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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/author/zuzana/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/zuzana/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 10:21:49 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Stories produced by zuzana for Conservation news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/author/zuzana/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Honoring Jane Goodall&#8217;s conservation legacy and combatting misinformation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/honoring-jane-goodalls-conservation-legacy-and-combatting-misinformation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/honoring-jane-goodalls-conservation-legacy-and-combatting-misinformation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 10:21:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22102030/Jane-Goodall-Hopecast-2560-2048x1152-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330419</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, Global, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Arts, Culture, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Hope and optimism, Interviews, Jane Goodall, Media, Science, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Former United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres has been named the recipient of the inaugural Jane Goodall Earth Medal, which honors those who “unite science, courage and responsibility.” Goodall, a primatologist, conservationist and a persistent voice of hope, died in October 2025 at the age of 91. She also served on Mongabay’s advisory council. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Former United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres has been named the recipient of the inaugural Jane Goodall Earth Medal, which honors those who “unite science, courage and responsibility.” Goodall, a primatologist, conservationist and a persistent voice of hope, died in October 2025 at the age of 91. She also served on Mongabay’s advisory council. The Jane Goodall Earth Medal was awarded by the board of the Starmus Festival, an international gathering celebrating science, space, and the arts. This year, the festival will take place from Oct. 17-22 in Spain. Figueres, who served as executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and led negotiations for the 2015 Paris climate agreement, discussed the award on the Mongabay Newscast hosted by Mike DiGirolamo. Figueres told DiGirolamo that Goodall was “an absolute giant” to her very last day. “And the fact that a medal has been made in her honor, and that I will debut that, is just an unbelievable honor.” Astrophysicist and Starmus co-founder Garik Israelian, who joined the podcast, said that advisory board members Brian May — astrophysicist and guitarist for the rock band Queen — and fellow musician Peter Gabriel together conceived the idea for the Jane Goodall Earth Medal. Israelian added that May “was very active in protecting animals” through his foundation Save Me, while Gabriel works closely on human rights causes. The upcoming Starmus Festival centers on the theme of “The Search for Truth,” addressing information integrity in what political ecologist Bram Buscher previously characterized&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/honoring-jane-goodalls-conservation-legacy-and-combatting-misinformation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/honoring-jane-goodalls-conservation-legacy-and-combatting-misinformation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330419</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Drought and state neglect deepen health crisis for Peru&#8217;s recently contacted Matsés</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/drought-and-state-neglect-deepen-health-crisis-for-perus-recently-contacted-matses/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/drought-and-state-neglect-deepen-health-crisis-for-perus-recently-contacted-matses/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 04:54:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22045335/contacted-Indigenous-Matses-7-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330391</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Justice, Conservation, Culture, Diseases, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Health, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A worsening convergence of drought driven by climate change, epidemic disease, and state neglect is creating a severe health emergency for the Indigenous Matsés people in the Peruvian Amazon. Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay traveled to Matsés territory to investigate the environmental threats to the region. Instead, she found Matsés communities suffering from severe outbreaks [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A worsening convergence of drought driven by climate change, epidemic disease, and state neglect is creating a severe health emergency for the Indigenous Matsés people in the Peruvian Amazon. Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay traveled to Matsés territory to investigate the environmental threats to the region. Instead, she found Matsés communities suffering from severe outbreaks of malaria and hepatitis B, she tells host Mike DiGirolamo in a recent episode of the Mongabay Newscast. &#8220;When I arrived, interview after interview, I was asking questions about environmental threats, and people were like, &#8216;Well, people are dying on the streets&#8217;,&#8221; Gabay says. &#8220;And it got to the point where I was like I&#8217;m asking the wrong questions here.&#8221; According to Gabay, the Matsés officially initiated contact with evangelical missionaries in 1969 to escape escalating violence from rubber tappers, loggers and military bombardments. However, the contact exposed them to infectious diseases. Roberto Necca Tumio Unan, a Matsés elder born before contact was initiated, told Gabay that entire families began dying shortly after contact from diseases previously unknown to them. “They don’t have the immunological defenses to be able to fight these diseases that maybe, for us, we are constantly exposed to,” Gabay says. Now, the health crisis is compounded by droughts in the Amazon. Low river levels restrict boat navigation, the primary transit route in the roadless region, preventing healthcare workers from entering remote villages and blocking sick villagers from reaching medical care. Matsés chief Leo Chuma Teca Beso told Gabay that he traveled&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/drought-and-state-neglect-deepen-health-crisis-for-perus-recently-contacted-matses/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/drought-and-state-neglect-deepen-health-crisis-for-perus-recently-contacted-matses/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330391</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tourism has the potential to reverse coral decline at Bali travel hotspot: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tourism-has-potential-to-slow-coral-decline-at-bali-travel-hotspot-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tourism-has-potential-to-slow-coral-decline-at-bali-travel-hotspot-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 02:01:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21153916/Image-by-Anett-SzasziOcean-Image-Bank-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330326</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Coral Reefs, Development, Ecotourism, Fishing, Funding, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Rehabilitation, Research, Restoration, Solutions, Tourism, and Travel]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sanur is where tourism took off in Bali. A coastal town overlooking the Lombok Strait where the Pacific Ocean flows into the Indian Ocean, artists and travelers began frequenting its shores in the 1920s. Today, the local economy still depends on income from visitors seeking its sun-kissed sands and cozy waters that hold the promise [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sanur is where tourism took off in Bali. A coastal town overlooking the Lombok Strait where the Pacific Ocean flows into the Indian Ocean, artists and travelers began frequenting its shores in the 1920s. Today, the local economy still depends on income from visitors seeking its sun-kissed sands and cozy waters that hold the promise of encounters with all manner of tropical marine life. But new research indicates all is not well with Sanur’s precious marine ecosystems. Its coral reefs are steadily degrading, despite multiple efforts to rehabilitate them by planting coral fragments or building artificial reefs. The recent study, published in Ocean &amp; Coastal Management, found reef restoration initiatives in Sanur often take place without first addressing the primary drivers of coral decline, such as sediment runoff and wastewater discharge. “People see the visible impact on the coral reef, so they feel it’s urgent to do something about it there,” study lead author Min Chung, a master’s student at the University of Tokyo, told Mongabay in an interview. “But in reality, and efficiency wise, it&#8217;s obviously more effective to address the more fundamental drivers [of coral loss].” By analyzing reef health data and interviews with 18 stakeholders who have influence over the use and management of Sanur’s reefs, Chung and her colleagues identified complex and competing interests between many different groups, from government agencies, local authorities and community organizations to academics, fishers and tourism operators. “There are differing views on how to preserve coral reefs and the role tourism&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tourism-has-potential-to-slow-coral-decline-at-bali-travel-hotspot-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tourism-has-potential-to-slow-coral-decline-at-bali-travel-hotspot-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330326</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For wild rivers like the Karnali, Nepal&#8217;s disaster is a warning and an answer (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/for-wild-rivers-like-the-karnali-nepals-disaster-is-a-warning-and-an-answer-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/for-wild-rivers-like-the-karnali-nepals-disaster-is-a-warning-and-an-answer-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 21:55:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gary WocknerMegh Ale]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21210715/Karnali_river-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330371</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Clean Energy, Commentary, Dams, Development, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Energy, Environment, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Rivers, Tourism, Travel, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Recently, a glacial collapse on the Tibetan Plateau sent a wall of water and debris roaring across the Nepal-China border. As of this publication, more than 1,000 people are confirmed dead and over 4,000 remain missing in Nepal and China combined. Rescue crews are still digging through mud to find hundreds of workers believed trapped [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Recently, a glacial collapse on the Tibetan Plateau sent a wall of water and debris roaring across the Nepal-China border. As of this publication, more than 1,000 people are confirmed dead and over 4,000 remain missing in Nepal and China combined. Rescue crews are still digging through mud to find hundreds of workers believed trapped inside the tunnels of hydropower projects on the Trishuli River — tunnels large enough to drive trucks through, now choked with silt. This is not simply a natural disaster. It is a preview of what climate change has in store for the Himalaya, and a wakeup call for Nepal&#8217;s headlong rush to dam nearly every river in the country. One of us has spent three decades running rivers and building river-conservation movements from a basecamp in Kathmandu. The other has spent an equal number of years fighting to protect rivers in the American West and around the world. We come from different countries and different rivers, but we have arrived at the same conclusion: Nepal&#8217;s flood catastrophe is a warning that must change how the country — and the international financiers underwriting its hydropower boom — think about all of our rivers, but especially the Karnali River, the last major river in Nepal that has never been dammed. The Karnali is one of the world’s top rivers for whitewater rafting, as it is un-dammed and features many class 5 rapids. Image courtesy of International Rafting Federation. Disaster written in the mountains The floods that just&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/for-wild-rivers-like-the-karnali-nepals-disaster-is-a-warning-and-an-answer-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/for-wild-rivers-like-the-karnali-nepals-disaster-is-a-warning-and-an-answer-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330371</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How freediving helps Indonesia&#8217;s Bajau preserve traditions and conserve marine life</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-freediving-helps-indonesias-bajau-preserve-traditions-and-conserve-marine-life/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-freediving-helps-indonesias-bajau-preserve-traditions-and-conserve-marine-life/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 18:18:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maddy Bolt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21115236/Bajau-PELITA-member-Well-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330277</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Nusa Tenggara]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Education, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POTO TANO, Indonesia — Mahari sits at the front of the boat, cigarette in hand, surveying the conditions of the waters off Poto Tano, a small fishing community on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. As ketua, the leader of this group of Bajau octopus fishers, Mahari decides which tool they will use today. He silently [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POTO TANO, Indonesia — Mahari sits at the front of the boat, cigarette in hand, surveying the conditions of the waters off Poto Tano, a small fishing community on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. As ketua, the leader of this group of Bajau octopus fishers, Mahari decides which tool they will use today. He silently surveys the waters while the rest of the group sits back and waits for his cue. The Bajau people are an Indigenous ethnic group spanning Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Traditionally living mostly on boats, Bajau people have harvested from the sea through traditional freediving for generations. In Sumbawa, a recent ban on dives assisted by an air compressor, a dangerous diving technique that provides the diver with continuous air, means these traditional methods have become more valuable than ever. With the right skills, freediving can be gentler on both the environment and the body than more destructive modern practices. Through expeditions like this one, Mahari and the other fishermen in his community work in cooperation with local NGOs to ensure this knowledge is passed to new generations. Day octopus (Octopus cyanea). Image by © Stergios Vasilis via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). &#8216;Pocong time&#8217; Depending on current and water visibility, Bajau fishers typically use one of two methods to catch octopus. If there is low visibility or a strong current, they will use a “shell” tool adorned with hooks, which they let go in the water and trail behind their boat. If there is better&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-freediving-helps-indonesias-bajau-preserve-traditions-and-conserve-marine-life/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330277</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sperm whales blow bubbles to stay afloat while resting, research shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/sperm-whales-blow-bubbles-to-stay-afloat-while-resting-research-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/sperm-whales-blow-bubbles-to-stay-afloat-while-resting-research-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 17:05:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21170256/Banner_whales-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330348</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Norway]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biology, Cetaceans, Mammals, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Research, Science, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sperm whales are the only whales known to rest vertically, floating steadily just below the ocean’s surface. Scientists have hypothesized that the whales release air bubbles to help them stay neutrally buoyant but the mechanism for how they do so has not previously been demonstrated — until now. &#8220;We already knew that sperm whales rest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sperm whales are the only whales known to rest vertically, floating steadily just below the ocean’s surface. Scientists have hypothesized that the whales release air bubbles to help them stay neutrally buoyant but the mechanism for how they do so has not previously been demonstrated — until now. &#8220;We already knew that sperm whales rest in a stereotypical vertical position and that they had been observed releasing bubbles during these resting periods,&#8221; lead author of a new study Noémie Freymond, a researcher at the Université de Neuchâtel in Switzerland, told Mongabay by email. &#8220;It had been hypothesized that the release of bubbles was related to buoyancy regulation, but this had not been demonstrated experimentally or systematically recorded.&#8221; Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are buoyant largely thanks to a massive oil-filled organ, called the spermaceti organ, located in their heads. Waxy spermaceti oil is lighter than water, making the whales buoyant. It was once used as a fuel for lamps and candles and the reason the whales were targeted by hunters.  The whales’ lungs, respiratory tract and spermaceti organ are all low-density organs positioned near the head and help the whales stay vertical. As the whales drift up, lower pressure allows air in the lungs to expand, pushing the whales toward the surface. Releasing bubbles counteracts that upwards push and allows the whales to stay submerged instead of bobbing to the surface. The study’s research team used data from 42 sperm whales that had been tagged with suction cups near Norway&#8217;s Lofoten&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/sperm-whales-blow-bubbles-to-stay-afloat-while-resting-research-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330348</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>These dolphins are shouting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/these-dolphins-are-shouting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/these-dolphins-are-shouting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 17:01:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21170008/Mongabay_Thumbnail_Dolphins_Web.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330346</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Europe, Morocco, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Communication, Pollution, Research, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Pilot whales now need to shout to be heard over the rumble of ship traffic in the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow strip of water between Morocco and Spain. Researchers looked at near and long-distance communication between long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), which are actually a species of large dolphin. They found the mammals were [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Pilot whales now need to shout to be heard over the rumble of ship traffic in the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow strip of water between Morocco and Spain. Researchers looked at near and long-distance communication between long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), which are actually a species of large dolphin. They found the mammals were able to increase the volume of their calls used for short distances, but long-distance calling was more challenging, according to their recently published study. The dolphins may not be able to overpower noise pollution in the Strait of Gibraltar when calling pod mates far away, raising concerns that they could become lost and isolated from the group, the researchers said. Roughly 60,000 ships pass through the Strait of Gibraltar each year. Study: Hegeman, M., Macfarlane, N. B. W., Verborgh, P., Gauffier, P., Esteban, R., de Stephanis, R., Tyack, P. L. and Jensen, F. H. (2026). Vocal compensation to noise in long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas). J. Exp. Biol. 229, jeb251217. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.251217This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/these-dolphins-are-shouting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330346</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>46% of wild-caught fish could be fed to farmed fish and shrimp by 2040, says report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/45-of-wild-caught-fish-could-be-fed-to-farmed-fish-and-shrimp-by-2040-says-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/45-of-wild-caught-fish-could-be-fed-to-farmed-fish-and-shrimp-by-2040-says-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 16:44:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21135229/Sri-Lanka-fishers1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330337</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Marine Animals, Natural Resources, Oceans, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ROME — Nearly half of the wild-caught fish harvested globally could be used to produce feed for farmed aquaculture products by 2040 if the industry were to grow exponentially in line with a roadmap developed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), according to a report published Sept. 4. The report was published by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ROME — Nearly half of the wild-caught fish harvested globally could be used to produce feed for farmed aquaculture products by 2040 if the industry were to grow exponentially in line with a roadmap developed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), according to a report published Sept. 4. The report was published by UK-based NGO the Changing Markets Foundation on the eve of the 37th meeting of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI), held Sept. 7–11 at the FAO’s headquarters in Rome. At the biennial intergovernmental meeting, policymakers set the direction for developing the fisheries and aquaculture sectors globally. The publication has intensified debate over support for aquaculture, which involves cultivation of aquatic organisms, including plants, fish and shellfish, in marine or fresh water. Aquaculture is currently the fastest-growing food industry in the world. Since 2022, it has accounted for half of the global seafood supply, but representatives of artisanal fisher organizations attending COFI described it as a “destructive” industry. “What we found is that it really depends on what species are chosen to be farmed,” Tara Ganesh, a senior campaigner at Changing Markets Foundation, told Mongabay in Rome. “Based on that, the impact varies dramatically.” Atlantic salmon aquaculture in Tasmania, Australia. Image by rod cuthbert via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). The report, produced together with researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada, analyzes how the use of wild-caught fish to produce fish feed would change if the aquaculture sector were to reach a “milestone” set out&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/45-of-wild-caught-fish-could-be-fed-to-farmed-fish-and-shrimp-by-2040-says-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/45-of-wild-caught-fish-could-be-fed-to-farmed-fish-and-shrimp-by-2040-says-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330337</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal mines threaten biodiversity and drinking water in Ghana’s Atewa Forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 14:28:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mabel Adorkor Annang]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21135635/IllegalMiners_AtewaGhana_ARochaGhana-11_20260919_122540_0010-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330304</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every day, scores of illegal miners on motorbikes swarm into the Atewa Forest Reserve, in eastern Ghana — ignoring the handful of Forestry Commission guards charged with keeping them out. Inside the reserve, the miners have stripped forest cover and excavated pits, their passage marked by abandoned equipment and temporary camps and muddy and polluted [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every day, scores of illegal miners on motorbikes swarm into the Atewa Forest Reserve, in eastern Ghana — ignoring the handful of Forestry Commission guards charged with keeping them out. Inside the reserve, the miners have stripped forest cover and excavated pits, their passage marked by abandoned equipment and temporary camps and muddy and polluted streams. Their actions jeopardize the drinking water of as many as five million Ghanaians. “We say this based on a lot of records coming from the Forestry Commission staff, some court records as well,” says Daryl Bosu, deputy national director of operations at conservation initiative A Rocha Ghana, which has been monitoring Atewa and other forested areas for a decade. A Rocha played a key role in a civil society coalition opposing government plans to mine for bauxite in the reserve. Bosu says A Rocha has observed that many of the rivers and streams in the area, which previously ran clear, have turned brown with sediment since the miners overran the reserve. Miners, he says, have cut down trees along water courses, which he fears have been contaminated with mercury, cyanide and arsenic  — all widely used in illegal mining operations. “The Forestry Commission team is complaining of the unprecedented attack on the Atewa forest because of mining and how they are seriously overwhelmed as a result of pressure which they have never experienced,” he tells Mongabay. Aerial view of a mine site in Atewa. Image courtesy of A Rocha Ghana. The critically endangered Atewa&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330304</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New study reveals the genetic history &#8211; and possible future &#8211; of four Asian hornbills</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-study-reveals-the-genetic-history-and-possible-future-of-four-asian-hornbills/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-study-reveals-the-genetic-history-and-possible-future-of-four-asian-hornbills/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 08:06:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21080458/Rufous_Necked_Hornbill_Facts_01-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330274</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Evolution, Research, Science, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers from India have generated reference genomes for four threatened species of Asian hornbills, reports contributor Nikhil Sreekandan for Mongabay India. The scientists from the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) in Mysore and the CSIR–Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad assembled high-quality genomes for threatened Asian hornbill species including the great hornbill (Buceros [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers from India have generated reference genomes for four threatened species of Asian hornbills, reports contributor Nikhil Sreekandan for Mongabay India. The scientists from the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) in Mysore and the CSIR–Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad assembled high-quality genomes for threatened Asian hornbill species including the great hornbill (Buceros bicornis), rufous-necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis), Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus), and wreathed hornbill (Rhyticeros undulatus). Prior to this study, whole-genome information was available for only two of the 32 Asian hornbill species. The research team used two types of genetic sequencing to create genetic maps for each of the species; together short- and long-read DNA sequencing helped researchers minimize errors. “A genome is the complete genetic structure of an organism, [and] a reference genome is a baseline genome for a particular species,” said Pooja Pawar, corresponding author of the study and a doctoral researcher at NCF. Pawar said that genomic tools allow scientists to examine species histories across the region and over time. “I could go back in time, to when the species originated or diverged from its sister species, and not restrict [my research] to the Western Ghats or northeast India.” The team used statistical modeling to trace changes in hornbill populations over time, and discovered that climatic instability during the Pleistocene epoch (2.5 million to 11,000 years ago) reduced the effective population sizes of all four species. Among them, the widely distributed wreathed hornbill had a higher effective population size than the other&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/new-study-reveals-the-genetic-history-and-possible-future-of-four-asian-hornbills/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330274</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tight Brazil election challenges fragile gains for Amazon conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 07:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda WenzelKarla MendesLucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18210229/Curvas_do_Parque_Nacional_de_Anavilhanas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330151</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Politics, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As South America turns right, Brazil’s vote could leave the Amazon without conservation leaders.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As voters in Brazil prepare to head to the polls on Oct. 4, forest guardians and environmental analysts are bracing for a high-stakes presidential contest that could abruptly shift the nation&#8217;s environmental policy. The election presents a stark choice between maintaining current conservation strategies, experts say, or risking a policy U-turn that could reverse recent progress in lowering deforestation rates across the Amazon rainforest and other biomes. The election is shaping up to be a tight race between left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who was arrested and blocked from running for office after being sentenced in a failed coup d’ètat trial. According to polls, the two are very likely to face off in a runoff election scheduled for Oct. 25. Lula&#8217;s administration managed to drop deforestation in the Amazon to its lowest level in a decade — Brazil holds 60% of the biome. However, experts and conservationists warn that these gains are fragile, hanging by a thread that could snap if Flávio Bolsonaro brings back his father’s policies, favoring agribusiness and mining, and slashing Indigenous rights and support. In a detailed analysis of the candidates&#8217; environmental platforms, the Climate Observatory, a prominent coalition of Brazilian civil society organizations, concluded that issues related to climate and the environment are receiving far less attention than necessary. The exception is Lula’s plans, where the only area of concern is energy — which was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330151</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>H5N1 bird flu jumps to marine mammals and wildlife in Australia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/h5n1-bird-flu-jumps-to-marine-mammals-and-wildlife-in-australia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/h5n1-bird-flu-jumps-to-marine-mammals-and-wildlife-in-australia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 05:16:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21051504/Common_Dolphin_23716626394_optimized_4000-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330272</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Cetaceans, Coastal Ecosystems, Diseases, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Environment, Health, Mammals, Marine, Marine Mammals, Penguins, Planetary Health, Public Health, Research, Seabirds, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[H5N1 avian influenza is spreading rapidly across southeastern Australia owing to infected wild bird species, including little penguins, magpies, crested terns and pelicans. Bird aggregations during breeding seasons will likely accelerate transmission to mammals, said Victoria’s chief biodiversity officer James Todd. In late August, H5N1 jumped to a mammal, a red fox (Vulpes vulpes), in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[H5N1 avian influenza is spreading rapidly across southeastern Australia owing to infected wild bird species, including little penguins, magpies, crested terns and pelicans. Bird aggregations during breeding seasons will likely accelerate transmission to mammals, said Victoria’s chief biodiversity officer James Todd. In late August, H5N1 jumped to a mammal, a red fox (Vulpes vulpes), in Adelaide, South Australia. Acting chief veterinary officer Cameron Bell said that while wild foxes generally do not spread the virus directly, scavenging pests risk moving infected carcasses across habitats, according to media reports. In September, state authorities confirmed H5N1 in an Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) and a common dolphin (Delphinus delphis). South Australian Environment Minister Emily Bourke said that the sea lion — a critically endangered species currently declining by 2% a year — was recovering from a shark attack when it succumbed to the virus, reports ABC Australia. Cetacean researcher Mike Bossley is concerned about how quickly a dolphin contracted the disease. In a news report, he called it both “shocking … and very worrying.” Bourke added that South Australia has recorded bird flu in another mammal species, long-nosed fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri) and confirmed the nation’s first pelican case on the Yorke Peninsula. “The first confirmed H5N1 death recorded for [the Australian sea lion] in Australia marks a significant and worrying moment for Australian wildlife,” Bill Bateman, associate professor of behavioral ecology at Curtin University, Australia, wrote in The Conversation. He added that the evolving H5N1 strain can invade a mammal’s central&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/h5n1-bird-flu-jumps-to-marine-mammals-and-wildlife-in-australia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330272</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘How did you come to be here?’ Study digs into origins of Zambian wildlife crime</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2026 21:22:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Megerle]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17070507/Elephants_Zambia_Fawaz_Tairou-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329983</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Global, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Environment, Governance, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Law, Mammals, Organized Crime, Pangolins, Poaching, Rhinos, Trade, trafficking, Ungulates, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The man in the Zambian prison recalled how he ended up there. He’d been approached by someone who had an uncle in the capital, Lusaka, who was willing to buy ivory and pangolin scales. He gave the man a phone and a number to reach him. “He promised that the money I would get would [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The man in the Zambian prison recalled how he ended up there. He’d been approached by someone who had an uncle in the capital, Lusaka, who was willing to buy ivory and pangolin scales. He gave the man a phone and a number to reach him. “He promised that the money I would get would enable me to build a house and take my children to school,” the man said. The story of this inmate — who was eventually arrested and incarcerated for an elephant-related offense — drives home an important truth. Wildlife crime is a multifaceted industry fueled by various participants with a slew of motives, ranging from local people who may occasionally capture and sell an animal to middlemen who handle logistics to heavily armed poaching gangs and the kingpins that rule over large international syndicates. The lower-level links in the chain are simpler to catch and prosecute, but are easily replaceable, so their arrest does little to stop poaching. The NGO Wildlife Crime Prevention (WCP) Zambia, in partnership with Copperbelt University, recently interviewed more than 300 inmates imprisoned for wildlife offenses in the country to learn how and why people on the lower rungs of the industry took their first steps into wildlife crime. “We wanted to understand better the drivers of the more grassroots-levels offenders and why they get involved — and how we might avoid them being involved again,” said one of the study&#8217;s authors, who needed to remain anonymous so not to endanger their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329983</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Canada shuts down corporate watchdog. Critics say its replacement lacks teeth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/canada-shuts-down-corporate-watchdog-critics-say-its-replacement-lacks-teeth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/canada-shuts-down-corporate-watchdog-critics-say-its-replacement-lacks-teeth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2026 12:51:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annie Burns-Pieper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/19001635/b.-2026-08-22-5-LH-Ottawa-13_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330245</guid>

					
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When the Canadian government earlier this year shut down its independent watchdog responsible for investigating alleged human rights abuses including environmental pollution by Canada-based companies operating overseas, it promised that a little-known office called the National Contact Point would take over that work. But critics say the National Contact Point, which has operated for more [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When the Canadian government earlier this year shut down its independent watchdog responsible for investigating alleged human rights abuses including environmental pollution by Canada-based companies operating overseas, it promised that a little-known office called the National Contact Point would take over that work. But critics say the National Contact Point, which has operated for more than a quarter of a century, lacks the powers and independence needed to fill the gap. The recently shuttered office of the Canadian Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) was set up to evaluate complaints about alleged human rights abuses by Canadian companies operating abroad in the garment, mining, and oil and gas sectors. Two months into Mark Carney’s tenure as Canada’s prime minister, the position became vacant. Carney never appointed a new ombudsperson. CORE languished for more than a year without a leader, unable to proceed probing complaints. Carney then declared it was ineffective and eliminated the office in June. Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, which oversaw CORE, said in a statement that “a decision has been taken to permanently streamline the CORE Ombudsperson’s work into other functions with stronger track records of effectiveness, including the National Contact Point.” But those who have followed the National Contact Point’s 26-year history disagree about its effectiveness. Only three of the 33 cases submitted to the National Contact Point (NCP) since 2000 have reached a formal joint agreement; in one of the cases, it was the NCP of another country that led the case. Even then,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/canada-shuts-down-corporate-watchdog-critics-say-its-replacement-lacks-teeth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330245</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>&#8216;You Belong with Me:&#8217; Taylor Swift has a new genus of bug named after her</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/you-belong-with-me-taylor-swift-has-a-new-genus-of-bug-named-after-her/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/you-belong-with-me-taylor-swift-has-a-new-genus-of-bug-named-after-her/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 21:02:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/18205400/swiftiephylus-taylorae-option-1-768x512.avif" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330239</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Insects, Invertebrates, Research, Science, Taxonomy, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[You may have heard her songs, seen her videos, maybe even attended one of her concerts … but have you seen the new genus of Australian plant bugs named after Taylor Swift? Scientists at the University of California, Riverside recently described a new genus of plant bugs, they’ve named Swiftiephylus, in honor of the Grammy-winning [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[You may have heard her songs, seen her videos, maybe even attended one of her concerts … but have you seen the new genus of Australian plant bugs named after Taylor Swift? Scientists at the University of California, Riverside recently described a new genus of plant bugs, they’ve named Swiftiephylus, in honor of the Grammy-winning U.S. singer. The genus contains 12 new species of plant bugs. Four of the insects are named after Taylor Swift or her albums: Swiftiephylus taylorae, Swiftiephylus amator, Swiftiephylus intrepidus, and Swiftiephylus poetorum. The first is a Latinized version of Taylor; the others are references to her albums “Lover,” “Fearless” and “The Tortured Poets Department.”  The authors write that the insects were named after Taylor Swift, “in recognition of her show-stopping talent, heart-wrenching lyrics, and the joy and comfort she has brought to many. The term ‘Swifitie’ refers to Swift’s loving fanbase,” the study notes.   Study author and “Swiftie” Sarah Schroeder said in a press release that she named the insects after Taylor Swift’s appearance. “Taylor Swift’s iconic look is her blonde hair and red lips. These insects are pale yellow with accents of red throughout,” Schroeder said. “In the paper I refer to them as blonde.” Schroeder believes that their coloring helps the bugs camouflage in the flowers they live on, which feature spindly red to orange flowers. Though many species of insects are broadly called bugs, Swiftiephylus plant bugs are part of the Miridae family, the largest family of true bugs. There are more than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/you-belong-with-me-taylor-swift-has-a-new-genus-of-bug-named-after-her/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330239</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Britain&#8217;s Prince William reveals finalists for Earthshot environmental prize</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/britains-prince-william-reveals-finalists-for-earthshot-environmental-prize/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/britains-prince-william-reveals-finalists-for-earthshot-environmental-prize/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 16:43:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/11001326/ecuador_236248-reverse-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330238</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation Solutions, Energy, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Nature-based climate solutions, Offshore Wind, Renewable Energy, Solutions, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Wildlife Rehabilitation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LONDON (AP) — How does a grizzly bear cross the road? With the help of Indigenous people, ranchers and governments. That’s the idea behind the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, which is working to keep the Rocky Mountains an unfettered migration route for wildlife from Wyoming to northwestern Canada. To do so, the group works [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LONDON (AP) — How does a grizzly bear cross the road? With the help of Indigenous people, ranchers and governments. That’s the idea behind the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, which is working to keep the Rocky Mountains an unfettered migration route for wildlife from Wyoming to northwestern Canada. To do so, the group works with local people and governments throughout the region to protect wild lands and build overpasses, underpasses and fencing to help animals cross busy roads. The charity is one of the 15 finalists announced Friday for the 2026 Earthshot Prize, created by Britain’s Prince William to support conservationists and entrepreneurs developing solutions to climate change, pollution, habitat loss and other environmental threats. The winners in each of five categories receive 1 million pounds ($1.34 million) and assistance in expanding their projects. William launched the prize in 2020, inspired by U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 “Moonshot” speech that challenged Americans to go to the moon by the end of that decade. The prince’s goal is to accelerate the pace of environmental innovation and “repair the planet” by 2030. Other nominees for this year’s prize include an Argentine project that uses artificial intelligence and satellite data to spot and track wildfires across Latin America; the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance, which aims to cut carbon emissions from shipping, and Orsted, one of the world’s biggest developers of offshore wind farms. The winners will be announced Nov. 17 during a televised awards show in Mumbai. Jason Knauf, chief&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/britains-prince-william-reveals-finalists-for-earthshot-environmental-prize/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330238</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rooftop rainwater sprinkler systems could help cool warming cities, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rooftop-rainwater-sprinkler-systems-could-help-cool-warming-cities-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rooftop-rainwater-sprinkler-systems-could-help-cool-warming-cities-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 14:16:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nick Ruggia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17115305/02024_1205_Wasservorhang_-_Hitzewelle_in_Bielsko-Biala-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330065</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Change, Earth Science, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Health, Heatwave, Impact Of Climate Change, Planetary Health, Public Health, Research, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s a hot summer day in the city. The sun beats down relentlessly on asphalt and concrete, while tall buildings mercilessly snuff out any hope of a cooling breeze, intensifying urban heat island impacts. Urbanites around the world know the feeling well. And with an increasing number of potentially deadly heat wave days due to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s a hot summer day in the city. The sun beats down relentlessly on asphalt and concrete, while tall buildings mercilessly snuff out any hope of a cooling breeze, intensifying urban heat island impacts. Urbanites around the world know the feeling well. And with an increasing number of potentially deadly heat wave days due to a warming climate, it’s only becoming more familiar. But ask the same city dwellers how they feel when the barometer drops and a soft summer rain breaks the heat. That relief is something a group of researchers hope to artificially replicate using widely distributed rainwater collection tanks and smart rooftop sprinkler systems. The team, led by Zhonghua Zheng, an associate professor of urban climate and environmental data science at the University of Manchester in the U.K., used machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a new model that can help cities bring down internal temperatures in buildings and even cool outdoors during heat waves. Their proposed system includes a rooftop rainwater collection tank and a sprinkler system that activates at a specific outdoor temperature threshold to water the roof. Evaporation cools roof temperatures, Zheng explained in a Mongabay interview. “It has a dual benefit to cool both the indoor temperature and outdoor temperature.” The researchers used Tokyo as a case study due to Japan’s temperate climate, seasonal changes, and leadership in rainwater collection. The model found that the strategy would indeed bring down high surface and air temperatures if widely adopted across an urban setting.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rooftop-rainwater-sprinkler-systems-could-help-cool-warming-cities-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330065</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Five orangutans found in India face long road back home to Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 11:26:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/18111302/Orangutan-Sumatera-baby-swinging-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330216</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indonesia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Great Apes, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Orangutans, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ACEH, Indonesia — The five infant orangutans found roaming a woodland in India’s Odisha state earlier this month may have been trafficked across several international borders — and now face a long journey home through the different legal and bureaucratic systems of India and Indonesia, conservationists say. “This starts with hunting in the wild, separating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ACEH, Indonesia — The five infant orangutans found roaming a woodland in India’s Odisha state earlier this month may have been trafficked across several international borders — and now face a long journey home through the different legal and bureaucratic systems of India and Indonesia, conservationists say. “This starts with hunting in the wild, separating babies from their mothers, and transporting them across various regions, then selling them or keeping them as exotic pets,” said M. Indra Kurnia, director of conservation at the Sumatran Orangutan Lestari Foundation–Orangutan Information Center (YOSL-OIC). The five youngsters were found on Sept. 8 by locals near the Bichitrapur forest area in Balasore district, Odisha, a state on India’s east coast formed out of the ancient Kalinga region. Authorities are investigating how the animals came to be there, and the possible involvement of an international wildlife trafficking network. Only Indonesia and Malaysia have native orangutan populations, with the Indonesian island of Sumatra around 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) across the Indian Ocean from Odisha. The Bornean species lives in Indonesia and Malaysia, while the Sumatran and Tapanuli species are found only in Indonesia. “We mustn’t just see this as a local case in the country where the animals were found,” Indra said. This infant Sumatran orangutan is being cared for at the Sumatra Rescue Alliance (SRA) primate center Besitang district, North Sumatra. The infant is a victim of the illegal wildlife trade. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay Indonesia. Questions over wildlife smuggling route This isn’t the first time&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330216</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global ocean breaks records with 100 days of heat as El Niño adds new threat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-ocean-breaks-records-with-100-days-of-heat-as-el-nino-adds-new-threat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-ocean-breaks-records-with-100-days-of-heat-as-el-nino-adds-new-threat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 10:34:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/18091828/a.-%C2%A9-BANNER-Grigory-Heaton-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330195</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Science, El Nino, Ocean Warming, Oceans, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For 100 consecutive days between June 2 and Sept. 10, the global ocean outside of polar regions sustained record high average sea surface temperatures, according to data from the Climate Reanalyzer, a platform overseen by the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute in the U.S. On each of the 100 days, sea surface temperatures exceeded [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For 100 consecutive days between June 2 and Sept. 10, the global ocean outside of polar regions sustained record high average sea surface temperatures, according to data from the Climate Reanalyzer, a platform overseen by the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute in the U.S. On each of the 100 days, sea surface temperatures exceeded those on the same date in every other year on record since 1982. One of the highest readings occurred on Aug. 22, when global ocean sea surface temperatures reached 21.10° Celsius (69.98° Fahrenheit), according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The Climate Reanalyzer reported temperatures climbing even higher between Aug. 22 and 27, with average ocean sea surface temperatures hitting 21.18° C (70.12° F). The platform draws on global sea surface temperature data recorded by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These record temperatures are likely to remain elevated in the near future “given the state of the intensifying El Niño,” said Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at the U.S.-based nonprofit Climate Central, which communicates climate change science. Graphic illustrating climbing sea surface temperatures. Image courtesy of Climate Central. In a Sept. 10 press briefing that discussed the Climate Reanalyzer data, Labe said this record ocean heat is part of a long-term trend driven by the human-induced climate crisis. Without a reduction in greenhouse gases, he said the oceans will continue to warm. “The driver of this record warmth is climate change,” he said, “and more than 90% of that excess&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-ocean-breaks-records-with-100-days-of-heat-as-el-nino-adds-new-threat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At 86, Sri Lanka&#8217;s &#8216;father of herpetology&#8217; inspires a new conservation generation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/at-86-sri-lankas-father-of-herpetology-inspires-a-new-conservation-generation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/at-86-sri-lankas-father-of-herpetology-inspires-a-new-conservation-generation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 10:29:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25125206/1.-crocokodile-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330210</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Education, Herps, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Lizards, Reptiles, Science, Tropical Conservation Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Anslem de Silva is widely regarded as the father of modern herpetology in Sri Lanka. He has spent more than six decades documenting the island’s rich reptile and amphibian diversity while mentoring generations of researchers. De Silva spoke with Mongabay contributor Malaka Rodrigo as he, at 86 years old, prepares to host the first World [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Anslem de Silva is widely regarded as the father of modern herpetology in Sri Lanka. He has spent more than six decades documenting the island’s rich reptile and amphibian diversity while mentoring generations of researchers. De Silva spoke with Mongabay contributor Malaka Rodrigo as he, at 86 years old, prepares to host the first World Congress on Snakes. The conference in October in Sri Lanka’s hill city of Kandy will be an international gathering specifically dedicated to snake conservation and research. Over the course of a distinguished career, de Silva has authored more than 350 scientific papers and more than 25 books. His work began in the 1960s when only a small handful of Sri Lankan researchers were studying the country’s reptiles and amphibians. To build local scientific capacity, he organized the country’s first one-day herpetological conference in the 1960s. He also launched Sri Lanka’s first herpetological research journal, Lyriocephalus, and established the Amphibia and Reptile Research Organization of Sri Lanka in 1990. De Silva’s mentorship has left a lasting legacy across the region. Ruchira Somaweera, a Sri Lankan-born conservation biologist, recalled receiving an inscribed copy of the journal from de Silva when he was just 13. “Most of the herpetologists of my generation were groomed by de Silva, and hundreds, if not thousands, of students have been inspired by him, just like I was,” Somaweera told Mongabay. Born in 1940 in the southern coastal city of Matara, de Silva developed his passion for snakes as a child after rescuing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/at-86-sri-lankas-father-of-herpetology-inspires-a-new-conservation-generation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330210</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US move to loosen restrictions on fishing could harm vital ecosystems, experts warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/us-move-to-loosen-restrictions-on-fishing-could-harm-vital-ecosystems-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/us-move-to-loosen-restrictions-on-fishing-could-harm-vital-ecosystems-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 10:13:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jules Struck]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17141756/a.-BANNER-2-AP24197590776091-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330081</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Endangered Species Act, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The federal agency that oversees U.S. fisheries released a list of priorities on Sept. 2, advancing the Trump administration’s promise to deregulate the domestic industry. The list of 34 priorities was published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, which oversees scientific research, data collection and regulation of commercial fishing operations in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The federal agency that oversees U.S. fisheries released a list of priorities on Sept. 2, advancing the Trump administration’s promise to deregulate the domestic industry. The list of 34 priorities was published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, which oversees scientific research, data collection and regulation of commercial fishing operations in the United States alongside regional and tribal councils. The list outlines the agency’s intention to loosen restrictions on where, when and with what gear fishers are allowed to fish. U.S. fisheries are globally recognized as some of the most heavily-regulated and sustainable in the world. Conservationists say the agency’s new priorities are the latest signal from an administration intent on deregulating and defunding the agency. They warn that deregulation will open the door to overfishing and do lasting harm to ecosystems that support ocean health and sustain fisheries. “If we are reducing regulations and overfishing some really valuable fisheries this year or next year, it may take years for those fisheries to get back on track to healthy [stock] levels,” Reggie Paros, senior director of public affairs at the New York-based NGO Environmental Defense Fund, told Mongabay by phone. “The outcomes we would see on the water would be particularly damaging.” A pile of young Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) on the deck of the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based fishing vessel Selje, collected during a NOAA survey to help track scallop abundance, distribution, ages, lengths, weights, sex, maturity and disease presence. Image by Catherine Foley/NOAA Fisheries.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/us-move-to-loosen-restrictions-on-fishing-could-harm-vital-ecosystems-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330081</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Now exempt from EU deforestation rules, leather industry moves to repair reputation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 04:30:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elisângela Mendonça]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/18012102/IMG_2200-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330162</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Forestry, Governance, leather, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PARIS — The prestigious Maison de la Chimie in central Paris hummed with confidence as leather representatives gathered to discuss the industry’s next steps to tackle what they call an unfair “negative perception” attributed to the material. On Sept. 7, around 400 international tanners, luxury-brand representatives and meatpacking executives gathered for the eighth Sustainable Leather [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PARIS — The prestigious Maison de la Chimie in central Paris hummed with confidence as leather representatives gathered to discuss the industry’s next steps to tackle what they call an unfair “negative perception” attributed to the material. On Sept. 7, around 400 international tanners, luxury-brand representatives and meatpacking executives gathered for the eighth Sustainable Leather Forum. Speaking to their peers, panelists presented leather as a cornerstone of the circular economy: A way to make use of bovine hides that might otherwise go to waste. Beyond the ornate halls of the 18th-century mansion, after intense lobbying, the EU has exempted leather from its landmark deforestation law while simultaneously keeping restrictions on beef. Critics say this creates a regulatory contradiction: Products from the same cow will be allowed to enter Europe under two very different sets of rules. This juxtaposition has sharpened a long-simmering debate: If beef importers must prove their products are deforestation-free, why would hides from the same animals enter Europe with no equivalent oversight? Environmental and supply chain researchers argue the exemption creates a loophole that effectively splits responsibility for a single production system and this ultimately weakens the law. For industry representatives interviewed by Mongabay, the sector faces a reputational crisis. The EUDR did a “disservice” to a well-intentioned sector that benefits the environment by recycling a byproduct that otherwise would be discarded, a tannery executive said. Indeed, according to the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA), a U.S. trade association, around 40% of cowhides produced globally&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330162</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tapanuli orangutans face mining, landslides, and fire threats — with no recovery plan</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 04:14:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/19202130/Tapanuli-Orangutan-Pongo-tapanuliensis-by-Safira-Arda-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330177</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Gold Mining, Governance, Great Apes, Landslides, Mammals, Mining, Natural Resources, Orangutans, Primates, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly a year after what scientists describe as one of the most severe ecological shocks ever documented for the world’s rarest great ape species, there is still no coordinated recovery strategy for Tapanuli orangutans, even as mining resumes, future development plans remain active, and a strong El Niño introduces a new threat. That [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly a year after what scientists describe as one of the most severe ecological shocks ever documented for the world’s rarest great ape species, there is still no coordinated recovery strategy for Tapanuli orangutans, even as mining resumes, future development plans remain active, and a strong El Niño introduces a new threat. That broader concern over the survival of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) has been sharpened by recent satellite imagery showing fresh ground disturbances inside the concession for Indonesia&#8217;s Martabe gold mine, which overlaps with the ape’s habitat. Disputed disturbances The disturbances appeared as swaths of treeless and disturbed earth between June 13 and June 23 on steep rainforest hills around the Ramba Joring pit in Batang Toru, North Sumatra province, according to Planet satellite imagery reviewed by Mongabay. The area is part of an ecosystem that supports the largest known population of the Tapanuli orangutan. Researchers estimate that 716 Tapanuli orangutans remain in Batang Toru, with the population split across three increasingly fragmented subpopulations, leaving the species with little demographic margin for additional losses. A high-resolution AirBus image of the ground disturbance in Martabe gold mine in June 2026. Image courtesy of Mighty Earth. Mighty Earth, a U.S.-based environmental organization, describes the features as landslides associated with mine development. Agincourt Resources, which operates the Martabe mine, disputes that characterization, saying the June disturbance resulted from material movement following blasting carried out within its planned operational area. The blasting, the company said, was planned with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mekong’s Irrawaddy dolphins find cautious hope amid a river in crisis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mekongs-irrawaddy-dolphins-find-cautious-hope-amid-a-river-in-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mekongs-irrawaddy-dolphins-find-cautious-hope-amid-a-river-in-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 20:59:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Eung Sea]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17123401/WWF-Cambodia01-dolphin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329840</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Culture, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Fishing, Freshwater, Illegal Fishing, Mammals, Rivers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAMPI, Cambodia — At nine in the morning, the sun beats down on the Mekong River as Heang Koeurn turns off the motor of his boat and bobs on the water. He has done this every morning for 11 years, and he still leans forward the same way when he waits: elbows on his knees, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAMPI, Cambodia — At nine in the morning, the sun beats down on the Mekong River as Heang Koeurn turns off the motor of his boat and bobs on the water. He has done this every morning for 11 years, and he still leans forward the same way when he waits: elbows on his knees, eyes scanning the water for a gray curve to break the surface. Finally, he spots what he’s looking for: Irrawaddy dolphins, the river’s sole cetaceans. Just meters away, a boat carries about half a dozen foreign tourists who squint and point as, one after another, the dorsal fins of a group of Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) crest above the water. “Irrawaddy dolphins are very important for our community,” Koeurn says, drifting his boat slowly on the water. “People here can make more income from tourists by driving them to see the beauty of Irrawaddy dolphins.” But the Mekong River, a lifeline for millions of people across Southeast Asia, is in ecological crisis, threatening the survival of Irrawaddy dolphins — and with it the livelihoods and traditions of communities along the river. Every morning, boat driver Heang Koeurn takes tourists for dolphin sightseeing at Kampi pool. Image by Eung Sea for Mongabay. Habitat in tatters The Mekong River cuts through northern Stung Treng province along Cambodia’s border with Laos, where deep pools shelter unique aquatic species such as the giant freshwater stingray. The Kampi pool, a 60-meter- (nearly 200-feet-) deep stretch of the river in Cambodia’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mekongs-irrawaddy-dolphins-find-cautious-hope-amid-a-river-in-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329840</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Heavy rain and floods in northern Vietnam submerge homes and disrupt economy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/heavy-rain-and-floods-in-northern-vietnam-submerge-homes-and-disrupt-economy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/heavy-rain-and-floods-in-northern-vietnam-submerge-homes-and-disrupt-economy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 18:58:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17183459/AP26260599365438-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330148</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Heavy rain caused flooding across parts of northern Vietnam on Thursday, disrupting travel, inundating homes and pushing several rivers above dangerous levels, authorities and state media said. Rain has fallen across northern and north-central Vietnam this week, with some areas receiving more than 50 centimeters (19.7 inches), according to the disaster [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Heavy rain caused flooding across parts of northern Vietnam on Thursday, disrupting travel, inundating homes and pushing several rivers above dangerous levels, authorities and state media said. Rain has fallen across northern and north-central Vietnam this week, with some areas receiving more than 50 centimeters (19.7 inches), according to the disaster prevention department. More than 2,000 homes have been submerged, many key transportation routes blocked and more than 1,000 households isolated. Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces, which include lowland and hilly areas south of the capital Hanoi, have been among the hardest hit. Vietnam is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries and prone to flooding. A series of severe storms last year spurred the country to find new ways to prepare for and manage floods. In Thanh Hoa province, authorities told students to stay home because flooding had made travel to school dangerous, state media said. Heavy rains and flooding have submerged or damaged about 10,014 hectares (24,745 acres) of rice and other crops, with the largest losses reported in Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces. Thousands of livestock and poultry also have been killed. “The flood happens every year,” Ninh Binh resident Tran Ngoc Tai told national broadcaster VTV, adding that people were prepared with fresh water and food. Many streets in Hanoi were deeply flooded Thursday morning, with water nearly a meter (3.2 feet) deep in some places, disrupting traffic and making it difficult for residents to get to work, take children&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/heavy-rain-and-floods-in-northern-vietnam-submerge-homes-and-disrupt-economy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/heavy-rain-and-floods-in-northern-vietnam-submerge-homes-and-disrupt-economy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330148</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>India’s tiger success brings a new challenge: Living alongside the big cats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indias-tiger-success-brings-a-new-challenge-living-alongside-the-big-cats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indias-tiger-success-brings-a-new-challenge-living-alongside-the-big-cats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 14:43:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/16122609/4.-Swami-Gowda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329853</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conflict, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Governance, Habitat, Human-wildlife Conflict, Predators, Protected Areas, Tigers, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forty-five-year-old Mahadeva Gowda was tending to his cotton farm in the village of Badagalapura in the southern Indian state of Karnataka when a tiger lunged at him from behind. He was caught unaware: He says he wasn’t aware that the forest department was trying to capture a tiger roaming through the area. Before he realized [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forty-five-year-old Mahadeva Gowda was tending to his cotton farm in the village of Badagalapura in the southern Indian state of Karnataka when a tiger lunged at him from behind. He was caught unaware: He says he wasn’t aware that the forest department was trying to capture a tiger roaming through the area. Before he realized what was happening, the tiger swiped at his face, severely injuring his eyes and part of his face. After multiple reconstructive surgeries, Gowda has been left to live the rest of his life blinded, without eyes, his mouth only able to open partially, and his speech slurred. His wife, Indrani, says survival is extremely difficult for the family: Gowda was the household’s breadwinner, and now, he can’t work. He’s now become fully dependent on his wife for even his most basic needs. The incident occurred in mid-October 2025. Two weeks later, another farmer, 55-year-old Rajashekarappa, was grazing his cattle in a field when he encountered a tiger: It was fatal. Badagalapura and other villages that regularly report tiger encounters sit on the edge of the forest, placing them within what the forest department considers a “tiger landscape.” “Tigers have been present in this landscape for centuries and they constantly move here,” says S. Prabhakaran, who served as conservator of forests and oversaw operations at Karnataka’s Bandipur Tiger Reserve until earlier this year. The 1,456-square-kilometer (562-square-mile) park is home to between 154 and 175 tigers, according to a 2024 estimate by India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indias-tiger-success-brings-a-new-challenge-living-alongside-the-big-cats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329853</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community-based conservation is a good climate investment in Brazil &#038; beyond (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-conservation-is-a-good-climate-investment-in-brazil-beyond-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-conservation-is-a-good-climate-investment-in-brazil-beyond-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 14:39:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Cristina BarrosCarlos Eduardo Viveiros GrelleKatia Ribeiro Torres]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/29122935/Fisher-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[climate finance, Commentary, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Development, Finance, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than half a century has passed since Garrett Hardin published The Tragedy of the Commons in Science in 1968. In that influential article, he argued that human greed and short-term thinking would drive societies toward collapse. Hardin illustrated his argument with the well-known example of herders sharing a pasture: each herder would receive all [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than half a century has passed since Garrett Hardin published The Tragedy of the Commons in Science in 1968. In that influential article, he argued that human greed and short-term thinking would drive societies toward collapse. Hardin illustrated his argument with the well-known example of herders sharing a pasture: each herder would receive all the income from adding another animal, while the cost of consuming the grass would be shared by all. The path toward pasture depletion was therefore set, as some herders would keep adding animals for their own benefit rather than restrain themselves in the name of an abstract collective good. For Hardin, there was no way to change this equation; the solution for the sustainability of life on the planet was population control. Two decades later, and not by chance, it was a woman who challenged this foretold tragedy, showing that, under certain conditions, human beings can be organized and perceptive enough to cooperate and avert collective failure. Elinor Ostrom developed a theory of cooperation applied to the use of common-pool resources, explaining how locally agreed rules can enable shared benefits. It was an expression of confidence in human social intelligence. The point is not to decide who was right or wrong. Hardin’s argument helps us understand why reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains so difficult, as do countless examples of the degradation of humanity’s natural heritage and, consequently, of the foundations of our future. Ostrom, in turn, helps explain many successful cases of collective natural resource&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-conservation-is-a-good-climate-investment-in-brazil-beyond-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As drought shrinks Sri Lanka’s water holes, poisoning poses threat to wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-drought-shrinks-sri-lankas-water-holes-poisoning-poses-threat-to-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-drought-shrinks-sri-lankas-water-holes-poisoning-poses-threat-to-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 13:47:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17134641/3.-A-leopard-drinking-water-from-a-water-hole-in-Yala-c-Mevan-Piyasena-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330105</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, National Parks, Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[YALA, Sri Lanka – One early morning in July 2016, six wildlife officers waited in a patch of scrubland close to a small pond in southern Sri Lanka. They had received information that poachers had poisoned the water hole to kill wild animals for meat. A dead deer lay beside the poisoned pool as the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[YALA, Sri Lanka – One early morning in July 2016, six wildlife officers waited in a patch of scrubland close to a small pond in southern Sri Lanka. They had received information that poachers had poisoned the water hole to kill wild animals for meat. A dead deer lay beside the poisoned pool as the officers waited for the poachers to return. When two men approached the carcass, the officers moved in. One suspect fled, while a wildlife ranger tackled the other as he tried to escape. During the struggle, the ranger’s rifle discharged, fatally wounding him in the stomach. The officer was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital. The incident, in the Sinukkugala jungles about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the town Hambantota in the South exposed the deadly chain behind a seemingly simple act: Putting poison into a water hole. The poachers were not just killing a single animal; they were turning water — one of the most vital resources in Sri Lanka’s dry-zone landscape — into a trap. Nearly a decade later, wildlife officials continue to warn against the practice as poisoning incidents persist. In one such incident in July of this year, wildlife officers found 17 deer carcasses beside an empty agrochemical bag that may have been used to poison the animals. This pregnant doe died after drinking from a poisoned water hole, which also killed her unborn fawn. Image courtesy of the Department of Wildlife Conservation Facebook page. During droughts, wildlife becomes concentrated&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-drought-shrinks-sri-lankas-water-holes-poisoning-poses-threat-to-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330105</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World’s smallest crocodile in high demand for bushmeat trade in Nigeria</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/worlds-smallest-crocodile-in-high-demand-for-bushmeat-trade-in-nigeria/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/worlds-smallest-crocodile-in-high-demand-for-bushmeat-trade-in-nigeria/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 11:07:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amir Sadiq]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17103100/DwarfCrocodileOsteolaemus.tetraspis_EricDeRedelijkheid-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330046</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Herps, Hunting, Over-hunting, Poaching, Reptiles, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The African dwarf crocodile is the world’s smallest living crocodile. These reptiles, nocturnal predators of crabs, gastropods and the occasional fish or small mammal, can reach 2 meters (6.6 feet) in length. They are found in dense swamps and flooded forests across large parts of West and Central Africa. Despite being listed as vulnerable on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The African dwarf crocodile is the world’s smallest living crocodile. These reptiles, nocturnal predators of crabs, gastropods and the occasional fish or small mammal, can reach 2 meters (6.6 feet) in length. They are found in dense swamps and flooded forests across large parts of West and Central Africa. Despite being listed as vulnerable on the IUCN’s Red List, the African dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis) has not been assessed by the conservation organization for 30 years. Anecdotal evidence suggests the crocodile’s numbers have declined sharply in many places where they were formerly common due to over-harvesting and destruction of their habitat. “The dwarf crocodile is particularly well-suited for the commercial trade,” ecologist Mitchell Eaton wrote in 2008. “Its small size and slow metabolism allow it to be captured and transported live over long distances without the need for refrigeration.” These unfortunately convenient characteristics have made the species a prized target for hunters across the reptiles’ range and conservationists fear this is putting crocodile populations under unsustainable pressure. Researcher Israel Ogorode with a dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis) at the Uwa bushmeat market in Benin City, Nigeria. Image courtesy of Israel Ogorode. For a study published in August in the journal BMC Zoology, conservation biologist Israel Ogorode and colleagues surveyed sales of African dwarf crocodiles at three markets in the Niger Delta, aiming to collect data about how many of the reptiles are sold — and who is doing the selling. Ogorode and the researchers visited three bushmeat markets in the Niger&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/worlds-smallest-crocodile-in-high-demand-for-bushmeat-trade-in-nigeria/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330046</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A giant anteater’s return in Argentina offers a case for letting nature restore itself</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-giant-anteaters-return-in-argentina-offers-a-case-for-letting-nature-restore-itself/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-giant-anteaters-return-in-argentina-offers-a-case-for-letting-nature-restore-itself/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 09:55:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15094610/Image_1_Osa-hormiguero-sobre-Bermejo-Foto-Veronica-Quiroga-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329627</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Chaco, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Conservation Solutions, Forest Regeneration, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Restoration, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Threatened species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, a giant anteater returned to the Alma Guaraní reserve in Argentina’s Corrientes province. It marked the first sighting of this vulnerable and emblematic mammal in the region since 1986. That return is believed to be the result of restoration work that began in the reserve in 2021, according to a paper published in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In 2025, a giant anteater returned to the Alma Guaraní reserve in Argentina’s Corrientes province. It marked the first sighting of this vulnerable and emblematic mammal in the region since 1986. That return is believed to be the result of restoration work that began in the reserve in 2021, according to a paper published in Restoration Ecology, which makes the case that passive restoration in particular may have triggered the species’ return to the area. “It was the first register of the giant anteater in 40 years in Corrientes province, and it was spontaneous,” said co-author Rosario Montiel, from the National University of the Northeast and CEO of climate and environmental startup RestoreData. “We think that in this area, in this reserve, this animal has found food and all its needs to settle there.” It’s not known where the giant anteater came from. Montiel and colleagues suggest the individual, thought to be a male, may have crossed over from neighboring Chaco province, swimming across the nearby Parana River when water levels hit a historical low in 2024. Giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) are classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Habitat loss is a major threat, driven primarily by the expansion of agriculture and livestock ranching, and is behind much of the species’ decline across Argentina and the wider Gran Chaco region. Infrastructure development, such as increasing road networks, and hunting are also significant threats. Anteaters are caught for the pet trade and accidentally killed by hunters’ dogs. These pressures still&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-giant-anteaters-return-in-argentina-offers-a-case-for-letting-nature-restore-itself/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329627</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rescuers race against time as fires ravage orangutan habitat inside Indonesian oil palm concession</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 06:18:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/11091303/GP0STU10T_Medium_res-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330015</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Climate, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Crops, El Nino, Extreme Weather, Fires, Great Apes, Mammals, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Primates, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservationists are racing to rescue orangutans from a fire-ravaged peat-swamp forest inside an RSPO-certified oil palm concession in West Kalimantan, with smoke still rising and the ground remaining dangerously hot. The 657-hectare (1,623-acre) forest, designated as a High Conservation Value (HCV) area inside PT Kayung Agro Lestari (KAL), is home to around 60 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservationists are racing to rescue orangutans from a fire-ravaged peat-swamp forest inside an RSPO-certified oil palm concession in West Kalimantan, with smoke still rising and the ground remaining dangerously hot. The 657-hectare (1,623-acre) forest, designated as a High Conservation Value (HCV) area inside PT Kayung Agro Lestari (KAL), is home to around 60 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), one of three orangutan species in the world and the only one found on the island of Borneo, according to conservationists. The forest was also used in October 2015 to release four orangutans rescued by the Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO working to establish and maintain sustainable orangutan populations. Nearly 11 years after four orangutans were released there, the peat-swamp forest that provided their habitat has itself been almost completely affected by fire, according to satellite analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap. This animation shows the progression of fire within and around the PT Kayung Agro Lestari concession in Ketapang (yellow lines), West Kalimantan, between 8 August and 12 September 2026. The sequence shows how fires progressively burned the HCV forests (turning from dark green to dark red) over the course of several weeks. Image courtesy of TheTreeMap/Nusantara Atlas. The analysis indicates that one of the major fires began on Aug. 8 along a canal at the edge of the oil palm plantation in Ketapang district, before spreading westward into the HCV forest. Conservationists are working to rescue orangutans still believed to be in the area. Some animals&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330015</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Exotic pet trade poses rising zoonotic disease risks in India</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/exotic-pet-trade-poses-rising-zoonotic-disease-risks-in-india/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/exotic-pet-trade-poses-rising-zoonotic-disease-risks-in-india/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 06:15:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17061451/parrot-exotic-pet-trade-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330017</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Diseases, Governance, Health, Law, Law Enforcement, One Health, Pandemics, Pet Trade, Pets, Public Health, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In India, the exotic pet trade is increasing the risk of zoonotic disease spillovers, as close contact with imported wild animals creates repeated opportunities for dangerous pathogens to jump to humans and vice versa, reports Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon. Dr. Rina Dev, an avian and exotic animal veterinarian in Mumbai who treats imported and seized [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In India, the exotic pet trade is increasing the risk of zoonotic disease spillovers, as close contact with imported wild animals creates repeated opportunities for dangerous pathogens to jump to humans and vice versa, reports Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon. Dr. Rina Dev, an avian and exotic animal veterinarian in Mumbai who treats imported and seized wildlife, experienced the potential danger firsthand when she was hospitalized with a lung infection. “I hope it’s not something from the parrots I was treating,” Dev told Mongabay India after she was released from the hospital. Her concerns are warranted: diseases like avian chlamydiosis (psittacosis) are commonly contracted by people who handle birds, earning it the nickname “bird handler’s disease.” Dev noted that traded animals can carry a wide array of infections, including salmonellosis from reptiles, tuberculosis from primates, and avian influenza from birds. “Tuberculosis is increasingly being detected among primates, which is a big zoonotic concern,” she said. Uttara Mendiratta, a conservation researcher working on illegal wildlife hunting and trade, said disease transfer between humans and other primates is especially easy because we’re so closely related. Ebola and HIV can both pass from nonhuman primates to people, for example. Human diseases can also be deadly for wildlife. A global analysis revealed that traded mammals are 1.5 times more likely to share pathogens with humans than nontraded mammals. On average a traded species shares one additional pathogen with humans for every decade it’s traded. Additionally, a 2026 report by Humane World for Animals, a global&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/exotic-pet-trade-poses-rising-zoonotic-disease-risks-in-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330017</doi>				</item>
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