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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/arctic/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 21:41:58 +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>Arctic environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/arctic/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>In the Canadian Arctic, an experiment aims to stabilize thinning sea ice</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-the-canadian-arctic-an-experiment-aims-to-stabilize-thinning-sea-ice/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-the-canadian-arctic-an-experiment-aims-to-stabilize-thinning-sea-ice/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2026 14:08:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/15131526/Copy-of-Copy-of-20250120_Real-Ice_Elise-Imbeau_POLAR-POLAIRE-27-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323534</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic and Canada]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Ecosystems, Environment, Geoengineering, Marine, Sea Ice, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous peoples living in the Arctic rely on sea ice for many aspects of their lives, from hunting and fishing to travel and cultural practices. Owing to human-driven climate change, the ice is disappearing at an alarming pace. According to data compiled by NASA and the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous peoples living in the Arctic rely on sea ice for many aspects of their lives, from hunting and fishing to travel and cultural practices. Owing to human-driven climate change, the ice is disappearing at an alarming pace. According to data compiled by NASA and the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), a research organization based at the University of Colorado Boulder, the extent of Arctic sea ice cover has decreased by more than 12% per decade since satellite records began. Scientists even predict that the region could experience its first near-ice-free summer as early as the 2030s. The loss of sea ice threatens coastal communities in many ways, jeopardizing traditional livelihoods while accelerating coastal erosion and amplifying the impacts of sea level rise. To slow the melting of Arctic ice, researchers have proposed a number of innovative but controversial solutions, including spreading glass beads across the ice to bounce sunlight back into space, and spraying sea-salt aerosols into low-lying clouds to increase their reflectivity to slow down heating effects. In 2017, astrophysicist Steven Desch also proposed what was then considered a wild idea: Using millions of wind-powered pumps to draw seawater onto the surface of the ice during winter, allowing it to freeze and thicken the ice sheet. Real Ice, a UK-government-funded and UK-based climate tech startup, is attempting to thicken sea ice in the Canadian Arctic by drilling holes in it and pumping seawater onto the surface during winter. Image courtesy of Real Ice. At the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-the-canadian-arctic-an-experiment-aims-to-stabilize-thinning-sea-ice/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-the-canadian-arctic-an-experiment-aims-to-stabilize-thinning-sea-ice/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323534</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Bear-dar’ aims to give Arctic communities a heads-up on nearby polar bears</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bear-dar-aims-to-give-arctic-communities-a-heads-up-on-nearby-polar-bears/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bear-dar-aims-to-give-arctic-communities-a-heads-up-on-nearby-polar-bears/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2026 09:02:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21131850/polar-bears-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323458</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, Global, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Culture, Earth Science, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Polar Bears, Research, Science, Sea Ice, Technology, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[How do you spot polar bears in the vast, and often dark, wilderness of the Arctic? Enter Bear-dar. This AI-driven radar system scans the landscape to spot approaching polar bears. The technology was developed by the nonprofit Polar Bears International in collaboration with U.S.-based security firm Spotter Global in a bid to mitigate encounters between [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[How do you spot polar bears in the vast, and often dark, wilderness of the Arctic? Enter Bear-dar. This AI-driven radar system scans the landscape to spot approaching polar bears. The technology was developed by the nonprofit Polar Bears International in collaboration with U.S.-based security firm Spotter Global in a bid to mitigate encounters between the animals and people. “We wanted to add another tool to the polar bear safety toolbox,” Alysa McCall, director of science at Polar Bears International, told Mongabay in a video interview. “With an early-warning detection system, there’s less chance of a bear getting killed because it surprised somebody.” Climate change is the biggest threat to the survival and existence of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). As sea ice melts in the Arctic, these threatened species are rapidly losing their habitats. As a result, they move on to land in search of food, where they risk coming into close contact with humans. With Bear-dar, scientists and conservationists say they hope to help manage such encounters and conflicts. The early-warning system uses radars and cameras that keep a watch on the landscape, looking out for motion in its field of vision. The radar panels, each about the size of an iPad, look at a distance ranging from a few hundred meters to 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles). The AI algorithm in the radars was trained to detect polar bears from zoo-held animals at Assiniboine Conservancy Park in the Canadian city of Winnipeg. “There’s not a ton of polar bear&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bear-dar-aims-to-give-arctic-communities-a-heads-up-on-nearby-polar-bears/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bear-dar-aims-to-give-arctic-communities-a-heads-up-on-nearby-polar-bears/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323458</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Canada eyes Arctic road expansion, Indigenous guardians race to understand caribou</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/as-canada-eyes-arctic-road-expansion-indigenous-guardians-race-to-understand-caribou/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/as-canada-eyes-arctic-road-expansion-indigenous-guardians-race-to-understand-caribou/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 19:23:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Moira Donovan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/23184407/IMG_6848-scaled-e1782241676640-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321684</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Community-based Conservation, Development, Environment, Fragmentation, Habitat, Hope and optimism, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Roads, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For years, Wayne Mercredi spent hours driving the Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road. Leaving early in the morning to take advantage of limited daylight, he’d travel the road’s 400-kilometer length (250-mile length) — built atop frozen lakes, to connect the territorial capital of Yellowknife to diamond mines farther north — before turning around at the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For years, Wayne Mercredi spent hours driving the Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road. Leaving early in the morning to take advantage of limited daylight, he’d travel the road’s 400-kilometer length (250-mile length) — built atop frozen lakes, to connect the territorial capital of Yellowknife to diamond mines farther north — before turning around at the end and driving back home. On those 19-hour days, Mercredi, a North Slave Métis Alliance guardian, kept his eyes peeled. “I would see caribou off in the distance, avoiding the ice road.” As caribou appeared on the snowy expanse, he’d record their information. Occasionally, he’d come across an increasingly rare sight: A large herd of caribou, navigating the landscape. “It’s such a beautiful thing, it would just fill my heart.” The Canadian Arctic is home to once-monumental herds of caribou. These caribou undertake the longest terrestrial migrations on the planet, congregating in large groups at their calving grounds along the way. Historically, caribou existed in the millions, but in the last several decades, their numbers have declined dramatically; the Bathurst herd, for example (whose name derives from their traditional calving grounds in Bathurst Inlet, Nunavut) numbered nearly half a million caribou in the 1980s but has shrunk to just 3,600 in 2025. The reasons for this decline are multifaceted, including climate change, industrial development and, in some cases, overharvesting. But many of these forces intersect around roads, which block migrations and expose caribou to more hunting. Concern over the impacts of roads have promoted Indigenous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/as-canada-eyes-arctic-road-expansion-indigenous-guardians-race-to-understand-caribou/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/as-canada-eyes-arctic-road-expansion-indigenous-guardians-race-to-understand-caribou/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321684</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Canadian muskoxen hit by double punch of novel diseases and climate change</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/canadian-muskoxen-hit-by-double-punch-of-novel-diseases-and-climate-change/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/canadian-muskoxen-hit-by-double-punch-of-novel-diseases-and-climate-change/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 15:24:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02214119/1-Edit-35-BANNER-IMAGE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316879</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Atlantic Forest, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bacteria, Climate, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Health, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As winter comes to the Canadian Arctic, muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) abandon the valleys and head to higher ground, where winds sweep away the snow. That’s where we go to find them, Allen Niptanatiak, chairman of the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization, tells Mongabay in a video call. The Inuit harvesters focus on culling the younger [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As winter comes to the Canadian Arctic, muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) abandon the valleys and head to higher ground, where winds sweep away the snow. That’s where we go to find them, Allen Niptanatiak, chairman of the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization, tells Mongabay in a video call. The Inuit harvesters focus on culling the younger cows and bulls, leaving the breeding animals alone. It takes a couple hours to skin, butcher and load up the sleds, the older and younger generations working together in -30° Celsius to -35°C (-22° Fahrenheit to -35°F), weather that is “just perfect,” says Niptanatiak, an Inuk hunter and trapper from Nunavut, who is also a retired conservation officer. “Then we eat and have a big meal and just enjoy it and talk and say, ‘Oh, this is a blessing,’” he says. Muskoxen are an integral part of Arctic ecology and, with their thick shaggy coats, are synonymous with the Far North. Nearly driven to extinction by commercial hunting in the early 1900s, surviving in just a few pockets in Canada, they began to recover following a 1917 hunting ban. By the 1990s, the Canadian population was estimated at 108,600. About 70% of the Canadian population was on Victoria and Banks islands, in Canada’s Arctic Archipelago — large islands with a combined area of nearly 290,000 square kilometers (12,000 square miles), about the size of Italy. Niptanatiak lives in Kugluktuk, a small hamlet on the mainland, just across from Victoria Island. Diets vary there, but for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/canadian-muskoxen-hit-by-double-punch-of-novel-diseases-and-climate-change/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/canadian-muskoxen-hit-by-double-punch-of-novel-diseases-and-climate-change/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316879</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Outlook for migratory species worsens amid habitat loss &#038; avian flu, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 16:03:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/12132145/Sea-Turtle-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315646</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Arctic, Asia, Central Asia, Chad, East Africa, Europe, Global, Kenya, Serengeti, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Diseases, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Jaguars, Mammals, Mapping, Migration, Mining, Poaching, Sea Turtles, Sharks, Species, Turtles, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From shorebirds flying between their Arctic breeding grounds and southerly foraging ranges to freshwater fish returning to native spawning streams, migratory animals are struggling. About half of all migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are now in decline, with the situation worsening in just the last two years, according to a new United [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From shorebirds flying between their Arctic breeding grounds and southerly foraging ranges to freshwater fish returning to native spawning streams, migratory animals are struggling. About half of all migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are now in decline, with the situation worsening in just the last two years, according to a new United Nations-backed report. When the first State of the World’s Migratory Species report was published in 2024, 44% of migratory species populations listed under the U.N. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) were declining, according to data from the IUCN Red List, the world’s most comprehensive guide to global extinction risk. Since then, the proportion of imperiled CMS-listed species rose to 49%, according to updated Red List data and new research. Though the next status report isn’t due until around 2030, conservation advocates said the deteriorating situation required an interim report, as many countries are moving in the wrong direction when it comes to conserving wildlife that depend on various habitats to complete their life cycles. “This [interim report] is saying there are some alarming trends in the meantime; that we don’t want to wait six years to talk about this,” said CMS executive secretary Amy Fraenkel. Jaguars have no subspecies. Their range extends from Mexico to Argentina, but some populations are cut off, at risk of inbreeding and the demise that comes with it. Image by Gregoire Dubois. The convention, established in 1979, aims to conserve migratory species by protecting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315646</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Petrostates stymie effort to rein in Arctic shipping carbon emissions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/petrostates-stymie-effort-to-rein-in-arctic-shipping-carbon-emissions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/petrostates-stymie-effort-to-rein-in-arctic-shipping-carbon-emissions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2026 15:41:06 +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/20/2026/02/22030600/b.-AdobeStock_254252875-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314611</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic and Arctic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Black Carbon, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Marine, Oceans, Pollution, Sea Ice, Shipping, Transportation, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[International shipping is on the rise in the Arctic region now that climate change regularly opens up transpolar sea routes in summer. That surge in traffic is leading to higher emissions of black carbon — colloquially known as soot, considered a “super pollutant.” Those emissions are escalating climate change and quickening sea ice and snow [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[International shipping is on the rise in the Arctic region now that climate change regularly opens up transpolar sea routes in summer. That surge in traffic is leading to higher emissions of black carbon — colloquially known as soot, considered a “super pollutant.” Those emissions are escalating climate change and quickening sea ice and snow loss across the Arctic, which is already Earth’s most rapidly warming region. At a recent meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), member states (led by Denmark, and including France, Germany and the Solomon Islands), proposed new regulations to require ships sailing in the Arctic to use fuels that emit low amounts of black carbon. But in February, global petrostates, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States, opposed this effort, meant to slow Arctic warming. This delay follows a 2025 postponement of an IMO plan that had been widely expected to succeed, which would have accelerated the decarbonization of global shipping. That plan was blocked by the U.S. along with other oil-producing nations. The just-nixed Arctic proposal would have required ships sailing in the Far North to stop burning residual fuels — responsible for high black carbon emissions — and instead move to less polluting fuels. As spring approaches in the Arctic, an orange horizon backlights a ship&#8217;s stack emissions. The Research Vessel Polarstern embarked on a yearlong expedition to drift in Arctic sea ice called the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC). Image by Julienne Stroeve/NSIDC via Flickr (CC&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/petrostates-stymie-effort-to-rein-in-arctic-shipping-carbon-emissions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/petrostates-stymie-effort-to-rein-in-arctic-shipping-carbon-emissions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314611</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Communities join global push to protect European, Arctic &#038; US peatlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Feb 2026 16:55:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/05091906/Gray-Jay-Admiral-Rd-feeders-Sax-Zim-Bog-MN-IMG_1096-scaled-e1770283761208-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313759</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, Europe, Finland, Minnesota, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, boreal forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environment, food security, Indigenous Peoples, Land Use Change, Landscape Restoration, Peatlands, Restoration, Rewilding, Rivers, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After her father’s death, Bigga-Helena Magga and her sister were determined that their ancestral homeland, Alttokangas, a Sámi boreal forest and peatland in Finland’s Inari municipality, would not be turned into a commercial forestry operation. “We chose to take care and protect our inherited site located along the Ivalojoki river, which held great significance to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After her father’s death, Bigga-Helena Magga and her sister were determined that their ancestral homeland, Alttokangas, a Sámi boreal forest and peatland in Finland’s Inari municipality, would not be turned into a commercial forestry operation. “We chose to take care and protect our inherited site located along the Ivalojoki river, which held great significance to Sámi culture and way of life,” said Magga, a Sámi leader from the Ivalo community. What began as a personal restoration project gained momentum in 2024, when it was formally recognized as the first Indigenous and community conserved area (ICCA) in Sámi lands located in Finland. That same year, they joined an effort to create what may be the world’s first coordinated restoration hubs across boreal and Arctic peatlands in Europe and North America. A key goal is for communities across Canada, the U.S. and Europe’s Arctic to work simultaneously to find a shared framework for restoration that conserves peatlands’ rich soil carbon and mitigates climate change. Kunnijänkkä intact peatland facing Northeast, the Pallas-Ounas National Park visible on the horizon. Image courtesy of Mika Honkalinna / Snowchange Cooperative. The initiative, part of the Climate Breakthrough Award program, builds on peatland conservation and restoration work led by Snowchange Cooperative, a Finland-based organization that launched its first landscape rewilding project in 2018. At the time, the effort restored peatlands from eight sites totaling 8,800 hectares (21,745 acres) to 188 sites in 2024, affecting up to 62,000 hectares (153,205 acres) in Finland. The program expands on this initiative&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/local-communities-join-global-push-to-protect-european-arctic-us-peatlands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313759</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists slam Canada-US proposal to lower trade protections for peregrine falcons</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 18:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/19003302/Peregrine_Falcon_male2-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309692</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Arctic, Canada, Global, North America, South America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forests, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Pet Trade, Politics, Raptors, Regulations, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The crow-sized, slate-blue-backed peregrine falcon, with its bright yellow feet, soars across the skies from Greenland’s Arctic tundra to the steppe plains of Patagonia in South America. Falco peregrinus is one of the most widespread birds on the planet, with 19 subspecies that call coasts, mountains, deserts and river valleys home. These eye-catching raptors are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The crow-sized, slate-blue-backed peregrine falcon, with its bright yellow feet, soars across the skies from Greenland’s Arctic tundra to the steppe plains of Patagonia in South America. Falco peregrinus is one of the most widespread birds on the planet, with 19 subspecies that call coasts, mountains, deserts and river valleys home. These eye-catching raptors are best known for their hunting skills. They can dive at lightning speeds of 320 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour) — more than three times as fast as a cheetah, the swiftest land animal — to scoop their prey. Falconers prize peregrine falcons and have traded them for centuries, sometimes stealing eggs and young chicks from clifftop nests to breed them in captivity and train them. But it wasn’t falconry, an ancient sport where raptors are trained to hunt specific prey, that caused their near-extinction. It was pesticides: After World War II, chemicals like DDT, aldrin and others became ubiquitous, used in neighborhoods, backyards and on crop fields to kill mosquitoes and agricultural pests. That proved deadly to peregrine falcons. The pesticides poisoned their prey and bioaccumulated in their bodies, impairing their ability to reproduce. The eggs that females were thinner and more fragile, leached of calcium by DDT, and would break in the nests before the chicks could hatch. Peregrine falcon populations crashed across North America and Europe. They completely disappeared from the eastern U.S. and were on the brink of extinction in the West. Then, in 1962, U.S. biologist Rachel Carson published&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309692</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Antarctic conservation summit closes with stalemate on MPAs &#038; krill fishing rules</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/antarctic-conservation-summit-closes-with-stalemate-on-mpas-krill-fishing-rules/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/antarctic-conservation-summit-closes-with-stalemate-on-mpas-krill-fishing-rules/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Nov 2025 19:58:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/19140157/16238835137_bc4b034208_h-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308823</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica, Arctic, and Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Food Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The annual meeting of the international body responsible for conservation of the marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean concluded on Friday with no progress on two contentious issues before it: the creation of new marine protected areas and the strengthening of regulations governing krill (Euphausia superba) fishing. The 44th meeting of the Commission for the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The annual meeting of the international body responsible for conservation of the marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean concluded on Friday with no progress on two contentious issues before it: the creation of new marine protected areas and the strengthening of regulations governing krill (Euphausia superba) fishing. The 44th meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was held in Hobart, Australia, Oct. 20-31. “We&#8217;re extremely worried and extremely disappointed,” Maximiliano Bello, an ocean policy consultant who attended the meeting as an adviser for the U.K.-based NGO Blue Marine Foundation, told Mongabay minutes after the closure. “The ‘conservation’ word is fading out of the convention now and more and more we see this sort of proposals and push to continue increasing the impact in the fishing, particularly of krill,” Bello said. The meeting “did not advance measures to improve the spatial distribution of krill catches or establish protection zones,” Javier Arata, executive officer of the industry body Association of Responsible Krill harvesting companies (ARK), told Mongabay in an email. According to Arata, ARK members will continue to avoid fishing in voluntary restricted zones it introduced in 2019, “safeguarding over 74,000 km² [more than 28,500 square miles] of key penguin foraging habitat.” He said he is hopeful that “2026 will be a year of meaningful advancement.” King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) in Antarctica. Image by Rhett A. Butler. This year’s annual meeting of CCAMLR’s 27 members — 26 countries plus the European Union — was particularly tense,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/antarctic-conservation-summit-closes-with-stalemate-on-mpas-krill-fishing-rules/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308823</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Norway’s proposal to double krill harvests raises tension at Antarctic conservation summit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/norways-proposal-to-double-krill-harvests-raises-tension-at-antarctic-conservation-summit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/norways-proposal-to-double-krill-harvests-raises-tension-at-antarctic-conservation-summit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2025 20:34:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/30201357/Euphausia_superba-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308601</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica, Arctic, and Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Fisheries, Fishing, Food Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Overfishing, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Norway proposed almost doubling the catch limit for krill in the Southern Ocean during the annual conference of the intergovernmental body that manages Antarctic fisheries taking place Oct. 20-31, according to confidential documents seen by Mongabay. The proposal heightened diplomatic tensions at the meeting, which had already been overshadowed by the arrest of a Ukrainian [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Norway proposed almost doubling the catch limit for krill in the Southern Ocean during the annual conference of the intergovernmental body that manages Antarctic fisheries taking place Oct. 20-31, according to confidential documents seen by Mongabay. The proposal heightened diplomatic tensions at the meeting, which had already been overshadowed by the arrest of a Ukrainian delegate by Russian authorities in Crimea, an incident that several sources linked to his activities at the body, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Krill (Euphausia superba) is a shrimp-like crustacean, just a few centimeters long that lives in schools. It occupies the base of the food web for numerous wildlife populations in the Southern Ocean, including penguins, seals, finfish and seabirds. Concern over the sustainability of krill fishing prompted the creation of CCAMLR in the 1980s. In the 2000s, the debate reemerged due to the rapid growth in catches driven by demand for aquaculture feed, human food supplements and pet food. Today, conservationists warn that krill must be preserved to avoid further stressing the Antarctic marine ecosystem during a time of rapid disruption due to global warming. A representative of Norway acknowledged to Mongabay the country’s position as outlined in the documents. “The proposal is science-driven and developed within Norway’s broader commitment to sustainable fisheries management,” Bjørn Krafft, a scientist at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research and scientific representative for the Norwegian delegation to CCAMLR, told Mongabay in an email. Krafft declined to answer specific questions about the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/norways-proposal-to-double-krill-harvests-raises-tension-at-antarctic-conservation-summit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308601</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Arctic seals edge closer to extinction as sea ice vanishes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/arctic-seals-edge-closer-to-extinction-as-sea-ice-vanishes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/arctic-seals-edge-closer-to-extinction-as-sea-ice-vanishes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Oct 2025 16:07:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/22070521/harp-seal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308080</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic and Arctic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Extinction, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Sea Ice, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Three Arctic seal species have moved closer to extinction, as rapid sea ice loss continues to erode their breeding and feeding grounds, according to the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The update, released Oct. 10 during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, &#8220;uplists&#8221; the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Three Arctic seal species have moved closer to extinction, as rapid sea ice loss continues to erode their breeding and feeding grounds, according to the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The update, released Oct. 10 during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, &#8220;uplists&#8221; the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) from vulnerable to the higher-threat category of endangered, and the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) and harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) from least concern to near threatened. Arctic seals depend on stable sea ice to breed, raise their pups, rest and access feeding areas. As temperatures climb globally, they are rising about four times faster in the Arctic than elsewhere and sea ice is thinning and melting earlier every year. This loss has undermined reproduction across multiple species. “The major driver of the declines that we are seeing is breeding habitat deterioration as a direct result of climate change,” Kit Kovacs, co-chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Pinniped Specialist Group, told Mongabay. Kovacs participated in the uplisting decision. When sea ice melts or breaks apart too soon, pups may drown, freeze or be killed by predators or collapsing ice. “Sea ice is disappearing and ice-dependent species of all sorts are threatened by these losses,” said Kovacs, a marine mammal biologist who lives in Tromsø, Norway, and travels regularly to the country’s Svalbard archipelago for fieldwork and to teach at the University Centre in Svalbard. “Recruitment of youngsters into the populations are failing.” Moreover, she said, the retreating&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/arctic-seals-edge-closer-to-extinction-as-sea-ice-vanishes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/arctic-seals-edge-closer-to-extinction-as-sea-ice-vanishes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308080</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate change puts pressure on reindeer populations, both wild &#038; domestic herds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/climate-change-puts-pressure-on-reindeer-populations-both-wild-domestic-herds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/climate-change-puts-pressure-on-reindeer-populations-both-wild-domestic-herds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2025 15:26:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/20202022/nicolas-lafargue-3v1GBL9pWE4-unsplash-scaled-e1759332254146-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306922</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2024, as unpredictable rains, snow and heat beat down on Finland’s Arctic, reindeer struggled to secure food sources, say Indigenous Sámi herders who shuffle their packs from one grazing ground to another. According to researchers, this is an example of the much larger problem the species faces. Due to climate change, a recent study [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2024, as unpredictable rains, snow and heat beat down on Finland’s Arctic, reindeer struggled to secure food sources, say Indigenous Sámi herders who shuffle their packs from one grazing ground to another. According to researchers, this is an example of the much larger problem the species faces. Due to climate change, a recent study published in Science Advances estimates the global reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) population could decline by more than 50% by 2100, with the steepest declines expected in North America at 84%. Best-case scenarios predict a 42% decline on the continent, while some models suggest increases in population on Russia’s Taymyr Peninsula. “The idea was to understand and figure out if we can simulate how reindeer species responded to past climate events, so we have a better idea of how they will do in the future,” says one of the study’s authors, Elisabetta Canteri, a postdoctoral researcher at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. “And [we] looked into the traits and characteristics that make any species more resilient to climate change.” The researchers reconstructed 21,000 years of reindeer population dynamics and past rapid warming events. They then compared these dynamics with current population declines and identified ecological patterns and species traits that helped them be resilient to past episodes of rapid warming. These traits include their ability to live in a wide range of environments, to disperse far to new areas (high mobility) and the capacity to reach high population numbers when conditions are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/climate-change-puts-pressure-on-reindeer-populations-both-wild-domestic-herds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306922</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Alaskan rivers turn orange as permafrost thaws, threatening fish and communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/alaskan-rivers-turn-orange-as-permafrost-thaws-threatening-fish-and-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/alaskan-rivers-turn-orange-as-permafrost-thaws-threatening-fish-and-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2025 13:09:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/25125410/Low-Res_B0038542-700x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306584</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Alaska, Arctic, Arctic Ocean, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Green, and Indigenous Peoples]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The writer John McPhee once described Alaska&#8217;s Salmon River as having &#8220;the clearest, purest water&#8221; he&#8217;d ever seen. Today, that same river runs orange with toxic metals unleashed by thawing permafrost. &#8220;During the summer of 2019, the clear waters of the Salmon turned distinctly orange and have remained discolored and turbid since,&#8221; according to a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The writer John McPhee once described Alaska&#8217;s Salmon River as having &#8220;the clearest, purest water&#8221; he&#8217;d ever seen. Today, that same river runs orange with toxic metals unleashed by thawing permafrost. &#8220;During the summer of 2019, the clear waters of the Salmon turned distinctly orange and have remained discolored and turbid since,&#8221; according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Salmon River&#8217;s transformation represents a much larger crisis. In Alaska&#8217;s Brooks Range,75 streams have “recently turned orange and turbid,&#8221; the study found. &#8220;This is what acid mine drainage looks like,&#8221; said Tim Lyons, a biogeochemist at the University of California, Riverside, and co-author of the study. &#8220;But here, there&#8217;s no mine. The permafrost is thawing and changing the chemistry of the landscape.&#8221; The cause lies underground in permanently frozen soil, known as permafrost. As global temperatures rise, this ancient layer is thawing. When water and oxygen reach the newly exposed soil, they trigger chemical reactions that break down sulfide-rich rocks, creating sulfuric acid that leaches naturally occurring metals like iron, cadmium and aluminum from rocks into the river, the research shows. Researchers tested 10 major tributaries of the Salmon River and found that nine had toxic concentrations of at least one metal on at least one of three sampling dates. The study shows that levels of metals in the river&#8217;s waters exceed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) toxicity thresholds for aquatic life. Metal levels in the Salmon River mainstem were dangerously high&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/alaskan-rivers-turn-orange-as-permafrost-thaws-threatening-fish-and-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306584</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists weigh giant sea curtain to shield ‘Doomsday Glacier’ from melting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/scientists-weigh-giant-sea-curtain-to-shield-doomsday-glacier-from-melting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/scientists-weigh-giant-sea-curtain-to-shield-doomsday-glacier-from-melting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2025 15:34:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/23122921/Thwaites_Glacier-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306412</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Arctic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Geoengineering, Glaciers, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Ice Shelves, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Sea Ice, Sea Levels, Temperatures, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Thwaites Glacier rises above the Amundsen Sea in the Antarctic, a towering white cliff abutting cerulean waters. Roughly the size of Great Britain and spanning 120 kilometers (80 miles) across, Thwaites — part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet — may seem all but invincible. But among scientists, it’s known as the “Doomsday Glacier” for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Thwaites Glacier rises above the Amundsen Sea in the Antarctic, a towering white cliff abutting cerulean waters. Roughly the size of Great Britain and spanning 120 kilometers (80 miles) across, Thwaites — part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet — may seem all but invincible. But among scientists, it’s known as the “Doomsday Glacier” for its potential to raise global sea levels. Now, as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, some polar researchers are investigating a radical geoengineering plan to install seabed curtains that could protect Thwaites from melting down. Thwaites Glacier is rapidly shedding ice as the world warms from climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels. Thwaites is losing about 50 billion metric tons of ice every year, contributing to about 4% of present-day sea-level rise worldwide. But if Thwaites were to melt down entirely, it could raise the average global sea level by more than 0.6 meters (2 feet) over the next few centuries. This would inundate coastal cities around the world and force hundreds of millions of people to migrate. Some scientists think it could be even worse. Thwaites may act as a natural dam for the rest of ice contained within West Antarctica. If it collapses, it could destabilize other glaciers, potentially pushing global sea level rise to as high as 3 m (10 ft). In a 2024 briefing, the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, a group of polar scientists closely studying the glacier’s fate, said a worst-case meltdown scenario can’t be ruled out,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/scientists-weigh-giant-sea-curtain-to-shield-doomsday-glacier-from-melting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306412</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>No new record low for Arctic sea ice loss in 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/no-new-record-low-for-arctic-sea-ice-loss-in-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/no-new-record-low-for-arctic-sea-ice-loss-in-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2025 17:11:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/11095256/lone-walrus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305786</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic and Arctic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Earth Science, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Ice Shelves, Impact Of Climate Change, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Permafrost, Planetary Boundaries, Research, Science, and Sea Ice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sea ice floating atop the Arctic Ocean reached its minimum extent for 2025 on Sept. 10, covering 4.602 million square kilometers (1.78 million square miles) concluding this year’s summer melt-out. That’s far from a record low and represents a recovery, in some ways, from where things stood earlier this year. At the winter maximum in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sea ice floating atop the Arctic Ocean reached its minimum extent for 2025 on Sept. 10, covering 4.602 million square kilometers (1.78 million square miles) concluding this year’s summer melt-out. That’s far from a record low and represents a recovery, in some ways, from where things stood earlier this year. At the winter maximum in March 2025, the Arctic ice was in bad shape. That’s the month in which sea ice, encouraged by freezing temperatures and 24-7 darkness, annually reaches its greatest extent. Ice cover in the region then barely topped 14.3 million square kilometers (5.5 million square miles) — the smallest extent at the winter maximum observed in the 47-year satellite record, and more than 1 million km2 (386,000 mi2) below the 1981 to 2010 average winter maximum. Much of 2025 followed a similar downward sloping path; throughout June and into early August, Arctic sea ice cover was tracking close to, if not at, a record low for the time of year. But things swung around in the latter half of August, as ice melt stagnated. “You get to August and the sun is setting in the Arctic, so things start to slow down,” said Walt Meier, a senior research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Colorado. “You need a lot of momentum to keep going, some kind of unusual winds or a big storm like we had in 2012,” the record low sea ice minimum year. “We haven’t really seen that this summer.”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/no-new-record-low-for-arctic-sea-ice-loss-in-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Orcas discovered making tools from seaweed to ‘massage’ each other</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/orcas-discovered-making-tools-from-seaweed-to-massage-each-other/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/orcas-discovered-making-tools-from-seaweed-to-massage-each-other/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2025 15:18:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/25150728/Two-whales-allokelping-with-a-small-length-of-kelp-stem-visible-between-them.-Center-for-Whale-Research-NMFS-NOAA-Permit-27038-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301376</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, North America, Pacific Ocean, United States, and Washington]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Mammals, Marine, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;We were amazed when we first noticed this behavior,&#8221; said Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research in the U.S. state of Washington. What started as a puzzling observation in drone footage revealed something unexpected: killer whales are making tools from a type of seaweed called kelp. The behavior, dubbed &#8220;allokelping&#8221; (kelping [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;We were amazed when we first noticed this behavior,&#8221; said Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research in the U.S. state of Washington. What started as a puzzling observation in drone footage revealed something unexpected: killer whales are making tools from a type of seaweed called kelp. The behavior, dubbed &#8220;allokelping&#8221; (kelping with another whale), represents the first evidence of toolmaking by marine mammals. The finding is detailed in a recently published paper in the journal Current Biology. Southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca ater) in Washington&#8217;s Salish Sea have been observed biting off the ends of bull kelp stalks, positioning the trimmed pieces between themselves and a partner, then rolling the kelp between their bodies for extended periods. &#8220;Bull kelp stalk is firm but flexible, like a filled garden hose, with a slippery outer surface,&#8221; Weiss said. &#8220;I suspect these features make it an ideal grooming tool.&#8221; Orca whale fashioning kelp stipes for allokelping. (Left) A grasps a kelp stalk by the holdfast end and (Right) detaches a short segment. Aerial images courtesy of Center for Whale Research, NMFS NOAA Research permit 27038. Figure from Weiss et. al. 2025 The discovery emerged when researchers upgraded their drone equipment in 2024, allowing them to capture high-quality, zoomed-in footage of the whales. Rachel John, a master’s degree student studying animal behavior at the University of Exeter, U.K., was the first to spot the unusual behavior. &#8220;I was watching one of those really close-up videos when I saw something that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/orcas-discovered-making-tools-from-seaweed-to-massage-each-other/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301376</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Manage people more and bears less, say Indigenous elders in world’s ‘polar bear capital’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/manage-people-more-and-bears-less-say-indigenous-elders-in-worlds-polar-bear-capital/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/manage-people-more-and-bears-less-say-indigenous-elders-in-worlds-polar-bear-capital/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2025 12:41:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gabe Allen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/29122527/Kt-Miller-1-1-e1748522157918-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299838</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Polar Bears, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A few years back, a particularly imaginative young boy came into Georgina Berg’s kindergarten class in Churchill, Canada, full of excitement. Launching into his story, he said that moments earlier, on his way to school, he and his siblings had turned a corner and come face-to-face with a polar bear. Before the boy had time [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A few years back, a particularly imaginative young boy came into Georgina Berg’s kindergarten class in Churchill, Canada, full of excitement. Launching into his story, he said that moments earlier, on his way to school, he and his siblings had turned a corner and come face-to-face with a polar bear. Before the boy had time to react, his mother took hold of his backpack and swung it square into the bear’s nose. The bear took off running, and the family, a little shaken up, continued to school. “This was one of my little guys that could tell a few stories,” Berg said. “I said, ‘Oh yeah…’ thinking he was embellishing it.” Seeing a polar bear from your car window is not an usual sight outside the town of Churchill during the fall polar bear season. Visitors are encouraged to remain inside their vehicles for the safety of both people and bears. Image by Kt Miller / polarbearsinternational.org. But later that day, when the boy&#8217;s mother came to pick him up, she confirmed the story — right down to her backpack attack. It’s a memory that Berg has become fond of recounting to outsiders to convey the defining aspect of life in Churchill, Manitoba — coexistence with polar bears (Ursus maritimus). As the Arctic warms, roughly four times faster than the global average, loss of sea ice means the bears can spend more time on land, near humans, each summer. Community members, most of them Indigenous, are largely in support of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/manage-people-more-and-bears-less-say-indigenous-elders-in-worlds-polar-bear-capital/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299838</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Winter warming and rain extreme events pose overlooked threat to Arctic life</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/winter-warming-and-rain-extreme-events-pose-overlooked-threat-to-arctic-life/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/winter-warming-and-rain-extreme-events-pose-overlooked-threat-to-arctic-life/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 May 2025 14:36:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Devitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/01152727/1.-Banner_pho-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298498</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Warming, Research, Temperatures, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s well established that the slow incremental “press” of rising temperatures is changing the Arctic landscape, threatening the survival of plants and animals adapted to this unique ecosystem. Less noted are short-lived “pulses” of extreme weather — another product of climate change — which can wreak long-term havoc on cold-climate-adapted wildlife and vegetation. These were [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s well established that the slow incremental “press” of rising temperatures is changing the Arctic landscape, threatening the survival of plants and animals adapted to this unique ecosystem. Less noted are short-lived “pulses” of extreme weather — another product of climate change — which can wreak long-term havoc on cold-climate-adapted wildlife and vegetation. These were once considered rare events, but a new study shows that unexpected warm spells and rainfall during Arctic winters are increasing. Despite the short length of these extreme weather events, the damaging effects on polar biota can be severe and lasting, according to researchers. The scientists suggest better tracking of such events, and the collection of more data from remote areas, and from a broader range of species, to create region-specific conservation strategies to better serve a polar biome in the crosshairs of climate change. “These combinations of press and pulse mean that more and more often these extreme events are crossing the physiological boundaries of species that are local to these regions,” said Maya Lemaire, lead study author and a biologist at the University of Oxford, U.K., when the paper was produced. “These regions will get pushed beyond the point where they can never recover.” Yearly detected individual rain-on-snow events across four Arctic regions since 1950. Total rainfall (in millimeters) for each event is represented on the y-axis, with color indicating intensity, and size of dot representing event length. Regions from top to bottom: northern Alaska, northern Fennoscandia, Svalbard, and Yamal. Image by Lemaire et&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/winter-warming-and-rain-extreme-events-pose-overlooked-threat-to-arctic-life/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298498</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With deep-sea mining plans in limbo, Norwegian companies fold or dig in</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/with-deep-sea-mining-plans-in-limbo-norwegian-companies-fold-or-dig-in/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/with-deep-sea-mining-plans-in-limbo-norwegian-companies-fold-or-dig-in/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Apr 2025 08:34:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/21170043/FK210726-Dive443-BubblegumCoral-20210728-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297813</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Arctic Ocean, Europe, European Union, and Norway]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Environment, Environmental Law, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Industry, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mining, Oceans, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a fellow. BERGEN, Norway — It’s been nearly five months since the Norwegian government paused its controversial plans to launch deep-sea mining in Arctic waters. This proposed industry aims to generate supplies of critical minerals, but critics say the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a fellow. BERGEN, Norway — It’s been nearly five months since the Norwegian government paused its controversial plans to launch deep-sea mining in Arctic waters. This proposed industry aims to generate supplies of critical minerals, but critics say the cost to the marine environment could be devastating. Some Norwegian deep-sea mining companies have faced significant financial struggles due to the delay, with one going bankrupt and another slashing costs. Yet other firms, and the government itself, remain optimistic, insisting the industry&#8217;s future is still secure. Anette Broch Mathisen Tvedt, the young CEO of the Bergen-based deep-sea mining startup Adepth Minerals, is in the latter camp. She told Mongabay the delay isn’t ideal, but that she’s not overly concerned. “I&#8217;m not worried about the future of deep-sea mining,” Tvedt said during an interview at Bergen University’s natural history museum. “This is a lengthy process, but I believe our government will initiate the process.” Tvedt, whose friendly demeanor makes her one of the more approachable figures in the Norwegian deep-sea mining industry, said Adepth will use the time leading up to the licensing round, tentatively planned for 2026, to focus on data analysis and the development of new seabed mining technologies. She said the company is also using this time to raise public awareness about its work, which she says is gaining broader support due to global events such as the Russian war in Ukraine and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/with-deep-sea-mining-plans-in-limbo-norwegian-companies-fold-or-dig-in/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297813</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare polar bear cub footage offers crucial conservation insights</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rare-polar-bear-cub-footage-offers-crucial-conservation-insights/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rare-polar-bear-cub-footage-offers-crucial-conservation-insights/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2025 10:16:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/02092355/Photo2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296895</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic and Norway]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Bears, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Polar Bears, Research, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[To a layperson, it’s footage of adorable polar bear cubs with their moms against the backdrop of endless Arctic snow. For researchers who study the animals, however, it’s a rare and incredibly important observation that could potentially inform conservation strategies. Scientists have captured rare footage of female polar bears emerging from maternal dens with their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[To a layperson, it’s footage of adorable polar bear cubs with their moms against the backdrop of endless Arctic snow. For researchers who study the animals, however, it’s a rare and incredibly important observation that could potentially inform conservation strategies. Scientists have captured rare footage of female polar bears emerging from maternal dens with their cubs for the first time. The clips give them a glimpse into a rarely observed life stage that has critical implications on the survival of polar bear cubs and, therefore, the species. A study published in the Journal of Wildlife Management details how researchers combined data from satellite collars and remote cameras to understand den emergence behaviors and trends among polar bear families in Svalbard, a remote archipelago in Norway. The work was done as a collaboration between the nonprofit organization Polar Bears International, the Norwegian Polar Institute, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and the University of Toronto Scarborough. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) give birth in dens that they dig up deep beneath the snow. After birth, the cubs remain in the den for many months and grow as much as 20 times their birth weight. The dens, typically about 20° Celsius (36° Fahrenheit) warmer than the external ambient temperature, keep the cubs warm in the first few months of their life. “It&#8217;s almost like an extension of the womb where you have this very stable environment that allows cubs to develop,” Louise Archer, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at the University&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rare-polar-bear-cub-footage-offers-crucial-conservation-insights/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296895</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Polar sea ice continues steep decline; but will a troubled world notice?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/polar-sea-ice-continues-steep-decline-but-will-a-troubled-world-notice/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/polar-sea-ice-continues-steep-decline-but-will-a-troubled-world-notice/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2025 19:54:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Devitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21131850/polar-bears-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296183</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic and Arctic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Earth Science, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Ice Shelves, Impact Of Climate Change, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Permafrost, Planetary Boundaries, Research, Science, and Sea Ice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sea ice extent is at record, and near record, lows for this time of year in both polar regions, leaving the planet increasingly vulnerable to the cascading effects of global warming. This March, the Arctic sea ice winter maximum reached its lowest extent in the 47-year satellite record, while the Antarctic sea ice summer minimum [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sea ice extent is at record, and near record, lows for this time of year in both polar regions, leaving the planet increasingly vulnerable to the cascading effects of global warming. This March, the Arctic sea ice winter maximum reached its lowest extent in the 47-year satellite record, while the Antarctic sea ice summer minimum vied for the second lowest recorded extent in nearly five decades, according to data from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). With less sea ice to reflect solar radiation, and more open ocean to absorb and store heat, the polar cooling system that helps protect the planet from higher temperatures will increasingly become dysfunctional. Recent climate models predict daunting scenarios of irreversible ecosystem change at Earth’s poles, with those drastic changes in polar regions rippling out to impact the rest of the world. “The Arctic and the Antarctic are really different systems, but anthropogenic global warming is the overall factor that’s leading to less ice in the north and the south,” said Walt Meier, an NSIDC senior research scientist. Arctic sea ice extent showing 2024-25 to date (in blue), as compared to the 1981-2010 median (solid grey line). The dotted line shows Arctic sea ice extent in 2011-2012, a year that saw the lowest summer sea extent on record. Image courtesy of National Snow and Ice Data Center. &nbsp; The graph above shows Antarctic sea ice extent on March 1, 2025, along with daily ice extent data for four previous years and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/polar-sea-ice-continues-steep-decline-but-will-a-troubled-world-notice/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/polar-sea-ice-continues-steep-decline-but-will-a-troubled-world-notice/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296183</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With climate change, cryosphere melt scales up as a threat to planetary health</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/with-climate-change-cryosphere-melt-scales-up-as-a-threat-to-planetary-health/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/with-climate-change-cryosphere-melt-scales-up-as-a-threat-to-planetary-health/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2025 03:32:29 +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/20/2025/03/20064658/9-ice-graves-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296143</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica, Arctic, Arctic Ocean, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Diseases, Earth Science, Environment, Extreme Weather, food security, Freshwater, Glaciers, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Health, Ice Shelves, Impact Of Climate Change, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Permafrost, Planetary Boundaries, Planetary Health, Politics, Public Health, Research, Science, Sea Ice, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earth’s frozen places — ice sheets, glaciers and permafrost — are melting: A clear sign of climate change and a planet quickly exiting the stable state that gave rise to human civilization. This great thaw is having far-reaching consequences for communities and individuals across the globe — from polar and mountainous regions to coastal areas. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earth’s frozen places — ice sheets, glaciers and permafrost — are melting: A clear sign of climate change and a planet quickly exiting the stable state that gave rise to human civilization. This great thaw is having far-reaching consequences for communities and individuals across the globe — from polar and mountainous regions to coastal areas. In a recent landmark report, marking the World Day for Glaciers, UNESCO is ringing alarm bells: Cryosphere melt is putting freshwater accessibility at risk for more than one billion people living in mountainous regions and a further two billion living downstream as glaciers and snowpacks melt away and decline; most of those individuals live in developing countries. That same report finds that cryosphere melt is endangering two-thirds of irrigated agriculture across the globe. “The melting and the changes in the cryosphere are a reality and we need to really start taking action,” Abou Amani, director of the Division of Water Sciences and secretary of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme, tells Mongabay in an interview. That’s a stark warning, but only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gauging the cryosphere’s importance to human wellbeing and evaluating potential harms as it shrinks away. Amani lists the ever-increasing risks associated with shrinking mountain snowpacks and glaciers — melting that has downstream impacts on water quality and availability, harms food security, heightens disease risk, triggers catastrophic landslides and glacial lake outburst floods (or GLOFs), and threatens the long-term viability of hydropower. Those risks have already heightened —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/with-climate-change-cryosphere-melt-scales-up-as-a-threat-to-planetary-health/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/with-climate-change-cryosphere-melt-scales-up-as-a-threat-to-planetary-health/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296143</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Researchers find microplastics for the first time in the Finnish Sámi waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/researchers-find-microplastics-for-the-first-time-in-the-finnish-sami-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/researchers-find-microplastics-for-the-first-time-in-the-finnish-sami-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Feb 2025 17:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/04164013/Field-visits-to-the-Naatamo-River-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293842</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Arctic Ocean, Europe, European Union, and Finland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conservation, Environment, Fish, Fishing, food security, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Microplastics, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Research, Saltwater Fish, Social Justice, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Finland’s freezing Arctic, lakes and rivers have nourished the lifeways of Indigenous Skolt Sámi communities for generations as they fished and herded reindeer. But three years of research undertaken by Sámi traditional knowledge holders and scientists have, for the first time, detected another presence in their waters: microplastics. “The plastic concentrations were really small, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Finland’s freezing Arctic, lakes and rivers have nourished the lifeways of Indigenous Skolt Sámi communities for generations as they fished and herded reindeer. But three years of research undertaken by Sámi traditional knowledge holders and scientists have, for the first time, detected another presence in their waters: microplastics. “The plastic concentrations were really small, but they were definitely there in higher quantity than it was thought to be,” said Tuomo Soininen one of the study authors and a PhD scholar at the department of technical physics in the University of Eastern Finland. “It’s really pristine when you observe these areas, and you don&#8217;t see big plastic debris anywhere.” The research found that the average size of the microplastics was 100 micrometers (μm) and that concentrations ranged from 45 to 423 microplastic particles per cubic meter (35.3 cubic feet).  They sampled both freshwater and marine water that are part of the Finnish Skolt Sámi traditional use: Lake Inarijärvi (Inari), Näätämö river catchment and the Neiden Fjord in the Barents Sea. The Näätämö River in Lapland, Finland’s northernmost region, flows and drains into the Neiden Fjord, before continuing into the Barents Sea. Neighboring Lake Inari was also sampled as a lake ecosystem but it is not in the same basin. The most common polymer types the researchers found were polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate. Microplastic concentrations were lower in the fjord compared to the catchment area of Näätämö River or Lake Inari. The source of these microplastics is unknown. However, the authors hypothesize&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/researchers-find-microplastics-for-the-first-time-in-the-finnish-sami-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/researchers-find-microplastics-for-the-first-time-in-the-finnish-sami-waters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293842</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The warming Arctic is now a carbon source, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/the-warming-arctic-is-now-a-carbon-source-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/the-warming-arctic-is-now-a-carbon-source-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jan 2025 17:51:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/30170000/acrtic-fox-summer-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293685</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous Peoples, Permafrost, Sea Ice, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Arctic region has shifted from storing carbon dioxide to releasing it into the atmosphere, according to the 2024 Arctic Report Card released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report, authored by 97 scientists from 11 countries, documents widespread changes across the Arctic, from declining caribou populations to record-breaking temperatures. Scientists say [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Arctic region has shifted from storing carbon dioxide to releasing it into the atmosphere, according to the 2024 Arctic Report Card released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report, authored by 97 scientists from 11 countries, documents widespread changes across the Arctic, from declining caribou populations to record-breaking temperatures. Scientists say this rapid warming is reshaping the region&#8217;s environmental and human systems. &#8220;It&#8217;s not particularly surprising, although it&#8217;s still really sobering,&#8221; Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder and an editor of this year&#8217;s report, told Mongabay. The Arctic is Earth&#8217;s northernmost region, centered around the Arctic Ocean and surrounded by the lands of North America, Europe and Asia. The treeless tundra that rings the Arctic Ocean covers an area nearly twice the size of Alaska. This region has historically served as Earth&#8217;s freezer. Its permanently frozen ground, called permafrost, stores more than half of all the carbon stored in the Earth’s soil, which has accumulated over thousands of years. This map shows the Arctic&#8217;s average carbon balance from 2002-2020. Land areas colored purple were a source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The darkest purple clusters show areas where there were large releases due to wildfires. Green areas had a negative carbon dioxide flux, meaning they were a “sink” that removed and stored atmospheric carbon dioxide. NOAA Climate.gov image based on the 2024 Arctic Report Card &#8211; Carbon Cycling &#8220;Think of it like&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/the-warming-arctic-is-now-a-carbon-source-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/the-warming-arctic-is-now-a-carbon-source-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293685</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Atlantic puffins are perilously attracted to artificial light</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/atlantic-puffins-are-perilously-attracted-to-artificial-light-new-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/atlantic-puffins-are-perilously-attracted-to-artificial-light-new-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2025 17:20:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/07163802/puffin-with-fish-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292687</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, Canada, Europe, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Birds, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Pollution, Seabirds, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the long summer days of August turn into nights, a few dozen volunteers gather in the small community of Witless Bay, a tiny town on the Atlantic coast about a half-hour’s drive south of St. John’s, capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. After a briefing by a coordinator from conservation NGO [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the long summer days of August turn into nights, a few dozen volunteers gather in the small community of Witless Bay, a tiny town on the Atlantic coast about a half-hour’s drive south of St. John’s, capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. After a briefing by a coordinator from conservation NGO the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), the volunteers don reflective vests, grab butterfly nets and flashlights, and place plastic crates in their cars. They then set off scouting the 15-kilometer (9-mile) coastline for tiny, black-backed pufflings, the name for baby Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica). It’s a daily ritual for the Puffin Patrol, a grassroots movement that began in the 2000s and now comprises nearly 1,000 volunteers every August. That’s when fledging Atlantic puffins from North America&#8217;s largest colony of the species, Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, leave their burrows for the first time. Under the cover of darkness, hiding from their predators, the tiny birds venture into the ocean, where they spend the next four years of their lives before coming ashore to breed. Atlantic puffins also breed in parts of the northeastern U.S., the U.K. and northern Europe. Lifelong monogamous pairs return to the same burrow each year and lay a single egg. Both parents raise the chick for about three months before the young leaves the colony. On this journey, most pufflings find their way to the ocean. A few (less than 1%, according to a 2021 study) instead end up on land.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/atlantic-puffins-are-perilously-attracted-to-artificial-light-new-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/atlantic-puffins-are-perilously-attracted-to-artificial-light-new-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292687</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>We need a North Pole Marine Reserve to secure a healthy future for Arctic waters (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/we-need-a-north-pole-marine-reserve-to-secure-a-healthy-future-for-arctic-waters-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/we-need-a-north-pole-marine-reserve-to-secure-a-healthy-future-for-arctic-waters-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jan 2025 20:29:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dr. Graeme Chesters]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/23141533/Narwhal-banner-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292655</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Arctic Ocean, and Canada]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, and Shifting Baselines]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the 1990s, a single moratorium announcement wiped out an entire industry, leaving 37,000 people unemployed overnight. The ecological collapse of the Canadian Grand Banks Cod Fisheries is the most famous historical example of a collapse in fish stocks due to overfishing. Not only were cod stocks severely depleted, it was the largest layoff of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the 1990s, a single moratorium announcement wiped out an entire industry, leaving 37,000 people unemployed overnight. The ecological collapse of the Canadian Grand Banks Cod Fisheries is the most famous historical example of a collapse in fish stocks due to overfishing. Not only were cod stocks severely depleted, it was the largest layoff of workers in one day, and the biggest ever industrial layoff in Canada&#8217;s history: fishing fleets, processing plants, associated support businesses were all impacted when the moratorium was declared. It devastated coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador and led to significant migration, changing some of those communities forever. Five years ago this month, the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement (CAOFA) was signed by Arctic Coastal States, in an example of unprecedented international collaboration based upon the precautionary principle, which put in place a moratorium on fishing in the CAO until 2037, thereby protecting Arctic Ocean species from commercial exploitation as the sea ice retreats. In effect, this moratorium establishes a temporary marine reserve for fish populations that are increasingly moving north as waters warm. This is Arctic exceptionalism in practice, a recognition that the CAO can be, as often heralded, a common heritage of humankind, a unique global inheritance that must be protected and preserved through an Arctic Treaty System, providing in practice a North Pole Marine Reserve. Why think about this now? This year, the moratorium on cod fishing on the Grand Banks was lifted. Thirty-two years on – and in the teeth of opposition&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/we-need-a-north-pole-marine-reserve-to-secure-a-healthy-future-for-arctic-waters-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/we-need-a-north-pole-marine-reserve-to-secure-a-healthy-future-for-arctic-waters-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292655</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colliding icebergs and chirping seals: Polar ocean sounds are reimagined in art-science collaboration</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/colliding-icebergs-and-chirping-seals-polar-ocean-sounds-are-reimagined-in-art-science-collaboration/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/colliding-icebergs-and-chirping-seals-polar-ocean-sounds-are-reimagined-in-art-science-collaboration/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Dec 2024 02:16:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jasmin Galvan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/30232723/Galvan_3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290893</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica, Arctic, Arctic Ocean, and Greenland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioacoustics, Cetaceans, Environment, Green, Marine Mammals, Oceans, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The frigid depths of the polar oceans exist only in the imagination for most people. Images of stark white ice fields and vast expanses of water might lead us to believe that the Arctic and Antarctic oceans are silent, empty settings. However, if you listen below the surface, they come alive with the chirps and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The frigid depths of the polar oceans exist only in the imagination for most people. Images of stark white ice fields and vast expanses of water might lead us to believe that the Arctic and Antarctic oceans are silent, empty settings. However, if you listen below the surface, they come alive with the chirps and trills of Weddell seals and the clicks of toothed whales chattering to each other. To engage the public with these remote realms, artist-researcher Geraint Rhys Whittaker of the University of Oldenburg in Germany and his colleagues created the Polar Sounds project. The team provided more than 100 artists with sound recordings from the Ocean Acoustics Group at the Alfred Wegener Institute&#8217;s Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. The artists treated these recordings as instruments to build upon or transform completely, creating lyrical songs, sonic narratives, and experimental works. “When you put a hydrophone [into the ocean], it opens a whole new world,” said Whittaker. “When I first heard these various sounds from the archive, I was just amazed at the diversity of different sounds.” The frigid waters of Antarctica are full of ice, but under the surface is a dynamic sonic environment. Image credit: bhart9070 from Pixabay The German team created Polar Sounds in collaboration with Cities and Memory to engage the public with ocean research as part of the United Nation’s Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). They described the project in a paper published recently in Marine Policy. Growing up in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/colliding-icebergs-and-chirping-seals-polar-ocean-sounds-are-reimagined-in-art-science-collaboration/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/colliding-icebergs-and-chirping-seals-polar-ocean-sounds-are-reimagined-in-art-science-collaboration/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://mongabay-images.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/Galvan_Sound_1.mp3" length="9656111" type="audio/mpeg" />
<enclosure url="https://mongabay-images.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/Galvan_Sound_2.mp3" length="7305116" type="audio/mpeg" />
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					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290893</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Killer whales have found new homes in the Arctic Ocean, potentially reshaping marine ecology</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killer-whales-have-found-new-homes-in-the-arctic-ocean-potentially-reshaping-marine-ecology/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killer-whales-have-found-new-homes-in-the-arctic-ocean-potentially-reshaping-marine-ecology/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2024 01:44:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Caroline Hemphill]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/29060638/orca-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290908</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Arctic Ocean, and Greenland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Climate Change, Ecology, Impact Of Climate Change, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Sea Ice, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are finding a new place to roam in the rapidly changing Arctic Ocean. Though Indigenous people in the region have seen the whales, also known as orcas, pop up sporadically for centuries, the predators now have more access to the chilly waters than ever before. Two distinct killer whale populations now [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are finding a new place to roam in the rapidly changing Arctic Ocean. Though Indigenous people in the region have seen the whales, also known as orcas, pop up sporadically for centuries, the predators now have more access to the chilly waters than ever before. Two distinct killer whale populations now claim habitats in the Arctic, according to a team led by researchers at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. But the whales’ presence raises conservation concerns that may be difficult to address, the team reported recently in Global Change Biology. Orcas follow a research vessel in Tremblay Sound, an inlet at Baffin Island, Canada. Photo credit: Fisheries and Oceans Canada Killer whales haven’t often been able to access the Arctic. Thick ice sheets posed a natural barrier, breaking their dorsal fin if they pushed too hard into it. But as the northern polar regions warm up faster than anywhere else on Earth, the ice melts, letting in more of the voracious predators. The researchers, led by evolutionary geneticist Colin Garroway of the University of Manitoba, were curious about the Arctic’s growing population of killer whales and their impacts. They decided to peek into the genomes of a few of the animals to find out where they came from. Initially, they used samples of blubber and skin collected over time by field biologists. “We did an analysis that’s something like 23AndMe,” said Garroway. The results: Two distinct populations of killer whales were sharing the Arctic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killer-whales-have-found-new-homes-in-the-arctic-ocean-potentially-reshaping-marine-ecology/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290908</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Norway poised to sail past opposition with deep-sea mining licensing plans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/norway-poised-to-sail-past-opposition-with-deep-sea-mining-licensing-plans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/norway-poised-to-sail-past-opposition-with-deep-sea-mining-licensing-plans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2024 19:19:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/07163849/orca-in-norway-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288293</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Arctic Ocean, Europe, European Union, and Norway]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Environment, Environmental Law, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Industry, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mining, Oceans, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Norway is poised to move forward with plans to mine for seabed minerals along its continental shelf despite public opposition. On June 26, the Norwegian Ministry of Energy released a proposal for the first licensing round for mining of seabed minerals, setting out areas where companies could eventually apply for licenses. The proposal included a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Norway is poised to move forward with plans to mine for seabed minerals along its continental shelf despite public opposition. On June 26, the Norwegian Ministry of Energy released a proposal for the first licensing round for mining of seabed minerals, setting out areas where companies could eventually apply for licenses. The proposal included a total of 386 blocks, constituting nearly 106,000 square kilometers (40,900 square miles), an area about the size of Iceland, that could potentially be used for mining activities. In January, Norway earmarked a total of 281,000 km2 (108,500 mi2) for mining after a majority of Parliament voted to push forward with the industry. The proposed blocks include areas rich in sulfides and manganese crusts, which contain in-demand minerals such as copper, zinc, cobalt and rare earth elements. Some proposed blocks overlap with active hydrothermal vent systems, although the government has said it will not allow mining to take place at active vent sites. The licensing round proposal included a three-month public consultation period, which closed Sept. 26. Astrid Bergmål, a state secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Energy, told Mongabay the government will review all public consultation responses before announcing which areas to officially open for mining. She added that the government will base its decisions on “new, updated knowledge obtained by both state and commercial actors.” However, the government has given no indication that the granting of these license areas could be delayed or stopped based on feedback it had received. Terje Aasland, Norway’s minister&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/norway-poised-to-sail-past-opposition-with-deep-sea-mining-licensing-plans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288293</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Arctic sea ice hits summer minimum; Antarctic hovers at new winter lows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/arctic-sea-ice-hits-summer-minimum-antarctic-hovers-at-new-winter-lows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/arctic-sea-ice-hits-summer-minimum-antarctic-hovers-at-new-winter-lows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2024 18:09:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Devitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/24084644/5.Chinstrap-penguins-Antarctica-Seal-Island-NOAA-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287758</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica, Arctic, and Arctic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Dioxide, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Earth Science, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Impact Of Climate Change, Ocean Warming, Permafrost, Research, Science, Sea Ice, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For sea ice scientists, September is the time for polar highs and lows. Around mid-month, the Antarctic winter sea ice approaches its highest extent, while the Arctic summer thaw melts the region’s sea ice to its lowest extent. This year, Antarctic sea ice is shrinking to new winter lows for the second year in a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For sea ice scientists, September is the time for polar highs and lows. Around mid-month, the Antarctic winter sea ice approaches its highest extent, while the Arctic summer thaw melts the region’s sea ice to its lowest extent. This year, Antarctic sea ice is shrinking to new winter lows for the second year in a row, with only 17.15 million km2 (6.62 million mi2) remaining on September 19, according to satellite records analyzed by the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). This drop is almost one million km2 (roughly 400,000 mi2) less than the typical mid- September mean of about 18.5 million km2 (about 7.1 million mi2). But scientists say it may still be too soon to declare the winter sea ice annual maximum extent. In the Arctic this year, sea ice continues its multidecade downward slide, with just 4.28 million km2 (1.65 million mi2), making it the 7th lowest minimum in the satellite record, based on the NSIDC 5-day average extent. Polar researchers want to know: Is sea ice decline the new normal? “That&#8217;s the big question,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice expert with the NSIDC. “Is the Antarctic sea ice finally responding to global warming? Or is this just an extreme year or two?” Melting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean’s Canada Basin. Image courtesy of Jeremy Potter/NOAA. Southern sea ice setting record winter lows Historically, the sea ice that extends out from the edges of Antarctica has been far slower to respond to climate&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/arctic-sea-ice-hits-summer-minimum-antarctic-hovers-at-new-winter-lows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287758</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Arctic melt ponds influence sea ice extent each summer — but how much?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/arctic-melt-ponds-influence-sea-ice-extent-each-summer-but-how-much/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/arctic-melt-ponds-influence-sea-ice-extent-each-summer-but-how-much/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2024 13:53:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael C. Bradbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/20111515/5-Marcel-Konig-and-Natascha-Oppelt-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286266</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic and Arctic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, data, Earth Science, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Impact Of Climate Change, Ocean Warming, Permafrost, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Science, Sea Ice, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[July is the peak of melt season in the Arctic. The sun is high and shines for almost 24 hours a day. Air and water temperatures rise above freezing. Rapid midsummer melt is therefore both unremarkable and unsurprising. But it is also an unreliable indicator of just how much ice will cover the Arctic Ocean [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[July is the peak of melt season in the Arctic. The sun is high and shines for almost 24 hours a day. Air and water temperatures rise above freezing. Rapid midsummer melt is therefore both unremarkable and unsurprising. But it is also an unreliable indicator of just how much ice will cover the Arctic Ocean when the September annual sea ice minimum arrives. Now a combination of satellite and on-the-ice observations are helping scientists better understand summer sea ice behavior and track the evolution of melt ponds atop the ice, so as to more accurately forecast what extent will remain frozen at the September minimum. In separate research, scientists have recently demonstrated how to see details on sea ice, combining high- and low-resolution satellite images to get a clearer picture of melt ponds and thereby test how well climate models are capturing melt pond evolution. Scientists study Arctic melt pond evolution. Image courtesy of Melinda Webster, University of Washington. Uncovering melt ponds with satellites Ice and snow reflect sunlight, keeping the Arctic cool, while large dark areas of open ocean absorb abundant solar energy, which triggers more ice melt and delays the autumn refreeze. Melt ponds sitting atop the sea ice absorb more energy than fresh snow, but less than open water. So, understanding their evolution could help scientists better forecast future seasonal sea ice extent. But melt ponds have always been hard to see — especially on satellite images. Passive microwave data can’t distinguish between melt ponds and open&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/arctic-melt-ponds-influence-sea-ice-extent-each-summer-but-how-much/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286266</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>High-resolution maps reveal surprises about how ice shelves melt</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/high-resolution-maps-reveal-surprises-about-how-ice-shelves-melt/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/high-resolution-maps-reveal-surprises-about-how-ice-shelves-melt/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Aug 2024 12:06:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/07104008/ice-shelf-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285816</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Arctic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Glaciers, Ice Shelves, Mapping, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Research, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Anna Wåhlin and her colleagues deployed a submersible vehicle to go under the ice in Antarctica, they meant for it to serve as a proof of concept for the technology. Instead, what they found has left them more mystified than ever. The first detailed maps from the underside of the Doston Ice Shelf in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Anna Wåhlin and her colleagues deployed a submersible vehicle to go under the ice in Antarctica, they meant for it to serve as a proof of concept for the technology. Instead, what they found has left them more mystified than ever. The first detailed maps from the underside of the Doston Ice Shelf in Antarctica revealed patterns that couldn’t be explained by existing models. On one side of the ice shelf, areas where the ice had melted were shaped like teardrops. The other side, however, resembled landscapes on ice. “When we saw the first teardrop, we thought ‘Oh, that’s a really funny shape,’ but then we saw more and more and they were everywhere in the western side,” Wåhlin, an oceanographer and professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, told Mongabay in a video interview. On the eastern side, Wåhlin said it was much more dramatic, with “thick shapes carved into the ice that looked a little bit like the Grand Canyon where the water had eaten away into the ice.” A study co-authored by Wåhlin and published in the journal Science Advances documents how the team developed and deployed the autonomous underwater vehicle that traveled more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) back and forth under the Doston Ice Shelf over the course of 27 days in 2022. The study was conducted as part of a project monitoring how atmospheric and oceanic processes impact ice shelves. Ice shelves are floating masses of ice attached to land mass. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/high-resolution-maps-reveal-surprises-about-how-ice-shelves-melt/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285816</doi>				</item>
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