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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/nigel-sizer/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:06:19 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Nigel Sizer Archives</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/nigel-sizer/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Once lost, now found: Five &#8220;missing&#8221; bird species rediscovered in 2025, offering hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/once-lost-now-found-five-missing-bird-species-rediscovered-in-2025-offering-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/once-lost-now-found-five-missing-bird-species-rediscovered-in-2025-offering-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2026 14:36:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/03143057/R-Flycatcher-e1775244630783-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316945</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Oceania, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Rediscovered Species, Research, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Five “missing” bird species — not seen, heard or documented in the wild for a decade or more — were “found” in 2025, according to the 2026 annual update to the Lost Birds List. It’s a tally of species that haven’t been photographed, recorded or their genetic footprint detected for more than a decade. Another [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Five “missing” bird species — not seen, heard or documented in the wild for a decade or more — were “found” in 2025, according to the 2026 annual update to the Lost Birds List. It’s a tally of species that haven’t been photographed, recorded or their genetic footprint detected for more than a decade. Another extraordinary rediscovery came earlier this year: A bird “missing” for 94 years was documented in Chad. With the new changes, the overall number of “lost” birds, as defined in a 2022 study, dropped to 120 from the 163 listed when the list was first published in 2022. The list is maintained by the Search for Lost Birds project, a global partnership between the NGOs American Bird Conservancy, Re:wild and BirdLife International. Six species considered lost since 2016 will be added to the list in 2026. Unlike the IUCN Red List, which tracks the extinction risk of species over time through extensive periodic assessments, the “lost species” list flags those that haven’t been documented in a long time — the first signs of trouble before they vanish forever. John Mittermeier, director of the Search for Lost Birds project, called the list an “early warning system” for birds not seen in a while. He said it helps “fill conservation data gaps” before rigorous assessments catch up and spur action to protect species that might “potentially slip between the cracks.” Every year, Mittermeier and his team scour through public birding platforms, such as eBird, iNaturalist, Xeno-Canto and others,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/once-lost-now-found-five-missing-bird-species-rediscovered-in-2025-offering-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/once-lost-now-found-five-missing-bird-species-rediscovered-in-2025-offering-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Researchers uncover 10 new moth species and 7 new genera in Hawaiʻi</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/researchers-uncover-10-new-moth-species-and-7-new-genera-in-hawai%ca%bbi/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/researchers-uncover-10-new-moth-species-and-7-new-genera-in-hawai%ca%bbi/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2026 01:28:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bobby Bascomb]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/04012646/Screenshot-2026-04-03-at-7.25.59-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316971</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Hawaii]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Evolution, Insects, Islands, Moths, Research, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers in Hawai’i have described 10 new species and seven new genera of moths, highlighting how much remains unknown about the Pacific archipelago’s biodiversity. Hawai’i is home to a large number of endemic species, plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Discovery of a new species is so common, “nobody turns their head,” study [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers in Hawai’i have described 10 new species and seven new genera of moths, highlighting how much remains unknown about the Pacific archipelago’s biodiversity. Hawai’i is home to a large number of endemic species, plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Discovery of a new species is so common, “nobody turns their head,” study co-author Daniel Rubinoff, an entomologist with the University of Hawaiʻi, told Mongabay in a video call. He said finding a new genus is considered “kind of interesting, but to find so many really reflects how poorly known Hawaii&#8217;s fauna still is.” Genus is a broader grouping than species, so species in different genera typically diverged much earlier in their evolutionary history than species of the same genus. “Hawaiʻi is a world-renowned laboratory for evolution ,” lead author Kyhl Austin of the University of Hawai’i said in a press release. “By identifying these seven new genera, we are showing that these insects crossed thousands of miles of open ocean to reach Hawai’i far more frequently than we ever imagined.” Karl Magnacca, an entomologist with the O‘ahu Army Natural Resources Program, not involved with the study told Mongabay in an email that “this is a really important contribution, as many of our native insect groups haven&#8217;t been looked at in around 100 years.” In their search for new moths, researchers examined century-old museum collections and conducted field surveys in remote areas. They combined detailed anatomic examination with high-resolution imaging and genetic testing to reveal a hidden diversity of moths.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/researchers-uncover-10-new-moth-species-and-7-new-genera-in-hawai%ca%bbi/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/researchers-uncover-10-new-moth-species-and-7-new-genera-in-hawai%ca%bbi/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Orcas never seen before in Seattle delight whale watchers with a visit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/orcas-never-seen-before-in-seattle-delight-whale-watchers-with-a-visit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/orcas-never-seen-before-in-seattle-delight-whale-watchers-with-a-visit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 22:26:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/03222530/AP26091840705397-scaled-e1775255187989-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316967</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Habitat, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Ocean, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Seattle (AP) — When tourists travel to Seattle, it’s common to take in the Space Needle and the downtown skyline from Puget Sound. It’s an itinerary that a newly arrived pod of killer whales appears to be following too. Three orcas that had not previously been recorded in the Seattle area have delighted whale watchers with several [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Seattle (AP) — When tourists travel to Seattle, it’s common to take in the Space Needle and the downtown skyline from Puget Sound. It’s an itinerary that a newly arrived pod of killer whales appears to be following too. Three orcas that had not previously been recorded in the Seattle area have delighted whale watchers with several visits just off downtown this past month. They&#8217;ve also cruised by other shorelines in the region. “People &#8230; are all very happy to see this,” said Hongming Zheng, who photographs whales in his spare time. It took him 10 hours of driving to find the mysterious pod. “It was epic.” Researchers keep detailed records of killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea, the waters between Washington state and Canada, by identifying their fins and saddle patches — the grayish markings on their sides. So it was a surprise when this pod of three orcas showed up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in March. The three weren’t in any catalogs of local whales. After some digging, researchers located photos of the pod in Alaska waters last year, said Shari Tarantino of the Washington-based Orca Conservancy. The pod includes an adult female and what are believed to be her two offspring, including a large young adult male. They have now been designated as T419, T420 and T421 — the T standing for “transient,” not “tourist.” The visiting orcas have something that local whales don’t: circular scars left by cookie-cutter sharks, which latch on to larger animals and slice a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/orcas-never-seen-before-in-seattle-delight-whale-watchers-with-a-visit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/orcas-never-seen-before-in-seattle-delight-whale-watchers-with-a-visit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Kenya to receive 4 mountain bongos from European zoos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/kenya-to-receive-4-mountain-bongos-from-european-zoos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/kenya-to-receive-4-mountain-bongos-from-european-zoos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 20:42:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lynet Otieno]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/03203525/Critically-endangered-mountain-bongo-at-Chester-Zoo13-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316965</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Antelope, Captive Breeding, Endangered Species, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC) is on track to receive four male mountain bongos from European zoos, a move aimed at helping boost the population of one of Africa’s most endangered antelope. The transfer was led by experts from Chester Zoo, in England, in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the European Association [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC) is on track to receive four male mountain bongos from European zoos, a move aimed at helping boost the population of one of Africa’s most endangered antelope. The transfer was led by experts from Chester Zoo, in England, in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In a statement sent to Mongabay, the Chester Zoo said its experts spent more than 11 years coordinating a breeding program across European conservation zoos. “The four males now selected &#8211; chosen on the basis of age, health and genetics &#8211; will be the first to ever be transferred from European zoos to Kenya as part of a rewilding effort.” &#8220;Collaborations like this are absolutely essential if we are to prevent this magnificent species disappearing altogether,” Nick Davis, mammals general manager at Chester Zoo and coordinator of the European breeding program, said in a statement. “They demonstrate how modern, science-led zoos play an important role in bringing species back from the brink.” The most recent IUCN assessment in 2016 found the forest-dwelling antelope were critically endangered with just 70-80 adults remaining in the wild at the time, all of them in Kenya. In the last decade, mountain bongos (Tragelaphus eurycerus ssp. isaaci) briefly experienced a surge in the wild population. The Kenyan national wildlife census report states that in 2021, there were roughly 150 wild mountain bongos, but by 2025, there were just 66. Kenyan experts attribute the species’ decline to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/kenya-to-receive-4-mountain-bongos-from-european-zoos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Canadian muskoxen hit by double punch of novel diseases and climate change</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/canadian-muskoxen-hit-by-double-punch-of-novel-diseases-and-climate-change/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/canadian-muskoxen-hit-by-double-punch-of-novel-diseases-and-climate-change/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 15:24:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02214119/1-Edit-35-BANNER-IMAGE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316879</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bacteria, Climate, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Health, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Infectious Wildlife Disease, Mammals, Nature And Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As winter comes to the Canadian Arctic, muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) abandon the valleys and head to higher ground, where winds sweep away the snow. That’s where we go to find them, Allen Niptanatiak, chairman of the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization, tells Mongabay in a video call. The Inuit harvesters focus on culling the younger [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As winter comes to the Canadian Arctic, muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) abandon the valleys and head to higher ground, where winds sweep away the snow. That’s where we go to find them, Allen Niptanatiak, chairman of the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization, tells Mongabay in a video call. The Inuit harvesters focus on culling the younger cows and bulls, leaving the breeding animals alone. It takes a couple hours to skin, butcher and load up the sleds, the older and younger generations working together in -30° Celsius to -35°C (-22° Fahrenheit to -35°F), weather that is “just perfect,” says Niptanatiak, an Inuk hunter and trapper from Nunavut, who is also a retired conservation officer. “Then we eat and have a big meal and just enjoy it and talk and say, ‘Oh, this is a blessing,’” he says. Muskoxen are an integral part of Arctic ecology and, with their thick shaggy coats, are synonymous with the Far North. Nearly driven to extinction by commercial hunting in the early 1900s, surviving in just a few pockets in Canada, they began to recover following a 1917 hunting ban. By the 1990s, the Canadian population was estimated at 108,600. About 70% of the Canadian population was on Victoria and Banks islands, in Canada’s Arctic Archipelago — large islands with a combined area of nearly 290,000 square kilometers (12,000 square miles), about the size of Italy. Niptanatiak lives in Kugluktuk, a small hamlet on the mainland, just across from Victoria Island. Diets vary there, but for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/canadian-muskoxen-hit-by-double-punch-of-novel-diseases-and-climate-change/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>How an engineer brought degraded wetlands back to life in drought-hit Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-an-engineer-brought-degraded-wetlands-back-to-life-in-drought-hit-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-an-engineer-brought-degraded-wetlands-back-to-life-in-drought-hit-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 13:44:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abusiddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/03133606/4-Bharardaho-Beel-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316931</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Drought, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The moment A.K.M. Fazlul Haque learnt that the government had declared two wetlands —Bharardaho Beel and Patuakamri Beel — located in Bangladesh’s northern district of Rangpur as the Special Biodiversity Conservation Area, he smiled with relief, he said. “Our years-long conservation efforts have paid off,” was his immediate response. In Bangladesh, a beel is defined [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The moment A.K.M. Fazlul Haque learnt that the government had declared two wetlands —Bharardaho Beel and Patuakamri Beel — located in Bangladesh’s northern district of Rangpur as the Special Biodiversity Conservation Area, he smiled with relief, he said. “Our years-long conservation efforts have paid off,” was his immediate response. In Bangladesh, a beel is defined as a large topographically low area that accumulates surface runoff water. As a senior deputy-assistant engineer at the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA), the state-run agency responsible for restoring surface water sources, Fazlul, in 2021 and 2023, led the excavation of the two beels that had almost disappeared from the landscape, having been transformed as silted crop field. After excavating the 4.7 hectares (11.6 acres) of Bharardaho Beel, Fazlul and his peers volunteered the plantation of rare indigenous tree species along the ridges. When the BMDA team approached to excavate the nearby Patuakamtri Beel, illegal occupants attacked Fazlul physically and damaged his high-end photography camera, he said. Despite such obstacles, BMDA finally succeeded in the excavation of the 4.5 hectares (11.3 acres) of Patuakamri Beel. Today, both water bodies shelter hundreds of water birds, some of them migratory, and other wildlife around the year. Such conservation efforts are crucial to be replicated in such drought-prone northern regions of Bangladesh where wetlands are depleting fast, experts say. A study published in November 2022 reveals that Bangladesh’s northwest region lost more than 57% of its total wetland area between 1989 and 2020. Md Shafiqul Bari, a professor&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-an-engineer-brought-degraded-wetlands-back-to-life-in-drought-hit-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Pyrenees brown bear population climbs to an estimated 130 in latest census</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/pyrenees-brown-bear-population-climbs-to-an-estimated-130-in-latest-census/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/pyrenees-brown-bear-population-climbs-to-an-estimated-130-in-latest-census/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 12:27:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/03122553/Cria_primer_any_M188_o_F189_01-2048x1536-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316928</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, France, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Environment, Forests, Governance, Mammals, Predators, Reintroductions, Rewilding, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The annual census of brown bears in the Pyrenees mountain range of Spain, France and Andorra estimated that 130 bears are now living in the region with an average annual population growth rate of more than 11% over the last 18 years. The subpopulation of Pyrenees brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) has been steadily increasing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The annual census of brown bears in the Pyrenees mountain range of Spain, France and Andorra estimated that 130 bears are now living in the region with an average annual population growth rate of more than 11% over the last 18 years. The subpopulation of Pyrenees brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) has been steadily increasing in the mountain range since it reached near extinction in the mid-1990s, when the local population reached a low of just five individuals. Since 1996, 11 bears have been reintroduced from Slovenia to help save the population. But just three of those bears had most of the babies: 85-90% of the Pyrenees bears alive today descend from two females and one male. Inbreeding is a growing risk as the bears enter their third or fourth generation with few unrelated bears available to mate with. “We can no longer turn a blind eye, it is urgent to stop inbreeding, at the risk that it will become uncontrollable and permanently harmful to the population of brown bears,” Alain Reynes, director of Pays de l’Ours – Adet, a French conservation organization focused on bears, wrote in a statement. “There is still time, but inaction is no longer an option.” In 2025, eight cubs were born, down from 24 cubs the year before. Only two are not related. The other identified cubs have an inbreeding rate of 20-28%, similar to that of first cousins. The inbreeding rate shows us high levels of consanguinity which may affect the future of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/pyrenees-brown-bear-population-climbs-to-an-estimated-130-in-latest-census/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Unwrapping deforestation: Your chocolate Easter bunny may harm the environment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/unwrapping-deforestation-your-chocolate-easter-bunny-may-harm-the-environment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/unwrapping-deforestation-your-chocolate-easter-bunny-may-harm-the-environment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 11:45:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elisângela Mendonça]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global Trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Industrial Agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Kingdom]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01093153/a.-makabera-easter-bunny-7037615-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316699</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cocoa, Deforestation, Environmental Policy, Environmental Politics, Food, International Trade, Regulations, Supply Chain, Tropical Deforestation, and West Africa]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies fill British families’ baskets this holiday season, a new report reveals that West Africa continues to be deforested to meet the United Kingdom’s growing demand for cocoa. In 2025 alone, cocoa imported into the U.K. contributed to more than 2,000 hectares (about 4,940 acres) of deforestation, according to an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies fill British families’ baskets this holiday season, a new report reveals that West Africa continues to be deforested to meet the United Kingdom’s growing demand for cocoa. In 2025 alone, cocoa imported into the U.K. contributed to more than 2,000 hectares (about 4,940 acres) of deforestation, according to an exclusive analysis by climate NGO Global Witness shared with Mongabay. The findings come more than four years after the U.K. passed its Environment Act, which promised to strip illegal deforestation from the nation’s supply chains. But additional regulations for implementing the law have not been put in place, and the government declines to say when they might be enacted. While the government has failed to set rules, consumers remain at risk of buying chocolate and other goods that contribute to the climate crisis, even as they reach for foods stamped as sustainable, experts say. Last week, a coalition of chocolate manufacturers, British supermarkets and NGOs hosted an All-Party Parliamentary Group event on global deforestation at the House of Commons in London. The group gathered to urge the government to finally regulate commodities at risk for links to deforestation and provide more clarity to the industry. The U.K. Cocoa Coalition is formed of major firms, such as Ferrero Rocher and Hershey; retailers Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Marks &amp; Spencer; and several nonprofit organizations, including Earthsight, the World Wildlife Fund, Mighty Earth and others. The U.K. Cocoa Coalition met in an event in Parliament last week. Image courtesy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/unwrapping-deforestation-your-chocolate-easter-bunny-may-harm-the-environment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Indonesian geothermal projects stall amid Indigenous concerns over justice</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/indonesian-geothermal-projects-stall-amid-indigenous-concerns-over-justice/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/indonesian-geothermal-projects-stall-amid-indigenous-concerns-over-justice/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 10:08:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/03100629/photo2-1200x800-1-e1775210857692-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316925</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Geothermal Energy, Indigenous Communities, Land Rights, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An island in eastern Indonesia was meant to lead the country’s transition into renewable energy. But nearly a decade later, the “geothermal island” has suspended projects due to local resistance and concerns for justice and safety. Mongabay’s Basten Gokkon reports that, back in 2017, up to 21 geothermal sites were identified on the island of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An island in eastern Indonesia was meant to lead the country’s transition into renewable energy. But nearly a decade later, the “geothermal island” has suspended projects due to local resistance and concerns for justice and safety. Mongabay’s Basten Gokkon reports that, back in 2017, up to 21 geothermal sites were identified on the island of Flores. Backed by international lenders such as the World Bank and the German Development Bank (KfW), the initiative was presented as a global showcase for clean energy. But a recent study found that, eight years later, key projects remain suspended due to sustained resistance from Indigenous Manggarai communities. They described unjust implementation, including health risks from geothermal emissions, threats to farmland, loss of livelihoods, and vague decision-making processes. “In the Flores case, as in many other places, people are not rejecting the energy transition,” said Cypri Jehan Paju Dale, corresponding author of the study and a social anthropologist with Kyoto University in Japan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the U.S. “What they reject is when justice is absent and their living space is disrupted.” The conflict has centered on the communities of Wae Sano and Poco Leok, where residents argue the projects threaten their ruang hidup, or living space. This concept goes beyond mere land ownership, encompassing the economic, cultural, and spiritual ties to ancestral graves, ritual sites, and farmland. The resistance gained significant leverage by articulating these concerns through the lens of customary law, or adat. By demonstrating that their ruang hidup was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/indonesian-geothermal-projects-stall-amid-indigenous-concerns-over-justice/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Indonesia’s deforestation surges 66% in 2025, reversing years of decline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesias-deforestation-surges-66-in-2025-reversing-years-of-decline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesias-deforestation-surges-66-in-2025-reversing-years-of-decline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 03:50:22 +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/20/2025/10/10103728/Nickel-Mining-on-Manuran-Island-Auriga-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316903</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critical Minerals, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Energy, Food, food security, Forest Loss, Palm Oil, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Deforestation, satellite data, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s deforestation surged in 2025, rising 66% from the previous year, marking a sharp reversal after several years of decline, according to new data from the NGO Auriga Nusantara. Based on satellite analysis, Auriga estimates that 433,751 hectares (1.1 million acres) of forest, an area more than twice the size of London, were [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s deforestation surged in 2025, rising 66% from the previous year, marking a sharp reversal after several years of decline, according to new data from the NGO Auriga Nusantara. Based on satellite analysis, Auriga estimates that 433,751 hectares (1.1 million acres) of forest, an area more than twice the size of London, were lost in 2025, the highest level in eight years. Forest loss had previously fallen to a historic low in 2021, following five consecutive years of decline since 2017, driven in part by a series of forest protection policies under former President Joko Widodo. But since 2022, the trend has reversed, with deforestation rising again before spiking in 2025 across all of Indonesia’s major islands. “The surge in deforestation in 2025 is truly distressing, taking Indonesia back to a time when it was at its highest,” said Auriga executive director Timer Manurung. The trend stands in contrast to developments in the Amazon, where deforestation has declined for three consecutive years following renewed enforcement and federal efforts under Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In 2025, deforestation in the biome fell 11.1% to 579,600 hectares (1.4 million acres), the lowest level in more than a decade. “Brazil’s deforestation, concentrated in the Amazon, is declining. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s is increasing. So it’s possible Indonesia could become the world’s top deforester among tropical countries in 2025,” Timer said. Auriga’s findings are broadly consistent with early signals from official data. While the government has yet to release full-year figures for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesias-deforestation-surges-66-in-2025-reversing-years-of-decline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Today is Jane Goodall Day. Her movement continues.</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 00:30:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02221614/jane-planting-trees-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316892</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Global, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Jane Goodall, Restoration, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[April 3 now carries a different kind of weight. It was always Jane Goodall’s birthday. Now it is also a marker—a point in the year when people are asked not just to remember her, but to do something with what she set in motion. The idea behind the first Jane Goodall Day is simple. Take [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[April 3 now carries a different kind of weight. It was always Jane Goodall’s birthday. Now it is also a marker—a point in the year when people are asked not just to remember her, but to do something with what she set in motion. The idea behind the first Jane Goodall Day is simple. Take one action. It can be small. It should be real. The intent is to treat her life as something still in motion and to see those habits she cultivated continue in others. That framing feels appropriate. Goodall resisted the idea that her work belonged to her alone. Even at the height of her recognition, she redirected attention outward—toward the forests she had studied, the chimpanzees whose lives she had made visible, and the people who would decide what came next. In later years, when asked what she wanted to be remembered for, she returned to two things: changing how we see animals, and starting Roots &amp; Shoots. The second of those matters more than it first appears. Roots &amp; Shoots was designed as a way of distributing responsibility. It asked young people, and eventually adults, to look at their immediate surroundings and act on what they saw. It requires no permission and begins at any scale. The premise was that agency begins locally, and that it grows through repetition. Jane Goodall. Courtesy of Moby Anna Rathmann, who leads the Jane Goodall Institute in the United States, describes Jane Goodall Day in similar terms. The goal,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Talks to reduce funding for overfishing remain stalled at WTO meeting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/talks-to-reduce-funding-for-overfishing-remain-stalled-at-wto-meeting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/talks-to-reduce-funding-for-overfishing-remain-stalled-at-wto-meeting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 00:08:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Fitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/26132857/Loading-and-unloading-activities-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316874</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Biodiversity, Marine Conservation, Ocean, Overfishing, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Governments across the world have pledged to re-ignite stalled “Fish Two” negotiations and finalize the second part of a long-sought agreement to curb harmful fishing subsidies by mid-2028. The commitment came at the World Trade Organization’s recently concluded 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where little progress was made on the long-running issue. “It’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Governments across the world have pledged to re-ignite stalled “Fish Two” negotiations and finalize the second part of a long-sought agreement to curb harmful fishing subsidies by mid-2028. The commitment came at the World Trade Organization’s recently concluded 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where little progress was made on the long-running issue. “It’s important that WTO members have agreed to continue negotiating. But the prospects of reaching a deal remain dim,” Kristen Hopewell, global policy specialist at the University of British Columbia, Canada, told Mongabay. “Just a handful of states are blocking an agreement supported by the vast majority of the WTO membership.” These comprise the U.S., India and Indonesia, according to a Marine Policy paper Hopewell authored earlier this year. WTO members became deadlocked trying to decide how to ban nations from subsidizing their fishing industries in ways that contribute to overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as mandated by U.N. Sustainable Development Target 14.6. Negotiations began in 2001 and dragged out over 21 years. In 2022, WTO members decided to split the elusive agreement in two. This unlocked a deal dubbed “Fish One,” curtailing subsidies that enable IUU fishing and the continued fishing of overfished stocks. Fish One came into force on Sept. 15, 2025, but left the thorny question of how to ban all overfishing and capacity-enhancing subsidies, which enable fleets to operate unsustainably, for ongoing “Fish Two” negotiations. These have progressed little since 2022. Three more states ratified Fish One at MC14:&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/talks-to-reduce-funding-for-overfishing-remain-stalled-at-wto-meeting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Return of the giant tortoises</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/return-of-the-giant-tortoises/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/return-of-the-giant-tortoises/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 21:20:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02211927/%40RashidCruz_SantaCruz-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316877</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Galapagos, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildilfe]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the first time in nearly two centuries, giant tortoises are once again roaming Floreana Island in the Galápagos, a conservation milestone more than a decade in the making.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the first time in nearly two centuries, giant tortoises are once again roaming Floreana Island in the Galápagos, a conservation milestone more than a decade in the making.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/return-of-the-giant-tortoises/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Green and gray: Mangroves and dikes show potential in protecting shorelines together</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/green-and-gray-mangroves-and-dikes-show-potential-in-protecting-shorelines-together/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/green-and-gray-mangroves-and-dikes-show-potential-in-protecting-shorelines-together/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 20:25:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02115615/AP24312517472072-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316819</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Change And Conservation, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecological Restoration, Environment, Flooding, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Restoration, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With their dense mats of submerged roots, mangrove forests hold down shorelines worldwide like a coastal Swiss Army knife. They’re a nursery for juvenile fish and a home for important species in and out of the water. They’re also a filtration system for pollution, a holdfast against erosion, and a speed bump that slows incoming [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With their dense mats of submerged roots, mangrove forests hold down shorelines worldwide like a coastal Swiss Army knife. They’re a nursery for juvenile fish and a home for important species in and out of the water. They’re also a filtration system for pollution, a holdfast against erosion, and a speed bump that slows incoming waves. But even the best of tools could occasionally use backup. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examines how combining mangrove restoration with water-directing dikes might multiply these ecosystems’ protective abilities even further, particularly as climate change worsens storm surges and raises sea levels. As a hydrologist by training, Timothy Tiggeloven, lead author and environmental researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is particularly interested in how to manage unruly water by combining natural defenses (“green” infrastructure) with manmade creations (“gray” infrastructure) like dikes and levees. Though mangroves naturally reduce the height and power of waves, they don’t stop all of the water from a storm or flood from moving inland. “So here comes this synergy of combination,” Tiggeloven said. “If you have a dike behind a mangrove, it will prevent the water from flowing over [onto land]. While if you only have dikes, they will be hit by the waves and there will be an overtopping. Having those two together is actually a very smart idea.” So, Tiggeloven and his colleagues developed a computer model to assess where this combination would be most effective, and how the hybrid defenses might&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/green-and-gray-mangroves-and-dikes-show-potential-in-protecting-shorelines-together/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Banned but not silenced: Gerry Flynn’s commitment to uncovering the truth across the Mekong</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/banned-but-not-silenced-gerry-flynns-commitment-to-uncovering-the-truth-across-the-mekong/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/banned-but-not-silenced-gerry-flynns-commitment-to-uncovering-the-truth-across-the-mekong/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 18:25:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alana Linderoth]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02182332/Gerald-Flynn-reporting-in-Banteay-Meachey-province-2020-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316862</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environmental Journalism, Illegal Logging, Interviews With Environmental Journalists, Journalism, and Logging]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a region where independent environmental journalism is often unwelcome, one Mongabay journalist has made a career of tackling often inconvenient truths while accepting personal risks as a necessary part of the work. Gerald “Gerry” Flynn has been based in Southeast Asia since 2017, reporting largely from Cambodia on the intersection of human rights, ecosystems [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a region where independent environmental journalism is often unwelcome, one Mongabay journalist has made a career of tackling often inconvenient truths while accepting personal risks as a necessary part of the work. Gerald “Gerry” Flynn has been based in Southeast Asia since 2017, reporting largely from Cambodia on the intersection of human rights, ecosystems and natural resource governance. Flynn joined Mongabay as a features writer in 2023, following a Rainforest Investigations Network Fellowship with the Pulitzer Center from 2022 to 2023, during which he investigated illegal logging networks across Cambodia, with a focus on the Cardamom Mountains. Upon joining the team, he continued to investigate illegal logging, fishing, mining and land grabs. “These stories are what drew me to environmental journalism,” he says. “Getting on the ground, holding the powerful accountable, and giving voices to those who put their own lives and liberty on the line to protect their natural resources.” However, in January 2025, Flynn was denied entry and banned from Cambodia, a move seemingly in retaliation for his reporting — a setback that only cemented his confidence in evidence-based reporting as fundamental for revealing infractions against nature in autocratic societies. “The violence of the response to environmental reporting in authoritarian jurisdictions only serves to highlight the importance and value of dragging environmental crimes out of the shadows and into the cold, harsh light of public scrutiny,” he says. An investigation into a senior Cambodian official’s illegal logging operation meant taking to the waters of the Sekong River&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/banned-but-not-silenced-gerry-flynns-commitment-to-uncovering-the-truth-across-the-mekong/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/banned-but-not-silenced-gerry-flynns-commitment-to-uncovering-the-truth-across-the-mekong/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Brazilian banks to verify satellite deforestation data for rural credit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/brazilian-banks-to-verify-satellite-deforestation-data-for-rural-credit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/brazilian-banks-to-verify-satellite-deforestation-data-for-rural-credit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 17:07:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/06171855/6-Eu-e1595006416841-768x345.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316793</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Agriculture, Amazon Rainforest, Banks, Deforestation, and Finance]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil&#8217;s banks will be required to verify official satellite deforestation data before approving rural credit beginning on Wednesday in the South American country. Under the new rule, financial institutions must check whether a property appears in a government registry of areas with potential illegal deforestation after July 31, 2019. The database, maintained [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil&#8217;s banks will be required to verify official satellite deforestation data before approving rural credit beginning on Wednesday in the South American country. Under the new rule, financial institutions must check whether a property appears in a government registry of areas with potential illegal deforestation after July 31, 2019. The database, maintained by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, is based on satellite data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, or INPE. If a property is flagged, farmers may challenge the designation by demonstrating that the deforestation was legal. They can submit authorization documents, restoration plans for altered or degraded areas, or a technical remote‑sensing report. When the resolution was approved in December, the Finance Ministry said that the new requirements were intended to align rural credit with conservation and sustainability policies. Brazil is a global agribusiness powerhouse. The country is the world’s largest exporter of beef and the biggest soybean producer. Agriculture, however, is the leading driver of deforestation across all of Brazil&#8217;s biomes, including the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon plays a critical role in regulating the global climate, and scientists warn that continued forest loss could accelerate global warming. The new rule represents a significant step in integrating agricultural policy, the financial system and sustainability, said Paulo Camuri, climate and territorial intelligence manager at Imaflora, a nonprofit that tracks deforestation. Linking access to credit to environmental requirements, Camuri added, encourages more sustainable production and strengthens the agribusiness sector’s environmental responsibility. “It is an intelligent incentive mechanism&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/brazilian-banks-to-verify-satellite-deforestation-data-for-rural-credit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Railroad &#038; tariff war boost soy in Brazil’s Cerrado, endangering Indigenous lands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/railroad-tariff-war-boost-soy-in-brazils-cerrado-endangering-indigenous-lands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/railroad-tariff-war-boost-soy-in-brazils-cerrado-endangering-indigenous-lands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 16:29:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kevin Damasio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02155029/08-05102025-Z08_2257-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316840</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation, Amazon People, Amazon Soy, Commodity agriculture, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Pesticides, and Soy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MATO GROSSO, Brazil — In 2025, soy farmers in Brazil saw a new boost caused by the tariff war between the United States and China. Brazilian soy exports to the Chinese market reached a record high: 85.4 million metric tons, almost 80% of total soy shipments. In Mato Grosso, soy production had already seen a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MATO GROSSO, Brazil — In 2025, soy farmers in Brazil saw a new boost caused by the tariff war between the United States and China. Brazilian soy exports to the Chinese market reached a record high: 85.4 million metric tons, almost 80% of total soy shipments. In Mato Grosso, soy production had already seen a boost in 2019, partly due to trade tensions between the Chinese and the first U.S. President Donald Trump administration. In addition to China’s demand for the product, new agricultural frontiers were opened for soy farmers after the BR-163 federal road was paved, connecting them to ports in Pará state. Since then, soy plantations in Mato Grosso have increased by 3.4 million hectares (8.4 million acres), according to Brazil’s National Supply Company (CONAB), while their output went from 33 million metric tons in the 2018-19 harvest to 51 million metric tons in 2024-25 – a 54.5% increase. Soy plantations are advancing mainly in the Cerrado, the most biodiverse savanna on the planet, which is essential to Brazil’s water supply, since its sources provide it to eight of the country’s 12 hydrographic regions. In the Juruena River Basin, in western Mato Grosso, consolidation of monocultures — not only soy but also corn and cotton — is a matter of concern to people in the Tirecatinga Indigenous Land. They report that the surrounding farms have been contaminating water bodies, plants and fruit with pesticides and are blocking the rivers with small hydroelectric plants. Located between the Buriti and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/railroad-tariff-war-boost-soy-in-brazils-cerrado-endangering-indigenous-lands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>New species discovered in Cambodia’s rare rocky ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/new-species-discovered-in-cambodias-rare-rocky-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/new-species-discovered-in-cambodias-rare-rocky-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 16:03:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02155845/Website-Use-CBD-0123-PCY-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316821</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Frogs, Karst, New Species, Protected Areas, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered at least 11 new species in the caves and rocky outcroppings of northern Cambodia’s Battambang and Stung Treng provinces. The findings were compiled into a new biodiversity report. Seven new species have already been formally described and another four are in the process. To map the biodiversity in the nation’s karst ecosystems, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered at least 11 new species in the caves and rocky outcroppings of northern Cambodia’s Battambang and Stung Treng provinces. The findings were compiled into a new biodiversity report. Seven new species have already been formally described and another four are in the process. To map the biodiversity in the nation’s karst ecosystems, dramatic landscapes of caves and large protruding rocks on both land and water that create isolated habitats, researchers surveyed 64 caves and 10 hills over the last three years. “The survey uncovered a treasure trove of extraordinary creatures,” wrote Fauna &amp; Flora, the conservation nonprofit behind the report. “Surrounded by a sea of inhospitable, human-made landscapes, many of these creatures are, in effect, trapped. Over time, they have continued to evolve in complete isolation.” Among the new species is a turquoise-colored pit viper (Trimeresurus sp. nov.) which is still being formally described after it was spotted in Phnom Prampi, a protected natural heritage site, in July 2025. A terrestrial micro snail (Clostophis udayaditinus) is a new species smaller than 2 millimeters (0.1 inches) wide and is the first of its genus recorded in Cambodia. And a dark orange millipede discovered in a cave was just one of three new species in its genus. “Each one of these isolated karst areas act as their own little laboratory,” Lee Grismer, a biology professor at La Sierra University, U.S., said in a statement. “The results are species that exist nowhere else — not just nowhere else in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/new-species-discovered-in-cambodias-rare-rocky-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>How underinvesting in information threatens our collective well-being</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-underinvesting-in-information-threatens-our-collective-well-being/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-underinvesting-in-information-threatens-our-collective-well-being/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 14:21:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/16134741/peru-tigre_-3o17_-75o2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316493</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Editorials, Environment, Environmental Journalism, information ecosystem, Journalism, and philanthropy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This essay is adapted from the article, &#8220;Information as Civic Infrastructure—and How Philanthropy Can Support the Ecosystem,&#8221; which was originally published in Nonprofit Quarterly on March 3, 2026. Philanthropy has grown accustomed to funding the &#8220;final&#8221; solution. It is comfortable buying land, backing new technologies, and underwriting the services or policies that address urgent problems. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This essay is adapted from the article, &#8220;Information as Civic Infrastructure—and How Philanthropy Can Support the Ecosystem,&#8221; which was originally published in Nonprofit Quarterly on March 3, 2026. Philanthropy has grown accustomed to funding the &#8220;final&#8221; solution. It is comfortable buying land, backing new technologies, and underwriting the services or policies that address urgent problems. Yet, it often overlooks the very social foundation those solutions stand on: a shared, reliable information environment. Today, that foundation is cracking. This fragility extends beyond the spread of falsehoods. It appears as indifference to accuracy, fatigue from complexity, and a growing difficulty in judging what deserves attention. In many places, facts still exist, but they travel poorly. They arrive late and out of context, their credibility stripped away before they even reach the public. The result is not always disagreement; more often it is disengagement. For donors concerned with climate change, biodiversity loss, public health, or democratic governance, this crumbling foundation puts even the best-funded programs at risk—a blind spot many donors haven&#8217;t yet addressed. Programs may be well designed and generously funded, yet fail to gain traction because the informational terrain beneath them has shifted. Projects that rely on public oversight, regulatory follow-through, or market response depend on the availability of trusted, usable information. Environmental harm offers a clear illustration. Deforestation, overfishing, and illegal mining tend to accelerate where monitoring is weak and scrutiny sporadic. This is not because laws do not exist, but because violations go unrecorded or unnoticed. When documentation does&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-underinvesting-in-information-threatens-our-collective-well-being/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>How wild cattle recovery is transforming local livelihoods near key Thai reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-wild-cattle-recovery-is-transforming-local-livelihoods-near-key-thai-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-wild-cattle-recovery-is-transforming-local-livelihoods-near-key-thai-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 09:31:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02074243/a.-BANNER-Bos_javanicus_wild_Banteng_-_Huai_Kha_Khaeng_19936183473-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316796</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cattle, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Dry Forests, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Forests, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Protected Areas, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HUAI KHA KHAENG, Thailand — “Five years ago, we’d never have been able to see this,” says Boonlert Tianchang, raising a pair of binoculars to his beaming eyes. “To see just one banteng, we would have had to go deep into the forest. Now, they’re right here.” We’re standing on a wildlife-viewing platform overlooking a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HUAI KHA KHAENG, Thailand — “Five years ago, we’d never have been able to see this,” says Boonlert Tianchang, raising a pair of binoculars to his beaming eyes. “To see just one banteng, we would have had to go deep into the forest. Now, they’re right here.” We’re standing on a wildlife-viewing platform overlooking a roughly 8-hectare (20-acre) grassland in the buffer area surrounding the northeastern boundary of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, a flagship protected area in Thailand’s Uthai Thani province. Russet-colored banteng (Bos javanicus), one of the world’s rarest species of wild cattle, step one by one into the clearing from the cover of the forest. Mothers, calves and adult males browse the vegetation nonchalantly, their stocky bright-orange bodies contrasting almost comically with their spindly white legs and snowy rumps. “This is the only place in Thailand where you can see a lot of banteng like this,” says Boonlert, who lives in the buffer area and leads a community-based ecotourism initiative focused on tours to see this increasingly common sight. “I see them here so often,” he says. “But every time, I’m humbled thinking of all the work that’s gone into protecting them [to] get to this point.” Boonlert Tianchang scans the landscape at a wildlife watching platform in Rabam subdistrict. Image by Carolyn Cowan for Mongabay. Protection prompts recovery As large herbivores, banteng play a vital role in dispersing seeds and cycling nutrients in the dry, open-canopy forests that are their preferred habitat. Their browsing of understory&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-wild-cattle-recovery-is-transforming-local-livelihoods-near-key-thai-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Linda Dakin-Grimm and Geo Chen join Mongabay&#8217;s board as it expands global coverage</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/linda-dakin-grimm-and-geo-chen-join-mongabays-board-as-it-expands-global-coverage/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/linda-dakin-grimm-and-geo-chen-join-mongabays-board-as-it-expands-global-coverage/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 00:31:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02002341/03-car_2611029z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316760</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Announcements, Environment, Environmental Journalism, Journalism, and the business of running mongabay]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay is pleased to announce that Linda Dakin-Grimm and Geo Chen have joined its board of directors, strengthening its capacity to advance its mission of producing high-impact environmental journalism. Dakin-Grimm joins the board following a distinguished legal career as a senior consulting partner at Milbank LLP, where she handled complex litigation across U.S. courts before [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay is pleased to announce that Linda Dakin-Grimm and Geo Chen have joined its board of directors, strengthening its capacity to advance its mission of producing high-impact environmental journalism. Dakin-Grimm joins the board following a distinguished legal career as a senior consulting partner at Milbank LLP, where she handled complex litigation across U.S. courts before focusing on pro bono immigration work. Her experience navigating legal systems and public-interest issues aligns with Mongabay’s role in supporting transparency, accountability and informed governance. “At this moment in history, I cannot imagine a more important mission than Mongabay’s journalism, informing the public and raising awareness worldwide about conservation of ecosystems and wildlife,” Dakin-Grimm said. “I am honored to be part of this board.” Chen brings experience at the intersection of philanthropy, finance and impact investing. He is principal of the Huang Chen Foundation and his family office, Three Quays Holdings, where he supports initiatives in conservation, climate and humanitarian response, alongside investments across global markets. His perspective reflects a growing recognition among investors that credible, independent information is essential to effective decision-making in an era of environmental risk. “I deeply admire Mongabay’s work and have been impressed by their ability to grow their audience and their impact,” Chen said. “I’m excited to support them as they continue to scale and innovate!” Their appointments come at a time of continued growth for Mongabay. “We are building on an excellent group of board advisors, now covering more deeply our global footprint” said Holt Thrasher, Mongabay’s Board&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/linda-dakin-grimm-and-geo-chen-join-mongabays-board-as-it-expands-global-coverage/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Australia’s flying foxes offer valuable services &#038; deserve better reputation: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/australias-flying-foxes-offer-valuable-services-deserve-better-reputation-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/australias-flying-foxes-offer-valuable-services-deserve-better-reputation-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 22:43:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Megan Strauss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01221107/Flying-fox_Lawrence-Hylton_iNaturalist-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316686</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bats, Economics, Mammals, Pollinators, Timber, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study in Scientific Reports provides the first economic valuation of the ecosystem services provided by flying foxes in Australia, focusing on their significant contribution to the timber industry.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Each night, a dark cloud of flying foxes, or fruit bats, moves through the skies of eastern Australia on their way to gorge on nectar and fruits. With a meter-wide (3.2-foot) wingspan, they transport large quantities of pollen and rain down seeds in their poop, helping establish new trees. A new study in Scientific Reports provides the first economic valuation of the ecosystem services provided by flying foxes in Australia, focusing on their significant contribution to the timber industry. Recent fires and heat stress events have led to colony loss and a dramatic drop in bat numbers; more than 80% of some populations have been wiped out amid extreme heat events. Justin Welbergen, an animal ecology professor at Western Sydney University who was not part of the study, told The New York Times, “A single hot afternoon can result in mortality on a regional scale and in biblical proportions, with tens of thousands of dead flying foxes.” Flying foxes can travel thousands of kilometers per year, spreading pollen and seeds over large distances, making their economic value immense. First author Alfredo Ortega González, a University of Sydney scientist, said in a video interview with Mongabay, “There is no bird that can move the distance, on average, that a flying fox can move in a night.” The study authors calculated the spatial extent of the bats’ nightly foraging, based on the locations of 1,209 roosts of four mainland Australian flying fox species (Pteropus poliocephalus, P. Alecto, P. scapulatus and P. conspicillatus).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/australias-flying-foxes-offer-valuable-services-deserve-better-reputation-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Who gives up land for the world’s climate fixes?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/who-gives-up-land-for-the-worlds-climate-fixes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/who-gives-up-land-for-the-worlds-climate-fixes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 21:35:35 +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/20/2026/03/05160802/2531625268_323b08acbd_o-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316757</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Biodiversity, carbon, Climate, Climate Change, Deforestation, Emission Reduction, Reforestation, and Species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Planting trees has become one of the most widely promoted responses to climate change. As forests grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while offering habitat for animals, plants and other organisms. The idea is straightforward: Expand forests, and the planet gains both climate mitigation and renewed biodiversity. Yet the land required to remove [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Planting trees has become one of the most widely promoted responses to climate change. As forests grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while offering habitat for animals, plants and other organisms. The idea is straightforward: Expand forests, and the planet gains both climate mitigation and renewed biodiversity. Yet the land required to remove large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere may place these goals in tension. Efforts to plant forests or cultivate bioenergy crops with carbon capture need vast areas. In some places, those projects could displace ecosystems that already support rich biodiversity. A recent analysis suggests that roughly 13% of globally important biodiversity areas overlap with land that climate models designate for carbon-removal projects, reports John Cannon. The research, published in Nature Climate Change, examined five widely used models that outline pathways to limit global warming to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. Ruben Prütz of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and his colleagues mapped where these models anticipate land-intensive carbon dioxide removal, such as new forests or bioenergy plantations. They then compared those locations with important wildlife habitats. Previous work tended to analyze a single model and a narrower set of species. The new study expanded the scope to roughly 135,000 species, including fungi and invertebrates alongside plants and vertebrates. That broader view offers a more detailed sense of how climate mitigation plans might affect life on Earth. Avoiding biodiversity hotspots entirely would sharply limit the land available for carbon-removal projects. According to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/who-gives-up-land-for-the-worlds-climate-fixes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Ethiopian women plant trees, restoring lands &#038; livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ethiopian-women-plant-trees-restoring-lands-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ethiopian-women-plant-trees-restoring-lands-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 20:37:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01202432/IWDOMembersPlanting_SidamaEthiopia_RuhamaGetahun-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316752</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Environment, Forests, Fuelwood, Landscape Restoration, NGOs, Sustainability, and Women in conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the southern Ethiopian region of Sidama, unsustainable farming practices and tree cutting for fuel are causing land degradation. In response, members of the Integrated Women’s Development Organization are planting indigenous trees, bananas and vegetables as well as desho (Pennisetum glaucifolium) and elephant grass (Cenchrus purpureus) for cattle fodder in an effort to restore damaged [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the southern Ethiopian region of Sidama, unsustainable farming practices and tree cutting for fuel are causing land degradation. In response, members of the Integrated Women’s Development Organization are planting indigenous trees, bananas and vegetables as well as desho (Pennisetum glaucifolium) and elephant grass (Cenchrus purpureus) for cattle fodder in an effort to restore damaged farmland and build more resilient livelihoods. In an email interview, IWDO’s general manager, Ruhama Getahun, told Mongabay that the women and youth who make up the NGO’s membership have planted more than 1,250 hectares (3,080 acres) since 2020. She said these initiatives have begun generating income for community members — particularly women — helping them rely less on forest products such as charcoal and firewood for survival. Negasi Solomon, a land and environment researcher at Tigray Institute of Policy Studies in Mek’ele, Ethiopia, told Mongabay that rapid population growth means the average size of a household’s land in the Sidama region has shrunk. This has pushed farmers to expand their plots onto fragile and steep hillsides. Solomon told Mongabay in an email that women are — or should be — central to land use and land restoration decisions in Sidama, and in Ethiopia in general, because of the role they play in day‑to‑day farm management. He noted, however, that many women in Ethiopia still face obstacles to taking up leadership roles. “Patriarchal norms and customary systems often concentrate land ownership and key decision‑making in men, while limiting women’s inheritance and control over land even where&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ethiopian-women-plant-trees-restoring-lands-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Thai court rules gold mine liable, but villagers face uncertain justice</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/thai-court-rules-gold-mine-liable-but-villagers-face-uncertain-justice/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/thai-court-rules-gold-mine-liable-but-villagers-face-uncertain-justice/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 18:17:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kannikar Petchkaew]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01173429/Manit_s-widow-at-the-same-spotpoll-and-signed-were-reinstlled-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316731</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[environmental justice, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Featured, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Mining, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BAN KHAO MO, Thailand — On March 24, 2026, residents of this small community achieved a landmark legal victory. Ten years into a class action suit against the Chatree gold mine, the Bangkok Civil Court ruled in their favor, holding the company liable for environmental damage and health impacts. Four days later — and four [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BAN KHAO MO, Thailand — On March 24, 2026, residents of this small community achieved a landmark legal victory. Ten years into a class action suit against the Chatree gold mine, the Bangkok Civil Court ruled in their favor, holding the company liable for environmental damage and health impacts. Four days later — and four years after first documenting the villagers’ struggle for justice — Mongabay returned to the community still living in the shadow of Thailand’s largest gold mine. The scene in the village was hardly celebratory. Chamnian Buakam stands in Ban Khao Mo village, in Thailand&#8217;s Phichit province, on March 28, 2026. The wall of the tailings dam is visible behind her in the distance. Image by Kannikar Petchkaew for Mongabay. Thailand’s mid-summer bore down with relentless, furnace-like heat. Villagers around the gold mine retreated to the sparse shade of trees, waiting in uneasy uncertainty. The court had ordered the company to compensate nearly 400 villagers found to have elevated levels of heavy metals in their blood. It must also shut down one of the storage facilities where it keeps mining waste, or tailings, long cited as a source of contamination, and bear the full cost of environmental rehabilitation — an effort one expert estimates could reach hundreds of millions of baht. The verdict is historic, the country’s first environmental class action following a 2015 legal amendment that enabled such lawsuits. Yet, even with the support of an NGO, only 40 villagers were able to make the five-hour&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/thai-court-rules-gold-mine-liable-but-villagers-face-uncertain-justice/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Marina Silva steps down as Brazil’s environment minister to run for Congress</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/marina-silva-steps-down-as-brazils-environment-minister-to-run-for-congress/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/marina-silva-steps-down-as-brazils-environment-minister-to-run-for-congress/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 16:07:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01160416/AP26091496513590-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=316724</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, and Environmental Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAO PAULO (AP) — Marina Silva is stepping down as Brazil’s environment minister so that she can run for Congress in national elections. Under Brazilian law, ministers must leave office six months before the vote. Silva returned to the job in 2023 and helped drive a sharp drop in deforestation after major losses under former [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAO PAULO (AP) — Marina Silva is stepping down as Brazil’s environment minister so that she can run for Congress in national elections. Under Brazilian law, ministers must leave office six months before the vote. Silva returned to the job in 2023 and helped drive a sharp drop in deforestation after major losses under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Forest loss has fallen by more than half since 2022. Silva also rebuilt enforcement agencies and revived the Amazon Fund. However, experts say her influence have not stopped weaker licensing rules and and a push by current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for offshore oil drilling. By Gabriela Sá Pessoa, Associated Press Banner image: Brazil&#8217;s Environment Minister Marina Silva smiles during a decree-signing ceremony on Environment Day at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, June 3, 2025.  Photo by Eraldo Peres via Associated PressThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/marina-silva-steps-down-as-brazils-environment-minister-to-run-for-congress/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>American Samoa said ‘no’ to deep sea mining, Washington heard ‘faster’ (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/american-samoa-said-no-to-deep-sea-mining-washington-heard-faster-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/american-samoa-said-no-to-deep-sea-mining-washington-heard-faster-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 16:07:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jackie Dragon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/31170320/50928446358_f3bcd48e6c_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316722</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Guam, Pacific Ocean, Samoa, United States, and United States Minor Outlying Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Conservation, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Environment, Ethics, Governance, Government, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Rights, Marine Conservation, Marine Ecosystems, Mining, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At 7:45 a.m. one recent January day in American Samoa, a delegation from Greenpeace and Pacific Island partners sat in a small radio studio explaining why we had traveled thousands of miles across the Pacific. We were invited by local leaders to the unincorporated U.S. territory — halfway between Hawai‘i and Australia — to listen, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[At 7:45 a.m. one recent January day in American Samoa, a delegation from Greenpeace and Pacific Island partners sat in a small radio studio explaining why we had traveled thousands of miles across the Pacific. We were invited by local leaders to the unincorporated U.S. territory — halfway between Hawai‘i and Australia — to listen, to learn, and to help elevate what people in American Samoa have been saying for years. Communities there are deeply concerned about deep-sea mining, and they want to be heard before decisions are made about the ocean that sustains them. Hours later, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) stood before local officials in a meeting space up the street, walking them through the steps of a federal leasing process that was already moving forward, fast. BOEM’s visit, even as the governor’s office convened space for community voices, felt less like consultation and more like choreography. The agency’s message was, in essence, we hear you, but we are moving forward. Meeting with the governor (center, in red) about the proposal, from left: Ekolu Lindsey, director of Maui Nui Makai Network; Sheila Sarhangi, director of Pacific Islands Heritage Coalition; Bobbi-Jo Dobush, independent ocean policy consultant, Salt Horizon LLC; American Samoa Governor Pula’ali’i Nikolao Pula; Solomon Kahoohalahala, Indigenous Hawaiian elder, Maui Nui Makai Network; Jackie Dragon, senior oceans campaigner, Greenpeace USA; Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA&#8217;s campaign lead on deep sea mining. Image courtesy of Greenpeace USA. BOEM received more than 76,000 public comments, most warning of environmental&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/american-samoa-said-no-to-deep-sea-mining-washington-heard-faster-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>A ‘big book’ documenting Cameroon’s sharks &#038; rays fills critical conservation gap</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-big-book-documenting-cameroons-sharks-rays-fills-critical-conservation-gap/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-big-book-documenting-cameroons-sharks-rays-fills-critical-conservation-gap/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 15:16:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shuimo Trust Dohyee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01121244/Image-5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316703</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Economics, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Governance, Government, Science, Sharks And Rays, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BUEA, Cameroon — To his fishing peers, Ojah Alfred, 45, is a fisher like they are. But to Cameroon’s scientific community, he is also a scientist — a citizen scientist. For eight years, Alfred, alongside more than 80 other fishers across Cameroon’s three coastal regions, has been collecting data on marine species brought to landing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BUEA, Cameroon — To his fishing peers, Ojah Alfred, 45, is a fisher like they are. But to Cameroon’s scientific community, he is also a scientist — a citizen scientist. For eight years, Alfred, alongside more than 80 other fishers across Cameroon’s three coastal regions, has been collecting data on marine species brought to landing sites and caught out at sea, using the Siren app, a citizen science platform. “I never imagined that the pictures I take every day of fish with the Sirens app would lead to the publication of this ‘big book,’” Alfred told Mongabay, referring to a study published in December in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes. Two daisy stingrays (Dasyatis margarita) and a critically endangered blackchin guitarfish (Glaucostegus cemiculus) displayed for sale at Youpwè Fish Market, Cameroon’s largest fish market, in Douala. Image by Shuimo Trust Dohyee for Mongabay. The “big book” is the first detailed snapshot of shark and ray diversity in the country, helping fill a major knowledge gap that has long hindered conservation and fisheries management. Many of the species being caught in Cameroon’s fisheries are already at risk of extinction worldwide, and the country has no specific laws protecting sharks and rays, according to Ghofrane Labyedh, the study’s lead researcher. The fishers’ data, along with fish market surveys, recorded 45 species of sharks and rays in Cameroon’s waters, of which 36 are considered threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), including 13 classified as critically endangered. Alarmingly, most&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-big-book-documenting-cameroons-sharks-rays-fills-critical-conservation-gap/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Working together, Indigenous peoples &#038; researchers describe new Amazonian palm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/working-together-indigenous-peoples-researchers-describe-new-amazonian-palm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/working-together-indigenous-peoples-researchers-describe-new-amazonian-palm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 14:06:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sofia Moutinho]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Community-based Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[field research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Species Discovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species identification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01135800/IMG_3106-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316712</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Conservation, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Biology, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Indigenous Communities, New Species, Plants, Research, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, botanists Rodrigo Cámara-Leret and Juan Carlos Copete embarked on a two-hour boat ride down the Vaupés River in the Colombian Amazon, followed by a two-hour hike to the village of Wacará, where about 140 Indigenous Cacua people live in relative isolation. They were aiming to study the medicinal plants used by this Indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, botanists Rodrigo Cámara-Leret and Juan Carlos Copete embarked on a two-hour boat ride down the Vaupés River in the Colombian Amazon, followed by a two-hour hike to the village of Wacará, where about 140 Indigenous Cacua people live in relative isolation. They were aiming to study the medicinal plants used by this Indigenous group, one of the smallest in the country. But their plans changed as soon as they had their first meal in the village of thatch-roofed houses, when some children offered them a yellowish-brown fruit the Cacau called táam. Although the duo had been studying tropical plants for more than a decade, they had never seen that drop-shaped fruit before. Initially, they thought the fruit might be from a palm tree introduced to the region from nearby Brazil. However, as they spent more time with the community, they realized it was likely an entirely new species of palm that had not yet been described by scientists. &#8220;We knew most of the plants we would encounter in the forest, so when we saw that fruit, we were extremely shocked and surprised,&#8221; Cámara-Leret, a professor in tropical plant diversity and ethnobotany at the University of Zürich, tells Mongabay. Discovering new palm species in the Amazon is rare, even more so one that is tall-stemmed and used in the human diet like the táam. Palms are among the most well-known species of the region and were extensively studied by European naturalists who explored the jungle between the 16th and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/working-together-indigenous-peoples-researchers-describe-new-amazonian-palm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>‘Sharing is off the table’ as drought reshapes the culture of Ethiopia’s pastoralists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 07:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kaleab Girma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/31210152/a.-BANNER-UF146DY-00262634-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316668</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Cattle Pasture, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Change And Extreme Weather, Climate Change And Food, Culture, Drinking Water, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Food, Food Crisis, food security, Livestock, Pasture, Social Conflict, Subsistence Agriculture, Water, Water Crisis, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JIJIGA, Ethiopia — The land here used to speak. At dawn in Kebribeyah district, Somali Regional State, eastern Ethiopia, the plains stretch wide beneath a pale sky, with dusty shades of brown and yellow broken by thorny acacia trees and the slow movement of livestock across the horizon. For generations, pastoralists learned to read the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JIJIGA, Ethiopia — The land here used to speak. At dawn in Kebribeyah district, Somali Regional State, eastern Ethiopia, the plains stretch wide beneath a pale sky, with dusty shades of brown and yellow broken by thorny acacia trees and the slow movement of livestock across the horizon. For generations, pastoralists learned to read the landscape. The arrival of seasonal winds, the timing of the rains, and the alignment of stars all carried meaning. Mohamoud Sulub, a 50-year-old livestock herder, grew up relying on these signs in Guuyow village. They told him when to move his herd and when to stay. He knew his neighbors would, in hard times, understand them, too — and help when needed. That knowledge is now failing him. This year, Mohamoud says, there is simply nowhere to go. “The land is all drought,” he tells Mongabay. The father of six has spent his entire life herding animals across this arid landscape, as his father did before him. Today he keeps 40 goats and sheep, five cows and six camels. “When the rains are good, the land is fine and there is no need to move,” he says. “But during drought, we migrate.” In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, dust clouds blow across the parched landscape in the Danan district of the Somali region of Ethiopia, which hasn&#8217;t seen significant amounts of rain in the past three years. Image by AP Photo/Elias Meseret. For generations, pastoralists like Mohamoud relied on mobility and strong social&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>State fishing village plan in Indonesian Papua sparks Indigenous opposition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/state-fishing-village-plan-in-indonesian-papua-sparks-indigenous-opposition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/state-fishing-village-plan-in-indonesian-papua-sparks-indigenous-opposition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 03:41:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/31111823/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-31-at-17.58.31-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316646</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Blue Carbon, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Activism, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Biodiversity, Marine Ecosystems, Oceans, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous leaders in Indonesia’s South Papua province have rejected a government plan to build a state-backed fishing settlement on their ancestral land, highlighting growing tensions between national development programs and customary land rights in the country’s easternmost island. Members of the Wiyagar tribe say the proposed Red and White Fishers’ Village (KNMP) in Sumuraman, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous leaders in Indonesia’s South Papua province have rejected a government plan to build a state-backed fishing settlement on their ancestral land, highlighting growing tensions between national development programs and customary land rights in the country’s easternmost island. Members of the Wiyagar tribe say the proposed Red and White Fishers’ Village (KNMP) in Sumuraman, a remote coastal area in Mappi district, is being advanced without proper consultation with traditional landowners. The project forms part of a nationwide initiative to develop hundreds of “modern” fishing settlements to boost marine productivity and coastal livelihoods. “We oppose the designation of Sumuraman as a Red and White Fishers’ Village because the people of the Wiyagar tribe do not work as fishers there,” Alowisius Boi, a coordinator of the coalition Solidarity for the Environment and People in South Papua, said as quoted by local media. A planned design for the fishing village initiative by the government. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. Local Indigenous organizations and youth groups say the government has treated Sumuraman as unoccupied land, even though it has been held under the customary tenure of Wiyagar families for generations. Community representatives say they weren’t informed when officials from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries conducted surveys in early March, and they accuse authorities of meeting with people they don’t recognize as legitimate landowners. The dispute also reflects deeper complexities in Indonesian Papua, where decades of migrant influx from other parts of Indonesia, overlapping land claims, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/state-fishing-village-plan-in-indonesian-papua-sparks-indigenous-opposition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Oil surge sharpens calls for Indonesia to shift away from fossil fuels</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 03:23:28 +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/20/2026/04/01031350/5A269589-C332-4BC2-B240-4088D4141843-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316691</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biofuels, Carbon Tax, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Coal, Conflict, El Nino, Energy, Energy Politics, Fossil Fuels, Just Transition, Oil, Palm Oil, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drives oil prices above $100 a barrel and disrupts global supply routes, Indonesia is once again confronting the costs of its dependence on fossil fuels — with growing calls not only to accelerate its renewable energy adoption, but also to make oil and gas companies help pay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drives oil prices above $100 a barrel and disrupts global supply routes, Indonesia is once again confronting the costs of its dependence on fossil fuels — with growing calls not only to accelerate its renewable energy adoption, but also to make oil and gas companies help pay for the transition. The crisis is already testing the country’s energy system. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil flows, have constrained supply, sending prices sharply higher from around $70 a barrel before the war began at the end of February. For Indonesia, the impact has been immediate. The country of 280 million people has been a net oil importer since 2003, and its economy remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels to power transport, industry and electricity. That dependence is now translating into rising fiscal pressure, currency risks and broader economic vulnerability. Yet the same shock is also sharpening calls to speed up the transition to renewable energy, even as policymakers move to secure more fossil fuel supplies and ramp up coal output at home. The ongoing global energy crisis, which the International Energy Agency (IEA) describes as the worst in recorded history, has laid bare the risks of Indonesia’s energy mix. The country consumes around 1.5 million barrels of oil per day but produces less than 700,000 barrels, leaving it highly reliant on imports. That exposure carries a direct cost. An analysis by the Institute for Development of Economics and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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