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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/canals/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 05:45:37 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Canals</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/canals/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>In Rio Indio, farmers fight Panama Canal reservoir project — and displacement</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 15:20:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Pelliccia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16150742/6-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321305</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Global, North America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Canals, Controversial, Corporations, Dams, Development, Encroachment, Endangered Species, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Resource Conflict, and Shipping]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LIMÓN DE CHAGRES, Panama — In Panama’s Rio Indio Basin, a $1.5 billion reservoir project aims to meet water demand for the next 50 years. But the project would displace dozens of farming communities, sparking widespread opposition to the reservoir’s construction. “We will give our lives to save Rio Indio! I came from Limón de [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LIMÓN DE CHAGRES, Panama — In Panama’s Rio Indio Basin, a $1.5 billion reservoir project aims to meet water demand for the next 50 years. But the project would displace dozens of farming communities, sparking widespread opposition to the reservoir’s construction. “We will give our lives to save Rio Indio! I came from Limón de Chagres, the first community that could be flooded to make space for the dam,” shouts Maricel Sanchéz at the microphone from a stage during a May 1 march in Panama City. “Today, I’m so proud to see how united we are in our resistance.” Sanchéz, 25, is the spokesperson for the Rio Indio farmers’ assembly, which is part of Coordinadora Campesina por la Vida (Peasant Coordinator for Life), a grassroots social and community organization of farmers, Indigenous communities and civic groups in Panama. During the march, she spoke out about their mobilization against the Río Indio reservoir: a $1.5 billion project by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Panama’s government agency responsible for managing the canal. Rio Indio is a 98-kilometer (about 61-mile) river in central Panama, flowing through the Costa Abajo area (home to 231 farming communities) to the Caribbean Sea. Here, the ACP plans to create a reservoir to provide water to nearby Gatun Lake (the northern entrance of the Panama Canal in the Atlantic Ocean) to meet water demand for the next 50 years for human consumption and for canal operations, especially during droughts. The construction is expected to begin in 2027 and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-rio-indio-farmers-fight-panama-canal-reservoir-project-and-displacement/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321305</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Farmers fear displacement, drought, flooding tied to Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/farmers-fear-displacement-drought-flooding-tied-to-cambodias-funan-techo-canal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/farmers-fear-displacement-drought-flooding-tied-to-cambodias-funan-techo-canal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Feb 2026 06:33:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/12060609/FTC-pt-2-banner-img-v1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314184</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Canals, Conservation, Drought, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Farming, Fish, Fishing, Flooding, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Water, Water Scarcity, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the second of two stories about the potential impact of Cambodia’s planned Funan Techo Canal. Read part one, about consequences for coastal communities and wildlife, here. TAKEO, Cambodia — Thet Chanton finally finished construction on his new home along the banks of the Prek Bassac (Bassac creek) in Prey Sambor village, a small farming [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second of two stories about the potential impact of Cambodia’s planned Funan Techo Canal. Read part one, about consequences for coastal communities and wildlife, here. TAKEO, Cambodia — Thet Chanton finally finished construction on his new home along the banks of the Prek Bassac (Bassac creek) in Prey Sambor village, a small farming community in Cambodia’s southern province of Takeo. That was in June 2024. Just five months later, when Mongabay first interviewed Chanton in November 2024, he said local authorities had already told him his house would need to be demolished. “We had a meeting with the village chief, but there were commune, district and provincial authorities there too,” Chanton said. “They told us that Prek Bassac will be studied to become part of the Funan Techo Canal.” The canal is a controversial new waterway the Cambodian government is planning to link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand. It will cut a 180-kilometer (112-mile) trench through farms, wetlands and homes in Kandal, Takeo, Kampot and Kep provinces as it goes. Chanton’s household is one of 400 the government estimates will lose their houses to the mega-project’s construction. The same estimates suggest that, in total, 2,305 households consisting of 11,525 people will be directly impacted in some way by the Funan Techo Canal. “We spent about $20,000 to build this house, but we did that with a $10,000 microfinance loan,” said Chanton, who owned a small rice farm around his newly built home when Mongabay met&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/farmers-fear-displacement-drought-flooding-tied-to-cambodias-funan-techo-canal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/farmers-fear-displacement-drought-flooding-tied-to-cambodias-funan-techo-canal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Silent killing machines’: How water canals threaten wildlife across the globe</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/silent-killing-machines-how-water-canals-threaten-wildlife-across-the-globe/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/silent-killing-machines-how-water-canals-threaten-wildlife-across-the-globe/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2025 14:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aldem Bourscheit]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/20174743/Massacre-Invisivel_oeco_15-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294785</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Canals, Conservation, Crime, Human-wildlife Conflict, Water, Water Scarcity, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deadly drownings of animals in water canals for irrigation and other purposes have been observed in various countries. The dry and semiarid regions of the planet are even more vulnerable to these losses, but there are alternatives to protect wildlife. Scientists like Diego Gallego-García came across wildlife drowned to death in and around an irrigation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deadly drownings of animals in water canals for irrigation and other purposes have been observed in various countries. The dry and semiarid regions of the planet are even more vulnerable to these losses, but there are alternatives to protect wildlife. Scientists like Diego Gallego-García came across wildlife drowned to death in and around an irrigation and water supply canal while researching birds in northern Argentina. The losses recorded were striking. More than 200 animals from 35 species died in six months, according to a study in the journal Biological Conservation authored by Gallego-García and José Sarasola, both from Argentina’s National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and the National University of La Pampa. The drownings occurred in the Canal de la Patria, whose steep concrete walls cut through 250 kilometers (155 miles) of the Gran Chaco region. This is the most biodiverse continuous forest system in South America after the Amazon Rainforest. The Canal de la Patria, an irrigation canal in northern Argentina. Image courtesy of the Center for the Study and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Argentina (Cecara). The victims represent a range of species, including threatened ones, such as 38 giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), a large ant and termite eater typical of South American savannas. The study also recorded that the number of animal deaths declined over the months analyzed, but this signals something even more serious. &#8220;We may be witnessing a defaunation [rapid extinction of wildlife] process along the canal. This is very serious for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/silent-killing-machines-how-water-canals-threaten-wildlife-across-the-globe/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/silent-killing-machines-how-water-canals-threaten-wildlife-across-the-globe/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294785</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Draining tropical peatlands for oil palms isn’t just bad — it’s unnecessary, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/draining-tropical-peatlands-for-oil-palms-isnt-just-bad-its-unnecessary-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/draining-tropical-peatlands-for-oil-palms-isnt-just-bad-its-unnecessary-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2022 10:39:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/09054358/Cleared-Peatland-in-Central-Kalimantan.-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257248</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Canals, Conservation, Economics, Environment, Forests, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Rainforests, Research, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — For decades, oil palm farmers in Indonesia have drained — and destroyed — tropical peatlands on the basis that the crop doesn’t grow well in the boggy soil. But now, a new study shows that oil palms grown in rewetted peatlands show no drop in productivity. The findings shore up environmental activists’ case [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — For decades, oil palm farmers in Indonesia have drained — and destroyed — tropical peatlands on the basis that the crop doesn’t grow well in the boggy soil. But now, a new study shows that oil palms grown in rewetted peatlands show no drop in productivity. The findings shore up environmental activists’ case that oil palms can be farmed more sustainably on peatlands by rewetting the land, thereby conserving biodiversity and reducing the risk of fires. “What this new study shows is that retaining more water in oil palm farms to reduce fire risk seems to have no effect on yields, which is good news for farmers,” said study lead author Eleanor Warren-Thomas, a conservation scientist at Bangor University in the U.K. “In contrast to the concerns of some plantations, retaining water levels close to the surface” — within 40 centimeters, or 16 inches — “still enables oil palm cultivation.” Udin, a farmer who collaborated on the study, said that “Even if the farm flooded for a few days, the yield is not decreased.” These findings indicate that it’s possible to shift away from an agricultural system that depends on draining peatland into one that’s more sustainable and peat-friendly, which reduces the risk of fires and land subsidence. “In the long term, withdrawal of drainage-dependent agriculture from peatland is necessary to avoid carbon emissions and land loss to subsidence, with forest restoration or flood-tolerant agriculture the sustainable alternatives,” the study says. It also suggests the results are scalable&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/draining-tropical-peatlands-for-oil-palms-isnt-just-bad-its-unnecessary-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/draining-tropical-peatlands-for-oil-palms-isnt-just-bad-its-unnecessary-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257248</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Cooling the climate for 10,000 years’: How saving wetlands can help save the world</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/cooling-the-climate-for-10000-years-how-saving-wetlands-can-help-save-the-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/cooling-the-climate-for-10000-years-how-saving-wetlands-can-help-save-the-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Dec 2021 02:22:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Hillsdon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/14014120/20070818-0001-strolling_reindeer-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250569</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Europe, Global, Latin America, South America, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Canals, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Global Warming, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Mitigation, Peatlands, Reforestation, Restoration, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Buffeted by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Pacific on the other, the Mitre Peninsula, at the far southern tip of South America, is one of the coldest, harshest places on the planet. “It’s the end of the earth,” said Martina Sasso, program coordinator at Rewilding Argentina But this 2,400-square-kilometer slab is also [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Buffeted by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Pacific on the other, the Mitre Peninsula, at the far southern tip of South America, is one of the coldest, harshest places on the planet. “It’s the end of the earth,” said Martina Sasso, program coordinator at Rewilding Argentina But this 2,400-square-kilometer slab is also a complex, carbon-rich wetland that holds 85% of all of Argentina’s peat. “The amazing part of this ecosystem, this great wetland, is that it is almost pristine,&#8221; Sasso told Mongabay. These Patagonian peatlands are the main carbon sink outside of the tropics in the southern hemisphere, a largely unbroken, unspoiled &#8220;carpet&#8221; dominated by the cushion-forming perennial Astelia pumila, which creates a bog that can absorb carbon four and a half times faster than those dominated by sphagnum moss and sedges. Peat forms in waterlogged, acidic conditions, as layer upon layer of decomposing vegetation slowly builds up. It can take 1,000 years to form just one meter of peat, the rotting organic matter locking in the carbon as the bog grows. In places on the peninsula the peat is 3m deep and it’s estimated that these mires contain 315 million metric tons of carbon, the equivalent of Argentina’s total emissions for three years. A hunk of peat harvested from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Image by Beatrice Murch via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). The peatlands also form an important link between different ecosystems from mountains and valleys, to forests, lagoons and rivers, while huge carbon-guzzling kelp&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/cooling-the-climate-for-10000-years-how-saving-wetlands-can-help-save-the-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/cooling-the-climate-for-10000-years-how-saving-wetlands-can-help-save-the-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250569</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Zero-deforestation’ paper giant APRIL justifies clearing of Sumatran peatland</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/pulp-paper-giant-april-rapp-riau-peatland-canal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/pulp-paper-giant-april-rapp-riau-peatland-canal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Oct 2020 12:52:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/23050709/3-3-1080x811-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236067</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Canals, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forests, Land Conflict, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Activists have slammed one of the world’s biggest pulp and paper companies for clearing peatland in Indonesia despite its zero-deforestation pledge. They say Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL) should have restored the previously burned area instead of cultivating it. The peat clearing, allegedly done by APRIL mill operator and subsidiary PT [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Activists have slammed one of the world’s biggest pulp and paper companies for clearing peatland in Indonesia despite its zero-deforestation pledge. They say Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL) should have restored the previously burned area instead of cultivating it. The peat clearing, allegedly done by APRIL mill operator and subsidiary PT Riau Andalan Pulp &amp; Paper (RAPP), was first reported by villagers in Indonesia’s Riau province, on the island of Sumatra, to NGOs operating in the region in July 2020. One of those NGOs, Jikalahari, launched an investigation by deploying a team to do a ground check. The team found RAPP had cleared areas where the peat layer was more than 3 meters (10 feet) deep. These areas of deep peat are supposed to be protected, but RAPP was found to have cleared them using heavy equipment in order to start planting acacia trees, the main pulpwood crop. The company reportedly also cleared oil palm crops planted by villagers in the area. Based on satellite images, Jikalahari found a total of 675 hectares (1,668 acres) cleared by the company, parts of which had been burned in forest fires in 2016. That would have made them priority areas for restoration under a government program. RAPP’s concession in the area includes 699 hectares (1,727 acres) that overlaps onto priority peat restoration area; a tenth of that area has already been cleared by the company, according to Jikalahari. Jikalahari’s investigators also found construction of 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/pulp-paper-giant-april-rapp-riau-peatland-canal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236067</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil could dynamite Amazon dolphin, turtle habitat for industrial waterway</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/brazil-could-dynamite-amazon-dolphin-turtle-habitat-for-industrial-waterway/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/brazil-could-dynamite-amazon-dolphin-turtle-habitat-for-industrial-waterway/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2020 16:57:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tiffany Higgins]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/02162608/Banner-image-2-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232078</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Animals, Canals, Conservation, Controversial, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Dams, Dolphins, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Freshwater, Governance, Green, Infrastructure, Mining, Shipping, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, and Turtles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A planned industrial shipping channel would destroy vital fish habitat at the Lourencão Rocks on the Tocantins River in the Brazilian Amazon, while also likely wrecking traditional fishing livelihoods.]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[VILA BELÉM, Pará state, Brazil — The fisherman and I sit on the banks of the Tocantins River in Vila Belém, one of more than a hundred fishing villages north of Marabá municipality. All these communities, he tells me, will have their livelihoods negatively impacted if the proposed Tocantins River industrial shipping channel goes forward. The project would dynamite their fishing grounds and deepen the river to allow faster shipping of soy and minerals to China and Europe. The villager gestures to the river, his hands moving horizontally to sketch the shuttling motion of boxy barges sliding up and downstream past his home. “These riches will pass through. But what will be left for us?” he asks. Brazil’s National Department of Infrastructure and Transportation (DNIT) plans a 212-kilometer (132-mile) blasting and dredging project that will demolish 35 kilometers (22 miles) of the 45 kilometer (28 mile) stretch of river known as the Lourencão Rocks — all of it culturally and biologically significant. The company hired to do the job, São Paulo-based DTA Engenharia (and parent company DTA-O&#8217;Martin), says it would need to excavate 986,541 cubic meters (1,290,347 cubic yards) of rock over two and a half years. In addition, DTA would need to dredge a distance totaling 177 kilometers (110 miles), digging up 5,674,000 cubic meters (7,421,319 cubic yards) of sand, destroying seven sand bars, and dumping the load inside the riverbanks where Amazonian turtles now lay their eggs. In a public hearing I attended July 2, 2019 in Itupiranga&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/brazil-could-dynamite-amazon-dolphin-turtle-habitat-for-industrial-waterway/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232078</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Is Nicaragua one of the world’s ‘deadliest countries’ to be an environmental defender? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/is-nicaragua-one-of-the-worlds-deadliest-countries-to-be-an-environmental-defender-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/is-nicaragua-one-of-the-worlds-deadliest-countries-to-be-an-environmental-defender-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2017 10:17:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Perry]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/01201827/2-rama-cay-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=197738</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Canals, Commentary, Conflict, Environment, Funding, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, and Land Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, Global Witness published its latest annual report on the deaths of environmental defenders. As Mongabay reported, Latin America was again identified as one of the most dangerous regions for those protecting forests, halting mining projects, opposing big dams, and taking other action in defence of the environment. Surprisingly, however, one country singled [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, Global Witness published its latest annual report on the deaths of environmental defenders. As Mongabay reported, Latin America was again identified as one of the most dangerous regions for those protecting forests, halting mining projects, opposing big dams, and taking other action in defence of the environment. Surprisingly, however, one country singled out for attention is Nicaragua, described by Global Witness (GW) as one of the ‘deadliest countries for activists’ because it had ‘the most killings per capita’ in the world in 2016. How accurate is this assertion? I live in Nicaragua and work with a small environmental NGO, and have discussed the GW report with others knowledgeable about the country’s environmental issues. All of us share concerns about the planned interoceanic canal, which features strongly in GW’s new report, and would cross the southern part of the country. There have been at least 87 protest marches against the canal, and a degree of harassment of protestors. But — importantly — there have been no deaths. Nevertheless, the majority of the section on Nicaragua in GW’s new report is devoted to the canal. Very misleadingly, it juxtaposes commentary on the canal and quotes from protestors (‘The only response we have had is the bullet’) with reports of killings of indigenous people. However, these killings — which GW says total 24 over two years — have nothing to do with the canal, whose route is over 200 kilometres to the south. The region in the northeast of Nicaragua&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/is-nicaragua-one-of-the-worlds-deadliest-countries-to-be-an-environmental-defender-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-197738</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous groups pressured to give up lands for doubtful Nicaragua Canal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/indigenous-groups-pressured-to-give-up-lands-for-doubtful-nicaragua-canal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/indigenous-groups-pressured-to-give-up-lands-for-doubtful-nicaragua-canal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2016 18:22:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lindsay Fendt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/01201814/FEATURED-6-440x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=186960</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Latin America, and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Canals, Culture, Environment, Environmental Law, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The only people watching over Nicaragua Canal land use negotiations between Nicaragua’s government and indigenous leaders have been masked policemen, according to indigenous reports. No international observers have been present. The meetings, which the Nicaraguan government sprang on surprised community leaders several times over the past few months, are aimed at securing consent to use [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rama Cay is an island in the Bluefields Lagoon on the eastern coast of Nicaragua. It sits in the path of the proposed canal. Photo courtesy of CALPI, the Centro de Asistencia Legal a Pueblos Indígenas The only people watching over Nicaragua Canal land use negotiations between Nicaragua’s government and indigenous leaders have been masked policemen, according to indigenous reports. No international observers have been present. The meetings, which the Nicaraguan government sprang on surprised community leaders several times over the past few months, are aimed at securing consent to use indigenous territory for the planned US $50 billion 175-mile trans-oceanic canal that would bisect Nicaragua. Community leaders say that the government has not allowed them legal council in the meetings, violating international regulations. “They keep saying that we don’t need a legal advisor,” Allen Claire-Duncan, the leader of the Monkey Point Kriol community, told Mongabay. &#8220;Many people do not know how to read or write, and if the [government negotiators] come to the community they will speak in terms that the people don’t understand. [The government does] not want to do these meetings the right way.&#8221; The people of Rama Cay gather to express their opposition to the Nicaragua Canal at a public meeting. Photos courtesy of CALPI, the Centro de Asistencia Legal a Pueblos Indígenas Claire-Duncan is the leader of one of nine indigenous and Afro-Caribbean communities in Nicaragua’s East. While officials from Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Group (HKND), the Chinese company building the canal, say only 25&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/indigenous-groups-pressured-to-give-up-lands-for-doubtful-nicaragua-canal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-186960</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An improbable future for Nicaragua’s inter-oceanic canal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/improbable-future-nicaraguas-inter-oceanic-canal-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/improbable-future-nicaraguas-inter-oceanic-canal-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 May 2016 21:05:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Adam SteinHector CastanedaKaren Masters]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/05/01205123/Riparian-vegetation-burned-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=186659</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Canals, Climate Change, Deforestation, Drought, Earthquakes, Environment, Fires, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Protected Areas, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have warned that a controversial proposal to construct an inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua is founded on incomplete knowledge of its environmental feasibility. In fact, many social and ecological processes and current events will likely undermine the project’s success. The plan involves excavating and dredging a 275-kilometer (171-mile) swath and constructing a canal with locks [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have warned that a controversial proposal to construct an inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua is founded on incomplete knowledge of its environmental feasibility. In fact, many social and ecological processes and current events will likely undermine the project’s success. The plan involves excavating and dredging a 275-kilometer (171-mile) swath and constructing a canal with locks from the Atlantic Ocean across the Cerro Silva and Punta Gorda Nature Reserves, through Lake Nicaragua, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. Scientists and project proponents agree that the feasibility of the venture rests, in part, on water quality and quantity flowing into Lake Nicaragua and the future canal. Additionally, both acknowledge that seismic activity in the region could pose dangers to the integrity of the design’s infrastructure. HKND, the Hong Kong-based firm with the concession to develop the canal, has sought to quell concerns about the plan’s feasibility, but scientists remain skeptical. Indeed, their suspicions seem to be well-founded, judging by current conditions and recent events. Drought, declining water levels, expanding deforestation, rising sedimentation, and frequent seismic events do not bode well for an undertaking that requires stable ecological and geological conditions. Minimal water depth required for the canal to allow the transit of 400,000-ton ships through Lake Nicaragua, as envisioned by the developers of the proposal, is 30.2 meters (about 100 feet) above sea level. However, in a recent report by scientists at the Humbolt Center, the water levels of Lake Nicaragua during the first four months of 2016 dropped a full 1.12&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/improbable-future-nicaraguas-inter-oceanic-canal-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-186659</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nicaragua Canal would threaten endangered species says study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/nicaraguan-canal-threaten-endangered-species-says-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/nicaraguan-canal-threaten-endangered-species-says-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2016 21:25:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lindsay Fendt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/05/01213722/1254px-Jaguar_head_shot-404x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=186320</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Canals, Conservation, Controversial, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Jaguars, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A planned trans-oceanic canal in Nicaragua could spell disaster for jaguars and other large mammals, according to a new study by researchers at Panthera, Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC) and Michigan State University. The study, released on PLOS ONE, found that the planned canal route would cut through a critical biological corridor, putting a number of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jaguars and the wildlife corridors they use to move north and south through Central America would be threatened by the Nicaragua Canal says a recent study. Photo by Cburnett under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 A planned trans-oceanic canal in Nicaragua could spell disaster for jaguars and other large mammals, according to a new study by researchers at Panthera, Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC) and Michigan State University. The study, released on PLOS ONE, found that the planned canal route would cut through a critical biological corridor, putting a number of endangered species at risk. &#8220;What is of most concern to us is one of the areas under the greatest threat is where the canal is going to go,” said Roberto Salom, the Mesoamerican coordinator for Panthera’s jaguar program. &#8220;In this middle portion of the country, it is critical to have another stepping stone for the jaguars to travel from north to south.&#8221; The study is the only comprehensive investigation into the potential impacts of the canal on terrestrial wildlife. Though construction on the $50 billion venture is slated to begin this fall, environmental groups say the canal’s backers have failed to produce a comprehensive study on the waterway’s affects on biodiversity. The company building the canal, the Hong Kong Nicaragua Development Group (HKND), did release an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) last November, but it failed to include a comprehensive biodiversity study looking at threats to wildlife. HKND’s plan to mitigate environmental harm has not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/nicaraguan-canal-threaten-endangered-species-says-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-186320</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Is the Gran Canal really a &#8216;big Christmas present&#8217; for Nicaraguans?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/is-the-gran-canal-really-a-big-christmas-present-for-nicaraguans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/is-the-gran-canal-really-a-big-christmas-present-for-nicaraguans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2014 16:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/12/is-the-gran-canal-really-a-big-christmas-present-for-nicaraguans/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Canals, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Lakes, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Experts say canal plans and impacts remain shrouded in mystery A volcanic island rises from Lake Nicaragua. Photo by Aaron Escobar/Creative Commons 2.0 &#8220;A big Christmas present&#8221;&#8212;that is how Paul Oquist, an advisor to Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, described the country&#8217;s plan to build a mega-canal across the nation. Preliminary construction on the canal is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Experts say canal plans and impacts remain shrouded in mystery A volcanic island rises from Lake Nicaragua. Photo by Aaron Escobar/Creative Commons 2.0 &#8220;A big Christmas present&#8221;&#8212;that is how Paul Oquist, an advisor to Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, described the country&#8217;s plan to build a mega-canal across the nation. Preliminary construction on the canal is set to begin December 24th, despite major concerns over environmental destruction, forced removal of thousands of people, and a lack of transparency. &#8220;The Nicaraguan people will get a big Christmas present,&#8221; Oquist told the Guardian. &#8220;It has always been pending and now it can happen.&#8221; The canal, also known as the Gran Canal and the Interoceanic Canal, has been a pipe-dream for some in Nicaragua for centuries. In fact, Nicaragua was initially proposed as the original site of what is today the Panama canal. Now, the government appears to be pushing full-steam ahead after announcing the official route in July, stating construction will begin in less than a month. But like the Panama canal, the Gran Canal will not be run by locals. Instead, the project will be constructed by a recently-formed Chinese company, called the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company (HKND Group). This company, headed by a telecommunications billionaire, has been granted a 50 year concession over the canal with a chance to renew for another 50 years. &#8220;By announcing this &#8216;big Christmas present,&#8217; the government is distorting reality,&#8221; Jorge Huete-Perez, the founder and director of the Molecular Biology Center at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/is-the-gran-canal-really-a-big-christmas-present-for-nicaraguans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24374</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientific association calls on Nicaragua to scrap its Gran Canal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/10/scientific-association-calls-on-nicaragua-to-scrap-its-gran-canal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/10/scientific-association-calls-on-nicaragua-to-scrap-its-gran-canal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2014 12:46:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/10/scientific-association-calls-on-nicaragua-to-scrap-its-gran-canal/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, China, and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Canals, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Development, Economics, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Lakes, Parks, Politics, Pollution, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ATBC warns about canal&#8217;s impact on water security and indigenous people A volcanic island rises from Lake Nicaragua. Photo by Aaron Escobar/Creative Commons 2.0 The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC)&#8212;the world&#8217;s largest association of tropical biologists and conservationists&#8212;has advised Nicaragua to halt its ambitious plan to build a massive canal across the country. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ATBC warns about canal&#8217;s impact on water security and indigenous people A volcanic island rises from Lake Nicaragua. Photo by Aaron Escobar/Creative Commons 2.0 The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC)&#8212;the world&#8217;s largest association of tropical biologists and conservationists&#8212;has advised Nicaragua to halt its ambitious plan to build a massive canal across the country. The ATBC warns that the Chinese-backed canal, also known as the Gran Canal, will have devastating impacts on Nicaragua&#8217;s water security, its forests and wildlife, and local people. &#8220;The Canal and its sub-projects&#8230;will result in the excavation of 278 kilometers of land, lake and rivers, cutting through pristine rainforest and the largest drinking-water reservoir in Central America,&#8221; reads the group&#8217;s statement. If built, the project would rival the Panama canal: it will be four times as long as well as wider and deeper than its southern cousin. Pushed by telecommunications millionaire, Wang Jing, the $40 billion project would be run by the newly-formed Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company (HKND Group). The Nicaragua government has given the HKND Group a 50 year concession over the canal with a chance to renew it another 50 years. The Nicaraguan government argues that the canal will drastically boost the country&#8217;s economy&#8212;the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere&#8212;boasting it will lift 400,000 people out of poverty by 2018. But environmentalists and indigenous rights groups have been warned that it could be an unmitigated disaster. Approximate canal route across southern Nicaragua, including Lake Nicaragua. Image from Global Forest Watch.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/10/scientific-association-calls-on-nicaragua-to-scrap-its-gran-canal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24540</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Gran Canal: will Nicaragua&#8217;s big bet create prosperity or environmental ruin?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/the-gran-canal-will-nicaraguas-big-bet-create-prosperity-or-environmental-ruin/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/the-gran-canal-will-nicaraguas-big-bet-create-prosperity-or-environmental-ruin/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2014 18:52:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/08/the-gran-canal-will-nicaraguas-big-bet-create-prosperity-or-environmental-ruin/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, China, and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Canals, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Development, Economics, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Jaguars, Lakes, Parks, Politics, Pollution, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Sedimentation, Tapirs, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chinese consortium pushes new canal through Nicaragua, threatening indigenous people, environment. A stealthy jaguar moves across a camera trap in Bankukuk, Nicaragua along the path of the Gran Canal. Conservationists fear the impact of the canal on Nicaragua&#8217;s already-imperiled wildlife, including far-roving jaguars. Photo by: Christopher Jordan. A hundred years ago, the Panama Canal reshaped [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Chinese consortium pushes new canal through Nicaragua, threatening indigenous people, environment. A stealthy jaguar moves across a camera trap in Bankukuk, Nicaragua along the path of the Gran Canal. Conservationists fear the impact of the canal on Nicaragua&#8217;s already-imperiled wildlife, including far-roving jaguars. Photo by: Christopher Jordan. A hundred years ago, the Panama Canal reshaped global geography, allowing ships for the first time to bypass the long and perilous journey around Cape Horn by simply cutting through a continent. Now a new project, spearheaded by a media-shy Chinese millionaire, wants to compete with the infamous canal, building a 278-kilometer (173-mile) canal through Nicaragua. While the Nicaraguan government argues the massive project will change the country&#8217;s dire economic outlook overnight&#8212;Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti&#8212;critics contend it will cause undue environmental damage, upend numerous communities, and do little to help the people of Nicaragua. &#8220;Consider the Panama Canal,&#8221; Gerald Urquhart, a tropical ecologist with Michigan State University who&#8217;s worked in Nicaragua for 20 years, told mongabay.com. &#8220;One-hundred years after its construction, it is seen as a good thing for the people of Panama. However, until the Carter Trujillo Treaty returned the canal to Panama in 1999, the Panama Canal belonged to the United States and was inside of an occupied military zone. Panamanians were only allowed into the Canal Zone with certain credentials and did not benefit economically from the canal. Unfortunately, I see a similar scenario in Nicaragua if the canal is constructed.&#8221; Last&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/the-gran-canal-will-nicaraguas-big-bet-create-prosperity-or-environmental-ruin/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24757</doi>				</item>
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