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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?post_type=post&#038;byline=bobby-bascomb" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/bobby-bascomb/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:29:28 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Bobby Bascomb Archives</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/by/bobby-bascomb/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>George Schaller: The field biologist who helped redefine conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 12:08:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13210433/Art31_52830005-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317452</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Brazil, China, Global, India, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Bears, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Book Reviews, Books, Cats, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Endangered Species, Environmental Heroes, Featured, Gorillas, Great Apes, Jaguars, Lions, Mammals, Pandas, Primates, Protected Areas, Research, Snow Leopards, Tigers, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some lives seem to belong less to a nation or a profession than to a disposition. George B. Schaller’s was one of them. He belonged, above all, to animals—gorillas, lions, tigers, snow leopards, pandas—and to the landscapes that still made room for them. In Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some lives seem to belong less to a nation or a profession than to a disposition. George B. Schaller’s was one of them. He belonged, above all, to animals—gorillas, lions, tigers, snow leopards, pandas—and to the landscapes that still made room for them. In Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller, Miriam Horn attempts something both straightforward and unusually difficult: to write a full biography of a man who spent most of his life turning his attention away from himself. Schaller is not obscure. He is widely regarded as the most important field biologist of the twentieth century, a figure whose work reshaped zoology, conservation biology, and the way humans think about animal lives. Yet he remains oddly resistant to biography. He disliked introspection, avoided publicity, and wrote sparingly about his own emotions even when describing moments of extreme danger or revelation. Horn’s achievement is to take this reticence seriously rather than try to overcome it. The result is a book that is expansive without being intrusive, admiring without being reverential, and alert to ambiguity even when recounting an extraordinary career. The arc of Schaller’s life has the shape of an adventure story, though Horn is careful not to write one. Born in Berlin in 1933 to an American mother and a German diplomat father, Schaller’s early years were marked by displacement, war, and a persistent sense of not quite belonging. His childhood moved across Nazi Germany, occupied Europe, and eventually the United States. These experiences&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>In northern Kenya, a shifting Lake Turkana reshapes traditional livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-northern-kenya-a-shifting-lake-turkana-reshapes-traditional-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-northern-kenya-a-shifting-lake-turkana-reshapes-traditional-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 11:18:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christopher Clark]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14102303/Kute-Hero-right-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317473</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Climate Change And Food, Conservation, Drought, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Flooding, Food, Food Crisis, food security, Freshwater Ecosystems, Freshwater Fish, Hunger, Lakes, Overfishing, Poverty, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KOMOTE, Kenya — At sunrise on Komote Island, 36-year-old James Lekubo walks his two children down a rocky hillside to the water’s edge, where they clamber into a small fishing boat with a couple of dozen others to journey across a stretch of lake that didn’t exist a few years ago. On the other side [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KOMOTE, Kenya — At sunrise on Komote Island, 36-year-old James Lekubo walks his two children down a rocky hillside to the water’s edge, where they clamber into a small fishing boat with a couple of dozen others to journey across a stretch of lake that didn’t exist a few years ago. On the other side lie their school and the nearest clinic — services that were previously within walking distance. Lekubo is a member of the El Molo, Kenya’s smallest and most marginalized ethnic group, who have lived here along the stark eastern shores of Lake Turkana for centuries. But in more recent years, the world’s largest desert lake has begun to turn against them, threatening not only their traditional livelihood but the very fabric of their cultural identity. According to a 2021 report by Kenya’s environment ministry, over the preceding decade, Turkana’s water levels rose by several meters, expanding the lake’s total surface area by around 10%, largely due to heavier rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands that feed it via the Omo River. Since then, the lake has continued to grow, submerging up to 1,000 square kilometers (about 390 square miles) of the surrounding landscape — an area half the size of London — including roads, grazing land, ancient burial sites, and even entire villages. Primary school children getting off the boat that now ferries them to school. Image by Christopher Clark for Mongabay. Lekubo watched helplessly as Komote was gradually cut off from the mainland. “Most people left&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-northern-kenya-a-shifting-lake-turkana-reshapes-traditional-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Landmark win for Thai villagers, but gold mine appeal delays justice</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/landmark-win-for-thai-villagers-but-gold-mine-appeal-delays-justice/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/landmark-win-for-thai-villagers-but-gold-mine-appeal-delays-justice/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 08:01:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14080057/Work-in-Chatree-gold-mineMarch-282026-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317461</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Gold Mining, Health, Indigenous Communities, Mining, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a landmark verdict, the Bangkok Civil Court last month held the operator of a gold mine liable for environmental and health damages, ordering it to compensate nearly 400 villagers. But the company is appealing against the ruling, which will likely delay payouts and prolong a decade-long legal fight, reports contributor Kannikar Petchkaew for Mongabay. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a landmark verdict, the Bangkok Civil Court last month held the operator of a gold mine liable for environmental and health damages, ordering it to compensate nearly 400 villagers. But the company is appealing against the ruling, which will likely delay payouts and prolong a decade-long legal fight, reports contributor Kannikar Petchkaew for Mongabay. The case against Akara Resources Plc, operator of the Chatree gold mine, is Thailand’s first environmental class action lawsuit, enabled by a 2015 legal amendment. It was filed in 2016 by affected residents in Phichit and Phetchabun provinces, in central Thailand, where the Chatree mine, the country’s largest gold mine, is located. The court recognized that for more than 10 years, residents suffered from elevated levels of heavy metals such as manganese and cyanide in their blood, alongside chronic health issues like skin disease, linked to mining operations. The court further said that Akara Resources had failed to prove the contamination was unrelated to its mining operations, and ruled the company was liable for the environmental damage and health impacts. The court mandated direct compensation of $2,300 to $7,200 per person, plus small medical expenses. It also ruled that Akara Resources must shut down a leaking facility holding mining sludge, and bear the full cost of environmental rehabilitation. Both Akara Resources and its Australian parent company, Kingsgate Consolidated, are appealing the ruling, citing “inconclusive evidence.” This move effectively freezes any compensation for the foreseeable future. Advocacy groups like the Manushya Foundation argue the court-ordered amounts&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/landmark-win-for-thai-villagers-but-gold-mine-appeal-delays-justice/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Conservation efforts help an endangered dipterocarp spread roots in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/conservation-efforts-help-an-endangered-dipterocarp-spread-roots-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/conservation-efforts-help-an-endangered-dipterocarp-spread-roots-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 07:53:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14075155/boilam-in-bangladesh-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317462</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Endangered Species, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Saving Species From Extinction, Trees, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 23, 2026, Mahbubul Islam Polash, a 34-year-old man from Bangladesh’s northern district of Sirajganj, traveled to Teknaf area in the southeastern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar, around 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of his hometown. Here, he planted a sapling of Anisoptera scaphula, a dipterocarp tree commonly known as boilam in Bangladesh. That [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[On Jan. 23, 2026, Mahbubul Islam Polash, a 34-year-old man from Bangladesh’s northern district of Sirajganj, traveled to Teknaf area in the southeastern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar, around 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of his hometown. Here, he planted a sapling of Anisoptera scaphula, a dipterocarp tree commonly known as boilam in Bangladesh. That day marked the 64th planting of the endangered tree species, completing the plantation campaign in all the districts of the country. The campaign was launched on June 5, 2024, coinciding with World Environment Day, in the northwestern Rajshahi district. When Polash learned that the towering tree species was on the verge of extinction and birds like kites and vultures were losing nesting habitats, he pinned his focus on planting boilams. “Even if it was just one species, I wanted to spread it countrywide,” Polash tells Mongabay. In 2019, he says, he planned to collect its seeds or saplings from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and distribute them across the country. But his initial attempts to germinate boilam seeds failed. Undeterred he continued to try and, in 2023, he succeeded in the germination of 74 seeds from the 2,000 sourced from mother trees in the hilly Bandarban and Khagrachhari districts. The saplings were nurtured on a piece of land adjacent to Polash’s home in Sirajganj for a year until they reached a height of about 30-45 centimeters (12-18 inches). Finally, the boilam saplings were planted in 64 districts of Bangladesh. Polash spent 597 days and self-financed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/conservation-efforts-help-an-endangered-dipterocarp-spread-roots-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Two-month-old bear cubs rescued from Facebook sale in Laos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/two-month-old-bear-cubs-rescued-from-facebook-sale-in-laos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/two-month-old-bear-cubs-rescued-from-facebook-sale-in-laos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 07:06:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14065214/MoonBearCubs-e1776149982947-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317456</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bears, Conservation, Illegal Trade, Indonesia, Social Media, Wildlife, Wildlife Crime, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two Asiatic black bear cubs posted for sale on Facebook have been rescued in Laos as part of an illegal wildlife trade sting. Free the Bears, an international conservation nonprofit, coordinated the operation with local authorities in Oudomxay province after discovering the Facebook post while monitoring online platforms for wildlife traders. The advertisement featured two [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Two Asiatic black bear cubs posted for sale on Facebook have been rescued in Laos as part of an illegal wildlife trade sting. Free the Bears, an international conservation nonprofit, coordinated the operation with local authorities in Oudomxay province after discovering the Facebook post while monitoring online platforms for wildlife traders. The advertisement featured two Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) sisters, roughly 2 months old and weighing less than 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) each. “They had been taken illegally from the wild, and sadly their mother was likely killed in the process,” Free the Bears said in a press release. Both cubs, found malnourished and cramped in a plastic washing basket, were rescued within 24 hours of the Facebook post being discovered. They’re now receiving specialist care at the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, the nonprofit said. Matt Hunt, CEO of Free the Bears, told Mongabay by email that the case highlights a dangerous evolution in the illegal wildlife trade. “In the past, bear cubs would change hands several times before reaching cities or bear farms, from hunters to village middlemen and onto other traders,” Hunt said. “Each time cubs changed hands was an opportunity for law enforcement to intervene. Today, with the rise of social media, hunters in even the most remote forested provinces can directly reach urban buyers through chat groups on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, or WeChat.” Hunt added that this digital shift makes the trade faster and harder to track: Once animals are listed online, they can&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/two-month-old-bear-cubs-rescued-from-facebook-sale-in-laos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Can nature outcompete war in Eastern Congo?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/can-nature-outcompete-war-in-eastern-congo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/can-nature-outcompete-war-in-eastern-congo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 23:26:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David AkanaRhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/10225923/drc_260324_103134432-EMMANUEL-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317207</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Featured, Forests, Governance, Green, Interviews, Landscape Restoration, Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Sustainability, Tropical Forests, Violence, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, discussion of conservation often centers on loss: forests cleared, wildlife depleted, conflict spreading across landscapes that once supported some of the richest ecosystems on Earth. At Virunga National Park, those pressures are concentrated. The park, Africa’s oldest, contains glaciers, volcanoes, forests, and wetlands within a single protected area. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, discussion of conservation often centers on loss: forests cleared, wildlife depleted, conflict spreading across landscapes that once supported some of the richest ecosystems on Earth. At Virunga National Park, those pressures are concentrated. The park, Africa’s oldest, contains glaciers, volcanoes, forests, and wetlands within a single protected area. It also sits within a region shaped by decades of instability, where armed groups, informal economies, and weak governance are part of daily life. Virunga National Park. Image courtesy of Bitini Ndiyanabo Kanane. Emmanuel de Merode, who has led Virunga since 2008, does not begin with ecology. His training is in anthropology, and that shapes how he describes the park. The condition of wildlife, he suggests, follows from deeper forces. Forest loss, poaching, and insecurity are not simply environmental problems. They emerge from how people earn a living, how authority functions, and how money and resources circulate. In eastern Congo, conservation cannot be separated from the economy. For many communities around Virunga, the choices are immediate. Clearing forest for agriculture or producing charcoal can generate income that supports a household. The benefits of conservation are harder to see and often accrue far beyond the region. The imbalance shows up in daily decisions about fuel, food, and access to land. As de Merode describes it, the system asks some of the poorest populations to bear the cost of protecting assets valued globally. The pressure on the park is reinforced by conflict. Since the mid-1990s, eastern Congo&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/can-nature-outcompete-war-in-eastern-congo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>30-year Himalayan project shows power of community-led forest restoration</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/30-year-himalayan-project-shows-power-of-community-led-forest-restoration/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/30-year-himalayan-project-shows-power-of-community-led-forest-restoration/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 19:41:28 +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/20/2026/04/13185228/Kalij_pheasant_Prasanna_Mamidala-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317419</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community Forestry, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecological Restoration, Forest Destruction, Landscape Restoration, Mountains, Plantations, Reforestation, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A recent study in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science shows why community engagement in forest restoration is a win-win game. The research documents a three-decade-long land restoration project on a 28-hectare (71-acre) slope of India’s Western Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand. The local communities in the surrounding villages cultivated a forest, with the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A recent study in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science shows why community engagement in forest restoration is a win-win game. The research documents a three-decade-long land restoration project on a 28-hectare (71-acre) slope of India’s Western Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand. The local communities in the surrounding villages cultivated a forest, with the help of researchers, and are now reaping the fruits of their collective effort. Before rehabilitation, the slope was inhabited by shrub species, dotted with the occasional longleaf Indian pine (Pinus roxburghii), a native tree that spread through monoculture cropping for resin and timber during British colonial rule. This landscape was prone to wildfire, which led to degradation. A team of researchers from the G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (GBP-NIHE), an arm of the environment ministry, launched the restoration project in 1992. Now, according to the study’s authors, the land supports rich biodiversity, including more than 160 bird species, more than 100 butterfly species, and many medicinal plants, providing livestock fodder, medicine and livelihoods for the residents of surrounding communities. The researchers named the site “Surya-Kunj,” or “Sun-Grove,” in a nod to the famous Katarmal Sun Temple, located about 12 kilometers (7 miles) away. A fire burns within a longleaf Indian pine (Pinus roxburghii) forest in Uttarakhand. Image by Ramwik via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Indra D. Bhatt, co-author of the study and director of the GBP-NIHE, said the Surya-Kunj site acts as a framework for large-scale forest restoration efforts in the Himalayas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/30-year-himalayan-project-shows-power-of-community-led-forest-restoration/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Council recommends opening US Pacific marine monuments to commercial fishing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/council-recommends-opening-us-pacific-marine-monuments-to-commercial-fishing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/council-recommends-opening-us-pacific-marine-monuments-to-commercial-fishing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 17:25:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bobby Bascomb]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13172358/home-header-1-768x480.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317416</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bycatch, Coral Reefs, Fisheries, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Ocean, Overfishing, Sea Turtles, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A U.S. fishing regulator recently recommended allowing commercial fishing across all four of the country’s Pacific marine national monuments. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) said the move is “about restoring sustainable fishing.” Conservationists and native peoples, however, say it will damage some of Earth’s most pristine ocean ecosystems. The monuments — Pacific [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A U.S. fishing regulator recently recommended allowing commercial fishing across all four of the country’s Pacific marine national monuments. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) said the move is “about restoring sustainable fishing.” Conservationists and native peoples, however, say it will damage some of Earth’s most pristine ocean ecosystems. The monuments — Pacific Islands Heritage, Rose Atoll, Marianas Trench, and Papahānaumokuākea —  cover 3.1 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) of coral atolls, deep-sea trenches and remote islands. Image courtesy of NOAA Fisheries All four monuments have banned commercial fishing since their establishment. “I am sad that with all these restrictions in our areas, we are slowly losing some of our culture,” Wespac council member Pedro Itibus said in a press release. Many locals say recreational fishing was never banned and some sites are far from any community. “The practice of commercial fishing and the unavoidable and significant waste of marine resources caused by bycatch is an affront to Native Hawaiian practices and beliefs,” Solomon Pili Kaho’ohalahala, a native Hawaiian with Kāpaʻa, a local NGO, told Wespac in a statement. Commercial fishing would allow the use of longlines and purse seines, which result in large numbers of nontarget species — turtles, seabirds, sharks — being caught. “In 2014, before the expansion of Papahānaumokuākea, Hawaii-based longliners caught more than 5,600 sharks as bycatch in the now protected area,” Sheila Sarhangi, executive director of the Hawai‘i-based Pacific Islands Heritage Coalition and the Papahānaumokuākea Coalition, told Mongabay by email. “If you&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/council-recommends-opening-us-pacific-marine-monuments-to-commercial-fishing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Defying conflict to track the world’s rarest chimpanzees</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/04/defying-conflict-to-track-the-worlds-rarest-chimpanzees/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/04/defying-conflict-to-track-the-worlds-rarest-chimpanzees/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 16:46:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leo PlunkettSandy WattTom Richards]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lucia Torres]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13183809/Mongabay_Featured_ChimpsNigeria_4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=videos&#038;p=317407</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Nigeria]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GASHAKA GUMTI NATIONAL PARK, Nigeria — Here in Nigeria’s largest protected wilderness area lies one of the last strongholds of the Nigeria–Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti), the world’s rarest chimpanzee subspecies. For nearly a decade, however, this population has lived largely out of sight. Once a leading hub for field research in West Africa, Gashaka [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GASHAKA GUMTI NATIONAL PARK, Nigeria — Here in Nigeria’s largest protected wilderness area lies one of the last strongholds of the Nigeria–Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti), the world’s rarest chimpanzee subspecies. For nearly a decade, however, this population has lived largely out of sight. Once a leading hub for field research in West Africa, Gashaka fell silent in the late 2010s when insecurity in the area forced scientists to withdraw. “By 2018, all research had stopped,” says conservationist Elisha Emmanuel. When the researchers left, so did the rangers who protected the park. Without them, Gashaka became vulnerable to poachers and bandits, and its research stations slid into disrepair. But a handful of local research assistants refused to leave. “It’s our bush,” says Maigari, who grew up in nearby Gashaka village. “If they want to kill me, they will kill me because the chimps are my friends.” A turning point came later that year when the Nigerian government signed a co‑management agreement with the Africa Nature Investors Foundation (ANI), a local nonprofit. Since then, more than 180 rangers have been hired and trained to protect the forest. “This has really brought security to the park, which now gives us the opportunity to restart research,” Emmanuel says. For field assistants like Maigari, that stability means a chance to return to what they know best: tracking and monitoring chimpanzees in the wild. The first step in Gashaka’s scientific revival is an ambitious camera‑trap survey. Using a newly acquired helicopter, researchers have deployed cameras&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/video/2026/04/defying-conflict-to-track-the-worlds-rarest-chimpanzees/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Researchers find ‘remarkable’ hot-pink insect in Panama rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/researchers-find-remarkable-hot-pink-insect-in-panama-rainforest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/researchers-find-remarkable-hot-pink-insect-in-panama-rainforest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 12:57:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13123725/Fig.-1_slightly_modified_and_higher_res-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317404</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Forests, Insects, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In March 2025, biologist Benito Wainwright and his colleagues were searching for katydids — leaf-mimicking insects related to crickets and grasshoppers — in the rainforest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama, when they came across an unexpected sight: a hot-pink katydid individual of the species Arota festae. The researchers captured the katydid and raised her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In March 2025, biologist Benito Wainwright and his colleagues were searching for katydids — leaf-mimicking insects related to crickets and grasshoppers — in the rainforest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama, when they came across an unexpected sight: a hot-pink katydid individual of the species Arota festae. The researchers captured the katydid and raised her in captivity. Photographing her daily for 14 days, they chronicled her changing color from hot pink to a pastel pink and finally green, the researchers report in a recent study. A. festae, found in Panama, Colombia and Suriname, are typically light green in color, resembling early-growth vegetation, the authors write. The discovery of the hot-pink katydid is very rare, Wainwright told Mongabay by email. “I&#8217;ve spent a total of 8 months in the tropics and have only ever found one, and my collaborators who have spent 2+ years on BCI [Barro Colorado Island] have never seen one,” said Wainwright, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. “We do most of our sampling around research station lights so it could be that these immature pink adults are hiding in places we&#8217;re not looking. The green morphs are pretty common though so, at least on BCI, the pink morph is a real abnormality.” Jeffrey Cole, an expert in katydid evolution, who wasn’t affiliated with the study, told Mongabay in an email: “The observation of this katydid changing colors within a single life stage is remarkable, as it is the first demonstration of this capability in a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/researchers-find-remarkable-hot-pink-insect-in-panama-rainforest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s main river redraws the map of little-known night monkeys</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 11:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuel Fonseca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cryptic Species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monkeys]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species classification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species detection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species identification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vulnerable species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wildlife Conservation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09111227/night-monkeys-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317266</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Conservation, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Habitat Loss, Monkeys, Research, Rivers, Species, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One night, 10-year-old Sebastián Montilla heard a creature moving over a tree branch on his father’s farm in Pijao, Quindío department, one of Colombia’s renowned coffee-growing regions. As he pointed a lantern up to the canopy, he saw a wild creature with big red eyes and a long tail watching him before moving away from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One night, 10-year-old Sebastián Montilla heard a creature moving over a tree branch on his father’s farm in Pijao, Quindío department, one of Colombia’s renowned coffee-growing regions. As he pointed a lantern up to the canopy, he saw a wild creature with big red eyes and a long tail watching him before moving away from the light. It was a night monkey, from the genus Aotus. This brief encounter would decide Montilla’s path. “I became very passionate about those animals, in fact, when I was in school, my favorite pastime was to go outside and lie down under their sleeping place, to watch them do nothing,” Montilla, now a doctoral student in biological sciences at the University of the Andes in Bogotá, told Mongabay in a video call. “I’m very surprised by the fact that [night monkeys] have gone unnoticed for so long, both in the scientific community and in the public sphere,” he added. “It’s astonishing because at midnight they are moving right past our houses and we don’t even notice.” Night monkeys, also known as owl monkeys, are the only primate group in the Americas that have adapted to be active at night. These monkeys have evolved enormous round eyes with retinas 50% bigger than those of daytime-active primates to better capture the scarce light available in their environments. Unlike other nocturnal primate species in Asia and Africa, such as lorises (family Lorisidae), tarsiers (Tarsiidae) and lemurs (Lemuroidae), which tend to be solitary, night monkeys form lifelong monogamous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>A new bird species has been discovered in Japan after 45 years</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/a-new-bird-species-has-been-discovered-in-japan-after-45-years/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/a-new-bird-species-has-been-discovered-in-japan-after-45-years/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 08:15:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naina Rao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13081426/Tokara-Leaf-Warbler-Nakanoshima-11June2017-2-Per-Alstrom-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317401</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Islands, New Species, Species Discovery, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For decades, the research community thought that the small, olive-green songbirds found on two Japanese islands were identical. But a new study has revealed these birds are actually two distinct species, ones that have been evolutionarily isolated for millions of years and are now facing the risk of extinction. Researchers discovered a population of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For decades, the research community thought that the small, olive-green songbirds found on two Japanese islands were identical. But a new study has revealed these birds are actually two distinct species, ones that have been evolutionarily isolated for millions of years and are now facing the risk of extinction. Researchers discovered a population of the newly named Tokara leaf warbler (Phylloscopus tokaraensis) on the remote Tokara archipelago in 1988. Back then, it was considered to be Ijima’s leaf warbler (Phylloscopus ijimae), found in the Izu Islands, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away. An international team of researchers, led by Per Alström from Uppsala University in Sweden and Takema Saitoh of the Yamashina Institute of Ornithology in Japan, has now analyzed the genetic data and songs of the birds on the two islands. Genetic analysis showed that a “deep split” between the two lineages occurred approximately 3.2 million years ago, the authors write. The researchers also found that while the two bird populations are virtually indistinguishable in appearance, their songs say otherwise. In an email to Mongabay, Saitoh said the Tokara species’ songs are lower in pitch and faster in pace than those of its Izu relatives. This acoustic divide is so distinct that the researchers were able to correctly classify 100% of Tokara recordings based solely on their vocal patterns. The recognition of the Tokara and Ijima’s leaf warblers as separate species means they’re even rarer than previously realized. The Tokara leaf warbler is known to breed only on the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/a-new-bird-species-has-been-discovered-in-japan-after-45-years/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Repeated failures expose gaps in Indonesia’s nickel waste management</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/repeated-failures-expose-gaps-in-indonesias-nickel-waste-management/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/repeated-failures-expose-gaps-in-indonesias-nickel-waste-management/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 05:51:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13034411/imip_landslide_2026-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317395</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, North Maluku, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critical Minerals, Disasters, Earthquakes, Electric Cars, Energy, Health, Planetary Health, Pollution, Waste, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In February 2026, videos circulating on social media showed a mass of mining waste rushing downslope like thick mud, engulfing excavators and bulldozers within seconds as operators scrambled to escape. That landslide of mining waste, or tailings as it’s known in the industry, occurred on Feb. 18 at a storage area in Morowali [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In February 2026, videos circulating on social media showed a mass of mining waste rushing downslope like thick mud, engulfing excavators and bulldozers within seconds as operators scrambled to escape. That landslide of mining waste, or tailings as it’s known in the industry, occurred on Feb. 18 at a storage area in Morowali industrial area in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, a key hub of the country’s nickel industry. The facility was operated by PT QMB, a tenant of the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), and the incident left an excavator operator dead. Steven Emerman, a hydrogeologist and mining waste expert who reviewed the videos, concluded that they showed the phenomenon of liquefaction — a failure in which partially dried mining waste suddenly behaves like a liquid. “The video clearly shows liquefaction of a filtered tailings stack,” he told Mongabay. Filtered, or “dry stack” tailings are widely promoted as a safer alternative for storing mining waste than the wet sludge held behind conventional tailings dams. The material is filtered to remove its water content and stacked on land as a damp, soil-like mass. But a new report by U.S.-based environmental NGO Earthworks that Emerman contributed to raises concerns about how the technology is being applied in Indonesia. It says some facilities are being built “taller and contain more waste than they can safely hold,” and cites problems with design, drainage and quality control. These risks are compounded by the rapid expansion of Indonesia’s nickel industry, raising concerns about the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/repeated-failures-expose-gaps-in-indonesias-nickel-waste-management/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Living with wildlife, bearing the cost</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 00:20:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21070551/4-Kavanthissa-0-another-tusker-crossing-road-c-Gimantha-e1755210123630-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317125</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Communities and conservation, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Politics, human-elephant conflict, Human-wildlife Conflict, Land Rights, National Parks, Parks, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Let us stop talking about human-wildlife conflict. Some of us live with this reality and we pay a heavy price for sharing space with wildlife.” The remark was made by a community leader at the 2023 Community-led Conservation Congress in Namibia. It was not framed as a critique of conservation policy so much as a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Let us stop talking about human-wildlife conflict. Some of us live with this reality and we pay a heavy price for sharing space with wildlife.” The remark was made by a community leader at the 2023 Community-led Conservation Congress in Namibia. It was not framed as a critique of conservation policy so much as a correction to how it is described. The phrase “human-wildlife conflict” appears frequently in reports and strategies, often as a category that can be measured and managed. For those living closest to wildlife, the experience it refers to is less abstract and less contained. “Have you ever seen how an elephant kills a person?” the same speaker asked. What followed was a detailed account of a fatal encounter during a routine trip to collect firewood: the animal catching up to a woman as she ran, throwing her, and then crushing her body. The description is difficult to read. It is also part of what is being described when conflict is reduced to a term. Elsewhere, the cost is expressed in more tangible terms, as recounted by Kendi Borona in a commentary published on Mongabay last September. A farmer in East Africa described taking out a loan to shift from pastoralism to agriculture after repeated livestock losses. He leased land, planted tomatoes, and paid someone to guard the fields through the night. When the crop was ready, heavy rain prevented the vehicle from reaching the farm. During that delay, elephants entered and consumed the harvest. The loss&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Doug Allan, wildlife cameraman who filmed animals in extreme environments</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/doug-allan-wildlife-cameraman-who-filmed-animals-in-extreme-environments/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/doug-allan-wildlife-cameraman-who-filmed-animals-in-extreme-environments/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2026 13:42:01 +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/20/2026/04/11134010/doug-allan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317373</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Environment, Obituary, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There are moments in natural-history films when the camera seems improbably close: a polar bear’s breath fogging the lens, a seal’s eye lingering, an orca pod moving with intent beneath fractured ice. The illusion is of proximity without disturbance. The reality is colder, slower and less certain. It depends on patience, judgment and a tolerance [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There are moments in natural-history films when the camera seems improbably close: a polar bear’s breath fogging the lens, a seal’s eye lingering, an orca pod moving with intent beneath fractured ice. The illusion is of proximity without disturbance. The reality is colder, slower and less certain. It depends on patience, judgment and a tolerance for discomfort that most viewers never see. Doug Allan spent his career in such conditions. He worked where light is scarce, where equipment fails, and where the margin for error is thin. Much of his footage was gathered in the polar regions or underwater, environments that reward persistence and ingenuity. He liked the constraints. You could only be in one place at a time, he would say; if you weren’t there, you would not get the shot. Allan came to filmmaking indirectly. Born in 1951 in Dunfermline, he studied marine biology and began as a diver, including work with the British Antarctic Survey. A meeting with David Attenborough in Antarctica in the early 1980s redirected his path. He bought a camera, filmed emperor penguins, and sold the footage to the BBC. From there he became a principal cameraman on landmark series such as The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet. His work helped define how audiences came to see remote ecosystems. The sequences were often brief on screen but long in the making. Allan might spend weeks waiting for an animal to appear, or return empty-handed after a day’s search. He accepted this as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/doug-allan-wildlife-cameraman-who-filmed-animals-in-extreme-environments/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/doug-allan-wildlife-cameraman-who-filmed-animals-in-extreme-environments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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						<item>
					<title>The mother of orangutans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/the-mother-of-orangutans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/the-mother-of-orangutans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2026 12:24:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Izzy Sasada]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/15042126/Orangutan-tapanuli_Junaidi-Mongabay3-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317372</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo and Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Conservation, Great Apes, Rainforests, Women in conservation, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dr Birutė Galdikas spent almost 50 years studying solitary and elusive orangutans in Borneo, at a time when no one believed it possible. Her pioneering work transformed scientific understanding of the great apes and their behavior.  She passed on March 24 at the age of 79. Dr. Galdikas was one of three women who revolutionised [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dr Birutė Galdikas spent almost 50 years studying solitary and elusive orangutans in Borneo, at a time when no one believed it possible. Her pioneering work transformed scientific understanding of the great apes and their behavior.  She passed on March 24 at the age of 79. Dr. Galdikas was one of three women who revolutionised the study of great apes in the 1970s – along with Dr Jane Goodall who observed chimpanzees in Tanzania, and Dr Dian Fossey who studied gorillas in Rwanda. Together, they were called the “Trimates”.  At a time when women were rarely given such opportunities in science, these three women offered a window into the lives of our closest living ancestors.  Their work helped bring global attention to the protection of chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans and inspired generations of conservationists. Now, as this chapter comes to a close, the question isn’t just what they discovered, but what comes next.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/the-mother-of-orangutans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/the-mother-of-orangutans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Venezuela’s new mining law could spell disaster for the Amazon, critics warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/venezuelas-new-mining-law-could-spell-disaster-for-the-amazon-critics-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/venezuelas-new-mining-law-could-spell-disaster-for-the-amazon-critics-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 18:39:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amazon mining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gold Mining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Illegal Mining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforest Mining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/10181944/AP26023620673399-1-768x500.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317348</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Mining, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Governance, Illegal Mining, Mining, Protected Areas, Rainforest Deforestation, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Venezuela is close to passing a law to update the country’s mining regulations and attract private investment in gold, silver, coltan and other minerals. But advocacy groups say the law may end up exacerbating deforestation and pollution in mining areas where environmental damage is already an issue. The legislation is part of a broader effort [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Venezuela is close to passing a law to update the country’s mining regulations and attract private investment in gold, silver, coltan and other minerals. But advocacy groups say the law may end up exacerbating deforestation and pollution in mining areas where environmental damage is already an issue. The legislation is part of a broader effort to bring in international investment following the January capture of President Nicolás Maduro by the United States, which has expressed interest in Venezuela’s natural resources. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez introduced the bill to the National Assembly in early March, outlining a framework to allow private investment in mining while maintaining strong state control over the sector. While some environmental protections are included in the bill, critics say they’re not rigorous enough to prevent ongoing deforestation or human rights abuses in mining zones. The law passed by unanimous vote April 9 and now needs official approval from Rodríguez. “We denounce that this legal and political framework, rather than being a regulatory instrument for control and transparency, will only generate a veneer of legality for the current systematic plundering of the Amazon and the Guiana Shield, deepening the serious environmental deterioration and the violation of human rights that are taking place,” said a statement signed by 15 advocacy groups. The law reinforces state control over the country’s mineral resources while creating pathways for outside investment, allowing authorized private companies and joint ventures with the state to participate in mining operations. It also formalizes artisanal mining, requiring miners&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/venezuelas-new-mining-law-could-spell-disaster-for-the-amazon-critics-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Africa’s solar costs could rise as China cuts export subsidies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/africas-solar-costs-could-rise-as-china-cuts-export-subsidies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/africas-solar-costs-could-rise-as-china-cuts-export-subsidies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 16:42:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/10163543/2765584331_a4f7fbfd2d_k-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317346</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Energy, Energy Politics, Green Energy, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The end of China’s export tax rebates for solar panels and associated equipment could prompt a rush by power developers in African to secure supplies at the previous lower prices. Across Africa, a lack of reliable access to grid electricity is driving the adoption of mini-grids and off-grid solar applications, especially in rural areas. Solar [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The end of China’s export tax rebates for solar panels and associated equipment could prompt a rush by power developers in African to secure supplies at the previous lower prices. Across Africa, a lack of reliable access to grid electricity is driving the adoption of mini-grids and off-grid solar applications, especially in rural areas. Solar currently accounts for only 3% of electricity generation on the continent, but solar capacity is expanding rapidly, and the end of the 9% value-added tax rebate on Chinese exports of photovoltaic modules, cells and inverters as of April 1 could hasten adoption across Africa. “There’s a big acceleration of people trying to buy panels at the current reduced price with the rebate, which is why you’re seeing many projects rushing to start construction so they can procure panels at a lower cost,” Gerrit Jan Cronselaar, engineering project manager at GameChange Solar, a U.S.-based solar energy company, said at a March webinar organized by the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA), ahead of the end of the rebate. “Over the course of 2026, we are likely to see a wave of projects coming online as a result of this early push.” China is the world’s dominant producer and exporter of solar panels, and African countries depend heavily on the country for solar components. China is also phasing out export tax rebates for batteries, reducing them from 9% to 6% this month. They will be fully eliminated by January 2027. Storage systems including batteries ensure a more reliable&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/africas-solar-costs-could-rise-as-china-cuts-export-subsidies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Christianity can be an ally for Kenyan conservation (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/christianity-can-be-an-ally-for-kenyan-conservation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/christianity-can-be-an-ally-for-kenyan-conservation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 15:25:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Rowe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/10145100/PRowe_HeaderImage-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317342</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Community-based Conservation, Conservation and Religion, Environment, Forests, Green, Religions, and Spirituality and Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The influence of Christianity in public life in Kenya is undisputed. Indeed, for more than a century, everyday life in the country — from education to health care and politics — has, in many ways, been shaped by the faith. From missionary origins to indigenous expressions, Christianity has been, and remains, “one of the most [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The influence of Christianity in public life in Kenya is undisputed. Indeed, for more than a century, everyday life in the country — from education to health care and politics — has, in many ways, been shaped by the faith. From missionary origins to indigenous expressions, Christianity has been, and remains, “one of the most powerful sociocultural forces” in Kenya. Interestingly, however, despite the prominent place of Christianity, the entanglements between Christianity and conservation — itself a major sociopolitical contour in Kenya — have been sorely understudied. In this sense, Stuart Butler’s 2024 article for Mongabay exploring the dynamic intersection of Maasai traditional religion, Christianity, land privatization, and conservation in the Naimina Enkiyioo (Loita) Forest is, in part, a breath of fresh air. For too long, religious faith (of any kind) has been on the margins of mainstream conservation thinking and practice. While some major players in conservation have begun to increasingly partner with faith communities and faith-based organizations (see for example WWF and UNEP), the task of getting (mainly Western) conservation practitioners and organizations to take faith seriously remains an uphill battle. Perhaps part of the difficulty in mainstreaming religious faith into conservation thinking and practice are the popular, but often partial, narratives concerning how faith — and for the purposes of this piece, Christianity — relate to conservation. In particular, the narrative concerning the negative impact of Christianity on the environment has been well-circulated for over a half-century, popularized and propelled most notably by the publication of Lynn&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/christianity-can-be-an-ally-for-kenyan-conservation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Tropics take the brunt as hotter oceans drive large-scale humid heat waves: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropics-take-the-brunt-as-hotter-oceans-drive-large-scale-humid-heat-waves-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropics-take-the-brunt-as-hotter-oceans-drive-large-scale-humid-heat-waves-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 14:01:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Adam Litchkofski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/10120444/0-Sunset_over_the_Pacific_Ocean_from_Maui_Hawaii-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317334</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Heatwave, Nature And Health, Ocean Warming, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As climate change intensifies, people around the world are learning firsthand how dangerous high temperatures can be. But prolonged heat becomes even more dangerous, and deadly, when paired with high humidity — a one-two punch known as a humid heat wave. Scientists report that humid heat waves have intensified rapidly over recent decades and are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As climate change intensifies, people around the world are learning firsthand how dangerous high temperatures can be. But prolonged heat becomes even more dangerous, and deadly, when paired with high humidity — a one-two punch known as a humid heat wave. Scientists report that humid heat waves have intensified rapidly over recent decades and are projected to worsen, raising the risk of significantly more heat-related mortalities. But quantifying the origins of these extreme weather events has remained challenging. A new study published in Nature Geoscience has identified and quantified a likely cause. It traced a strong connection between coastal waters heated by climate change and the development of humid heat waves that spread out over large areas inland — an effect especially pronounced in the tropics. “Compared with mid-to-high latitudes, the tropics encompass most [humid heat wave] high-risk areas and exhibit stronger land-ocean linkages, highlighting the critical role of tropical oceans,” according to the study conducted by researchers from Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Princeton University in the U.S., and Sun Yat-sen University in China. Humid heat waves — periods when high temperatures couple with high humidity — are particularly dangerous for human survival, Fenying Cai, study lead author with PIK, told Mongabay in a phone interview. Previous research indicated that even young, healthy people can experience dangerous heat stress when a wet-bulb thermometer (measuring ambient temperature plus relative humidity) has readings exceeding 31° Celsius (87.8° Fahrenheit), a point at which the body can no longer effectively&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropics-take-the-brunt-as-hotter-oceans-drive-large-scale-humid-heat-waves-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Record kākāpō breeding season with 95 rare parrot hatchlings: Photo of the week</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/record-kakapo-breeding-season-with-95-rare-parrot-hatchlings-photo-of-the-week/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/record-kakapo-breeding-season-with-95-rare-parrot-hatchlings-photo-of-the-week/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 09:31:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/10091515/unnamed-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317321</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Zealand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Governance, Parrots, Reintroductions, Rewilding, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The kākāpō is a flightless bird endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand, and one of the heaviest parrots in the world. It’s also critically endangered; after the introduction of predators to the islands off New Zealand, the adult kākāpō population plummeted to just 235 today. But this year, following a standout harvest of rīmu (Dacrydium cupressinum) berries, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The kākāpō is a flightless bird endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand, and one of the heaviest parrots in the world. It’s also critically endangered; after the introduction of predators to the islands off New Zealand, the adult kākāpō population plummeted to just 235 today. But this year, following a standout harvest of rīmu (Dacrydium cupressinum) berries, a staple of the kākāpō diet, at least 95 chicks are now growing. The previous record, in 2019, produced 73 fledglings. “2026 is now officially the biggest on record,” New Zealand’s Department of Conservation wrote on its kākāpō recovery Instagram account. In the photo above, kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) siblings Tīwhiri-A3 and Tīwhiri-A4, both named after their mother, are pictured on Pukenui Anchor Island in southern New Zealand, a predator-free island chosen as a kākāpō sanctuary. The photo was taken by Sarah Manktelow, a kākāpō recovery program ranger at the Department of Conservation. The chicks will be officially added to the species’ population count once they reach 150 days old, after which they’re considered fledglings. Not all the chicks are expected to make it to this stage. Ten chicks have died so far, and three more are currently receiving veterinary care. Every Friday, the Department of Conservation released data on the progress of the eggs, with an uploaded photo of the tally written in marker on the department’s refrigerator. This year, 80 nests produced at least 256 eggs. Of these, 148 were fertile, and 105 hatched. “Infertility and low hatching success is a key obstacle for the program, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/record-kakapo-breeding-season-with-95-rare-parrot-hatchlings-photo-of-the-week/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Indian border town adjacent to Bhutan is reeling from riverbed pollution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/indian-border-town-adjacent-to-bhutan-is-reeling-from-riverbed-pollution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/indian-border-town-adjacent-to-bhutan-is-reeling-from-riverbed-pollution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 09:15:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/10091236/822191f9-5c93-451f-9d73-c3f88dc8bc05-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317319</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Green, Plastic, Pollution, Rivers, Waste, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jaigaon, a densely populated town on India’s border with Bhutan, is facing a crisis of poor waste disposal, reports contributor Chandrani Sinha for Mongabay India. Much of the town’s plastic, construction and medical waste gets dumped along the banks of the Torsa River. The river originates in the Chumbi Valley in the eastern Himalayas and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jaigaon, a densely populated town on India’s border with Bhutan, is facing a crisis of poor waste disposal, reports contributor Chandrani Sinha for Mongabay India. Much of the town’s plastic, construction and medical waste gets dumped along the banks of the Torsa River. The river originates in the Chumbi Valley in the eastern Himalayas and flows through Bhutan before entering India at Jaigaon. Locals say they worry the rampant river pollution could impact the image of Jaigaon, a key tourist and trade point between India and Bhutan. “Our towns share an international border and a lot of tourist footfall takes place every year, as the town is growing population-wise, we demand a municipality facility to manage the solid waste and also other issues of Jaigaon,” Jayant Mundra, convenor for the Joint Forum of Business Association Jaigaon and vice president of the Jaigaon Merchant Association, told Mongabay India. Mundra added that during rains, much of the waste enters the river, and ends up in homes and public places. Environmental activists said the dumped waste is often openly burned, which releases toxic pollutants into the air. Downstream, the Torsa flows through ecologically sensitive floodplains that serve as habitat for Indian rhinos, elephants, and various migratory bird species. “River life depends on three things: flow, silt and oxygen in the water,” Dipankar Saha, former additional director of India’s Central Pollution Control Board, told Mongabay India. “But we excavate the river, pollute it. So, if we don’t manage the river system, then the river&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/indian-border-town-adjacent-to-bhutan-is-reeling-from-riverbed-pollution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Novel research finds unexpected climate resilience in up to 36% of Amazon forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 03:23:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09222759/1-Palms-along-river-in-Manu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317301</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Conservation, Amazon Destruction, Amazon Drought, Amazon Rainforest, Biodiversity, carbon, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drought, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Nature's resilience, Precipitation, Research, Temperatures, Threats To The Amazon, Tipping points, Trees, Water, Wetlands, and wildfires]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Reports on the health and vitality of the Amazon — often dubbed as Earth’s lungs — have been grim for years. Record drought has stressed large swaths of the world’s largest rainforest. Major Amazon River tributaries, including the Rio Negro and Madeira River, hit their lowest levels in more than a century of measurement in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Reports on the health and vitality of the Amazon — often dubbed as Earth’s lungs — have been grim for years. Record drought has stressed large swaths of the world’s largest rainforest. Major Amazon River tributaries, including the Rio Negro and Madeira River, hit their lowest levels in more than a century of measurement in 2024. And experts warn that deforestation and wildfires are tipping parts of the biome from carbon sink to source. Yet in Manaus, a city at the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, forest ecologist Flávia Costa is upbeat as she highlights what appears to be a previously underappreciated underlying Amazon reality: Her research finds that the region’s vast wetlands, or shallow water table areas, have proven to be stubbornly drought resistant through years of intensifying climate change. In fact, her long-term research reveals that palm species and other wetland trees are not just surviving drought seasons, they’re maintaining their health and even adding biomass. That could mean these areas could serve as valuable refugia, as other parts of Amazonia degrade. Significantly, these shallow water table areas compose 36% of Amazonia and have been a crucial part of the evolving rainforest ecosystem for millions of years. Sturdy, resilient palms account for one in five tree species across the Amazon, which includes parts of nine nations, and of which Brazil occupies 60%. These forested wetlands and Costa’s research represent one bright spot in the Amazon’s otherwise gloomy projected trajectory for the 21st century — forecasts built on decades&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Half of seabirds are declining. Protecting marine flyways could help save them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/half-of-seabirds-are-declining-protecting-marine-flyways-could-help-save-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/half-of-seabirds-are-declining-protecting-marine-flyways-could-help-save-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 01:00:42 +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/20/2026/04/09230341/galapagos_2414294z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317300</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Bycatch, Climate Change And Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Islands, Migration, Oceans, and Seabirds]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; Animals that cross borders often encounter conservation systems that stop at them. Migratory species move through jurisdictions with little regard for political boundaries, relying on habitats spread across large distances and governed by different rules. The result is patchy protection, overlapping threats, and declining populations. Seabirds make this problem clear. They range across entire [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; Animals that cross borders often encounter conservation systems that stop at them. Migratory species move through jurisdictions with little regard for political boundaries, relying on habitats spread across large distances and governed by different rules. The result is patchy protection, overlapping threats, and declining populations. Seabirds make this problem clear. They range across entire ocean basins, breeding on remote islands, feeding in distant waters, and passing through multiple national zones along the way. Nearly half of migratory species are in decline, and seabirds are among the most threatened groups. Their conservation requires coordination across places and seasons, which has been difficult to sustain. On land, one organizing idea has helped. The concept of “flyways” groups migration into broad, recurring routes. It has been used to align governments, focus research, and guide investment. Over time, it has helped coordinate conservation efforts, especially for waterbirds. A policy paper, published last month in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology, applies the same framework to the ocean. Overlap of the marine flyways and national waters (Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) in dark blue lines). Purple colored national waters denote CMS Parties and green represent Non-­ Party states. Maps are in Robinson projection, with (a) centered at 0° and (b) centered at 140° W. From Morten et al (2026) Recent advances in tracking have made this possible. By analyzing the movements of long-distance pelagic species, a team of researchers from BirdLife International, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and multiple&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/half-of-seabirds-are-declining-protecting-marine-flyways-could-help-save-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Antarctic fur seals now endangered as climate change reduces krill for pups</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/antarctic-fur-seals-now-endangered-as-climate-change-reduces-krill-for-pups/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/antarctic-fur-seals-now-endangered-as-climate-change-reduces-krill-for-pups/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 22:52:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09225117/Antarctic-fur-seal-DSC_0109-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317308</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Arctic Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ice Shelves, Mammals, Marine Mammals, Polar Regions, Sea Ice, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Antarctic fur seals are the smallest of the polar seals and live almost exclusively on the island of South Georgia. The latest assessment by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the global conservation authority, upgraded fur seal extinction threat from least concern to endangered. The last assessment was carried out in 2014. Recent research [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Antarctic fur seals are the smallest of the polar seals and live almost exclusively on the island of South Georgia. The latest assessment by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the global conservation authority, upgraded fur seal extinction threat from least concern to endangered. The last assessment was carried out in 2014. Recent research found that Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) populations have more than halved over the last 25 years, plummeting from nearly 2.2 million adult seals in 1999 to 944,000 in 2025. That&#8217;s a huge population loss in just three generations, Jaume Forcada, who has been studying fur seals at the British Antarctic Survey for more than 20 years, wrote in a statement. “Unless we address the root causes of climate change, we risk losing even more,” he added. The IUCN attributed the 50% population loss to reduced food availability: Warmer temperatures and shrinking sea ice caused by fossil fuel emissions led large schools of krill, the seal’s main prey, to move into deeper and colder waters. Fur seals are also competing with large fishing vessels, harvesting krill mostly for use as feed in aquaculture. In October 2025, Norway proposed doubling the krill catch limit in the Southern Ocean. Young seal pups under the age of 1 year are the most impacted by the habitat change; many are unable to survive to adulthood without sufficient food. The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) was also listed as vulnerable in the IUCN’s April 9 announcement. An outbreak of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/antarctic-fur-seals-now-endangered-as-climate-change-reduces-krill-for-pups/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Emperor penguins are now endangered amid climate change and melting ice</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/emperor-penguins-are-now-endangered-amid-climate-change-and-melting-ice/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/emperor-penguins-are-now-endangered-amid-climate-change-and-melting-ice/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 22:44:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09224119/Emperor-penguin-chicks-on-Rothschild-island_photo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317306</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Ice Shelves, Penguins, Polar Regions, Sea Ice, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Emperor penguins are native to Antarctica, where record low sea ice over the last decade has dramatically changed their habitat. Populations of the world’s largest penguin have fallen so much that they have now officially moved from near threatened to endangered in the latest assessment by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the global [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Emperor penguins are native to Antarctica, where record low sea ice over the last decade has dramatically changed their habitat. Populations of the world’s largest penguin have fallen so much that they have now officially moved from near threatened to endangered in the latest assessment by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the global conservation authority, published April 9. “Penguins are already among the most threatened birds on Earth,” Martin Harper, CEO of BirdLife International, which coordinated the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) assessment for the IUCN Red List, wrote in a statement. “The emperor penguin’s move to Endangered is a stark warning: climate change is accelerating the extinction crisis before our eyes. Governments must act now to urgently decarbonise our economies.” In 2022, researchers found that four out of five emperor penguin colonies in western Antarctica’s Bellingshausen Sea had died due to a lack of sea ice. In 2019, satellite images found that at Halley Bay, farther North, the colony failed to reproduce for three years in a row. The sea ice broke up before penguin chicks grew their waterproof feathers or learned to swim. They all died before fledging. “It’s very hard to think of these cute fluffy chicks dying in large numbers,” Peter Fretwell, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey, told The Guardian in 2023 following the Bellingshausen colony losses. “The sea ice loss has been unprecedented and far quicker than we imagined.” Between 2009 and 2018, satellite images of 50 colonies across all of Antarctica&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/emperor-penguins-are-now-endangered-amid-climate-change-and-melting-ice/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Giant otters, river sentinels, now listed as threatened migratory species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/giant-otters-river-sentinels-now-listed-as-threatened-migratory-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/giant-otters-river-sentinels-now-listed-as-threatened-migratory-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 18:36:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gustavo Faleiros]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/08224341/11190729853_d1e4efee8f_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317227</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Conservation, Mammals, Rivers, Tropical Forests, Tropical Rivers, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With evidence that the giant river otter is in an increasingly perilous state, delegates to the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) listed it as an animal requiring urgent conservation action at its March 2026 meeting in Campo Grande, Brazil. The giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), endemic to tropical river systems in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With evidence that the giant river otter is in an increasingly perilous state, delegates to the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) listed it as an animal requiring urgent conservation action at its March 2026 meeting in Campo Grande, Brazil. The giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), endemic to tropical river systems in South America, once lived east of the Andes mountains from northern Venezuela to Argentina, a territory covering 9,021,590 square kilometers (3,483,255 square miles). The proposal advocating for stronger protection, submitted by France, noted that it was listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2021, though it is extinct in Uruguay and Argentina, is critically endangered in Paraguay and  Ecuador and vulnerable in Brazil. The same document mentions a 50% decline in the giant otter population over the last 25 years. Individuals’ size has also been reduced, indicating a decrease in pups’ survival rates. Using climate projections such as reduced rainfall due to climate change, specialists point out that the downward trend in the species’ population will continue for a few decades. Illegal hunting for their fur wiped them out in large parts of their range; many populations never recovered, according to a 2025 report published by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a U.S.-based nonprofit. Although commercial hunting is no longer a serious threat, these otters still face serious challenges. Conflict continues, with local people competing for the fish that otters eat. Their habitat continues to disappear, frequently converted to farmland and cities. Rivers are dammed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/giant-otters-river-sentinels-now-listed-as-threatened-migratory-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>New mahogany species found in Zanzibar — but fewer than 30 trees remain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/new-mahogany-species-found-in-zanzibar-but-fewer-than-30-trees-remain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/new-mahogany-species-found-in-zanzibar-but-fewer-than-30-trees-remain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 18:13:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09181234/Mahogany_scientists-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317292</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Endangered, Endangered Species, New Discovery, New Species, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A small group of mahogany trees were found growing along a 200-meter (650-foot) stretch of shoreline on Pemba Island, Zanzibar. Scientists have recently confirmed the tree is a new species, but with fewer than 30 left in the wild, it’s already critically endangered. “It’s an extraordinary finding that none of us expected,” Silvia Ceppi of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A small group of mahogany trees were found growing along a 200-meter (650-foot) stretch of shoreline on Pemba Island, Zanzibar. Scientists have recently confirmed the tree is a new species, but with fewer than 30 left in the wild, it’s already critically endangered. “It’s an extraordinary finding that none of us expected,” Silvia Ceppi of Istituto Oikos, a conservation nonprofit working in the area, told Mongabay. Ceppi said the mahogany trees were hiding in plain sight. The beach along the Tondooni peninsula where they grow is visited by thousands of residents and tourists each year. The trees, named Afzelia corallina after the ancient fossilized coral beds where they grow, also produce sweet-smelling crimson, white and pink flowers that resemble coral, the botanists write in a paper describing the species. Mongabay was with the team of researchers in December 2024 when they stumbled upon the first of these flowering trees during a botanical expedition to the 2,000-hectare (nearly 5,000-acre) Ngezi-Vumawimbi Forest Reserve, in the north of Pemba. The team initially thought it could be one of the rare Intsia bijuga trees that grew in the reserve’s nearby patch of coastal forest. But closer examination confirmed it was an Afzelia, or mahogany. Like a number of other mahogany species, the timber is attractive and sought after for furniture, which could explain why there are so few surviving on Pemba, located just 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Tanzanian mainland. A follow-up expedition in January found one of the 30 surviving trees was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/new-mahogany-species-found-in-zanzibar-but-fewer-than-30-trees-remain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Argentina approves Milei&#8217;s bill that eases protections for glaciers despite environmental backlash</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/argentina-approves-mileis-bill-that-eases-protections-for-glaciers-despite-environmental-backlash/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/argentina-approves-mileis-bill-that-eases-protections-for-glaciers-despite-environmental-backlash/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 18:05:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09180448/AP26098741938488-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=317290</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Critical Minerals, Glaciers, Mining, and Protests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina&#8217;s Congress on Thursday approved a bill promoted by libertarian President Javier Milei that eases protections on glaciers to facilitate investments in mining for metals — a move that environmental groups vow to challenge in courts. The legislation, approved by the Senate in February, was passed with 137 votes in favor, 111 against and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina&#8217;s Congress on Thursday approved a bill promoted by libertarian President Javier Milei that eases protections on glaciers to facilitate investments in mining for metals — a move that environmental groups vow to challenge in courts. The legislation, approved by the Senate in February, was passed with 137 votes in favor, 111 against and three abstentions. According to mining sector estimates, the new regulatory framework could unlock over $30 billion in investments over the next decade. Approximately 70% of those funds are slated for new copper, gold and silver projects. Milei is expected to sign the legislation in the coming days. On his X account, Milei shared a statement from his party hailing the new framework as a “significant improvement” that will help “strike a balance between environmental protection and economic development, moving away from an approach that tended to stifle investment, job creation and growth.” Environmental advocates are shifting to legal action to prevent the law from taking effect. Groups including Greenpeace and the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation are organizing a public class-action lawsuit describing the bill’s passage as a flawed process that dismissed public concerns over water safety. “If they refuse to listen in Congress, they will be forced to listen in the courts,” the organizations said in a statement, urging citizens to join a lawsuit that argues the reform threatens water access and the fragile ecosystems surrounding glaciers. Opposition lawmakers have labeled the legislation unconstitutional, contending that it rolls back essential environmental protections. Mining Secretary Luis Lucero told&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/argentina-approves-mileis-bill-that-eases-protections-for-glaciers-despite-environmental-backlash/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Invasive plant drives ecological change in America’s gigantic Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/invasive-plant-drives-ecological-change-in-americas-gigantic-selway-bitterroot-wilderness-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/invasive-plant-drives-ecological-change-in-americas-gigantic-selway-bitterroot-wilderness-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 17:08:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lyle Lewis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09162539/SelwayBitterrootWilderness_LittleRockCreekLakeAndElCapitan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317142</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Invasive Species, Plants, Protected Areas, and Temperate Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness was part of the original class of lands designated under the United States’ 1964 Wilderness Act: 1.3 million acres, or about 526,000 hectares, of steep river canyons, cold subalpine ridges, dense forest, and weather so unforgiving it shapes everything that survives there. It remains one of the most remote places in the [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[The Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness was part of the original class of lands designated under the United States’ 1964 Wilderness Act: 1.3 million acres, or about 526,000 hectares, of steep river canyons, cold subalpine ridges, dense forest, and weather so unforgiving it shapes everything that survives there. It remains one of the most remote places in the continental U.S. The Selway offers a window into a broader global pattern: ecosystems that appear intact from afar are already being structurally reshaped by invasive species, climate change and hidden biodiversity loss. The idea of “untouched wilderness” persists in our imagination, but ecologically, it is no longer true. Its remoteness is literal. Trails disappear under the brush that regrows faster than crews can cut it. Fire and blowdowns reshape entire drainages in a year. Maps may show routes, but the land often says otherwise. Without intervention, trails vanish, reclaimed by vegetation and gravity. I know this because I’ve spent days clearing them. By 2016, roughly half the trails shown on topographic maps were already impassable, in a failure for recreation but a quiet triumph for wildlife. There are square miles of habitat here that likely haven’t seen a human in decades. The Selway River is one of the most technically demanding whitewater runs in North America. Rafts flip, boats wrap, and accidents turn fatal almost every year. People call it wilderness because it feels like one. But feeling wild and intact functioning are not the same thing. One of the largest elk herds in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/invasive-plant-drives-ecological-change-in-americas-gigantic-selway-bitterroot-wilderness-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Creating the North Atlantic’s largest MPA network: Interview with Azores President José Manuel Bolieiro</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/creating-the-north-atlantics-largest-mpa-network-interview-with-azores-president-jose-manuel-bolieiro/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/creating-the-north-atlantics-largest-mpa-network-interview-with-azores-president-jose-manuel-bolieiro/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 15:27:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maria José Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/08153215/a.-BANNER-%C2%A9gianfrs-iNaturalist-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317158</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Europe, European Union, and Portugal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Marine, Marine Biodiversity, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[José Manuel Bolieiro says he’s been an environmentalist for as long as he can remember. He recalls captivating encounters with marine life as a teenager while diving in the North Atlantic waters of his native São Miguel, one of the nine islands that make up the Portuguese-administered Azores archipelago. The gaze of the moray eel [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[José Manuel Bolieiro says he’s been an environmentalist for as long as he can remember. He recalls captivating encounters with marine life as a teenager while diving in the North Atlantic waters of his native São Miguel, one of the nine islands that make up the Portuguese-administered Azores archipelago. The gaze of the moray eel remains etched in his memory: “It&#8217;s impressive because it watches us vigilantly, without aggression,” he tells Mongabay. Bolieiro’s early interactions with the ocean proved formative. A member of the Social Democratic Party, Bolieiro is a former mayor of Ponta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores, and has served as president of the regional government of the Azores since 2020, championing the establishment of a remarkable network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the biodiverse waters around the archipelago. The region is home to numerous species of dolphins and whales, sharks and turtles, and rich in corals, hydrothermal vent ecosystems and seamounts. The previous government of the Azores, which is run as an autonomous region of Portugal, had set a goal of protecting 15% of the archipelago’s waters. But Bolieiro dreamed bigger: He sought marine protection covering 30% by 2030. In 2024, the regional parliament approved legislation for the new Azores Marine Protected Areas Network, and it came into force on Jan. 1 of this year. At 287,000 square kilometers (110,800 square miles) — more than three times the land area of Portugal — it’s now the largest MPA network in the North Atlantic Ocean.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/creating-the-north-atlantics-largest-mpa-network-interview-with-azores-president-jose-manuel-bolieiro/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Invasives take over native plant spaces in Nepal’s cities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/invasives-take-over-native-plant-spaces-in-nepals-cities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/invasives-take-over-native-plant-spaces-in-nepals-cities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 13:25:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bibek Bhandari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09131111/Ageratum_houstonianum_-_Humber_Arboretum-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317276</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Crisis, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Habitat Degradation, Invasive Species, Plants, Research, urban ecology, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Until a few decades ago, botanist Bharat Babu Shrestha observed abundant growth of Indian pennywort (Centella asiatica) across large areas of Kathmandu. But the low-growing herb, distinguished by its kidney-shaped leaves and medicinal properties in the traditional Ayurveda, is now gradually vanishing from Nepal’s capital. Its disappearance has been attributed to shrinking open [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Until a few decades ago, botanist Bharat Babu Shrestha observed abundant growth of Indian pennywort (Centella asiatica) across large areas of Kathmandu. But the low-growing herb, distinguished by its kidney-shaped leaves and medicinal properties in the traditional Ayurveda, is now gradually vanishing from Nepal’s capital. Its disappearance has been attributed to shrinking open spaces, and largely due to the spread of another plant species creeping across Kathmandu: Crofton weed (Ageratina adenophora), locally known as kaalo banmara. The various species within the family of banmara — meaning “forest destroyer” in Nepali — the dense shrub with multi-colored flowers, with roots in Central and South America, is displacing many native species. “There has been no qualitative assessment in Kathmandu, but our observations show that our native vegetation has been dominated and displaced by many invasive species,” said Shrestha, a botany professor at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. “Our research in Nepal’s Parsa and Shuklaphanta national parks have concluded that invasive species have reduced almost half of the native species in those regions, indicating similar impacts in Kathmandu.” In Kathmandu, Crofton weed; the common lantana (Lantana camara), locally called kaade banmara; Santa Maria feverfew (parthenium weed, Parthenium hysterophorus), known as pati jhaar in Nepali; and blue billy goat weed (Ageratum houstonianum), locally called neelo gandhe, are said to be the dominant invasive species, according to experts. Shrestha said that species such as the common lantana or the polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya), which is native to Madagascar, have become popular ornamental plants in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/invasives-take-over-native-plant-spaces-in-nepals-cities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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