconut helped discover new to science endemic species in Sri Lanka</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-burnt-coconut-helped-discover-new-to-science-endemic-species-in-sri-lanka/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-burnt-coconut-helped-discover-new-to-science-endemic-species-in-sri-lanka/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2026 14:13:12 +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/20/2026/09/12093329/Banner-1.-Spiny-Mouse-Mus-dumbara.-Suyama-Boyagoda-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329510</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Mountains, Research, Rodents, and Species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO —  As dusk settled over the paddy fields at Puwakpitiya, a village on the northern edge of Knuckles Mountain Range locally known as Dumbara mountains in Central Sri Lanka, researchers began laying traps along the uneasy boundary between farmland and forest. They were targeting small terrestrial mammals moving through the landscape. On the ground, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO —  As dusk settled over the paddy fields at Puwakpitiya, a village on the northern edge of Knuckles Mountain Range locally known as Dumbara mountains in Central Sri Lanka, researchers began laying traps along the uneasy boundary between farmland and forest. They were targeting small terrestrial mammals moving through the landscape. On the ground, drift fences were created to lead animals to pitfall traps, while box style Sherman live traps were baited with feed. But the usual rodent lure — peanut butter — failed to attract the mice in Sri Lanka, so the researchers instead turned to something more familiar to the local mice — pieces of burnt coconut. On  March 11, 2004, one of the pitfall traps caught a small mouse that looked different. Six days later, a second specimen was caught in a baited trap. Both were females, not larger than a child&#8217;s palm, with fulvous-gray pelage broken by spiny guard hairs and a slender, naked tail longer than the head and body. Externally, the animal resembled Mayor&#8217;s mouse (Mus mayori), a species endemic to Sri Lanka’s highlands, but differed in tail length and head shape, offering initial clues about a new species. The species is so far known only from Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Mountain Range, and the image shows Puwakpitiya, the village from where researchers found the first specimens of Dumbara spiny mouse (Mus dumbara) after they set traps along the forest edge beside a sprawling paddy field. Image courtesy of Suyama Boyagoda. The two mice&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-burnt-coconut-helped-discover-new-to-science-endemic-species-in-sri-lanka/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329510</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The push for a sustainable artisanal mining in the Peruvian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/the-push-for-a-sustainable-artisanal-mining-in-the-peruvian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/the-push-for-a-sustainable-artisanal-mining-in-the-peruvian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2026 08:54:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Felipe Esparza]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lucia Torres]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/11144527/Mongabay_Thumbnail_CleanGold_Feature-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=videos&#038;p=329476</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Gold Mining, Mining, Rainforests, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — In Madre de Dios, in the Peruvian Amazon, thousands of people depend on gold mining, while the spread of mercury and deforestation are transforming the country’s most biodiverse tropical forest. In La Pampa, one of the region’s main gold mining hubs, a formalized artisanal mining operation is trying to prove [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — In Madre de Dios, in the Peruvian Amazon, thousands of people depend on gold mining, while the spread of mercury and deforestation are transforming the country’s most biodiverse tropical forest. In La Pampa, one of the region’s main gold mining hubs, a formalized artisanal mining operation is trying to prove that another way of mining is possible. While facing roadblocks, violence, informal economies, and government neglect, it seeks to produce “clean gold” using mercury-free technologies. Through the daily lives of workers, merchants, and small-scale miners, the film explores the tensions between survival, pollution, and legitimacy in one of the Amazon’s most complex extractive economies. This video is supported by the Amazon Film Grant, as part of the One World Media Fellowship. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! Banner image: Gold nugget. ©Felipe Esparza. Why are forests vanishing in southeastern Liberia?This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/09/the-push-for-a-sustainable-artisanal-mining-in-the-peruvian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329476</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ituna/Itatá invasion escalates as Indigenous Land faces fires and illegal clearing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ituna-itata-invasion-escalates-as-indigenous-land-faces-fires-and-illegal-clearing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ituna-itata-invasion-escalates-as-indigenous-land-faces-fires-and-illegal-clearing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2026 00:05:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/11235837/AP23291581276739-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=329508</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Conservation, Environment, Fires, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 500 people have invaded Brazil’s Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land in recent weeks, opening illegal roads, setting deliberate fires and threatening federal agents. The area is home to the Igarapé Ipiaçava Indigenous people who live in voluntary isolation with no contact with outsiders. On Aug. 26, a federal court ordered the government to deploy the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 500 people have invaded Brazil’s Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land in recent weeks, opening illegal roads, setting deliberate fires and threatening federal agents. The area is home to the Igarapé Ipiaçava Indigenous people who live in voluntary isolation with no contact with outsiders. On Aug. 26, a federal court ordered the government to deploy the National Public Security Force within 48 hours to contain the invasion. As of Sept 11, the forces hadn’t yet arrived. The recent invasion followed the creation of the Bacajaí Environmental Protection Area (APA Bacajaí) under a new state law, which allows private landowners to build homes and raise livestock. However, APA Bacajaí completely overlaps the federally protected Indigenous land in Pará state, creating legal confusion that authorities say has been weaponized by land-grabbers to justify occupation for cattle ranching and other agricultural activities. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) has asked a federal court to fine the government 50,000 Brazilian reais (about $9,000) daily for failing to deploy enough security forces to contain the invasion. The area is currently under a temporary land-use restriction order to protect the isolated people living there. The government has argued it needs authorization from Pará’s government, which hasn’t cooperated. However, federal prosecutors say the federal government can be deployed on federal land without state authorization. Both the federal government and the state of Pará did not reply to Mongabay’s requests for comment by the time of publication. In its press statement, the MPF said the Indigenous Affairs Agency (Funai)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ituna-itata-invasion-escalates-as-indigenous-land-faces-fires-and-illegal-clearing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329508</doi>				</item>
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