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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/robin-hicks/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:31:29 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Stories by Robin Hicks -</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/robin-hicks/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>In Raja Ampat, children learn that their knowledge can help protect their islands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 23:31:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24232329/IMG_20260825_0810072-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327187</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Energy Transition, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Animals, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Protected Areas, Rays, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.” That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange. The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.” That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange. The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play in the sea, during a reading of a children’s book about Raja Ampat and the threat of nickel mining. A coral reef and marine life in the waters off Raja Ampat in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Econusa. Research suggests that children who grow up closely connected to their surroundings can develop sophisticated understandings of their local environment. A 2014 study of children in 22 villages in Indonesian Borneo, for example, found that they recognized relationships among forests, rivers, wildlife and other environmental changes. So Sekar Bestari, the book’s illustrator, wasn’t surprised by the children’s answers. “Most of the time when we read the books to children, they understand them, so don’t underestimate children’s knowledge,” she said after the reading in Arborek. “We’re not surprised anymore today.” The reading was part of a three-day gathering of Indigenous communities in Arborek that brought together representatives from 20 Indigenous subtribes in Raja Ampat, as well as Indigenous people from other parts of Indonesia and abroad. The gathering, organized by Greenpeace Indonesia and local NGO Institut USBA, was intended to strengthen solidarity among Indigenous communities in protecting their lands, waters and biodiversity. The children’s knowledge of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327187</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How a rare bird sparked a wildlife movement across 16 villages in Guyana</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-a-rare-bird-sparked-a-wildlife-movement-across-16-villages-in-guyana/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-a-rare-bird-sparked-a-wildlife-movement-across-16-villages-in-guyana/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 23:26:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gentry Hale]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24145023/red-siskin-Spinus-cucullatus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327131</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Guyana, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Endangered Species, Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WICHABAI, Guyana — At sunrise in Guyana’s South Rupununi, Leroy Ignacio stops beside a tree scored with large claw marks. The animal responsible was a giant anteater. “They even rub their backs on the trunk to leave a scent behind,” says Ignacio, president of the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS), as he demonstrates the motion. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WICHABAI, Guyana — At sunrise in Guyana’s South Rupununi, Leroy Ignacio stops beside a tree scored with large claw marks. The animal responsible was a giant anteater. “They even rub their backs on the trunk to leave a scent behind,” says Ignacio, president of the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS), as he demonstrates the motion. Indigenous researchers had long observed anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) climbing and marking trees, behaviors previously documented by scientists only in isolated cases. Working with four Indigenous communities, SRCS placed cameras at trees identified by locals. The resulting 883 recorded visits suggested the solitary animals use the trees to communicate. For nearly a quarter-century, SRCS has built a multi-community approach to conservation grounded in traditional knowledge. Its members are villagers, farmers and teachers who work with participating communities to research wildlife, develop conservation guidelines and teach local ecology. Before SRCS, Indigenous-led conservation in the Rupununi was mostly in the form of scattered projects and traditional stewardship by Makushi and Wapichan communities. But the discovery of an endangered bird, the red siskin (Spinus cucullatus), gave several South Rupununi communities a reason to organize across village boundaries. A flock of red siskins in Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana. Image by Nick Athanas via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). A multi-community movement It all began with a scientific trip, recounts Ignacio. In 2000, researchers from the Smithsonian and the University of Kansas, both in the U.S., came to the South Rupununi to survey birds. Duane De Freitas and other young Indigenous residents&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-a-rare-bird-sparked-a-wildlife-movement-across-16-villages-in-guyana/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327131</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Xokleng Indigenous people plant thousands of critically endangered pine in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/xokleng-indigenous-people-plant-thousands-of-critically-endangered-pine-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/xokleng-indigenous-people-plant-thousands-of-critically-endangered-pine-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 22:16:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20151307/8C9A8751-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327185</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Culture, Endangered Species, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Nature-based climate solutions, Plants, Protected Areas, Reforestation, Solutions, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Xokleng Indigenous people of Santa Catarina state of southern Brazil have planted nearly a  100,000 seedlings of a critically endangered native tree, Mongabay contributor Letícia Klein reported. The Brazilian pine (Araucaria angustifolia), or araucária, can grow more than 50 meters (164 feet) tall and has a straight trunk with a broad crown of branches [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Xokleng Indigenous people of Santa Catarina state of southern Brazil have planted nearly a  100,000 seedlings of a critically endangered native tree, Mongabay contributor Letícia Klein reported. The Brazilian pine (Araucaria angustifolia), or araucária, can grow more than 50 meters (164 feet) tall and has a straight trunk with a broad crown of branches near its top. Araucária pine forests historically covered large swathes of southern Brazil, but their range declined by roughly 97% in the last century. “Just as our pine is endangered, my people are also endangered, and consequently our language and culture are endangered,” Carl Gakran, executive director of the Zág (pronounced zā) Institute, told Klein. The institute was founded in conjunction with Isabel Gakran, his wife, to organize and expand the replanting effort. Carl Gakran began the restoration effort in 2016 after he learned that the Brazilian pine was listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List, the global conservation authority. He initially planned to grow just 10 trees on his own property. But the idea gained traction with the community, and they began the project the following year. Araucária pine trees produce edible nuts called pinhão, a staple food in the culinary tradition of southern Brazil. They are also eaten by at least another 22 animal species. Project organizers and volunteers harvest the seeds but leave at least 40% behind for wildlife. “Following our elders’ knowledge, we speak to the seeds, explain what’s happening, and perform harvest rituals. We harvest 60%, no more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/xokleng-indigenous-people-plant-thousands-of-critically-endangered-pine-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327185</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Did you know forests can save themselves?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/did-you-know-forests-can-save-themselves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/did-you-know-forests-can-save-themselves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 21:58:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jonathan Mbu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24215742/NTFPs_Thumbnail.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327183</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Solutions, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Did you know forests can save themselves? (With a little help from us, of course). Turns out, trees can be super valuable apart from being used for timber. Their seeds, nuts, leaves, bark, and more are natural commodities&#8230; and have the potential to prevent logging, support local communities, and protect the health of our precious [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Did you know forests can save themselves? (With a little help from us, of course). Turns out, trees can be super valuable apart from being used for timber. Their seeds, nuts, leaves, bark, and more are natural commodities&#8230; and have the potential to prevent logging, support local communities, and protect the health of our precious ecosystems. These are called non-timber forest products (aka NTFPs). In this 4-part series with @therainforester and Mongabay, we explore the ways that harvesting sustainably from our forests can keep them alive! Follow along for more episodes.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/did-you-know-forests-can-save-themselves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/did-you-know-forests-can-save-themselves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327183</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rescue networks built by fire: Saving animals from Australia’s bushfires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescue-networks-built-by-fire-saving-animals-from-australias-bushfires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescue-networks-built-by-fire-saving-animals-from-australias-bushfires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 21:25:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Starre Vartan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/20122246/1-Koala_in_Zoo_Duisburg-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326765</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Disasters, Environment, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Impact Of Climate Change, Marsupials, Research, Threatened species, Water Pollution, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — A wallaby with a joey tucked into her pouch grazes beneath towering eucalyptus trees. Black cockatoos wheel overhead, their wailing calls echoing across the green hills of Vanessa Hartley&#8217;s property on the South Coast of New South Wales in Australia. A kangaroo bounces away, seeking better forage. The russet and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — A wallaby with a joey tucked into her pouch grazes beneath towering eucalyptus trees. Black cockatoos wheel overhead, their wailing calls echoing across the green hills of Vanessa Hartley&#8217;s property on the South Coast of New South Wales in Australia. A kangaroo bounces away, seeking better forage. The russet and golden horses that wander nearby are used to the wildlife: They ignore the bounding animals and the bird cries. Standing there on a blue-sky autumn afternoon, it was difficult to imagine that just a few years earlier this same landscape was engulfed in flames. &#8220;It was full-on,&#8221; Hartley said, scratching her brindled sheepdog’s ears. &#8220;The horse poo was spontaneously combusting.&#8221; During Australia&#8217;s catastrophic Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020, roughly 95% of Jerrawangala National Park burned as repeated fire fronts swept through. The park borders Hartley’s property, where she rehabilitates abused and surrendered horses before partnering them with people experiencing mental health challenges and disabilities as support animals. When smoke rolled over the ridgeline behind her pastures, Hartley posted a message on Facebook asking for help. Within an hour, neighbors and strangers arrived with trucks and horse trailers and evacuated all 19 of Hartley’s horses. “It made me cry knowing how supported we were,” she said. After the fires passed, Hartley returned to find another crisis unfolding. The surviving wildlife had little food or water, and the land was quiet. When she finally spotted a bedraggled wallaby (Phascolarctos cinereus), then another, she was relieved. “But they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescue-networks-built-by-fire-saving-animals-from-australias-bushfires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/rescue-networks-built-by-fire-saving-animals-from-australias-bushfires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326765</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Spain &#038; South Africa, communities use restoration to &#8216;grow&#8217; fire insurance (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-spain-south-africa-communities-use-restoration-to-grow-fire-insurance-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-spain-south-africa-communities-use-restoration-to-grow-fire-insurance-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 19:24:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire PattersonPenelope Choussat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24184231/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-18.24.44-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Europe, Global, South Africa, Southern Africa, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Environment, Finance, Fires, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Nature-based climate solutions, Restoration, Solutions, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Huddled shoulder to shoulder, a flicker of glowing orange illuminates the faces gathered around. The world quiets. The dark presses in from every side, and the cold with it. At the center of it all, a fire is roaring. Fire warmed us, fed us, and kept the dark at bay long after the sun went [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Huddled shoulder to shoulder, a flicker of glowing orange illuminates the faces gathered around. The world quiets. The dark presses in from every side, and the cold with it. At the center of it all, a fire is roaring. Fire warmed us, fed us, and kept the dark at bay long after the sun went down, allowing us to gather together when solitude was the alternative. But the same flames that draw people together can just as easily tear through a landscape, destroying livelihoods and communities. Whether they do depends on the condition of the land itself. In some cases, fires are a natural part of the ecosystem. But when forests are poorly managed they become fuel waiting for a spark. Invasive vegetation, in particular, can burn hotter and more explosively than the indigenous ecosystems it displaces, turning a landscape adapted to survive fire into one that is destroyed by it. Restore the landscape, and you don&#8217;t eliminate fire, but you can change how fire behaves. In that sense, healthy landscapes act as vital risk infrastructure, reducing the likelihood that a spark becomes a catastrophe. The landscapes of Spain&#8217;s Muga Valley and South Africa&#8217;s Langkloof share a history of poor management that has left them degraded and exposed to wildfire. Today, both areas are discovering that managing fire as a part of restoring ecosystems is vital to protecting both communities and economies from disaster. Two hours north of Barcelona, the Muga Valley is verdant but increasingly vulnerable to fire after&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-spain-south-africa-communities-use-restoration-to-grow-fire-insurance-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Local knowledge guides rediscovery of spinach pipefish, not seen in four decades</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 17:19:23 +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/20/2026/08/24155007/Spinach_Pipefish_iv_%C2%A9_New_Guinea_Binatang_Research_Center_edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327148</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Melanesia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Rediscovered Species, Species, Surveying, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[By mid-June, Jerrica Agebigo was staring at disappointment. Her nearly two-week-long, exhausting search for a mysterious fish that hasn’t been seen by scientists for nearly four decades was drawing to a close. Her team of researchers had braved Papua New Guinea’s hot, humid summer days, meandering along the Sepik River’s course by boat and canoe [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[By mid-June, Jerrica Agebigo was staring at disappointment. Her nearly two-week-long, exhausting search for a mysterious fish that hasn’t been seen by scientists for nearly four decades was drawing to a close. Her team of researchers had braved Papua New Guinea’s hot, humid summer days, meandering along the Sepik River’s course by boat and canoe — but the spinach pipefish still eluded them. “We had spent days travelling through the Lower Sepik, talking with communities and looking for information about the pipefish,” Agebigo, a researcher at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology and the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, wrote in an email. “We had almost given up hope.” The spinach pipefish (Microphis spinachioides) is a small, slender pipefish with an elongated snout it uses to capture small prey, reaching maybe 15 centimeters (6 inches) in length. This greenish-brown freshwater creature, a close relative of seahorses and seadragons, is well camouflaged in its only known home here in the Sepik River — the country’s longest waterway — hiding among water lilies and other plants near riverbanks. Just like seahorses, pipefish males carry their embryos in a brood pouch for weeks until the young are born. Much about the spinach pipefish has remained an enigma, because scientists haven’t seen it since 1985. It was last assessed for the IUCN Red List in 2016, and at the time, was classified as data deficient by IUCN, the global conservation authority. The only known museum specimen, on which the taxonomy of the species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327148</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Daniel Janzen and the long work of bringing back a forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/daniel-janzen-and-the-long-work-of-bringing-back-a-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/daniel-janzen-and-the-long-work-of-bringing-back-a-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 14:48:44 +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/20/2026/08/21213756/Dan-Janzen-color-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327012</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Costa Rica, and Mesoamerica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Biology, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Dry Forests, Ecology, Environment, Evolution, Forests, Insects, Landscape Restoration, Research, Restoration, Science, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In northwestern Costa Rica, the forest did not return all at once. First the cattle were removed. Then the fires had to be stopped. Introduced grasses made the old ranchlands burn too easily. Fence lines had to be watched. Seeds had to arrive by wind, birds, bats, and the stomachs of passing animals. People had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In northwestern Costa Rica, the forest did not return all at once. First the cattle were removed. Then the fires had to be stopped. Introduced grasses made the old ranchlands burn too easily. Fence lines had to be watched. Seeds had to arrive by wind, birds, bats, and the stomachs of passing animals. People had to believe the land could become something other than pasture, and then stay long enough to see it happen. A park on paper can still burn. It can still be poached, logged, ignored, or resented. The work requires science, salaries, political agreements, national investment, school programs, local trust, and daily maintenance. It requires people who remain after the first burst of money and attention has passed. Popular accounts sometimes reduced the story to a solitary figure: an American ecologist with a beard, a camera, a theory, and a park. It was never that simple. For more than half a century, Daniel Hunt Janzen has worked in tandem with Winnie Hallwachs, his wife, scientific partner, and frequent interpreter to the human world. Around them grew a larger Costa Rican undertaking, carried by park leaders, field staff, parataxonomists, teachers, donors, government ministers, neighbors, and families who turned a conservation idea into a working landscape. Janzen is now 87. His field work has slowed, and he has stepped back from university teaching to focus on his role as Chief Scientist of the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund (GDFCF), the nonprofit conservation organization he and Hallwachs founded with his&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/daniel-janzen-and-the-long-work-of-bringing-back-a-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/daniel-janzen-and-the-long-work-of-bringing-back-a-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327012</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Antarctic krill fishery closes months early amid increasing fishing pressure</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/antarctic-krill-fishery-closes-months-early-amid-increasing-fishing-pressure/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/antarctic-krill-fishery-closes-months-early-amid-increasing-fishing-pressure/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 14:37:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24133947/ShawnHeinrichs-20230209-142451-_DSC43001-gentoo-penguin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327086</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Penguins, Seabirds, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Aug. 12, for the second year in a row, the krill fishery in the Southern Ocean closed early after reaching its annual catch limit of 620,000 metric tons. This precautionary quota is intended to prevent overfishing from affecting populations of this shrimp-like crustacean, which forms the base of the region’s food chain. The fishery’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Aug. 12, for the second year in a row, the krill fishery in the Southern Ocean closed early after reaching its annual catch limit of 620,000 metric tons. This precautionary quota is intended to prevent overfishing from affecting populations of this shrimp-like crustacean, which forms the base of the region’s food chain. The fishery’s early closure was confirmed by scientists attending the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Open Science Conference, held in Oslo, Norway, from Aug. 10 to 14, 2026. “The fishery has closed early (before the end of November) because it has already caught 620,000t of krill,” Simeon Hill, marine and fisheries ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey, told Mongabay in an email. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) can grow up to 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long and live predominantly in schools. The species forms the basis of the diets of a large proportion of wildlife populations in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, including seals, whales, penguins, seabirds, fish and squid. In the last two decades, krill has attracted growing commercial interest owing to its use in aquaculture feed, pet food and omega-3 supplements for human consumption. The early closure of the fishery is linked to the growth of the fishing fleets targeting krill, as well as to the concentration of fishing activities in areas where krill is most abundant. These areas also coincide with the main feeding grounds of wildlife populations, raising concerns about the potential negative impact of this industry on the ecosystem. Antarctic krill (Euphausia&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/antarctic-krill-fishery-closes-months-early-amid-increasing-fishing-pressure/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/antarctic-krill-fishery-closes-months-early-amid-increasing-fishing-pressure/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327086</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A deadly cross over: In South Africa, rabies moves from land animals to seals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-deadly-cross-over-in-south-africa-rabies-moves-from-land-animals-to-seals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-deadly-cross-over-in-south-africa-rabies-moves-from-land-animals-to-seals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 14:21:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nic Bothma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24125554/a.-Rabies-Seals-10-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327100</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Diseases, Ecosystems, Environment, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Debbie Hendrikz was walking along her usual route on the shoreline when she crouched to photograph a seal. She is familiar with seals and has captured similar images along the beach. But this was different. “It just went for me,” the 49-year-old said. “I knew instinctively by the sound it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Debbie Hendrikz was walking along her usual route on the shoreline when she crouched to photograph a seal. She is familiar with seals and has captured similar images along the beach. But this was different. “It just went for me,” the 49-year-old said. “I knew instinctively by the sound it made that I was its prey. It grabbed my arm and bit hard into a metal bracelet I was wearing, which saved me. I knew I had to get away and not let it get my feet in the soft sand. I managed to shake it off my arm and just got away.” &#8220;I never imagined anything like this could happen. It took me a long while to get over it.&#8221; Seals do not normally see humans as prey, but Hendrikz’s encounter is one of a growing list of recent attacks by the marine mammals in Cape Town. According to Gregg Oelofse, the City of Cape Town&#8217;s coastal manager, the city has recorded 135 incidents of aggressive seal behavior toward humans since September 2021. More than half, 73 incidents,  resulted in bite injuries ranging from broken skin to those requiring hospitalization in an intensive care unit. Researchers in South Africa suspect the incidents stem from a disease normally associated with land animals that appears to be leaping to Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) — rabies. According to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), reports of rabies in seals around the world prior to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-deadly-cross-over-in-south-africa-rabies-moves-from-land-animals-to-seals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-deadly-cross-over-in-south-africa-rabies-moves-from-land-animals-to-seals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327100</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dragonflies help protect water and ancestral Indigenous languages in Colombia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/dragonflies-help-protect-water-and-ancestral-indigenous-languages-in-colombia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/dragonflies-help-protect-water-and-ancestral-indigenous-languages-in-colombia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 12:22:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuel Fonseca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24120153/Hylaeonympha-magoi-1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326671</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity Hotspots, Citizen Science, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Freshwater, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Insects, Research, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every dragonfly story starts in the water, and Guainía, known as the land of many waters, should be the Olympus of these insects. The mix of waters from the Orinoquia and the Amazon with the vast pristine rainforest should make this region a dragonfly biodiversity hotspot. But little to nothing is known about the diversity [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every dragonfly story starts in the water, and Guainía, known as the land of many waters, should be the Olympus of these insects. The mix of waters from the Orinoquia and the Amazon with the vast pristine rainforest should make this region a dragonfly biodiversity hotspot. But little to nothing is known about the diversity of these flying predators in this remote part of eastern Colombia. “When we started, very little was known; there were about 10 reported species,” Yiselle Cano, a doctoral candidate at the National University of La Plata, Argentina, and biodiversity leader of the project Dragones Guainía, told Mongabay in a video call. With rubber boots, long-sleeved shirts, hats and sweeping nets, Cano and her colleague Jenilee Montes go out every day and explore the waters of the Guainía in search of these insects. From small puddles to the deep-red waters of the Inirida River, these Colombian researchers have spent the last three years collecting and identifying dragonflies and damselflies in order to understand what is still left to protect, according to Cano. “I think we must be close to 120 species by now,” Cano said. “It’s a hugely diverse group, because it includes dragonflies native to the Orinoco, Amazonas and dragonflies that are endemic to the Guiana Shield.” Guainía, also known as the land of many waters, is a remote biodiversity hotspot at the meeting point of the Amazon Rainforest, the Orinoco River basin and the Guyana Shield. Image courtesy of Jenilee Montes. This discovery is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/dragonflies-help-protect-water-and-ancestral-indigenous-languages-in-colombia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/dragonflies-help-protect-water-and-ancestral-indigenous-languages-in-colombia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326671</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh’s green building drive grows beyond factories amid climate pressures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bangladeshs-green-building-drive-grows-beyond-factories-amid-climate-pressures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bangladeshs-green-building-drive-grows-beyond-factories-amid-climate-pressures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 11:38:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ibrahim Hossain Ovi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24110524/mahmudul-hasan-roni-RHj9x0iESvE-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327058</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Business, Climate Change, Developing Countries, Development, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Industry, Pollution, Solutions, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The concept of green building in Bangladesh started solely for its vast apparel industry. Now, the country’s corporates and realtors, too, are constructing green certified buildings, also known as eco-friendly buildings. The vision behind green building is to reduce environmental impacts and to also ensure a healthy workplace for employees. It has become a part [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The concept of green building in Bangladesh started solely for its vast apparel industry. Now, the country’s corporates and realtors, too, are constructing green certified buildings, also known as eco-friendly buildings. The vision behind green building is to reduce environmental impacts and to also ensure a healthy workplace for employees. It has become a part of corporate branding and responsibility towards sustainability to demonstrate and function as carers of the environment, preserving for the next generation a healthy living. In Bangladesh According to the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), there are 35 certified buildings and corporate offices in Bangladesh representing various sectors like financial institutions, corporate offices and hospitals. Besides these, the country also has many green factories, mostly in the ready-made garments (RMG) sector. According to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh houses 290 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified RMG factories — including 125 platinum-rated, 145 gold-rated and 16 silver-rated. The country also holds 53 of the world&#8217;s top 100 highest-scoring LEED-certified factories. “Green-certified buildings in Bangladesh are typically associated with manufacturing and garments. Breaking this convention, Unilever Bangladesh [UBL] built its corporate building to demonstrate sustainability in corporate office environments as well, earning LEED-gold certification from USGBC in 2023,” said Syeda Durdana Kabir, human resources director of UBL. She said UBL’s initiative was driven by a clear vision: to integrate sustainability into daily operations rather than treat it as a one-time achievement. The corporate office was designed to minimize resource consumption while promoting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/bangladeshs-green-building-drive-grows-beyond-factories-amid-climate-pressures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327058</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia integrates Indigenous data in bid to put customary lands on map</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-integrates-indigenous-data-in-bid-to-put-customary-lands-on-map/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-integrates-indigenous-data-in-bid-to-put-customary-lands-on-map/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 11:27:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/25122554/dayak-women-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327062</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Culture, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Mapping, Nature-based climate solutions, Social Conflict, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indigenous peoples in Indonesia have long faced a basic problem: Data on their communities, cultures and customary territories are scattered across government agencies and civil society organizations, making them less visible in spatial planning and permitting. The Indonesian government is trying to address that gap by integrating data from the Ministry of Culture, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indigenous peoples in Indonesia have long faced a basic problem: Data on their communities, cultures and customary territories are scattered across government agencies and civil society organizations, making them less visible in spatial planning and permitting. The Indonesian government is trying to address that gap by integrating data from the Ministry of Culture, the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency (BRWA) and the country’s largest Indigenous peoples’ alliance, AMAN, in a dataset covering 3,857 Indigenous communities. The government says the integrated data will strengthen policymaking and protection of Indigenous peoples. BRWA says the bigger significance could be spatial: Customary territory maps, which can show the ancestral lands, traditional territories, languages and more of Indigenous peoples, could eventually become part of the government’s geospatial data and potentially be visible in spatial planning and permitting. BRWA was established in 2010 by Indigenous and civil society organizations, including AMAN, to document and register customary territories amid the government’s slow progress in recognizing Indigenous peoples and their lands. The new integrated dataset was launched on Aug. 19 in Jakarta. Before the launch, data on Indigenous peoples had been scattered across various ministries, institutions and civil society organizations, according to Restu Gunawan, the Ministry of Culture’s director general of cultural and traditional protection. The differences matter, he said during the launch: Even a difference of one community in the datasets could translate into thousands of hectares of difference when it comes to customary territories. Didik Darmanto, director of religion, culture, youth and sports at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-integrates-indigenous-data-in-bid-to-put-customary-lands-on-map/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327062</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s unique data center boom rides on clean power despite social burden</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-unique-data-center-boom-rides-on-clean-power-despite-social-burden/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-unique-data-center-boom-rides-on-clean-power-despite-social-burden/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 09:00:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francisco AmorimLaís MartinsNaira Hofmeister]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21192238/Headerfeat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326903</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Caatinga, Cerrado, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Artificial Intelligence, Data centers, Energy, Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Technology, and Wind Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Corporations benefit from wasted energy, while locals pay for grid upgrades and endure noise and water threats.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The global appetite for artificial intelligence is pushing Brazil to lead an unprecedented move in the world regarding data centers. While around the globe, big tech struggles to find energy to power the infrastructures that store and process data, in Brazil the story is just the opposite: Data center proposers come from the power industry itself — more precisely, renewable energy. An exclusive analysis conducted by The Intercept Brasil and Mongabay (read it in Portuguese) revealed that 65% of the requests to connect data centers to the main power grid originated from renewable energy companies — considering only plans presented to the Ministry of Mines and Energy through December 2025. By that date, 68 connection requests had been reported across 37 Brazilian municipalities. A combination of factors explains this phenomenon, starting with the extraordinary amount of electricity required to power data centers. The International Energy Agency projects that global data center energy consumption will double in the coming years, potentially reaching 945 TWh by 2030 — equivalent to Japan&#8217;s total consumption — with artificial intelligence accounting for 40% of that figure. With a predominantly renewable energy mix, Brazil has become an attractive destination for data centers. “We are a vast source of opportunities for those looking to invest in the decarbonization of energy mixes,” proclaimed Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, in January 2025 during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — a trip undertaken with the mission of promoting Brazil to global investors, particularly those in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-unique-data-center-boom-rides-on-clean-power-despite-social-burden/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326903</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wind energy surplus fuels unregulated data centers in Brazil&#8217;s dry land</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/wind-energy-surplus-fuels-unregulated-data-centers-in-brazils-dry-land/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/wind-energy-surplus-fuels-unregulated-data-centers-in-brazils-dry-land/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 09:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laís Martins]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21204526/Headerfeat-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326800</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Caatinga, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Data centers, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Law, Natural Resources, Protected Areas, Regulations, Renewable Energy, Resource Conflict, Technology, and Wind Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A renewable boom brought high rents and noise, and now, a shadowy tech expansion is arriving unannounced.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GENTIO DO OURO, Brazil — From the main square in Gentio do Ouro, in northern Bahia state, you&#8217;ll see what appears in almost every small Brazilian town: The city hall, a bank branch, a bandstand and a sign with the town’s name. What distinguishes this landscape is on the horizon: Regardless of which direction you look, you&#8217;ll see giant windmills used to generate energy. The town was put on the wind turbine map more than 15 years ago, and now has 28 active wind farms, according to data from the Energy Transition Observatory. The turbines, however, don&#8217;t make Gentio do Ouro, on the outskirts of the beautiful landscapes of the Chapada Diamantina mountains, a sustainable hub. In the main square, a sculpture of a gold nugget is a nod to mining, an activity that runs strong in the region. And yet another outside influence is gaining traction: A plan to make this peaceful town a data center backyard. Similar to factories, these facilities process everything that is done on the internet — using lots of energy, benefiting few people, hiring even less and bringing about a new wave of environmental impacts. Although it has only 11,000 citizens, Gentio do Ouro is targeted by 12 requests to connect data centers to the energy grid. At the front of this race are the same companies that filled the region with wind turbines, impacting threatened biomes and even disturbing the sleep of the wind farms’ neighbors. One of the main streets in Gentio&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/wind-energy-surplus-fuels-unregulated-data-centers-in-brazils-dry-land/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/wind-energy-surplus-fuels-unregulated-data-centers-in-brazils-dry-land/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326800</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World must look to the past to prepare for likely unprecedented El Niño</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/world-must-look-to-the-past-to-prepare-for-likely-unprecedented-el-nino/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/world-must-look-to-the-past-to-prepare-for-likely-unprecedented-el-nino/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Aug 2026 21:47:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21164227/12-Angat-river-in-the-Philippines-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326958</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Justice, Climate Science, Drought, Earth Science, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Heatwave, Planetary Boundaries, Planetary Health, Research, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Countries across the world are bracing for what is increasingly certain to be a historic El Niño, with latest modeling suggesting the 2026-2027 event will be the strongest ever measured, possibly breaking records by a considerable and dangerous margin. International bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and World Food Programme [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Countries across the world are bracing for what is increasingly certain to be a historic El Niño, with latest modeling suggesting the 2026-2027 event will be the strongest ever measured, possibly breaking records by a considerable and dangerous margin. International bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and World Food Programme (WFP) are urging nations to prepare for extreme weather and ensuing impacts to health, food and energy systems. Some nations are already acting: Brazil has hired record numbers of firefighters to tackle expected Amazon blazes. Peru, hit by disastrous rains, floods and landslides in past El Niños, has declared a state of emergency across 40% of the country. Sri Lanka has arranged water deliveries to nearly 72,000 people across seven districts threatened by drought, and India is focusing on 300 drought-vulnerable districts, setting up agricultural contingency plans and boosting irrigation provisions. The African Union is calling on member states to implement early-warning systems to protect “lives, livelihoods and economies in the months ahead.” A severe drought in Ethiopia during the 2015 El Niño triggered a humanitarian crisis affecting over 10 million people. Here, the EU and Oxfam, an NGO, deliver a tanker truckload of urgently needed water. Image by ©EU/ECHO/Anouk Delafortrie via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). But many countries aren’t ready: The WFP has made an urgent $202 million El Niño Joint Anticipatory Action Appeal to aid 22 high-risk nations with safety measures. Experts warn that as climate change fuels increasingly frequent and severe El&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/world-must-look-to-the-past-to-prepare-for-likely-unprecedented-el-nino/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/world-must-look-to-the-past-to-prepare-for-likely-unprecedented-el-nino/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326958</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Patricio Segura, journalist who defended Patagonia’s rivers, died of hantavirus, aged 54</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/patricio-segura-journalist-who-defended-patagonias-rivers-has-died-of-hantavirus-at-54/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/patricio-segura-journalist-who-defended-patagonias-rivers-has-died-of-hantavirus-at-54/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Aug 2026 15:58:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/23155728/El-Ciudadano-Patricio-Segura-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327034</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile, Latin America, Patagonia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Dams, Development, Energy, Hydroelectric Power, Infrastructure, Journalism, Obituary, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The fight to stop five dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers began in one of Chile’s least populous regions, far from Santiago, where national energy policy was set. HidroAysén said Chile needed the project to meet rising demand for electricity. Patricio Segura, working from Aysén in Chilean Patagonia, spent years picking apart that case. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The fight to stop five dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers began in one of Chile’s least populous regions, far from Santiago, where national energy policy was set. HidroAysén said Chile needed the project to meet rising demand for electricity. Patricio Segura, working from Aysén in Chilean Patagonia, spent years picking apart that case. He read the filings, explained what the reservoirs and transmission lines would mean on the ground, and helped residents prepare their own arguments. The dams were never built. There was an obvious complication: Segura was also one of the organizers. Through the Corporación Privada para el Desarrollo de Aysén, or CODESA, he helped organize local opposition and worked on communications for Patagonia Sin Represas. International groups eventually joined, helping make the Baker and Pascua global symbols of river defense. Segura welcomed the wider audience but repeatedly insisted that decisions stay with the people who lived in Aysén. Born in Iquique, he studied journalism at the Universidad Católica del Norte and arrived in Coyhaique in 1995. He wrote about science, tourism, corruption, and politics. His reporting appeared in local outlets and national publications, and for 15 years he contributed investigations and columns to Patagon Journal. HidroAysén’s defeat left plenty else for him to cover. Salmon companies were spreading through the Patagonian fjords, leaving pollution and damaged seabeds while gaining political clout. Mines closed or changed hands without adequately addressing contaminated sites. Rural estates were divided into hundreds of speculative plots, or megaloteos, creating settlements outside normal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/patricio-segura-journalist-who-defended-patagonias-rivers-has-died-of-hantavirus-at-54/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/patricio-segura-journalist-who-defended-patagonias-rivers-has-died-of-hantavirus-at-54/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327034</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pete Brosius brought Penan forest stewardship in Sarawak into court</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/pete-brosius-brought-penan-forest-stewardship-into-court/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/pete-brosius-brought-penan-forest-stewardship-into-court/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2026 14:03:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/22135913/Pete-Brosius-sarawak-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327020</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, Sarawak, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Land Rights]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the early 1990s, the logging roads running through Sarawak’s Upper Baram became the site of a bitter confrontation. Penan families built wooden barricades and faced off bulldozers, timber trucks, and state security forces. As the protests drew international attention, the government of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud restricted media access and portrayed the Penan [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the early 1990s, the logging roads running through Sarawak’s Upper Baram became the site of a bitter confrontation. Penan families built wooden barricades and faced off bulldozers, timber trucks, and state security forces. As the protests drew international attention, the government of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud restricted media access and portrayed the Penan as backward people manipulated by foreign activists. International NGOs presented them as forest dwellers engaged in a timeless struggle to protect an untouched Eden.  Pete Brosius, an anthropologist who conducted research with the Penan for four decades, spent much of his career complicating both versions. Brosius died on July 29th at 72. He had already spent years in Sarawak by the time the logging conflict attracted international attention. His research showed that Penan responses to logging varied substantially between communities. Some resisted through blockades. Others negotiated or sought compensation and employment. For Brosius, those differences reflected distinct histories and relationships. Penan people were making their own decisions under difficult circumstances, rather than simply following the direction of foreign activists. That argument put him at odds not only with the Sarawak government and timber interests, but also at times with environmental campaigners. In a series of papers, Brosius examined how international campaigns changed the way Penan culture and environmental knowledge were described. Complex local disputes over land and political power could become simpler stories designed for audiences in Europe and North America. Brosius argued that this could come at a cost. If Indigenous people were presented&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/pete-brosius-brought-penan-forest-stewardship-into-court/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327020</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hands On series: stories that build change</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/hands-on-series-stories-that-build-change/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/hands-on-series-stories-that-build-change/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2026 08:59:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lucia Torres]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lucia Torres]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/22085853/HandsOnFeatured.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327018</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples, Solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[How does a community adapt to challenging times? A tiny home built to withstand floods. Ancient floating gardens bringing a canal back to life. Giant fishing nets and the people working to protect a threatened tradition. Across Bangladesh, Mexico and Thailand, communities are finding practical ways to protect their homes, food systems, waterways and livelihoods. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[How does a community adapt to challenging times? A tiny home built to withstand floods. Ancient floating gardens bringing a canal back to life. Giant fishing nets and the people working to protect a threatened tradition. Across Bangladesh, Mexico and Thailand, communities are finding practical ways to protect their homes, food systems, waterways and livelihoods. In Bangladesh, families are building simple, flood-resistant homes designed to keep people and food supplies safe during intense monsoon seasons. In Mexico City, farmers in Xochimilco are restoring ancient floating gardens to support cleaner waterways, local food production and habitat for the endangered axolotl. In Thailand, fishers and researchers are mapping their lake and creating fish shelters as they work to protect a distinctive giant lift-net fishing tradition affected by pollution.These are the stories in Hands On: Stories That Build Change, a Mongabay video series exploring community-led environmental action in a changing world.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/hands-on-series-stories-that-build-change/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/hands-on-series-stories-that-build-change/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327018</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Art and science must come together for coral reef conservation, biologists argue</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/art-and-science-must-come-together-for-coral-reef-conservation-biologists-argue/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/art-and-science-must-come-together-for-coral-reef-conservation-biologists-argue/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 20:00:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21195447/indonesia_komodo_uw_170675-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327008</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation Solutions, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine, Mining, Ocean Acidification, Ocean Warming, Oceans, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Art and science can work together to raise public awareness and propel conservation efforts needed to safeguard coral reef ecosystems, a group of coral scientists argues in a new research article published in Science Advances. Coral reefs are among Earth’s most threatened ecosystems amid climate change, coral bleaching and threats from mining. However, most people [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Art and science can work together to raise public awareness and propel conservation efforts needed to safeguard coral reef ecosystems, a group of coral scientists argues in a new research article published in Science Advances. Coral reefs are among Earth’s most threatened ecosystems amid climate change, coral bleaching and threats from mining. However, most people rarely see or think about corals. The study argues that artists can help shine a light on coral fragility and the resilience of nature. “Artistic interventions can render the largely unseen underwater world into something visible and accessible,” the authors note. “When paired with scientific data, interactive design, and clear calls to action, coral-inspired art installations in cities worldwide can amplify public understanding and galvanize support.” They argue music, dance, film and visual art can help corals get noticed. However, many initiatives to address the coral reef crisis are often local or disconnected from one another. “While these projects successfully blend ecological restoration with public engagement, their impact is usually limited to specific regions,” the article notes. However, article co-author Monica Medina, a biology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the U.S. told Mongabay in an email that local art can also take the global stage. She offered the example of Jalimer, a young Champeta musician in Colombia. Champeta is a local genre of music from the Colombian Caribbean, similar to reggaeton. “I spoke with him [Jalimer] near one of my field sites, about how Champeta could play a role in changing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/art-and-science-must-come-together-for-coral-reef-conservation-biologists-argue/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/art-and-science-must-come-together-for-coral-reef-conservation-biologists-argue/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327008</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Move over bears. Fat Marmot Week puts a spotlight on the alpine rodents</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/move-over-bears-fat-marmot-week-puts-a-spotlight-on-the-alpine-rodents/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/move-over-bears-fat-marmot-week-puts-a-spotlight-on-the-alpine-rodents/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 17:33:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21172706/AP26232795593218-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=326975</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colorado and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Environment, Mammals, Mountains, Rodents, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GOTHIC, Colo. (AP) — Fat Marmot Week is coming soon. Last winter was tough for the groundhog-like rodents living in the Colorado mountains. Researchers say there wasn&#8217;t enough snow to keep marmots&#8217; burrows warm while they hibernated, causing many of the animals to freeze to death. The marmots that survived are doing well. They&#8217;ve fattened [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GOTHIC, Colo. (AP) — Fat Marmot Week is coming soon. Last winter was tough for the groundhog-like rodents living in the Colorado mountains. Researchers say there wasn&#8217;t enough snow to keep marmots&#8217; burrows warm while they hibernated, causing many of the animals to freeze to death. The marmots that survived are doing well. They&#8217;ve fattened up, gaining the critical weight they need to make it through next winter. To drum up interest in their work, marmot researchers are launching an online contest for the public to vote for their favorite critter — Fat Marmot Week. It begins Monday. &nbsp; Researchers swab the cheek of a marmot Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, in Gothic, Colo. Image courtesy of Brittany Peterson via Associated Press.  Columbia University undergraduate student Isabel Norman, left, learns how to weigh a marmot under the supervision of Katie Adler, a doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, in Gothic, Colo. Image courtesy of Brittany Peterson via Associated Press.  By Brittany Peterson and Mead Gruver,  Associated Press Banner image: A marmot named 9 sits outside of her den Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, in Gothic, Colo. Image courtesy of Brittany Peterson via Associated Press. This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/move-over-bears-fat-marmot-week-puts-a-spotlight-on-the-alpine-rodents/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/move-over-bears-fat-marmot-week-puts-a-spotlight-on-the-alpine-rodents/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326975</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Angola’s peatlands highly underestimated, new study suggests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 17:28:45 +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/20/2026/08/21170945/NS111981040_NGSOWP16_Zach-Vincent_0316_River-Expedition_Days-12-13-14_DJI_0023-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326922</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Natural Resources, Oceans, Research, Subsistence Agriculture, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Southwestern African nation of Angola has much more peatland than previously thought, new research suggests. In a study published on August 20 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, researchers mapped out peatlands in the Angolan Highlands Water Tower (AHWT). This vast landscape stores and regulates freshwater in central Angola and feeds freshwater systems [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Southwestern African nation of Angola has much more peatland than previously thought, new research suggests. In a study published on August 20 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, researchers mapped out peatlands in the Angolan Highlands Water Tower (AHWT). This vast landscape stores and regulates freshwater in central Angola and feeds freshwater systems across southern Africa including the Okavango Basin. The researchers estimate that overall peatlands cover between 2.28–2.94 % of the of the AHWT. They found 8,662 km² (3,344 square miles) of peatland cover with high certainty (81–100% probability) and 11,167 km² (4,311 square miles) with low certainty (51–100% probability). Peatlands are areas of land where the surface layer consists of plant material that has partially decomposed. According to the study, they cover around three per cent of the world’s land surface but are estimated to store up to a third of the world’s soil carbon. In October 2025, Angola designated an area of 53,000 km² (20,463 square miles) in the AHWT as the country’s first Ramsar Site or Wetland of International Importance. The site was selected due to its sponge effect which absorbs, retains, filters, and ultimately supplies freshwater into the rivers that carry water to wetlands far and wide. A water tower is a highland area that produces a large amount of water, relative to its spatial scope. Study author Mauro Lourenço collecting the peat material during the research for this study. Image courtesy of Jennifer Guyton. One of them is the Okavango Delta in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326922</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How ‘gentle power’ can preserve traditional biodiversity in Tokyo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-gentle-power-can-preserve-traditional-biodiversity-in-tokyo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-gentle-power-can-preserve-traditional-biodiversity-in-tokyo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 15:58:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21153449/Cynops-pyrrhogaster-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326918</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cities, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Development, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Research, urban ecology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Zushi-Onoji Historical and Environmental Conservation Area nestles among Tokyo’s sprawling western suburbs. The area provides habitat for endangered species and a space to pass on traditional ecological knowledge of satoyama, Japanese rural landscapes that have been shaped by centuries of human activity.  A recent study of a conservation initiative in Tokyo, Japan, explores how [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Zushi-Onoji Historical and Environmental Conservation Area nestles among Tokyo’s sprawling western suburbs. The area provides habitat for endangered species and a space to pass on traditional ecological knowledge of satoyama, Japanese rural landscapes that have been shaped by centuries of human activity.  A recent study of a conservation initiative in Tokyo, Japan, explores how citizens and local government can adapt existing frameworks to maintain traditional landscapes rich in biodiversity. Coining the term “gentle power” to denote “influence based on mutual trust and collaboration,” the paper was published in March in the journal Frontiers in Water. It chronicles the contentious beginnings and eventual collaborative transformation of the Zushi-Onoji Historical and Environmental Conservation Area, nestled among Tokyo’s sprawling suburbs. The area provides habitat for endangered species and a space to pass on traditional ecological knowledge of satoyama, Japanese rural landscapes that have been shaped by centuries of human activity. Today, satoyama landscapes are widely valued for their biodiversity, as many of Japan’s plants and animals have adapted to satoyama over the centuries. However, both urban development and shifts away from traditional land uses have led to a decline in satoyama — and the organisms that call them home — since the mid-1900s. To stem this decline, Japan’s national and local governments have invested in satoyama conservation. However, the “gentle power” study cautions that top-down conservation initiatives may see limited success if they lack community input and don’t adapt accordingly — a pattern seen in Japan and around the world. Volunteers carry&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-gentle-power-can-preserve-traditional-biodiversity-in-tokyo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326918</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Southeast Asia is a hotspot for oak trees, many under &#8216;dire threat&#8217;</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/southeast-asia-is-a-hotspot-for-oak-trees-many-under-dire-threat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/southeast-asia-is-a-hotspot-for-oak-trees-many-under-dire-threat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 15:40:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21125446/6-National-park-staff-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326874</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biology, Conservation, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Plants, Restoration, Species, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Southeast and East Asia may be famous for towering dipterocarps or massive conifers, but a new report highlights that the region is also home to more threatened oak species than anywhere else in the world. “While it may not be the region that first comes to mind when we think of oaks, it&#8217;s a really [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Southeast and East Asia may be famous for towering dipterocarps or massive conifers, but a new report highlights that the region is also home to more threatened oak species than anywhere else in the world. “While it may not be the region that first comes to mind when we think of oaks, it&#8217;s a really important region for oak biodiversity and as a result, oak conservation,” study author Kate Good, a research manager at The Morton Arboretum, told Mongabay in an interview. There are 430 oak species globally and 172 of those occur within Southeast Asia and East Asia. Researchers examined 54 threatened or data deficient oak species found in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Timor-Leste, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. “Many of these species are under dire threat,” Good said. The report found that 46 of 54 oak species surveyed faced “very high” or “high” human pressure in over 50% of their range in 2024. “One of the goals of this report was to really raise the alarm about the urgent need for oak conservation in Asia,” she said. Expansion of agriculture, notably wood and pulp plantations, is a major threat to two-thirds of the species analyzed in the report. Oil palm and rubber plantations also pose a threat, Good said. Other threats identified include small population sizes, ongoing infrastructure and urban development, and climate change. Acorns of the Quercus austrocochinchinensis oak tree, a critically endangered species. Conservation efforts should include collection and propagation of acorns&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/southeast-asia-is-a-hotspot-for-oak-trees-many-under-dire-threat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326874</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Spain proposes 23 new marine protected areas in the Canary Islands and Mediterranean</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/spain-proposes-23-new-marine-protected-areas-in-the-canary-islands-and-mediterranean/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/spain-proposes-23-new-marine-protected-areas-in-the-canary-islands-and-mediterranean/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 14:28:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21130834/scarlet-sea-fan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326890</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, Mediterranean Sea, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Spanish government has launched a consultation process to establish 23 new marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canary Islands waters and the Mediterranean Sea as part of efforts to meet a national commitment to protect 30% of its waters by 2030. The proposal, put forward by Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Spanish government has launched a consultation process to establish 23 new marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canary Islands waters and the Mediterranean Sea as part of efforts to meet a national commitment to protect 30% of its waters by 2030. The proposal, put forward by Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in July, aims to protect 22,405 square kilometers (8,651 square miles) of marine waters primarily in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean around the Canary Islands, part of a region known as Macaronesia. It also covers areas of the Mediterranean off the coasts of Valencia, Almería, Granada and the Balearic island of Mallorca. The proposal includes 21 new sites of community importance (SCIs) under the Natura 2000 network. Seventeen of these are in Canary Islands waters covering 2,209 km2 (853 mi2), while four more in the Mediterranean Sea will cover 5,341 km2 (2,062 mi2). In addition, two new special protection areas (SPAs) will cover 14,855 km2 (5,736 mi2) of offshore waters around the Canary Islands. The plan, the ministry writes in the proposal, “will increase the area of marine waters under Spanish sovereignty or jurisdiction that are protected by 2.08 percentage points, bringing the total to 24.53%.” The proposal is now open for public consultation until Sept. 15. The black coral Antipathella wollastoni provides structure for biodiversity-rich marine animal forests in rocky seabeds near the Canary Islands. The species and the ecosystems it supports are vulnerable to overfishing, climate change, marine pollution and coastal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/spain-proposes-23-new-marine-protected-areas-in-the-canary-islands-and-mediterranean/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326890</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hands On: Stories that build change</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/hands-on-solutions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/hands-on-solutions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 13:59:47 +0000</pubDate>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alejandroprescottcornejo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/08100347/Cassandra-Garduno-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=specials&#038;p=326911</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Education, Solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Communities across the globe are responding to environmental pressures like climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution with local knowledge and practical action. This Mongabay multimedia Special Issue documents what communities are doing to adapt through hands-on activities—showcasing applied wisdom, craftsmanship, and worldviews that are crucial to navigating environmental crises at the local level]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Communities across the globe are responding to environmental pressures like climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution with local knowledge and practical action. This Mongabay multimedia Special Issue documents what communities are doing to adapt through hands-on activities—showcasing applied wisdom, craftsmanship, and worldviews that are crucial to navigating environmental crises at the local levelThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/hands-on-solutions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326911</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reconnecting the skies: Linking flyways for migratory seabirds across continents</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/reconnecting-the-skies-linking-flyways-for-migratory-seabirds-across-continents/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/reconnecting-the-skies-linking-flyways-for-migratory-seabirds-across-continents/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 13:22:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/20133036/banner-in-the-sea-and-in-the-skies-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326785</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Bycatch, Conservation, data, Environment, Fishing, Habitat, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Migration, Monitoring, Oceans, Research, Seabirds, Technology, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Arctic terns make the longest migration of any creature on Earth, with some Sterna paradisaea clocking more than 80,000 kilometers (49,709 miles) a year, flying from the Southern Ocean to their breeding grounds in the Arctic — and back. For a tiny bird, weighing less than an iPhone, it&#8217;s an astounding feat. South polar skuas [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Arctic terns make the longest migration of any creature on Earth, with some Sterna paradisaea clocking more than 80,000 kilometers (49,709 miles) a year, flying from the Southern Ocean to their breeding grounds in the Arctic — and back. For a tiny bird, weighing less than an iPhone, it&#8217;s an astounding feat. South polar skuas (Stercorarius maccormicki) trace a similar figure eight around the Atlantic Ocean as they move between breeding colonies on Antarctic islands and the Arctic. In the Southern Ocean, grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) breed on South Georgia Island. During the rest of the year, they fly a circle around Antarctica, covering roughly 22,000 km (13,670 mi) in as little as 46 days. The journeys of these and other migratory pelagic seabirds are almost beyond comprehension, and largely unseen. But with advances in tracking, researchers have realized seabirds fly broadly predictable paths over the open ocean. Last year, researchers used tracking data to identify six marine flyways that cross the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Southern oceans and touch the waters of 56 countries. A team of nearly a hundred were involved, led by researchers from the nonprofit BirdLife International, and their findings were published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. Seabirds are the most at-risk birds, with more than 30% globally threatened. For migrants, life on the wing is especially perilous. They face myriad threats across multiple jurisdictions in national waters and on the high seas, at their breeding colonies, at stopovers during migration and on the open&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/reconnecting-the-skies-linking-flyways-for-migratory-seabirds-across-continents/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326785</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Six things to know about Asia&#8217;s heatwave and the health impacts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/six-things-to-know-about-asias-heatwave-and-the-health-impacts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/six-things-to-know-about-asias-heatwave-and-the-health-impacts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 10:09:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrew Jeong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21095040/banner-portable-electric-fan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326854</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Climate Science, Disasters, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Heatwave, Impact Of Climate Change, Planetary Health, Public Health, Temperatures, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SEOUL — A record-breaking heatwave swept through a broad swath of Asia earlier this month, causing deaths and heat-related illnesses. This year’s extreme weather has been linked to El Niño, which, according to weather experts, could be one of the strongest ever recorded. The “super” El Niño, which officially arrived in June, is expected to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SEOUL — A record-breaking heatwave swept through a broad swath of Asia earlier this month, causing deaths and heat-related illnesses. This year’s extreme weather has been linked to El Niño, which, according to weather experts, could be one of the strongest ever recorded. The “super” El Niño, which officially arrived in June, is expected to intensify over the rest of the year, bringing prolonged warmer weather, droughts and adverse health risks to people in the region. Here’s what you need to know about the extreme weather: How hot has it been in Asia? Very hot. On Aug. 2, the mercury in Yangsan, a city in South Korea, hit 42.5° Celsius (108.5° Fahrenheit), the highest mark since official records began in 1904. Parts of South Korea got so hot that potatoes were literally “boiled,” while still in the ground. In late July, temperatures exceeded 40°C (104°F) in several prefectures in Japan, as well as in central and western regions of China. On Aug. 9, the Hong Kong Observatory logged 39.8°C (103°F), the city’s highest reading since it introduced automatic weather stations in the 1980s. Southeast Asia also reported weather anomalies. Vietnamese officials said thermal readings from July 11 to Aug. 10 showed the mercury at 39-40°C (102-104°F), “exceeding records” in many parts of the country. Meanwhile, “areas of rainfall deficit” were observed in the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. An officer from the Korea Meteorological Administration shows a weather forecast map of temperatures during a heatwave in South&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/six-things-to-know-about-asias-heatwave-and-the-health-impacts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326854</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>This tiny Thai lizard shares its name with a &#8216;House of the Dragon&#8217; beast</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/this-tiny-thai-lizard-shares-its-name-with-a-house-of-the-dragon-beast/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/this-tiny-thai-lizard-shares-its-name-with-a-house-of-the-dragon-beast/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 08:54:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21085251/Low-Res_oo_1731690-e1787302426411.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=326866</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Lizards, Mountains, New Discovery, Parks, Photos, Research, Science, Species Discovery, Tropical Conservation Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have described a new-to-science species of horned lizard from the high-elevation, evergreen forests of western Thailand. The lizard, named the Syrax mountain horned dragon, or Acanthosaura syrax, in a recent study, was discovered in Mae Wong National Park. The species name syrax refers to the yellow dragon ridden by Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have described a new-to-science species of horned lizard from the high-elevation, evergreen forests of western Thailand. The lizard, named the Syrax mountain horned dragon, or Acanthosaura syrax, in a recent study, was discovered in Mae Wong National Park. The species name syrax refers to the yellow dragon ridden by Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in the fantasy series House of the Dragon. The researchers write they chose the name due to the lizard’s distinctive yellow-hued coloration and its diminutive size. They add they found the lizard only in the upper mountain range of the park, at elevations above 1,300 meters (about 4,300 feet). Study co-author Krittiya Trivalairat, a lecturer at the Department of Microbiology at Mahidol University in Bangkok, told Mongabay by email that the discovery highlights the remarkable biodiversity and ecological richness of Thailand’s forests. &#8220;To me, this discovery is not simply about adding another species to the scientific record; it also demonstrates how much biodiversity may still be hidden within these ecosystems,&#8221; Trivalairat said. Mountain horned dragons are a group of lizards that live in trees and have a spiny crest running down their necks and backs. To describe the Syrax mountain horned dragon, the researchers surveyed the park’s rugged highlands. They were able to capture specimens by hand since the lizards move slowly. They then took photographs of the live lizards to document their coloration patterns, before euthanizing them. The specimens were subsequently stored for taxonomic review at Thailand’s Natural History Museum. The researchers write that the lizard&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/this-tiny-thai-lizard-shares-its-name-with-a-house-of-the-dragon-beast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326866</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hermit crabs and cockroaches emerge as unlikely seed dispersers on a Japanese island</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/hermit-crabs-and-cockroaches-emerge-as-unlikely-seed-dispersers-on-a-japanese-island/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/hermit-crabs-and-cockroaches-emerge-as-unlikely-seed-dispersers-on-a-japanese-island/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 04:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21043435/20260811-press_suetsugu-en01-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=326851</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Coastal Ecosystems, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Invertebrates, Islands, Media, Photos, Research, Science, Seed Dispersal, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the humid, coastal forests of Japan’s Ishigaki Island, near Okinawa, a parasitic plant relies on some unusual allies to spread its seeds: land hermit crabs and cockroaches, according to a recent study. The plant, fungus root (Balanophora fungosa), is non-photosynthetic, meaning it lacks chlorophyll and can’t make its own food. Instead, it grows as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the humid, coastal forests of Japan’s Ishigaki Island, near Okinawa, a parasitic plant relies on some unusual allies to spread its seeds: land hermit crabs and cockroaches, according to a recent study. The plant, fungus root (Balanophora fungosa), is non-photosynthetic, meaning it lacks chlorophyll and can’t make its own food. Instead, it grows as a parasite on the roots of trees in island forests across Asia, Australia and the Pacific. The mushroom-like plant has fleshy, dull-colored fruits with millions of seeds inside. Previously, scientists have suggested that gravity might be helping disperse those seeds. But in the latest study, researchers found that on Ishigaki, the seeds are primarily dispersed by the land hermit crab (Coenobita brevimanus) and the Australian cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae). Initially, study author Kenji Suetsugu, a professor of biodiversity and ecology at Kobe University, Japan, told Mongabay by email that he expected ants to be the primary dispersers, due to the plant’s detachable fruit layer. To test this, he conducted “exclusion experiments” by covering some plants with mesh nets that allowed tiny ants inside but kept larger animals out. However, the fruits inside these ant-only nets went completely untouched. So Suetsugu set up a waterproof digital camera about 20 centimeters (8 inches) from the plants. Programmed to snap photos every 50 seconds, the camera compiled 6,427 images over nearly 89 hours of monitoring. This time-lapse photography captured land hermit crabs and cockroaches aggregating under the cover of night to devour the fruits. “The biggest surprise was the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/hermit-crabs-and-cockroaches-emerge-as-unlikely-seed-dispersers-on-a-japanese-island/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/hermit-crabs-and-cockroaches-emerge-as-unlikely-seed-dispersers-on-a-japanese-island/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326851</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To secure protected areas from wildlife trafficking, criminal networks must be dismantled (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/secure-protected-areas-from-wildlife-trafficking-criminal-networks-must-be-dismantled-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/secure-protected-areas-from-wildlife-trafficking-criminal-networks-must-be-dismantled-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2026 23:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ofir Drori]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/27184418/pangolin-black-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326841</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Poaching, Protected Areas, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Rangers, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservation has historically emphasized protected area management including protecting land, fencing, local enforcement and rangers’ patrols within parks. And indeed, decades of protected area management have demonstrated that strong local protection matters enormously. But there is a weakness in this logic that we rarely confront directly. Protected areas can suppress poaching within their boundaries and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Conservation has historically emphasized protected area management including protecting land, fencing, local enforcement and rangers’ patrols within parks. And indeed, decades of protected area management have demonstrated that strong local protection matters enormously. But there is a weakness in this logic that we rarely confront directly. Protected areas can suppress poaching within their boundaries and in neighboring patrolled zones, but they cannot dismantle the criminal networks that finance, organize and replenish wildlife crime from the outside, which impact inside the protected areas as well as landscapes more broadly. As long as those networks remain intact, they will keep recruiting poachers, corrupting officials and — when conditions change (i.e. increased ivory prices, corruption in ranger units, etc.) — resuming operations. Focusing conservation investment exclusively on protected area protection, while ignoring the organized crime infrastructure surrounding it, is a little like trying to stop drug use in a neighborhood without ever addressing the criminal organizations supplying it. The pressure does not disappear. It persists and finds new ways. Golden lion tamarins rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in Togo. Image courtesy of EAGLE Network. The threat that lives outside the fence Wildlife trafficking is not a disorganized or opportunistic activity. It is a structured criminal enterprise, operating with hierarchy, logistics and, critically, access to high-level corruption within the institutions meant to stop it. When analyzing across more than 3,000 prosecuted cases in Africa undertaken by our team at EAGLE Network, a clear pattern emerges: Trafficking networks do not merely exploit weak enforcement&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/secure-protected-areas-from-wildlife-trafficking-criminal-networks-must-be-dismantled-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326841</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Drugs are becoming institutionalized: Interview with Ticuna leader in Peru’s Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/drugs-are-becoming-institutionalized-interview-with-ticuna-leader-in-perus-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/drugs-are-becoming-institutionalized-interview-with-ticuna-leader-in-perus-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2026 17:11:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/20165723/Ticuna-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326821</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Francisco Hernández Cayetano, president of the Federation of Ticuna and Yagua Communities of the Lower Amazon (FECOTYBA), is raising the alarm about the latest threats related to drug trafficking in the Amazon’s tri-border area. Living along riverbanks and lowland forests in the remote area where Peru, Colombia and Brazil meet, the Ticuna and Yagua people [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Francisco Hernández Cayetano, president of the Federation of Ticuna and Yagua Communities of the Lower Amazon (FECOTYBA), is raising the alarm about the latest threats related to drug trafficking in the Amazon’s tri-border area. Living along riverbanks and lowland forests in the remote area where Peru, Colombia and Brazil meet, the Ticuna and Yagua people find themselves in a hotspot for crime — and it is embedding in their communities. Tri-border areas in the Amazon often have a weak state presence that allows drug traffickers and other criminal groups to move drugs, gold and timber freely. As a 2024 report by Crisis Group, an independent organization, revealed, criminal activities in these areas can bring insecurity, violence and environmental damage to Indigenous peoples and their territories. “Our concern is very strong because most of the communities — almost 60 to 70% of the forests — are deforested due to drug trafficking,” Hernández tells Mongabay. “This causes certain problems, for example, children working in the [coca] fields, as well as women. It&#8217;s hitting us hard, especially the Ticuna youth.” Hernández, who comes from a Ticuna community known as Cushillo Cocha in the lowland rainforest region, says that the arrival of drug traffickers and illegal miners has brought social instability, deforestation and the contamination of waterways by chemicals used for mining and cocaine production. It has also created the conditions for a serious substance abuse problem among Indigenous youth. Drawn to coca fields for work, Ticuna children start smoking, taking drugs and drinking&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/drugs-are-becoming-institutionalized-interview-with-ticuna-leader-in-perus-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326821</doi>				</item>
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