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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/new-guinea/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>New Guinea environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/new-guinea/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>‘Rediscovered’ species in Papua spotlight importance of Indigenous knowledge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 02:22:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14103750/20230611-BE4A9979-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317487</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Marsupials, Rediscovered Species, Research, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It started with a set of photographs, taken of an animal captured in 2015 on the Bird’s Head Peninsula in Indonesian Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea. The smallish animal with “large hands” looked a bit like a slow loris, a small primate that doesn’t live on the island, or perhaps [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It started with a set of photographs, taken of an animal captured in 2015 on the Bird’s Head Peninsula in Indonesian Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea. The smallish animal with “large hands” looked a bit like a slow loris, a small primate that doesn’t live on the island, or perhaps a cuscus, which, like this specimen, is also a marsupial. Further inspection of the photos, however, suggested it might be something else altogether, a species long thought lost to extinction — by scientists, anyway. Interviews in local communities provided a breadcrumb trail suggesting that a forest-dwelling glider, known — again, to science — only from millennia-old fragments of teeth and bone, might yet live in the forests of Indonesian Papua. Several years later, Rika Korain was approached by her longtime friend and colleague, Australian mammalogist Tim Flannery, who asked if she might help him get a bead on whether the animal still existed. Korain, a human rights lawyer and Indigenous Maybrat woman, immediately thought of the elders from the Tambrauw people, a group that lives close to the Maybrat and with whom they share traditions in common. “I’m from the Bird’s Head area,” she says. “I told [Flannery], let’s find out from my clan, from my people’s side. Let’s try to talk with the elders or especially the hunters who always go to the jungle to find out whether they see this particular animal.” So in 2023, she and Flannery spoke with two Tambrauw elders,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317487</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/malaysian-companies-dominate-png-forest-clearance-permits-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/malaysian-companies-dominate-png-forest-clearance-permits-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2025 05:54:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/25103418/tree-kangaroo-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310979</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Farming, Forests, FPIC, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Papua New Guinea’s rainforests, which span 28.2 million hectares (69.6 million acres), are among the most biodiverse in the world, hosting an estimated 5-8% of all species. The country also has one of the world’s highest rates of communal land ownership, with around 97% of land legally recognized as being customary tenure. Despite the ecological [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Papua New Guinea’s rainforests, which span 28.2 million hectares (69.6 million acres), are among the most biodiverse in the world, hosting an estimated 5-8% of all species. The country also has one of the world’s highest rates of communal land ownership, with around 97% of land legally recognized as being customary tenure. Despite the ecological significance of the country’s forests, and the existence of laws to ensure customary landowners retain control of what happens on their traditional lands, Papua New Guinea also hosts a major timber trade — frequently topping global lists of tropical log exporters — with the profits concentrated in the hands of foreign corporations. A recent report from RimbaWatch, a Kuala Lumpur-based research and advocacy organization, examined in detail how land-conversion permits facilitate the clearance of PNG’s forests, and what role the companies linked to Malaysia play in the ongoing timber trade. The report focused on Forest Clearing Authorities (FCAs), which are permits issued by the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) that allow large-scale conversions — exceeding 50 hectares (123 acres) — of natural forests for agricultural or other land-use development projects. The stated purpose of these licenses is to create sustainable jobs and income for the country’s people via development projects, but critics say that, in practice, these licenses  have been used to facilitate large-scale logging. As of 2024, one-third of the timber exported from the country came from companies operating on an FCA permit. RimbaWatch found that 65 out of 67 active FCAs are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/malaysian-companies-dominate-png-forest-clearance-permits-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/malaysian-companies-dominate-png-forest-clearance-permits-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310979</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nickel mining threatens Raja Ampat ecosystems, communities &#038; conservation: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-threatens-raja-ampat-ecosystems-communities-conservation-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-threatens-raja-ampat-ecosystems-communities-conservation-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 01:43:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/12105323/Copy-of-DJI_20241223084456_0019_V-min-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307396</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critical Minerals, Deforestation, Electric Cars, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mining, Nikel, Renewable Energy, and UNESCO World Heritage Site]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In a new report, marine activists are demanding restoration efforts from nickel miners and the Indonesian government for affected areas of Raja Ampat while also urging authorities to enforce the ban on mineral extraction in coastal and small island regions. The recently published paper combines geospatial analysis with field evidence to reveal mounting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In a new report, marine activists are demanding restoration efforts from nickel miners and the Indonesian government for affected areas of Raja Ampat while also urging authorities to enforce the ban on mineral extraction in coastal and small island regions. The recently published paper combines geospatial analysis with field evidence to reveal mounting ecological risks from expanding nickel mining in Raja Ampat, known as the “Crown Jewel of Marine Biodiversity.” The research maps how concessions overlap with vital coral reefs, forests and community territories within the UNESCO Global Geopark. The findings point to growing pressure on both ecosystems and the livelihoods of Indigenous and local people across the archipelago. “Our research shows that nickel mining in Raja Ampat creates a domino effect of destruction, from direct forest clearing to sediment runoff that suffocates coral reefs to the displacement of marine species that local communities depend upon,” Timer Manurung, chair of the environmental organization Auriga Nusantara, which collaborated with mining watchdog Earth Insight in the research, said in a press statement published Sept. 25. Nickel mining on Manuran Island. Image courtesy of Auriga Nusantara. The research, supported by recent field photos, has revealed how more than 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres) of nickel mining concessions continue to threaten the UNESCO Global Geopark in Raja Ampat. Using the latest geospatial analysis, the researchers mapped overlaps between mining concessions and critical ecosystems, showing risks to 2,470 hectares (6,100 acres) of coral reefs and 7,200 hectares (17,800 acres) of forest, as well as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-threatens-raja-ampat-ecosystems-communities-conservation-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-threatens-raja-ampat-ecosystems-communities-conservation-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307396</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study spotlights West Papua habitat as whale sharks face increased pressures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2025 06:07:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/26085143/ws_Edy-Setyawan_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306620</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Megafauna, Oceans, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study reports that the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesia’s West Papua serves as a vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks, but lift-net fisheries, tourism boats and emerging mining activities in the region underscore the urgent need for stronger protection and management. The population demographics of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) within the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study reports that the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesia’s West Papua serves as a vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks, but lift-net fisheries, tourism boats and emerging mining activities in the region underscore the urgent need for stronger protection and management. The population demographics of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) within the four key BHS regions (Cendrawasih Bay, Kaimana, Raja Ampat, and Fakfak) showed a dominance of juvenile males that use these habitats as nursery or foraging grounds and reducing predation risk while growing, according to the research published Aug. 28 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. The international group of researchers also found that more than half of the whale sharks in the study had injuries from preventable human causes. “The scars and wounds we see on whale sharks are like a diary of their encounters with people,” Edy Setyawan, lead conservation scientist at the Elasmobranch Institute Indonesia who is the lead author of the paper, told Mongabay in an email. The Bird’s Head Seascape is a vital nursery for juvenile male whale sharks. Image courtesy of Edy Setyawan. Most whale shark sightings occurred in Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana. Image courtesy of Edy Setyawan. From 2010-23, the researchers tracked 268 whale sharks across the BHS — a region hosting a network of 26 marine protected areas and a hotspot for marine megafauna and tropical marine biodiversity — using photos from scientists and citizen divers. Nearly all sightings were in Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana, where the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/study-spotlights-west-papua-habitat-as-whale-sharks-face-increased-pressures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306620</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sharks didn’t rebound—so Mark Erdmann is putting them back</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2025 12:42:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/11183735/Mark-recovery-swim-thresher-17-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302225</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carnivores, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Green, Hope and optimism, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Predators, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Restoration, Rewilding, shark finning, Sharks, Species Discovery, Technology, Tourism, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades, Mark Erdmann has worked where many only dream of diving—on the reefs and in the tangled mangroves of Indonesia’s farthest reaches. A marine biologist by training and a conservationist by necessity, Erdmann has spent much of his life documenting new species, persuading local communities to back marine protection, and fighting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades, Mark Erdmann has worked where many only dream of diving—on the reefs and in the tangled mangroves of Indonesia’s farthest reaches. A marine biologist by training and a conservationist by necessity, Erdmann has spent much of his life documenting new species, persuading local communities to back marine protection, and fighting off the encroachment of extractive industries. His career, by his own account, has spanned more than 220 species discoveries, a handful of close encounters with crocodiles, and the creation of a new model for shark rewilding. Erdmann’s journey began in a remote island village off the coast of South Sulawesi in 1991, where he arrived as a Ph.D. student studying coral reef ecology. His neighbors, he quickly realized, were bomb fishers and shark finners. The shift from science to action was swift. “It was clear that more than science was needed; active protection was critical,” he recalls. That realization became a life’s work. As Vice President of Asia-Pacific Marine Programs at Conservation International and now Executive Director of ReShark and Shark Conservation Director at Re:wild, Erdmann has been at the forefront of efforts to transform marine protection from a top-down regulatory exercise to a bottom-up, community-owned endeavor. Few places showcase this as clearly as Raja Ampat, the archipelago off West Papua that has become the crown jewel of Indonesian marine conservation. Wayag lagoon release site in Indonesia&#8217;s Raja Ampat. Photo by Mark Erdmann. When Erdmann first visited Raja Ampat in 2001, the coral reefs were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sharks-didnt-rebound-so-mark-erdmann-is-putting-them-back/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In New Guinea, megadiverse lowland forests are most at risk of deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-new-guinea-megadiverse-lowland-forests-are-most-at-risk-of-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-new-guinea-megadiverse-lowland-forests-are-most-at-risk-of-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2025 08:43:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/21020452/Banner_IMG_9967-e1747793965688-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299383</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Logging, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The island of New Guinea is famed for its eye-popping diversity of plants, animals and human cultures. Estimated to host one-tenth of Earth’s species, it’s the world’s second-largest island and has the third-largest intact expanse of tropical forest in the world, after the Amazon and the Congo. It’s where birds-of-paradise perform their effervescent courtship displays, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The island of New Guinea is famed for its eye-popping diversity of plants, animals and human cultures. Estimated to host one-tenth of Earth’s species, it’s the world’s second-largest island and has the third-largest intact expanse of tropical forest in the world, after the Amazon and the Congo. It’s where birds-of-paradise perform their effervescent courtship displays, tree kangaroos shimmy up trees to dizzying heights, and the world’s largest butterfly flits between foliage in the forest canopy. This extraordinary biodiversity is partly the result of centuries of evolutionary isolation at the edge of the western Pacific, where the biota of Asia and Australasia meet. It also comes from powerful tectonic activity that shaped a rugged and mountainous landscape, making many areas difficult for humans to access and develop. Today, roughly 80% of New Guinea’s forest cover remains intact, sharply contrasting with nearby islands like Borneo, Java and Sumatra, which have seen extensive development and deforestation. However, experts are increasingly concerned that developers are shifting their focus to New Guinea, which is split roughly in half between Indonesia, which controls the island’s west, and Papua New Guinea, in the east. Major road schemes, industrial logging and agricultural conglomerates pushing biofuel agendas are carving into the island’s ancient landscapes, especially on the Indonesian side. A new study that models deforestation risk across the island predicts that its low-elevation forests are likely to be especially vulnerable. This is worrisome, the authors note, since these ecosystems are among the tallest, most biologically rich and carbon-dense ecosystems&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-new-guinea-megadiverse-lowland-forests-are-most-at-risk-of-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299383</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>PNG’s Torricelli Mountains teem with life — and the risk of extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2025 18:13:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/31073348/9043-A-grizzled-tree-kangaroo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296714</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Guinea, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Infrastructure, Logging, Marsupials, Mongabay Data Studio, NGOs, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Millions of years ago, as the Indo-Australian plate pushed into the Pacific plate, a volcanic arc of islands began to emerge near the modern-day island of New Guinea that would one day form the Torricelli Mountains. And in this ancient, slow-motion reordering of Earth’s crust, life inevitably layered on top of the substrata to form [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Millions of years ago, as the Indo-Australian plate pushed into the Pacific plate, a volcanic arc of islands began to emerge near the modern-day island of New Guinea that would one day form the Torricelli Mountains. And in this ancient, slow-motion reordering of Earth’s crust, life inevitably layered on top of the substrata to form one of the most species-rich spots on the planet. “You&#8217;ve got to remember that there was the Sepik River pumping vegetation from the mainland off into the ocean, some of which was clearly reaching this island arc system,” Australian zoologist Tim Flannery of the Australian Museum in Sydney told Mongabay. Along with that botanical foundation came a number of animals: amphibians, to be sure, which seem particularly adept at rafting on plant life from one piece of land to another, according to Flannery, along with a predecessor of the northern glider (Petaurus abidi), a marsupial species with bewitchingly bulbous eyes found only in the Torricellis. “We’re still working out exactly what species came across at that phase,” he said, but it’s clear “there was a rich source of colonists.” Later, the emergence of a mountain range connected this island arc to the Doberai Peninsula of western New Guinea, which is also known as the Bird’s Head, or Vogelkop in Dutch and Indonesian, for its namesake shape. As a result of this “amazing orogeny” in the early Pliocene Epoch and another linkage with New Guinea’s Central Highlands, a number of species that had previously been confined&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296714</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s voracious songbird trade laps up rare and poisonous pitohuis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2025 12:58:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/10072028/Hooded-Pitohui-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292804</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pet Trade, Poaching, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off parasites such as lice, ticks and fleas, and predators, including humans. When humans handle these birds, the neurotoxins irritate the nasal passage and cause allergy-like symptoms. Yet even the poison doesn’t seem enough to protect pitohuis from the songbird trade, as new research shows. A study published in the journal Bird Conservation International by a team of international researchers and an NGO presents the first evidence of poisonous pitohuis (genus Pitohuis) entering the songbird trade in Indonesia, which occupies the western half of the island of New Guinea. The researchers find that these birds appeared in the trade in 2015 and have since been sold in bird markets and online platforms, raising conservation concerns about the illegal trade of these birds. Birdkeeping is a traditional practice rooted in Javanese culture, where a third of households keep songbirds. Studies estimate that the island has anywhere between 66 million and 84 million caged birds. For most, it’s a cherished hobby, and for a few, they’re prize-winning contestants in singing competitions. But this penchant for songbirds has a dark side: the Asian songbird crisis. With soaring demand for songbirds, thousands of wild-caught birds are entering the trade in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292804</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With rare mammal tourism, observing means conserving (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/with-rare-mammal-tourism-observing-means-conserving-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/with-rare-mammal-tourism-observing-means-conserving-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Nov 2024 00:27:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles FoleyJon Hall]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/10/03142525/FEATURED-echidna-444x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289522</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Indonesia, Latin America, New Guinea, Oceania, South America, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Charismatic Animals, Commentary, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Funding, Mammals, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At the turn of this century, seeing a wild jaguar was exceptionally difficult. People driving through the Jaguar Ecological Reserve in the Pantanal in Brazil would very occasionally get a glimpse of one crossing the road, but photographing them in the wild was considered almost impossible. The same was true for other large iconic cat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At the turn of this century, seeing a wild jaguar was exceptionally difficult. People driving through the Jaguar Ecological Reserve in the Pantanal in Brazil would very occasionally get a glimpse of one crossing the road, but photographing them in the wild was considered almost impossible. The same was true for other large iconic cat species including snow leopards and puma, but just 20 years later all three species can be easily seen in a few days, in the right areas. Visitors to the Pantanal can now see multiple jaguars in just one day, and behaviors previously seldom witnessed or photographed, like hunting and mating, or mothers interacting with their cubs, are now regularly recorded. And excellent puma sightings are practically guaranteed in Chile, while snow leopards – once named the ‘grey ghost’ – are regularly seen in various locations in the Indian Himalayas, Mongolia and China. What changed? The answer is tourism. Wildlife-based tourism has long been an important income earner for many governments: think of Africa’s safari industry centered around viewing iconic large mammals or visitors to Borneo seeking mammals including orangutans, while in Madagascar, lemur watching is a vital part of the  poor country’s tourism industry. But, today, many other places – and mammals – are starting to get in on the act. The Onçafari Project in the Pantanal of Brazil caters to visitors eager to see jaguars, even in mundane places like outside of this caiman farm. Image by Onçafari Project guide Mario Nélson Cleto, who&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/with-rare-mammal-tourism-observing-means-conserving-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/with-rare-mammal-tourism-observing-means-conserving-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289522</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New database unveils the role of Asian hornbills as forest seed dispersers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2024 15:36:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/15150836/Banner_02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282135</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Hunting, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Rewilding, Seed Dispersal, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Biologists have long known hornbills are supreme long-distance seed dispersers. The iconic forest birds are capable of transporting tree seeds over vast distances — up to 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, for some species. In so doing, they distribute tree populations across increasingly fragmented tropical forest landscapes. But actually observing hornbill seed dispersal behavior in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Biologists have long known hornbills are supreme long-distance seed dispersers. The iconic forest birds are capable of transporting tree seeds over vast distances — up to 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, for some species. In so doing, they distribute tree populations across increasingly fragmented tropical forest landscapes. But actually observing hornbill seed dispersal behavior in the wild is notoriously difficult. “If you’re collecting data in the field, it’s very hard to observe hornbills interacting with plants, not to mention finding out where the bird flies to when it leaves the fruiting tree,” Hanci Liang, a doctoral candidate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), told Mongabay. While a lot is known about the eating habits of hornbills, many mysteries still remain. To pinpoint where such observational data is needed most, Liang and her colleagues from Singapore and Malaysia have brought together all existing research data on the fruit-eating habits of Asian and New Guinean hornbill species into an open-source digital database. Published in a new study in Global Ecology and Conservation, the database represents the largest continually updatable repository of hornbill frugivory and seed dispersal research in the region. The team says it hopes the resource will enable hornbill specialists and prospective students to quickly identify where information is lacking so that they can target their efforts and limited resources to fill knowledge gaps. Understanding the dynamics of seed dispersal enables biologists to investigate the role of different types of fruit-eating animals within ecosystems. And for tropical trees, long-distance seed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282135</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists welcome new PNG Protected Areas Act — but questions remain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/conservationists-welcome-new-png-protected-areas-act-but-questions-remain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/conservationists-welcome-new-png-protected-areas-act-but-questions-remain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Apr 2024 16:08:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/12132242/Flame-Bowerbird-Sericulus-ardens-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280895</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Rights, Law, Logging, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Regulations, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With more than 70% of the country blanketed by tropical rainforests, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a megadiverse country home to more than 5% of the world’s biodiversity, including charismatic tree kangaroos, egg-laying echidnas and flightless cassowaries. However, since 1972, nearly a third of the country’s rainforest has been lost or degraded due to logging, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With more than 70% of the country blanketed by tropical rainforests, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a megadiverse country home to more than 5% of the world’s biodiversity, including charismatic tree kangaroos, egg-laying echidnas and flightless cassowaries. However, since 1972, nearly a third of the country’s rainforest has been lost or degraded due to logging, road construction, agricultural expansion and mining. In a significant push to conservation, the country’s parliament passed the Protected Areas Act 2023 on Feb. 20. The new legislation aims to establish a national system of protected areas in the country and achieve the “30 by 30” goal of designating 30% of its land and sea as protected areas by 2030. Currently, less than 4% of land and 1% of sea in PNG are designated as protected areas. The Protected Areas Bill was based on the PNG National Policy on Protected Areas road map to protect the country&#8217;s biodiversity and cultural heritage. Now passed into an act, it provides mechanisms for the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA), a federal agency responsible for the sustainable management of natural and physical resources, to engage with communities and provincial and local governments to regulate and manage protected areas in the country. A tree Kangaroo, one of the many rare species living in PNG&#8217;s lowland forests. Pictured here at the Melbourne zoo. Image by Tom Jefferson/Greenpeace. “Previously, there was no guiding legislation to establish protected areas in the country,” says Phelameya Joku Haiveta, CEPA program officer, adding that past legislation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/conservationists-welcome-new-png-protected-areas-act-but-questions-remain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/conservationists-welcome-new-png-protected-areas-act-but-questions-remain/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280895</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Unseen and unregulated: ‘Ghost’ roads carve up Asia-Pacific tropical forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/unseen-and-unregulated-ghost-roads-carve-up-asia-pacific-tropical-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/unseen-and-unregulated-ghost-roads-carve-up-asia-pacific-tropical-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2024 08:34:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/11082041/Banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280850</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Habitat Degradation, Illegal Logging, Infrastructure, Logging, Mining, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Roads are being built at an unprecedented rate across the globe. Some 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) of paved roads are expected to be built in just the four decades leading up to 2050 — enough to wrap around the equator more than 600 times. But much of this construction is happening under the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Roads are being built at an unprecedented rate across the globe. Some 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) of paved roads are expected to be built in just the four decades leading up to 2050 — enough to wrap around the equator more than 600 times. But much of this construction is happening under the radar. Networks of unmapped, unregulated and often illegal roads are insidiously spreading into fragile ecosystems. If left unchecked, they threaten to wreak a devastating toll on tropical forests, according to new research.   The new study, published April 10 in Nature, documents 1.37 million km (851,000 mi) of roads sprawling across the islands of New Guinea, Borneo and Sumatra, three hotspots of biodiversity in Southeast Asia and the Pacific that contain the largest combined expanse of tropical rainforest in the world outside the Amazon and the Congo Basin. This total length of roads is between three and 6.6 times more than recorded in officially recognized databases. The researchers say the discrepancy indicates the presence of a glut of what they term “ghost roads”: informally or illicitly constructed roads carved by loggers, miners, land grabbers or speculators. Typically falling outside of the purview of environmental governance, ghost roads create blind spots in zoning and law enforcement, ultimately posing one of the gravest conservation threats facing the world’s forests. “Roads are often a death-knell for ecosystems, especially ghost roads, which are often illegal and unregulated,” William Laurance, study co-author and a distinguished research professor at James Cook University&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/unseen-and-unregulated-ghost-roads-carve-up-asia-pacific-tropical-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/unseen-and-unregulated-ghost-roads-carve-up-asia-pacific-tropical-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280850</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Raja Ampat, pearl farming balances business and ecological sustainability</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/pearl-farming-raja-ampat-indonesia-marine-fisheries-pacific-business-sustainability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/pearl-farming-raja-ampat-indonesia-marine-fisheries-pacific-business-sustainability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Mar 2024 13:55:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/19121612/9-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279998</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Blue Carbon, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Crime, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Illegal Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Sedimentation, Sustainability, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[RAJA AMPAT, Indonesia — Tucked in the curve of a bay in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, a floating structure appears like the tip of an iceberg. Below the surface, it’s teeming with oysters bearing pearls. Marina de Olivera Kaesnube, 27, is about to start her workday on a January morning. Her office is the floating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[RAJA AMPAT, Indonesia — Tucked in the curve of a bay in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, a floating structure appears like the tip of an iceberg. Below the surface, it’s teeming with oysters bearing pearls. Marina de Olivera Kaesnube, 27, is about to start her workday on a January morning. Her office is the floating cage that holds thousands of Pinctada maxima pearl oysters. She has one job to do, but it’s arguably the most important: injecting a bead, known as the nucleus, into each oyster’s tissue. It’s around this nucleus that the oyster will secrete layer after layer of nacre, eventually yielding a highly prized pearl. “Besides earning a living, I decided to join because I was interested in learning about pearl oyster farming, especially in this surgery process,” Marina tells Mongabay. The marine ecosystem of the Raja Ampat Islands in the Indonesian province of West Papua forms a global biodiversity hotspot, with much of its waters still healthy. This tiny archipelago is a natural habitat for pearl oysters in Southeast Asia, where pearling has a long history. In the nearby Sulu and Celebes Seas and Aru Islands, harvesting of pearls from oysters in the wild is the main form of the pearling industry. Throughout centuries of pearling, there was little thought given to the long-term sustainability of grabbing oysters from the seafloor, shucking them open to get the pearl, and killing them in the process. It was commonly believed that depleted oyster populations would replenish quickly from untouched&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/pearl-farming-raja-ampat-indonesia-marine-fisheries-pacific-business-sustainability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/pearl-farming-raja-ampat-indonesia-marine-fisheries-pacific-business-sustainability/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279998</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia invites Turkish investors to develop tuna farms in Papua</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/indonesia-turkiye-tuna-investment-fish-farm-fisheries-japan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/indonesia-turkiye-tuna-investment-fish-farm-fisheries-japan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jan 2024 09:41:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/29075924/WhatsApp-Image-2024-01-28-at-09.33.27-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278108</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Papua New Guinea, Southeast Asia, and Turkey]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Green, Illegal Fishing, Lakes, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, Sustainability, Trade, and Tuna]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has invited Turkish investors to help develop an offshore tuna farm in the country’s eastern Papua region, which it aims to turn into a major tuna export hub. The move is the latest outreach by Indonesia’s fisheries ministry to other countries to invest in and develop its fisheries potential. Earlier [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has invited Turkish investors to help develop an offshore tuna farm in the country’s eastern Papua region, which it aims to turn into a major tuna export hub. The move is the latest outreach by Indonesia’s fisheries ministry to other countries to invest in and develop its fisheries potential. Earlier in January, the minister made a similar offer to Vietnam to invest in lobster farming. On a recent visit to Türkiye, the Indonesian fisheries minister, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, said Turkish investment and aquaculture technology could help kick-start tuna farming in the waters of Biak Numfor district in Papua province. The minister spoke at a fish-fattening farm in the Türkiye’s Gulf of İzmir, where various marine fish species, including Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), are held in pens after being captured from the wild and fed to increase their weight. “Some of our territorial waters are habitat for tuna, so we need innovation to increase the productivity of this commodity and ensure its sustainability,&#8221; Trenggono said in a statement published Jan. 24. Indonesian fisheries minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono visits a tuna farm in the Gulf of İzmir, Türkiye. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. At the start of his second term in office, in 2019, President Joko Widodo ordered the fisheries ministry to boost the country’s aquaculture productivity. Indonesia’s tuna fishery is an important source of livelihood for coastal communities in the Southeast Asian nation and a key source of food&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/indonesia-turkiye-tuna-investment-fish-farm-fisheries-japan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/indonesia-turkiye-tuna-investment-fish-farm-fisheries-japan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278108</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In PNG, researchers record 9 new species of predatory hermaphroditic land snails</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/in-png-researchers-record-9-new-species-of-predatory-hermaphroditic-land-snails/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/in-png-researchers-record-9-new-species-of-predatory-hermaphroditic-land-snails/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jan 2024 20:14:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/24195145/230821-0108-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277979</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Invertebrates, Molluscs, Rainforests, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, where arboreal tree kangaroos, vibrant birds-of-paradise and ornate birdwings hog the limelight with their charismatic presence, teeny-tiny, leaf litter-eating land snails don’t always stand a chance to vie for scientific attention. Although land snail shells hold an essential place in PNG’s culture — as jewelry and adornments in ceremonial [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, where arboreal tree kangaroos, vibrant birds-of-paradise and ornate birdwings hog the limelight with their charismatic presence, teeny-tiny, leaf litter-eating land snails don’t always stand a chance to vie for scientific attention. Although land snail shells hold an essential place in PNG’s culture — as jewelry and adornments in ceremonial clothing — scientific understanding of these mollusks is, at best, patchy. Worldwide, more 30,000 land snail species are known to science. While species in North America and Europe are relatively well-studied, those in forested tropical regions, such as the Amazon and Congo basins and islands like New Guinea, have been barely sampled. “Any land snails from Papua New Guinea, or for that matter most species of plants and animals, whatever we know is based on colonial times to a large extent,” said malacologist Frank Köhler at the Australian Museum, who studies land snails in Australia and the Pacific Islands. The lack of current scientific knowledge on Papua New Guinea’s land snails inspired malacologist John Slapcinsky at the Florida Museum of Natural History in the U.S. to begin an eight-years-long survey in the country — the first such endeavour after six decades and, in Slapcinsky’s words, one of the most intensive surveys in the country’s history. In a new study published in the journal Archiv für Molluskenkunde, Slapcinsky and his colleagues report the discovery of nine new species of land snails from the country. One of the nine newly identified snail species, Torresiropa paterivolans, Rossel Island,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/in-png-researchers-record-9-new-species-of-predatory-hermaphroditic-land-snails/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/in-png-researchers-record-9-new-species-of-predatory-hermaphroditic-land-snails/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277979</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/logging-road-construction-continue-to-fuel-forest-loss-in-papua-new-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/logging-road-construction-continue-to-fuel-forest-loss-in-papua-new-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Nov 2023 23:15:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/30224031/Victoria_Crowned_Pigeon_Jurong-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276161</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Guinea, Oceania, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Birds, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Governance, Green, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Mammals, Marsupials, Mongabay Data Studio, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Roads, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plonked between the formidable Owen Stanley mountains to its west and the Solomon Sea to the east lies Oro, a remote province in Papua New Guinea east of the capital Port Moresby. Lush, green tropical rainforests, with their famed canopies, blanket the land while rivers and streams glitter in hues of turquoise and emerald—a landscape [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plonked between the formidable Owen Stanley mountains to its west and the Solomon Sea to the east lies Oro, a remote province in Papua New Guinea east of the capital Port Moresby. Lush, green tropical rainforests, with their famed canopies, blanket the land while rivers and streams glitter in hues of turquoise and emerald—a landscape found across much of Papua New Guinea (PNG), where 71.8% of land still harbored primary forest in 2022, according to data from monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. In these forests and the montane highlands thrive nearly seven per cent of the world’s biodiversity—30% of which is found nowhere else on the planet. “There&#8217;s many [more] species packed into the rainforest there than you&#8217;ll find in most places of the world,” says terrestrial ecologist William Laurance from James Cook University in Australia, who has studied the ecology of these forests for over 35 years. For 80 million years, the New Guinea rainforest—the third largest on the planet—has remained isolated from the rest of the world and has evolved unique animals, including most tree kangaroo species (genus Dendrolagus), egg-laying mammals called long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus), a poisonous bird called the hooded pitohui (Pitohui dichrous), and two of the three living species of cassowary (genus Casuarius). The island of New Guinea—which consists of PNG and Indonesian Western New Guinea, contains the highest number of recorded species of plants of any island and an unparalleled level of amphibian diversity. The eastern long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bartoni) is a mammal &#8211;&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/logging-road-construction-continue-to-fuel-forest-loss-in-papua-new-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/logging-road-construction-continue-to-fuel-forest-loss-in-papua-new-guinea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276161</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Collaboration key to rediscovery of egg-laying mammal in Papua’s Cyclops Mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/attenborough-echidna-cyclops-mountains-papua-indonesia-collaboration-indigenous-species-rediscovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/attenborough-echidna-cyclops-mountains-papua-indonesia-collaboration-indigenous-species-rediscovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2023 14:43:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/28101943/RCNX0054M1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275957</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Pacific Ocean, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Rediscovered Species, Science, Species, Species Discovery, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Researchers have credited a strong spirit of collaboration for the success of an expedition in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains that uncovered new sightings of a rare egg-laying mammal and multiple unidentified species. The highlight of the recently published findings was camera-trap images of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), which, like the distantly related but [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Researchers have credited a strong spirit of collaboration for the success of an expedition in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains that uncovered new sightings of a rare egg-laying mammal and multiple unidentified species. The highlight of the recently published findings was camera-trap images of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), which, like the distantly related but better-known platypus, is one of just a handful of egg-laying mammals in existence. The species hadn’t been sighted by scientists since an initial specimen collected in 1961, and for decades was thought to have gone extinct. Much of the success of the four-week-long Expedition Cyclops has been attributed to the collaboration between international and local researchers, conservation authorities, NGOs, and the Indigenous groups who have persistently protected the region’s biodiversity against external threats. “We built a strong relationship with the community of Yongsu Sapari, who own part of the northern Cyclops, over three years,” James Kempton, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford who first proposed the expedition in 2019, told Mongabay in an email. “I think the trust between the expedition team and the community was important in the success of the expedition, and a lack of trust may have contributed to former searches being less successful,” he said. The Cyclops Mountains in Indonesia’s Papua region towering over the beach by Yongsu Spari, shrouded in morning mist. Image courtesy of Expedition Cyclops. From left, expedition leader James Kempton with Cenderawasih University student Gison Morib and Sili Yalak from the Indonesian NGO Yayasan Pelayanan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/attenborough-echidna-cyclops-mountains-papua-indonesia-collaboration-indigenous-species-rediscovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/attenborough-echidna-cyclops-mountains-papua-indonesia-collaboration-indigenous-species-rediscovery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275957</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report: Forest-razing biomass plant in Indonesia got millions in green funds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/report-forest-razing-biomass-plant-in-indonesia-got-millions-in-green-funds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/report-forest-razing-biomass-plant-in-indonesia-got-millions-in-green-funds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2023 01:14:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/31105411/37396395870_104e03f6d8_k-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269239</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian coal, Indonesian Forests, and Jokowi Commitments]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bioenergy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Finance, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Primary Forests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Forest Management, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A renewable energy project that received millions of dollars in climate financing from the Indonesian government is bulldozing rainforest in the nation’s Papua province, according to a new article by a London-based journalism nonprofit. Indonesia’s Medco Group, which owns the project — a biomass power plant and wood plantation — has said it will clear [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A renewable energy project that received millions of dollars in climate financing from the Indonesian government is bulldozing rainforest in the nation’s Papua province, according to a new article by a London-based journalism nonprofit. Indonesia’s Medco Group, which owns the project — a biomass power plant and wood plantation — has said it will clear 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) of land to meet the demands of the plant, billed as a way to help the country kick its fossil fuel habit. But the area to be cleared is highly likely to be carbon-storing forest, according to the report, published this week by The Gecko Project. Satellite imagery indicates Medco, whose core business is oil and gas, has already razed 187 hectares (462 acres) of natural forest since an infusion of state funding apparently enabled it to resume operations after years of inactivity. “The Indonesian government’s backing for the project reflects a yawning inconsistency in its plans to tackle climate change,” The Gecko Project wrote in the article. Really renewable? Indonesia’s rapid deforestation in recent decades has made the nation of 270 million people a leading contributor to global warming. In 2007, the Southeast Asian nation produced more greenhouse gas emissions than any country but the U.S. and China, with most of it coming from deforestation and changes in land use as commercial plantations spread across the archipelago. Two years later, Indonesia pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26-41% over projected business-as-usual levels by 2020, with the higher end of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/report-forest-razing-biomass-plant-in-indonesia-got-millions-in-green-funds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269239</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Gold miner faces global protests as it rekindles a mine with a violent legacy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/gold-miner-faces-global-protests-as-it-rekindles-a-mine-with-a-violent-legacy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/gold-miner-faces-global-protests-as-it-rekindles-a-mine-with-a-violent-legacy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 May 2023 20:01:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ian Morse]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/01193613/porgera-mine-clement-piment-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268123</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Environment, Gold Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mining, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Activists from Papua New Guinea, where a controversial gold mine is inching toward reopening, have joined a campaign of global protests ahead of the annual general meeting of Canada-based Barrick Gold. Barrick, the world&#8217;s second-largest gold mining company, plans to hold its annual general meeting on May 2, reporting “mutual prosperity” through partnerships with countries [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Activists from Papua New Guinea, where a controversial gold mine is inching toward reopening, have joined a campaign of global protests ahead of the annual general meeting of Canada-based Barrick Gold. Barrick, the world&#8217;s second-largest gold mining company, plans to hold its annual general meeting on May 2, reporting “mutual prosperity” through partnerships with countries and communities where it works. People living near several of the company’s mines, however, took to the streets to protest what they describe as persistent environmental destruction and violence against locals. Stanley Peter, an environmental scientist who has volunteered with human rights NGO Akali Tange Association, joined the protest in Papua New Guinea to demand a dialogue with Barrick. In March, Barrick announced it would reopen the Porgera copper and gold mine. The mine had been closed since 2020, when PNG&#8217;s government refused to renew its license, citing &#8220;environmental damages claims and resettlement issues.&#8221; Peter said Barrick has ignored demands that it take responsibility for violence and ongoing land and water contamination that has displaced people and contributed to ongoing and targeted attacks, home burnings, and even deaths. “We are concerned that we will be overlooked, that they will not look at the issues that we are raising, and they will go ahead and get mining started, and we will be left as we are,” Peter said. Barrick said it’s restarting the mine with a new vision: joint ownership with the government that will help ensure that the mine, expected to reopen this year, will&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/gold-miner-faces-global-protests-as-it-rekindles-a-mine-with-a-violent-legacy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268123</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>PNG youths’ loss of tradition is bad news for hunting — but also for conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/png-youths-loss-of-tradition-is-bad-news-for-hunting-but-also-for-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/png-youths-loss-of-tradition-is-bad-news-for-hunting-but-also-for-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2023 14:36:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/14134316/Baby-tree-kangaroo-on-the-chiefs-wifes-shoulder-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267503</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Guinea, Oceania, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Education, Endangered Species, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Religions, Research, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With two-thirds of the country draped in dense, tropical rainforests, Papua New Guinea is home to diverse wildlife, including several marsupial species, flightless cassowaries, and vibrant birds-of-paradise. Just as diverse are the cultures of its people, who have inhabited the land for nearly 50,000 years, first as hunter-gatherers and later as agriculturalists. Today, more than [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With two-thirds of the country draped in dense, tropical rainforests, Papua New Guinea is home to diverse wildlife, including several marsupial species, flightless cassowaries, and vibrant birds-of-paradise. Just as diverse are the cultures of its people, who have inhabited the land for nearly 50,000 years, first as hunter-gatherers and later as agriculturalists. Today, more than 85% of the country’s population live in rural and remote areas, where subsistence hunting is still a part of life. People eat meat from small animals, and hunt cassowaries and tree kangaroos for traditional exchanges. The plumage of birds-of-paradise and parrots adorn traditional costumes and ornaments. As Western education permeates the society and economic opportunities in cities increase, youths in Papua New Guinea may be veering away from hunting, a recent study published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation suggests. It found hunting skills are in decline among secondary school students, and while this may imply that animals could be less likely to be targeted by hunters in the future, experts say this isn&#8217;t necessarily good news for wildlife, even threatened species: the decline in hunting skills is correlated with poor traditional knowledge about wildlife, which is as necessary for conservation as it is for hunting. The plumage of birds-of-paradise and parrots adorn traditional costumes and ornaments. Image by Valerie Hukalo via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Demographic change Papua New Guinean ethnobiologist Alfred Kik, pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic, wanted to understand whether the growing population&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/png-youths-loss-of-tradition-is-bad-news-for-hunting-but-also-for-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267503</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging threats loom over tree kangaroo refuge in Papua New Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/logging-threats-loom-over-tree-kangaroo-refuge-in-papua-new-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/logging-threats-loom-over-tree-kangaroo-refuge-in-papua-new-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jan 2023 16:30:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/25095628/tree-kangaroo-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264946</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Guinea, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Infrastructure, Logging, Marsupials, Mongabay Data Studio, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The tree kangaroos inhabiting a forested mountain range in Papua New Guinea have made an unlikely comeback in the past 40 years, but old dangers now jeopardize that rebound. Three species of the Dendrolagus genus — arboreal marsupials about twice the size of a house cat — haunt the leafy tropical canopy of the Torricelli Mountains, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The tree kangaroos inhabiting a forested mountain range in Papua New Guinea have made an unlikely comeback in the past 40 years, but old dangers now jeopardize that rebound. Three species of the Dendrolagus genus — arboreal marsupials about twice the size of a house cat — haunt the leafy tropical canopy of the Torricelli Mountains, which top out at 1,650 meters (5,410 feet). Two of them remain critically endangered, according to the IUCN, but populations of all three species have leapt and their known ranges expanded. Over the past two decades, investments in conservation and the development of human communities appear to have held off the twin threats of logging and hunting that had pushed the Torricellis&#8217; tree kangaroos to the edge of extinction. In spite of this success, threats to the forests vital to tree kangaroos and a host of other species have resurfaced. Satellite imagery reveals a spike in forest loss and roadbuilding over the past year in and around the core areas of forests that communities have been working to conserve since the early 2000s. In addition, in October 2022, logging companies reportedly began sending representatives to at least three villages to seek consent to harvest the area’s valuable timber in exchange for money and beer. Fidelis Nick, a project officer with an NGO called the Tenkile Conservation Alliance and a resident of the Torricelli village of Muku, said these companies likely have the backing of the federal government, which has the power to issue permits. “That’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/logging-threats-loom-over-tree-kangaroo-refuge-in-papua-new-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/logging-threats-loom-over-tree-kangaroo-refuge-in-papua-new-guinea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-264946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay’s ‘must listen’ podcast list for 2022</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/mongabays-must-listen-podcast-list-for-2022/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/mongabays-must-listen-podcast-list-for-2022/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2022 15:52:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike DiGirolamo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/08132627/TT_skeezepixabay-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263493</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia, New Guinea, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioacoustics, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Marine Conservation, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Exploring New Guinea’s extraordinary natural and cultural richness Kicking off our third season of Mongabay Explores was an episode detailing the complexities of one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, New Guinea. Home to roughly 1,000 languages and 10% of the world’s biodiversity, New Guinea stands out culturally and environmentally as one of the last [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Exploring New Guinea’s extraordinary natural and cultural richness Kicking off our third season of Mongabay Explores was an episode detailing the complexities of one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, New Guinea. Home to roughly 1,000 languages and 10% of the world’s biodiversity, New Guinea stands out culturally and environmentally as one of the last remaining large expanses of tropical rainforest in the world. Mangroves and coral in Papua New Guinea. When pH sinks too low it threatens the ocean’s ability to function, putting the entire Earth operating system at risk. Image by Matt Curnock / Ocean Image Bank. While nearly 80% of its original forest cover remains intact, the two-nation island faces a variety of threats to the conservation of its natural beauty and the livelihoods of locals. Guests Miriam Supuma, Charlie Danny Heatabun, and Rodrigo Cámara-Leret detailed the complex political history behind the island’s current state and the conservation challenges it faces as it continues to develop. ‘Carbon cowboys’ and illegal logging A tree Kangaroo at the Melbourne zoo. Tree kangaroos live in lowland and mountainous rainforests in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the far north of Queensland, Australia. Photo Credit: Tom Jefferson, Greenpeace. In this second episode of the New Guinea season of Mongabay Explores, contributor Rachel Donald and Gary Juffa, governor of Papua New Guinea’s Oro province, explained the intersection of the carbon trade and illegal logging. Often touted as a market-based solution to offset carbon emissions, carbon credits raise a number of regulatory complications and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/mongabays-must-listen-podcast-list-for-2022/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/mongabays-must-listen-podcast-list-for-2022/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263493</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New app transforms data gathering for wildlife in Papua New Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-app-transforms-data-gathering-for-wildlife-in-papua-new-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-app-transforms-data-gathering-for-wildlife-in-papua-new-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2022 11:27:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/24112235/GP02WPZ_Web_size-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262916</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri WildTech Reporting Fellowship]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Guinea and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Fellows, Protected Areas, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For 13 years, Caleb Bulu recorded the rich wildlife of the Torricelli Mountain Range in northwestern Papua New Guinea by walking up and down the slopes. When he observed animals, he noted them down with pen and paper. He used a camera for documentation and recorded such details as location and elevation manually. It wasn’t [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For 13 years, Caleb Bulu recorded the rich wildlife of the Torricelli Mountain Range in northwestern Papua New Guinea by walking up and down the slopes. When he observed animals, he noted them down with pen and paper. He used a camera for documentation and recorded such details as location and elevation manually. It wasn’t an easy task, but an urgent one nonetheless. His workplace, the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA), an NGO, had been working to protect some critically endangered species, like the golden-mantled tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus), that inhabit the mountain ranges. Today, an app is making Bulu’s work easier. Since February this year, Bulu and his colleagues have used the Protected Areas Management (PAM) app, making the observation and documentation of species more efficient and nimbler. The app was developed in-house exclusively for the TCA with the help of Rich Blaske, a developer based in the U.S. state of Georgia, who had reached out to the TCA after watching a documentary on their work. Now, with a few clicks on his phone, Bulu is able to quickly add notes, photos and videos about species he observes in the wild. “All the tools are inside the app and it does everything,” Bulu told Mongabay in an email interview. “It’s easy to carry and move around with it.” Forest rangers at Tenkile Conservation Alliance set up the Protected Areas Management (PAM) app before heading to the field. Credit: Tenkile Conservation Alliance. The Torricelli Mountain Range is home to a wide&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-app-transforms-data-gathering-for-wildlife-in-papua-new-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-app-transforms-data-gathering-for-wildlife-in-papua-new-guinea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262916</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Indonesian Papua, a one-time gun trafficker now preaches permaculture</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/in-indonesian-papua-a-one-time-gun-trafficker-now-preaches-permaculture/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/in-indonesian-papua-a-one-time-gun-trafficker-now-preaches-permaculture/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2022 00:23:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tantowi Djauhari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/29161157/Mbah-Gimbal-planting-with-care-for-nature-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259703</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Education, Environment, Farming, Food, food security, Happy-upbeat Environmental, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SORONG, Indonesia — Thriving across half a hectare in the hills of West Papua’s Mariat district are mustard greens, long beans, spinach, chilies and tomatoes. There’s also fruit such as watermelon and soursop, and tubers including taro, cassava and sweet potatoes. These bountiful crops have all been planted by Mbah Gimbal, who once sold illegal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SORONG, Indonesia — Thriving across half a hectare in the hills of West Papua’s Mariat district are mustard greens, long beans, spinach, chilies and tomatoes. There’s also fruit such as watermelon and soursop, and tubers including taro, cassava and sweet potatoes. These bountiful crops have all been planted by Mbah Gimbal, who once sold illegal firearms but now shares the principles of permaculture in one of Indonesia’s poorest regions. When he established the farm in 2018, on land next to a graveyard, Mbah Gimbal first planted porang, a type of tuber commonly found in the area. Since then, 2,500 porang seeds have grown into seedlings. Originally from Malang in East Java province, Eko Task Kusno Setio, who goes by Mbah Gimbal (a nod to his prominent dreadlocks, known in Indonesian as rambut gimbal, or “messy hair”), practices permaculture, a model of farming that prioritizes balance and sustainability and is supported by patterns of permanent agriculture. “This is the culture of our ancestors that was lost, and which must be developed again,” he said in an interview. “These days, so-called modern agriculture, modern farming, doesn’t use conservation principles. In permaculture, it is these principles that are most important.” For Mbah Gimbal, agricultural modernization is “nonsense” and exacerbates environmental damage. Directly or indirectly, farmers are taught to depend on chemicals. That means all their needs, from seeds to fertilizers and medicines, can’t be separated from industrial production methods, Mbah Gimbal said. This, he added, all boils down to capitalist business interests. With&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/in-indonesian-papua-a-one-time-gun-trafficker-now-preaches-permaculture/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/in-indonesian-papua-a-one-time-gun-trafficker-now-preaches-permaculture/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259703</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study: Climate impacts to disproportionately hurt tropical fishers, farmers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/study-climate-impacts-to-disproportionately-hurt-tropical-fishers-farmers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/study-climate-impacts-to-disproportionately-hurt-tropical-fishers-farmers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2022 15:43:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/15080635/Screen-Shot-2022-07-15-at-14.37.33-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258289</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Indonesia, Madagascar, New Guinea, Pacific Ocean, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Farming, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Coastal communities in the tropics that rely heavily on both agriculture and fisheries are most vulnerable to the losses caused by high global carbon emissions, a new study says. It looked at coastal communities in five countries within the Indo-Pacific region and found that most may face significant losses of agricultural and fisheries [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Coastal communities in the tropics that rely heavily on both agriculture and fisheries are most vulnerable to the losses caused by high global carbon emissions, a new study says. It looked at coastal communities in five countries within the Indo-Pacific region and found that most may face significant losses of agricultural and fisheries products — two key food sources — simultaneously in the event of the worst-case impacts of climate change. These potential losses may be coupled with other drivers of change, such as overfishing or soil erosion, which have already caused a decline in productivity, according to the study published July 5 in the journal Nature Communications. When looked at separately, the potential losses for the fisheries sector would be greater than for agriculture, the research showed. But if carbon emissions can be effectively managed to a minimum, the study’s authors said, fewer communities would experience losses in both the agriculture and fisheries sectors. “Research in these sectors and the policy prescriptions that come from them are happening in isolation, but in reality they are tightly linked,” Joshua E. Cinner, the study’s lead author and a marine researcher at Australia’s James Cook University, told Mongabay in an email. “About 2/3 of the 3,000 households we surveyed across 5 countries engaged in fisheries and agriculture simultaneously.” Coastal communities in the tropics face more economic difficulties than their counterparts in temperate zones. Image by Dean Miller. A fisherman in Papua New Guinea hunting for fish. Image by Dean Miller.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/study-climate-impacts-to-disproportionately-hurt-tropical-fishers-farmers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/study-climate-impacts-to-disproportionately-hurt-tropical-fishers-farmers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258289</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ray care center: Indonesia’s Raja Ampat a key nursery for young reef mantas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/ray-care-center-indonesias-raja-ampat-a-key-nursery-for-young-reef-mantas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/ray-care-center-indonesias-raja-ampat-a-key-nursery-for-young-reef-mantas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2022 15:22:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/09082633/1653951580974-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256998</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Megafauna, Oceans, Protected Areas, Rays, Saltwater Fish, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Researchers have confirmed that a lagoon in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, a popular dive site, is a nursery for newborn and juvenile manta rays, cementing the area’s status as a key sanctuary for the species. In a recently published study, scientists in Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand concluded that Wayag Lagoon in Raja [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Researchers have confirmed that a lagoon in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, a popular dive site, is a nursery for newborn and juvenile manta rays, cementing the area’s status as a key sanctuary for the species. In a recently published study, scientists in Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand concluded that Wayag Lagoon in Raja Ampat, in West Papua province, is a globally rare nursery for juveniles of the reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi). Identified nurseries for the rays typically lack proof of long-term and continuous stays by juveniles, which is one of three requirements — described in a 2007 study — for confirming a nursery. The other requirements include common encounters of young rays and repeated use by juveniles of the site. Wayag is just one of four areas in the Raja Ampat archipelago that have been identified as potential M. alfredi nurseries, and is the most studied one. If the other three are also confirmed by scientists, it would solidify the status of at least two Indonesian protected areas — Raja Ampat and Komodo National Park — as key sanctuaries for manta rays. “Around the world, there’s much work to be done in confirming and protecting manta ray nurseries, and hopefully this study will encourage researchers and conservationists to take on more of these projects,” study lead author Edy Setyawan, a marine scientist at the University of Auckland, said in a press release. Wayag Lagoon in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago. Image courtesy of the University of Auckland. For&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/ray-care-center-indonesias-raja-ampat-a-key-nursery-for-young-reef-mantas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/ray-care-center-indonesias-raja-ampat-a-key-nursery-for-young-reef-mantas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256998</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fisher groups are the marine militia in Indonesia’s war on illegal fishing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/fisher-groups-are-the-marine-militia-in-indonesias-war-on-illegal-fishing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/fisher-groups-are-the-marine-militia-in-indonesias-war-on-illegal-fishing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2022 15:25:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/06101340/IMG_3063-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255538</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Blue Carbon, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Crime, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Gender, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Illegal Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[RAJA AMPAT, Indonesia — Esterlita Jabu says she still remembers the gut-wrenching horror of hearing explosions from blast fishers near the beach where she played as a child with her friends. “Not only you could hear it, but also you could feel the vibrations,” she tells Mongabay during a visit to her village on the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[RAJA AMPAT, Indonesia — Esterlita Jabu says she still remembers the gut-wrenching horror of hearing explosions from blast fishers near the beach where she played as a child with her friends. “Not only you could hear it, but also you could feel the vibrations,” she tells Mongabay during a visit to her village on the island of Mutus in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago. Today, 33-year-old Esterlita is a member of the island’s community volunteer group that patrols the waters for illegal and destructive fishing. Methods such as blast fishing and cyanide fishing flourished in the waters of Raja Ampat since the 1980s in response to rising commercial seafood demand. By 2006, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounted for 20% of the total reef fish catch. These practices have also been blamed by local fishers for causing declines in fish catch and posing the greatest threat to fisheries resources. Esterlita Jabu, left, is a member of the Pokmaswas, a community-run marine surveillance group, on Mutus Island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago. Image by Basten Gokkon/Mongabay. Indonesia’s marine area covers 5.8 million square kilometers (2.2 million square miles) and is home to the highest coral reef fish diversity in the world. High levels of monitoring, surveillance and enforcement are needed to effectively prevent destructive fishing and protect marine resources, experts say. However, regular patrols are costly and limited due to lack of infrastructure and human resources, especially for a massive archipelago like Indonesia with its thousands of islands. The fisheries ministry&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/fisher-groups-are-the-marine-militia-in-indonesias-war-on-illegal-fishing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/fisher-groups-are-the-marine-militia-in-indonesias-war-on-illegal-fishing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255538</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil firm hit by mass permit revocation still clearing forest in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/palm-oil-firm-hit-by-mass-permit-revocation-still-clearing-forest-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/palm-oil-firm-hit-by-mass-permit-revocation-still-clearing-forest-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Feb 2022 09:35:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Asrida ElisabethPhilip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/22020952/7640091254_27f51a6b02_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252912</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests, Indonesian Palm Oil, and Jokowi Commitments]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Anonymous Companies, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Transparency, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAYAPURA, Indonesia, and NEW YORK — A palm oil firm that was among more than 100 companies targeted in a mass cancellation of permits for plantations by Indonesia’s environment ministry on Jan. 6 has bulldozed more than 50 hectares (125 acres) of rainforest since that date. The finding underscores the limits of the policy and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAYAPURA, Indonesia, and NEW YORK — A palm oil firm that was among more than 100 companies targeted in a mass cancellation of permits for plantations by Indonesia’s environment ministry on Jan. 6 has bulldozed more than 50 hectares (125 acres) of rainforest since that date. The finding underscores the limits of the policy and raises questions about how far President Joko Widodo’s administration is willing to go to rein in the nation’s chaotic land-use practices. After lying moribund for more than two years, the company, PT Permata Nusa Mandiri (PNM), sprang into action in the weeks after the revocations were announced, carving a road and several plantation blocks out of its land concession in Jayapura, a district in Papua province. During a visit to the site in January, Mongabay observed cars, heavy equipment and workers pacing around the newly created road. The company camp, abandoned for the past two years, looked lively again. A truck loaded with drums apparently filled with fuel was parked on site. The clearance remains ongoing, satellite imagery shows, according to Albert ten Kate, a researcher at Amsterdam-based sustainability consultancy Aidenvironment. “It is not just a road anymore,” ten Kate wrote in an email. “A lot of plantation blocks are carved out, over an area of a few hundred hectares and there also has been some clear-cutting.” A road made by a palm oil company by clearing the forest in Jayapura Regency, Papua. Image by Asrida Elisabeth/ Mongabay Indonesia. A satellite image of the clearing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/palm-oil-firm-hit-by-mass-permit-revocation-still-clearing-forest-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/palm-oil-firm-hit-by-mass-permit-revocation-still-clearing-forest-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-252912</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s three most consequential forestry stories of 2021</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/indonesias-three-most-consequential-forestry-stories-of-2021/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/indonesias-three-most-consequential-forestry-stories-of-2021/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Dec 2021 13:55:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/24134802/greenpeace-palm-oil.-bannerjpg-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251127</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests and Jokowi Commitments]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, New Guinea, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Palm Oil, Plantations, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Home to more rainforest than any country but Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia is one of the world&#8217;s most significant nations from an environmental and biodiversity perspective. Here are three of the key forestry stories and trends from Indonesia this year, ranging from a national deforestation slowdown and the end of a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Home to more rainforest than any country but Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia is one of the world&#8217;s most significant nations from an environmental and biodiversity perspective. Here are three of the key forestry stories and trends from Indonesia this year, ranging from a national deforestation slowdown and the end of a freeze on new permits for oil palm plantations to the persistence of conflict over land across the archipelagic country. Deforestation dropped nationally in 2020, but threats remain Deforestation has long been a massive problem in Indonesia. Since 2001, Southeast Asia’s largest economy has lost nearly 30 million hectares (74 million acres) of tree cover — an area the size of Italy and second only to Brazil’s forest loss. Indonesia’s annual deforestation rate rose steadily throughout the 2000s, peaking in 2016 before dropping significantly in 2017-2019, a few years after Joko Widodo became president. Remarkably, 2020 saw another sharp drop in Indonesia’s deforestation rate. Deforestation fell 75% from 2019, according to government data. There is some dispute as to why this occurred. Widodo&#8217;s administration has been quick to take credit for the deforestation slowdown, attributing it to sound government policies. These include a permanent ban on the issuance of permits to clear old-growth forests, a temporary freeze on the issuance of permits for new oil palm plantations, a “social forestry” program meant to empower local communities, a law enforcement campaign aimed at companies and farmers accused of causing forest fires, and a peatland rehabilitation program meant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/indonesias-three-most-consequential-forestry-stories-of-2021/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/indonesias-three-most-consequential-forestry-stories-of-2021/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251127</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Governor rails against ‘bioterrorists,’ ‘carbon cowboys’ destroying PNG’s forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/governor-rails-against-bioterrorists-carbon-cowboys-destroying-pngs-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/governor-rails-against-bioterrorists-carbon-cowboys-destroying-pngs-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Dec 2021 14:26:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rachel Donald]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/07140458/Gary-Juffa-logs-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250321</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Logging, Logging, Politics, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Papua New Guinea’s forests are under attack, and the international community must join forces to fight the illegal loggers destroying one of the world’s largest rainforests. This was the message from Papua New Guinean politician Gary Juffa at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. “The world must win the fight against these bioterrorists. We [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Papua New Guinea’s forests are under attack, and the international community must join forces to fight the illegal loggers destroying one of the world’s largest rainforests. This was the message from Papua New Guinean politician Gary Juffa at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. “The world must win the fight against these bioterrorists. We must pursue with armies those who threaten the very existence of our world,” Juffa, the governor of Oro province, said at the conference last month. “If we continue to allow timber cartels to control nations, how effective will the climate agreements made at COP26 be?” These “timber cartels” began targeting PNG’s forests in the 1980s, promising development to the materially poor local landowners in exchange for access to their forests, kicking out legitimate timber companies in the process. Land rights were signed away and the local people watched their forests disappear while the promised roads, churches and wealth failed to materialize. “They don&#8217;t pay their taxes, so they&#8217;ve got a lot of money available to bribe and corrupt,” Juffa told Mongabay. He said he learned about the extent of the corruption while working in PNG&#8217;s customs service, where he rose through the ranks to become commissioner before resigning in 2011. He won a seat in parliament as Oro province&#8217;s governor in 2012, calling to &#8220;take back PNG,&#8221; and was reelected in 2017. Gary Juffa (center), governor of Papua New Guinea&#8217;s Oro province, has emerged as one of the country&#8217;s most outspoken opponents of illegal loggers.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/governor-rails-against-bioterrorists-carbon-cowboys-destroying-pngs-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/governor-rails-against-bioterrorists-carbon-cowboys-destroying-pngs-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250321</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation threatens tree kangaroo habitat in Papua New Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/deforestation-threatens-tree-kangaroo-habitat-in-papua-new-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/deforestation-threatens-tree-kangaroo-habitat-in-papua-new-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2021 11:18:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/14110058/14-Torricelli-Mountains-768x450.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248200</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers and Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Guinea, Oceania, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Culture, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Green, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Logging, Mammals, Marsupials, NGOs, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The forests of northwestern Papua New Guinea are home to a group of wide-eyed and reclusive marsupials known as tree kangaroos. As their name suggests, they spend a lot of their lives in the canopy and depend on the forest for survival. For more than a decade, conservationists and scientists have been working to protect [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The forests of northwestern Papua New Guinea are home to a group of wide-eyed and reclusive marsupials known as tree kangaroos. As their name suggests, they spend a lot of their lives in the canopy and depend on the forest for survival. For more than a decade, conservationists and scientists have been working to protect a 1,850-square-kilometer (714-square-mile) area of broadleaf tropical forest in and around the Torricelli Mountains where these animals thrive. But the recent construction of what appears to be a logging road has proponents of the proposed Torricelli Mountain Range Conservation Area worried. And now, satellite imagery has shown a surge in recent tree cover loss since Aug. 1. “Yes, the logging continues — they are relentless,” Jim Thomas, CEO of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA), said of the recent deforestation along what would be the northern border of the conservation area in an email. The TCA takes its name from one of the tree kangaroo species that haunts the region. Also known as the Scott’s tree kangaroo, the tenkile (Dendrolagus scottae) is critically endangered, as is the weimang, or golden-mantled tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus), which also lives in the Torricellis. Satellite imagery from the University of Maryland reveals new tree cover loss around a logging road in the Torricelli Mountain Range. Image by Morgan Erickson-Davis. The satellite data come from the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) lab at the University of Maryland. After months of sporadic activity in this part of PNG’s Sandaun province, the characteristic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/deforestation-threatens-tree-kangaroo-habitat-in-papua-new-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/deforestation-threatens-tree-kangaroo-habitat-in-papua-new-guinea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248200</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hidden camera footage exposes bribery for palm oil in Papua New Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/hidden-camera-footage-exposes-bribery-for-palm-oil-in-papua-new-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/hidden-camera-footage-exposes-bribery-for-palm-oil-in-papua-new-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2021 20:05:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/16121244/GP02KIT-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248020</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Malaysia, New Britain, New Guinea, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Green, Logging, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A palm oil executive was secretly filmed describing the payment of bribes to public officials in exchange for logging permits and access to land in Papua New Guinea, in a new undercover investigation by Global Witness. Investigators from the London-based watchdog group posed as Western businessmen over dinner with executives from East New Britain Resources [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A palm oil executive was secretly filmed describing the payment of bribes to public officials in exchange for logging permits and access to land in Papua New Guinea, in a new undercover investigation by Global Witness. Investigators from the London-based watchdog group posed as Western businessmen over dinner with executives from East New Britain Resources Group (ENB), one of the biggest logging and palm oil firms operating in Papua New Guinea (PNG). As a hidden camera recorded his every word, the company’s public relations manager said bribes to a government minister typically ran from from 50,000 to 100,000 Papua New Guinean kina ($14,000-28,000). Global Witness also filmed ENB’s CEO describing a tax evasion scheme, and the director of another palm oil firm, Tobar Investment, talking about paying a special police unit to beat up villagers opposed to their plantations. “We went after them in the night, got them, belted them up, and locked them up at the station,” the Tobar director, Edward Lamur, says in the footage. Those caught on camera generally denied doing anything illegal when formally contacted by Global Witness after the fact. ENB’s palm oil has been used by some of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, including Cargill, Colgate-Palmolive, Kellogg&#8217;s, Danone, Nestlé, Reckitt and Hershey, all of which cut ties with ENB after Global Witness intervened, according to a Channel 4 report on the Global Witness investigation. Home to the world’s third-largest stretch of rainforest, Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/hidden-camera-footage-exposes-bribery-for-palm-oil-in-papua-new-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/hidden-camera-footage-exposes-bribery-for-palm-oil-in-papua-new-guinea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248020</doi>				</item>
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