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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/argentina/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Argentina environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/argentina/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Increasingly rare: Jaguarundi moves up a notch on the endangered species list</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/increasingly-rare-jaguarundi-moves-up-a-notch-on-the-endangered-species-list/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/increasingly-rare-jaguarundi-moves-up-a-notch-on-the-endangered-species-list/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2026 13:40:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/17060839/1-jaguarundi-Germany-zoo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326352</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Brazil, Caatinga, Central America, Cerrado, Global, Latin America, Mexico, North America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conflict, Conservation, Culture, Defaunation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Grasslands, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Roadkill, Savannas, Small Cats, Threatened species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Distinct for their rather uncat-like appearance, jaguarundis have long flown under the research and conservation radar. However, its latest uplisting to near threatened on the IUCN Red List could change that. These small cats — weighing up to around 7 kilograms (15 pounds) — roam savannah and forest landscapes across a massive range stretching from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Distinct for their rather uncat-like appearance, jaguarundis have long flown under the research and conservation radar. However, its latest uplisting to near threatened on the IUCN Red List could change that. These small cats — weighing up to around 7 kilograms (15 pounds) — roam savannah and forest landscapes across a massive range stretching from Mexico through Central America and all the way to southern Brazil and Argentina. Tadeu de Oliveira, co-chair of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, who led the latest review, said the assessment had to battle against the perception that jaguarundis are common and, thus, not threatened. That’s partly because, as a diurnal species, they roam and hunt in open spaces during the day, making them more visible than many other feline species, he said. They also inhabit degraded, less-than-pristine landscapes. “If you have a forest and that becomes savannah-like, it will mimic the ideal habitat for the species,” de Oliveira said. “It&#8217;s not [the jaguarundi’s] favorable habitat, but it will allow it to be there.” As this cat moves through open spaces, it is more frequently seen than other feline species that live in dense forest. Jaguarundis are sometimes known as the “otter cat” due to their distinctive, uncat-like appearance. They’re unique for their wide range of vocalizations, including “chirping” like a bird. Image by Wild Cats Brazil-Americas Conservation Program/Gatos do Mato. “It&#8217;s easier to be seen and because of that, people perceived it as common,” de Oliveira said. “But when you quantify it data-wise, it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/increasingly-rare-jaguarundi-moves-up-a-notch-on-the-endangered-species-list/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326352</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Telling one guiña from another: It’s all about the angle</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/telling-one-guina-from-another-its-all-about-the-angle/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/telling-one-guina-from-another-its-all-about-the-angle/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2026 11:30:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/29111809/Image_1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321977</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Cats, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Monitoring, Research, Small Cats, Species, Surveying, Threatened species, Tracking, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Guiña are small-forest-dwelling felids found in Chile and Argentina that are distinguished only by small, subtle black dots, making it difficult to tell one cat from another. A change in camera trap angle could open the door to a better understanding of their populations, with important conservation implications, a recent study says. Normally, researchers place camera [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Guiña are small-forest-dwelling felids found in Chile and Argentina that are distinguished only by small, subtle black dots, making it difficult to tell one cat from another. A change in camera trap angle could open the door to a better understanding of their populations, with important conservation implications, a recent study says. Normally, researchers place camera traps at ground level to snap pictures of cats as they walk by. But telling one guiña (Leopardus guigna) from another from that angle proved incredibly challenging. “One of the fundamental questions in ecology is always how many individuals are there or what are the densities,” Nicholas Galvez, an associate professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, told Mongabay in an interview. “Sometimes that sounds like a very easy question, but it&#8217;s actually really difficult to answer in the field, especially with a species so small and cryptic.” To solve that problem, Galvez and his team switched their cameras to point downward, in a “zenith” position, attaching them to tree branches and poles in a temperate forest in Chile&#8217;s Reñihué Valley, in northern Patagonia. That switch enabled the scientists to identify 12 individuals based on their unique markings on their backs. The findings were published in the journal Oryx. Ilaria Agostini, a researcher with Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council, said it’s exciting research. “For the first time, it seems feasible to identify individuals in this very subtly marked cat,” she said in a video interview. When using camera traps for her own&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/telling-one-guina-from-another-its-all-about-the-angle/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/telling-one-guina-from-another-its-all-about-the-angle/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321977</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New Jaguar Rivers Initiative aims to reconnect South America’s fragmented ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2026 17:53:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/12173643/DJI_20260130181816_0097_D_ph.Arnaud-Hiltzer-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319235</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forced to quarantine at a ranger station during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of researchers in northern Argentina passed the time by monitoring wildlife around a lagoon on the Bermejo River. One day, something unexpected appeared in the water: a giant river otter, thought to be extinct in the country for nearly 50 years. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forced to quarantine at a ranger station during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of researchers in northern Argentina passed the time by monitoring wildlife around a lagoon on the Bermejo River. One day, something unexpected appeared in the water: a giant river otter, thought to be extinct in the country for nearly 50 years. The researchers paddled out in kayaks to photograph the animal, which soon began building a den beside their station, allowing them to monitor its behavior. They eventually launched a campaign for its protection. “We couldn’t believe it. It was like it had come looking for us,” recalled Sofía Heinonen, executive director of the nonprofit Rewilding Argentina, the group working at the ranger station. “Everyone’s reaction was that it was as if everything seemed to be aligning too perfectly. The encounter was so powerful that we were practically stunned.” Giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) are the largest otter species in the world, reaching nearly 2 meters (6 feet) in length and weighing up to 32 kilograms (70 pounds). They are highly social, typically living in family groups that communicate with a variety of calls. Heinonen and her team said they believe this otter came downstream from neighboring Paraguay. The sighting, inside El Impenetrable National Park, is about 140 kilometers (87 miles) south of the Paraguayan border. They wondered how many other otters might still be out there, and how their habitat connected to allow one to reach Argentina. Rewilding Argentina has been working in the country for more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319235</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>One of the world’s largest deep-sea coral reefs discovered off Argentina</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/one-of-the-worlds-largest-deep-sea-coral-reefs-discovered-off-argentina/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/one-of-the-worlds-largest-deep-sea-coral-reefs-discovered-off-argentina/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 09:52:21 +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/20/2026/04/29094324/FKt251206-S0884-20251222T234830Z-0-scicam-Coral-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318139</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Deep Sea, Ecosystems, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, New Discovery, Oceans, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Biologist Erik Cordes has spent much of his career studying cold-water reefs — coral systems typically found in chilly, dark waters far below the ocean’s surface. But his latest project took him by surprise when he and a group of colleagues discovered what might be one of the world’s largest deep-sea, cold-water reefs. Over the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Biologist Erik Cordes has spent much of his career studying cold-water reefs — coral systems typically found in chilly, dark waters far below the ocean’s surface. But his latest project took him by surprise when he and a group of colleagues discovered what might be one of the world’s largest deep-sea, cold-water reefs. Over the course of two expeditions aboard the research ship R/V Falkor (too) — first in July 2025, and then in December 2025–January 2026 — Cordes and a team of scientists explored a previously undocumented cold-water coral reef system along a 900-kilometer (560-mile) stretch of Argentina’s territorial waters, about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) below the surface. Globally, cold-water reefs can be found in depths as shallow as 50 m (164 ft) and as deep as 4,000 m (13,100 ft). Just one of the coral mounds — underwater hills made up of coral skeletons topped by living coral that take thousands or even millions of years to form — stretched out over an area of 0.4 square kilometers (0.15 square miles), nearly the size of Vatican City. The expeditions, mounted by the U.S.-based Schmidt Ocean Institute, identified many more of these mounds across the 900 km that it mapped, leading the researchers to believe the corals could be part of one of the most extensive cold-water reefs in the world. “It still amazes me when we can discover something this size still on our planet,” Cordes, a professor of biology at Temple University in the U.S., told Mongabay.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/one-of-the-worlds-largest-deep-sea-coral-reefs-discovered-off-argentina/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318139</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Argentina updates national IUCN mammal list with new focus on non-native species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/argentina-updates-national-iucn-mammal-list-with-new-focus-on-non-native-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/argentina-updates-national-iucn-mammal-list-with-new-focus-on-non-native-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2026 01:47:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/23192822/Squirrel--768x500.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316159</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Invasive Species, Mammals, Politics, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have updated the conservation status of hundreds of mammals in Argentina, adding previously unassessed species and revising biodiversity threat levels. The assessment evaluated 417 native mammal species across the country, identifying national threats even in species that are listed as least concern. More than 500 scientists contributed to the effort, which also involved a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have updated the conservation status of hundreds of mammals in Argentina, adding previously unassessed species and revising biodiversity threat levels. The assessment evaluated 417 native mammal species across the country, identifying national threats even in species that are listed as least concern. More than 500 scientists contributed to the effort, which also involved a new way of measuring the impact of non-native mammals. “Some species are more at risk of disappearing than others, either because they’re more exposed or because their biology and ecology make them more affected by certain [factors],” Javier Pereira, general coordinator of the 2025 Categorization of the Mammals of Argentina, told Mongabay. “We need to measure that in order to have an indication of which species are more at risk than others.” The Argentine Society for the Study of Mammals (SAREM), a national collective of scientists, conducts periodic assessments of the conservation status of mammal species in Argentina. Its goal is to better understand population trends and threats across the country’s many ecosystems. Species expert teams review available scientific literature, monitoring data and field observations from the previous five years and then assign conservation statuses, which are then reviewed and formally validated by a committee. This time around, they evaluated 417 mammal species, 22 more than the 395 species evaluated in 2019. The increase reflects newly discovered mammals, Pereira said, but also taxonomic revisions to mammals that were once grouped together and are now recognized as distinct species. The non-native red deer (Cervus elaphus) in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/argentina-updates-national-iucn-mammal-list-with-new-focus-on-non-native-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316159</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Argentina considers weakening glacier safeguards in pursuit of critical minerals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/argentina-considers-weakening-glacier-safeguards-in-pursuit-of-critical-minerals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/argentina-considers-weakening-glacier-safeguards-in-pursuit-of-critical-minerals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Feb 2026 15:25:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/18235019/AP081030033062-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314448</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, Patagonia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Glaciers, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Officials in Argentina are considering a reform to the country’s glacier protection law, a change critics say would weaken environmental regulations and clear the way for expanded mining in some of the country’s most fragile ecosystems. The bill to reform the glacier law is scheduled for a vote in the Senate later this month; if [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Officials in Argentina are considering a reform to the country’s glacier protection law, a change critics say would weaken environmental regulations and clear the way for expanded mining in some of the country’s most fragile ecosystems. The bill to reform the glacier law is scheduled for a vote in the Senate later this month; if passed, it would then move on to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the National Congress. Lawmakers will have to decide whether they want to scale back protections that currently restrict mining and other development near glaciers in the Andes and beyond. “This reform, if approved, would set a negative precedent for other environmental protection regulations and puts at risk strategic resources for the provision of freshwater and the regulation of watersheds that supply different localities and jurisdictions in our country,” the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), an NGO, said in a statement. Argentina has 8,484 square kilometers (3,276 square miles) of ice cover spanning 12 provinces and 39 river basins, according to the National Glacier Inventory, a scientific registry and map database overseen by the Argentine Institute of Snow Research, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA). Glaciers are important freshwater reserves, supplying water for drinking, agriculture and other needs throughout the country. They feed into around 40% of the country’s watersheds and provide access to water to 7 million residents, or around 18% of Argentina’s population, according to FARN. A tourist takes pictures of the Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/argentina-considers-weakening-glacier-safeguards-in-pursuit-of-critical-minerals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314448</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Guanacos’ return to Gran Chaco restirs debate around wildlife translocations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/guanacos-return-to-gran-chaco-restirs-debate-around-wildlife-translocations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/guanacos-return-to-gran-chaco-restirs-debate-around-wildlife-translocations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Feb 2026 17:28:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Hillsdon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/12164447/guanaco-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314209</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Protected Areas, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Species, Species recovery, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After a 3,200-kilometer (2,000-mile) journey from Patagonia National Park to El Impenetrable National Park and a year spent adapting to their new environment, five guanacos, South America’s largest camelids, have been released into the wild. The guanacos (Lama guanicoe) are being reintroduced to boost the regional population across the Dry Chaco ecosystem in El Impenetrable [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After a 3,200-kilometer (2,000-mile) journey from Patagonia National Park to El Impenetrable National Park and a year spent adapting to their new environment, five guanacos, South America’s largest camelids, have been released into the wild. The guanacos (Lama guanicoe) are being reintroduced to boost the regional population across the Dry Chaco ecosystem in El Impenetrable and are meant to play an important role in helping the park’s grasslands recover after decades of overgrazing by cattle. But although Rewilding Argentina, the wildlife conservation NGO that led the effort, labels this initiative a success, some Argentinian academics argue that translocations like these risk mixing guanaco populations with different genetic makeup and could be more harmful than good. The guanaco’s population is estimated at around 1.5-2.2 million across the continent’s southern and western grasslands. Between 81 to 86% of guanacos are found in Argentina, 14- 18% in Chile, while a small relict population inhabits northern Peru. However, the last recorded sighting of a guanaco in Argentina’s Chaco province was in 1913; hunting and the loss of grasslands to livestock farming have led to the species&#8217; local extinction, with only fragmented populations surviving on the border between Paraguay and Bolivia. The translocation of three females, a male and a juvenile guanaco was completed by Rewilding Argentina in coordination with Argentina’s National Parks Administration and the provinces of Chaco and Santa Cruz. The animals came from Patagonia, which, according to research, is home to around 90% of the guanacos in Argentina. The guanaco (Lama guanicoe)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/guanacos-return-to-gran-chaco-restirs-debate-around-wildlife-translocations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/guanacos-return-to-gran-chaco-restirs-debate-around-wildlife-translocations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314209</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Patagonia fires reignite debate over Argentina’s underfunded environmental agencies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/patagonia-fires-reignite-debate-over-argentinas-underfunded-environmental-agencies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/patagonia-fires-reignite-debate-over-argentinas-underfunded-environmental-agencies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2026 08:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/24154519/AP26009483467682-768x500.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313294</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, Patagonia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Politics, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fires have surged through the forests of Argentina’s Patagonia region since the start of the year, with officials still working to contain damage to some of the world’s oldest ecosystems. The two major fires broke out in January in the southern province of Chubut, threatening parts of Los Alerces National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fires have surged through the forests of Argentina’s Patagonia region since the start of the year, with officials still working to contain damage to some of the world’s oldest ecosystems. The two major fires broke out in January in the southern province of Chubut, threatening parts of Los Alerces National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s home to trees thousands of years old. For many, the fires are another reminder of the significant budget cuts to the country’s environmental services. “We demand that the national government and the provinces provide more prevention, firefighters and infrastructure to respond quickly to fires, and penalize the destruction of forests,” Greenpeace Argentina said in a statement. Los Alerces National Park spans more than 259,000 hectares (642,000 acres) and is home to endemic species like the monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides), a marsupial, and the Magellanic woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus). Most notably, it contains the alerce tree (Fitzroya cupressoides), a cypress that can live for more than 3,600 years. On Jan. 5, a fire broke out in the southern part of the park between the Rivadavia, Futalaufquen and Menéndez lakes, according to NASA satellite readings. Another fire broke out on hillsides in the north. People walk on a road as a wildfire blazes in El Hoyo. (AP Photo/Maxi Jonas) It remains unclear how or why the fires began, but the prosecutor’s office reportedly confirmed one of them was set intentionally. Early estimates said around 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of forest and grassland were destroyed, with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/patagonia-fires-reignite-debate-over-argentinas-underfunded-environmental-agencies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/patagonia-fires-reignite-debate-over-argentinas-underfunded-environmental-agencies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313294</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The rise of CC35 and the business behind its climate deals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/carbon-and-charisma-how-climate-network-cc35-tricked-its-way-to-the-limelight/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/carbon-and-charisma-how-climate-network-cc35-tricked-its-way-to-the-limelight/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 22:32:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Pallares]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/26194650/Landscape-1-Parque-Nacional-El-Impenetrable-Matias-Rebak-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311902</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Latin America, South America, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Credits, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Carbon, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous Peoples, Law Enforcement, Mongabay investigation, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This investigation was produced with support from the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). Isabel Alarcón contributed reporting from Ecuador. BARCELONA — Covering more than 65 million hectares (160 million acres) across Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, the Gran Chaco is South America’s second-largest forest after the Amazon Rainforest. Over the last decades, the dry forest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This investigation was produced with support from the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). Isabel Alarcón contributed reporting from Ecuador. BARCELONA — Covering more than 65 million hectares (160 million acres) across Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, the Gran Chaco is South America’s second-largest forest after the Amazon Rainforest. Over the last decades, the dry forest ecosystem that fosters thousands of plant and animal species and 9 million people has lost about a quarter of its area to agriculture. In 2024, the Gran Chaco was especially threatened in Argentina’s Santiago del Estero province, where it lost 54,000 hectares (133,000 acres) of forest. A few years earlier, the province’s forest ecosystem was the object of an announcement at COP26 in Glasgow, U.K. On Nov. 2, 2021, Global Carbon Parks Inc., a Miami-based startup, announced a $200-million carbon contract with the province of Santiago del Estero that, according to several sources, would support nature conservation and decarbonization in the region. The startup aimed to trade in carbon credits from subnational protected areas. The announcement of the public-private arrangement was hosted by Capital Cities 35 (CC35), a climate alliance of mayors across the Americas that aims to build capacity to tackle climate change, implement the Paris Agreement and the U.N.’s 2030 Agenda. But findings from a Mongabay investigation suggest that the secretary-general of CC35, Argentinian Sebastián Navarro, used his position at CC35 in ways that benefited private carbon businesses like Global Carbon Parks, which he controlled through majority stakeholder Ethic International, Inc, a holding company&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/carbon-and-charisma-how-climate-network-cc35-tricked-its-way-to-the-limelight/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/carbon-and-charisma-how-climate-network-cc35-tricked-its-way-to-the-limelight/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311902</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lithium mining may threaten a precious resource — water: Voices from the land (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/voices-from-the-land-lithium-mining-may-threaten-a-precious-resource-water-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/voices-from-the-land-lithium-mining-may-threaten-a-precious-resource-water-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2025 18:03:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Clemente Flores]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/27174024/DSC00745-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308379</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, Land rights and extractives, and Voices from the Land]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy, Climate Change, Critical Minerals, Energy, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Lithium, Mining, Renewable Energy, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections on urgent issues shaping our time — environmental destruction, our relationship with nature, and systemic injustice. We write from the heart of our communities, where [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections on urgent issues shaping our time — environmental destruction, our relationship with nature, and systemic injustice. We write from the heart of our communities, where the impacts of these urgent crises are deeply felt, but also where solutions are rooted. Through this series, we speak from our territories, and ensure our truths are part of the global conversation. My name is Clemente Flores and I am the president of the El Angosto Indigenous community. We began 2010 with a major concern: the presence of lithium mining companies in the province of Salta, in the community of Cangrejillos. We live alongside other communities in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc Basin, which spans two provinces in northern Argentina, Salta and Jujuy. We are more than 30 communities that have lived around the salt flats for thousands of years, according to anthropological studies. We are very concerned about the arrival of mining companies seeking to extract brine water for lithium (a critical mineral) because we fear what might happen to our way of life if we run out of this essential resource: water. The Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc Basin is located in the Altiplano, also known as the Puna Plateau, an extremely arid ecosystem. In this desert climate, at about 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) above sea level, it practically&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/voices-from-the-land-lithium-mining-may-threaten-a-precious-resource-water-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/voices-from-the-land-lithium-mining-may-threaten-a-precious-resource-water-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308379</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>State-NGO collaboration expands protection for Patagonia’s biodiversity hotspot</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/state-ngo-collaboration-expands-protection-for-patagonias-biodiversity-hotspot/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/state-ngo-collaboration-expands-protection-for-patagonias-biodiversity-hotspot/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 15:15:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Hillsdon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/16144341/Magellanic-Penguins-Punta-Tomba-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307805</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Politics, Protected Areas, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the southern Argentinian province of Chubut, in the pristine region of Patagonia Azul, arid grasslands give way to steep cliffs, rocky beaches and dense kelp forests, creating a rich and biodiverse habitat, with humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and sei (Balaenoptera borealis) whales as well as South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) among the megafauna that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the southern Argentinian province of Chubut, in the pristine region of Patagonia Azul, arid grasslands give way to steep cliffs, rocky beaches and dense kelp forests, creating a rich and biodiverse habitat, with humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and sei (Balaenoptera borealis) whales as well as South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) among the megafauna that visit the area for food and breeding. The region is also home to around 40% of the world’s population of Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), along with more than 50 species of seabirds, including southern giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus) and imperial cormorants (Leucocarbo atriceps). The area is now receiving important extra legal protection following the creation of the Patagonia Azul Provincial Park by the Chubut provincial government, using land donated by Rewilding Argentina, a conservation-focused NGO. The park covers almost 300,000 hectares (740,000 acres); about 87% of the area is marine habitat, all of which has been designated a no-take zone, helping to address local impacts of industrial fishing and bottom trawling. The park also includes more than 60 islands, important macroalgae forests and rocky intertidal zones that provide a haven for fish and marine invertebrates to develop, while its formation also bolsters existing efforts to protect the area. Patagonia Azul Provincial Park. Credit: Rewilding Argentina. In 2013, the national government established the Southern Patagonia Interjurisdictional Coastal Marine Park, to protect the region&#8217;s marine ecosystems and wildlife, and in 2015, UNESCO designated the Patagonia Azul UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Covering more than 3.1 million hectares (7.6 million acres),&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/state-ngo-collaboration-expands-protection-for-patagonias-biodiversity-hotspot/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/state-ngo-collaboration-expands-protection-for-patagonias-biodiversity-hotspot/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307805</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>IUCN downgrades guiña threat status, prompting conservation warning</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/iucn-downgrades-guina-threat-status-prompting-conservation-warning/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/iucn-downgrades-guina-threat-status-prompting-conservation-warning/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Oct 2025 14:34:57 +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/20/2025/10/13084256/79fd8a84-da04-43e0-91f5-7bfc618733c6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307359</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Diseases, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Destruction, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Research, Small Cats, Temperate Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The guiña, a small cat species found only in Chile and northern Argentina, has just been reclassified as of least concern by the IUCN. Until recently it was listed as vulnerable to extinction. Normally such a downgrading in threat status would be cause for celebration, but in this case some conservationists are hesitant. “It&#8217;s not [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The guiña, a small cat species found only in Chile and northern Argentina, has just been reclassified as of least concern by the IUCN. Until recently it was listed as vulnerable to extinction. Normally such a downgrading in threat status would be cause for celebration, but in this case some conservationists are hesitant. “It&#8217;s not that the species is doing better, it’s that we have better information,” explains Nicolas Galvez, who led the recent IUCN assessment and is an associate professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. This new information, he says, includes a higher population estimate and data showing guiña (Leopardus guigna) can survive not only in their native forest habitat, but in some altered agricultural landscapes. “Because of this better information, the species has been listed to least concern,” he says. In 2014, when the species was last assessed, this information was not available. But Galvez expects this status shift “will raise a lot of eyebrows in the environmental world and feline conservation world.” That’s because guiña continue facing a daunting number of threats in the wild, including human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss, disease contracted from domestic dogs and cats, climate change and, increasingly, severe forest fires in parts of its range. https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10150443/Image_2_Low.mp4 Camera trap footage of a guiña. It is now considered of least concern across the entire distribution of the species, but three of six subpopulations remain in high danger of extinction. Image courtesy of Nicolás Gálvez Like other small cat species, guiña play an important and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/iucn-downgrades-guina-threat-status-prompting-conservation-warning/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/iucn-downgrades-guina-threat-status-prompting-conservation-warning/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10150443/Image_2_Low.mp4" length="0" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307359</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Argentina, lithium exploration proceeds amid community disputes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/in-argentina-lithium-exploration-proceeds-amid-community-disputes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/in-argentina-lithium-exploration-proceeds-amid-community-disputes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2025 16:41:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/10163259/AP24062654390461-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305739</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Critical Minerals, Development, Ecosystems, Energy, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Lithium, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For more than 15 years, members of Atacama and Kolla Indigenous communities near Argentina’s abundant lithium reserves say, their rights to a healthy environment and self-determination have been ignored. Located in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc saltwater basin in northwestern Argentina, arguments over proper consultation started cropping up as mining companies expressed an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than 15 years, members of Atacama and Kolla Indigenous communities near Argentina’s abundant lithium reserves say, their rights to a healthy environment and self-determination have been ignored. Located in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc saltwater basin in northwestern Argentina, arguments over proper consultation started cropping up as mining companies expressed an interest in exploring the region for rich lithium reserves, of which the country has plenty. Among them was Lition Energy, which obtained a permit to explore for the mineral at its Agonic Mine in 2023 after consulting with only one of the two communities directly impacted, according to local sources. Lition Energy told Mongabay via email that “the Agonic Mine has all the required legal permits; otherwise, we would not have been able to carry out our exploration work.” According to the company&#8217;s website, it aims to establish a relationship of mutual trust with communities and focuses on community strengthening, local development, with local employment and suppliers, entrepreneurship development, and education in communities near its projects. Many of the wider region’s 33 Indigenous communities are actively opposed to mining. Straddling the provinces of Jujuy and Salta, communities in the area depend on the land and its resources for cattle rearing, subsistence agriculture, traditional salt extraction and tourism. Before the Agonic Mine came into the picture, some communities and the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN in Spanish) filed an environmental protection lawsuit against the provincial and national governments, seeking the suspension of all lithium and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/in-argentina-lithium-exploration-proceeds-amid-community-disputes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/in-argentina-lithium-exploration-proceeds-amid-community-disputes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305739</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Argentina’s elephant seals face 100-year recovery after avian flu devastation: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentinas-elephant-seals-face-100-year-recovery-after-avian-flu-devastation-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentinas-elephant-seals-face-100-year-recovery-after-avian-flu-devastation-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2025 14:47:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/20144654/Sin-titulo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304645</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Health, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Planetary Health, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Biologist Valeria Falabella’s voice breaks as she describes the devastating scene. It was October 2023 when she and her team climbed down onto Punta Delgada Beach, in the Valdés Peninsula, a remote corner of central Argentina. While they were aware that avian flu had made its way across the Pacific, nothing had prepared them for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Biologist Valeria Falabella’s voice breaks as she describes the devastating scene. It was October 2023 when she and her team climbed down onto Punta Delgada Beach, in the Valdés Peninsula, a remote corner of central Argentina. While they were aware that avian flu had made its way across the Pacific, nothing had prepared them for what they were about to find. In the first harem of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) something was off: several pups lay lifeless. “In that moment there weren’t many [dead pups], but as we kept walking we saw the first dead adult,” says Falabella, director of coastal marine conservation at WCS Argentina. “In all the time I’d worked on beaches surveying elephant seals, I’d never seen a dead one; it was shocking.” A few meters away, they found several South American terns (Sterna hirundinacea) writhing in the sand, showing clear signs of the infection. The team withdrew immediately and, using their binoculars, confirmed the inevitable: this was only the tip of the iceberg. Two days later, they returned to monitor the situation and assess the magnitude of the disaster. Elephant seals affected by avian flu in October 2023. Image courtesy of Ralph Vanstreels. “When we went back to the beach to count and observe the seals in more detail, the picture was bleak. Seventy percent of the pups were dead or dying,” Falabella says. “By that time there were several dead adult females too. The impact was huge.” That year, 17,500 pups and an undetermined&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentinas-elephant-seals-face-100-year-recovery-after-avian-flu-devastation-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304645</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Argentina pushes pipeline exports through protected Patagonian waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2025 13:32:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rodolfo Chisleanschi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/18133135/43cbcac1-c51a-45a2-8157-3da612901827-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304453</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Infrastructure, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[San Matías Gulf, on the northern coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, is one of the most biodiverse areas in the Argentine Sea. The Valdés Peninsula — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and a biosphere reserve since 2014 — forms its southern border. It’s surrounded by Islote Lobos National Park, the Puerto Lobos and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[San Matías Gulf, on the northern coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, is one of the most biodiverse areas in the Argentine Sea. The Valdés Peninsula — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and a biosphere reserve since 2014 — forms its southern border. It’s surrounded by Islote Lobos National Park, the Puerto Lobos and Bahía San Antonio protected natural areas, and Caleta de los Loros Multiple Use Reserve. But a planned oil port has many locals and environmentalists concerned for the future of this biodiverse marine region. “We all need energy to live our lives, but the location chosen for these works could not be worse,” says Roxana Schteinbarg, coordinator of the conservation program at the Whale Conservation Institute (ICB). “The San Matías Gulf is too important for the health of our sea to be turned into a sacrifice zone.” Authorities have chosen the village of Punta Colorado for the new oil port, the final destination for the 437-kilometer (272-mile) Vaca Muerta Sur (VMOS) oil pipeline. This enormous pipeline will carry crude oil extracted by fracking from the Neuquén Plateau, at the western edge of the country, to two buoys installed offshore to fill the tanks of cargo ships. Fuerte Argentino, an elevation that rises up in front of the sea with no clear explanation for its origin, will overlook the Hilli Episeyo, the LNG ship. Image courtesy of Fabricio Di Giacomo. The government is also planning a second fossil fuel port in the gulf. North of the oil&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304453</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New charges added in Argentina’s largest-ever wildlife case as key defendant attempts to flee the country</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-charges-added-in-argentinas-largest-ever-wildlife-case-as-key-defendant-attempts-to-flee-the-country/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-charges-added-in-argentinas-largest-ever-wildlife-case-as-key-defendant-attempts-to-flee-the-country/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Aug 2025 13:42:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Cristina Alvarado]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/12092433/6-2-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304105</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Hunting, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New charges have been filed in what may be Argentina’s largest-ever illegal hunting and wildlife trafficking case. Key defendant Carlos Pablo Escontrela attempted to flee the country, and as a flight risk may be forced to remain behind bars in pretrial detention. Prosecutors presented new evidence in the case earlier this year that strengthened the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New charges have been filed in what may be Argentina’s largest-ever illegal hunting and wildlife trafficking case. Key defendant Carlos Pablo Escontrela attempted to flee the country, and as a flight risk may be forced to remain behind bars in pretrial detention. Prosecutors presented new evidence in the case earlier this year that strengthened the case — and added animal abuse and illegal possession of weapons of war to the charges against Escontrela. Arrests in the case date back a year ago. In August 2024, after a months-long investigation into Caza &amp; Safaris Argentina, a high-end hunting outfit that targeted protected wildlife, specialized agents from the Environmental Control Brigade (BCA by its Spanish acronym) coordinated 13 raids in different parts of the country. It was a massive effort, involving at least 70 agents in 20 vehicles. They seized more than 8,000 animal parts, mostly from protected species, and more than half of which were preserved hunting trophies. They also discovered live animals that included a puma and five peccaries. Authorities confiscated an illegal cache of 35 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition. A puma skin confiscated during the raids on the Caza &amp; Safaris properties. Image obtained during Mongabay Latam’s investigation. Seven men were arrested and now face a litany of charges, including criminal conspiracy, hunting of protected wildlife species, illegal provision of firearms, illegal possession of weapons of war, and animal abuse. If convicted, wildlife crimes can carry penalties of up to three years in prison. The defendants include&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-charges-added-in-argentinas-largest-ever-wildlife-case-as-key-defendant-attempts-to-flee-the-country/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/new-charges-added-in-argentinas-largest-ever-wildlife-case-as-key-defendant-attempts-to-flee-the-country/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304105</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Endangered Andean cat is imperiled by climate change and its solutions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/endangered-andean-cat-is-imperiled-by-climate-change-and-its-solutions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/endangered-andean-cat-is-imperiled-by-climate-change-and-its-solutions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 14:58:46 +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/20/2025/07/10042617/Image_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302156</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andes, Argentina, Atlantic Forest, Bolivia, Chile, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Cats, Climate Change, Conservation, DNA, Endangered Species, Environment, Extreme Weather, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Lithium, Mammals, Mining, Monitoring, Mountains, Natural Resources, Research, Small Cats, Species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Many conservationists dedicated to protecting the endangered Andean cat have never seen one in the wild, with the species known to science by just a few photos until the late 1990s. And it took Juan Reppucci, leader of the Andean Cat Alliance’s In the Field 24/7 program, nine years to spot one of these elusive [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Many conservationists dedicated to protecting the endangered Andean cat have never seen one in the wild, with the species known to science by just a few photos until the late 1990s. And it took Juan Reppucci, leader of the Andean Cat Alliance’s In the Field 24/7 program, nine years to spot one of these elusive cats in its natural habitat. The Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita) is one of South America’s most endangered small cat species, roaming the high Andes of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. About the size of a domestic cat, it resembles a miniature snow leopard. Thick fur and an elongated tail make it well adapted to the harsh alpine environment it calls home and for chasing its favorite prey — vizcacha, a rabbit-resembling rodent — across rocky landscapes. Reppucci’s sighting happened on a very “weird” day, he recalls. While out looking for a radio collar that had fallen from a Pampas cat (L. colocolo) in Jujuy province, Argentina, the researcher’s dog Monty (an ever-present companion and guide on field trips) got spooked by a herd of llamas and went missing. Juan Reppucci and his dog Monty, who acts as both field trip companion and guide for AGA research teams. “If it&#8217;s dark, I follow the dog because he knows the way,” Reppucci says. Image courtesy of AGA. Reppucci walked for hours searching for both the collar and Monty. Eventually he reached a cliff edge and paused to catch his breath. “I was super tired, because I was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/endangered-andean-cat-is-imperiled-by-climate-change-and-its-solutions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302156</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Private financing for Argentina’s lithium is anything but green, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/private-financing-for-argentinas-lithium-is-anything-but-green-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/private-financing-for-argentinas-lithium-is-anything-but-green-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2025 14:45:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/01145147/AP24062652958789-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301482</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, International Trade, Land Rights, Law, Lithium, Mining, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Argentina has the second-largest reserves of lithium in the world, at around 22 million tons. As battery technology advances and global demand for the mineral grows, the country is trying to position itself as a global hub for renewable energy generation. Corporations and banks have heralded a wave of “green” policies aimed at accelerating the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Argentina has the second-largest reserves of lithium in the world, at around 22 million tons. As battery technology advances and global demand for the mineral grows, the country is trying to position itself as a global hub for renewable energy generation. Corporations and banks have heralded a wave of “green” policies aimed at accelerating the country’s lithium mining industry. But some observers argue these policies aren’t as green as advertised, and may actually be harming the environment and local communities. Last year, the World Bank launched a program aimed at formalizing land tenure across the globe, arguing that climate action requires “direct access” to titled property for the private sector. Around half of the Paris Agreement climate action plans involve land, it pointed out, and more than half of all transition minerals are located on or near Indigenous territory. Finding “suitable” land for climate investments can be risky if land claims are unrecorded or disputed, it said in a statement last year. The program aims to address that obstacle by dedicating $10 billion over the next decade to land sector investment. Not everyone thinks this is a good idea, though. The program benefits large corporations and could exploit local communities opposed to lithium extraction, according to the Oakland Institute, a think tank based in California. After a title is granted, land can be leased and sold away from the small communities it once benefited. “The bank’s land agenda is about enabling unfettered global economic growth — directly opposing the urgent&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/private-financing-for-argentinas-lithium-is-anything-but-green-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301482</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On a Patagonian plateau, a microendemic frog makes a hopeful comeback</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/on-a-patagonian-plateau-a-microendemic-frog-makes-a-hopeful-comeback/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/on-a-patagonian-plateau-a-microendemic-frog-makes-a-hopeful-comeback/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jun 2025 12:44:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Hillsdon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/19144925/Federico-_Kacoliris-_2025_Argentina-Somuncura_Species_Frog-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301082</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, Patagonia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Amphibians, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Frogs, Global Environmental Crisis, Invasive Species, Protected Areas, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A first look at Argentina’s Somuncurá Plateau reveals features somewhat predictable for a Patagonian steppe: shrubs, grass, plains, and rocky outcrops. Only the occasional volcanic peak breaks the monotony of the landscape spanning an area larger than Switzerland across the provinces of Rio Negro and Chubut. But in this apparent monotony, life abounds as the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A first look at Argentina’s Somuncurá Plateau reveals features somewhat predictable for a Patagonian steppe: shrubs, grass, plains, and rocky outcrops. Only the occasional volcanic peak breaks the monotony of the landscape spanning an area larger than Switzerland across the provinces of Rio Negro and Chubut. But in this apparent monotony, life abounds as the plateau’s conditions make it one of Patagonia’s key biodiversity areas and home to several endemic species.  Among those, one critically endangered species has caught the attention of researchers and, more recently, of the wider conservation world. Measuring less than 5 centimeters (2 inches) in length, the El Rincon stream frog (Pleurodema somuncurense) relies on the warm headwaters of the Valcheta stream, fed by the Somuncurá’s hot springs. Here, the microendemic amphibian, whose habitat measures no more than 10 square kilometers (3.7 square miles), finds refuge from the plateau’s large temperature variations.  The species was described by scientists in the late 1960s, but went on to be largely ignored by science until the early 2000s, when it became increasingly exposed to habitat loss, invasive species and cattle ranching. That earned it the status of critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, making it one of the world’s most threatened amphibians. Argentina’s Somuncurá Plateau provides an unexpected haven for microendemic species. Image courtesy of Federico Kacoliris. Federico Kacoliris has long studied the El Rincon stream frog. Aside from adding knowledge about the species and its habitats, Kacoliris, who leads the Somuncurá Foundation, has mobilized a conservation movement&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/on-a-patagonian-plateau-a-microendemic-frog-makes-a-hopeful-comeback/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301082</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jaguar recovery unites Brazil and Argentina in conservation effort</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/jaguar-recovery-unites-brazil-and-argentina-in-conservation-effort/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/jaguar-recovery-unites-brazil-and-argentina-in-conservation-effort/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2025 12:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/11092043/Jaguars-in-Iguacu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300586</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Governance, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Jaguars, Protected Areas, Research, Species recovery, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Wildlife Rehabilitation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The dark rosettes dotting the golden-brown fur of the jaguar are no longer a rare sight in Brazil’s Iguaçu National Park. In 2010, the protected area’s population of jaguars (Panthera onca) was on the brink of local extinction. Now, thanks to persistent conservation efforts led by Yara Barros, a biologist and executive coordinator of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The dark rosettes dotting the golden-brown fur of the jaguar are no longer a rare sight in Brazil’s Iguaçu National Park. In 2010, the protected area’s population of jaguars (Panthera onca) was on the brink of local extinction. Now, thanks to persistent conservation efforts led by Yara Barros, a biologist and executive coordinator of the Jaguars of Iguaçu Project, the big cats’ numbers have more than doubled. The recovery is a triumph, but it represents more than just a win for the species. Part of the Atlantic Forest biome, straddling the Brazil-Argentina border, Iguaçu has become a prime example of how large carnivore conservation can help strengthen and rebuild a fragmented ecosystem, benefiting predators, prey and people across borders. “To maintain a jaguar population in the long term means [the ecosystem] is healthy and balanced,” Barros told Mongabay. “The jaguar is an indicator of environmental quality. We usually say: ‘Where there are jaguars, there’s life.’” Building human-wildlife coexistence Paraná state in the south of Brazil, where Iguaçu is located, lost about 13% of its forest cover between 2000 and 2020, largely a consequence of economic development. This loss disrupted the natural balance of the ecosystem, often forcing jaguars to adapt their hunting behavior and increasing their interactions with humans and their livestock. Retaliatory killings due to cattle predation have become a major threat to jaguars in the region. Between 1990 and 1995, the Green Corridor, a 185,000-hectare (457,000-acre) stretch of protected land that links Argentina’s Iguazú National Park and Brazil’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/jaguar-recovery-unites-brazil-and-argentina-in-conservation-effort/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300586</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Still no trial over Argentina cyanide mine spill, 7 years after officials were charged</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/still-no-trial-over-argentina-cyanide-mine-spill-7-years-after-officials-were-charged/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/still-no-trial-over-argentina-cyanide-mine-spill-7-years-after-officials-were-charged/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2025 15:32:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/16143624/14_02_BarrickGold-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297712</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Environmental Law, Glaciers, Gold Mining, Mining, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first of a three-part series on underreported issues involving Canadian mining companies and Indigenous peoples or local communities. Read part two and part three. Seven years after an environmental administrator and three secretaries of the environment were charged with negligence that resulted in a toxic cyanide spill at Canadian miner Barrick Gold’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first of a three-part series on underreported issues involving Canadian mining companies and Indigenous peoples or local communities. Read part two and part three. Seven years after an environmental administrator and three secretaries of the environment were charged with negligence that resulted in a toxic cyanide spill at Canadian miner Barrick Gold’s Veladero gold mine in Argentina, the case has still not gone to trial. “Everything has been in place since 2018 for the oral and public trial,” Domingo Jofré, a member of Jáchal no se Toca, the NGO that filed the lawsuit, told Mongabay by phone. “But it remains dormant in some federal judge’s drawer.” One of the four officials awaiting trial told Mongabay they haven’t received a court date or an explanation for the delay. The first spill at the Veladero mine in 2015 dumped a million liters (264,000 gallons) of cyanide solution into nearby rivers in the province of San Juan. More spills occurred in 2016 and 2017 and are still under investigation. Barrick Gold, the second-largest gold miner in the world, owns two major open-pit mines in the province: Veladero and Pascua-Lama. The Veladero mine has been co-owned with Chinese company Shandong Gold since 2017. La Palca River, a tributary of the Jáchal River and part of the Desaguadero River Basin, in the province of San Juan, passes near the location of the Veladero mine owned by Barrick Gold. Image courtesy of Asamblea Jáchal No Se Toca. In November 2017, Ricardo Villalba, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/still-no-trial-over-argentina-cyanide-mine-spill-7-years-after-officials-were-charged/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297712</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lithium Triangle mining may strain water sources more than expected, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/lithium-triangle-mining-may-strain-water-sources-more-than-expected-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/lithium-triangle-mining-may-strain-water-sources-more-than-expected-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2025 17:13:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/04160916/Geature-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297105</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, International Trade, Land Rights, Law, Lithium, Mining, Politics, Renewable Energy, Research, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Global demand for lithium is expected to increase by nearly 500% over the next few decades, as countries invest more in batteries and electric vehicles meant to reduce their carbon footprint. But lithium also brings its own environmental concerns, putting stress on freshwater supplies in the desert areas where the mineral is most common. Measuring [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Global demand for lithium is expected to increase by nearly 500% over the next few decades, as countries invest more in batteries and electric vehicles meant to reduce their carbon footprint. But lithium also brings its own environmental concerns, putting stress on freshwater supplies in the desert areas where the mineral is most common. Measuring water availability for lithium extraction is still unreliable, especially in South America’s high-altitude Lithium Triangle, home to the world’s largest deposits. More accurate models need to be applied there so mining operations don’t use more water than is available, one recent study argued. If mining operators continue with their current water usage, it could exacerbate the region’s scarcity problem and lead to the destruction of ecosystems and a crisis for nearby communities. “The conventional wisdom is overestimating the amount of water by at least an order of magnitude,” said David Boutt, who co-authored the study in Communications Earth and Environment. “We found that all but one of the 28 basins in our study should be classified as ‘critically water scarce,’ even without incorporating current, to say nothing of future, demands on the water supply.” The Lithium Triangle spans more than 414,000 square kilometers (160,000 square miles) across Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, where an arid climate and water-trapping basins have helped form an estimated 98 million tons of lithium deposits. Mining the lithium involves extracting salty brine and storing it in large evaporation ponds where the sun removes the water, leaving behind a solution that is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/lithium-triangle-mining-may-strain-water-sources-more-than-expected-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297105</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ambitious conservation projects pave the way for Argentina’s jaguar recovery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ambitious-conservation-projects-pave-the-way-for-argentinas-jaguar-recovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ambitious-conservation-projects-pave-the-way-for-argentinas-jaguar-recovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2025 13:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/24130857/Translocation-Mini-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296355</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists first spotted a young male jaguar in 2022 roaming Argentina’s Formosa Nature Reserve. Camera traps later recorded the same individual in a forest tens of kilometers away, within El Impenetrable National Park, in northern Argentina’s Chaco province. After months of tracking, an expert team located the big cat and, in December 2024, sedated, collared [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists first spotted a young male jaguar in 2022 roaming Argentina’s Formosa Nature Reserve. Camera traps later recorded the same individual in a forest tens of kilometers away, within El Impenetrable National Park, in northern Argentina’s Chaco province. After months of tracking, an expert team located the big cat and, in December 2024, sedated, collared and released it back into the wild. They gave it the name Tañhi Wuk. This marked another milestone in Argentina’s broader efforts to protect its small population of jaguars (Panthera onca), led by a team from El Impenetrable National Park, Formosa Nature Reserve, and the Rewilding Argentina Foundation, with support from biologists and veterinarians. These reserves, along with others such as the Iberá National Park, form part of the Gran Chaco, South America’s second-largest forest (after the Amazon) and yet one of its least protected.  Poaching and habitat destruction over the last 40 years have decimated wildlife populations in the biome. But conservationists are working to reverse the trend. Collaring is a key part of jaguar conservation, providing vital data to guide protection efforts. Tañhi Wuk is the third collared male in El Impenetrable, bringing the total number of monitored jaguars there to five, including two females introduced last year. GPS tracking shows Tañhi Wuk hunts along the Bermejo River and crosses into Formosa province; both areas are threatened by illegal fishing and poaching.  The tracking data help researchers intervene when jaguars leave the park, notifying landowners, educating them about the species, and offering support&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ambitious-conservation-projects-pave-the-way-for-argentinas-jaguar-recovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296355</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists study plant restoration in Argentina’s deserts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/scientists-study-plant-restoration-in-argentinas-deserts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/scientists-study-plant-restoration-in-argentinas-deserts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2025 15:17:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/14151711/3-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295838</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Desertification, Landscape Restoration, and Regenerative production landscapes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For a plant, life in Argentina’s Monte Desert is hard enough. Daily temperatures can fluctuate dramatically; it rarely rains, and there are few nutrients in the parched soil for a hungry plant. To add to their struggles: Across this desert, a long history of oil drilling and a new boom in fracking have left hundreds [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For a plant, life in Argentina’s Monte Desert is hard enough. Daily temperatures can fluctuate dramatically; it rarely rains, and there are few nutrients in the parched soil for a hungry plant. To add to their struggles: Across this desert, a long history of oil drilling and a new boom in fracking have left hundreds of sites where plants have been completely wiped out, and the soil replaced with trucked-in, densely compacted dirt. When those drilling sites go quiet, plants often struggle to recolonize the places they once lived. In a 2024 study, researchers from the National University of Comahue examined whether a technique required by the local government to aid restoration helps plants regrow at these former drilling sites. They found that the technique, a type of assisted natural regeneration (ANR), is a bit of a mixed bag: The restored sites still had much lower plant density, diversity and plant coverage when compared with undisturbed sites. However, about 40% of the species that might be found in an undisturbed site were present in the ANR-remediated sites, including some species the researchers didn’t expect. “We were surprised,” says primary investigator Florencia del Mar González, a researcher at Comahue&#8217;s Laboratory of Rehabilitation and Ecological Restoration of Arid and Semiarid Ecosystems (LARREA). When looking at satellite images before their fieldwork, del Mar González and her team saw little regrowth at the former drilling sites. However, when they went into the field, “we began to find some response from the ecosystem in some&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/scientists-study-plant-restoration-in-argentinas-deserts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295838</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Silent killing machines’: How water canals threaten wildlife across the globe</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/silent-killing-machines-how-water-canals-threaten-wildlife-across-the-globe/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/silent-killing-machines-how-water-canals-threaten-wildlife-across-the-globe/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2025 14:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aldem Bourscheit]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/20174743/Massacre-Invisivel_oeco_15-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294785</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Canals, Conservation, Crime, Human-wildlife Conflict, Water, Water Scarcity, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deadly drownings of animals in water canals for irrigation and other purposes have been observed in various countries. The dry and semiarid regions of the planet are even more vulnerable to these losses, but there are alternatives to protect wildlife. Scientists like Diego Gallego-García came across wildlife drowned to death in and around an irrigation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deadly drownings of animals in water canals for irrigation and other purposes have been observed in various countries. The dry and semiarid regions of the planet are even more vulnerable to these losses, but there are alternatives to protect wildlife. Scientists like Diego Gallego-García came across wildlife drowned to death in and around an irrigation and water supply canal while researching birds in northern Argentina. The losses recorded were striking. More than 200 animals from 35 species died in six months, according to a study in the journal Biological Conservation authored by Gallego-García and José Sarasola, both from Argentina’s National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and the National University of La Pampa. The drownings occurred in the Canal de la Patria, whose steep concrete walls cut through 250 kilometers (155 miles) of the Gran Chaco region. This is the most biodiverse continuous forest system in South America after the Amazon Rainforest. The Canal de la Patria, an irrigation canal in northern Argentina. Image courtesy of the Center for the Study and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Argentina (Cecara). The victims represent a range of species, including threatened ones, such as 38 giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), a large ant and termite eater typical of South American savannas. The study also recorded that the number of animal deaths declined over the months analyzed, but this signals something even more serious. &#8220;We may be witnessing a defaunation [rapid extinction of wildlife] process along the canal. This is very serious for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/silent-killing-machines-how-water-canals-threaten-wildlife-across-the-globe/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294785</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Getting rewilding right with the reintroduction of small wildcats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/getting-rewilding-right-with-the-reintroduction-of-small-wildcats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/getting-rewilding-right-with-the-reintroduction-of-small-wildcats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2025 17:05:21 +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/20/2025/02/18095213/11-An-ocelot-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294574</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Brazil, Global, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Carnivores, Cats, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Extinction, Habitat, Mammals, Predators, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, Small Cats, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the briefest moment earlier this year, the Eurasian lynx — extinct in the U.K. for thousands of years — returned to the wild in Scotland. But this release wasn’t scientifically planned. Rather, it was an illegal act that drew condemnation from authorities and conservationists alike. Though the four lynx were swiftly captured; one died [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the briefest moment earlier this year, the Eurasian lynx — extinct in the U.K. for thousands of years — returned to the wild in Scotland. But this release wasn’t scientifically planned. Rather, it was an illegal act that drew condemnation from authorities and conservationists alike. Though the four lynx were swiftly captured; one died shortly after. Following the illegal release, Scottish First Minister John Swinney ruled out a legal reintroduction of lynx (Lynx lynx), or other large carnivores, under his government. “Acting illegally and without consultation is extremely damaging to the cause of conservation and well-planned releases,” says Helen Senn, head of conservation and science programs at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. “I think [the illegal release] will really undermine the trust of stakeholders like farmers and landowners [involved] in the process that conservationists go through … to get releases approved.” Senn is part of a legal rewilding project that aims to restore the Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris), also affectionately dubbed the “Highland tiger” by the Scottish people, even though it’s not much bigger than a house cat. This project is supported and funded by the Scottish government so will be unaffected by Swinney’s recent statement barring large carnivore reintroductions. The Scottish wildcat — a subpopulation of the European wildcat that arrived on what is today the island of Britain at the end of the last ice age 9,000 years ago, and which has remained isolated from mainland populations — was declared “functionally extinct” in 2018 largely due&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/getting-rewilding-right-with-the-reintroduction-of-small-wildcats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294574</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation boom in Gran Chaco raises alarm over Argentina’s forest law</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/deforestation-boom-in-gran-chaco-raises-alarm-over-argentinas-forest-law/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/deforestation-boom-in-gran-chaco-raises-alarm-over-argentinas-forest-law/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Feb 2025 18:18:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/14173946/6804231254_00d6a441fe_k-768x453.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294505</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Chaco, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cattle, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Logging, Politics, and Ranching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of South America’s largest ecosystems saw an increase in deforestation last year, with agriculture, livestock and fires contributing the most to the destruction of native dry forests. The problem has led some conservation groups to speak out about weak environmental regulations that allow land-use change to go unpunished. The Gran Chaco was hit by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One of South America’s largest ecosystems saw an increase in deforestation last year, with agriculture, livestock and fires contributing the most to the destruction of native dry forests. The problem has led some conservation groups to speak out about weak environmental regulations that allow land-use change to go unpunished. The Gran Chaco was hit by rising deforestation in 2024, damaging the dry forest ecosystem that spans approximately 65 million hectares (160 million acres) — an area more than one and a half times the size of California — across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil. Conservation groups in Argentina, which has the biggest share of the Gran Chaco, are calling for stricter penalties to prevent additional habitat loss. “More deforestation means more climate change, floods, desertification, evictions of rural residents and Indigenous communities, disappearance of species in danger of extinction and diseases,” said Hernán Giardini, coordinator of Greenpeace’s forests campaign. “Faced with this alarming situation, we believe that both clearing and forest fires must urgently be prohibited and penalized.” In 2024, Argentina lost 149,649 hectares (369,791 acres) of its approximately 52.6 million hectares (130 million acres) of Gran Chaco forest — most of it from agriculture and fires, according to a Greenpeace report. The provinces with the most forest loss were Santiago del Estero, Chaco, Formosa and Salta. It was a slight increase from the previous year, which saw 134,700 hectares (332,851 acres) of forest loss. Out of all of last year’s forest loss, 29,763 hectares (7,3546 acres), or a fifth,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/deforestation-boom-in-gran-chaco-raises-alarm-over-argentinas-forest-law/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294505</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Elephant seal colonies in Argentina face long recovery after ‘catastrophic’ avian flu</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/elephant-seal-colonies-in-argentina-face-long-recovery-after-catastrophic-avian-flu/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/elephant-seal-colonies-in-argentina-face-long-recovery-after-catastrophic-avian-flu/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Nov 2024 17:02:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/22164702/Body1-5-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290545</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, Patagonia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Mammals, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Public Health, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An epidemic of avian flu in Patagonia appears to be on the decline after decimating southern elephant seal populations for the last year and half, with researchers finding no new cases in recent surveys of the coast. But the recovery process for many colonies, which were nearly wiped out in some areas, could be just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An epidemic of avian flu in Patagonia appears to be on the decline after decimating southern elephant seal populations for the last year and half, with researchers finding no new cases in recent surveys of the coast. But the recovery process for many colonies, which were nearly wiped out in some areas, could be just beginning. The H5N1 influenza hit populations of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) and other marine mammals and birds in August 2023, spreading across multiple provinces of Argentinian Patagonia and sending researchers scrambling to study the outbreak. With cases now on the decline, researchers are turning their attention to studying the worst-hit colonies as they recover their previous population numbers, a process that could take decades. “There were no mortality events from avian flu” observed during the recent surveys in the province of Chubut, said Valeria Falabella, the director of coastal-marine conservation at the NGO Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Argentina. “The not-so-good news is that the number of individuals, most notably reproductive females, was way below what was expected.” The 300-kilometer (186-mile) coastline of the Valdés Peninsula, a popular breeding area for southern elephant seals, saw 17,400 of the 18,000 pups die at the end of last year, according to a December 2023 study in Marine Mammal Science. Usually only approximately 180 die. The study described the spiking mortality rate as “catastrophic.” The flu likely jumped to marine mammals in the area from South American terns (Sterna hirundinacea), mostly affecting elephant seals but also spreading to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/elephant-seal-colonies-in-argentina-face-long-recovery-after-catastrophic-avian-flu/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290545</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Killing of jaguar pushes species’ survival in Argentina’s Gran Chaco to the brink</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/killing-of-jaguar-pushes-species-survival-in-argentinas-gran-chaco-to-the-brink/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/killing-of-jaguar-pushes-species-survival-in-argentinas-gran-chaco-to-the-brink/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2024 10:08:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rodolfo Chisleanschi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/11103243/Ejemplar-Reserva-Formosa-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289928</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Jaguars, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Quiterio Ramírez’s voice is heavy with anguish at the other end of the phone: “When I saw the jaguar hanging there, the truth is that I cried, but what are we going to do about it? We already lost it.” His voice breaks, and it becomes apparent that tears are welling up in his eyes. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Quiterio Ramírez’s voice is heavy with anguish at the other end of the phone: “When I saw the jaguar hanging there, the truth is that I cried, but what are we going to do about it? We already lost it.” His voice breaks, and it becomes apparent that tears are welling up in his eyes. In late July or early August (the exact date is uncertain), a jaguar was hunted and skinned near the community of Estanislao del Campo, in Argentina’s northern department of Patiño, Formosa province, part of the semiarid Gran Chaco landscape. For Ramírez, what he was feeling now for the jaguar would have been unthinkable just a few years ago: sadness, pain, and now outrage over the loss of a male specimen of the Gran Chaco’s top predator, an animal that he now considers part of his landscape and his world. “El Tipo,” as the locals called this big cat, didn’t even have enough time to receive a real name. It had been recorded by camera traps in February 2024, and again in April. But just months later, it was shot and skinned by a group of hunters who later posted photos of their “trophy” on social media. Scientists from the Jaguar Project, a conservation program for the species that has been working in the Argentine Gran Chaco for a few years, identified El Tipo as M7, since it was the seventh individual jaguar (Panthera onca) detected in the region. This dramatically low number alone shows the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/killing-of-jaguar-pushes-species-survival-in-argentinas-gran-chaco-to-the-brink/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289928</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Argentina weighs new MPA to curb international fishing frenzy in ‘Blue Hole’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/argentina-weighs-new-mpa-to-curb-international-fishing-frenzy-in-blue-hole/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/argentina-weighs-new-mpa-to-curb-international-fishing-frenzy-in-blue-hole/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2024 10:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/21172106/Screenshot-2024-08-21-111512-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286372</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Law, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A law that would protect a massive stretch of Argentina’s seafloor is running out of time for a parliamentary vote, and conservationists are racing to raise awareness before they run into major delays. Creation of the “Blue Hole” reserve in the South Atlantic Ocean would protect thousands of square kilometers of seafloor from bottom trawling [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A law that would protect a massive stretch of Argentina’s seafloor is running out of time for a parliamentary vote, and conservationists are racing to raise awareness before they run into major delays. Creation of the “Blue Hole” reserve in the South Atlantic Ocean would protect thousands of square kilometers of seafloor from bottom trawling and require better working conditions on vessels fishing there. But the bill has stalled in Argentina’s National Congress for years and will expire in November. “[This legislation] is the only tool that exists today to begin protecting the area,” said Valeria Falabella, the director of coastal-marine conservation at the NGO Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Argentina. She added, “Fishing activity really needs management and review. There aren’t only environmental problems but human rights problems.” The Blue Hole, or Agujero Azul in Spanish, is an area of the Argentine continental shelf off the San Jorge Gulf in southern Patagonia. The shelf looks like an underwater cliff that marks the edge of the continent, where the deeper waters give it a darker-blue hue. Deep-sea currents feed the area with nutrients that sustain an incredible amount of biodiversity, from sponges and corals to southern right whales (Eubalaena australis). This hotbed of marine life straddles the imaginary line 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from Argentina’s coast that divides the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), where it exerts exclusive fishing rights, from international waters. Just beyond the line, global fishing fleets trawl the Blue Hole’s seabed for red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri),&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/argentina-weighs-new-mpa-to-curb-international-fishing-frenzy-in-blue-hole/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286372</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sweeping reform package threatens environmental protections in Argentina, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/sweeping-reform-package-threatens-environmental-protections-in-argentina-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/sweeping-reform-package-threatens-environmental-protections-in-argentina-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2024 21:21:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/28211843/6185777522_d4155efac0_3k-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283911</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, International Trade, Lithium, Mining, Politics, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A sweeping reform package introduced by the new government in Argentina is drawing criticism from conservation groups, who say new state programs and weakened regulations could endanger the environment. Congress passed the massive reform package this week to overhaul the country’s struggling economy. But conservation groups say many of its policies weaken protections for local [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A sweeping reform package introduced by the new government in Argentina is drawing criticism from conservation groups, who say new state programs and weakened regulations could endanger the environment. Congress passed the massive reform package this week to overhaul the country’s struggling economy. But conservation groups say many of its policies weaken protections for local and Indigenous communities and encourage accelerated investment in projects with a record of deforestation and pollution. “This is dangerous and concerning,” Manuel Jaramillo, head of the Wildlife Foundation in Argentina, told Mongabay. “It’s fair to think that in the context of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution, we should be creating legislation to protect the environment for everyone’s benefit. But [these reforms] are making it harder to confront those challenges.” The reform package establishes a one-year “public emergency” that grants the national government increased powers to act on economic, financial and energy matters. It also streamlines the development of large investment in infrastructure, oil and gas and the mining of copper and lithium, among other things. President Javier Milei, who took office in December, developed the package, known as the “omnibus law,” to resuscitate a floundering Argentine economy plagued by inflation and debt. A libertarian and outspoken climate change denier, he’s emphasized deregulation, privatization and austerity measures as vital to strengthening Argentina’s competitiveness. President Javier Milei speaks at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos. Photo courtesy of WEF. The original version of the bill, introduced soon after he took office, had more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/sweeping-reform-package-threatens-environmental-protections-in-argentina-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283911</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, conservationists try to save one of the world’s most endangered cats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/in-brazil-conservationists-try-to-save-one-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-cats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/in-brazil-conservationists-try-to-save-one-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-cats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jun 2024 14:34:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/13142037/Gato-palheiro-pampeano-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283221</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Brazil, Latin America, South America, and Uruguay]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Endangered Species, Grasslands, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Research, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Pampas grasslands, spanning southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina, are home to a wildcat so rare that researchers consider it the most endangered of its kind in the Americas, and possibly the world. Most sightings of this domestic cat-sized feline come from camera-trap images that have documented its distinctive fawn-colored coat, fluffy fur and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Pampas grasslands, spanning southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina, are home to a wildcat so rare that researchers consider it the most endangered of its kind in the Americas, and possibly the world. Most sightings of this domestic cat-sized feline come from camera-trap images that have documented its distinctive fawn-colored coat, fluffy fur and black-striped legs. It’s the elusive Muñoa&#8217;s Pampas cat, also known as the Uruguayan Pampas cat (Leopardus munoai). “There’s an estimated 100 individuals or less left in the wild,” Fábio Mazim, an ecologist from Pró-Carnívoros, a conservation nonprofit that focuses on carnivorous mammals in Brazil, told Mongabay. “It’s a species that, I believe, will be extinct in five to 10 years.” So little is known about Muñoa’s Pampas cat that scientists can’t even agree on whether it’s a distinct species, Leopardus munoai, or a subspecies of the Pampas cat, Leopardus colocola. Although L. munoai isn’t yet recognized by the Cat Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, scientists began to acknowledge it as a distinct species in 2021. Little is known about the Muñoa’s pampas cat. Experts say it lives like a nomad wandering around the grasslands looking for suitable habitats. Image © Fábio Mazim, Paulo Wagner, Maurício Santos, Moisés Barp, Yan Rodrigues/Bichos Raros do Pampa projeto (Rare Animals of the Pampas). Conserving the cat hasn’t been easy. Recent floods in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, among the worst natural disasters in the country’s history, have submerged almost the entire&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/in-brazil-conservationists-try-to-save-one-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-cats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283221</doi>				</item>
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