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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?byline=dr-jim-barry&#038;post_type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/dr-jim-barry/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:54:53 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Dr. Jim Barry Archives</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/dr-jim-barry/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Wildfire spreads near popular French tourist town as thousands are evacuated</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/wildfire-spreads-near-popular-french-tourist-town-as-thousands-are-evacuated/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/wildfire-spreads-near-popular-french-tourist-town-as-thousands-are-evacuated/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 17:54:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/23175207/AP26204471296489-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324407</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PARIS (AP) — About 20,000 people were evacuated from towns and vacation resorts along the French Atlantic coast Thursday as the latest in a series of wildfires raged and hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to tackle it. Local authorities said the fire in a forest near the town of Lège-Cap Ferret, southwest of Bordeaux, spread [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PARIS (AP) — About 20,000 people were evacuated from towns and vacation resorts along the French Atlantic coast Thursday as the latest in a series of wildfires raged and hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to tackle it. Local authorities said the fire in a forest near the town of Lège-Cap Ferret, southwest of Bordeaux, spread over more than 31 square kilometers (12 square miles), though no injuries have been reported. The prefect, or head of the surrounding Gironde region, Sophie Brocas, said some 700 firefighters have been deployed, including forces sent from the Paris region. The fire came within 300 meters (980 feet) of the first homes in Lège, and water bombers were being used. Later in the day, the prefect&#8217;s office said the wildfire had not yet been brought under control but remained contained to the north of Lège. More than 10,000 people, including tourists staying at holiday camps and campgrounds, were moved to safety overnight, along with more than 1,000 residents living in residential areas along the forest edge. Authorities later evacuated the village of Claouey, including residents staying at several campsites, as a precautionary measure. Brocas said the evacuation involved 8,800 people. Several municipalities have opened reception and respite centers for evacuees, the prefecture said. Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Following a succession of heat waves that started even before the summer, wildfires&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/wildfire-spreads-near-popular-french-tourist-town-as-thousands-are-evacuated/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324407</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How saline drinking water raises preeclampsia risks in coastal Bangladesh (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-saline-drinking-water-raises-preeclampsia-risks-in-coastal-bangladesh-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-saline-drinking-water-raises-preeclampsia-risks-in-coastal-bangladesh-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 16:59:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashik Rubaiyat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/23164359/Water-collection-from-pond-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324396</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Drinking Water, Ecology, Fisheries, Storms, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Hypertensive or high blood pressure disorders are among the leading causes of maternal deaths in low-income countries. A pregnancy complication known as preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder, is listed among the top five causes of maternal deaths in Bangladesh. For expectant women with preeclampsia, timely treatment is required; otherwise, it can lead to issues such as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Hypertensive or high blood pressure disorders are among the leading causes of maternal deaths in low-income countries. A pregnancy complication known as preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder, is listed among the top five causes of maternal deaths in Bangladesh. For expectant women with preeclampsia, timely treatment is required; otherwise, it can lead to issues such as elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count syndrome, hepatic failure, coma or loss of life.The Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the U.N. set an ambitious target to reduce the maternal mortality rate to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by the end of 2030. While many developed nations have already achieved the U.N. target, low- and middle-income countries are yet to achieve these goals. In Bangladesh, the maternal mortality rate is 196 per 100,000 live births and rates remain significantly higher in the neighboring countries . A recent study reported an association between hypertension, preeclampsia and high-salinity drinking water. The same study argues that, in Bangladesh, preeclampsia is associated with high-salt drinking water. Epidemiological evidence links high salt intake to hypertension in both adults and children. The scarcity of safe drinking water has become a serious global issue due to agricultural expansion, sea level rise caused by global warming and population growth. The IPCC, in its sixth Assessment Report (AR6), stated that climate change affects water availability and water quality. Globally, around 4 billion people face water scarcity for at least one month each year. Storm surges and rising sea levels make it easier for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-saline-drinking-water-raises-preeclampsia-risks-in-coastal-bangladesh-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-324396</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ten years of Mongabay Latam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ten-years-of-mongabay-latam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ten-years-of-mongabay-latam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 15:48:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/23154059/colombia_260721163005_0719z-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323972</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Journalism, and Media]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; When Mongabay Latam began publishing in 2016, the decision felt like a logical next step. Mongabay Indonesia, launched four years earlier, had shown that a locally led, local-language newsroom could build an audience for sustained environmental reporting. Spanish offered the chance to apply that approach across a region extending from Mexico through Central America [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; When Mongabay Latam began publishing in 2016, the decision felt like a logical next step. Mongabay Indonesia, launched four years earlier, had shown that a locally led, local-language newsroom could build an audience for sustained environmental reporting. Spanish offered the chance to apply that approach across a region extending from Mexico through Central America and the Andes to Chile and Argentina. The political and ecological conditions varied widely, but the need was similar: important environmental stories were going unreported, or receiving attention only after a crisis became difficult to ignore. Latin America and the Caribbean are the most biologically diverse region on Earth, holding nearly half of the world’s tropical forests and unusually large shares of its mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and plants. The Spanish-speaking countries in Mongabay Latam’s coverage area include some of the richest parts of the Amazon rainforest, the tropical Andes, Mesoamerica, the Chocó, and the eastern Pacific. These landscapes face growing pressure from mining, agriculture, infrastructure, organized crime, and climate change. Macaws in Peru. Image by Rhett Butler for Mongabay. I was also drawn to the region’s cultural and intellectual range. Latin America has produced many responses to these pressures, including Indigenous territorial governance, community forestry, new legal approaches to nature, and locally designed conservation programs. A regional news service could document environmental damage while also examining how people were responding to it. Mongabay Latam’s staff and contributors built the newsroom that followed. Editors developed the judgment, relationships, and institutional memory needed to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ten-years-of-mongabay-latam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323972</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Brazil&#8217;s Xokleng people, saving a sacred tree means saving their culture</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/for-brazils-xokleng-people-saving-a-sacred-tree-means-saving-their-culture/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/for-brazils-xokleng-people-saving-a-sacred-tree-means-saving-their-culture/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 13:17:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Letícia Klein]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20151307/8C9A8751-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324056</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Community Forests, Conservation, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Plants, Protected Areas, Sustainable Forest Management, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[IBIRAMA-LA KLÃNÕ INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — Zág, pronounced “zã,” is the Xokleng word for the Brazilian pine. This tree species, Araucaria angustifolia, is typical of the Atlantic Forest that runs along Brazil’s south and southeastern coast, and has been evolving on the planet for about 200 million years. Each female tree produces dozens of cones, which [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[IBIRAMA-LA KLÃNÕ INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — Zág, pronounced “zã,” is the Xokleng word for the Brazilian pine. This tree species, Araucaria angustifolia, is typical of the Atlantic Forest that runs along Brazil’s south and southeastern coast, and has been evolving on the planet for about 200 million years. Each female tree produces dozens of cones, which in turn carry hundreds of seeds. Known in Brazil as pinhão, the Brazilian pine seed is a nut eaten by at least 22 animal species as well as humans, who rely on it for both nutrition and income. For some Indigenous peoples, however, it means more than food. It’s part of their culture, history, and origin myths. That’s the case for the Xokleng people, also known as the Laklãnõ, in what is today Santa Catarina state. In their villages, people are even named after the tree. “Brazilian pines are sacred to us,” says Carl Gakran, executive director of the Zág Institute. “You can’t tell the story of our people without speaking of them. Our creation myth says the protective animal was made from that tree, so it appears in the very first story.” Carl decided to do something for the pines in 2016, after learning that the species was critically endangered as a result of deforestation, urban expansion, and logging. Currently, Brazilian pine forests are estimated to cover less than 3% of their original range, which once stretched across much of the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, with small patches&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/for-brazils-xokleng-people-saving-a-sacred-tree-means-saving-their-culture/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324056</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New bird species identified on remote Indonesian island</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/new-bird-species-identified-on-remote-indonesian-island/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/new-bird-species-identified-on-remote-indonesian-island/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 05:13:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/23051147/Fantail-e1784783558438-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324365</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Forestry, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Islands, New Discovery, Research, Science, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A songbird species previously thought to occur across two Indonesian islands has turned out to be two distinct species, according to a recent study. For more than 120 years, many scientists believed that Indonesia’s Babar Islands in eastern Banda Sea, and Tanimbar Islands, roughly 135 kilometers (84 miles) east of the Babar Islands, were both [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A songbird species previously thought to occur across two Indonesian islands has turned out to be two distinct species, according to a recent study. For more than 120 years, many scientists believed that Indonesia’s Babar Islands in eastern Banda Sea, and Tanimbar Islands, roughly 135 kilometers (84 miles) east of the Babar Islands, were both home to the cinnamon-tailed fantail (Rhipidura fuscorufa). But a team of researchers led by James A. Eaton of Birdtour Asia Limited and Alex J. Berryman of BirdLife International has confirmed that the songbird on Babar Islands is a distinct species, which they’ve named the cheerful fantail (Rhipidura laguceria). To confirm these findings, the researchers analyzed 19 museum specimens of birds labeled cinnamon-tailed fantail, historically collected from both Tanimbar and Babar islands. They also recorded songs of the birds on both islands, then played the recorded calls back to the wild birds 132 separate times over several years. The researchers found that physical differences between the populations on the two islands are subtle: The cheerful fantail possess slightly darker upperparts and less extensive cinnamon plumage below than the cinnamon-tailed fantail. However, their songs vary considerably. The researchers said in the study that songs of the birds on Babar typically consist of “single whistles that rise in pitch towards the end.” By contrast, the Tanimbar birds combine very short and longer whistles, which gives their songs a “much more rhythmic cadence,” with pitch that typically goes up and down. The song recording experiments also revealed that birds&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/new-bird-species-identified-on-remote-indonesian-island/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324365</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Third year of wildfires threaten isolated Indigenous group in Bolivia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/third-year-of-wildfires-threaten-isolated-indigenous-group-in-bolivia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/third-year-of-wildfires-threaten-isolated-indigenous-group-in-bolivia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 21:59:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/22215708/AP24257813065731-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324359</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Protected Areas, Traditional People, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildfires have burned thousands of hectares of forest and savanna in the Chacobo-Pacahuara Indigenous territory in the Beni department of northern Bolivia, according to satellite imagery and on-the-ground sources. The fires likely resulted from illegal burns in pastures surrounding the Indigenous territory. The fires hit Chacobo-Pacahuara in September and October 2025, the third consecutive year [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wildfires have burned thousands of hectares of forest and savanna in the Chacobo-Pacahuara Indigenous territory in the Beni department of northern Bolivia, according to satellite imagery and on-the-ground sources. The fires likely resulted from illegal burns in pastures surrounding the Indigenous territory. The fires hit Chacobo-Pacahuara in September and October 2025, the third consecutive year of unusually high fire activity in the Indigenous land, according to the most recent data released by Global Forest Watch, a platform that uses satellite data to track forest loss worldwide. The flames consumed Indigenous subsistence crops and homes. Locals also expressed worry for the safety of isolated Indigenous communities.  “We have Indigenous relatives who live in voluntary isolation, and we do not know what has happened to them because the forest and the forest islands where they lived burned,” Constantino Toledo Ortiz, a leader of the Chácobo people, told Mongabay in a voice message. “We think they may have crossed into Brazil.” According to a bulletin published by the Center for Legal Studies and Social Research (CEJIS), 1,141 heat hotspots, typically caused by fire, were recorded in the territory between Jan. 1 and Sept. 12, 2025. CEJIS recorded an additional 845 heat hotspots between Sept. 29 and Oct. 16, 2025. The sharp increase is in line with the Bolivian Amazon’s typical fire season, which usually peaks around August and September when the climate is at its driest. Chacobo-Pacahuara was the most affected Indigenous territory in the Bolivian Amazon in 2025. Map by Andrés Alegría/Mongabay. In 2024,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/third-year-of-wildfires-threaten-isolated-indigenous-group-in-bolivia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324359</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Australia expands seismic testing, experts warn of profound effects on sealife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 18:38:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Theoné van der Merwe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/22140035/b.-%C2%A9Wayne-and-Pam-Osborn-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324311</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, carbon, Conservation, Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Science, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It was spring, 20 years ago now, but he remembers it clearly. On the deck of the Geco Resolution, wind tearing spray from the waves, Robert McCauley stood gazing out onto an ocean blackened by night. The ship had been firing seismic airguns all day, thunderous blasts punching through the water and into the seabed. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It was spring, 20 years ago now, but he remembers it clearly. On the deck of the Geco Resolution, wind tearing spray from the waves, Robert McCauley stood gazing out onto an ocean blackened by night. The ship had been firing seismic airguns all day, thunderous blasts punching through the water and into the seabed. Over time, the rhythmic boom reverberating through the hull had almost faded into the background. But then night fell, and the sound revealed itself. “Every time the airgun went off, the sea would light up,” McCauley told Mongabay. Each blast was triggering a burst of bioluminescence — dinoflagellates and other microscopic life igniting in unison. “A sheet of light would shoot out, like a wave traveling at the speed of sound. It went out for about a kilometer at least,” he said. As Australia’s leading expert in marine bioacoustics, McCauley, a research scientist at the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University, was there to study how whales responded to the noise. But watching the bioluminescent glow pulse outward and fade, then pulse again, he found himself wondering less about whales and more about the tiny organisms that sustain them. “It made me think, what’s happening to all those little animals? How are they being stimulated? And what happens if they’re being stimulated every five or 10 seconds, repeatedly?” McCauley wondered. For decades, marine seismic surveys have echoed through the world’s oceans, largely in search of oil and gas. Research has shown the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324311</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why a New England city is building tunnels to protect an imperiled salamander</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-a-new-england-town-is-building-tunnels-to-protect-an-imperiled-salamander/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-a-new-england-town-is-building-tunnels-to-protect-an-imperiled-salamander/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 18:29:42 +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/20/2026/07/22153217/original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324331</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Habitat, Herps, Infrastructure, Roadkill, Roads, Salamanders, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S. — It’s a mild March night in Keene, New Hampshire, and the salamander brigade is out in full force. A constellation of flashlight beams wink and flash along a dark street, as rain falls onto the jackets and reflective vests of the assembled crew. Tonight, a veritable army of amphibians is trekking [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NEW HAMPSHIRE, U.S. — It’s a mild March night in Keene, New Hampshire, and the salamander brigade is out in full force. A constellation of flashlight beams wink and flash along a dark street, as rain falls onto the jackets and reflective vests of the assembled crew. Tonight, a veritable army of amphibians is trekking from the upland forests, where they spend the winter, toward the wetlands where they breed. In their path lies a two-lane asphalt road, North Lincoln Street. Animals need to move for a variety of reasons, but in a world crosshatched by motorways, that’s not an easy task. Each spring in Keene, wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus), spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) and spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) must navigate roads to reach their natal spawning grounds. This particular road in Keene is routinely closed to cars during nights of amphibian migration. At other crossing sites in the region, volunteers are the only thing standing between these slow-moving critters and the danger posed by passing traffic. Carrying animals across the road by hand gets the job done, but it’s limited by human availability and energy. The hope has always been that “crossing brigades are the first step, not the last step,” said Brett Amy Thelen, who organizes these efforts and serves as science director for the Harris Center for Conservation Education, a regional nonprofit. That hope is being realized: Thelen and her salamander squadron are at the center of a new initiative to build small&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/why-a-new-england-town-is-building-tunnels-to-protect-an-imperiled-salamander/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324331</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Smithsonian ornithologist John Rappole reconsidered why birds migrate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 16:31:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20163455/john-hilton-rappole-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324116</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico, Myanmar, North America, Texas, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Migration, Obituary, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For much of the year, migratory songbirds were treated as temporary visitors to the tropics. They arrived from the north, spent the winter, and departed again. Ornithologists paid more attention to their journeys and breeding grounds than to the months they passed farther south. The birds were often described as transients, moving through tropical forests [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For much of the year, migratory songbirds were treated as temporary visitors to the tropics. They arrived from the north, spent the winter, and departed again. Ornithologists paid more attention to their journeys and breeding grounds than to the months they passed farther south. The birds were often described as transients, moving through tropical forests without becoming part of them. What they did there, and how firmly they occupied those places, remained poorly understood. Years of catching, banding, and watching them suggested a different account. In the forests of southern Mexico, individual birds returned to familiar patches and defended feeding territories. They were regular members of tropical bird communities for months at a time. A bird that appeared to be a passing visitor might return to the same small area year after year. Its life in the tropics was structured, local, and essential to its survival. Migration could not be explained only as an escape from northern winters. Its origins might instead lie in dispersal from warmer regions, as birds gradually extended their ranges toward seasonal food and breeding opportunities. John Hilton Rappole, who died on June 30th, aged 79, pursued this argument for much of his career. It became known as the dispersal theory of bird migration. The theory challenged a long-standing explanation for why birds crossed continents. His commitment to it reflected his approach to science. He relied on sustained field observation, questioned established assumptions, and was prepared to defend an idea over many years. He was less&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324116</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An Indigenous take on Colombia’s new gov’t: Interview with a Putumayo Indigenous leader</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/an-indigenous-take-on-colombias-new-govt-interview-with-a-putumayo-indigenous-leader/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/an-indigenous-take-on-colombias-new-govt-interview-with-a-putumayo-indigenous-leader/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 14:12:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/22132247/Santa-Sofia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324278</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Controversial, Culture, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Interviews, Law, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In just a few weeks, Colombia will have a new leader. Right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella won Colombia’s runoff election on June 11 with 49.6% of the vote, securing a razor-thin victory over the left-wing candidate Ivan Cepeda, who received 48.7%. De la Espriella has promised to expand fossil fuel production and mining in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In just a few weeks, Colombia will have a new leader. Right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella won Colombia’s runoff election on June 11 with 49.6% of the vote, securing a razor-thin victory over the left-wing candidate Ivan Cepeda, who received 48.7%. De la Espriella has promised to expand fossil fuel production and mining in the country, leaving the future of conservation in the Colombian Amazon, the fossil fuel phaseout commitments made by current President Gustavo Petro’s administration and the rights of Indigenous peoples and other traditional communities open to question. Ahead of de la Espriella’s inauguration on Aug. 7, Mongabay interviewed Marino Peña, an Indigenous Inga leader and president of the Indigenous Zonal Organization of Putumayo (OZIP), to get his take on how the incoming president’s policies might impact communities in the department of Putumayo, in southwestern Colombia. De la Espriella has also promised to reduce the state budget to a minimum and tackle violence using greater force and militarization. For communities in Putumayo, the implications of these promises hold weight. Colombia’s Putumayo region, which has historically been a drug production and trafficking hotspot, is “one of the deadliest regions in Colombia for social leaders.” Illegal mining by armed groups has also grown exponentially in recent years, fueling conflicts, violence, mercury contamination and accelerated deforestation. Due to their critical role as vocal defenders of their territories and of environmental and Indigenous rights, social leaders have frequently found themselves in the crossfire between armed groups and the state. In addition,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/an-indigenous-take-on-colombias-new-govt-interview-with-a-putumayo-indigenous-leader/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/an-indigenous-take-on-colombias-new-govt-interview-with-a-putumayo-indigenous-leader/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324278</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How to stitch a massive wildlife corridor through the Rocky Mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-to-stitch-a-massive-wildlife-corridor-through-the-rocky-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-to-stitch-a-massive-wildlife-corridor-through-the-rocky-mountains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 12:07:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jane Palmer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21180012/roadways-act-like-fences-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324243</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystem Engineers, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Hope and optimism, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Mitigation, Roadkill, Roads, Solutions, Transportation, Ungulates, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada — On a sunny Thursday in May, Kent Kebe had to scrape yet another bighorn sheep carcass off Highway 93/95 running through Radium, British Columbia. The necropsy confirmed what Kebe, the village’s protective service manager, already knew: A car collision killed the ram. Roadkill deaths hit this community hard. Residents love their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada — On a sunny Thursday in May, Kent Kebe had to scrape yet another bighorn sheep carcass off Highway 93/95 running through Radium, British Columbia. The necropsy confirmed what Kebe, the village’s protective service manager, already knew: A car collision killed the ram. Roadkill deaths hit this community hard. Residents love their sheep so much that the village center sports a huge steel sculpture of sheep horns that stands roughly 12-meters- (39-foot-) wide and 6-meters- (19-feet-) tall. The Big Horn Cafe on the main drag features artwork of bighorn rams and serves custom-blended “Headbanger tea.” In the 1990s, about 350 bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) milled around, drawn to the golf course and the grasses along the highway. “It’s like a candy store for them,” Kebe says. But by 2022, the herd’s numbers had dwindled to 140. While some sheep died from natural causes, vehicle collisions played a big role in the death toll. “There’s a tension where the sheep are the mascots of the village, but the traffic is killing them,” says wildlife scientist Clayton Lamb, who works with the nonprofit Biodiversity Pathways and the University of British Columbia. He helped bring attention to the issue in 2022. Habitat loss is a major threat to species, but highways, railways and towns impact how animals move to eat, meet and mate — and that can endanger their survival. A 2025 review in the journal Science warned that while the world aims to protect 30% of the planet by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-to-stitch-a-massive-wildlife-corridor-through-the-rocky-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324243</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vietnam&#8217;s coffee boom fueled by decades of deforestation, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/vietnams-coffee-boom-fueled-by-decades-of-deforestation-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/vietnams-coffee-boom-fueled-by-decades-of-deforestation-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 07:20:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/22072010/Coffee_GL_2020-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324276</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, carbon, Climate, Climate Change, Coffee, Crops, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Farming, Forest Products, Forestry, Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Temperatures, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Decades of unchecked deforestation for coffee production has devastated Vietnam’s Central Highland forests, according to a new investigation by the Berlin-headquartered watchdog group Coffee Watch. Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest coffee producer, supplying nearly 40% of the world&#8217;s exports of Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora). The investigation, which analyzed satellite data and government records, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Decades of unchecked deforestation for coffee production has devastated Vietnam’s Central Highland forests, according to a new investigation by the Berlin-headquartered watchdog group Coffee Watch. Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest coffee producer, supplying nearly 40% of the world&#8217;s exports of Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora). The investigation, which analyzed satellite data and government records, found that tropical forest cover in Vietnam&#8217;s Central Highlands region, which produces 95% of the country’s coffee, plummeted from 42.8% in 1990 to just 19% by 2020. Forest loss was most rapid between 1995 and 2010, and stabilized at low levels in the 2020s, the investigation found. Much of the remaining tropical moist forest is now confined to “steeper, less accessible terrain, often at higher elevations and within formally designated protected areas,” the Coffee Watch&#8217;s report notes. Historically, government policy and international development financing incentivized the rapid expansion of coffee in the Central Highlands, according to Coffee Watch. The ecological cost has been severe, the nonprofit adds, resulting in fragmented habitats, accelerated soil erosion and a &#8220;nutrient treadmill&#8221; where farmers must use increasing amounts of fertilizer to maintain yields in exhausted soils. The Coffee Watch report notes that forest loss has affected water flow and recharge, soil stability and moisture, carbon storage and pests in the Central Highlands. It warns that 50% of Vietnam’s robusta belt could become unsuitable for coffee owing to the added impacts of climate extremes such as rising temperatures and erratic rainfall. Ly Thi Minh Hai, Vietnam country director at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/vietnams-coffee-boom-fueled-by-decades-of-deforestation-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324276</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In southern India, beekeeping helps Indigenous women earn more</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/in-southern-india-beekeeping-helps-indigenous-women-earn-more/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/in-southern-india-beekeeping-helps-indigenous-women-earn-more/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 07:11:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/22071053/Nilambur_UNESCO_240525-10-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324274</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Animals, Bees, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Food, Indigenous Peoples, Insects, Natural Resources, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A beekeeping initiative is enabling women in India’s Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot that runs parallel to India&#8217;s west coast, to strengthen their livelihoods with more reliable honey harvests. The 50 women are part of the Women for Bees project, launched in India in April 2025 by UNESCO in partnership with local nonprofit the Keystone [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A beekeeping initiative is enabling women in India’s Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot that runs parallel to India&#8217;s west coast, to strengthen their livelihoods with more reliable honey harvests. The 50 women are part of the Women for Bees project, launched in India in April 2025 by UNESCO in partnership with local nonprofit the Keystone Foundation. The project provides training and equipment to women from the Irula, Kurumba and Kattunayaka Indigenous communities across the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, reports Mongabay-India’s Arathi Menon. Traditionally, many of these communities were skilled wild honey hunters, a practice that is often risky and increasingly restricted by forest protection laws. Managed beekeeping, using hive boxes, offers a safer, more predictable alternative. The women are trained to rear the native Asian honey bee (Apis cerana indica), which is more resistant to local diseases and parasites than the commercially dominant European honey bee (Apis mellifera). A 2023 study comparing the two species suggests that, while the life cycles are generally similar, A. cerana colonies are better able to defend themselves against threats, diseases and disruptions. The economic impact of the honey harvests from the hive boxes has been immediate, providing many participants with their first taste of financial independence. Neelavathi, an Irula woman from Tamil Nadu state, has used her earnings to support her family and purchase household goods. “Since I am the beekeeper at home, my family lets me keep the income for my own needs,” she told Mongabay-India. Malavika Jayakrishnan, who leads&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/in-southern-india-beekeeping-helps-indigenous-women-earn-more/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324274</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Tunisian phosphate plant that sickens children so US, Europe can get fertilizer</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-tunisian-phosphate-plant-that-sickens-children-so-us-europe-can-get-fertilizer/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-tunisian-phosphate-plant-that-sickens-children-so-us-europe-can-get-fertilizer/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 02:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dawn KikelElisângela MendonçaKhadija Ben Salah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21020526/h-KhadijaBenSalah-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324147</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, North Africa, and Tunisia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agrochemicals, Air Pollution, Business, Chemicals, Community Development, Environment, Fertilizers, Health, Industry, Mongabay investigation, Pollution, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dalila grew up in the Tunisian coastal city of Gabès and is accustomed to the heavy, acrid smell from the state-owned phosphate processing plant about a 10-minute walk from her home. On days when noxious fumes fill the air, Dalila rushes to tightly shut the windows and tells her children to hurry indoors. She washes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dalila grew up in the Tunisian coastal city of Gabès and is accustomed to the heavy, acrid smell from the state-owned phosphate processing plant about a 10-minute walk from her home. On days when noxious fumes fill the air, Dalila rushes to tightly shut the windows and tells her children to hurry indoors. She washes them, believing it lessens harmful effects from chemicals. Emissions can last all day. Residents may get little or no advance warning. But one day in September 2025, children were at school when gases spread. Some students fell to the ground, complaining they had difficulty breathing. Others said they felt like they were suffocating. Dalila’s daughter said she felt like she was choking. Dalila rushed her to a government-run hospital. When she asked about test results or the type of substances that may have caused her difficulty breathing, Dalila said she did not get clear answers. The incident sickening the schoolchildren helped spark mass protests in the streets of Gabès, with people waving banners that read “Stop Pollution” and “Move The Plant.” It is not the first time that residents have protested water and air pollution from the factory. Dalila feels that she and others in Gabès are being ignored. They are far from alone. Fishermen report coastal waters were once abundant with fish, but, now, their nets come up empty. Scientific studies provide evidence that environmental damage poses a danger to the health of those living nearby. People take part in a demonstration against pollution&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-tunisian-phosphate-plant-that-sickens-children-so-us-europe-can-get-fertilizer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324147</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil has harmed the nature and people of the Niger Delta; human rights may save it</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/07/oil-has-harmed-the-nature-and-people-of-the-niger-delta-human-rights-may-save-it/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/07/oil-has-harmed-the-nature-and-people-of-the-niger-delta-human-rights-may-save-it/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 23:06:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike DiGirolamo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mikedigirolamo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/05232017/AP788278067772-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=podcasts&#038;p=323819</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Nigeria]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Books, Conflict, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Freshwater, Gender, Global Environmental Crisis, Human Rights, Interviews, Media, Oil, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On this week’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, I speak with travel writer Noo Saro-Wiwa. She has documented the violence and natural destruction that the presence of oil companies have brought to the people of the Niger Delta in her latest book, The Burning Ground: Oil and Militancy in Nigeria. Saro-Wiwa is also the daughter [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On this week’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, I speak with travel writer Noo Saro-Wiwa. She has documented the violence and natural destruction that the presence of oil companies have brought to the people of the Niger Delta in her latest book, The Burning Ground: Oil and Militancy in Nigeria. Saro-Wiwa is also the daughter of the late activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by the Nigerian government in 1995. Her father led a peaceful resistance against the oil companies&#8217; presence in the Niger Delta by mobilizing 300,000 people from Ogoniland in 1993. It is fair to say his activism started the movement against the destruction and exploitation led by oil companies in the nation. While peaceful at first, Noo Saro-Wiwa says many people gave up hope on peaceful resistance when the government failed to hold the companies accountable, and men turned to forming violent militant groups.  “Oil has been literally the worst thing that&#8217;s happened to the Niger Delta. If I could go back in time and I had the power, I would never have allowed oil to have been discovered,” she says. “ The amount of instability, political, economic instability it causes. And the damage to the environment … that goes without saying.  So we really need to shift to solar power … oil companies do not have this kind of leverage over people, and governments will have no incentive to go in and destroy people&#8217;s lives.” While her latest book chronicles the harm of oil and the resulting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/07/oil-has-harmed-the-nature-and-people-of-the-niger-delta-human-rights-may-save-it/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/07/oil-has-harmed-the-nature-and-people-of-the-niger-delta-human-rights-may-save-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323819</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Health fears linger in a Brazilian neighborhood built over oil waste</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/health-fears-linger-in-a-brazilian-neighborhood-built-over-oil-waste/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/health-fears-linger-in-a-brazilian-neighborhood-built-over-oil-waste/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 20:06:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leandro Barbosa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/16175756/DSC09995-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323738</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Health, Oil Spills, One Health, Planetary Health, Pollution, Public Health, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SÃO SEBASTIÃO, Brazil — In front of the house where she has lived for decades, Cosma da Silva points to nearby homes in her Itatinga neighborhood and lists a string of cancer cases. “There’s a woman with cancer over there. Another one lives in that building. And yet another one there [points at the place]. People [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SÃO SEBASTIÃO, Brazil — In front of the house where she has lived for decades, Cosma da Silva points to nearby homes in her Itatinga neighborhood and lists a string of cancer cases. “There’s a woman with cancer over there. Another one lives in that building. And yet another one there [points at the place]. People in this area only die of cancer.” She sees illness as an integral part of the neighborhood’s landscape and includes her own family in the tally. Her husband Paulo José da Silva died at age 51 from a brain tumor. Cosma herself recently underwent surgery to remove a nodule. As she deals with the consequences of the treatment — a wound that burns and itches on the side of her chest — she continues to observe several sick relatives, neighbors and acquaintances. The connection between these cases and the environmental contamination that has marked Itatinga’s history has never been proven or investigated the way residents expected it to be. From the 1970s to the 1980s, part of the neighborhood was used for the disposal of oily sludge associated with oil exploration. Years later, homes were built on the land. Environmental investigations by public agencies found contaminants in the soil and groundwater. For almost 20 years, documents from the São Paulo State Environmental Company (CETESB), the State Prosecution Service (MPE), the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF) and Petrobras itself — the Brazilian state-controlled oil company, which the investigations accused of being responsible for the disposal — pointed to toxic substances&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/health-fears-linger-in-a-brazilian-neighborhood-built-over-oil-waste/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323738</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon tree rings reveal more intense drought and rainfall in the rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/amazon-tree-rings-reveal-more-intense-drought-and-rainfall-in-the-rainforest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/amazon-tree-rings-reveal-more-intense-drought-and-rainfall-in-the-rainforest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 16:39:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21163837/Groenendijk-Nelson-Jaen-measuring-Swietenia-from-Acre-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324240</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Drought, Earth Science, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Precipitation, Rainforests, Research, Science, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tree rings from the Amazon show that the world’s largest rainforest has developed wetter wet seasons and drier dry seasons over the past four decades. The findings point to intense seasonal swings that can cause significant harm to biodiversity and suggest that widespread drying out across the entire Amazon basin is unlikely.  Researchers collected tree [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tree rings from the Amazon show that the world’s largest rainforest has developed wetter wet seasons and drier dry seasons over the past four decades. The findings point to intense seasonal swings that can cause significant harm to biodiversity and suggest that widespread drying out across the entire Amazon basin is unlikely.  Researchers collected tree cores from two species of floodplain trees; one species only grows in the wet season and another that only grows in dry conditions. They analyzed oxygen isotopes and the chronology of chemical marks left along the annual growth rings from each tree. They found that wet-season rainfall increased by 15-22% since 1980, while dry-season rainfall declined by 5.8-13.5%. &#8220;For a long time, there has been talk that it will dry up, and climate models created in the 1990s and early 2000s did indeed show that the Amazon was following that path,” study lead author Bruno Cintra, a biologist at the University of Birmingham, said, reported Mongabay contributor Luís Patriani. “But when we observe how the climate has developed over the last 40 or 50 years, what we see is that there is no clear pattern indicating that the biome as a whole is drying up.” The biome isn’t drying up entirely, because changes in weather patterns are not impacting all regions across the massive forest in the same way. The northern portion of the rainforest is receiving more rain during the wet season, while the southern Amazon region is facing longer and drier dry seasons.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/amazon-tree-rings-reveal-more-intense-drought-and-rainfall-in-the-rainforest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324240</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘We couldn’t breathe’: DRC villagers revive protest against Perenco over pollution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/we-couldnt-breathe-drc-villagers-revive-protest-against-perenco-over-pollution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/we-couldnt-breathe-drc-villagers-revive-protest-against-perenco-over-pollution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 14:54:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21135544/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-11-at-14.51.59-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324228</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Environment, Environmental Law, Finance, Governance, Health, Law, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“I had diarrhea and dizziness. Food no longer tasted the same. … I wasn’t the only one who noticed it — it was the same for everyone in the village; we couldn’t breathe,” Benoît Packera, secretary of the vigilance committee of Kitombe, told Mongabay. He was recounting what happened in April 2025, when toxic gases [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“I had diarrhea and dizziness. Food no longer tasted the same. … I wasn’t the only one who noticed it — it was the same for everyone in the village; we couldn’t breathe,” Benoît Packera, secretary of the vigilance committee of Kitombe, told Mongabay. He was recounting what happened in April 2025, when toxic gases were released by a Perenco facility in southwestern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The committee raised the alarm about the impacts, which led to a parliamentary commission visiting the area and confirming the existence of pollution in a report. Things went quiet for a while. Perenco continued its flaring operations and the residents claimed they did not receive any treatments or compensation. In May this year, Frustrated residents blocked access roads to Perenco facilities, temporarily disrupting oil operations. Kitombe is a village located in the Muanda territory. Besides being the only territory giving the country access to the ocean, Muanda is also home to oil reserves exploited by Perenco REP (Perenco’s subsidiary in the DRC) since the early 2000s, where it extracts around 4,500 barrels of crude oil per day. However, this exploitation has not come without conflict. The company has repeatedly faced allegations of pollution and adversely impacting agricultural yields, villagers say. But on April 12, 2025, tensions reached a breaking point. “It smelled extremely bad and very strong, like rotten eggs. I coughed a lot and felt like vomiting,” Packera recalled. That day, gas was released into the atmosphere from the tank farm,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/we-couldnt-breathe-drc-villagers-revive-protest-against-perenco-over-pollution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324228</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Extreme heat is eroding health, productivity and incomes of Dhaka&#8217;s informal workers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-heat-is-eroding-health-productivity-and-incomes-of-dhakas-informal-workers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-heat-is-eroding-health-productivity-and-incomes-of-dhakas-informal-workers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 13:11:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Md Jahidul Islam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21123902/women-brick-kiln-dhaka-bangladesh-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324206</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Climate, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Heatwave, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA — On June 28, as the afternoon sun beat down on Bangladesh capital Dhaka&#8217;s sprawling Tejgaon neighborhood, Samiha Begum gathered her two school-aged children and headed for the shade of Hatirjheel Lake. Their narrow one-room home in a nearby slum had become unbearable. She said, &#8220;The room starts heating up as soon as the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA — On June 28, as the afternoon sun beat down on Bangladesh capital Dhaka&#8217;s sprawling Tejgaon neighborhood, Samiha Begum gathered her two school-aged children and headed for the shade of Hatirjheel Lake. Their narrow one-room home in a nearby slum had become unbearable. She said, &#8220;The room starts heating up as soon as the sun rises. Even if it rains in the morning, the heat becomes like a boiler once the sun comes out. My children cannot stay inside after returning from school. Thus, I come to the lakeside and take the trees&#8217; shade. Here, the air is cooler than in my house.&#8221; Like Samiha Begum, for millions of informal workers across Bangladesh&#8217;s capital, extreme heat is no longer merely a seasonal discomfort. It is becoming a growing threat to health, livelihoods and survival. Samiha Begum works as a cook in a family home near her slum. A new study by People’s Courage International (PCI) on informal workers in South and Southeast Asia found that 74% of surveyed migrants in Dhaka reported being negatively affected by increasing temperatures, making heat one of the city&#8217;s most significant climate threats. The study also found that 100% of surveyed migrants in Dhaka reported being affected by extreme weather events, highlighting the growing vulnerability of low-income urban residents. Researchers analyzed the reality of informal workers in five cities: Dhaka, Delhi, Jakarta, Kathmandu and Quezon City and “how the precarity of their lives and livelihoods is being dangerously intensified due to heat.” Dhaka recorded&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-heat-is-eroding-health-productivity-and-incomes-of-dhakas-informal-workers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324206</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report reveals Cambodia’s appetite for tigers, rhinos and other endangered wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/report-reveals-cambodias-appetite-for-tigers-rhinos-and-other-endangered-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/report-reveals-cambodias-appetite-for-tigers-rhinos-and-other-endangered-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 13:02:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20152557/tiger1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324051</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Cambodia, Global, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Drug Trade, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, Megafauna, Organized Crime, Poaching, Rhinos, Threatened species, Tigers, Trade, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tiger bone wines in exquisite bottles. Tiger cubs sold alive as pets or served as a culinary delicacy alongside pangolin and cobra meat at exclusive restaurants. Rooms filled with rhino horns and elephant ivory, stacks of freshly skinned tiger pelts and bags of pangolin scales. Jewelry made from protected corals and ivory. This is just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tiger bone wines in exquisite bottles. Tiger cubs sold alive as pets or served as a culinary delicacy alongside pangolin and cobra meat at exclusive restaurants. Rooms filled with rhino horns and elephant ivory, stacks of freshly skinned tiger pelts and bags of pangolin scales. Jewelry made from protected corals and ivory. This is just a glimpse of the thriving illegal wildlife trade in Cambodia discovered by undercover investigators from Earth League International (ELI), a U.S.-based NGO that probes environmental crime. From 2025-26, ELI investigators mapped out the people involved in this illicit enterprise and identified five main kingpins allegedly running it. They gathered details on how cartels smuggle wildlife and their parts, what they sell and who their main customers are. They also linked this black-market trade with human and drug trafficking networks and scam centers operating out of Cambodia that defraud their targets. The investigators’ findings of this operation — named Sandokan after a fictional 19th-century pirate from Southeast Asia — are published in a new report. The yearlong investigation revealed a huge demand for wildlife products within Cambodia, fueled by wealthy Chinese and Cambodian buyers. An elephant tusk offered for sale to undercover investigators. Image courtesy of Earth League International. “It&#8217;s a trafficking enterprise, and a good example of what happens when you don&#8217;t do anything … they grow and grow and grow, and at the end, the damage is substantial,” said Andrea Crosta, executive director of ELI. “The big surprise was the incredible quantity of wildlife&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/report-reveals-cambodias-appetite-for-tigers-rhinos-and-other-endangered-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-324051</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pangolin DNA study links local wild meat markets to global trafficking networks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/pangolin-dna-study-links-local-wild-meat-markets-to-global-trafficking-networks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/pangolin-dna-study-links-local-wild-meat-markets-to-global-trafficking-networks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 11:39:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21113647/pangolins-in-africa-hu-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324203</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cameroon, Central Africa, China, East Asia, Global, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, DNA, Endangered Species, Genetics, Governance, Mammals, Pangolins, Poaching, Research, Science, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Pangolin scales and other body parts trafficked internationally appear to come from the same areas that supply the animals for local wild meat markets, a new study has found. It created a DNA database and location-prediction model for three threatened species: the white-bellied (Phataginus tricuspis), Sunda (Manis javanica) and Chinese (Manis pentadactyla) pangolins. Pangolins are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Pangolin scales and other body parts trafficked internationally appear to come from the same areas that supply the animals for local wild meat markets, a new study has found. It created a DNA database and location-prediction model for three threatened species: the white-bellied (Phataginus tricuspis), Sunda (Manis javanica) and Chinese (Manis pentadactyla) pangolins. Pangolins are the world&#8217;s most trafficked wild mammals; estimates suggest more than 1 million animals have been captured from the wild over the past decade. The new database contains DNA information from 711 samples collected from museum specimens and seized pangolin parts. “Our dense sampling of the white-bellied pangolin &#8230; revealed that both forms of trade (domestic and international) draw from the same source regions,” the study’s authors wrote. “This overlap is also found, albeit less pronounced, in the two Asian species and suggests a shared supply chain and common actors at the point of pangolin harvest, and possibly beyond.” In Cameroon, DNA samples from the endangered white-bellied pangolin showed that international seizures in China and Europe overlapped with the same sourcing locations for the two largest domestic wild meat markets in Cameroon: the capital Yaoundé, and the port city of Douala. The study identified the Ebo Wildlife Reserve in western Cameroon as a main sourcing site for both domestic markets, as well as international traffickers. Other key sourcing areas include the forests near the southern city of Ebolowa, near the border with Equatorial Guinea, and near the town of Eseka, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/pangolin-dna-study-links-local-wild-meat-markets-to-global-trafficking-networks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324203</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What happened to the vessels Panama busted in 2025 for fishing in its flagship MPA?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-happened-to-the-vessels-panama-busted-in-2025-for-fishing-in-its-flagship-mpa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-happened-to-the-vessels-panama-busted-in-2025-for-fishing-in-its-flagship-mpa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 11:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20143457/1-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324037</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, North America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 22, 2025, Panama’s government announced it had caught 16 vessels fishing illegally inside the country’s flagship marine protected area, declaring it the largest such enforcement operation in the country’s history. Publicizing the case helped Panama show its commitment to ensure 30% of its waters are “effectively conserved and managed” by 2030, in compliance [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 22, 2025, Panama’s government announced it had caught 16 vessels fishing illegally inside the country’s flagship marine protected area, declaring it the largest such enforcement operation in the country’s history. Publicizing the case helped Panama show its commitment to ensure 30% of its waters are “effectively conserved and managed” by 2030, in compliance with the “30 by 30” goal under a 2022 international treaty. Yet Panama’s government has released little information about the case over the past year and a half, leading observers to ask if the vessel owners were ever held to account. Much of the information in this article, including about the number and nature of the vessels involved and the status of legal proceedings, hasn’t previously been reported. It comes from government files obtained via freedom of information requests by the Environmental Advocacy Center of Panama (CIAM), a nonprofit based in Panama City, and shared with Mongabay, and from Mongabay’s communications with two government agencies involved in the case: the Ministry of Environment, and the Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (ARAP). Together, those sources provide new details about the vessels, including that they number 21 rather than 16, and are all Panamanian-owned longliners. They also show that Panama’s government has quietly taken steps to hold the vessel owners accountable. The Ministry of Environment and ARAP have each issued fines for many of the vessels. The fishers involved have protested publicly and appealed the fines, arguing that they weren’t fishing in the protected area and that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-happened-to-the-vessels-panama-busted-in-2025-for-fishing-in-its-flagship-mpa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-happened-to-the-vessels-panama-busted-in-2025-for-fishing-in-its-flagship-mpa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324037</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Sri Lanka braces for El Niño, national parks are a concern amidst encroachment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-sri-lanka-braces-for-el-nino-national-parks-are-a-concern-amidst-encroachment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-sri-lanka-braces-for-el-nino-national-parks-are-a-concern-amidst-encroachment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 08:47:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kamanthi Wickramasinghe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21084441/sambar-in-sri-lanka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323944</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Deforestation, El Nino, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Human-wildlife Conflict, Impact Of Climate Change, National Parks, Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Around 14% of Sri Lanka’s total land area is dedicated to wildlife protected areas, which includes more than 20 national parks. However, due to natural and anthropogenic factors, protected species such as leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya) and elephants (Elephas maximus maximus) living in these protected areas face continuous threats as their habitats continue [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Around 14% of Sri Lanka’s total land area is dedicated to wildlife protected areas, which includes more than 20 national parks. However, due to natural and anthropogenic factors, protected species such as leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya) and elephants (Elephas maximus maximus) living in these protected areas face continuous threats as their habitats continue to shrink. Wildlife authorities say they have worked hard to strengthen law enforcement in the past decade to reduce encroachment of national parks and other protected areas but have had limited success. As Sri Lanka braces for an El Niño that is expected to hit the Indian Ocean island hard in November, wildlife enthusiasts and conservationists are expressing concern over managing animal populations inside these protected areas. A decade of encroachments The history of encroachment in Sri Lankan national parks dates to the colonial era and resettlement pressures following the armed conflict, which ended in May 2009. Srinath Dissanayake, a wildlife ranger with the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), said that over the past 10 years, there had been limited encroachments in most national parks except for parks situated near the former conflict zones in the island’s North and East. “The boundaries of most nature reserves and national parks were demarcated according to the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance (FFPO) No. 2 of 1937, which came into operation in 1938,” he told Mongabay. For example, the boundaries of Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve were demarcated in 2019, according to new regulations.“The DWC offices were established during&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-sri-lanka-braces-for-el-nino-national-parks-are-a-concern-amidst-encroachment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-sri-lanka-braces-for-el-nino-national-parks-are-a-concern-amidst-encroachment/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323944</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Activists allege Cambodia has resumed sea sand exports to Singapore</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 08:40:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21082924/RESIZED-Photo-by-Drone-of-CMR-sand-barges-on-Trapang-Roung-river-2-July-202614-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324184</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ecosystems, Environment, extractives, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, International Trade, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Rivers, Saltwater Fish, Trade, and Turtles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Environmental activism group Mother Nature Cambodia on July 14 posted a new video alleging that Cambodia has quietly resumed sand exports to Singapore after the trade was banned in 2017. The prohibition followed a scandal involving environmental degradation along Cambodian rivers linked to shipments of sand sold to Singapore for land reclamation projects. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Environmental activism group Mother Nature Cambodia on July 14 posted a new video alleging that Cambodia has quietly resumed sand exports to Singapore after the trade was banned in 2017. The prohibition followed a scandal involving environmental degradation along Cambodian rivers linked to shipments of sand sold to Singapore for land reclamation projects. In its latest video, Mother Nature Cambodia documented sand dredgers operating in waterways in Koh Kong province in Cambodia’s southwest, with footage appearing to show barges belonging to Catalyst Marine and Resources (Cambodia), a Singaporean-directed sand mining company that’s been registered in Cambodia since December 2024. Footage shows large-scale sand mining operations, including barges bearing the logo of Catalyst Marine and Resources, dredging sea sand from the coastal waterways of Koh Kong. Catalyst Marine and Resources’ barges were then tracked by Mother Nature Cambodia to two large cargo boats located just off the coast of Koh Kong Krao, Cambodia’s largest island, which is largely controlled by the Cambodian navy. Tracking devices on the cargo boats show those vessels are bound for Singapore, reigniting old fears that environmentally unsustainable sand dredging has resumed in Koh Kong to fuel land reclamation projects. “I have many questions, but today I will ask just one to Minister [of Mines and Energy] Keo Rattanak,” Lisa Mean, an activist with Mother Nature Cambodia, asks in the group’s latest video. “When did you quietly scrap the 2017 ban on sea sand exports?” Lisa then called on Cambodians to join the activist group&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/activists-allege-cambodia-has-resumed-sea-sand-exports-to-singapore/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Zero roadkill as Amazon canopy bridges secure 15,000 crossings</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zero-roadkill-as-amazon-canopy-bridges-secure-15000-crossings/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zero-roadkill-as-amazon-canopy-bridges-secure-15000-crossings/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 07:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suzana Camargo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20170143/4.-Macaco-aranha_Credito_Sergio-Leal-1-scaled-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324121</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation Solutions, Defaunation, Endangered Species, Forest Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Habitat Degradation, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Rewilding, Roadkill, Saving Species From Extinction, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For some of the world's rarest monkeys, the path to survival now runs through a simple network of ropes. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Around 7 a.m., with dense fog blanketing the landscape, biologist Gabriel Falquetto had already come across several road-killed animals along ES-164 highway in Brazil&#8217;s Espírito Santo state. He was on his way to Kaetés Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN), in the Atlantic Forest, where he monitors wildlife and roadkill in the region. Suddenly, he spotted the lifeless body of a primate on the pavement. It was a buffy-headed marmoset (Callithrix flaviceps), a species listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. An estimated 2,500 individuals remain in the wild, making it one of the world&#8217;s most threatened primates. &#8220;It was extremely painful and discouraging,&#8221; Falquetto told Mongabay. &#8220;We travel through this region every day monitoring wildlife, and we celebrate every encounter with groups of buffy-headed marmosets in the forest.&#8221; &#8220;Finding an individual in those conditions brings a feeling of sadness and helplessness. Beyond the loss of that animal, the incident reminds us of the impacts our activities have on biodiversity.&#8221; About 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) away, on the road that leads to Alta Floresta, a small Amazon town in the far north of Mato Grosso state, cases like the buffy-headed marmoset&#8217;s roadkill have not been recorded since 2024. That year, eight canopy bridges were installed, connecting fragmented forest patches. Camera trap footage revealed that, over 15 months, the aerial wildlife crossings enabled 15,000 safe crossings by arboreal animals — and not a single roadkill. Installation of the first canopy bridges in Alta Floresta,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zero-roadkill-as-amazon-canopy-bridges-secure-15000-crossings/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zero-roadkill-as-amazon-canopy-bridges-secure-15000-crossings/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324121</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Renato Moraes de Jesus was a pioneer of Atlantic Forest restoration in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/renato-moraes-de-jesus-obituary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/renato-moraes-de-jesus-obituary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 00:41:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/19024914/renato-moraes-de-jesus-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323955</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Nature-based climate solutions, Obituary, Reforestation, Restoration, Tropical Forests, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 1977 a young forest engineer arrived at a neglected tract of Atlantic Forest in northern Espírito Santo. A mining company had acquired the property as a source of hardwood for railway sleepers. Two hundred hectares had already been cut. Some specialists proposed harvesting more of the forest or replacing it with eucalyptus. The new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 1977 a young forest engineer arrived at a neglected tract of Atlantic Forest in northern Espírito Santo. A mining company had acquired the property as a source of hardwood for railway sleepers. Two hundred hectares had already been cut. Some specialists proposed harvesting more of the forest or replacing it with eucalyptus. The new arrival found little infrastructure and no settled plan for the land. He moved alone into a deteriorating house inside the forest. At night he heard animals moving through the roof. The supposed ghosts proved to be opossums. One of his first ambitions was to obtain a working telephone. Renato Moraes de Jesus, who died on May 23rd, aged 74, stayed for more than three decades. The property at Linhares became the Vale Natural Reserve, a major center for Atlantic Forest research and restoration. He helped protect almost 23,000 hectares, established biological collections and laboratories, brought scientists into the reserve, and developed methods for returning native trees to land damaged by mines, roads, farms, and industry.  Vale gave him no precise instructions. He decided that the first tasks were to prevent fires and hunting, document the forest’s species, and apply what was learned there to damaged land elsewhere. He later joked that the company had forgotten him at Linhares. Its limited attention gave him considerable freedom.  The early years could be dangerous. The region was violent, and he dismissed many workers during a reorganization. He carried a revolver for a time and later recalled receiving death&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/renato-moraes-de-jesus-obituary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/renato-moraes-de-jesus-obituary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323955</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tourism and infrastructure threaten habitat of India&#8217;s Himalayan salamanders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tourism-and-infrastructure-threaten-habitat-of-indias-himalayan-salamanders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tourism-and-infrastructure-threaten-habitat-of-indias-himalayan-salamanders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 23:38:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20233548/vlcsnap-2026-07-17-15h06m38s727-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324167</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mountains, Tourism, Travel, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every monsoon season, in the misty hills of Darjeeling, in West Bengal, eastern India, the elusive Himalayan salamander emerges from beneath the forest floor. The ancient amphibians (Tylototriton himalayanus) engage in a delicate dance, a mating ritual that lasts up to 90 minutes before they attach their eggs to semi-submerged vegetation, such as denseflower knotweed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every monsoon season, in the misty hills of Darjeeling, in West Bengal, eastern India, the elusive Himalayan salamander emerges from beneath the forest floor. The ancient amphibians (Tylototriton himalayanus) engage in a delicate dance, a mating ritual that lasts up to 90 minutes before they attach their eggs to semi-submerged vegetation, such as denseflower knotweed (Persicaria glabra). The survival of the next generation of salamanders is, however, increasingly at risk as their critical wetland habitats disappear, report contributors Subhrajit Sen and Soham Das for Mongabay. According to Koushik Deuti of the Zoological Survey of India, the salamander’s future is tethered to small, shrinking water bodies, known locally as pokhris. &#8220;Most of these small wetland areas have been converted due to excessive housing and tourism in the Darjeeling hills, and these wetlands have been drained and there is no water,” Deuti tells Mongabay. “So, this conservation of the Himalayan salamander is directly related to the conservation of these small wetlands.&#8221; Beyond physical habitat loss, remaining ponds are contaminated by wastewater and detergents. Infrastructure also poses a direct physical threat: New roads frequently divide migration paths and salamanders are crushed by vehicles as they attempt to reach breeding sites. Nirmal Tamang, a resident of Namthing Pokhri, says locals have requested culverts to allow safe passage for the amphibians but none have been built so far. India’s first salamander sanctuary, established in 1985, serves as a cautionary tale. Once a thriving habitat, officials built tourist infrastructure in the area which made it impossible&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tourism-and-infrastructure-threaten-habitat-of-indias-himalayan-salamanders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324167</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysia clamps down on toxic trade with total e-waste import ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/malaysia-clamps-down-on-toxic-trade-with-total-e-waste-import-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/malaysia-clamps-down-on-toxic-trade-with-total-e-waste-import-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 20:31:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashley Yeong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20175559/electronic-e-waste-malaysia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324139</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, E-waste, Environment, Environmental Law, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Pollution, Trade, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KLANG, Malaysia — On the morning of July 7, 2026, a shipping container declared to contain tin ore caught fire shortly after offloading at Port Klang, Malaysia. After firefighters doused the flames, they pried open the steel doors and found no industrial metals — only a cargo packed full of scorched electrical and electronic waste, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KLANG, Malaysia — On the morning of July 7, 2026, a shipping container declared to contain tin ore caught fire shortly after offloading at Port Klang, Malaysia. After firefighters doused the flames, they pried open the steel doors and found no industrial metals — only a cargo packed full of scorched electrical and electronic waste, or e-waste. Investigators and NGOs have long raised concerns about containers with falsely declared documents regularly slipping into Malaysia’s illegal recycling yards. To slip past customs, smugglers often falsify paperwork, declaring hazardous waste as legitimate raw materials. However, this particular shipment met with a strict new rule: an absolute ban on e-waste imports that took full effect on April 1, 2026, under Malaysia’s new Customs Order. But enforcing this rule means combing through millions of containers a year, playing a game of whack-a-mole against a black market that disguises itself as honest green businesses. Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal, the chief of the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS), has told reporters that the sheer volume of containers passing through national ports daily makes manual detection challenging. Between Jan. 26 and July 7, a specialized e-waste joint task force called Op Green Shield has inspected 685 containers, an AKPS spokesperson told Mongabay. Among these containers, 143 containers packed with 3,370 short tons (3,057 metric tons) of e-waste have already been sent back to their countries of origin since operations began. Another 531 containers, including backlog from previous operations, are earmarked for the next phased repatriation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/malaysia-clamps-down-on-toxic-trade-with-total-e-waste-import-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324139</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>WHO evacuated health workers from Ebola treatment center due to armed clashes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/who-evacuated-health-workers-from-ebola-treatment-center-due-to-armed-clashes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/who-evacuated-health-workers-from-ebola-treatment-center-due-to-armed-clashes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 18:43:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/03081114/AP26141607178356-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Diseases, Governance, Health, One Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On July 15, gunfire erupted between armed groups near an Ebola Treatment Center (ETC) in Nyankunde (or Nyakunde), located 45 kilometers (28 miles) southwest of Bunia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Following the fighting, medical personnel from the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa CDC and the NGO Samaritan&#8217;s Purse evacuated from Nyankunde, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On July 15, gunfire erupted between armed groups near an Ebola Treatment Center (ETC) in Nyankunde (or Nyakunde), located 45 kilometers (28 miles) southwest of Bunia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Following the fighting, medical personnel from the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa CDC and the NGO Samaritan&#8217;s Purse evacuated from Nyankunde, further slowing the Ebola response there.  &#8220;There was an attack yesterday and there are frequent attacks, actually since the end of 2025. The armed conflict has intensified,&#8221; said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, during a press briefing the day after the attack. Since May 2026, the DRC has been enduring its 17th Ebola outbreak. Although the Bundibugyo strain is not considered the deadliest Ebola variant, cases continue to rise rapidly. In just two months, the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) recorded 2,124 cases and 828 deaths, making it the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record. The current outbreak is in a mining town populated by migrant workers that travel across the region, increasing spread of the disease. The area is also the site of ongoing armed conflict, which makes it difficult for aid workers to safely respond. &#8220;Due to this chronic conflict and other factors, the community mistrust is also serious. I have been to Beni during the 2018-2020 outbreak. I have traveled there many times. But compared to this one, I think Beni is nothing. North Kivu was nothing,&#8221; Ghebreyesus said. &#8220;The difficult environment that makes the response really complicated.&#8221; Dr. Desire Duabo, head&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/who-evacuated-health-workers-from-ebola-treatment-center-due-to-armed-clashes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/who-evacuated-health-workers-from-ebola-treatment-center-due-to-armed-clashes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tiny trackers reveal where migratory shorebirds need protection across Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/tiny-trackers-reveal-where-migratory-shorebirds-need-protection-across-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/tiny-trackers-reveal-where-migratory-shorebirds-need-protection-across-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 18:23:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Victoriaschneider]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20073354/Shorebirds_3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323989</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation Technology, Environment, Governance, Natural Resources, Research, Science, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[They have names like Victoria, Makgadikgadi, Wembere and Dwarskersbos — but unlike their namesakes, they’re not landmarks in Africa. Instead, they’re small birds flying halfway across the world, showing conservationists the places that should be protected to sustain them on their journeys. Earlier this year, an international team of scientists and conservationists trapped 20 curlew [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[They have names like Victoria, Makgadikgadi, Wembere and Dwarskersbos — but unlike their namesakes, they’re not landmarks in Africa. Instead, they’re small birds flying halfway across the world, showing conservationists the places that should be protected to sustain them on their journeys. Earlier this year, an international team of scientists and conservationists trapped 20 curlew sandpipers (Calidris ferruginea), small to medium-sized shorebirds characterized by their distinct downward curving bill, and fitted them with tiny, lightweight satellite transmitters. The researchers also captured and fitted GPS tags on three gray plovers (Pluvialis squatarola), birds thought to have similar migratory patterns to the curlew sandpipers. With these trackers, the researchers are recording the birds’ migratory routes, or flyways, from South Africa to their Arctic breeding grounds. “Historically we had supported a large percentage of the global population for both species, but we have seen a marked decline over the last few years,” Jessica Wilmot, BirdLife South Africa’s flyways and migrants project manager, told Mongabay in a video interview. She added the findings provide novel insights into these birds’ migration patterns. Team members attach a micro-telemetry device — a satellite transmitter weighing less than 2 grams — to the back of a curlew sandpiper. Image courtesy of Cassie Carstens. While the threats the birds face at both ends of their migration routes are well-documented, less is known about what they have to deal with at the stopover sites along their 13,000-kilometer (about 8,100-mile) journey. Identifying such sites and determining whether they can be protected,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/tiny-trackers-reveal-where-migratory-shorebirds-need-protection-across-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/tiny-trackers-reveal-where-migratory-shorebirds-need-protection-across-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323989</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Clean cooking expands at record pace in Africa, but lags behind population growth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/clean-cooking-expands-at-record-pace-in-africa-but-lags-behind-population-growth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/clean-cooking-expands-at-record-pace-in-africa-but-lags-behind-population-growth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 16:13:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ini Ekott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20120122/54990932592_5f43be3de8_b-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324023</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biofuels, charcoal, Energy, Environment, Finance, Fires, Forests, Natural Resources, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sub-Saharan Africa is on track to record its fastest-ever annual expansion in access to clean cooking in 2026, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. But population growth continues to outpace those gains, leaving more than 1 billion people without access to clean cooking. The region is home to the world&#8217;s largest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sub-Saharan Africa is on track to record its fastest-ever annual expansion in access to clean cooking in 2026, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. But population growth continues to outpace those gains, leaving more than 1 billion people without access to clean cooking. The region is home to the world&#8217;s largest population still reliant on firewood, charcoal and kerosene for everyday cooking, according to the IEA. The World Health Organization says household air pollution, much of which is generated by these polluting cooking fuels, is linked to around 2.9 million premature deaths annually, with women and children bearing the greatest burden. The “Clean Cooking in Africa 2026: Progress Report” estimates that around 15 million people gained access to clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa in 2025, about 35% above the average annual gains recorded for the previous five years. If confirmed, this would be the highest annual increase on record. Côte d&#8217;Ivoire, Kenya and Nigeria made the most notable gains. The estimate is based on a mathematical model that combines data on imports of cookstoves (cooking appliances combining a stove and an oven) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), investments in the infrastructure, fuels and technology needed for clean cooking, and policy tracking, rather than household surveys, which remain the most reliable measure of clean cooking access but take years to compile. The IEA said the 2025 figures should, therefore, be treated as preliminary until confirmed by future household surveys. Even so, Fatih Birol, the IEA&#8217;s executive director,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/clean-cooking-expands-at-record-pace-in-africa-but-lags-behind-population-growth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/clean-cooking-expands-at-record-pace-in-africa-but-lags-behind-population-growth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324023</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientific &#038; traditional knowledge are key for effective &#038; community-centered conservation (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientific-traditional-knowledge-are-key-for-effective-community-centered-conservation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientific-traditional-knowledge-are-key-for-effective-community-centered-conservation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 15:52:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charudutt Mishra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20151938/Tsetsen-Collared-Snow-Leopard-Tost-Mongolia-by-Lkhagvasumberei-Tomorsukh-Snow-Leopard-Trust-SLCF-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324063</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bhutan, Central Asia, China, Global, Himalayas, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Commentary, Mammals, Snow Leopards, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of women often climbs steep cliffs to set up camera traps for snow leopards around Kibber in Spiti Valley, India. The senior women know the landscape intimately, like what areas the animals use and where cameras are likely to capture movement. They have walked these mountains all their lives and know how to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A group of women often climbs steep cliffs to set up camera traps for snow leopards around Kibber in Spiti Valley, India. The senior women know the landscape intimately, like what areas the animals use and where cameras are likely to capture movement. They have walked these mountains all their lives and know how to navigate the most rugged and inaccessible terrain safely, even in snow and ice. This is a kind of access that visiting researchers simply cannot replicate.  Back at the village, they gather around two computer screens. The younger women, who are typically more adept at handling technology, organize and sort the photographic data. Together, they identify individual snow leopards from their coat patterns, building scientific monitoring skills over time. Their work contributes directly to regional and global assessment and monitoring of snow leopard populations. Women hold up their camera traps after completing training. Image courtesy of Kibber women/NCF/HPFD. Who are these scientists conducting camera-trap monitoring of snow leopards? They are not trained researchers. They are women from the Indigenous community of Kibber in Spiti Valley. This work is done alongside their other chores: Livestock rearing, farming, household responsibilities, and community work. They do this, because they are interested in knowing how many snow leopards they are helping protect on their community lands; they take pride in learning research techniques; and they see themselves as part of the global effort to study and protect them.  Lobzang Yangchen, the coordinator of the Kibber team of 11 women, says,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientific-traditional-knowledge-are-key-for-effective-community-centered-conservation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324063</doi>				</item>
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