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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/oceania/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Oceania environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/oceania/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>New ‘conservation deed’ aims to protect tree kangaroos, forests, people in Papua New Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-conservation-deed-aims-to-protect-tree-kangaroos-forests-people-in-papua-new-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-conservation-deed-aims-to-protect-tree-kangaroos-forests-people-in-papua-new-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 03:56:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/03125116/weimang-tree-kangaroo-Dendrolagus-pulcherrimus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325195</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Melanesia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mammals, Marsupials, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It happened with a few strokes of a pen on a hilltop in northwestern Papua New Guinea on June 30: The leaders of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA) finalized an agreement to protect the densely canopied forests of the Torricelli Mountains that ripple outward in every direction. Their signatures were the last of hundreds collected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It happened with a few strokes of a pen on a hilltop in northwestern Papua New Guinea on June 30: The leaders of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA) finalized an agreement to protect the densely canopied forests of the Torricelli Mountains that ripple outward in every direction. Their signatures were the last of hundreds collected from clan leaders across the range in June. With this conservation deed, TCA and the people of the Torricellis have achieved a key milestone after decades of work to stave off logging, help wildlife rebound and improve the lives of community members. After the signing, those gathered erupted in celebration, dance and song at TCA’s base in the village of Lumi. In all, 266 clan leaders signed the document. Caleb Bulu, a project manager with TCA, called it an “exciting time.” “We have been waiting for so long,” said Bulu, who has fought to keep loggers off his own land in the region. The people of the Torricelli Mountains were ecstatic, he said in a call via WhatsApp a few days after the signing. “They were very happy, all across the 41 villages [and] were celebrating at that time.” The Torricellis are home to a staggering array of species — perhaps 4% of the world’s biodiversity in a relatively tiny speck of mostly intact montane forest — including two species of critically endangered tree kangaroo. In the 1990s, mammologist Tim Flannery and his colleagues in PNG first described the tenkile (Dendrolagus scottae) and the weimang&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-conservation-deed-aims-to-protect-tree-kangaroos-forests-people-in-papua-new-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Coral reef experts press on, with climate looming over international conference</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/coral-reef-experts-press-on-with-climate-looming-over-international-conference/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/coral-reef-experts-press-on-with-climate-looming-over-international-conference/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 18:34:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31142917/8-conference-attendee-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325038</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and New Zealand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AUCKLAND — Lest anyone think scientific conferences must be staid affairs, the International Coral Reefs Symposium closed with inspiration from none other than U.S. rap metal band Rage Against the Machine, known for revolutionary lyrics in the 1990s: “It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AUCKLAND — Lest anyone think scientific conferences must be staid affairs, the International Coral Reefs Symposium closed with inspiration from none other than U.S. rap metal band Rage Against the Machine, known for revolutionary lyrics in the 1990s: “It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now? All hell can&#8217;t stop us now!” Christian Voolstra, a professor at the University of Konstanz in Germany and president of the International Coral Reef Society (ICRS), which organizes the conference, choked up as he read those lyrics at the closing ceremony, as did this reporter. Reflections on how conference participants could address the many threats to coral reefs, including seas that are becoming hotter and more acidic due to climate change, had punctuated the program of more narrowly focused presentations on research and conservation practice during the conference, held July 19-24 in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. This 16th iteration of the conference, which takes place every four years, drew more than 2,100 participants from more than 90 countries, including coral reef scientists, conservationists, policymakers and community leaders. (Previous ICRS conferences held in locations nearer to Global North research hubs drew even more people.) Recurring themes in conference discussions included how much to focus on climate mitigation, how to characterize and communicate the current condition of coral reefs, and how to empower Indigenous communities and integrate their knowledge systems. A reef off Komodo Island in Indonesia. Image courtesy of Greg Asner/divephoto.org. Prioritizing climate?&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/coral-reef-experts-press-on-with-climate-looming-over-international-conference/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/coral-reef-experts-press-on-with-climate-looming-over-international-conference/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325038</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pat Lowe spent decades describing and defending the Kimberley</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/pat-lowe-spent-decades-describing-and-defending-the-kimberley/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/pat-lowe-spent-decades-describing-and-defending-the-kimberley/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2026 00:02:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/27123449/pat-lowe-2560px-full-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324544</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Culture, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; The termites had built their towers long before roads crossed the Kimberley or companies proposed industrial projects along its rivers and coasts. Their colonies worked beneath the red earth, altering the soil and supporting other forms of life. Pat Lowe studied them closely. She asked Aboriginal knowledge-holders what they knew, spoke with scientists, read [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; The termites had built their towers long before roads crossed the Kimberley or companies proposed industrial projects along its rivers and coasts. Their colonies worked beneath the red earth, altering the soil and supporting other forms of life. Pat Lowe studied them closely. She asked Aboriginal knowledge-holders what they knew, spoke with scientists, read widely, and eventually wrote a book about them. She was drawn to subjects that were common and easily overlooked. The same attention led her to boabs, mammals, desert plants, and the pindan woodlands around Broome, where red soil lies beneath pale grasses and scattered trees. Her interest in conservation grew from long observation of how these landscapes worked. Pat Lowe, who died on July 2nd, 2026, aged 84, spent much of her life studying the Kimberley and helping others understand it. She was a psychologist, writer, editor, naturalist, and environmental campaigner. Her path to northern Western Australia began far away. Born in England in 1942, she trained as a teacher, worked in East Africa, and later moved to Australia, where she became a psychologist in the prison system. At Fremantle Prison, she met Jimmy Pike, a Walmajarri man who had grown up in the Great Sandy Desert and became one of Australia’s best-known Indigenous artists. After Pike’s release, they lived for three years at Kurlku, a remote desert camp. Water, weather, distance, and food governed daily life. Pike taught her about his Country: its routes, seasons, foods, history, and obligations. She learned Walmajarri words, listened&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/pat-lowe-spent-decades-describing-and-defending-the-kimberley/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/pat-lowe-spent-decades-describing-and-defending-the-kimberley/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324544</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Extreme weather dampens breeding success for marine predators in Tasmania: study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 12:11:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Madeline Shaw]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/27062833/h.-BANNER-52065723988_5bb208650e_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324558</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Global, Oceania, and Tasmania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Disasters, Earth Science, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Heatwave, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Pollution, Predators, Research, Science, Seabirds, Storms, Temperatures, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the rocky shores of Tasmania, seals and seabirds can’t shelter indoors during a storm or turn on the AC during a hot spell. When extreme weather strikes, they’re exposed to the elements, especially when they’re tied to a clumsy pup or a nest of newly hatched chicks. The effects can be deadly. A study [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the rocky shores of Tasmania, seals and seabirds can’t shelter indoors during a storm or turn on the AC during a hot spell. When extreme weather strikes, they’re exposed to the elements, especially when they’re tied to a clumsy pup or a nest of newly hatched chicks. The effects can be deadly. A study published in Science Advances in June found that extreme weather events like storms, heat waves and floods can interfere with the breeding success of important marine predators like seals, shearwaters and albatross that raise their young along the coasts. As these events become both more frequent and increasingly intense due to climate change, the study authors stress the need to monitor predator populations to better protect them from the effects, especially during vulnerable times in the breeding season. “Extreme weather events are becoming a new normal,” study lead author Milan Sojitra, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania, told Mongabay. “It is having an effect on ecosystems and species.” Marine ecosystems around the world are under stress from the effects of human-caused climate change, including heatwaves and warming ocean temperatures that can cause coral bleaching and mass die-offs of marine species. Tasmania, an island and Australian state 240 kilometers (149 miles) south of the mainland, is a climate change hotspot, with surface waters off its eastern coast warming three to four times faster than the global average, according to a 2018 study. The frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall and heat on the island&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324558</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Australia expands seismic testing, experts warn of profound effects on sealife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 18:38:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Theoné van der Merwe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/22140035/b.-%C2%A9Wayne-and-Pam-Osborn-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324311</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, carbon, Conservation, Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Science, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It was spring, 20 years ago now, but he remembers it clearly. On the deck of the Geco Resolution, wind tearing spray from the waves, Robert McCauley stood gazing out onto an ocean blackened by night. The ship had been firing seismic airguns all day, thunderous blasts punching through the water and into the seabed. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It was spring, 20 years ago now, but he remembers it clearly. On the deck of the Geco Resolution, wind tearing spray from the waves, Robert McCauley stood gazing out onto an ocean blackened by night. The ship had been firing seismic airguns all day, thunderous blasts punching through the water and into the seabed. Over time, the rhythmic boom reverberating through the hull had almost faded into the background. But then night fell, and the sound revealed itself. “Every time the airgun went off, the sea would light up,” McCauley told Mongabay. Each blast was triggering a burst of bioluminescence — dinoflagellates and other microscopic life igniting in unison. “A sheet of light would shoot out, like a wave traveling at the speed of sound. It went out for about a kilometer at least,” he said. As Australia’s leading expert in marine bioacoustics, McCauley, a research scientist at the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University, was there to study how whales responded to the noise. But watching the bioluminescent glow pulse outward and fade, then pulse again, he found himself wondering less about whales and more about the tiny organisms that sustain them. “It made me think, what’s happening to all those little animals? How are they being stimulated? And what happens if they’re being stimulated every five or 10 seconds, repeatedly?” McCauley wondered. For decades, marine seismic surveys have echoed through the world’s oceans, largely in search of oil and gas. Research has shown the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324311</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Melanesian nations announce intention to create massive ocean reserve corridor</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 17:16:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashley Yeong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/17151125/a.-%C2%A9Justin-Hofman-Massau-PNG-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323862</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Melanesia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Culture, Fisheries, Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Traditional People, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of Pacific island nations have agreed to formally establish the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves (MOCOR), a massive transboundary marine protected area (MPA) that will span their territorial waters. Papua New Guinea (PNG), Vanuatu and Fiji made a joint declaration announcing plans for the corridor at the first Melanesian Ocean Summit in May. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A group of Pacific island nations have agreed to formally establish the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves (MOCOR), a massive transboundary marine protected area (MPA) that will span their territorial waters. Papua New Guinea (PNG), Vanuatu and Fiji made a joint declaration announcing plans for the corridor at the first Melanesian Ocean Summit in May. Solomon Islands joined the initiative in late June. Melanesia, a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific that also includes the French territory of New Caledonia and parts of Indonesia, is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. Located in the Coral Triangle, its ocean waters contain an estimated 75% of known coral species, along with iconic marine megafauna, including sharks, rays, dugongs and whales. This part of the ocean is also a hotspot for the discovery of new species. “The initiative represents a bold and timely step forward, recognizing that our oceans do not end at national boundaries, and that our stewardship responsibilities must therefore extend across them,” 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Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told leaders at the summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The U.S.-based NGO National Geographic Pristine Seas, which has partnered with governments throughout the region to conduct research on priority protection areas, has confirmed to Mongabay that the MOCOR is an entirely separate initiative from the Melanesian Ocean Reserve (MOR) announced by Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and PNG at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in France. A variety of corals in the shallows off Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323862</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists use AI to produce first high-resolution map of global seagrass extent</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 12:51:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10103637/IMG_2026-07-10-031214-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323038</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Bahamas, Caribbean, Cuba, Global, Indonesia, North America, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, data, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Mapping, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mitigation, Oceans, Plants, Politics, Protected Areas, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Science, Seagrass, Software, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Almost 70% of the global extent of seagrass meadows is found off the coasts of just five countries. However, only 21% of this fall within marine protected areas. These are some of the key findings from the first high-resolution map of seagrasses around the world. Scientists at Arizona State University in the U.S. used satellite [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Almost 70% of the global extent of seagrass meadows is found off the coasts of just five countries. However, only 21% of this fall within marine protected areas. These are some of the key findings from the first high-resolution map of seagrasses around the world. Scientists at Arizona State University in the U.S. used satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to map seagrass cover over two periods, 2019-2020 and 2023-2024. According to a study, recently published in the journal Nature, the team identified “148,506 km2 of seagrass globally,” or about 57,340 square miles, a combined area larger than England, with the majority lying in subtidal areas. “We wanted to map seagrass in a very accurate manner,” Jiwei Li, an assistant professor at ASU’s School of Ocean Futures, who led the study, told Mongabay in a video interview. “And tell people where the seagrass is and where there is potential to protect it.” Scientists mapped seagrass ecosystems using satellite data and AI technology. Pictured above is a satellite image from a coast off of Richmond, Canada, along with the seagrass ecosystems highlighted in green to the right. Image courtesy of Jiwei Li, Arizona State University. Seagrasses are the only flowering plant species in the ocean, and form vast meadows in shallow waters. Apart from being habitats for many marine species, these meadows are also crucial carbon sinks that can absorb CO2 35 times faster than terrestrial forests. They also protect coastlines and filter pollutants in the water. However, seagrass ecosystems face threats from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323038</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal fishing takes a toll on Australia&#8217;s sea cucumbers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jul 2026 17:52:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Madeline Shaw]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/07103628/a.-%C2%A9-Julian-Jimenez.-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322747</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Crime, Environment, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Overfishing, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Off the northwestern coast of Australia, in some of the world’s most pristine and diverse coral reefs, sea cucumbers are rapidly vanishing. Overall populations of these tubular, blobby animals declined by more than half from 2018 to 2023 in the Rowley Shoals, a remote Australian marine park, according to a recent survey. Some especially vulnerable [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Off the northwestern coast of Australia, in some of the world’s most pristine and diverse coral reefs, sea cucumbers are rapidly vanishing. Overall populations of these tubular, blobby animals declined by more than half from 2018 to 2023 in the Rowley Shoals, a remote Australian marine park, according to a recent survey. Some especially vulnerable species, such as the pineapple sea cucumber (Thelenota ananas) and the hairy blackfish (Actinopyga miliaris), have disappeared across most or all of the monitoring sites there. Researchers believe a boom in illegal fishing is to blame. Sea cucumber harvesting is prohibited in the Rowley Shoals, and the survey found Australian authorities caught 112 fishing vessels in the area carrying a collective 22 metric tons of sea cucumbers between 2021 and 2023, a figure that translates to roughly 33,000-45,000 animals. This is just the share of illegal fishing that authorities managed to intercept; the researchers noted that the actual sea cucumber body count is likely much higher. The problem isn’t unique to Rowley Shoals. It occurs in reefs across the country’s western and northern waters and has recently been on the rise, according to several researchers interviewed by Mongabay, driven by demand for the animals in China and other East Asian countries where they are considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. Illegal sea cucumber fishing spiked in northern Australia in 2024, according to experts, with fishers targeting sanctuaries and internationally protected species. The Australian government responded by launching Operation LUNAR at the end&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322747</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s seagrass meadows under pressure as climate change turns up the heat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/australias-seagrass-meadows-under-pressure-as-climate-change-turns-up-the-heat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/australias-seagrass-meadows-under-pressure-as-climate-change-turns-up-the-heat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jul 2026 15:19:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/02094729/3-leafy-sea-dragon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322342</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Great Barrier Reef, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Biodiversity, Climate, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Warming, Habitat, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine, Marine Conservation, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Plants, Research, Restoration, Science, Seagrass, Solutions, Temperatures, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is renowned for its coral, but far less so for its expansive seagrass meadows. “People don&#8217;t dive on them, don&#8217;t snorkel on them, and don&#8217;t go rock pooling on them,” said Emma Jackson, director of the Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC) at Central Queensland University. She’s a self-confessed seagrass nerd. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is renowned for its coral, but far less so for its expansive seagrass meadows. “People don&#8217;t dive on them, don&#8217;t snorkel on them, and don&#8217;t go rock pooling on them,” said Emma Jackson, director of the Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC) at Central Queensland University. She’s a self-confessed seagrass nerd. One reason, she said, is because “they have this wealth of different ecosystem services.” Though they’re known as the “ugly cousins” of coral reefs, these flowering grass-like plants provide a home and foraging grounds for marine life, as well as habitat for commercial fish species. These meadows stabilize sediments, help cleanse the water column and sequester substantial amounts of carbon. “I think when people understand that, then they can share my nerdiness and share that passion for seagrass,” Jackson said. Emma Jackson, who directs CMERC (right), envisions large-scale restoration using many seagrass species, with the process as routine as seeding a lawn. Image courtesy CMERC. The Great Barrier Reef is home to around 3.5 million hectares (8.6 million acres) of seagrass, an area larger than Belgium, which accounts for about 11% of the world’s total. Australia is a global hotspot of seagrass biodiversity, hosting around half of the world’s 60 species of the plants. But as climate change ratchets up temperatures and triggers more frequent extreme weather events, Australia’s marine meadows are increasingly battered by intense storms and cyclones, flooding, and devastating marine heat waves. Algal blooms are also impacting seagrasses by blocking out sunlight&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/australias-seagrass-meadows-under-pressure-as-climate-change-turns-up-the-heat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/australias-seagrass-meadows-under-pressure-as-climate-change-turns-up-the-heat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322342</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Laser scanning forests may boost carbon estimates, but credibility questions linger</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/laser-scanning-forests-may-boost-carbon-estimates-but-credibility-questions-linger/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/laser-scanning-forests-may-boost-carbon-estimates-but-credibility-questions-linger/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2026 14:55:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shradha Triveni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/26115840/Overlay1-1-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321918</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Geology, Mapping, Research, Science, Soil Carbon, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forests are natural carbon sinks. But as reforestation of degraded land is becoming a global climate solution, a persistent question lingers: How do we know how much carbon a forest is actually storing? Researchers say ground-based laser scanning, or LiDAR, could improve the efficiency of measuring the outcomes of reforestation. And a recent paper published [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forests are natural carbon sinks. But as reforestation of degraded land is becoming a global climate solution, a persistent question lingers: How do we know how much carbon a forest is actually storing? Researchers say ground-based laser scanning, or LiDAR, could improve the efficiency of measuring the outcomes of reforestation. And a recent paper published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence found that LiDAR scanning in Australia offered an improvement over other methods of carbon estimation. LiDAR instruments emit thousands of tiny laser pulses to create complex and intricate 3D maps of a forest’ structure, allowing researchers to more accurately estimate how much carbon is contained in its trees. Co-author of the paper Alexander W. Cheesman, a senior research fellow at James Cook University, North Queensland, Australia, calls the technology “transformative.” “Traditional field surveys heavily relied on manually measuring the height and diameter of a relatively small number of trees. But laser scanning captures the whole forest in 360 degrees, recording every stem, every branch and the shape of the canopy,” Cheesman told Mongabay during a virtual interview over Google Meet. In Australia, the Full Carbon Accounting Model (FullCAM) is the government’s main tool to track carbon stored in soil and roots (belowground carbon) and vegetation (aboveground carbon). It is used for national greenhouse gas reporting to the United Nations and to assess carbon credit within the country, through the government’s Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme. Rather than directly measuring carbon, FullCAM simulates the movement of carbon through ecosystems by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/laser-scanning-forests-may-boost-carbon-estimates-but-credibility-questions-linger/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/laser-scanning-forests-may-boost-carbon-estimates-but-credibility-questions-linger/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321918</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rodent-killing baits threaten small wild cats and other wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rodent-killing-baits-threaten-small-wild-cats-and-other-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rodent-killing-baits-threaten-small-wild-cats-and-other-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 14:29:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/18054111/Image_6-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321399</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Australia, Global, North America, Oceania, South Africa, Southern Africa, United States, and Washington]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Carnivores, Cats, Chemicals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Health, Mammals, Poisoning, Predators, Rodents, Small Cats, Toxicology, Wildlife, and Wolves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cat kills rodent. Cat eats rodent. Cat is exposed to potentially lethal rodenticides. That scenario is increasingly likely for many small wild cat species across the globe, and yet, only a handful of researchers are investigating this underrecognized conservation issue. Thus far, researchers confirmed that one wild cat population has declined from exposure to these [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cat kills rodent. Cat eats rodent. Cat is exposed to potentially lethal rodenticides. That scenario is increasingly likely for many small wild cat species across the globe, and yet, only a handful of researchers are investigating this underrecognized conservation issue. Thus far, researchers confirmed that one wild cat population has declined from exposure to these poisons. That’s a small bobcat (Lynx rufus) living on Kiawah Island off the South Carolina coast in the U.S., which faces imminent local extinction due to rodenticides. Up until 2019, there was a stable population of these beloved cats, which are considered celebrities there, but that year, three cats died. Among them was a female that bled to death while giving birth. Postmortems revealed concoctions of rodenticides in each of the bobcats’ blood and livers. Over the next four years, there were 12 more victims and the bobcats’ overall survival rate fell to 39%. All tested positive for concentrations of anticoagulant rodenticides; some had been acutely poisoned, said Meghan Keating, a doctoral candidate at South Carolina’s Clemson University. That was a troubling sign for a population that now numbers less than 20 individuals. They are regularly exposed to rodenticides, as rodents (including rats) are a major part of their diet, Keating said. Also troubling is that her team found exposure to not just one, but a cocktail of rodenticides. “We haven&#8217;t had a bobcat test positive for less than two rodenticides,” she told Mongabay. Kiawah Island’s rodenticide-driven bobcat decline may be an outlier, given its&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rodent-killing-baits-threaten-small-wild-cats-and-other-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rodent-killing-baits-threaten-small-wild-cats-and-other-wildlife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321399</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tiwi rangers eradicate invasive tropical fire ants in Australia’s Melville Island</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rangers-eradicate-invasive-tropical-fire-ants-in-australias-tiwi-islands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rangers-eradicate-invasive-tropical-fire-ants-in-australias-tiwi-islands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2026 19:31:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nick Rodway]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/22184547/Solenopsis_geminata_Francois-Brassard_LR-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321598</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation Solutions, Indigenous Peoples, Insects, Sea Turtles, Seabirds, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DERBY, Australia — While Spanish sailors packed in dirt to stabilize the bottom of ships sailing from the Americas in the 16th century, they were unaware that they were also helping tiny stowaways aboard. Research suggests that tropical fire ants sailed across the Pacific Ocean, joining Europeans over the centuries as they landed and colonized [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DERBY, Australia — While Spanish sailors packed in dirt to stabilize the bottom of ships sailing from the Americas in the 16th century, they were unaware that they were also helping tiny stowaways aboard. Research suggests that tropical fire ants sailed across the Pacific Ocean, joining Europeans over the centuries as they landed and colonized landmasses across the world. Then, in the early 2000s, tropical fire ants (Solenopsis geminata) were detected on Melville Island in the Tiwi Islands, a picturesque archipelago off the coast of Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory. Here, they were able to flourish, according to researchers, and have since become naturalized in parts of the Australian tropics while dominating the environment, eating small mammals, and potentially deterring nesting birds. “The ants have a huge impact on native birds and animals on the Tiwi Islands,” said Stanley Tipungwuti, a ranger on the islands where most identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. But after two decades of effort, and the work of the Tiwi Ranger team, tropical fire ants are deemed no more on Merville Island: In 2025, the species was completely eradicated, according to Ben Hoffmann, who was part of the eradication program from its inception. That same year, the Tiwi Island Rangers received the Territory Indigenous Natural Resource Management Award in Darwin for their efforts. The Tiwi Rangers were the 2025 winners of the Territory NRM Indigenous Natural Resource Management Award. Image by the Territory Natural Resource Management Award, supplied by Tiwi Resources. Hoffmann, principal research&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rangers-eradicate-invasive-tropical-fire-ants-in-australias-tiwi-islands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rangers-eradicate-invasive-tropical-fire-ants-in-australias-tiwi-islands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321598</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vanilla, fake eggs and nausea: How Australian scientists are training foxes to avoid turtle nests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/vanilla-fake-eggs-and-nausea-how-australian-scientists-australia-are-training-foxes-to-avoid-turtle-nests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/vanilla-fake-eggs-and-nausea-how-australian-scientists-australia-are-training-foxes-to-avoid-turtle-nests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2026 13:50:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Norman Bermúdez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16174914/Turtles-Wodonga-26-of-28-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321316</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Canids, Conservation, Environment, Herps, Predators, Reptiles, Research, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researcher Ligia Pizzatto dug a small hole in the ground on the sloping banks of Ryan’s Lagoon in southeast Australia. She carefully placed an egg inside the hollow before covering it with soil, then reached for a large spray bottle and doused the area with a fine mist. The scent of vanilla filled the air, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researcher Ligia Pizzatto dug a small hole in the ground on the sloping banks of Ryan’s Lagoon in southeast Australia. She carefully placed an egg inside the hollow before covering it with soil, then reached for a large spray bottle and doused the area with a fine mist. The scent of vanilla filled the air, oddly sweet against the smell of damp earth and eucalyptus trees. While looking for another spot to repeat the process, Pizzatto came across a scattering of small bones, flat and almost geometrical in shape. “Turtle bones,” Pizzatto said. “Probably eaten by a fox.” These bones are a small sign of a much larger crisis. Freshwater turtle species that are native to Australia’s Murray-Darling River Basin are increasingly under threat, their populations collapsing under pressure from introduced predators. Not only do foxes kill turtles that venture onto land — typically nesting females — but they also dig up their nests to eat their eggs. Pizzatto, a biologist at La Trobe University in Victoria, is testing an innovative approach to intervene — one that doesn&#8217;t require killing a single fox. Young broad-shelled turtle found by Ligia Pizzatto during fieldwork. Broad-shelled turtles are classified as endangered in Victoria. Image by Ligia Pizzatto. Freshwater turtles under threat The Murray River is the longest in Australia; its course marks the boundary between the states of Victoria and New South Wales in the country’s southeast. This river and its basin are a major biodiversity hotspot and home to three native turtle&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/vanilla-fake-eggs-and-nausea-how-australian-scientists-australia-are-training-foxes-to-avoid-turtle-nests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/vanilla-fake-eggs-and-nausea-how-australian-scientists-australia-are-training-foxes-to-avoid-turtle-nests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australian authorities seize 100,000 live cockroaches in crackdown on exotic insect trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 19:11:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15145844/4282167421_06254f145e_3k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321200</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Australia, East Africa, Madagascar, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Insects, Invertebrates, Law, Law Enforcement, Pet Trade, Pets, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On June 5, Australian authorities announced that they confiscated more than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches from an unnamed commercial breeder in Bathurst, a town in New South Wales (NSW), about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Sydney. It was the largest bust of illegal invertebrates ever made in the country. The insects were estimated to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On June 5, Australian authorities announced that they confiscated more than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches from an unnamed commercial breeder in Bathurst, a town in New South Wales (NSW), about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Sydney. It was the largest bust of illegal invertebrates ever made in the country. The insects were estimated to be worth about AU$200,000 (about $140,000 at current exchange rates). They included dubia cockroaches (Blaptica dubia), endemic to South America, and Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) found only in the island nation of Madagascar. They were bred to be sold as food for pet reptiles, authorities said. Hissing cockroaches are also sought after as pets since they don’t have wings and can’t fly away. No one has been charged with a crime, according to a statement by an environment agency spokesperson. Australia has strict biosecurity laws, permitting live import of only certain animal species; controls are needed to effectively protect crops, plants and native wildlife. The legally-imported list excludes exotic insects like cockroaches that can become invasive or spread diseases “We’re seeing illegal breeding and trading of exotic cockroaches, and we’re putting pet businesses and pet owners on notice,” a spokesperson from the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, the agency responsible for environmental protection, said in a press release. “If you are found to possess, breed or trade exotic cockroaches such as dubia cockroaches and Madagascar hissing cockroaches, they will be seized and you could face penalties under federal law.” Officials&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321200</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tony Parkes, the banker who replanted a rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/tony-parkes-the-banker-who-replanted-a-rainforest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/tony-parkes-the-banker-who-replanted-a-rainforest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jun 2026 15:30:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/14144153/tony-parkes-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321143</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forest Recovery, Forest Regeneration, Landscape Restoration, Obituary, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the far north coast of New South Wales, the old rainforest had mostly disappeared. The Big Scrub once covered about 75,000 hectares of rich basalt country, a lowland subtropical forest of figs, vines, palms and fruit doves. By the time modern conservationists took stock of it, little more than one percent remained, divided among [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the far north coast of New South Wales, the old rainforest had mostly disappeared. The Big Scrub once covered about 75,000 hectares of rich basalt country, a lowland subtropical forest of figs, vines, palms and fruit doves. By the time modern conservationists took stock of it, little more than one percent remained, divided among small patches on farms, roadsides and reserves. Weeds pressed in from the edges. Cattle and clearing had done the rest. What remained needed legal protection, science, money, landholders, seedlings and years of follow-through. It also needed someone who could make committees matter. Rainforest restoration can sound gentle, a matter of saplings and goodwill. In the Big Scrub it required persistence of a less decorative kind. Private landholders had to be brought in. Government agencies had to be pressed. Botanists, bush regenerators, nursery owners, donors and volunteers had to keep working together after the first enthusiasm had passed. The work was local, technical and repetitive. It suited Tony Parkes. Tony Parkes. Photo by Kim Honan / ABC North Coast He came to it late. Born in Hobart, he grew up close to bush and estuary. Later came science, business management and investment banking. He retired at 56 after a successful career in Sydney, and might have chosen a comfortable retirement. Instead he and his wife, Rowena, bought land in the Northern Rivers, learned the history of the Big Scrub and began planting rainforest on their own property. A private restoration project became a second public life.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/tony-parkes-the-banker-who-replanted-a-rainforest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/tony-parkes-the-banker-who-replanted-a-rainforest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321143</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A year on, Australia’s biggest harmful algal bloom continues to wreak havoc</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 18:42:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nick Rodway]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08044105/1-d.-Algae-Bloom-Marine-Life-Washups-Stefan-Andrews_-12-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320708</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[algae, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Citizen Science, Climate, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Dolphins, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Governance, Habitat, Health, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Monitoring, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Penguins, Rays, Research, Sharks, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PORT HUGHES, Australia — Situated midway along the Great Southern Reef that spans Australia’s southern coastline, the waters off Port Hughes typically teem with life. The coastal hamlet northwest of Adelaide plays host to a multitude of coral, bivalve and fish species. But in late March, the largest and longest harmful algal bloom (HAB) in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PORT HUGHES, Australia — Situated midway along the Great Southern Reef that spans Australia’s southern coastline, the waters off Port Hughes typically teem with life. The coastal hamlet northwest of Adelaide plays host to a multitude of coral, bivalve and fish species. But in late March, the largest and longest harmful algal bloom (HAB) in Australian history arrived to Port Hughes, depleting its waters’ rich biodiversity. The bloom had first appeared elsewhere off the state of South Australia’s coast a year earlier, causing eye and skin irritation and respiratory symptoms among beachgoers. Then, along with waves of acrid-smelling sea foam, scores of dead marine animals began washing ashore. In Port Hughes, the HAB’s impacts were most visible below the surface. The town’s wooden jetty had previously been one of the most consistent locations in South Australia to observe temperate species, said Stefan Andrews, co-founder of the Great Southern Reef Foundation, a conservation advocacy group. But by mid-April, when Mongabay joined Andrews on a dive, the site was drab compared with vibrant photographs taken in February and March. Under the jetty, sponges and corals that had previously adorned its pylons in a brilliantly hued mosaic appeared colorless. Apart from a short-headed seahorse (Hippocampus breviceps) — a “sign of hope,” Andrews called it — little life was visible in the murky waters. The reef, he said, had become quieter, lacking the sounds of snapping shrimp and other creatures that once played in the underwater soundtrack. “There’s a sense of loss when you&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320708</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From the wreckage of Super Typhoon Sinlaku, Pacific Islanders slowly recover</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/from-the-wreckage-of-super-typhoon-sinlaku-pacific-islanders-slowly-recover/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/from-the-wreckage-of-super-typhoon-sinlaku-pacific-islanders-slowly-recover/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2026 17:02:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anita Hofschneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/55238351703_d74c4a52fe_o-e1780506566735-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320547</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Disasters, Extreme Weather, Indigenous Peoples, Storms, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Katelynn Delos Reyes thought she knew what to expect when Typhoon Sinlaku slammed into Saipan in April. As a lifelong resident of the island, Delos Reyes had survived frequent storms, including Super Typhoon Yutu, the second-strongest in U.S. history. Eight years ago, Yutu’s 274-kmph (about 170-mph) winds devastated her village in the southern end of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Katelynn Delos Reyes thought she knew what to expect when Typhoon Sinlaku slammed into Saipan in April. As a lifelong resident of the island, Delos Reyes had survived frequent storms, including Super Typhoon Yutu, the second-strongest in U.S. history. Eight years ago, Yutu’s 274-kmph (about 170-mph) winds devastated her village in the southern end of Saipan. Just three years before that, she survived Typhoon Soudelor. But Sinlaku was different. “At the beginning, it was OK. But later on it wasn’t,” said Delos Reyes, who is Chamorro, Indigenous to the Mariana Islands. A few days before it hit the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or CNMI, on April 14, Sinlaku had tropical-storm winds. That made it what is known in the Marianas as a “banana typhoon” because such storms level banana trees but leave others standing. Then over the weekend, the typhoon rapidly intensified by 120 kmph (75 mph) in just 24 hours before becoming a 298-kmph (about 185-mph) monstrosity and the strongest storm on Earth so far this year. Delos Reyes and her family had done what they could to prepare. They boarded up the windows. They bought gallons of drinking water and filled plastic drums to use in the shower and toilet. Then the storm hit, and Delos Reyes grew scared. The winds, which had weakened to 240 kmph (about 150 mph), ripped the wood from a window. Rainwater gushed through the ceiling and soaked their belongings, including Delos Reyes’ mattress. She and her partner, her mother, her&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/from-the-wreckage-of-super-typhoon-sinlaku-pacific-islanders-slowly-recover/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320547</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How we tracked China’s deep-sea mining fleet</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-we-tracked-chinas-deep-sea-mining-fleet/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-we-tracked-chinas-deep-sea-mining-fleet/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jun 2026 20:33:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire AlbertsKara Fox]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/01160549/Model_of_Jiaolong_submersible_at_the_Five-Year_Achievements_Exhibition_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320430</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Cook Islands, Pacific Ocean, Polynesia, Taiwan, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Critical Minerals, Deep Sea Mining, Energy, Environment, Marine, Marine Conservation, Military, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A version of this story was originally published by the Pulitzer Center, which supported Elizabeth Claire Alberts as an Ocean Reporting Network fellow. We didn’t set out to investigate China’s deep-sea mining fleet, but as our research into the burgeoning industry developed over our yearlong partnership, it became clear that an investigation into the fleet’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A version of this story was originally published by the Pulitzer Center, which supported Elizabeth Claire Alberts as an Ocean Reporting Network fellow. We didn’t set out to investigate China’s deep-sea mining fleet, but as our research into the burgeoning industry developed over our yearlong partnership, it became clear that an investigation into the fleet’s alleged military dual use was emerging as an important, untold story. Shortly after we embarked on our joint project, geopolitics around the deep-sea mining landscape began to shift dramatically. In February 2025, China signed an agreement with the Cook Islands government to collaborate on deep-sea mining research and exploration. At the same time, it was pursuing a similar deal with the archipelago nation of Kiribati, marking a notable expansion of Chinese influence in the Pacific. China holds the largest number of exploration contracts issued by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-affiliated deep-sea mining regulator, and is also its biggest financial contributor. It also operates the world’s largest oceanographic research fleet. Against this backdrop, we kept returning to a central question: was China’s pursuit of deep-sea mining driven solely for accessing mineral resources, or was it also shaped by broader geopolitical strategy? Through extensive reporting, we learned that China’s interest in seabed mining was motivated by both of these things, and that some of its vessels were engaged in both deep-sea mining work and militarily strategic surveillance. Meanwhile, deep-sea mining efforts have been gathering pace in the United States. In March 2025, The Metals Company,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-we-tracked-chinas-deep-sea-mining-fleet/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-we-tracked-chinas-deep-sea-mining-fleet/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320430</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US prepares to auction leases for seabed mining blocks in federal waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/us-prepares-to-auction-leases-for-seabed-mining-blocks-in-federal-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/us-prepares-to-auction-leases-for-seabed-mining-blocks-in-federal-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2026 20:29:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/27100412/sea-star-coral-ex1702-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320180</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Alaska, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, extractives, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Industry, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Mining, Oceans, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is part 1 of a two-part series examining the U.S.’s efforts to begin deep-sea mining in federal waters. Part 1 explores the process behind proposed lease sales in U.S. federal waters and reactions to those plans. Part 2 examines the regulations that would govern the industry. The U.S. agency responsible for overseeing deep-sea mining [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is part 1 of a two-part series examining the U.S.’s efforts to begin deep-sea mining in federal waters. Part 1 explores the process behind proposed lease sales in U.S. federal waters and reactions to those plans. Part 2 examines the regulations that would govern the industry. The U.S. agency responsible for overseeing deep-sea mining in federal waters is preparing to auction off seabed blocks within months — a step that could kick-start commercial-scale deep-sea mining and make the U.S. one of the first countries to allow it. Deep-sea mining has not yet begun anywhere in the world. Opponents say it could cause widespread and irreversible damage to the marine environment if it begins, while supporters say it could provide an important source of critical minerals. In a budgetary document released in April 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) indicated it intends to hold at least three offshore lease sales during the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. The lease sales will take place through competitive auctions, providing a pathway for winning companies to gain exclusive rights to explore and exploit minerals in designated tracts of seabed. The first sale is slated for the federal waters of American Samoa in August 2026; a second in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in November 2026; and a third in Alaska in 2027. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the U.S. agency currently responsible for the development of offshore energy and mineral resources on the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/us-prepares-to-auction-leases-for-seabed-mining-blocks-in-federal-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320180</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amid efforts to save Australia’s southern cassowaries, their numbers remain unknown</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amid-efforts-to-save-australias-southern-cassowaries-their-numbers-remain-unknown/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amid-efforts-to-save-australias-southern-cassowaries-their-numbers-remain-unknown/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2026 12:46:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Cooper Williams]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/20180858/5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319831</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Ecosystem Engineers, Endangered Species, Environment, Rainforests, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With a striking blue neck, jet black plumage and bright red drooping wattles, the southern cassowary cuts an imposing figure in the dense tropical rainforests of Far North Queensland, Australia. Standing up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall and armed with razor-sharp claws, it is often labeled as the world’s most dangerous bird. In reality, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With a striking blue neck, jet black plumage and bright red drooping wattles, the southern cassowary cuts an imposing figure in the dense tropical rainforests of Far North Queensland, Australia. Standing up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall and armed with razor-sharp claws, it is often labeled as the world’s most dangerous bird. In reality, it’s a shy, gentle and solitary animal rarely seen by people. While it’s listed as endangered under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) populations have always been difficult to track. “They occupy very rugged and remote terrain. So, to be able to find scats, get sightings through camera traps or collect DNA is very challenging,” said Wren McLean, a cassowary researcher and member of the Cassowary Recovery Team. Estimates have changed dramatically since the turn of the 21st century, growing from fewer than 1,500 birds in the early 2000s to around 4,400 in the most recent national survey, which was conducted between 2012 and 2014. Led by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, that survey recommended that population monitoring become a “central component” of the species’ management and should be carried out more frequently. More than a decade later, that hasn’t happened. A camera trap image of an adult female cassowary roaming the Apudthama National Park in the Cape York Peninsula. Image courtesy of Wren McLean, Ipima Ikaya Aboriginal Corporation and Cape York NRM. The Cassowary Recovery Team has produced a new conservation plan for the species, set to be&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amid-efforts-to-save-australias-southern-cassowaries-their-numbers-remain-unknown/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319831</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Above an Australian highway, a bridge reconnects wilderness for quolls, koalas and other animals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/above-an-australian-highway-a-bridge-reconnects-wilderness-for-quolls-koalas-and-other-animals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/above-an-australian-highway-a-bridge-reconnects-wilderness-for-quolls-koalas-and-other-animals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2026 12:08:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Starre Vartan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/21121415/8.-Common-wombat-Vombatus-ursinus-credit-Simone-Cottrell-DCCEEW-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319915</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Marsupials, Roadkill, Roads, Solutions, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SYDNEY, Australia. At dusk on the edge of the bush in Australia’s Heathcote National Park, a spotted-tailed quoll lowers its tawny head to the ground, pink nose twitching. The dense forest, the scent of damp earth and eucalyptus leaf litter gives way, abruptly, to heat and a chemical tang. Ahead: open space. Noise. Light. A [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SYDNEY, Australia. At dusk on the edge of the bush in Australia’s Heathcote National Park, a spotted-tailed quoll lowers its tawny head to the ground, pink nose twitching. The dense forest, the scent of damp earth and eucalyptus leaf litter gives way, abruptly, to heat and a chemical tang. Ahead: open space. Noise. Light. A car zooms past, loud and fast. It doesn’t slow down. None of the vehicles do. It’s unlikely any driver going 110 kilometers per hour (68 miles per hour) would notice the brown, cat-sized quoll, camouflaged with white spots that beautifully blend into its native bush home. Forty thousand vehicles a day move along this stretch of the M1 Princes Motorway — four lanes of fast-moving traffic that slice between Heathcote National Park on one side and Royal National Park on the other. This is the primary route from Sydney to industrial centers in the southern part of the state of New South Wales, and there’s heavy truck traffic. The quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) waits at the highway’s edge for a break that doesn’t come. Headlights streak. Engines roar. The air pulses with pressure and speed. Crossing here isn’t just dangerous — it’s nearly impossible. The highway might as well be a canyon. And yet, on the other side of the road lies something essential: new territory that includes more of the bird eggs and the rabbits that quolls eat, and mates with more varied DNA, both essential for long-term survival. For decades, quolls, wallabies, deer, koalas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/above-an-australian-highway-a-bridge-reconnects-wilderness-for-quolls-koalas-and-other-animals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/above-an-australian-highway-a-bridge-reconnects-wilderness-for-quolls-koalas-and-other-animals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319915</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An Australian icon, the platypus is struggling — and scientists still lack answers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/an-australian-icon-the-platypus-is-struggling-and-scientists-still-lack-answers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/an-australian-icon-the-platypus-is-struggling-and-scientists-still-lack-answers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 May 2026 02:16:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Paul Harvey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/17224328/Image-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319612</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Citizen Science, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Drought, Environment, Fires, Habitat, Mammals, Research, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The platypus is an evolutionary anomaly. This duck-billed, semiaquatic mammal is both unique and rare. It’s just one of five egg-laying mammals on the planet. It nurses its young. And it also has reptilian traits: It has a cloaca, maintains a low body temperature (32° Celsius, or 90° Fahrenheit) and males have venomous spurs. It [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The platypus is an evolutionary anomaly. This duck-billed, semiaquatic mammal is both unique and rare. It’s just one of five egg-laying mammals on the planet. It nurses its young. And it also has reptilian traits: It has a cloaca, maintains a low body temperature (32° Celsius, or 90° Fahrenheit) and males have venomous spurs. It prefers the lush rivers along Australia’s east coast, using electroreception, sensing electrical stimuli to detect favored food, which includes larvae, shrimp and small crayfish on the riverbed. The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) usually feeds during twilight at dusk and dawn, and is elusive,  spending much of its life submerged. Its true population remains unknown. The IUCN Red List estimates 50,000 and classifies the species as near threatened. But that listing was based on an assessment done in 2014, which even then noted it was a “best estimate” and the population was decreasing. Gilad Bino, who leads the University of New South Wales Platypus Conservation Initiative, said he doubts those numbers. Platypuses are hard to find and count. They face a host of challenges, including destruction of their riparian habitat and encroaching human development. New research shows that environmental “threat scenarios” are raising the platypus’s risk of extinction. More frequent and extreme weather events endanger platypuses when drought dries the waters they inhabit, wildfires blaze through or floods inundate burrows before the animals can escape. The research, published in the journal Australian Mammalogy, calls for a proactive response, based on habitat and risk. But effective conservation, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/an-australian-icon-the-platypus-is-struggling-and-scientists-still-lack-answers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/an-australian-icon-the-platypus-is-struggling-and-scientists-still-lack-answers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319612</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘We’ve got bats’: The community bringing New Zealand’s pekapeka into the spotlight</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/weve-got-bats-the-community-bringing-new-zealands-pekapeka-into-the-spotlight/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/weve-got-bats-the-community-bringing-new-zealands-pekapeka-into-the-spotlight/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2026 18:50:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isabel Gil]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/19162609/new-zealand-bat-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319727</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Zealand and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Research, Surveying, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Billy Mclean knew nothing about bats. As a lifelong Kiwi, there was no reason for him to. Unlike in neighboring Australia and other parts of Oceania whose renowned flying foxes grow meter-long wingspans, Aotearoa New Zealand is famous for its birds, not bats. Mclean worked as an arborist in the Franklin area, an agricultural county [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Billy Mclean knew nothing about bats. As a lifelong Kiwi, there was no reason for him to. Unlike in neighboring Australia and other parts of Oceania whose renowned flying foxes grow meter-long wingspans, Aotearoa New Zealand is famous for its birds, not bats. Mclean worked as an arborist in the Franklin area, an agricultural county south of Auckland on the North Island. He said he felt he knew everything about the local forest, until one night 23 years ago. As he headed home from a nighttime walk on his property, a shadow swooped from the arched tree canopy. He ducked — all his years spent in the trees, and he had never seen anything move like it. Mclean said it took a minute to register what he had seen. “As the picture develops, you get that classic crescent-shaped wing,” he told Mongabay by phone. “That’s when I knew. We’ve got bats.” That night sparked a passion for bats that Mclean has been pursuing ever since. After years of being “straight-up ridiculed” for trying to convince his community that these creatures lived in their backyards, many are starting to believe him. Today, he’s an active member with Finding Franklin Bats (FFB), a locally run research project teaching community members how to find, monitor and protect the overlooked bats that live in their backyards. (Left) Billy Mclean assists in weighing a long-tailed bat. (Right) Billy Mclean&#8217;s daughter practices using a radio telemetry set to detect bat calls. Image courtesy of Finding Franklin&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/weve-got-bats-the-community-bringing-new-zealands-pekapeka-into-the-spotlight/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/weve-got-bats-the-community-bringing-new-zealands-pekapeka-into-the-spotlight/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319727</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Karajarri celebrate Australia’s first ‘Sea Country’ Indigenous Protected Area</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/karajarri-celebrate-australias-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/karajarri-celebrate-australias-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 16:46:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14114351/turtle-by-Dylan-Goldspink-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319450</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity Hotspots, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Protected Areas, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In northwestern Australia lies a remote and wildly diverse region called the Kimberley. There, the iron-red soils of the Pindan Country connect forests and the Great Sandy Desert, all bracketed by a vast stretch of Indian Ocean coastline. Its springs and wetlands host migratory birds. Offshore, sawfish, as visually striking as they are rare, ply [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In northwestern Australia lies a remote and wildly diverse region called the Kimberley. There, the iron-red soils of the Pindan Country connect forests and the Great Sandy Desert, all bracketed by a vast stretch of Indian Ocean coastline. Its springs and wetlands host migratory birds. Offshore, sawfish, as visually striking as they are rare, ply the waters just beyond the unbroken Eighty Mile Beach, itself a nesting site for the little-known flatback turtle (Natator depressus). The Kimberley has also long been a home to humans, as rock art more than 17,000 years old attests, and among the heirs of that legacy are the Karajarri people. Over the past 30 years, the Karajarri secured legal recognition of their claims to the land, later establishing an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), Karajarri Pirra Ngurra, that now covers an area of land nearly the size of Rwanda in the state of Western Australia. They also developed a ranger program that draws on long-held cultural knowledge of the landscape. In March 2026, the Karajarri people dedicated Karajarri Jurarr Ngurra, Australia’s first “Sea Country” IPA, comprising 237,489 hectares (nearly 587,000 acres) of marine and coastal ecosystems. It includes part of Malumpurr, the Karajarri word for Eighty Mile Beach. The IPA “strengthens long‑standing efforts by Karajarri Traditional Owners and Karajarri Rangers to protect the region’s biodiversity and keep Country healthy,” Malarndirri McCarthy, Australia’s minister for Indigenous Australians, said in a March 20 government statement about the Karajarri Sea Country IPA dedication. The aim of the Karajarri IPAs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/karajarri-celebrate-australias-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/karajarri-celebrate-australias-first-sea-country-indigenous-protected-area/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319450</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Long dubbed a ‘climate refuge,’ warming Tasmanian forests need our help</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/long-dubbed-a-climate-refuge-warming-tasmanian-forests-need-our-help/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/long-dubbed-a-climate-refuge-warming-tasmanian-forests-need-our-help/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2026 21:31:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stefan Lovgren]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/12184852/2.-Dove-Lake-Cradle-Mountain-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319252</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Oceania, and Tasmania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Islands, Rainforests, Research, Temperate Forests, Temperatures, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TASMANIA, Australia — A shaded creek winds through fern forest along the Lilydale Falls Trail in northern Tasmania. As hikers pass by, researcher Todd Walsh reaches into the slow-moving water and beneath a rock to pull out a juvenile giant freshwater crayfish caught in one of his live traps. In streams like this one, he [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TASMANIA, Australia — A shaded creek winds through fern forest along the Lilydale Falls Trail in northern Tasmania. As hikers pass by, researcher Todd Walsh reaches into the slow-moving water and beneath a rock to pull out a juvenile giant freshwater crayfish caught in one of his live traps. In streams like this one, he says, present day temperatures rarely climb above about 21° Celsius (69.8° Fahrenheit). “The lethal temperature seems to be about 23°[C, or 73.4°F] for these guys,” says Walsh, an independent crayfish expert who has studied the animals for decades and is known locally as the “Lobster Man.” Walsh says he has encountered a few other Tasmanian creeks reaching 25-26°C (77-78.8°F), which would exceed the species’ apparent thermal limits, and he hasn’t found any crayfish in those streams. Crayfish expert Todd Walsh checks a live trap in a shaded stream in northern Tasmania, where cold, forested waterways provide critical habitat for the giant freshwater crayfish. Image by Stefan Lovgren. A juvenile Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish. Few survive to adulthood, making the loss of habitat for young individuals a major threat to the species. Image by Stefan Lovgren. The Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish (Astacopsis gouldi), also dubbed the giant freshwater lobster (even though it’s not a lobster), is the largest freshwater invertebrate on Earth, capable of growing up to a meter long (more than 3 feet) and living for decades. It occurs only in northern Tasmania’s cool, forested river watersheds — habitat that has remained colder and wetter&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/long-dubbed-a-climate-refuge-warming-tasmanian-forests-need-our-help/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319252</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Using songlines, elders codify traditional knowledge to care for Country</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/using-songlines-elders-codify-traditional-knowledge-to-care-for-country/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/using-songlines-elders-codify-traditional-knowledge-to-care-for-country/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2026 16:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anthony Ham]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07001403/DSC_8090-scaled-e1778171080149-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318952</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Deserts, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Religions, Solutions, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LAJAMANU, Australia — A group of Warlpiri men and women gathered along one of the most remote tracks in Australia and stared intently at the ground. Here in the Tanami Desert, along the dirt back road between Lajamanu and Tennant Creek, they all agreed that the tracks they could see told a story: A dingo, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LAJAMANU, Australia — A group of Warlpiri men and women gathered along one of the most remote tracks in Australia and stared intently at the ground. Here in the Tanami Desert, along the dirt back road between Lajamanu and Tennant Creek, they all agreed that the tracks they could see told a story: A dingo, a black-headed python and a hopping mouse had all passed this way. They argued over the finer points — when exactly the animals had left these signs, whether the python was pursuing the mouse or whether it was an adult or juvenile dingo. But from these seemingly random marks in the sand, they were able to piece together a picture of what had occurred, in what order or when. These were the Warlpiri’s kuyu pungu (expert trackers), capable of reading the deserts of Australia in precise detail. Everyone here was born, and has lived, in the desert for most of their lives. They learned the essential skills of a self-sufficient desert life as their ancestors had, by observing their elders out in the desert. They have a profound connection with the land, and from that flows an intimate understanding of their world, one that encompasses everything from ecology to spirituality. Footprints in the sand along a sandy track outside Lajamanu. Image by Anthony Ham. And yet, often for a younger generation of Warlpiri, many of whom lived in towns with only irregular excursions into the countryside, such opportunities are rare. Which is why the Warlpiri&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/using-songlines-elders-codify-traditional-knowledge-to-care-for-country/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia&#8217;s new national park links habitat to protect koalas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/australias-new-national-park-links-habitat-to-protect-koalas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/australias-new-national-park-links-habitat-to-protect-koalas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2026 13:46:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Johan Augustin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/05151344/tarryn-grignet-VPLkgFAPpDI-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318756</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Marsupials, National Parks, Protected Areas, Reforestation, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“When I was a kid, forestry was more sustainable,” Mark Graham said, leaning against a massive tree trunk. “Now 30-tonne industrial machines bulldoze everything in their path.” He’s an ecologist who’s worked for state and federal governments — and has often been at odds with the forest industry. We were walking through the Coffs Harbour [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“When I was a kid, forestry was more sustainable,” Mark Graham said, leaning against a massive tree trunk. “Now 30-tonne industrial machines bulldoze everything in their path.” He’s an ecologist who’s worked for state and federal governments — and has often been at odds with the forest industry. We were walking through the Coffs Harbour Botanic Garden in New South Wales (NSW), southeastern Australia, through a remnant of subtropical coastal rainforest. Graham pointed out flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis) trees — a fast-growing eucalyptus — as well as Bangalow palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) and other trees, some hundreds of years old. Wild koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), one of the world’s most beloved animals, also live here. This garden will be linked to the new Great Koala National Park (GKNP) by forest corridors that allow koalas to disperse into new areas. The NSW government says it will finalize designation of the new park in 2026, which it calls “a centerpiece of koala conservation [in the state of NSW],” but no one seems to know when that will be. Its creation was the culmination of a 13-year campaign led by environmental groups and grassroots organizations. One of the most outspoken figures in that struggle was Mark Graham, a veteran environmental activist who’s often been at odds with the NSW forestry industry. In 2023, the state government committed to establishing the GKNP on the mid-north coast. It announced creation of this vast new conservation area in September 2025  — and instituted a temporary moratorium on timber&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/australias-new-national-park-links-habitat-to-protect-koalas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318756</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s declining tree health is a slow-burning crisis (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/declining-australian-tree-health-is-as-big-a-problem-as-bushfires-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/declining-australian-tree-health-is-as-big-a-problem-as-bushfires-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2026 00:31:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael ReidTed Alter]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/04193052/Image-1_fire-e1777923225283-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318695</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Diseases, Fires, Forests, Health, Invasive Species, Plants, Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some of the most serious threats to our forests do not arrive with smoke or headlines. They move quietly, through bark and new growth, weakening ecosystems long before we notice. Without sustained attention, our unique flora and fauna remain vulnerable. Tree health is often treated as a niche technical issue, but it is also a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some of the most serious threats to our forests do not arrive with smoke or headlines. They move quietly, through bark and new growth, weakening ecosystems long before we notice. Without sustained attention, our unique flora and fauna remain vulnerable. Tree health is often treated as a niche technical issue, but it is also a question of ecological resilience, public health, and how well communities adapt to a hotter, more disturbed world. Devastating bushfires are reshaping Australia’s landscapes and ecosystems, and climate change is accelerating species loss. But there is a quieter threat with ecological, economic and human consequences. Alongside fire and drought, microscopic pests and pathogens are spreading through forests and urban canopies, thinning tree cover, weakening ecosystems, and leaving them more vulnerable to the next shock. Most of us appreciate the comfort of a shady tree on a hot day, and we’ve heard that the Amazon rainforests are the lungs of the planet. Yet many people underestimate the importance of healthy tree populations and how closely they are tied to our physical and mental health. The road to forest health, like this track through K’Gari rainforest, begins with vigilance, early detection, raising awareness, and working with those closest to the landscape to identify outbreak risks and track impacts over time. Image courtesy of Michael Reid. In his new book Nature and the Mind, Marc Berman, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and director of the Environmental Neuroscience Lab, draws together evidence on how nature supports cognitive,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/declining-australian-tree-health-is-as-big-a-problem-as-bushfires-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/declining-australian-tree-health-is-as-big-a-problem-as-bushfires-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318695</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Black cockatoo species caught in the crosshairs of global race for minerals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/black-cockatoo-species-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-global-race-for-minerals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/black-cockatoo-species-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-global-race-for-minerals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 14:06:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/29073054/Cockatoo-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318368</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Mining, Parrots, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Environmental organizations in southwest Australia have criticized the Australian government’s decision to grant the U.S. bauxite mining company Alcoa a national interest exemption, usually provided in cases of emergency, defense or national security, thereby authorizing the company to continue its operations despite years of unauthorized clearing in the country’s Northern Jarrah Forest. The Northern Jarrah [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Environmental organizations in southwest Australia have criticized the Australian government’s decision to grant the U.S. bauxite mining company Alcoa a national interest exemption, usually provided in cases of emergency, defense or national security, thereby authorizing the company to continue its operations despite years of unauthorized clearing in the country’s Northern Jarrah Forest. The Northern Jarrah Forest, one of the world’s most biodiverse temperate forests, has faced threats since European settlers first occupied it in 1836. Between 1960 and 2020, 32,130 hectares (79,394 acres) were cleared for bauxite mining alone. As remediation for the illegal clearings, the government reached an agreement with Alcoa on Feb. 18, which involves the company paying A$55 million (about $39.5 million) through enforceable undertakings, including a range of environmental rectification works, such as ecological offsets to preserve habitats and conservation programs for black cockatoo species. Environmental organizations, such as BirdLife Western Australia and the Biodiversity Council, say these measures are insufficient to prevent the extinction of the Baudin’s black cockatoo (Zanda baudinii). The bird is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and it depends on the Northern Jarrah Forest for feeding during the nonbreeding season. “The reason the birds are in trouble is because of habitat loss and habitat degradation,” Mark Henryon, the chair of the BirdLife Western Australia Advocacy Committee, told Mongabay over a video call. “If you take the habitat out, we’re going to lose the birds.” The government also agreed to progress a strategic assessment agreement with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/black-cockatoo-species-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-global-race-for-minerals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/black-cockatoo-species-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-global-race-for-minerals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318368</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What the grim outlook for Alpine Ash forests tells us about forestry dogma (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/what-the-grim-outlook-for-alpine-ash-forests-tell-us-about-forestry-dogma-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/what-the-grim-outlook-for-alpine-ash-forests-tell-us-about-forestry-dogma-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Apr 2026 02:23:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Chris TaylorDavid Lindenmayer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/16183627/1-header-Alpine-Ash-forest-Chris-Taylor-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317672</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Green, and Logging]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In March, the Australian Government announced that the Alpine Ash forests of mainland Australia have been listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under national environmental law. The Australian Government made the decision based on the recommendations of the independent Threatened Species Scientific Committee, although it has been opposed by logging lobby interests such as the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In March, the Australian Government announced that the Alpine Ash forests of mainland Australia have been listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under national environmental law. The Australian Government made the decision based on the recommendations of the independent Threatened Species Scientific Committee, although it has been opposed by logging lobby interests such as the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA). Australian Alpine Ash forests are extraordinary places; they support trees up to 60 meters tall and provide habitat for a range of threatened species such as the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum. Alpine Ash forests have been listed as an Endangered Ecological Community for several key reasons, the primary ones being widespread logging, recurrent high-severity wildfire, and the fact that logged and regenerated forests are more flammable than intact forests. Importantly, young Alpine Ash trees have a prolonged juvenile period during which they do not produce viable seeds. As a result, repeated fires at short intervals have the potential to eliminate stands of Alpine Ash altogether. Clearfell logging in Alpine Ash forest March 2018, Royston Range, Victoria. Photo by Chris Taylor There is great urgency to protect Alpine Ash forests as an iconic and important ecosystem. Robust ecological science is needed to do this. An example that underscores this urgency is the Alpine Ash forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria, where only 0.47% of their extent remains as old-growth forest. Extensive logging practices have also resulted in the death of many Alpine Ash trees, which are becoming increasingly rare However,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/what-the-grim-outlook-for-alpine-ash-forests-tell-us-about-forestry-dogma-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317672</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Tasmania, the mines have closed but the rivers remember</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-tasmania-the-mines-have-closed-but-the-rivers-remember/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-tasmania-the-mines-have-closed-but-the-rivers-remember/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2026 21:17:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stefan Lovgren]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/16164414/4-King-River-drone-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317656</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Oceania, and Tasmania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, extractives, Fish, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Mining, Planetary Boundaries, Planetary Health, Poisoning, Pollution, Rivers, Toxicology, Waste, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The King River snakes through some of Tasmania’s most dramatic and diverse landscape, flowing past rainforest, button grass plains and the rugged peaks of the West Coast Range before emptying into a large bay near Strahan, a quiet fishing town. To the casual visitor, the winding stream looks as wild as the lightly settled country [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The King River snakes through some of Tasmania’s most dramatic and diverse landscape, flowing past rainforest, button grass plains and the rugged peaks of the West Coast Range before emptying into a large bay near Strahan, a quiet fishing town. To the casual visitor, the winding stream looks as wild as the lightly settled country around it. But on a February morning, the King’s tea-brown waters flowing past forested banks near the sea were disturbingly silent. The air hummed with large, persistent horseflies and little else. Healthy Tasmanian streams typically teem with aquatic insects, including mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies, which form the foundation of freshwater food webs. Not here. Along the lower King River, many aquatic species are gone; an enduring effect of copper mining above Queenstown, which sent uncounted tons of mine waste downstream. That pollution originated at Mount Lyell, one of Australia’s largest historic copper mines. Established in the early 1890s, its tailing piles discharged toxic contaminants into the nearby Queen River, a tributary that flows directly into the King. Historic mine workings at Mount Lyell near Queenstown, Tasmania state, Australia, where more than a century of copper mining has left a lasting environmental legacy that continues impacting biodiversity and posing risks to public health. Image by Stefan Lovgren. Although large-scale dumping ended long before the mine was finally closed in 2014, that hidden legacy of pollution remains embedded in river waters, sediments and floodplains. Surveys of aquatic life have repeatedly found that the sensitive species expected in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-tasmania-the-mines-have-closed-but-the-rivers-remember/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317656</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Rediscovered’ species in Papua spotlight importance of Indigenous knowledge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 02:22:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14103750/20230611-BE4A9979-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317487</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Oceania, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Marsupials, Rediscovered Species, Research, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It started with a set of photographs, taken of an animal captured in 2015 on the Bird’s Head Peninsula in Indonesian Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea. The smallish animal with “large hands” looked a bit like a slow loris, a small primate that doesn’t live on the island, or perhaps [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317487</doi>				</item>
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