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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?location=india&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/india/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2026 17:30:36 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>India environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/india/</link>
	<width>32</width>
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				<item>
					<title>Do not ‘engage formally’: UK officials advised against billionaire-run zoo ahead of CITES meeting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/do-not-engage-formally-uk-officials-advised-against-billionaire-run-zoo-ahead-of-cites-meeting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/do-not-engage-formally-uk-officials-advised-against-billionaire-run-zoo-ahead-of-cites-meeting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2026 06:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elisângela MendonçaSpoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/11/02032118/77_UKZookInvestigation_05-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334634</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, India, Switzerland, and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Mongabay investigation, Politics, Raptors, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LONDON — British officials explicitly advised government ministers to not engage formally with Vantara, the controversial zoo founded and led by Indian billionaire Anant Ambani, according to documents obtained by Mongabay and The Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. Ambani is the son of one of India’s richest men, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LONDON — British officials explicitly advised government ministers to not engage formally with Vantara, the controversial zoo founded and led by Indian billionaire Anant Ambani, according to documents obtained by Mongabay and The Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. Ambani is the son of one of India’s richest men, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, a multinational petrochemical and telecommunications conglomerate. Internal British government communications at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) show civil servants strongly cautioning against ministerial interactions with Vantara. A central reason why the officials warned colleagues is the U.K. role chairing a committee at CITES, the global treaty regulating trade in endangered wildlife. “Given the ongoing compliance proceedings and continued scrutiny, we do not advise ministers to engage formally with Vantara at this stage,” an unnamed DEFRA official wrote in an email on July 14. The government redacts names of many civil servants, reflecting a policy of withholding junior officials’ personal information unless they are public-facing or already considered public. In a separate internal briefing document obtained by Mongabay and The Guardian and sent later in July, U.K. officials also raised concerns about how the zoo has sought to acquire rare and endangered species. DEFRA’s headquarters in London. Image by Elisangela Mendonça. The zoo describes itself as a “wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation centre” with more than 150,000 animals. In 2025, the organization drew official scrutiny after reports alleging it acquired endangered species illegally. The facility is not open&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/do-not-engage-formally-uk-officials-advised-against-billionaire-run-zoo-ahead-of-cites-meeting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/do-not-engage-formally-uk-officials-advised-against-billionaire-run-zoo-ahead-of-cites-meeting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334634</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How citizen scientists are mapping Pune’s trees, with hopes of a greener future</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-citizen-scientists-are-mapping-punes-trees-with-hopes-of-a-greener-future/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-citizen-scientists-are-mapping-punes-trees-with-hopes-of-a-greener-future/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2026 16:53:06 +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/20/2026/10/30142521/WhatsApp-Image-2026-10-26-at-23.36.38-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334527</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cities, Citizen Science, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Fellows, Mapping, Plants, Research, Science, Technology, Trees, urban ecology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUNE, India — On a quiet Saturday morning, away from the usual urban rush of Pune, citizens gather at the Madhavrao Scindia Garden along the banks of the Mula River. Out on the water, two fishers quietly navigate their boat surrounding a dense forested area on the other side of the river; the cooling shade [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUNE, India — On a quiet Saturday morning, away from the usual urban rush of Pune, citizens gather at the Madhavrao Scindia Garden along the banks of the Mula River. Out on the water, two fishers quietly navigate their boat surrounding a dense forested area on the other side of the river; the cooling shade and chirping birds feel like a natural alarm that you would want to listen to every day. Such a setting is increasingly rare in a bustling metropolis like Pune, where the population is estimated at 7.9 million, yet these volunteers arrive every weekend equipped with measuring tapes, smartphones and a keen curiosity to explore and document the trees in the city’s riparian zones. On this particular Saturday, a group of seven visits a city park along a riverbank, where trees stand tall against the sky. The volunteers belong to Pune River Revival, a grassroots movement formed in response to the Pune Riverfront Development Project, a large urban redevelopment plan along the Mula-Mutha rivers aimed at creating promenades, recreational spaces and infrastructure along the riverbanks. The total estimated cost of the project is around 4,727 crore rupees (about $500 million). &#8220;We started organizing the tree mapping exercise systematically in 2024,&#8221; explains Raghunandan Patil, a volunteer with the group. &#8220;While our volunteers used to do tree mapping earlier manually, at that time, the group was not well-versed in the technical details of how to map a tree properly and create thorough documentation.&#8221; Patil adds that now they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-citizen-scientists-are-mapping-punes-trees-with-hopes-of-a-greener-future/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-citizen-scientists-are-mapping-punes-trees-with-hopes-of-a-greener-future/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334527</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Kashmir’s springs are drying up. Scientists say saving them starts uphill</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/kashmirs-springs-are-drying-up-scientists-say-saving-them-starts-uphill/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/kashmirs-springs-are-drying-up-scientists-say-saving-them-starts-uphill/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2026 22:19:03 +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/20/2026/10/26144728/AP21173191783476-kashmir-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333899</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Fellows, Freshwater, Mongabay.org, Natural Resources, Restoration, Rivers, Solutions, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Shafeeqa, a 40-year-old resident of Cherwan village in Ganderbal district, north of Srinagar in Kashmir Valley, remembers a spring that once flowed with enough force to make diverting its water toward agricultural fields a difficult task. During her teenage years, she recalls, the water rushed so powerfully that her brother was once carried along by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Shafeeqa, a 40-year-old resident of Cherwan village in Ganderbal district, north of Srinagar in Kashmir Valley, remembers a spring that once flowed with enough force to make diverting its water toward agricultural fields a difficult task. During her teenage years, she recalls, the water rushed so powerfully that her brother was once carried along by the current. Over the past 5-6 years, however, Shafeeqa said the spring’s flow has diminished step by step. What was once a dependable source of water has become a reminder of how much the village may be losing. “Nature has blessed us with a great source, but it is we who have destroyed it with our own hands,” she said. Shafeeqa says she believes climate change has contributed to the spring’s decline. Research in the Sindh Basin lends support to her concern, although the reasons springs lose their flow can vary from one location to another. The answer may lie some distance uphill, beyond the spring’s visible outlet and in the landscapes where rainwater and melting snow seep into the ground. Springs are an essential water source for communities in the Kashmir Himalaya, particularly in mountain settlements where rivers run through deep valleys and are difficult to access. Their water supports households, livestock and agriculture. But changes in spring flow can threaten all three. A Kashmiri Muslim man prays beside a stream on the outskirts of Srinagar, 2020. Image by AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan. A 2023 study in Environment, Development and Sustainability by researchers at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/kashmirs-springs-are-drying-up-scientists-say-saving-them-starts-uphill/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/kashmirs-springs-are-drying-up-scientists-say-saving-them-starts-uphill/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333899</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The women keeping Uttarakhand’s native bees alive</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-keeping-uttarakhands-native-bees-alive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-keeping-uttarakhands-native-bees-alive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2026 17:58:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Swati Thapa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/19172030/Indian-Honey-Bee-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333126</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bees, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Environment, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Insects, Natural Resources, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PITHORAGARH, Uttarakhand, India — The world comes alive during summers in Himalayan states like Uttarakhand. The forests are budding with new green leaves, and almost every trail is lined on both sides with flowers of many shapes, sizes and colors. With the flora, fauna comes to life as well. Saraswati Devi, 80, sits in her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PITHORAGARH, Uttarakhand, India — The world comes alive during summers in Himalayan states like Uttarakhand. The forests are budding with new green leaves, and almost every trail is lined on both sides with flowers of many shapes, sizes and colors. With the flora, fauna comes to life as well. Saraswati Devi, 80, sits in her courtyard with bees buzzing in and out of the wall hive where the colony lives in her home. “Bees are considered so sacred and an important part of people’s lives that we have faag songs about them,” Saraswati says. Faag are traditional songs sung at joyous and auspicious occasions like weddings and festivals in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. She and her fellow women hum a melody that Saraswati sang at weddings. Bees come to those homes where children play; But at homes with no children, the bees won’t stay. For centuries here, people’s lives have been intertwined with the bees, creating a unique interdependence. In rural Uttarakhand, many households share their homes with an indigenous species, Apis cerana indica, commonly known as the Indian honey bee or Himalayan honey bee. However, factors like climate change, introduction of new bee species for more honey production, habitat fragmentation and inadequate nutrition are among the reasons for a decline in their population. As rearing bees is a natural part of household duties, women’s role becomes central in the conservation of this species. Saraswati Devi, along with her family, standing beneath the opening of the wall hive, with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-keeping-uttarakhands-native-bees-alive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333126</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Indian communities earn a living from more than forest timber</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-indian-communities-earn-a-living-from-more-than-forest-timber/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-indian-communities-earn-a-living-from-more-than-forest-timber/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2026 16:31:28 +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/20/2026/10/15121027/47494613692_42853dfb4e_6k-collecting-mahua-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332703</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fellows, Forests, Mongabay.org, Natural Resources, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every year between February and May, when mahua flowers begin to fall, Mamta Tigga collects them. Mamta comes from a village in Gumla in the Indian state of Jharkhand and has been collecting mahua (a flower from Madhuca longifolia), gethi kanda (or air potato, Dioscorea bulbifera) and tendu leaves from the Indian ebony tree (Diospyros [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every year between February and May, when mahua flowers begin to fall, Mamta Tigga collects them. Mamta comes from a village in Gumla in the Indian state of Jharkhand and has been collecting mahua (a flower from Madhuca longifolia), gethi kanda (or air potato, Dioscorea bulbifera) and tendu leaves from the Indian ebony tree (Diospyros melanoxylon) for the past three years. All of these plants are important sources of food, medicine and other traditional uses in her culture. Mamta is not just a tribal gatherer, but a homemaker and a mother of two children. Over the years, she has noticed a change in what the forest gives her. &#8220;There is less mahua than before,&#8221; she says, and the amount changes with the weather. When there is more heat, more mahua falls and when it rains, the mahua flower sheds off. “This year there was less mahua, between March to April we usually collect around 4-5 quintal [100 kilograms or 220 pounds] but this time due to excessive rain we got around 25 kg of mahua.” Forest produce is an essential source of income for families like Mamta’s. Her husband is a driver, and often, when they are short on money, the funds collected by selling mahua help them survive. But what happens when the resources people depend on begin to change, while the demand for those products continues to grow? A recent review in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems examines this question in the Indian states of Jharkhand&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-indian-communities-earn-a-living-from-more-than-forest-timber/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332703</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Indian communities, fishmeal factories bring pollution, danger and protests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/for-indian-communities-fishmeal-factories-bring-pollution-danger-and-protests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/for-indian-communities-fishmeal-factories-bring-pollution-danger-and-protests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2026 13:01:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ian Urbina]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/08024211/kAP24079701377409-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331899</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This article is from Food for Feed, a series investigating the global fishmeal industry. It is produced by the Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organization based in Washington, D.C., and excerpted by Mongabay. In late August 2025, a company named Marine Impex Pvt. Ltd. contacted the city council of Cuncolim, a city in southern India, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This article is from Food for Feed, a series investigating the global fishmeal industry. It is produced by the Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organization based in Washington, D.C., and excerpted by Mongabay. In late August 2025, a company named Marine Impex Pvt. Ltd. contacted the city council of Cuncolim, a city in southern India, to propose constructing a new fishmeal processing plant. Each month, the 1.6-hectare (4-acre) facility would process at least 2,400 metric tons of fishmeal, a protein-rich, dark-yellow powder made by pulverizing and cooking wild-caught fish, which is used as feed for farm-raised seafood like shrimp, salmon, and tuna. The proposal sparked outrage. In media coverage, local environmental advocates and politicians voiced strong objections. “If this project is allowed, it is as if we have killed the people of Cuncolim,” said city councilor Landry Mascarenhas. State lawmaker Elvis Gomes drafted a letter to the governor of Goa state, where Cuncolim is located, asking him to intervene and explained that the stench from existing plants chokes “the lungs with such foul air that the effect of it pervades for a prolonged period.” He added, “It is simply beyond a normal human’s capacity to endure.” The outcry in Cuncolim cast a spotlight on a powerful industry with a history of wrongdoing. Between 2018 and 2024, at least 30 Indian fishmeal plants were involved in a range of environmental violations and other legal infractions, such as dumping waste into waterways and boreholes, evading taxes, using illegal timber to fuel boilers,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/for-indian-communities-fishmeal-factories-bring-pollution-danger-and-protests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331899</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Did two of the lemurs stolen in Bangladesh end up in India? Officials are investigating</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/did-two-of-the-lemurs-stolen-in-bangladesh-end-up-in-india-officials-are-investigating/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/did-two-of-the-lemurs-stolen-in-bangladesh-end-up-in-india-officials-are-investigating/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2026 14:30:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/08141934/ring-tailed-lemurs-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331951</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Lemurs, Primates, Wildlife, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The case of three ring-tailed lemurs, an endangered species, stolen from Gazipur Safari Park in Bangladesh last year resurfaced on social media in September this year, when news spread that two of the lemurs were trafficked to India and later sheltered at a private wildlife conservation facility, Vantara. The viral news prompted Vantara to release [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The case of three ring-tailed lemurs, an endangered species, stolen from Gazipur Safari Park in Bangladesh last year resurfaced on social media in September this year, when news spread that two of the lemurs were trafficked to India and later sheltered at a private wildlife conservation facility, Vantara. The viral news prompted Vantara to release a statement, denying the allegations while assuring cooperation in sharing the DNA profile of the ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) currently in its custody with Bangladesh authorities. However, the Bangladesh Forest Department was unprepared to respond to the call immediately, as it had no prior DNA profiling record of the lemurs stolen from Gazipur. Sufi Ullah, special superintendent of police under the Criminal Investigation Department of Bangladesh Police, the investigation agency, told Mongabay on Sept. 13, “Even though Bangladesh court orders further probe following the availability of the DNA profile, cross-border investigation is impossible.” Forest Department officials said that tracing the last destination is challenging and bringing the lemurs back is uncertain, as there is no repatriation protocol under the existing mutual understanding between Bangladesh and India. Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, director at Bangladesh Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU), said, “Further investigation and repatriation [of the lemurs] may follow only if the governments of the two countries agree to do so.” Meanwhile, South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network Secretary General Krishna Prasad Acharya, in an email to Mongabay, said that the exchange of information can assist the concerned countries in verifying available information, coordinating follow-up, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/did-two-of-the-lemurs-stolen-in-bangladesh-end-up-in-india-officials-are-investigating/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331951</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildlife traffickers are now targeting Indonesia’s critically endangered maleo birds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/wildlife-traffickers-are-now-targeting-indonesias-critically-endangered-maleo-birds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/wildlife-traffickers-are-now-targeting-indonesias-critically-endangered-maleo-birds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2026 11:33:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/30140203/Maleo-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331261</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indonesia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Governance, Illegal Trade, Research, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Maleos, black-and-white birds that stand 60 centimeters (2 feet) tall with a distinctive splash of blue, orange and yellow on their faces, roam Sulawesi’s thick tropical jungles. But when it&#8217;s time to lay their eggs, they arrive at communal nesting grounds: Sandy beaches heated by the sun or the earth’s geothermal energy. There, they dig [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Maleos, black-and-white birds that stand 60 centimeters (2 feet) tall with a distinctive splash of blue, orange and yellow on their faces, roam Sulawesi’s thick tropical jungles. But when it&#8217;s time to lay their eggs, they arrive at communal nesting grounds: Sandy beaches heated by the sun or the earth’s geothermal energy. There, they dig burrows with their webbed blue feet, lay their eggs and disappear. After a couple of months, the younglings hatch and, miraculously, are ready to fly within a few hours. This is an iconic bird on Sulawesi, serving as the official faunal mascot of Central Sulawesi province and of the Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park. Once considered widespread on Sulawesi, maleos (Macrocephalon maleo) are now on the brink of extinction, classified as critically endangered. Their numbers have dwindled to just 4,000-7,000 breeding pairs, mainly because their forest habitat is disappearing and they are targeted by poachers. Since 1983, the birds have lost more than two-thirds of their 149 nesting grounds as residential and commercial development takes over sandy riverbanks and beaches, and habitat is ravaged by mines and sliced by roadways. Maleo eggs are considered a delicacy, so people raid nests, and fewer chicks are born to replenish the population. But now, illegal trade in live maleos is emerging as a new and serious threat to their survival, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Asian Ornithology. These birds are trafficked to serve the booming demand for exotic pets. Researchers documented three seizures&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/wildlife-traffickers-are-now-targeting-indonesias-critically-endangered-maleo-birds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/wildlife-traffickers-are-now-targeting-indonesias-critically-endangered-maleo-birds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331261</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vantara in talks with Brazil on ‘strategic cooperation’ on threatened species, FOIA documents reveal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/vantara-in-talks-with-brazil-on-strategic-cooperation-on-threatened-species-foia-documents-reveal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/vantara-in-talks-with-brazil-on-strategic-cooperation-on-threatened-species-foia-documents-reveal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2026 11:01:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda WenzelSpoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/29135733/two-Spixs-macaws-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331147</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Brazil, India, Latin America, South America, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Controversial, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Parrots, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Vantara, the billionaire-run Indian private zoo that houses more than 150,000 animals, discussed a “strategic conservation partnership” with authorities in Brazil, the world’s most biodiverse country, according to documents obtained by Mongabay under Brazil’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Correspondence between Vantara representatives and Brazilian officials reveal that negotiations, initiated by Vantara, began in August [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Vantara, the billionaire-run Indian private zoo that houses more than 150,000 animals, discussed a “strategic conservation partnership” with authorities in Brazil, the world’s most biodiverse country, according to documents obtained by Mongabay under Brazil’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Correspondence between Vantara representatives and Brazilian officials reveal that negotiations, initiated by Vantara, began in August 2025, and involved some of Brazil’s threatened species. The zoo, which is located in Gujarat state in western India, was founded in 2025 by Anant Ambani. He’s the youngest son of India’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani, who heads Reliance Industries, a conglomerate valued at $167 billion as of press time. On Aug. 30, 2025, a Vantara representative sent a letter by email to three officials at the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the governmental agency responsible for protecting Brazil&#8217;s biodiversity. The sender’s identity was redacted in the FOIA response. The subject line reads, “Proposal for Strategic Conservation Partnership with the Government of Brazil.” The letterhead uses Vantara’s official name, the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (GZRRC). The letters are addressed to Mauro Pires, president of ICMBio; Marcelo Marcelino de Oliveira, the agency’s director; and Raul Fontoura, its head of international affairs. The letter sent by Vantara to ICMBio proposing a “strategic conservation partnership.” Obtained by Mongabay through FOIA. The letter states that Vantara was “well-positioned to assist with other Brazilian species requiring urgent ex-situ intervention,” referring to the conservation strategy of keeping a population surplus in zoos and breeding centers, rather than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/vantara-in-talks-with-brazil-on-strategic-cooperation-on-threatened-species-foia-documents-reveal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/vantara-in-talks-with-brazil-on-strategic-cooperation-on-threatened-species-foia-documents-reveal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331147</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>NGOs call on Vantara to end all wild animal imports permanently</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:09:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25130359/Vantara-Ambani-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330863</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Ethics, Governance, Illegal Trade, NGOs, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A coalition of 27 global wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations urged Vantara to permanently end all wild animal imports. The billionaire-run zoo in India, funded by the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, the country&#8217;s largest corporation, has been under for fire for questionable acquisitions of its animals. In an open letter dated Sep. 22, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A coalition of 27 global wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations urged Vantara to permanently end all wild animal imports. The billionaire-run zoo in India, funded by the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, the country&#8217;s largest corporation, has been under for fire for questionable acquisitions of its animals. In an open letter dated Sep. 22, 2026, and addressed to Mr. Amit Aggarwal, president of regulatory affairs at Vantara, the NGOs offer Vantara “suggestions for strengthening your practices and improving outcomes.” The letter came in response to a press statement from Vantara on Aug. 19, 2026, where it announced “voluntary commitments” including a 12-month moratorium on all animal imports, backdated to June 5, 2026. It said it has withdrawn all pending import applications and will not make any fresh applications. The statement also included a letter addressed to India’s CITES Management Authority, which oversees international commerce in endangered plants and animals listed under CITES, a global wildlife trade treaty. After the one-year moratorium expires, Vantara said it would import animals only from “a recognised and accredited zoological facility,” a “CITES registered facility” or for “a conservation breeding programme undertaken in cooperation with a range State.” It also announced an “independent” governing council headed by John Scanlon AO, the former CITES Secretary General, and a “mandatory three-stage review” will oversee any future animal acquisition. Vantara has acquired Tapanuli orangutans, one of the rarest apes in the world. Image by Tim Laman via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Vantara’s announcement came after investigations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330863</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s tropical forest fund races to raise $2.7 billion before deadline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 17:43:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carla Ruas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24114238/I.-Orange-winged-amazon-Amazona-amazonica-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330616</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Latin America, South America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Finance, Forests, Funding, Governance, Politics, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A historic billion-dollar rainforest pledge can collapse if global donors fail to act by December.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), a new investment fund launched at COP30 by Brazil, has attracted about $7.3 billion in initial sponsor capital. The initiative aims to compensate tropical forest countries for preserving forest areas. But despite recent pledges, the fund remains short of its $10 billion fundraising goal for the end of 2026. After the 2025 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, TFFF received a wave of political support, with over 60 nations endorsing its launch declaration and five countries announcing investments. Since then, the pace of financial commitments has been slower. Only Luxembourg and the U.K. have made government pledges this year, totaling around $600 million, while the nonprofit The Nature Conservancy committed another $5 million. The fund has now less than four months to raise $2.7 billion and meet its target. The $10 billion benchmark is especially important because Norway’s $3 billion pledge — part of that total — will only be released once the goal is met. “I’m in a period of anticipation right now, but also optimistic that we’ll get there,” Carlos Rittl told Mongabay. Rittl is the director of public policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and has contributed to TFFF’s environmental design. “There is no indication that the system itself is in doubt. But for countries to sign checks, the rules need to be very clear.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attend the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility. Image by © UN&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330616</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Five orangutans found in India face long road back home to Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 11:26:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/18111302/Orangutan-Sumatera-baby-swinging-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330216</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indonesia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Great Apes, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Orangutans, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ACEH, Indonesia — The five infant orangutans found roaming a woodland in India’s Odisha state earlier this month may have been trafficked across several international borders — and now face a long journey home through the different legal and bureaucratic systems of India and Indonesia, conservationists say. “This starts with hunting in the wild, separating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ACEH, Indonesia — The five infant orangutans found roaming a woodland in India’s Odisha state earlier this month may have been trafficked across several international borders — and now face a long journey home through the different legal and bureaucratic systems of India and Indonesia, conservationists say. “This starts with hunting in the wild, separating babies from their mothers, and transporting them across various regions, then selling them or keeping them as exotic pets,” said M. Indra Kurnia, director of conservation at the Sumatran Orangutan Lestari Foundation–Orangutan Information Center (YOSL-OIC). The five youngsters were found on Sept. 8 by locals near the Bichitrapur forest area in Balasore district, Odisha, a state on India’s east coast formed out of the ancient Kalinga region. Authorities are investigating how the animals came to be there, and the possible involvement of an international wildlife trafficking network. Only Indonesia and Malaysia have native orangutan populations, with the Indonesian island of Sumatra around 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) across the Indian Ocean from Odisha. The Bornean species lives in Indonesia and Malaysia, while the Sumatran and Tapanuli species are found only in Indonesia. “We mustn’t just see this as a local case in the country where the animals were found,” Indra said. This infant Sumatran orangutan is being cared for at the Sumatra Rescue Alliance (SRA) primate center Besitang district, North Sumatra. The infant is a victim of the illegal wildlife trade. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay Indonesia. Questions over wildlife smuggling route This isn’t the first time&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330216</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>India’s tiger success brings a new challenge: Living alongside the big cats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indias-tiger-success-brings-a-new-challenge-living-alongside-the-big-cats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indias-tiger-success-brings-a-new-challenge-living-alongside-the-big-cats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 14:43:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Arathi Menon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/16122609/4.-Swami-Gowda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329853</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conflict, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Governance, Habitat, Human-wildlife Conflict, Predators, Protected Areas, Tigers, Top Predators, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forty-five-year-old Mahadeva Gowda was tending to his cotton farm in the village of Badagalapura in the southern Indian state of Karnataka when a tiger lunged at him from behind. He was caught unaware: He says he wasn’t aware that the forest department was trying to capture a tiger roaming through the area. Before he realized [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forty-five-year-old Mahadeva Gowda was tending to his cotton farm in the village of Badagalapura in the southern Indian state of Karnataka when a tiger lunged at him from behind. He was caught unaware: He says he wasn’t aware that the forest department was trying to capture a tiger roaming through the area. Before he realized what was happening, the tiger swiped at his face, severely injuring his eyes and part of his face. After multiple reconstructive surgeries, Gowda has been left to live the rest of his life blinded, without eyes, his mouth only able to open partially, and his speech slurred. His wife, Indrani, says survival is extremely difficult for the family: Gowda was the household’s breadwinner, and now, he can’t work. He’s now become fully dependent on his wife for even his most basic needs. The incident occurred in mid-October 2025. Two weeks later, another farmer, 55-year-old Rajashekarappa, was grazing his cattle in a field when he encountered a tiger: It was fatal. Badagalapura and other villages that regularly report tiger encounters sit on the edge of the forest, placing them within what the forest department considers a “tiger landscape.” “Tigers have been present in this landscape for centuries and they constantly move here,” says S. Prabhakaran, who served as conservator of forests and oversaw operations at Karnataka’s Bandipur Tiger Reserve until earlier this year. The 1,456-square-kilometer (562-square-mile) park is home to between 154 and 175 tigers, according to a 2024 estimate by India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indias-tiger-success-brings-a-new-challenge-living-alongside-the-big-cats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329853</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘They should choose their own destinies’: Manish Chandi on India’s isolated tribes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 07:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14173823/p.-Shompen-man-2-at-35km-EW-rd-GNI-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329679</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indian Ocean, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Oceans, Poaching, Tropical Forests, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From above, the North Sentinel Island tribal reserve in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is a thick, unbroken patch of dark green — starkly surrounded by the shimmering coastal blue waters of its buffer zone. On these shores, Sentinelese people, who live in voluntary isolation protected by a strict government no-contact policy, spear fish, hunt [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From above, the North Sentinel Island tribal reserve in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is a thick, unbroken patch of dark green — starkly surrounded by the shimmering coastal blue waters of its buffer zone. On these shores, Sentinelese people, who live in voluntary isolation protected by a strict government no-contact policy, spear fish, hunt turtles and collect mollusks in shallow reefs surrounded by mangroves. The coastal reefs are intact ecosystems rich in fish life, say biologists. “I have seen them [groups of men, women and children] foraging and collecting these food resources during low tide on several occasions,” says Manish Chandi, a tribal expert who has watched the island from afar. “The Sentinelese are aware of these as nutritious and sparsely available resources in such [mangrove] habitats, which are very few on and around the island.” The giant trees of the North Sentinel Island coastline are its first natural defense against storms and which hold its coastal soil together. The shore is lined with sandy beaches and rocky shores, while the foreshore is dotted with coral reefs and mangroves — excellent nurseries for marine biodiversity. Image by Manish Chandi. Like other tribal reserves on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the southeast of mainland India, North Sentinel Island is a biodiversity hotspot; and, like other tribal reserves, the isolated people who live there have attracted influencers and misunderstandings, says Chandi. “Curiosity and ignorance regarding the islanders is quite high and understandably so amongst outsiders and [government] bureaucrats who have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329679</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Kashmir’s water bodies have declined for decades. Is conservation keeping pace?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/kashmirs-water-bodies-have-declined-for-decades-is-conservation-keeping-pace/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/kashmirs-water-bodies-have-declined-for-decades-is-conservation-keeping-pace/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 17:58:32 +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/20/2026/09/09082340/Wular-Lake-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329254</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Ecosystems, Environment, Fellows, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Lakes, Research, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For generations, Kashmir’s wetlands, lakes and rivers have been woven into the landscape around its towns and villages. Paddy fields once stretched across parts of the valley, while canals and springs were familiar features of everyday life. But much of that landscape has changed. A new study published in Water Science assessing six decades of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For generations, Kashmir’s wetlands, lakes and rivers have been woven into the landscape around its towns and villages. Paddy fields once stretched across parts of the valley, while canals and springs were familiar features of everyday life. But much of that landscape has changed. A new study published in Water Science assessing six decades of land use and land cover change in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the northernmost part of India finds that the extent of water bodies declined between 1960 and 2020, while built-up areas expanded markedly, particularly after the 1990s. The researchers found that socioeconomic factors including urbanization, population growth, literacy, per capita income and passenger and freight traffic were more strongly associated with many of these changes than the climatic variables they examined, including annual precipitation and mean maximum and minimum temperatures. The findings raise a broader question for Jammu and Kashmir: As development continues to reshape the landscape, are conservation initiatives and land use planning keeping pace with the pressures on the region’s water bodies? The authors caution that the study is not based on primary field surveys. Because land use records were available mainly at decadal intervals, the researchers interpolated data between those years to create an annual data set for their statistical analysis. They acknowledge that this approach can inflate some statistical measures and say the results should be interpreted primarily as associations rather than precise predictions. Still, the broad direction of change is clear. The sun peeks through a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/kashmirs-water-bodies-have-declined-for-decades-is-conservation-keeping-pace/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329254</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vantara works with lobbyist tied to Trump Jr. and pro-hunting groups</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/vantara-works-with-lobbyist-tied-to-trump-jr-and-pro-hunting-groups/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/vantara-works-with-lobbyist-tied-to-trump-jr-and-pro-hunting-groups/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 10:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28134946/imgonline-com-ua-FrameBlurred-VhBkv70B1PrWP-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327730</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, North America, South Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Crime, Governance, Politics, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Checkmate Government Relations, a lobbying firm founded by a hunting friend of Donald Trump Jr., recently represented Vantara, a controversial private Indian zoo that has been in the spotlight over the questionable origins of some of its more than 150,000 animals, which include protected and endangered species. Tristan Breijer, the head of the U.S.-based lobby [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Checkmate Government Relations, a lobbying firm founded by a hunting friend of Donald Trump Jr., recently represented Vantara, a controversial private Indian zoo that has been in the spotlight over the questionable origins of some of its more than 150,000 animals, which include protected and endangered species. Tristan Breijer, the head of the U.S.-based lobby firm Checkmate&#8217;s London office, sent an unsolicited email “representing the Vantara initiative in the United Kingdom,” sometime before July, according to a source who asked not to be named. Breijer is a lobbyist and has a history of representing pro-hunting groups in Europe. Vantara is a massive private zoo that sprawls over 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares): It&#8217;s about four times the size of Central Park in New York City and is run by Anant Ambani, the son of one of Asia’s richest men, Mukesh Ambani. The zoo, which claims to be an animal rescue facility with about 2,000 species, came under scrutiny after media reports surfaced that it allegedly acquired endangered animals illegally. A report by CITES, the global treaty that regulates commercial international trade in endangered wildlife, flagged irregularities in some of its animal imports. Vantara has denied wrongdoing and India’s top court dismissed similar allegations after an investigation last year. Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, at Vantara. Image by Bohoindian via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). In the email allegedly sent by Breijer, he invited the recipient to a roundtable meeting hosted by Vantara on the sidelines of the Animals&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/vantara-works-with-lobbyist-tied-to-trump-jr-and-pro-hunting-groups/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327730</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sickles, sarees and smoke: Women on the frontlines of Uttarakhand forest fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 20:50:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Swati Thapa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08160244/Lila-Devi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329123</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Gender, Governance, and Mountains]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the village forests of Uttarakhand, in the Himalayan region of northern India, a tree can be charred at its base while maintaining a green canopy at its peak. The distinct separation between burnt and unburnt wood is a physical marker of how high the flames reached. For the local women who rely on these [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the village forests of Uttarakhand, in the Himalayan region of northern India, a tree can be charred at its base while maintaining a green canopy at its peak. The distinct separation between burnt and unburnt wood is a physical marker of how high the flames reached. For the local women who rely on these woods for survival, the aftermath of wildfire means their daily chores take twice as long, forcing them deeper into the forest just to gather basic fodder and firewood when those closer to home are unusable. Uttarakhand is the most fire-prone state in the Indian Western Himalayas, with increased fire incidence in the region coinciding with high-altitude warming that exceeds the global rate. Beyond individual fire events, the fire season itself is expanding. While the season usually lasts for about 12 weeks starting in mid-March, Uttarakhand now experiences winter fires, an alarming shift from what was previously snow season, hinting at a deeper ecosystem-level impact. This trend has only escalated, with the state recording a sharp spike in forest fire activity during the first four months of 2026. This period is not just witnessed but experienced through each of the human senses. Trails of grey smoke engulf the bright blue sky. Along with the fog-like situation, the air carries soot, sometimes covering the roofs of houses with snow-like ash. “We are all coughing our lungs out; during that time, our eyes are bloodshot, irritated by all the smoke, and it’s hard to breathe in the thick&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329123</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" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325259</guid>

											<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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325259</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>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>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>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323118</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>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]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<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;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![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>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320383</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<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]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<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;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![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>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320300</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<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]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<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;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![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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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320298</doi>				</item>
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					<title>At world’s largest shark conference, scientists warn of a grim outlook across the board</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/at-worlds-largest-shark-conference-scientists-warn-of-a-grim-outlook-across-the-board/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/at-worlds-largest-shark-conference-scientists-warn-of-a-grim-outlook-across-the-board/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 08:22:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14072415/l.-Greenland_shark_profile%C2%A9Hemming1952-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Global, India, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Protected Areas, Rays, Research, Sharks, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — More than 800 researchers and conservationists gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, from May 4-8 for Sharks International, the world’s largest shark conference. Presenters shared research and insights on the global trade in sharks, the plight of rays, and a range of conservation measures, including rewilding initiatives, improving marine protected area effectiveness, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — More than 800 researchers and conservationists gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, from May 4-8 for Sharks International, the world’s largest shark conference. Presenters shared research and insights on the global trade in sharks, the plight of rays, and a range of conservation measures, including rewilding initiatives, improving marine protected area effectiveness, and the bolstering of monitoring and enforcement systems to protect threatened species. Overfishing has halved shark and ray populations since 1970. Today, more than a third of species are threatened with extinction. Meat trade comes into focus Scientists from around the world debuted new research on the trade in shark and ray meat, a major driver of fishing pressure. For years, the meat trade flew under the radar as attention centered on fins, pound for pound the most valuable part of the shark. But overall, the meat trade is actually worth more, valued at $2.6 billion from 2012-2019, versus $1.5 billion for the fin trade, according to a 2021 WWF report. Researchers from Dalhousie University in Canada shared preliminary findings from a big-data project aimed at understanding which species of sharks and rays, collectively known as elasmobranchs, are being landed and where they are traded. These dynamics have largely eluded researchers, as the commodity codes governing the trade allow shipments to be labeled merely as “shark” or “ray.” Moreover, only 29% of shark and ray landing data that countries share with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is reported to species level, according&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/at-worlds-largest-shark-conference-scientists-warn-of-a-grim-outlook-across-the-board/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319409</doi>				</item>
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					<title>From Africa to Central Asia, the European roller’s migration builds relationships</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-africa-to-central-asia-the-european-rollers-migration-builds-relationships/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-africa-to-central-asia-the-european-rollers-migration-builds-relationships/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2026 07:05:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawhare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/08162937/European.roller.Coracias.garrulus_BostonliqUzbekistan_bereztletikINaturalistBYNC4.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319029</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, China, Europe, India, Kenya, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Habitat Loss, Migration, Research, Species, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The European roller is a small, striking migratory bird that breeds in open woodlands — or farms and orchards — across Europe and Central Asia. Coracias garrulus is also well-known to Southern and South Africa&#8217;s avid birdwatching communities, including many citizen scientists who participate in the Southern African Bird Atlas Project. But the rollers that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The European roller is a small, striking migratory bird that breeds in open woodlands — or farms and orchards — across Europe and Central Asia. Coracias garrulus is also well-known to Southern and South Africa&#8217;s avid birdwatching communities, including many citizen scientists who participate in the Southern African Bird Atlas Project. Image courtesy of Lourenço Afonso. But the rollers that spend November to March in South Africa appear to be mostly the C. g. semenowi subspecies. The routes these populations follow to their breeding grounds as far as 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) away in Central Asia are not known. Image courtesy of Ma Ming. Since 2024, scientists at BirdLife South Africa have fit tiny 3.8-gram (0.1-ounce) trackers to seven birds to investigate the birds’ migration routes and stopover sites. Image courtesy of Jean-Richard Snoer. The tagged rollers traveled north through Tanzania and Kenya, paused in Somalia, and then flew on to Central Asia via Oman and India. One individual ended up in China, two others in Uzbekistan. Image courtesy of BirdLife SA One year&#8217;s tracking of just seven birds has connected South Africa to bird clubs in Gujarat, India, and a Chinese researcher studying the rollers&#8217; breeding behavior in Xinjiang, China. Image courtesy of Ma Ming. BirdLife SA&#8217;s tiny staff dedicated to the European Roller Monitoring Project is supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The tracking devices are paid for by individual donors. Image courtesy of Jean-Richard Snoer. In the years ahead, Flyway and Migrants Project&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-africa-to-central-asia-the-european-rollers-migration-builds-relationships/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319029</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil police seize devices from bird expert in trafficking probe linked to Vantara zoo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/brazil-police-seize-devices-from-bird-expert-in-trafficking-probe-linked-to-vantara-zoo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/brazil-police-seize-devices-from-bird-expert-in-trafficking-probe-linked-to-vantara-zoo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2026 12:30:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14084006/lears-macaw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318620</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Brazil, India, Latin America, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Law, Monkeys, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The famous bird specialist Tony Silva had cell phones and a computer seized by Brazil’s Federal Police at Guarulhos Airport, in São Paulo, according to a source.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A U.S. citizen suspected of international wildlife trafficking had three cell phones and a computer seized on May 1 as he arrived at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo, Brazil. According to a statement released by the Federal Police, the action is a development in an investigation &#8220;probing the international trafficking of golden lion tamarins and other endangered species of Brazilian fauna.&#8221; The statement doesn’t mention the target&#8217;s name, but a source familiar with the investigations involving golden lion tamarins who asked to remain anonymous identified the man as Tony Silva, a renowned bird expert who was convicted of smuggling exotic birds into the U.S. from South America in 1996. According to the source, Silva is suspected of coordinating the purchase of illegally traded animals for Vantara, a private mega zoo in the state of Gujarat, India, run by billionaire Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest man. In an email to Mongabay, a Vantara spokesperson stated that the zoo “has no connection with the buying of illegal animals” and that “any attempt to link Mr. Silva’s personal affairs to Vantara, directly or by implication, would be factually incorrect and legally untenable.” According to the organization, Silva is not and has never been its employee. “Vantara understands that he [Tony Silva] has been engaged by an independent contractor for limited consultancy relating to enclosure curation, husbandry and nutrition, considering his published work and experience in that field. He does not speak for, act for, or represent Vantara,” the spokesperson wrote. (See&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/brazil-police-seize-devices-from-bird-expert-in-trafficking-probe-linked-to-vantara-zoo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318620</doi>				</item>
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