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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/india/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 22:29:40 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>India environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/india/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>DNA analysis of Asiatic wild dogs scat in India reveals wild prey preference</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/dna-analysis-of-asiatic-wild-dogs-scat-in-india-reveals-wild-prey-preference/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/dna-analysis-of-asiatic-wild-dogs-scat-in-india-reveals-wild-prey-preference/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 11:14:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/25111403/Dhole_Asiatic_wild_dogs_in_Bandipur_National_park-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=327243</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Conservation, Food, Forests, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, National Parks, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Asiatic wild dogs in central India almost entirely eat wild prey, even where they overlap with livestock, according to a recent study. The findings show that maintaining healthy wild prey populations is key to conserving the species, reports contributor Rajeev Tyagi for Mongabay India. The study, led by the National Centre for Biological Sciences [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Endangered Asiatic wild dogs in central India almost entirely eat wild prey, even where they overlap with livestock, according to a recent study. The findings show that maintaining healthy wild prey populations is key to conserving the species, reports contributor Rajeev Tyagi for Mongabay India. The study, led by the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru and the Maharashtra Forest Department, analyzed the feces or scat of dholes or Asiatic wild dogs (Cuon alpinus) inside the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in the state of Maharashtra. Instead of scooping up entire piles of dhole scat, forest staff and researchers collected only small pinches of material during the monsoon and winter of 2022-2023. Researchers then used a method called DNA metabarcoding to analyze what the dholes had eaten. It’s a technique that extracts genetic material from fecal samples and matches it against a massive reference database containing information from tens of thousands of species. Traditional methods for analyzing carnivore diets rely on microhistology — examining prey hairs found in animal feces of scat under a microscope. But this method is vulnerable to observer bias, said study co-author and molecular ecologist Abhinav Tyagi. “Different people can categorise hair differently, and it induces a human or an observer&#8217;s bias,” Tyagi said. Arjun Srivathsa, a wildlife biologist affiliated with the Wildlife Conservation Society &#8211; India and not involved in the study, said that traditional methods are also prone to errors like misidentification of species or non-detection of certain species. However, the DNA barcoding method&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/dna-analysis-of-asiatic-wild-dogs-scat-in-india-reveals-wild-prey-preference/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327243</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sloth bears help shape India&#8217;s dry forests as unlikely seed dispersers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/sloth-bears-help-shape-indias-dry-forests-as-unlikely-seed-dispersers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/sloth-bears-help-shape-indias-dry-forests-as-unlikely-seed-dispersers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2026 03:11:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=326741</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Food, Forests, Mammals, Mountains, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sloth bears play a critical role in structuring India’s dry deciduous forests by dispersing viable seeds and influencing plant regeneration, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India. &#8220;Dry deciduous forests&#8217; plant compositions are a function of sloth bear presence, movement, and dietary habits,&#8221; study co-author K.S. Gopi Sundar, an independent scientist, told Mongabay India. For [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Sloth bears play a critical role in structuring India’s dry deciduous forests by dispersing viable seeds and influencing plant regeneration, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India. &#8220;Dry deciduous forests&#8217; plant compositions are a function of sloth bear presence, movement, and dietary habits,&#8221; study co-author K.S. Gopi Sundar, an independent scientist, told Mongabay India. For the study,  the researchers surveyed the mountainous south-central Aravalli range in the western state of Rajasthan between November 2021 and July 2022. They analyzed 180 droppings or scats of sloth bears (Melursus ursinus)  and discovered that the bears’ diet shifted from plant-dominated in the winter to animal-dominated in the summer. In winter, ants appeared in more than 80% of the scats, whereas termites dominated summer samples. Among fruits, donkey berry (Grewia flavescens) was the most critical food source in both seasons, while Ziziphus nummularia was favored in winter and the golden shower tree (Cassia fistula) in summer. “The strong shift in diet was of great surprise,” said study co-author Utkarsh Prajapati, a senior project associate at the Wildlife Institute of India. “Previous studies on sloth bears in semi-arid regions have shown that they consume a lot of fruits during the summer.” Study co-author Vijay Kumar Koli  with the Department of Zoology at Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, said this seasonal change “showed that bears were highly adaptable, switching to foods that were more available.” To test whether bears help in seed dispersal, the researchers monitored the germination of eight plant species most important in the bears’&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/sloth-bears-help-shape-indias-dry-forests-as-unlikely-seed-dispersers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326741</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Safeguarding passageways is the next step for India&#8217;s growing tiger populations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/safeguarding-passageways-is-the-next-step-for-indias-growing-tiger-populations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/safeguarding-passageways-is-the-next-step-for-indias-growing-tiger-populations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2026 09:52:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/17095156/9.-Tigress-negotiating-an-underpass-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=326386</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Habitat, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Protected Areas, Roads, Solutions, Tigers, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Bengal tiger numbers rebound in India and increasingly disperse into human-dominated areas, conservationists are urging the government to prioritize protecting ecological corridors that connect vital habitats and tiger populations. But they also warn that corridors shouldn’t become sticking plasters for compromised core habitats, reports contributor Nirmal Ghosh for Mongabay. India is home to roughly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As Bengal tiger numbers rebound in India and increasingly disperse into human-dominated areas, conservationists are urging the government to prioritize protecting ecological corridors that connect vital habitats and tiger populations. But they also warn that corridors shouldn’t become sticking plasters for compromised core habitats, reports contributor Nirmal Ghosh for Mongabay. India is home to roughly 75% of the world’s wild tigers. The national population has more than doubled from an estimated 1,827 in 1972 to an estimated 3,682 in the 2022 census. However, this conservation success has created new challenges. Experts estimate that 35% of India&#8217;s wild tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) now live outside protected areas. Young tigers leave their mothers to establish large home ranges, which for males can cover up to 200 square kilometers (77 square miles). In doing so, tigers frequently navigate a highly fragmented matrix of roads, railways and urban sprawl. Without safe pathways, isolated tiger populations risk inbreeding and local extinction. In response to rapid infrastructure development, India has constructed more wildlife underpasses and overpasses than any other Asian country, according to Bilal Habib, a scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), a government-run research center. This includes the world&#8217;s 10 largest wildlife mitigation structures built since 2017, such as a 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) underpass beneath a newly opened expressway connecting New Delhi to the city of Dehradun. “I don&#8217;t think anywhere in the world, any developing country has spent as much money as we have on mitigation, exclusively for wildlife conservation,” Habib told Mongabay. At the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/safeguarding-passageways-is-the-next-step-for-indias-growing-tiger-populations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326386</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Infrastructure and land use behind devastating India monsoon floods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/infrastructure-and-land-use-behind-devastating-india-monsoon-floods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/infrastructure-and-land-use-behind-devastating-india-monsoon-floods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Aug 2026 11:25:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/14112506/AP26222296432843-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=326239</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Disasters, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Land Use Change, Sedimentation, Temperatures, Weather, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Widespread flooding in northeastern India that affected more than 500,000 people and claimed at least 99 lives between June and August 2026 was primarily driven by human factors like rapid urbanization, deforestation, and destruction of wetlands, new research says. It also points to structural failures rather than climate change. The findings were published by World [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Widespread flooding in northeastern India that affected more than 500,000 people and claimed at least 99 lives between June and August 2026 was primarily driven by human factors like rapid urbanization, deforestation, and destruction of wetlands, new research says. It also points to structural failures rather than climate change. The findings were published by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers who analyze the influence of climate change in extreme weather events. Floods hit India’s Assam state nearly every monsoon as the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries overflow, often submerging the surrounding landscapes. &#8220;We decided to focus on the upper Assam, both because of the significant socio-economic and environmental damage reported in the region, and the sheer collective damage of catastrophic floods in the region year on year,&#8221; research co-author Arpita Mondal, from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), said at a press briefing. The scientists analyzed historical weather records and climate models to determine the likelihood of the extreme rainfall that occurred over a three-day period (June 26-29), as well over a 30-day period (June 20 to July 19). They found the heavy rainfall observed in 2026 wasn’t exceptional, recurring every one to two years. The team also found no clear link to human-induced rise in global temperatures. &#8220;When we combine the observational results with the climate models, we again found no detectable climate change signal in either type of events,&#8221; co-author Mariam Zachariah, from Imperial College London, said at the briefing. Instead, the study&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/infrastructure-and-land-use-behind-devastating-india-monsoon-floods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326239</doi>				</item>
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					<title>In India, sacred groves serve as vital nurseries for future forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/in-india-sacred-groves-serve-as-vital-nurseries-for-future-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/in-india-sacred-groves-serve-as-vital-nurseries-for-future-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2026 05:42:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/12054208/original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=325988</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Biology, Conservation, Culture, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Recovery, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Religions, Restoration, Science, Species, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In India’s Western Ghats, sacred groves – small, community-protected forest patches dedicated to local deities – are far more effective at regenerating native tree species than surrounding village lands, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough. For the study, a research team from the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) mapped and measured 82 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In India’s Western Ghats, sacred groves – small, community-protected forest patches dedicated to local deities – are far more effective at regenerating native tree species than surrounding village lands, according to a recent study, reports Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough. For the study, a research team from the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) mapped and measured 82 giant, old-growth trees across 20 species in the village of Vanzole in the northern Western Ghats, the mountain chain that runs alongside India’s west coast. The researchers defined giant trees as those that measure more than 1 meter (3.3 feet). The researchers found that sacred groves held nearly twice the giant-tree species of nearby village areas, with 12 of the measured species growing exclusively within the groves. For example, while fruit trees including mango (Mangifera indica) and jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) were dominant in the villages, trees such as baheda (Terminalia bellirica), a medicinal plant, were common in the groves. “Settlements are curated orchards, while sacred groves are ecological time capsules,”  study co-author Kevin Matteson, associate director of Project Dragonfly at Miami University, told Mongabay. Giant trees act as &#8220;ecological catcher&#8217;s mitts,&#8221; providing the massive branches and hollows needed by large, fruit-eating birds such as hornbills, Matteson said. As these birds feed, they disperse large seeds across the landscape. Seeds dropped in the less-disturbed ground of the sacred groves are more likely to grow into trees themselves compared to those dropped in village grounds, the study found. For instance, saplings of the strychnine tree (Strychnos nux-vomica), the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/in-india-sacred-groves-serve-as-vital-nurseries-for-future-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325988</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What happens after a whale strands on a Mumbai beach?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/what-happens-after-a-whale-strands-on-a-mumbai-beach/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/what-happens-after-a-whale-strands-on-a-mumbai-beach/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2026 09:00:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stephin Thomas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/06085634/Stranded-blue-whale-Mumbai-June-2026-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=325461</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Environment, Fellows, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the morning of June 27, a 7.6-meter (25-foot) blue whale calf washed ashore on a busy beach in Mumbai, India’s financial capital and the capital of Maharashtra state. Whale strandings are rare along the Maharashtra coast, so Mongabay spoke with experts to find out what happened next. &#8220;Each stranding incident is a totally unexpected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[On the morning of June 27, a 7.6-meter (25-foot) blue whale calf washed ashore on a busy beach in Mumbai, India’s financial capital and the capital of Maharashtra state. Whale strandings are rare along the Maharashtra coast, so Mongabay spoke with experts to find out what happened next. &#8220;Each stranding incident is a totally unexpected event,&#8221; N. Vasudevan, former head of Maharashtra government&#8217;s Mangrove Cell, an administrative unit that manages coastal ecosystems, told Mongabay. &#8220;You can prepare for years, but then it may not happen for years. And one fine morning, it is there on the beach.&#8221; According to the Mangrove Foundation, a registered society established by the Maharashtra government, only six of the 109 recorded stranding incidents in 2020-21 involved whales. Under national guidelines, the first step in any stranding involving a protected species, such as the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), is alerting the local stranding network, whose coordinator notifies the forest department, according to Shaunak Modi, director of the Coastal Conservation Foundation, which is also part of the Mumbai Stranding Response Network. Modi said that on June 27, a lifeguard notified him about the whale calf around 9 a.m. By the time he reached the site in the Bandra coastline 30 minutes later, the young cetacean had suffered severe injuries from crashing against exposed rocks. Ultimately, police and fire department authorities at the site confirmed it had died. Fishers and local people told Modi they had first spotted the stranded whale around 6 a.m. First responders, primarily local&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/what-happens-after-a-whale-strands-on-a-mumbai-beach/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325461</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vinod Rishi helped give India’s elephants room to roam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/vinod-rishi-helped-give-indias-elephants-room-to-roam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/vinod-rishi-helped-give-indias-elephants-room-to-roam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2026 00:22:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/04002522/Vinod_Rishi_bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Elephants, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A tiger once put its head beside a passenger in Vinod Rishi’s jeep. Its face, he wrote years later, wore a “quizzical expression.” Then it moved away, leaving the men unharmed. Rishi called it “a King with a big heart.” Decades after the encounter, he could still recall the position of the tiger’s head and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A tiger once put its head beside a passenger in Vinod Rishi’s jeep. Its face, he wrote years later, wore a “quizzical expression.” Then it moved away, leaving the men unharmed. Rishi called it “a King with a big heart.” Decades after the encounter, he could still recall the position of the tiger’s head and the look on its face. Rishi, who died in Dehradun on July 29, held some of the highest positions in Indian wildlife administration. He was the first director of Project Elephant, additional director general of forests for wildlife, and director of the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy. During 38 years in the Indian Forest Service, he worked in the Sundarbans and Buxa tiger reserves, Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, and the national parks of Singalila and Neora Valley. Born in Jalandhar, Punjab, he trained as an engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and graduated in 1968. He joined the forest service the following year. His engineering background clearly influenced the way he approached conservation. He paid close attention to methods, evidence, and whether a plan would work in the field.  His early career in West Bengal brought him into contact with tigers, rhinos, elephants, and the administrative problems surrounding each of them. At Darjeeling Zoo, he studied animal biology at close range. The experience later contributed to work on captive breeding for snow leopards and the conservation of red pandas in Singalila. In the Sundarbans, he worked on conflict between people and tigers. When newspapers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/vinod-rishi-helped-give-indias-elephants-room-to-roam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/vinod-rishi-helped-give-indias-elephants-room-to-roam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325259</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘My Wild City’ reminds us why cities need nature</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/my-wild-city-reminds-us-why-cities-need-nature/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/my-wild-city-reminds-us-why-cities-need-nature/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 20:12:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike DiGirolamo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mikedigirolamo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/03041149/Parakeet_Delhi-ridge-e1785805820797-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=podcasts&#038;p=325263</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Books, Cities, Conservation, Culture, Development, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Media, urban ecology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In her upcoming book, My Wild City: Finding Nature, Meaning, and Hope in India’s Capital, conservation biologist Neha Sinha takes readers to the hidden and not-so-hidden ecosystems of India’s largest city. And while the book expertly details the biodiversity, I believe its greatest strength lies in connecting with the reader emotionally through powerful stories from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In her upcoming book, My Wild City: Finding Nature, Meaning, and Hope in India’s Capital, conservation biologist Neha Sinha takes readers to the hidden and not-so-hidden ecosystems of India’s largest city. And while the book expertly details the biodiversity, I believe its greatest strength lies in connecting with the reader emotionally through powerful stories from her personal life. On this week’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, Sinha explains why nature in cities isn’t just important from an ecosystem health perspective, but necessary for the emotional life of all people. Sinha describes the difficulty of caring for her ailing father, and how this was the moment she found her favorite tree. While waiting in the hospital, she spotted a semal tree (Bombax ceiba). She tells me this was a turning point for her. “In these kind of difficult situations which are physically and mentally challenging … you look at a tree, and it restores you. It kind of makes you feel that you might have strength that you didn&#8217;t know about. And it&#8217;s also unique to see a tree in a very urban environment because the tree itself is a survivor,” she says. Much of the book takes place during intensive COVID-19 lockdowns in the early 2020s. Sinha describes how nature provided a respite for those seeking connection with others, themselves, and the natural world. “It gave rise to a movement called balcony birding [during] a horrible time in terms of uncertainty, in terms of we didn&#8217;t know what&#8217;s gonna happen&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/my-wild-city-reminds-us-why-cities-need-nature/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/08/my-wild-city-reminds-us-why-cities-need-nature/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325263</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Introduced fish thrive amid Kashmir’s freshwater habitat degradation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/introduced-fish-thrive-amid-kasmirs-freshwater-habitat-degradation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/introduced-fish-thrive-amid-kasmirs-freshwater-habitat-degradation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2026 05:33:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hashim Quraishi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/03052940/Krishansar_Lake_Sonmarg_Kashmir_valley_India_01-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=325152</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fellows, Fish, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Invasive Species, Lakes, Pollution, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Native fish in the lakes and rivers of India’s Kashmir Valley are under increasing pressure from pollution, habitat loss, dam construction and other human activities, a recent review finds. These same threats are also likely giving exotic fish introduced to these freshwater habitats an edge, researchers say. &#8220;Our indigenous fishes are becoming vulnerable, endangered and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Native fish in the lakes and rivers of India’s Kashmir Valley are under increasing pressure from pollution, habitat loss, dam construction and other human activities, a recent review finds. These same threats are also likely giving exotic fish introduced to these freshwater habitats an edge, researchers say. &#8220;Our indigenous fishes are becoming vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered, while the introduced fishes are flourishing,&#8221; Durdana Qazi, co-author of the review and a Ph.D. student at the Faculty of Fisheries, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-K), told Mongabay. Kashmir&#8217;s lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands are home to native cold-water fishes such as snow trout (Schizothorax spp.), locally known as Kasher gaad, the birdi loach (Botia birdi), locally called Rama gurun, and Kashmir catfish (Glyptothorax kashmirensis). Over the past century, however, several non-native species have been introduced to these freshwater ecosystems. These include the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and  rainbow trout  (Oncorhynchus mykiss), which were introduced to improve fish production because they grow quickly, are commercially valuable and are easier to culture. The review finds that several native fish species are already under threat of extinction. The Kashmir catfish is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Two species of snow trouts are classified as vulnerable, while the golden mahseer (Tor putitora) is endangered. The conservation status of some snow trouts, including S. niger, and the birdi loach, haven’t yet been evaluated, meaning we don’t know the details of their population trends or what threats&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/introduced-fish-thrive-amid-kasmirs-freshwater-habitat-degradation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325152</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World Ranger Day: Justice for the protectors of the wild</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/world-ranger-day-justice-for-the-protectors-of-the-wild/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/world-ranger-day-justice-for-the-protectors-of-the-wild/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 03:14:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/25031427/Anton-Mzimba-on-Patrol-with-TPNR-Team-by-Nick-Smith-_-Global-Conservation-Corps-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=325006</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Global, India, South Africa, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rhinos, Wildlife, Wildlife Rangers, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[July 31 is World Ranger Day, which celebrates the work rangers do for the natural world and commemorates those killed or injured in the line of duty. Among them was Anton Mzimba, head ranger at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in South Africa, where he had served for 25 years. On July 26, 2022, Mzimba was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[July 31 is World Ranger Day, which celebrates the work rangers do for the natural world and commemorates those killed or injured in the line of duty. Among them was Anton Mzimba, head ranger at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in South Africa, where he had served for 25 years. On July 26, 2022, Mzimba was shot dead outside his home by two men, allegedly in connection with his rhino protection work. Four years later, the case remains open, with no arrests made. “If a ranger of Anton&#8217;s standing and integrity can be killed for doing work that serves the greater good, and there are still no consequences for the people who perpetrated this crime, what confidence does that inspire in the men and women holding the line on the front lines of conservation?” John Jurko II, lead director of a documentary about Mzimba titled Rhino Man, told Mongabay by email. In 2024, Jurko II launched a “Justice for Anton Mzimba” campaign to help speed up the investigation. Mzimba’s killing is being investigated by the Hawks, a specialized unit within the South African Police Service. Hawks typically investigate organized crime and police murders, but took over Mzimba’s case because of its links to rhino poaching and an ongoing investigation, according to Nico J. Gerber, the police general who heads the Hawks in Mpumalanga province, where Mzimba was killed. Gerber told Mongabay by email the case “has progressed well” and the case file was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions, which decides whether&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/world-ranger-day-justice-for-the-protectors-of-the-wild/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325006</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Listening offers a clearer picture of India’s hidden finless porpoises</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/listening-offers-a-clearer-picture-of-indias-hidden-finless-porpoises/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/listening-offers-a-clearer-picture-of-indias-hidden-finless-porpoises/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 02:54:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31025336/Finless_Porpoise_japan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324999</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biology, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Extinction, Marine, Oceans, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Indo-Pacific finless porpoise is one of India’s smallest cetaceans, inhabits turbid coastal waters, and lacks a dorsal fin — all of which make it a difficult species for researchers to spot. Recent research suggests these animals are far more prevalent in Indian waters than visual sightings suggest, yet they may be disappearing before they [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Indo-Pacific finless porpoise is one of India’s smallest cetaceans, inhabits turbid coastal waters, and lacks a dorsal fin — all of which make it a difficult species for researchers to spot. Recent research suggests these animals are far more prevalent in Indian waters than visual sightings suggest, yet they may be disappearing before they can be accurately counted, reports contributor Mansab Sayyad for Mongabay India. A fully grown Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) measures 1.5-1.9 meters (4.9-6.2 feet) in length and weighs about 30-45 kilograms (77-88 pounds). It’s highly inconspicuous: it has a blunt, rounded head, no dorsal fin, and occupies shallow, muddy waters, surfacing only briefly. But the finless porpoise can be &#8220;heard&#8221;. It navigates turbid waters by echolocation, emitting high-frequency pulses that are unique to the species and far above the range of human hearing — but detectable by specialized sound-recording devices. In 2025, a study counted finless porpoises using both visual and acoustic surveys off the Sindhudurg coast, north of Goa state. The acoustic surveys detected finless porpoises four times more often than visual surveys. Lead author Isha Bopardikar, from the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati and Cornell University’s K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, said relying on visual estimates in Indian waters is a significant drawback due to limited visibility and the animal’s brief surfacing. This means that population assessments that only use conventional visual sightings from boats may be capturing only part of the picture. Understanding the population trends&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/listening-offers-a-clearer-picture-of-indias-hidden-finless-porpoises/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/listening-offers-a-clearer-picture-of-indias-hidden-finless-porpoises/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324999</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>India’s tiger numbers are rising. Protecting their pathways is next</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-tiger-numbers-are-rising-protecting-their-pathways-is-next/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-tiger-numbers-are-rising-protecting-their-pathways-is-next/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2026 13:16:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nirmal Ghosh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/23160557/Banner-image-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324368</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Habitat, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Protected Areas, Roads, Solutions, Tigers, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[RAJAJI TIGER RESERVE, India — It is early morning in late May in the hardwood sal forests of Rajaji Tiger Reserve in north India, and the heat is rising. By afternoon it will reach 39° Celsius (102° Fahrenheit). I am squatting on the forest floor under National Highway 72, a steady rumble of traffic above, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[RAJAJI TIGER RESERVE, India — It is early morning in late May in the hardwood sal forests of Rajaji Tiger Reserve in north India, and the heat is rising. By afternoon it will reach 39° Celsius (102° Fahrenheit). I am squatting on the forest floor under National Highway 72, a steady rumble of traffic above, looking at the footprints of a wild elephant in a patch of moist mud that has thus far survived this scorching summer. This is the Teen Pani (Three Waters) underpass, just 400-odd meters (about 1,300 feet) in length, but good enough to allow everything from mice to elephants to pass safely beneath the highway. And it’s also good enough for T8, a Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) that occasionally walks through the area on his nocturnal perambulations, safe from the speeding vehicles above. T8 was one of five tigers relocated to Rajaji from Corbett Tiger Reserve in May 2025, and now roams extensively, and elusively, across this often human-dominated landscape. The expressway above me dates back just to 2021, and it doesn’t have sound barriers, hence the noise. But it replaced the narrower, heavily trafficked old road running from Delhi to the holy Hindu town of Haridwar and on to Dehradun, the capital of the mountain state of Uttarakhand. T8, one of five tigers translocated from Corbett Tiger Reserve to Rajaji Tiger Reserve, will hopefully use the Teen Pani underpass. This photo was made before his release into Rajaji in 2025. Image courtesy of Rajaji&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indias-tiger-numbers-are-rising-protecting-their-pathways-is-next/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324368</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Father Robert Athickal asked children to protect the living world</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/father-robert-athickal-asked-children-to-protect-the-living-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/father-robert-athickal-asked-children-to-protect-the-living-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 12:32:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/27002049/Father-Robert-Athickal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324535</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation and Religion and Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Culture, Education, Obituary, and Religions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; The first members had no office, no money, and little authority. They were schoolchildren in Patna, a crowded city on the Ganges, worried about the trees being cut around them. They met after class, visited other schools, planted saplings, and spoke to anyone willing to listen. Some traveled by bicycle to carry their message [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; The first members had no office, no money, and little authority. They were schoolchildren in Patna, a crowded city on the Ganges, worried about the trees being cut around them. They met after class, visited other schools, planted saplings, and spoke to anyone willing to listen. Some traveled by bicycle to carry their message farther. Their organization had a name, Tarumitra, meaning “Friends of Trees,” though for a time it consisted mainly of students and a small circle of adults helping them. Among those adults was a Jesuit priest who believed that children could be trusted with serious work. Father Robert Athickal, who died on July 19th, aged 73, spent nearly four decades developing that idea. From its beginnings in Patna in 1988, Tarumitra grew into one of India’s largest student environmental movements. It established groups in schools and colleges across the country, trained generations of young campaigners, and created a reserve for threatened plants from the Gangetic plain. &nbsp; Athickal had few of the resources usually available to someone building a national organization. There was no large funder behind the project and no government mandate. He relied on his position as a Jesuit teacher, the cooperation of schools, and his ability to persuade students and adults that local environmental problems deserved their attention. Tarumitra’s early campaigns were designed to be practical and easy to reproduce. Students cleaned neglected plots, planted roadside gardens, and turned former garbage dumps into what they called “Oxygen Belts.” Other school groups could follow&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/father-robert-athickal-asked-children-to-protect-the-living-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324535</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At least 50 people killed and 700,000 displaced by India floods after monsoon rains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/at-least-50-people-killed-and-700000-displaced-by-india-floods-after-monsoon-rains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/at-least-50-people-killed-and-700000-displaced-by-india-floods-after-monsoon-rains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2026 13:05:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/24125252/AP26205298253380-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324508</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, and Global Environmental Crisis]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Flooding in India’s northeastern Assam state has killed at least 50 people and displaced 700,000 after days of heavy monsoon rain that overflowed the Brahmaputra River, officials said Friday. The river, one of Asia’s largest that originates in China’s Tibet region and flows about 900 kilometers (560 miles) through Assam, flooded [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Flooding in India’s northeastern Assam state has killed at least 50 people and displaced 700,000 after days of heavy monsoon rain that overflowed the Brahmaputra River, officials said Friday. The river, one of Asia’s largest that originates in China’s Tibet region and flows about 900 kilometers (560 miles) through Assam, flooded villages, swept away homes and forced nearly 300,000 people into government-run relief camps, officials said. Authorities provided food and relief supplies to flood victims including airdrops from helicopters, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Nearly 900 villages were submerged and more than 7,000 homes were without electricity, he said. Police, disaster response teams and local volunteers were working to rescue stranded residents and deliver essential supplies to flood-hit communities, officials said. Jatin Gogoi, a 52-year-old farmer from Nazira, said the rising waters swept away his bamboo-walled home and destroyed his livelihood. “I lost all my cattle. My five-member family and I have nowhere to go, so we are taking shelter in a relative’s home,” he said over the phone. Flooding on Thursday evening disrupted parts of Guwahati, Assam’s capital with about 2 million residents, as submerged roads left commuters stranded for hours. “I had to stay overnight at my office. The roads were filled with water, some waist deep,” said Sudip Mazumdar, a journalist in Guwahati. Experts say human-caused climate change is intensifying South Asia’s monsoons, which traditionally run from June to September and again from October to December. The rains, once predictable, now arrive in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/at-least-50-people-killed-and-700000-displaced-by-india-floods-after-monsoon-rains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/at-least-50-people-killed-and-700000-displaced-by-india-floods-after-monsoon-rains/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324508</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare alpine herb confirmed in India after 158 years</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/rare-alpine-herb-confirmed-in-india-after-158-years/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/rare-alpine-herb-confirmed-in-india-after-158-years/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2026 03:59:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/24035510/Cyananthus-hookeri-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324458</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Plants, Rediscovered Species, Research, Species, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the rugged, high-altitude meadows of the Eastern Himalayas in India, researchers have confirmed the presence of a tiny plant with purple-blue flowers, last documented in the country more than 150 years ago. The plant, Cyananthus hookeri, was previously recorded in India by British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker who collected some specimens from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the rugged, high-altitude meadows of the Eastern Himalayas in India, researchers have confirmed the presence of a tiny plant with purple-blue flowers, last documented in the country more than 150 years ago. The plant, Cyananthus hookeri, was previously recorded in India by British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker who collected some specimens from the northeastern state of Sikkim in 1867. Last year, a research team located the species at an altitude of 3,600 meters (11,811 feet) in Chuna Valley in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh state, also in northeast India. This milestone, documented in a recent update in Oryx, marks the first confirmed record of the species in Arunachal Pradesh and the first record from India in 158 years, the researchers write. Sudhanshu Sekhar Dash, a senior scientist on the research team from the Botanical Survey of India, told Mongabay over email that the rediscovery of Cyananthus hookeri “is an exciting and significant botanical finding.” “What impressed us most was that such a distinctive species had remained undetected despite extensive botanical exploration in the eastern Himalaya,” Dash said. “This highlights how remote alpine ecosystems still harbor poorly documented plant diversity.” C. hookeri is a small, short plant that grows in mat-like clumps. It has densely hairy stems, and striking purple-blue flowers with hairy throats. Dash said the plant is a highly specialized herb that’s adapted to harsh mountain climates. “It creates robust, hairy cushions that protect it from the severe mountain conditions,” he said. Despite the excitement of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/rare-alpine-herb-confirmed-in-india-after-158-years/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/rare-alpine-herb-confirmed-in-india-after-158-years/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324458</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In southern India, beekeeping helps Indigenous women earn more</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/in-southern-india-beekeeping-helps-indigenous-women-earn-more/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/in-southern-india-beekeeping-helps-indigenous-women-earn-more/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 07:11:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/22071053/Nilambur_UNESCO_240525-10-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324274</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Animals, Bees, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Food, Indigenous Peoples, Insects, Natural Resources, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A beekeeping initiative is enabling women in India’s Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot that runs parallel to India&#8217;s west coast, to strengthen their livelihoods with more reliable honey harvests. The 50 women are part of the Women for Bees project, launched in India in April 2025 by UNESCO in partnership with local nonprofit the Keystone [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A beekeeping initiative is enabling women in India’s Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot that runs parallel to India&#8217;s west coast, to strengthen their livelihoods with more reliable honey harvests. The 50 women are part of the Women for Bees project, launched in India in April 2025 by UNESCO in partnership with local nonprofit the Keystone Foundation. The project provides training and equipment to women from the Irula, Kurumba and Kattunayaka Indigenous communities across the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, reports Mongabay-India’s Arathi Menon. Traditionally, many of these communities were skilled wild honey hunters, a practice that is often risky and increasingly restricted by forest protection laws. Managed beekeeping, using hive boxes, offers a safer, more predictable alternative. The women are trained to rear the native Asian honey bee (Apis cerana indica), which is more resistant to local diseases and parasites than the commercially dominant European honey bee (Apis mellifera). A 2023 study comparing the two species suggests that, while the life cycles are generally similar, A. cerana colonies are better able to defend themselves against threats, diseases and disruptions. The economic impact of the honey harvests from the hive boxes has been immediate, providing many participants with their first taste of financial independence. Neelavathi, an Irula woman from Tamil Nadu state, has used her earnings to support her family and purchase household goods. “Since I am the beekeeper at home, my family lets me keep the income for my own needs,” she told Mongabay-India. Malavika Jayakrishnan, who leads&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/in-southern-india-beekeeping-helps-indigenous-women-earn-more/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324274</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tourism and infrastructure threaten habitat of India&#8217;s Himalayan salamanders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tourism-and-infrastructure-threaten-habitat-of-indias-himalayan-salamanders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tourism-and-infrastructure-threaten-habitat-of-indias-himalayan-salamanders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 23:38:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20233548/vlcsnap-2026-07-17-15h06m38s727-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=324167</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mountains, Tourism, Travel, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every monsoon season, in the misty hills of Darjeeling, in West Bengal, eastern India, the elusive Himalayan salamander emerges from beneath the forest floor. The ancient amphibians (Tylototriton himalayanus) engage in a delicate dance, a mating ritual that lasts up to 90 minutes before they attach their eggs to semi-submerged vegetation, such as denseflower knotweed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every monsoon season, in the misty hills of Darjeeling, in West Bengal, eastern India, the elusive Himalayan salamander emerges from beneath the forest floor. The ancient amphibians (Tylototriton himalayanus) engage in a delicate dance, a mating ritual that lasts up to 90 minutes before they attach their eggs to semi-submerged vegetation, such as denseflower knotweed (Persicaria glabra). The survival of the next generation of salamanders is, however, increasingly at risk as their critical wetland habitats disappear, report contributors Subhrajit Sen and Soham Das for Mongabay. According to Koushik Deuti of the Zoological Survey of India, the salamander’s future is tethered to small, shrinking water bodies, known locally as pokhris. &#8220;Most of these small wetland areas have been converted due to excessive housing and tourism in the Darjeeling hills, and these wetlands have been drained and there is no water,” Deuti tells Mongabay. “So, this conservation of the Himalayan salamander is directly related to the conservation of these small wetlands.&#8221; Beyond physical habitat loss, remaining ponds are contaminated by wastewater and detergents. Infrastructure also poses a direct physical threat: New roads frequently divide migration paths and salamanders are crushed by vehicles as they attempt to reach breeding sites. Nirmal Tamang, a resident of Namthing Pokhri, says locals have requested culverts to allow safe passage for the amphibians but none have been built so far. India’s first salamander sanctuary, established in 1985, serves as a cautionary tale. Once a thriving habitat, officials built tourist infrastructure in the area which made it impossible&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/tourism-and-infrastructure-threaten-habitat-of-indias-himalayan-salamanders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324167</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientific &#038; traditional knowledge are key for effective &#038; community-centered conservation (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientific-traditional-knowledge-are-key-for-effective-community-centered-conservation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientific-traditional-knowledge-are-key-for-effective-community-centered-conservation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 15:52:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charudutt Mishra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20151938/Tsetsen-Collared-Snow-Leopard-Tost-Mongolia-by-Lkhagvasumberei-Tomorsukh-Snow-Leopard-Trust-SLCF-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324063</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bhutan, Central Asia, China, Global, Himalayas, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Commentary, Mammals, Snow Leopards, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of women often climbs steep cliffs to set up camera traps for snow leopards around Kibber in Spiti Valley, India. The senior women know the landscape intimately, like what areas the animals use and where cameras are likely to capture movement. They have walked these mountains all their lives and know how to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A group of women often climbs steep cliffs to set up camera traps for snow leopards around Kibber in Spiti Valley, India. The senior women know the landscape intimately, like what areas the animals use and where cameras are likely to capture movement. They have walked these mountains all their lives and know how to navigate the most rugged and inaccessible terrain safely, even in snow and ice. This is a kind of access that visiting researchers simply cannot replicate.  Back at the village, they gather around two computer screens. The younger women, who are typically more adept at handling technology, organize and sort the photographic data. Together, they identify individual snow leopards from their coat patterns, building scientific monitoring skills over time. Their work contributes directly to regional and global assessment and monitoring of snow leopard populations. Women hold up their camera traps after completing training. Image courtesy of Kibber women/NCF/HPFD. Who are these scientists conducting camera-trap monitoring of snow leopards? They are not trained researchers. They are women from the Indigenous community of Kibber in Spiti Valley. This work is done alongside their other chores: Livestock rearing, farming, household responsibilities, and community work. They do this, because they are interested in knowing how many snow leopards they are helping protect on their community lands; they take pride in learning research techniques; and they see themselves as part of the global effort to study and protect them.  Lobzang Yangchen, the coordinator of the Kibber team of 11 women, says,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientific-traditional-knowledge-are-key-for-effective-community-centered-conservation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324063</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>India launches first hydrogen-powered train built in the country to expand clean energy on railways</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/india-launches-first-hydrogen-powered-train-built-in-the-country-to-expand-clean-energy-on-railways/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/india-launches-first-hydrogen-powered-train-built-in-the-country-to-expand-clean-energy-on-railways/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 17:34:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/17173232/AP26198284464871-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=323924</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Clean Energy, Development, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, and Transportation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NEW DELHI (AP) — India rolled out its first domestically built, hydrogen-powered train on Friday, a move aimed at expanding the use of clean energy in its vast rail network. The train made up of two hydrogen-powered driving cars and eight passenger coaches will operate in the northern state of Haryana. It can run at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NEW DELHI (AP) — India rolled out its first domestically built, hydrogen-powered train on Friday, a move aimed at expanding the use of clean energy in its vast rail network. The train made up of two hydrogen-powered driving cars and eight passenger coaches will operate in the northern state of Haryana. It can run at speeds of up to 75 kph (47 mph) and carry a maximum of about 2,600 passengers, railway officials said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the “NaMo Green Rail” at Haryana’s Jind railway station on Friday. “NaMo” is a common abbreviation of Modi&#8217;s first and last names. “This is a very significant day in the direction of self-reliant India and sustainable development,” Modi said in a post on X. The pilot project includes hydrogen storage and refueling infrastructure to test the use of the technology in India’s rail network, according to officials. Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen, producing water vapor as the only direct emission. Several other countries have introduced hydrogen-powered trains as an alternative to diesel on routes that are not fully electrified. The launch is part of India’s broader efforts to develop green hydrogen and reduce carbon emissions. India has set a target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2070, with Indian Railways exploring hydrogen as an alternative to diesel on some routes. By Associated Press Banner image: India Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off India&#8217;s first indigenously built hydrogen-powered train named the &#8220;NaMo Green Rail,&#8221; at Jind, in the Indian state of Haryana, Friday,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/india-launches-first-hydrogen-powered-train-built-in-the-country-to-expand-clean-energy-on-railways/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323924</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rivers are not just water bodies: Interview with the Waterman of Odisha</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/rivers-are-not-just-water-bodies-interview-with-the-waterman-of-odisha/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/rivers-are-not-just-water-bodies-interview-with-the-waterman-of-odisha/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 15:07:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stephin Thomas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/17095646/Fishing_In_Orissa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323831</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Environment, Fellows, Freshwater, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mongabay.org, Natural Resources, Rivers, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rivers are not just seen as water bodies in India, they are considered religious. From taking holy dips (a sacred act of faith in Hinduism, also called snan) for spiritual purification to scattering ashes after one&#8217;s death, it all starts and ends with rivers. While some see them as  religious spaces, others consider them recreational [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rivers are not just seen as water bodies in India, they are considered religious. From taking holy dips (a sacred act of faith in Hinduism, also called snan) for spiritual purification to scattering ashes after one&#8217;s death, it all starts and ends with rivers. While some see them as  religious spaces, others consider them recreational spaces. For some, there is no life without rivers. But others have forgotten to see how deeply connected rivers are to everyday lives. With rivers like the Ganga (considered the holiest river in the country) drying up and urban Indian cities like Bengaluru facing water crises, Ranjan Panda, popularly known as the Waterman of Odisha, has spent more than three decades working on water conservation and climate advocacy closely with communities in Odisha, eastern India. “I want to be a living Earth citizen and not a dead Earth citizen,&#8221; Panda says. Panda&#8217;s work is especially important at a time when rural India faces groundwater depletion. India&#8217;s share of the world&#8217;s population is roughly 18%, while its share of renewable freshwater resources is only about 4%, a gap that increases the consequences of river degradation. Panda, a trained sociologist, has written widely on water, disasters and climate change-related mental health challenges affecting coastal communities in Odisha. He shares his insights on issues like coastal cities, displacement and the effects of climate change on communities. He is not just a researcher but has also been a journalist for a decade of his early life. He has been&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/rivers-are-not-just-water-bodies-interview-with-the-waterman-of-odisha/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323831</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In India’s Western Ghats, sacred groves are better at growing future forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-indias-western-ghats-sacred-groves-are-better-at-growing-future-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-indias-western-ghats-sacred-groves-are-better-at-growing-future-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2026 16:07:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/04133403/Female_Great_Hornbill_carrying_food_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323594</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Fragmentation, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Reserves, Religions, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the villages of India&#8217;s Western Ghats, some of the oldest and tallest trees do not grow inside a national park. They grow in sacred groves, small patches of old, mostly untouched forest that local communities have protected for generations, because they believe the trees belong to their deities and ancestors. A new study published [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the villages of India&#8217;s Western Ghats, some of the oldest and tallest trees do not grow inside a national park. They grow in sacred groves, small patches of old, mostly untouched forest that local communities have protected for generations, because they believe the trees belong to their deities and ancestors. A new study published in the journal PLOS One found that young trees regenerate far more successfully in these groves. Seeds dropped by fruit-eating birds are much likelier to survive and grow there than in surrounding farms and villages. India has more than 100,000 sacred groves, which are recognized as essential to community-based conservation. The Western Ghats is a mountain range that runs about 1,600 kilometers (nearly 1,000 miles) down India’s west coast, across six states. The study began there by chance. A team from the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF), which runs a giant-tree program, had signed up a man in Vanzole village with a huge Terminalia bellirica (beheda) tree in his yard. Visiting, they saw giant trees all over the village. “It sparked a series of questions,” study co-author Kevin Matteson, associate director of Project Dragonfly at Miami University in the U.S. state of Ohio, told Mongabay in an email. How many giant trees were hiding in plain sight, and were birds like hornbills really using trees in such busy places? To find out, the team walked the whole village with two local experts, Namdev and Anant Shivgan, who mapped the land, identified the trees and led&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-indias-western-ghats-sacred-groves-are-better-at-growing-future-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323594</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Restoring Kashmir’s lakes one community at a time: Interview with Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/restoring-kashmirs-lakes-one-community-at-a-time-interview-with-manzoor-ahmad-wangnoo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/restoring-kashmirs-lakes-one-community-at-a-time-interview-with-manzoor-ahmad-wangnoo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 20:40:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hashim Quraishi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10173913/Photo-1.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323118</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Fellows, Freshwater, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Lakes, Mongabay.org, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The lakes and wetlands of Kashmir in northwestern India have long sustained the valley&#8217;s biodiversity, agriculture, tourism and water security. But over recent decades, these freshwater ecosystems have come under increasing pressure from pollution, encroachment and rapid urbanization. A recent government audit found that nearly half (315 of the 697) of lakes recorded across Jammu [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The lakes and wetlands of Kashmir in northwestern India have long sustained the valley&#8217;s biodiversity, agriculture, tourism and water security. But over recent decades, these freshwater ecosystems have come under increasing pressure from pollution, encroachment and rapid urbanization. A recent government audit found that nearly half (315 of the 697) of lakes recorded across Jammu and Kashmir have disappeared, while another 203 have shrunk, raising concerns about the region&#8217;s ecological health and long-term water security. Against this backdrop, Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo has spent more than two decades trying to reverse the decline of Kashmir&#8217;s freshwater ecosystem. The businessman-turned-conservationist has become one of the leading voices for protecting Kashmir&#8217;s lakes, wetlands and springs. Through the nonprofit Nigeen Lake Conservation Organisation (NLCO) and its flagship Mission Ehsaas, he has helped mobilize residents, volunteers and government agencies around the restoration of degraded water bodies, including the Khushalsar-Gilsar wetland system, two interconnected urban lakes in the heart of Srinagar. Conservation is not just about cleaning lakes for Wangnoo. It&#8217;s the reestablishment of a relationship between individuals and nature, a relationship he describes as Ehsaas, a word in Urdu and Kashmiri meaning &#8220;awareness&#8221; or &#8220;realization.&#8221; Nigeen Lake Conservation Organisation team visit to a lake. Image courtesy of NLCO. During an in-person interview with Mongabay, Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo discussed his conservation journey, the significance of wetlands, the challenges facing these ecosystems such as pollution and encroachment, and his optimism for the future of these wetlands as a result of community stewardship. The following interview conducted in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/restoring-kashmirs-lakes-one-community-at-a-time-interview-with-manzoor-ahmad-wangnoo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Heat and pests are making it hard to grow a gourd that’s critical for Indian music</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/heat-and-pests-are-making-it-hard-to-grow-a-gourd-thats-critical-for-indian-music/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/heat-and-pests-are-making-it-hard-to-grow-a-gourd-thats-critical-for-indian-music/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2026 12:35:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/02122916/Tanpura-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=322403</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Crops, Culture, Environment, Impact Of Climate Change, and Natural Resources]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The tanpura is synonymous with Indian classical music. The sitar-like musical instrument has a long, wooden neck with four strings attached to a bulbous base that acts as the sound chamber. This base is traditionally made from the fruit of a vining gourd, but excessive heat, unseasonal rains, pests and diseases are an increasing threat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The tanpura is synonymous with Indian classical music. The sitar-like musical instrument has a long, wooden neck with four strings attached to a bulbous base that acts as the sound chamber. This base is traditionally made from the fruit of a vining gourd, but excessive heat, unseasonal rains, pests and diseases are an increasing threat to gourd crops in India. That’s put the future of both gourd farmers and the instrument at risk, according to a video produced by Mongabay India. To make a tanpura, one must first select a gourd of a suitable size and shape, says tanpura maker Mohsin Mirajkar in the video. The variety of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) grown especially for musical instruments such as the tanpura must be 53-60 inches (135-152 centimeters) in circumference. Musicians prefer larger gourds as they have better resonance. But in recent years, gourds have gotten smaller, Mirajkar says, “Some people complained that the sound was not right.” It’s not just the gourd’s size that matters. Sagar Hazri, a gourd farmer, says the shell should also be thick and heavy, and, when dried, should make a clear “tong tong” sound. “This is the kind we can sell,” he says. “The thin, lower-quality shells make a duller &#8216;dhop dhop&#8217; sound. They get damaged easily. We have to reject those gourds.” The gourd, which is only harvested once a year, during the peak of the Indian summer, is increasingly under threat from climate change. Gourds grown especially for musical instruments such as the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/heat-and-pests-are-making-it-hard-to-grow-a-gourd-thats-critical-for-indian-music/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322403</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mel Sunquist, field biologist and mentor to generations of conservationists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/mel-sunquist-field-biologist-and-mentor-to-generations-of-conservationists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/mel-sunquist-field-biologist-and-mentor-to-generations-of-conservationists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2026 23:37:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/28082636/MelSunquist_2000px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321928</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Carnivores, Cats, Mammals, Obituary, Sloths, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the 1970s, studying wild tigers still involved more nerve than equipment. A biologist could not rely on camera traps, GPS collars, or satellite-linked data. To understand where a tiger went, what it killed, how far it ranged, and how its territory overlapped with others, someone had to follow it through forests and grasslands with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the 1970s, studying wild tigers still involved more nerve than equipment. A biologist could not rely on camera traps, GPS collars, or satellite-linked data. To understand where a tiger went, what it killed, how far it ranged, and how its territory overlapped with others, someone had to follow it through forests and grasslands with a receiver, a notebook, and enough judgment to stay useful without getting in the way. Radio collars began to change what was possible. They made the movements of secretive carnivores traceable in a new way. For tigers, jaguars, pumas, ocelots, and other animals that were rarely seen directly, they allowed field biologists to replace guesses with records. The work still depended on patience, careful handling, and a capacity to keep thinking when weather, roads, animals, or people refused to cooperate. Mel Sunquist in India. Courtesy of Ullas Karanth Melvin Eugene Sunquist, who died on May 9th at the age of 85, belonged to that generation of field scientists. Born in Morris, Minnesota, in 1941, he became one of the leading biologists of wild cats and large carnivores. He worked in Asia, Latin America, Panama, and Florida, and spent much of his academic life at the University of Florida, where he taught wildlife ecology and conservation from 1987 until his retirement in 2014. To students and colleagues he was “Mel,” a name that suited his manner: steady, spare with words, dry in humor, and difficult to unsettle. Following tigers His best-known early work was on tigers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/mel-sunquist-field-biologist-and-mentor-to-generations-of-conservationists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321928</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>India’s fishers confront homegrown ‘ghost gear’ problem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/indias-fishers-confront-homegrown-ghost-gear-problem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/indias-fishers-confront-homegrown-ghost-gear-problem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2026 15:21:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robert Bociaga]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/26113259/IMG_5502-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321907</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Habitat Degradation, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KOCHI, India — In the early light at Thoppumpady fishing harbor in the city of Kochi, coils of blue and green nylon nets lay heaped on the concrete docks, stiff with salt after a long night at sea. Many had been patched and repatched so often that they were barely holding together. Nets too damaged [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KOCHI, India — In the early light at Thoppumpady fishing harbor in the city of Kochi, coils of blue and green nylon nets lay heaped on the concrete docks, stiff with salt after a long night at sea. Many had been patched and repatched so often that they were barely holding together. Nets too damaged to mend are often cut loose offshore. Once they sink, few are ever recovered. Across India’s west coast, lost fishing gear known as “ghost gear” has become a significant source of marine pollution. Nets vanish whole or in fragments, slipping into the waters of the Arabian Sea where they continue trapping fish, turtles and other marine life long after fishers abandon them. India operates one of the world&#8217;s largest marine fishing sectors, supporting an estimated 14.5 million livelihoods along more than 7,500 kilometers (4,660 miles) of coastline. While national estimates are scarce, a 2022 study in the southwestern state of Kerala, where Kochi is located, found that fishers lost, abandoned or discarded about 21% of their fishing gear annually. That’s more than 10 times the global average of 1.82% estimated by another study, which highlights the scale of material entering India’s marine environment. Despite growing concern among researchers and conservationists, India lacks a systematic way to track, retrieve or recycle lost fishing gear, as well as accessible mechanisms to collect and safely dispose of end-of-life nets and other equipment before they are discarded at sea. The government regulates fisheries tightly in many respects — from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/indias-fishers-confront-homegrown-ghost-gear-problem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321907</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community-led initiatives safeguard marbled cats in northeast India</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/community-led-initiatives-safeguard-marbled-cats-in-northeast-india/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/community-led-initiatives-safeguard-marbled-cats-in-northeast-india/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 09:47:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/17094207/1.-Marbled-cat-captured-on-camera-trap-in-Nagaland.-PC-Giridhar-Malla-e1780642216526-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=321347</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Cats, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Governance, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Monitoring, Research, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In India’s northeast, local communities are leading the charge for the protection of the marbled cat, one of Asia’s most poorly studied small wild cat species, reports contributor Barasha Das for Mongabay India. The marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. However, not much is known about its population and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In India’s northeast, local communities are leading the charge for the protection of the marbled cat, one of Asia’s most poorly studied small wild cat species, reports contributor Barasha Das for Mongabay India. The marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. However, not much is known about its population and movement patterns because it isn’t a species many researchers specifically set out to study. It is “often studied as part of broader wild cat groups rather than through species-specific research,” Jimmy Borah, deputy director of the legal and advocacy division at conservation NGO Aaranyak, told Mongabay India. Most of what is known about the cat is from camera trap records, Borah added. One such camera trap study in Southeast Asia found that only a small proportion of the marbled cat’s range in the region lies within protected areas.   Similarly, conservationists with the Eastern Himalayas Marbled Cat Project (EHMCP) used camera traps to confirm the presence of the marbled cat in parts of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya, finding that most habitats of the wild cat extend beyond protected areas. “It became clear that if conservation efforts are to be effective, we need to focus on sensitizing communities living around these forests because they interact more frequently with these species but are less aware of them,” Giridhar Malla, founder of the EHMCP, told Mongabay India.  The EHMCP conducted awareness programs in villages near the cat’s habitat and engaged local youth and hunters&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/community-led-initiatives-safeguard-marbled-cats-in-northeast-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321347</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The search for climate-resilient coffee: Diversifying beyond Arabica and Robusta</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-search-for-climate-resilient-coffee-diversifying-beyond-arabica-and-robusta/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-search-for-climate-resilient-coffee-diversifying-beyond-arabica-and-robusta/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2026 08:41:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/11084114/IMG_1573-1200x800-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=320973</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate, and Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and increased pest pressure reduce yields and quality of Arabica and Robusta coffees, the two species that account for nearly all commercial production, researchers and growers are turning to overlooked coffee species for a more climate-resilient future, Mongabay-India contributor Meena Menon reports. Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (C. canephora) have [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and increased pest pressure reduce yields and quality of Arabica and Robusta coffees, the two species that account for nearly all commercial production, researchers and growers are turning to overlooked coffee species for a more climate-resilient future, Mongabay-India contributor Meena Menon reports. Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (C. canephora) have long dominated the global coffee industry. Other coffee species such as Excelsa (C. dewevrei) were previously relegated to the margins of coffee plantations as boundary markers or shade trees in India. Akshay Dashrath, co-founder of the South India Coffee Company (SICC), is leading efforts to re-evaluate Excelsa for its potential resilience. According to the SICC, a British planter introduced Excelsa to India in the late 1800s as an alternative to Arabica. However, it grew tall and dense, making it an impractical crop to manage and commercialize. Dashrath’s farm in Kodagu district in Karnataka state has 60-year-old Excelsa trees that his family preserved, which are now a source for trials aimed at scaling production. His company is collaborating with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to do the research. Aaron Davis, a senior research leader at the Royal Botanic Gardens, said that the dominance of Arabica and Robusta in the global markets could see major disruptions in the next decade or so from other coffee crop species adapted to altered climates. Excelsa, native to parts of Tropical and West Africa as well as Southeast Asia, is already being scaled in Uganda and Vietnam. According to Kiwuka Catherine,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-search-for-climate-resilient-coffee-diversifying-beyond-arabica-and-robusta/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320973</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia wants its tigers back. So it plans to import Bengal tigers from India</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/cambodia-wants-its-tigers-back-so-it-plans-to-import-bengal-tigers-from-india/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/cambodia-wants-its-tigers-back-so-it-plans-to-import-bengal-tigers-from-india/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2026 04:40:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/01140204/Bengal_tiger_Panthera_tigris_tigris_female_3_crop-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=320970</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia, India, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Governance, Mammals, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Cambodia is preparing to reintroduce tigers after nearly two decades without a confirmed wild population. The plan is ambitious, and many of its basic assumptions remain contested, report Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon and Mongabay contributor Andy Ball. The [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Cambodia is preparing to reintroduce tigers after nearly two decades without a confirmed wild population. The plan is ambitious, and many of its basic assumptions remain contested, report Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon and Mongabay contributor Andy Ball. The last confirmed tiger sighting in Cambodia came from a camera trap in 2007. By 2016, tigers had been declared extinct in the country. The animals were lost after years of poaching, snaring, habitat degradation, and trade in tiger parts. Those pressures remain. Cambodia’s Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) was declared functionally extinct in 2023, and snares continue to threaten large mammals. The proposed reintroduction would use Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris) from India, released into Kravanh National Park in the Cardamom Mountains. Supporters of the program see a chance to restore an apex predator to one of Cambodia’s largest remaining forest landscapes. India has rebuilt its own tiger numbers over several decades, and Cambodia has approved a tiger action plan. A soft-release enclosure has already been built. The unresolved questions are ecological and political. Tigers need abundant prey. One 2020 study found only a low probability that the proposed landscape could support 25 adult tigers, though it might support a small founder population of five tigers. However, small populations face inbreeding risk and require sustained management. Wild pigs in the landscape may form much of the prey base, but experts disagree on whether current prey data&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/cambodia-wants-its-tigers-back-so-it-plans-to-import-bengal-tigers-from-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320970</doi>				</item>
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					<title>Rhinos reintroduced to Indian park are breeding, but still need support</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/rhinos-reintroduced-to-indian-park-are-breeding-but-still-need-support/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/rhinos-reintroduced-to-indian-park-are-breeding-but-still-need-support/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2026 10:26:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/10101915/A-rhino-mother-and-calf-in-Manas-National-Park.-Image-courtesy-of-Deba-Kumar-Dutta-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=320901</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Poaching, Reintroductions, Research, Rhinos, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Manas National Park in India’s Himalayan foothills was once home to some 100 Indian rhinos, almost all of which were wiped out by poaching by the late 1990s. After a campaign to reintroduce them, the population is growing and several calves have been born. But their recovery still needs active support, reports contributor Sneha Mahale [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Manas National Park in India’s Himalayan foothills was once home to some 100 Indian rhinos, almost all of which were wiped out by poaching by the late 1990s. After a campaign to reintroduce them, the population is growing and several calves have been born. But their recovery still needs active support, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India. Researchers followed the fate of 42 greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) reintroduced to Manas in the state of Assam from 2006-2021. The rhinos arrived there in one of two ways: 22 wild rhinos were translocated from other protected areas in Assam, and 20 injured or orphaned rhinos were rescued and rehabilitated at a center, then released into Manas. The rhino reintroduction program is showing hopeful signs, the decade-long study found. Between 2012 and 2022, the researchers recorded 35 rhino births in Manas: 19 calves from translocated females, and nine from rehabilitated individuals. First-generation rhino females, born in Manas, also birthed five calves; the mothers of two more calves remained unidentified. “Breeding and calving are among the most important indicators that reintroduced rhinoceroses have adapted well to their new environment,” study lead author Deba Kumar Dutta, a wildlife biologist and member of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay India. The study also found the two groups of rhinos settled in different parts of the national park. Translocated rhinos spread out over a larger area, often using remote or less-disturbed parts of the park, while&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/rhinos-reintroduced-to-indian-park-are-breeding-but-still-need-support/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320901</doi>				</item>
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					<title>Bengal tigers in Cambodia? Reintroduction plan raises questions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bengal-tigers-in-cambodia-reintroduction-plan-raises-questions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bengal-tigers-in-cambodia-reintroduction-plan-raises-questions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jun 2026 07:15:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallArathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/01111604/Tigers-Cambodia_Mongabay_Andy-Ball-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320383</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, India, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
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											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sat Born, 56, recalls freezing at the forest’s entrance when he first saw it. “Its head was this big,” he says, wide-eyed, spreading his hands to show the animal’s size. Recollecting that eventful morning in 2001, Born, who now farms bananas and durians, retraces his steps from his home in Trapeang Chheu Trav village in [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Sat Born, 56, recalls freezing at the forest’s entrance when he first saw it. “Its head was this big,” he says, wide-eyed, spreading his hands to show the animal’s size. Recollecting that eventful morning in 2001, Born, who now farms bananas and durians, retraces his steps from his home in Trapeang Chheu Trav village in the rainforests of the Cardamom Mountains in southwestern Cambodia. As he walks up a hill rising above the forest canopy, he points to a spot on the road. “It’s over here. When I saw the tiger, it was 9 a.m.,” he says. “I was really shocked … I couldn’t tell if the tiger was coming towards me.” In 2007, just six years after this fleeting encounter, Cambodia’s last confirmed tiger sighting was logged by a camera trap. In the 1990s, the country was estimated to host hundreds of wild Indochinese tigers, but decades of poaching pressure took a heavy toll. In 2016, tigers (Panthera tigris) were formally declared extinct in Cambodia. That may be set to change with the imminent translocation of a small population of Bengal tigers from India. Although many reintroductions are success stories, this one raises some serious concerns. Why would Cambodia bring in a nonnative tiger? Have the people living in these areas been adequately consulted? Will these translocated tigers be able to adapt to this new habitat? Is there enough prey to sustain them, and if not, how will the government address predation when hungry cats feed on livestock? With&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bengal-tigers-in-cambodia-reintroduction-plan-raises-questions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320383</doi>				</item>
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					<title>The global trafficking ring preying on a rare golden monkey from Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/the-global-trafficking-ring-preying-on-a-rare-golden-monkey-from-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/the-global-trafficking-ring-preying-on-a-rare-golden-monkey-from-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jun 2026 10:15:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda WenzelMarco Mantovani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/01150425/1.-photo_togo_traffic_CREDIT_EAGLE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320300</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, India, Latin America, South America, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Law, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
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											<description>
							<![CDATA[Smuggled in cars, aboard airplanes, or on sailboats crossing the Atlantic Ocean, tiny golden-furred monkeys are being wrenched from their Brazilian forest homes and trafficked overseas by sophisticated criminal networks. These golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) are moved through Latin America and Africa, with strong indications that they are bound for the Asian black market. [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Smuggled in cars, aboard airplanes, or on sailboats crossing the Atlantic Ocean, tiny golden-furred monkeys are being wrenched from their Brazilian forest homes and trafficked overseas by sophisticated criminal networks. These golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) are moved through Latin America and Africa, with strong indications that they are bound for the Asian black market. Collectors are willing to pay as much as $100,000 for this friendly animal, which is one of Brazil’s conservation symbols. Some of the tamarins die before reaching their destination. Those that survive may end their journey emaciated, sick and sometimes, mutilated. “It is frightening in the sense that [tamarin trafficking] is a threat we believed was relatively under control,” said Luis Paulo Ferraz, executive secretary of the Golden Lion Tamarin Association (AMLD), which has led an international effort to preserve the species since the 1990s. In recent years, his team has increasingly encountered people venturing deep into the forests of Rio de Janeiro state to capture these animals. “Our field team started coming face to face with these guys, to the point that I became deeply concerned about having my staff working in areas where criminals were operating.” The golden lion tamarin, featured on Brazil’s 20-real banknote, drew the attention of the Brazilian Federal Police in 2023 after seven of these monkeys and 29 Lear’s macaws (Anodorhynchus leari), another species native to Brazil, were seized at a captive facility in neighboring Suriname. In February 2024, authorities in Togo were startled to find the same two&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/the-global-trafficking-ring-preying-on-a-rare-golden-monkey-from-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320300</doi>				</item>
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					<title>Sri Lanka flamingo deaths raise concerns over power infrastructure in wetlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/sri-lanka-flamingo-deaths-raise-concerns-over-power-infrastructure-in-wetlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/sri-lanka-flamingo-deaths-raise-concerns-over-power-infrastructure-in-wetlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2026 16:25:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/29131953/655002404_1516429923470661_2300597700715772004_n-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320298</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Development, Energy, Environment, Governance, Habitat Loss, Migration, Poaching, Pollution, Tourism, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
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											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANNAR, Sri Lanka — Each year, the arrival of greater flamingos transforms the lagoons of northern Sri Lanka into a mesmerizing spectacle of pale pink and white. Their synchronized movements across the shallow waters of Mannar attract birdwatchers, photographers, tourists and nature lovers from around the country and abroad. But behind this beauty lies a [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[MANNAR, Sri Lanka — Each year, the arrival of greater flamingos transforms the lagoons of northern Sri Lanka into a mesmerizing spectacle of pale pink and white. Their synchronized movements across the shallow waters of Mannar attract birdwatchers, photographers, tourists and nature lovers from around the country and abroad. But behind this beauty lies a growing crisis. Recently, three flamingos were killed in Mannar after a collision with overhead power lines that crossed their flight path. Initial reports suggested electrocution, but according to Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) veterinary surgeon Balachandran Giritharan, who conducted the necropsies, the birds were not electrocuted. Instead, their long necks were slashed mid-flight when they struck the cables. The incident has renewed concerns among conservationists who have previously warned against energy infrastructure cutting across sensitive wetland habitats such as Vankalai Sanctuary, another Ramsar wetland in Mannar. Environmentalists had identified large waterbirds such as flamingos as being vulnerable to collisions. The latest flamingo deaths also add to the mounting environmental concerns surrounding development projects, particularly in Mannar, including proposed wind power projects. The issue drew international attention after the withdrawal of developer Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) from a disputed wind power project in Sri Lanka earlier this year. The Mannar region, with its strategic wind resources, has increasingly become a battleground between renewable energy expansion and biodiversity conservation. Flamingos are more vulnerable to collisions with power cables during dusk and early morning hours. Image courtesy of Indika Jayathissa. A global threat to flamingos Across the world,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/sri-lanka-flamingo-deaths-raise-concerns-over-power-infrastructure-in-wetlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320298</doi>				</item>
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