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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Melanesia environmental news</title>
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				<item>
					<title>Local knowledge guides rediscovery of spinach pipefish, not seen in four decades</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 17:19:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24155007/Spinach_Pipefish_iv_%C2%A9_New_Guinea_Binatang_Research_Center_edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327148</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Melanesia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Rediscovered Species, Species, Surveying, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[By mid-June, Jerrica Agebigo was staring at disappointment. Her nearly two-week-long, exhausting search for a mysterious fish that hasn’t been seen by scientists for nearly four decades was drawing to a close. Her team of researchers had braved Papua New Guinea’s hot, humid summer days, meandering along the Sepik River’s course by boat and canoe [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[By mid-June, Jerrica Agebigo was staring at disappointment. Her nearly two-week-long, exhausting search for a mysterious fish that hasn’t been seen by scientists for nearly four decades was drawing to a close. Her team of researchers had braved Papua New Guinea’s hot, humid summer days, meandering along the Sepik River’s course by boat and canoe — but the spinach pipefish still eluded them. “We had spent days travelling through the Lower Sepik, talking with communities and looking for information about the pipefish,” Agebigo, a researcher at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology and the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, wrote in an email. “We had almost given up hope.” The spinach pipefish (Microphis spinachioides) is a small, slender pipefish with an elongated snout it uses to capture small prey, reaching maybe 15 centimeters (6 inches) in length. This greenish-brown freshwater creature, a close relative of seahorses and seadragons, is well camouflaged in its only known home here in the Sepik River — the country’s longest waterway — hiding among water lilies and other plants near riverbanks. Just like seahorses, pipefish males carry their embryos in a brood pouch for weeks until the young are born. Much about the spinach pipefish has remained an enigma, because scientists haven’t seen it since 1985. It was last assessed for the IUCN Red List in 2016, and at the time, was classified as data deficient by IUCN, the global conservation authority. The only known museum specimen, on which the taxonomy of the species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327148</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New ‘conservation deed’ aims to protect tree kangaroos, forests, people in Papua New Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-conservation-deed-aims-to-protect-tree-kangaroos-forests-people-in-papua-new-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-conservation-deed-aims-to-protect-tree-kangaroos-forests-people-in-papua-new-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 03:56:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/03125116/weimang-tree-kangaroo-Dendrolagus-pulcherrimus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325195</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Melanesia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mammals, Marsupials, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It happened with a few strokes of a pen on a hilltop in northwestern Papua New Guinea on June 30: The leaders of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA) finalized an agreement to protect the densely canopied forests of the Torricelli Mountains that ripple outward in every direction. Their signatures were the last of hundreds collected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It happened with a few strokes of a pen on a hilltop in northwestern Papua New Guinea on June 30: The leaders of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA) finalized an agreement to protect the densely canopied forests of the Torricelli Mountains that ripple outward in every direction. Their signatures were the last of hundreds collected from clan leaders across the range in June. With this conservation deed, TCA and the people of the Torricellis have achieved a key milestone after decades of work to stave off logging, help wildlife rebound and improve the lives of community members. After the signing, those gathered erupted in celebration, dance and song at TCA’s base in the village of Lumi. In all, 266 clan leaders signed the document. Caleb Bulu, a project manager with TCA, called it an “exciting time.” “We have been waiting for so long,” said Bulu, who has fought to keep loggers off his own land in the region. The people of the Torricelli Mountains were ecstatic, he said in a call via WhatsApp a few days after the signing. “They were very happy, all across the 41 villages [and] were celebrating at that time.” The Torricellis are home to a staggering array of species — perhaps 4% of the world’s biodiversity in a relatively tiny speck of mostly intact montane forest — including two species of critically endangered tree kangaroo. In the 1990s, mammologist Tim Flannery and his colleagues in PNG first described the tenkile (Dendrolagus scottae) and the weimang&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-conservation-deed-aims-to-protect-tree-kangaroos-forests-people-in-papua-new-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Melanesian nations announce intention to create massive ocean reserve corridor</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 17:16:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashley Yeong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/17151125/a.-%C2%A9Justin-Hofman-Massau-PNG-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323862</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Melanesia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Culture, Fisheries, Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Traditional People, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of Pacific island nations have agreed to formally establish the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves (MOCOR), a massive transboundary marine protected area (MPA) that will span their territorial waters. Papua New Guinea (PNG), Vanuatu and Fiji made a joint declaration announcing plans for the corridor at the first Melanesian Ocean Summit in May. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A group of Pacific island nations have agreed to formally establish the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves (MOCOR), a massive transboundary marine protected area (MPA) that will span their territorial waters. Papua New Guinea (PNG), Vanuatu and Fiji made a joint declaration announcing plans for the corridor at the first Melanesian Ocean Summit in May. Solomon Islands joined the initiative in late June. Melanesia, a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific that also includes the French territory of New Caledonia and parts of Indonesia, is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. Located in the Coral Triangle, its ocean waters contain an estimated 75% of known coral species, along with iconic marine megafauna, including sharks, rays, dugongs and whales. This part of the ocean is also a hotspot for the discovery of new species. “The initiative represents a bold and timely step forward, recognizing that our oceans do not end at national boundaries, and that our stewardship responsibilities must therefore extend across them,” 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Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told leaders at the summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The U.S.-based NGO National Geographic Pristine Seas, which has partnered with governments throughout the region to conduct research on priority protection areas, has confirmed to Mongabay that the MOCOR is an entirely separate initiative from the Melanesian Ocean Reserve (MOR) announced by Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and PNG at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in France. A variety of corals in the shallows off Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323862</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Rediscovered’ species in Papua spotlight importance of Indigenous knowledge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 02:22:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14103750/20230611-BE4A9979-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317487</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Marsupials, Rediscovered Species, Research, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It started with a set of photographs, taken of an animal captured in 2015 on the Bird’s Head Peninsula in Indonesian Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea. The smallish animal with “large hands” looked a bit like a slow loris, a small primate that doesn’t live on the island, or perhaps [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[It started with a set of photographs, taken of an animal captured in 2015 on the Bird’s Head Peninsula in Indonesian Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea. The smallish animal with “large hands” looked a bit like a slow loris, a small primate that doesn’t live on the island, or perhaps a cuscus, which, like this specimen, is also a marsupial. Further inspection of the photos, however, suggested it might be something else altogether, a species long thought lost to extinction — by scientists, anyway. Interviews in local communities provided a breadcrumb trail suggesting that a forest-dwelling glider, known — again, to science — only from millennia-old fragments of teeth and bone, might yet live in the forests of Indonesian Papua. Several years later, Rika Korain was approached by her longtime friend and colleague, Australian mammalogist Tim Flannery, who asked if she might help him get a bead on whether the animal still existed. Korain, a human rights lawyer and Indigenous Maybrat woman, immediately thought of the elders from the Tambrauw people, a group that lives close to the Maybrat and with whom they share traditions in common. “I’m from the Bird’s Head area,” she says. “I told [Flannery], let’s find out from my clan, from my people’s side. Let’s try to talk with the elders or especially the hunters who always go to the jungle to find out whether they see this particular animal.” So in 2023, she and Flannery spoke with two Tambrauw elders,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317487</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deep-sea wildernesses are more important than the promise of seafloor mining (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/deep-sea-wildernesses-are-more-important-than-the-promise-of-seafloor-mining-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/deep-sea-wildernesses-are-more-important-than-the-promise-of-seafloor-mining-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 18:23:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrew D. Thaler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/21170043/FK210726-Dive443-BubblegumCoral-20210728-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317523</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Commentary, Critical Minerals, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, Ethics, Fisheries, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mining, Oceans, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When I set sail on the MV NorSky in the summer of 2008 to probe the depths of Manus Basin off the coast of Papua New Guinea, I believed in the promise of deep-sea mining. As an early-career deep-sea ecologist, I was swayed by arguments in favor of this emerging industry. It offered a new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When I set sail on the MV NorSky in the summer of 2008 to probe the depths of Manus Basin off the coast of Papua New Guinea, I believed in the promise of deep-sea mining. As an early-career deep-sea ecologist, I was swayed by arguments in favor of this emerging industry. It offered a new way to obtain the metals needed for the renewable energy revolution, one allegedly free of the human rights and environmental abuses of terrestrial mining. The company was Nautilus Minerals, and the plan was to mine an active hydrothermal vent field called Solwara I. What is a hydrothermal vent and why would anyone want to mine one? When seawater is drawn down into the earth and heated under enormous pressure, it rises through cracks in the crust, erupting from the seafloor in metal-rich plumes. Those metals are deposited on the walls of a growing chimney. Deep-sea miners call this structure a seafloor massive sulfide. They can be rich in gold and silver, as well as copper, zinc, lead and rare earth elements. By most estimates, Solwara I is among the most valuable seafloor massive sulfides ever discovered. And it is not only rich in metals, it is rich with life. The dumbo octopus is a species only found in the deep sea. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. The communities that grow around hydrothermal vents depend on the chemical energy of the vent plume. The geological process that deposits metals also&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/deep-sea-wildernesses-are-more-important-than-the-promise-of-seafloor-mining-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/deep-sea-wildernesses-are-more-important-than-the-promise-of-seafloor-mining-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317523</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>PNG’s New Ireland coastal waters causing fish deaths, human sickness</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/pngs-new-ireland-coastal-waters-causing-fish-deaths-human-sickness/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/pngs-new-ireland-coastal-waters-causing-fish-deaths-human-sickness/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2026 23:58:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/20233533/GVL8903-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316077</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Diseases, Food, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Pollution, and Toxicology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For several months, the waters around New Ireland province in Papua New Guinea have been causing illness, skin irritation and the death of sea life, according to communities living along the east coast of the island. In December 2025, residents say they began noticing that fish and other marine life were turning up dead along [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For several months, the waters around New Ireland province in Papua New Guinea have been causing illness, skin irritation and the death of sea life, according to communities living along the east coast of the island. In December 2025, residents say they began noticing that fish and other marine life were turning up dead along the shoreline, according to a coalition that is organizing a relief effort. John Aini, the founder of the Indigenous marine conservation organization Ailan Awareness, who is from New Ireland province, said the flesh of these fish was discolored, the eyes of some had popped out of their sockets and others had visible damage to their brains. New Ireland sits along the northeastern fringes of Papua New Guinea between the Bismarck Sea to the west and the expanse of the Pacific Ocean to the east. The crisis threatens “multiple” communities whose cultures are deeply entwined with the ocean environment, according to a statement from the coalition, and some 750 people have experienced symptoms including burns, respiratory problems and gastrointestinal sickness. Tidal movements also threaten to infiltrate and foul freshwater creeks that are critical sources of drinking water. And yet, the origins of the crisis are a mystery. A map showing the locations of the most affected communities in New Ireland. Image courtesy of Ailan Awareness. “Families can no longer rely on the ocean for food,” Martha Piwas, a community leader from the east coast of New Ireland, said in the statement. “Mothers cannot feed their children&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/pngs-new-ireland-coastal-waters-causing-fish-deaths-human-sickness/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/pngs-new-ireland-coastal-waters-causing-fish-deaths-human-sickness/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316077</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vanuatu communities move to protect taro, an ancestral climate-resilient crop (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/vanuatu-communities-move-to-protect-taro-an-ancestral-climate-resilient-crop-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/vanuatu-communities-move-to-protect-taro-an-ancestral-climate-resilient-crop-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2026 18:50:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Kidd]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/26182316/Richard-Rojo3-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313365</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, and Vanuatu]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroecology, Analysis, Climate Change, Commentary, Disasters, Food, food security, Islands, Plants, Storms, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The packed-earth trail winds through the dense and tangled forest of Vanuatu, the ocean crashing just meters to our right. Richard Rojo’s feet don’t mind the stones and stumps, and he carries a bush knife and a repurposed rice sack. It’s a path well-trodden for Rojo, who’s lived here in the village of Tasmate on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The packed-earth trail winds through the dense and tangled forest of Vanuatu, the ocean crashing just meters to our right. Richard Rojo’s feet don’t mind the stones and stumps, and he carries a bush knife and a repurposed rice sack. It’s a path well-trodden for Rojo, who’s lived here in the village of Tasmate on Vanuatu’s remote west coast of Espiritu Santo Island as a subsistence farmer and fisher all his 40-ish years. I walk-jog to keep up with him as he talks to me over his shoulder, idly whacking at an occasional vine with his knife. We’ve been traveling together a few days now in his open boat up and down this coast, on a reporting trip with the Sunset Santo Environmental Network (SSEN) team so I can see for myself the way villages here are threatened by climate change. We walk for about 10 minutes as I pepper Rojo with questions. We pass towering trees covered with epiphytic plants and wade across a river before popping out into a clearing the size of a few soccer pitches. Coconut palms edge the far side and, in front of us, earthen berms enclose a shallow rectangular pool maybe 5 by 50 meters (roughly 16 by 164 feet). Inside are rows and rows of chest-high plants with heart-shaped leaves: Colocasia esculenta, or water taro. Rojo sets down his knife and bag and wades into the pool. “I will go replace some that are dying like this one,” he says, finding his&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/vanuatu-communities-move-to-protect-taro-an-ancestral-climate-resilient-crop-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313365</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Elizabeth Erasito, custodian of Fiji’s parks and places</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/elizabeth-erasito-custodian-of-fijis-parks-and-places/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/elizabeth-erasito-custodian-of-fijis-parks-and-places/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 04:04:38 +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/20/2025/12/29140809/Elizabeth-Erasito-v2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312222</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Green, Islands, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The work of conservation in small island states is rarely abstract. It is shaped by land that is limited, institutions that are thinly resourced, and pressures that arrive from far beyond national borders. Decisions about forests, rivers, reefs, and historic sites are often framed as technical choices, but they are more often political ones, balancing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The work of conservation in small island states is rarely abstract. It is shaped by land that is limited, institutions that are thinly resourced, and pressures that arrive from far beyond national borders. Decisions about forests, rivers, reefs, and historic sites are often framed as technical choices, but they are more often political ones, balancing development promises against damage that cannot easily be reversed. In Fiji, those tensions were especially visible in the management of protected areas and heritage sites. National parks were expected to serve several purposes at once: conservation, public access, cultural continuity, and economic opportunity. They were also expected to endure storms, fires, invasive species, and illegal extraction, frequently with too little staff and money. Holding those contradictions together required patience, administrative skill, and a tolerance for slow progress. One of the figures who spent much of her working life doing exactly that was Elizabeth Erasito. She joined the National Trust of Fiji in 1997 and rose to become its director, a position she held for more than two decades. Under her leadership, the Trust managed a small but symbolically important network of parks and historic places, from coastal dunes to forest reserves and archaeological sites. Her focus was less on expansion than on making protection function in practice. Elizabeth Erasito. From the National Trust. She spoke plainly about constraints. Monitoring, she argued, mattered more than declarations. In public remarks she described the need for practical tools to track encroachment, fires, invasive species, and illegal sand mining.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/elizabeth-erasito-custodian-of-fijis-parks-and-places/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/elizabeth-erasito-custodian-of-fijis-parks-and-places/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312222</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/malaysian-companies-dominate-png-forest-clearance-permits-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/malaysian-companies-dominate-png-forest-clearance-permits-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2025 05:54:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/25103418/tree-kangaroo-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310979</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Farming, Forests, FPIC, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Papua New Guinea’s rainforests, which span 28.2 million hectares (69.6 million acres), are among the most biodiverse in the world, hosting an estimated 5-8% of all species. The country also has one of the world’s highest rates of communal land ownership, with around 97% of land legally recognized as being customary tenure. Despite the ecological [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Papua New Guinea’s rainforests, which span 28.2 million hectares (69.6 million acres), are among the most biodiverse in the world, hosting an estimated 5-8% of all species. The country also has one of the world’s highest rates of communal land ownership, with around 97% of land legally recognized as being customary tenure. Despite the ecological significance of the country’s forests, and the existence of laws to ensure customary landowners retain control of what happens on their traditional lands, Papua New Guinea also hosts a major timber trade — frequently topping global lists of tropical log exporters — with the profits concentrated in the hands of foreign corporations. A recent report from RimbaWatch, a Kuala Lumpur-based research and advocacy organization, examined in detail how land-conversion permits facilitate the clearance of PNG’s forests, and what role the companies linked to Malaysia play in the ongoing timber trade. The report focused on Forest Clearing Authorities (FCAs), which are permits issued by the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) that allow large-scale conversions — exceeding 50 hectares (123 acres) — of natural forests for agricultural or other land-use development projects. The stated purpose of these licenses is to create sustainable jobs and income for the country’s people via development projects, but critics say that, in practice, these licenses  have been used to facilitate large-scale logging. As of 2024, one-third of the timber exported from the country came from companies operating on an FCA permit. RimbaWatch found that 65 out of 67 active FCAs are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/malaysian-companies-dominate-png-forest-clearance-permits-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310979</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nickel mining threatens Raja Ampat ecosystems, communities &#038; conservation: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-threatens-raja-ampat-ecosystems-communities-conservation-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-threatens-raja-ampat-ecosystems-communities-conservation-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 01:43:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/12105323/Copy-of-DJI_20241223084456_0019_V-min-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307396</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critical Minerals, Deforestation, Electric Cars, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mining, Nikel, Renewable Energy, and UNESCO World Heritage Site]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In a new report, marine activists are demanding restoration efforts from nickel miners and the Indonesian government for affected areas of Raja Ampat while also urging authorities to enforce the ban on mineral extraction in coastal and small island regions. The recently published paper combines geospatial analysis with field evidence to reveal mounting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In a new report, marine activists are demanding restoration efforts from nickel miners and the Indonesian government for affected areas of Raja Ampat while also urging authorities to enforce the ban on mineral extraction in coastal and small island regions. The recently published paper combines geospatial analysis with field evidence to reveal mounting ecological risks from expanding nickel mining in Raja Ampat, known as the “Crown Jewel of Marine Biodiversity.” The research maps how concessions overlap with vital coral reefs, forests and community territories within the UNESCO Global Geopark. The findings point to growing pressure on both ecosystems and the livelihoods of Indigenous and local people across the archipelago. “Our research shows that nickel mining in Raja Ampat creates a domino effect of destruction, from direct forest clearing to sediment runoff that suffocates coral reefs to the displacement of marine species that local communities depend upon,” Timer Manurung, chair of the environmental organization Auriga Nusantara, which collaborated with mining watchdog Earth Insight in the research, said in a press statement published Sept. 25. Nickel mining on Manuran Island. Image courtesy of Auriga Nusantara. The research, supported by recent field photos, has revealed how more than 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres) of nickel mining concessions continue to threaten the UNESCO Global Geopark in Raja Ampat. Using the latest geospatial analysis, the researchers mapped overlaps between mining concessions and critical ecosystems, showing risks to 2,470 hectares (6,100 acres) of coral reefs and 7,200 hectares (17,800 acres) of forest, as well as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-threatens-raja-ampat-ecosystems-communities-conservation-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-threatens-raja-ampat-ecosystems-communities-conservation-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307396</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study spotlights West Papua habitat as whale sharks face increased pressures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2025 06:07:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/26085143/ws_Edy-Setyawan_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306620</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Megafauna, Oceans, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study reports that the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesia’s West Papua serves as a vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks, but lift-net fisheries, tourism boats and emerging mining activities in the region underscore the urgent need for stronger protection and management. The population demographics of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) within the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study reports that the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesia’s West Papua serves as a vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks, but lift-net fisheries, tourism boats and emerging mining activities in the region underscore the urgent need for stronger protection and management. The population demographics of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) within the four key BHS regions (Cendrawasih Bay, Kaimana, Raja Ampat, and Fakfak) showed a dominance of juvenile males that use these habitats as nursery or foraging grounds and reducing predation risk while growing, according to the research published Aug. 28 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. The international group of researchers also found that more than half of the whale sharks in the study had injuries from preventable human causes. “The scars and wounds we see on whale sharks are like a diary of their encounters with people,” Edy Setyawan, lead conservation scientist at the Elasmobranch Institute Indonesia who is the lead author of the paper, told Mongabay in an email. The Bird’s Head Seascape is a vital nursery for juvenile male whale sharks. Image courtesy of Edy Setyawan. Most whale shark sightings occurred in Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana. Image courtesy of Edy Setyawan. From 2010-23, the researchers tracked 268 whale sharks across the BHS — a region hosting a network of 26 marine protected areas and a hotspot for marine megafauna and tropical marine biodiversity — using photos from scientists and citizen divers. Nearly all sightings were in Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana, where the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306620</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An Indigenous-led solar canoe initiative expands across the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/an-indigenous-led-solar-canoe-initiative-expands-across-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/an-indigenous-led-solar-canoe-initiative-expands-across-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2025 07:00:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29185918/Photo-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305211</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Ecuador, Latin America, Peru, Solomon Islands, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Roads, Solar Power, Solutions, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A solar-powered canoe initiative originally launched in Ecuador’s Amazon in 2017 has now expanded to Indigenous coastal communities in Brazil, Peru, Suriname and the Solomon Islands. Researchers say the effort helps communities in tropical regions reduce gasoline and diesel use, avoid road expansion and develop non-extractive income projects like tourism and forestry products businesses. Ichinki [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A solar-powered canoe initiative originally launched in Ecuador’s Amazon in 2017 has now expanded to Indigenous coastal communities in Brazil, Peru, Suriname and the Solomon Islands. Researchers say the effort helps communities in tropical regions reduce gasoline and diesel use, avoid road expansion and develop non-extractive income projects like tourism and forestry products businesses. Ichinki Tentets Tanchim Federico, a leader from the Indigenous Achuar community of Wayusentsa in Ecuador, which recently received a solar-powered canoe, told Mongabay via WhatsApp that the boat has reduced pollution by using engines that don’t release exhaust fumes in the waters and air. “[They] do not pollute the environment, especially for those who live near rivers,” he said, adding that it has saved Indigenous people the cost of purchasing fuel and oil. The Kara Solar Foundation, an Indigenous-led team of engineers, communicators, social scientists and solar technicians, created the project after Indigenous Achuar people in the southeastern Ecuadorian Amazon expressed their vision to build a solar-powered boat. Tapiatpia, the first solar canoe, survived an 1,800-kilometer (1,118-mile) journey across several Amazonian rivers and safely returned to Achuar territory in 2017. Since then, Kara Solar has delivered 12 solar-powered canoes to communities in five countries and built solar recharge stations that double as community energy centers. Six of the canoes were delivered to communities in Ecuador, two in Peru, two in Brazil, one in Suriname and one in the Solomon Islands. It has also trained members of Indigenous communities to operate and manage the systems in their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/an-indigenous-led-solar-canoe-initiative-expands-across-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/an-indigenous-led-solar-canoe-initiative-expands-across-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305211</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As climate change burdens grow, community mental health alarm bells ring</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-climate-change-burdens-grow-community-mental-health-alarm-bells-ring/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-climate-change-burdens-grow-community-mental-health-alarm-bells-ring/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Aug 2025 18:32:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Petro Kotzé]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/18085510/ce563a5a-1757-4f90-99e7-46c44f84c15e-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304298</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bhutan, Global, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Climate Change Denial, Climate Justice, Conservation, Environment, Extinction, Extreme Weather, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, Planetary Boundaries, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“We are not causing climate change, yet we are the ones heavily affected,” says 26-year-old Solomon Islands health worker Matthew Bibao Paikea, as he expresses ongoing frustration over failing crops, rising disease and an island home slowly succumbing to the sea. “I can’t do anything to change this,” he notes, with resignation and recognition of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“We are not causing climate change, yet we are the ones heavily affected,” says 26-year-old Solomon Islands health worker Matthew Bibao Paikea, as he expresses ongoing frustration over failing crops, rising disease and an island home slowly succumbing to the sea. “I can’t do anything to change this,” he notes, with resignation and recognition of the crisis. In communities worldwide, people like Paikea are grappling with far more than the physical and economic impacts of climate change. Intensifying climate stressors are also eroding mental health and psychosocial well-being. According to the 2023 U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report, threats to mental health and well-being are on the upswing as the world warms, while support to deal with these invisible mental and emotional impacts is lagging. While most research so far has focused on the mental health impacts of acute disasters — think: floods, wildfires and hurricanes — fewer studies have examined the long-term grinding day-to-day impacts of the slow-moving climate crisis, as ever rising sea levels, extreme heat, extended drought, severe storms and drastic climate variability negatively impact economies, food security, freshwater availability, health care and sanitation, emergency response and quality of life. Mental health risks are especially intense in the world’s most vulnerable under-served communities, as at-risk groups and individuals (especially the poor, disabled, very young and very old, and those already suffering mental illness) are battered by the wearing toll. Climate change has begun impacting key industries in the Himalayan nation of Bhutan, including agriculture&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-climate-change-burdens-grow-community-mental-health-alarm-bells-ring/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-climate-change-burdens-grow-community-mental-health-alarm-bells-ring/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304298</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sharks didn’t rebound—so Mark Erdmann is putting them back</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2025 12:42:07 +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/20/2025/07/11183735/Mark-recovery-swim-thresher-17-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302225</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carnivores, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Green, Hope and optimism, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Predators, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, shark finning, Sharks, Species Discovery, Technology, Tourism, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades, Mark Erdmann has worked where many only dream of diving—on the reefs and in the tangled mangroves of Indonesia’s farthest reaches. A marine biologist by training and a conservationist by necessity, Erdmann has spent much of his life documenting new species, persuading local communities to back marine protection, and fighting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades, Mark Erdmann has worked where many only dream of diving—on the reefs and in the tangled mangroves of Indonesia’s farthest reaches. A marine biologist by training and a conservationist by necessity, Erdmann has spent much of his life documenting new species, persuading local communities to back marine protection, and fighting off the encroachment of extractive industries. His career, by his own account, has spanned more than 220 species discoveries, a handful of close encounters with crocodiles, and the creation of a new model for shark rewilding. Erdmann’s journey began in a remote island village off the coast of South Sulawesi in 1991, where he arrived as a Ph.D. student studying coral reef ecology. His neighbors, he quickly realized, were bomb fishers and shark finners. The shift from science to action was swift. “It was clear that more than science was needed; active protection was critical,” he recalls. That realization became a life’s work. As Vice President of Asia-Pacific Marine Programs at Conservation International and now Executive Director of ReShark and Shark Conservation Director at Re:wild, Erdmann has been at the forefront of efforts to transform marine protection from a top-down regulatory exercise to a bottom-up, community-owned endeavor. Few places showcase this as clearly as Raja Ampat, the archipelago off West Papua that has become the crown jewel of Indonesian marine conservation. Wayag lagoon release site in Indonesia&#8217;s Raja Ampat. Photo by Mark Erdmann. When Erdmann first visited Raja Ampat in 2001, the coral reefs were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest connectivity key to preserving PNG’s spectacular rainforest birds: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/forest-connectivity-key-to-preserving-pngs-spectacular-rainforest-birds-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/forest-connectivity-key-to-preserving-pngs-spectacular-rainforest-birds-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2025 12:55:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/08123630/1.-Cassowary_Full_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302057</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Ecosystem Services, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Fragmentation, Green, Habitat Degradation, Logging, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From pollinating plants to dispersing seeds, birds play a variety of crucial roles that help to keep ecosystems in balance. But when we degrade and fragment their habitats, some species disappear much quicker than others — taking their specific ecosystem functions with them. New research from Papua New Guinea, one of the world&#8217;s last havens [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From pollinating plants to dispersing seeds, birds play a variety of crucial roles that help to keep ecosystems in balance. But when we degrade and fragment their habitats, some species disappear much quicker than others — taking their specific ecosystem functions with them. New research from Papua New Guinea, one of the world&#8217;s last havens of intact tropical forest, suggests that forest-specialist insectivores and ground foragers are among the first to go. Given these vulnerable groups of birds include various bird-of-paradise species along with bowerbirds and cassowaries, which are important emblems of PNG, the authors urge conservationists to focus on retaining forest-dependent birds as a strategy that would protect species of both ecological and cultural significance, as well as their forest home. “PNG derives much of its cultural power from birds, as sources of Indigenous clothing, pride as national animals, [or the focus of] ecotourism,” study lead author Krystof Korejs, a zoologist at the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic, told Mongabay in an email. Covering the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, PNG is a global epicenter of avian biodiversity. Some of the world’s most ornate and behaviorally complex species are found in its megadiverse old growth rainforests. However, mounting pressure from agricultural expansion and commercial logging are putting stress on these crucial ecosystems, sparking concerns among conservationists about how species will cope. A sulphur-crested cockatoo in New Guinea. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Specialists out, generalists in To find out how PNG’s bird communities&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/forest-connectivity-key-to-preserving-pngs-spectacular-rainforest-birds-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/forest-connectivity-key-to-preserving-pngs-spectacular-rainforest-birds-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302057</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>When heat waves hit, clownfish shrink to survive, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/when-heat-waves-hit-clownfish-shrink-to-survive-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/when-heat-waves-hit-clownfish-shrink-to-survive-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2025 21:58:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/16055615/clownfish-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300674</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Oceania, Pacific Ocean, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Heatwave, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine, Marine Animals, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, Temperatures, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Clownfish are known for their remarkable ability to change sex to survive. Turns out, one species, clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula), popularized in the Pixar hit movie Finding Nemo, have yet another surprising survival trick up their fins: they can also shrink themselves to weather heat waves and dodge social squabbles. When things get hot and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Clownfish are known for their remarkable ability to change sex to survive. Turns out, one species, clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula), popularized in the Pixar hit movie Finding Nemo, have yet another surprising survival trick up their fins: they can also shrink themselves to weather heat waves and dodge social squabbles. When things get hot and tense on the reef, these little fish size down to stay alive and keep the peace, a new study finds. Published this May in Science Advances, the study reveals a fascinating finding: these clownfish can actually get shorter — not just skinnier — to survive extreme heat. And this shrinking strategy boosts their odds of making it through a heat wave by up to 78%. Melissa Versteeg, the study’s lead author and a doctoral researcher at Newcastle University in the U.K., said the shrinking in length was the most surprising finding. “That wasn’t anything we’d witnessed before,” she told Mongabay by email. She said she was also struck by how shrinking helped the fish survive heat stress. And then they “also bounce back when they can.” To dive into this curious survival strategy, the research team, working with the Mahonia Na Dari Conservation and Research Centre in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, observed 67 breeding pairs of wild clown anemonefish from February to August 2023. This study period overlapped with the world’s fourth global coral bleaching event, during which local water temperatures surged as much as 4° Celsius (7.2° Fahrenheit) above the long-term average. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/when-heat-waves-hit-clownfish-shrink-to-survive-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/when-heat-waves-hit-clownfish-shrink-to-survive-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300674</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>PNG PM Marape rejects deep-sea mining even as provincial authorities try to revive project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/png-pm-marape-rejects-deep-sea-mining-even-as-provincial-authorities-try-to-revive-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/png-pm-marape-rejects-deep-sea-mining-even-as-provincial-authorities-try-to-revive-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2025 09:20:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire AlbertsJohn Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/16075010/OceanImageBank_JayneJenkins_PNG_22-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300821</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, extractives, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine, Marine Conservation, Mining, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a fellow. NICE, France — James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, voiced his government’s rejection of seabed mining at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference that took place between June 9 and 13, in Nice, France. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a fellow. NICE, France — James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, voiced his government’s rejection of seabed mining at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference that took place between June 9 and 13, in Nice, France. His position stands in sharp contrast to the situation unfolding in the country’s New Ireland province, where local authorities are paving the way for foreign companies to begin mining the seabed, despite long-standing, community-led opposition to these developments. “As a country, we don&#8217;t want any deep-sea mining in Papua New Guinea,” Marape told Mongabay in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the U.N. Ocean Conference (UNOC) on June 10. He said his country would uphold its moratoria against the industry — one of which was announced in 2019, and another in 2023. The main reason for this position, he said, is that the seas around Papua New Guinea (PNG) are “sensitive and fragile” and are home to important fisheries. “Our waters are very fertile in as far as marine life is concerned,” he said, adding that scientific evidence on how mining might affect marine ecosystems is scant. A recent brief from the U.N. secretary-general’s scientific advisory board warns of “irreversible” potential impacts on sea life due to the destruction of seafloor habitat, sediment plumes and the release of toxins by deep-sea mining. While Marape publicly asserted his opposition to the nascent industry, a proposed project&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/png-pm-marape-rejects-deep-sea-mining-even-as-provincial-authorities-try-to-revive-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300821</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To survive climate change, scientists say protected areas need ‘climate-smart’ planning</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/to-survive-climate-change-scientists-say-protected-areas-need-climate-smart-planning/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/to-survive-climate-change-scientists-say-protected-areas-need-climate-smart-planning/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jun 2025 16:37:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marina Martinez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/13061201/1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300731</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Atlantic Forest, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Cameroon, Congo Basin, Global, Guiana Shield, Indonesia, Latin America, Mexico, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, Protected Areas, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Protected areas such as national parks, nature reserves and Indigenous lands are the foundation of biodiversity conservation. However, climate change is threatening their effectiveness in safeguarding wildlife, ecosystem services and livelihoods. As many countries work to meet the global target of protecting 30% of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030 — known as the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Protected areas such as national parks, nature reserves and Indigenous lands are the foundation of biodiversity conservation. However, climate change is threatening their effectiveness in safeguarding wildlife, ecosystem services and livelihoods. As many countries work to meet the global target of protecting 30% of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030 — known as the 30&#215;30 goal, a cornerstone of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — scientists are calling for the incorporation of “climate-smart” approaches into the planning of new and existing protected areas. The 30&#215;30 Progress Tracker tool shows how the global movement to protect 30% of the world’s lands and waters by 2030 is progressing — with around 17% of global land and inland waters, and 8% of oceans currently protected. Image ©&#xfe0f; SkyTruth. “While we know that climate change is affecting biodiversity, for example through distribution range shifts, local extinctions, and community restructuring, designs of PAs [protected areas] don’t usually explicitly account for these effects,” says Kristine Buenafe, a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at the University of Queensland, Australia, and lead author of a recent review published in Nature Reviews Biodiversity. Buenafe’s paper indicates that conservationists risk protecting areas where species may no longer live in the future, if they don’t factor in climate change dynamics. “We’ve reached a critical time to consider where to best place our new PAs and make sure that they are ‘climate-smart’ (resilient to climate change),” Buenafe said in an email interview. This reasoning is echoed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/to-survive-climate-change-scientists-say-protected-areas-need-climate-smart-planning/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300731</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘It’s our garden’: PNG villages fight to prevent mine waste dumping in the sea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/its-our-garden-png-villages-fight-to-prevent-mine-waste-dumping-in-the-sea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/its-our-garden-png-villages-fight-to-prevent-mine-waste-dumping-in-the-sea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jun 2025 02:37:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/12163117/Boat-Keleino-and-his-colleagues-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300702</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Gold Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Marine Conservation, Mining, Nutrient Pollution, Oceans, Poisoning, Politics, Pollution, Social Justice, Waste, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Three communities in Papua New Guinea are waiting for the country’s Supreme Court to decide whether their concerns about the dumping of mine waste in the sea near their homes merit cancellation of an environmental permit for mining that the government issued in 2020. U.S.-based Newmont Corporation and South Africa’s Harmony Gold Ltd., the partners [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Three communities in Papua New Guinea are waiting for the country’s Supreme Court to decide whether their concerns about the dumping of mine waste in the sea near their homes merit cancellation of an environmental permit for mining that the government issued in 2020. U.S.-based Newmont Corporation and South Africa’s Harmony Gold Ltd., the partners in the development of the Wafi-Golpu copper and gold mine in Morobe province, want to pipe a slurry of leftover sediment, known as tailings, through a 103-kilometer (64-mile) pipeline. According to the companies’ plans, the tailings will travel from the mine through the pipeline until being discharged 200 meters (about 660 feet) under the sea at a point less than 1 km (0.6 mi) offshore in the Huon Gulf along PNG’s northern coastline. The method is known as deep-sea tailings placement (DSTP), and in December 2020, PNG’s Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA) approved the plan laid out in the companies’ environmental impact statement (EIS). That approval triggered a series of legal battles beginning in 2021 that questioned whether Huon Gulf communities had been adequately informed of the risks of DSTP. Most recently, three leaders representing the villages of Labu Butu, Wagang and Yanga, located near the pipeline, sued CEPA’s leader and the government. Initially, the lawsuits aimed to stop the government from issuing a permit for large-scale mines called a “special mining lease” that would allow the project to move forward, citing the possibility of “catastrophic and irreplaceable damage to the marine environment and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/its-our-garden-png-villages-fight-to-prevent-mine-waste-dumping-in-the-sea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/its-our-garden-png-villages-fight-to-prevent-mine-waste-dumping-in-the-sea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300702</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In New Guinea, megadiverse lowland forests are most at risk of deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-new-guinea-megadiverse-lowland-forests-are-most-at-risk-of-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-new-guinea-megadiverse-lowland-forests-are-most-at-risk-of-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2025 08:43:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/21020452/Banner_IMG_9967-e1747793965688-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299383</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Logging, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The island of New Guinea is famed for its eye-popping diversity of plants, animals and human cultures. Estimated to host one-tenth of Earth’s species, it’s the world’s second-largest island and has the third-largest intact expanse of tropical forest in the world, after the Amazon and the Congo. It’s where birds-of-paradise perform their effervescent courtship displays, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The island of New Guinea is famed for its eye-popping diversity of plants, animals and human cultures. Estimated to host one-tenth of Earth’s species, it’s the world’s second-largest island and has the third-largest intact expanse of tropical forest in the world, after the Amazon and the Congo. It’s where birds-of-paradise perform their effervescent courtship displays, tree kangaroos shimmy up trees to dizzying heights, and the world’s largest butterfly flits between foliage in the forest canopy. This extraordinary biodiversity is partly the result of centuries of evolutionary isolation at the edge of the western Pacific, where the biota of Asia and Australasia meet. It also comes from powerful tectonic activity that shaped a rugged and mountainous landscape, making many areas difficult for humans to access and develop. Today, roughly 80% of New Guinea’s forest cover remains intact, sharply contrasting with nearby islands like Borneo, Java and Sumatra, which have seen extensive development and deforestation. However, experts are increasingly concerned that developers are shifting their focus to New Guinea, which is split roughly in half between Indonesia, which controls the island’s west, and Papua New Guinea, in the east. Major road schemes, industrial logging and agricultural conglomerates pushing biofuel agendas are carving into the island’s ancient landscapes, especially on the Indonesian side. A new study that models deforestation risk across the island predicts that its low-elevation forests are likely to be especially vulnerable. This is worrisome, the authors note, since these ecosystems are among the tallest, most biologically rich and carbon-dense ecosystems&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-new-guinea-megadiverse-lowland-forests-are-most-at-risk-of-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-new-guinea-megadiverse-lowland-forests-are-most-at-risk-of-deforestation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299383</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>PNG’s Torricelli Mountains teem with life — and the risk of extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2025 18:13:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/31073348/9043-A-grizzled-tree-kangaroo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296714</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Guinea, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Infrastructure, Logging, Marsupials, Mongabay Data Studio, NGOs, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Millions of years ago, as the Indo-Australian plate pushed into the Pacific plate, a volcanic arc of islands began to emerge near the modern-day island of New Guinea that would one day form the Torricelli Mountains. And in this ancient, slow-motion reordering of Earth’s crust, life inevitably layered on top of the substrata to form [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Millions of years ago, as the Indo-Australian plate pushed into the Pacific plate, a volcanic arc of islands began to emerge near the modern-day island of New Guinea that would one day form the Torricelli Mountains. And in this ancient, slow-motion reordering of Earth’s crust, life inevitably layered on top of the substrata to form one of the most species-rich spots on the planet. “You&#8217;ve got to remember that there was the Sepik River pumping vegetation from the mainland off into the ocean, some of which was clearly reaching this island arc system,” Australian zoologist Tim Flannery of the Australian Museum in Sydney told Mongabay. Along with that botanical foundation came a number of animals: amphibians, to be sure, which seem particularly adept at rafting on plant life from one piece of land to another, according to Flannery, along with a predecessor of the northern glider (Petaurus abidi), a marsupial species with bewitchingly bulbous eyes found only in the Torricellis. “We’re still working out exactly what species came across at that phase,” he said, but it’s clear “there was a rich source of colonists.” Later, the emergence of a mountain range connected this island arc to the Doberai Peninsula of western New Guinea, which is also known as the Bird’s Head, or Vogelkop in Dutch and Indonesian, for its namesake shape. As a result of this “amazing orogeny” in the early Pliocene Epoch and another linkage with New Guinea’s Central Highlands, a number of species that had previously been confined&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296714</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Fatal Watch’: Interview with documentary makers on fisheries observer deaths</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2025 20:47:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/20155919/7-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296195</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the screen: DCEFF]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Fiji, Ghana, Global, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean, Panama, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[data, Environment, Fisheries, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fisheries observers hold a job little known by the general public but essential to the health of the oceans: monitoring the work on industrial fishing vessels. The sector has its share of illegal fishing and even other illicit activity, so the job comes with risks. A new documentary shows just how dangerous it is. Fatal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fisheries observers hold a job little known by the general public but essential to the health of the oceans: monitoring the work on industrial fishing vessels. The sector has its share of illegal fishing and even other illicit activity, so the job comes with risks. A new documentary shows just how dangerous it is. Fatal Watch, co-directed by Katie Carpenter and Mark Benjamin, focuses on four unsolved cases in which fisheries observers died or disappeared during the last decade. There have been at least a dozen more worldwide since 2009. The film also casts a critical eye on the industry as a whole, touching on management and transparency issues that the filmmakers see as intertwined with the observer safety problem. The heroes of Fatal Watch are investigators and campaigners seeking justice for harmed observers and fighting for marine conservation more broadly. Elizabeth Mitchell-Rachin, a board member of the Association for Professional Observers, a nonprofit based in the U.S. state of Oregon, is featured as a leading advocate for observer rights. Mitchell-Rachin herself worked as an observer from 1983 until 2008 and knows the dangers firsthand: A captain once threatened to throw her overboard. Fisheries observers are biological technicians who collect scientific data and report on vessels’ compliance with a range of rules, including, for example, those dealing with protected species. They are subject to many of the same dangers and discomforts that fishers face at sea, and then some. As a fisheries observer, “you’re living with the people that you’re reporting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Funerary practices in Fiji protect marine areas while honoring the deceased</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/funerary-practices-in-fiji-protect-marine-areas-while-honoring-the-deceased/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/funerary-practices-in-fiji-protect-marine-areas-while-honoring-the-deceased/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Feb 2025 13:22:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/30141053/Tom-Vierus-A%CC%82%C2%A9-WCS.Fishers-and-COVID.Fiji_.2021.69.v.3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295128</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Religions, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the fifth day after the burial of their chief, Seru Moce, 66, and other clan members gathered for a meeting to decide what portion of the sea to protect in memory of their deceased leader. For generations, Indigenous (iTaukei) people in Fiji have not only protected a loved one’s burial grounds, but also freshwater [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the fifth day after the burial of their chief, Seru Moce, 66, and other clan members gathered for a meeting to decide what portion of the sea to protect in memory of their deceased leader. For generations, Indigenous (iTaukei) people in Fiji have not only protected a loved one’s burial grounds, but also freshwater and marine areas in their memory. “Funerary protected areas hold much significance for the iTaukei way of life and conservation,” Moce said. “It’s a part of our livelihood, culture and sustainable management of resources.” It’s a practice that still endures today, though it has evolved across the country, a group of researchers who sought to bring light to this understudied type of protected area found. “Despite more than three decades of conservation efforts in Fiji,” they said, conservationists did not document aquatic funerary protected areas (or FPAs). This, they said, prevented the use of FPAs as a potential resource management strategy for the country. Upon the burial of a family member or community chief on clan land, local Fijians demarcate customary tabu (no-go closed-off areas) as protected areas in a freshwater or marine ecosystem. The size varies and tends to be larger for chiefs but are small compared with typical protected areas, ranging from 1-10 hectares (2.5-25 acres). For chiefs, the FPA could stretch from the shoreline to the outermost reef. These traditional protected areas forbid people from fishing and harvesting marine species from the area until a funerary feast. The gathering typically comes 100&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/funerary-practices-in-fiji-protect-marine-areas-while-honoring-the-deceased/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/funerary-practices-in-fiji-protect-marine-areas-while-honoring-the-deceased/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295128</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s voracious songbird trade laps up rare and poisonous pitohuis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2025 12:58:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/10072028/Hooded-Pitohui-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292804</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pet Trade, Poaching, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off parasites such as lice, ticks and fleas, and predators, including humans. When humans handle these birds, the neurotoxins irritate the nasal passage and cause allergy-like symptoms. Yet even the poison doesn’t seem enough to protect pitohuis from the songbird trade, as new research shows. A study published in the journal Bird Conservation International by a team of international researchers and an NGO presents the first evidence of poisonous pitohuis (genus Pitohuis) entering the songbird trade in Indonesia, which occupies the western half of the island of New Guinea. The researchers find that these birds appeared in the trade in 2015 and have since been sold in bird markets and online platforms, raising conservation concerns about the illegal trade of these birds. Birdkeeping is a traditional practice rooted in Javanese culture, where a third of households keep songbirds. Studies estimate that the island has anywhere between 66 million and 84 million caged birds. For most, it’s a cherished hobby, and for a few, they’re prize-winning contestants in singing competitions. But this penchant for songbirds has a dark side: the Asian songbird crisis. With soaring demand for songbirds, thousands of wild-caught birds are entering the trade in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292804</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In a Noah’s Ark move, PNG migrants bring thousands of trees to safer ground</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/in-a-noahs-ark-move-png-climate-migrants-bring-thousands-of-trees-to-safer-ground/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/in-a-noahs-ark-move-png-climate-migrants-bring-thousands-of-trees-to-safer-ground/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2024 17:25:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Thibault Le Pivain]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/21170737/Carterets-outrigger-e1732209528515-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290430</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Pacific Ocean, Papua, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Erosion, Human Migration, Medicinal Plants, Migration, Plants, Sea Levels, Traditional Medicine, Trees, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOUGAINVILLE, Papua New Guinea — The climate is changing, science shows. And according to some estimates, it could create anywhere between 200 million and 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050. As people flee floods, failed harvests, dried rivers or destroyed homes, what becomes of the ecosystems they leave behind? Of the wildlife, trees and endemic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOUGAINVILLE, Papua New Guinea — The climate is changing, science shows. And according to some estimates, it could create anywhere between 200 million and 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050. As people flee floods, failed harvests, dried rivers or destroyed homes, what becomes of the ecosystems they leave behind? Of the wildlife, trees and endemic species? In the southwestern Pacific, people are bringing much of this biodiversity along with them. The residents of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea are responding to climate threats by moving not only themselves to safer ground — but also the plants and trees that sustain their way of life. In their move, they have transplanted hundreds of specimens, representing dozens of species, across a small stretch of ocean. “We’re not just leaving. We’re trying to bring a part of our islands with us,” says Maria Kamin, who left the Carteret Islands to relocate with other families in response to rising sea levels. They’ve moved to Bougainville, another island part of the country. In their new home, this vegetation, combined with local flora, have helped establish a thriving forest of 175,000 trees and plants. During this “green migration,” residents tell Mongabay they hope to preserve not only the biodiversity of their native islands as conditions worsen, but also their culture and sense of place. Maria Kamin walks in the forest in Bougainville which villagers planted using tree species brought over from the Carteret Island. Image by Thibault Le Pivain. Carrying home forward Few people&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/in-a-noahs-ark-move-png-climate-migrants-bring-thousands-of-trees-to-safer-ground/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/in-a-noahs-ark-move-png-climate-migrants-bring-thousands-of-trees-to-safer-ground/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290430</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With rare mammal tourism, observing means conserving (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/with-rare-mammal-tourism-observing-means-conserving-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/with-rare-mammal-tourism-observing-means-conserving-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Nov 2024 00:27:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles FoleyJon Hall]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/10/03142525/FEATURED-echidna-444x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289522</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Indonesia, Latin America, New Guinea, Oceania, South America, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Charismatic Animals, Commentary, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Funding, Mammals, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At the turn of this century, seeing a wild jaguar was exceptionally difficult. People driving through the Jaguar Ecological Reserve in the Pantanal in Brazil would very occasionally get a glimpse of one crossing the road, but photographing them in the wild was considered almost impossible. The same was true for other large iconic cat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At the turn of this century, seeing a wild jaguar was exceptionally difficult. People driving through the Jaguar Ecological Reserve in the Pantanal in Brazil would very occasionally get a glimpse of one crossing the road, but photographing them in the wild was considered almost impossible. The same was true for other large iconic cat species including snow leopards and puma, but just 20 years later all three species can be easily seen in a few days, in the right areas. Visitors to the Pantanal can now see multiple jaguars in just one day, and behaviors previously seldom witnessed or photographed, like hunting and mating, or mothers interacting with their cubs, are now regularly recorded. And excellent puma sightings are practically guaranteed in Chile, while snow leopards – once named the ‘grey ghost’ – are regularly seen in various locations in the Indian Himalayas, Mongolia and China. What changed? The answer is tourism. Wildlife-based tourism has long been an important income earner for many governments: think of Africa’s safari industry centered around viewing iconic large mammals or visitors to Borneo seeking mammals including orangutans, while in Madagascar, lemur watching is a vital part of the  poor country’s tourism industry. But, today, many other places – and mammals – are starting to get in on the act. The Onçafari Project in the Pantanal of Brazil caters to visitors eager to see jaguars, even in mundane places like outside of this caiman farm. Image by Onçafari Project guide Mario Nélson Cleto, who&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/with-rare-mammal-tourism-observing-means-conserving-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-289522</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous territories &#038; peoples are key to achieving COP16’s 30&#215;30 target (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/indigenous-territories-peoples-are-key-to-achieving-cop16s-30x30-target-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/indigenous-territories-peoples-are-key-to-achieving-cop16s-30x30-target-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Oct 2024 17:11:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hon. Trevor MahagaRicardo Camilo Niño Izquierdo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/18164320/16.-canoa-sobre-rio-putumayo-leguizamo-putumayo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288962</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Global, Pacific Islands, Solomon Islands, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, and Indigenous Reserves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It is time to recognize that the Western conservation model has serious historical flaws and cannot achieve global targets alone. We, Indigenous peoples, offer another way. It is just a few days until the beginning of COP16 when countries worldwide will meet to discuss biodiversity protection. The Conference of the Parties (COP) under the Convention [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It is time to recognize that the Western conservation model has serious historical flaws and cannot achieve global targets alone. We, Indigenous peoples, offer another way. It is just a few days until the beginning of COP16 when countries worldwide will meet to discuss biodiversity protection. The Conference of the Parties (COP) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will take place from October 21 to November 1, 2024, in Cali, Colombia, with a focus on the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). The outcomes of COP16 have the power to change how countries worldwide deal with biodiversity protection. A key pillar of the KMGBF is the aim to protect 30% of the planet&#8217;s lands, waters, and seas by 2030. COP16 occurs as the world faces extreme events fueled by climate change. What scientists were predicting for a “distant” future is happening now, and it is happening faster than expected. Biodiversity is not in a better place today: According to a global report, one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. Canangucho, the fruit of the moriche palm, in the Colombian Amazon. Image courtesy of J.J. Javier via Nia Tero. The discussions at COP16 cannot happen without considering the role of Indigenous communities in protecting biodiversity and thriving ecosystems. Approximately 40% of Earth’s remaining intact ecosystems are sustained by Indigenous peoples. Globally, biodiversity thrives on Indigenous-governed lands, which play a vital role in protecting biological diversity through land stewardship, management practices, and traditional knowledge. Lands managed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/indigenous-territories-peoples-are-key-to-achieving-cop16s-30x30-target-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-288962</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bats &#038; bees help ni-Vanuatu predict storms — but will climate change interfere?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/bats-bees-help-ni-vanuatu-predict-storms-but-will-climate-change-interfere/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/bats-bees-help-ni-vanuatu-predict-storms-but-will-climate-change-interfere/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2024 11:52:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/09190210/paper-wasp-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287153</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Vanuatu]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Culture, Education, Environment, Extreme Weather, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Religions, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Weeks before Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Harold loomed over the Vanuatu islands in 2020, Indigenous ni-Vanuatu people received nature’s warning call. Locals secured their thatched roofs and baked taro and laplap (a common delicacy) in an underground oven to stock up on food for the harsh weather. For generations, the ni-Vanuatu relied on terrestrial and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Weeks before Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Harold loomed over the Vanuatu islands in 2020, Indigenous ni-Vanuatu people received nature’s warning call. Locals secured their thatched roofs and baked taro and laplap (a common delicacy) in an underground oven to stock up on food for the harsh weather. For generations, the ni-Vanuatu relied on terrestrial and marine species like flowering plants, bees and turtles as indicators that forecast upcoming extreme weather events. This traditional knowledge helped communities adapt and prepare for floods, droughts and cyclones, like Harold, which scientists predict will be more frequent in this nation of islands. “If the weather appeared fine in the middle of the cyclone, it indicated that winds would return with even more force,” one local told geographers assessing traditional knowledge in the region. To revitalize this knowledge, the VanKIRAP project developed a national indicator booklet documenting an extensive list of traditional meteorological indicators. Led by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD), researchers worked with traditional knowledge holders to preserve knowledge that is typically only orally passed down. But in the face of climate change, which has affected weather patterns and species’ behavior, this knowledge is no longer as accurate as it used to, says VanKIRAP project manager Sunny Seuseu. From the team’s consultations with communities, elders report that some traditional indicators they applied in the past no longer work. To analyze the accuracy of the traditional knowledge indicators and see if they have been impacted&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/bats-bees-help-ni-vanuatu-predict-storms-but-will-climate-change-interfere/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287153</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Not merely ‘exploration’: PNG deep-sea mining riles critics &#038; surprises officials</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/not-merely-exploration-png-deep-sea-mining-riles-critics-surprises-officials/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/not-merely-exploration-png-deep-sea-mining-riles-critics-surprises-officials/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2024 11:43:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/02101342/barracuda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286825</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Crime, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Mining, Industry, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Mining, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A deep-sea mining operation that recently took place off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has raised alarm bells for environmentalists and called into question the validity of the country’s moratorium on such activities. Between May 16 and July 19, the mining vessel MV Coco ventured into the Bismarck Sea close to the west [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A deep-sea mining operation that recently took place off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has raised alarm bells for environmentalists and called into question the validity of the country’s moratorium on such activities. Between May 16 and July 19, the mining vessel MV Coco ventured into the Bismarck Sea close to the west coast of PNG’s province of New Ireland. Environmentalists say the vessel was mining the seabed — an allegation confirmed through reporting by Pacific Beat, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio show. The vessel is owned by Magellan, a deep-water exploration and mapping company based in Jersey in the Channel Islands, and was chartered by Deep Sea Mining Finance (DSMF) Ltd., an obscure company registered in the British Virgin Islands but with a company address on the Isle of Man. According to environmentalists, DSMF’s mining operation was illegal and went beyond the exploration phase permitted under its current license. However, a government official has denied the operation’s illegality, although he said the company’s activities caught his agency and the provincial government by surprise. The exact nature of the seabed mining and the conditions of the company’s license remain unknown. Satellite-based vessel-tracking data Mongabay obtained from monitoring platforms Skylight and Global Fishing Watch show the MV Coco focusing much of its activity in and around a controversial project site known as Solwara 1, which harbors hydrothermal vents with abundant minerals like copper, gold and other metals. The Solwara 1 project site was originally allotted for mining by Canada-based&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/not-merely-exploration-png-deep-sea-mining-riles-critics-surprises-officials/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286825</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New database unveils the role of Asian hornbills as forest seed dispersers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2024 15:36:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/15150836/Banner_02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282135</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Hunting, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Rewilding, Seed Dispersal, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Biologists have long known hornbills are supreme long-distance seed dispersers. The iconic forest birds are capable of transporting tree seeds over vast distances — up to 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, for some species. In so doing, they distribute tree populations across increasingly fragmented tropical forest landscapes. But actually observing hornbill seed dispersal behavior in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Biologists have long known hornbills are supreme long-distance seed dispersers. The iconic forest birds are capable of transporting tree seeds over vast distances — up to 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, for some species. In so doing, they distribute tree populations across increasingly fragmented tropical forest landscapes. But actually observing hornbill seed dispersal behavior in the wild is notoriously difficult. “If you’re collecting data in the field, it’s very hard to observe hornbills interacting with plants, not to mention finding out where the bird flies to when it leaves the fruiting tree,” Hanci Liang, a doctoral candidate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), told Mongabay. While a lot is known about the eating habits of hornbills, many mysteries still remain. To pinpoint where such observational data is needed most, Liang and her colleagues from Singapore and Malaysia have brought together all existing research data on the fruit-eating habits of Asian and New Guinean hornbill species into an open-source digital database. Published in a new study in Global Ecology and Conservation, the database represents the largest continually updatable repository of hornbill frugivory and seed dispersal research in the region. The team says it hopes the resource will enable hornbill specialists and prospective students to quickly identify where information is lacking so that they can target their efforts and limited resources to fill knowledge gaps. Understanding the dynamics of seed dispersal enables biologists to investigate the role of different types of fruit-eating animals within ecosystems. And for tropical trees, long-distance seed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282135</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists welcome new PNG Protected Areas Act — but questions remain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/conservationists-welcome-new-png-protected-areas-act-but-questions-remain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/conservationists-welcome-new-png-protected-areas-act-but-questions-remain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Apr 2024 16:08:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/12132242/Flame-Bowerbird-Sericulus-ardens-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280895</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Rights, Law, Logging, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Regulations, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With more than 70% of the country blanketed by tropical rainforests, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a megadiverse country home to more than 5% of the world’s biodiversity, including charismatic tree kangaroos, egg-laying echidnas and flightless cassowaries. However, since 1972, nearly a third of the country’s rainforest has been lost or degraded due to logging, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With more than 70% of the country blanketed by tropical rainforests, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a megadiverse country home to more than 5% of the world’s biodiversity, including charismatic tree kangaroos, egg-laying echidnas and flightless cassowaries. However, since 1972, nearly a third of the country’s rainforest has been lost or degraded due to logging, road construction, agricultural expansion and mining. In a significant push to conservation, the country’s parliament passed the Protected Areas Act 2023 on Feb. 20. The new legislation aims to establish a national system of protected areas in the country and achieve the “30 by 30” goal of designating 30% of its land and sea as protected areas by 2030. Currently, less than 4% of land and 1% of sea in PNG are designated as protected areas. The Protected Areas Bill was based on the PNG National Policy on Protected Areas road map to protect the country&#8217;s biodiversity and cultural heritage. Now passed into an act, it provides mechanisms for the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA), a federal agency responsible for the sustainable management of natural and physical resources, to engage with communities and provincial and local governments to regulate and manage protected areas in the country. A tree Kangaroo, one of the many rare species living in PNG&#8217;s lowland forests. Pictured here at the Melbourne zoo. Image by Tom Jefferson/Greenpeace. “Previously, there was no guiding legislation to establish protected areas in the country,” says Phelameya Joku Haiveta, CEPA program officer, adding that past legislation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/conservationists-welcome-new-png-protected-areas-act-but-questions-remain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280895</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Unseen and unregulated: ‘Ghost’ roads carve up Asia-Pacific tropical forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/unseen-and-unregulated-ghost-roads-carve-up-asia-pacific-tropical-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/unseen-and-unregulated-ghost-roads-carve-up-asia-pacific-tropical-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2024 08:34:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/11082041/Banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280850</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Habitat Degradation, Illegal Logging, Infrastructure, Logging, Mining, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Roads are being built at an unprecedented rate across the globe. Some 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) of paved roads are expected to be built in just the four decades leading up to 2050 — enough to wrap around the equator more than 600 times. But much of this construction is happening under the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Roads are being built at an unprecedented rate across the globe. Some 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) of paved roads are expected to be built in just the four decades leading up to 2050 — enough to wrap around the equator more than 600 times. But much of this construction is happening under the radar. Networks of unmapped, unregulated and often illegal roads are insidiously spreading into fragile ecosystems. If left unchecked, they threaten to wreak a devastating toll on tropical forests, according to new research.   The new study, published April 10 in Nature, documents 1.37 million km (851,000 mi) of roads sprawling across the islands of New Guinea, Borneo and Sumatra, three hotspots of biodiversity in Southeast Asia and the Pacific that contain the largest combined expanse of tropical rainforest in the world outside the Amazon and the Congo Basin. This total length of roads is between three and 6.6 times more than recorded in officially recognized databases. The researchers say the discrepancy indicates the presence of a glut of what they term “ghost roads”: informally or illicitly constructed roads carved by loggers, miners, land grabbers or speculators. Typically falling outside of the purview of environmental governance, ghost roads create blind spots in zoning and law enforcement, ultimately posing one of the gravest conservation threats facing the world’s forests. “Roads are often a death-knell for ecosystems, especially ghost roads, which are often illegal and unregulated,” William Laurance, study co-author and a distinguished research professor at James Cook University&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/unseen-and-unregulated-ghost-roads-carve-up-asia-pacific-tropical-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-280850</doi>				</item>
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