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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/author/jamieforsythe/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 18:09:02 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Stories produced by Jamie Forsythe for Conservation news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com</link>
	<width>32</width>
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				<item>
					<title>NGOs call on Vantara to end all wild animal imports permanently</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:09:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25130359/Vantara-Ambani-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330863</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Ethics, Governance, Illegal Trade, NGOs, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A coalition of 27 global wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations urged Vantara to permanently end all wild animal imports. The billionaire-run zoo in India, funded by the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, the country&#8217;s largest corporation, has been under for fire for questionable acquisitions of its animals. In an open letter dated Sep. 22, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A coalition of 27 global wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations urged Vantara to permanently end all wild animal imports. The billionaire-run zoo in India, funded by the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, the country&#8217;s largest corporation, has been under for fire for questionable acquisitions of its animals. In an open letter dated Sep. 22, 2026, and addressed to Mr. Amit Aggarwal, president of regulatory affairs at Vantara, the NGOs offer Vantara “suggestions for strengthening your practices and improving outcomes.” The letter came in response to a press statement from Vantara on Aug. 19, 2026, where it announced “voluntary commitments” including a 12-month moratorium on all animal imports, backdated to June 5, 2026. It said it has withdrawn all pending import applications and will not make any fresh applications. The statement also included a letter addressed to India’s CITES Management Authority, which oversees international commerce in endangered plants and animals listed under CITES, a global wildlife trade treaty. After the one-year moratorium expires, Vantara said it would import animals only from “a recognised and accredited zoological facility,” a “CITES registered facility” or for “a conservation breeding programme undertaken in cooperation with a range State.” It also announced an “independent” governing council headed by John Scanlon AO, the former CITES Secretary General, and a “mandatory three-stage review” will oversee any future animal acquisition. Vantara has acquired Tapanuli orangutans, one of the rarest apes in the world. Image by Tim Laman via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Vantara’s announcement came after investigations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330863</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To tackle environmental crime, track profits through the whole supply chain (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:07:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ilona Szabó de CarvalhoRobert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/08201639/3.-mongabay_Image-by-Ibama-via-Wikimedia-Commons-CC-BY-SA-2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330777</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Mining, Natural Resources, Organized Crime, timber trade, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is emerging on the assumption that intact ecosystems can generate enough economic value to protect them. A more destructive economy has been putting a price on nature for much longer. It makes money by extracting and selling it. Land grabbing, illegal logging, illicit gold mining and wildlife trafficking are usually treated as environmental offenses, so responsibility falls to park rangers, customs officials and specialized police. That view badly underestimates what is happening. In a new paper for the Brookings Institution, we argue that environmental crimes are a serious drag on both sustainable development and climate action. They damage ecosystems and weaken the institutions charged with governing them. They also drain revenue from legitimate companies and public coffers. Enforcement alone will not solve a problem that runs through trade, finance and local political economies. An IBAMA agent participates in a raid on an illegal logging and mining operation within an Indigenous reserve. Image courtesy of IBAMA. Global criminal economy No one knows exactly how large this economy has become. A widely cited estimate puts annual proceeds at between $110 billion and $281 billion, but the true figure is probably far higher, perhaps in the trillions. What makes the business&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330777</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Farmers in South Africa’s Limpopo face unpredictable rainfall, uncertain futures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/farmers-in-south-africas-limpopo-face-unpredictable-rainfall-uncertain-futures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/farmers-in-south-africas-limpopo-face-unpredictable-rainfall-uncertain-futures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bernard Chiguvare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25133859/feeding-his-goats-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330882</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Farming, Fellows, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Mongabay.org, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MALALA DRIFT, South Africa — In Malala Drift, near the town of Musina in South Africa’s Limpopo province, drought and unreliable access to water are threatening the livelihoods of farmers. Some have abandoned crop production after struggling to secure enough water, while others continue farming under increasingly difficult conditions. The farms lie along the Limpopo [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MALALA DRIFT, South Africa — In Malala Drift, near the town of Musina in South Africa’s Limpopo province, drought and unreliable access to water are threatening the livelihoods of farmers. Some have abandoned crop production after struggling to secure enough water, while others continue farming under increasingly difficult conditions. The farms lie along the Limpopo River, which separates South Africa from Zimbabwe. But even with a major river nearby, access to reliable water supply is not guaranteed. Farmers say rainfall has become increasingly unpredictable in the past decade, and when the river level falls, they sometimes pay an excavation company to dig into the riverbed to reach water, adding to the cost of keeping their farms operating. The effects of the water scarcity are visible at one of the farms Mongabay visits. Poles that once supported tomato plants are scattered across the property, while irrigation pipes are obscured by overgrown grass. No crops are growing. Kanny Ndou, who used to work here as a laborer and now takes care of the property, said the farm previously produced potatoes, butternut squash and tomatoes for sale in Musina. But after 10 years, Ndou said, the owner stopped farming in 2025 because of unreliable water supply. “We used to grow a variety of vegetables for sale in Musina, but due to inconsistent water supply, the farm decided to stop farming last year,” he said. For years, farmers had faced unpredictable outcomes: a good harvest one season, a bad one the next, he said. Some&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/farmers-in-south-africas-limpopo-face-unpredictable-rainfall-uncertain-futures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/farmers-in-south-africas-limpopo-face-unpredictable-rainfall-uncertain-futures/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330882</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cheetah cubs at Prague Zoo are doing well after a period of strong storms and their mother’s illness</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/cheetah-cubs-at-prague-zoo-are-doing-well-after-a-period-of-strong-storms-and-their-mothers-illness/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/cheetah-cubs-at-prague-zoo-are-doing-well-after-a-period-of-strong-storms-and-their-mothers-illness/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 17:16:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/07043942/3-cubs_49390761553_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330927</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Czech Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Captive Breeding, Cats, Cheetahs, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Mammals, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PRAGUE (AP) — Five cheetah cubs had to survive a weather scare and the illness of their mother after their birth at the Prague Zoo. But they are doing well now, the zoo said on Friday. The zoo said the quintuplets — four males and one female — that were born on June 18 had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PRAGUE (AP) — Five cheetah cubs had to survive a weather scare and the illness of their mother after their birth at the Prague Zoo. But they are doing well now, the zoo said on Friday. The zoo said the quintuplets — four males and one female — that were born on June 18 had faced a tough time from the start. Their mother, Daenerys, opted to give birth in an outdoor enclosure with a period of strong storms hitting Prague soon after. Despite her inexperience, Daenerys took “exemplary” good care of her first cubs under such weather conditions. Daenerys protected the five from torrential rains, licking water from their fluffy fur to keep them dry, curator Pavel Brandl said. In the wild, the cheetah’s infant mortality is high because of predators, and cheetah cubs also are vulnerable to diseases such as pneumonia. To make things worse, Daenerys suffered from an intestinal infection in August. But despite all odds, the five looked lively and healthy on Friday. “At this moment, everything seems fine, but it’s still a long run,” Brandl said. He said that it might take a year before it’s clear that they will survive the crucial period after their birth. Scientists say every cub is critical to saving the species, which is threatened with extinction. Cheetahs are the fastest animals on land that can reach maximum speeds of between 70 and 75 mph (112 kph and 120 kph). It’s estimated that fewer than 7,000 of them remain in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/cheetah-cubs-at-prague-zoo-are-doing-well-after-a-period-of-strong-storms-and-their-mothers-illness/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330927</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists clone Southern Africa’s wild fruit trees as forests disappear</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-clone-southern-africas-wild-fruit-trees-as-forests-disappear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-clone-southern-africas-wild-fruit-trees-as-forests-disappear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 15:56:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25122455/Loquat_coppice-edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330841</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Malawi, Southern Africa, and Zimbabwe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Food, food security, Forests, Natural Resources, Nutrition, Plants, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plant geneticist Alice Muchugi recalls meeting a group of furious fruit sellers on the side of a dusty road not far from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, in 2024. They told her that a group of men armed with chainsaws had felled some of the district’s most prolific fruit trees, robbing the women of a steady source [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plant geneticist Alice Muchugi recalls meeting a group of furious fruit sellers on the side of a dusty road not far from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, in 2024. They told her that a group of men armed with chainsaws had felled some of the district’s most prolific fruit trees, robbing the women of a steady source of income: the trees’ sweet, yellow, apricot-sized berries. The men wanted the wood from the trees to burn in brick-making kilns, Muchugi said. Muchugi, leader for tree diversity and productivity at the Landscape Alliance, an international forestry and agroforestry research organization, immediately knew which trees the women were referring to. They were wild loquats (Uapaca kirkiana), cloned more than 20 years ago from superior mother trees in 25 different geographical locations across four countries within the region and growing at her organization’s field gene bank in Domboshava, around 30 kilometers (19 miles) northeast of Harare. The sweet fruit of the wild loquat tree is highly popular throughout Southern and East Africa. Image courtesy of Brian Nduw. Once data on the trees had been collected by staff at the gene bank — essentially an orchard dedicated to growing clones of especially fruitful wild trees — the women had been given permission to harvest the fruit for sale, Muchugi said. The loss of the trees after the loggers stole onto the gene bank’s land under cover of darkness highlighted the challenges facing both fruit collectors and plant geneticists. “One night you can wake up and find everything&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-clone-southern-africas-wild-fruit-trees-as-forests-disappear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330841</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global coral reefs get less time to recover as oceans heat up, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-coral-reefs-get-less-time-to-recover-as-oceans-heat-up-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-coral-reefs-get-less-time-to-recover-as-oceans-heat-up-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 15:48:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25123746/a.-fish-on-reef-24175296337_7fdf5baf6e_o1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330827</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coastal Ecosystems, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, El Nino, Fish, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Ocean Warming, Oceans, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s coral reefs are losing both hard coral cover and, just as critically, the time they need to recover between increasingly frequent marine heat waves, according to the most comprehensive global reef assessment yet. Released Aug. 31 by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2025” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s coral reefs are losing both hard coral cover and, just as critically, the time they need to recover between increasingly frequent marine heat waves, according to the most comprehensive global reef assessment yet. Released Aug. 31 by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2025” draws on 21.1 million observations from 87,299 surveys at 36,886 sites across 123 reef-bearing countries, territories and economies, collected between 1980 and 2024. The report estimates that global hard coral cover, defined as the proportion of reef surface covered by living hard corals, fell from an average of 30.2% during a 1980-2009 reference period to an average of 27.3% between 2020 and 2024. That represents a decline of 2.9 percentage points, or 9.5% relative to the reference period. The assessment characterizes this estimate as conservative: Monitoring began after many reefs had already been degraded, and uneven data coverage can limit comparisons across regions. Hard coral cover dropped further to 25.8% in 2024. The report focuses on hard coral cover because hard corals are ecosystem engineers, and their cover is readily measured, easily understood and consistently monitored worldwide, allowing comparisons across regions and over time. A variety of fish species swim above a patch reef 24 meters (80 feet) deep at French Frigate Shoals, a large coral atoll in the Hawaiian Islands. Image by Andrew Gray/NOAA via Flickr (Free to use). From April 2023 to mid-2025, coral reefs experienced a fourth global bleaching event, declared by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-coral-reefs-get-less-time-to-recover-as-oceans-heat-up-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330827</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps become increasingly vulnerable to landslides</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/bangladeshs-rohingya-refugee-camps-become-increasingly-vulnerable-to-landslides/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/bangladeshs-rohingya-refugee-camps-become-increasingly-vulnerable-to-landslides/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 12:10:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25114122/rohingya-camp-in-monsoon-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330815</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Governance, Human Rights, Landslides, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[According to a report by the Bangladeshi government, released on Sept. 16, more than 150,000 Rohingya people fleeing persecution in Myanmar have entered the country’s 33 Rohingya camps in Teknaf and Ukhiya areas of Cox’s Bazar in the last few months. The camps, spread across roughly 24 square kilometers (9.2 square miles), officially host 1,170,978 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[According to a report by the Bangladeshi government, released on Sept. 16, more than 150,000 Rohingya people fleeing persecution in Myanmar have entered the country’s 33 Rohingya camps in Teknaf and Ukhiya areas of Cox’s Bazar in the last few months. The camps, spread across roughly 24 square kilometers (9.2 square miles), officially host 1,170,978 dwellers — more than (more than 124,300 people per square mile) — making the densely packed settlements increasingly congested and vulnerable to collapse as new arrivals continue to enter the limited space, according to the report by the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC). Several studies show that the camps, built on sandy hill slopes after large areas of reserved forest were cleared, are also highly vulnerable to natural disasters. Every year, heavy monsoon downpours trigger landslides in Rohingya camps. This year, between July 4 and 19, more than 200 landslides occurred in the Rohingya camps, killing at least 15 people, including five adolescent girls. Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhiya, Cox&#8217;s Bazar. Amid recurring landslides, growing numbers of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are being forced to adapt to increasingly limited camp space. Image by Md shameem ul islam via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Mongabay on Sept. 8, “The refugee community demands camp expansion with continued influx from Myanmar. But any expansion means destruction of new forests and hills, and Bangladesh cannot afford it anymore.” The Rohingya influx in 2017 initially caused&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/bangladeshs-rohingya-refugee-camps-become-increasingly-vulnerable-to-landslides/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/bangladeshs-rohingya-refugee-camps-become-increasingly-vulnerable-to-landslides/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330815</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Plastic and rubber litter found in remote submarine canyon off Argentina’s coast</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/plastic-and-rubber-litter-found-in-remote-submarine-canyon-off-argentinas-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/plastic-and-rubber-litter-found-in-remote-submarine-canyon-off-argentinas-coast/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 10:21:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25101854/2Examples-of-marine-litter-Argentina-canyon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330794</guid>

					
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plastic waste has been found in the most remote places — including, now, a deep-sea canyon off the coast of Argentina, according to a recent study. “The very first item spotted was a plastic bag entangled on the seafloor,” said Diego Urteaga, study co-author and a marine biologist at Argentina’s Bernardino Rivadavia Museum of Natural [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plastic waste has been found in the most remote places — including, now, a deep-sea canyon off the coast of Argentina, according to a recent study. “The very first item spotted was a plastic bag entangled on the seafloor,” said Diego Urteaga, study co-author and a marine biologist at Argentina’s Bernardino Rivadavia Museum of Natural Science, told Mongabay by email. “Seeing something so clearly associated with human activity lying on the seafloor at more than 1,000 meters [3,281 feet] depth was striking.” Urteaga and his colleagues used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), equipped with high-definition cameras, to survey the Mar Del Plata Submarine Canyon in the southwestern Atlantic. The V-shaped canyon is located about 250 kilometers (155 miles) off Argentina’s coast. The study was originally designed to document the canyon’s biodiversity and habitats, but the “litter became impossible to ignore,” Urteaga said. Over 17 dives, the team observed 29 pieces of litter — mostly plastic, some rubber, including an isolated plastic tissue-paper packaging at a depth of 3,814 m (12,513 ft). “I was particularly surprised by the variety of objects we found,” Urteaga said. “They included fishing gear, plastic bags and wrappers, a plastic cup, and even a rubber boot.” The litter didn’t exist in isolation. Researchers observed marine organisms attached to it, including a sea star on a plastic bag and a fishing rope colonized by organisms, Urteaga said. “These observations are interesting because they show that litter does not simply disappear after reaching the deep sea: It can&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/plastic-and-rubber-litter-found-in-remote-submarine-canyon-off-argentinas-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330794</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fossil fuel subsidies are the ‘worst energy policy in the world,’ researchers say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-the-worst-energy-policy-in-the-world-researchers-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-the-worst-energy-policy-in-the-world-researchers-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 05:45:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25054127/Petrol_station_at_Llanrhystud_Ceredigion_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_4726531-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330788</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Alternative Energy, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In an editorial in Science, U.S.-based energy policy experts Paasha Mahdavi and Michael Ross argue that governments creating consumer fossil fuel subsidies in response to rising energy prices is the “worst energy policy in the world.” Mahdavi, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the U.S., and Ross, a professor at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In an editorial in Science, U.S.-based energy policy experts Paasha Mahdavi and Michael Ross argue that governments creating consumer fossil fuel subsidies in response to rising energy prices is the “worst energy policy in the world.” Mahdavi, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the U.S., and Ross, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, write that following increasing fossil fuel prices due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, many countries have adopted subsidies for consumers that keep fossil fuel prices low. The governments finance the gap through other means like taxes, borrowing or lower spending elsewhere. Mahdavi and Ross argue that fossil fuel subsidies are bad, because they drain government budgets, cause worsening air pollution, discourage investment in renewable energy, and are very difficult to get rid of once implemented. “Of the roughly 130 subsidy reforms attempted in the 21 biggest subsidizers between 2016 and 2023, 70% collapsed within a year. More than 90% were gone within 3 years,” the authors write. Ross told Mongabay by email that he hasn’t yet found a fuel subsidy reform that’s worked and can be widely applied. “They&#8217;re few and far between. Mexico got rid of its subsidies around 2017 after a long and convoluted process, but it ultimately worked,” he said. The authors write that governments reach for fuel subsidies, then find them difficult to remove because consumers are very attuned to the price of gasoline. “Unlike an electric bill or the price of bread, gas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-the-worst-energy-policy-in-the-world-researchers-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-the-worst-energy-policy-in-the-world-researchers-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330788</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chocolate giant lobbied U.S. and EU officials over deforestation laws, says report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/chocolate-giant-lobbied-u-s-and-eu-officials-over-deforestation-laws-says-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/chocolate-giant-lobbied-u-s-and-eu-officials-over-deforestation-laws-says-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 05:34:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25053332/20250623_155847_Mondelez_factory_in_Tomaszow_Mazowiecki_Poland-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330784</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and European Union]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, EUDR, Governance, Law, Natural Resources, Regulations, Supply Chain, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Food conglomerate Mondelēz International, the owner of chocolate brands Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone and Oreo, has allegedly engaged in an extensive lobbying campaign to weaken and delay enforcement of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), according to new analysis by environmental watchdog Global Witness. Under the EUDR, companies selling to the EU must show their forest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Food conglomerate Mondelēz International, the owner of chocolate brands Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone and Oreo, has allegedly engaged in an extensive lobbying campaign to weaken and delay enforcement of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), according to new analysis by environmental watchdog Global Witness. Under the EUDR, companies selling to the EU must show their forest products, including cocoa, were not produced on land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. The law was originally slated to come into force in 2024 but will now be implemented from Dec. 31, 2026. The investigation by NGO Global Witness details how Mondelēz CEO Dirk Van De Put met with Andrew Puzder, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, in Brussels in June — just months before a European Parliament and Council vote that went into force on September 18 on proposed regulatory simplifications. Puzder is a close ally of Trump; both are openly critical of the EUDR, according to the NGO. Global Witness reports that Mondelēz met Puzder in the headquarters of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU. Mondelēz previously supported due diligence rules and no delay of the EUDR as part of the EU Cocoa Coalition alongside chocolate giants, including Mars, Ferrero and Nestle. However, the company broke ranks with peers in July 2025 to call for a 12-month delay. The NGO says this call came a month after a senior Mondelēz representative became a board member of the Chamber. The reporting further details that Mondelēz extensively lobbied Brussels powerbrokers and national governments&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/chocolate-giant-lobbied-u-s-and-eu-officials-over-deforestation-laws-says-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/chocolate-giant-lobbied-u-s-and-eu-officials-over-deforestation-laws-says-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330784</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pakistan expands protected habitat for Indus River dolphin as recovery offers hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pakistan-expands-protected-habitat-for-indus-river-dolphin-as-recovery-offers-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pakistan-expands-protected-habitat-for-indus-river-dolphin-as-recovery-offers-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 21:28:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Muhammad Talal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24130618/%D9%BE%D8%A7%DA%A9%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%DA%A9%D8%A7_%D9%82%D9%88%D9%85%DB%8C_%D8%A2%D8%A8%DB%8C_%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C_%D9%85%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%DB%8C%DB%81-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330706</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Fellows, Freshwater, Habitat, Mammals, Mongabay.org, Rivers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between 11 million and 16 million years ago, during the high sea levels of the middle Miocene period, the ancestors of the Indus River dolphin entered the muddy waters of what is the Indus Basin today. Over millennia, they adapted to their new environment through extraordinary evolutionary shifts, developing sophisticated echolocation while gradually losing their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between 11 million and 16 million years ago, during the high sea levels of the middle Miocene period, the ancestors of the Indus River dolphin entered the muddy waters of what is the Indus Basin today. Over millennia, they adapted to their new environment through extraordinary evolutionary shifts, developing sophisticated echolocation while gradually losing their eyesight. Today, these blind mammals, living mostly in Pakistan (with a small population in northwestern India), navigate the river&#8217;s shallow, dry-season waters by swimming on their sides. Yet, these evolutionary marvels offer little defense against the modern transformation of their habitat. That habitat is fragmented by vast networks of dams, human-made canals and irrigation barrages. Consequently, the Indus River dolphin (Platanista minor), locally known as the bhulan, has seen its historical range slashed by approximately 80%. The species, which boasted an estimated population of 10,000 in the late 19th century, plummeted to just 617 individuals by 2001 before rebounding to around 2,000 over the next decade. The Indus River dolphin is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. In response, Pakistan&#8217;s government has officially created the Punjnad Indus River Dolphin Sanctuary in June 2026, safeguarding nearly 200 kilometers (123 miles) of the river in Punjab. This new zone connects with an existing protected area in Sindh province, southeastern Pakistan, that creates a contiguous 400-km (249-mi) stretch of legally protected habitat, offering a critical lifeline to one of the world&#8217;s rarest freshwater dolphins. The timing of this legal protection is of the essence, as a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pakistan-expands-protected-habitat-for-indus-river-dolphin-as-recovery-offers-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330706</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A new cat species was just discovered. Several more may follow</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-new-cat-species-was-just-discovered-several-more-may-follow/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-new-cat-species-was-just-discovered-several-more-may-follow/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 19:53:17 +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/20/2026/09/24194331/tiger-cat-released-with-sattelite-collar-Mirador-St-Park-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330733</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, DNA, Endangered Species, Genetics, Interviews, Mammals, Small Cats, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s note: Last week, the description of a “new” cat species from Bolivia made headlines around the world. The tilcayo (Leopardus tilcayo), a small spotted cat from Bolivia’s Yungas cloud forests, was described as the first new living cat species discovered in more than a century. Unlike several cats recognized as new species in recent [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s note: Last week, the description of a “new” cat species from Bolivia made headlines around the world. The tilcayo (Leopardus tilcayo), a small spotted cat from Bolivia’s Yungas cloud forests, was described as the first new living cat species discovered in more than a century. Unlike several cats recognized as new species in recent years through taxonomic revisions, the tilcayo had never been formally described by science. Genetic analysis indicates its lineage diverged from other tiger cats around 1.4 million years ago. The discovery comes amid a broader reassessment of cat taxonomy. Several populations once considered subspecies or regional forms are now recognized, or have been proposed, as separate species. And there may be considerably more to come, according to Tadeu Gomes de Oliveira, a Brazilian wildlife biologist and conservationist who has spent several decades studying the small wild cats of the Neotropics. Oliveira is one of the co-chairs of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Cat Specialist Group. He is also a professor in the biology department at Maranhão State University (UEMA) in São Luís and a researcher and scientific adviser with Brazil’s Instituto Pró-Carnívoros. He leads the Wild Cats Brazil/Americas Conservation Program and is founder and chair of the Tiger Cats Conservation Initiative. Much of Oliveira’s work has focused on the tiger-cat complex, including Leopardus tigrinus, L. guttulus, and L. pardinoides. He has also been involved for many years in IUCN Red List assessments and conservation planning in Brazil. “The tiger-cat group is undergoing a genetic revolution,” Oliveira&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-new-cat-species-was-just-discovered-several-more-may-follow/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-new-cat-species-was-just-discovered-several-more-may-follow/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330733</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Anthrax suspected in 46 hippo deaths in Zambia amid potential spillover to humans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/anthrax-suspected-in-46-hippo-deaths-in-zambia-amid-potential-spillover-to-humans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/anthrax-suspected-in-46-hippo-deaths-in-zambia-amid-potential-spillover-to-humans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 19:48:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24181931/g.-Julie-Larsen_4477_Hippopotamus-in-wild_ZMB_07-11-08-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330761</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Diseases, Health, Hippos, Mammals, Planetary Health, Public Health, Ungulates, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Zambia is investigating wildlife deaths and human exposure linked to an anthrax outbreak in the northern province of Muchinga, where several hippos have died since the outbreak was reported on Aug. 31.  While other wildlife deaths have also been reported, hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) are the species with the clearest laboratory evidence of anthrax, according to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Zambia is investigating wildlife deaths and human exposure linked to an anthrax outbreak in the northern province of Muchinga, where several hippos have died since the outbreak was reported on Aug. 31.  While other wildlife deaths have also been reported, hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) are the species with the clearest laboratory evidence of anthrax, according to Raymond Hamoonga, Zambia’s national One Health coordinator. So far, 46 hippo deaths have been reported in the affected riverine area, but anthrax has only been confirmed in one animal, he told Mongabay by email. Hamoonga added that even though current mortality rates don’t indicate a threat to hippo populations, the reported deaths are still “significant enough to warrant intensified surveillance, rapid investigation of new carcasses and continued monitoring of affected populations.” “The immediate concern is the potential for further wildlife deaths, continued contamination around carcass sites and exposure of livestock and people at the wildlife–livestock–human interface,” Hamoonga said. He said samples from five buffalo carcasses didn’t test positive for anthrax. Samples from 10 elephants reported since June are being investigated; none have been laboratory-confirmed as containing anthrax. “Buffalo and elephant deaths should not presently be attributed to anthrax without supporting laboratory evidence,” Hamoonga said. Anthrax is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by the Bacillus anthracis bacteria, which mainly affects wildlife and livestock. However, humans can become infected when they eat or come into contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products. On Sept. 10, Zambia’s National Disaster Risk Management Division (DRMD), published an advisory urging&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/anthrax-suspected-in-46-hippo-deaths-in-zambia-amid-potential-spillover-to-humans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/anthrax-suspected-in-46-hippo-deaths-in-zambia-amid-potential-spillover-to-humans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330761</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru faces hearing over threats to uncontacted Indigenous groups in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/peru-faces-hearing-over-threats-to-uncontacted-indigenous-groups-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/peru-faces-hearing-over-threats-to-uncontacted-indigenous-groups-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 18:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24175831/PUEBLO-INDIGENA-EN-AISLAMIENTO-MASHCO-PIRO-FOTO-CORTESIA-FENAMAD-5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330759</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Logging, Mining, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A public hearing this week by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will assess claims that the Peruvian state violated the rights of the Indigenous Mashco Piro, Yora, and Amahuaca peoples, who live on ancestral territory in the Amazon Rainforest. The court will hold a hearing on Sept. 24 and 25 in Montevideo, Uruguay, about [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A public hearing this week by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will assess claims that the Peruvian state violated the rights of the Indigenous Mashco Piro, Yora, and Amahuaca peoples, who live on ancestral territory in the Amazon Rainforest. The court will hold a hearing on Sept. 24 and 25 in Montevideo, Uruguay, about whether the state failed to adequately protect the groups from extractive industries encroaching on their land, including inside the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve. “This case constitutes a historic milestone in Latin America; the Court’s decision will not only have an impact on Peru, but will set a legal and political precedent for all Indigenous peoples of the Amazon,” the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and Tributaries and EarthRights International, two organizations representing the communities, said in a joint statement. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a separate body from the court, investigated the claims involving the Indigenous groups and found Peru was responsible for violating their rights. In November 2024, the commission referred the case to the human rights court, which can order the state to correct its actions. According to the commission, Peru failed to expand the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve despite evidence that Indigenous peoples living in isolation and initial contact, often referred to by the acronym PIACI, are present there. Peruvian law requires that the government protect the areas that the groups traditionally occupy. The commission also said the state didn’t recognize collective territories with legal titles&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/peru-faces-hearing-over-threats-to-uncontacted-indigenous-groups-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/peru-faces-hearing-over-threats-to-uncontacted-indigenous-groups-in-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330759</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ugandans plant trees near national park to keep people out of gorillas’ habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ugandans-plant-trees-near-national-park-to-keep-people-out-of-gorillas-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ugandans-plant-trees-near-national-park-to-keep-people-out-of-gorillas-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 17:44:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/27124836/gorilla-uganda-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330755</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Food, food security, Food Vs Forests Debate, Gorillas, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Parks, Primates, Protected Areas, Resource Conflict, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BWINDI, Uganda (AP) — In the tangled greenery of a Ugandan national park, mountain gorillas sit among the leaves, calmly carrying on as tourists trek into their forest home. Many gorilla families are used to people, but while their population grows, the forest available to them does not. Communities have planted trees for medicine, firewood [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BWINDI, Uganda (AP) — In the tangled greenery of a Ugandan national park, mountain gorillas sit among the leaves, calmly carrying on as tourists trek into their forest home. Many gorilla families are used to people, but while their population grows, the forest available to them does not. Communities have planted trees for medicine, firewood and crafts along the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in a bid to reduce pressure on gorilla habitats. The idea is simple: If residents can find the trees they need outside the park, they will have less reason to cut them inside the forest. Bwindi’s forest is home to about 450 mountain gorillas, close to half the world’s remaining population. A 2018 survey put the global population above 1,000, a significant recovery for a subspecies that once faced possible extinction. “Being a neighbor to the park, I understand that the number of gorillas is increasing, but the forest habitat is not increasing,” said Christina Katushabe, founder of Change a Life Bwindi. Her organization supplies useful trees, restores degraded land while improving biodiversity. Katushabe said members of the Batwa, an Indigenous community that has helped guide the project, select species used for medicine, timber and firewood. The Uganda Wildlife Authority distributes seedlings, including medicinal trees that people might otherwise seek inside the park. Joseph Muhindo, an assistant tourism and hospitality officer with the authority, said residents can harvest what they need in their communities “without tampering with the habitat for the gorillas.” The International Union&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ugandans-plant-trees-near-national-park-to-keep-people-out-of-gorillas-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330755</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s tropical forest fund races to raise $2.7 billion before deadline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 17:43:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carla Ruas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24114238/I.-Orange-winged-amazon-Amazona-amazonica-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330616</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Latin America, South America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Finance, Forests, Funding, Governance, Politics, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A historic billion-dollar rainforest pledge can collapse if global donors fail to act by December.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), a new investment fund launched at COP30 by Brazil, has attracted about $7.3 billion in initial sponsor capital. The initiative aims to compensate tropical forest countries for preserving forest areas. But despite recent pledges, the fund remains short of its $10 billion fundraising goal for the end of 2026. After the 2025 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, TFFF received a wave of political support, with over 60 nations endorsing its launch declaration and five countries announcing investments. Since then, the pace of financial commitments has been slower. Only Luxembourg and the U.K. have made government pledges this year, totaling around $600 million, while the nonprofit The Nature Conservancy committed another $5 million. The fund has now less than four months to raise $2.7 billion and meet its target. The $10 billion benchmark is especially important because Norway’s $3 billion pledge — part of that total — will only be released once the goal is met. “I’m in a period of anticipation right now, but also optimistic that we’ll get there,” Carlos Rittl told Mongabay. Rittl is the director of public policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and has contributed to TFFF’s environmental design. “There is no indication that the system itself is in doubt. But for countries to sign checks, the rules need to be very clear.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attend the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility. Image by © UN&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330616</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ebola, twins and women-led conservation: Reporting on gorillas for World Gorilla Day</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ebola-twins-and-women-led-conservation-reporting-on-gorillas-for-world-gorilla-day/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ebola-twins-and-women-led-conservation-reporting-on-gorillas-for-world-gorilla-day/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 17:22:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24111755/IMG_1524-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330667</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Diseases, Endangered Species, Gorillas, Great Apes, Health, Primates, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Gorillas are among humans’ closest relatives, with a common ancestor dating back around 8 to 10 million years. Both species of gorilla alive today are on the edge of extinction: The eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, while the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) is critically endangered. In its [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Gorillas are among humans’ closest relatives, with a common ancestor dating back around 8 to 10 million years. Both species of gorilla alive today are on the edge of extinction: The eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, while the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) is critically endangered. In its latest assessment of the eastern gorilla, the IUCN found a mixed picture of gorilla conservation. Some of the gorilla populations remained stable, while others faced declines — of roughly 60% for the subspecies Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) — in the last 20 years. &#8220;Conservation has made the difference between survival and extinction in some regions,” Jessi Junker, a researcher at Germany&#8217;s Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz, said in a press release. World Gorilla Day has been celebrated every Sept. 24 since 2017. For 2026, we bring you the highs and lows of gorilla conservation as published in Mongabay this year. Ebola outbreak puts gorilla conservationists on high alert The Democratic Republic of Congo declared a new Ebola outbreak in May 2026. As of Sept. 22, 7,773 confirmed human cases had been registered and 3,759 deaths. While there haven’t been any suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola in eastern gorillas, which are mostly endemic to the DRC, conservationists are on high alert, Mongabay&#8217;s Kayleigh Long reported in June. A previous Ebola outbreak from 2002-2003, caused widespread infection among western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in the Republic of Congo, killing around 5,000 of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ebola-twins-and-women-led-conservation-reporting-on-gorillas-for-world-gorilla-day/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330667</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Nepal, women seek ownership rights to the lands they tend</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 16:50:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Haven Sager]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23143406/paddy-field-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330580</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Culture, Environment, Farming, Gender, Land Rights, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POKHARA, Nepal — Before Binita Bishwokaarma understood Nepal’s property laws, she understood the work required to sustain a farm. Growing up in the village of Sindhupalchok, east of the capital, Kathmandu, she spent much of her time helping her mother around the house and in the fields while her father worked in the city. It’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POKHARA, Nepal — Before Binita Bishwokaarma understood Nepal’s property laws, she understood the work required to sustain a farm. Growing up in the village of Sindhupalchok, east of the capital, Kathmandu, she spent much of her time helping her mother around the house and in the fields while her father worked in the city. It’s a common scenario in Nepal, where gendered divisions of agricultural labor are widespread. For Bishwokaarma, that meant she and her mother grew maize, potatoes, garlic and other vegetables. She participated in the entire agricultural cycle, from preparing fields and planting crops to harvesting them. She enjoyed plowing the most, but it was physically demanding because the family lacked modern machinery. “We didn&#8217;t have tractors,” she said. “So, everything, start to ending, we had to do with our own hands. It was really hard.” It’s what many women and girls experience. And yet, their prospects for owning the land they tend are slim: Despite gender equality under the law, in Nepal, property rights rest mostly with men. Still, it’s women — accounting for nearly 70% of the country’s farming population — whom Bishwokaarma credits most with caring for the land. Throughout her childhood, she saw how dedicated women were to conserving their environment. She explained that many women learn from childhood how to keep the soil healthy and reduce pests naturally through mixed cropping, crop rotation and intercropping. Farmers harvest paddy at Bhaktapur, Nepal. Agriculture is the main source of food, income and employment for the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330580</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New report reveals the environmental cost of USAID’s destruction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-report-reveals-the-environmental-cost-of-usaids-destruction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-report-reveals-the-environmental-cost-of-usaids-destruction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 14:36:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24142704/USAID-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330732</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Foreign Aid, Politics, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two years after U.S. President Trump’s decision to dismantle international development agency USAID removed nearly $1 billion from global conservation and environment funding, the agency’s absence is being felt across the world, a new analysis says. The abrupt termination of around 5,200 contracts in early 2025 ended support for activities as varied as plastic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two years after U.S. President Trump’s decision to dismantle international development agency USAID removed nearly $1 billion from global conservation and environment funding, the agency’s absence is being felt across the world, a new analysis says. The abrupt termination of around 5,200 contracts in early 2025 ended support for activities as varied as plastic waste collection from beaches in East Africa, wildlife ranger patrols in Vietnam and crop substitution for coca farmers in the Amazon. Without USAID’s support, long-running projects intended to protect landscapes and support environmental policymaking have floundered or collapsed, according to the authors of the new report. “It’s a more fragmented and less-coordinated approach to solving global environmental problems, and we’re leaving communities and people behind because of that,” said Monica Bansal, co-author and former director of USAID’s Center for Energy, Infrastructure, and Cities. The 166-page report is the first comprehensive review of the impact of USAID’s closure on its nature-related initiatives. It was produced by consultancy firm One Earth Partners, which was founded in 2025 by Bansal and former USAID Natural Climate Solutions Division chief Hadas Kushnir. The report uses survey data and interviews with 150 people connected to USAID’s work in Bangladesh, Peru, Kenya, Colombia and Vietnam. In the 2024 fiscal year, USAID spent $365.75 million on biodiversity conservation, $256.5 million on climate adaptation, $247 million on clean energy, and an additional $232.25 million on natural climate solutions, ocean plastics, and pollution. Morris Wamah, the director for the Liberian Initiative for Development Services, who&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-report-reveals-the-environmental-cost-of-usaids-destruction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330732</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Lost’ bird reappears in West Africa’s forests after more than a decade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lost-bird-reappears-in-west-africas-forests-after-more-than-a-decade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lost-bird-reappears-in-west-africas-forests-after-more-than-a-decade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 14:27:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23125402/Ghana-Cuckooshrike1_Stephanie-Bartlett-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330560</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Protected Areas, Rediscovered Species, Research, Species, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Paulo Ditzel first laid eyes on the bird, he knew he’d seen something special: a vibrant orange body with yellow and black wings and tail feathers, topped by a dark head set off by almost-whimsical splashes of copper on its cheek. &#8220;My brain registered, it&#8217;s the Ghana cuckooshrike,&#8221; Ditzel, a field research fellow with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Paulo Ditzel first laid eyes on the bird, he knew he’d seen something special: a vibrant orange body with yellow and black wings and tail feathers, topped by a dark head set off by almost-whimsical splashes of copper on its cheek. &#8220;My brain registered, it&#8217;s the Ghana cuckooshrike,&#8221; Ditzel, a field research fellow with the International Bird Conservation Partnership (IBCP), tells Mongabay. A surge of excitement rippled through him, he says. Still, the sighting also immediately sparked &#8220;the most chaotic calm,&#8221; as he stood next to his partner and teammate Stephanie Bartlett on a bridge not far from an ecological research station in Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park. &#8220;OK, what do I do?&#8221; he says he remembers thinking. &#8220;Priority right now is that Stephanie gets a picture.&#8221; Over the next few moments, Ditzel locked onto the bird with his binoculars and called out its movements to Bartlett, also an IBCP field research fellow. In almost-choreographed coordination, Bartlett trained her camera lens on the branches across the stream and pressed the shutter button. &#8220;I got a photo of the bird before I saw it,&#8221; Bartlett says. In six months of bird surveys in West Africa supported by U.S.-based IBCP, she says, she&#8217;d come to expect only fleeting glances of the region&#8217;s birds. &#8220;They&#8217;re scared of you. You don&#8217;t get to get close to them, and so often you have to use the camera as a tool for identification.&#8221; &#8220;If I had seen that bird with anyone else, it wouldn&#8217;t have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lost-bird-reappears-in-west-africas-forests-after-more-than-a-decade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330560</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Earth life support systems are flashing red, warns 2026 Planetary Health Check</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/earth-life-support-systems-are-flashing-red-warns-2026-planetary-health-check/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/earth-life-support-systems-are-flashing-red-warns-2026-planetary-health-check/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 13:55:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24123717/Hurricane-Melissa-as-seen-from-the-International-Space-Station-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330685</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Change, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Planetary Boundaries, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Human activities continue eroding the planet’s stability, resilience and life-support functions, the third edition of the Planetary Health Check released in September warns. The “scary” part of the 2026 report, says lead co-author Levke Caesar, is that the trends are largely going in the wrong direction. “We still have seven out of the nine planetary [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Human activities continue eroding the planet’s stability, resilience and life-support functions, the third edition of the Planetary Health Check released in September warns. The “scary” part of the 2026 report, says lead co-author Levke Caesar, is that the trends are largely going in the wrong direction. “We still have seven out of the nine planetary boundaries are transgressed, and actually for those seven, the pressure is increasing,” she told Mongabay in an interview. The report is co-published by the Planetary Boundaries Science Lab at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Planetary Guardians, an NGO. Last year, ocean acidification became the seventh planetary boundary to pass its safe limit, alongside the already transgressed climate change, biosphere integrity, novel entities, freshwater, land use change, and biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorous pollution) boundaries. All seven continue heading further into the danger zone based on recent data featured in the report. Meanwhile, the stratospheric ozone depletion boundary remains stable, though the new report underlines that the recovery of the atmospheric ozone layer appears to have plateaued. Atmospheric aerosol loading risk — due to emissions of a wide range of polluting particulates — is declining globally, but regionally South Asia remains beyond safe limits and that trend is worsening. Seven of the nine planetary boundaries have now been breached, threatening the safe operating space for humanity, according to scientists. Image courtesy of Planetary Health Check 2026. The “solemn, silent message” of the 2026 report is that the global situation is still far&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/earth-life-support-systems-are-flashing-red-warns-2026-planetary-health-check/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/earth-life-support-systems-are-flashing-red-warns-2026-planetary-health-check/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330685</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Biodiversity credits shouldn’t copy the carbon market playbook (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/biodiversity-credits-shouldnt-copy-the-carbon-market-playbook-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/biodiversity-credits-shouldnt-copy-the-carbon-market-playbook-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 13:25:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jubanayan Saikia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/12125135/8.-Habenaria-criniferaNasrilatha-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330636</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity credits, Business, Carbon Market, climate finance, Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Finance, and Finance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Here is the argument I want to make plainly, before anything else: the biodiversity credit market should stop trying to copy carbon&#8217;s trick of reducing everything to one tradable unit, and should instead measure its own success by how continuously and independently a claim can be verified. Chasing a single elegant number, the way carbon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Here is the argument I want to make plainly, before anything else: the biodiversity credit market should stop trying to copy carbon&#8217;s trick of reducing everything to one tradable unit, and should instead measure its own success by how continuously and independently a claim can be verified. Chasing a single elegant number, the way carbon markets did with metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), is not what this field should be racing toward. It may, in fact, be the wrong goal altogether. The clearest evidence for this sits in plain view, in numbers that most people read as an embarrassment rather than as information. Every few months, a new market research report tells us exactly how large the global biodiversity credit market is. The trouble is, no two reports agree. One puts the 2025 market at roughly $90 million. Another, published around the same time, puts it at $7.1 billion. A third lands somewhere near $5.7 billion. These are not small rounding-off differences. They are the same year, the same broad market, and estimates that differ by a factor of nearly 80. Mangroves and coral reef in Papua New Guinea. Image by Matt Curnock / Ocean Image Bank. Most commentary treats this gap as a sign that the data are still catching up with a young market, but I read it differently. The disagreement is not a data problem waiting for better satellites to fix. It is telling us something true about biodiversity that the carbon market never had&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/biodiversity-credits-shouldnt-copy-the-carbon-market-playbook-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/biodiversity-credits-shouldnt-copy-the-carbon-market-playbook-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330636</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia&#8217;s geothermal push runs into local fears at Mount Ungaran</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesias-geothermal-push-runs-into-local-fears-at-mount-ungaran/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesias-geothermal-push-runs-into-local-fears-at-mount-ungaran/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 13:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Triyo Handoko]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24124550/7488ea4d-a47b-4173-8648-2d577f41d37a-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330698</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Alternative Energy, Conflict, Conservation, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Environment, Geothermal Energy, Human Rights, Natural Resources, Protests, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Communities living near Mount Ungaran in Indonesia’s Central Java province have slammed plans to revive a geothermal power project there, saying it could threaten water supplies and farming livelihoods. The latest opposition follows a decision in August by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources allowing the state-owned electricity utility, PLN, to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Communities living near Mount Ungaran in Indonesia’s Central Java province have slammed plans to revive a geothermal power project there, saying it could threaten water supplies and farming livelihoods. The latest opposition follows a decision in August by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources allowing the state-owned electricity utility, PLN, to conduct geothermal exploration and development at Mount Ungaran. Local opposition to the plans began in 2008, shortly after the ministry first designated Ungaran, an active volcano, as a geothermal working area. The latest decision has revived the long-running dispute between the government and local communities. Rahman, coordinator of the Semarang Menggugat Alliance (ASM), said communities around Mount Ungaran depended on farming and local water sources, and feared the project could affect both. “We can already make a living from farming,” Rahman, a resident of Bawen subdistrict, said in early September. “If geothermal development goes ahead, we are concerned that our water sources could decline or become polluted, affecting agriculture.” Mount Ungaran’s peak as seen from the Tanggul Lawang hiking trail. Image by Triyo Handoko/Mongabay Indonesia. Indonesia sits in one of the most seismically active zones in the world, which gives it massive potential to generate electricity from geothermal energy: an estimated 23.2 gigawatts, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. The ministry describes Indonesia as having the world’s largest geothermal resource potential, ahead of countries including the United States and the Philippines. But the country’s total installed geothermal capacity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesias-geothermal-push-runs-into-local-fears-at-mount-ungaran/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesias-geothermal-push-runs-into-local-fears-at-mount-ungaran/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330698</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Floating weeds threaten farming and fishing at Malawi’s Chia Lagoon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/floating-weeds-threaten-farming-and-fishing-at-malawis-chia-lagoon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/floating-weeds-threaten-farming-and-fishing-at-malawis-chia-lagoon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 23:11:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23230335/chia-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330653</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Malawi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Land Use Change, Natural Resources, Subsistence Agriculture, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A mass of floating weeds at Chia Lagoon, Malawi’s largest, is choking out waterways and livelihoods as farmers and fishers struggle to access fields and fishing areas. Seven months after the rainy season ended in Malawi, fields that once absorbed seasonal water at the lagoon are submerged, frustrating irrigated maize and rice production, according to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A mass of floating weeds at Chia Lagoon, Malawi’s largest, is choking out waterways and livelihoods as farmers and fishers struggle to access fields and fishing areas. Seven months after the rainy season ended in Malawi, fields that once absorbed seasonal water at the lagoon are submerged, frustrating irrigated maize and rice production, according to farmers. Fishers also said it’s now hard to access fishing grounds as the weeds are blocking boat routes. “We have never seen anything like this,” said Ali Maulidi, who leads an association of more than 1,000 fishers in Nkhotakota district in central Malawi where the lagoon is located. “Due to waterlogged soils, matured cassava has rotted in some fields,” Maulidi told Mongabay in a phone interview. The lagoon, on the western shoreline of Lake Malawi, drains into the lake through a narrow channel. Communities said weeds and debris started collecting where the outlet begins in February, pushing the water back into the lagoon and flooding agricultural fields. Chia Lagoon covers 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) and directly supports more than 7,800 households through rice, cassava and maize farming as well as fishing and bird hunting. The larger river network supports more than 55,000 agriculturalists.  In December 2025, the lagoon was recognized as a Key Biodiversity Area because of its abundant bird, fish, plant, reptile and amphibian species. “We don’t understand what is happening here; but we’re worried because it’s greatly affecting us,” Maulidi said. Scientists too don’t fully understand why the weeds are accumulating now, but&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/floating-weeds-threaten-farming-and-fishing-at-malawis-chia-lagoon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330653</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Planned US tech hub in Philippines hit over environmental and Indigenous land concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 22:04:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael Beltran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23152143/Protest-at-grand-hyatt-and-clashes-with-police-21-of-25-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330602</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Conflict, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Conflict, Law, Protests, and Resource Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived at the Grand Hyatt Manila on Sept. 10 to address hundreds of foreign business representatives assembled for the Luzon Economic Corridor investors’ forum. Outside the hotel, hundreds of demonstrators had also gathered, carrying signs that read “No to Pax Silica!” The scene reflected both the government’s ambitious [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived at the Grand Hyatt Manila on Sept. 10 to address hundreds of foreign business representatives assembled for the Luzon Economic Corridor investors’ forum. Outside the hotel, hundreds of demonstrators had also gathered, carrying signs that read “No to Pax Silica!” The scene reflected both the government’s ambitious plans to ride the artificial intelligence wave, and deep ambivalence in civil society. Police confronted the crowd, shoving them with riot shields and batons on the street outside the hotel lobby. Activists say police injured at least 27 protesters and arrested five. Police, meanwhile, reported minor cuts and injuries to 16 personnel. Protester Jona Yang, from the activist-scientist group AGHAM, said she was negotiating with the police to cool tensions when they arrested her. “We want the Marcos government and investors to see the outrage all of this has caused,” Yang told Mongabay. “They’re taking away our resources and our lands.” Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) investors’ forum on Sept. 10. Image by Michael Beltran for Mongabay. Pax Silica The Luzon Economic Corridor, or LEC, is an economic initiative focused on the Philippines’ biggest island, begun in 2024. Pax Silica, the U.S.-led global pact for an AI and semiconductor supply chain not reliant on China, includes the LEC. In April 2026, Washington and Manila announced plans to build a 1,620-hectare (4,000-acre) high-tech manufacturing hub in the Central Luzon region. Pax Silica has become a lightning rod for political and environmental&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330602</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US contractors reportedly purchase tin from company accused of illegal Amazon mining</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/us-contractors-reportedly-purchase-tin-from-company-accused-of-illegal-amazon-mining/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/us-contractors-reportedly-purchase-tin-from-company-accused-of-illegal-amazon-mining/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 20:00:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23194355/Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-1.42.33-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330639</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Critical Minerals, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Natural Resources, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazilian tin-producing company, White Solder, has been accused of acquiring a mineral  illegally mined in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon. White Solder has supplied hundreds of metric tons of tin to companies with U.S. Department of Defense contracts, according to an investigation by Repórter Brasil. White Solder, which describes itself as one [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazilian tin-producing company, White Solder, has been accused of acquiring a mineral  illegally mined in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon. White Solder has supplied hundreds of metric tons of tin to companies with U.S. Department of Defense contracts, according to an investigation by Repórter Brasil. White Solder, which describes itself as one of the world’s largest tin producers, supplied at least 525 metric tons of tin to U.S.-based Indium Corporation between May 2023 and August 2025, according to records analyzed by Repórter Brasil. Indium Corporation in turn supplied solder to Raytheon, a major U.S. defense contractor that manufactures military technologies including radar and precision-guided missiles. White Solder also reportedly supplied at least 2,400 metric tons of tin to Nathan Trotter, a U.S. manufacturer of tin and solder alloys between 2021 and 2025. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Nathan Trotter a $19 million contract to build a tin smelting, refining and recycling facility in Pennsylvania, Repórter Brasil reported. According to a release from the Department of Defense, the investment was intended to counter, “Chinese efforts to monopolize the global supply, as well as mitigate smelting supply chain vulnerabilities.” “The US’s expanding need for raw materials to underpin its military will lead to further harms associated with mining, both illegal and legal unless safeguards and due diligence are put in place and followed,” Emily Iona Stewart, head of policy and advocacy with the U.K.-based NGO Global Witness, told Repórter Brasil. In August 2026, a Brazilian federal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/us-contractors-reportedly-purchase-tin-from-company-accused-of-illegal-amazon-mining/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/us-contractors-reportedly-purchase-tin-from-company-accused-of-illegal-amazon-mining/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330639</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Agency says sea turtle eggs laid on California beaches are a first for the US West Coast</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/agency-says-sea-turtle-eggs-laid-on-california-beaches-are-a-first-for-the-us-west-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/agency-says-sea-turtle-eggs-laid-on-california-beaches-are-a-first-for-the-us-west-coast/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 16:55:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/24085513/olive-ridley-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330633</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Habitat, Herps, Oceans, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A reptile believed to be struggling in sand at a Southern California beach was simply making history: a sea turtle laying eggs on the U.S. West Coast. And three days later, there were more. An olive ridley turtle — maybe the same one — laid eggs on Sept. 19, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A reptile believed to be struggling in sand at a Southern California beach was simply making history: a sea turtle laying eggs on the U.S. West Coast. And three days later, there were more. An olive ridley turtle — maybe the same one — laid eggs on Sept. 19, a few miles away near the Huntington Beach Pier in Orange County, authorities said. “This is the first-ever recorded natural nesting for any sea turtle species” on the West Coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast Fisheries division said on Facebook. Olive ridley turtles are the smallest of sea turtles, with adults weighing up to 100 pounds (45.3 kilograms). NOAA said they&#8217;re found worldwide but primarily in the tropical waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. The first nesting spot was near Seal Beach on Sept. 16, followed by the discovery at Huntington Beach. Both sites were subsequently fenced off. Incubation typically lasts 45 to 60 days, NOAA said. “We’re excited about it,” said Trevor McDonald, marine safety chief at the Huntington Beach Fire Department. Lifeguards patrolling at night saw a turtle digging in the sand and thought “maybe this turtle is sick. We just don&#8217;t see this very often,” McDonald said. “Then they observed the turtle starting to lay eggs.” Heidi Stephen said her 9-year-old son, Jude, begged her to take him to Huntington Beach to see the nest Tuesday. “It&#8217;s so magical,” Stephen said. George Zamora said he hopes the eggs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/agency-says-sea-turtle-eggs-laid-on-california-beaches-are-a-first-for-the-us-west-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/agency-says-sea-turtle-eggs-laid-on-california-beaches-are-a-first-for-the-us-west-coast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330633</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging still threatens Bornean forest once envisioned as an Indigenous-led peace park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-still-threatens-bornean-forest-once-envisioned-as-an-indigenous-led-peace-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-still-threatens-bornean-forest-once-envisioned-as-an-indigenous-led-peace-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 16:52:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Danielle Keeton-Olsen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/26192853/20230826_085717-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330551</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, Sarawak, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Conservation, Forest Products, Forestry, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Logging, Protected Areas, and Timber]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A conservation park that Indigenous communities from the Malaysian state of Sarawak believed they could co-manage and self-govern has been transformed into a timber concession and stripped of critical tree cover, according to a recently published report. A group of civil society organizations based in Malaysia and abroad launched the report, “Plundering the Baram Peace [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A conservation park that Indigenous communities from the Malaysian state of Sarawak believed they could co-manage and self-govern has been transformed into a timber concession and stripped of critical tree cover, according to a recently published report. A group of civil society organizations based in Malaysia and abroad launched the report, “Plundering the Baram Peace Park,” with a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 27, calling on other NGOs and the Malaysian government to recognize the logging of primary forest as well as alleged irregularities in the process of granting the concession and informing affected communities. The report, led by Swiss-based nonprofit Bruno Manser Fonds with participation from other NGOs, also raises concern that the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), an international organization that aims to promote sustainable use of forests, has continued funding projects in the region, even after the 2024 collapse of a coalition between Indigenous community members, the Sarawak government, and civil society. A fragile coalition The Upper Baram Forest Area was initially proposed as a community-led conservation project, an idea going back more than 15 years. From 2009 to 2024, the area was proposed to be conserved as the Baram Peace Park, with Indigenous villages and the Sarawak forest department working together to protect the forest. The project gained steam in 2021 after the forest department submitted a project proposal to the ITTO and raised a total of $1.4 million to develop a park program in cooperation with 32 Indigenous Penan, Kenyah, Kelabit, and Saban&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-still-threatens-bornean-forest-once-envisioned-as-an-indigenous-led-peace-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330551</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two decades on, Nepal’s conservationists search for new ‘dream’ generation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/two-decades-on-nepals-conservationists-search-for-new-dream-generation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/two-decades-on-nepals-conservationists-search-for-new-dream-generation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 16:27:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23155605/IMG_2079-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330597</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environmental Heroes, Environmental Policy, Governance, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — In September 2006, Nepal&#8217;s then Minister of Forests and Soil Conservation Gopal Rai and a contingent of conservation leaders flew to a remote village in eastern Nepal to hand over a conservation area to the people living there. On the evening of Sept. 22, Rai handed over management of the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — In September 2006, Nepal&#8217;s then Minister of Forests and Soil Conservation Gopal Rai and a contingent of conservation leaders flew to a remote village in eastern Nepal to hand over a conservation area to the people living there. On the evening of Sept. 22, Rai handed over management of the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) to the community, hailing it as a milestone in Nepal&#8217;s conservation history. &#8220;For the community, this was the beginning,&#8221; Ghana Shyam Gurung, now WWF&#8217;s country representative, tells Mongabay. The next day, minutes after take-off, the contingent&#8217;s Russian-built Mi-8 helicopter crashed, killing all 20 passengers and four crew. Among the dead were the forest minister, his spouse, senior officials, a Finnish diplomat, a senior USAID official and WWF staff. Bad weather hampered rescue efforts for two days. No one in the capital Kathmandu could confirm what had happened until searchers reached the wreckage. Two decades later, the community-based approach to conservation pioneered by &#8220;dreamers&#8221; such as Harka and Chandra Gurung and Mingma Norbu Sherpa, all of whom were killed in the crash, still drives Nepal&#8217;s wildlife and forest recovery. The country&#8217;s tiger population has more than tripled and its forest cover has grown by six percentage points since the crash. But conservationists say progress has since stagnated. A generation lost The crash left empty seats at Nepal&#8217;s key conservation institutions. Conservationist Sarita Jnawali, then with the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), remembers the day the deaths were confirmed. &#8220;When people like that weren&#8217;t there,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/two-decades-on-nepals-conservationists-search-for-new-dream-generation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330597</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A mega-dam made this community move</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/a-megadam-made-this-community-move/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/a-megadam-made-this-community-move/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 13:36:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Izzy Sasada]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23133238/Bakun-Thumbnail_Featured.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330584</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Malaysia and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change Denial, Energy, Indigenous Peoples, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The green transition is crucial to tackling climate change. But around the world, the same question keeps cropping up: who pays the price? In Malaysian Borneo, hydroelectric dams are playing an increasingly important role in Sarawak’s renewable energy ambitions, with the state now looking to supply power beyond its borders. One of the biggest projects [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The green transition is crucial to tackling climate change. But around the world, the same question keeps cropping up: who pays the price? In Malaysian Borneo, hydroelectric dams are playing an increasingly important role in Sarawak’s renewable energy ambitions, with the state now looking to supply power beyond its borders. One of the biggest projects to date is the Bakun Hydro-electric project. In this episode, @IzzySasada meets members of the Indigenous communities who were relocated around thirty years ago to make way for its construction. This is the first episode in our new in-field series of Conservation Entangled in remote Borneo, looking into the connection between land and people.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/a-megadam-made-this-community-move/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330584</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Peru’s high Andes, restoring ancient ecosystems could help protect water security</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-perus-high-andes-restoring-ancient-ecosystems-could-help-protect-water-security/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-perus-high-andes-restoring-ancient-ecosystems-could-help-protect-water-security/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 10:30:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Euan Wallace]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22202412/Wetlands-of-Huancavelica-in-the-Yaku-Pacha-project-Peru.-April-2026.-Credit_-Alan-Chamorro-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330474</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Nature-based climate solutions, Reforestation, Restoration, Solutions, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the highlands above Villa de Arma, community leaders once walked through ice and snow. They still remember the stories told by their grandparents of the Apus, high-mountain spirits that guard the Andean landscape. Locals in this central-Andean community, which sits around 3,200 meters (10,500 feet) above sea level in central-southern Peru’s Huancavelica region, say [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In the highlands above Villa de Arma, community leaders once walked through ice and snow. They still remember the stories told by their grandparents of the Apus, high-mountain spirits that guard the Andean landscape. Locals in this central-Andean community, which sits around 3,200 meters (10,500 feet) above sea level in central-southern Peru’s Huancavelica region, say that much of the ice has since given way to rock. In the last six decades, climate change has erased about 56% of Peru’s glacier mass, a critical water reservoir that feeds the country’s cities and arid regions. Locals fear the changing landscape of the Peruvian Andes heralds a broader pattern of climate change that threatens to tip the country’s high-altitude regions into a water security crisis. “Their worry is that later on they could be left without water,” Edison Sánchez Toscano, a field technician working in Villa de Arma for Peruvian NGO Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) and a local of the Huancavelica region, tells Mongabay in a video call. “If they are left without water, they are left with nothing.” According to ECOAN, Villa de Arma sits at a critical watershed feeding the Chincha Valley, which runs from the high Andes to Peru&#8217;s arid Pacific coast and depends largely on water descending from the mountains. With glacial ice rapidly disappearing across the country, conservationists are increasingly looking to ancient Andean ecosystems, such as wetlands and native forests, that can store and release water. In 2025, ECOAN partnered with a new project designed to secure&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-perus-high-andes-restoring-ancient-ecosystems-could-help-protect-water-security/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330474</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New Galápagos Atlas charts the islands’ biodiversity and the mysteries that remain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-galapagos-atlas-charts-the-islands-biodiversity-and-the-mysteries-that-remain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-galapagos-atlas-charts-the-islands-biodiversity-and-the-mysteries-that-remain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 08:08:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23080531/galapagos_akb_17048-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330548</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Galapagos, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Herps, Plants, Reptiles, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new atlas of biodiversity of the Galápagos Islands highlights the unique evolutionary and ecological diversity of life in the famed archipelago that helped Charles Darwin develop the theory of natural selection. The Galapagos Atlas, created by the Darwin Foundation, highlights 68 species and species groups in the island chain. These include the celebrities of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A new atlas of biodiversity of the Galápagos Islands highlights the unique evolutionary and ecological diversity of life in the famed archipelago that helped Charles Darwin develop the theory of natural selection. The Galapagos Atlas, created by the Darwin Foundation, highlights 68 species and species groups in the island chain. These include the celebrities of Galápagos biodiversity, such as the giant tortoises (genus Chelonoidis), marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), and Darwin finches (genus Geospiza). It also features less famous plants and animals, such as the Galápagos kelp (Eisenia galapagensis), lichens, and Galápagos carpenter bees (Xylocopa darwini). The freely available atlas was created by a team of 87 authors and artists including scientists, park rangers, and conservationists. Profiles of every species highlight both what’s known about them, but also what still remains unknown about their ecology, behavior, and conservation needs. “There is still so much we don&#8217;t fully understand about Galapagos flora and fauna, and that&#8217;s part of what makes it so fascinating,” Darwin Foundation executive director Rakan Zahawi told Mongabay by email. Zahawi called the Galapagos Atlas a starting point for people wanting to solve some of the scientific mysteries of life in the islands. “Each species entry comes with citations and references, so my first piece of advice to a young person who&#8217;s captivated by a species is to follow those leads,” he added. “Dig into the research behind the entry, see who&#8217;s been studying it and what they&#8217;ve found, and let that pull you further into the subject.” The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-galapagos-atlas-charts-the-islands-biodiversity-and-the-mysteries-that-remain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330548</doi>				</item>
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