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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?location=mexico&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mexico/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sun, 02 Aug 2026 17:23:44 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Mexico environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mexico/</link>
	<width>32</width>
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				<item>
					<title>How carbon markets can succeed &#038; also serve Global South communities (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 21:09:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pati Ruiz Corzo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/27182742/Encinos-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324619</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Avoided Deforestation, Business, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Sequestration, Certification, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Environment, Finance, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Mitigation, Nature-based climate solutions, Rainforests, Solutions, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Carbon markets were designed around the compelling premise that private finance could flow where forests are most at risk, rewarding the communities and landowners who protect them while helping companies take responsibility for their emissions. For anyone working in climate or conservation, the underlying logic still holds. The world&#8217;s forests provide essential ecosystem services, capture [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Carbon markets were designed around the compelling premise that private finance could flow where forests are most at risk, rewarding the communities and landowners who protect them while helping companies take responsibility for their emissions. For anyone working in climate or conservation, the underlying logic still holds. The world&#8217;s forests provide essential ecosystem services, capture and store huge amounts of carbon dioxide, face enormous pressure, and need sustained economic incentives if they are to survive. So why has the voluntary carbon market so consistently fallen short of this promise? Over the past decade, the sector has faced mounting evidence that many carbon credits, particularly those issued for forest conservation in the Global South, have not delivered the climate outcomes they claimed. There have been well-documented cases of social harm to Indigenous and local communities, scientific analysis has repeatedly found that the methodologies used to calculate emissions reductions were prone to significant overestimation, and trust in the market, among both buyers and civil society, has been eroded. Military macaws (Ara militaris) flying over a forest in the Sierra Gorda. They are one of the many iconic and endangered species that call the forests of the Sierra Gorda home. Image courtesy of Roberto Pedraza Ruiz / Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda. However, this is not a reason to abandon the idea of climate finance for nature. It is a reason to understand what has gone wrong, and to ask what a more inclusive, just, and transparent model can look like. What hasn’t worked&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324619</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists call on countries to act on ‘forgotten’ sawfish teeth trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 22:12:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/23215910/2018img-2266-credit-peter-kyne_orig-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324439</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Critically Endangered Species, Fish, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Marine Conservation, Research, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sawfish, a group of large marine rays, derive their name from a striking appendage: Their long, saw-like snout lined with teeth-like scales. Nature intended these fish to use their snout, also called a rostrum, to send out electric signals that shock unsuspecting prey, slice it like a sword to impale it, and devour the catch. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sawfish, a group of large marine rays, derive their name from a striking appendage: Their long, saw-like snout lined with teeth-like scales. Nature intended these fish to use their snout, also called a rostrum, to send out electric signals that shock unsuspecting prey, slice it like a sword to impale it, and devour the catch. Humans, on the other hand, use these sharp teeth as cockfighting spurs — a spiky object strapped to a game cock’s legs so it can deliver lethal blows to its opponent and win the fight. For centuries, practitioners of the sport in Latin America have carved sawfish (fam.Pristidae) teeth into spurs. But in the 2000s, as sawfish became overfished for their fins, many cockfighting associations in the region officially banned using their teeth as spurs. In 2007, all sawfish species were added to CITES, the global wildlife trade agreement, and their commercial international trade was banned. A sawfish&#8217;s rostrum is lined with sharp teeth-like scales, which are carved into cockfighting spursCredits: Vassil &#8211; CC0. A recent study, published in the journal Conservation Letters, found that international commerce in sawfish rostra and teeth continues in Latin America despite bans. Talking to cockfighting practitioners and association representatives, the researchers found most rostral teeth entering the trade came from Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Central America and Colombia. Peru topped the list as a destination. They call for stricter law enforcement and coordination in these countries, and urge CITES to take action to curb the “hidden” trade. Although the peak&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324439</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Michoacán, Mexico, drying soil threatens water supplies and avocados, says study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-michoacan-mexico-drying-soil-threatens-water-supplies-and-avocados-says-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-michoacan-mexico-drying-soil-threatens-water-supplies-and-avocados-says-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 21:28:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Caitlin Cooper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/23202157/plantations-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity Hotspots, Deforestation, Drinking Water, Drivers Of Deforestation, Drought, Extreme Weather, Farming, Fires, Freshwater, Industrial Agriculture, Natural Resources, Research, Water, Water Scarcity, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In the heart of Mexico’s southwestern state of Michoacán, Juan Madrigal spends his free time organizing to protect the city of Uruapan’s urban ecological park, a 50-hectare (124-acre) plot of land at the edge of the Río Santa Bárbara. A state-protected area since 1995, the park’s marshlands help to purify the surrounding [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In the heart of Mexico’s southwestern state of Michoacán, Juan Madrigal spends his free time organizing to protect the city of Uruapan’s urban ecological park, a 50-hectare (124-acre) plot of land at the edge of the Río Santa Bárbara. A state-protected area since 1995, the park’s marshlands help to purify the surrounding Cupatitzio watershed, where nine natural springs provide drinking water to approximately half a million people. According to Madrigal, the park, a habitat of the ruddy-capped nightingale-thrush (Catharus frantzii), the endangered Michoacán pocket gopher (Zygogeomys trichopus) and the endemic Pátzcuaro frog (Lithobates dunni), is a victim of neglect. “The authorities have never paid any attention to it, and it’s us citizens who’ve been speaking out,” Madrigal, who in 1993 founded Ecocentro del Río Cupatitzio, a nonprofit educational center, tells Mongabay by phone. The movement to protect the park gained momentum after it involved the ranchers that grow fruit and corn downstream, Madrigal says. “They realized the importance of us supporting each other in defending the vital sources of life,” he says. “Without trees, there is no water.” For a certain type of tree, however, the inverse occurs: Without water, there are no avocados. Defending native forests, urban or otherwise, is a small but important fight in Michoacán, where avocado orchards have replaced nearly 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of tree cover, an area almost three times the size of Cape Town, between 1993 and 2023. Michoacán is the top avocado exporter in Mexico and the only&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-michoacan-mexico-drying-soil-threatens-water-supplies-and-avocados-says-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-michoacan-mexico-drying-soil-threatens-water-supplies-and-avocados-says-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Smithsonian ornithologist John Rappole reconsidered why birds migrate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 16:31:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20163455/john-hilton-rappole-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324116</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico, Myanmar, North America, Texas, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Migration, Obituary, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For much of the year, migratory songbirds were treated as temporary visitors to the tropics. They arrived from the north, spent the winter, and departed again. Ornithologists paid more attention to their journeys and breeding grounds than to the months they passed farther south. The birds were often described as transients, moving through tropical forests [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For much of the year, migratory songbirds were treated as temporary visitors to the tropics. They arrived from the north, spent the winter, and departed again. Ornithologists paid more attention to their journeys and breeding grounds than to the months they passed farther south. The birds were often described as transients, moving through tropical forests without becoming part of them. What they did there, and how firmly they occupied those places, remained poorly understood. Years of catching, banding, and watching them suggested a different account. In the forests of southern Mexico, individual birds returned to familiar patches and defended feeding territories. They were regular members of tropical bird communities for months at a time. A bird that appeared to be a passing visitor might return to the same small area year after year. Its life in the tropics was structured, local, and essential to its survival. Migration could not be explained only as an escape from northern winters. Its origins might instead lie in dispersal from warmer regions, as birds gradually extended their ranges toward seasonal food and breeding opportunities. John Hilton Rappole, who died on June 30th, aged 79, pursued this argument for much of his career. It became known as the dispersal theory of bird migration. The theory challenged a long-standing explanation for why birds crossed continents. His commitment to it reflected his approach to science. He relied on sustained field observation, questioned established assumptions, and was prepared to defend an idea over many years. He was less&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/smithsonian-ornithologist-john-rappole-reconsidered-why-birds-migrate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324116</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ancient rock structures help restore biodiversity on the US-Mexico border</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ancient-rock-structures-help-restore-biodiversity-on-the-us-mexico-border/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ancient-rock-structures-help-restore-biodiversity-on-the-us-mexico-border/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 10:49:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rose Shimberg]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/17103615/IMG_0265-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323477</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Drought, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Impact Of Climate Change, In-situ Conservation, Nature-based climate solutions, Ranching, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CANANEA, Sonora — The day was windless. Long brown grasses speckled the landscape, and a stray tree erupted from the earth. The river channel was rusty, bone-dry. A pond that swells with summer rain glimmered on the horizon, but local rancher Eduardo Ríos Colores pointed toward the mountains, his finger tracing the route of a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CANANEA, Sonora — The day was windless. Long brown grasses speckled the landscape, and a stray tree erupted from the earth. The river channel was rusty, bone-dry. A pond that swells with summer rain glimmered on the horizon, but local rancher Eduardo Ríos Colores pointed toward the mountains, his finger tracing the route of a bone-dry streambed cutting through the landscape. “There was a time when this stream didn’t exist,” he said. “There used to be a lot of trees, and all the trees prevented erosion from the water. But … the trees have been drying up.” It was difficult to imagine the streambed swollen, rain-choked. But water in this region comes in all at once, in a deluge. As it races across the landscape, it forms deep channels like this one, creating sandy areas where new plants can’t grow. The land soon fails to support life, from the native grasses to migratory birds to the cattle that are the lifeline of ranchers like Ríos Colores. “Many people say that when water flows, it shouldn&#8217;t flow straight,” he continued. “Those serve to divert the water … so the current flows like a snake.” He was referring to his trincheras — hundreds of small rock structures peppering the streambed. The small, permeable barriers go on for more than a mile, spanning the channel, each small weir composed of dozens of fist-sized rocks. The trincheras, the Spanish word for “entrenchments,” were built in 2021 to slow down water, raising the water table&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ancient-rock-structures-help-restore-biodiversity-on-the-us-mexico-border/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ancient-rock-structures-help-restore-biodiversity-on-the-us-mexico-border/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323477</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil spill continues in Gulf of Mexico vulnerable habitats, while Pemex admits fault</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Apr 2026 11:33:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Caitlin Cooper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/22111835/AP26085839385231-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317934</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Oceans, Oil Spills, Politics, Pollution, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Waste, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In Nautla, a municipality on the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz, soft folds of sand await sea turtles as their annual nesting season begins between April and June. But instead of the miniature olive-green turtles — the Kemp’s ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) that show up here are the world’s smallest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In Nautla, a municipality on the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz, soft folds of sand await sea turtles as their annual nesting season begins between April and June. But instead of the miniature olive-green turtles — the Kemp’s ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) that show up here are the world’s smallest species of their kind — sticky black discs the size of coins dot the coastline. Along a 1-meter (3-foot) section of beach, Nautla resident Ricardo Yepez Gerón, director-general of the Yepez Foundation, an NGO focused on sea turtle conservation, said he could count approximately 100 of these spots. “To remove the oil that has [washed up] on these beaches … let’s be honest, the coastline is too long,” Yepez Gerón told Mongabay in a video interview. “You need one person for every 10 meters [33 ft].” Similar reports of tar stains on the beaches of Veracruz, Tabasco and Campeche, along the southern arc of the Gulf of Mexico, have cropped up since early March. According to a late March report from the Coral Reef Network of the Gulf of Mexico, what appeared to be an oil spill had impacted 933 kilometers (about 580 miles) of shoreline — and at least seven of nine natural protected areas, ANPs by their Spanish acronym, in the Tabasco, Veracruz and Tamaulipas states, according to Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Mexico’s secretary of environment and natural resources. For 67 days, the government denied any wrongdoing as various scenarios circulated regarding the source&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317934</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On Manatee Appreciation Day, remember these gentle giants who protect aquatic ecosystems (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/on-manatee-appreciation-day-remember-these-gentle-giants-who-protect-aquatic-ecosystems-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/on-manatee-appreciation-day-remember-these-gentle-giants-who-protect-aquatic-ecosystems-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2026 14:22:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Omar Vidal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/23225005/Photograpg-by-Jorge-Zamora-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316172</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, and Seagrass]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Along the warm waters of Mexico’s Caribbean coast lives a creature so gentle that sailors once mistook it for a mermaid. Slow-moving, peaceful and curious, manatees have glided through rivers and coastal lagoons for millions of years, long before humans ever set foot on these shores. On Manatee Appreciation Day, it’s worth remembering not only [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Along the warm waters of Mexico’s Caribbean coast lives a creature so gentle that sailors once mistook it for a mermaid. Slow-moving, peaceful and curious, manatees have glided through rivers and coastal lagoons for millions of years, long before humans ever set foot on these shores. On Manatee Appreciation Day, it’s worth remembering not only why these animals matter, but also the people who have dedicated their lives to protecting these gentle giants. One such story begins in Chetumal, a coastal city in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula whose name in the Maya language means “the place where the rains come down.” It is here that a scientist named Dr. Benjamín Morales devoted decades of his life to studying and protecting manatees. In 2003, a newborn manatee calf washed ashore in Laguna Guerrero near Chetumal. He had just been born and had already lost his mother. The calf was weak, alone and unlikely to survive. Dr. Morales stepped in without hesitation, and he named the calf Daniel. Daniel was taken to a small research facility where Morales and a group of students and volunteers nursed him back to health, feeding him from bottles day and night. What began as a rescue soon became something deeper: a bond between human and animal built on patience, trust and care. An Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) comes up for air. Image courtesy of André Dib. Over the years, Daniel grew into a full-sized manatee with an unmistakable personality. Like many of his species, he had an&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/on-manatee-appreciation-day-remember-these-gentle-giants-who-protect-aquatic-ecosystems-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/on-manatee-appreciation-day-remember-these-gentle-giants-who-protect-aquatic-ecosystems-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316172</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Big biodiversity goals run up against small funding realities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-biodiversity-goals-run-up-against-small-funding-realities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-biodiversity-goals-run-up-against-small-funding-realities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 19:23:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/25184549/m.-Hyacinth-Macaw-Anodorhynchus-hyacinthinus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314817</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Funding, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mexico’s sundry landscapes have few parallels. Straddling the northern boundary of the Tropic of Cancer, the country boasts low-lying deserts and humid rainforests, scrubby chaparral and tangled mangroves, with long spines of the Sierra Madre stitching the country’s starkly different biomes together. Mexico is home to the third-most mammal species of any country and supports [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mexico’s sundry landscapes have few parallels. Straddling the northern boundary of the Tropic of Cancer, the country boasts low-lying deserts and humid rainforests, scrubby chaparral and tangled mangroves, with long spines of the Sierra Madre stitching the country’s starkly different biomes together. Mexico is home to the third-most mammal species of any country and supports a whopping 864 species of reptiles, nearly half of which occur only within Mexico’s borders. What’s more, human culture is deeply intertwined with the natural world here, with known traditional uses for almost a quarter — some 5,000 species — of its plants. “Mexico is a ‘megadiverse’ country,” Daniela Carrión, senior director of project design and oversight at the NGO Conservation International, tells Mongabay. The “megadiverse“ moniker is ascribed to 17 countries holding most of the world’s biodiversity. They typically have high levels of endemic species, plants in particular, that occur nowhere else on Earth. Still, Carrión adds, Mexico “faces a lot of challenges that are similar to all countries in terms of land use options and climate change.” Deforestation for agriculture, as well as logging, water scarcity and sea level rise, all threaten to strain the country’s resilience. The Mexican government has a long history of conservation, Carrión says, with recent moves to boost protected areas to 95 million hectares (235 million acres), covering 14% of the country’s land and a quarter of its seas and oceans by the end of 2024. But maintaining such large areas, which the country hopes to expand on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-biodiversity-goals-run-up-against-small-funding-realities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-biodiversity-goals-run-up-against-small-funding-realities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314817</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous Ikoots community prepares to relocate as the Pacific floods their town</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-ikoots-community-prepares-to-relocate-as-the-pacific-floods-their-town/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-ikoots-community-prepares-to-relocate-as-the-pacific-floods-their-town/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 13:47:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Euan Wallace]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/24173349/15-birds-take-flight-as-the-sun-sets-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314706</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Disasters, Environment, Fish, Flooding, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Sea Levels]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CUAUHTÉMOC, Mexico — On a wind-battered beach in San Mateo del Mar, Mexico, four figures haul a net into shore. Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens) mark the fishers’ position in a high, twisting column that follows their progress from the water onto the beach. One of the men tosses a small fish onto the sand. It barely [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CUAUHTÉMOC, Mexico — On a wind-battered beach in San Mateo del Mar, Mexico, four figures haul a net into shore. Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens) mark the fishers’ position in a high, twisting column that follows their progress from the water onto the beach. One of the men tosses a small fish onto the sand. It barely comes to rest before a dark bird wheels down from the sky to claim it. The man is José Rangel Edison, 57, a fisher from the community of Cuauhtémoc, an Indigenous Ikoots community of 900 people in the municipality of San Mateo del Mar, on Mexico’s Pacific coast. “In the past, the sea used to be over there,” Edison says, pointing to the horizon across the cresting waves. “But since I was 18, when I started fishing, it’s been coming in little by little. Now it has almost wiped out Cuauhtémoc.” Edison’s community is perched on a slim stretch of land between the ocean and a large lagoon system. Now, rapid se level advance is displacing residents and disrupting daily life. According to a report from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, the Pacific Ocean consumed 8.4 meters (27.5 feet) of Cuauhtémoc’s land per year between 1967 and 2014, while locals describe a larger encroachment of around 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) since the first half of the 20th century. Two Cuauhtémoc residents walk past a dead tree as they make their way toward the ocean. Image by Euan Wallace for Mongabay. The effect on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-ikoots-community-prepares-to-relocate-as-the-pacific-floods-their-town/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-ikoots-community-prepares-to-relocate-as-the-pacific-floods-their-town/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314706</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mexico considers shrinking protected areas for endangered vaquita porpoise</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mexico-considers-shrinking-protected-areas-for-endangered-vaquita-porpoise/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mexico-considers-shrinking-protected-areas-for-endangered-vaquita-porpoise/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2026 20:57:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/10192935/Screenshot-2026-02-10-132642-768x450.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Baja California, Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Oceans, Politics, Protected Areas, Vaquita, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials have proposed scaling back fishing regulations meant to protect a narrow stretch of ocean home to the last 10 remaining vaquitas, the world’s smallest species of porpoise. If implemented, the changes could shrink protected areas and open up vessel traffic in the northern Gulf of California, the stretch of water [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials have proposed scaling back fishing regulations meant to protect a narrow stretch of ocean home to the last 10 remaining vaquitas, the world’s smallest species of porpoise. If implemented, the changes could shrink protected areas and open up vessel traffic in the northern Gulf of California, the stretch of water between Baja California and mainland Mexico where the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is endemic. The proposal cites scientific research and aims to satisfy local fishing communities, but conservation groups say the changes in it could lead to the porpoise’s extinction. “I don’t think we can forget that this is the most endangered marine mammal in the world,” Sarah Doleman, senior ocean campaigner for the U.K.-based NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency, told Mongabay. “With such a small population of 10 individuals, any effort to reduce the measures that are in place at the moment, and to enforce those measures fully, would be a real threat to the future of this species.” The proposal, not yet public but reviewed by Mongabay, is being developed by several government agencies, including the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). Input on it came from fishing industry representatives and an “interinstitutional group” assembled by the government that the proposal does not identify. The vaquita measures just 1.5 meters (5 feet) in length, weighs 54 kilograms (120 pounds) and features dark circles around its eyes. Its numbers have been steadily declining from under 600 when scientists first surveyed the species in 1997, with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mexico-considers-shrinking-protected-areas-for-endangered-vaquita-porpoise/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mexico-considers-shrinking-protected-areas-for-endangered-vaquita-porpoise/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314049</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How intermediaries are reshaping mangrove restoration</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2026 16:25:43 +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/20/2026/02/06094551/1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313853</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, East Africa, Florida, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, North America, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Illegal Logging, Mangroves, Restoration, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mangrove forests, located along tropical and subtropical coastlines, are increasingly recognized for their role in buffering climate disasters, storing carbon, supporting wildlife and livelihoods. Yet even as interest in mangrove conservation and restoration has surged in recent years, many projects fail — seedlings die, sites degrade further or communities disengage. One reason, according to Catherine [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mangrove forests, located along tropical and subtropical coastlines, are increasingly recognized for their role in buffering climate disasters, storing carbon, supporting wildlife and livelihoods. Yet even as interest in mangrove conservation and restoration has surged in recent years, many projects fail — seedlings die, sites degrade further or communities disengage. One reason, according to Catherine Lovelock, professor in the School of the Environment at the University of Queensland in Australia and expert in mangrove ecology, is that restoration efforts are often led by small community groups with limited resources and expertise. In fact, studies have shown that around 70% of mangrove restoration projects in some regions, particularly Southeast Asia and Latin America, have low rates of success. To bridge this gap, a growing number of environmental nonprofits are tapping into their experience with fundraising and resource mobilization to help local communities more effectively conduct restoration. Seatrees, a California-based NGO (formerly known as Sustainable Surf), is one such organization. Rather than running projects itself, the organization partners with local community groups and other NGOs, providing funding, scientific expertise and media support to boost coastal and marine restoration efforts worldwide, including mangroves. Over the past five years, Seatrees has supported mangrove restoration projects in Kenya, Mexico, the U.S. and Indonesia “by providing much needed funds to scale up tree planting, produce storytelling materials and build capacity in science, monitoring and impact measurement,” Leah Hays, the program director, told Mongabay. Seatrees is one of nearly 130 organizations worldwide identified by researchers at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313853</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Up close with Mexico’s fish-eating bats: Interview with researcher José Juan Flores Martínez</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 17:54:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30230254/murcielago-pescador-cover3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312388</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Coastal Ecosystems, Deserts, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Evolution, Fishing, Green, Interviews, Invasive Species, Islands, Mammals, Marine, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the early 2000s, José Juan Flores Martínez was studying for a bachelor’s degree in biology and working as a volunteer in a program designed to control invasive rodents on islands in the Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico, which are home to several seabird colonies. On one of those expeditions, his group traveled to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the early 2000s, José Juan Flores Martínez was studying for a bachelor’s degree in biology and working as a volunteer in a program designed to control invasive rodents on islands in the Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico, which are home to several seabird colonies. On one of those expeditions, his group traveled to Isla Partida Norte near the city of La Paz, where something surprised them: they heard bats. Accustomed to seeing them in caves, Flores Martínez was intrigued when he saw them coming out from between the rocks and making clicking sounds under his feet. “It surprised me to find out that they were on an island, in the middle of the desert, under extreme conditions: They can resist sub[-freezing] temperatures and heat above 50 degrees [Celsius, or about 122° Fahrenheit],” said Flores Martínez, now an academic technician at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s (UNAM) Institute of Biology. “But it was much more surprising to me that, when I began to ask questions, I was told that they feed on fish.” They were fish-eating bats (Myotis vivesi), and they fascinated Flores Martínez. This fascination led him, along with researcher Gerardo Herrera Montalvo, to embark on a scientific journey that has lasted a quarter of a century and counting. The fish-eating bat is the largest bat in its genus, reaching up to 16 centimeters (about 6 inches) in length. Its long, shiny fur is waterproof, which comes in handy as it maneuvers above the surface of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/up-close-with-mexicos-fish-eating-bats-interview-with-researcher-jose-juan-flores-martinez/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312388</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Joann Andrews, a patient force behind Yucatán’s protected landscapes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/joann-andrews-a-patient-force-behind-yucatans-protected-landscapes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/joann-andrews-a-patient-force-behind-yucatans-protected-landscapes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Dec 2025 21:36:39 +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/20/2025/12/27214052/Joann_Andrews-bw-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312072</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mesoamerica, and Mexico]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Forests, Obituary, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservation has a habit of being treated as either romance or emergency. In practice it is closer to logistics: permits, budgets, awkward meetings, long drives, and the slow work of persuading people who would rather be left alone. In places where the state is under-resourced and land is already spoken for, success often depends less [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservation has a habit of being treated as either romance or emergency. In practice it is closer to logistics: permits, budgets, awkward meetings, long drives, and the slow work of persuading people who would rather be left alone. In places where the state is under-resourced and land is already spoken for, success often depends less on grand theory than on an ability to make institutions behave decently. That was the terrain in which Joann Andrews operated for more than four decades on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. She helped turn a region better known to outsiders for ruins and resorts into a proving ground for modern Mexican conservation, one that tried to protect wildlife without pretending that communities could be edited out of the landscape. She died on December 22nd 2025 in Mérida, aged 96. She arrived in Yucatán in 1964 after marrying the archaeologist E. Wyllys Andrews IV. When he died of cancer in 1971, she faced the choice that confronts many expatriates after tragedy: return to the familiar, or stay with the life already built. She stayed. The decision kept her in Mexico with six children and anchored her to a peninsula whose natural systems she would come to know with the intimate specificity of a field notebook. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, on January 10th 1929, she studied political science at Columbia University, graduating in 1951, and later took a master’s degree in international economics at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies. Before Mexico, she spent a decade&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/joann-andrews-a-patient-force-behind-yucatans-protected-landscapes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312072</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mexico is inflating its climate spending by billions of dollars. Here’s how.</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mexico-is-inflating-its-climate-spending-by-billions-of-dollars-heres-how/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mexico-is-inflating-its-climate-spending-by-billions-of-dollars-heres-how/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 14:38:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/10061235/AP22215709274247-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310973</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Finance, Forest Destruction, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Law, Oil, Oil Drilling, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In its fiscal budget for 2026, passed in November, the Mexican government promised funds for renewable energy, protected areas and other environmental concerns. But much of what’s labeled as climate spending actually has nothing to do with the environment, and may even exaggerate how much is being spent, a review of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In its fiscal budget for 2026, passed in November, the Mexican government promised funds for renewable energy, protected areas and other environmental concerns. But much of what’s labeled as climate spending actually has nothing to do with the environment, and may even exaggerate how much is being spent, a review of the budget shows. Line items in the government budget reveal that funds earmarked for the clean energy transition and combatting climate change are instead going to infrastructure, oil and gas, and other projects largely unrelated to the environment. “Climate action hasn’t been prioritized in the budget,” said Anaid Velasco Ramírez, public policy and legal research manager at the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA). “In fact, much of the public budget is allocated to projects that generate large emissions, starting with the energy sector.” President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last year touting her climate science background, said she wanted to address energy demands with renewable sources. But her government is also worried about the country’s dwindling proven oil reserves, leading it to invest in new oil exploration at the same time that it’s promising an ambitious clean energy transition. The government is spending 17.9 billion pesos ($983 million) next year on its Energy Transition National Strategy, up nearly 55% from the previous year. It’s also spending 212.6 billion pesos ($11.7 billion) on “resources for the adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change.” But those figures don’t come close to what’s allocated for the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mexico-is-inflating-its-climate-spending-by-billions-of-dollars-heres-how/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310973</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Indigenous women changing the course of their communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 12:27:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/04122109/Captura-de-pantalla-2025-09-03-a-las-4.43.50-p.m-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310599</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous women leaders don’t only sustain life in their territories; they are also active defenders of water, seeds, ancestral knowledge and biodiversity. Together, they lead environmental restoration processes and care for the health of their communities. They also pave the way for political participation, claiming spaces where decision-making affects their communities. “Our fight is collective [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous women leaders don’t only sustain life in their territories; they are also active defenders of water, seeds, ancestral knowledge and biodiversity. Together, they lead environmental restoration processes and care for the health of their communities. They also pave the way for political participation, claiming spaces where decision-making affects their communities. “Our fight is collective and our resistance is ancestral. Let’s continue sowing resistance, sowing identity,” says Ketty Marcelo, president of the National Organization of Indigenous Andean and Amazonian Women of Peru (ONAMIAP). Marcelo says the legacy of their female ancestors is an inspiration and also a guide for Indigenous women to face down historical challenges, resist structural racism and violence, promote economic justice, and strengthen identity in the next generation. In this article first published by Mongabay Latam for the International Day of Indigenous Women on Sept. 5, we share the initiatives of three women leaders from Peru, Mexico and Colombia, whose actions are paving the way toward a better future for Indigenous people. International Day of Indigenous Women has been celebrated every Sept. 5 since 1983 to give visibility to Indigenous women’s achievements and the challenges they face. Image courtesy of ONAMIAP. Peru: Naming water to protect it In Indigenous territories in Peru, each water spring has a name, and each of them is a symbol of resistance. Women are the guardians of the water, and each source is enshrined with a ceremony. In a healing ritual, the elders speak to the water, while the rest of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310599</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Saving critical winter habitat for monarch butterflies may depend on buy-in from their human neighbors</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/saving-critical-winter-habitat-for-monarch-butterflies-may-depend-on-buy-in-from-their-human-neighbors/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/saving-critical-winter-habitat-for-monarch-butterflies-may-depend-on-buy-in-from-their-human-neighbors/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2025 13:39:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Steiner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/03133322/Photo4_Monarch-butterfly-resting-on-a-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310462</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, Mesoamerica, and Mexico]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Butterflies, Community Forests, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population has plummeted by 80% to 95% since the 1990s, depending on the region and monitoring method. A major cause of the species’ decline is deforestation in central Mexico, where eastern monarchs spend the colder winter months of their annual migration from Canada and the northern United States. Since 1980, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population has plummeted by 80% to 95% since the 1990s, depending on the region and monitoring method. A major cause of the species’ decline is deforestation in central Mexico, where eastern monarchs spend the colder winter months of their annual migration from Canada and the northern United States. Since 1980, the Mexican government has worked to conserve critical winter monarch habitat by cracking down on logging, one of the leading causes of habitat degradation. They ultimately designated 563 square kilometers (217 square miles) of forest as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, banning logging, hunting, and foraging in certain locations and restricting it in others. Mountains in central/southern Mexico. Photo by José López-García The project has yielded mixed results for the habitat, however, with logging continuing in some areas despite the prohibition. To understand why, a team of researchers studied the protection of the forest with a focus on how the involvement of the local communities affected conservation outcomes in the Reserve over a 50-year period. The study, published in Environmental Conservation, demonstrates that community buy-in can make or break a conservation project. “People must be consulted in order for the conservation strategy to be successful,” said study co-author Gustavo Cruz-Bello, an ecologist and social scientist at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City. Oyamel fir trees. Photo by José López-García The Reserve represents a complex web of human and natural interdependence. Monarchs rely on the oyamel fir forest in the mountains of the Michoacán and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/saving-critical-winter-habitat-for-monarch-butterflies-may-depend-on-buy-in-from-their-human-neighbors/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310462</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Solar-lights protect sea turtles from fishing nets, Mexico trials show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/solar-lit-fishing-nets-cut-sea-turtle-bycatch-by-63-mexico-trials-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/solar-lit-fishing-nets-cut-sea-turtle-bycatch-by-63-mexico-trials-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2025 22:04:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/28215521/Low-Res_ASUResearcherJesseSenko_03.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310353</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Baja California, Latin America, Mexico, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Oceans, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the waters off Isla el Pardito, where rocky reefs meet mangrove swamps in Mexico&#8217;s Gulf of California, marine biologists and veteran fishers are using the power of the sun to protect endangered sea turtles. This region has some of the highest reported rates of turtles being accidentally caught in fishing nets, a problem known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the waters off Isla el Pardito, where rocky reefs meet mangrove swamps in Mexico&#8217;s Gulf of California, marine biologists and veteran fishers are using the power of the sun to protect endangered sea turtles. This region has some of the highest reported rates of turtles being accidentally caught in fishing nets, a problem known as bycatch that poses one of the biggest threats to marine turtle populations worldwide. So researchers from the U.S. worked with local fishers to attach solar-powered lights, designed as floating buoys, onto gill nets to alert turtles to the presence of the nets. They found that this reduced sea turtle bycatch by 63% during controlled experiments, according to a study published in Conservation Letters. All 67 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) captured during the study were released alive. The idea for the solar-powered lights came from three workshops starting in 2018, where scientists and fishers worked together to find alternatives to existing lights that use disposable batteries or chemical sticks. Traditional LED lights require regular battery replacements, and chemical light sticks only last 24 hours, leading to greater costs and waste. &#8220;They took us into account and gave us the freedom to give our opinions and make modifications,” said Juan Pablo Cuevas Amador, a fisher from the community of El Pardito who participated in developing and testing the devices and is listed as a co-author of the study. “For us, it&#8217;s important that it be done in collaboration because with what they know and what we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/solar-lit-fishing-nets-cut-sea-turtle-bycatch-by-63-mexico-trials-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310353</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>It’s ‘whack-a-mole’: Alarming rise in pet trade fuels wildlife trafficking into California</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2025 13:38:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/20104758/orange-fronted-parakeet-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309886</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, Latin America, Mexico, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Pet Trade, Pets, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In October, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at California&#8217;s Otay Mesa border crossing noticed an odd bulge inside a man&#8217;s pants. Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, repeatedly claimed the bump was “pirrin,” a Spanish word for penis. His history of smuggling birds into the U.S. prompted further examination, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In October, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at California&#8217;s Otay Mesa border crossing noticed an odd bulge inside a man&#8217;s pants. Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, repeatedly claimed the bump was “pirrin,” a Spanish word for penis. His history of smuggling birds into the U.S. prompted further examination, and the officer found two brown sacks hidden in his underwear. Each contained an unconscious, heavily sedated orange-fronted parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis). He was indicted by a grand jury on November 14 for illegally importing the birds — a protected species native to Mexico and Costa Rica. Earlier that month, investigators with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) uncovered an alleged illegal trafficking operation dealing in rare animal parts that was linked to an unnamed Los Angeles-based business. Officials seized thousands of elephant ivory pieces, nine rhino horns, several carved tusks and a sea turtle shell, which will be analyzed at the department’s Wildlife Forensics Lab. As of publication, no arrests have been made. These incidents offer a glimpse into the range of wildlife flowing illegally into the state: birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. “The recent trends in illegal wildlife trafficking into California show a marked rise in the smuggling of live, high-value species protected under CITES and the Endangered Species Act,” said Denise Larison, acting regional supervisor for wildlife inspection at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). “The top three right now that we&#8217;re seeing in California [are] live reptiles, live corals …&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309886</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Mexico, world’s smallest turtle faces big threats from trafficking, habitat loss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-mexico-worlds-smallest-turtle-faces-big-threats-from-trafficking-habitat-loss/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-mexico-worlds-smallest-turtle-faces-big-threats-from-trafficking-habitat-loss/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 11:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandra Weiss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/14104409/1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Poaching, Rediscovered Species, Reptiles, Species, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It sounds like a scene out of the Ocean&#8217;s series of heist movies. Only this one didn’t happen in Las Vegas, but at a Mexican university campus surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. And it wasn’t about taking on a casino, but stealing valuable turtles. Armando Escobedo Galván, a biologist at Centro Universitario de la Costa [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It sounds like a scene out of the Ocean&#8217;s series of heist movies. Only this one didn’t happen in Las Vegas, but at a Mexican university campus surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. And it wasn’t about taking on a casino, but stealing valuable turtles. Armando Escobedo Galván, a biologist at Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUC) in Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, says he’s still startled about how the thieves tricked him last December. “Two people arrived at my office,” he recounts, “wearing uniforms of the environmental prosecutor&#8217;s office,” a federal agency known as PROFEPA. They said they were there for an inspection of his turtle program, asked for his permits, and cited corresponding laws. Everything during the two-hour procedure seemed completely normal. Then they asked to see the laboratory where the turtles were kept for scientific research: a climate-controlled container, secured with a padlock. That&#8217;s when the problems began. The officials criticized the way the turtles were being kept and complained about missing permits. Escobedo Galván says he started feeling stressed. They threatened to punish him, he says, so he was relieved when they offered instead to take 40 of the 100 turtles into their “protection” while he sorted out the necessary paperwork. “We&#8217;ll bring them back when everything is in order,” Escobedo Galván recalls them telling him. “That was a psychological masterpiece,” he says. “They put me under pressure and then offered a solution.” Measuring only 10 centimeters (4 inches) in length, the Vallarta mud turtle is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-mexico-worlds-smallest-turtle-faces-big-threats-from-trafficking-habitat-loss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2025 17:25:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/13181725/IMG_3677-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309502</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Illegal Trade, Law, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In undercover raids carried out in late September, Mexican authorities discovered 2,339 wild-caught turtles crammed into bins in five locations in Jalisco and Baja California states. Along with the live reptiles, they found a massive stash of other illegal wildlife products that are coveted as delicacies in East Asia: 1,569 kilograms (3,459 pounds) of sea [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In undercover raids carried out in late September, Mexican authorities discovered 2,339 wild-caught turtles crammed into bins in five locations in Jalisco and Baja California states. Along with the live reptiles, they found a massive stash of other illegal wildlife products that are coveted as delicacies in East Asia: 1,569 kilograms (3,459 pounds) of sea cucumbers, 1,188 kg (2,619 lbs) of shark fins, and 39 kg (86 lbs) of totoaba swim bladders. The seized goods were valued at 134 million pesos ($7.3 million). They were destined for the U.S. and East Asia, according to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. Authorities arrested three people and charged them with running an organized wildlife trafficking network through an unnamed Guadalajara-based company. The seizure — the largest since 2020, when authorities nabbed 15,000 turtles in Mexico City, also destined for China — highlights the scale of this illicit activity. It was the result of a 10-month-long operation, launched after 55 critically endangered Vallarta mud turtles (Kinosternon vogti) were stolen from a university lab in the city of Puerto Vallarta in January 2025. But this operation had a notable difference, said Taggert Butterfield, the scientific director at the turtle conservation nonprofit Estudiantes Conservando la Naturaleza (Students Conserving Nature) in Mexico. “This is the first major bust where the government used intelligence [gathering] and collaboration with other agencies to make a significant confiscation.” One of the more than 900 Tabasco mud turtle (Kinosternon acutum) seized by authorities. These turtles are a local delicacy in Mexico, despite being&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309502</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nuns, scientists &#038; microchips: An alliance to save Mexico&#8217;s achoque salamanders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nuns-scientists-microchips-an-alliance-to-save-mexicos-achoque-salamanders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nuns-scientists-microchips-an-alliance-to-save-mexicos-achoque-salamanders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2025 19:30:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/27185429/achoque-eating-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308377</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Mexico]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a monastery beside a 16th-century basilica in Pátzcuaro, Mexico, Dominican nuns move between rows of aquarium tanks, checking water quality and feeding earthworms to hundreds of brown salamanders with flowing gills. Sister Ofelia Morales Francisco has cared for the critically endangered achoque salamander (Ambystoma dumerilii) for nearly 20 years. She and her team have [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a monastery beside a 16th-century basilica in Pátzcuaro, Mexico, Dominican nuns move between rows of aquarium tanks, checking water quality and feeding earthworms to hundreds of brown salamanders with flowing gills. Sister Ofelia Morales Francisco has cared for the critically endangered achoque salamander (Ambystoma dumerilii) for nearly 20 years. She and her team have mastered the amphibians’ complex reproductive biology, raising generation after generation in tanks that have become an unexpected ark. This species, the achoque (pronounced ah-choke-eh), is known from only one lake on the planet, Lake Pátzcuaro in Mexico&#8217;s central Michoacán state. Scientists estimate that fewer than 150 adults remain in the wild. However, the monastery boasts a colony of around 300 salamanders, representing the largest known captive population in the world. Scientists from Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom recognized that the monastery&#8217;s thriving colony offered an opportunity. They collaborated with Mexican conservationists to determine whether small, rice-sized identification chips could be implanted in captive achoques without harming the animals. Dominican sisters at the Monastery of Our Lady of Health watch as researchers place microchips in critically endangered salamander. The nuns maintain the largest captive colony of this species of salamander. Photo courtesy of Chester Zoo, UK. The microchips could enable conservationists to identify individual wild salamanders during catch-and-release health checks. With a quick scan, researchers can access information including sex, health status and approximate age for each animal. According to their results, published in the Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, the microchips stayed in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nuns-scientists-microchips-an-alliance-to-save-mexicos-achoque-salamanders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nuns-scientists-microchips-an-alliance-to-save-mexicos-achoque-salamanders/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308377</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘We can have abundant rivers and wildlife’: Director of ‘The American Southwest’ on new film</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/we-can-have-abundant-rivers-and-wildlife-director-of-the-american-southwest-on-new-film/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/we-can-have-abundant-rivers-and-wildlife-director-of-the-american-southwest-on-new-film/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2025 13:51:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/14153239/ASW-ELK-1.5-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307592</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico and Southwest United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Drinking Water, Environment, Film, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, History, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Interviews, Land Rights, Rivers, Water, Water Scarcity, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At its roots, The American Southwest, from Fin and Fur Films, is a natural history documentary. &#8220;I&#8217;m a wildlife guy,&#8221; says director Ben Masters, who founded Fin and Fur in 2012. His infatuation with nature comes through in the film&#8217;s exploration of the southwestern United States, traced along the path of the Colorado River from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At its roots, The American Southwest, from Fin and Fur Films, is a natural history documentary. &#8220;I&#8217;m a wildlife guy,&#8221; says director Ben Masters, who founded Fin and Fur in 2012. His infatuation with nature comes through in the film&#8217;s exploration of the southwestern United States, traced along the path of the Colorado River from its headwaters in the Never Summer range of the Rocky Mountains to its delta in the Gulf of California. Along the way, we find a watershed teeming with life. In three years of filming, his team captured visually astounding sequences of bull elk (Cervus canadensis) clashing in battle, of beavers (Castor canadensis) toppling trees to tailor their habitat to their needs, and of a nail-biting struggle of a young California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) on a cliff at Navajo Bridge. The filmmakers manage to engage the audience in the stories of each species they spend time with, whether the deadly Mojave rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) in California&#8217;s largest desert, Arizona&#8217;s life-supporting saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea), or the humble salmonfly (Pteronarcys spp.) linking the aquatic environment with the terrestrial. Beavers build dams on snowmelt streams in the Colorado River Basin. Image courtesy of Fin and Fur Films. This biological vibrancy is a stark contrast to the images the filmmakers have also included of a river that&#8217;s worn down by the time it reaches its terminus. As the Colorado flows through Arizona, California and Nevada — three of the seven states it touches, in addition to Mexico — cities,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/we-can-have-abundant-rivers-and-wildlife-director-of-the-american-southwest-on-new-film/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307592</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Women in Mexico step up to protect the island farms traditionally inherited by men</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/women-in-mexico-step-up-to-protect-the-island-farms-traditionally-inherited-by-men/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/women-in-mexico-step-up-to-protect-the-island-farms-traditionally-inherited-by-men/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2025 13:04:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated PressTeresa de Miguel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lucia Torres]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/08100347/Cassandra-Garduno-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307201</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Food, food security, Freshwater, Gender, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Sustainability, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, Water, Water Pollution, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and Mongabay. MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Jasmín Ordóñez looks out at the water as the wooden boat she is in crosses a narrow channel that connects a labyrinth of chinampas, island farms that were built by the Aztecs thousands of years ago. “Let’s close our eyes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and Mongabay. MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Jasmín Ordóñez looks out at the water as the wooden boat she is in crosses a narrow channel that connects a labyrinth of chinampas, island farms that were built by the Aztecs thousands of years ago. “Let’s close our eyes and ask our Mother Water for permission to sail in peace,” she says as the boat moves slowly, in contrast to the frenetic traffic of Mexico City just a few miles away. Ordóñez owns one of these island farms, first created with mud from the bottom of the lakes that once covered this area. When the boat arrives at her island, she proudly shows the corn and leafy greens she grows. Her ancestors owned chinampas, but she had to buy this one because women traditionally haven’t inherited them. “My grandmother didn’t get any land. Back then, most was left in the hands of men,” she said. At her side, Cassandra Garduño listens attentively. She also didn’t inherit the family chinampa. Today both are part of a small but growing group of women who have bought chinampas to cultivate sustainably in an effort to preserve an ecosystem that is increasingly threatened by urban development, mass tourism and water pollution. Jasmín Ordóñez, left, and Cassandra Garduño, right, cross an improvised bridge in Garduño&#8217;s chinampa, an island farm built by the Aztecs thousands of years ago, in San Gregorio Atlapulco, a borough of Mexico City, Sept. 20, 2025.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/women-in-mexico-step-up-to-protect-the-island-farms-traditionally-inherited-by-men/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/women-in-mexico-step-up-to-protect-the-island-farms-traditionally-inherited-by-men/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307201</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cruise industry expansion collides with Cozumel’s coral reef</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/cruise-industry-expansion-collides-with-cozumels-coral-reef/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/cruise-industry-expansion-collides-with-cozumels-coral-reef/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2025 20:22:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fritz Pinnow]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29052345/Black-grouper-at-Palancar-Reef-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305108</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Consumption, Coral Reefs, Development, Environment, Environmental Law, Industry, Infrastructure, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Tourism, Travel, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Villa Blanca Reef off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is home to emblematic and endangered species, and is the site of a coral restoration project with 35 platforms growing different species of coral. Now, it&#8217;s ground zero in a fierce local battle — one that pits residents of the island of Cozumel and scientists against cruise ship [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Villa Blanca Reef off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is home to emblematic and endangered species, and is the site of a coral restoration project with 35 platforms growing different species of coral. Now, it&#8217;s ground zero in a fierce local battle — one that pits residents of the island of Cozumel and scientists against cruise ship developers planning to build a kilometer-long (0.6-mile) pier directly through the reef. Cozumel, a small island off the southeastern coast of Mexico, is one of the most popular cruise ship destinations in the world. More than 4.5 million tourists visit every year, according to the Cozumel municipal government, averaging between 385,000 and 250,000 per month on an island with only around 100,000 inhabitants. Most tourists disembark from one of the three existing piers, leading into a maze of privatized beaches, nightclubs, restaurants and hotels catering to the constant influx of tourists. In December 2021, the company Muelles del Caribe S.A. de C.V. received environmental authorization from SEMARNAT, the Mexican environment ministry. Soon after, it was granted the concession to build a fourth pier by SICT, the transport and infrastructure ministry. In May 2025, the company deployed a testing platform near the reef; on June 10, it publicly announced that construction was underway. “When we researched and inquired about the construction of the pier, the exact location was purposely kept imprecise at the announcement,” said Rodrigo Huesca, one of the leading activists in Cozumel and representative for the Cozumel Island Citizen Collective. Huesca said it took&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/cruise-industry-expansion-collides-with-cozumels-coral-reef/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305108</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Newly hatched Socorro dove chicks bring hope to species extinct in the wild</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/newly-hatched-socorro-dove-chicks-bring-hope-to-species-extinct-in-the-wild/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/newly-hatched-socorro-dove-chicks-bring-hope-to-species-extinct-in-the-wild/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2025 14:15:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29140233/Eight-Socorro-doves-a-species-extinct-in-the-wild-have-hatched-at-Chester-Zoo-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305168</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Extinction, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Invasive Species, Saving Species From Extinction, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Eight Socorro dove chicks hatched at Chester Zoo in the UK this year. These brown floofs represent a significant milestone for a species that is extinct in the wild. Socorro doves (Zenaida graysoni) once lived on Socorro Island, located 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Mexico&#8217;s Baja California coast. Old reports describe birds that walked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Eight Socorro dove chicks hatched at Chester Zoo in the UK this year. These brown floofs represent a significant milestone for a species that is extinct in the wild. Socorro doves (Zenaida graysoni) once lived on Socorro Island, located 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Mexico&#8217;s Baja California coast. Old reports describe birds that walked right through human camps and over people&#8217;s boots without fear. This friendly behavior would later cost them their lives. The trouble started when sheep arrived in the 1800s and ate the plants the doves needed. A naval base built in 1957 brought the final blow. An adult Socorro dove at Chester Zoo. Just 200 birds survive in conservation zoos globally Image courtesy of Chester Zoo. &#8220;Navy staff and their families brought house cats which became wild and caused terrible damage to the native wildlife, including the Socorro dove population, which was last seen in the wild in 1972,&#8221; Andrew Owen, head of Chester Zoo&#8217;s bird department, said in a statement. The feral cats hunted these trusting birds with deadly effect. Scientists who searched the island in 1978 and 1981 found no doves left. The species only survived because of quick thinking almost a century ago. In 1925, a California Academy of Sciences expedition took 17 Socorro doves back to the U.S. Every dove alive today comes from those birds. Today, all of the known remaining birds live in zoos across North America and Europe. About 200 birds make up the entire surviving population, according to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/newly-hatched-socorro-dove-chicks-bring-hope-to-species-extinct-in-the-wild/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305168</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Officials struggle with land invasions in Mexico’s Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/officials-struggle-with-land-invasions-in-mexicos-balam-ku-biosphere-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/officials-struggle-with-land-invasions-in-mexicos-balam-ku-biosphere-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2025 17:26:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/28161253/WhatsApp-Image-2025-08-18-at-9.50.33-AM-768x500.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305072</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve has been invaded over the past year by people trying to establish a permanent settlement, and officials are racing to remove them before more of the forest is destroyed. Around 450 people have crossed into the reserve in the southern state of Campeche, clearing the forest for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve has been invaded over the past year by people trying to establish a permanent settlement, and officials are racing to remove them before more of the forest is destroyed. Around 450 people have crossed into the reserve in the southern state of Campeche, clearing the forest for agriculture and cattle ranching. It’s the first time that the reserve, only recently federally recognized, has felt human pressure in its core conservation zone. “If the invaders plant to settle, we will likely see deforestation, and the clearing of land for crops. They may also hunt and enter the forest for subsistence,” Alejandro Hernández Sánchez, an ecologist at ECOSUR, a public scientific research center, told Mongabay. The reserve covers 409,200 hectares (1 million acres) of dry tropical forest and borders Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The two reserves also border other protected areas in Guatemala, which in turn connect with protected areas in Belize, creating one of the largest contiguous protected areas in Mesoamerica. Balam Kú was first established as a state reserve in 2003 and then federally recognized in 2023. In addition to Maya archaeological sites, Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve protects important animal species like Geoffroy’s spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) and the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), as well as tree species like the granadillo (Platymiscium yucatanum), cedar (Cedrela odorata) and mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). Many of the tree species are targeted for illegal logging and trade. In March, around 60 families organized into two groups appeared in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/officials-struggle-with-land-invasions-in-mexicos-balam-ku-biosphere-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305072</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>NGOs launch novel community projects to conserve Mexico’s ocelots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/ngos-launch-novel-community-projects-to-conserve-mexicos-ocelots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/ngos-launch-novel-community-projects-to-conserve-mexicos-ocelots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2025 15:13:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandra Weiss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/20132911/17-An-ocelot-hiding-in-a-tree-in-the-Pantanal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304602</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Mammals, NGOs, Small Cats, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CONHUAS, Mexico — Esteban Dominguez has lived for more than 20 years close to one of the biggest conservation areas in southeastern Mexico — Calakmul Biosphere Reserve on the Yucatán Peninsula. He’s used to spotting monkeys, coatis, eagles, tapirs, deer, wild turkeys, owls, and even pumas and jaguars. But he recalls only a couple times [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CONHUAS, Mexico — Esteban Dominguez has lived for more than 20 years close to one of the biggest conservation areas in southeastern Mexico — Calakmul Biosphere Reserve on the Yucatán Peninsula. He’s used to spotting monkeys, coatis, eagles, tapirs, deer, wild turkeys, owls, and even pumas and jaguars. But he recalls only a couple times when an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) briefly crossed his path. “They are smaller, harder to see, and disappear much faster than jaguars,” he says. But Dominguez has hard evidence that these small cats with their characteristic spotted coats live in the reserve and its surroundings. “I have set up and monitored 28 camera-trap stations for different researchers since 2014, and there are always photos of ocelots on each camera,” he says. Mostly, these images are accidental, termed “bycatch” by scientists and NGOs that primarily monitor for more charismatic species like jaguars (Panthera onca) or pumas (Puma concolor). The 35-year-old Dominguez was originally a farmer, but his passion is nature, and over the years he has turned into a citizen scientist, aiding biologists, guiding tourists, and teaching his community in the village of Conhuas about environmental protection. “This is very important as we live in the buffer zone of the national park,” he says. The village’s location in the rainforest is beautiful, but also challenging for its 800 inhabitants, most of them settlers from other parts of Mexico who arrived in the 1980s, well before Calakmul was declared a biosphere reserve in 1989. Those settlers first tried&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/ngos-launch-novel-community-projects-to-conserve-mexicos-ocelots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/ngos-launch-novel-community-projects-to-conserve-mexicos-ocelots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304602</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Guarding Mexico’s blue frontiers: A conversation with Alejandro González</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/guarding-mexicos-blue-frontiers-a-conversation-with-alejandro-gonzalez/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/guarding-mexicos-blue-frontiers-a-conversation-with-alejandro-gonzalez/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2025 23:20:59 +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/20/2025/07/30213114/mexico_250611_152532264z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303462</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mesoamerica, and Mexico]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Green, Illegal Fishing, Interviews, Law Enforcement, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For nearly two decades, Alejandro González has stood on the front lines of marine conservation in Mexico, from the coral-fringed reefs of Cabo Pulmo to the remote volcanic outposts of the Revillagigedo Archipelago. A biologist by training and a park director by trade, González has built a career navigating the tension between ambition and reality—between [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For nearly two decades, Alejandro González has stood on the front lines of marine conservation in Mexico, from the coral-fringed reefs of Cabo Pulmo to the remote volcanic outposts of the Revillagigedo Archipelago. A biologist by training and a park director by trade, González has built a career navigating the tension between ambition and reality—between vast declarations on paper and the gritty, day-to-day work of enforcement at sea. “I fell in love with nature early on,” González says. “But as I studied more, I began to understand the ocean’s broader role in our lives&#8230; The more you understand the ocean, the more you realize how central it is to life on Earth.” Alejandro González next to a plaque commemorating the Revillagigedo Archipelago&#8217;s UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Courtesy of González. That realization would shape a trajectory that took him from a coastal resource advisor in Quintana Roo to leadership roles in three of Mexico’s most iconic marine protected areas (MPAs), culminating in his directorship of Revillagigedo National Park—the largest in the country, covering over 15 million hectares of ocean. Revillagigedo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located hundreds of kilometers offshore, presented unusual challenges. “It was a very particular case,” González recalls. “In Mexico, we don’t have many oceanic national parks.” Isla San Benedicto, one the Revillagigedo Archipelago&#8217;s islands. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay Isolated and under naval jurisdiction, operating in the archipelago required diplomacy as much as logistics. Establishing trust with the Mexican Navy was essential to enable&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/guarding-mexicos-blue-frontiers-a-conversation-with-alejandro-gonzalez/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303462</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mexico’s rising mercury trade fuels toxic gold mining in Latin America: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mexicos-rising-mercury-trade-fuels-toxic-gold-mining-in-latin-america-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mexicos-rising-mercury-trade-fuels-toxic-gold-mining-in-latin-america-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2025 17:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/30170037/AP110519174590-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303440</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, North America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mercury, Mining, Organized Crime, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In 2017, as part of an international treaty, Mexico started phasing down mercury production and eliminating its use in gold mining, citing major environmental and public health hazards. The effort appeared to work: Between 2017 and 2018, the government reported that national mercury production had dropped from 442 metric tons to just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In 2017, as part of an international treaty, Mexico started phasing down mercury production and eliminating its use in gold mining, citing major environmental and public health hazards. The effort appeared to work: Between 2017 and 2018, the government reported that national mercury production had dropped from 442 metric tons to just half a metric ton. Over the following three years, it reportedly dropped to zero. But for some environmental groups, those numbers looked too good to be true. The government wasn’t reporting mercury smuggling during those years, they said, and had even left several key sections of its progress reports blank. Ultimately, the government would have to issue a correction to some official figures, clarifying that mercury was still being produced in the country. Today, mercury production persists in several states across Mexico, including in protected areas, and has turned the country into one of the main suppliers for the mercury used in gold mines across Latin America. “Mercury mining production is spinning out of control, with bursts of activity driven by mercury prices, increased violence and an alleged recent takeover of productive mines by a drug cartel,” the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said in a recent report. Peruvian jungle devastated by wild cat gold miners in Madre de Dios, Peru. (Guadalupe Pardo/Pool Photo via AP) Mercury is considered one of the top 10 chemicals of major public health concern by the World Health Organization. Once released into an ecosystem, it can pollute soils and streams&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mexicos-rising-mercury-trade-fuels-toxic-gold-mining-in-latin-america-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303440</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forget decrees; try patience. Martin Goebel plays the long game in conserving Baja California Sur</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/forget-decrees-try-patience-martin-goebel-plays-the-long-game-in-conserving-baja-california/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/forget-decrees-try-patience-martin-goebel-plays-the-long-game-in-conserving-baja-california/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2025 22:54:21 +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/20/2025/07/29222824/WhatsAppImage2021-06-28at13.34.081-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301597</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mesoamerica, and Mexico]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Green, and Interviews]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a world of quick wins and impatient headlines, Martin Goebel is playing the long game. Now Director for Mexico at LegacyWorks Group, a U.S.-based nonprofit, Goebel has spent five decades navigating the complicated terrain where conservation collides with community, politics, and development. Most of that time has been in Mexico, where he has witnessed—and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a world of quick wins and impatient headlines, Martin Goebel is playing the long game. Now Director for Mexico at LegacyWorks Group, a U.S.-based nonprofit, Goebel has spent five decades navigating the complicated terrain where conservation collides with community, politics, and development. Most of that time has been in Mexico, where he has witnessed—and helped shape—some of the country’s most ambitious environmental efforts. The challenges are as persistent as they are familiar: water scarcity, habitat loss, mismanaged tourism, frayed social trust. But Goebel and his collaborators are betting on a different kind of conservation—one that doesn’t begin with maps or mandates, but with conversations. The region he currently focuses on, the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, may be among the most stunning and biologically rich stretches of North America. But it is also among the fastest growing. Coastal oases like La Paz and Todos Santos are rapidly morphing into tourism and retirement enclaves. With that growth come the usual pressures: overdrawn aquifers, degraded ecosystems, rising inequality. The solution, in Goebel’s view, lies not in top-down decrees but in patient, trust-based relationships with local communities. Satellite image of the East Cape region of Baja California Sur. Photo courtesy of Legacy Works. LegacyWorks, where Goebel has worked since 2016, is not your typical conservation outfit. Originally founded to support watershed restoration in Wyoming, the organization now operates across five geographies in the U.S. and Mexico, stitching together a mix of environmental protection, rural development, and what it calls “community readiness.”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/forget-decrees-try-patience-martin-goebel-plays-the-long-game-in-conserving-baja-california/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301597</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How drug cartels destroy the last habitat of Mexico&#8217;s thick-billed parrot (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-cartels-destroy-the-last-habitat-of-mexicos-thick-billed-parrot-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-cartels-destroy-the-last-habitat-of-mexicos-thick-billed-parrot-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2025 15:46:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrew-James Anthony]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/16120842/thick-billed-parrots-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302325</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Organized Crime, Parrots, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While supporting conservation research in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental with teams from the U.S.-based Columbia University and San Diego Zoo Global, I assisted in work involving the endangered thick-billed parrot. That experience — observing their habitat and the threats it faces — made clear how severely environmental crime and weak governance are driving biodiversity loss. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[While supporting conservation research in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental with teams from the U.S.-based Columbia University and San Diego Zoo Global, I assisted in work involving the endangered thick-billed parrot. That experience — observing their habitat and the threats it faces — made clear how severely environmental crime and weak governance are driving biodiversity loss. This commentary is grounded in those insights and calls for urgent global attention. Once, the raucous calls of the thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) ricocheted through Mexico’s pine forests. Now, the silence is deafening. This striking green-and-red bird, once numbering in the tens of thousands, clings to existence with as few as 840 individuals left. But its disappearance signals a larger crisis: its forest home is vanishing. Cartel-led illegal logging accelerates deforestation, stripping Mexico of its last old-growth forest strongholds. Those who resist face violence, even death. Parrot on the brink, forest falling silent One of the last high-altitude parrots, this species depends on old-growth pines for food, nesting and shelter. Its population has plummeted so dramatically, it is now endangered, with extinction likely within a decade if conservation fails. The decline of the imperial woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis), possibly extinct, has worsened the crisis: without this keystone species to create nesting cavities, the parrots struggle to reproduce. But the parrot’s decline signals something larger. The Sierra Madre Occidental, a biodiversity hotspot home to black bears (Ursus americanus), jaguars (Panthera onca) and endemic species, is unravelling. Parrots disperse seeds, aiding forest regeneration. Without them, tree populations decline,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-cartels-destroy-the-last-habitat-of-mexicos-thick-billed-parrot-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-302325</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly half of tree species in Mexico and Central America threatened with extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/nearly-half-of-tree-species-in-mexico-and-central-america-threatened-with-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/nearly-half-of-tree-species-in-mexico-and-central-america-threatened-with-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2025 13:48:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/30153330/costa_rica_osa_0077-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302104</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Extinction, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lions have been dubbed the king of the jungle, but one could argue the real royalty are the trees, the massive woody beasts that hold down the land and root the web of life that teems around them. In Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America), which hosts 10% of all plant life on Earth despite covering [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Lions have been dubbed the king of the jungle, but one could argue the real royalty are the trees, the massive woody beasts that hold down the land and root the web of life that teems around them. In Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America), which hosts 10% of all plant life on Earth despite covering only 0.5% of the planet’s land surface, nearly half of all tree species are in trouble. Of the 4,046 known tree species found only in Mesoamerica, 1,867, or 46%, are threatened with extinction, according to a new study published in the journal Plants, People, Planet. The research represents the first comprehensive assessment of Mesoamerican trees. The study was part of the Global Tree Assessment, a decade-long initiative to evaluate the conservation status of all the world&#8217;s tree species. Researchers used the standards of the IUCN Red List, which tracks how close species are to disappearing worldwide. The IUCN Red List categorizes species into nine groups, ranging from not evaluated to extinct, by considering factors such as population decline, habitat loss, and population size. Before this assessment, less than 20% (700) of the tree species of the region had been assessed on the IUCN Red List before 2019. Fungi in Costa Rica. Through their entire life cycle and beyond, tropical trees host an abundance of life. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.com. &#8220;It&#8217;s an important study — essentially a clarion call for conserving endangered tree species in Mesoamerica,&#8221; William Laurance, a tropical ecologist at James&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/nearly-half-of-tree-species-in-mexico-and-central-america-threatened-with-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302104</doi>				</item>
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