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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/matthew-carr/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2026 20:23:32 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Stories by Matthew Carr -</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/matthew-carr/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Can WarWilding defend Poland’s borders and save Europe’s last ancient forest?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/can-warwilding-defend-polands-borders-and-save-europes-last-ancient-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/can-warwilding-defend-polands-borders-and-save-europes-last-ancient-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 20:13:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marta Kasztelan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07161238/European_bison_Bison_bonasus_male_Bialowieza-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331825</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Europe, Europe, and Poland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Development, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Infrastructure, Old Growth Forests, Roads, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Forest Management, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BIAŁOWIEŻA, Poland — Michal Żmihorski, deputy director of the Institute of Environmental Protection, will never forget the morning of Aug. 1, 2023. Two Belarusian helicopters entered Polish airspace, hovering above the village of Białowieża in eastern Poland, three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the Polish-Belarusian border. The panic was palpable. “We didn’t know if the invasion [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BIAŁOWIEŻA, Poland — Michal Żmihorski, deputy director of the Institute of Environmental Protection, will never forget the morning of Aug. 1, 2023. Two Belarusian helicopters entered Polish airspace, hovering above the village of Białowieża in eastern Poland, three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the Polish-Belarusian border. The panic was palpable. “We didn’t know if the invasion had begun, if they were going to start dropping bombs,” he says during a conversation at the Białowieża-based Mammal Research Institute. The incident galvanized Żmihorski’s conviction that the borderlands should be impenetrable to enemy forces. “So that bandits on motorbikes can’t get through and start murdering people, because this is a real threat in this area,” says the longtime researcher of the UNESCO-protected Białowieża Forest straddling the Polish-Belarusian frontier. Poland shares a 420-km (261-mi) border with Belarus, 55 km (34 mi) of which runs through the Białowieża Forest, Europe’s last ancient woodland. This sprawling forest, covering an area equivalent to 200,000 football pitches, is among the continent’s top biodiversity hotspots. Consisting of impressive evergreens and broad-leaved trees, the Polish side alone is home to 900 European bison (Bison bonasus) — a species reintroduced to the forest — as well as lynx, wolves and up to 4,000 fungi species. While the specter of a military escalation by Belarus, a country that supports Russia, feels very real to some in this part of Eastern Europe, Poles throughout the country have been impacted by the war ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. To strengthen national security and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/can-warwilding-defend-polands-borders-and-save-europes-last-ancient-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/can-warwilding-defend-polands-borders-and-save-europes-last-ancient-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331825</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Arabian Sea humpbacks may be a unique subspecies at risk of extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/arabian-sea-humpbacks-may-be-a-unique-subspecies-at-risk-of-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/arabian-sea-humpbacks-may-be-a-unique-subspecies-at-risk-of-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 18:39:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07183207/Photo-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331868</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indian Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Charismatic Animals, Environment, Mammals, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Threatened species, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Humpback whales found in the Arabian Sea are likely a distinct subspecies, having evolved in isolation for tens of thousands of years, according to a newly published genetic analysis. “Arabian Sea humpback whales have long been an enigma to the scientific community,” lead author Rita Amaral, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said in a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Humpback whales found in the Arabian Sea are likely a distinct subspecies, having evolved in isolation for tens of thousands of years, according to a newly published genetic analysis. “Arabian Sea humpback whales have long been an enigma to the scientific community,” lead author Rita Amaral, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said in a press release. “Their ecology is unlike that of any other known humpback whale population, and this new genetic work represents an important milestone in understanding how that uniqueness developed.” Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are found throughout the world’s oceans, typically migrating from warm waters near the equator, where they breed, to the colder poles, where they feed. To date, scientists recognize three subspecies: the North Atlantic (M. n. novaeangliae), Southern Hemisphere (M. n. australis), and North Pacific (M. n. kuzira) humpback whales. Unlike most humpbacks, however, the population living in the Arabian Sea doesn’t migrate, remaining in tropical and subtropical waters all year. Researchers compared mitochondrial DNA, which mothers pass to their babies, collected from 2,285 humpback whales globally, including those from the Arabian Sea coast of Oman. The analysis showed considerable genetic differentiation between the latter population and the other subspecies. The researchers also found the Arabian Sea population had the lowest genetic diversity observed across any global ocean basin. The study estimates humpback whales in the Arabian Sea diverged from the other populations between roughly 43,000 and 113,000 years ago, suggesting a long history of isolation. Such isolation also makes them vulnerable to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/arabian-sea-humpbacks-may-be-a-unique-subspecies-at-risk-of-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331868</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical Storm Isaias forms, is forecast to become a hurricane and hit US Gulf Coast this week</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/tropical-storm-isaias-forms-is-forecast-to-become-a-hurricane-and-hit-us-gulf-coast-this-week/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/tropical-storm-isaias-forms-is-forecast-to-become-a-hurricane-and-hit-us-gulf-coast-this-week/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 18:09:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07180212/AP26280555166570-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331865</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Disasters, Earth Science, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico and forecasters said it was expected to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before hitting the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. The rapidly strengthening storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico and forecasters said it was expected to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before hitting the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. The rapidly strengthening storm was on track to tie or break a 121-year-old record as the latest arriving initial hurricane of the Atlantic season. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year&#8217;s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center on Wednesday issued a hurricane watch for the northern Gulf Coast from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Indian Pass on the Florida Panhandle. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours. Isaias was centered about 260 miles (420 kilometers) northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 540 miles (870 kilometers) southwest of the Mississippi River’s mouth, according to the National Hurricane Center. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving east-northeast at 8 mph (13 kph). Forecasters predict Isaias will become a hurricane by Thursday as it turns northward toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. Though its path and timing could shift, the storm is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday. The hurricane center said residents of the northern Gulf Coast should prepare for dangerous wind, storm surge and heavy rain that could trigger flash floods. “It’s definitely time to look at your hurricane plan and put whatever you need into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/tropical-storm-isaias-forms-is-forecast-to-become-a-hurricane-and-hit-us-gulf-coast-this-week/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331865</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘A few are afraid of the chicks’: Preparing Thailand’s rescued leopard cats for life in the wild</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-few-are-afraid-of-the-chicks-preparing-thailands-rescued-leopard-cats-for-life-in-the-wild/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-few-are-afraid-of-the-chicks-preparing-thailands-rescued-leopard-cats-for-life-in-the-wild/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 17:30:57 +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/20/2026/10/07165523/leopard-cat-release-25-of-26-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331841</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Cats, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Cute, Environment, Governance, Habitat, Mammals, Research, Science, Small Cats, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rehabilitation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KHON KAEN, Thailand &#8211; A wildlife officer holds a leopard cat cub in one hand, its entire body small enough for her fingers to wrap around its torso. With the other hand, she feeds it formula milk from a syringe. This is the latest rescue at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife’s rescue center [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KHON KAEN, Thailand &#8211; A wildlife officer holds a leopard cat cub in one hand, its entire body small enough for her fingers to wrap around its torso. With the other hand, she feeds it formula milk from a syringe. This is the latest rescue at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife’s rescue center in Khon Kaen, northeastern Thailand, which rehabilitates and ultimately releases dozens of lost and injured leopard cat cubs every year. Behind the officer, 15 larger leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis), rescued as young cubs months earlier, pace around inside their cages. They look a lot like domestic cats, only slightly more slender and with sharply defined markings on their fur; unlike domestic cats, they bare their teeth and growl whenever a human walks past. Nine of the cats, between 8 and 9 months old, will be released in the forest that afternoon. The other six, a younger cohort, will take their place in the center’s specialized behavioral rehabilitation pens, where they will spend two months practicing their climbing and hunting skills in preparation for life in the wild. Leopard cats are small wild felines common across much of Asia. The IUCN classes them as least concern, though experts believe populations are increasingly vulnerable to hunting and habitat loss. Highly adaptable to changing landscapes, leopard cats often live close to farms and villages. In northeastern Thailand, females are frequently found raising their litters in sugarcane fields. The tall leaves offer shelter from the sun, but proximity to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-few-are-afraid-of-the-chicks-preparing-thailands-rescued-leopard-cats-for-life-in-the-wild/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-few-are-afraid-of-the-chicks-preparing-thailands-rescued-leopard-cats-for-life-in-the-wild/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331841</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>International pledge to fund forest rights exceeds target, but direct funding remains low</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-pledge-to-fund-forest-rights-exceeds-target-but-direct-funding-remains-low/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-pledge-to-fund-forest-rights-exceeds-target-but-direct-funding-remains-low/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 17:23:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07154220/AP24302739182917-Jayapura-Papua-province-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331812</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Justice, Community Development, Community Forests, Conservation, Culture, Deforestation, Environment, Finance, Funding, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Law, Politics, Protected Areas, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Funders of the $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights, announced at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, say they have exceeded the target by 35%, delivering $2.35 billion between 2021 and 2025. According to the final report of the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG), in 2025 alone, donors [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Funders of the $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights, announced at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, say they have exceeded the target by 35%, delivering $2.35 billion between 2021 and 2025. According to the final report of the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG), in 2025 alone, donors provided about $486 million. Sources say the five-year pledge was a major accomplishment, but problems around direct access, regional inequality, funding for women and youth and aid sustainability persist. In 2025, only 7.2% went directly to Indigenous and local community organizations, the latest report found, while the vast majority still flowed through intermediaries, such as NGOs, consultancies and development banks. According to recently updated data in the report, the share of direct funding has increased over the five-year period, from 2.9% of the $351 million provided by donors in 2021, decreasing to 2.1% of the $514 million in 2022. By 2023, this number had risen to 10.6% of the $533 million provided that year, and in 2024, 7.6% of the $467 million provided went directly to these groups. “The pledge was good news, but the figure of the result doesn&#8217;t tell us how much actually reached the territories,” Myrna Cunningham Kain, of the Indigenous Miskito community of Waspam and chair of the Guiding Committee at the Pawanka Fund, told Mongabay over email. The Pawanka Fund is a global organization led by Indigenous people that channels financial and technical resources directly to Indigenous peoples and other&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-pledge-to-fund-forest-rights-exceeds-target-but-direct-funding-remains-low/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331812</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Invading the globe: Bird flu now threatens Australia and Oceania</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/invading-the-globe-bird-flu-now-threatens-australia-and-oceania/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/invading-the-globe-bird-flu-now-threatens-australia-and-oceania/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 17:02:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christine Heinrichs]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/02172718/Australian-Sea-Lion-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331586</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Europe, Global, Latin America, Oceania, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Research, Science, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Like a dark cloud of pestilence spreading across the globe in a science fiction movie, a highly contagious, fatal strain of avian influenza is continuing its death march across the globe, infecting wild birds, poultry, dairy cattle and mammals from pole-to-pole, sometimes with massive mortalities. In mid-June, it invaded the last bird flu-free continent, Australia, when [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Like a dark cloud of pestilence spreading across the globe in a science fiction movie, a highly contagious, fatal strain of avian influenza is continuing its death march across the globe, infecting wild birds, poultry, dairy cattle and mammals from pole-to-pole, sometimes with massive mortalities. In mid-June, it invaded the last bird flu-free continent, Australia, when the first cases of this lethal virus were detected in migratory seabirds, who likely brought it from the Antarctic to Australian islands, and then, inland. “These outbreaks mark the loss of the last continent previously free from the virus,” said Amandine Gamble, an expert on pathogens in endangered seabirds at Cornell University in the U.S., in a statement. “There are serious concerns for wildlife in Australia, New Zealand and surrounding islands, which are home to many already vulnerable endemic species.” The virus has spread rapidly since then, killing thousands of birds in some 690 “events” as of Oct. 6. An event may involve a confirmed infection or death of one — or many — animals. H5N1 has now spilled over into mammals, including endangered Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea) at key breeding sites. Across the globe, species that live or breed in colonies have died in shocking numbers, and this virus continues to mutate and adapt, infecting new hosts. As of publication, it had infected some 613 types of bird and about 112 mammal species, both wild and domestic, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. “We have seen this virus&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/invading-the-globe-bird-flu-now-threatens-australia-and-oceania/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331586</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>International Whaling Commission rejects push to revive commercial whaling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-whaling-commission-rejects-push-to-revive-commercial-whaling/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-whaling-commission-rejects-push-to-revive-commercial-whaling/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 11:20:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07110650/OceanImageBank_LarsvonRitterZahony_14-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331801</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Fisheries, Oceans, and Whaling]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A push to reopen the door to commercial whaling failed at the recent meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after a controversial resolution was taken off the table on the last day. The draft resolution, put forward by the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda and co-sponsored by Palau, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A push to reopen the door to commercial whaling failed at the recent meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after a controversial resolution was taken off the table on the last day. The draft resolution, put forward by the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda and co-sponsored by Palau, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and Togo, called for the IWC to discuss the “sustainable use of whale resources” and introduced a path toward the reintroduction of commercial whaling. The bill, however, was ultimately withdrawn by another Caribbean nation, Grenada, which did not co-sponsor the bill, leaving the IWC’s 40-year-old global moratorium on commercial whaling intact. The IWC, an intergovernmental organization that oversees the management and conservation of cetaceans, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, convened its 70th meeting between Sept. 27 and Oct. 2 in Hobart, Tasmania. Approximately 400 delegates from all 89 member governments and several observer organizations attended this year’s commission meeting, which has been held biennially since 2012. The meeting marked 80 years since the IWC was established and 40 years since the moratorium it placed on commercial whaling took effect. The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the international agreement that established the IWC in 1946, only refers to baleen and toothed whales, leading some to believe the moratorium only applies to these species, and not smaller cetacean species. Experts say the moratorium has aided the recovery of many whale species once on the brink of extinction due to whaling. But other threats to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-whaling-commission-rejects-push-to-revive-commercial-whaling/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-whaling-commission-rejects-push-to-revive-commercial-whaling/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331801</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wild tulips in Central Asia have become rare, expert says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/wild-tulips-in-central-asia-have-become-rare-expert-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/wild-tulips-in-central-asia-have-become-rare-expert-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 10:53:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26062941/Tulipa-anadroma-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331799</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Central Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Impact Of Climate Change, Overexploitation, Plants, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than half of the world’s wild tulip species assessed so far are threatened with extinction, reports Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta. “For a flower this famous, it may surprise people how rare its wild relatives have become,” Brett Wilson, co-founder of the Wild Tulip Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global nature conservation authority, told Mongabay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than half of the world’s wild tulip species assessed so far are threatened with extinction, reports Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta. “For a flower this famous, it may surprise people how rare its wild relatives have become,” Brett Wilson, co-founder of the Wild Tulip Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global nature conservation authority, told Mongabay in an interview. Researchers have so far assessed the conservation status of 62 wild tulip species for the IUCN Red List, Wilson said. Of these, 32 are threatened with extinction. Most of the assessed species, 53, occur in Central Asia; five are critically endangered, seven endangered, 15 vulnerable, and 14 classified as near threatened. These at-risk wild tulips are concentrated in the massive Central Asian mountain systems of Tien Shan and Pamir-Alay, which Wilson calls the single richest region on Earth for tulip diversity. The biggest threats to most wild tulips are livestock overgrazing and climate change. Tulips grow underground as dormant bulbs in cold, harsh conditions, before emerging and flowering in spring. Grazing animals can trample tulip bulbs and eat the flowers before they produce seeds, Wilson said. Meanwhile, “a warming, drying climate is squeezing mountain species upslope with nowhere left to go while more unpredictable weather can lead to landslides and floods,” he added. Other threats including mining, infrastructure development, and overharvesting of bulbs from the wild, which affect specific species. The “classic victims of overcollection,” Wilson said, are the big, showy red-flowered species growing close to settlements. “Tulipa fosteriana in Uzbekistan and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/wild-tulips-in-central-asia-have-become-rare-expert-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331799</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s new government backs fracking as debate over energy future heats up</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/colombias-new-government-backs-fracking-as-debate-over-energy-future-heats-up/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/colombias-new-government-backs-fracking-as-debate-over-energy-future-heats-up/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 10:46:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Catherine Ellis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07103518/Residents-in-the-Medio-Magdalena-region-protest-against-proposed-fracking-CREDIT-Alianza-Colombia-Libre-de-Fracking-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331720</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Fossil Fuels, Fracking, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Natural Resources, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO WILCHES, Santander &#8211; On the banks of Colombia’s largest river, the town and the wider municipality of Puerto Wilches sit amid a maze of wetlands and floodplain lakes in the Middle Magdalena Valley. Residents spend weekends at riverside swimming spots known as balnearios and nearby waterfalls, while local fishermen still cast their nets each [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO WILCHES, Santander &#8211; On the banks of Colombia’s largest river, the town and the wider municipality of Puerto Wilches sit amid a maze of wetlands and floodplain lakes in the Middle Magdalena Valley. Residents spend weekends at riverside swimming spots known as balnearios and nearby waterfalls, while local fishermen still cast their nets each morning. Since about 2018, however, the municipality has been a focal point in Colombia’s debate over how to balance energy security, environmental concerns, and the transition away from fossil fuels. In 2021, Puerto Wilches was chosen for two pilot projects to test whether fracking, a method of extracting oil and gas trapped in shale rock, could be done commercially in Colombia, targeting shale formations beneath the region. Then-President Gustavo Petro later halted the projects, arguing that Colombia should move away from fossil fuels rather than expand oil and gas production. But that policy could soon be reversed under the new government of right-wing populist Abelardo de la Espriella, who during his campaign pledged to &#8220;fully open the door to fracking.&#8221; De la Espriella and other fracking supporters say the practice could help shore up Colombia&#8217;s gas supplies. According to the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), the country’s proven gas reserves will only last another 5.9 years at the current production rate and with no new discoveries. Critics, however, warn that fracking could expose communities and ecosystems to environmental risks while also deepening Colombia&#8217;s reliance on fossil fuels, just as the country has been accelerating its clean&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/colombias-new-government-backs-fracking-as-debate-over-energy-future-heats-up/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331720</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Death of anti-plague lab worker in Russia prompts quarantines and international concern</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/death-of-anti-plague-lab-worker-in-russia-prompts-quarantines-and-international-concern/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/death-of-anti-plague-lab-worker-in-russia-prompts-quarantines-and-international-concern/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 05:42:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07054203/Irkutsk_Russia1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331786</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Europe, Europe, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bacteria, Chemicals, Communication, Diseases, Governance, Health, Medicine, Pandemics, Public Health, Research, Science, and Tracking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The reported death of a 28-year-old laboratory technician in eastern Siberia has triggered regional quarantines and international attention over fears of the cause of death and a lack of transparency. According to local media reports, Darya Shipilova, a technician employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, died on Oct. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The reported death of a 28-year-old laboratory technician in eastern Siberia has triggered regional quarantines and international attention over fears of the cause of death and a lack of transparency. According to local media reports, Darya Shipilova, a technician employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, died on Oct. 2 at a regional hospital in the nearby town of Shelekhov. She had been diagnosed with pneumonia of “unknown” origin, according to Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s public health agency. Local Russian media reported that Shipilova told medical staff she had accidentally dropped a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples. Rospotrebnadzor refuted claims of a biosafety reach, maintaining that tests detected no professional pathogens and there had been no complaints from other staff at the institute regarding infectious diseases in the past 10 days, Russian newspaper Kommersant reports. Russian authorities have reportedly quarantined the hospital and anyone who came into contact with the employee, according to the Associated Press (AP). AP also reports that Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, flew to Irkutsk for an emergency anti-epidemic meeting with the region’s Governor Igor Kobzev, who called the case a “particularly dangerous infection”. Local media have reported that more than 60 staff members at the Anti-Plague Institute were isolated inside their workplace. Unofficial reports, including those from the independent Russian media outlet Liudi Baikala, said that nearly 200 people were placed under medical observation or isolation. “Attention must be paid to the reported illness and death of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/death-of-anti-plague-lab-worker-in-russia-prompts-quarantines-and-international-concern/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/death-of-anti-plague-lab-worker-in-russia-prompts-quarantines-and-international-concern/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New crocodile species found fossilized in stone used to build Egypt’s Great Sphinx</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/new-crocodile-species-found-fossilized-in-stone-used-to-build-egypts-great-sphinx/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/new-crocodile-species-found-fossilized-in-stone-used-to-build-egypts-great-sphinx/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 23:14:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/06231012/Sphinx-croc_Herugavialis_cairensis-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331777</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Egypt, and North Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Green, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[About 45 million years ago in northern Egypt, a long-snouted crocodile hunted in the warm, shallow sea. Its bones settled into the same limestone formation that ancient Egyptians would later carry and carve into the Great Sphinx. Now, a century after researchers first dug up the fossils, they say the animal is a species new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[About 45 million years ago in northern Egypt, a long-snouted crocodile hunted in the warm, shallow sea. Its bones settled into the same limestone formation that ancient Egyptians would later carry and carve into the Great Sphinx. Now, a century after researchers first dug up the fossils, they say the animal is a species new to science. The extinct reptile, named Herugavialis cairensis, is described in a study published in Royal Society Open Science. Like the Sphinx, the fossil is missing the tip of its nose. &#8220;Given this coincidence with the famously missing nose of the Great Sphinx, we decided to name the new crocodile after the Egyptian god Heru, who was possibly the inspiration for this iconic monument,&#8221; Philip Mannion, a paleontologist at University College London who co-led the study, said in a press release. The fossils, including a nearly complete skull, were recovered in the 1920s from Egypt&#8217;s Mokattam Formation. At the time, scientists assigned them to Tomistoma, the genus of the living false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), because the two looked alike. An international team from the U.K., Sweden, Germany and Egypt decided to take another look at the fossils with modern tools. Led by Paul Burke of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, the researchers used CT scans to see inside the skull. They found several features that set the fossil apart from the false gharial. Herugavialis belongs to a group of long-snouted crocodilians called gavials. Fossils show gavials once lived nearly worldwide, and many&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/new-crocodile-species-found-fossilized-in-stone-used-to-build-egypts-great-sphinx/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331777</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous activist Kynan Tegar on Indonesia’s fires, and defending the Earth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/10/indigenous-activist-kynan-tegar-on-indonesias-fires-and-defending-the-earth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/10/indigenous-activist-kynan-tegar-on-indonesias-fires-and-defending-the-earth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 19:06:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten GokkonMike DiGirolamo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mikedigirolamo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/15123538/5-Customary-long-house-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=podcasts&#038;p=331702</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Fires, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, and Indigenous Rights]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous activist and filmmaker Kynan Tegar joins the Mongabay Newscast this week to discuss the impacts of the fires devastating Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. Some 48,000 hectares (about 119,000 acres) of land have burned so far this year; Kynan says these fires are intentional on the part of agricultural corporations. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous activist and filmmaker Kynan Tegar joins the Mongabay Newscast this week to discuss the impacts of the fires devastating Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. Some 48,000 hectares (about 119,000 acres) of land have burned so far this year; Kynan says these fires are intentional on the part of agricultural corporations. “The process that has gotten us to this point right now, where fires are raging through the island, it’s a process that started maybe you can draw the line up to the 1970s, which was around the time where the Indonesian New Order period regime of Suharto was leasing out a lot of lands as concessions to companies,” she says. “A lot of times it’s logging, it’s palm oil concessions, it’s also gold mines.” Corporations have drained more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of peatland, she says. But the impact, she says, that isn’t receiving as much attention is the decreased access to freshwater for Indigenous and local communities, which both climate change and El Niño are making worse. “It’s quite an ironic thing. Like, it’s one of the world&#8217;s biggest rainforest[s], and a lot of the people there are struggling for water. So that, on top of the conditions created by the massive wildfires that has been happening since July … has put a lot of the people there in strain,” she says. Kynan released a spoken-word music video in 2024 to dramatize and tell the story of her community, Sungai Utik,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/10/indigenous-activist-kynan-tegar-on-indonesias-fires-and-defending-the-earth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331702</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>100 conservation projects are looking for funding after USAID’s closure</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/100-conservation-projects-are-looking-for-funding-after-usaids-closure/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/100-conservation-projects-are-looking-for-funding-after-usaids-closure/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 18:20:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24143236/USAID-1-scaled-e1791303366230-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331767</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Finance, Forestry, Governance, Sustainable Forest Management, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Twenty months after the dismantling of USAID, a new analysis documents what the international development agency’s disappearance has meant for conservation projects around the world. Projects have stalled or collapsed in countries from Kenya to Bangladesh, reports Mongabay&#8217;s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Twenty months after the dismantling of USAID, a new analysis documents what the international development agency’s disappearance has meant for conservation projects around the world. Projects have stalled or collapsed in countries from Kenya to Bangladesh, reports Mongabay&#8217;s Ashoka Mukpo. Wildlife patrols, forest monitoring, community conservation programs and environmental policy work have all been hit. The report draws on interviews and surveys involving 150 people familiar with the agency’s work in Bangladesh, Peru, Kenya, Colombia and Vietnam. It was produced by One Earth Partners, a consultancy founded by former senior USAID officials Monica Bansal and Hadas Kushnir. U.S. President Donald Trump’s dismantlement of USAID removed nearly $1 billion from global conservation and environment funding. USAID spent $366 million on biodiversity conservation and $257 million on climate adaptation in fiscal year 2024, plus hundreds of millions more on clean energy, natural climate solutions, ocean plastics and pollution. The report traces what happened to some of that work after the agency was dismantled. USAID had trained officials in Colombia and Peru to use satellite data to monitor Amazon deforestation. It was a major supporter of anti-poaching and wildlife law enforcement at Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park. In Bangladesh, nearly two decades of work had gone into helping communities develop nature-based tourism and negotiate revenue-sharing arrangements around protected areas. Kenya was particularly hard hit. Daniel Sopia, who heads the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association, told Mongabay that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/100-conservation-projects-are-looking-for-funding-after-usaids-closure/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331767</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Solar power helps Amazon communities ditch diesel and prepare for El Niño drought</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/solar-power-helps-amazon-communities-ditch-diesel-and-prepare-for-el-nino-drought/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/solar-power-helps-amazon-communities-ditch-diesel-and-prepare-for-el-nino-drought/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 16:06:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/06160008/AP26272825099885-scaled-e1791302750226-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331764</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Alternative Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Disasters, Energy, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Solutions, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SANTAREM, Brazil (AP) — Off-grid solar power is spreading across Brazil’s Amazon, helping remote communities prepare for severe drought while replacing costly, polluting diesel generators. In Nova Sociedade, where residents walked up to 20 kilometers for water during the historic 2024 drought, solar panels now power pumps supplying clean water to 36 families. Household systems [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SANTAREM, Brazil (AP) — Off-grid solar power is spreading across Brazil’s Amazon, helping remote communities prepare for severe drought while replacing costly, polluting diesel generators. In Nova Sociedade, where residents walked up to 20 kilometers for water during the historic 2024 drought, solar panels now power pumps supplying clean water to 36 families. Household systems provide lighting and phone charging, while installations elsewhere support schools, health clinics and local businesses. More than 100,000 off-grid systems were operating by 2026. Advocates say renewable energy can strengthen Indigenous and traditional communities, improve climate resilience and help protect the rainforest. By Gabriela Sá Pessoa, Associated Press Banner image: Felipe Arapiuns, who is part of the Arapium Indigenous group, installs a donated solar panel on the roof of his home in the Nova Sociedade community near Santarem, Para state, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. Image courtesy of Andre Penner, Associated PressThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/solar-power-helps-amazon-communities-ditch-diesel-and-prepare-for-el-nino-drought/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/solar-power-helps-amazon-communities-ditch-diesel-and-prepare-for-el-nino-drought/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331764</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Australia’s Wet Tropics, restoration misses the forest for the tree cover</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-australias-wet-tropics-restoration-misses-the-forest-for-the-tree-cover/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-australias-wet-tropics-restoration-misses-the-forest-for-the-tree-cover/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 15:14:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/20181459/6-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331696</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Relics of ancient wet forests stretch across the coast of Queensland state in Australia. In a landscape made patchwork by agriculture, volunteers, community groups and Indigenous rangers in Australia&#8217;s Wet Tropics now grow more than 300,000 native plants to turn cleared pasture back into rainforest. But once the young trees shade out the weeds, some [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Relics of ancient wet forests stretch across the coast of Queensland state in Australia. In a landscape made patchwork by agriculture, volunteers, community groups and Indigenous rangers in Australia&#8217;s Wet Tropics now grow more than 300,000 native plants to turn cleared pasture back into rainforest. But once the young trees shade out the weeds, some groups aren’t keeping track of the trees, a new study finds. That gap means the goals these groups care about most, such as bringing back wildlife and reconnecting fragmented forest, are poorly captured by what most groups measure. Researchers from Australia’s James Cook University and the University of Queensland surveyed 25 organizations doing rainforest restoration in northeastern Australia. The respondents included community groups, conservation land trusts, Indigenous ranger groups, nature market investors, and commercial land managers. The results were published in the journal Restoration Ecology. Australia’s Wet Tropics, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stretches about 450 kilometers (280 miles) along Queensland&#8217;s northeast coast, and contain relics of the ancient forests that once covered the supercontinent of Gondwana, according to UNESCO. Mossman Gorge in Daintree National Park in Far North Queensland, Australia. Photo by Merryjack via Flickr (CC BY 4.0) Around 40% of Australia’s bird species live in the Wet Tropics. Of the roughly 2,800 plant species found here, about 700 grow nowhere else in the world, according to the Wet Tropics Management Authority. Rare animals living there include the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), the northern bettong (Bettongia tropica), and the spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus). During&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-australias-wet-tropics-restoration-misses-the-forest-for-the-tree-cover/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331696</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Science, Indigenous knowledge team up to restore Canada&#8217;s kelp. (Sea otters help, too.)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/science-indigenous-knowledge-team-up-to-restore-canadas-kelp-sea-otters-help-too/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/science-indigenous-knowledge-team-up-to-restore-canadas-kelp-sea-otters-help-too/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 14:44:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jennifer Cole]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/02162939/a.-BANNER-Liam-Ragan-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331571</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[British Columbia, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Ecosystems, Education, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Research, Restoration, Science, Seagrass, Solutions, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Emily Fulton spends a lot of time in a small boat cruising the waters of Clayoquot Sound off the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. As the marine program manager for the nonprofit Redd Fish Restoration Society, she regularly checks on a newly created kelp nursery growing within the traditional territory of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Emily Fulton spends a lot of time in a small boat cruising the waters of Clayoquot Sound off the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. As the marine program manager for the nonprofit Redd Fish Restoration Society, she regularly checks on a newly created kelp nursery growing within the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation. “We have grown a lot of kelp,” Fulton told Mongabay in a phone interview. Touted by its organizers as the largest kelp restoration project on the West Coast of North America, the nursery has planted more than 4,200 square meters (45,200 square feet) of new kelp habitat since launching in early 2026. That’s the footprint of three and a half Olympic-size swimming pools. The team grows baby bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) and giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) on four lines; each 330 meters (1,083 feet) long, submerged below the water’s surface and away from seafloor predators such as sea urchins. As the kelp grows and matures, they’ll take some of it off the lines and transplant it to sites throughout Clayoquot Sound, to restore degraded kelp forests and also seed new ones. Getting a project of this scale up and running has cost almost a quarter of a million Canadian dollars. The funding has come from various sources, including the provincial government, the World Wildlife Fund of Canada and the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust. Managing the project alongside Redd Fish is West Coast Kelp, a business devoted to kelp restoration and the Tla-o-qui-aht&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/science-indigenous-knowledge-team-up-to-restore-canadas-kelp-sea-otters-help-too/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/science-indigenous-knowledge-team-up-to-restore-canadas-kelp-sea-otters-help-too/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331571</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Indonesians facing El Nino’s fires have lessons to teach us (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-indonesians-facing-el-ninos-fires-have-lessons-to-teach-us-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-indonesians-facing-el-ninos-fires-have-lessons-to-teach-us-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 14:17:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Akane Nishimura]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/22123507/borneo-Dayak-fire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331681</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In October 2006, I was supposed to be starting my dissertation research on tropical reforestation in Indonesia. Instead, I found myself in the forests of Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan helping locals to fight fires with brooms, backpack pumps, and hoses connected to hand-dug water wells. It was an ‘all hands-on deck’ moment [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In October 2006, I was supposed to be starting my dissertation research on tropical reforestation in Indonesia. Instead, I found myself in the forests of Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan helping locals to fight fires with brooms, backpack pumps, and hoses connected to hand-dug water wells. It was an ‘all hands-on deck’ moment for the local NGO I was working with then — Friends of Nature, People and Forests (FNPF) — including Basuki Santoso, FNPF’s Kalimantan program manager, alongside Adut and Isam, who were teenagers at the time. On our first night of firefighting, we slept in the forest on a raised platform that would later become part of a field station. I was awoken in the middle of the night by a sun bear rifling through our makeshift kitchen about 20 feet away. I sat frozen, watching this wild animal who was fleeing the fires while everyone else slept soundly. It was a surreal and humbling moment. Twenty years ago, these severe forest and peatland fires were due to a dangerous combination of El Niño-induced drought, slash-and-burn agriculture and other land clearing, and the grass-fire cycle. Much of Southeast Asia was left choking on the haze, and that was a weak El Niño year. Firefighting in Indonesia often requires resourcefulness as well as resilience and fortitude. Image courtesy of Basuki Santoso. History keeps repeating itself, and it’s hard to watch. Experts say we are now facing a Super El Niño. For the past three months, millions of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-indonesians-facing-el-ninos-fires-have-lessons-to-teach-us-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331681</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Artificial nests give Hong Kong’s cockatoos a home – and a chance to study their behavior</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/artificial-nests-give-hong-kongs-cockatoos-a-home-and-a-chance-to-study-their-behavior/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/artificial-nests-give-hong-kongs-cockatoos-a-home-and-a-chance-to-study-their-behavior/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 13:39:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/06121036/WSK_20260509_1006-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331714</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, East Asia, and Hong Kong]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Cities, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Education, Endangered Species, Environment, Monitoring, Parrots, Research, Science, urban ecology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HONG KONG — “Spiderman … Tom Holland,” two secondary school boys repeated to each other as they watched conservationist Harry Wong nimbly climb a tall tree at their school, St. Louis School, in downtown Hong Kong. On a humid September afternoon, Wong installed a nest box for yellow-crested cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea) on a candlenut tree [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HONG KONG — “Spiderman … Tom Holland,” two secondary school boys repeated to each other as they watched conservationist Harry Wong nimbly climb a tall tree at their school, St. Louis School, in downtown Hong Kong. On a humid September afternoon, Wong installed a nest box for yellow-crested cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea) on a candlenut tree (Aleurites moluccanus). Equipped with a harness and ropes, he climbed up the tree, installed the box, and quickly rappelled down. Wong and Astrid Andersson, a biologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), are the dynamic duo behind HK Cockatoo Watch, a conservation project that seeks to protect the city’s feral yellow-crested cockatoos. Arborist and conservationist Harry Wong installs a nest box for yellow-crested cockatoos on a tree at St. Louis School in Hong Kong on Sept. 7, 2026. Image by Yenni Kwok/Mongabay. Yellow-crested cockatoos are considered to be critically endangered, with fewer than 2,000 individuals remaining in their native range in eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste. However, few people know that Hong Kong is home to the largest wild population of the species outside the two Southeast Asian countries. There are roughly 200 cockatoos in the city, or about 10% of the global wild population, believed to be descendants of released or escaped pets. The number is stable, thanks to the lack of natural predators and strict legal protection. A recent DNA analysis study by Andersson and her research team found that Hong Kong’s feral cockatoos have unexpectedly high genetic diversity and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/artificial-nests-give-hong-kongs-cockatoos-a-home-and-a-chance-to-study-their-behavior/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331714</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>16 new fungal species found hiding in Thailand&#8217;s flowers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/16-new-fungal-species-found-hiding-in-thailands-flowers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/16-new-fungal-species-found-hiding-in-thailands-flowers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 11:02:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/06110219/Melampodium-divaricatum-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331712</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Earth Science, Environment, Flowers, New Discovery, Plants, Research, Science, Tropical Conservation Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers surveying garden and wild flowers across northern Thailand have uncovered 16 previously unknown species of black, yeast-like fungi living inside the flowers, according to a recent study. The newly described fungi belong to the Aureobasidium genus, a commonly occurring group of yeast that can be found almost everywhere, from air and human skin, to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers surveying garden and wild flowers across northern Thailand have uncovered 16 previously unknown species of black, yeast-like fungi living inside the flowers, according to a recent study. The newly described fungi belong to the Aureobasidium genus, a commonly occurring group of yeast that can be found almost everywhere, from air and human skin, to water, rocks, soils and wood. A research team from Chiang Mai University and Kasetsart University, both in Thailand, found the 16 new-to-science species growing in 31 different flowering plants, including bougainvillea, vinca, and butter daisy, according to the study. Many of the newly described fungi take their names from their host flowers, such as A. bougainvilleae, or A. catharanthi, referring to its host, the Catharanthus genus of periwinkles. Others were named after their collection sites, such as A. chiangmaiense, referring to the province, and A. kwanphayaoense, referring to Kwan Phayao (Phayao Lake). Two species were named in honor of prominent Thai mycologists, or fungi experts: A. saisamorniae recognizes Saisamorn Lumyong, a professor at Chiang Mai University, while A. savitreeae honors Savitree Limtong, a professor at Kasetsart. “We wanted the names to tell a story, either about where these fungi came from or about the people who have helped advance mycological research in Thailand,” Nakarin Suwannarach, study co-author and professor at Chiang Mai University, said in a news release. Alongside the 16 species, the researchers also recorded four species of fungi that had previously never been documented in Thailand before. “Our team was motivated to study&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/16-new-fungal-species-found-hiding-in-thailands-flowers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331712</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Far-right election results in Brazil &#8216;bleak&#8217; for Indigenous peoples, says Indigenous leader</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/far-right-election-results-in-brazil-bleak-for-indigenous-peoples-says-indigenous-leader/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/far-right-election-results-in-brazil-bleak-for-indigenous-peoples-says-indigenous-leader/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 10:59:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/10035129/54929781835_62d2201585_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331709</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Politics, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Right-wing candidates made big gains in both houses of Congress in Brazil’s Oct. 4 general election. Brazil’s main Indigenous organization, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil APIB, told Mongabay that the result will drive new attempts to strip constitutional protections from Indigenous peoples. &#8220;Unfortunately, what we saw today is, let&#8217;s say, a bleak moment,&#8221; [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Right-wing candidates made big gains in both houses of Congress in Brazil’s Oct. 4 general election. Brazil’s main Indigenous organization, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil APIB, told Mongabay that the result will drive new attempts to strip constitutional protections from Indigenous peoples. &#8220;Unfortunately, what we saw today is, let&#8217;s say, a bleak moment,&#8221; Dinamam Tuxá, an executive coordinator with APIB, told Mongabay in an audio message. &#8220;We did not expect this result.&#8221; The far-right Liberal Party, affiliated with presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, won 19 of the 54 Senate seats up for election, bringing its total seats to 28 of the chamber&#8217;s 81, or 35%, starting from 2027. This is nearly double its current number and the largest bloc in the house. Other right-wing parties, namely the Progressistas (PP), Republicanos and Novo, secured 8 seats, bringing their total representation to 15 seats. This gives the four parties a majority in the Senate. Center-right parties now occupy 9 seats, and centrist parties, 13. Left and center-left hold 15 seats. The Liberal Party consistently cast votes against Indigenous rights between 2019 and 2026, according to an analysis of Congress&#8217;s voting records by the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), a Catholic Church-affiliated advocacy organization. According to CIMI’s analysis, 95.9% of the party’s votes were against Indigenous rights. The other right-wing parties voted similarly: Republicanos at 90.5% and Progressistas (PP) at 85.6%. Novo cast anti-Indigenous votes 100% of the time. On Oct. 25, Flávio Bolsonaro will face off against incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/far-right-election-results-in-brazil-bleak-for-indigenous-peoples-says-indigenous-leader/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331709</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Helping 100,000 amphibians safely cross the road</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/helping-100000-amphibians-safely-cross-the-road/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/helping-100000-amphibians-safely-cross-the-road/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 09:08:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jonathan Vit]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/06090715/Mongabay_Thumbnail_DangerousJourney_Featured.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331704</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every year, thousands of salamanders and frogs try to cross from their wooded winter homes in the U.S. state of New Hampshire to the swamps they breed in. But the road is a dangerous place — unless you have the help of New Hampshire’s Salamander Brigades.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every year, thousands of salamanders and frogs try to cross from their wooded winter homes in the U.S. state of New Hampshire to the swamps they breed in. But the road is a dangerous place — unless you have the help of New Hampshire’s Salamander Brigades.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/helping-100000-amphibians-safely-cross-the-road/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331704</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia threatens prison time for unauthorized downloads of forest data</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesia-threatens-prison-time-for-unauthorized-downloads-of-forest-data/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesia-threatens-prison-time-for-unauthorized-downloads-of-forest-data/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 02:59:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dyna RochmyaningsihPhilip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/05121818/orangutan-indonesia-maps-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331637</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Communication, Conservation Technology, Controversial, data, Environmental Law, Freedom of Information, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Mapping, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s government is imposing new restrictions on access to geospatial data, raising concerns among researchers and activists that it will suppress environmental science and advocacy work in one of the world’s most biodiverse countries. For around a month, visitors to an interactive mapping platform maintained by the Ministry of Forestry have been greeted with a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s government is imposing new restrictions on access to geospatial data, raising concerns among researchers and activists that it will suppress environmental science and advocacy work in one of the world’s most biodiverse countries. For around a month, visitors to an interactive mapping platform maintained by the Ministry of Forestry have been greeted with a pop-up legal notice warning that the information is “view-only” and that anyone who “downloads” or “extracts” it without the ministry’s written permission “will be prosecuted” under the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions, or ITE, Law. Anyone who wants to use the once freely accessible platform, known as SIGAP, must first agree to “terms and conditions” stating that the relevant articles in the ITE Law “carry penalties of up to 9 years in prison and/or a fine of up to Rp 3 billion [$170,000],” the notice says. On Sept. 21, the ministry’s Directorate General of Forestry Planning posted a video to Instagram outlining a new application process that requires prospective users to disclose their research aims and submit supporting documents. Doni Prabowo, the department’s head of forest monitoring and geospatial information, told Mongabay that restrictions were needed because geospatial data had been uncontrolled for a long time, creating opportunities for manipulation and illegal trading of the country’s precious information. “What if somebody manipulates the data and says certain areas are not protected forest [when they really are]? It could be dangerous,” Doni said by phone. He said he’d heard of the ministry’s geospatial data being listed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesia-threatens-prison-time-for-unauthorized-downloads-of-forest-data/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesia-threatens-prison-time-for-unauthorized-downloads-of-forest-data/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331637</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sabine Schoppe who built a refuge for Palawan’s forest turtles has died</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/sabine-schoppe-who-built-a-refuge-for-palawans-forest-turtles-has-died/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/sabine-schoppe-who-built-a-refuge-for-palawans-forest-turtles-has-died/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 22:14:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/05214242/sabine-schoppe-katala-foundation-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331676</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Philippines]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation leadership, Culture, Herps, In-situ Conservation, Obituary, Reptiles, trafficking, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On June 17, 2015, Philippine officials confiscated thousands of turtles in cement tanks from a warehouse in Palawan, an island province in the Philippines. More than 3,800 of them were endangered Palawan forest turtles (Siebenrockiella leytensis), piled as many as a dozen deep, awaiting export. Some had ulcers on the undersides of their shells or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On June 17, 2015, Philippine officials confiscated thousands of turtles in cement tanks from a warehouse in Palawan, an island province in the Philippines. More than 3,800 of them were endangered Palawan forest turtles (Siebenrockiella leytensis), piled as many as a dozen deep, awaiting export. Some had ulcers on the undersides of their shells or open wounds on their feet; others had been bitten by turtles crowded in alongside them. Sabine Schoppe organized the response. No facility was equipped to deal with thousands of turtles so students built shade and shelters. A former crocodile enclosure was turned into an emergency pond. Schoppe and her colleagues worked around the clock, joined by veterinarians and turtle specialists who came from abroad. “Yesterday by sadness and work, now by hope,” she wrote after help began arriving. Schoppe had arrived in the Philippines from Germany in 1995 after completing a doctorate in biology. She began with bird surveys and coastal resource management in the Visayas before moving to the State Polytechnic College of Palawan, now Western Philippines University, where she was a guest professor of aquatic and marine biology. She also became an associate editor of The Palawan Scientist. The bakoko, as the Palawan forest turtle is known locally, was first described scientifically from specimens said to have come from the Philippine island of Leyte. Those specimens were later destroyed during the bombing of Manila in World War II. For decades scientists didn’t know where the turtles lived until they were eventually found in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/sabine-schoppe-who-built-a-refuge-for-palawans-forest-turtles-has-died/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/sabine-schoppe-who-built-a-refuge-for-palawans-forest-turtles-has-died/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331676</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil far-right presidential candidate wins most votes in deforestation hotspots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/brazil-far-right-presidential-candidate-wins-most-votes-in-deforestation-hotspots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/brazil-far-right-presidential-candidate-wins-most-votes-in-deforestation-hotspots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 21:48:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/05214443/Screenshot-2026-10-05-164835-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331677</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Governance, Politics, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Brazil’s general election on Oct. 4, incumbent leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finished second to far-right Flávio Bolsonaro, a senator and son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was barred from public office after being convicted of planning a coup d’état. The two candidates will face each other in a second-round vote [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Brazil’s general election on Oct. 4, incumbent leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finished second to far-right Flávio Bolsonaro, a senator and son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was barred from public office after being convicted of planning a coup d’état. The two candidates will face each other in a second-round vote on Oct. 25 as neither candidate won more than 50% of the vote needed for a first-round victory. Flávio Bolsonaro won the majority of votes in eight of the 10 Amazon municipalities that cleared the most rainforest over the last decade, according to an analysis by Sumaúma, an Amazon-based publication. Sumaúma compared official results from the first-round votes with satellite deforestation data from Brazil&#8217;s National Institute for Space Research. Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency coincided with a historic spike in deforestation. Lula took office in 2023. Starting in August 2025, Amazon deforestation fell to the lowest level in more than a decade. Novo Progresso in Pará state was the site of the 2019 “Day of Fire” when local residents, many Jair Bolsonaro supporters, purposely set hundreds of forest fires. Flávio Bolsonaro won 84% of the vote in Novo Progresso. In the municipality of Altamira, where the Lula administration blacklisted more than 500 farms for illegal deforestation last year, Flávio Bolsonaro won 63% of the vote. Nestled between Altamira and Novo Progresso is the site of the largest land grab in Brazilian Amazon history. Lula won the vote in two of the 10 most deforested municipalities. He won&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/brazil-far-right-presidential-candidate-wins-most-votes-in-deforestation-hotspots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/brazil-far-right-presidential-candidate-wins-most-votes-in-deforestation-hotspots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331677</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uncertainty mounts as Suriname struggles to evict illegal settlers in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/uncertainty-mounts-as-suriname-struggles-to-evict-illegal-settlers-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/uncertainty-mounts-as-suriname-struggles-to-evict-illegal-settlers-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 19:03:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/05183543/FEATURE-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331665</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Latin America, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Forestry, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Natural Resources, Protected Areas, Sustainable Forest Management, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The government in Suriname this year said it planned to evict illegal settlers in the Amazon Rainforest, and possibly send many of them back to their home countries. But eviction has proven much more complicated than it first appeared, with settlers allegedly ignoring court orders and officials expressing confusion about which people are breaking what [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The government in Suriname this year said it planned to evict illegal settlers in the Amazon Rainforest, and possibly send many of them back to their home countries. But eviction has proven much more complicated than it first appeared, with settlers allegedly ignoring court orders and officials expressing confusion about which people are breaking what laws. Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons created a task force to investigate illegal settlements destroying the rainforest, many of them Mennonites moving from other countries. Officials delivered eviction notices to some of the settlers as recently as July, yet some deny receiving the notices and continue to develop the area. Lawmakers said they’re confused about the location of the new Mennonite communities, the legal process for removing them, and how they entered the country in the first place. “We got bits and pieces of information that more and more families were coming,” Rabindre Parmessar, leader of the National Democratic Party in the National Assembly, told Mongabay over the phone. “We don’t know whether immigration rules were taken into consideration, and the other rules and procedures we have here in Suriname.” Since at least 2022, agribusiness investors in the country have been trying to relocate Mennonite farming families from Bolivia, Belize and other parts of the Americas. The conservative Christian group has a track record of rapid farming growth, and would have helped develop hundreds of thousands of hectares of mostly primary rainforest. Geerlings-Simons during the press briefing Aug 4. Image courtesy of Key tv 8.2 In&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/uncertainty-mounts-as-suriname-struggles-to-evict-illegal-settlers-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/uncertainty-mounts-as-suriname-struggles-to-evict-illegal-settlers-in-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331665</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thailand braces for more rain as death toll from recent flooding hits 31</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/thailand-braces-for-more-rain-as-death-toll-from-recent-flooding-hits-31/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/thailand-braces-for-more-rain-as-death-toll-from-recent-flooding-hits-31/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 16:45:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/05164022/AP26271261973605-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331655</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities on Monday warned of more rain and flash flooding as the death toll from floods across the country since mid-September rose to 31. Thunderstorms, strong winds and heavy rain are expected across much of upper Thailand from Monday through Wednesday, increasing the risk of flash flooding, particularly in low-lying areas, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities on Monday warned of more rain and flash flooding as the death toll from floods across the country since mid-September rose to 31. Thunderstorms, strong winds and heavy rain are expected across much of upper Thailand from Monday through Wednesday, increasing the risk of flash flooding, particularly in low-lying areas, the Thailand Meteorological Department said. Very heavy to heavy rains are also forecast in some areas in the central, eastern and southern regions, including the capital, Bangkok, over the weekend. Many areas in Bangkok were inundated last week after days of torrential rain, forcing thousands to evacuate and causing severe disruptions. The city’s conditions have largely improved, although floodwaters remain in some lower-lying areas. Bangkok authorities said they were taking measures to reduce the risk of further flooding, including draining more water from the city’s main canals to increase their capacity to absorb rain and deploying more water pumps in high-risk areas. More than 3.5 million people remained affected by flooding nationwide as of Monday, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. The 31 deaths were reported across eight provinces, including four in Bangkok. The extensive damage from flooding prompted the Thai government to approve emergency funds of more than 4.1 billion baht (about $122 million) last week for flood recovery. By Associated Press Banner image: People wade through a flooded street after heavy rain in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. Image courtesy of Sakchai Lalit, Associated PressThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/thailand-braces-for-more-rain-as-death-toll-from-recent-flooding-hits-31/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331655</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘There could be local extinction’: The fight to protect Indonesia’s orangutans as El Niño fuels fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/there-could-be-local-extinction-the-fight-to-protect-indonesias-orangutans-as-el-nino-fuels-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/there-could-be-local-extinction-the-fight-to-protect-indonesias-orangutans-as-el-nino-fuels-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 11:08:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/09065841/Orangutan-Sampurna1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331642</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Critically Endangered Species, Disasters, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Primates, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Restoration, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires burning within rainforests that contain more than half of the world’s critically endangered Bornean orangutan population have prompted scientists and experts to call for urgent action in response to the escalating fires across Indonesia. The warning comes as Indonesia faces a severe fire season fueled by strong El Niño conditions, with conservationists [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires burning within rainforests that contain more than half of the world’s critically endangered Bornean orangutan population have prompted scientists and experts to call for urgent action in response to the escalating fires across Indonesia. The warning comes as Indonesia faces a severe fire season fueled by strong El Niño conditions, with conservationists scrambling to rescue wildlife trapped in burning landscapes. Fires are burning in rainforests that contain 13 of the 20 largest remaining populations of Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Shaded and outlined areas show current IUCN Extant (resident) orangutan range in Kalimantan. Image courtesy of the Orangutan Conservation Initiative. Red circles show individual satellite detections overlapping current IUCN Extant (resident) orangutan range. As of Sept. 22, the Ministry of Forestry reported that 100 wildlife, including 53 Bornean orangutans, had been rescued. Rescuers have found some orangutans suffering severe physical injuries after escaping the fires. In Central Kalimantan, an approximately 4-year-old orangutan named Novita was found trapped in a burning area near Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan province with serious burns on all four hands and feet, according to local news Betahita. She was later taken to a rehabilitation center for treatment. In locations where orangutans are surrounded by fire and have nowhere to go, they can “literally burn alive,” said Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF) CEO Anton Nurcahyo. The risk may be particularly high for females with young, Anton told Mongabay. Their tendency to remain in established home ranges can be a disadvantage during fires, while females&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/there-could-be-local-extinction-the-fight-to-protect-indonesias-orangutans-as-el-nino-fuels-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/there-could-be-local-extinction-the-fight-to-protect-indonesias-orangutans-as-el-nino-fuels-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331642</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare Southern African succulent listed as critically endangered amid mining threat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/rare-southern-african-succulent-listed-as-critically-endangered-amid-mining-threat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/rare-southern-african-succulent-listed-as-critically-endangered-amid-mining-threat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 08:53:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/05084838/brown-clockfig-SA.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331640</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Impact Of Climate Change, Mining, Natural Resources, Plants, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The brown clockfig, an extremely rare succulent growing in the hot, arid border region of Namibia and South Africa, was recently assessed as critically endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. The western Gariep Valley is a vast landscape spanning the southern part of Tsau ǁKhaeb National Park in Namibia and the Richtersveld [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The brown clockfig, an extremely rare succulent growing in the hot, arid border region of Namibia and South Africa, was recently assessed as critically endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. The western Gariep Valley is a vast landscape spanning the southern part of Tsau ǁKhaeb National Park in Namibia and the Richtersveld region of Northern Cape province in South Africa. It’s in this harsh environment, shaped by extreme heat and dryness, that the brown clockfig (Cheiridopsis brownii) grows on quartz ridges, shale, gravel, and sandy soils, and in cracks and fissures in desert mountains. The IUCN estimates the species, with thick leaves and daisy-like yellow flowers, has a total range of 424 square kilometers (164 square miles) in the valley, but occupies only around 60 km2 (23 mi2) of this area. Habitat loss due to overgrazing is among its major threats. Another is the demand for mineral resources such as diamonds, with mining permits being issued across the region. That’s placed more of the species’ already limited habitat under pressure in both South Africa and Namibia. “The vast desertification of the Aniesvlakte [plain in South Africa&#8217;s Richtersveld region] as a direct result of severe overgrazing, as well as the mass desertification caused by sand moving from the coast due to unrehabilitated mines, are threatening to swallow most of the remaining population in South Africa,” Pieter van Wyk, a botanist with South African National Parks (SANParks), who carried out the most recent assessment, told Mongabay via email. Another&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/rare-southern-african-succulent-listed-as-critically-endangered-amid-mining-threat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331640</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More Latin American species are surfacing at a Bangkok wildlife market</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/more-latin-american-species-are-surfacing-at-a-bangkok-wildlife-market/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/more-latin-american-species-are-surfacing-at-a-bangkok-wildlife-market/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 06:43:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/07111056/6.-IMG_0081-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331638</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Latin America, South America, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Crime, Environmental Law, Ethics, Governance, Health, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Pet Trade, Pets, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More Amazonian species, in larger numbers, are appearing for sale on the other side of the planet in Southeast Asia’s exotic pet trade, reports contributor Gloria Dickie for Mongabay. Over the past two years, Scott Roberton, who leads the countertrafficking program for U.S.-based nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society, has observed a rise in Latin American species, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[More Amazonian species, in larger numbers, are appearing for sale on the other side of the planet in Southeast Asia’s exotic pet trade, reports contributor Gloria Dickie for Mongabay. Over the past two years, Scott Roberton, who leads the countertrafficking program for U.S.-based nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society, has observed a rise in Latin American species, including marmosets, capuchin monkeys, tamarins, capybaras, matamata turtles, and rare Amazonian fish, crammed into small enclosures alongside domestic pets in Thai markets. “It’s changed a lot in the past two years. The volume is greater. The diversity of species is great,” said Roberton. “Every time we come, there is a new species here.” The supply chain can originate deep in the rainforest, often centered around hubs like Iquitos in Peru, Dickie reports. Animals poached from Colombia, Brazil, and neighboring nations are ferried along Amazonian rivers into Peru, where corruption and illegal trafficking, including fraudulent documentation, allow wild-caught specimens to be laundered as captive-bred stock that can be legally traded. “Iquitos is a city where a lot of illegal commodities move freely within the Amazon,” said Renata Cao, Latin America project lead with the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. “A lot of products from different countries get to Iquitos, and then in Peru it’s easier to launder.” From South America, the animals endure stressful multi-leg flights lasting more than 25 hours to reach Asian markets. The trade is further fueled by social media platforms that connect buyers and sellers globally, according to Neil D’Cruze, a wildlife&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/more-latin-american-species-are-surfacing-at-a-bangkok-wildlife-market/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331638</doi>				</item>
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					<title>Weak prosecution leaves Southeast Asia&#8217;s tigers vulnerable to trafficking: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/weak-prosecution-leaves-southeast-asias-tigers-vulnerable-to-trafficking-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/weak-prosecution-leaves-southeast-asias-tigers-vulnerable-to-trafficking-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 05:17:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/15172626/CE_Sumatran-tiger_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331636</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Business, Cats, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Health, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Medicine, Organized Crime, Poaching, Threatened species, Tigers, Trade, Traditional Medicine, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fewer than half of tiger poaching and trafficking arrests in Southeast Asia result in convictions or legal penalties, providing little deterrent to an illegal black market that is driving wild tigers towards extinction, reports contributor Sean Mowbray for Mongabay. Researchers analyzed 259 tiger seizure cases recorded between 2019 and 2024 across seven range countries: Indonesia, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Fewer than half of tiger poaching and trafficking arrests in Southeast Asia result in convictions or legal penalties, providing little deterrent to an illegal black market that is driving wild tigers towards extinction, reports contributor Sean Mowbray for Mongabay. Researchers analyzed 259 tiger seizure cases recorded between 2019 and 2024 across seven range countries: Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. Of those 259 cases, only 110 resulted in prison sentences or fines, according to the report published by Canadian conservation think tank the GuArdean Centre for Conservation Research, wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC, and WWF International. Another 35 cases ended in suspended sentences, while 63 arrests lacked a clear outcome and 48 had no available public data. The report reveals that law enforcement efforts overwhelmingly target low and mid-level poachers, couriers and local traders, rather than the high-level organizers financing transnational syndicates. “We’re talking about serious organized crime,” Heather Sohl, tiger trade lead at WWF and report co-author, told Mongabay. “These are criminal networks that are involved in other organized crime, such as human trafficking and money laundering.” Sohl added that arrests alone are insufficient, “Investigation and case-building is needed to build support for strong prosecutions, and only by looking across the whole criminal justice response can we look to really disrupt these wildlife trafficking networks.” Vietnam and Indonesia logged the highest conviction numbers, with 51 cases in each country carrying jail time or fines. However, Vietnam also accounted for 33 of the region’s 35 suspended sentences. Thailand recorded&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/weak-prosecution-leaves-southeast-asias-tigers-vulnerable-to-trafficking-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/weak-prosecution-leaves-southeast-asias-tigers-vulnerable-to-trafficking-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331636</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hunters reportedly kill hundreds of migratory birds stranded by thunderstorm in Malta</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/hunters-reportedly-kill-hundreds-of-migratory-birds-stranded-by-thunderstorm-in-malta/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/hunters-reportedly-kill-hundreds-of-migratory-birds-stranded-by-thunderstorm-in-malta/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 04:23:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/05031317/2026.09.15_EuropeanRoller_Marsaskala-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331633</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and Malta]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Extreme Weather, Hunting, Over-hunting, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A multi-day thunderstorm over the Mediterranean Sea struck Malta, stranding hundreds of passing migratory birds on Sept. 14, 2026. Hunters in the country then shot hundreds of those birds, including protected species, shows evidence gathered by the conservation NGO Birdlife Malta. Malta sits on the Central European-Mediterranean flyway that millions of migratory birds use annually [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A multi-day thunderstorm over the Mediterranean Sea struck Malta, stranding hundreds of passing migratory birds on Sept. 14, 2026. Hunters in the country then shot hundreds of those birds, including protected species, shows evidence gathered by the conservation NGO Birdlife Malta. Malta sits on the Central European-Mediterranean flyway that millions of migratory birds use annually as they fly from their breeding grounds in Europe to overwinter in Africa. Strong weather systems can interrupt these journeys, causing a “bird fall” — a phenomenon where hundreds of birds seek shelter on land. “This can result in unusually large concentrations of exhausted migratory birds in particular locations,” Antonia Micallef, public engagement executive at BirdLife Malta, told Mongabay by email. “This concentration makes birds much easier to detect and target [by hunters].” Malta has the highest density of hunters in all of Europe. “Over 10,000 hunters [are] active at any one time,” Micallef said. According to BirdLife Malta, hunters shot more than 500 European turtle doves (Streptopelia turtur), a threatened species whose numbers have plummeted, after the storm. Malta allows a quota of 500 European turtle doves to be hunted in autumn, which runs through the end of September, but Micallef said that number was reached soon after the storm, and the season was closed on Sept. 14. “Despite the official closure, BirdLife Malta documented ongoing hunting of Turtle-doves in the hours and days that followed,” Micallef said. Volunteers also reported hunters shooting at a flock of more than 150 little egrets (Egretta garzetta)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/hunters-reportedly-kill-hundreds-of-migratory-birds-stranded-by-thunderstorm-in-malta/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331633</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Myanmar&#8217;s mines pollute Thai rivers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/myanmars-mines-pollute-thai-rivers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/myanmars-mines-pollute-thai-rivers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Oct 2026 15:16:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juan Maza]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/04151601/Mongabay_Thumbnail_GerryMyanmar_Featured.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331629</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Environment, Mining, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Vast tracts of Thai farmland have been poisoned by chemicals linked to mining in Myanmar, With toxins carried into Thailand by at least six transboundary rivers. A Mongabay investigation has found more than 50 companies in Thailand importing minerals from Myanmar’s polluting mines. Antimony, copper, lead, manganese, tin, tungsten and other critical minerals worth millions [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Vast tracts of Thai farmland have been poisoned by chemicals linked to mining in Myanmar, With toxins carried into Thailand by at least six transboundary rivers. A Mongabay investigation has found more than 50 companies in Thailand importing minerals from Myanmar’s polluting mines. Antimony, copper, lead, manganese, tin, tungsten and other critical minerals worth millions of dollars are imported from Myanmar to Thailand And mostly sold on to China. Few Thai companies know where in Myanmar the minerals come from, If the mines are legal, whether they’ve contributed to river pollution or if the minerals imported are even what’s listed on paper. Thai, Burmese and Chinese companies are all profiting from mines that have contaminated rivers, leaving downstream communities with no clean water, food security or livelihoods as a public health crisis unfolds. Read the full story.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/myanmars-mines-pollute-thai-rivers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331629</doi>				</item>
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