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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/grace-augustine/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 15 May 2026 20:01:22 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Grace Augustine Archives</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/grace-augustine/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>New energy deals for Africa sealed at Nairobi summit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/new-energy-deals-for-africa-sealed-at-nairobi-summit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/new-energy-deals-for-africa-sealed-at-nairobi-summit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 20:01:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15191501/47318373611_2f36a5c5bb_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319567</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Politics, Green Energy, Oil, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[European and African business leaders and heads of state have announced a raft of clean energy and infrastructure investments at the recent Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi. Forty companies announced plans to invest roughly 27 billion euros ($31.5 billion) across about 30 projects in Africa. They aim to generate a combined 100 billion euros ($116.5 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[European and African business leaders and heads of state have announced a raft of clean energy and infrastructure investments at the recent Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi. Forty companies announced plans to invest roughly 27 billion euros ($31.5 billion) across about 30 projects in Africa. They aim to generate a combined 100 billion euros ($116.5 billion) in revenue while employing more than 600,000 people across the continent. The wider goal is to deepen industrial ties and accelerate Africa’s transition to low-carbon power. Energy attracted the largest share of investments, roughly 14 billion euros ($16.3 billion). Agriculture, human capital, finance, AI, industrialization and the blue economy were also a focus. Kenya and France jointly hosted the May 11-12 gathering, which organizers said was designed to build a “partnership of equals.” Africa and Europe, particularly France, have historically had a contentious relationship rooted in colonialism. Commitments on renewable energy French utility EDF confirmed plans for 2 gigawatts of hydropower projects across several African countries. French oil and gas major TotalEnergies outlined more than $10 billion in new investments by 2030, including $2 billion for renewable power in Rwanda and $400 million for clean cooking initiatives in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. TotalEnergies will also work with Ellipse Projects on the construction and renovation of hospital infrastructure worth $700 million. Infrastructure investor Meridiam announced $200 million to double the capacity of Kenya’s Kipeto wind project, while Global Telecom Holding pledged $350 million for a 250-megawatt solar farm in Zambia. AXIAN Group and partners committed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/new-energy-deals-for-africa-sealed-at-nairobi-summit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>In Thailand, burned sugarcane plantations become traps for leopard cat cubs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-thailand-burned-sugarcane-plantations-become-traps-for-leopard-cat-cubs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-thailand-burned-sugarcane-plantations-become-traps-for-leopard-cat-cubs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 19:43:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Norman Bermúdez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15134718/rescued-leopard-cat-6-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319496</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Fires, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Plantations, Regulations, Small Cats, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, and Wildlife Rehabilitation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nuntita Ruksachat, head veterinarian at the Khon Kaen wildlife rescue center in northeastern Thailand, holds up a feline cub no larger than her hand. Part of a litter rescued just days ago, the cub’s fur is patchy, revealing blistered skin underneath. Its whiskers, clearly singed, are short and stubby. “They were rescued from a burned [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Nuntita Ruksachat, head veterinarian at the Khon Kaen wildlife rescue center in northeastern Thailand, holds up a feline cub no larger than her hand. Part of a litter rescued just days ago, the cub’s fur is patchy, revealing blistered skin underneath. Its whiskers, clearly singed, are short and stubby. “They were rescued from a burned sugarcane plantation,” she says. Behind her, cats pace inside rows of cages. More than 50 leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) cubs are currently housed at the rescue center, which is run by Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation’s (DNP). The youngest are kept in cages, while older ones have been moved to larger enclosures. Leopard cats are small wild felines found across much of Asia, from Afghanistan to South Korea. Roughly the size of domestic cats, their bodies are slightly leaner, and their fur is marked with black spots and stripes. The leopard cat is a highly adaptable species, and as forests have shrunk across its range, it has learnt to live in human-dominated landscapes. In Thailand&#8217;s northeast, sugarcane plantations provide leopard cat mothers and their litters with shelter and prey. But every crop burning season — the period between December and April, when farmers in Thailand typically burn their fields — those same plantations can turn lethal. The rescue center receives a steady influx of leopard cat cubs from across the northeast. Most are found alone and weak on plantations or in nearby forests, some with scorched fur and whiskers. Rows of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-thailand-burned-sugarcane-plantations-become-traps-for-leopard-cat-cubs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Light pollution reshapes predator-prey dynamics at California&#8217;s urban edge, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/light-pollution-reshapes-predator-prey-dynamics-at-californias-urban-edge-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/light-pollution-reshapes-predator-prey-dynamics-at-californias-urban-edge-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 19:28:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Big Cats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mammals]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15191816/puma-dark-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319568</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study from two California counties finds that artificial light at night is a stronger driver of wildlife behavior at the edge of urban environments than noise. This has ripple effects for predators and prey. Researchers analyzed more than 35,000 camera-trap days from 61 stations in San Mateo county, on California&#8217;s central coast, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study from two California counties finds that artificial light at night is a stronger driver of wildlife behavior at the edge of urban environments than noise. This has ripple effects for predators and prey. Researchers analyzed more than 35,000 camera-trap days from 61 stations in San Mateo county, on California&#8217;s central coast, and Orange county, in Southern California, between 2022 and 2024. They tracked an apex predator, the puma (Puma concolor); the bobcat (Lynx rufus); and an ungulate prey species, the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). The paper was published in Urban Ecosystems. “While scientists have known for a while that wildlife change their behavior around cities, often becoming more nocturnal to avoid humans, our study isolated exactly what part of the urban environment is driving this,”co-author Zara McDonald, biologist and president of the Felidae Conservation Fund, told Mongabay by email. “Our key finding is that artificial light pollution is actually altering the predator-prey dynamic.” Predators like pumas and bobcats avoided bright lights at night, such as areas lit by streetlights and other electric lighting. Mule deer, however, were more active in those same areas, though they avoided bright moonlight and noisy areas. The authors say the deer use human-modified spaces that predators avoid. A puma on the urban edge in California. Camera trap image courtesy of Felidae Conservation Fund “Essentially, artificial light is acting as a spatial barrier for carnivores and a &#8216;protective shield&#8217; for prey,” McDonald said. The contrast was visually striking in the images and footage captured on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/light-pollution-reshapes-predator-prey-dynamics-at-californias-urban-edge-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>2026 FIFA World Cup threatened by extreme heat: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/2026-fifa-world-cup-threatened-by-extreme-heat-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/2026-fifa-world-cup-threatened-by-extreme-heat-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 18:55:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15185256/Metlife_finals.00_00_40_07.Still004_815x524-1_0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319564</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Climate Change And Extreme Weather, Extreme Weather, Health, Heatwave, and Planetary Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In less than a month, the world’s attention will shift to one of the biggest sporting events on the planet: the FIFA World Cup. As fans prepare to travel to stadiums across the United States, Mexico and Canada, scientists are warning that dangerous heat linked to climate change could create unsafe conditions for both athletes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In less than a month, the world’s attention will shift to one of the biggest sporting events on the planet: the FIFA World Cup. As fans prepare to travel to stadiums across the United States, Mexico and Canada, scientists are warning that dangerous heat linked to climate change could create unsafe conditions for both athletes and spectators. A new analysis warns that dangerous levels of heat and humidity are now nearly twice as likely as they were the last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup, in 1994, largely due to human-driven climate change. The study, conducted as part of the World Weather Attribution initiative, found that more than two dozen matches this summer are expected to be played under potentially dangerous heat-stress conditions. “Matches this summer will be played in conditions made hotter by climate change, putting players and fans at risk,” Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in a statement obtained by Mongabay. Researchers used the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), a measure of heat stress in direct sun that combines temperature, humidity, sunlight, wind and cloud cover to identify trends across several host cities. A WBGT above 26° Celsius (79° Fahrenheit) is considered risky, while temperatures above 28°C (82°F) are deemed unsafe for play, according to the study. During the upcoming tournament, the WBGT for 26 matches is expected to reach or exceed 26°C. In 1994, there were likely 21. Five matches could surpass the dangerous 28°C threshold this year,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/2026-fifa-world-cup-threatened-by-extreme-heat-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/2026-fifa-world-cup-threatened-by-extreme-heat-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Radio and satellite alerts help Zambian farmers live with dangerous wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/radio-and-satellite-alerts-help-zambian-farmers-live-with-dangerous-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/radio-and-satellite-alerts-help-zambian-farmers-live-with-dangerous-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 18:54:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15184240/Elephants_IFAW_fence-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319556</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[animal tracking, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Corridors, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Fences, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, human-elephant conflict, Human-wildlife Conflict, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Protected Areas, Tracking, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUNDAZI, Zambia – In a yellow, single-story building in the eastern Zambian town of Lundazi, a radio presenter fields numerous calls from anxious villagers on nearby farms. Sitting across from presenter Joseph Mwale in the air-conditioned studio are two officials from Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). One of them, Senior Ranger Mathews [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUNDAZI, Zambia – In a yellow, single-story building in the eastern Zambian town of Lundazi, a radio presenter fields numerous calls from anxious villagers on nearby farms. Sitting across from presenter Joseph Mwale in the air-conditioned studio are two officials from Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). One of them, Senior Ranger Mathews Mumbi, tells listeners: “Avoid going out at night to avoid the ngozi (accidental harm).” Many of the villagers tuning in to the Thursday evening program live in a transfrontier conservation area (TFCA) straddling eastern Zambia and neighboring Malawi: dangerous encounters with wild animals is a way of life here. The twice-weekly radio show on Chikaya FM, a community radio station, is sponsored by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which works with the DNPW to promote human-wildlife coexistence across three Zambian farming districts – Lundazi, Lumezi and Chipangali — home to around half a million people. In theory, the TFCA links Kasungu with Zambia’s Lukusuzi and Luambe National Parks, but to reach the Zambian parks, elephants and other wild animals must cross farmland and roads and navigate past schools and homesteads. Zambia Department of National Parks and Wildlife&#8217;s Mwizaso Chipeta (left) and Mathews Mumbi field questions from callers about human-wildlife conflict from callers during a radio show on Chikaya FM, while IFAW’s community engagement manager Alstone Mwanza (right) listens in. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. During a break in the radio show, the station runs an advert with the sound of an elephant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/radio-and-satellite-alerts-help-zambian-farmers-live-with-dangerous-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Marine conservation suffers when the ocean is not accessible to all, especially on remote islands (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/marine-conservation-suffers-when-the-ocean-is-not-accessible-to-all-especially-on-remote-islands-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/marine-conservation-suffers-when-the-ocean-is-not-accessible-to-all-especially-on-remote-islands-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 16:54:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elsie Gabriel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15163150/pexels-lucasandrade-20340263-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319520</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Communication, Conservation, Education, Environment, Environmental Education, Green, Marine Conservation, Marine Ecosystems, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The global push to protect oceans is gaining momentum, from coral reef restoration to ambitious targets under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Yet one critical dimension remains largely overlooked: accessibility. If the ocean is to be protected, it must first be experienced. Today, for millions of people, it remains fundamentally out of reach. This [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The global push to protect oceans is gaining momentum, from coral reef restoration to ambitious targets under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Yet one critical dimension remains largely overlooked: accessibility. If the ocean is to be protected, it must first be experienced. Today, for millions of people, it remains fundamentally out of reach. This is not just a social gap. It is a conservation failure. Ocean conservation depends on connection. People protect what they value, and they value what they can experience. Research shows that direct interaction with natural environments strengthens long-term environmental stewardship. Yet coastal and marine systems across much of the world remain structurally inaccessible to persons with disabilities, older populations, and marginalized communities. Workshop for residents of Lakshadweep, India, on accessible diving and ocean literacy. Image courtesy of Accessible Ocean Tourism. Beaches lack barrier-free access. Transport systems remain exclusionary. Marine experiences such as snorkeling and diving are rarely adapted. The result is a quiet but widespread exclusion from the ecosystems conservation seeks to protect. Globally, governments have committed to ensuring that no one is left behind under the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet in ocean spaces, exclusion persists. Accessibility is still treated as an afterthought, added through isolated initiatives rather than embedded into planning and conservation systems. This has direct consequences. When access to the ocean is limited, ocean literacy declines, while public understanding of marine ecosystems is a key driver of conservation outcomes. Communities that cannot engage with the ocean are less likely to participate in citizen science, conservation dialogue, or local stewardship. Conservation becomes something done for people,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/marine-conservation-suffers-when-the-ocean-is-not-accessible-to-all-especially-on-remote-islands-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Endangered Persian leopards persist across borders, despite hunters and landmines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/endangered-persian-leopards-persist-across-borders-despite-hunters-and-landmines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/endangered-persian-leopards-persist-across-borders-despite-hunters-and-landmines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 16:15:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kayleigh Long]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15145758/captive-leopard-cat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319523</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Asia, and Georgia (Country)]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Leopards, Mammals, Predators, Top Predators, War, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, Wildlife Corridors, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Last September, zoologist and conservationist Bejan Lortkipanidze received a video file from a collaborator, Zurab Gurielidze, the head of Georgia’s Tbilisi Zoo. Gurielidze offered no details, but told his friend to &#8220;just watch.&#8221; For several moments, Lortkipanidze saw nothing remarkable — just nighttime footage of a high fence topped with razor wire. Then a leopard [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Last September, zoologist and conservationist Bejan Lortkipanidze received a video file from a collaborator, Zurab Gurielidze, the head of Georgia’s Tbilisi Zoo. Gurielidze offered no details, but told his friend to &#8220;just watch.&#8221; For several moments, Lortkipanidze saw nothing remarkable — just nighttime footage of a high fence topped with razor wire. Then a leopard entered the frame. Lortkipanidze, who heads the Georgian conservation NGO NACRES, was stunned: It was just the third sighting of a Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) in the south Caucasus nation in 20 years. The footage wasn&#8217;t from a wildlife camera trap. It came from a standard CCTV camera that surveilled the perimeter of a new breeding enclosure for endangered Caucasian red deer (Cervus elaphus maral) in Algeti National Park, situated an hour west of Tbilisi. The video quickly circulated around the conservation community. Vazha Kochiashvili, a biologist with WWF Caucasus, saw it: It was sent to him by the man tasked with checking the deer enclosure footage for Georgia&#8217;s National Agency of Wildlife, Sergo Tabagari, who called him immediately after he saw the cat while reviewing footage. Kochiashvili said he had a hunch and asked his friend: &#8220;Does the leopard have three legs?&#8221; It did. The male leopard’s name is Aren and, over the last few years, he’s roamed across at least two international borders. Persian leopards once traversed a vast territory that lies between Russia, the Middle East and the Caspian and Black seas. They’re wide-ranging animals, and Aren’s journey underscores the myriad&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/endangered-persian-leopards-persist-across-borders-despite-hunters-and-landmines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>At least 65 dead in latest Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/at-least-65-dead-in-latest-ebola-outbreak-in-eastern-dr-congo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/at-least-65-dead-in-latest-ebola-outbreak-in-eastern-dr-congo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 16:11:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15160241/AP26135299264877-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319542</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Diseases, Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new Ebola outbreak has been declared in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to an announcement made by The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on May 15. Sixty-five people have died and around 246 suspected cases have been identified so far, mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A new Ebola outbreak has been declared in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to an announcement made by The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on May 15. Sixty-five people have died and around 246 suspected cases have been identified so far, mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones in Ituri province. Africa CDC said Four of the deaths have been confirmed through laboratory testing. Mongabay contacted military authorities in Ituri as well as several provincial lawmakers for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication. The number of deaths and cases could rise rapidly. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, the provincial capital located on the shores of Lake Albert near the border with Uganda. Due to its geographic and political position, the city is a major cultural, economic and social hub, making the presence of suspected cases particularly concerning for Africa CDC. “Given the high population movement between affected areas and neighboring countries, rapid regional coordination is critical,” said Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, in a statement shared with Mongabay. “We are working with the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan and partners to strengthen surveillance, preparedness and response efforts, and to help contain the outbreak as quickly as possible.” In response to the latest outbreak, the pan-African agency announced that an emergency meeting would be held May 15 “to strengthen cross-border surveillance, preparedness and outbreak response efforts.” Participants are expected to include health&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/at-least-65-dead-in-latest-ebola-outbreak-in-eastern-dr-congo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Canada aims to double its electric grid by 2050 with clean energy and lower costs for users</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/canada-aims-to-double-its-electric-grid-by-2050-with-clean-energy-and-lower-costs-for-users/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/canada-aims-to-double-its-electric-grid-by-2050-with-clean-energy-and-lower-costs-for-users/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 15:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15155237/AP24321194981277-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319536</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Politics, Geothermal Energy, Green Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, and Wind Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a clean electricity strategy Thursday he says will help double Canada’s electricity grid by 2050 and lower energy costs for the majority of Canadian households. Canada is facing major challenges, including tariffs imposed by the United States, higher energy costs resulting from the war with Iran, plus the effects of climate change, Carney said. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a clean electricity strategy Thursday he says will help double Canada’s electricity grid by 2050 and lower energy costs for the majority of Canadian households. Canada is facing major challenges, including tariffs imposed by the United States, higher energy costs resulting from the war with Iran, plus the effects of climate change, Carney said. “When the world fundamentally changes, we must respond with new approaches,” he said. The new strategy includes regulations that will allow natural gas to play a larger role in building the grid. Construction is expected to cost more than $1 trillion Canadian ($730 billon). “The path to affordability is electrification,” Carney told a news conference in Ottawa. “The path to competitiveness is electrification. The path to net zero is electricity.” Carney said the plan includes new partnerships with Indigenous people and a willingness to use a wide range of energy, including hydro, nuclear, wind, solar, some gas, carbon capture and geothermal. “The scale is huge, the timeline is short and the task of getting the right mix of power is complex,” he said. “We can’t simply rely on restrictions and prohibitions. We must do things differently.” The government forecasts 130,000 new workers will be needed to double the size of grid. The strategy signals a shift from the existing clean electricity regulations presented by the former Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. That plan to decarbonize Canada’s grid by 2050 set limits on carbon dioxide pollution from almost all electricity generation units that use fossil fuels. Electricity accounts&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/canada-aims-to-double-its-electric-grid-by-2050-with-clean-energy-and-lower-costs-for-users/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Zambian prodigy draws on theoretical physics to improve weather prediction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/zambian-teen-draws-on-theoretical-physics-to-improve-weather-prediction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/zambian-teen-draws-on-theoretical-physics-to-improve-weather-prediction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 13:16:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15120413/54351889545_65ed900e9f_b-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319504</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Drought, Environment, Environmental Politics, Technology, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Prosper Chanda, 18, does not shy away from big problems. At the age of 3, he dived into algebra, and then as an adolescent he turned his attention toward advanced physics. At a time when most youth his age are dealing with late-stage teen angst, Chanda is awaiting the publication of a research paper that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Prosper Chanda, 18, does not shy away from big problems. At the age of 3, he dived into algebra, and then as an adolescent he turned his attention toward advanced physics. At a time when most youth his age are dealing with late-stage teen angst, Chanda is awaiting the publication of a research paper that attempts to reconcile classical and quantum physics frameworks. Chanda, who hails from Kasama in Zambia’s Northern province, is also applying the conceptual frameworks of theoretical physics to the practical problem of accurate weather prediction. The model is based on what he calls Prosper’s Unified Position Equation, or PUPE. For this initiative, he was shortlisted along with four other teams from Africa for this year’s Earth Prize, which recognizes the efforts of 13-to-19-year-olds offering innovative solutions to pressing environmental challenges. Aerial view of solar-powered drip irrigation scheme in Tauya village, Zambia. In Zambia, the majority of rural communities depend on rain-fed agriculture. However, erratic weather patterns, including drought, often lead to significant crop damage and livestock losses. Food security remains a pressing issue. Photo by Enoch Kavindele Jr/UNDP Zambia via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). Chanda noticed the growing challenge in Zambia of not having precise weather predictions in times where the impacts of global warming are becoming increasingly devastating. &#8220;Communities are not well-informed about weather events and climate systems,” Chanda told Mongabay via voice note. “Those things tend to affect the people and the communities due to misinformation, and they are not informed fast.&#8221; Currently, most&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/zambian-teen-draws-on-theoretical-physics-to-improve-weather-prediction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Endangered Species Day highlights wildlife wins — and mounting losses</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/endangered-species-day-highlights-wildlife-wins-and-mounting-losses/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/endangered-species-day-highlights-wildlife-wins-and-mounting-losses/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 12:33:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14072315/k.-Reticulate-whipray-%C2%A9brudermann--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319508</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At least 18,000 animal species globally are threatened with extinction: they’re listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Sustained conservation efforts have resulted in rebounding numbers for many species, including populations of some wolves, whales, lizards and parrots. But many others are struggling to survive as they face habitat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[At least 18,000 animal species globally are threatened with extinction: they’re listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Sustained conservation efforts have resulted in rebounding numbers for many species, including populations of some wolves, whales, lizards and parrots. But many others are struggling to survive as they face habitat loss and fatal human-led pressures. On Endangered Species Day on May 15, we’re highlighting some of these stories that Mongabay recently reported on. Wolves are back in California’s wild Gray wolves (Canis lupus) began to repopulate the western U.S. state of California in 2015, after several decades of local extinction. Now, after dedicated rewilding efforts, an estimated 50 to 70 wolves roam the state, organized in at least 10 separate packs. According to a 2013 poll, more than two-thirds of California’s voters supported the reintroduction of wolves to the wild, but some opinions have since shifted. Between 2015 and 2024, wolves killed least 142 head of cattle, about 0.002% of California’s nearly 7-million-strong herd. This triggered one county to kill four wolves of a pack who had become reliant on livestock as a food source. Some ranchers are now adopting nonlethal deterrents, such as faldry (strips of fabric hung on a fence), drones blaring loud music, and electric fences, to keep wolves at bay, reported Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman. West African leopard population listed as endangered The leopard population in West Africa has declined by 50% over the past two decades. About 350 mature individuals remain&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/endangered-species-day-highlights-wildlife-wins-and-mounting-losses/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>European bottom trawling costs billions every year in climate impacts, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/european-bottom-trawling-costs-billions-every-year-in-climate-impacts-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/european-bottom-trawling-costs-billions-every-year-in-climate-impacts-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 09:28:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15092639/GP0SU3Y6I-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319502</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Fish and Fisheries]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Europe’s fishing industry makes around 180 million euros ($210 million) every year in profits from bottom trawling, which involves dragging heavy fishing gear along seabeds. But a new study found when climate costs associated with the practice are calculated, society is paying a price up to 90 times higher than the fishing industry profits. “Bottom [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Europe’s fishing industry makes around 180 million euros ($210 million) every year in profits from bottom trawling, which involves dragging heavy fishing gear along seabeds. But a new study found when climate costs associated with the practice are calculated, society is paying a price up to 90 times higher than the fishing industry profits. “Bottom trawl gear scrapes up the seafloor, releasing carbon that’s been stored in the ocean seabed for centuries,” lead author Katherine Millage, a marine researcher for National Geographic Pristine Seas, wrote in a statement. That carbon release contributes to expensive climate impacts like reduced agriculture productivity and problems for human health. The cost calculations vary but are between 43 euros ($50) per metric ton of emissions on the low end and 161 euros ($188) on the high end. “Even when we use a very conservative estimate of the social cost per metric ton of emitted CO₂, society is left bearing a heavy economic burden,” Millage said. ​​​​‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;​‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌‌​‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​&#x200d;&#x200d;​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌‌​​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌​​‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌​‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;​‌‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌​​‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌​​‌‌​​​‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​​​​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​​&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;​​‌​‌​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌‌&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​​​​‌​‌​​​​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌​​‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;‌‌​​‌&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌&#x200d;​‌‌​&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌​​‌&#x200d;​‌‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌‌​‌​‌&#x200d;​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​​​&#x200d;​​​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;​​‌​‌&#x200d;​‌‌​‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌​‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​‌‌​‌&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​‌​​​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;​‌‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;​‌‌​​‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌‌​‌&#x200d;‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​​‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​​‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌‌​​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌​​‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌​​‌‌​​​‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​​​​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​​&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;​​‌​‌​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌‌&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​​​​‌​‌​​​​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌​​‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;‌‌​​‌&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌&#x200d;​‌‌​&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​​‌&#x200d;​‌‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌‌​‌​‌&#x200d;​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​​​&#x200d;​​​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;​​‌​‌&#x200d;​‌‌​‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌​‌​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌‌​​&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​‌​‌​​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​‌‌​‌&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​‌​​​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌&#x200d;‌‌​&#x200d;‌​‌&#x200d;​‌‌​&#x200d;‌‌​​&#x200d;​​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;​‌‌​​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌​​‌&#x200d;‌‌‌​&#x200d;‌​‌​​‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;​‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌&#x200d;‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;‌‌​‌&#x200d;&#x200d;​‌&#x200d;‌‌‌&#x200d;‌​​&#x200d;​&#x200d;‌‌ The CO2 emissions from disturbing the sediment cost between 4.87 billion euros and 18 billion euros ($5.7 billion to $21 billion) a year, the study found However, bottom trawl and dredge fisheries do provide more than a quarter of global wild-caught fish and shellfish. The study calculated that economic benefit along with secondary benefits such as employment. Still, the net cost of bottom trawling adds up to between 2 billion euros and 16 billion euros ($2.3 billion and $19 billion) per year for Europeans. Globally, bottom trawling catches around&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/european-bottom-trawling-costs-billions-every-year-in-climate-impacts-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>How AI could save koalas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/how-ai-could-save-koalas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/how-ai-could-save-koalas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 09:06:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15090543/gray-koala-sitting-on-a-tree-branch-2026-03-24-22-45-50-utc-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319499</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Conservation, Human-wildlife Conflict, Urbanization, and Wildilfe]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new AI-powered camera system could make road crossings less of a nightmare for koalas. Koalas face multiple threats to their survival including deforestation, urbanization, diseases and bushfires. As humans encroach into their habitats, they are forced to cross roads to move across fragmented forests. Because of this, vehicle strikes have also become a major [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new AI-powered camera system could make road crossings less of a nightmare for koalas. Koalas face multiple threats to their survival including deforestation, urbanization, diseases and bushfires. As humans encroach into their habitats, they are forced to cross roads to move across fragmented forests. Because of this, vehicle strikes have also become a major cause of koala deaths. Scientists at Griffith University in Australia are now working to detect koalas crossing the roads in real-time. Watch this video to learn more.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/how-ai-could-save-koalas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/how-ai-could-save-koalas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Illegal wildlife trade in Himalayan countries threaten mountain ecosystem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/illegal-wildlife-trade-in-himalayan-countries-threaten-mountain-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/illegal-wildlife-trade-in-himalayan-countries-threaten-mountain-ecosystem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2026 05:34:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/15053405/Pangolin_scale_and_claw_worn_as_talisman_-_oo_246940_cropped_to_D-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319492</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, and Environmental Crime]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Illegal wildlife trade across the eight countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region has more than doubled since 2019, according to a January 2026 study. This surge in trafficking, which targets species of carnivores, elephants, and pangolins, poses a significant threat to the fragile mountain ecosystem and the 1.8 billion people who depend on its [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Illegal wildlife trade across the eight countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region has more than doubled since 2019, according to a January 2026 study. This surge in trafficking, which targets species of carnivores, elephants, and pangolins, poses a significant threat to the fragile mountain ecosystem and the 1.8 billion people who depend on its biodiversity, reports contributor Vandana K. for Mongabay India. The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), which hosts four global biodiversity hotspots, spans roughly 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) across eight countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. For this region, the researchers analyzed wildlife trade and seizure data from 2001-2020 and found that India and China recorded thousands of seizure incidents, with animals trafficked for live trade, body parts, and traditional medicine. The volume of illegal wildlife trade more than doubled from 2019, compared to previous years. The study noted researchers linked the increase in wildlife trade between 2019 and 2021 to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns led to reduced surveillance and law enforcement, while economic hardships and disrupted food chains pushed low-income communities toward poaching. India reported a 151% increase in poaching during the pandemic, with rises also noted in Nepal and Bangladesh. The illegal trade is driven by consumer demand for exotic pets and wildlife products for luxury fashion and traditional medicine. To meet this demand, a large variety of species and their parts became part of cross-border trade, the study said. “The illegal goods were taken through porous borders and also high mountain&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/illegal-wildlife-trade-in-himalayan-countries-threaten-mountain-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Karajarri celebrate Australia’s first ‘Sea Country’ Indigenous Protected Area</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/karajarri-celebrate-australias-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/karajarri-celebrate-australias-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 16:46:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14114351/turtle-by-Dylan-Goldspink-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319450</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity Hotspots, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Protected Areas, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In northwestern Australia lies a remote and wildly diverse region called the Kimberley. There, the iron-red soils of the Pindan Country connect forests and the Great Sandy Desert, all bracketed by a vast stretch of Indian Ocean coastline. Its springs and wetlands host migratory birds. Offshore, sawfish, as visually striking as they are rare, ply [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In northwestern Australia lies a remote and wildly diverse region called the Kimberley. There, the iron-red soils of the Pindan Country connect forests and the Great Sandy Desert, all bracketed by a vast stretch of Indian Ocean coastline. Its springs and wetlands host migratory birds. Offshore, sawfish, as visually striking as they are rare, ply the waters just beyond the unbroken Eighty Mile Beach, itself a nesting site for the little-known flatback turtle (Natator depressus). The Kimberley has also long been a home to humans, as rock art more than 17,000 years old attests, and among the heirs of that legacy are the Karajarri people. Over the past 30 years, the Karajarri secured legal recognition of their claims to the land, later establishing an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), Karajarri Pirra Ngurra, that now covers an area of land nearly the size of Rwanda in the state of Western Australia. They also developed a ranger program that draws on long-held cultural knowledge of the landscape. In March 2026, the Karajarri people dedicated Karajarri Jurarr Ngurra, Australia’s first “Sea Country” IPA, comprising 237,489 hectares (nearly 587,000 acres) of marine and coastal ecosystems. It includes part of Malumpurr, the Karajarri word for Eighty Mile Beach. The IPA “strengthens long‑standing efforts by Karajarri Traditional Owners and Karajarri Rangers to protect the region’s biodiversity and keep Country healthy,” Malarndirri McCarthy, Australia’s minister for Indigenous Australians, said in a March 20 government statement about the Karajarri Sea Country IPA dedication. The aim of the Karajarri IPAs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/karajarri-celebrate-australias-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>After quinoa’s boom, Bolivian farmers face degraded soils and climate stress</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/after-quinoas-boom-bolivian-farmers-face-degraded-soils-and-climate-stress/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/after-quinoas-boom-bolivian-farmers-face-degraded-soils-and-climate-stress/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 15:15:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benjamin Swift]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate Change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Drought]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ecosystem health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ecosystem Restoration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Impact Of Climate Change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monocultures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soil]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/13161907/Benjamin-Swift_DJI_0055-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319215</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Drought, Ecosystem Restoration, Ecosystems, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Monocultures, Organic Farming, Precipitation, and Regenerative production landscapes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AROMA MARKA, Bolivia — The rolling hills around the town of Aroma Marka are a cacophony of colors: golden-yellow, deep-red and purplish-black quinoa pods smatter the otherwise barren landscape here in Bolivia’s southern Altiplano, the Andean Plateau. At 3,800 meters (about 12,500 feet) above sea level, the Altiplano stretches across much of western Bolivia and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AROMA MARKA, Bolivia — The rolling hills around the town of Aroma Marka are a cacophony of colors: golden-yellow, deep-red and purplish-black quinoa pods smatter the otherwise barren landscape here in Bolivia’s southern Altiplano, the Andean Plateau. At 3,800 meters (about 12,500 feet) above sea level, the Altiplano stretches across much of western Bolivia and into Peru, Chile and Argentina. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) has been grown on the Altiplano since pre-Hispanic times, but it was only recently that the nutrient-dense pseudocereal was put on the global map, fueling a production boom in the Andes. Prices later tumbled as countries outside the region also began cultivating it. Yet the striking scenery belies the lasting scars the 2010-2014 quinoa boom left in the region. At its height, sky-high prices triggered a production frenzy, drawing former residents back from cities to plant the “golden grain.” But Walter Canaviri, a quinoa producer and local leader, remembers that the sudden spike came at a cost. “Everyone wanted to produce more,” he told Mongabay. In the rush to capitalize on the moment, some growers encroached on neighbors’ lands, leading to disputes. “It was a sad time for this area because everyone turned against everyone,” he said. While the quinoa boom brought a temporary boon for rural Andean Indigenous communities, it also came with the destruction of local ecosystems, soil degradation, and social conflict – all of which have been exacerbated by changes in regional weather patterns and global climate change. Though Bolivian producers like Canaviri are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/after-quinoas-boom-bolivian-farmers-face-degraded-soils-and-climate-stress/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Salt marsh recovery isn’t enough to offset destroyed older wetlands, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/salt-marsh-recovery-isnt-enough-to-offset-destroyed-older-wetlands-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/salt-marsh-recovery-isnt-enough-to-offset-destroyed-older-wetlands-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 15:03:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14145955/4355216998_3364d2c127_k-Firefly-Upscaler-2x-scale-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319471</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Along Earth&#8217;s coastlines, grassy wetlands flooded by seawater, called salt marshes, trap and store carbon at rates roughly 40 times higher than forests on land. As salt marshes have expanded in some regions, scientists were hopeful their carbon stores might have largely recovered as well, but a new study found that’s not the case. Researchers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Along Earth&#8217;s coastlines, grassy wetlands flooded by seawater, called salt marshes, trap and store carbon at rates roughly 40 times higher than forests on land. As salt marshes have expanded in some regions, scientists were hopeful their carbon stores might have largely recovered as well, but a new study found that’s not the case. Researchers measuring carbon storage in salt marsh soil found that destruction of the world’s salt marshes resulted in a net loss of roughly half a million metric tons of surface soil organic carbon (SOC) between 2002 and 2019 — the equivalent of the emissions from 6,600 passenger cars over the same period. Most of that was from mature salt marshes that stored much more carbon than newly established marshes. &#8220;The most surprising finding … is the paradox that salt marsh area is recovering globally, yet soil organic carbon is undergoing a net loss,&#8221; study co-author Xinxin Wang, a wetland ecologist at Fudan University in China, told Mongabay. The southern U.S. is a global hotspot for SOC loss from marshes, the study notes, with Louisiana’s Gulf Coast ground zero. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the region in 2005, causing immediate damage to rich marshlands. Louisiana’s salt marshes have suffered from decades of industrialization, including more than 75,000 oil and gas recovery wells and nutrient runoff from agriculture. The weakened salt marshes were torn apart by the storms and largely transformed into open mudflats. Nearly 200,000 barrels of oil and other petrochemicals were spilled during Hurricane Katrina. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/salt-marsh-recovery-isnt-enough-to-offset-destroyed-older-wetlands-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Scientists mark Attenborough’s 100th birthday with newly named wasp</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/scientists-mark-attenboroughs-100th-birthday-with-newly-named-wasp/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/scientists-mark-attenboroughs-100th-birthday-with-newly-named-wasp/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 14:30:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/full-wasp-©-Trustees-of-the-Natural-History-Museum-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319468</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Green, Insects, New Species, Species, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A tiny wasp, collected in the early 1980s in Chile’s Valdivia province, lay inside an unsorted drawer in the Natural History Museum, London, for more than 40 years. After taking a close look, researchers have recently confirmed it’s not only a new-to-science species, but also represents a new genus. The wasp, only 3.5 millimeters (0.14 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A tiny wasp, collected in the early 1980s in Chile’s Valdivia province, lay inside an unsorted drawer in the Natural History Museum, London, for more than 40 years. After taking a close look, researchers have recently confirmed it’s not only a new-to-science species, but also represents a new genus. The wasp, only 3.5 millimeters (0.14 inches) long, is a kind of ichneumonid or Darwin wasp. This is a family of parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs inside the larvae, pupae or eggs of other arthropods, killing the host as the young wasp develops. Researchers have named the newly described wasp Attenboroughnculus tau. The genus name is in honor of nature broadcaster David Attenborough, who marked his 100th birthday on May 8. The authors write that they wanted to recognize Attenborough’s his contributions to humanity’s understanding of the natural world. In particular, they highlighted his work featuring Chile’s diverse and extreme landscapes, its unique environmental challenges, and the world of parasitoid wasps presented in his documentaries. “When I was young, five or six maybe, I was given the Life on Earth book. In it [Attenborough] mentions taxonomists and what they do, and I was hooked,” Gavin Broad, study co-author and principal curator of wasps at the museum, said in a statement. “I decided from a far too early age I was going to be a taxonomist, thanks to David Attenborough, and weirdly I’ve ended up as a taxonomist. So I’ll pay something back.” Study lead author Augustijn De Ketelaere, from the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/scientists-mark-attenboroughs-100th-birthday-with-newly-named-wasp/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/scientists-mark-attenboroughs-100th-birthday-with-newly-named-wasp/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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					<title>Honduran authorities seize jaguar kept as pet, put spotlight on local trafficking</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/honduran-authorities-seize-jaguar-kept-as-pet-put-spotlight-on-local-trafficking/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/honduran-authorities-seize-jaguar-kept-as-pet-put-spotlight-on-local-trafficking/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 14:28:17 +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/20/2026/05/14105929/female-jaguar-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319442</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Honduras, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Jaguars, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, Wildlife Crime, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Honduras have seized a jaguar kept as a pet by a businessman, in a high-profile raid that conservationists say should serve as a deterrent for others engaged in wildlife trafficking. The May 6 raid at a home in Olancho department, in the country’s east, was two weeks in the planning and the first [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Honduras have seized a jaguar kept as a pet by a businessman, in a high-profile raid that conservationists say should serve as a deterrent for others engaged in wildlife trafficking. The May 6 raid at a home in Olancho department, in the country’s east, was two weeks in the planning and the first seizure of a live jaguar (Panthera onca) since 2018, said Marcio Martinez, head of the wildlife department at the Forest Conservation Institute (ICF), who was involved in the operation. He added it stemmed from a tip to the Special Environmental Prosecutor&#8217;s Office (FEMA) about a jaguar being kept in the residence of a local businessman in the El Pataste community. The jaguar, a female believed to be about a year old, is thought to have been captured in the Mosquitia forests, a stronghold for the species. The unnamed businessman had no prior criminal record, Martinez said. “He was not listed in our database as a person of interest in the matter of trafficking or illegal possession of wildlife.” Nor has he been arrested. Martinez said FEMA will summon him in the next few days to answer charges of damage to endangered species, illegal capture of wildlife and other possible infractions. He could face fines of around 172,000 lempiras ($6,500) if convicted. Since the seizure, authorities learned that the businessman previously owned wild animals, including big cats. “He will now be a person of interest to environmental government institutions,” Martinez said. The female jaguar being taken&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/honduran-authorities-seize-jaguar-kept-as-pet-put-spotlight-on-local-trafficking/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14112732/WhatsApp-Video-2026-05-08-at-17.45.42.mp4" length="0" type="video/mp4" />
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					<title>Egyptian teens use robots for ‘smarter and more responsive’ way to protect Earth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/egyptian-teens-use-robots-for-smarter-and-more-responsive-way-to-protect-earth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/egyptian-teens-use-robots-for-smarter-and-more-responsive-way-to-protect-earth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 14:20:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14131111/kalbar_1294-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319463</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Egypt, and North Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Economy, Environment, Fish, Innovation In Conservation, Technology, and Technology And Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mudskippers are amphibious fish that can live both in water and on land. Usually found in muddy landscapes, the big-eyed creatures dig tunnels through the mud with their mouths, wrapping themselves in air pockets to maintain healthy levels of oxygen. A group of Egyptian boarding school students from Giza in the Greater Cairo region found [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mudskippers are amphibious fish that can live both in water and on land. Usually found in muddy landscapes, the big-eyed creatures dig tunnels through the mud with their mouths, wrapping themselves in air pockets to maintain healthy levels of oxygen. A group of Egyptian boarding school students from Giza in the Greater Cairo region found inspiration in this animal — which is found far away from urban Giza in the mangrove areas and mudflats off Egypt’s Red Sea coast— and designed a small robot that could help tackle one of the most pressing challenges Egyptian farmers currently face. Combining robotics with environmental science, the students developed the “TerraSkipper” robot. Its design is inspired by the real mudskipper, with a body and feet that “skip” through wet, salty and degraded farmland, collecting data on soil conditions like salinity and pH levels. The team was among five from Africa shortlisted for this year’s Earth Prize, which recognizes the efforts of 13- to19-year-olds offering innovative solutions to pressing environmental challenges. The “TerraSkipper” team. Image courtesy of The Earth Foundation. “We have seen that farmers are struggling with the increasing soil salinity and the variety in the pH [levels] in the soil,” one of the students, 16-year-old Mustafa Mohammed, told Mongabay by phone. The Nile Delta, where the River Nile meets the Mediterranean Sea, is densely populated and home to 40% of Egypt’s population. It has been flagged by the United Nations as one of the world’s hotspots for climate change-related sea level rise.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/egyptian-teens-use-robots-for-smarter-and-more-responsive-way-to-protect-earth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/egyptian-teens-use-robots-for-smarter-and-more-responsive-way-to-protect-earth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Seabed life triples after bottom trawling ban in Scotland protected area</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/seabed-life-triples-after-bottom-trawling-ban-in-scotland-protected-area/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/seabed-life-triples-after-bottom-trawling-ban-in-scotland-protected-area/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 10:51:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14103836/Arran-Expedition-Underwater-Image-3-Credit-Henley-Spiers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319433</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Scotland and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Dredging, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Marine Animals, Marine Biodiversity, Marine Conservation, Marine Ecosystems, Marine Protected Areas, Ocean, Oceans, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly a decade since Scotland established the South Arran Marine Protected Area and banned bottom trawling across much of it, life on the seafloor has thrived, a new study has found. Scientists surveying the area found three times more seabed organisms and twice as many species compared to nearby unprotected waters.           &#8220;What looks like [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly a decade since Scotland established the South Arran Marine Protected Area and banned bottom trawling across much of it, life on the seafloor has thrived, a new study has found. Scientists surveying the area found three times more seabed organisms and twice as many species compared to nearby unprotected waters.           &#8220;What looks like a boring desert of mud, it&#8217;s actually really, really dynamic,&#8221; lead author Ben Harris, a marine ecologist at the University of Exeter in the U.K., told Mongabay by phone. “We saw not necessarily the most glamorous things … but once you get a bit nerdy about it and look a bit deeper, you realize that they&#8217;re playing a really important role.” Researchers found more than 150 species in a small sample of the seafloor, including spoon worms (subclass Echiura), bobbit worms (Eunice aphroditois) and shell-building organisms like tower snails (genus Turritella), which Harris called “important gardeners of the seabed … all performing different roles.” &#8220;There&#8217;s like eight Mount Everest&#8217;s worth of sediments being turned over every minute of every day on the global continental shelf by these small animals,&#8221; he added. This movement is important for carbon storage, and in the South Arran MPA, these animals are starting to rebuild a long-lost ecosystem that once thrived at the bottom of the sea. Europe’s seabeds are the most trawled in the world. Heavy fishing gear has been dragged along the seafloor there since at least the mid-14th century, destroying those ecosystems. Approximately ”86% of the assessed seabed in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/seabed-life-triples-after-bottom-trawling-ban-in-scotland-protected-area/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Solar brings power to women entrepreneurs in Borneo, but rural energy inequality remains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 10:36:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yuda Almerio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14100334/solar-panels-and-cacti-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319421</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Climate Change Policy, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Gender and Conservation, Governance, Government, Green Energy, Just Transition, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KUTAI KARTANEGARA, Indonesia — Asniah recalls nights lying in darkness listening to cicadas and the passing hum of outboard motors after her family moved to Muara Enggelam in the 1990s, an over-the-water village in the interior of Indonesian Borneo, cut off from basic services. Around the turn of the century, a handful of homes in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KUTAI KARTANEGARA, Indonesia — Asniah recalls nights lying in darkness listening to cicadas and the passing hum of outboard motors after her family moved to Muara Enggelam in the 1990s, an over-the-water village in the interior of Indonesian Borneo, cut off from basic services. Around the turn of the century, a handful of homes in Muara Enggelam acquired diesel generators, bringing electric lighting for the first time to the timber stilt houses that still line the last mile of the river where the Enggelam meets Borneo’s Lake Melintang. The Kutai Kartanegara district government here later expanded this basic electrification program, but residents paid several times more for power than a grid-connected urban household. Moreover, the generators ran only from dusk to dawn and would frequently break down, plunging Muara Enggelam back into the void Asniah recalled on moving here three decades earlier as a child. “We were just grateful — things had been harder before,” Asniah, a mother of three now in her early 40s, told Mongabay Indonesia at her home. “Even though there was 24-hour electricity in the city at the time,” she added. Stable energy access provides greater scope for women to develop businesses and contribute to the family economy. Image by Yuda Almerio/Mongabay Indonesia Remote work Uneven access to electricity has abetted inequality in what is now Indonesia ever since Dutch colonialists introduced captive coal plants in the 19th century to power their plantation operations. Indonesia’s Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, records the wealth gap between&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>In Nepal&#8217;s capital, invasive flora crowd out native species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/in-nepals-capital-invasive-flora-crowd-out-native-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/in-nepals-capital-invasive-flora-crowd-out-native-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 10:02:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14100119/lantana-in-kathmandu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319424</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Crisis, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Habitat Degradation, Invasive Species, Plants, Research, urban ecology, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Native plants are rapidly declining in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, replaced by invasive species historically introduced for ornamental and urban greening purposes, reports Mongabay contributor Bibek Bhandari. Botanist Bharat Babu Shrestha said he has observed traditional medicinal plants like the Indian pennywort (Centella asiatica) slowly vanish from Kathmandu over the past decades, displaced by dense, flowering [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Native plants are rapidly declining in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, replaced by invasive species historically introduced for ornamental and urban greening purposes, reports Mongabay contributor Bibek Bhandari. Botanist Bharat Babu Shrestha said he has observed traditional medicinal plants like the Indian pennywort (Centella asiatica) slowly vanish from Kathmandu over the past decades, displaced by dense, flowering shrubs of Crofton weed (Ageratina adenophora), native to Central and South America. “There has been no qualitative assessment in Kathmandu, but our observations show that our native vegetation has been dominated and displaced by many invasive species,” said Shrestha, a botany professor at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He added that research in Nepal’s national parks suggests these invasive species can reduce native species by nearly half, a trend being mirrored in the country’s capital. According to experts, dominant invasive species in the city include Crofton weed, common lantana (Lantana camara), Santa Maria feverfew (parthenium weed, Parthenium hysterophorus) and blue billy goat weed (Ageratum houstonianum). A 2024 study found that 48% of observed plant species in the Sanobharyang region, close to protected areas and community forests, were non-native. Similarly, researcher Ronish Pandey, who submitted his master’s thesis on Kathmandu’s plant species composition to Tribhuvan University last year, found that more than half of the 437 species he surveyed in the capital&#8217;s green spaces were exotic; 21% of those naturalized species categorized as invasive. Krishna Prasad Sharma, the 2024 study’s co-author and an assistant professor at Tribhuvan University, said that some non-native species are less harmful, such as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/in-nepals-capital-invasive-flora-crowd-out-native-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>FPC at a crossroads: clarity, credibility, and the cost of ambiguity (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/fpc-at-a-crossroads-clarity-credibility-and-the-cost-of-ambiguity-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/fpc-at-a-crossroads-clarity-credibility-and-the-cost-of-ambiguity-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 09:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Chip Fay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14085329/jambi_220686-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319390</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Editorials, Funding, Indigenous Peoples, and philanthropy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Three years on, the Forests, People, Climate initiative is struggling to say what it is—and why that matters more than anyone wants to admit. Since the Glasgow Climate Pact&#8217;s 2021 pledge to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, major philanthropic foundations have mobilised billions of dollars behind that commitment. The Climate and Land Use Alliance [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Three years on, the Forests, People, Climate initiative is struggling to say what it is—and why that matters more than anyone wants to admit. Since the Glasgow Climate Pact&#8217;s 2021 pledge to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, major philanthropic foundations have mobilised billions of dollars behind that commitment. The Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), a collaborative of six philanthropies, pioneered the donor-collaborative approach and subsequently played a central role in creating the larger Forests, People, Climate (FPC) initiative. Together they shape the strategic alignment of some of the world&#8217;s largest private climate and land-use grant portfolios—determining which geographies and communities receive support and setting the terms of engagement between international philanthropy and forest-dependent peoples across the tropics. How these players collaborate has direct consequences for whether the global pledge to protect forests is met, and for the hundreds of millions of people whose lands, livelihoods, and futures depend on it. Over the past two decades, I have had a front-row seat to this evolution. I was there in the early days of CLUA, as we attempted something both pragmatic and ambitious: align strategies without surrendering institutional autonomy. FPC was born out of that lineage, as a recognition that the CLUA model might no longer be sufficient. The urgency of climate change had intensified. Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) had moved from the margins to the centre of discourse. And large-scale philanthropic commitments, particularly post-Glasgow, sought new mechanisms to do grant making differently. Three years on, however, FPC&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/fpc-at-a-crossroads-clarity-credibility-and-the-cost-of-ambiguity-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>At world’s largest shark conference, scientists warn of a grim outlook across the board</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/at-worlds-largest-shark-conference-scientists-warn-of-a-grim-outlook-across-the-board/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/at-worlds-largest-shark-conference-scientists-warn-of-a-grim-outlook-across-the-board/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 08:22:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14072415/l.-Greenland_shark_profile%C2%A9Hemming1952-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Global, India, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Featured, Fish, Fishing, Governance, Marine Animals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Protected Areas, Rays, Research, Sharks, Sharks And Rays, Technology, Technology And Conservation, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — More than 800 researchers and conservationists gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, from May 4-8 for Sharks International, the world’s largest shark conference. Presenters shared research and insights on the global trade in sharks, the plight of rays, and a range of conservation measures, including rewilding initiatives, improving marine protected area effectiveness, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — More than 800 researchers and conservationists gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, from May 4-8 for Sharks International, the world’s largest shark conference. Presenters shared research and insights on the global trade in sharks, the plight of rays, and a range of conservation measures, including rewilding initiatives, improving marine protected area effectiveness, and the bolstering of monitoring and enforcement systems to protect threatened species. Overfishing has halved shark and ray populations since 1970. Today, more than a third of species are threatened with extinction. Meat trade comes into focus Scientists from around the world debuted new research on the trade in shark and ray meat, a major driver of fishing pressure. For years, the meat trade flew under the radar as attention centered on fins, pound for pound the most valuable part of the shark. But overall, the meat trade is actually worth more, valued at $2.6 billion from 2012-2019, versus $1.5 billion for the fin trade, according to a 2021 WWF report. Researchers from Dalhousie University in Canada shared preliminary findings from a big-data project aimed at understanding which species of sharks and rays, collectively known as elasmobranchs, are being landed and where they are traded. These dynamics have largely eluded researchers, as the commodity codes governing the trade allow shipments to be labeled merely as “shark” or “ray.” Moreover, only 29% of shark and ray landing data that countries share with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is reported to species level, according&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/at-worlds-largest-shark-conference-scientists-warn-of-a-grim-outlook-across-the-board/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>‘Time stamps’ in shrubs show when beavers began invading Canadian Arctic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/time-stamps-in-shrubs-show-when-beavers-began-invading-canadian-arctic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/time-stamps-in-shrubs-show-when-beavers-began-invading-canadian-arctic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 07:14:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Megan Strauss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14060137/Low-Res_North-American-beaver-Castor-canadensis-in-the-Northwest-Territories-photo-by-Dr-Helen-Wheeler-Anglia-Ruskin-University-700x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319405</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Arctic Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environment, Impact Of Climate Change, Mammals, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Beavers are expanding their range into Canada’s western Arctic, and a recent study has reconstructed when these ecosystem engineers first became active in the area — sometime around 2008. Historically, North American beavers (Castor canadensis) have been associated with boreal and temperate waterways. However, they’re increasingly being observed moving northward in the Arctic tundra. This [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Beavers are expanding their range into Canada’s western Arctic, and a recent study has reconstructed when these ecosystem engineers first became active in the area — sometime around 2008. Historically, North American beavers (Castor canadensis) have been associated with boreal and temperate waterways. However, they’re increasingly being observed moving northward in the Arctic tundra. This range expansion is partly aided by a warming climate and the growth of shrubs they depend on to build their dams and lodges. When local Indigenous communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Canadian Arctic noticed an increase in beavers, they “flagged this as an urgent issue requiring investigation,” study lead author Georgia Hole, from Durham University in the U.K., told Mongabay by email. Beavers are known for their ability to build dams in streams and rivers, which blocks the flow of water, creating ponds. For the Inuvialuit, the impacts of busy beavers led to “creeks running dry, dams blocking access to historic established travel routes and harvesting sites, and changes in vegetation,” said Hole, who carried out the work while at Anglia Ruskin University, U.K. However, in the absence of long-term scientific monitoring, nobody knew exactly when the beavers had moved in and colonized this remote Canadian Arctic region. When beavers chew through woody plants such as trees or shrubs, their browsing leaves behind scars in the stems’ growth rings. So, to peek back in time, the researchers examined growth rings in the stems of willow and alder shrubs — local species the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/time-stamps-in-shrubs-show-when-beavers-began-invading-canadian-arctic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>China and Norway push to increase krill harvests around Antarctica</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/china-and-norway-push-to-increase-krill-harvests-around-antarctica/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/china-and-norway-push-to-increase-krill-harvests-around-antarctica/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 04:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/12201823/4-antarctica_20247-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319281</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Fisheries, Marine Animals, Marine Biodiversity, Marine Birds, Marine Ecosystems, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Ocean, Oceans, Subsidies, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[China and Norway are working to expand the Southern Ocean krill fishery, promoting a new management system for the fishery and continuing to support their fleets politically and financially. Meanwhile, tensions are escalating between environmental NGOs and the fishing industry, as it targets a species at the heart of the food web in one of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[China and Norway are working to expand the Southern Ocean krill fishery, promoting a new management system for the fishery and continuing to support their fleets politically and financially. Meanwhile, tensions are escalating between environmental NGOs and the fishing industry, as it targets a species at the heart of the food web in one of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems. “We hope we will be able to get the decisions we need now in October 2026,” Matts Johansen, CEO of Aker BioMarine, told Mongabay in April. The Norwegian company has been involved in the fishery for years as Norway’s only operator. In 2024, it spun off Aker QRILL, which now operates the Norwegian krill-fishing fleet and harvested 52% of the Southern Ocean krill catch in the 2025 season and 63% in 2024. The Norwegian delegation made a striking proposal at the last meeting of the multilateral body that manages fishing in the Southern Ocean, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), held in Hobart, Australia, in October 2025. Norway proposed moving away from a fixed catch-limit system and nearly doubling the amount of krill (Euphausia superba) that can be fished in the Southern Ocean. The 27 CCAMLR members did not reach the consensus necessary to approve the proposal. According to Johansen, as a consequence of this refusal, the Chinese delegation reiterated its veto on a proposal to establish a marine protected area around the western Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkney Islands, in a zone called&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/china-and-norway-push-to-increase-krill-harvests-around-antarctica/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>From caws to code: AI helps decrypt animal communication</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-caws-to-code-ai-helps-decrypt-animal-communication/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-caws-to-code-ai-helps-decrypt-animal-communication/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 03:59:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14030403/Banner-Image-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319392</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Birds, Conservation, data, Environment, Marine Animals, Research, Technology, technology development, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[What are carrion crows saying to each other? Answering that question has been Vittorio Baglione and Daniela Canestrari’s mission for decades. Carrion crows (Corvus corone) are especially interesting because they engage in cooperative breeding, where entire families, not just the mother and father, are involved in raising chicks and protecting nests. That requires intricate and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[What are carrion crows saying to each other? Answering that question has been Vittorio Baglione and Daniela Canestrari’s mission for decades. Carrion crows (Corvus corone) are especially interesting because they engage in cooperative breeding, where entire families, not just the mother and father, are involved in raising chicks and protecting nests. That requires intricate and nuanced communication between individuals. “They have a very complex society, and they do very complex things together,” Baglione, a professor at the University of León in Spain, told Mongabay in a video interview. “It’s really coordinated behavior and we have answered why they do it, but we want to know how they coordinate and exchange information.” The duo have deployed audio recorders and biologgers in northern Spain to decode crow calls and monitor corresponding behavioral patterns. But as the data piled up, they came across a massive hurdle. “Each microphone lasted for six to seven days,” Canestrari, also a professor at the same university, told Mongabay in a video interview. “We realized we actually have too much data to analyze.” Since 2024, the scientists have collaborated with the Earth Species Project (ESP). A team at the U.S.-based nonprofit has helped them develop artificial intelligence models to categorize crow calls and start building a data set of different call types. Scientists in Spain have collaborated with Earth Species Project to categorize a vast dataset of crow calls that they gathered over the years. Image courtesy of Vittorio Baglione and Daniela Canestrari. How different animals communicate with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-caws-to-code-ai-helps-decrypt-animal-communication/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Whose map counts in conservation?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/whose-map-counts-in-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/whose-map-counts-in-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 01:56:07 +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/20/2026/05/14011243/SURINAME_2004_Trio_Mapping_Expeditions_Map_presentation_Tirio-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319383</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Indigenous Rights, and Mapping]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; For many conservation decisions, the most contested question is also the most basic: what belongs on the map? A forest may appear on a satellite image as intact canopy. To people who live near it, the same forest may be a hunting ground, a burial site, a medicine cabinet, a route to school, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; For many conservation decisions, the most contested question is also the most basic: what belongs on the map? A forest may appear on a satellite image as intact canopy. To people who live near it, the same forest may be a hunting ground, a burial site, a medicine cabinet, a route to school, a refuge for wildlife, or a place where patrols have become threatening. A reef may be mapped by scientists as coral cover, fish biomass, or thermal stress. Fishers may know it by currents, seasons, spawning sites, customary rules and the places where conflict is likely. Conservation planning increasingly depends on spatial data. Participatory mapping asks who gets to produce that data. A new review in Conservation Science and Practice, by Michael Kowalski and colleagues, offers a useful stocktake of the field. The authors define participatory mapping as a collaborative process in which participants and cartographers co-develop maps representing local knowledge, experiences and preferences about a place. Their review covers 398 peer-reviewed studies, tracing how the method has been used across conservation science and practice. It also makes clear that a field built around community knowledge still lacks consistent standards for how that knowledge should be gathered, interpreted, protected and used. The premise is simple enough. Conservation maps have long been drawn from above: through satellite imagery, expert surveys, species-distribution models, government zoning and protected-area boundaries. These tools are indispensable. They can reveal forest loss, habitat fragmentation, coral bleaching or fire risk at scales no village meeting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/whose-map-counts-in-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Popular Miyawaki reforestation method lacks evidence, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/popular-miyawaki-reforestation-method-lacks-evidence-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/popular-miyawaki-reforestation-method-lacks-evidence-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2026 20:57:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/13122810/miyawaki-digging-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319323</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Conservation Solutions, Ecological Restoration, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Reforestation, Restoration, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The popular Miyawaki method of reforestation, often used to create “mini-forests” in urban areas, lacks empirical evidence to support its claimed benefits, according to a new study. Proponents of the method have claimed rapid growth is achieved by soil improvement and dense planting, the latter of which causes saplings to complete for sunlight. The Miyawaki [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The popular Miyawaki method of reforestation, often used to create “mini-forests” in urban areas, lacks empirical evidence to support its claimed benefits, according to a new study. Proponents of the method have claimed rapid growth is achieved by soil improvement and dense planting, the latter of which causes saplings to complete for sunlight. The Miyawaki method has also been claimed to accelerate succession, enhance biodiversity, boost carbon sequestration, and increase tree density. In the study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology in December 2025, researchers reviewed 51 pieces of scientific literature on the Miyawaki method and found that only 41% provided quantitative assessments. Of these, only 33% included a control and a mere 14% included replication, key elements of the scientific method. The Miyawaki method was first developed in the 1970s. However, over the past decade or so it has seen a new wave in international popularity, likely due to society placing greater importance on urban greening and reforestation, say two of the paper’s authors, Narkis S. Morales, a forest ecology researcher at the Bioeconomy Science Institute in Aotearoa New Zealand, and Ignacio C. Fernández, an associate professor of ecology and sustainability at the Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile. They see Miyawaki forests’ rapid growth rate as a major reason for the method’s popularity. People “don’t want to wait that much to have greener areas,” Fernández tells Mongabay. However, the researchers caution that there may be social and ecological consequences for choosing any reforestation method — Miyawaki included —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/popular-miyawaki-reforestation-method-lacks-evidence-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Liberia’s carbon market policy nears completion amid pushback</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/liberias-carbon-market-policy-nears-completion-amid-pushback/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/liberias-carbon-market-policy-nears-completion-amid-pushback/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2026 20:53:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/13204446/liberia-rainforest-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319380</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Liberia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Offsets, Carbon Trading, Climate Change, and Governance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Liberian policymakers have almost completed a framework for selling carbon credits to international buyers. But local environmental groups say they’re being shut out of a fast-tracked final review of the policy. According to Jeanine Cooper, chief executive officer of Liberia’s Carbon Market Authority, the “penultimate” draft of the policy was nearing completion last week. In [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Liberian policymakers have almost completed a framework for selling carbon credits to international buyers. But local environmental groups say they’re being shut out of a fast-tracked final review of the policy. According to Jeanine Cooper, chief executive officer of Liberia’s Carbon Market Authority, the “penultimate” draft of the policy was nearing completion last week. In a phone interview with Mongabay, she said she expected a final version to be ready for President Joseph Boakai to sign soon. “We do need to move on with different policies and regulations, so it behooves us to get it done as quickly as possible,” she said. A prior draft of the policy, dated April 2026 and reviewed by Mongabay, details how Liberia will set up a registry for approved carbon projects and how revenue will be allocated from them. The draft establishes that the Carbon Market Authority, which was set up through an executive order by Boakai late last year, would be in charge of selling Liberian carbon credits. Communities who own the forests and land tied to those credits would receive at most 50% of the revenue. That’s rankled some civil society groups in the country. “If I own something, I own it 100%,” said Dayugar Johnson of the NGO Coalition, a group of Liberian community rights and environmental advocates. “So why should 50% come to me?” Cooper told Mongabay that Liberia’s carbon markets will respect community resource ownership, and that civil society groups have had ample opportunities to comment on it. “A&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/liberias-carbon-market-policy-nears-completion-amid-pushback/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Scientists race to study the Amazon’s frogs before they disappear</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/scientists-race-to-study-the-amazons-frogs-before-they-disappear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/scientists-race-to-study-the-amazons-frogs-before-they-disappear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2026 19:45:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tiago da Mota e Silva]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/12192320/fc4a5294-9326-47c3-ab99-0eeae5c82be9-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319270</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Rainforest, Climate Change, Freshwater, Frogs, Science, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANAUS, Brazil — Crouched over the leaf litter, where dry leaves accumulate on the forest floor, a researcher tries to capture a distinct croak using a directional microphone. Identifying the sound of a small frog is often one of the conclusive proofs that a new species has been found. It’s nighttime. He wears long clothing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[MANAUS, Brazil — Crouched over the leaf litter, where dry leaves accumulate on the forest floor, a researcher tries to capture a distinct croak using a directional microphone. Identifying the sound of a small frog is often one of the conclusive proofs that a new species has been found. It’s nighttime. He wears long clothing as protection against mosquitoes and ants, and boots to keep his feet dry. Finding amphibians in the Amazon doesn’t require high-tech equipment; it actually dates back to explorations by early-20th-century naturalists. That’s how biologist Igor Kaefer, a professor at the Federal University of Amazonas in Brazil, describes a typical day of fieldwork in search of amphibians in the Amazon. Kaefer was part of a group responsible for describing Amazophrynella bilinguis in 2019. The very description of the little toad gives an idea of ​​how difficult it is to find: females measure about 2 centimeters (less than an inch), and their brown head and back make them “disappear” among the leaves and branches. Home to an estimated 1,525 species of amphibians, the Amazon Basin is the most diverse ecosystem in the world when it comes to frogs, an order that includes toads and tree frogs. However, occurrence records have been confirmed for only about 810 of those. So going into the field and finding a new-to-science species is not unlikely. “In almost every inventory conducted in a remote area, you come back with more than one new species for synthesis,” Kaefer says. But finding a species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/scientists-race-to-study-the-amazons-frogs-before-they-disappear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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