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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?byline=peter-lalampaa&#038;post_type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/peter-lalampaa/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 19:19:16 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Peter Lalampaa Archives</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/peter-lalampaa/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Cutting back vines lets recovering forests grow faster, Borneo study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/cutting-back-vines-lets-recovering-forests-grow-faster-borneo-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/cutting-back-vines-lets-recovering-forests-grow-faster-borneo-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 19:15:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13150416/5-Malaysian-field-assistant-cutting-lianas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323258</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Recovery, Forests, Plants, Rainforests, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the world faces the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, researchers are trying to understand how to restore degraded forests to most effectively sequester carbon, benefit biodiversity, and promote sustainable land use. A new study published in Current Biology adds to this endeavor, finding that cutting vining plants called lianas dramatically boosts [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the world faces the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, researchers are trying to understand how to restore degraded forests to most effectively sequester carbon, benefit biodiversity, and promote sustainable land use. A new study published in Current Biology adds to this endeavor, finding that cutting vining plants called lianas dramatically boosts canopy height in previously logged forests in Borneo. Lianas are a signature part of tropical forests, with their abundant flowers and fruits attracting insects, birds and mammals, and their looping woody vines creating natural bridges in the canopy. But in logged or disturbed forests, lianas can grow out of control — and they aren’t always the most considerate of neighbors. Proliferating in sunlit gaps, lianas use trees as scaffolding to fast-track their way to the very top of the canopy, while their roots pull water and nutrients from the ground. This can smother trees and change the way they grow, inhibiting forest regeneration. A number of studies have found that removing lianas by severing their stems can boost tree growth in disturbed forests; for example, a 2022 meta-analysis in Ecology and Evolution found that removing lianas more than doubled tree growth and biomass accumulation. So far, though, most of this research has been done in Latin America; less is known about tropical forests elsewhere. Dipterocarp forest at the Danum Valley Field Centre. Borneo’s tropical forests, dominated by trees from the Dipterocarp family, have some of the highest canopies in the world, with some trees reaching&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/cutting-back-vines-lets-recovering-forests-grow-faster-borneo-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/cutting-back-vines-lets-recovering-forests-grow-faster-borneo-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323258</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>China’s &#8216;Green Great Wall&#8217; tames desert growth, but scientists warn the fight is not over</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/chinas-green-great-wall-tames-desert-growth-but-scientists-warn-the-fight-is-not-over/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/chinas-green-great-wall-tames-desert-growth-but-scientists-warn-the-fight-is-not-over/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 17:13:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13170214/AP26191572693934-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323272</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation Solutions, Desertification, Deserts, Ecosystems, Environment, Plants, Solutions, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KUBUQI DESERT, China (AP) — For half a century, workers in northern China have been using a technique called &#8220;straw checkerboards&#8221; to combat desertification. This method stabilizes sand dunes and helps plants take root. The effort is part of the Three-North Protective Forest Program or Green Great Wall, aimed at reversing desertification. Since 2000, desertified [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KUBUQI DESERT, China (AP) — For half a century, workers in northern China have been using a technique called &#8220;straw checkerboards&#8221; to combat desertification. This method stabilizes sand dunes and helps plants take root. The effort is part of the Three-North Protective Forest Program or Green Great Wall, aimed at reversing desertification. Since 2000, desertified land in northern China has shrunk significantly. The program has transformed vast regions, with forests now covering 200,000 square miles. Experts say continued success depends on long-term commitment and community involvement. The initiative has involved over 300 million rural laborers, mostly on a part-time basis. A highway cuts through a desertification control site of the Engebei Ecological Area near Ordos in northern China&#8217;s Inner Mongolia province on Friday, June 12, 2026. Image by Ng Han Guan via Associated Press. Desert control worker Yin Yuzhen visits a desertification control site of the Engebei Ecological Area near Ordos in northern China&#8217;s Inner Mongolia province on Friday, June 12, 2026. Image by Ng Han Guan via Associated Press.  Yin Yuzhen, a sand-control worker, holds up a plant that did not survive because it was not planted deep enough while at a desertification control site at the Engebei Ecological Area near Ordos in northern China&#8217;s Inner Mongolia province on Friday, June 12, 2026. Image by Ng Han Guan via Associated Press.  By Associated Press Banner image: Desert control worker Yin Yuzhen walks along sand dunes covered by grass checkerboard that&#8217;s part of desertification control efforts at the Engebei Ecological&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/chinas-green-great-wall-tames-desert-growth-but-scientists-warn-the-fight-is-not-over/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/chinas-green-great-wall-tames-desert-growth-but-scientists-warn-the-fight-is-not-over/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323272</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How narcos moved 108 tons of timber infused with drugs from Bolivia to Chile</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-narcos-moved-108-tons-of-timber-infused-with-drugs-from-bolivia-to-chile/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-narcos-moved-108-tons-of-timber-infused-with-drugs-from-bolivia-to-chile/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 13:30:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes Tamayo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10131149/Chile-run-anti-drug-operation-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323075</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Crime, Drug Trade, Environment, Forest Products, Forestry, Governance, Illegal Trade, Law, Timber, timber trade, Trade, trafficking, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New risks to South American forests emerge as trees becomes a key element in drug trafficking.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new case has exposed the connection between drug trafficking webs and the export of timber from the Amazon and other regions of Bolivia. After Chile announced in June the largest drug seizure — 108 tons of cocaine and ketamine — in its history, authorities confirmed the substances were detected impregnated in Bolivian wood planks. This is not the first time shipments of the so-called “narco-timber” have been caught: The illicit practice dates back at least 20 years, using the same recurring routes. Mongabay accessed prosecutorial sources in both Chile and Bolivia, two Andean nations in South America sharing a land border of 861 kilometers (535 miles). According to investigations in Chile, 32 shipments were made from Bolivia by 15 timber companies, mostly in 2026. In financial terms, the total amount of drugs moved through this system had a value exceeding $8.3 billion in international markets, according to the breakdown. “It is a six-month investigation developed by the Prosecutor&#8217;s Office of Arica [a northern Commune], the Maritime Police, and the National Customs Service of Chile, which culminated in the detection of 45 contaminated containers [with drugs] in the ports of Arica, Valparaíso, and San Antonio,” the Prosecutor&#8217;s Office of Arica and Parinacota stated in a report. Cocaine and ketamine impregnated in timber were detected in Arica, northern Chile. Image courtesy of the National Customs Service of Chile. The timber shipments departed from Bolivia, mainly from the departments of Pando, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Beni and La Paz. The cargoes had ports&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-narcos-moved-108-tons-of-timber-infused-with-drugs-from-bolivia-to-chile/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-narcos-moved-108-tons-of-timber-infused-with-drugs-from-bolivia-to-chile/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323075</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Monkey vs machine: Nepal tests AI to fight crop-raiding macaques</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/monkey-vs-machine-nepal-tests-ai-to-fight-crop-raiding-macaques/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/monkey-vs-machine-nepal-tests-ai-to-fight-crop-raiding-macaques/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 13:19:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Praveen Kumar Yadav]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13115519/rhesus-macaque-in-nepal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323193</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Crops, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Software, Solutions, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — At dawn in Birta Deurali village of Kavrepalanchok in central Nepal, maize fields aren&#8217;t quiet. Farmers stand guard, scanning the trees for movement, but they aren&#8217;t the only ones there. &#8220;If you leave even for a short time, the monkeys do considerable damage,&#8221; said 46-year-old Sagar Tamang, a resident of Birta Deurali. Villagers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — At dawn in Birta Deurali village of Kavrepalanchok in central Nepal, maize fields aren&#8217;t quiet. Farmers stand guard, scanning the trees for movement, but they aren&#8217;t the only ones there. &#8220;If you leave even for a short time, the monkeys do considerable damage,&#8221; said 46-year-old Sagar Tamang, a resident of Birta Deurali. Villagers take turns guarding fields every two hours, beating drums and sending dogs to chase them away. Nepal&#8217;s macaque crop raids are making national headlines, and the country’s researchers are testing artificial intelligence-based detection and deterrence systems, though even the scientists building them admit the technology isn&#8217;t yet a reliable fix. &#8220;We even hide food indoors, but they still find their way in,&#8221; Tamang said. &#8220;Only fire scares them now,&#8221; he added, referring to the burning sticks villagers’ wave to keep the monkeys at bay. For farmers such as Sunmaya Lama, 32, of the same village, the losses are adding up. &#8220;We lost maize worth 30,000 rupees (about $230) this year,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Over the past three years, it has reached around 90,000 rupees (about $670).&#8221; When she approached the local government, she said she was told there was no provision for compensation. &#8220;So we just bear the loss ourselves,&#8221; she said. A troop of rhesus macaques forage for food in Nepal. Image by Sunuwargr via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). A brewing crisis across the country The scale of the problem extends beyond the village. A 2022 nationwide analysis published in the Journal of Environmental&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/monkey-vs-machine-nepal-tests-ai-to-fight-crop-raiding-macaques/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/monkey-vs-machine-nepal-tests-ai-to-fight-crop-raiding-macaques/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323193</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fossil fuel-based mega projects displace locals in Bangladesh, pushing youth out</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fossil-fuel-based-mega-projects-displace-locals-in-bangladesh-pushing-youth-out/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fossil-fuel-based-mega-projects-displace-locals-in-bangladesh-pushing-youth-out/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 13:07:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Eyamin Sajid]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13123859/Matarbari-coal-power-plant04-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323215</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Coal, Coastal Ecosystems, Developing Countries, Development, Economics, Energy, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Land Rights, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Eid is usually a day of laughter and joy for most people in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 170 million in South Asia. But for Muhammad Gura Miya, it became a day of sadness and mourning after his only son left home on Eid in 2025 and never returned. Gura Miya, a 65-year-old resident of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Eid is usually a day of laughter and joy for most people in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 170 million in South Asia. But for Muhammad Gura Miya, it became a day of sadness and mourning after his only son left home on Eid in 2025 and never returned. Gura Miya, a 65-year-old resident of Maheshkhali sub-district of Bangladesh’s southeastern coastal district Cox’s Bazar, now spends his days in distress over the loss of his son. “He was my only hope and support. I don’t know where he is, or whether he is alive or dead,” Miya said. Miya is not alone. Mongabay spoke with dozens of families whose sons or household heads are missing or dead after attempting to migrate to Malaysia for work. On April 14, 2026, a small boat carrying around 250 people, including Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingya refugees, capsized in the Andaman Sea while en route to Malaysia. Only nine people were rescued; the rest remain missing. Young, unskilled people in this coastal area are risking illegal migration across the Bay of Bengal in small boats as fossil fuel projects, ports and petrochemical complexes threaten their ancestral livelihoods. A study on irregular migration from Bangladesh to Malaysia through the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea found that Cox’s Bazar has become a new hub for human trafficking to Malaysia. Construction of Matarbari deep sea port. Image by Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman. A ship at the construction of Matarbari deep sea port. Image by Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fossil-fuel-based-mega-projects-displace-locals-in-bangladesh-pushing-youth-out/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323215</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A marine protected area can ban fishing boats. It cannot stop drifting gear</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-marine-protected-area-can-ban-fishing-boats-it-cannot-stop-drifting-gear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-marine-protected-area-can-ban-fishing-boats-it-cannot-stop-drifting-gear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 10:29:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13102355/dFADs-GP015S4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323159</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, Sea Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When fishing gear invades marine protected areas.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For a marine protected area, a line on the map is supposed to carry legal weight. It tells fishing vessels where they may not go. It tells managers where their authority begins. It tells governments what they have promised to protect. In the open ocean, that line can be hard to defend. Fish move through it. Currents cross it. Plastic and lost gear drift into it. A reserve may be closed to fishing vessels and still receive the debris of industrial fishing. A recent paper in Science Advances shows how serious that problem has become for one widely used fishing technology: drifting fish aggregating devices, or dFADs. These are floating rafts, often fitted with satellite buoys and echosounders, that help purse seine fleets find and catch tuna. Tuna and other species gather around floating objects. For fishing companies, dFADs make a mobile and unpredictable ocean easier to search. For protected areas, they create a different problem. A dFAD can be deployed outside a reserve, drift into it, aggregate fish, entangle wildlife, break apart, sink, or wash ashore on reefs and beaches. It can do this without a vessel crossing the boundary. It can also do it without being visible to managers, since buoy data are usually controlled by fishing companies. Intersection between 88,359 tracked dFAD buoys (pink) with existing MPAs showing where dFADs have likely entered (red) or not (blue); (E) MPAs and shark sanctuaries where dFAD strandings were identified with count (circle), observed but not counted (red diamond), or&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-marine-protected-area-can-ban-fishing-boats-it-cannot-stop-drifting-gear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323159</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pangolin habitat at risk in Pakistan</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/pangolin-habitat-at-risk-in-pakistan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/pangolin-habitat-at-risk-in-pakistan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 09:34:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13093412/1-indian-pangolin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323197</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Developing Countries, Development, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Flooding, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Impact Of Climate Change, Mammals, Mining, Mountains, National Parks, Pangolins, Protected Areas, Roads, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The endangered Indian pangolin, already devastated by the illegal wildlife trade, is facing another crisis in Pakistan, one of the four countries where it’s found: rapid habitat loss. Key habitats of the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) have particularly disappeared in Pakistan’s rural, mountainous northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to new research, reports contributor Emma [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The endangered Indian pangolin, already devastated by the illegal wildlife trade, is facing another crisis in Pakistan, one of the four countries where it’s found: rapid habitat loss. Key habitats of the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) have particularly disappeared in Pakistan’s rural, mountainous northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to new research, reports contributor Emma Smith for Mongabay. The province is Pakistan&#8217;s third most densely populated region, where development projects such as roads, mining, and industrial sites have fractured vital habitats. In 2021, ecologist Tariq Ahmad, with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife Department, and his colleagues revisited 102 sites in the province where pangolin signs had been detected in a survey conducted in 2000. They found signs of pangolins in only 67 of those sites. According to Ahmad, the study&#8217;s lead author, pangolin populations in the province have plummeted by 25-40% over the last 25 years. “It was heartbreaking to return to sites where pangolins once thrived and find them replaced by roads and buildings. We are pushing this species to the edge,” Ahmad said. Beyond physical displacement, the species remains a primary target for the illegal wildlife trade. Poachers target the pangolin for its scales, made of keratin, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine and claimed to hold special curative powers. There is no scientific evidence for these claims. Asim Haider, a wildlife ecologist and conservationist with WWF in Pakistan, who wasn’t involved in the study, said some communities in the country also kill pangolins due to the myth&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/pangolin-habitat-at-risk-in-pakistan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/pangolin-habitat-at-risk-in-pakistan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323197</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Southeast Asian mangroves shift from historic decline to net growth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/southeast-asian-mangroves-shift-from-historic-decline-to-net-growth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/southeast-asian-mangroves-shift-from-historic-decline-to-net-growth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 07:22:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13072144/Low-Res_IMG_5385-Daniel-Friess-700x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323194</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, data, Deforestation, Disasters, Earth Science, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Mangroves, Research, Satellite Imagery, Science, Storms, Technology, Trees, and Tsunami]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For decades, Southeast Asia was the global epicenter of mangrove deforestation, but a recent study reveals a dramatic reversal: Since 2010, the region has transitioned from a net loss to a net gain in mangroves, making it a primary contributor to a global mangrove rebound. The study, which analyzed 40 years of satellite data, found [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For decades, Southeast Asia was the global epicenter of mangrove deforestation, but a recent study reveals a dramatic reversal: Since 2010, the region has transitioned from a net loss to a net gain in mangroves, making it a primary contributor to a global mangrove rebound. The study, which analyzed 40 years of satellite data, found that Southeast Asia accounted for nearly 60% of global mangrove losses between the 1980s and 2010. The region saw its highest rates of mangrove loss between 1990 and 2005. Since 2010, however, mangrove cover in the region has expanded, according to the study: Between 2010 and 2023, Southeast Asia accounted for roughly 43% of global mangrove gain. “Southeast Asia was a hotspot for deforestation and degradation in the late 1990s and 2000s,” study co-author Zhen Zhang told Mongabay in a video call. “But after 2010, we see some very hopeful signals. It’s a good story.” The transition in Southeast Asia is mainly due to shifts in mangrove cover in Indonesia and Myanmar, the study found. In Indonesia, the expansion of the agricultural industry and the construction of aquaculture ponds had been the major drivers of mangrove deforestation in the country, Zhang said. Yet, the world’s most mangrove-rich nation, stopped seeing steep declines   in its mangrove forest area after 2005. Meanwhile, Myanmar, historically the most severely deforested major mangrove country, has seen a 10% increase in area covered by mangrove since 2010, according to the study. “While some mangroves are still being lost, this could make&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/southeast-asian-mangroves-shift-from-historic-decline-to-net-growth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/southeast-asian-mangroves-shift-from-historic-decline-to-net-growth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323194</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What will Africa’s story on ocean governance be? Interview with David Willima</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-will-africas-story-on-ocean-governance-be-interview-with-david-willima/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-will-africas-story-on-ocean-governance-be-interview-with-david-willima/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 05:04:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10125120/5662409796_bd8f5d31ef_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323060</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this year, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, better known as the High Seas Treaty, entered into force, paving the way for protecting marine life in international waters. Countries in Latin America and West Africa are pushing to finalize proposals to establish their first marine protected areas, or MPAs, in the high seas. Still, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this year, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, better known as the High Seas Treaty, entered into force, paving the way for protecting marine life in international waters. Countries in Latin America and West Africa are pushing to finalize proposals to establish their first marine protected areas, or MPAs, in the high seas. Still, much about the practical implementation of the BBNJ treaty, as it’s also known, remains unclear: How are high seas protected areas going to be enforced? Who will be responsible? How they will interact with existing structures of marine governance? David Willima, maritime researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, South Africa, routinely deals with such questions. Part of the ISS&#8217;s Climate Risk and Human Security Project, he focuses on maritime security, ocean governance, and the blue economy, working with governments, the African Union (AU), and other stakeholders to improve their capacity to deal with maritime issues. Willima started engaging more closely with BBNJ-related issues in 2022 and has since been involved in creating awareness and capacity building around the High Seas Treaty. More recently, he has supported the IUCN, the global nature conservation authority, in engaging with countries and the AU specifically in the Western Indian Ocean region. Mongabay’s Victoria Schneider spoke to Willima by phone about the current state of the treaty’s implementation, its significance for Africa, and the outstanding challenges, including the persistence of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. David Willima. Image courtesy of David Willima. Mongabay: West Africa&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-will-africas-story-on-ocean-governance-be-interview-with-david-willima/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323060</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Official tied to commercial breeding to represent US at global wildlife trade meeting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/official-tied-to-commercial-breeding-to-represent-us-at-global-wildlife-trade-meeting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/official-tied-to-commercial-breeding-to-represent-us-at-global-wildlife-trade-meeting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2026 20:50:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/11193438/RRL-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323166</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Lemurs, Politics, Reptiles, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jenifer Chatfield, a high-ranking U.S. official whose family breeds wild animals for profit, will reportedly lead the U.S. delegation attending next week’s meeting of CITES, the global wildlife treaty, in Geneva, Switzerland, multiple sources told Mongabay. Chatfield, who serves as the Department of the Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jenifer Chatfield, a high-ranking U.S. official whose family breeds wild animals for profit, will reportedly lead the U.S. delegation attending next week’s meeting of CITES, the global wildlife treaty, in Geneva, Switzerland, multiple sources told Mongabay. Chatfield, who serves as the Department of the Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, is expected to attend the 34th meeting of the CITES Animals Committee, scheduled July 13-17. Sources, who wished to remain anonymous because of the fraught political climate in the U.S., informed Mongabay that Chatfield will participate as one of the six-member delegation attending the Animals Committee and Plants Committee meeting. These two scientific advisory bodies evaluate biological and taxonomic information about various animal and plant species to help CITES regulate international trade in endangered species. The committees meet twice between the every-three-year Conference of the Parties, which gathers all CITES signatories to vote on proposals. Chatfield, a board-certified veterinarian, appointed to her position in May 2025 by the second administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, will be leading a delegation of five scientists and another staff member from the U.S. Department of State, Mongabay has learned. This would be the first time such a delegation would be headed by a political appointee rather than a biologist well-versed in the sciences of conservation and taxonomy. “Usually, it is the chief of the U.S. CITES Scientific Authority who is the head of delegation,” said Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy at the U.S.-based NGO Wildlife Conservation Society.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/official-tied-to-commercial-breeding-to-represent-us-at-global-wildlife-trade-meeting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/official-tied-to-commercial-breeding-to-represent-us-at-global-wildlife-trade-meeting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323166</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can a photo save orangutans?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/can-a-photo-save-orangutans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/can-a-photo-save-orangutans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2026 16:36:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juan Maza]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lucia Torres]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/15223023/3-Pongo-pygmaeus-66382-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323164</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Great Apes, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Indonesian Borneo, conservation organization KehatiKu is testing a new approach: paying local people to photograph wildlife and upload the sightings through an app. In just one year, the project has collected around 175,000 records. Participants can earn about $6 for a photo of an orangutan, while smaller payments are offered for more common species. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Indonesian Borneo, conservation organization KehatiKu is testing a new approach: paying local people to photograph wildlife and upload the sightings through an app. In just one year, the project has collected around 175,000 records. Participants can earn about $6 for a photo of an orangutan, while smaller payments are offered for more common species. Thanks to the initiative, local communities are already working to prevent illegal hunting in their areas. Why this new approach? In the last 20 years, more than $1 billion has been spent on orangutan conservation, yet around 100,000 orangutans have been lost. However, according to KehatiKu this new conservation approach is showing concrete successes at a small fraction of the cost of traditional conservation efforts. Some experts advise caution. Paul Ferraro, professor of human behavior and public policy at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., argues it requires a constant flow of funding, which could create problems in the future. It may be effective for initial engagement, he says, but could prove difficult to sustain in the long term.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/can-a-photo-save-orangutans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/can-a-photo-save-orangutans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323164</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lydia Möcklinghoff, champion of the giant anteater, has died in a plane crash. She was 45</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lydia-mocklinghoff-champion-of-the-giant-anteater-has-died-in-a-plane-crash-in-brazil-she-was-45/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lydia-mocklinghoff-champion-of-the-giant-anteater-has-died-in-a-plane-crash-in-brazil-she-was-45/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2026 05:02:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/11044335/Lydia-Mocklinghoff-header-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323146</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, Pantanal, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Mammals, Obituary, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The giant anteater is easy to turn into a curiosity. Its head narrows into a long tube. It sees poorly. It opens termite mounds with strong claws and gathers insects with a tongue that can reach far beyond its mouth. Its life can appear simple until someone tries to study it. Then it becomes a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The giant anteater is easy to turn into a curiosity. Its head narrows into a long tube. It sees poorly. It opens termite mounds with strong claws and gathers insects with a tongue that can reach far beyond its mouth. Its life can appear simple until someone tries to study it. Then it becomes a set of hard questions: where it feeds, how far it ranges, what cover it needs, and how roads, fire, drought, and ranching change its chances of survival. These were the questions that drew Lydia Möcklinghoff into the Pantanal, the vast wetland in western Brazil and neighboring countries. She died on July 3rd in a plane crash near Campo Grande, Brazil, during a flight connected to Pantanal fieldwork. The cause of the crash was still under investigation. For her colleagues, students, readers, listeners, and the many children who knew her through radio reports from Brazil, the news carried a particular cruelty. She had made a difficult, overlooked animal visible. She had done so with humor, discipline, and a rare gift for explanation. Lydia Möcklinghoff in the Pantanal. From her social media. She did not begin with anteaters. Born in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, she studied biology in Giessen and Würzburg, with an interest in tropical ecology and animal behavior. Earlier, she had imagined becoming a wildlife filmmaker. Work experience in film companies changed her direction. The image mattered less to her than the animal in front of the camera. What was it doing? Why was it doing that?&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lydia-mocklinghoff-champion-of-the-giant-anteater-has-died-in-a-plane-crash-in-brazil-she-was-45/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323146</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Restoring Kashmir’s lakes one community at a time: Interview with Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/restoring-kashmirs-lakes-one-community-at-a-time-interview-with-manzoor-ahmad-wangnoo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/restoring-kashmirs-lakes-one-community-at-a-time-interview-with-manzoor-ahmad-wangnoo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 20:40:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hashim Quraishi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10173913/Photo-1.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323118</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Fellows, Freshwater, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Lakes, Mongabay.org, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The lakes and wetlands of Kashmir in northwestern India have long sustained the valley&#8217;s biodiversity, agriculture, tourism and water security. But over recent decades, these freshwater ecosystems have come under increasing pressure from pollution, encroachment and rapid urbanization. A recent government audit found that nearly half (315 of the 697) of lakes recorded across Jammu [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The lakes and wetlands of Kashmir in northwestern India have long sustained the valley&#8217;s biodiversity, agriculture, tourism and water security. But over recent decades, these freshwater ecosystems have come under increasing pressure from pollution, encroachment and rapid urbanization. A recent government audit found that nearly half (315 of the 697) of lakes recorded across Jammu and Kashmir have disappeared, while another 203 have shrunk, raising concerns about the region&#8217;s ecological health and long-term water security. Against this backdrop, Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo has spent more than two decades trying to reverse the decline of Kashmir&#8217;s freshwater ecosystem. The businessman-turned-conservationist has become one of the leading voices for protecting Kashmir&#8217;s lakes, wetlands and springs. Through the nonprofit Nigeen Lake Conservation Organisation (NLCO) and its flagship Mission Ehsaas, he has helped mobilize residents, volunteers and government agencies around the restoration of degraded water bodies, including the Khushalsar-Gilsar wetland system, two interconnected urban lakes in the heart of Srinagar. Conservation is not just about cleaning lakes for Wangnoo. It&#8217;s the reestablishment of a relationship between individuals and nature, a relationship he describes as Ehsaas, a word in Urdu and Kashmiri meaning &#8220;awareness&#8221; or &#8220;realization.&#8221; Nigeen Lake Conservation Organisation team visit to a lake. Image courtesy of NLCO. During an in-person interview with Mongabay, Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo discussed his conservation journey, the significance of wetlands, the challenges facing these ecosystems such as pollution and encroachment, and his optimism for the future of these wetlands as a result of community stewardship. The following interview conducted in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/restoring-kashmirs-lakes-one-community-at-a-time-interview-with-manzoor-ahmad-wangnoo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conserving Sierra Leone’s western chimpanzees: Interview with Tacugama’s Willie Tucker</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conserving-sierra-leones-western-chimpanzees-interview-with-tacugamas-willie-tucker/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conserving-sierra-leones-western-chimpanzees-interview-with-tacugamas-willie-tucker/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 19:24:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Patricia Sia Ngevao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10170639/Photo-30-06-2026-17-59-04-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323105</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fellows, Great Apes, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mammals, Mongabay.org, Primates, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Sierra Leone, the critically endangered western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) faces growing threats from habitat loss, deforestation, illegal wildlife trade and expanding human activity. For the past 30 years, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary has worked to rescue, rehabilitate and protect chimpanzees affected by these challenges. Few people have witnessed the sanctuary’s journey as closely as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Sierra Leone, the critically endangered western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) faces growing threats from habitat loss, deforestation, illegal wildlife trade and expanding human activity. For the past 30 years, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary has worked to rescue, rehabilitate and protect chimpanzees affected by these challenges. Few people have witnessed the sanctuary’s journey as closely as Willie Tucker, the conservancy’s camp supervisor, popularly known as “Pa Willie.” His conservation career began in 1990 when he studied wildlife management in Tanzania before joining Sierra Leone&#8217;s Wildlife Division. It was there that he met Bala Amarasekaran, Tacugama’s founder, who was caring for rescued chimpanzees and seeking to establish a rehabilitation center. Pa Willie was among the small team that helped turn that vision into reality. After identifying a suitable forest reserve outside Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, and securing support from the European Union, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary officially opened in October 1995. Today, as camp supervisor, Pa Willie remains a central figure in the sanctuary’s work. Over the years, he has helped rescue and care for hundreds of chimpanzees while witnessing the growing threats facing the species. His story reflects both a lifelong commitment to conservation and the remarkable growth of Sierra Leone&#8217;s leading chimpanzee sanctuary. Willie Tucker, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary&#8217;s camp supervisor, popularly known as “Pa Willie.” Image by Patricia Sia Ngevao. Mongabay spoke with Pa Willie in June about his conservation journey, the early days of Tacugama and the challenges facing western chimpanzees in Sierra Leone. This interview has been edited for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conserving-sierra-leones-western-chimpanzees-interview-with-tacugamas-willie-tucker/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conserving-sierra-leones-western-chimpanzees-interview-with-tacugamas-willie-tucker/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323105</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meme-face Pallas’s cat traverses a complex conservation landscape</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/meme-face-pallass-cat-traverses-a-complex-conservation-landscape/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/meme-face-pallass-cat-traverses-a-complex-conservation-landscape/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 17:43:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08101628/1-Pallass-cat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322829</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Central Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Cute, Ecosystems, Environment, Habitat, Mammals, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Many already know Zelenogorsk — a manul, or Pallas’s cat, from Russia’s Novosibirsk Zoo — who became an internet sensation in 2022 after a video of him warming his paws on his tail was posted on YouTube. That clip has garnered more than 14 million views. Many of the world’s 30-plus small cat species are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Many already know Zelenogorsk — a manul, or Pallas’s cat, from Russia’s Novosibirsk Zoo — who became an internet sensation in 2022 after a video of him warming his paws on his tail was posted on YouTube. That clip has garnered more than 14 million views. Many of the world’s 30-plus small cat species are relatively unknown, but thanks to its online fame as the world’s grumpiest cat, the manul bucks this trend. “Pallas’s cats are known for being these really cranky-looking animals,” said Jan Janecka, a professor of biology at Duquesne University in the U.S. “It&#8217;s almost like a meme, how the facial expression they have is just really unique and funny.” But while the manul’s oft-miffed visage is well known, perhaps less so is the complex conservation picture it faces rangewide. Its “least concern” status on the IUCN Red List somewhat obscures troubling declines at the national level. It inhabits a huge expanse of territory across South and Central Asia, including the Himalayas and on into the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region. Some countries — such as Mongolia and China — are considered strongholds, with healthy, if patchy, populations. But in the south and west, little is known about them. “A lot of what we know is focused on these strongholds,” said Katarzyna Ruta, conservation manager at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and coordinator with the Pallas’s Cat International Conservation Alliance (PICA). Elsewhere in their range, populations are often small, isolated and “very clearly understudied,” she added.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/meme-face-pallass-cat-traverses-a-complex-conservation-landscape/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/meme-face-pallass-cat-traverses-a-complex-conservation-landscape/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322829</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beavers brought a volcanic wasteland back to life. Now it&#8217;s under threat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beavers-brought-a-volcanic-wasteland-back-to-life-now-its-under-threat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beavers-brought-a-volcanic-wasteland-back-to-life-now-its-under-threat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 16:31:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isabel Gil]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10124432/An-ecosystem-engineering-beaver-hard-at-work-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323058</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Mammals, Rivers, Rodents, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Smith family referred to the back part of their property as “the wasteland.” It opens up to the North Fork Toutle River in the U.S. state of Washington, which was swamped with volcanic sediment and runoff from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The sediment was further backed up when the U.S. Army [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Smith family referred to the back part of their property as “the wasteland.” It opens up to the North Fork Toutle River in the U.S. state of Washington, which was swamped with volcanic sediment and runoff from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The sediment was further backed up when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a sediment retention structure, or SRS, in 1989, and then raised it again in 2013, less than a mile, or a kilometer and a half, downstream from the Smiths. The goal of the project was to hold back sediment that would otherwise threaten the Columbia River’s shipping routes and southwest Washington communities. But it created a backlog of volcanic material that filled the stretch of the North Fork Toutle River that ran beside the Smiths’ property and to the dam. After the SRS was raised the first time, Mark Smith and his wife, Dawn, watched over the next few years as volcanic material accumulated for miles along the riverside portion of the Eco Park Resort: “So if you can imagine seeing a big gray sediment dune of no life, just ash, sediment from Mount St. Helens, volcanic material,” Smith told Mongabay by phone. Smith runs the nearly 80-acre (32-hectare) resort, a lodging and campground site alongside the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway. It offers the closest overnight accommodations to the volcano, so he often hosts groups of restoration ecologists and scientists. Through these researchers, and his family’s involvement in local environmental advocacy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beavers-brought-a-volcanic-wasteland-back-to-life-now-its-under-threat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beavers-brought-a-volcanic-wasteland-back-to-life-now-its-under-threat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323058</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists use AI to produce first high-resolution map of global seagrass extent</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 12:51:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10103637/IMG_2026-07-10-031214-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323038</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Bahamas, Caribbean, Cuba, Global, Indonesia, North America, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, data, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Mapping, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mitigation, Oceans, Plants, Politics, Protected Areas, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Science, Seagrass, Software, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Almost 70% of the global extent of seagrass meadows is found off the coasts of just five countries. However, only 21% of this fall within marine protected areas. These are some of the key findings from the first high-resolution map of seagrasses around the world. Scientists at Arizona State University in the U.S. used satellite [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Almost 70% of the global extent of seagrass meadows is found off the coasts of just five countries. However, only 21% of this fall within marine protected areas. These are some of the key findings from the first high-resolution map of seagrasses around the world. Scientists at Arizona State University in the U.S. used satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to map seagrass cover over two periods, 2019-2020 and 2023-2024. According to a study, recently published in the journal Nature, the team identified “148,506 km2 of seagrass globally,” or about 57,340 square miles, a combined area larger than England, with the majority lying in subtidal areas. “We wanted to map seagrass in a very accurate manner,” Jiwei Li, an assistant professor at ASU’s School of Ocean Futures, who led the study, told Mongabay in a video interview. “And tell people where the seagrass is and where there is potential to protect it.” Scientists mapped seagrass ecosystems using satellite data and AI technology. Pictured above is a satellite image from a coast off of Richmond, Canada, along with the seagrass ecosystems highlighted in green to the right. Image courtesy of Jiwei Li, Arizona State University. Seagrasses are the only flowering plant species in the ocean, and form vast meadows in shallow waters. Apart from being habitats for many marine species, these meadows are also crucial carbon sinks that can absorb CO2 35 times faster than terrestrial forests. They also protect coastlines and filter pollutants in the water. However, seagrass ecosystems face threats from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323038</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Once endangered, Australia&#8217;s numbat is making a hopeful recovery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/once-endangered-australias-numbat-is-making-a-hopeful-recovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/once-endangered-australias-numbat-is-making-a-hopeful-recovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 12:14:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Laura Oliver]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10121034/Numbat-in-Western-Australia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323056</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Ex-situ Conservation, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, In-situ Conservation, Invasive Species, Mammals, Marsupials, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The animal emblem of Western Australia, the numbat, is recovering after decades of conservation efforts, according to the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. For decades, the numbat or banded anteater (Myrmecobius fasciatus) was listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. It has now been moved to the lower threat category of near threatened. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The animal emblem of Western Australia, the numbat, is recovering after decades of conservation efforts, according to the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. For decades, the numbat or banded anteater (Myrmecobius fasciatus) was listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. It has now been moved to the lower threat category of near threatened. “The &#8216;downlisting&#8217; of the numbat on the IUCN Red List from Endangered to Near Threatened is what we have been working for over the last 40 years!” Tony Friend, research associate at the Western Australian department of biodiversity, conservation and attractions (DBCA), told Mongabay via email. “Consequently, I feel very elated that the more secure status we’ve been able to achieve with the numbat has been recognised by IUCN.” The striped, ant-and-termite-eating marsupial with reddish-brown fur was once on the verge of extinction. By the late 1970s, around just 300 individuals remained. Their decline was primarily driven by the introduction of predators, such as the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and domestic cats (Felis catus), alongside threats including habitat destruction and changes in the intensity and frequency of fires. In 2026, numbat numbers have grown to about 2,000-3,000 individuals thanks to more than 40 years of conservation actions taken by wildlife scientists, the DBCA, Perth Zoo, conservation organizations and community volunteers. Conservationists have, for example, baited and removed foxes and cats from certain areas. This has “caused spectacular increases in numbat numbers in the two original populations, both located in Western Australia: one of these has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/once-endangered-australias-numbat-is-making-a-hopeful-recovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323056</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Desert rain frogs threatened with extinction in southern Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/desert-rain-frogs-threatened-with-extinction-in-southern-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/desert-rain-frogs-threatened-with-extinction-in-southern-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 12:06:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10115604/desert-rain-frog-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323053</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Deserts, Ecosystems, Environment, Frogs, Herps, Threatened species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The survival of a unique frog species that lives in the coastal sand dunes of South Africa and Namibia is under threat from diamond mining, the proposed Boegoebaai Green Hydrogen Project and climate change. The desert rain frog (Breviceps macrops) has been moved to a higher threat category, from near threatened to vulnerable, on the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The survival of a unique frog species that lives in the coastal sand dunes of South Africa and Namibia is under threat from diamond mining, the proposed Boegoebaai Green Hydrogen Project and climate change. The desert rain frog (Breviceps macrops) has been moved to a higher threat category, from near threatened to vulnerable, on the IUCN&#8217;s Red List. The change in the frog’s conservation status is based on assessments carried out by scientists from various Southern African universities and organizations. “[The species] has already experienced loss of its habitat from strip mining and these projected impacts don&#8217;t bode well for the species and the other unique biodiversity that occurs only in these coastal dune systems,” Jeanne Tarrant, executive director of Anura Africa, which supports amphibian conservation, and regional co-chair of the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group for Southern Africa, told Mongabay via email. The desert rain frog grows to just 4 to 6 centimeters (1.6 to 2.4 inches) in length. It’s range is also very small, limited to the white coastal sand dunes of northern South Africa and southern Namibia within 10 to 12 kilometers (6 to 7 miles) of the coast. It survives without a permanent source of freshwater by absorbing moisture from coastal fog and spends most of its life buried beneath moist sand, emerging when conditions are just right. Scientists identified six distinct habitat locations of the frog within the Succulent Karoo biome, a recognized hotspot for biodiversity, all threatened with mining, energy and infrastructure development. “The proposed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/desert-rain-frogs-threatened-with-extinction-in-southern-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323053</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Suspect charged and manhunt continues over Jakarta 3-ton pangolin scales case</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/suspect-charged-and-manhunt-continues-over-jakarta-3-ton-pangolin-scales-case/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/suspect-charged-and-manhunt-continues-over-jakarta-3-ton-pangolin-scales-case/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 11:42:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anggita Raissa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10113230/Bea-cuka-trenggiling-2-3X9A3130-scaled-1-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323045</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Pangolins, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities have charged one person and are pursuing at least two others in connection with one of the country&#8217;s largest wildlife trafficking cases, following the seizure of around $10 million worth of pangolin scales earlier this year. On Feb. 18, customs inspectors found 3,053 kilograms (6,731 pounds) of pangolin scales hidden in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities have charged one person and are pursuing at least two others in connection with one of the country&#8217;s largest wildlife trafficking cases, following the seizure of around $10 million worth of pangolin scales earlier this year. On Feb. 18, customs inspectors found 3,053 kilograms (6,731 pounds) of pangolin scales hidden in a shipping container at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port, bound for Cambodia. The goods were declared as sea cucumbers in customs clearance documents. To date, police have detained only one suspect, identified as Tonni, who has been detained on remand in Jakarta, according to Bambang Ari Wibowo, investigator at Indonesia’s forestry ministry. “From the outset Tonni has confessed to knowing that the goods to be shipped were pangolin scales,” Bambang told Mongabay Indonesia in late June, adding that witnesses had corroborated this allegation. Prosecutors have filed charges against Tonni under Indonesia&#8217;s wildlife conservation law with illegally trading a protected species, an offense carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison as well as a fine ranging from 200 million to 5 billion rupiah (about $11,000 to $276,000). In addition, investigators continue to determine whether two companies, PT Viena Trans Mandiri (VTM) and PT Temu Satu Rasa (TSR), the export agencies behind the shipment, should face further action. Mongabay Indonesia previously visited the registered address of TSR in Central Jakarta, but could find only an apparently vacant commercial premise next to a hair salon. A VTM representative declined to comment when eventually reached by phone. A&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/suspect-charged-and-manhunt-continues-over-jakarta-3-ton-pangolin-scales-case/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323045</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh gets ready for its first release of tiger rescued from poachers’ trap</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 09:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10084029/upscalemedia-transformed-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323027</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Hope and optimism, Mangroves, Monitoring, Poaching, Tigers, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a first, Bangladesh is preparing to release a tiger back into the wild after it was rescued from a poacher’s trap and provided with medical treatment. On Jan. 4 this year, the Forest Department rescued the female tiger (Panthera tigris), estimated to be around 10 years old, from the Chandpai and Sarankhola forest range [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a first, Bangladesh is preparing to release a tiger back into the wild after it was rescued from a poacher’s trap and provided with medical treatment. On Jan. 4 this year, the Forest Department rescued the female tiger (Panthera tigris), estimated to be around 10 years old, from the Chandpai and Sarankhola forest range in the Sundarbans East division. The critically injured tiger was taken to the Khulna Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, a facility of the Bangladesh Forest Department, for treatment. “We rescued the tiger from a snare set for deer poaching. After receiving adequate care, the tiger is now ready to return to the wild. We are planning to release her in a few days,” said Md Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, divisional forest officer, Sundarbans East division. According to the latest tiger census, conducted in 2024, Bangladesh is home to 125 globally endangered Bengal tigers living in the Sundarbans mangrove forest. The rescued tiger&#8217;s left foreleg, which was caught in the snare, was severely injured. Image courtesy of the Bangladesh Forest Department. Covering 6,017 square kilometers (2,323 square miles), the mangrove forest is administratively divided into Sundarbans East and Sundarbans West. It is also divided into three blocks — Chandpai-Sarankhola, Khulna and Satkhira. As per the census, the highest number of Bengal tigers is found in the Chandpai-Sarankhola block. “This indicates that the density of other wildlife, including deer and wild boars, is also higher in this block because the forest’s top predators are more concentrated here,” Chowdhury&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323027</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal&#8217;s Rhino translocation success in numbers masks habitat struggles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/nepals-rhino-translocation-success-in-numbers-masks-habitat-struggles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/nepals-rhino-translocation-success-in-numbers-masks-habitat-struggles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 06:06:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10060527/Greater_one-horned_rhinoceros_at_Chitwan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323025</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mammals, One-horned Rhinos, Rewilding, Rhinos, and Ungulates]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While Nepal’s efforts to revive its rhinoceros population is hailed as a conservation success, habitat degradation is forcing translocated rhinos to wander far beyond their designated release zones, according to a new study, reports contributor Bibek Bhandari for Mongabay. The population of the vulnerable greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in Nepal grew by 16.6% between [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[While Nepal’s efforts to revive its rhinoceros population is hailed as a conservation success, habitat degradation is forcing translocated rhinos to wander far beyond their designated release zones, according to a new study, reports contributor Bibek Bhandari for Mongabay. The population of the vulnerable greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in Nepal grew by 16.6% between 2015 and 2021, reaching a total of 752 individuals. To expand the range of rhinos, authorities also established new rhino populations in Bardiya and Shuklaphanta national parks. Bardiya, which had no surviving rhinos until the early 1980s, now has about 38 rhinos, according to the last census in 2021. To see how the reintroduced rhinos use habitat in Bardiya, researchers attached GPS collars on five rhinos moved from Chitwan National Park to Bardiya in 2016-17. Their tracking showed that the rhinos maintain unusually large home ranges in the park’s Babai Valley. The study authors said that the behavior is likely due to fragmented riverine forests, limited grassland and seasonal water scarcity. Study co-author Babu Ram Lamichhane, currently associated with the nonprofit Wild Care Nepal, said that massive floods in 2015 and 2017 inundated the Babai Valley, reducing the grassland patches and wallowing sites rhinos require for thermoregulation and skin maintenance. Lamichhane said during the dry season, a lack of water in the Babai River forces rhinos to travel long distances, sometimes even crossing into India. “The rhino habitat is not at an optimal level in Babai Valley,” Lamichhane said. As rhinos seek resources outside the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/nepals-rhino-translocation-success-in-numbers-masks-habitat-struggles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/nepals-rhino-translocation-success-in-numbers-masks-habitat-struggles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323025</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How effective are canopy bridges really?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/how-effective-are-canopy-bridges-really/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/how-effective-are-canopy-bridges-really/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 21:54:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bobby Bascomb]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/09215037/monkey-on-bridge-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323022</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When roads cut through forests, they can become a death trap for wildlife. Canopy bridges, structures that connect trees on either side of roads, are considered a crucial lifeline for tree-dwelling animals, but few researchers have examined their long-term effectiveness. A recently published study did just that, by analyzing three years of videos from camera [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When roads cut through forests, they can become a death trap for wildlife. Canopy bridges, structures that connect trees on either side of roads, are considered a crucial lifeline for tree-dwelling animals, but few researchers have examined their long-term effectiveness. A recently published study did just that, by analyzing three years of videos from camera traps installed on bridges in Costa Rica. Researchers found that wildlife use of the bridges increased steadily with time, and animals showed preferences for certain bridge designs and length. Previously, most arboreal bridges had only been monitored for about a year at most, according to study lead author Marion Fischer, a Ph.D. student with the University of French Guiana. Without long-term data, it’s hard to know how useful bridges really are or what type works best, she told Mongabay in a video call. So, Fischer worked with the Costa Rican NGO Osa Conservation to analyze thousands of videos recorded by camera traps that the organization installed on either side of 17 bridges across the Osa Peninsula, a biodiversity hotspot. The team documented 2,231 animal crossings from December 2020 to June 2023. These included at least 13 species of arboreal mammals, including two species that are highly vulnerable to collisions with cars: The common opossum (Didelphis marsupialis) and the Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine (Coendou mexicanus). White faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator) and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri oerstedii) frequented the bridges as well. However, larger-bodied howler (Alouatta spp.) and spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) were not documented using them.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/how-effective-are-canopy-bridges-really/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/how-effective-are-canopy-bridges-really/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323022</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Honduras, solar power has done more harm than good, communities say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-honduras-solar-power-has-done-more-harm-than-good-communities-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-honduras-solar-power-has-done-more-harm-than-good-communities-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 16:41:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/09154709/5-Solar-Panels-Agua-Fria-Nacaome-Honduras-Criterio-Hn-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322820</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Honduras, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Pollution, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2013, officials in Honduras made renewable energy development a “national priority,” with a special interest in attracting foreign investment in new solar power technology. Over the last 20 years, the government has introduced tax cuts and other economic benefits to accelerate the creation of solar projects, in one case approving 23 solar parks in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2013, officials in Honduras made renewable energy development a “national priority,” with a special interest in attracting foreign investment in new solar power technology. Over the last 20 years, the government has introduced tax cuts and other economic benefits to accelerate the creation of solar projects, in one case approving 23 solar parks in an overnight legislative session. But the speed of approval for those projects has drawn criticism from human rights and conservation groups that say the state awarded contracts that avoided more rigorous environmental oversight. At the same time, the energy companies continue to see disproportionate profits compared to local communities living near the projects, often without access to electricity themselves. According to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies, solar projects throughout southern Honduras have negatively impacted the local economy and health of surrounding communities. The projects have also done little to transition the country away from fossil fuels, raising questions about who truly benefits, according to the report. “About a decade ago, gleaming mosaic of solar parks was installed in southern Honduras, accompanied by promises of a transition to green energy that would bring about jobs, abundant cheap energy, and community development,” said the report, which was also published by the Transnational Institute, TerraJusta and Honduras Solidarity Network, among other environmental and human rights groups. “But the impact so far is eerily similar to the prevailing development model in Honduras, which concentrates benefits on the rich and externalizes impacts on the poor.” Residents&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-honduras-solar-power-has-done-more-harm-than-good-communities-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-honduras-solar-power-has-done-more-harm-than-good-communities-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322820</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can conservation change how the world sees the Strait of Hormuz? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-conservation-change-how-the-world-sees-the-strait-of-hormuz-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-conservation-change-how-the-world-sees-the-strait-of-hormuz-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 15:37:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iman Ebrahimi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/13142321/Moray-eel-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322992</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Iran, Kuwait, Middle East, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Commentary, Conflict, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Estuaries, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Oil Spills, War, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In recent months, the Strait of Hormuz has again been described in the language the world knows best: Oil, tankers, naval risk, energy security and war. That is understandable. Around one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments normally move through this narrow passage between Iran and Oman. When Hormuz is threatened, markets react [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months, the Strait of Hormuz has again been described in the language the world knows best: Oil, tankers, naval risk, energy security and war. That is understandable. Around one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments normally move through this narrow passage between Iran and Oman. When Hormuz is threatened, markets react and governments calculate. But this is only one map of the strait. Conservation offers another. The Strait of Hormuz is not only an oil chokepoint. It is an ecological corridor: The narrow mouth through which the Persian Gulf exchanges water with the Gulf of Oman and the wider Indian Ocean, and through which islands, mangroves, seabird colonies, coral reefs, turtle nesting beaches and coastal communities are connected across borders. A pair of flamingos, Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Image courtesy of Maitha Bughanoom. This way of seeing Hormuz matters now because recent oil-related reports have not pointed to empty water. They have pointed toward real places: Shidvar, an uninhabited Ramsar island in Lavan, Iran, where damage to nearby oil infrastructure can quickly become a threat to a breeding ground for more than 80,000 terns each year; Qeshm and the Hara mangrove forests, the largest mangrove system in the Persian Gulf and also a Ramsar site; Kharg Island, and also small ports, fishing grounds and coastal waters where human life and wildlife are not easily separated. The full biological impact is still unclear but the geography already tells us enough: In the Persian Gulf,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-conservation-change-how-the-world-sees-the-strait-of-hormuz-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-conservation-change-how-the-world-sees-the-strait-of-hormuz-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322992</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh relocates refugees after landslide kills at least 5 children</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/bangladesh-relocates-refugees-after-landslide-kills-at-least-5-children/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/bangladesh-relocates-refugees-after-landslide-kills-at-least-5-children/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 13:42:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/09134109/AP26189506436396-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=322988</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bangladesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Authorities in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh used loudspeakers and a network of volunteers and community leaders to relocate people from risky areas to safety Thursday after landslides killed at least 13 refugees in the past few days. At least five children died Wednesday when a landslide caused by monsoon rains [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Authorities in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh used loudspeakers and a network of volunteers and community leaders to relocate people from risky areas to safety Thursday after landslides killed at least 13 refugees in the past few days. At least five children died Wednesday when a landslide caused by monsoon rains swept through an Islamic school at a camp in Cox&#8217;s Bazar, where more than 1 million Rohingya refugees from neighboring Myanmar live. A teacher at the Islamic school described the scene from the landslide as chaotic, saying girls at the school were preparing for lessons when part of the building collapsed. “Those of us who were on the western side managed to get out, but everyone on the eastern side was buried under the debris,” said Begum Jahan, who teaches the Quran, Islam’s holy book. “Some suffered broken arms, and some of the girls lost their lives,” she said. People in the refugee camp started rescue operations before emergency services reached the scene, Dollar Tripura, head of the local fire service and civil defense, said Thursday. He added that emergency personnel later rescued the injured and recovered the bodies. The rescue operation was called off Wednesday evening. Jamal Hossain, a Rohingya volunteer who helped in the rescue effort, said people rescued at the scene were sent to hospital and those that died were all women. “However, we do not know whether there are any more bodies buried underneath,” he said. Authorities in Cox’s Bazar said they were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/bangladesh-relocates-refugees-after-landslide-kills-at-least-5-children/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322988</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ethiopia’s iconic Walia ibex is critically endangered once again</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/ethiopias-iconic-walia-ibex-is-critically-endangered-once-again/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/ethiopias-iconic-walia-ibex-is-critically-endangered-once-again/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 12:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/06103541/WAlia-ad-male-Scholte_LR-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=322958</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Poaching, Traditional Medicine, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Walia ibex, a rare species of wild goat found only in northern Ethiopia, is once again considered critically endangered, after recent population estimates showed a sustained decline below a key threshold. The iconic species, largely confined to the remote, steep cliffs of Simien Mountains National Park, was previous listed as vulnerable on the Red [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Walia ibex, a rare species of wild goat found only in northern Ethiopia, is once again considered critically endangered, after recent population estimates showed a sustained decline below a key threshold. The iconic species, largely confined to the remote, steep cliffs of Simien Mountains National Park, was previous listed as vulnerable on the Red List of the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. The conservation status of the Walia ibex (Capra walie) has oscillated over the years. In 1986, it was listed as endangered, then reclassified as critically endangered in 1996, before being moved back to endangered in 2008. Between 2009 and 2012, surveys found the Walia ibex population had increased from 680 individuals to 850. Based on this trend, researchers estimated that by 2020 there would be more than 975 individuals. Concluding that the species was doing better, they reclassified the ibex as vulnerable. The 2020 assessment noted that in 2019, only 619 ibex had been counted, but concluded that this single record didn’t change the overall increasing trend. “With today’s knowledge this conclusion was not justified,” Paul Scholte, senior adviser to the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority and lead assessor of the IUCN Walia Ibex Assessment, told Mongabay by email. A study published last year by Scholte and his colleagues found that Walia ibex numbers have been steadily declining from a high of 865 individuals in 2015 to just 306 by May 2024. Most importantly, there were fewer than 250 mature individuals (those that can reproduce) in 2023 and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/ethiopias-iconic-walia-ibex-is-critically-endangered-once-again/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322958</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lawmakers seek rights probe into Indigenous conflict at Indonesian timber firm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 10:23:36 +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/20/2024/03/27180141/Screenshot-2024-03-28-010118-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322966</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Forest Products, Forestry, Great Apes, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Primates, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Social Conflict, Tropical Deforestation, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding probe into a long-running conflict between an Indigenous community in Borneo and an industrial timber company linked to one of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent deforestation cases. The call came at the end of a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on June 30, where lawmakers said testimony presented [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding probe into a long-running conflict between an Indigenous community in Borneo and an industrial timber company linked to one of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent deforestation cases. The call came at the end of a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on June 30, where lawmakers said testimony presented during the session strengthened indications of alleged structural and systematic human rights violations in the conflict. Responding to the hearing, Indonesia&#8217;s Ministry of Human Rights said it would conduct a more comprehensive review of the case, including field monitoring and coordination with other government agencies, as it prepares to investigate allegations of human rights violations linked to the conflict between PT Mayawana Persada and the Dayak Kualan community in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. The Dayak Kualan community alleges the company&#8217;s concession overlaps with its customary lands and forests, and that Mayawana proceeded to clear the area without obtaining its meaningful consent. Despite the community&#8217;s longstanding objections, Mayawana razed lands and forests that the Dayak Kualan community says form part of its customary territory, according to Tarsisius Fendy Sesupi, the customary chief of Lelayang, one of the Indigenous hamlets overlapped by the concession. &#8220;The company never sought the community&#8217;s agreement. It simply moved in and cleared everything,&#8221; he said at a recent press conference in Jakarta. In cases where community members agreed to relinquish their land, they did so under pressure and received only 1.5 million rupiah (about $83) per hectare, or $34 per acre,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322966</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A win-win, animal crossings make roads safer for wildlife and people</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/a-win-win-animal-crossings-make-roads-safer-for-wildlife-and-people/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/a-win-win-animal-crossings-make-roads-safer-for-wildlife-and-people/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 09:14:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/09091336/7-wildlife-overpasses-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=322963</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Infrastructure, Roadkill, Roads, Solutions, Transportation, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Worldwide, roads act as both death traps and barriers for wildlife, fragmenting the landscapes animals need to survive. However, ecologists and engineers are working to &#8220;reconnect the wild&#8221; through the strategic construction of wildlife crossings. As Mongabay contributor Ben Goldfarb reports, structures, including underpasses and massive overpasses paired with roadside fencing, have proved highly effective [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Worldwide, roads act as both death traps and barriers for wildlife, fragmenting the landscapes animals need to survive. However, ecologists and engineers are working to &#8220;reconnect the wild&#8221; through the strategic construction of wildlife crossings. As Mongabay contributor Ben Goldfarb reports, structures, including underpasses and massive overpasses paired with roadside fencing, have proved highly effective at protecting both animals and people. The U.S. state of Colorado, for example, recently completed a 61-meter-wide (200-foot) overpass — one of the largest in the world — near the town of Greenland. It’s expected to help reduce roadkill by 90% along a critical stretch of I-25, one of the busiest highways in the western U.S. Similarly, the upcoming Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in California will soon allow pumas to safely traverse the 10-lane U.S. 101 freeway. “At this point, there’s really no more question that these things can help populations,” Mike Sawaya, a researcher studying grizzly bears and wildlife crossings in Canada’s Banff National Park, told Mongabay. The motivation for these projects is not only conservation but also public safety and economics. Collisions with white-tailed deer kill about 440 motorists each year across the U.S. Large animal collisions cost the U.S. economy more than $10 billion annually. Other countries have also implemented these crossings. A mountain highway in Croatia is one of the most permeable roads on Earth, while India is pioneering &#8220;red roads&#8221; to reduce vehicle speeds in wildlife zones without abrupt braking, vehicle damage, or driver discomfort. In Sri Lanka, inexpensive rope&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/a-win-win-animal-crossings-make-roads-safer-for-wildlife-and-people/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322963</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title> Seeking swordfish, catching dolphins and whales: EU pushes to rein in driftnets</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/seeking-swordfish-catching-dolphins-and-whales-eu-pushes-to-rein-in-driftnets/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/seeking-swordfish-catching-dolphins-and-whales-eu-pushes-to-rein-in-driftnets/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2026 20:24:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08160916/a.-BANNER-GP0156K-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, European Union, Mediterranean Sea, Morocco, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bycatch, Cetaceans, Dolphins, Elasmobranchs, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Illegal Fishing, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Sharks, Tuna, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Driftnets, vertically hanging nets that drift with ocean currents and can stretch for kilometers, are used to catch large pelagic species such as swordfish and tuna. However, they have long drawn criticism from conservationists as they also capture and kill sharks, turtles, dolphins and other marine wildlife. For decades, debate has raged about use of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Driftnets, vertically hanging nets that drift with ocean currents and can stretch for kilometers, are used to catch large pelagic species such as swordfish and tuna. However, they have long drawn criticism from conservationists as they also capture and kill sharks, turtles, dolphins and other marine wildlife. For decades, debate has raged about use of the large nets. It’s a particularly contentious issue in the Mediterranean Sea, an important migration corridor that faces considerable pressure from overfishing, pollution and climate change. Now, international efforts to tighten legislation on driftnets in the Mediterranean have gained new momentum as member states of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) consider a proposal aimed at closing loopholes in existing rules. ICCAT is the world’s largest regional fisheries management organization, managing the stocks of highly migratory species, including tuna, swordfish (Xiphias gladius) and some shark species across the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. At ICCAT’s technical meetings held in Brussels in June, the European Union presented a proposal (see IMM_09_ENG.docx in link) that seeks to strengthen current driftnet rules. Fishers haul an illegal driftnet in international waters west of Marettimo Island, near Sicily. Image © Gavin Parsons/Greenpeace. The EU proposal would establish clearer definitions for driftnets, prohibit their possession on vessels that target certain species, and extend restrictions beyond the Mediterranean to parts of the Atlantic Ocean. “The EU has the clear ambition to push for the adoption of this measure at this year’s annual meeting of ICCAT (in November),” an&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/seeking-swordfish-catching-dolphins-and-whales-eu-pushes-to-rein-in-driftnets/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Could a blighted urban inlet become a global beacon of waterway renewal?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/could-a-blighted-urban-inlet-become-a-global-beacon-of-waterway-renewal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/could-a-blighted-urban-inlet-become-a-global-beacon-of-waterway-renewal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2026 18:52:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jennifer Cole]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08165500/54032733335_fa695ecfe0_4k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322901</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Development, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Pollution, urban ecology, Waste, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[VANCOUVER — Two hundred years ago, Talaysay Campo’s ancestors harvested clams and cockles along the shore of Vancouver’s False Creek. &#8220;It was a huge aquaculture site,&#8221; Campo, a member of the Squamish First Nation and operations manager of Talaysay Tours, a company dedicated to sharing the history of Indigenous peoples, tells Mongabay. Today, little remains [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VANCOUVER — Two hundred years ago, Talaysay Campo’s ancestors harvested clams and cockles along the shore of Vancouver’s False Creek. &#8220;It was a huge aquaculture site,&#8221; Campo, a member of the Squamish First Nation and operations manager of Talaysay Tours, a company dedicated to sharing the history of Indigenous peoples, tells Mongabay. Today, little remains of the abundance Campo describes. Even the name False Creek obscures the ecological richness that once defined the waterbody. This narrow, 3-kilometer (almost 2-mile) long waterway traversing the heart of Vancouver is not a freshwater creek as the name implies, but a saltwater tidal inlet. It received its name in 1859 from a British sea captain who discovered he’d been mistaken in believing he’d been traveling through a creek and called it False Creek as a warning to other mariners. As European settlement expanded across the region, mandates from newly formed colonial governments permitted the destruction of Indigenous villages along the shoreline of False Creek, forcing First Nations people onto government reserves. The inlet became a mecca for industry. Sawmills, manufacturing plants, railyards and warehouses replaced the sea gardens rimmed with rocks and home to octopus and sea cucumber. Relics of Science World from the World Expo of 1986 on False Creek, Vancouver. Image by Jennifer Cole for Mongabay. In 1986, the World Expo on transportation and communication turned the industrial wasteland on shore into 70 hectares (173 acres) of futuristic pavilions and temporary event space. In the decades since, the pavilions have given way&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/could-a-blighted-urban-inlet-become-a-global-beacon-of-waterway-renewal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/could-a-blighted-urban-inlet-become-a-global-beacon-of-waterway-renewal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322901</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dark earth: Ancient Amazonian soil can boost forest restoration, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/dark-earth-ancient-amazonian-soil-can-boost-forest-restoration-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/dark-earth-ancient-amazonian-soil-can-boost-forest-restoration-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2026 18:18:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Evanildo da Silveira]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08100220/20260708_044730-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322832</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Earth Science, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Recovery, Forest Regeneration, Forests, Fungi, Indigenous Peoples, Microorganisms, Rainforests, Research, Restoration, Science, Solutions, Sustainability, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Pink ipê trees grow taller and faster thanks to a microscopic boost from an ancestral formula.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Soil created centuries ago by Indigenous peoples in the Amazon could help speed up recovery of degraded lands, changing the way ecological restoration is approached in Brazil. A study conducted by researchers from the University of São Paulo’s Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture (CENA-USP), Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) Western Amazon, and the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) found that small amounts of Amazonian dark earth (ADE) significantly increased native tree growth under real field conditions. The results, published in January 2026 in the academic journal Springer Nature, caught experts’ attention especially regarding Handroanthus avellanedae, locally known as pink ipê, a species found in both the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest. After just 180 days, seedlings grown with modest amounts of ADE were up to 55% taller and 88% larger in stem diameter than those grown without the anthropogenic soil — that is, soil resulting from human action, the study found. Findings were also notable for paricá (Schizolobium amazonicum), another Amazonian species widely used in reforestation and also in the timber industry due to its fast growth. On average, they grew 20% more and had stems that were 15% larger in diameter. Professor Tsai Siu Mui, one of the study’s co-authors, stands between trees cultivated with Amazonian dark earth (left) and without that dark soil (right) after six months of experimentation. Image courtesy of Tsai Siu Mui. The study underscores the scientific potential of Amazonian dark earth, also known as “Indigenous dark earth.” It is an extremely fertile, organic-rich dark&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/dark-earth-ancient-amazonian-soil-can-boost-forest-restoration-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322832</doi>				</item>
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