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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/erosion/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2026 16:26:56 +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>News on Erosion</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/erosion/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Sea level rise is ruining coastal Bangladesh with salty water (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sea-level-rise-is-ruining-coastal-bangladesh-with-salty-water-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sea-level-rise-is-ruining-coastal-bangladesh-with-salty-water-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2026 17:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[AL Sharia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/01160010/Bangladesh-salt-water-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322217</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Justice, Coastal Ecosystems, Commentary, Drinking Water, Erosion, Flooding, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, Natural Resources, Oceans, Pollution, Public Health, Sea Levels, Social Justice, Water, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every morning, before the sun has fully risen over the tidal flats of Satkhira in southwest Bangladesh, women begin walking. They walk two kilometers, sometimes five (about 1.2 to 3.1 miles) and sometimes more, carrying empty vessels that they will fill with water fit for drinking. Then they walk back. Then, some days, they walk [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every morning, before the sun has fully risen over the tidal flats of Satkhira in southwest Bangladesh, women begin walking. They walk two kilometers, sometimes five (about 1.2 to 3.1 miles) and sometimes more, carrying empty vessels that they will fill with water fit for drinking. Then they walk back. Then, some days, they walk again. A UNDP study found that women in coastal Bangladesh spend up to six hours a day on this task alone, six hours that cannot be spent earning, learning or caring for their children, and this is not even a drought zone. This is one of the largest deltas on Earth. The women walk past rivers, channels and flooded fields. The water is everywhere, and none of it is safe. Approximately 20 million people along Bangladesh’s coast cannot safely drink the water that surrounds them. Yet, a UNDP survey found that 73% of residents in five coastal sub-districts of Satkhira consume saline water every single day. The crisis does not make the front pages of international newspapers the way droughts in East Africa or floods in Pakistan tend to. It is slow, structural and unglamorous, which is precisely why it has been allowed to continue for this long. A woman collects water from a pond about 1 km from her home in Shyamnagara, Satkhira district, Bangladesh. Image courtesy of Abu Siddique/Dialogue Earth. The intrusion of saltwater into Bangladesh’s coastal mainland is not simply a consequence of rising seas, though the seas are certainly rising. Studies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sea-level-rise-is-ruining-coastal-bangladesh-with-salty-water-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sea-level-rise-is-ruining-coastal-bangladesh-with-salty-water-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322217</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>19,000 Great Pyramids a year: Report flags unsustainable rate of sand mining</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/19000-great-pyramids-a-year-report-flags-unsustainable-rate-of-sand-mining/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/19000-great-pyramids-a-year-report-flags-unsustainable-rate-of-sand-mining/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 May 2026 17:33:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/18095047/WWF-Viet-Nam_Sand-Extraction-Mekong-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319631</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Coastal Ecosystems, Dredging, Ecosystems, Environment, Erosion, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Governance, Infrastructure, Mining, Rivers, Supply Chain, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sand is the most widely extracted solid material on Earth. The global sand mining industry removes roughly 50 billion metric tons of it a year, a pace that far outstrips the planet’s natural replenishment rates, according to a new report from the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). Excessive sand extraction from landscapes, rivers and coastal zones [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sand is the most widely extracted solid material on Earth. The global sand mining industry removes roughly 50 billion metric tons of it a year, a pace that far outstrips the planet’s natural replenishment rates, according to a new report from the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). Excessive sand extraction from landscapes, rivers and coastal zones threatens ecosystems, livelihoods and many processes on which life depends, the report says. Yet the current pace of removal — enough to build more than 19,000 Great Pyramids of Giza — is only set to grow, with demand for buildings alone expected to rise 45% by 2060. Without coordinated governance, stronger monitoring and long-term planning to mitigate the risks of surging global demand, the industry will continue operating at an unsustainable level, the authors say. The report, published by UNEP’s Global Resource Information Database Geneva (GRID-Geneva) team, calls on industry stakeholders to improve extraction practices to use sand more wisely by balancing meeting demand with environmental protection. Sand is used to make concrete to build everything from homes and offices to roads and seawalls. It’s also used to manufacture glass and silicon-based components like electronic chips and solar panels. “Sand is sometimes referred as the unrecognized hero of development,” Pascal Peduzzi, director of UNEP’s GRID-Geneva program, said in a press release. However, its role in sustaining biodiversity and coastal communities already vulnerable to the impacts of environmental change is too often overlooked, he added. “Sand is our first line of defence against sea level rise,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/19000-great-pyramids-a-year-report-flags-unsustainable-rate-of-sand-mining/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/19000-great-pyramids-a-year-report-flags-unsustainable-rate-of-sand-mining/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319631</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Indonesia, a coastal vine used as medicine now signals ecological decline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-indonesia-a-coastal-vine-used-as-medicine-now-signals-ecological-decline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-indonesia-a-coastal-vine-used-as-medicine-now-signals-ecological-decline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 11:34:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christopel Paino]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09111444/Ipomoea-pes-caprae-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317249</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sulawesi, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Erosion, Flowers, Marine Conservation, Medicinal Plants, Oceans, Plants, and Traditional Medicine]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SUMALATA, Indonesia — Following encounters while diving, Gusnar Ismail has long turned to the morning glory plants growing on sandbanks here on the north of Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island. “When I get stung or stabbed by an animal in the sea, I’ll go straight away to look for batata to use as medicine,” Gusnar told Mongabay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SUMALATA, Indonesia — Following encounters while diving, Gusnar Ismail has long turned to the morning glory plants growing on sandbanks here on the north of Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island. “When I get stung or stabbed by an animal in the sea, I’ll go straight away to look for batata to use as medicine,” Gusnar told Mongabay Indonesia on March 14. Around the world, coastal communities have long self-medicated with what Gusnar calls batata to treat common ailments. The fast-growing batata vine (Ipomoea pes-caprae), commonly known as beach morning glory or bayhops, scrambles across beach dunes, unfurling fuchsia flowers throughout the tropics. Aboriginal societies have gathered the shoots and leaves to treat stings in waters off what is now Australia. In India, the plant is a ceremonial ingredient in countering evil spirits. Researchers from South Korea in a study published in 2022 in the journal Marine Drugs found an array of applications from beach morning glory around the world’s tropical and subtropical coastlines. “The dried leaves of the plant are used to treat arthritis in Nigeria, while the young leaves are boiled in coconut oil to treat sores in Indonesia,” the researchers noted. Beach morning glory is an abundant and resilient vine that carpets tropical beaches around the world. But where coastlines are upended by plantations, sand mining, infrastructure or heavy erosion, the green shoots and purple flowers can disappear from shorelines. “I&#8217;ve been observing the disappearance of coastal batata for a long time,” Gusnar told Mongabay Indonesia. Here on the northern&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-indonesia-a-coastal-vine-used-as-medicine-now-signals-ecological-decline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-indonesia-a-coastal-vine-used-as-medicine-now-signals-ecological-decline/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317249</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A &#8216;new baseline&#8217;: Study captures accelerating sea-level rise in Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-baseline-study-captures-accelerating-sea-level-rise-in-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-baseline-study-captures-accelerating-sea-level-rise-in-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jan 2026 20:35:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/30190306/5-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313548</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Benin, Cameroon, Central Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, data, El Nino, Environment, Erosion, Flooding, Freshwater, Global Warming, Ice Shelves, Oceans, Sea Levels, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sea-level rise has accelerated across Africa in recent decades, thanks to global warming and, in particular, to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a recent study. The study, published Dec. 15 in the journal Communications Earth &#38; Environment, found that sea levels across the continent have risen four times faster since 2010, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sea-level rise has accelerated across Africa in recent decades, thanks to global warming and, in particular, to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a recent study. The study, published Dec. 15 in the journal Communications Earth &amp; Environment, found that sea levels across the continent have risen four times faster since 2010, on average, than they had in the 1990s. The primary reason was additional water mass from polar melt, rather than other phenomena that can cause sea-level rise, the authors found. “When you have ice-free summer [at high latitudes], it means that the water went somewhere,” Franck Ghomsi, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba in Canada and lead author of the study, told Mongabay. “The glacier moved from ice to water, and it [water] started migrating. And it is the tropics [that] are now … getting this outflow of water.” The impacts include flooding, erosion of coastal land, displacement of coastal communities and intrusion of salty seawater into freshwater drinking sources. People in Africa are responsible for only a tiny proportion of human-caused global warming and yet face severe effects from the resulting sea-level rise, said Ghomsi, who is from Cameroon, calling this a “climate injustice.” He said that emissions from countries in the Global North are having a “huge impact” on countries in the Global South, including in Africa. Monthly sea level for Africa from 1993-2023. Annual means are shown in red. Sea-level rise accelerated over the 31-year period, with the rate during&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-baseline-study-captures-accelerating-sea-level-rise-in-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-baseline-study-captures-accelerating-sea-level-rise-in-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313548</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Collapses of Amazon riverbanks threaten communities and shipping routes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/collapses-of-amazon-riverbanks-threaten-communities-and-shipping-routes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/collapses-of-amazon-riverbanks-threaten-communities-and-shipping-routes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2025 17:29:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[André Schröder]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/14215034/001_terrascaidas_manacapuru_SGB-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311297</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Drought, Education, Environment, Erosion, Infrastructure, Ports, Rainforests, Rivers, Shipping, Threats To Rainforests, and Transportation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Erosion is natural along Amazonian rivers, but increasing boat traffic can raise the risk of bank collapse.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the afternoon of Oct. 7, 2024, a section of banks along the Solimões River abruptly collapsed at the port of Manacapuru in Brazil’s Amazonas state. The resulting crater was the size of two soccer fields and as deep as 20 meters (65 feet). The collapse killed two people and shut down the port, a regional hub for moving goods and passengers about 160 kilometers (100 miles) upstream from the state capital, Manaus. Investigations later identified an erosion process known as terras caídas — literally “fallen lands” — a natural phenomenon observed along fast-flowing rivers across the Amazon Basin. During the dry season, when water levels drop sharply, riverbanks become tall, exposed walls, particularly vulnerable at river bends, where the waters can more easily dig their base and destabilize the terrain. At Manacapuru, however, human interventions on the riverbank contributed to the collapse. A report by Brazil’s federal geological agency, SGB, obtained by Mongabay shows that the river port was built directly on a bend of the Solimões (the name used in Brazil for the upper stretch of the Amazon River). The document states that walls and embankments further weakened the riverbank, which could no longer support its own weight amid the river’s low water level. “We need to be more careful when choosing where to build ports along Amazonian rivers,” Elton Andretta, a geoscience researcher at SGB, told Mongabay by phone. “Brazil already has satellite imagery and other technologies to monitor Amazonian rivers and identify risks. More conscious use&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/collapses-of-amazon-riverbanks-threaten-communities-and-shipping-routes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/collapses-of-amazon-riverbanks-threaten-communities-and-shipping-routes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311297</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s giant Java seawall plan sparks criticism &#038; calls for alternatives</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesias-giant-java-seawall-plan-sparks-criticism-calls-for-alternatives/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesias-giant-java-seawall-plan-sparks-criticism-calls-for-alternatives/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Sep 2025 01:30:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/10115229/6-Indonesian-village-rising-tidal-floodwaters-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305716</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, East Java, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, Tropics, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Deforestation, Disasters, Environment, Erosion, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Flooding, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Nature-based climate solutions, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Overfishing, Sea Levels, Solutions, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has set up a new authority to build a massive seawall along the north coast of Java, a project aimed at shielding millions of residents from flooding and sinking land, but observers reject it as a true solution while highlighting risks, elite bias and lack of consultation. The president on Aug. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has set up a new authority to build a massive seawall along the north coast of Java, a project aimed at shielding millions of residents from flooding and sinking land, but observers reject it as a true solution while highlighting risks, elite bias and lack of consultation. The president on Aug. 25 officiated the formation of the North Java Coast Management Authority to oversee the construction of a 700-kilometer (435-mile) seawall from Banten to Gresik, aimed at protecting 20 million coastal residents from erosion, tidal flooding and land subsidence. The $80 billion project will cover planning, financing and construction, with officials hoping to attract investors while addressing environmental and social impacts. Prabowo appointed retired Vice Admiral Didit Herdiawan Ashaf, who’s currently the vice fisheries minister, to lead the new government agency, with Darwin Djajawinata and Suhajar Diantoro serving as vice chairs. The agency will oversee planning, financing and construction of the seawall, addressing environmental and social considerations, and its head can adjust plans as needed. “Why two vice chairs? Because managing the North Coast (Pantura) will inevitably involve investment. One vice chair was appointed from Danantara. The other represents the government, specifically the Ministry of Home Affairs, given that this project will span five provinces on Java Island,” State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi told reporters in Jakarta as quoted by local media Tempo. &nbsp; Tidal floodwaters engulf Timbulsloko village. Image by Nuswantoro/Mongabay Indonesia. A 2023 study found that major northern Javan cities, including Jakarta, Pekalongan, Semarang and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesias-giant-java-seawall-plan-sparks-criticism-calls-for-alternatives/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesias-giant-java-seawall-plan-sparks-criticism-calls-for-alternatives/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305716</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A forest garden project attempts to expand into the Sahel</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-forest-garden-project-attempts-to-expand-into-the-sahel/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-forest-garden-project-attempts-to-expand-into-the-sahel/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2025 06:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/24214056/20231115_UNEP_Decade-on-Ecosystem-Restoration_African-Farmers-Transforming-Food-System_Senegal_Todd-Brown_14-e1753393737352-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303161</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Mali, Sahel, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Climate Change, Conservation, Crops, Degraded Lands, Drought, Dry Forests, Erosion, Extreme Weather, Farming, Food, Hunger, Land Use Change, Monocultures, Natural Resources, Plants, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Reforestation, Trees, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Drought, irregular rainfall, deforestation, and the legacy of unsustainable human activities have left vast areas across the arid and semiarid regions of sub-Saharan Africa degraded, causing major challenges for the human population. According to environmentalists, one solution to this problem might be forest gardens. These “gardens” use regenerative agroforestry to revive patches of degraded agricultural [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Drought, irregular rainfall, deforestation, and the legacy of unsustainable human activities have left vast areas across the arid and semiarid regions of sub-Saharan Africa degraded, causing major challenges for the human population. According to environmentalists, one solution to this problem might be forest gardens. These “gardens” use regenerative agroforestry to revive patches of degraded agricultural land. In 2024, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) selected a project led by Trees for the Future (TREES), a U.S.-based NGO, as one of seven world restoration flagships for its “forest garden approach” used in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These flagships promote restoration projects around the world that show potential to tackle challenges at scale and provide financial support. “Forest gardens promote healthy soil and diverse crops, leading to increased income and access to healthier food,” Enoch Makobi, country director for TREES in Uganda, told Mongabay. “Farmers are fighting climate change and can overcome poverty and hunger.” While NGO leaders say they’re optimistic about the outcomes of the project so far and their plans for expansion, some other conservationists have expressed skepticism, pointing to a lack of scientific evidence on impacts and the difficulty international NGOs face in tackling local problems and needs. A forest garden is a modern term for an ancient agroforestry model that mixes shrubs, herbs, vines, fruit and nut trees, and perennial vegetables, with the aim of supplying communities with food, medicine and animal feed. According to scientists, forest gardens can have significant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-forest-garden-project-attempts-to-expand-into-the-sahel/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-forest-garden-project-attempts-to-expand-into-the-sahel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303161</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In an ancient Javanese sultanate, coastal women battle climate fallout</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/in-an-ancient-javanese-sultanate-coastal-women-battle-climate-fallout/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/in-an-ancient-javanese-sultanate-coastal-women-battle-climate-fallout/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2025 02:55:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Irfan Maulana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/15075217/Women-in-Timbul-Seloko-Village-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297543</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conservation, Environment, Erosion, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Gender, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Overfishing, Sea Levels, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DEMAK, Indonesia — The Java Sea has pursued Sunarti for years, first submerging her birthplace in Timbulsloko village, before forcing the mother of two to flee inland on the northern coast of Demak district in Indonesia’s Central Java province. “I became unemployed,” the 53-year-old told Mongabay Indonesia. “The crops we planted wouldn’t grow. I asked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DEMAK, Indonesia — The Java Sea has pursued Sunarti for years, first submerging her birthplace in Timbulsloko village, before forcing the mother of two to flee inland on the northern coast of Demak district in Indonesia’s Central Java province. “I became unemployed,” the 53-year-old told Mongabay Indonesia. “The crops we planted wouldn’t grow. I asked God, ‘Why is my life like this?’” As each year passed, brackish water claimed more of the Demak coast, flooding the fields and fishponds in this farming district of 1.2 million people. The water invaded homes and places of business after breaching flood defenses built by communities to hold back the tide. When floodwater intruded into cemeteries, families confronted grief for their loved ones once again. “The water gradually rose up and the roads were submerged,” Sunarti said. “In the end, my father and I went to Semarang on a bicycle.” Sunarti’s new start in Indonesia’s sixth-largest city, a busy port of almost 2 million people, at first involved casual work peeling onions and laboring on construction sites. Later, the mother of two trained to work in the fisheries sector. However, most fishers on Java’s north coast, a region known as Pantura, are themselves struggling to adapt to changes at sea off the world’s most populous island. Mongabay reporting has documented Pantura’s fishers sailing ever farther from home just to sustain a living, as the costs of doing business mount. Overfishing has pushed many fisheries to the brink of collapse or beyond, but research shows&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/in-an-ancient-javanese-sultanate-coastal-women-battle-climate-fallout/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297543</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh witnesses coastal erosion, salinization as tourism crushes a flowering creeper</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/bangladesh-witnesses-coastal-erosion-salinization-as-tourism-tramples-a-flowering-vine/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/bangladesh-witnesses-coastal-erosion-salinization-as-tourism-tramples-a-flowering-vine/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2025 09:07:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Khadijatul Kobra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/08124025/Beach-Morning-Glory-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297180</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Erosion, Flowers, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Plants, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The once-common beach morning glory vines (Ipomoea pes-caprae) have slowly been disappearing from Cox’s Bazar beach in southeastern Bangladesh, especially at the more popular tourist destinations like Laboni, Kolatoli and Sugandha beach points. Experts and studies indicate excessive footfall on the beach — which is destroying the coastal ecosystem — is leading to the morning [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The once-common beach morning glory vines (Ipomoea pes-caprae) have slowly been disappearing from Cox’s Bazar beach in southeastern Bangladesh, especially at the more popular tourist destinations like Laboni, Kolatoli and Sugandha beach points. Experts and studies indicate excessive footfall on the beach — which is destroying the coastal ecosystem — is leading to the morning glory decline in Cox’s Bazar. However, the plant is still doing well in Daryanagar, Himchari, Inani and Teknaf beaches to some extent, where tourism is comparatively less. And their existence here is critical. The absence of the flowery creeper in the populated spots has made the sandbar fragile, which has resulted in frequent erosions, affecting the ecology. According to research, beach morning glory is one of the common vegetation types on Bangladesh’s beachy coasts. The plant plays an important role in forming dunes by trapping airborne sedimentation. Sand dunes conserve food and provide shelter for crustaceans, birds and small insects and coastal animals. They also play a role in preventing tidal surges and floods. They keep the structure of the beach sand intact, and coastal fauna depend heavily on them. Although seemingly small, their role is essential in protecting the ecosystem of the beach. M. Shahidul Islam, environmental science and geography professor at the University of Dhaka, says, “The species is very effective in protecting beach areas from soil erosion and helping the environment recover. It can grow in sandy soil with very few nutrients and needs little water. It can also survive in high&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/bangladesh-witnesses-coastal-erosion-salinization-as-tourism-tramples-a-flowering-vine/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/bangladesh-witnesses-coastal-erosion-salinization-as-tourism-tramples-a-flowering-vine/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297180</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Ethiopian farmers blend tradition, innovation to sustain centuries-old agriculture</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ethiopian-farmers-blend-tradition-innovation-to-sustain-centuries-old-agriculture-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ethiopian-farmers-blend-tradition-innovation-to-sustain-centuries-old-agriculture-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2025 16:42:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Solomon Yimer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/20214205/20241118_151834-1-e1742914954591-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296412</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate Change, Culture, Environment, Erosion, Farming, Flooding, Food, food security, Freshwater, Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KONSO, Ethiopia — As the first light of the morning sun breaks over the hills of Konso, Kawadaya Oldisha, 45, begins his daily routine of inspecting his terraced fields. His family’s small plot, located on the steep slopes of this UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Ethiopia, is where they grow millet, beans and various [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KONSO, Ethiopia — As the first light of the morning sun breaks over the hills of Konso, Kawadaya Oldisha, 45, begins his daily routine of inspecting his terraced fields. His family’s small plot, located on the steep slopes of this UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Ethiopia, is where they grow millet, beans and various fruits. For more than two decades, Kawadaya has relied on dry-stone terracing, a 400-year-old agricultural technique passed down through generations. It’s what has allowed the people of Konso turn their rugged, erosion-prone land into fertile fields. “It’s how we’ve survived,” Kawadaya says. “Our land is steep and rocky, but we’ve learned to make every inch count. Here, every piece of land is valuable.” In recent years, climate change has made farming more challenging for Kawadaya and other farmers in the region. Prolonged droughts have reduced crop yields, while extreme rainfall has washed away vital soil and nutrients, threatening both the land’s fertility and their livelihoods. “The land isn&#8217;t what it used to be,” Kawadaya says. “The rains are unpredictable — either too little or too much, coming too early or too late. Every year it becomes harder to grow enough food for my family.” Last year, Kawadaya lost half of his crops due to floods, and the year before, drought dried out the plants before they could even grow. Yimer Mohammed Assen is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn in Germany and lead author of a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ethiopian-farmers-blend-tradition-innovation-to-sustain-centuries-old-agriculture-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296412</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In a Noah’s Ark move, PNG migrants bring thousands of trees to safer ground</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/in-a-noahs-ark-move-png-climate-migrants-bring-thousands-of-trees-to-safer-ground/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/in-a-noahs-ark-move-png-climate-migrants-bring-thousands-of-trees-to-safer-ground/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2024 17:25:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Thibault Le Pivain]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/21170737/Carterets-outrigger-e1732209528515-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290430</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Pacific Ocean, Papua, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Erosion, Human Migration, Medicinal Plants, Migration, Plants, Sea Levels, Traditional Medicine, Trees, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOUGAINVILLE, Papua New Guinea — The climate is changing, science shows. And according to some estimates, it could create anywhere between 200 million and 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050. As people flee floods, failed harvests, dried rivers or destroyed homes, what becomes of the ecosystems they leave behind? Of the wildlife, trees and endemic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOUGAINVILLE, Papua New Guinea — The climate is changing, science shows. And according to some estimates, it could create anywhere between 200 million and 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050. As people flee floods, failed harvests, dried rivers or destroyed homes, what becomes of the ecosystems they leave behind? Of the wildlife, trees and endemic species? In the southwestern Pacific, people are bringing much of this biodiversity along with them. The residents of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea are responding to climate threats by moving not only themselves to safer ground — but also the plants and trees that sustain their way of life. In their move, they have transplanted hundreds of specimens, representing dozens of species, across a small stretch of ocean. “We’re not just leaving. We’re trying to bring a part of our islands with us,” says Maria Kamin, who left the Carteret Islands to relocate with other families in response to rising sea levels. They’ve moved to Bougainville, another island part of the country. In their new home, this vegetation, combined with local flora, have helped establish a thriving forest of 175,000 trees and plants. During this “green migration,” residents tell Mongabay they hope to preserve not only the biodiversity of their native islands as conditions worsen, but also their culture and sense of place. Maria Kamin walks in the forest in Bougainville which villagers planted using tree species brought over from the Carteret Island. Image by Thibault Le Pivain. Carrying home forward Few people&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/in-a-noahs-ark-move-png-climate-migrants-bring-thousands-of-trees-to-safer-ground/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290430</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why I quit the film industry to work on ecological restoration (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/why-i-quit-the-film-industry-to-work-on-ecological-restoration-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/why-i-quit-the-film-industry-to-work-on-ecological-restoration-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2024 18:58:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John D. Liu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/12174551/restoration-in-Spain-1-768x392.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287373</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, East Asia, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Commentary, Conservation, Desertification, Ecosystems, Environment, Erosion, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Landscape Restoration, Natural Resources, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I&#8217;ve spent a significant part of my career exploring and documenting how ecosystems function, and the profound impact humanity has on nature. Over time, I&#8217;ve come to recognize that not only is the way we treat the environment critically flawed, but so too is our current economic system. Conventional economic theories, like Keynesian economics, focus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I&#8217;ve spent a significant part of my career exploring and documenting how ecosystems function, and the profound impact humanity has on nature. Over time, I&#8217;ve come to recognize that not only is the way we treat the environment critically flawed, but so too is our current economic system. Conventional economic theories, like Keynesian economics, focus on transactions — the buying and selling of goods — as the primary measure of wealth. They insist that to prosper, societies must continually extract more resources, manufacture more products, and engage in more commercial activities — it’s all about ‘growth.’ However, there&#8217;s a fundamental problem with this approach: it overlooks the intrinsic value of nature. True wealth is not found in the commodities we trade, but in the functionality and health of our ecosystems. These provide us with “services” like clean air, water and fertile soil, which are the real foundations of our economy and very survival. Unlike the limited and often destructive traditional economic model, we must foster an economy that places higher value on natural systems and benefits all life — not just the interests of the 1%. Climate breakdown and biodiversity loss affect us all in the end. No one will be immune if we run out of soil to produce food, or clean water to drink. Ecological restoration work on Redonda Island, Antigua and Barbuda. Image courtesy of Olivier Raynaud/Environmental Awareness Group. Whose responsibility is it to make change? When I was setting up a CBS news bureau in China&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/why-i-quit-the-film-industry-to-work-on-ecological-restoration-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287373</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2024 22:31:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christ BelseranEdison Waas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/03184510/Farid-Samalehu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280596</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Disasters, Environment, Erosion, Governance, Industry, Islands, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Oceans, public lands, and Sea Levels]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SERAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Samadin Samalehu paced up and down the beach in Haya village this past January, gathering human remains into a plastic bag. A heavy rain had begun and the onshore breeze gathered strength as morning broke and Samadin collected femur bones, ribs and a skull. He darted into the shore break to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SERAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Samadin Samalehu paced up and down the beach in Haya village this past January, gathering human remains into a plastic bag. A heavy rain had begun and the onshore breeze gathered strength as morning broke and Samadin collected femur bones, ribs and a skull. He darted into the shore break to pick up a bone before it was snatched by the tide here in Indonesia’s Maluku province. “There are probably around 20 graves that have been damaged,” Samadin, a caretaker at the Tutuni public cemetery, told Mongabay Indonesia. “Some are also missing.” Like many seaside communities in the world’s largest archipelagic country, Haya village faces an uncertain future owing to erosion of its coastline. In Haya, the combined forces of currents, tide, wind and impact from storm surges have pushed back the coastline here by about 20 meters (66 feet). A study published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2018 found that approximately 28,000 square kilometers (11,000 square miles) of land had been eroded by coastal abrasion globally, an area 10 times the size of Hong Kong. Further research in the same journal in 2020 projected that losses from extreme coastal flooding would soon accelerate, and that sea level rises would “radically redefine the coastline of the 21st century.” However, residents of Haya village worry that the gradual forces causing their coastline to crumble have been stimulated by new demand for sand. The South Seram highway has collapsed due to abrasion and sea waves. Image by Edison&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280596</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As climate disasters claim their children, Bangladeshi mothers seek safety in bigger families</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/as-climate-disasters-claim-their-children-bangladeshi-mothers-seek-safety-in-bigger-families/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/as-climate-disasters-claim-their-children-bangladeshi-mothers-seek-safety-in-bigger-families/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Feb 2024 11:23:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mahadi Al Hasnat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/16112141/bangladesh-flood-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278921</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Change, Community Development, Disasters, Environment, Erosion, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Gender, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, Poverty, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA — Jhinuk recalls screaming as water rushed into her hut in northeastern Bangladesh last August. “Four children clung, two stumbling toddlers. Fear choked me, air like ice, but I held them high, defying the hungry tide,” she says. But it wasn’t to last: “One tiny hand slipped from my grasp.&#8221; In another account from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA — Jhinuk recalls screaming as water rushed into her hut in northeastern Bangladesh last August. “Four children clung, two stumbling toddlers. Fear choked me, air like ice, but I held them high, defying the hungry tide,” she says. But it wasn’t to last: “One tiny hand slipped from my grasp.&#8221; In another account from Jamalpur district, Ranu Akter remembers being so busy with housework that she didn’t notice her 7-year-old son playing in floodwater. “I didn&#8217;t notice him, and the floodwaters carried him away.&#8221; She adds, &#8220;Fear of losing children is a constant here,&#8221; noting that children also succumb to post-flood disease outbreaks arising from unhealthy environments. Now, citing heavy hearts and a desire for security, Jhinuk and Ranu say they dream of growing their families, hoping for strength in the face of an uncertain future. Research published in the journal Nature this past January suggests that Bangladeshi women in climate-sensitive regions, women like Jhinuk and Ranu, may be having larger families as insurance against increasingly deadly extreme weather events. Citing the threat of losing children to climate disasters, mothers in cyclone- and flood-prone areas are defying traditional family-planning trends, choosing to have more children as a shield against hardship, the study says. &#8220;Having more children, especially sons, gives them a sense of security,” says study co-author Shah Md. Atiqul Haq, a professor of sociology at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in the city of Sylhet. “They see larger families as a form of insurance against the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/as-climate-disasters-claim-their-children-bangladeshi-mothers-seek-safety-in-bigger-families/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278921</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dam-building on Mekong poses risk to regional industries, report says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/dam-building-on-mekong-poses-risk-to-regional-industries-report-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/dam-building-on-mekong-poses-risk-to-regional-industries-report-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2023 16:00:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/08154622/Banner-_-%C2%A9-WWF-Viet-Nam-_-Cham-Team_WW1269211-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275173</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Mekong Basin, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Dams, Ecosystems, Environment, Erosion, Fisheries, Food Prices, food security, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Industry, Infrastructure, Politics, Rice, Rivers, Supply Chain, Tropics, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Crucial industries and supply chains worth billions of dollars are threatened by impacts from hydropower development along the Mekong River, according to a new report from WWF. The report reveals how continued hydropower development along the major watercourse jeopardizes future economic growth in five vital sectors that underpin regional economies: energy production; fisheries and aquaculture; [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Crucial industries and supply chains worth billions of dollars are threatened by impacts from hydropower development along the Mekong River, according to a new report from WWF. The report reveals how continued hydropower development along the major watercourse jeopardizes future economic growth in five vital sectors that underpin regional economies: energy production; fisheries and aquaculture; rice production; sand and construction; and textiles and electronics. “The Mekong’s health is inextricably linked to multiple domestic and global supply chains, countless livelihoods, and the food security of more than 50 million people,” Lan Mercado, WWF Asia-Pacific regional director, said in a statement. “We must pivot towards a more sustainable and balanced approach.” Fisheries upon which millions of people depend for livelihoods and nutrition are among the key sectors examined in the WWF report. Image courtesy of Kelsey Hartman/WWF-Greater Mekong More than 160 hydropower dams operate along the Mekong River and its tributaries, which together drain an immense basin that spans six countries. Despite widespread criticism over their impacts on the environment and traditional livelihoods, hundreds more dams are either planned or under construction. “Maintaining the environmental integrity of the Mekong system has been overshadowed by an appetite for a narrow conception of economic growth,” the report says. “With development decisions proceeding at pace, often with limited or no integration or system-scale planning, the past 40 years have seen a major degradation of the Mekong.” Dwindling fish catches, unprecedented riverbank erosion, collapsing flooded forests, and a sinking delta are just some of the challenges&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/dam-building-on-mekong-poses-risk-to-regional-industries-report-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275173</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Nepal, Chepang take up the challenge to revive their cultural keystone tree</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2023 23:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/31164159/dhanikram-praja-chepang-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269264</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bats, Bees, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environmental Heroes, Erosion, Flowers, Indigenous Peoples, Meat, Traditional Knowledge, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SILINGE, Nepal — On a sunny afternoon, 70-year-old Dhanikram Praja squats on top of a hillock overlooking the lush green rows of trees dotting his farm, distinct from his other trees, which have already shed their leaves. The chiuri (Diploknema butyracea or Indian butter tree) saplings he planted three decades ago on his farm in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SILINGE, Nepal — On a sunny afternoon, 70-year-old Dhanikram Praja squats on top of a hillock overlooking the lush green rows of trees dotting his farm, distinct from his other trees, which have already shed their leaves. The chiuri (Diploknema butyracea or Indian butter tree) saplings he planted three decades ago on his farm in Silinge, central Nepal, are now in their full glory. “For Chepangs like us, the chiuri plant is everything,” said Nita Praja, Dhanikram’s grandaughter-in-law. Like Dhanikram, Nita is a member of the Chepang tribe, which has been living in Nepal’s hills in Chitwan, Makwanpur, Dhading and Gorkha for centuries. “We often talk about Chepang chiuri and chamero [bats], and the way they work together.” According to folklore, each member of the trio is necessary for the survival of the other two. The Chepang people are needed to look after the chiuri trees; the trees give the Chepang tribe butter, timber and fuelwood that they can sell or use; the bats pollinate the chiuri flowers to produce fruit and are also a traditional delicacy for the people. Prajwol and Nita Praja from the Chepang community with their chirui trees. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi/ Mongabay However, despite the role the trees play in their culture, growing chirui trees has fallen out of popularity and the community has seen a militarized conservation model restrict their access to protected areas, farmlands and resources. The community finds itself in dire need of additional livelihoods outside of protected areas and subsistence&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269264</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As tourism booms in India’s Western Ghats, habitat loss pushes endangered frogs to the edge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/as-tourism-booms-in-indias-western-ghats-habitat-loss-pushes-endangered-frogs-to-the-edge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/as-tourism-booms-in-indias-western-ghats-habitat-loss-pushes-endangered-frogs-to-the-edge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2023 23:15:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/22222354/Nasikabatrachus_sahyadrensis_Davidraju_IMG_3616-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268810</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Climate Change, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Erosion, Forests, Frogs, Global Warming, Green, Herps, Infrastructure, Mongabay Data Studio, Montane Forests, National Parks, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rivers, Roads, Species, Tourism, Tropical Forests, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nestled within the lofty Cardamom Hills, which forms part of the Western Ghats UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies the picturesque town of Munnar in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Lush green tea gardens carpet the rolling hills of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot, interspersed by coffee and cardamom plantations. Groves of eucalyptus, black [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nestled within the lofty Cardamom Hills, which forms part of the Western Ghats UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies the picturesque town of Munnar in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Lush green tea gardens carpet the rolling hills of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot, interspersed by coffee and cardamom plantations. Groves of eucalyptus, black wattle and acacia—trees grown for firewood and timber—are peppered within these plantations. Patches of shola forests—stunted tropical montane forests which once covered all these hills—lie scattered across the landscape as remnants of the past. Today, forests blanket just over half of Idukki, the district where Munnar is located, and are mostly found inside protected areas, including Eravikulam National Park, Anamudi Shola National Park, and Periyar National Park. The cloud-kissed hills and verdant valleys of idyllic Munnar beckon many wanderlusts with love for nature. But as tourism booms in the town and around, roads, electric lines and other infrastructure have mushroomed, and forested land is increasingly encroached upon to make way for more resorts and plantations. While protected areas provide a safe haven to charismatic animals, like the elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) that often wander into tea plantations or the endemic Nilgiri tahrs (Nilgiritragus hylocrius), tiny frogs and toads—often inconspicuous but highly diverse—are at risk of being lost in the shuffle. “Kerala is home to more than 200 species of amphibians, including frogs, toads as well as caecilians,” herpetologist Sandeep Das, who has studied the taxonomy and ecology of many amphibian species in the southern Western&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/as-tourism-booms-in-indias-western-ghats-habitat-loss-pushes-endangered-frogs-to-the-edge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/as-tourism-booms-in-indias-western-ghats-habitat-loss-pushes-endangered-frogs-to-the-edge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268810</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An Asian grass helps Mexican farmers build resilience to climate change</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/an-asian-grass-helps-mexican-farmers-build-resilience-to-climate-change/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/an-asian-grass-helps-mexican-farmers-build-resilience-to-climate-change/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2023 18:45:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandra Weiss]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/22184040/VetiverKeyline4-by-Estampa-Verde-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268819</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Erosion, food security, Impact Of Climate Change, Plantations, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAN ANDRES TUXTLA, Mexico —­­­­ &#8220;There are not many regions in Mexico that have been used for agriculture for about 4,000 years,&#8221; says environmentalist Antonio Carrillo as he walks along a dusty dirt road. It’s early morning in the Matacapan Valley in the state of Veracruz. The regular tropical rainfall and the fertile volcanic soil [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAN ANDRES TUXTLA, Mexico —­­­­ &#8220;There are not many regions in Mexico that have been used for agriculture for about 4,000 years,&#8221; says environmentalist Antonio Carrillo as he walks along a dusty dirt road. It’s early morning in the Matacapan Valley in the state of Veracruz. The regular tropical rainfall and the fertile volcanic soil have made this valley surrounded by green hills an agricultural paradise. In the past, Indigenous people grew food crops here; after the Spanish conquest, sugarcane and cotton were introduced. In the 19th century, tobacco became the most important cash crop, and remains so today. But like many other agricultural regions in Mexico, this fertile valley is threatened by climate change. Mexico&#8217;s rugged geography makes it particularly vulnerable to extreme events such as droughts and hurricanes, which are worsened by shifts in the climate. These further undermine the soil in the Matacapan Valley, which already suffers from erosion, as with most of the land in Mexico. Carrillo stops abruptly and kneels down next to a dirt wall bordering the path. He points at a dense network of light-brown roots, similar to a ball of wool, crowned by long, narrow, light-green grassy leaves, with a rough surface and a longitudinal notch: Chrysopogon zizanioides, commonly known as vetiver. &#8220;We planted vetiver here just a year ago,&#8221; he says. &#8220;And the roots are already 2 meters [6 feet] deep!&#8221; Carrillo testing the vetiver roots in a barrier next to a road used by trucks and heavily affected by erosion.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/an-asian-grass-helps-mexican-farmers-build-resilience-to-climate-change/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268819</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/robust-river-governance-key-to-restoring-mekong-river-vitality-in-face-of-dams/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/robust-river-governance-key-to-restoring-mekong-river-vitality-in-face-of-dams/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Mar 2023 16:12:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/30141735/communities-tonle-sap-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267045</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Mekong dams and Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Dams, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Erosion, Fish, Fishing, Flooding, food security, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Human Rights, Hydroelectric Power, Industry, Infrastructure, Politics, Rivers, Social Justice, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the second article in a Mongabay series focused on changes to the ecology and hydrology of the Mekong River. Read Part One. Niwat Roykaew, an environmental activist based in Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand, described the Mekong as a naga, a mythical water serpent and symbol of fertility that brings abundance to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second article in a Mongabay series focused on changes to the ecology and hydrology of the Mekong River. Read Part One. Niwat Roykaew, an environmental activist based in Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand, described the Mekong as a naga, a mythical water serpent and symbol of fertility that brings abundance to the entire region. The river, which flows across the borders of six countries, supports a vast array of ecosystems, irrigates farmlands with nutrient-laden floodwaters, transports stabilizing sediments downstream, and nourishes world-renowned fish populations that form the basis of much of the region’s food security. The river is also a vital part of the traditions and cultural practices of the people who live alongside it. But, Niwat said, a relentless procession of dam building has inflicted wound after wound on this ancient, but suffering, life force. “The river, as a living creature, feeds the people of the Mekong, but this naga is being slashed to pieces and its power diminished,” he told Mongabay. As the rate of hydropower development in the region continues to build in response to the global drive toward decarbonization, cracks in the region’s dated and limited river governance mechanisms are becoming ever more apparent. The competing interests of six countries, paired with a mindset that often prioritizes profit above protecting ecosystems and livelihoods downstream, has left a legacy of unilateral and piecemeal decision-making, creating enormous challenges for the watercourse and all who depend on it. Decision-makers now face the reality of managing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/robust-river-governance-key-to-restoring-mekong-river-vitality-in-face-of-dams/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267045</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As hydropower dams quell the Mekong’s life force, what are the costs?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/as-hydropower-dams-quell-the-mekongs-life-force-what-are-the-costs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/as-hydropower-dams-quell-the-mekongs-life-force-what-are-the-costs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Mar 2023 16:57:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/29154236/Fishers-pull-in-nets-on-Tonle-Sap-Lake-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266956</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Mekong dams and Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Dams, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Erosion, Fish, Fishing, Flooding, food security, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Human Rights, Hydroelectric Power, Industry, Infrastructure, Politics, Rivers, Social Justice, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first article in a Mongabay series focused on changes to the ecology and hydrology of the Mekong River. Read Part Two. The Mekong River carves a vast aquatic lifeline through Asia. Rising in glacial streams high in the Tibetan plateau, the river morphs as it tumbles south through rocky ravines, steep-sided valleys [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first article in a Mongabay series focused on changes to the ecology and hydrology of the Mekong River. Read Part Two. The Mekong River carves a vast aquatic lifeline through Asia. Rising in glacial streams high in the Tibetan plateau, the river morphs as it tumbles south through rocky ravines, steep-sided valleys and expansive flooded forests to the South China Sea. Its influence is immense: over its 4,350-kilometer (2,700-mile) course, the Mekong drains a basin spanning hundreds of tributaries and six countries: China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. But the scale of its epic proportions is far outweighed by the richness and diversity of life it sustains through its biodiverse ecosystems, unparalleled fisheries and fertile floodplains. Its vast biodiversity rivaled only by the Amazon, the Mekong’s muddy brown waters are a refuge for an array of extraordinary species, many of which occur nowhere else on the planet; from critically endangered Irrawaddy river dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) and Asian giant softshell turtles (Pelochelys cantorii) to Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) and the world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, the giant freshwater stingray (Urogymnus polylepis). With so much biodiversity, the river yields one-fifth of the world’s total freshwater fish catch every year. More than 1,000 types of freshwater fish migrate seasonally up and down the river, fueling wild fisheries that provide food security and livelihoods for tens of millions of people. The Jinghong Dam was built on the Lancang (Mekong) River in China. Image by International Rivers via Flickr (CC&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/as-hydropower-dams-quell-the-mekongs-life-force-what-are-the-costs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/as-hydropower-dams-quell-the-mekongs-life-force-what-are-the-costs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-266956</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Japan’s example: Can forest planting reduce climate disaster risk?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/japans-example-can-forest-planting-reduce-climate-disaster-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/japans-example-can-forest-planting-reduce-climate-disaster-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2022 15:42:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/15144210/19-New-saplings-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263679</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Afforestation, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Disasters, Ecosystems, Environment, Erosion, Extreme Weather, Flooding, forest degradation, Forestry, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Landscape Restoration, Monocultures, Plantations, Reforestation, Restoration, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The answer is, it depends. A multitude of conditions must be analyzed, and forests properly managed long-term, if they’re to curb climate change-intensified flooding, landslides, and even stand up to a tsunami.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Japan is well-known for its natural disasters, from earthquakes and tsunamis (think Fukushima), to typhoons. With most of the country’s weather disasters now being exacerbated by the climate crisis, torrential rains and the resulting flooding and landslides have become some of Japan’s most frequent and destructive disasters in the past decade. Instances of torrential rain — at least 50 millimeters (2 inches) in one hour — have increased by 40% over the past 30-odd years, according to government statistics. With roughly 80% of Japan’s landmass covered in mountains and hills, these disasters menace populated areas nestled at their feet. In 2018, for example, flash floods and landslides triggered by record rains in western Japan resulted in more than 200 fatalities and were a major factor in Germanwatch, an NGO, naming Japan as the country sustaining the most damage from extreme weather events that year. Japan is also 66% forested — which hints at a potential way of curbing future landslide damages. As the climate crisis intensifies, organizations and individuals around the world have turned to forests as a means of lessening the impacts of climate disaster: a nature-based solution that can work if applied scientifically. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization notes that restoring damaged forest ecosystems and increasing forest cover “can play a crucial role in the mitigation of … disasters, the frequency of which could increase in the face of climate change.” A deep-seated landslide in Nara prefecture. Deep-seated landslides, which are becoming more common as Japan experiences&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/japans-example-can-forest-planting-reduce-climate-disaster-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263679</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Haiti: An island nation whose environmental troubles only begin with water</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/haiti-an-island-nation-whose-environmental-troubles-only-begin-with-water/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/haiti-an-island-nation-whose-environmental-troubles-only-begin-with-water/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2022 15:06:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Conrad Fox]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/28110021/haiti-water-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260716</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Caribbean, Haiti, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Justice, Disasters, Drinking Water, Environment, Environmental Law, Erosion, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Poverty, Social Conflict, Social Justice, Violence, Water, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Caribbean island is currently being convulsed by a wave of civil unrest and gang violence, immediately triggered by soaring gas prices. But a dire environmental crisis underlays and feeds Haiti’s socioeconomic and political disorder.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I&#8217;m messaging P., a Haitian friend and colleague, seeking an assist with this article. It&#8217;s about to publish, and I&#8217;ve asked him to help me get an interview with the country&#8217;s foremost hydrologist. I&#8217;m not comfortable writing a story about Haiti with no Haitian interviewees, I tell him, but so far no one has responded. &#8220;He said no,&#8221; texts P. &#8220;His house is in an area controlled by gangs.&#8221; Haiti has been gripped by paroxysms of unrest since 2018, the time of my last visit. So I&#8217;m not surprised when P. describes the current situation: no electricity, roadblocks on every intersection, banks and businesses closed, a man shot just outside his door. I&#8217;m not even surprised that someone in the heart of it all might not want to talk to a foreign journalist, even about something as apparently innocuous as hydrology. But one detail P. shares freezes my blood. Since yesterday, he tells me, his young family has been totally without water, as have residents of several areas of Haiti’s metropolitan region. That and soaring gas prices led to the current raging civil unrest. P. is waiting for things to quiet down in the street outside, then he is going out to find some, somewhere. Anywhere. Water isn’t always a problem in Haiti, at least not everywhere. Take the farming town of Verrettes, for example, hugging the bank of a small tributary of the Artibonite River, the country&#8217;s largest river. When I visited one sunny afternoon, teenagers splashed about on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/haiti-an-island-nation-whose-environmental-troubles-only-begin-with-water/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/haiti-an-island-nation-whose-environmental-troubles-only-begin-with-water/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260716</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sand mining a boon for illegal industry at expense of Bangladesh’s environment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/sand-mining-a-boon-for-illegal-industry-at-expense-of-bangladeshs-environment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/sand-mining-a-boon-for-illegal-industry-at-expense-of-bangladeshs-environment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Aug 2022 07:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/16060544/sand-mining-bangladesh-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259195</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Degraded Lands, Development, Environment, Environmental Law, Erosion, Habitat Degradation, Illegal Mining, Industry, Infrastructure, Law, Mining, Overexploitation, Politics, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mining of sand to feed the red-hot demand from Bangladesh’s construction industry has fueled an illegal industry that overshadows the legal one and that’s destroying ecosystems and exacerbating river erosion. As the country’s cities and towns grow on the back of solid economic growth over the past three decades, the construction industry has resorted to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mining of sand to feed the red-hot demand from Bangladesh’s construction industry has fueled an illegal industry that overshadows the legal one and that’s destroying ecosystems and exacerbating river erosion. As the country’s cities and towns grow on the back of solid economic growth over the past three decades, the construction industry has resorted to extracting sand from rivers nationwide. This sand flows into the country year-round through 57 transboundary rivers from India and Myanmar. In all, these waterways carry around 2.4 billion metric tons of sediment, including sand, clay and silt. A large part of the extracted sand is used as landfill to reclaim new land in a country where much of the area is delta. These new lands, often created by filling in canals and drains, pose an obstacle to the flow of the monsoon runoff. The sand mining itself poses a threat to all kinds of physical infrastructure, including homes, agricultural lands, schools, bridges, and embankments in the river. It also destroys the adjoining groundwater system, according to a recent study. Hotspots of illegal sand mining include districts in the Ganges River Basin and the Meghna River Basin. The government has long been aware of the problem, and in 2010 passed the Quarry and Soil Management Act to control sand mining activities. But critics say the law is neither effective at discouraging sand mining, nor is it enforced seriously by the government. Demand from Bangladesh’s construction industry for sand has led to a boom in unregulated and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/sand-mining-a-boon-for-illegal-industry-at-expense-of-bangladeshs-environment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Elevated homesteads give hope to flood-hit communities in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/elevated-homesteads-give-hope-to-flood-hit-communities-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/elevated-homesteads-give-hope-to-flood-hit-communities-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Aug 2022 11:53:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/02112524/Bangladesh-raised-houses-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258786</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Community Development, Environment, Erosion, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Impact Of Climate Change, Islands, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At 49, Hamid Ali has moved house at least eight times in his life. The reason each time has been the same: the erosion of the char lands, or river islands, in the Brahmaputra River as it flows through Bangladesh’s Kurigram district. In the early 1980s, the char of Astomir was completely submerged, forcing Hamid [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At 49, Hamid Ali has moved house at least eight times in his life. The reason each time has been the same: the erosion of the char lands, or river islands, in the Brahmaputra River as it flows through Bangladesh’s Kurigram district. In the early 1980s, the char of Astomir was completely submerged, forcing Hamid Ali and other inhabitants of the island to move to another char, Notakandi. Astomir reemerged from the water in the late 1990s, allowing the inhabitants to return. Since then, Hamid Ali has lived there with his family, growing crops on a fifth of a hectare, or less than half an acre. According to the National Char Alliance, about 10 million people in Bangladesh live on 109 coastal and river chars, exposed to the vagaries of the annual floods. These chars cover around 10% of land in 32 of the 64 districts of Bangladesh, including Kurigram. The villagers from char lands grow crops on the land around their houses. Image by Abu Siddique/Mongabay. The people living in chars tend to be poor. Some of the relatively better off in these areas have long adopted the practice of raising the height of their homesteads during the monsoon, when a massive volume of water passes through the transboundary rivers that carve through Bangladesh on their way to the Bay of Bengal. Between November and March, when the water is low, these char inhabitants raise the height of their homes by building a base with earth collected from other&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/elevated-homesteads-give-hope-to-flood-hit-communities-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mining company destroys Indigenous cemetery during expansion in Honduras</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/mining-company-destroys-indigenous-cemetery-during-expansion-in-honduras/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/mining-company-destroys-indigenous-cemetery-during-expansion-in-honduras/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jun 2022 15:22:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/21150903/FEATURE-1-768x450.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257562</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Honduras, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Erosion, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Mining, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When workers dig through the earth at the San Andres mine in western Honduras, one of the country’s largest mining operations, they sometimes find something mixed in that wasn’t there in older parts of the mine: human bones. For the past decade, the Maya Chortí Indigenous community in the town of Azacualpa were fighting to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When workers dig through the earth at the San Andres mine in western Honduras, one of the country’s largest mining operations, they sometimes find something mixed in that wasn’t there in older parts of the mine: human bones. For the past decade, the Maya Chortí Indigenous community in the town of Azacualpa were fighting to stop gold mining operators from expanding into their 200-year-old cemetery, believed to hold around 1,000 bodies. But in February, they lost the fight when workers started digging up the area in the middle of the night, with law enforcement officers standing guard around the perimeter. “They destroyed the cemetery,” said Yessica Rodríguez, secretary of a local committee of people affected by the mine. “They destroyed the graves. One night, they brought in their machines and cut down the trees and all the plants we used to identify the graves of our relatives … A lot of people were crying.” While some bodies were allegedly relocated to new gravesites, committee members say many bodies remain where the company is expanding. Explosions can be heard twice a day where excavation work is being done in the former cemetery. “They built a wall so we couldn’t enter and stop them from working,” Rodríguez said. “We can’t go in because they’re stopping us. But our fight continues.” Alleged human bones found in the Maya Chortí cemetery. (Photo courtesy of Pedro Triguero) The ongoing battle for the cemetery Mining in different forms has taken place in Azacualpa, approximately 190 kilometers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/mining-company-destroys-indigenous-cemetery-during-expansion-in-honduras/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257562</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chinese investment in Latin America plagues people and nature: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/chinese-investment-in-latin-america-plagues-people-and-nature-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/chinese-investment-in-latin-america-plagues-people-and-nature-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2022 16:06:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/24152715/Feature-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254144</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Mexico, North America, Peru, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Dams, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Erosion, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[China has spent the last two decades quietly establishing an economic foothold in Latin America, a region that has traditionally relied on Western investment. It’s become the top trade partner for countries like Brazil and Peru, and its banks have given out more than $137 billion in loans since 2005, mostly for infrastructure, energy and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[China has spent the last two decades quietly establishing an economic foothold in Latin America, a region that has traditionally relied on Western investment. It’s become the top trade partner for countries like Brazil and Peru, and its banks have given out more than $137 billion in loans since 2005, mostly for infrastructure, energy and mining projects. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to improve economic relations in 145 countries through the development of land and sea routes, was expanded to include Latin America in 2017. Since then, 21 countries in the region have signed on. But many of the projects backed by China are also some of the most egregious violators of human rights and environmental law. They neglect the needs of local and Indigenous communities and contribute to deforestation and pollution, according to a new report. The Collective on Chinese Financing and Investments, Human Rights and the Environment (CICDHA), a coalition of conservation and human rights groups in Latin America, examined some of the largest China-backed projects in the region, providing a troubling overview of environmental wrongdoing. “The impact on the environment not only directly damages the ecosystems and communities that live in them,” the report said, “but also impedes on the right of future generations to enjoy a healthy environment.” Work on the Las Bambas mine in Peru. (Photo via Wikimedia) Impacts on biodiversity and Indigenous communities The report looked at 26 projects in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/chinese-investment-in-latin-america-plagues-people-and-nature-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-254144</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Restoring coastal forests can protect coral reefs against sediment runoff: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/restoring-coastal-forests-can-protect-coral-reefs-against-sediment-runoff-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/restoring-coastal-forests-can-protect-coral-reefs-against-sediment-runoff-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Dec 2021 23:36:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/07231507/The_heart_reef_part_of_the_Great_Barrier_Reef_near_Airlie_Beach_Whitsunday_Islands_Queensland-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250339</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Erosion, Forests, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Marine, Rainforests, Reforestation, Restoration, Rivers, Sedimentation, Tropical Forests, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study shows that two-fifths of coral reefs globally are seriously threatened by sediment runoff — the transportation of accumulated material from land to sea, often with harmful pollutants tagging along. But it also offers a potential solution: reforestation. “Sediment excess can attenuate light and reduce the rates of algal photosynthesis, which means algae [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study shows that two-fifths of coral reefs globally are seriously threatened by sediment runoff — the transportation of accumulated material from land to sea, often with harmful pollutants tagging along. But it also offers a potential solution: reforestation. “Sediment excess can attenuate light and reduce the rates of algal photosynthesis, which means algae cannot provide essential nutrients to the corals and this translates in negative impacts on coral growth,” said Andrés Felipe Suárez-Castro, co-author of the study published in Global Change Biology and ecologist at the University of Queensland in Australia. Suárez-Castro and his colleagues used remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS) modeling and agricultural census data to investigate if forest restoration could reduce the amount of sediment reaching coral reefs, as well as ocean current data to model how and where sediment eroded from land is transported to reef ecosystems. When the team used these methods to assess 5,500 coastal areas around the world, they discovered that nearly 85% of the sediment load leaching from the land eventually settled on coral reefs. Coral reefs are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth. Image courtesy of Andrés Felipe Suárez-Castro. In the last 30 years, corals have declined by 50%, with expected losses of 70-90% by mid-century. Sediment runoff interferes with the ability of corals to survive, feed, grow and reproduce, and also contributes to the exacerbation of other issues, such as ocean warming and acidification as cloudy, darker water captures more heat, and minerals in the sediment&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/restoring-coastal-forests-can-protect-coral-reefs-against-sediment-runoff-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250339</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To save salt marshes, researchers deploy a wide arsenal of techniques</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/to-save-salt-marshes-researchers-deploy-a-wide-arsenal-of-techniques/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/to-save-salt-marshes-researchers-deploy-a-wide-arsenal-of-techniques/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2021 07:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lisa Golden]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/11145847/Essex-salt-marsh-sausages-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245821</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[England, Europe, and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, carbon, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Erosion, Estuaries, Forest Recovery, Impact Of Climate Change, Invasive Species, Landscape Restoration, Nature-based climate solutions, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Research, Sea Levels, Soil Carbon, Solutions, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On one of the first dry, hot days of summer, Rachel Langley walks past farmhouses and tractors, heading for the edge of the Colne Estuary in Essex, U.K. She’s on her way to see how her “salt marsh sausages” are doing. Six years ago, the U.K. government’s Environment Agency broke through the seawalls on the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On one of the first dry, hot days of summer, Rachel Langley walks past farmhouses and tractors, heading for the edge of the Colne Estuary in Essex, U.K. She’s on her way to see how her “salt marsh sausages” are doing. Six years ago, the U.K. government’s Environment Agency broke through the seawalls on the west side of the estuary that dated back to the medieval period. The breach allowed the tide to flow in and create 22 hectares (54 acres) of new salt marsh and mudflats. It was part of the government’s “managed realignment” program to fortify suitable coastal sites against the erosive effects of rising seas and stronger storms that are becoming more common as climate change unfurls. On the other side of the estuary, however, an existing salt marsh was showing signs of erosion. In 2018, Langley and her team introduced the sausages, 3-meter (9-foot) bundles of coconut coir, to try to stabilize the degrading habitat. Coir rolls are commonly used into restore riverine habitats, and restoration projects, but Langley and her team wanted to test their usefulness in the more energetic estuarine environment with higher energy levels than a river. Could the sausages, installed across narrow channels running through the marsh, help raise the marsh, slow the water flooding it with each tide, and ultimately prevent it from succumbing to the sea? The chestnut-wood spikes holding stacked coir rolls in place stick out of the fine mud. As Langley approaches, crabs skitter in and out of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/to-save-salt-marshes-researchers-deploy-a-wide-arsenal-of-techniques/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-245821</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hawaiian reefs lost almost half their fish to pollution and fishing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/hawaiian-reefs-lost-almost-half-their-fish-to-pollution-and-fishing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/hawaiian-reefs-lost-almost-half-their-fish-to-pollution-and-fishing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2020 08:32:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/09/17114141/63869d80-b65f-4865-8981-77419930f0f9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=234928</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Hawaii and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquariums, Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Erosion, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Gillnets, Marine, Marine Animals, Nutrient Pollution, Oceans, Overfishing, Pollution, Saltwater Fish, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A healthy coral reef system is like a well-managed city. Each resident fish has a job in maintaining the reef: some nibble away at seaweed threatening to smother the coral, while others crunch through bits of coral, making space for new polyps. In turn, the reef provides food and a refuge where fish can sleep, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A healthy coral reef system is like a well-managed city. Each resident fish has a job in maintaining the reef: some nibble away at seaweed threatening to smother the coral, while others crunch through bits of coral, making space for new polyps. In turn, the reef provides food and a refuge where fish can sleep, reproduce, and hide from predators. These relationships are symbiotic: the fish help the reef, and the reef helps the fish. But when fish disappear from a coral reef due to fishing or pollution, the system is thrown out of balance, and a reef may deteriorate to the point of collapse, especially when coral bleaching and other climate change-induced factors are thrown into the mix. This is exactly what’s happening to the coral reefs in West Hawai‘i, the western shoreline of Hawai‘i’s Big Island known as the Kona coast, according to a new study. Bigeye emperor (Monotaxis grandoculis) in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. Image by NOAA / Flickr. Published last month in Ecological Applications, the study investigates how human activities, such as fishing, aquarium collection and pollution, affect so-called resource fishes that live in the shallow waters along the reef. The study defines resource fish as species that are “important to local subsistence or cultural sectors,” such as by providing food or income. Overall, it documented a 45% decrease in resource fish biomass across West Hawai‘i’s reefs between 2008 and 2018. “A 45% decline in 10 years is very alarming,” said Greg Asner, co-author of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/hawaiian-reefs-lost-almost-half-their-fish-to-pollution-and-fishing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-234928</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, human action and climate change are drowning a community</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/in-brazil-human-action-and-climate-change-are-drowning-a-community/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/in-brazil-human-action-and-climate-change-are-drowning-a-community/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2020 14:25:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rafael Duarte]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/17142221/1-IMG_6316_photo_Rafael_DuarteAtafona-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=233931</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coastal Ecosystems, Dams, Environment, Erosion, Impact Of Climate Change, Oceans, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the old seaside resort of Atafona on the coast of Rio de Janeiro, the Atlantic Ocean has been destroying streets, houses and businesses for more than 50 years, claiming at least 500 buildings.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than 50 years, the sea has been eating away at the coastal community of Atafona in São João da Barra municipality, in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state. For the residents, waiting for a solution, the future is uncertain. Atafona is experiencing one of Brazil’s worst coastal erosion disasters. Experts cite a range of drivers for the phenomenon, including human action and the effects of climate change on a coastal area whose occupation has always lacked planning. The first reports about the problem came in 1954, on the island of Convivência, which has now been virtually swallowed up by the sea. Its residents were forced to leave their homes for the mainland. Five years later, the erosion reached Atafona Beach, across the water from their former island home. The destruction escalated in the 1970s and never stopped. According to the São João da Barra municipal government, the rising sea has destroyed some 500 homes and businesses. Residents and researchers estimate the figure may be higher, and that more than 2,000 people may have been forced to move, some as far as other cities or states. Sônia Ferreira, who has lived in Atafona for more than two decades, watched the sea slowly approach until it brought down the wall around her home in March 2019. That was crucial in her decision to take action after years of waiting. “Last year, the sea reached my street and knocked down my wall. I had to put barriers because I want to continue&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/in-brazil-human-action-and-climate-change-are-drowning-a-community/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-233931</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mangrove collapse &#8216;inevitable&#8217; unless emissions curbed</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/mangrove-collapse-inevitable-unless-emissions-curbed/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/mangrove-collapse-inevitable-unless-emissions-curbed/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2020 12:24:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lauren Crothers]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/10/01174705/AW_MyanmarMangroves8-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231573</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[South America and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Coastal Ecosystems, Deforestation, Erosion, Forest Carbon, Forests, Mangroves, Rainforests, Soil Carbon, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The threshold beyond which the world’s mangrove forests can survive could be reached within the next 30 years if sea levels continue to rise at their current pace and greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed, according to new research. Mangroves have two particularly important roles: they buffer vulnerable coastlines from severe weather systems such as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The threshold beyond which the world’s mangrove forests can survive could be reached within the next 30 years if sea levels continue to rise at their current pace and greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed, according to new research. Mangroves have two particularly important roles: they buffer vulnerable coastlines from severe weather systems such as cyclones and storm surges, and are considered to be some of the most valuable carbon sinks of any terrestrial forests. Researchers studied samples of sediment from 78 tropical or subtropical mangroves that built up between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, part of what are known as the final stages of the Holocene period, when glaciers were melting and sea levels rose as a result. The Sundarbans, the world&#8217;s largest mangrove forest, sits at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal between India and Bangladesh. But the land is being lost to rising seas as a result of climate change. Image by Jonas Gratzer for Mongabay. They determined that mangroves can only withstand a maximum relative rise in sea levels of 7 millimeters, about a quarter of an inch, per year: “a limit beyond which mangrove systems cease to function,” according to a statement that accompanied the report. Mangroves are able to adapt to fluctuations in sea level, but they have their limits, said one of the report’s co-authors, Neil Saintilan, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. If the process of accretion, in which soil deposits&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/mangrove-collapse-inevitable-unless-emissions-curbed/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231573</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US economy will take biggest hit if we continue with business as usual: report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/us-economy-will-take-biggest-hit-if-we-continue-with-business-as-usual-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/us-economy-will-take-biggest-hit-if-we-continue-with-business-as-usual-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Mar 2020 17:13:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/10170627/laos-man-fishing_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=227774</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Economics, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Erosion, Fisheries, Flooding, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Land Use Change, Pollinators, Research, Sea Levels, Storms, Timber, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New research finds that if humans carry on with business as usual and the environmental degradation that results, we will pay a steep price — quite literally. Researchers with WWF, Purdue University’s Global Trade Analysis Project, and the Natural Capital Project looked at how forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other “natural assets” that furnish the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New research finds that if humans carry on with business as usual and the environmental degradation that results, we will pay a steep price — quite literally. Researchers with WWF, Purdue University’s Global Trade Analysis Project, and the Natural Capital Project looked at how forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other “natural assets” that furnish the ecosystem services we all rely on will be impacted by a variety of future development scenarios. They then examined the economic implications of those impacts over the next three decades. As detailed in a report summarizing their results, the researchers found that if we simply continue under the status quo, the global economy will lose at least $479 billion a year, adding up to nearly $10 trillion in losses by 2050, as compared to the “baseline” scenario in which there is no change in ecosystem services over the next 30 years. Of the 140 countries included in the study, the United States stands to take the biggest economic hit, losing $83 billion per year by 2050 under this “business as usual” scenario that includes intense consumption of energy and raw materials, widespread land-use change, ongoing rises in greenhouse gas emissions, and continued loss of biodiversity. The economies of Japan and the UK will also see big losses of $80 billion and $21 billion, respectively, every year. &#8220;This groundbreaking report shows that the U.S. will suffer the world&#8217;s biggest economic impact due to nature loss,&#8221; Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist at WWF, said in a statement. &#8220;We&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/us-economy-will-take-biggest-hit-if-we-continue-with-business-as-usual-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-227774</doi>				</item>
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